Stop 3: Malaysia

After a few more long bus journeys we crossed the border into Malaysia. However, I (Cheryl) must point out that I was not impressed with the staff at border control, tried to say that I had over-stayed my time in Thailand and wanted to charge me 500 bhat per day (about £500 in total). After pointing out that we were still in the month of March and not April they soon apologised and let me leave Thailand/enter Malaysia – aye nae bother!!!

Anyhoo, our first stop in Malaysia was a city called Penang (used to be the capital before Kuala Lumpur). We crossed the 3rd longest bridge in the world, and also walked up the Penang hill. The view from the top was awesome, definitely worth the aching limbs for the next five days! After Penang we made our way up the winding roads towards the Cameron Highlands. This was a totally different place from anything we had seen before-hand, was almost like a setting from a Steven King novel. It didn’t feel as though we were in Asia, similar to Scotland, pretty cool. We just generally chilled out here and went to the local boozer to have a few drinks and watch the football. Next stop was the capital of Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur. Our hotel was right in the middle of Chinatown, so as you can imagine, it wasn’t the most enjoyable walk, trying to get through the market crowds with the massive backpacks with locals trying to sell us watches and ripped-off trainers! Nonetheless, we got to our hotel eventually and then took a walk around the city. We went to the world’s largest indoor theme park and went to see the Petronas towers (which were the world’s tallest buildings until 2004) – they were some sight, only thing was we couldn’t go up them at the time we went to see them. After seeing the sights of Kuala Lumpur we made our way towards our last Malaysian stop – Melaka.

Melaka was probably our favourite stop in Malaysia. The town used to be a port during WW2 and was a really nice place. There was a rooftop Jacuzzi, which we certainly made the most of and we also did a river boat cruise. Had a couple of good nights here and seen some crazily decorated tuk-tuk’s (you’ll see the pics). Malaysia was really nice to see, but certainly won’t miss the squatting toilets or the sweet bread!!! The tour has been great so far and we’ve meet some really cool people along the way. Next stop Singapore…normal toilets at last!!!

To view some pictures from our trip through Malaysia CLICK HERE

Tales from Thailand

So Bonnie Scotland and London were left behind and we boarded our flight to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok late afternoon on Wednesday 4th March and found our taxi transfer through the hoards of drivers greeting us at the airport. First impressions - totally chaotic! The roads were mayhem and we caught our first glimpse of the infamous ‘tuk-tuk’s’, or as I came to aptly rename them – death cabs! We whizzed by the families of 4 packed onto mopeds, had a few near crashes (no road sense over here) and got to our hotel eventually, in one piece.

First night in Bangkok was pretty cool. Had some local food and a few drinks and we turned out to have a really nice hotel. Next day we took a walk around the entire city, it was entertaining to say the least. We gave in and got on a ‘tuk-tuk’ – never again!!! After­­­­­­ seeing every type of Buddha imaginable, sleeping, lucky, standing, dancing (well, not the last one), we asked the driver to drop us off at a temple and the guy wasn’t for having it. Wanted to take us to his mate’s shop to get measured for a suit – that would be a good look with our flip-flop’s! After a few heated words were exchanged between both parties, we got out and decided that walking was definitely the better option. Seen the sights and visited the infamous Koh Sahn Road and that was definitely enough of Bangkok. Visited the bridge over the River Kwai (famous during WW2) and took the overnight train with our tour group from Nakhon Pathom to Surat Thani – the train even had a disco kart, almost resembled the last Glasgow-Stirling train on a Saturday night, without the chip butties! I think that Bryan and I both agree that our favourite part of Thailand was Ao Nang, Krabi – the Thai beaches were amazing! We did a tour of the Phi Phi islands, fed some monkeys and did some snorkelling in the tropical waters – some of these beaches were definitely close to what we’d imagined paradise to be.

After a few days lazing by the beach and drinking some Chang beer, we made our way with the tour to Malaysia. Thailand is overall a really friendly country and pretty cheap too, which is definitely a bonus for the budget traveller. I think we both agree that we both preferred the chilled out coastal areas of Thailand to the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. So with the Thai leg of our tour complete, off to Malaysia it was…

To view some pictures from our trip through Thailand CLICK HERE

London Calling

At last, we have finally had 5 minutes to sit down and put the past 3 weeks into words - this may take some time, so bare with us. Officially, our trip started in London, so it would be wrong of us not to reflect on this weekend, as it was certainly a weekend to remember. Just to clarify things, I (Cheryl) will be doing the writing side of the blog (Bryan was never very good with spelling) and Bryan will do what he's best at and be in charge of photography, and as you all know I do like to go on...;0 so I'll try and stick to the point, although forgive me if I start to go off on a tangent.

Here it goes then,

Chapter 1; We said our goodbyes to friends and family on Saturday 28th February 09 (after many leaving nights, a party and leaving lunches) and Bryan and I, my mum and dad (John and Celia), and Bryan's mum (Anne) flew down to London for the long weekend. After an easyjet-easybus-underground train, we finally arrived at out apartment in Bayswater, next to Hyde Park. Very posh, defo great value for money and a great location! The Saturday was relatively chilled, although a few drinks were had. The fun and games officially started on the Sunday. We all hopped on the London sight seeing bus, laugh, laugh...I thought I'd never stop (that one's for you Dad). I don't feel that words will reflect this experience entirely, just look at the pictures (link below) and hopefully you'll get the gist of things. We had Big Ben growing out of my dad's head, not to mention a few suspect snaps later in the night! There was a trek round Harrods and again we visited a few public bars. I was trying to get as much cider as possible in my before hitting Asia. We all met up with Barry and Katie later on, had a lovely meal, lots of vino, more drinks at Barry and Katie's and Bryan and I even had to do the walk of shame the next morning - the shame! I must also mention that London has one of the best Primark stores that I have ever been too! All in all this was a fantastic weekend, couldn't have thought of a better way to say 'farewell' to the UK and the 'old folks' certainly know how to party (as most of you will probably know)! We said our final, final goodbyes to our parents - wasn't as emotional as expected, maybe the alcohol poisoning concealed the tears (only joking), and then Bryan and I made our way to Heathrow to catch our flight to Thailand.

To view some pictures from our trip through London CLICK HERE

Till next time...