Nearly on our way to Germany

Just a quick post from Changi airport. We have our boarding passes and should be on our way to Frankfurt in two hours time.

From the heat and humidity, spicey cuisine, cheerful smiles, chaos (at times), colours (especially Thailand), from being jostled from place to place, from the beaches and palm trees and the street hawkers and the night markets to...very old buildings, culture, art, bratwurst, beer and cooler climes! Bring on Germany and the rest of Europe!

Farewell Asia, for now! We'll be back!

The quiet streets of Melaka

Today is our last day in Melaka and tomorrow our last day in Asia. We've been travelling now for exactly a month and its been a very rich experience, though not without its challenges. The highlight for me is still the three days spent in Kanchanaburi province sleeping on the floating house on the River Kwai, riding the death train and swimming and riding the elephants. Next would be the amazing food of Singapore and Malaysia, the quiet strolls through Little India and the Arab/Malay quarter (of Singapore) and the day trip to futuristic Putrajaya.

Last night we chatted to an entertaining American who left the US twenty years ago (very disillusioned by what he says is becoming a 'third world country) and has himself hit the road. There seem to be a lot of people who are travelling the world with no end date to their travels and no set itinerary. They are all open-minded, interesting and with great travel stories to tell. It feels like a community of sorts.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, here are some pics taken in and around Melaka:

St Paul's church dating back to the 1500s

The canal in Melaka

The old Dutch square

A bit of Europe in Melaka

We're now in Melaka about two hours south of Kuala Lumpur. It's a very old Malaysian city and is full of charm with narrow colourful streets, wooden shutters, historic sites and a canal reminiscent of Venice . It dates back to about the 14th Century and has buildings still standing from the era of Dutch, Portugese and British rule.

This afternoon we took a rickshaw ride around the old part of the town (which is heritage listed by UNESCO). Our guide was this charming 52-year-old Malaysia man (he mentioned his age) who told us some of the city's history. Melaka was where Malaysia's independence from Britain was announced in 1956 and among the things you can see is an old white Chevrolet (you know the big old American cars) which the first prime minister drove on the historic day. There is also the ruins of an old Portugese fort, and a quaint square flanked by red brown buildings with a fountain in the middle dedicated to Queen Victoria, who visited Melaka at the turn of the century.

OK, I am sure that's enough of a history lesson. On another note, Larna and I met a Brisbane couple who are staying at our hostel. They are in their late 30s/early 40s and have two young kids. They're spending the next few years travelling around the world (he is a web designer) because he says Australia is way too expensive. He says he can rent a five bedroom house in Penang (in Malaysia) for a month for what he would pay for a week's rent of a small flat in Brissie! Guess it goes to show you can still do the big travel thing when you have kids, but it must be exhausting! (But what an experience for the kids).

Pics from Melaka and KL to come soon....caio!

Batu caves, monkeys and eerie Putrajaya

Greetings!

I'm writing from an internet cafe in the 'flash' Bintang region of the city. We've moved into a very nice hostel overlooking a 'Times Square-like' intersection with huge neon signs and electronic billboards and trendy malls in all directions. Quite a change from the wet market and slums (that's what the hostel owner called them) of Chowkit.

Today we took a bus out to the Batu caves, about 40 minutes outside of the city.

The caves are enormous and house a Hindu temple, which you reach by climbing 272 steps! After the amazing limestone caves of Kanchanburi, the Batu caves were a little disappointing, mainly due to the tack souvenir shops at the entrance, a foul smell and litter and rubbish scattered about. On the other hand, we were entertained by a troupe of monkeys that played along the steps, chased each other up and down the railings.

We had lunch in a little diner near the caves in what appears to be an industrial suburb. We've had a lot of meals in these local eateries and the food has always been delicious, tasty and quite spicy. Most have a buffet where they pile your plate up with rice and then you choose the meat and veggies you want and at the end they add it all up and charge you based on how much you ate. Eating in Malaysia has definitely been one of the highlights of our trip so far, the same goes for the food in Singapore.

Futuristic Putrajaya

Yesterday we took a train to Putrajaya, a completely planned city, which is the administrative capital of Malaysia (so a bit like Canberra I suppose, though about a hundred times cooler!).

By the time we got there (about 2pm) we wished we had arrived earlier. The place has this incredibly futuristic feel to it (with an Islamic slant given the mosques) and because it was a Sunday, was very quiet. In fact when we went walking along the river, we had the place almost to ourselves - a rarity on our trip through Asia so far.

We finished off our day back in KL visiting the Sunday night market In Bangsar Baru, the same one I went to on my own three years ago when I stopped over in KL en route to South Africa. The array and quality of fruit and veggies was exceptional - I have to dedicate a blog entry at some point just to some of the exotic fruits I have sampled including salak (has a snakelike skin and looks like a giant garlic when peeled), mangosteens (deliciously sweet, apparently a favourite of Queen Victoria), and Rambatan (a lychee which looks like a, pardon the image, a hairy scrotum). For dinner we had Nasi goreng, Murtubak and Roti Canai washed down the usual iced lemon teas.

Tomorrow we head down to the town of Malacca (or Melaka, or Malaka depending on which guide book you read). It looks fascinating with Portugese and British inspired architectural sights dating back to the 15th century and a relaxed feel. From there we head back to Singapore for our flight on Friday night.

Roti Canai and a cup of lemon iced tea

Larna and I are both enjoying KL. Yesterday we did a big trek around the city courtesy of 'Stavros walking tours' (that's me).

We started off near our hostel and headed through the Chow Kit area towards the old part of KL. En route we stopped at the Hotel Coliseum for a drink. It's this old, crumbling colonial art deco relic, with whirring ceiling fans and regulars propping up the bar.

(Pic: Having a drink at the Hotel Coliseum)

From there we headed towards the Central market (also art deco) browsed and had lunch (laksa and more ice tea). We strolled along busy Petaling Street in Chinatown with the hawkers and pirate DVD sellers, stopped for a breather at the beautiful Moorish old central railway station before heading into the parklands.

(Pic: Lunchtime prayers)

(Pic: Art deco facade of the Central market)

Just outside the bird park a troup of monkeys were playing - one of which decided to tear up the seat of a nearby motorbike! Very naughty bunch - a loud shout seemed to do the trick of scaring the bugger off, though by this time the seat looked like a Hannibal Lector masterpiece.

(Pic: Monkey motorbike madness)

We ended the night with dinner in the Bangsar Baru area in the Western part of the city at a great local eating house called Devi's Corner where, washed down again with lemon ice tea, we had roti canai (flakey pancake-like breads with curry dips), roti canai with chocolate and curry puffs.


(Pic: Moorish facade of old central train station)

Anyone hungry for cow head? (Plus Singapore pics)

Hello from a muggy Kuala Lumpar. Larna and I arrived at 7am this morning after taking the night train from Singapore. It was fun sleeping on the bunk beds and watching the little villages and hills roll by as we travelled up through the Malaysian countryside.

What was not so much fun was trekking through the heat, traffic and a 'mental' wet market to find our hostel in the 'Chowkit' district of KL. I admit it was mainly my fault for not following the instructions I had written down. By the time we made it to Hostel Cosmopolitan we were soaked in sweat and shattered. Luckily our hostel is a friendly, funky and clean place (can't say the same for two of our hostels in Singapore) - and a cold shower and a nap helped get us back on our feet.

The wet market...

Heading out for lunch, we passed through the wet market, a maze like series of canopied walkways lined with people selling just about everything including fruit and veggies, but also catfish, cows heads (whole, possibly boiled, decapitated cow's heads), cow's feet, live chickens and huge slabs of meat. The lanes got narrower and narrower and the smells more intense and pungent; it was quite a relief to get out of there. We found a little Indian market stall to have lunch - disappointingly dry fried chicken with rice, but delicious homemade lemon ice tea - served by an exuberant moustached Indian man (Is there any other?) delighted to have some tourists in his shop.

After lunch we caught the monorail and walked to the Petronas Towers, the amazing skyscraper that dominates the KL skyline, neo-art deco with an Asian twist (my interpretation of the architecture), and the third tallest building in the world.

OK, so this is not quite off the beaten track, but we must confess we went to a movie today. Saw a very funny film called "Kick Ass" in the shopping centre under the Petronas Towers. Movies here are very cheap (about $7 for two tickets) and we needed a break from the heat and humidity - for all those who think we've gone soft. The joke was it was freezing in the cinema!

Some pics from Singapore for you to enjoy....

They're very clear about their rules in Singapore....

Outside the famous Raffles Hotel, which did not disappoint



The 'Merlion'...




In the botanical gardens

Larna eating a mango ice cream wrapped in 'rainbow bread' (you can choose bread or wafers).

Catching the midnight train to Malaysia

It doesn't quite leave at midnight, but at 10.15pm tonight Larna and I are catching a train to Kuala Lumpar. We have 10 days until our rescheduled flight to Frankfurt (leaving on 30 April) so we're heading off to Malaysia for a bit of an unplanned adventure. We'll start in KL and see from there. The train journey is about 7 hours long and we've booked a sleeper cabin so I'm quite excited about sleeping on the train. I haven't done that since our family went to Durban on a train more than 20 years ago (well that's the last time I remember sleeping on a train).

Travellers' tales

Last night we stayed in a really cute backpackers not from the Arab/Malay quarter in Singapore. We were in a shared dorm (trying to save a bit of money after our expensive room the night before) so a bit unusual havíng three complete strangers around us, but managed to get a fairly decent night's sleep despite the occasional mobile phone going off and people getting up at odd hours.

At breakfast this morning, we met a charming retired guy from Brisbane, orginally from Northern Ireland (he had a thick Belfast accent), who told us he was heading to Myanmar (Burma) for a few weeks and was describing the scenery (unspoilt beaches and lakes) and the custom for fisherman to paddle with one foot and fish with the other. You need permission to go to some places over there, he said.

Another guy at the table was from Pakistan and said things there were not good at all especially in places like Peshawar, and along the border with Afghanistan, where apparently you can walk across from Afghanistan to Pakistan for 1,500 rupees without a visa, despite the presence of the US army nearby. "I only buy a cheap mobile phone because people steal them out of your hand while you are talking on them," he told us.

Another "roommate'' said he had just spent 6 months in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam". He said the govt can decide at any time to close down your business and described the city as chaotic and dirty. He said he felt very alone even though he was surrounded by so many people. He has relocated to Singapore and is looking for a job over here.

Last night we ate at a Moroccan cafe in the Arab quarter, with the gold tops of the Mosque and palm trees as a backdrop. It felt like we were in a very sanitised version of Arabia. Very beautiful - people smoking shisha and drinking mint tea! Better go, someone wants to use the internet.

Singapore fling

Hi everyone, its Larna again....

Just letting you know that we managed to book a flight out of Singapore on the 30th of April (very relieved to know what we are doing now). So we have 10 days to kill so we'll probably head up to Malaysia or something....we'll let you know our plans. Singapore is great but accommodation is expensive relative to other Asian countries and they seem to be taking advantage of the situation by hiking prices up further. Our dump of a hotel last night stank of cigarette and is pretty grungy...for $60!! We only took it because our backs were killing us from lugging the packs around trying to find a hostel for hours. Our search wasn't helped by being held up at a taxi shelter for about 45 minutes due to what seems to be a regular downpour of torrential rain each afternoon.

But I sound so negative! I'm LOVING LOVING LOVING the food and the different neighbourhoods to explore....we wandered around Little India last night and we stuffed myself on curry then Jalebi and Laddoo....mmmmmmmmm my favourite. The night before was a wonderful Malaysian outdoor food court aptly named Glutton Bay where we had my even more favourite roti channai then chendol for dessert - fantastic.

I know a lot of people say Singapore is too sterile but I think that if you look around you can find an edge to it...not much of an edge I'll admit but still who needs one when you're surrounded by beautiful colonial and modern architecture, parks, rivers and all so kempt and clean. I reckon I could live here. (don't panic we wouldn't...I'm just thinking of Shamin's brother and sister-in-law who have been posted here).

We are now off to check into a really cheap dorm (finally managed to find one) to offset last night's expense (we were beginning to think we might need to camp in one of the park's - legal would you believe it, but probably not a good idea given the regular downpours - or the airport!).

Lots of love, Larna.

Stuck in serene Singapore

Greetings from the McDonalds in Changi airport Singapore (where they have free internet!). Larna and I have joined the millions of other passengers currently prevented from flying to Europe due to the damned volcanic ash. Looks like we will be here a few days at least.

Despite the delay we are enjoying Singapore - so clean, serene and modern - a nice contrast to Thailand. Went to the famous Raffles Hotel yesterday, which did not disappoint with its old colonial grandeur and strolled through the parks and waterfront. Its quite a change not being stopped every 50 yards by someone to ask us "Where you from? Where you want to go?"

We stayed in a bizarre and crappy hostel last night. Our room was the "matchbox suite" and you could barely walk around the bunk bed let alone swing a cat! Plus it seemed to have full time residents including one guy who spent the whole night snoring loudly on the couch, next to our door.

And...if you want to spend time in an airport, Changi has got to be one of the nicest to do that in!

Caves, colour and creatures

Hi guys it's Larna writing this entry. Just wanted to share a few random things about our 3 weeks in Thailand now that its virtually over. Firstly, my favourite things about the trip (in no particular order):

• Banana pancakes from the street stalls all covered in sweetened condensed milk - mmmmmm
• I saw a baby elephant - something I've never had the luck to see before and it was amazing.
• Washing and swimming with the elephants (that's an obvious one for anyone that has known me for more than a minute!)
• How much bold and bright colour there is - on the houses, especially the boats and tuk-tuks.....everywhere.
• The amazing caves full of stalactites and mites - and bats - just incredible.
• The transport: fast boat rides down the canals, elephant back, crazy tuk-tuk rides (so long as they aren't tricking you by taking you to tailors or gem factories instead of where you want to go!), the death rail train, riding in the back of a ute with nothing to hold on to...that sort of (life-threatening) thing.
• There are dogs for Africa - literally dogs everywhere; in the streets, on the beach, on tables even......usually scratching themselves or just collapsed in the heat but still looking pretty cute all the same.
• The way the Thai just man-handle you if the situation calls for it, which it seems to very often. I mean like when you need to climb in or out of a boat, or if you're afraid to do something like stand on the back of a bathing elephant (next thing I knew I was being lifted by the armpits to standing position) or if you're having communication difficulties they'll often show you by physically making you do what it is they're trying to explain. And this wasn't man-handling but when the guy put the monkey on me even though I protested (to be fair, I probably had 'eager' written all over my face - I wouldn't be surprised). Anyway I know it sounds like a negative thing but it was always pretty funny and I had to respect it really because it always ended up being helpful....a bit like a parent who knows what is best for a protesting child or something.
• How precarious and make-shift all the buildings and bridges and ramps across things seem - and yet they don't seem to break but it's always at the back of my mind when I'm standing on one.
• Old-fashioned coke and fanta bottles....even though they're recycled to the point of fading or maybe even because of that...so nostalgic.

Those are just the things I can think of right now. A few other things to stick in my mind:

• The hotest thing I had to eat was a pizza - I was honestly in agony after my second bite and had to order milk to cool my tongue. I bit right into a sneaky chilli hiding under a basil leaf. It was 5 x hotter than any of the Thai food I had! Larry found it hot even after all the chillis were carefully removed (no way was I going to try and finish it).
• I was pouring our muesli one morning when I noticed that there was a rather chunky gecko spread-eagled inside the plastic packet. Needless to say I got a bit of a fright and was put off my cereal! Not that I don't really like them cos I do......just not for breakfast.
• I remembered that on a boat ride down a canal in Bangkok that the roof of the boat had been pulled down (they pull a lever and the whole thing kind of leans forwards) to fit under a bridge. We had been sitting on the way to our destination so it didn't affect us but on the way back we were standing and when I saw the bridge coming I squatted and began warning Larry that I was sure this was where the roof comes down.....but by then it had hit him hard on the head. hehe. Naturally I laughed until the pain subsided and he stopped rubbing his head.
• Meeting Trico the little Spanish dog who has been travelling with his owners for 8 years all around the world....I wish I could do that with Violet and Crunchie!
• An elephant walked down the main street of Krabi one night with neon lights on his back...I didn't catch what he was advertising.
• Ronald McDonald has his hands in prayer-form.

Again that's just a few things that come to mind right now though I'm sure there must be much more. But now for a few choice picks out of the 586 photos I took...so hard to choose....

How amazing is this lizard? He was about a meter long. And check out the plumage!

Little traveling Trico - awwww


even the payphones are colouful!

This was taken once I'd crossed it.

This stalecmite was giving the finger!

ugly but cute....like me.

mmmmmmmmmmmm

he wouldn't let me get an icecream!

Pics: Beaches, James Bond, The Beach and Boats

...reading "The Beach on "The Beach" beach (otherwise known as Maya Beach).






Larna on the long-tail boat around Koh Phi Phi Lee





Some of amazing rocky walls around Maya Beach



Larna and in front of the famous monolith aka James Bond Island

Reading on our floating house on the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi

"Silicon island..."

Larna with a pair of baby eagles on the floating Muslim village in Krabi




....being a fool on James Bond Island




Sunset over Koh Lanta




Our home on the river Kwai

Serene and quiet Koh Lanta

Greetings this time from Koh Lanta! We arrived around lunch time today. I stupidly forgot to bring my camera with me to upload some photos but will do so tomorrow.

We are staying in cute little beach bungalows literally a stones throw away from the beach. This island is very quiet in comparison to any of the other islands we have been to and this evening, before dinner we went for a walk along the beach (to the backdrop of an amazing blood red sunset) and nearly had the sand to ourselves.

Our day and night on Koh Phi Phi was actually a lot nicer than we expected (goes to prove you can't believe everything the Lonely Planet says). We had about a two hour ferry ride to get there from Krabi, after which we were assaulted by people offering us accomodation on the pier. We picked a bungalow which looked great in the pictures - little huts on a hillside above a beach - though as we have found out, brochures, postcards etc can be deceiving. On this occasion we were not disappointed. We had our own little wood and bamboo bungalow on stilts overlooking a cove and the ocean.

After settling in we took a long tail boat to Maya beach, where they actually filmed the movie version of "The Beach" and which I finished reading (for a second time) last night. So tomorrow, brace yourselves for a picture of me: Reading 'The Beach' on 'The Beach' beach...ha ha! We swam on the famous beach and the scenery really is spectacular. (Larna was in love with the fact that Leonardo Di Caprio swum here.)

The rest of the afternoon we cruised the island (Phi Phi Lee) and went snorkelling in this amazing coral reef. We did not know this was part of the boat ride, so it was an unexpected surprise. So many colourful fish to see - I think I saw Nemo (I should grow up, hey!)

More pics tomorrow! Much love to all our family and friends.

The Lady Boy with the Golden Gun

Just a quick post. We had a great day out on our "James Bond" tour. Our guide was this fabulously camp Thai man with long hair and nails who I am convinced moonlights as a lady boy in a cabaret act on weekends.

The "James Bond Island" was so overcrowded with tour boats it was hard to enjoy, but still glad we saw it as its pretty cool especially for those who love 007. The most fascinating part of the tour was a visit to a floating Muslim village where we had an amazing lunch, the best we have had so far on our Thai trip. After lunch we wandered down some of the narrow market lanes and it almost had the feel of Venice, without all the Catholic churches and bridges.

Will post some pics of our day out when I am next at an internet cafe with my camera. We've made a slight change to our travel plans. Instead of spending three nights in Kho Phi Phi we are only spending one night there and spending the other two on the nearby island of Kho Lanta. We did some research and it seems that Phi Phi is no longer affordable to the budget traveller (apparently budget rooms are really awful) and even the upmarket stuff is not great. So we have booked a beach bungalow in Kho Lanta which looks amazing and within our budget. We'll make our way to Phuket from their on Saturday morning. Our flight to Singapore leaves 10am on Sunday.

Larna's makes a new friend on Chaweng beach

They say don't pet the monkeys in Asia - but this guy literally pushed the monkey onto Larna on Chewang Beach and insisted we take photos. He didn't even ask for money. Larna was happy to oblige. The little guy wrapped his/her arms around Larn. The things you find walking down a beach in Thailand!

Boats, beach, sand and too much sun

Greetings from Krabi, where we have been since Saturday afternoon. This picture was taken on Railay Beach as I tucked into some BBQ chicken and corn. They cook it for you right on the beach and its delicious. That's where we spent nearly all of yesterday wading in the cool waters and exploring some of the rocks and caves. The only annoying thing about Railay is how popular it is, which means lots of tourists prancing up and down the beach showing off their tattoos and butt cheeks. While we have both enjoyed Thailand, the feeling is that the islands and beach areas have been "over-discovered". Today we visited another beach (getting their via a long-tail boat) called Pharang beach, which was not as nice mainly because you had to wade about 50 metres to get waist deep and by navigating some very sharp stones. It got much worse at low tide.

Our journey over from Ko Samui was quite pleasant - the ferry was half empty and we dangled our feet over the edge and read and listened to music. Bus ride not so fun - hot and humid inside as the aircon was broken and water was dripping out of the right hand side of the bus.


(Left - A old fashioned sailing boat off Railay beach)

Most disappointing though was our accomodation - the brochure was very deceptive. Our bungalow is a good walk from the beach, is not very clean (gritty sheets), but worse of all, the bathroom stank like something had died inside. Our gracious host offered to "spray" to clear the smell; too his credit it has improved, but its not been a great place to go back to - the joys of budget accomodation.

Tomorrow we are going on a "James Bond" tour (our gracious host having gotten us a 400 baht discount) which is called so because we visit an island called Ko Khao Phinkan which was a location on the Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. I am quite excited about it. Hopefully it lives up to expectation!

Wednesday we depart "Smellville" for Ko Phi Phi!