Singapore and Malaysia part 2

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Hello everyone!

So as we previously mentioned, at this point in our travels we were pretty pleased to be leaving Indonesia, and were relieved to be greeted with open arms by Lindsay (Jeni's sister) and Dave in Singapore airport. This immediately turned our frowns upside down 😊 It would be fair to say that their flat was a far cry from any accommodation we had recently stayed in, and had every convenience we could wish for- including a pool, BBQ area and best of all warm running water. After dumping our bags and having a quick chin wag we headed out for a bite to eat and hubbly bubbly pipe. It was certainly nice to experience something other than fried rice for a change, and the food really was excellent throughout Singapore- although it was a slight strain on the wallet!

Over the next few days we explored quite a bit of the city, including Clarke Quay, Orchard Road and Little India. On our second day the boys and girls went their separate ways (the first time we had been parted in 6 months- after initially shedding a tear, we soon got over it!) While Lindsay was showing Jeni some of the millions of designer shops that Orchard Road had to offer, Rich and Dave went on their merry way to the local pitch and putt. After his initial confidence, Richard soon realised that he was in fact not Tiger Woods. It somehow took him 10 minutes to hit the ball on the first hole, and involved one particular shocking stroke where the club flew out of his hand into an unexpecting tree. He will be sticking to rugby from now on. That evening we had a slap up BBQ where we all managed to eat our own body weight in meat; we had a fab night and started thinking we could get used to this!

Whilst in the city we had been advised to check out the night Safari, so the following night that is what we did. It certainly lived up to the hype as we saw plenty of animals from the comfort of a moving tram; these included elephants, rhinos, leopards, bats, lions, a flying squirrel (which after a lot of persuasion, actually flew) and a suspension bridge thoughtfully named 'The Bridge of Suspense' . At the end of the night we also managed to catch a live animal performance which was really nice to watch; especially as to our great relief it did not involve any dancing bears. During our time in Singapore we had originally planned to visit Universal Studios or the Wet and Wild water Park, unfortunately however both of these were closed on our remaining day, so we resorted to plan C- Sentosa Island. Its quite difficult to describe Sentosa, but here goes- we'd say it's a man made beach area with end of the pier style entertainment on a grander scale. All in all- everything you need for a fun day out! Now wanting miss out on any of the fun, we decided to experience a birds eye view of the island by taking a Sky Ride (cable car thing) up to the top of a hill and Luge (toboggan thing) down again. It was a good giggle, even for Jeni who was repeatedly overtaken. That evening we had one last sumptuous meal and Lindsay and Dave's local restaurant before we were on our way to Borneo- Sabah to be precise.

We flew into the state capital Koto Kinabalu, which turned out to be the ideal base to explore the North of Sabah. We liked KK from the off, and although there were not loads of sights nearby it had a lovely atmosphere with friendly people. Naturally our first stop was the world famous Mount Kinabalu, and despite deciding against climbing it we did manage to get a great view and took some awesome snaps. This particular day trip also included an excursion to Poring Hotsprings, where we walked along another Canopy Walkway and lapped up the glorious bubbles in our very own private bath away from the riff raff!

While in KK we to took the opportunity to do some White Water rafting- this was another first for Jeni. We chose to do the beginners class (grade 1-2) as we wanting to take some good pictures along the way; well, that and the fact the advanced class just looked plain bonkers. We had an excellent time and as expected got sufficiently soaked. We did however managed to stay in the boat for the duration, whereas others were falling out left right and center. Next on our agenda was camping in Tunku Rahmin National Park, on Sapi Island which is an ideal place for swimming, snorkeling, sun worshiping. Against our better judgment we bought the cheapest tent we could possibly find, which we thought would be adequate due to the lack of rain we'd experienced in Borneo to date. My god were we wrong. Although we spent an enjoyable day gorging on food, basking on the waters edge like beached whales and trying to spot different tropical fish, we had to take a rain check on outdoor activities in the evening when the heavens opened. The deluge that followed can only be described as biblical. Although the tent promised to be waterproof, this was all lies and as a result we were treated to an indoor power shower for most of the night. Things looked up in the morning though, when we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise and a deserted beach of our very own (that is apart from a huuuuge monitor lizard that Jeni initially thought was a dinosaur!)

Once we got back to KK we were keen to explore the states east side so we headed to Sandakan, the gateway to Borneo's ecological wonders. On arrival we were really eager to get straight out and see the long awaited Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre at Sepilok. We arrived just in time for the 10am feeding, where we are able to see them up close and personal. It was a real treat seeing these animals playing around and we could have sworn some of them were actually posing for the cameras. While visiting the sanctuary we also decided to go on one of their advertised nature walks; it was extremely pleasant but had we known that htis would involve a brush with death we probably would have thought twice. About halfway through our walk we heard what we thought was a falling orang utan, followed by another and another, when infact it was epic case of dead wood and were shocked to find a huge branch falling just metres awat from so had a lucky escape to say the least. To our surprise as we were heading for the exit we were met head on by one of the primates. Although we had come especially to see them, at this point instinct made us run in the opposite direction. One particularly slow tourist however, was latched onto and the pair walked hand in hand back into the forest- from what we can tell they are now living happily ever after.

Next up was the Kinabatangun River Cruise, which involved cruising down the famous waterway in search of wildlife. We managed to spot a hornbill, some macaques and probiscus monkeys. We were having lots of fun until the clouds darkened and the rain hit- unfortunately this meant a very cold and soggy journey home. On our final day in Sandakan we headed for the Probiscus Monkey Sanctuary in Labok Bay. It was a fantastic to see the animals with the worlds silliest noses live up close and monkeying around; this was the perfect end to our time in Sandakan. After a couple more days in Koto Kinabalu it was time to leave Borneo and head back to Singapore...

We were pleased to be back in the flat of dreams and to see Lindsay and Dave again. While in Singapore it was our two year anniversary, so we had an action packed day of fun planned. Unfortunately the weather was having none of it and decided to tip it down all day long! We still managed to have a really good day in the end though, packing in activities such as a visit to the Botanical Gardens, a ride on the 200kph Bungy Swing and a lovely meal and night time stroll along the river front. One evening Lindsay and Dave took us to their local Hawker Centre, which involves a ridiculous number of food stalls selling every type of cuisine you can imagine- naturally we were in heaven! Another one of our highlights in Singapore (also food related surprisingly!) was when Lindsay suggested High Tea at the Fullerton Hotel. Obviously this was quite a splurge on our part, but we soon realised it was well worth the money when we were told about the limitless supply of tea, cakes and sandwiches on offer. Later that evening the fun continued, as Lindsay took us to a KTV lounge (Karaoke booth) where we all took it in turns to belt out tunes, from Mariah Carey's 'Hero' to the Redneck's classic hit- 'Cotton Eye Joe!' Unfortunately Dave was unable to join us on this occasion, as he was spending the weekend in Bali... although we do suspect he flew out there purely to escape the prospect of singing in public.

After a few more fun filled days in Singapore, we were off again to explore some more of Malaysia. With only a week here we decided on visiting Melaka and the Cameron Highlands. First up was Melaka, a beautifully preserved river side city with a tranquil ambiance. We took in all of the main sights on our first day, and managed to squeeze in a river cruise. On our remaining day we soaked up more of the charming atmosphere, soaked up some local food and paid a visit to a traditional chines tea shop. Here we given a full briefing on all of the teas and coffees available, and then, only after a pretty thorough smell test were we allowed to choose our favourite. Our highlight here though, was in fact when we asked our tea tutor the time. Unfortunately for her, as she checked her watch she plum forgot that she was holding a cup of tea- so consequently threw it all over herself! We took this as our queue to make a move, so swiftly headed off to the Cameron Highlands.

The journey was longer than planned, so we arrived at our destination with a severe case of the travel grumps. Despite our mood, neither of us could help but notice the beautiful surroundings which were truly spectacular. Not wanting to spend any more time than necessary in our room (which was a little rough around the edges to say the least) we quickly booked ourselves onto a countryside tour for the following day. This came at a bargain price and turned out to be a great idea. We were able to see wide variety of interesting sights- two of our favourites being the Boh Tea plantation, where we got the chance to sample some of the local brew as well as some freshly baked scones surrounded by a stunning backdrop. Also the strawberry farm, which initially seemed like a bog standard tour until we heard a "Psssssst" coming from behind the bushes. We soon discovered it was actually one of the farm workers beckoning us away from prying eyes- enabling him to feed us some of the juiciest, flavoursome strawberries we've ever had. After our strawberry smuggling was over we returned to the lodge more than satisfied with our day out. Our last day in the Cameron Highlands was spent doing nothing apart from eating our own body weight in scones, which it seemed is what most other tourists were tend to do here too.

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