Melaka

On Monday I took the 2 hour bus journey from Kuala Lumpur to Melaka and booked into a very comfortable small hotel. After a short walk around I wondered if there may not be enough to do for four days but it’s now grown on me. The town centre is relatively small but there are numerous large hotels and shopping malls and small museums. I think it really comes to life at weekends when I believe a lot of people from KL and Singapore come and spend the weekend.

For me Melaka is better than Georgetown as its more laid back and cleaner.

The first evening there was heavy down pour, and I was forced to take refuge in bar where I got talking to a whole range of people. First a young Dutchman called Uri, who’d just come from China to renew his visa before going to back to complete his time in hotel management traineeship. Then an Australian couple, the bloke (forgotten their names) had fought in Vietnam and also based nearby in Malaysia. Then finally met up with a Scotsman called Patrick who lives in Norwich, married to Malay woman for 20 years. He’s filling in time while she has gone on a Buddhist retreat up in the hills.

Eventually the rain stopped and staggered back to my hotel. And went out for evening dinner, where upon I met Patrick again. We now keep bumping into each other (Melaka’s not so big) so we now regularly share buckets of beer.

Tomorrow, Friday, I move on to Singapore. The final stop on the SE Asian leg of my grand tour.

Short stay in Kuala Lumpur

The change from George Town to Kuala Lumpur was dramatic. George Town was bustling and dirty. Kuala Lumpur is also bustling but so much cleaner (only saw one rat in KL). As coach arrived in KL early afternoon the heavens opened and the rain was torrential. The coach terminal is obviously working over capacity as for my 36 hour stay there was always a queue of coaches waiting to get in. This delay worked to my advantage as a) I didn't have to get off until the rain had eased, and b) I could work out where I was on the map and worked out that my KL guest house was only a short walk 15 minutes away.

The Green Hut Guest House turned out to be as good as the Lonely Planet said. The welcome was friendly and my room was nicely decorated and very clean as were the shared showers and toilet. The highlight of KL is the architecture. The older streets, where I was staying are broken up by towering sky scrapers; offices and hotels.

My first evening's visit was to the KL Observation Tower which is supposed to be the best view in KL. I went there about 5.30 and spent two hours looking over the city as the place went dark and the lights go on. The most notable sight is the Petronas towers, two giant temple shaped buildings with an access bridge between making them like rugby posts but too high even for Johnny Wilkinson to drop kick over.The next day I did my own walking tour of the city centre, which took about 6 hours. Highlights were the old railway station, the national war memorial, Merdaka (Independence) Square, Little India (a few streets full of Indian shops and street cafes) and the Petronas Towers with the adjoining Suria KLCC (KLCC stands for KL City Centre, but its not) shopping mall. Where I had a Starbucks coffee and bought Lonely Planet for Australia.

My main complaint about Malaysia (and probably will be more so in Singapore when I get there) is the price of beer. As it’s a Moslem country I think it's heavily taxed and I'm afraid I got used to it being cheap in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Here it’s about one pound 30p (9 ringets) a bottle or 2 pound 60p a pint. This forces one to look for special offers such as a bucket of 6 for 50 ringets. On my second evening I installed myself at a busy bar with my six bottles and a three course meal and watched football on the TV screen (can't remember who was playing now) and excellent live blues guitarist for a sound track.

George Town. Penang, Malaysia

Today I travelled to Kuala Lumpur having spent 4 nights in George town, on the island of Penang, in north west of peninsula Malaysia.

George Town is a mix of squalid old Chinese streets and modern apartment blocks and hotels. In this part of SE Asia it is the wet season and the change from the beach in thailand to the humidity of Penang caused me to change guest houses after one night to get some air conditioning. When it has fallen the rain has been heavy but of short duration.

Penang, and probably most of Malaysia, is heavily influenced by the British Colonial period, which ended in 1957 and looking at these tourist sites has been a change from temple viewing. The first site of interst is Fort Cornwallis, the site of the first English arrivals. The Penang island is about 30km long by 20kms across.

On the second day I hired a motor bike to have look around and after travelling west from George town along the north coast, visitng the seaside resort of Batu Ferringhi, to be seen in many holiday brochures, I had a quick look at a nearby fishing village. I then turned south which took me on a winding road over hills and through lush forest and tropical fruit farms with a few views over the eastern coastal plain. Further south the forest gave way to towns, villages and road works, where they are improving the road network.

I then travlleed to the south east tip of the island to the War Museum. This is a miltary fort built in the 1930's by the British in anticipation of the war with japan. Its built right into the hill side with ammuniton dumps, offices and bomb shelters in tunnels and barrack rooms built on the landside of the hill. At the top of the hill were two major guns (16" I think) with a range of 15kms to guard the coast betwen the Penang and the mainland, in anticiation of a sea invasion from the south. As it turned out the Japaneses invaded from the north by landing in Southern thailand and riding on bicycles. For whatever reasons the British retreated south to Singapoe destroying the guns and ammunition before they left but leaving the fort largely in tact which the Japanese then used as an interrogation centre and prison of war camp, some aspects of which was also exhibited at the museum.

The next day I went up Penang Hill which is a steep hill (approx 900 metres above sea level) in the centre of the island close and to George Town. The British built a funicular to the top of the hill to create a hill station to escape the intense heat and humidity of George Town. At the top there are is a buddhist temple and mosque but if you walk on a bit further you find a number of homes which, with the exception of the tropical plants, you could almost be in Surrey. There is also a old convalescent home alleged to have been used first in the Crimean war, but what's there now looks a lot more recent than that, albeit delapidated.

Ko Lanta -Southern Thailand

Monday 19 Feb: I've now been on Koh Lanta island for 5 days. My bungalow is just 20 metres from a beautiful long sandy beach. I spent the first couple of days looking about, early morning shore line jogging, sitting on the beach, swimming, checking out the price of beer, travelling up and down the island on a little motor bike, then watching the sunset.

On SaturdayI went on a snorkelling trip around some other ,mainly unhabited, islands. At one place we (about 30 people) swam, wearing life jackets, through an 80 metre cave lit only with a couple torches to emerge on the other side of the cliff inside a volcano, the sides of which went straight up for approximtely 150 mteres . This was allegedly a popular place for pirates to hoard their booty.

Yesterday I took the ferry to Koh Phi Phi, said to be one of the most beautiful islands in Thailand. I had a stroll round the town and then sat on the beach for 3 hours before getting the ferry back.

On one of my early morning jogs I noticed the Welsh Dragon flying above the Miami cocktail bar, one of the several bars along the beach. On Saturday I decided to try their happy hour of reduced price Chang beer. Behing the bar was a Thai man and I said "Prynhawn da, siarad Cymraeg?" He immedaitely recognised it as Welsh and explained that his girlfriend was from Wales and she would shortly be back. So I had another beer an eventualy a young red haired woman called Katherine Griffith, recently of Colwyn Bay, arrived and we had a long chat about who we might know in common , dredging back to my Llandrillo College days. Her mother side of the family were called Fenton and ran Colwyn Bay's main toy shop.

Tomorrow I move onto GeorgeTown, Penang, in Malaysia

Siem Reap, Cambodia, to Koh Lanta, S. Thailand

After a final day vist to Ankgor wat I took the notorious bus journey from Siem Reap to Bankok. I was picked up at my guest house at 7.20am and an hour later we were still shuttling round the town picking up passengers and dropping off at various points. Then at 8.20am those going to bangkok were squeezed like sardines onto a clapped out minibus with non existent air conditioning . The road from Siem reap to the Thai border at Poipet is notorious for its bone jarring ride. With a couple of short stops it took six hours toi do the 150-200kms. To keep resonably cool we had to open the windows, which then let in the dust. Frequently bags dropped onto our heads as we hit large ruts in the road. By the time we arrived at Poipet i my hair and face were caked in dust. There is a story in Lonely planet that an airline is paying the cambodian govt. not to improve the road.

From there we crossed through the border controls and were quite soon on a luxury air con bus on the much smoother Thai roads. I was then getting increasing anxious that due to delays i would not be able to get a coach to Krabi, in South Thailand, straight away from Bangkok. If there were no buses that night I'd have to start hunting around for a guest house.

As time went on I was was feeling more uncertain that my plan of getting stright onto an overnight bus, and avoid another night in Bangkok, was going to come together. When we eventually arrived in Bangkok, after some difficuty explaining where i wanted to go, i got into a taxi hoping we would arrive at the Southern Bus station terminal. At first we seemed to heading in the wrong direction and I wasn't at all sure the taxi driver really understood where i wanted to go. However after about 20 minutes we did arrive (7.50pm) at a bus station and I anxiously, feeling very pessimistic approached the ticket office. In one moment my anxiety of what the night ahead had in store was replaced by the elation of a VIP air con bus ticket leaving in an hour, taking me overnight straight to Krabi. This gave me plenty of time the next day to cross to the island and get to my already booked beach side bungalow. I had time for quick meal and a beer before getting on the bus. I then saw my self in the mirror of the bus station toilet . My shirt had turned brown from the first part of the journey. My hair was matted in dust. (see picture of me in the bus station cafe ten minutes later - the shirt is now in the bin) I did my best to wash myself in a very cramped section of the bus station toilets and managed to change my shirt before getting on the bus. The bus was full so it looks like I got the last ticket!

Mainly through wearynes of the previous twelve hours i manged to get a few hours sleep on the overnight trip and we arrived at Krabi bus station (about 9.30 ) only 1.5 hours late. As usual the passengers getting off are bombarded by offers of transport. i made my way to alocal torist infrmation and was advised aminibus would leave in 30 mintues and take me to my resort on the island. The minibus should have taken about 1.5 - 2 hours. But as our driver was also running a postal service we spent one hour going around krabi picking up parcels, we then did the 40km bsu journey incluidng two ferry crossings and then started delvering the parcels. We few passengers seemed to have lowest priority. After a four hours on this minibus and a total 31 hours travelling i arrived at my destination and the resort did not know i had a resevation!

I assured them i had a reservation and persuaded then to let me use their website so i could show them the booking confirmation email.

From then on all was well and my bungalow was provided just a few yards from the beach and palm trees for shade. The sea is clear and warm. See the photo of sun set over the beach. I've hired a little motor bike to travel around the island and its all very relaxing. I'll be spending the Chinese new Year here until 20 Feb. How will I cope?

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Sunday 11th Feb: I've now had 2 days in Siem Reap visiting the temples of Angkor Wat. Its been a wonderful experience. The scale of the construction of the many temples and extent of the carvings is breathtaking. The number of lives which must have been dedicated to these temples is beyond comprehension. The fact such amazing constructions were ever "lost" is equally incomprehensible. But as one hill tribe member said to a group of us several weeks ago the most important things in life to her are rice and water, without that there is nothing. So if that's you're main prioirty maybe the thing we think of as one of the seven wonders of the world, which is in a forest a mile away, isn't going to be of any concern to you in your day to day struggle to survive. Still I can't help thinking there's more to it than that.



Meanwhile back to the harsh reality of my existence at the end of the first day I rewarded myself for the strenuous temple climbing with a large beer and triple icecream in the Butterfly Gardens.



Today, it was nice to have company on my sight seeing with Selui and Ramana from Malaysia who I happened to meet yesterday on the top of Angkor Wat, queuing for 20 minutes to get down the only one of the four incredibly steep staircases with a handrail.

Phnom Penh

Thurday 8 Feb 9.30pm . The bus journey from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Phnom Penh yesterday took 7.5 hours, not 6 as advertised. This is to be expected in this pasr of the world. Major road constructions are under way. The unexpected (I didn't look at the map) was queuing for the ferry across the Mekong. The expected was the the border controls between Vietnam and and Cambodia. I still I arrived in daylight and quick Dutch auction with the tuktuk drivers soon got me to the slightly murky Wolly Rhino (anyone see any double meanings?) Guesthouse close to the Tonle Sap river which was agood location for bars and restaurantswhich I soon found out. My expectation of hearing gun fire during the nights hasn't been fulfilled.

Today I took a sombre tourist route to the Killing Fields (Cheoung Ek Genocidal Center) and Toul Sleng Museum (a secondary school converted in 1975 into the Khmer Rouge S21 interrogation centre), plus anothera Royal Palace.


What will stand out in my memory is the tree at the Killing Field against which they used to bash out the brains of the babies and the photographs of the children amongst the adults who were subjected the horrific interrogations at the school. Phnom Penh is not what I expected and most people I 've talked to really like it.


I'll be content to move on tomorrow to Siem Reap, the town adjacent to the Ankor Wat temples.

Saigon days

Tuesday 6 Feb 6.00pm Foll0wing yesterday morning's update i've now been around Saigon for two days and one night. I prefer Saigon to Hanoi. Its warmer and the street are wider. Also, as my hotel is a bit further out of the centre than I'd expected I've been more or less forced to try out Xe Om (motorcycle taxis) which has been very exciting.

Yesterday after completing the blog a returned by the afore mentioned transport to my hotel to check-in. I felt it was not too dangerous to let a complete stranger without crash helmet, protective clothing and in the busiest streets you've ever seen take you to your destination(don't tell my mum). Another great aspect is you feel part of the city, as nearly every one else travels the same way. You all stop at lights in great hordes of bikes. I estimate there are 30 bikes to every other vehicle on the road.

After a shower, some washing and a snooze to catch up some sleep from the night before i set off again to see some the local temples in the Chinese sector I'm staying in. Then i went into the City Centre for the first time. There are lots of large hotels and offcie developments. If any Reading people are wondering where some of the Prudential jobs went they're here. But generally the roads are wider and I think its a nicer city.

After a walk about to see the river front and just get a ground floor feel i treated myself to happy hour at the 9th floor terrace bar at the Caravelle 5 star hotel. I arrived about half an hour before dusk and it was wonderful watching, looking down as the city transformed from day to night with back ground music from the Human League (hope Adrian reads this) . As it got darker the motorcylces looked like candles on a river drifting around in the currents. They were strong cocktails.

Having bust the daily budget I wandered round for restaurants as recommended in Lonely Planet 'on a shoe string'. After 2 failed attempts, third time lucky I found "Annie's pizzas" and was seduced by meat pie and mash potato, peas and gravy, which totally lived up to my hopes and dreams. Who said travel broadened the mind?

Then the final thrilling bike ride through the teaming streets back to the hotel. I looked on in pity (and waved) at the tourists I passed trapped in their hotel minibuses.

Today I have joined those tourists in the buses and took a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels, 30km fromm saigon, where the Viet Cong dug into a 200km network to survive the bombing duirng the Vietnam war. The short 30m stretch of tunnel I went down was mostly about 4 feet high and hardly lit. As the guide said "not good for bad hearts or asthma". Then there was a display of the grizzly man traps they set to maim or kill the US soldiers plus a couple of old tanks.

In the afternoon i did a tour of some of the main city sites, the War Remnants museum (more tanks, planes, bombs etc) the former South Vietnam President's Palace(now called the Reunification Palace), built in 1961-66 and left more or less as was when captured in 1975. Then to the Catholic Notre Dame cathedral (1883), with added neon lighting around the crucifix, and a wonderful working general post office built in the early 20th century where I bumped into Brian and Alison, from the Ecuador holiday, for the second time this trip.

That's it for today. Tomorrow its 9am bus to Phnom Penh. Thanks for all the comments and emails I've received.

Nha Trang to Saigon

am Monday 5 Feb: I have just arrived in Saigon (a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh City - the Vietnamese seem to use both names) on the overnight train, after two nights and days in Nha Trang.

The train from Hue to Nha Trang on Friday was a day time train leaving at 9am and arrivng 10pm. It was a long day but more comfortable than the buses. The fare included meals and I had two meals over the day and i think that's what did me for the next day. They were OK at the time but when I think about them now I feel like wretching.

Fortunately Nha Trang is a sea side resort and not full of must-see places but a place to relax on the beach . So I hired a beach lounger and stayed there sipping water most of Saturday. And Sunday I did about the same although by then I was eating again. It is very early in the holiday season in this area and the water is still quite choppy so I didn't go in the sea.

Last night I travelled on the overnight train to Saigon, arriving about 5.30am. I can't check into my hotel until noon so i've been busy booking my self on a tour tomorrow to the Cu Chi tunnels built by the Viet Cong in the 60's and I've booked my bus to Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Wednesday.

Hanoi to Hue

From my last post you may know I had doubts whether I would like Hanoi. Well I did start to like it once I got to know where to find a quiet spot to relax. The guest house I stayed at North Hotel, was incredibly friendly giving me tea or coffee and bananas and always helpful.

The first full day I did some cycling and failed to find a "must see" museum I was looking for but in the process did get around some areas not frequented by tourists. Later I went jogging around Lenin park with the locals. I walked around lots of the regular sights such as Ho Chi Minh's mausoleam and went to a few museums to get a feel of the history and they're often housed in beautiful buildings.

A highlight was a wonderful concert of opera favorites at the Hanoi Opera House performed by the Hanoi Philharmic orchestra and singers made up from the professors, tutors and students of the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music. The theatre was impressive, the orchestra was excellent and the singers were some of the best I've ever heard live.

After 3 nights and nearly 4 full days in Hanoi, on Tuesday 30th (Matt's birthday - hope you had a good one) I travelled by in a soft sleeper overnight train to Hue . I had to share my cabin with three young and attractive Irish girls - How unlucky was that? They were two sisters and a cousin from Dublin, Neeve, Orla and Keira (apologies for the spelling) who had all got extended leave of different duration from their jobs and had met up over here. The next day they were kind enough to say my snoring was barely audible over the sound of the train.

I've splashed out on a $20 night hotel in Hue for 2 nights for a room which even has windows, hot water and an ensuite WC bath and shower! After an early morning checkin and bath I walked over the river (Perfume river) to the ancient (its not always ancient - some very magnificant royal tombs have been built in the last 100 years) Citadel which took 2-3 hours to walk around.

Then a cyclo (thats what they call rickshaws here) around old Hue.

Today I took a tour round some Royal tombs, old and less old, dotted around the outside of Hue. As the day wore on the muli national group of tourists (British, Vietnamese, German, Thai, Argentinian, Australian) became more relaxed and we had some good conversations over lunch. Towards the end of the trip we stopped at a pagoda before boarding a "dragon" boat back to Hue. At the pagoda I bumped into two people, Alison and Brian I'd met on the trip to Ecuador/Galagapos in March last year. That was happy co-incidence.

Tomorrow morning I take the 12 hour train journey to Nha Trang. It's a seaside resort. I definitely need to relax more!