Sorry for delay!

Just a quickie to say sorry for no posts recently. We have the internet here but are having some technical difficulties. Posts to follow tomorrow x

New Continent, new country and new friends in Perth, WA.

So after a short early-morning flight down the coast from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching we had a good nine hours to waste in and around a very small airport. This being Malaysia and this being a country with a short history of corporate coffee shops the staff in Starbucks actually seemed like real people, happy in their role to serve you coffee without the typical look of disdain. We were in their for seven hours and they were wicked, really lovely people in the way they wanted to know all about our trip and talking about their lives, little things I know but pleasing nonetheless.

Anyway, our flight over to Singapore was at 7pm and as we approached the gate we were told, typically without any reason, that our flight would be delayed for two hours. Again the time came and went, meaning that in the obvious event of a cancellation we would be without any means of getting over to Singapore for our 9am flight to Perth the next morning, a flight that if we missed would render our RTW ticket null and void, shithouse.

As you can probably guess the flight was cancelled. Meaning two things. 1. Several minutes of panic and 2. An hour of, and I think this is where we have grown as people, planning an alternative route and pleading with our travel company, the unbelievably good travel nation, to book us onto a later flight. This they did, for 7pm the following day meaning all we had to do was get to Singapore. Problem was that the only flight left with the fabled Tiger Airways the same time the following night meaning paying over £150 for two tickets to Johor Bharu the following morning, just over the border from Singapore. The big upside to all of this was Tiger Airways putting all 'foreigners' in a hotel for the night....a five star hotel! Definitively, the nicest and most luxurious hotel we have ever stayed in, complete with buffet breakfast. We just wish we had more time than six hours in it!!

Anyway, we caught our excellent flight to Perth without any hindrance, flying metaphorically on a Valium induced haze until we reached the delights of Perth 1am the next morning.

After catching a 70 dollar taxi to the northern suburbs, Bill, our couchsurfing host, had left the door open for us, so we just let ourselves on whilst he put the kettle on.

The next morning Bill went off to work leaving us to hang around his place and his pool to recover from the previous two days. I spent the afternoon cleaning his pool, it wasn't dirty really, just wanted to repay some of his amazing generosity! We also did mundane things like shopping for fruit, bread and baked beans that normally would carry with it about as much a excitement as say, cleaning a sink, but after six months in Asia it was bliss. The ability to purchase products that are familiar, comforting and without the hazard of including chicken gizzards made us incredibly happy, even if a tin of beans cost about as much as an entire restaurant meal in parts of Asia. That night, Bill took us to meet a group of his friends, all ex-pats that meet up usually at the end of a hard working week and usually at the same place, a huge house complete with spa room, huge outdoor pool and pool room adorned with a sickening amount of Liverpool memorabilia. Everyone there made us feel incredibly welcome and we had an absolute blast. They were all mancs and Scouses and told us all evening that we should get ourselves out here, I could not agree more...We stayed all night and expectedly drank our weight in beer and cider before returning back to Bills to crash out.

The next day, Bill took us in his big landcruiser up to Yanchep Park, about 20kms away. The park was stunning. Getting there just before dusk meant that we saw things that you wouldn't normally expect to see. Firstly, all the weekend visitors to the park had now vanished, leaving us with the feeling that we had the park to ourselves. Secondly, With no one around and the sun creating a technicolour show on the lake, all of the park's creatures slowly came to life. We saw wild koalas, very tame kangaroos, lots of wildlife and a chorus of different animal songs. We took some beers down and had a good old natter and took some incredible photos with our incredible new camera that we purchased from Singapore airport (the most impulsive of impulsive purchases).

Waking at six the next day we knew we now only had two days to explore Perth properly. Heading down into Perth our first stop was a cruise down the Swan River, Perth's aquatic artery, where we boarded the captain James cook that would take us down river to Fremantle, a quaint Coastal down directly south of Perth. On the way we passed scenery and city scenes that were simply perfect. I know I'm an excitable person but this was so stunning you just couldn't believe that these lucky people got to enjoy this after work, never mind at the weekend. We passed some fantastic property on the way, property so expensive that it would be some of the most expensive in the world, not just in Perth. The funny thing was that due to city planning laws no property was allowed to build right up to the waters edge anywhere in the swan river or in the harbour, allowing for public access all across the city. Meaning a five metre space between these imposing properties and the shoreline. You can imagine now the guy who buys Australia's most expensive property but then has to contend with 'Brad and Sheila' bringing along their stereo bleating out their Men at Work greatest hits compilation, just outside his mansion, brilliant!

Fremantle itself was a superb little town. We jumped off the boat and went to see if we could hire a couple of bicycles. We went into the hire shop and got told, with a smile, that we could take them for free, as long as we brought them back by 4.30pm, result! So then off we went to explore this beautiful little town, almost like a mix between Southsea and Chichester but spotlessly clean. We cycled through neighbourhoods with oodles (I hate this word but I can't think of anything else right now) of charm before arriving on a stunning White beach encircled with exactly the same fortifications that you would find in Old Portsmouth. It all looked so familiar. We then made our way down to the quayside which oddly enough housed some of Australia's most prestigious Fish and Chip restaurants. Just another one on the long list of items that we share with our antipodean cousins! Anyway, we knew they would be expensive and had psyched ourselves up for the cost but at £22 were definitely the most expensive we have ever bought! They were absolutely delicious though. But no mushy peas, or gravy, or beans (have they nowt moist!!!!)

Anyway from there we rode around this beautiful town and stopped in the centre and locked up the bikes before walking around the cool little shops. I guess due to the heat we had started to bicker but as we turned a corner we were met with a busker who was simply astonishing. I mean, not just good in the way that some buskers can be, but breathtaking. His name was Mike and went by the name of Passenger. Look him up. Anyway, we spoke to the guys he was playing with who told us that he had played in the Eastney Cellars back in July, it was really strange having a conversation about Southsea's canoe lake with a couple of buskers in Oz! We bought his cd, will be great for the campervan, before carrying on down the road with his own very unique versions of The Smiths and Paul Simon still ringing on our ears.

The next day was our last day in Perth so decided to give it a real go. We got up with Bill who gave us a lift into the city at 7am so headed straight for one of the myriad coffee shops serving the hordes of office workers.

From there we walked through the city, a superb vision of gleaming modernity, to the Perth mint. Although we were not allowed to take photos inside of the mint we were given a demonstration in front of a replica gold prospecting camp, complete with tents, shovels and Aussie hats, just like the old photos. He told us we could go ahead and take some photos so shell and I took full opportunity to look like yokels decked out in full regalia, they came out a treat. We were also given a demonstration of how they make gold bars, really fantastic stuff, as well as weighing ourselves in gold (we both weighed the equivalent of £2 million). We also had the chance to pick up a gold bar, it was so heavy!!

From there we took the free bus up to kings park where we munched on picnic food and took in the picture perfect views of this well...perfect city. Nothing is out of place and everything has a purpose, Shell says it's like being in the Stepford Wives! It was also meltingly hot, not humid like much of Asia but so hot the sun seemed to wear away at your skin whenever you were in it. We even traversed the glass walkway through the park, a walkway between the trees, 200 feet up with spectacular views of the city.

Back at Bills, we packed up our swimming gear and headed down to the beach, about a 5min drive from his place. It was a fitting end to a perfect five days. The sea was warm and although windy we sat around and drank a couple of beers and watched a perfect sunset for an incredible end to our brief but amazing WA experience.

Although we obviously met Bill through couchsurfing we're both in no doubt that we will leave as firm friends. Bill leaves on a 1 year RTW trip next month and I think he really appreciated having a couple of people there who could share their experiences with him. As our first couchsurfing experience I doubt it could be beaten but it certainly repays some of your faith in humanity! If your reading this Bill, thankyou my good man and stay in touch!

Next , onwards to Melbourne for a four day stay with our second couchsurfing host, this time a guy called Greg. He's got a lot to live up to!

Much love, Tommo and shellface xxx

Mountains, mist & Kota Kinabalu.......

After our Sarawak adventures, we decided it was time to move on and check out what the rest of Borneo had to offer. We jumped aboard yet another plane (our carbon footprint is getting pretty big now!) and headed for Kota Kinabalu in Sabah.

After a slightly turbulent flight (Tom was not happy) we headed into the city centre. Kota Kinabalu itself is nothing really to shout about, another sprawling city which stretches for miles along the coastline. After dropping off our bags, the heavens opened and the streets became a sea of water. Not really ideal weather for exploring! Feeling tired and a bit homesick, we decided to skip yet another meal of noodles and rice and treat ourselves to a tasty Italian dinner. Oh pasta how I have missed you! A glass of wine would've made the meal perfect but our measly budget would not stretch that far :(

During breakfast the following morning, we got chatting to a Dutch couple about their travels. Turns out they were pretty much doing the same trip as us, but in reverse. They had been travelling through China and the phillipines but also in New Zealand, for eight weeks, exactly the same time we have planned.

After chatting away over our 'luxurious' breakfast of mini bananas and toast, from that moment on we would be pretty much inseperable for the next few days. For four days we explored some of the outlying islands, relative paradises (not really on a par with the Thai islands but stunning nonetheless).

After spending the day on this tropical island we yet again met some real 'characters' This time a really loud Polish guy who was bragging how he took what he wanted from wherever he went, things that he said that HAVE to be taken if found, and if light enough.

This Polish couple were actually from Cambridge of all places and stood with me, necking back his pile of Tiger beers, whilst bragging about how little he can do in the UK and be paid a relative fortune for it. His missus then came and piped up about all of the places they have been to in the world on the back of being paid British wages. Fair play to them. He then went and spoiled my bitter understanding by diving into the water and breaking off a huge piece of coral, a highly endangered part of an otherwise precious ecosystem. I wanted to throw sand and gravel in his face but this guy just didn't grasp the meaning of protected species. Which is kind of the same for most of Asia unfortunately (not just unintelligent Poles) especially when you walk past the shark fin specialist restaurants. Oh and the turtle meat stew stalls. We've said it many tomes on this blog and it doesn't mean to be said really but animal and environmental welfare is a completely secondary notion...

Anyway from the islands the four of us went in search of traditional Malay food and found a fantastic place that created really fresh halal chicken dishes, especially the sweet and sour chicken, really thick and tasty sauce with very tender pieces of chicken. It went down really well with tea tarik, my new favourite tipple, essentially just sweet, frothy, milky tea. So good.

The next day we all arose early and headed towards Kinabulu National Park, home to mount kinabulu and almost 3000 metres above sea level. From being completely covered in sweat to shivering like a wet dog in an hour was a strange sensation. Our driver up there, a small Chinese man called Jo Kong, was definitely a character. Turns out he was a retired police sergeant and definitely had the hair to go with it. In fact I told him the whole way that I wanted hair like him, he loved it! Anyway, after a few minutes chit chat this guy was fine, after nearly two full hours of the same conversation over and over again it was painful.

Eventually old sergeant kong pulled up at a place high in the mountains called D'Vila lodge. It had the look and feel of a disused tin mine but after talking to the owners and looking at the room we all decided that despite it being as basic as basic gets, it was cheap and had everything we needed, basically a bed....

So three night we stayed up in the mountains with our new Dutch friends Arlette and Sioux. We had some amazing games of scrabble, eat some great food with the vegetables picked right from the mountainside before us and walked around the national park. Disappointingly the weather was just horrific. It rained hard for the whole time we were there, shrouding mount kinabulu, SE Asia's highest, in a thick blanket of dense fog. For us it was a pain in the arse, for the climbers who had come from across the globe and paid literally thousands to climb the mountain for a clear view, it would be devastating.

After saying our goodbyes to our new Dutch friends we waited outside for our bus back to Kota kibabalu. The hotel staff informed us that we would just have to DIY outside the hotel and wait until a big yellow bus appeared. We waited for almost an hour in the freezing fog for a bus that when arrived was as full as was humanly possible and had the full-on whiff of a mixture of shit, piss and durian. Probably the worst combination of smells you ever could imagine. Well, maybe rotting rat would come close. We were on that bus for two hours, shell sat next to Borneo's answer to a pebble and I next to a man who insisted on grabbing onto the headrest in front of me instead of the one directly in front of him, why???

After one horrible bus journey we were then dropped unceremoniously into a bus station some miles out of town where we then had to cross two main roads with rucksacks to a waiting bus that was being driven by what looked like two ten year old boys. The bus was jam packed and had no particular route other than driving around in a random direction shouting at various passers by if they wanted to be squeezed on, which they invariably did. We were then dropped for the second time closer to the centre of town but what seemed like a rundown asda carpark. We were pointed in a particular direction which we duly followed around the maze of roads that is downtown Kota kibabalu until we reached lavender lodge, our hone for the next three nights. Another epic and ultimately challenging journey!

The next two days were then spent making sure we had everything ready for the next leg of our trip. Our voyage south to the antipodes and three and a half months spent counting every single penny, living off baked beans and self-made sandwiches. But you know what, we cannot wait.

After nearly six months spent travelling through a literal sweatbox, eating rice for every meal, drinking 10p beers, being cheered/mocked/heckled/loved/smiled (delete where appropriate) at or all of the above in the space of a day. Having to learn the (unlearnable) art of an Asian road crossing, getting used to squatting to go to the toilet, then learning to love it. Making friends for life from the four corners of Europe half way across the world. Learning to laugh when you arrive ill-prepared and without the slightest grasp of the local language at 6am on the morning in the pouring rain. And last and definitely not least, coming to the dawning realisation that here, here amongst the carnage and the anarchy, the noise and the grime, here is where the future lies. And what a future that could be. I for one, want in....

Much love, Tommo & Shell xxx

Cool as cats in Kuching........

Hey everyone, hope all is well back home! Starting to miss it.....in a way!

So in just under two weeks our Asian adventure will draw to a close, before that a Borneo adventure awaited us as we boarded our flight for the short swing over the south china sea to Kuching.

Before we knew it, we were on another packed highway, in a place that looked not one bit like the Borneo images you might conjure up in your head, you know, all dense rainforest and smiling Orang-utangs. In reality, this could be any-city, Malaysia. We were excited to be here and couldn't wait to explore but the huge malls and the rampant traffic just reminded us of other cities in peninsular Malaysia, not really what we had in mind but we'd give it a good go!

At the hostel we plonked our bags down then went in search of food. We found in the guidebook a place called the top spot food court which had rave reviews. Turns out this place took the whole top level of a large multi-storey car park and was inundated with stalls, all selling every kind of seafood you could possibly imagine, it was unbelievable. Whole Malay and Chinese families, some fifteen or so strong, sat around a large round table where waitresses piled plates of lavish seafood on top of each other. You just cannot believe that people can eat so much, it was incredible. Giant prawns, crabs and huge fish swam around in tanks all waiting to be chosen by the next customer. The prices were much cheaper than at home, maybe ten pounds for a kg of crab and maybe the same price for a huge whole sea bass or red snapper. Very cheap but still out of our budget unfortunately but we did manage to gorge on giant juicy prawns and the most tender calamari, beautiful.

Back at the hostel we were just shattered, we felt and looked ill. For the last four weeks we had steamed around towns and cities in the tropical heat and in flip-flops and it had last caught up with us. The next day, we slept late, ate an even later lunch and then took a picturesque boat tour up and down the Sarawak river that splintered it's way through the city like a giant brown snake. Kuching itself was instantly appealing and they had done a great job of sprucing up the waterfront to make a fantastic riverside walk all with the backdrop of the opposite side of the river to keep you entertained. On the opposite side stood a small White palace, an old fort, many traditional houses and the Sarawak state parliament, which has my vote for most impressive building in the world, it is simply stunning. Whichever way you look at it it doesn't fail to make you smile. It rises up like a solid gold circus tent but much grander and in perfect symmetry, whoever designed it must have been listening to an inspirational speech or something whilst he was putting his plans together, I can't express how great it is.

The next day we woke at 5.30am in preparation to go and see the Orang-utans in their semi-wild open habitat at Semangoh. We would have to catch a public bus twenty kms out of town and then be dropped off 2kms away at the park entrance. Funny thing was that when we went up to pay the park entrance fee we were met with a huge White notice with the words 'we now in fruiting season, chances of seeing orang-utans are zero, or maybe less than zero', in typical Malaysian gusto. Typical we thought, but on we went up the hill and through the trees to the centre where thankfully we were the only people around, this would not last...

About forty minutes later a few other people started to arrive. By 9am, just before feeding time, there must have been 200 people there. After a short briefing by the park ranger we were off into the woods to try and catch a glimpse of these amazing creatures. The park ranger had drilled it into everyone that noise would not be welcomed. This didn't stop the hoards of Chinese and Malay tourists who let their children run wild. it was infuriating, more so that they just didn't care. Morons!

Anyway, after about half an hour the tree tops started to sway and people started to get excited. All of a sudden two young ones appeared to peruse the selection of fruits available. Due to it being fruiting season many of the beasts were capable of finding food for themselves but for these little ones the chance to have food provided for them was too much to turn down. The best bit was watching the youngest of the two grab a coconut and spend the remaining thirty minutes trying his hardest to get inside it! He tried everything he could and eventually the coconut split and he could enjoy it's contents. The centre was a good place to visit and they are obviously doing a gallant job with these creatures but you can't help but feel that this is just another zoo showpiece.

The following day we decided to follow the lonely planet walking tour, taking in a slice of kuching's long history of British colonialism mixed on with it's obviously large Chinese population. I think we really got a feel for the place and sampled some fantastic local Sarawak coffee. We also had smiles and hellos from a lot of people, something which always warms the cockles in a new land! By now we were fully integrated into local Kuching life. We knew the best places to eat and drink and had some great games of scrabble back at the hostel (rock and rollers us).

The next morning shell and I got up at six to catch a very early bus up to Bako National Park, one of the highlights of Borneo's many natural sights. On the bus we met a couple of german guys so we could share out the cost of the boat journey to the park. When we got to the jetty the rain was already heavy and we also had to wait for nearly an hour as the tide was so low. Once on a boat though the beauty of Bako became instantly apparent, even though it was wet and miserable. We did a 7km looping trek through the jungle with one of the german guys called Sebastien. We were pretty shattered at the end as it took us through some wild and undulating terrain and as the rains were particularly heavy the tracks had turned to rivers, a real rainforest experience.

We did manage to spot a few bits of wildlife on the trek including a truly huge spider (biggest I've ever seen), a cheeky macaque monkey and a family of wild boars but the elusive proboscis monkey (the ones with huge red noses) remained to be seen...up until the journey back. Our boat driver suddenly pulled the boat to the right where there, high amongst the trees, was a small family of them. They were incredible and amazing to see in the wild.

Kuching and Sarawak had been great. Much like our journey north into Sabah, our options would be cut really short by how expensive it is to actually do anything in Borneo. It's incredibly cheap to stay somewhere and to eat but any tours and activities are just so expensive! Even so, for a few days Kuching is a great place to kick back and recuperate after mistreating our bodies for the past few weeks!

Anyway, were really missing everyone at the minute. We think its just the fact were right in the middle of our trip. Its also incredibly hard to keep having to say goodbye to new friends all the time, i really hate goodbyes.

Just a few days now until we leave Asia after nearly six months! Hope we can speak to some of you soon!

Much love, Tommo and shellface xxx

Singapore or bust....

From Melaka we took a bus, not as swanky as before but loads of room, five hours south down the national highway to Singapore, as far south as we would be going in Asia. Originally we had planned to get here just before we flew to Australia but had managed, crazily, to get here around two weeks ahead of schedule. With this time in hand we had a hundred different options of where to go to but in the end decided to spend a couple of nights in Singapore and then fly on to Borneo.

Getting off the bus we were instantly introduced to Singapore's tropical weather, it was hammering it down as if someone had let off a hose pipe. We took cover under a tin shelter and tried to wait it out but this particular bus station was in such a ridiculous position that taxis were nowhere to be seen. After waiting for an hour for the rain to stop only to watch it get heavier a local man, who claimed to be a fisherman (really?-at a bus stop?) said that it wouldn't stop for three hours and that we needed to go. With this he miraculously spied a taxi and ran up to it so we could get in, such a nice bloke.

Anyway, as the hostel was in the thick of chinatown our taxi driver told us about all the great things to eat in the vicinity, items that, 'you can't really say you've been to Singapore until you've tried', which included, chilli crab, haikkanese chicken and fish porridge, mmmm.

Anyway the hostel was fine, nice and clean but the dormitories were ridiculously small, barely big enough for me and shell, never mind six! We were in there with some decent guys though, a couple of Austrian guys and an American couple. It doesn't matter who you are with though, in that small space you would learn every smell of the five other people!

Back out in Chinatown we headed for some of the hawker stalls selling various delicious things but even here, amongst Singapore's cheapest eating places, it was still way out of our league. And here in lies the problem. Singapore is expensive, in some ways more expensive than London. So for two budget travellers struggling by on £40 for two, it would be impossible. Even so, we found a place selling great dim sum and pork claypots so at least ate fairly well.

The next morning and our only full day in Singapore, we got up early, helped ourselves to the mediocre offerings for breakfast and headed out towards the botanical gardens, apparently one of the worlds best. It was fantastic, incredibly big and modelled on an English landscape (it was built by the second English governor). We walked for ages through the different sections in the rising heat until we hit the other side of the park and made our way down Orchard Road, Singapore's Oxford street. What Bangkok has in intensity Singapore definitely makes up for in volume. Every outlet you can think of, all in sanitised, air conditioned goodness. We walked as far as we conceivably could in flip flops and in the suffocating humidity before stopping for well earnr refreshments in one of the food courts. This time we peered way too much food. We ate roti murtabek, a roti stuffed with shredded chicken and spices all served with a tonne of vegetables and daal. In terms of Singapore it was cheap but still took up a food chunk of our budget. Bloody Singapore, it's all the bankers fault, they've made everything too expensive!!

From there we took the MRT down to Raffles Hotel, arguably it's most revered sight and a national institution. It was as grand and majestic as you would imagine. It even had a yellow Ferrari parked outside and a rather large Roller drove in to pick someone up. With rooms starting at £350 a night we could maybe afford to sit on someone's bed for ten minutes? We did think about going for one of the legendary Singapore slings but I think they took one look at us and decided the gin would be kept safely out of sight from these nutters.

Back at the hostel quite possibly the worlds smelliest guy had taken over one of the beds in our dorm. To be fair to him we think it was his towel or his feet, or maybe both but he smelt like a combination of rotting flesh and aged vomit. The prospect of spending a night with this smell actually turned shells stomach, I've never seen anyone with that amount of dread.

To compensate we went out to enjoy Singapore's light show, something I'd not even heard of until shell told me (she is a walking guidebook). We experienced a lightshow in HK which was huge but this was much more impressive. It was smaller but featured water in direct coordination with the music. Not only that but from the top of the huge Marina plaza building behind us, a laser was then projecting images onto the water spray, creating moving images to coincide with the dramatic music effect. A real assault on the senses.

After eating a sandwich for dinner, best we could do I'm afraid, we retreated back to the hostel and our smelly pit of a dorm!

It was a bit of a whistle stop tour of Singapore having only been there for one full day but it is just so expensive! We knew what to expect before we came but nothing can prepare you for things costing quadruple what they would over the border.

I suppose the similarities with Hong Kong are quite numerous in the sense that the British influence is still very much around in the road signs, architecture and fussiness but the city itself is the epitome of sleek. I guess what it lacks in character it makes up for in cleanliness.

Anyway, our next chapter awaits and an exciting and unplanned couple of weeks over in Borneo, can't wait!!

Much love, Tommo and shellface xx

Melaka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka....

Leaving Kuala Lumpur behind we hopped on the bus in the main bus terminal. As we got on all memories of grotty, cramped busses of the other parts of Asia seemed to disappear, it was the height of bus luxury. It was one of those journeys you just didn't want to end because you knew deep down that this kind of bus was pretty rare to find!

As we got off in Melaka we were befriended by a guy who wanted to share a taxi with us. Turns out he was half Argentinian and half Chinese and his name was Juan Pablo Poon, what a name! He had just finished a six month stint in New Zealand and was now off to travel through Asia, lovely stuff and a good guy.

The taxi into Melaka was good fun. We had a taxi that when the driver lifted the boot, a huge canister was strapped in leaving no space for bags. I asked him if it was nuclear, he said it was to power his car, is this guy from back to the future??

At the hotel in Melaka's old town the taxi drover dropped us off with our bags and we strolled up the stairs to be met by quite possibly the most informal (and cheap) place to date. The two owners had a couple of very young children who's toys and books were strewn across the floor, it was actually pretty cute, very homely. The rooms were basic but excellent and even had our own rocking chair!

After relaxing for a few minutes we were off once more into the evening to check out this historic city, not realising quite how busy a place such as this can get on the weekend, it was ridiculous. You kind of forget I suppose, especially after being in Vietnam, Laos etc, that the local population are tourists too. You forget sometimes that malaysia is a developed country with an aspiring middle class, all looking to take their new SUV's to the countryside or the seaside for the weekend.

Anyway, we braved the crowds to explore the famous Jonkers night
Market. The streets were filled with hundreds of people (and stalls hidden away somewhere!) We managed to taste some amazing nyonya pineapple tarts, portugese custard tarts and some chinese dim sum. Just goes to show you the diverse mix of cultures that they have here. Whilst wandering through the Market, we came across a huge stage where some brave souls were singing there hearts out to what only can be described as a Chinese mega mix of their greatest pop hits. Our favourite was an old guy in a yellow and black shellsuit - he looked like the Chinese version of Barry chuckle! His performance was by far the best of the night :)

After a good nights sleep, we set about exploring the city and the heritage sights that it had to offer. There were people everywhere and in the end we gave up and headed away from the crowds to follow a walking tour in the LP guide. It took us past Chinese temples, Hindu temples and a mosque - all along the same road! The Chinese temples were fantastic to wander around as they were filled with people praying and celebrating the new year. There was so much incense in the air it stung your eyes but it was a brilliant sight to see (even through our streaming eyes!)

Later that night, we took a walk along the river and discovered some amazing artwork on the sides of the buildings. Huge colourful designs depicting different aspects of malaysia and of Melaka in particular. They looked great at night but even better the following day when we took a leisurely boat ride along the river, straight through the heart of the city. Further up river we found a traditional Malay village (wooden houses on stilts). They seemed slightly out of place next to the more modern concrete buildings but it was nice to see that this community maintained it's authenticity.

Wandering back to our guesthouse, we came across an old shop with lots of wooden spinning tops hanging outside with a sign offering free lessons. We headed inside and found a friendly old guy who relished the opportunity to show off his 'spinning' skills! He was pretty good and before long Tom had mastered the art of spinning too. All pretty simple stuff, or so it seemed until the guy started wheeling his tricks out the bag. These were not so easy and 'would need some practice', so we walked out the shop the proud owners of our very own spinning top! No doubt hours upon hours of frustration lie ahead but a pretty good souvenir to bring back to the UK.

Now we couldn't write a blog about Melaka without mentioning the trishaws. They are without doubt the most fantastic mode of transport you could ever hope to take and like nothing we had seen during our time in Asia. Yes it still was a bicycle powered by one very fit man and seats for 2 passengers on the back. Yet these guys had taken it up a level and 'pimped' up there bikes with lights, flowers, stuffed toys and a HUGE soundsystem pumping out everything from chinese pop to Michael Jackson. Brilliant! Even better though was when groups of Chinese tourists hired lots of them at once (to accommodate their huge families) and they all set off in a long line, different music blaring out the speakers of each - a special moment to behold and only in Asia!!

All too soon (and just as we were starting to relax) it was time to think about moving on again. We booked super cheap express bus tickets to Singapore. A mere 5 hour journey with border crossings half way through. Fingers crossed for as nice a bus as we had on our journey here - somehow I doubt it!!

Love Tommo and shell xxxxx

(this blog was a joint effort and a labour of love as we left it so long to write - oooops!)