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Published: June 20th 2013
Luxury Cinema
Pavilion Mall, KLSo I haven't done this since KL which was 2 countries ago, this could be a long one. We spent 5 days in KL; most people we have met don't rate the city that much but I reckon if they had the tips we did they'd change their tune. My big sis lived there so we got the insider info on what to do which was awesome. We saw Iron Man 3 (meh) in the Pavilion cinema which is at the top of a huge mall, its well bling! Best cinema trip ever – reclining leather armchairs, blankets and waiter service just a button away, all for £12! We also went to the Sky Bar on top of a snazzy hotel and had free cocktails and saw the Petronas Towers and we went to an indoor theme park in a huge mall and had some rollercoaster fun.
FRIM, the Forestry Institute of Malaysia, was a fun and sweaty outing, it’s basically a big forest that you trek through to get to the Canopy Walkway which is some rope, ladders and planks up some trees, I sweated so much I looked like I’d had a swim. We met up with Claire
my sister’s KL buddy who had been giving us some tips for KL as well and went to Mont Kiara Plaza to an amazing food market, it’s not in any travel guides as its all for the ex-pats so we were the only travelers there but it was well worth it, if only for the real sausages! She took us to The Backyard which was Jen’s favourite bar basically I spent the evening trying to make Jen jealous and I think it worked 😊
Aside from that we visited Little India for a huge banana leaf curry and wandered the streets of Chinatown and got a fish foot spa in the Central Market which was horrible at first but you got used to it, shame there was no effect and my feet were still skanky.
From KL we went down to Melaka for a few days which was a nice town but a bit dull for us and bloody hot!
A lot of travelers talk about Malaysia not being worth a visit but I really liked it and the food is the best so far.
Singapore We bussed it down to Singapore and spent about
3 days there, we did the Singapore Flyer which is their version of the London Eye there were nice views but it was a bit heavy on the air con so I spent most of the half hour hugging the doors for warmth. We saw the Raffles hotel and the National Museum neither blew me away and the aircon in the museum ruined the 99 stop long audio guide tour for me I got to 40 before I had to get out and warm up. We signed up for a scooter tour of the city that the hostel does; I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea – scooters, exercise and heat no thanks! Luckily 1 minute in, my flip flops disintegrated from under me so I couldn’t do it yay! Cec enjoyed it but I enjoyed my evening of Doctor Who more I reckon. My favourite thing we did in Singapore was Universal Studios; it’s not the best in the world but I had so much fun and the Transformers ride was so good I almost peed. We had planned to do the night safari that my dad recommended (he lived in Singapore for a bit) but after our day
of fun we were pooped and had to be up at 5am for our flight to Jakarta.
Indonesia We arrived in Jakarta mid-morning absolutely shattered and headed to Jalan Jaksa (the traveler bit) and proceeded to pass out and sleep the day away. We had a day of sightseeing in Jakarta, went to the National Monument and the old city but none of it did much for me, it was just another chaotic Asian city.
Next stop was Bandung; man I wish we had skipped that pile of dung! There’s a volcanic crater there that according to travel guides is worth a visit – it’s not. We tried to be good travelers and did the public transport thing as its cheaper except when the drivers spot a tourist fixed prices don’t exist, we got totally mugged off; shit loads of traffic, drivers overcharging us and then getting dropped in the middle of nowhere and waved off to make our own way – bastards. The volcano wasn’t even good, it was full of Indonesians who all wanted our picture constantly so we couldn’t walk 5 minutes without a ‘Mister Photo!!’ English isn’t top out here and I’ve been
called Mister a lot. When we eventually finished our day we both agreed it was rubbish! We got the earliest train out and headed to Jogjakarta hoping for fun times.
Let down is the best way I can describe Jogja, it’s a nice enough town but seemed dead, we managed to meet some people one night and I think the 7 of us were the only travelers there. We visited the Sultans Palace which was nothing special, we also did a day trip to see 2 temples Borobudur and Prambanan which meant getting up at stupid o clock to drive out there which if you know me know I wasn’t a happy bunny. The first temple was actually impressive but not for the 2 hours they gave us there, I did try to be interested but after Angkor Wat this couldn't compete. The second was less impressive but did require us to wear hardhats so some fun was had; we skipped out after about 20 minutes and had some food – so cultural init?! One highlight of Jogja was Pizza Hut; normally we don’t do the western chains but our friend Dewi told us about their stuffed crust which
Night out in Kuta
These guys saved us! has chicken nuggets in! Best pizza ever and it lasted us 2 dinners – awesomesauce!
From Jogja we decided to get off Java and head to Bali stopping at Bromo on the way for a sunrise volcano tour, get ready for another disappointing volcano story. Left Jogja at 8am arrived in Bromo 11.30pm, woken up at 3.15am to get our trek on, we got driven to the park entrance and the queue was so long that we hadn’t even made it halfway walking before the sun was peeking out –so much for sunrise tour. I did actually like the walk, the volcano was better than the last one and we met a nice Indonesian girl at the top who we chatted to for a bit so it wasn’t that disappointing. We still had another 11 hour travel day to get through after that so by the time we made it to Bali and decided where to go it was about 12.30 before we collapsed into bed in Sanur.
Reading this back I realise I’ve slated most of Java but 5 months in, I was so tired and honestly just didn’t enjoy most of it I’m sure when Cec
does her version of this you can read the good bits but I’m a miserable git soz!
Sanur is not a lively place its basically full of old people on their holidays, both of our travel guides named it ‘Snore’ which is apt. 2 days of sleeping there and we moved onto Kuta which is a boozy beach town and that’s exactly what we did – lay on the beach then got pissed. It was a slightly eventful night; we’d had a beer on the beach in the day and got talking to an Indonesian guy who seemed nice and offered to show us the good bars that night with him and his pals, it seemed legit so we agreed to meet him after dinner. We turned up expecting him and his pals, turned out he’d got one pal and we ended up on a double date, we went to Alleycats which was rammed but somehow we ended up in a quiet corner with these 2 guys who bought us a ton of drinks. We didn’t encourage them at all but they were getting overfriendly so I came up with a genius plan when Cec went to the loo
she had to find someone to come over and pretend they knew us to save us. 5 minutes later a guy came over and told us all the boys were over here if we wanted to join – yes please! We ditched the now angry Indonesians and had an awesome night with a group of Australian guys. That was the last time we got friendly with a local I’m sure there are plenty of nice people but I ain’t risking it.
After Kuta we went to Ubud and had a few days there; we went white water rafting which was amazing and so much fun – finally traveling was fun again! Next stop was Tulamben to dive Liberty wreck which we were told about by our dive instructor in Koh Tao – it was great but then diving always is and we got free underwater pictures this time.
Then onto the Gili islands, there are 3 islands and we went to Gili Trawangan which is the party one, we’ve been here 11 days so far; so much for seeing the other islands. There isn’t much to do here but the beach is good, there’s food and drink aplenty
Gili T
One of many boozy nights here and we’ve met a bunch of cool people so I’m happy. We’ve been here so long the bar tenders know our drink and the café we go to for wifi are definitely bored of us.
We cycled around the island one day which took about an hour and most of it was dragging our bikes through the sand, aside from that it’s basically been a beach holiday and I’m not complaining (for a change). First day here I was on the beach most of the day and was walking back to the room when someone shouted ‘Alright Spiderman’ to me, I thought I’d met the town crazy but when I got back and looked in the mirror I realised I was actually Spiderman - I’d burnt my face to buggery!
We met up with Cec’s friends friend Gina a few nights and on their last night we went for a big one and I flopped, 4 drinks in I got ill and had to leave mid party - I walked home so fast I swear my flip flops were smoking needless to say me and the toilet are good buddies now.
Something terrible happened 2 days ago that has marred the experience slightly – I ran out of marmite 😞 I’ve made it last since my birthday but alas its over as is my enjoyment of breakfast, don’t try to comfort me I’m distraught.
In other non-travelling news I have another nephew!! Luke Jacob Kempster born 1
st June yay!
Borneo next to climb mountains, scuba dive and see orangutan and turtles - I'm tired just thinking about it.
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Marmite
Great blog. Shame it's all ruined by the demise of marmite. maybe vegimite will fill the gap when you get to Australia.