Blogs from Malaysia, Asia - page 641

Our one whole day in Malaysia's capital was very busy! We woke at 7ish and had breakfast and had to run from the hostel to the Petronas Towers to join the queue for tickets to the sky bridge. It's free to go up there - but we had to queue for about an hour and then go back at 12:30 to actually do the tour. In the interval we walked around the shopping centre underneath - it's really nice (and cheap) and full of all of the designers that you can think of. Then we went to the tourist centre and booked out coach tickets to Taman Negara - to leave the next morning. The Petronas tour itself started with a short 3D advert for Pertonas (a Malaysian oil company) - we got to wear geeky ... read more

On our arrival in Kota Kinabalu (KK - capital of Sabah) we were very excited as there was so much to do and we had many things to get booked. This excitement soon turned to disapointed though as the first thing we went to book, a climb up Mt Kinabalu, turned out to be fully booked until September!! This is the highest mountain in South East Asia (over 12,000 feet) and was something we were really looking forward to doing. There is a limited number of people allowed to climb each day and all that "Visit Malaysia 50th Anniversary" advertising is paying off!! The next thing on our list was a visit to the turtle islands to see turtles laying eggs at night and hatchlings being released into the sea.......this is also fully booked for months ... read more

So we took the bus to Melaka and into Malaysia on Sunday morning, it was about a 4 1/2 hour journey but it passed pretty fast with all of the jungle scenery and tin hut villages going past. We also had our first over land border crossing from Singapore into Malaysia. Was easier than expected (minus a little hastle from our bus driver). We went through customs on the Singaporean side then got back onto the bus to cross the water and had to get off again on the other side to do the same. On arrival in Melaka we were accosted a few times by hostel touts, one turned out to be from the hostel we booked so the guy introduced us to the owner who in turn gave us a lift to the hostel ... read more

Took the hotel transfer to the long distance bus station in Kuantan, the twenty minute journey cost more than the price of our bus tickets for a three and a half hour journey to Mersing! We were punctual as ever purchasing our bus tickets two and a half hours prior to the bus departing. We left our bags at the station and headed to the near by shopping centre where I had spotted a Starbucks. Killed the time nursing our frappucinos and taking advantage of the free wireless. We ate an unusual cheese and pineapple roll on the journey down. We arrived in Mersing just before dark and headed to the Embassy hotel. This was the cheapest place we have stayed on this trip so far, at less than eight pounds for the night. To be ... read more

The journey to Kuantan was a bit of an ordeal, the economy bus was somewhat lacking in luggage space so we had to sit with our bags, which aren’t the lightest or smallest. The bus was also over an hour late and the journey six hours. However it was worth the DVT for our luxurious junior suite at the Swiss Garden Resort and Spa. We had actually booked the cheapest room available at this hotel, but were gratefully upgraded. We have been taking advantage of the hotels facilities, despite the rain, which always seems to arrive when we check in somewhere decent with a pool! Eating too much western food (I had the biggest BBQ ribs I have ever seen) but we will be back to the local delicacies soon enough. The local Malaysian cabaret act ... read more