Kuala Lumpur and Pulau Pangkor

Kuala Lumpur was really nice, and not just because of the fancy hotel and the showers! We spent a lot of time shopping in the many markets; the idea was to get some souvenirs but we ended up with plenty of new stuff for ourselves too. For some reason I couldn't drag Mikko from the shops and into a bar, which has NEVER happened before!

We also went to Merdeka Square (parliament buildings) and up the KL tower for some nice city views, and in the evenings we had some really nice meals. There's all kinds of food here, a bit Chinese and a bit Indian and a bit Western (which we don't usually bother with except for breakfasts!), and it's all really good!



From KL we travelled up to Pulau Pangkor in search of our island paradise, and this time we got lucky! It's a quiet place with just a few restaurants to choose from, no real bars (being a muslim country) but it has a lovely beach, some resident monkeys and a really nice laid back garden in the hotel where you can just chill out for hours reading a book, playing games, drinking a beer and meeting people.





We seem to have got ourselves into a bit of a routine, which goes a bit like this:

Get up (no earlier than 10am!)
Walk down the street and grab some breakfast/lunch
Spend a few hours on the beach until we start to burn or get thirsty
Go back home for a shower
Drink a couple of beers in the garden while playing chess
Go for a walk and get something to eat
A few beers back at the hotel garden while playing cards
Bed

It's a great routine! Only on one day did we deviate from this when we rented a moped and drove to the other side of the island because we needed to get to the bank. That involved some very scary winding roads but we also took in the sights of the islands which is not much, just a few beach views and a chinese temple which for some weird reason has disney characters in front of it!




We have booked our two final nights back in our posh hotel in Kuala Lumpur but until then, unless we get bored, we will be staying here observing the agenda above :-)

Back in Asia

As much as we enjoyed New Zealand and Australia, after almost four months in the region we were ready to return to Asia. And we were not disappointed; the food is great, prices are low, and you can still find the most fantastically kitsch glittery trinkets at the markets.



Our first stop after Australia was Singapore, a good stepping stone into Asia, where it's hard to say whether the culture is more eastern or western. A couple of days there was enough as it's not that big a place. We ate well (a curry hot enough to make your eyelids sweat in Little India, and a table full of Chinese goodness in Chinatown), tried not to melt in the hot and humid air, and wandered around more or less aimlessly.



The next step was to catch a bus to Malaysia. We had decided to go to the east coast and visit Tioman Island in the hope of finding a beach paradise where to chill for a few days. We spent the first night in Mersing, a small coastal town, because we arrived too late in the night to get a ferry to the island. Unfortunately there was some kind of carnival in town and most hotels were fully booked. We finally found a room in a hotel that on closer inspection didn't have a shower at all. And I mean no shower anywhere in the hotel, not in the room, not in the corridor, not even in the garden. Oh well, its only for one night, we thought.



In the morning we went to the jetty and were reminded again that we're back in Asian time as the ferry turned out to depart over two hours after it was supposed to. Not that it mattered too much, we had gone without a wash for a couple of days, so a bit more sweating in the sun while we waited for the boat wasn't going to make much difference.



The island turned out to be really nice and relaxing, with basic "bungalows" (garden sheds) lined along the shoreline. There wasn't much of a beach or proper showers or much to do on the island though. So, we had a good day and night there but decided against a longer stay. In the morning we gathered our worldly possessions and headed back to mainland. This time we were given so many different "definite" times for the ferry departure that we knew to expect a long wait. Sure enough, the ferry arrived almost precisely at a time that didn't match any of those given to us.



After the brief island visit we headed to Kuala Lumpur. After not having a proper wash in a few days now we decided to treat ourselves to a nice hotel. A warm, powerful shower and an air conditioned room feel like heaven after roughing it for a few days in the tropics. We even have a view of the KL Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers from our window (you have to push your face right on the glass to see them, but still). The best thing is that we are only paying a bit more for this luxury than did for a sad, showerless excuse of a hotel in Mersing. So, it's a couple of days of luxury for us now, and then we'll be heading to the west coast and to Pulau Pengkor in search of beach life before we return to Europe.

...and further up the coast...

Airlie Beach has a nice beach, but apart from that it's basically a strip of bars playing awful dance music, packed full of beautiful young party people in very few clothes. Maybe I'm just too old to appreciate it, but I thought it was one of the most frightful places we've been in Australia! Fortunately we didn't have to spend a long time there, and got ourselves booked onto a day trip to the Whitsunday islands which made up for our miserable night spent trying to find a decent pub in Airlie beach (which didn't exist).

The Whitsundays were beautiful, and the whole boat trip was really nice and scenic and relaxing. We went out to a reef very close to the Great Barrier Reef (unfortunately we didn't make it to the real thing) and did some pretty good snorkeling there.



Then we went onto Whitsunday, the main island, and spent some time on Whitehaven beach which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was beautiful, but one of the annoying things about Australia is that there are a lot of dangerous jellyfish and stingrays and things in the water so it's not possible to swim in many places. Then we went onto a smaller island and had a round of mini golf before heading back to the boat.




From Airlie beach we continued up the coast. I really can't remember all the places now, but the weather has been so nice and hot (FINALLY!) that we've spent a lot of time lounging on beaches and by the campsite pools. One of the highlights was the Atherton Tablelands which is a rainforest area just outside of Cairns, full of narrow winding roads, nice waterfalls and walks.



We treated ourselves to a proper bed that night, since the mattresses our van are not the greatest, and stayed in a kind of eco-hostel in a town called Yungaburra. The hostel staff run free platypus-spotting tours by the river in the village so we went along on that- didn't spot anything, but it was a nice walk all the same.

When we got up to Cairns we met up with Emma and Phil once again, who have now been tempted into camping after hearing our camping tales. They now have a brand new sparkly Jucy campervan with TV, fridge, etc. It put Ivan to shame, but we had the last laugh when Phil went to start the car and the battery was completely dead! We spent a couple of days not doing very much in the city and then went a little further up the coast to Cape Tribulation which is a really pretty area with beaches, gorges and rainforest walks.






That's as far north as we got though, as we had to return Ivan in Cairns today. Now we have just two more days left in Australia before we head off to Singapore. From there we'll make our way in Malaysia and have a few weeks of beach fun and relaxation before we head... HOME!!! Yes, it has come to that time; we have booked ourselves a flight from Kuala Lumpur to London Stansted on May 20th. In some ways we're really looking forward to going home, but now it's so close we're not so sure anymore. It's going to be fantastic to see everyone again, to sleep in a decent bad and not be living out of a backpack all the time. But I'm a bit worried that once we're settled with a house and steady jobs then the monotony is going to set in and we'll wish we were travelling again! We're already thinking about our next trip... And the one after that!

Up the coast

The first two weeks after we left Sydney were pretty wet. In fact, it didn't really stop raining at all. We visited some really nice national parks and quaint coastal towns, but when the visibility is zero it is quite hard to enjoy the scenery. So instead we stayed cooped up in Ivan and played cards. There are worse things.



At Easter we were due to meet up with Andy and Laura, who we had been travelling with in Laos and Thailand. Our destination was Byron Bay, one of the busiest resort towns on the east coast. It was Easter, there was a huge blues festival in town, and we had no booking. We were actually stupid enough to be surprised we found nowhere to stay when we arrived. Being seasoned travellers we didn't panic but instead decided to drive to the nearby hippie town of Nimbin for some reflection. The town turned out to be full of stoned old hippies and psychedelic museums, and more importantly it did not provide us with a revelation to solve our accommodation problems so we decided to drive on. In the end we managed to find a camp site set up at the local rugby club in the town of Mullumbimby, just a short drive out of Byron Bay. It was also the same town where our friends stayed so naturally we headed to the local pub to reward ourselves after a hard days work. The next couple days are a bit hazy.

From Byron Bay we continued up the coast in the rain, skipping a fair few places, until we reached Hervey Bay, where the rain finally stopped. In town there was very little to do but we met Emma and Phil there, who we had previously met in Cambodia, so we decided to stay a couple of days and enjoy the sunshine.



Sun continued to shine and we headed further north. After Hervey Bay we stoppped at Claireview for a night. Not much there but the camp site bar was full of local characters who kept us entertained. From there we drove up to Airlie Beach, and tomorrow we are taking a boat to the Whitsunday Islands.

On from Sydney

On the last night (or what was supposed to be our last night) in Sydney we went to climb up the Harbour Bridge. It's probably not something we would've ever considered doing normally (mainly because I'm a bit funny about climbing things when you can see the ground beneath you) but my dear sister had decided that this would be a good belated christmas present from the family (she did it herself when she was in Sydney last year). So, feeling rather queasy but not wanting to waste a present we went for it. Of course it paid off. It was a bit scary in places (for all those tonnes of iron, it bounces quite a lot!) but the views of Sydney harbour as the sun was setting more than made up for it, and the more we walked, the more I relaxed (I think going at night was a good idea though: when you look down, you see less!!).




The next day we were supposed to pick up our van. However, after being kept waiting for a couple of hours we were forced to leave without the van as our credit card was declined. A bit confused, we went to the cash point only to find that it wouldn't give us even the smallest amount of cash! It was the middle of the night in Finland, so we had to wait several hours until we could call the bank, only to discover that the card had been stopped as we'd exceeded our credit limit by quite a lot! Luckily it was the end of the month and so it cleared the following day, and we were able to go and pick up the van without too much of a problem... the staff at the rental place still looked at us like criminals though!

We've now been travelling for a few days. We were a bit disappointed with the van in the beginning; it's slow, it's cold, the accelerator pedal is sticky so it lurches forward a lot, and it shakes madly whenever it reaches 90 km/h. We named him Ivan after someone really annoying that we met in China! However, after a few days we're starting to get used to his quirks and I'm not sure anymore if it's fair to call him Ivan but we haven't come up with a better name.




The first few days were pretty uneventful; it rained a lot, so we just hung around waiting for it to stop as we didn't want to miss anything. By the third day we'd reached the Hunter Valley (another reknowned wine region) and the weather picked up, so I treated Mikko to a drive around the vineyards while he got to taste all the wines. Then we moved inland a bit to a weird town called Tamworth which is famous for country and western music. There was no music festival going on when we got there, but there was a rodeo show in support of the victims of the bush fires in Victoria, so we went to check that out. We didn't really fit in (not having cowboy hats and checked shirts like everyone else!), but we had a good time anyway. At one point, one of the crazy bulls decided he was going to try and make it over the barrier to join the spectators. Fortunatly he didn't make it but he gave everyone quite a fright and I'm happy we weren't sitting any further forward!

The next day there was a pumpkin festival (I told you it was a weird place!) so of course we had to go and check that out. Needless to say, a lot of pumpkins of weird and wonderful sizes, plus a guy shearing sheep while wearing a blindfold :-)



After that we had a nice drive through the countryside, did some walking and camped in New England national park where it rained a hell of a lot once again ("I bet that's why they called it 'New England'", said Mikko). Today, a bit more driving and a bit more walking, and a bit more rain- but at least that made for some nice waterfalls!




Until the next time!

Blue Mountains

Hi again! Just returned from 3 nights in the Blue Mountains which were fantastic. And Andrew was kind enough to lend us his car for the trip which meant we could look around a bit by ourselves and didn't have to rely on public transport.

From Sydney we drove out to a small town called Katoomba, which is nothing that special but it's a great base to explore the area. Having said that, I was quite exhausted (I think it was something to do with Andy's sofa bed, and Mikko's tendency to hog it all!) so the first thing we did after checking into the hostel was to find the TV room and watch a few old films! In the evening we did venture out in the evening though to see the town's most visited attraction- a rock formation known as the Three Sisters, floodlit by night.

The following day we went for a walk. It was only 10 kilometres or so but we really struggled, maybe partly because of the heat, but also because we're becoming really, really unfit! The walk went along some cliffs, by waterfalls, by the Three Sisters again (much more impressive in the daytime), down some treacherously steep steps and into the forest. Fortunately we didn't have to come up the same way because there was a small railway (apparently the steepest in the world!) so we took that instead, which was pretty fast and scary but surely beats climbing mountains in 30 degree heat!




The next day we were again pretty shattered so we took it easy, just driving around north of Katoomba and stopping at a series of mountain lookout points, really fantastic scenery. I didn't expect any of Australia's scenery to amaze me after the sights of New Zealand. Again, I'm completely wrong!



Today we made our way back to Sydney but on the way we decided to stop at a wildlife park. We almost didn't, because we got hopelessly lost and it started to rain heavily, but then after giving up on the idea we discovered we were actually on the raod we'd been looking for, and the sun broke out again! Good that it did, because the park was pretty good. There were hundreds of kangaroos, wombats, koalas, wallabies and exotic birds. We've seen quite a few kangaroos and even some sleeping koalas in the wild since we've been in the country, but this is the first time we got to pet them and feed them (which sounds silly, but I'm a sucker for that kind of thing!!).





Now we're back in Sydney and the weekend's about to begin! So we're off to enjoy that before we head off up north on Monday.

Sydney

Sydney is one of those places where you could quite happily stay forever. At least, if you didn't need to worry about work and other such inconveniences.

After our kayaking we went to see some sights, had great meals and just generally enjoyed the good life. We had a really nice barbeque at Andrew's place one night, and Andrew took me to see a local Rugby game (rugby league, not union - apparently there is a difference) another night. I only have a rudimentary understanding of the game, but as far as I can gather, a dislocated foot and a couple of near fights (the first on the field, the second amongst the fans) amount to a good game. In any case, much beer and fun was had.



Another couple of friends that we have made on our travels were also in Sydney at the same time as us, and it was really nice to meet with Jakki (who we met in Russia) and Zoe (Laos). It seems that everyone makes their way to Sydney sooner or later.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but on our first night in Sydney we went to a Bottle-O (off-licence) and found a Finnish "Pirkka" beer can in the chiller! This is the cheapest and nastiest beer you can find in Finland, and how it ever made it outside the country is beyond me. But there it was, and I just had to give it a try. Yes, you guessed it, it was rank!



We also managed to sort out the rest of our journey in Australia. We booked a van for a month to drive up the east coast to Cairns, and we found a fairly cheap flight from Cairns to Singapore (we still plan to do Singapore and Malaysia on our way home). We also checked the dates on our bookings (many, many times!) to avoid making the same mistakes as last time we tried to rent a van. I think we're ok.

We can pick up our van next Monday, so in the meantime we will visit the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney, and then come back to Sydney for one more weekend, before driving up north.