Mar 17, 2020 - Kuala Lumpur

Lockdown Tonight Day 195 Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur I wake up early and immediately see a text from Michelle back home. The news is even worse as now airlines such as Jet2 are cancelling flights to Europe and the mood has changed considerably back home which is quite worrying. Worse still I have an update from the FCO advising that all but essential travel to Malaysia should not be undertaken as there will be a countrywide lockdown from midnight tonight. I can’t believe that things have escalated so quickly since last night. I wake Mark who tells...

Mar 16, 2020 - Ipoh

Cameron Highlands to Ipoh Day 194 News from home isn’t great, Malaysia actually appears to be doing better during this corona virus outbreak and we may be better staying put for the time being. Mark speaks to his friend in Langkawi and everything seems fine on the islands so we should be alright once we leave here. We take our time packing as the bus doesn’t leave Tanah Rata until 2.30pm and the check out time is noon. On arriving in reception, we notice that at last they seem to be taking this virus seriously with temperature checking and...

Mar 15, 2020 - Cameron Highlands

Cooler climates Day 192 Kea Farm Opening the French doors onto the balcony we realise how much cooler it is up in the highlands. This is the highest point in the Malaysian peninsula and the temperatures are usually 10 degrees lower than in Kuala Lumpur. We are also met by the most fantastic views of the surrounding agricultural land. We decide that to be on the safe side we will ask for the room not to be serviced but will pick up towels and other supplies from the cleaners. This will limit the number of people entering the room to just us...

Mar 13, 2020 - KL Apartment 2

Caves and Temples Day 190 Batu Caves We have booked an extra night in Kuala Lumpur so that we can go out to the Batu Caves on the outskirts of the city. We catch the hop-on, hop-off bus to the Sentral station and this is an experience in itself. On route the road is closed and we are directed onto a diversion, and we assume the driver knows where he is going. Suddenly we arrive at a low bridge which the bus cannot drive under, a three-point turn is made and we set off along a back street into the bowels of Little India. We are treated to...

Mar 11, 2020 - Kuala Lumpur Apartment 1

The Capital City Day 187 Malacca to KL We order a taxi to the bus station at reception and wait outside for it to arrive. When the driver sees all of our luggage, he puts the back seats down (a seven-seater car) to make room for it. He drives a different way to the bus station than we come taking us past the massive Chinese cemetery and on some of the back roads past small wooden housing. It is a bit of a challenge finding where we collect tickets and go to wait for our bus to Kuala Lumpur. It makes us realise how difficult it must be to...

Mar 8, 2020 - Melaka

Silk Road Port Day 185 Bus Journey The journey to Malacca (Melaka) by bus is going to make for a long day but first we need to find the bus station. The address is Queen Street just two blocks from our hotel so we set off with our luggage in toe (luckily quite a lot lighter after yesterday’s trip to the post office!). Unfortunately, we are at the wrong end of Queen Street and find we have to walk to the other end which takes another twenty minutes in 30 degrees heat. Eventually we find the station, collect our tickets and make our way to...

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,...