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Published: December 23rd 2007
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Petronas Towers
Spectacularly lit against the black night sky. Heading north from Singapore we stopped over for a night in Melacca, where it hammered down with rain, but that didn't bother us too much as we had happened upon the “Traveller's Lodge”, a plush guest house with full air-con, wet room and 3 beds all for just a tenner. The three of us were definitely hoping that this was a sign of things to come! In Mellaca we headed out for a great comedy meal at a place called Capital Satay. Basically, in the centre of your table is a burner and a big pot of Satay Sauce, and towards the back of the restaurant there is a fridge containing a massive variety of slightly indistinct foods on wooden sticks which you take and cook in the Satay Sauce in front of you. Not really knowing what we were doing, the banter was flying between us and we had a great time - the highlight probably coming when I decided to be adventurous and ended up sampling the “fat in peanut” which was understandably disgusting!!
In Kuala Lumpur, the accommodation headed back downhill in standard, with our air-conditioning unit doing its best impression of a waterfall in the middle
Swing Bridges!!
Our hike through the Taman Negara rainforest took across across well-maintained bridges such as these! of the night as it leaked everywhere and woke us all up! I also got plenty of touristy photos of one of the world's tallest building - the Petronas Towers. They looked especially cool - but not all that tall - lit up at night-time.
Our dinner in Kuala Lumpur was absolutely exceptional, as we trusted our guidebook and went for a curry at the Moghul House restaurant. For not very much outlay we feasted on various naan breads, fried breads, rices, vegetables and all sorts of curries. A top meal out for the boys.
Next up was Taman Negara, a village in the rainforest in central Malaysia. Steve and I decided to do a rainforest trek and stay in a hide overnight in an attempt to see some wildlife. After all my New Zealand hikes I thought it would be a walk in the park. However, (I blame it on a cold) about 2 and a half hours into the walk back I started feeling really ill and throwing up! The walk was pretty hardcore with loads of tributaries to cross and some comedy Indiana Jones swing bridges that hadn't seen maintenance probably in my lifetime! Eventually,
White Flag, Trek abandoned!
Waving the white flag back down at the riverbank as we attempted to buy our way back to the village! I felt that I could go no further and we gave up the walk and got down to a river. Here we attempted to flag down every passing boat and were eventually able to buy our way back to Taman Negara with a local fisherman. If I've learnt one thing now its that "YOU MUST RESPECT THE JUNGLE" Oh, and trainers with Homer Simpson socks may not be the ideal attire for a hardcore rainforest stomp! Never mind, if it doesn't kill you it'll make you stronger - or so I told myself!
We continued to head north and reached the Perhentian Islands via an exciting boat ride with a dodgy captain who had "forgotten" to get fuel before the trip and had to scamper off to the nearest petrol station with some jerry cans. The Perhentians consisted of two tiny islands with no roads or vehicles. We were on the smaller one, and you could walk across it in ten minutes, which was paradise. Also, for the first time in my travels, I had found somewhere where the sea was warm - god bless the South China Sea.
The weather on the Perhentians was superb and we
Perhentian Islands
The beautiful view from our guesthouse on the island paradise. spent four or five very pleasant days sunbathing and snorkelling. The weather was perhaps a bit too intense for senior Alger as on the first day he got pretty char-grilled and the unfortunate high position of his waistband meant that he ended up with a tan-line that was Simon Cowell-esque to say the least.
As was tending to be the case in our time in South East Asia, the food was turning out to be a real highlight. On the island, there were a strip of restaurants along the beach, and served at each of these were freshly caught fish that were barbecued in front of us. Dorado - which is superb - Shark, Kingfish and Barracuda were all sampled, and it was some of the best eating I have ever done!
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katiec82
kate cotter
PERHENTIAN ISLANDS
Hey Just wondering what time of year you were there? I have my trip planned for December and was told that crossing to the islands is not really possible due to monsoon season?!! what was it like for you?! cheers