Alfie

We had another early start this morning, up at 7, breakfast and then waiting for the minibus to come and pick us up at 8.30am. It took about 45 minutes to get to the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Hotel and Orang Utan rehabilitation centre. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous with its golf course and glorious views over the South China Sea. It had its own little beach with wicker sun loungers placed in small groups around the grounds. We were let through the hotel complex and to the Rehabilitation Centre. Here we watched and video on how the centre work with Sepilok to rehabilitate young orphan orang utans. After the video we were led up into the rainforest surrounding the resort to a feeding platform. One of the rangers climbed onto the platform and started shouting. Very ... read more

I forgot to mention in my previous blog that on our way up to Mt Kinabalu we stopped by the roadside as one of the Rafflesia flowers was flowering. We paid the equivalent of 6 pounds each to walk a short way off the road to see the bloom which was about 60cm in diameter. Apparently it's the world's largest flower, doesn't have roots, stems or leaves but blotch red and white petals. It takes 9 months to mature but only flowers for about 5 days before it dies. The one we saw was on its fifth day and was just starting to look a bit passed its best, but it was good to see one. We also stopped en-route and the upside down house. Apparently a family live it in and they have one little ... read more

Wednesday 15th August, 2012 I was up and about early this morning to get ready and have breakfast before I went diving. The minibus picked me up at about 8.20 and there were already four people on it. It turned out that one of the couples had both been teachers and they lived at Whitley Bay! Small world! They were with their son and his partner whom he'd met in Middlesborough but was originally from Singapore and they both lived there now. After a short journey a chap got on with his two children. He lived in Hong Kong but his daughter and son lived in Henley with their mother. The four from Whitley Bay/Singapore were going snorkelling and the family were all going diving. It was just a short ride to the marina where our ... read more

We started our last full day in Singapore with an early start. There is so much we want to do but will really struggle to fit it all in. We were up and out of the hostel by 8am and straight on the train to take us down to Marina Bay. Here we walked all the way along the front, eventually coming out at the Art and Science Centre/Museum. At the moment there is an Andy Warhol exhibition on and also a Harry Potter one. The building is something else and looks like a huge unfurling flower on the skyline. Underneath it there is a large pond with tiny fish swimming around and also lots of water lilies in lots of different colours. We took some time to photograph some of the lilies but didn't have ... read more

This morning we decided to make the trip to the Batu Caves, which are about 13km outside the city. We decided just to go independently on the train rather than go on an organised tour. In the end we are pleased we did as the train journey's cost us a grand total of 60p each! The train was very new and beautifully air conditioned and it took us about 30 mins to get there. Luckily, because we had set off so early there were very few people there so we made our way straight along to the entrance. Outside there is a 140ft high statue of Murugan and there is a pungent aroma of incense as a number of Hindu's are praying in the shrines at the bottom of the steps. Thankfully the sun was just ... read more