Malaysia

No we’re not back in Kuala Lumpur. Matt has found a spare 5 mins for creating time-lapsing goodness. Here’s one from the Skybar, Trader’s Hotel at sunset.

Another mental journey planned by us. Instead of going overland up to Krabi we decided to fly to Phuket from Kuala Lumpur. So we could get the 30-day visa instead of the 15-day visa. (For some reason there is a difference in Thailand depending on whether you enter overland or via an airport???) Our journey: 7.45am Pink minibus taxi from Telak Nipah to Pangkor Town 8.30am Ferry from Pangkor Town to Lumut ...

5 hour bus journey from KL to Lumut further up the coast, caught the last ferry to Pulau Pangkor and arrived at a car park full of baby pink ford rascal minibuses. The taxi dropped us off in Telak Nipah, the most budget bit of the island and we went to our selected B&B to ask for room. Sorry full. Next one. Sorry full. Next one…and so on until we’d exhausted every guest house & hotel in Telak Nipah. Shit. It was Saturday and Pulau Pangkor attracts the locals from the mainland for the weekend. Darn it didn’t think of that did we. Pangkor is a pretty small island, it was dark, and the last ferry back to the mainland had already gone. We had nowhere to stay. We were getting desperate. It must have shown as Matt was offered the sofa in a guy’s office if we couldn’t find anywhere. ...

Matt got up at dawn to go find the perfect view of the Petronas towers and came back 3 hours later with his sunrise timelapse from the KLCC park and was knackered so snoozed whilst I trawled the internet for ideas on what to do for Christmas. So many places to decide on. Found cheap flights to Bali but does it make sense to go that way or should we head overland through Malaysia and up to Thailand. But then Thailand only does 15day visas if you enter overland so should we fly from KL? And where do we stay? So many places are booked up already. No idea where is best to go. Argghhhhh. ...

More dim sum yum. Extra this time. Felt like pigs but the food here is lush. Sam from Jalan Jalan was brilliant in advising us to walk to the bottom of Chinatown instead of the top to catch the local bus to the bus station. I’d read that it could take an hour from the square but it took less than 10 mins from the other end. Fab. We always seem to travel with our backpacks when the sun is hottest and today was particularly muggy and humid inbetween the rain showers. We tried desperately to shelter in the shade of a lamppost whilst waiting for the bus. We only had to wait 3 mins but we were both feeling manky by the time we boarded. No wonder Matt can’t put weight on! ...

Tuesday 14th December and we have been travelling for exactly 3 months and we’re now in Malaysia. Can’t believe how fast the time is going. Took a lovely luxury bus from Singapore to Melaka. The border crossings were simple. Off the bus at one side of the bridge to exit Singapore and get our passport stamped. Then off the bus again the other side of the bridge to get our entry to Malaysia. We thought we’d only get 30 days but the stamp says we can stay for 90 days. Not sure we will but it’s good to know. ...