The migration south…

I have finaly got around to putting a few words together about what we have been upto over the last few months.

To start with with travelled half way around the world, stopping breifly in Malysia. After our previous visit here we were so emamoured with the place we decided to have a longer visit (I didn’t hurt that Malaysia Airlines had the cheapest flights – though thay have lost our reward points for the last visit).

We booked everything over the Internet this time and were a bit nervous about how successful we might have been, but we needn’t have been as everything turned out fine.

We stopped in Kuala Lumpur at the Le Meridien. Picked for its location at the Sentral Station (We stayed in the neighbouring Hilton last time – prices in Malaysia are so cheap). The best way to transfer from the airport To KL is via the supurb KLIA Express train. (When you leave, the station also allows you to check-in before you even get to the airport)

The next day we took the Malaysia rail from KL to Singapore. It takes longer than be road, and even in First Class it lacks some sophistication, but it nevertheless is very cheap and offers a different view of the countryside.

In Singapore we styed in the heart of Chinatown at the sweet boutique Hotel 1929. The rooms were small but perfectly formed and the décor was delightful. We had two days in Singapore and enjoyed it immensely. We took a trip down the river on a ‘bum-boat’, had a drink at Raffles, walked all over Chinatown and the historic centre and had a lovely walk around the botanical gardens.

We took another train from Singapore back to KL where we changed to an overnight train to Butterworth where we took the ferry across to Penang Island and to our favourite hotel of the trip. The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (The Blue Mansion) This place is a stunning historical treasure. From here we explored the small city of Georgetown, took the funicular railway to Penang Hill, had tea at the Eastern & Orient Hotel and walked around the botanical gardens here too.

We took the overnight train back to KL where we took the bus (this was the only part of our journey we couldn’t pre-book, and we had to go by bus as the train didn’t run there) to Malaka (The busses are great and even cheaper than the train - everybody uses them). We stayed here at the lovely Hotel Puri and we walked around the delightfully quaint and hippy town.

This was our last night on our all too short trip to Malaysia and Singapore and the next day we flew on to a happy reunion with my family in New Zealand.

Malaysia is a beautiful country, and the people are lovely too. Since it was once a British protectorate it is easy for us Brits to navigate our way around (they drive on the left, most of the signs are in English, and nearly everybody speaks English too). It is a very cheap country, which at times just brings home the crushing poverty that some of the people are subject to here.