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Malaysia and Singapore

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Petronas towers, KL

Chloe Writes: Our Malaysian adventure didn’t get off to the best of starts in the capital of Kuala Lumpur (KL). A mixture of searing heat, monsoon like rains and heavy city smog and traffic made wandering round the city pretty un-inspiring. We ended up in an air-conditioned shopping centre watching one or two films and buying things we don’t need. Having spent far too much money we traveled down to Melaka, a fairly old town with a lot of character. Here we ambled round China town, visited St Paul’s church (or what was left of it), stumbled across a very busy night market and had some fantastic Indian food in little India. As you can tell we didn’t do an awful lot in Malaysia, but there are one or two good photos.

After less than 5 days in Malaysia we headed down to Singapore to meet our friends Andy & Sal. Like Malaysia, Singapore has a very diverse culture and subsequently also a China Town & Little India. Although you can literally shop till you drop in Singapore as there are hundreds of shopping malls, when you have little money and a very small backpack this delight was slightly wasted on us, although the boys did come back with a few much needed gadgets ;o).


White Tiger, Singapore

A trip to Singapore zoo was definitely on the agenda and we saw some amazing animals such as the white tiger, it was just a shame that a mixture of small enclosures and lack of other animals of the like left some of them pacing and by he looks of it, slightly mad. The highlight of my day had to be the polar bears, one of whom was playing & swimming in the water just the other side of the glass. When the zoo shuts for the day, the night safari complex opens and at 6pm, this was where we were headed (no photos I’m afraid as the flash on the camera scares the animals). Although I’m glad I went it was a little disappointing, mostly due to the very cheesy and slightly annoying keepers – anyone would think that zoo’s were for kids ;o).

The next day we took a trip to sentosa, a man-made island/theme park kind of thing. It was a shame as it was mostly a building site, but we did manage a walk along the beach and a 4D cinema experience, which was like the imax 3D but with moving chairs, artificial wind and squirty water. It was fun although all I could hear was Pete in hysterics next to me. We finished off our trip to Singapore with a few jugs of bear and another spicy curry in little India. Yum!!


Pete Writes: Meeting up with Andy and Sally in Singapore was great, it was good to see some familiar faces. We spent 3 days together (that flew by) eating drinking and laughing, oh and comparing our trips so far, we now have lots of tips for NZ.

Our next stop is Indonesia which hopefully will be a lot cheaper, fingers crossed :o)


Page Gallery

rain in KL
Rain in KL

chef
A Japanese food chef cooking our food. KL

china town
China Town in Melaka

tuktuk2
Colourful Tuk Tuk in Melaka, they played music too..

tuk tuk3
Tuk Tuk 2

night market1
Night Market, Melaka

Singapore
Singapore

Us 4
US with Andy & Sal

Carrots
Carrots……. Lots of them!

seafood
Seafood buffet

China town
China Town

Flump
Watching the Elephants playing in the water.

Orangutan
Orangutan chillin’

Polar
Polar Bear playing

Pete caged
That’s one way to get there

Statue
One of many bizarre statues at the zoo

Andy and Sal
Stuffed!!

Phnom Penh and Siem Reap

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Bayon temple, Angkor Wat

Chloe Writes: Even though I had read in the guide book that Cambodians eat anything, I was still surprised to see the fried crickets, cockroaches and tarantulas among other snacks on sale. Once arriving in Phnom Penh, we found a relaxing spot to stay by the lake with a really chilled out restaurant overlooking the perfect sunset. It was just a shame about all the rubbish and the hassle from tuk tuk drivers and hawkers, it reminded us of India in many ways.

You cant visit Phnom Penh without visiting the killing fields, the Tousang prison and watching a movie or two about all the atrocities under the regime of the Khmer Rouge in mid to late seventies. Around 2 million people were either executed or died of starvation. It’s a real eye-opener.


Angkor Wat

Our second bus trip (the first when crossing the border) and a second dodgy road side meal consisting of a kind of cold lentil/noodle soup, took us to the dusty town of Siem Reap. Being quite a laid back town it is definitely a place to hang your hat for a couple of days or 4, and a 3 day pass to visit the temples of Angkor means you can come and go as you please. I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan of wondering round ancient ruins all day, especially in a 35 degree heat, but the temples of Angkor did not fail to impress, we even made it to Angkor Wat for the sunrise.

I have enjoyed our short but sweet trip to Cambodia and will certainly miss the ‘cook your own soup’ restaurants, where you order plates of noodles, meat, veg etc. and cook it in a boiling clay pot of soup in the center of your table, sat on a gas burner, at your leisure. Genius!


One of the many tree-damaged temples

Pete Writes: ‘Hello tuk tuk!’ is all you hear in Cambodia so much so I was beginning to think it was the national greeting! Add to this beggars and sellers on every corner it can get a bit too much. However once you stop and think about what they have been through, you become a little better at dealing with them. I just wish that the kids were at school rather than trying to sell you fridge magnets!

Siem Reap has a completely different vibe to Phenom Pehn. Mostly due to the fact that they have one of the 7 wonders on their door step. Angkor Wat and all of the surrounding temples were a real treat to visit, especially when we headed out on our bikes. Shame Chloe could not get to grips with her saddle, although saying that we both looked a little like John Wayne when we got back, walking with a distinct swagger. We took sooooo many photos and have short listed them to the ones here, however if anyone has a spare few hours we will be happy to bring the slide show round on our return :o)


Page Gallery

Back street
Siem Reap

Wc soon
Can’t wait for that one!!

Lake sunset
Sunset from our guest house in Phnom Penh

Diablo
Pete gave his diablo to a ‘hello tuk tuk’ and taught him a trick or two….. the shop owner wasn’t best pleased when it hit her roof…oops!!

Killing fields
Killing Fields & Memorial

Skulls
Some of the many thousands of remains in the memorial aka Skull Tower

s21
Tousang prison or S21

Angkor wat
Angkor Wat

Carvings
Carvings in stone, Angkor Wat

us x
Us at the top of one of the Angkor temples

Tree temple 2
Tree in Temple 2

Tree temple 1
Tree in Temple 3

Chloe and bike
Chloe with our bikes at Angkor

monk
Monk

face
Bayon temple at Angkor

face 2
Bayon temple 2

cow angkor
A cow at Angkor

sunset 2
Sunset at Angkor

Soup
D.I.Y soup…Yummy!

Pete
Pete getting randomly attacked, in the middle of the city, by a standing up croc…bizzare!

bug eating bug
Bug eating bug

bugs
Humans eating bugs

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
On a row boat on the mekong Pete Writes: Previously known as Saigon this city is constantly on the go. It has a population over 8 million, and it seems as ... [Continue reading this entry]