Luscious Langkawi and Irresponsible Tourism Wednesday 18th March 2009 The Langkawi group of islands should be one of the jewels of the Andaman Sea. The islands are mostly covered by lush jungle where large groups of monkeys chatter and play and tropical flowers abound. The beaches are white-sand coral and the sea is turquoise, blue and green, dotted with limestone stacks, craggy cliffs and numerous small islands. However, the Malaysian Government wants Langkawi to be Malaysia’s Phuket and they are succeeding fast. As a result, in many parts of Langkawi, jet skis and speed boats chase through the channels between the stacks and islands, leaving grey-smeared sand and dead coral in their wake. It is a travesty. Today we went island-hopping. Unfortunately, so did many local and foreign tourists, mostly local (Malaysian school holidays this week) ... read more

Back to the beach: Pulau Penang Thursday 12th March 2009 We have been in Malaysia over one week and this is the first chance we’ve had to enjoy the beach (because we have been enjoying cities and mountains). Yesterday we came to Pulau Penang (Penang Island) by bus from the Cameron Highlands. Since our arrival it has been sunshine, sunshine, sunshine, with just a little bit of rain last night to freshen things up. So nice! We are hoping that we’ve now left the rains behind us and it will be sunshine all the way to Bangkok. Although Penang has its fair share of four and five star hotels and resorts, it can still cater well for the backpacker, and so although it is pretty quiet with few tourists at the moment, there are a fair ... read more

Orchids, Railways and Urban Monkeys Saturday 7th March 2009 We didn’t expect to meet any monkeys in the heart of the Kuala Lumpur but this city is full of surprises! Today we walked, got lost, walked some more, got lost and eventually returned to Chinatown having seen far more of KL than planned and met up with a troupe of monkeys on the way! They were hanging out in the trees between the National Mosque and the Lake Gardens. First off we crossed the river and made our way to KL railway station just to see the amazing architecture. Designed and built in 1911 by an eccentric British architect, in Moorish style with more minarets than a mosque and arches and domes galore, it is a masterpiece of Edwardian folly; superbly ridiculous and very grand! Across ... read more

Melaka, a good introduction to Malaysia Wednesday 4th March 2009 Melaka was a good destination choice for our first stop in Malaysia. The four hour bus journey from Singapore was very comfortable in a spacious air conditioned coach, passing through spectacular countryside, jungles, green hills, distant mountains and miles and miles of palm plantations (for palm oil). Melaka is a lively little city, steeped in history and the locals are a cheery lot; even the Trishaw peddlers have a sense of humour, for example, “How about a ride on my BMW?” They don’t hassle either! It is such a contrast to Indonesia. Here one can browse around the shops and market stalls at leisure with no pressure to buy. We have a cheap, clean budget room on the edge of Chinatown and close to the old ... read more

Lovina, Northern Balinese coast Wednesday 25th February 2009 Since returning to Bali from Flores, we have been chilling out in Lovina on the North coast. We were a bit concerned that, having left Flores sooner than planned, due to washed out roads and travel difficulties there, we would be disappointed with our final Indonesian week in Bali, since Flores is so scenically beautiful and we would have liked to spend longer there. We needn’t have worried because northern Bali is so very different to the frenetic tourist hubs of the south and the scenery across the central mountains is pretty spectacular. Lovina is a quiet little seaside town nestled between the mountains and the sea. The weather has been glorious, sunny mornings and cooling rain in the afternoons, and the seas are calm. The coral reef ... read more