A journal of my travels...in Malaysia

Malaysia 6th February 2005

Chinese New Year 9th February 2005

We headed up the Malaysia Peninsular to Melaka, once an important port, fought over by the British, Dutch, Portuguese and Chinese. Now evidence off all these past influences are apparent as we took a Trishaw around the old town. A dominant Chinese population celebrated the New Year in style (all be it a more sober affair than the western New Year - Malaysia is a mainly Muslim country so alcohol is difficult to find and expensive when you do.

This year is the year of the Rooster. A good year in the Chinese calendar, so much so, that many couples wait to have children born in this year and schools across SE Asia will have to have extra classes to accommodate the increased numbers.

Taman Negara - The world's oldest rain forest

Some poor planning meant a Rm100 taxi journey on New Years morning to catch the 7.30am train to Jerantut, but once there we planned our 2 days away in the jungle. Taman Negara National Park is a 3 hour motorized canoe journey up the river, this left us with the afternoon to swim, visit a very disapointing indigenous village where we learnt how to start a fire, use a blow dart and race around in a 4WD on a night safari spotting snakes and leopard cats.

The next day we headed for the 4 hour self guided hike taking in the jungle canopy walk and spotting a few monkeys. While the National Park is very accessible it lacks the spell of the Amazon in Brazil.

Perhentian Kecil 12th - 17th February 2005

Sometimes when traveling you are caught between the desire to see as much of a country as possible or stay in one place and enjoy it. After an overnight train and a rocky boat trip we arrived in Perhentian Kecil and immediately knew that the rest of Malaysia could wait for another time.

One of 2 islands Kecil is the smaller and cheaper option. Long beach with its 20 or so chalet complexes and restaurants means that the beach is almost deserted and as we arrived right at the end of the monsoon season, the tourists are not yet flocking here. Our new waterproof camera case, at the ready, I booked some diving with Spice Divers and headed off to 2 wrecks (Vietnamese and Sugar Wrecks) and 4 reef dives over our short stay. The water a little murky from the Monsoon but the fish, turtles, Manta Rays and coral were excellent. Between us we did 11 dives for the price of 2 on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia - I know where I'd rather be diving!

Kuala Lumpur 18th - 22nd February 2005

We made our usual mistake of arriving to a new city late in the evening and relying on Lonely Planet, ending up in their 'Authors Recommended Hostel' - which was frankly a dump and a fire trap. The next day we moved out to Pondok Lodge, in the Golden Triangle area of KL - an all together far nicer hostel. With the Vietnam visas sorted we booked our onward flights for Monday and took in the sights and sounds of KL.

Malaysia is one of the cheapest places we've been so far and apart from beer, you can live healthily on a few $ a day. Breakfast is never more than 70p, lunch maybe a pound and a slap up dinner may stretch the budget to 2 quid each. The best value food is from street hawkers and the variety is beyond belief - our dinner of 3 plates of curry, 4 roti breads and 2 cans of pepsi set us back Rm15 (2.14 pounds).

KL is famous for the Petronas Towers, with 88 stories it was the tallest building in the world when it was completed. However, despite free entry, tourists are only allowed up to level 41 to the bridge. Even more impressive for views of KL is the Menara Tower. At 421m, the 4th highest telecommunications tower in the world the observation deck is right where is should be - AT THE TOP! Check out the photos of both.

Vietnam is next on the agenda - apparently cheaper than Malaysia we can look forward to cheap made to measure suits and shirts or even try our hand at an AK-47.