Aug 30, 2019 - Goodbye England - Hello Malaysia

After enjoying our last full English breakfast at the cafe of a nearby aged care home (it was cheap at only 3 pounds) we headed for Windsor on our last full day in the UK. You tend to forget how popular and crowded certain places can be and Windsor was certainly crowded with tourists. Parking was a nightmare. As it isn't that far from Heathrow the planes go over about every minute. Hopefully the Queen has double glazing for when she stays at Windsor Castle which is her official home. She's currently at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on her...

Aug 1, 2019 - Kuala Lumpor, Day 2

We went to the breakfast buffet at 7:00. It was largely set for Muslim, Chinese and Indian tastes. There was a small section of Western food which I used today. Jean likes to experiment with her breakfast food. We returned to the room until our pick-up at 8:30. Yus drove us through the heavy morning traffic. We waited at one intersection for about five minutes. Instead of letting the lights control the traffic, a police officer was controlling the traffic. Yus pointed out that the Green Line and Blue Line buses are free to try to encourage...

Jul 31, 2019 - Kuala Lumpur

We went down at 7:00 to the breakfast buffet. It was OK and I enjoyed the meal. We then left the hotel at 8:30 for our journey to Kuala Lumpur. As we traveled along I edited the previous day's pictures so that when I get to the hotel this afternoon and have an internet connection, I would be able to upload them. Along the way, I took pictures of some of the billboards to show what audience they were targeting, and the blend of languages. We did do a quick WC stop before entering the city. We drove through the city with Yus pointing out...

Jul 30, 2019 - Melaka

Today was a travel day. After returning to the room from the breakfast buffet, we finished packing. We were downstairs at 7:45 to checkout, and our driver was already there. He was only taking us to the border, then we were to transfer to another vehicle. It took about 30 minutes to the Singapore-Malaysia border, but then we were in a long queue in the bus lane since we were in a minivan. It was amazing the amount of people crossing the border going both ways in cars, on motorcycles, vans buses and just walking. Between getting out for...

May 16, 2019 - Trishaw the best way to travel.

Today we rode in Trishaws all over George Town. It was hot, high humidity, and a little rain. Just like home. What a great day it was. Our first stop Pinang Peranakan Mansion. 30 rooms. Dining room on the right Western, dining on the left Eastern depending on who they were entertaining. There was a room where they smoked opium until 1867 when it was outlawed because of a civil war between gangs of drug lords. The final portrait of the mistress of the house was pretty bad from years of opium addiction. To go upstairs we had to once again...

May 15, 2019 - Silk worm contortionists, I have seen too much.

Last night we watched a H-U-G-E production called Silk Road. It was in the Two70 room. It required reservations. This area has 13 panels they project different scenes on. Everything from an orchestra to pretend curtains. Every kind of seating imaginable from short metal stools to high back couches. Tables with bar stool high chairs, long bench’s, upholstered chairs, and foot stools it is a seating menagerie of a warped mind. Anyway back to the show. There were people singing, drumming ,always the loud drumming, silk worm contortionists,...

May 14, 2019 - Odds,and Ends, of nothing!

Today I met a woman who was at the end of Candy Crush waiting for new levels to be added. It was level 4600 something. She has played about 3 hours every day the last 8 yrs. So that is 1095 hours a year times 8 equals 8760 total hours. Divide that by 24 is 365. So one year of the past 8 she has been playing Candy Crush. This was the last day of Progressive trivia for “50 shades of gray matter”. We finished 9th. It could have been 8th place but for some reason I could not think of Jennifer Hudson’s name or Mila Kusher’s maiden name. No...

May 13, 2019 - Entertainment is where you find it!

The clock was pushed ahead another 1 hr last night and we are 12 hrs ahead of Florida, your today is our yesterday. It means we get up later every day and are down to two meals a day. We watched a mini contest in the Windjammer cafeteria of who could haul the most dirty dishes at one time. Had our enrichment series on Cold cases. Listened to the passenger choir practice. They are NOT ready for America’s Got Talent. Progressive trivia was a blood bath of dare I say it......Cheating. Last night we watched a four person string quartet, 3...

Apr 26, 2019 - Melaka to Johor Bahru

26 April – Friday It is still raining heavily when we get up, that is going to make for a nice drive to Johor, not. We meet Shelley for breakfast, and again we are feeling spoilt. There are a few others in the dining room, but none have a table set like we do – a white linen cloth, cloth napkins, crockery and cutlery all set out, two waiters standing by to take away dishes the instant they are finished with, to keep our water and coffee topped up, and to bring our plates of food from the buffet. We even have a large plate of pastries, and...

Apr 24, 2019 - Kuala Lumpur city tour, then to Melaka

24 April – Wednesday Check out is not until midday, when Arun collects us for a city tour. After breakfast Tony heads over to the telephone store, and has a bit of difficulty getting things sorted. It takes some time to organise, but eventually gets across what he wants when the staff member opens the store website. Two sim cards cost MYR8 each ($3), and come with a MYR5 credit, Tony chooses those and hands over his passport. It takes over half an hour to set up the accounts, he is getting concerned at how long this is taking. Finally...

Apr 22, 2019 - Kuala Lumpur

22 April – Easter Monday We are dozing off and on in the airport, the sleep pods here were expensive at AU$17/hour each, so we give that a miss, especially as we are only allowed one person per pod. We get up around 4am, and head for the showers to freshen up, we are surprised to find that they are free. We check our bags (19kg, 24kg – still no room for shopping!), and head up to immigration where all goes smoothly. Tony goes to get the GST refund on his camera, but they are closed so we have to leave applications and hope it gets...

Mar 13, 2019 - Walking Historic Georgetown

As our route we chose to follow The Lonely Planet’s “Five Cultures on Two Feet” walk, intended to showcase Georgetown’s mix of British, Indian, Malay, Baba-Nonya (Paranekan) and Chinese architecture. Given all these cultures, Georgetown seems to have some sort of church, temple or mosque every block or two. It’s somewhat staggering to learn that 400 old buildings were destroyed to build a showy tower before the area was preserved thanks to attaining UNESCO heritage status, declared in 2008. Unfortunately a number of the more grandiose...