We left Georgetown at 6am and spent the next 4 and half hours winding our way up into the Cameron Highlands. We were both feeling a little car sick by the time we arrived at Tanah Rata and were wandering whether we had chosen our destination wisely as it wasn't anything like we imagined it would be. The highlands were renowned as a vegetable, strawberry and tea growing area, as well as a popular tourist destination. We had passed dozens of vegetable farms which were really ugly as the plants were all covered with white plastic roofs so the 'green' hills were actually glowing white. The first town of any size we came to was full of tall apartment blocks, all of which appeared to be vacant. We found out later that they were holiday apartments ... read more

Kuching - which means cat in Malay - was a wonderful city to relax in. We had booked a lodge on the river waterfront and were very comfortable there for the nine nights we stayed. The staff were wonderful, particularly the man who organised our breakfast each morning. He was so attentive I'm sure he would have spoon fed us had we wanted him to! The riverside has a long paved promenade lined with landscaped gardens and restaurants and is well used by the local people. The city was very clean and the area in which we were staying was lined with old Chinese shop houses. The population seemed predominately Chinese as there were not a lot of Muslim dress being worn. The town centre follows the riverbank and feels like a small community as the ... read more

After an interesting 6 hour bus trip which circled the very impressive slopes of Mt Kinabulu we arrived in Kota Kinabulu, the capital of Sabah. It appealed to us immediately, maybe because of it's setting on the ocean, but it also seemed a fairly relaxed place. Forgetting that it was the beginning of the long May Day weekend (we've lost track of time) I hadn't prebooked a room and we had trouble finding anywhere to stay. Eventually we ended up in a newly opened lodge on the corner of Beach Street and overlooking a big open air entertainment/ restaurant area. The room a bed and nothing else - we had no space at all and the bathroom was down the corridor. However it was very clean and because it had no windows very quiet (and dark- ... read more

Our last couple of days in KL were great - we've settled into to the flow but still haven't got our suitcases sorted re living out of them. We need to get into the habit of putting things back into the same spot so we don't have to constantly rummage! We ended up catching the monorail to the Kampung area of KL, which is dominated by the Petronas Towers but is really just like a country town. The area is home to predominately non migrant Malaysians and is full of the old wooden houses with gardens and chook pens. We didn't stay for the markets but spent a couple of hours wandering and chatting before sitting in an open air eatery and enjoying a range of traditional sweets. Malaysian food areas are set up as buffet ... read more

Jerry and I are packing for another adventure in South East Asia. We leave next week for a week in Kuala Lumpur before heading down to Borneo for a month. Eventually we hope to end up in India, China and then to travel the loop through most of the other South East Asian countries, before heading home to Australia in February 2010. For anyone interested this blog is attached to the one I kept whilst we were travelling around China in 2005. Also on this blog site (under blogger code '2inchina' ) is the blog I kept whilst we were teaching in Central China.... read more