HE SAID... We arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 4.30pm, checked in and wandered aimlessly through the terminal. We’d heard that a memorial wall for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 had been created somewhere in the airport, so we asked at an information booth and were directed towards the viewing area. As we approached, three security guards sitting at the entry stood and asked where we were going. We mentioned the memorial wall and they simply smiled and informed us it was closed. A few locals walked straight past us as we were talking to the guards, so we quickly realised the area was quarantined to tourists. The guards smiled apologetically and sat back down – what more could they do? We thanked them for their congeniality and wandered back into the bustle of the ... read more

HE SAID... We woke early at 6am (in Kota Bharu) to prepare for our six hour bus trip to Kampung Kelantan. We headed up to the rooftop restaurant of our hotel at 7am and enjoyed the Kota Bharu skyline as the sun rose over the city. After a quick breakfast of coffee, juice, cornflakes, toast and fruit, we checked out, jumped in a taxi and headed to the Kota Bharu bus station. We picked up a few snacks (blueberry tarts and kaya puffs) from a nearby bakery before boarding the bus and beginning our southward journey at 10am. Apart from the guy playing video games on his phone and the ubiquitous crying baby behind me, the bus trip was reasonably comfortable. We stopped in Jeli for a toilet break at 12pm and then pulled into Restoran ... read more

HE SAID... We woke early (in Kuala Terengganu) and headed down to a lazy breakfast at 7am. We sat on the hotel’s riverside deck beside the Sungai Terengganu (Terengganu River) and helped ourselves to tea, coffee, juice, cornflakes, nasi impit with kuah kacung (moist rice cakes with satay sauce), nasi dagang with gula ikan tongkol (red rice with fish curry), fried kway teow(fried flat noodles), hashbrown potatoes, toast with sardines and toast with coconut jam. It was great, and we shared it with a very demanding street cat until the waiting staff shooed it away with a spray of water. We had a two and a half hour bus trip to Jerteh (Kota Bharu), so after breakfast I walked around Chinatown one last time before the bus left at 10am. We caught a taxi to the ... read more

HE SAID... We woke at 5am (in Melaka) for a 6.30am start to Taman Negara National Park. We wouldn’t be arriving at our hotel in Kuala Tahan until 5pm, so we walked to Restaron Melaka Raya for a teh tarik(pulled sweet milky tea) at 6am. We jumped into a minibus at 6.30am and travelled north east until we arrived at the Gemas rail station at 7.45am. We noticed children going to school on the way, as their school day starts at 7am and finishes around midday. We dropped our bags at the station and walked straight to Gemas Curry Point for breakfast at 8am. We shared a roti canai (flat flaky Indian bread served with curry sauce), a thosai (thin crispy fermented rice flour pancakes) and a couple of teh tariks – it was sensational! The ... read more

HE SAID... I woke early and lay in bed, looking at the street lights filtering through the wooden shutters of our George Town hotel room window. We were heading back to Kuala Lumpur this morning, and there was a twinge of sadness in leaving. Every now and again a place gets under your skin, and you begin to comfortable as you walk along familiar streets and lanes. George Town may be crowded, busy, smelly and exceptionally hot in the afternoon/early evening, but there’s something enchanting about the city’s core zone. The locals are friendly, the food is amazing and the atmosphere is heady. We could easily have stayed on, but a journey lay ahead of us, and we were looking forward to continuing our travels. I snacked on fruit and yoghurt as we prepared to ... read more