Well it has been a long time since we've blogged and not sure where to start. Sorry to all our lovely friends who have been worried about us and wondering where we are and if we're okay. So first and foremost, we are all just fine and dandy and having a fine old time in Malaysia. Thank you for making us feel missed and cared about - it means alot to us.
We had a bit of a rough time after Laos. Although Laos was amazing and the people even more so, the heat was overwhelming and the children found it difficult to cope with. They also had a serious bout of homesickness, no doubt precipitated by making some wonderful friends whom they had to leave behind (again). This meant we came back to Thailand trying to manage a difficult situation. Should we go home early? Would these feelings pass?
Our old travelling pal from India, Maya, once told us about the 'doldrums'. When they sailed around the pacific for two years, there's this place you can hit where there's no wind or movement and you just kind of get stuck. Well that was us - no wind in our sails and a little bit stuck. But like the doldrums, these things will eventually pass, you just have to hang in there!
Renting an apartment in Bangkok was partly our way of trying to meet some of their needs for home comforts (and our own I guess) and to an extent it helped, but not entirely. The home cooked food was marvellous (even if I do say so myself ;-). Veggie cottage pie, jacket potatoes with beans and cheese and macaroni cheese - and of course some much needed complex carbohydrates (which they really don't seem to have much of in Asia). But we went a little stir crazy and being the hottest month in Thailand too, we still felt stifled by the heat. We even got a phone call from our good friend Jiff (even if it was 6 in the morning - nice one mate for making the effort and sooo good chatting to you last night).
We left Bangkok and flew to Penang in Malaysia, and to be honest, even at the airport, I found myself watching the departure board for flights to London and felt that we were perhaps being selfish, and really what the children needed was to come home. Perhaps they had got as much out of this trip as they were going to and maybe it really was time.....
We checked into the Cathay Hotel in Georgetown (where they filmed 'Beyond Rangoon') - lots of colonnial charm but not the best place for children. Lee and I spent a long night talking about what we should do and felt terribly confused about what to do for the best (drinking a bottle of vodka helped - and yes, the children were asleep at this point!). We woke up in slightly better spirits (no pun intended) and decided to see what Malaysia had to offer.
Setting off on Labour day to cross Penang Bridge (the longest in SE Asia at 12.5 km) and head south on the main freeway to Kuala Lumpur - not the best decision we ever made, but we found ourselves distracted from the endless traffic jams (yes, it was just like a bank holiday at home - as was the truly terrible food we sampled at the equivalent of their motorway services) by an almighty storm. The road swam with the bucketing horizontal rain and the fork lightening had to be seen to be believed. Tevo and Roisin squealed with delight as it seemed to ignite the lush landscape around us.
We knew we had to pull off the highway as it was getting late, but still being some distance from KL, we pulled into some strange little town about an hour south of Ipoh, where one brief glimpse told us we'd be better off in the car. Lee decided he could get us to KL before too late, so we continued in the rain and traffic. More fun was had when we finally reached the outskirts as we decided to look for a hotel outside the city centre and found ourselves going round and round on highways, totally lost and not actually in KL. Eventually we found a garage and a nice chinese man gave us directions to the Hilton (oh dear groaned the wallet). Apparently we were in Petaling Jaya just outside KL, but nearing 10pm we resigned ourselves to an expensive bed for the night. Just opposite the Hilton was another hotel called the Armada - so we checked in and were pleasantly surprised to find that this 4 star skyscraper (great view from the 22nd floor) was only 25 quid a night for a triple room- what a bargain!
The next day we set off for Melaka and took a detour via Port Dickson along the coast road. It was a marvellous drive and we found the cultural melting pot that is Melaka in no time at all. Got a decent room at the Imperial, a nice chinese run hotel in a good location, with a nice pool too. We decided to stay 2 nights as Melaka is fascinating - we saw a mosque, a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple all next to each other. We took a couple of garish cycle rickshaws around town and visited the old Sultan's Palace and gardens and numerous colonnial sights. After conceding to let the kids go to Pizza Hut (renamed Pizza Butt by Tevo), even they swore they would never go there again after the worst pizza in Asia and vowed only to eat local food from now on. Fortunately, the Indian and Chinese food in Malaysia is outstanding so no worries there. Being vegetarian, we're not so keen on Malay food (generally all fish and chicken, and the veg is served cooked and cold) although roti canai is a fine snack for a herbivore. It's a delish flaky bread served with a pot of veggie curry.
By this time, the children are seeming much happier and haven't been talking about wanting to go home as much. I had a long chat with my mum on the phone and she suggested we wait until we were somewhere they seemed happier and then talk to them seriously about whether going home was what they really wanted to do.
Next stop, Mersing on the east coast to catch a ferry to Pulau Tioman. Now we'd heard great things about Tioman, so we were a little disappointed by how developed it is. We stayed on Salang beach and paid about 40 quid for a not so nice family room. There's an awful lot of concrete, from paths (so visitors don't have to get their feet sandy) and jetties on every beach - big concrete eyesores that meet the huge packed daily ferries. The coral was impressive but it was noisy and busy and not that pretty really - so we decided to cut our losses as we had no cash left either, and head to the paradise of Pulau Perhentian in the north east. It was amusing to watch the Singaporeans (who generally can't swim) trying to snorkel in their life jackets and some even wore extra rubber rings. Unfortunately, they also like to take pieces of coral home with them as well as standing all over it, breaking big chunks with their unwieldy fins! They are actually building a great big concrete walkway across the coral in Tioman so the visitors (mostly Singaporean) can look at the coral without even getting wet - very sad!
We stopped off in Kuala Terengganu, and once again found a friendly town and a good place to stay. But as we have found in many places here, they don't really have pavements for pedestrians (probably cos they all ride scooters). I wouldn't fancy trying to push a baby buggy in these places. What we have found though, all over Malaysia, are that the locals are incredibly friendly (and no, they don't think we are hideous infidels). Each to his own in this country despite being predominantly muslim. They are so accommodating and always welcoming to us as a family. They certainly give Lao people a run for their money as the friendliest people in Asia stakes!
A few other observations in Malaysia.....
Self-drive is a piece of cake here for us Brits. Same side of the road and not that much traffic outside the cities. You just have to watch out for the numerous motorcyclists who come out of nowhere, and oh yeah, no-one indicates... ever. We got a cheap hire car from Asian Car, a subgroup of Air Asia (Malaysia's equivilent of Easyjet, only even cheaper!).
Logging is everywhere. You constantly see these huge trucks filled to the brim with old large (and what were stunning) trees - mostly teak but all hardwood. It's very sad and you can literally see the forests disappearing before your eyes. theer's alot of environmental issues that need addressing here, but as everywhere in the world, it's all about the money and this country has many resources that will, exploited properly, make them the first of the ASEAN countries to make first world status.
One of the things that costs us quite a bit is buying imported books for the children to read. They average between 8 and 12 pounds and with them both reading huge amounts these days, it's quite and expensive outlay. An important one obviously, especially with their lack of formal schooling. But there's only so many books you can carry around with you. The pesky things are very heavy in the old rucksack. Another item we struggle to find is walking boots for children. So far no sign of any and they grew out of their's back in India. Easy to get adult ones, but I don't think kids walk too many places here and certainly not up great big hills and mountains.
Anyway, back to the journey.... We took a ferry from Kuala Besut out to Pulau Perhentian Kecil (small island) and as soon as were were dropped off at Coral Bay, the Koh Lipe feeling washed over us and made all the pain and worry of the last month dissappear - what a truly stunning paradise (soon to be developed but for now we were lucky enough to be there as it is). Nabbing two of the best huts on the beach we settled down to a week of pure unadulterated beach life bliss. The snorkelling is awesome and we swam with giant leatherback turtles, black tipped reef sharks (there's just no stopping us now) and blue spotted sting rays. So many varieties of fish but the good old clown fish is still own firm fave. Tevo and Roisin are now freediving to over 20 feet and seem to be developing webbed fingers and toes - part child part fish it seems. We made some great friends too and had an amazing night of guitar playing and singing with some locals and their friends from KL.
So we chose this time to talk to the children about going home, and needless to say that is the last thing they want to do now. We have agreed to make sure we include lots of beach life over the coming months so they can enjoy their snorkelling and fishy fun.
After returning to the mainland, we crossed the peninsular via the Cameron Highlands and stayed in the very nice (if a little damp) Jurina hotel in Tapan Rata. It rained alot, but it was pleasant to be cold for a change and the children astounded us with a 5 1/2 hr trek through dense steep jungle, climbing tree roots and sliding down mud slopes. We were rewarded with an awesome cream tea and local strawberries. It reminded us alot of Ella in Sri Lanka, but on a bigger scale and more developed of course, but still very beautiful and atmospheric.
Next stop, back to Penang to return the car and we spend a few days on the hideously over developed north coast in a fancy hotel with a pool (great internet deal - check out
www.asiahotels.com). Today we took a plush bus (with the biggest reclining softest seats we've ever seen) to Kuala Lumpur while we wait for our flight to Borneo. Kuala Lumpur is hectic - think Delhi meets Bangkok and then add some more, give it a shake, turn it upside down and hey presto...chaos. We just ate the best Chinese vegetarian mock spare ribs IN THE WORLD and Fatt Yans makes KL worth a visit just for the food. We'' be going back to sample everything on the menu over next few days.
Next we are off to Sabah to make friends with some orang-utans and possibly climb Mount Kinabalu, and then if the finances can cope, some more snorkelling fun in Pulau Sipidan.
So that's all for now folks.... hope everyone is fine and dandy in the Blighty spring and we will try to catch up on our emails as much as possible when we can. Big love to you all. xxxx
