melacca or melaka depending which era you would like to represent eh?
the four of us went on a day trip to melacca which is about 2 hours south of KL. we all thought it was a bit of a shame we didnt get to do more exploring because it seemed a very interesting town. we had lunch at king dong (hehe - not really, but thats what kirst misinterpreted it as) which was one of the best meals we had had at that point. spent about half an hour in the vicinity of jonker street, bought the most amazing statue 'one shy man' for 100RM - told you, monopoly money around here! (oh, 200RM is approx $75AUD currently)
stopped at a spot close to the straights of melacca also. short stop in the dutch part of the town where kirsty was game enough to hold an albino snake, well i think she was game until it started constricting on the back of her neck. scary!
also visited st francis xaviers burial place and met a local artist ben who we bought some pics from. i think every time the bus was leaving we were the last two on it, mainly because we were never sure how long we were supposed to be in each place.
the last stop was a local produce spot where i got shauniqua some candy and me some nutmeg oil (supposed to be good for many things including bone related conditions).
funny things about this here country of malaysia:
- noone really takes any care whatsoever when they are driving, it's quite mental!
- there are man whores who offer themselves to aussie tourists... ick!
- to barter is a way of life really...
- you can smoke pretty much absolutely everywhere.
- squat toilets aren't as bad as you think...
- tourists are really dumb with the amount of sun they allow themselves to get exposed to - not us, we're smart
- there hasn't been too much of a language barrier, most people speak at least some english.
- the people are super lovely and accommodating
- it's '50 years of nationhood' for malaysia this year, so come and visit.
- watch out for the curbs... there are ENORMOUS gutters which you could easily fall down - in fact if i stood in one it would probaly be at least up to my neck!
- lots of good food, lots of indian influence, lots of chinese influence...
it's chinese new years tomorrow!
john let off fireworks last night on teh beach - norty.
we are in penang at the moment and there is a muslim temple a few doors away from the hotel, about three times a day we hear the praying coming from the temple and it's quite magnificent, i wish i had something to record it with!
more soon.
xxJ
SPLENDARO
meander, keep moving, that's what it's all about isn't it?! not the hokey pokey, that just CAN'T be what it's all about...
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
*sniff, sniff*
ok ok so i forgot my berocca and now i'm paying for it...!!
ok here we go - day one - kuala lumpur - batu caves / chinatown
kirst and i headed off to try and navigate our way on public transport to go see the batu caves, took a lil bit of asking but eventually we worked out local bus 11 went from chinatown and took us directly there.
except the only problem with going through chinatown is the constant 'beauty... bag?'
anyhoo, also managed to find a prepaid sim with company DIGI which has been keeping some of you amused i hope. i would recommend you use that network if you're over here, has been very good.
'beauty.... watch?'
we eventually found the bus stop and headed over to the batu caves, greeted by an enormous golden statue and 272 steep steps up into the temple. We sucked it up and took the stairs pretty well actually. well worth the climb. at about 100 steps your hearts just pounding but after that it was quite ok really.
after playing with some of the monkeys in the cave we had a tour through the dark caves adjacent. about 1/2 a kilometre into the cave, bit of an educational tour about the formations etc, and near the end turning all the lights off to see how dark they really were. i dont think kirst had ever trekked a cave so she was really impressed.
we also had a look at the gallery which some pieces were being re-done and saw some toortles hanging out (thought they were fake at first til one of them moved).
back to chinatown again for shopping.
now seriously you folks, if you want to spend frock all money somewhere come to malaysia. apart from the fact that all the people we have met so far are gorgeous, you can eat, drink and shop relatively cheaply, and found it quite easy to get around KL. their monorail is quite good and costs about 40cents to get on. the bus to the batu caves (bus 11 by the way) cost 2RM... approx 75 cents and it was quite a long way out, so if you dont mind sitting on a public bus do it that way. you dont pay more (well you should refuse to) than 10RM to get a teksi anywhere within the main part of KL.
so much shopping.
went to a street where there are loads of hawkers stalls for dinner on the first day, roaringly late, we couldn't help it!!
i can't remember the name of the street off the top of my head (that's either the nurofen or the stuffed nose talking) but will fill in some blanks when kirst is here later.
more later but so far having a great time, apart from the snot, and taken lots of photos.
when kirst gets back from her jungle walk (i declined today in case i got worse or something and had to slow people up) we are heading over to georgetown as we are now in PENANG!
wheeeeee!!
love ya, miss ya, byeeeee...
xJ
ps. if you are reading leave me a comment pweeze.
ok here we go - day one - kuala lumpur - batu caves / chinatown
kirst and i headed off to try and navigate our way on public transport to go see the batu caves, took a lil bit of asking but eventually we worked out local bus 11 went from chinatown and took us directly there.
except the only problem with going through chinatown is the constant 'beauty... bag?'
anyhoo, also managed to find a prepaid sim with company DIGI which has been keeping some of you amused i hope. i would recommend you use that network if you're over here, has been very good.
'beauty.... watch?'
we eventually found the bus stop and headed over to the batu caves, greeted by an enormous golden statue and 272 steep steps up into the temple. We sucked it up and took the stairs pretty well actually. well worth the climb. at about 100 steps your hearts just pounding but after that it was quite ok really.
after playing with some of the monkeys in the cave we had a tour through the dark caves adjacent. about 1/2 a kilometre into the cave, bit of an educational tour about the formations etc, and near the end turning all the lights off to see how dark they really were. i dont think kirst had ever trekked a cave so she was really impressed.
we also had a look at the gallery which some pieces were being re-done and saw some toortles hanging out (thought they were fake at first til one of them moved).
back to chinatown again for shopping.
now seriously you folks, if you want to spend frock all money somewhere come to malaysia. apart from the fact that all the people we have met so far are gorgeous, you can eat, drink and shop relatively cheaply, and found it quite easy to get around KL. their monorail is quite good and costs about 40cents to get on. the bus to the batu caves (bus 11 by the way) cost 2RM... approx 75 cents and it was quite a long way out, so if you dont mind sitting on a public bus do it that way. you dont pay more (well you should refuse to) than 10RM to get a teksi anywhere within the main part of KL.
so much shopping.
went to a street where there are loads of hawkers stalls for dinner on the first day, roaringly late, we couldn't help it!!
i can't remember the name of the street off the top of my head (that's either the nurofen or the stuffed nose talking) but will fill in some blanks when kirst is here later.
more later but so far having a great time, apart from the snot, and taken lots of photos.
when kirst gets back from her jungle walk (i declined today in case i got worse or something and had to slow people up) we are heading over to georgetown as we are now in PENANG!
wheeeeee!!
love ya, miss ya, byeeeee...
xJ
ps. if you are reading leave me a comment pweeze.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
apa khabar
let me warn all you aussie travellers about something...
stay away from the SUNWAY LAGOON THEME PARK in Malaysia.
We arrived and thought everything looked sweet. went on two rides and then decided on the Flume. Classic flume, you know, sit in a log, go down, get soaked at the end...
well that all would have been well and good if the ride didn't get stuck for 10-15 minutes... and after yelling Tolong and other related things, noone came to help, we grabbed on to the railing to pull the log ride forward and got it to latch onto the conveyor belt. none of us wanted to get OUT of the log for the electrical cords et al adjacent to the water in the ride... and when disembarking the staff pretty much laughed, asked if we wanted to go again, didn't close the ride to try and fix the problem, then we spent the next hour and half trying to get our money back for the park...
the park itself will be receiving a faily nasty email from me CC'd to whatever relevant malaysian safety authority is around with the hope that they will get someone in there to check there rides. imagine if it was a small child or an elderly person.
the rest of the trip so far has been great, but more on that later. just wanted to warn against dodgy sunway and say SUCKS to them!
More soon. Heading to penang tomorrow.
xJ
stay away from the SUNWAY LAGOON THEME PARK in Malaysia.
We arrived and thought everything looked sweet. went on two rides and then decided on the Flume. Classic flume, you know, sit in a log, go down, get soaked at the end...
well that all would have been well and good if the ride didn't get stuck for 10-15 minutes... and after yelling Tolong and other related things, noone came to help, we grabbed on to the railing to pull the log ride forward and got it to latch onto the conveyor belt. none of us wanted to get OUT of the log for the electrical cords et al adjacent to the water in the ride... and when disembarking the staff pretty much laughed, asked if we wanted to go again, didn't close the ride to try and fix the problem, then we spent the next hour and half trying to get our money back for the park...
the park itself will be receiving a faily nasty email from me CC'd to whatever relevant malaysian safety authority is around with the hope that they will get someone in there to check there rides. imagine if it was a small child or an elderly person.
the rest of the trip so far has been great, but more on that later. just wanted to warn against dodgy sunway and say SUCKS to them!
More soon. Heading to penang tomorrow.
xJ
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