Malacca 11 Nov

Started with a Truck clean today as tomorrow will be last day on the truck. We all took part in emptying the truck and cleaning everything on board. After that was finished I grabbed some breakfast before getting my watch strap repaired in the shopping mall.

Next stop was the revolving Tower which gave a bird’s eye view of Malacca and the surrounding area.
I then walked around part of the Dutch Heritage Trail including Coronation Park, and along Jalan Kota to the Malacca Sultanate Palace.

Returned to Chinatown to find the Chinese shoemaker to repair my sandals I bought a few weeks ago. While these were being repaired I walked along the boardwalk along the Malacca River before returning to the shoemaker and then back to the hotel to repack my bag complete with tent, mat and sleeping bag.

This evening I plan to go on a river cruise.

Malacca 10 Nov

After the successful single night production of Megan’s Murder Mystery play the previous evening (at the end it was revealed that Dr Bill played by Will killed Mike, Glen won best performance and Lily won best costume) we left KL at 10:00 for Malacca arriving there early afternoon. 
We checked into the Hollitel Hotel and then after a quick lunch went to explore the town. Malacca used to be a very important maritime trading city first under the Portuguese then the Dutch and finally the English. Its importance declined with the growth of other ports in the region and the changing political rulers.

It now is the home to numerous museums as well as the Taming Sara revolving tower (110m high). I went to the Maritime Museum which is based partly on an old boat and partly housed in an old dock building.

 I then walked around Chinatown and on my way back was knocked over by a scooter. Fortunately I only suffered a bruised hip and a couple of cuts and grazes – the motorcyclist hurt his leg, but I didn’t stay around to find out the details. I was lucky I was not hurt more seriously.

Kuala Lumpur 9th November

Went on the Monorail again this time north to the Burit Nanas station and then on to the Petronis Towers.  I knew the observation level was closed (reopens in December), but I spent almost 2 hrs in the Petrosains - a science discovery centre.  It was aimed aminly at children (& there were a lot of school parties around), but it was very interactive and everyone enjoyed taking part in the discovery of science - especially all the children - very well done and worth a visit. 

 

I then walked to the KL Tower (which is on top of a hill, so quite a walk in the heat) and went up to the ovservation deck (925 ft high) for some assounding views of the city.  (see the Malaysia album for all the pictures). 

Finally onto Chinatown for a walk around the stalls before finding the Central market.  Then back to the hotel using the Kelana Jaya Rail link to KL Sentral and then back to the Imbi station on the monorail. 



This evening is the Murder Mystery evening written, and produced by Megan.  She is is only one who done it, the rest of us will just have to wait and see.  Thanks Megan for all the hard work you have put into this. 

Kuala Lumpur 8th November

Today Eamon, Norman and Lyn decided to visit the Batu Caves.  These caves are 13 km north of the city and is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India.  We took the monorail from outside Times Square (our hotel is at the back of Times Square) to the KL Sentral station then crossed the road to the main KL Sentral station and took the train (on the KTM Komuter line) to Batu Caves.  On the way we befriended Desiree Bartsch a Canadian (who is now living in Bali for the next year) as she was also finding her way to the caves and an extra pair of eyes looking for directions helped. 




The cave is reached by climbing the 272 steps to the entrance.  There are several cave temples and Hindu shrines withing the main cave.  Below the main cave (Temple Cave) is the Dark Cave which contains unique animal species, but we decided not explore this cave. 

On the way back we overshot the KL Sentral station and so had to get off at Angkasspuri and return to KL Sentral before returning to the hotel.

Later I ate in the main food street in the nearby Bukit Bintang district at one of the many food stalls.

Now to Malaysia (5th to 7th Nov)

Left Koh Samui early in the morning (I caught the first jeep at 05:00).  This meant it was a very short night as we only got back from the Thai boxing at 23:45 the previous evening.  We then caught the ferry at 07:00 arriving at the Thai mainland 90 mins later and boarded the Truck for the drive south towards the border.

We stopped for lunch about 100 km north of the border and then went quickly through the border mid afternoon after changing any remaining thai currency we had.  We went through a couple of rainstorms, but they had stopped when we got into Malaysia.  The main problem was that they would not release the Truck until the insurance had been sorted out and that took a couple of hours, so it was nearly dark before we set off towards Kuala Lumpur (KL).  The time advanced 1 hr and we were now 8 hrs ahead of the UK. 

We had planned to have a bush camp on the way to KL, but in view of the time it was decided to find a hotel in Alor Star, a town a couple of hrs into Malaysia.  We then all found some food (most of us at a Pizza Hut where there was appalling service).  We left the next morning just after 08:30 (Eamon and me had to be woken as I had not changed the time on my alarm clock!!). 

We then drove until we reached KL mid afternoon.  The dorms in the hostel (Classic Inn) were very narrow and with facilities limited a few of us upgraded to double rooms.  We only had time to orientate ourselves and get some food before we planned how to use the next 2 days in KL.  We are located (as usual) near the centre and the shopping really does need to be seen to be believed here (The hostel is at the back of a huge retail development complete with indoor rollar coaster and amusement park. 

Koh Samui

First 2 days here (2nd & 3rd Nov) were spent exploring the local town (Lamai Beach and also the island on an around the island tour. 

Glyn, Kieran, Laura and Martin arrived back from their diving course safely at lunchtime on the 2nd, unfortunately Martin failed the diving course but the other 3 successfully obtained their certificates. 

The island tour started at the Plai Leam Temple which was stunning over the water then moved to the nearby big Buddha temple. 

 

 We stopped at a viewpoint over the Chaweng Beach. 

We then moved south to the Grandfather and Granmother rocks (next door to our hotel) and then on to the Khunnaram Temple where the Mummified Monk Loung Pordaeng is on display. 

 We then saw a short monkey show and spent some time clambering up to the Namuang Falls (80m waterfall).  I then went on for a short visit to Nathon Town before returning to the Hotel at Lamai Beach. 

To Koh Samui (31st Oct and 1st Nov)

Travelled from the River Kwai initially towards Bangkok and then south towards the Bay of Thailand. 


We stopped at a Tesco Lotus store for lunch at Pranburi and then made a bush camp approx 220 km north of the Don sak Harbour

We left the bush camp at 07:00 arriving at the harbour 3 hrs later.  This gave us time to dry out our tents before embarking on the Ferry to Koh Samui for a 90 min crossing to Thailand's 3rd largest island.  We all crammed into a small truck and made our way to White sands bungalows at Lamai beach.  Sarah, Honnie and Megan had upgraded to the bungalows next door so made thier own way there.  Walked along the beach to the town in the afternoon - the sand was disappointing as it was fairly gritty and the sea was reasonably rough and you had to be a confident swimmer to vebnture into the water. 

During lunch at the hotel a cobra was soptted and caught and then it was going to be returned to the mountains in the centre of the island.