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Published: December 18th 2007
Right, ok i know last time we were boasting about how good we were being with the old blog up-dates.....You all knew it wouldn't last right??!
So almost 5 weeks on (sorry! time fly's eh!) Not really sure where to start now! Right....
16th Nov
Caught the ferry from Kota Kinabalu to Labuan an Island just off the coast of Borneo. The day we arrived was a friday, not that we'd noticed as have completely lost track of days at this point, anyway, being Friday it seemed that the whole of Malaysia had descended on this little island for the weekend. We trotted in and out of half a dozen guest houses and hotels only to be laughed at for not having a booking We decided we'd have to resort to the tourist info place (aghhhh!) Anyway, spoke to a really nice lady there, who after she managed to stop laughing (Re: no booking) told us our only hope was the beach resort at the north of the island. Sounds expensive we thought, not really so, under 20 quid a night with breakie. OK so more than we budget for, but very cheap for a beach resort. The
War Cemetery - Labuan
There are 3905 graves hereonly draw back was that it was 20 mins out of town.
We arrived and were amazed, really nice hotel, HUGE rooms, the bathroom was bigger than most of the rooms we've stayed in, the pool was lovely, the restaurant looked really nice and also cheap, it was right on the beach. Hmmmmm what's the catch?? Well the place was empty, no i mean really empty, they have about 250 rooms and they said 10 were in use (i think most of them were by staff) Seems the hotel just been taken over by someone new who was doing some work on it and hoping to revive it. I have to tell you it is so creepy wandering round an empty resort (I've seen the Shining!) anyway we found there was a bus stop outside to take us to town and it was great having the pool to ourselves.
So we settled into our 3 night stay and the first evening went to check out the restaurant and bar, food in the restaurant was great, nice, fresh AND cheap, the waiter was friendly and after we ate and said we were going to the bar, he followed us
and metamorphasised into the barman! Oh did i mention Labuan is a duty free island, we had found a really nice Ozzy red wine in town so bought a couple of bottles at 2 quid each so after a beer (20p) we borrowed some wine glasses and buggered off to our balcony. Whilst in the bar i was facing the doors and nearly choked on my drink when i caught a glimpse of a 2 meter christmas tree being dragged past by 2 midgets. I thought i was imagining things, Malay people are not generally very tall, they were probably just short, but no, the next day we saw two midgets wandering about the ground (??!)
Anyway, the last day on Labuan we decided that as we were so close we would go the next day across to Brunei for a couple of nights. We set off on the bus to town to book tickets. Stopping for breakfast in the local indian cafe we got chatting to a couple, Kent an English guy and his Balinese wife Mimin, well after chatting for half hour they offered to take us round the Island to see the sights (in the guide
books the most exciting sight is a "mystery chimney!) so you can imagine we were not holding out for much but they were a really sweet couple and we thought that living here if there was anything to see they would know about it, so off we set.
Well Labuan really surprised us, it is a lovely place, we saw the (in)famous chimney, which in our opinion is the least interesting thing here. We went to the marine centre, a war cemetery, peace park, Surrender point, botanical gardens, water villages, the museum and a Really cool chinese temple with a basement depicting the different levels of hell! (see photos!) we ended the day going back to their house and drinking beer, chatting and playing with their really cute dogs! Kent then dropped us back to town to book our ferry tickets to Brunei.
19th Nov
We caught the ferry to Brunei. Brunei is an Islamic Sultanate, i.e. it is run by a Sultan, and has been ruled by the same family for something like 600 years. The Sultan and his family make all the rules and laws (no alcohol or pork products can be bought in the
country) The Sultan of Brunei used to be the richest man in the world, and is still one of the richest. Not sure if we actually liked this place or not really. The main town where we stayed was on the river so we spent some time bombing around on water taxis which was fun, if a bit scary! The whole feeling of the place I got was it felt repressed. There was no noise, no beeping horns, no people who were chatting or laughing, all in all a little creepy.
21st Nov
We took the ferry back to Labuan and caught a connecting one back to KK and back to our old faithful backpackers where the lovely owner upgraded our room for our last night in Borneo to one with its own bathroom!
22nd Nov
We returned to Kuala Lumpur- We were so sad to leave Sabah, It is such a lovely place and we have decided that we defiantly want to come back again. So back to the dodgey backpackers in China town! Lauren and Chris who we met in Sipidan had recommended a veggie restaurant close to were we were staying so we
The 18 levels of Hell
Showing the various punishments dealt out in Hell set off there for dinner, only to bump into Lauren and Chris eating there as well. It was great to see them again and we all trotted off to a roof top bar for a few drinks. The following night we all met up at the IMAX to see Underwater World 3D (seemed appropriate!)
The next few days we spent doing “touristy” things around KL, catching up on some much needed sleep and planning what to do for the rest of our time in Malaysia.
27th Nov
We decided to head off up the west coast of the peninsula, although we would have preferred to go to the east but the monsoon is there now. We flew to Langkawi and booked into Zackry's guest house which was probably the best backpackers ever. They have a huge outdoor kitchen and lounge so you can't help but meet everyone. We had a great evening with a 3 litre box of red wine and 20 packs of noodles! Emmy and Sarah were 2 Aussie girls (who are now in London) they are completely mad and (much to our distress) jokingly “adopted” us as Ma and Pa! Next came Judith, a German
Cheers!
It is what it says on the tin! girl on a 3 week holiday and Becks, an English girl doing a round the world trip on her own (brave eh?!) Anyway we hired a car for 2 days as there is no public transport on the island and set off to see the sights, we found some great water falls where we made loads of noise screaming as we slid down the rocks. We tried to get to go on a trip to a nearby island, Pulau Payer, but the bunch of cowboys we picked to take us there messed up so instead of a day snorkeling we had a morning sitting on a packed fume filled bus boat and never actually got to go on the island, or even get a swim!
On our last morning the 5 of us (Me and Tel, Becks, Emmy and Sarah) decided to go on an 'island hop' trip first stop a small island where we swam in a fresh water lake, then we went out to sea to visit the feeding eagles. We were amazed there were hundreds of them, they were up to about 2 meter wing span and plopping down into the water right next to us!
We finished the morning with a couple of hours on the beach.....and so off to Penang
2nd Dec
Well the 5 of us traveled together to Penang and so were able to book into a dorm in the hostel (which was really nice!) Found the nicest Indian restaurant for dinner, it was strange being back eating Indian food, felt quite at home and made us miss India! Becks has been traveling for 3 months up til now and her boyfriend was flying out for 2 weeks to see her the next day, she asked for ideas of what to do, so obviously we pointed her in the direction of Sipidan! (they loved it by the way!) Spent the next couple of days going round Penang with Emmy and Sarah. Oh and found bacon sandwiches!!! Real pork bacon, not the gross beef stuff you usually get here!
5th Dec
Left the girls this morning to head off for their flight back to KL and on to London and we headed back to the mainland and south to the island of Pangkor. We thought we would stay for a week and have a little relaxing time on the
beach and snorkeling. Well all went to plan for the first 3 days but on the 4th day the rain came. We discovered that there is NOTHING to do on Pangkor in the rain so decided to cut short our week of R&R and head off once again
10th Dec
We arrived in Ipoh and life started to look up considerably, we found a Tesco's!!!! So bellies full with a huge piece of blue cheese we headed off for one beer before turning in for an early night. Well that was the plan anyway, in the bar we met Ben, a completely rat arsed, bull shitting Malaysian Guy who despite our refusals kept buying us beer, (what can you do??!) So day two, slightly worse for wear we headed off to visit a cave temple (it is what it says on the box, a temple in a cave!) which was pretty amazing but FULL of Mozzies Grrrrrrrr
12th Dec
On to Melaka, a big town south of KL, we really liked China town here. We did a bit of Crimbo shopping and not much else really.
14th Dec
And so back to KL. We
fly to Australia this evening. Our time in Malaysia has been great, there is so much that we haven't had time (or the weather) to see so we will defiantly be back! We are really looking forward to getting to Australia now, it will be so nice to just stay in one place for a couple of weeks, oh and get some nice food! The cravings are beginning to appear, as usually for really simple stuff.....so Fran, Paul, Tony, Val et al.....take note!.....Jacket spuds, really well done ones!....Salad....nice meat without bones, gristle, innards, feet etc!
Next update from Oz!!
Merry Crimbo everyone, don't get too cold!! x x x
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