Singapore Stunner

We left the truck forever in KL so after a teary farewell, we got on our bus. A private hire one with built in massage seats - living the life of luxury for once!

We went from one fairly impressive city to and even more impressive one: Singapore!

We pulled up at our accommodation in  a suburb called Little India and were greeted by what India could be, clean and tidy but still with Indian men sitting at the roadside doing nothing! Some things never change.

Marina Bay Sands, for those that don't know, is amazing! A huge hotel and shopping complex at the marina with a backdrop of huge high rise buildings. There were live bands, water and laser shows and pyrotechnics! It was amazing!

For those that doubt love at first sight, come to this place! We had very much fallen in love already.

The next morning we went to a church called True Light, and it was amazing! Great worship, teaching and even a prophetic word for us! So after feeling very encouraged and eating some of their Singapore noodles, we headed off to a local nature reserve and set out on an 11 mile hike around a reservoir. We can't have been more than 20 minutes from the city centre but it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere for our proper Sunday afternoon stroll!

The next day we stayed in the city and went to the colonial district and Chinatown which were very nice but the real fun started in the evening. We went to Raffles, one of the most famous hotels in the world and home to the Singapore sling! Weirdest thing: they give out free monkey nuts and expect people to throw all the shells on the floor as part of their traditions. It was amazing, we just had a food fight with shells in one of the poshest hotels in the world!

So after sampling one of their cocktails we headed for Marina Bay Sands hotel and infinity pool. This pool overlooks the whole city and is on the 57th floor spanning the 3 towers. With an incredible view of the night time city scape, Alex was able to even dip his feet in.  Again, the photos don't even start to do any justice to what we actually saw! Did I mention, the hotels hire cars were 1 Porsche and 2 Ferraris?

On the last evening, there was a horrific storm which blew down huge trees and caused a lot of damage to cars and buildings. It was the loudest thunder we'd ever heard and a lightening bolt actually struck one of Marina Bay Sands hotel towers. Scary!!

And did you know, Singapore shares it's nickname with Norwich: a fine city? Not for the same reason though. In Singapore there are fines for just about everything...

Littering £250
Loitering £100
Eating on the MRT tube £125
Carrying flammable liquid £500

And our favourite...
Not flushing a public toilet £150!!

But for now, it's time to head off as we have a little ferry to get on! Goodbye Singapore, we will be back.

Quality KL

Kuala Lumpur is amazing.

We drove in, after passing though rainforests and hills and were greeted by a night city scape, illuminated high rise buildings piercing the dark sky. The KL tower, the Petronas twin towers. It was a stunning view!

We had one full day and one day only to fit in this city and get a taste of Malaysia, so we went for some food. The simple conclusion is that Malaysian food is delicious! We even had time to see some Christmas trees, the worlds biggest capsule vending machine and eat a gingerbread man shaped Krispy Kreme doughnut!

So the next day, we went to the twin towers to get tickets to climb it later, then we got the monorail and train out of the city and went to the rainforest. There was meant to be a canopy walk but it was closed on our one day there so we hiked through the forest instead. From up a hill and through the trees, you could still see all the sky scrapers of KL. It really was beautiful!

After this we went back to the city and popped to Chinatown. We lost track of time and literally had to run across town, weaving in and out of traffic, to make it to our timeslot to go up the towers! Just. By the skin of our teeth.

The view, with the sun beginning to set, was stunning! Really beautiful! And after darkness had set in, we could see it with the lights on from close up!

Sean and Cara had upgraded so we went over to their hotel (ours was the size of a matchbox and there was even one of the others from our group sleeping on a mattress on the floor - tiny!) and we went up to the sky bar. The photos do not do this view justice.

The bar was a bit weird... The room had the bar down one side, windows with dancers in it on the other, a DJ booth and mini dance floor at the end and stuck right in the middle, was a whacking great swimming pool. Oh, and they were filming a TV programme called the 'great race'. It basically involves random couples racing across the world and having to do challenges. If they fail, they go home. If they pass, they go through to the next round and the next country! The overall winner gets AU$100,000. There were 2 tasks, a DJ mixing  and a shot pouring challenge. Everyone was rubbish at both. But it was entertaining to watch! What made it even more entertaining was getting in the background of their shots looking thoroughly unimpressed and wearing shorts a and flip flops when the whole of their fake crowd were dolled up wearing amazing outfits!

Busy day! And rather frustratingly, that is the end of our time in Malaysia as it's off to Singapore tomorrow! We will be coming back to this place!

Mooned off!

Koh Samui, the tropical paradise in the gulf of Thailand, with crystal blue waters, pristine white sand beaches and clear skies! And there for 4 days to relax and soak up the sun.

This would have been lovely but it didn't happen.

Instead, there were thunderstorms on and off throughout everyday we were there! SE Asia is now getting the backlash of the typhoon that devastated the Philippines! Not quite paradise!

Our first two days were spent sleeping, swimming in the pool, gymming, eating and running to try and avoid the rain. We were metres from the beach but there was debris getting constantly washed up and white sand doesn't look white under a grey sky.

At least we had the full moon party to look forward to over on a different island, Koh Phangan. That morning, after deciding we were going despite the storm, we went to sort out a boat for the trip. And were promptly told they were all cancelled because of the waves. Rubbish! So we went for a walk instead and as we were walking, the rain had stopped, the clouds were clearing and if you squinted hard enough, you could even see a bit of a shadow!

Essentially, the ferries were up and running so we paid an extortionate non refundable amount to a travel agent and were given our pick up time of 7pm at our hotel and the promise of a landline and mobile number if there are any problems. Perfect.

To cut a very long story short, by 1030pm and after numerous unanswered phone calls to all the numbers we had, there was still no sign of our pick up. So we got bored of waiting and hopped on a moped and went off to the lake to see the full moon celebrations there instead. Which, were actually really good! People lighting lanterns and candles and stuff.

Worth the wait but still a little gutted about the non refundable boat ticket!

The next day, we went diving with a couple of others on the trip, Caroline and Alex. The morning was bright and (dare I say it) sunny and we set off. We were about 3 hours away from the dive site and all was good. Until, a massive storm front came in and the heavens opened. The mill pond became full of white horses and the seasickness started. First it was others throwing up over the side but soon it was everyone!

Our first dive site was a place called Sail Rock, reputedly the best dive site in the whole of Thailand. As soon as we were in the water, we knew this must be a lie. The waves were crashing down around us and smashing against the rock. We were miles from land and thought the best idea would be to descend away from the waves. We lost our guide or the other two twice because of the current and poor visibility, so after finding them again each time, we headed back to the boat as an aborted dive. We were in the water 11 minutes which was nearly the longest out of anyone!

Our next dive was on a reef just off and sandy beach so all the sand made the vis terrible there too! Not our day!

So we tried again the next day, with much better success! We did 3 dives, including sail rock again and saw much more! And, the only time it rained while we were out there was while we were underwater, bonus!

Our time in Thailand was nearly over so the night before we crossed the border, we went for a traditional Thai massage. All of this I tell you is no word of a lie.

We were both in a room lying on mattresses on the floor when our ladies came in. Mine was the smallest and laughed when she saw how tall I was but didn't speak a word of English. Gills spoke "very little". Firstly, my lady burped throughout the 2 hour massage. Normally several times per minute. Secondly the TV was on and the masseuses seemed more preoccupied with watching that. It was a comedy apparently. There was a group of friends, some possessed and some ghosts/zombies, deserted on an island, dreaming through life. There was also a weird little man who kept singing. Weird as.

Half way through the massage, Gills masseuse asked why we had no kids, and when she heard the answer, she leant over to me and laughed "she doesn't like your sperm!" And then confessed to having drunk 12 bottles of beer already that night after we said we didn't drink much.

So after our time of being pulled about and pushed, poked and prodded, we left quickly and the next morning, we said goodbye to Thailand and headed for a fleeting visit to Malaysia!!