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After the adventure and general remoteness of Sumatra, it was a complete contrast to arrive in the Space Age city of Kuala Lumpur - with Malaysia being the most prosperous nation in S.E. Asia, and their stated aims of becoming fully industrialised by 2020, they are full steam ahead on the road to capitalist nirvana. The gleaming skyscrapers, the plush shopping malls and carefully crafted city gardens all give the impression of a 1st world nation, and sometimes you need to look down a back alley to remind yourself you're in asia.
With our trip coming to an end, our focus was, shamefully, not the illustrious gallery of muslim art, that I read about to late, as we were leaving KL, but the cheap shopping. After the obligatory trip up both the kl tower and the famous Petronas towers (2'nd highest building in the world, and mightily impressive it is too), we hit the back street markets in chinatown, where, amazingly, some of the world's leading brands can be found at remarkably cheap prices - and the honest looking indian lad selling the north face rucksacks and louis vitton handbags assured me they were genuine..
We did eat at
the hawker stalls - as with the rest of Malaysia, a mix of indian, chinese and malay styles - but with all the familiar names on offer, i finally succumbed, and had my first burger in 4 months - after so much rice and noddles, it was great to be a true brit abroad and order burger and chips - marvellous.
So with our new rucksack (that fell apart within 2 weeks!) crammed full of clothes, shoes and other bric-a-brac, it was time for us to head out of the swealtering heat of kl to the cool hills, and the colonial hill stations in the Cameron Highlands. Up here there is lush greenery, market gardens, tea plantations, strawberry farms, flower farms and lots of english style country cottages - it is also very popular with asian tourists - hence a few large ugly mock tudor style hotels. Still, it was a lovely place for a few days, and we headed out for a few walks, and went on a tour of the local flower, honey and strawberry farms, and took in the beatiful rolling scenery of the tea plantations. As we kicked back with tea and scones and strawberry
jam, I added these to the list of great things to come from the British empire (alongside queueing and team sports).
I even got the chance to play some golf in these pretty surroundings, though the general feeling of serenety was quickly destroyed by my tantrums at my misbehaving 9 iron. To her eternal credit, Rach caddied for me, which greatly amused the mostly Japanese clientel of the golf course.
With time a bit short, and having seen lots of jungle in Sumatra, we decided to skip the Taman Negara national park, and so we headed back south, thru KL again, and then onto the South East coast of Malaysia, and from there, over to Tioman Island. After all, all trips should finish on a beach!
Tioman is a lovely island, which was made semi famous by the filming of "South Pacific" back here in the 50s. It is lazy, laid back island living, with some lovely beaches and diving.
As it happens, our energy levels were so low, we only did one dive (having a slight cold from the legacy of turbo air conditioning on Sumatran buses didnt help), and then spent the rest of our time lazing
on the beach and also sneaking in to the super dooper luxury 5* resort next door to use their lovely swimming pool. Using all the blagging skills we'd picked up on a year's travels, we swaggered to the poolside as if we owned the place, picked up a thick, fluffy towel from the attendent, scribbled a fake signature and room number on his sheet, then proceeded to enjoy all the facilities on offer, without having to pay 100 quid a night for them! (and my apologies to the genuine, fee paying guests of the super dooper luxury 5* resort, including the King of Malaysia, who popped over for a day while we were there.)
On our final day, i actually played golf again, on the spectacular beachside course adjoining the super dooper luxury 5* resort. I didnt play too badly, and the only regret was the loss on the course of my battered old sunhat, which has been round the world with me, has visited 6 of the earth's 7 continents, and has seen lots of action. And my idiot of a caddy (yes, her!!) goes and loses it on the last bloody day!!!
Leaving the island, we
solemnly headed on a bus to Singapore, and our flight to Sydney. As we left Malaysia (really nice country and lovely people, incidentaly), and headed over the causeway to Singapore, the heavens opened, and it rained. It seemed appropriate - the curtain was coming down on a trip of a lifetime, and we were both quite pensive.
But still, in Sydney, we have a new city and new challenges to look forward to - it's gonna be a but of a shock, working for a living again, but over the last 11.5 month, we've had the time of our lives, and dont regret a thing.
I'll post a full review of the best and worst of the trip in the near future.
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Meredith
Meredith
Wow
Whats up dude...Your picture of the Fijian fire dancer popped up the homepage and I just wanted to tell you that you have some of the most amazing photographs of the places you have travelled that I have ever seen. I am very envious of your travels! It looks like it was amazing!