As mentioned in previous posts, Melaka was fantastic a great place to chill out and relax from the bustling city that was Kuala Lumpur.
Highlights of our stay were:
- Walking along the Melaka river, its got a boardwalk along the length and there is a 5km walk crossing various bridges and sights in the town including watching huge monitor lizards swimming in the river.
- Eating at various local restaurants including Capitol Satay (where you cook all your meat and veg in a giant pot of peanut butter and oil) and Selvam a great Malaysian Indian restaurant serving curries on a banana leaf.
- Shopping on a Friday night at Jonkers street eating baked Quail's eggs on a stick!
- Walking through all the old temples including the oldest Chinese temple in South east Asia.
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| They get everywhere!! |
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| Oldest Chinese templein SE Asia |
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| We were still in singapore when we saw this one! |
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| More from Singapore Zoo |
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| We finally found the beach! In Perth! |
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| Gemma with some apes! |
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| Perth |
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| Not Scared, not a bit!!! |
We then jumped on a 5 hour bus ride back to Singapore for a couple of days before flying ut to Perth.
Back in Singapore we stayed at the YMCA international hotel which is a budget hotel in the busiest shopping area of Singapore (Orchard Street). This hotel was a bit pricier than a hostel but its 2 advantages were a great buffet breakfast and also the fact that it had a roof top pool!! We finally got to Singapore Zoo this time and whilst the animal enclosures and general ambiance of the park is great it is a little on the small side so i reckon its a 8 out of 10!!
However, we also paid to do the Night Safari (about $15 each), which is a different Zoo park next to the main zoo that opens at 7pm and closes at midnight. This was incredible! There is a 50 minute tram ride around the park that you can hop on and off with a guide doing their best to describe what is around. The highlight for us was walking around the zoo, following trails in the pitch darkness. All the animal areas are subtly lit, just enough for us to see in but the animals can't really see you. It felt really adventurous, like you weren't supposed to be there! All the animals were really active and the trails were through dense rainforest with giant crickets chirping and bats flying around. We would highly recommend it we stayed until it pretty much shut!!!
On to Oz
We arrived in Perth after a 5 hour flight and a few touch and go moments regarding our Visa's (if you've forgotten to get one and only checked the day before you will be pleased to know that you can get one online for free and it takes about 5 minutes to come through!)
Stu Toohill a childhood mate of Dave's picked us up from the airport and has put us up at his house, and lent us a car for the 2 weeks. Stu and Lorne have gone above and beyond our expectations and have been amazing hosts.
We found some brilliant beaches in Perth and immediately underestimated the power of the sun over here, despite applying factor 30 a few times we both were sunburned after only an hour in the sun!
We have visited an Ozzy bar, eaten some ozzy food (pies, burgers and seafood) and are settling in quite nicely. Perth itself is a really laid back city, although prices are pretty high because of all the mine workers that have migrated here.
Dave and Stu have been getting on like a house on fire, reminiscing about their childhood and you wouldn't believe it had been over 25 years since they last met up. Gem and Lorne (Stu's wife) have been very tolerant, listening to the old stories and generally laughing politely at things the other 2 find hilarious but you had to be there!!!
Its early days here in Perth and we have Rachel Olding's wedding to attend in Fremantle on the 10th, followed by some diving next week on the wreck of the Swan!!!
Australia already feels like home!!
