Due South

Pick of the week: Guesthouse, Malacca

Style: Western sit

Atmosphere: Tropical

Extras: This loo should have felt a bit much. It was outside, there were weeds growing in the cubicle, but as it was it was awesome. The plant life against the whitewashed walls worked beautifully, the sun was always shining on this throne and the little transistor radio playing just outside added distraction if you had foolishly forgotten your book.

07/08/13 to 20/08/13 Koh Phi Phi, Krabi, Penang, Cameron Highlands, Kuala Lumpur and Malacca

**NOTE: Photos and the final post will be added when we land, not long now**

It seems that the sun was only shining for Vi's dads sake and almostthe moment the longtail boat disappeared around the headland it started spitting. This drizzle built to a steady monsoonal session for the next 3 days. This combined with the revelation we were now operating on the credit cards (not unexpected) meant we had 3 days eating little and doing even less in the rain. We managed a little more exploring in breaks in the weather while some others managed to base jump from the towers which was pretty inspiring.

We ummed and ahhed about the next course of action and decided to suck it up and head to the island of Koh Phi Phi (which is famed for its proximity to "The Beach") and after a bit of stress (and being fairly horrified by the antics of the tourists on the 'bad' side of the island) found a fantastic woodland/beach set up with a bungalow in the trees but with a wonderful beach view. An old friend of Vi's is living out there running a dive outfit with her boyfriend so we headed over to 'their' beach later that day and had a few drinks. A lovely evening was had and we were introduced to Fi's gorgeous little rescue doggy who bravely saved us from all passing Thai people.

The next day we borrowed some awesome snorkelling kit from my friends and had a day of toasting ourselves on the beach and intermittently popping into the (slightly) cooler water for a bit of mingling with the fish. That evening we headed into town to experiment with the local nightlife. We were mortified on behalf of all westerners when we found people walking down the main street in nothing but a bikini/short swimming shorts while the call to prayer was sounding overhead- they are apparently oblivious not only to local custom but to all sense of style and good taste (not to mention dusk is also when the mozzies start their feeding frenzy so maximum exposed skin seems a little daft). However, a lovely meal was had and we managed to make it all the way home without giving in to the urge to purchase a sarong and wrap it around a total stranger whilst making grandmothery tut-tutting sounds.

The next day we woke to find the apocalypse had started early. In 3 hours it rained so hard that the ground floor toilets were 5 inches underwater. We gave up on our previous plans of snorkelling with sharks (little, non-bitey ones) and yet again spent a day watching the water pour from the sky like someone upstairs had turned on a tap. We caught a long tail to the main harbor and had a terrifying journey across to Krabi on a boat that rocked and rolled heavily and actually managed to stall in the pitching waves once.

Once in Krabi we checked into a cute little guesthouse that we were delighted to find had hot water and rather guiltily tucked into a couple of delicious pasta dishes from the little Italian across the road (we really do eat local most of the time!)

Then all of a sudden it was time to Malaysia before we ran out of time so we caught the bus to Penang just in time for a 2 day bank holiday where everything shut down completely. We stayed in a great guesthouse which was brand new and therefore super clean as well as really central which was handy. Penang is a beautiful old port town whose main town is called 'Georgetown' and the next town just across the water is called 'Butterworth' so you can kind of tell we British have been there a little while. As most things from shops and museums were shut we spent most of our days having a leisurely breakfast at a lovely little cafe that did bagels and coffee and wandering round the old town (a UNESCO world heritage site!) which had beautifully intricate tiled walkways and shuttered shopfronts. Thankfully most of 'little India' was still open for business where we got some delicious tandoori chicken, curries, nan breads and rotis. It was also the site of a strange little moment as we took a night time stroll- we came across a big stage that had been set up in the middle of the street on one of the side streets in little India where a singer was entertaining crowds by singing various songs in Chinese which, oddly enough, included 'Delilah' by Tom Jones.

From Penang we broke up our quest south with a stop in the old British hill station of the Cameron Highlands. This area is up at between 1000m and 2000m, covered in Tea plantations and is much much cooler. We were in trousers and long sleeve tops for the first time in months! It gets as cool as 12oC here! With this in mind it is no surprise that the British based the administration for their whole Malacca Straits outfit here.

On our first day we wandered out into the forest for a short walk and somehow ended up a fair old distance from town the resulting walk back up the road to town showed us that Malaysians are as keen on walking as most asian tourists as we were gawked at the whole way home.

The next day we wandered back to a tea plantation we had stumbled on the previous day and had a little wander once again getting lost but this time wandering into a local village which was a world away from the skyscrapers we had seen on the coast. Also, any romantic notions we had of locals hand picking tender tea-leaves to throw into a bag carried over their backs were soon dispelled as we watched the tea plantation workers  manhandle what was the essentially an enormous strimmer and raze the top off every tea bush in the vicinity.

We hopped from here to Kuala Lumpur. We had not expected good things but it was a totally different class of city. Like the rainforest which seems to permeate it, making it impressively green, it is ultra modern and new up top in the skyscrapers but down at street level the vibe is totally different with a lot of old architecture and building remaining especially in china town. We met up with one of my (Vi's) friends from work and were taken for a lovely drive round the town centre and then for an authentic Malaysian family lunch which was delicious (Ben was particularly excited as since Eid had just passed there were tons of sweets, chocolates and cakes to be had). We went along to the national museum which had a great anthropological section and passed by some beautiful mosques. We also got a little bit of sightseeing in at the petronas towers and wistfully window-shopped at the very posh mall underneath it. All in all and excellent time was head.

Next on the agenda was the old port town of Malacca which was yet another unesco world heritage site. The streets are all beautiful little windy alleyways with tiny little arty shops and gorgeous shutters and mosaic tiles everywhere. As it was the weekend the weekend 'walking street' was in town and we got to sample the delights of 'popiahs' which are like giant really tasty spring rolls. We also got some of the local palm sugar called gulu Melaka which looks disturbingly like raw heroin so fingers crossed for getting it home. We spent a philosophical little moment contemplating the success of our trip while sitting by the shore of the straits of Malacca and generally had a chilled out and happy time enjoying our last few days of freedom as all too soon it was time to do the final land border crossing into Singapore.