Route

Pictures
Route
1 To Kuala Lumpur
2 Down day
3 The Towers
4 Central KL
5 Admin day
6 Cameron Highlands
7 BOH tea
8 To Penang
9 George Town
10 Island tour
11 To Khota Baru
12 Island paradise
13 Pulau Perhentian
14 Pulau Perhentian
15 To Jerantut
16 To Taman Negara
17 Canopy walkway
18 River boat
19 To Singapore
20 Singapore
21 Asian Civilisation
22 Zoo and orchids
23 On to Kuching
24 Top Spot for fish
25 Cultural village
26 Kuching museums
27 Niah Caves
28 To Brunei
29 Kampung Ayer
30 Back to Malaysia
31 Kota Kinabalu
32 Back to KL
33 Bukit Fraser
34 On to Melaka
35 Melaka
36 Melaka
37 Leaving Asia

Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei

Route

We arrived at Kuala Lumpur with a flight from Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We had decided against the overland option through Thailand - too many backpackers! The hot humid atmosphere of KL hit us like a wall when we landed. We spent a few days in KL, struck by the contrast between poor chaotic Phnom Penh and sophisticated, high-tech and "character full" KL with its Petronas Towers, Chinatown, Little India, mosques, "olde colonial" bits, and dee-licious food (we knew we were in trouble...)

Then we headed north to the comparative coolness of the Cameron Highlands, an old colonial hill station retreat. Here we were transported back to an olde Englishe country village complete with fog and rain. From the Highlands we made our way to George Town on the island of Penang, with a cosmopolitan mixture of Chinese and Indian influences, where our appetite for hot and spicy curries was well and truly fulfilled. It's a fabulous island, and we made a day trip around it, taking in a snake temple, an exotic fruit orchard and some delicious noodles with a twist. We hopped across to Kota Bharu on the east coast and from there made our way by high-speed boat to the tropical beach retreat of the Perhentian Islands.

After a few days of beach R&R we headed back inland on the Jungle Train down to Jerantut, and from here into Taman Negara National Park, with great tropical flora and a very hot and humid climate - we never stopped pouring sweat. The Jungle Train then took us south again down to Singapore, a pristine, well-organised city state, with the best high-tech shops in Asia. Next we flew across to Borneo spending a few days in Kuching before heading to Miri and the Niah Caves. We crossed overland into Brunei heading for the capital, Beri Sandar Begawan, before taking boats to Kota Kinabalu. Here our plans for further travel into Sabah were quashed by a combination of school holidays and the need to book almost a year in advance to get to see the turtle islands, one of the main reasons we were heading there.

We flew back to KL, stopped overnight and then made our way to the highlands again, this time to Bukit Fraser, a totally relaxed and quiet hill resort. Melaka beckoned and we spent our last few days in Malaysia experiencing its mix of old colonial, Chinese and Indian heritage. The rain started as we headed to KL's international airport which we like to think was Malaysia's way of saying farewell. From KL we flew to Windhoek in Namibia (via Hong Kong and Johannesburg - a long series of flights!)

(Overland, Flight, Boat)

Prev | Up | Next

Top

Visitors:
Home \| Info \| Blog \| Travel \| Pictures \| Site map \| Search \| Guestbook	Copyright © 2001-2007 Stefan and Vanessa Aalten-Voogd