Travels

Malaysia

Langkawi

The closest Island to Thailand and yet everything was completely different. We hadn't realised quite how much we loved Thai food until you couldn't get it anywhere! Banana Chocolate pancakes were a thing of the past. There was two options Seafood or Indian style currys and everything cooked in a layer of grease!

The whole Island is also tax free, so we bought chocolate.

With Tim's new riding abilities we rented a moped to check out the scenary. The country lanes were fine, it was only when we found ourselves on the chaotic undertaking/overtaking motorway into the city that the moped seemed a lot more unstable.

This child isn't homeless he was just looking bored as his family used the car battery to light up their rice stall at the local night market.

The night market had to be the best thing about Langkawi we tried almost all of the food there including a hotdog sweetbread and it wasn't even £5.

We were dropped off in the general vacinity of our guesthouse by a taxi driver who didnt understand a word of English and had previously dropped our luggage out the boot whilst driving, THEN failed to stop after being repeatidly shouted at by both us and a German couple that were at the end of their teather. we were greated by a very small indian man that possibly spoke even less english (His reply to most things was "yes boss") . After a futile and lengthy explanation of why we were at this gentlemans guesthouse he finaly agreed to show us to our room.

I don't know what this room was used for in our absence, but there was no denying the smell of curry. So much so, Amy was allowed to purchase inscents.

On our way to get a burger from our new favorite street vendor, we came across a goat. There were no farms nearby and we were surrounded by beaches. Our best guess is that it escaped from somebody's kitchen.

You might think by looking at this picture that this is documentation of Amy getting a haircut. Not true, in fact this woman was not a hairdresser and 4 Ringit went from being a bargain to a mistake. In one cut of the scissors the hair cut was over and Amy was left smiling politly with tears in her eyes... she also looked like a cave woman. But it was nothing the most expensive rice dish on the menu couldn't cure.

Fortunatley, in a past life I was an expert hair person. With a pair of nail scissors, bleach and some time to kill I was able to salvage the homeless-look.

Penang

After staying in a room in Langkawi infested with mosquitos and a strong smell of curry, as we travelled by Ferry to Penang we looked forward to the luxury of a beach hotel with a pool.

A Beach hotel, not so much. After being spoilt by the seas in Thailand and the crystal waters it was hard for us to appreciate what was probably still a pretty clear sea and decent beach. It also carried greater dangers than the waters of Thailand as it was host to some deadly JellyFish.

It was also in Penang where our struggles began with how much food we had been consuming, not so much the amount more the feeling that you would have if you were to alternate between curry and chinese food everyday for 3 months. We then found out that in Malaysia people don't care about healthy. There were cakes amongst the breakfast food at the hotel, along with fried rice, noodles, french toast, hot dogs and bread and butter pudding. As you might guess Malaysian people are biiig people.

We did find a pretty awesome treat lurking in the surrounds of our hotel. A waffle shop. You could find us there most days, Tim became quite the regular with his penut butter and jelly.

Kuala Lumpur

Our journey to KL was somewhat pleasant. A coach fitted with sofa sized fully recinable armchairs with TVs in the headrests infront and a list of movies and tv series', we would later learn to be better than our hotel room.

Which was the dampest place on earth. It was also packed to the rafters with children that were on some kind of sports team outing and enjoyed screaming and running around at 3am. As you can imagine, Amy vented her frustration on to the hotel staff... who couldnt have cared less.

This lovely street was behind our hotel in Chinatown and operated between the hours of around 7am-9am and then disappeared entirely. Hosting some very dodgy charcters selling some very questionable goods. They hoarded everything from "herbs", electrical goods, wheelbarrows and weapons to McDonalds Happy Meal toys.

The world famous Traders hotel was on fire when we passed, which was the reason we didn't add it to the list things to tick off. Not the price.

We journied from our damp room to the hotel where our friend Joe was staying and coinsidentally also the princess of Malaysia. It was a false reality, but we atleast we belonged there for once, even if we wern't staying the night.

For the rest of the day we toured KL seeing all the major attractions. We were encouraged to contradict our saving ethic and went to the games arcade, took a trip up the Petronas towers, watched Skyfall and had a meal at Nandos. Joe's frivorless ways had been a bad influence on us but it was one of the best days of the journey so far. (we watched Life of Pi the next day)

This sign is not only great advice, it also demonstrates exactly what to do in the event of a snatch theif attack.

This is the worlds largest indoor rollercoaster. Which was made even more impressive by the fact that it was in a shopping center AND we couoldn't find it. Seeing as we already had so many fun things planned, we thought to ride this would have been over indulging.

Everyone was happy.

The crowds gathered

The weather deteriorated the closer we got to our slot for the twin towers tour until there wasnt anything to see. We took the elevator to the 86th floor, which was literally quicker than the one in our hotel and we were on the 3rd floor.