HE SAID... We arrived in George Town at 12.30pm. The drive from Kuala Kangsar was reasonably smooth, although typing in the minibus proved a little difficult, as the suspension was over–compensating for the road. It was a surreal experience driving over the long bridge linking mainland Malaysia with the island of Penang. We navigated the complex streets of outer George Town until we finally arrived at the Banana Boutique Hotel in Chulia Street. We checked in, unpacked and found my ring (it was in my pocket all along). We rang the home–stay and let them know it had turned up. I felt terrible, because they had been searching for the last few hours since we left. We headed straight out to lunch at Hameediyah Tandoori House, which was only one street over from our hotel. When ... read more

HE SAID... With a six hour minibus trip to Tanah Rata ahead of us, we woke early (in Melaka) and walked around the corner to Restoran Melaka Raya for a teh tarik (pulled sweet milky tea) and take away banana rotis (flat flaky Indian bread). This small street–front cafe with small plastic tables and chairs is open 24 hours, and it serves incredible food and tea. We jumped in the minibus at 7.30am and began our journey north towards the Cameron Highlands. We pulled into Tapah for a quick toilet stop at 11am, and stepping from the comfort of the air–conditioned minibus into the furnace outside was breathtaking – it was incredibly hot! We then began our slow and eternally snaking journey upwards into the Cameron Highlands. The road was narrow with steep drop offs over ... read more

HE SAID... After an hour long taxi ride from the airport, we arrived at our Kuala Lumpur hotel (Ancasa Express) just after midnight. Our arrival was surreal (to say the least). The taxi driver didn’t know where the hotel was, so he’d called ahead and asked for directions from the reception staff. We turned into a bus station and then started ascending a dark multi–storey car park. As we climbed the extremely narrow floors, angry taxi drivers were yelling at our taxi driver to get off their patch. Ren and I were convinced we would eventually arrive at a dead end on top of the car park, which meant descending through the gauntlet of angry taxi drivers. However, we finally snaked our way onto the fourth level and our hotel entrance was right in front of ... read more

On which soil we stand on, that is where we carry the weight of the sky... ~ Malaysian Proverb Selamat people! It’s been 14 months between our travels, and it has seemed like such a long time. As you may have guessed from the greeting, we are Asia bound – to Malaysia. To be honest, it wasn’t our first destination choice for this trip. However, the other top contenders – Mexico and China – required far more time that we could muster right now, so Peninsular Malaysia it is. This is our second trip to Malaysia. However, the last time we only spent two days in Kuala Lumpur, with a day trip to Melaka. We know a little about Malaysian history, culture and food, but not a lot...so this trip has been much anticipated. The Malay ... read more

HE SAID... We arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport at 3.40pm. Check-in was easy, as the airport is very small with only 20 check-in counters. We wandered around the terminal until we boarded our flight at 5.30pm. We lifted off at 6.10pm and were on our way to Singapore. I’m not sure if we’ll return to Cambodia, and it’s a strange feeling to leave a newly discovered country and realise you may not be coming back. The on-board dinner was pretty good – fried prawns with rice and a custard tart with mango. It wasn’t a full flight, and apart from a fairly demanding child a few seats in front of us, the rest of the passengers were normal (which was quite the opposite to our flight from Singapore to Phnom Penh a few weeks earlier). ... read more