Ipoh

25.11.11-27.11.11

We had decided to stop off in Ipoh for a couple of days before taking the bus

to the Cameron Highlands, which not many people decide to do. However we

really enjoyed our stay here, particularly for the food (notice a theme here?!).

On our first night we made a bee-line straight for a Lonely Planet recommended

eatery where they served boiled chicken and beansprouts. On this occasion LP

were spot on. The chicken was tender and succulent and the beansprouts were fat

and juicy. It doesn't immediatly strike you as a particularly appealing meal but

this was one of the best meals we've had on our trip so far. As we sat outside

on the street the rain cam hammering down on the corrugated roof above us and

the thunder and lightning began to come closer and closer together. Until

there was a huge 'CRACK' and a flash and we realised the lightning had struck the

pavement a few feet away from us. It certainly made us jump and added a bit of drama

to our meal!

Once the rain had eased off we walked back towards our hotel stopping off at

an upmarket bakery for some treats. We were so excited at the

selection of pastries, cookies, cheese cakes and gateaux before us. We managed

to reign in the impulse to purchase one of each and instead bought a cookie each

and a slice of cheese cake to share, which we eeked out through the course of the

evening, savouring every mouthful. I have to say they weren't up to standards at

home but nonetheless still an adequate replica!

On the theme of food, we also tried the famous Ipoh White Coffee while we were here.

It was really cheap and good, quite sweet. With our coffee we also enjoyed some

small crumbly pineapple pastries. 2 coffees and 2 pastries for about £3 - bargain!

One evening we went to the children's playground which is surrounded by food stalls.

There we had some chicken satay and nasi goreng with fried chicken while watching a

mother cat and her 4 tiny kittens frolicking around her.

Earlier in the day we had visited a nearby pet shop which I had had to drag Martin away

from as they had lots of adorable puppies. They also had Hippo Guineapigs, which I

had never seen before, strange looking bald guinea pigs! In addition the shop had a

large selection of reptiles, snakes and terripins and persian kittens.

Ipoh isn't a large town but has quite alot of character. It is organised in blocks of

traditional merchant houses, most quite scruffy looking retaining their original

shutters. Hence it is quite an interesting town to wander around and interest is added

when you stop off at the wide range of eateries around town.

We got lucky and happened to be there during a rugby tournament between university and

college teams. Not the first sport you expect to see being played locally in Malaysia.

And I have to say many of the team members didn't seem to have the ideal physique for

rugby, many being rather more skinny and short than you would think ideal, or over weight!

Never-the-less the standard improved thoughout the afternoon as the tournament progressed

and made for an entertaining afternoon.

And that was Ipoh!

Kuala Lumpur

22.11.11-25.11.11

Kuala Lumpur was not as dirty and dingy as I remembered from my last visit

but I'm not sure if this is because it's been cleaned up or because I've visited

other dirtier places, namely India, since! Anyway we really enjoyed our few days

in KL. It's just the right size to get around and with plenty to do. Although

the transport system is a bit confusing at times and not properly connected.

Different services, MRT, LRT and Kommuter, have obviously been added piecemeal at

different times and don't quite link up. It doesn't compare to Singapore's transport system

but it is negotiable and with a bit more time and effort get you most places in the city.

We'd made a friend on the way in to KL - Anders from Denmark and we spent a very

full first day doing the sights with him. Our first stop was Batu caves which was

easily reached by Kommuter train. These are Hindu caves, with colourful icons and

several temples inside. To get to the caves you pass a huge golden statue, that

unfortunately was covered in scaffolding while we were there. There are then 200+ steps

up in to the caves. Along the way there is a small army of monkey guards who are very edept

at sniffing out any food you may be carrying. If you are suspected they will acively block your

path and pull on your clothes until you hand over your precious cargo! There is no

denying what is in your posession -they know! Once you have been vetted you can enjoy

the view back over the city as you climb and watch others being hijacked!

All the way in to the dramatic lime-stone caves you are escorted by chattering, playful

monkeys. Several of the monkeys had young clinging to their stomachs and we witnessed

frequent displays of intimidation from older monkeys.

The higlight of the rest of the day was making our way to the Petronas Towers, which I

have seen before but are still very impressive. Unfortunately the sky bridge was closed

so we couldn't go up it. We went to see the towers during the day and at night, which

I would recommend. Although they are a more formidable and dramatic sight at night when

they are lit up. It is also worth walking around to the other side of the Towers to the

lake and park where you can enjoy the view in the shade and with your feet in the cool

water of the paddling pool!

I think one of the most memorable occurences during our stay in KL was our meeting of a

man living in KL. In hindsight it seems he had probably been sat at Masjid Jamek waiting

for some tourist to come along that looked approachable. He started chatting to us as we were

waiting for the MRT, got on the same train as us and told us he was getting off at the

same stop as us because he lived nearby. When we told him we were going to visit the Masjid

Jamek he led us there and then insisted on taking us inside amd taking us around. The Madjid

is not a great feat of architecture but it is an airy and graceful building surrounded and reflected

by glass panelled tower blocks.

When we were getting ready to leave he handed us his business card and we thought with relief this was his signal that he was leaving. Apparently not! We began to realise that he was very lonely and didn't really have anywhere else to go, so we ended up letting him tag along for the rest of our day. Once we had left Masjid Jamek and turned the corner we came across some break dancers. One in particular was quite impressive - incredible upper body strength, standing and hopping on one arm. The audience were suprisingly subdued about their performance and were more concerned with taking photos. That's one thing that has struck me while we have been away, that there is a real balance between trying to get a good shot and just enjoying the moment. I find if you are concentrating on taking a good photo you miss something of the experience, you're not living it in the same way, you are trying to record and observe instead.

We also visited the Central Market, which was a disappointment. I thought it was going to be an

actual food or locals market but instead it is an upmarket tourist market with lots of knick-knack stalls and overpriced food stalls.

Early evening we headed to Bukit Bintang, which is part of the Golden Triangle area, much more

commercialised. The proximity of Christmas was very prominant here! Especially in the mall where was well as huge, elaborate christmas decs there was also a huge toy fair with various characters performing, presumably with the aim of emotionally black-mailing parents in to buying the most expensive gift on behalf of santa! We ate dinner at the malls food hall which had a vast selection of food.

Our day was finished off by a 2nd visit to view the Petronas Towers. It was a very busy day and

we really enjoyed Anders company. As to our other 'guest', he was a very sweet man and made us feel very fortunate to have each other and such good friends back home.

The next afternoon we headed to the Lake Gardens. We made our way to Masjid Jamek and then walked for about 30 minutes from there in to the park, then following the road south through the park past all the attractions. The walk felt very long and sweaty!! I expected the Lake Gardens to be more park-like (maybe it is if you get off the main road) but from the road it was not very open, no vast green space as I'd anticipated, after the entrance. We made our way to what is supposed to be the main attraction; the Bird Park, passing about half a kilometre of net enclosure. It did look very exciting but the price was extortionate! So unfortunately we didn't go in. We thought we would stretch to a cold drink in the attached restaurant that was also housed in a bird enclosure, for the experience. But again decided against

it when the price of can of drink of 8 MR instead of the usual 1.80 MR!

So we continued through Lake Gardens for another 10-15 minutes until we reached the Islamic Art Museum.This museum is very well put together. The first exhibition is of Islamic Architecture and includes beautiful detailed scale models of mosques from around the world and detailed explanations. There is also a beautiful exhibition of clothing, scripture and jewellery. The museum is well worth a visit.

As seems to be typical in Malaysia, we had some delicious meals in KL. But the highlight was going to a small pavement cafe that only served Beef noodles. We both had a bowl of Beef noodle soup and it was so tasty. Lean slices of rare beef in a delicious broth soaking oodles of sloppy thin noodles! We also frequented a different very basic pavement cafe on the same road as our hotel, a couple of times. There was a choice of about a dozen different dishes cooked by individual stalls. We enjoyed the popiah (vegetable spring rolls) and roasted pork and rice.

Capitol Satay.

21.11.11 Melaka

This morning started with a move to our third hostel in Melaka and the

best! We have moved in to Roof Top Guest House, which is number 1 on

Tripadvisor and it's not hard to see why. STill a shared bathroom, but

plenty of clean spacious shower/toilet rooms. Our room is large, immaculatly

clean, wifi in our room and the bed is properly made up with a top sheet!

This is something I will nolonger take for granted!

We dropped our bags off and headed for a recommended eatery -Jonkers 88.

We ordered sour laksa and seafood laksa. This was the first meal we've

had in Malaysia that we didn't really enjoy, not because it was a bad

meal it just wasn't to our taste.

We spent the rest of the afternoon, exploring the surrounding quieter

residential streets of Chinatown, decorated with traditional red lanterns.

Temple Street is the home of at least 3 temples, including the beautiful

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple and Masjid Kampung Hulu.

The hostel owner recommended a place called Capitol Satay which is the

original restaurant serving satay celup. When we arrived in the drizzle

there was a long queue, thankfully under cover, which we took as a good sign!

We ended up waiting nearly an hour for a table. Once we got a table we went

up to a fridge cabinet, where there were an array of skewers and plates to choose

from. You could choose from different meats, seafood, tofu, wontons. We

took a selection of a dozen or so back to our table. In the middle of

our table was a metal pot full of a 'satay soup' bubbling away. We were told

to place the skewers in the soup for 2 minutes for it to cook. The soup

was rich and full of flavour and it was all part of the experience as you

picked a skwer each time not sure what delight would be on the end of it!

Part way through the meal one of the waitresses brought over 2 skewers with

a huge king prawn on each one, for only 80 cents! We could not resist! This

time we had to wait 7 minutes and the tricky job of peeling the prawn before

we could sample this delight! The whole meal was a real experience!

Dim-sum delights and the Baba-Nonya museum.

20.11.11 Melaka

Our first stop today was the Baba-Nonya heritage museum, which is a

Pernakan town house. The museum was set up by the family that have owned

and originally lived in it for 4 generations. It is a beautiful

traditional malaysian merchants house and still has all the furniture and

belongings in place from the beginning of the 19th century. We were given a

tour, along with a large group of giggling girls from a school netball

team (I think Martin was a bit of a distraction at times!). Our guide

was quite amusing, throwing in a few casually sexist jokes, which went

down well with her current audience! The house had 2 open courtyards

dividing the house in to thirds, this gave plenty of light and air to

the house. It gave an interesting insight in to the lives of the upper

classes, I really enjoyed having a nose at their belongings!

It was hot, sticky and rainy this afternoon and Martin is still missing

watching films so we decided to pay another visit to the cinema and

watched Immortals - a great film to watch in the cinema.

Dinner this evening was simple and exquisite! Back at the night

market we started the evening by watching Doctor Ho Eng Hui who stabs a

hole in a coconut with his finger, in order to sell his 'miracle oil'.

It is impressive and he is a world record holder! Then, we each took a bag and

picked 6 dim sum off the market stall, armed with a skewer we headed

for a curb seat where we could hear the finely wailed karaoke going on on the permanent

stage set up in Jonkers Walk.

Jonkers Walk buffet!

19.11.11 Melaka

First things first - we had to move hostels to Sayang Sayang 2 this morning,

which is much newer. But I couldn't help feeling they've cut corners and a

lot of the thoughtful little touches were missing here, even though the

price was higher and the bedrooms/beds/showers are all smaller!! But, hey,

it's clean and the lady that runs it is helpful and friendly.

Next we crossed over the murky brown river in to the 'historical old town'.

Melaka has a interesting history and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Melak first grew as a trading port and developed an interesting cultural

mix because of this. Melaka has been under the rule of the British and

Dutch in recent history.

As we crossed over the river we came to Town Square or Dutch Square where

tens of competing trishaws are waiting around the Stadthuys, which is the

old dutch-builty town hall and governors build. It's hard to miss as it's

a rusty pink colour. The trishaws surrounding it are solely for tourists and

are all in competition to be the most wacky. Most covered in gaudy plastic

flowers and some even blaring out western music.

When we walked behind the square and around Bukit St Paul towards Porta de Santiago

we discovered there was an arts festival going on this weekend, due to start

in a few hours. We ducked in to the nearby mall for some much needed air-con,

on the way passing an outdoor paint-ball centre. Inside the mall there was

a cinema, acquarium, roller disco and small archery centre. What more could

you need?!

Out of the mall and strolling to the sultanate palace we came across a small

crowd forming around a lone performance artist that to be honest came across

a bit deranged. She was doing some interpretative dance of some sort,

neither of us could really follow what she was doing, work out of there was

any narrative and wasn't very impressed with the actual dance, but it was

interesting!

The Sultanate palace is a wooden replica of a Melaka sultans palace and houses

a cultural museum, that tells some historical stories about personalities

important in Melaka's history and explains how the sultanate is governed.

Not a particularly scintilating museum!

Next we went back to Jonkers walk and one of the hawker stand cafes where

where we had a guess at what we wanted to eat, Ice Ice. We enjoyed a cheap

late lunch of wanton noodle soup. Afterwards we went back to the festival

and listened to a local singer-songwriter, who mixed it up with, of course,

a cover of Jason Moraz! Then we went to sample a cendol each. In Lonely

Planet they describe this delicacy as an ice monstrosity and they're not

wrong! You can have different flavours but the orignal one is coconut with

ice, with a kind of syrup over the top and then strangest of all, at the bottom

are green-bean looking jellies, sweetcorn and kidney beans (of course!). We also

sampled a mango falvoured one, which was a little more familiar tasting as it

was sweeter and fruity!

This evening, we had en exciting dinner! We spent a happy few hours walking up

and down the night market sampling food from different stalls. We tried Tiwanese

sausage on a stick, a 'tornado' crisp (which is a potato cut in to a big screw

and put on a skewer and then cooked, so it becomes a cross between a chip and a

crips) and a popiah (spring roll). We also shared a mango milk tea with pearls,

which is like a milk shake but with small balls of chewy jelly. Later we had

japanese oyster balls. These were delicious parcels that melted in your mouth

hiding chewy oyster. Next we shared a sweet potato cake and finished with a bag

of dim sum.

After we had filled our bellies we clambered up St Pauls hill to the church to

watch some performance artists. Unfortunately we were too late to be able to

fit in to the church,but glimpsed a half-naked man, painted white prancing

around under blue lights and flapping flowing fabric around and thought it may

not be to our taste anyway!

Never mind!

Melaka melting pot.

18.11.11

Today we arrived at our first stop in Melaka. We woke up late with Chris soon

knocking on our door, saying he had to go as his flight was earlier than

he though (5 hours earlier -oops!). Luckily he made his flight home. It's

been really good fun having Chris with us for a couple of weeks, it's

going to take some adjusting now he's gone and feeling like we're back

on the road again!

Anyway it was only a 2 hour bus ride to Melaka. We arrived at the main

bus station, Sentral, and got a taxi to the hostel we had booked. It

was all a bit confusing trying to get a taxi - there was a booth, but

no sign in English but lots of willing drivers. So we told them

where we wanted to go and the guy in the booth consulted his list then

there was a bit of discussion between the drivers and a call out over a

tannoy system and another man appeared who was to be our driver. We

agreed a price for what we had expected (15Mr) and off we went.

Our hostel, Sayang Sayang, is clean and the staff were really friendly

and helpful. Our room is a double decker, so you go in to the

'living room' with a small sofa and then you go up some stairs to

your bed. The bathroom was shared, but this seems to be the case

throughout Malaysia in budget accomodation. Unfortunately this place

is fully booked for the next 2 nights and so it seems are lot of

other places, because it is the school hols and there's a arts

festival going on, so we have to move to their other hostel Sayang

Sayang 2 tomorrow night.

It was now late afternoon and we were told there was a night market

going on at Jonkers Walk at 6, so we did a few jobs on the internet and

then headed out. Jonkers walk was really busy, with loads of stalls

set up along the street selling souvenirs, jewellery, flip flops and snacks.

You know instantly you are in china town by looking at the traditional

chinese architecture and the trinkets on sale. We really

enjoyed walking up and down the street soaking up the atmosphere. We

eventually decided to go in to one of the cafe was some local cuisine.

So we setlled on the famous chicken and rice ball meal. A very simple but

tasty dish in a popular cafe.

So far we are really excited about our few days in Melaka and expecially

about sampling as many local dishes as possible!!