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Hello everyone!
Well time seems to have gone very quickly since we last wrote the blog and now we only have one day left in mainland Malaysia before Phil flies out to NZ and Sa to Borneo. Phil set off on the Sunday on the train from Bangkok to Butterworth, which took 24 hours!! The train was very nice though, lots of space, although no racks for the huge rucksack, which neither of us were very pleased to get back after returning to Bangkok. There were some interesting people in her carriage, including a Scottish man who used to be in the RAF based in SE Asia, and a Swedish man who sounded German and just wouldn't shut up!! She got the bus from Butterworth to the Cameron Highlands, arriving late at night to the Father's Guest House, which was lovely and had a film lounge with sofas, it's own restaurant and dorms in old Nissen huts that the British army used in the 50's and 60's. The showers were cold though, which wasn't great when the weather was so much cooler! Cameron Highlands is an old hill station at an altitude of around 1300m so nights got very cold!
The guesthouse was very good for meeting people, especially sleeping in a dorm (for the first time!). Phil spent her days walking on the jungle trails, visiting a Buddhist temple, and also the countless strawberry, cactus and orchid farms, and garden centres - all very English! She even had a cream tea one day - it's a speciality meal of the Highlands! On the last day she walked to the Sungai Palas Boh Tea Plantation (lovely views) for a free tour and a cup of tea.
Sa stayed around in Bangkok a little longer, watching 'The Beach' (filmed in Thailand) one afternoon and not really doing a lot! Then the following day she took the same train down to Butterworth as Phil, only the train didn't manage to make it all the way- stopping at Padang Besar, the border town, because it broke down! Everyone then had to catch a bus to Butterworth, followed by the ferry across to Penang. Yes Sa managed to get a ferry on her own, and there was no sickness this time! Penang was really great and the dorm which she stayed in was also a great travellers' place and it was easy to
meet other people. She visited the Penang museum, Fort Cornwallis and lots of temples and mosques, including the Kek Lok Si Temple (which Phil visited 2 years ago) which was amazing and had seven levels. The last day she spent relaxing on the beach at Batu Ferringhi (which Phil also stayed at), a really nice beach and it was baking hot!!
On Saturday we both came down to KL on the bus and met at the Backpackers' Travellers Lodge in Chinatown. It's in a really good position as it's right in the middle of all the sights so we can walk to most places, although the Reggae Bar downstairs is quite loud sometimes! On the first night we went out for a drink with Yorkshire Nick who Sa met in Penang (at the Reggae Bar!). We got a twin room but on the Sunday we decided to move to a dorm as it was air conditioned and much cheaper - although now we have to use sleeping bags at night it's so cold!! We got up early in order to visit the Petronas Towers and queue for tickets for the trip up to the Skybridge with Josh, who was
also staying in the dorm. We're really glad we got up early as the queue was huge when we arrived and there must have been loads of people who didn't get tickets. Sa and Phil went shopping in the Suria KLCC Shopping Mall underneath the Towers for the day and then met Josh at 4.30pm to go up the Towers. The Skybridge is not that far up the towers but it had amazing views over the city (countless skyscrapers!) which were only slightly marred by the rain. The lift was like nothing we'd ever seen before, with 88 buttons for the number of floors! On the way back we decided to book our bus tickets to Singapore - that was an experience! The Pudaraya bus station was by far the busiest we've been in, and belongs more in India, with people shouting and pushing the whole time. There were so many different counters we had to visit about 10 before we found one which would sell us tickets.
Yesterday we walked around the colonial part of the city, starting with the Masjid Jamek Mosque. They're very strict about dress in there and we had to put on robes and
headscarves - we looked like old grannies! We then visited Merdeka Square, where independence was proclaimed in 1957, and where lots of Malaysian people wanted their picture taken with us. Being a Monday, all the museums were closed (good planning there!) so we continued to the Old Railroad Station and Masjid Negara, which were both amazing but in very different ways. We strolled to the Lake Gardens for a rest and lunch, as it was very hot. The Lake Gardens are right in the middle of the city but feel like a completely different world as they're very peaceful and beautiful. On the way back from here we went to Central Market to do some more shopping (window shopping as we have no money!) and we came back here for dinner later on, as it has a really cheap food court. The dorm is now empty of anyone but us so we're basically paying far less for the same room as before with AC! Today is a boring internet and packing day and tomorrow we both fly out. This is the last blog we'll write together, which is very strange but also exciting as we miss home and are ready
to come back relatively soon. We'll carry on the blogs separately (surely Sa can manage to write one!!).
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