A group of us spent the morning snorkelling. We were taken out in boats to four different sites and were rewarded with beautiful fish, coral, turtles and some even saw sharks. I especially liked the turtles and the boat captain took us to the area where they hang out and told us to perch on the side of the boat and at his signal to jump in. The turtles obviously were used to group of tourists nearly landing on their heads and just swam slowly, but quicker than I could swim, away. The captain of the other boat took pity of Sylvia, Aiofe and I and gave us a tow and we were rewarded with a small turtle which swam straight up to look at us. Quite magical.
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| Turtle being chased by 20 tourists! |
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| One of the many beautiful multi coloured fish |
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| Fish after a cheesel |
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| One of the beautiful coral |
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| An interesting clam |
The following day was the Odyssey Olympic Games. I was never one for organised sport and always dreaded the sister's race at my brother's school when invariably I would come in last so I was official photographer. I felt very sorry for the participants as I was nearly expiring from the heat just taking the photographs. It was a lot of fun though especially standing on the side lines and watching everyone else making fools of themselves.
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| Zoe's birthday get up |
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| The winners of the truck photo quiz |
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| Denis decorating Jim |
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| Mandy in the sack race |
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| Susan and Sandra as sand mermaids |
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| The waiters watching the fun |
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| Aiofe and Lucy creating a sand sculpture |
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| CJ's team's sand sculpture - a recurring theme |
The evening was spent in the beachside restaurant eating crab and prawns. It is a hard life but someone has to do it! After dinner we sat on the beach and enjoyed the balmy night air together with the kittens that had adopted the group.
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| Kittens relaxing outside Zoe, Susan and Mandy's hut |
The following morning, there was a sad goodbye to the Perhentian Islands, an exhilirating boat ride back to the mainland and a long truck trip to KL. I wasn't sure whether I would like KL and I didn't like it, I loved it. I spent the next three days totally exhausting myself trying to see everything I wanted to see and apart from one buddhist monastery, I succeeded.
Our hotel was in a good location but the bed was full of truck parts and the most uncomfortable one I had slept in for the whole trip apart fromTurkmenistan but I got my bed roll off the truck there and slept on that. I did a lot of complaining and eventually they put a camping mattress on top of the original mattress and that improved things considerably. At least we did not have bed bugs like Wendy, Colin, Sylvia and Russ. Note to myself - never stay in the Cetin Hotel in KL again.
On the first day Melissa and I took the hop on/hop off bus to try and get an overview of the place as although not that large does have a very convoluted network of roads which are not that pedestrian friendly and with my increasing hopelessness at reading a map it wasn't easy to find one's way around.
Our first stop was the Petronas Towers which are the tallest twin towers in the world according to Wikipedia. The visitor display centre was closed for renovation so we were not able to go up them but Melissa satisfied her quest for towers by going up the KL Tower. The shopping centre below the towers was the pinnacle of consumerism with every top name brand you could imagine and even Harrods and Marks and Spencers.
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| Petronas Towers |
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| Me outside Petronas Towers |
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| Outside Harrods |
After some lunch Mel and I parted as I had to go back to hotel to sort out lumpy mattress situation and after that got back on bus and went up to the National Monument where they have drumming on a Sunday night but the weather conspired against me and I had to beat a hasty retreat in the pouring rain. The whole journey back was wet but as I arrived in China Town it cheered up a bit and I was able to eat fantastic barbequed meat and tofu outside on the street.
The next day was hot and bright so back on hop on/hop off to the Royal Palace where we were allowed to take photos through the railings, the Museum where I had a quick wizz round the Ethnology and Craft Museum and then back up to the National Monument via the Sculpture Park.
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| The Royal Palace |
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| Ethnology Museum |
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| Craft Museum |
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| Sculpture Garden |
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| The National Monument |
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| Memorial to the Fallen |
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| The Cenataph |
I then spent a wonderful hour or so in the Butterfly Garden admiring the beautiful colours of the many butterflies which flitted around. It was a lovely tranquil place and the staff were helpful pointing out any butterflies that had settled.
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| At Butterfly Park |
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| Another beautiful butterfly |
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| Unnamed butterfly |
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| Insect which obligingly stayed still |
It was then a short walk to the Hibiscus Garden. The Hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia and there were some beautiful specimens in the garden.
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| Hibiscus in the Hibiscus Garden |
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| The Hibiscus Garden |
Then on to the Orchid Garden. Orchids have to be my favourite flower but there were not a lot to see in this garden. I did buy a little pot of shoots so if Australian Customs do not throw them out, I should have my own amazing orchids in a year's time - or not!
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| Orchid Garden |
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| Stunning Orchid |
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| Another beauty |
From there it was a short walk to the Deer Park which was looking rather shabby but was home to the smallest deer in the world -the Mouse Deer, a very shy little thing so photograph was rather grainy but it was certainly cute.
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| Deer Park |
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| Mouse Deer |
At this point I got lost, having gone into Deer Park at one entrance and come out of another. I ended up at the Museum where a taxi driver wanted to charge me 20 Ringet to take me to Islamic Art Museum. I knew it had to be close so refused when he then changed his mind and put the meter on - it cost me 5 Ringet.
The Islamic Art museum was a real treat. It was housed in a purpose built ultra modern building and had the most wonderful exhibitions. The first hall had replicas of a lot of the most famous mosque including the one at Edirne in northern Turkey that I never got to see when I was living there. Surprisingly Hagia Sophia was not amongst the models featured.
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| Replica of Mosque at Edirne, Turkey |
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| Islamic Art Museum |
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| Chinese Pottery |
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| Iznik Plates |
There were also some wonderful Iznik plates and tiles and of course many other exhibitions from around the Muslim world. It had been my intention to go on to the National Mosque which is another modern building but the rain was pouring down and without getting drowned I was not going to make it before closing time so took a taxi back to hotel.
A relaxing start before heading off to the Central Market for a free walking tour of the old town. Again we battled with the rain but in between downpours we were able to visit Masjid Jamek, the city mosque, where we had to don long Islamic coats and cover our heads.
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| In fetching coat to visit the mosque |
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| Street scene in central KL |
The Indian part of town was filled with exotic smells and money lenders. Our guide took us into a banana leaf restaurant where the food looked wonderful but there was no time to stop and sample. It was then on to a grimy looking alley where the noodle stall was apparently famous and we were warned not to go between 12.30 and 2.30 or we would have to wait for half and hour for a plate of noodles. In these modern times, many orders are made over the phone so people don't have to queue up. The food in Malaysia would not be one of my favourites. I tried Laksa a couple of times as I have always loved it but the sauce was more gravy like rather than coconutty and the fish paste and sauce was always the predominent flavour. Even the bread I bought had a fishy taste to it.
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| The mosque |
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| Little India |
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| Menu at banana leaf restaurant |
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| KL Street Scene |
The Chan Sen Shu Tuen temple was our next destination where we sheltered again from the torrential rain. I have decided the Indian temples have rather a scruffy air about then and much prefer the Buddhist temples or mosques. The buddhas are so restful to lool at whereas the Indian gods are often horrible, frightening and ugly.
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| In the Can Sen Shu Tuen Temple |
The tour having finished, I headed off to the Textile Museum which was full of wonderful things and I was able to lose myself happily for an hour in that beautiful place. Across the road was the Independence Square where cricket was formerly played and opposite was St Mary's Cathederal.
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| At Textile Museum |
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| At Textile Museum |
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| Old building opposite Independence Square |
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| Independence Square formerly a cricket ground |
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| St Mary's Cathederal |
Our evening was spent at Dirty Nellie's watching Ben perform his stand-up comic act. Stand-up is probably not my favourite form of entertainment but he was very amusing as was the support act and the two piece band gave us an opportunity to have a dance.
A 10.00 start allowed me time to go round China Town which in the early morning was extremely seedy with prostitutes vying their trade and second hand clothes being traded on the pavements.
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| Petaling Street, KL |
It was a quiet Calypso filled with sore heads that headed off for Melaka but mine was just fine. We arrived in Melaka to stay at the Yellow Mansion which cetainly wasn't a mansion and more orange than yellow but it was central to the action. I instantly fell in love with Melaka which is a lovely little town divided by a river. Jonkers Street is filled with interesting little shops but I didn't want to change more money so kept my eyes ahead and didn't look too closely.
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| Jonkers Street |
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| Melaka Street scene |
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| Bikes and motorbikes |
Later I enjoyed a solo meal at the Riverne Restaurant which was on the river. It was a very pleasant spot and I watched the tourist boats going up and down. A walk to the old Fort on the river took me past the main square with its highly decorated cyclos. It was a bit like DisneyWorld with traffic.
The following morning a group of us went on the river. It was meant to be a hop on/hop off boat but it did not stop. I intended getting off at the Spice Garden but the driver, a lady, just turned round and head back to base. So Wendy, Colin and I got her to stop at the next jetty and we went to see the Villa Sentosa which had been in the same family since it was built. We were given a conducted tour by an elderly man who was fourth generation. He was quite amusing and loved enteraining us. We got the beat the gong and make a wish. With all the wishes I have made at various places over the past few months, I should be having a great year ahead.
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| Giant lizard under bridge on the river |
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| Inside Villa Sentosa |
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| Beating the gong and making a wish |
In the evening we took the boat down the river again to see the lights. Our guide was hysterical although Mel said he made her ears bleed. He said goodbye to us in 45 different languages! We went on to eat Indian food which I thoroughly enjoyed. I then went to the jazz bar where I was an embarrassed audience of one. The owner of the bar played the piano and at one point played Coutry and Western. I am not sure if he was testing me to see if I realised.
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| Melaka river by night - photo courtesy of Mandy |
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| Melaka river by night - photo courtesy of Mandy |
The following morning, I was up early to sightsee. It is a very interesting town and there was lots to do and see and time was short. Walking up the ruins of St Paul's Church, I saw many people out for their early morning exercise and back down near the Porta de Santiago they were doing Tai Chi and dancing. The Dutch influence was evident in a lot of the buildings and I walked through the Dutch cemetery.
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| Looking out from St Paul's Church |
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| Porta de Santiago |
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| Early morning Tai Chi |
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| More exercise |
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| The Dutch Cemetery |
After breakfast at an ex-pat's cafe, Mel and I walked through the Chinese part of town and visited the Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum where we had an excellent tour. Unfortuately photographs were not allowed so apart from a sneaky one that I took, you will just have to take my word for the fact that it was the most beautiful house with amazing woodwork and glass.
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| Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum |
From there we went to a place where birds' nests were being cleaned and reconstituted for birds' next soup. It was probably one of the stranger places that we visited on our trip but interesting none the less. The Citti village was recommended in Lonely Planet but the long walk in the heat was not really worth the effort apart from a couple of photos.
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| Temple in Chitti Village |
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| Rather unattractive statue outside the temple in the Chitti Village |
At 6.00 p.m. we met at the truck to say goodbye to Calypso, collect any lost property and to have final photographs taken.
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| Goodbye Calypso |
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| The guys |
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| The girls |
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| The new tee-shirts |
In the evening there was a market down Jonkers Street but the merchandise was not very exciting or I have become blase about it all. I did find some good food to eat though.
The following morning we set off by bus for Singapore. Customs were easy except I was stopped because I had some alcohol in my bag which you are not allowed so I held up everyone while they sorted out the duty I had to pay. Our hotel was comfortable enough although the rooms were rather small. After dumping our bags, we set off on Zoe's two-hour lightening tour of Singapore which took us to China Town, a rather sanitised version of the ones we have seen, Clarke Quay with itself colourful buildings and the Fountain of Wealth at Suntec.
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| Streetscape in China Town |
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| Strange food in the market |
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| Clarke Quay |
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| The Fountain of Wealth in Suntec |
After a quick journey back by underground, an even quicker shower, we were back on the underground for Raffles. Here we enjoyed very expensive Singapore Slings but as it had always been my dream to drink a Singapore Sling at Raffles, I did not mind the expense. Then we had very cheap noodles in the night market.
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| Raffles Hotel |
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| Drinking a Singapore Sling |
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| The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel |
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| The Long Bar |
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| The Slings |
On the way back, we went to see the lights in Little India which were stunning as Deepavili is later in the month. Singapore is definitely a place I would like to return to.
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| The lights in Little India |
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| Lights in Little India |
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| Happy Deepavali |
The following morning I headed out early to visit a couple of local temples and then the underground again for Orchard Road which was full of very expensive shops and some interesting street art.
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| Interesting Buddha - you walk round the back and up some steps and there is a reclining Buddha |
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| Buddha's footprint |
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| Orchard Road, Singapore |
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| Statues in Orchard Road |
I met the others at Grand Hyatt Hotel for our last meal together. We enjoyed the most wonderful lunch/brunch with champagne, Sauvignon Blanc, Wolff Blass red and Mojitos. The seafood was wonderful - oysters, lobsters, crab, mussels, smoked salmon and scallops. Then it was Sushi followed by roast beef and vegetables and some delectable desserts. Full to the eyeballs, we rolled down the street to watch NZ beat Argentina in the rugby. It was a memorable last meal and if I ever return to Singapore I will make sure I am there on a Sunday for a repeat performance.
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| Seafood Buffet |
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Delicious desserts |
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| My champagne |
We waved goodbye to Emily that evening and in the morning said goodbye to CJ, Colin, Wendy, Clare, Steve and Denis. I caught a taxi to the airport with Susan, Zoe, Sandra and Keith. I had to hang around for a while but caught my flight to Brisbane, was met by Will and arrived in Sunshine Beach in the middle of the night. It was so good to be back, to see the boys' wonderful house, see James in the morning and talk to Kate.
So the journey of a lifetime ends. Lots of new friends, lots of memories and the realization that home is best.
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