I spent some more time in KL after my last update and met up with the some of the guys from the Raleigh Expedition to Sabah in 2002 - Jia Yew, Adrian and Jason as well as some of their friends. They took me to the most delicious sea food restaurant and we had a good night.
Chom Poo and I went to the Petrona's Twin Towers and enjoyed the views over KL and the free guided tour!
One of the many shopping complexes In KL - I will be coming back here when I am not on a backpackers budget.....
Sam Poh Tong Temples which are built into some limestone caves on the outskirts of Ipoh.
Think the mum in the first photo was protecting her baby from the bad influence of the naughty monkeys who were stealing food and anything else they could get from the visitors to the temple!!!
Ancient cave drawing in the temple - bet you didn;t know that Garfield had such interesting heritage.
Views over Ipoh from the caves - not a city with too much to do but was quite relaxed place to spend a few days.
There was a Turtle Pond in the temple and it was feeding time - these guys move much faster on land than you would think - especially when hungry!!
This one sadly has a damaged shell but he was still able to swim and get his share of the food.
Don’t think I need to tell you what these two were up to!!
Sleeping Buddha.
The railway station in Ipoh.
Next stop was the Cameron Highlands which as the name suggests is in the hills and as well as the rain it was actually pretty cool here - I even had to put on my fleece a couple of times!! Just a couple of small towns here but it gets a lot of visitors for trekking and all the different types of farms in the area. I went out on a couple of short one day trekks as it always rained in the afternoons.
Lots of beautiful flowers at the FLower Farms and when out trekking.
The Boh Tea Plantation which produces one of Malaysia's favourite brews.
The tree plantation is so big that there is a small community for the workers - it was school sports day when I was there.
Next stop was the Butterfly Gardens - which also housed lots of reptiles and insects - Chom Poo Moo was glad some of them - especially the big trantula were behind glass!! 
The ancient Chinese Temple in the Cameron Highlands and the fish pond with some big fish!!
A local kid.
Back to KL for a couple of days and met up with Raleigh guys again - they looked after me very well.
The Masquid Jamek in KL all lit up at night.
One of the signs in the 'Western Toilets'!!
Jia Yew and Adrian meet Chom Poo Moo.
Last stop in Malaysia was Melaka - a town that thousand's Malaysian and Singapore visitors.
All the Richshaws here were decorated with flowers, In fact this was the only place in Malaysia I actually saw Rickshaws - just for the tourists!!
The Maritime Museum was partly based in this shio - a replica of a Portugese ship that sank in the Melaka Straights.
Melaka from the revolving Observation Tower. 
One of the many school trips that were visiting the historic sites of the town - this was a main city that the Portugese/Dutch and British fought over in the early years of Malaysia as it gave control to the Melaka Straights.
Busit Cina - the Chinese Cemetery on the hill - which was the first Chinese settlement in Malysia after a Chinese Princess was sent over to marry a local Shah to foster good diplomatic and trading relationships!! Some of the graves date back to Ming Dynasty - as they were all inscribed with Chinese characters I have no idea which one's though.
The Shah's Palace which is now a cultural museum - one of the things I love about Malaysia is the mixd ethnic groups that make up the population all of which are recognised and given place in it's history and even now you can see the differences in customs, religoun coming through in the dress, food and attitudes of the Malaysian people. For example in Melaka guest houses run my traditional Malay (muslim) they do not sell alcohol though most don;t mind guests bringing in their own but ask that no none Halal foods are taken onto the premises.
Malaysian people socialise around food - they love it - in fact it is one of the big attractions of Melaka - a couple of the local dishes that can't be found anywhere else - like Chicken Rice Balls - which were delicious.
Toilet Humour!!
The Skylines of Singapore.
St Peter's Cathedral In Singapore - lovely stained glass windows.
The Singapore Museum was really good - high tech digital displays that took you through the history from the first Malay Shah's who arrived in the 14th century, through the British occupation and surrender to the Japanese during WW2 and then the fight for independance. This was a Kala Head Armlet from the very early occupiers.
Singapore's 'EyE' - the largest observation wheel in the world - Singapore likes to have lots of the world's biggest things by the looks of things.
School kids in Singapore - immaculate and very well behaved.
The Buddha Tooth Temple and Museum. 
Some of Singapores many laws - sold on Fridge magnets for the tourists!
Paintings in small perfume bottles - lots of detail and no one could tell me how they did it!!
Not sure we would get away with a street name like this in the UK - don't suppose it would be considered politically correct.
The Sultan Mosque - found on - you've guessed it Arab St.....
The Indian Festival of lights was celebrated as I was moving between Malaysia and Singapore - and all the street decorations were still in place in Little India.
Chom Poo Moo got worried she was going to become dinner and sent out in one of these delivery motorcycles as popsicle food!!
Sri Veerama Kaliaman Temple in Little India.
Being a window cleaner in Singapore is a little bit more exciting than working on a Glasgow Housing scheme by the looks of things!
A visit to the Toy Museum was good fun - Chom Moo Poo decided she wanted the 'Force' to be with her.....
Every shopping complex in Singapore - and there are thousands - has food courts selling a selection of cheap yummy food. Not surprising no one cooks at home.
The Battle Box is an underground complex where the British made their battle plans against the Japanese during the War and where the decision was made for the first time in hundred's of years for the British Army to surrended.
Certainly a vivid picture of what will happen if you don't obey - no wonder there is little crime in Singapore - wonder if there is something in this technique??
There were quite a lot of Scottish street names about the City Centre.
Chom Poo Moo got very excited when we arrived at Singapore Airport as it was her first time flying - she wasn't even disappointed when she checked the flight board and found there was an hours delay as there s free internet, games and even beds.
And when she got on the flight and realised that not only did she have her personal TV but she could choose from over 100 movies - she decided the flight was just not long enough and that was even before she got her dinner!! She wants to know if she can always fly with Emirates :-)
Toilet signs at Melbourne airport - for those arriving from countries where you only have squat toilets - it has been known for western toilets to end up broken when first introduced in to countries that are used to squats!!
I loved Malaysia - traditions and history everywhere but also modern and fun. I only spent 4 days in Singapore most of which I spent in the City Centre area wandering around taking photo’s, visiting museums, art galleries etc. It was definitely as clean as everyone says and though people kept telling me it wasn’t a friendly place I met lots of friendly locals that were happy to have a chat, though maybe not to the same level as some other places – maybe it is just my winning personality!! I had to remember not to jaywalk on the main roads – it gets you a big fine as does lots of other things but that was the one I was most likely to fall foul off…… I was sad to get on the plane and leave Asia it has been an amazing experience spending time here but I am looking forward to exploring Australia and New Zealand now.
new experience over the last month has been living in dorm accommodation – most other countries I have been to don’t have many Hostels – probably as rooms are so cheap – but KL, Singapore and now Melbourne are much more expensive so dorms it is!! Good thing is it is much easier to meet people in dorms and share travel tips etc though it is always a bonus to wake up and realise you didn’t have a snorer in the dorm (and hope that you weren’t that person!!) – there are even kitchens and you often get breakfast included (cook it yourself) so for the first time in months I cooked – boiled eggs on toast – and no I didn’t burn it!! Though in Singapore and KL it was quite cheap to eat out so never did make dinner – will be doing some of that in Oz though as now very much back to western prices!!!
I didn’t get my timing very good for arriving in Melbourne – the weekend of the Melbourne Cup (Horse Racing) – arriving at the airport in the middle of the night I spent an hour calling around hostels/hotels(I did try on line before I arrived but with no luck either ) but eventually found one in the city centre. My own fault as I left it tso late. I got a bus into town and walked over to the hostel and it was quite strange being in a place predominantly populated by white people again and at that time of morning lots of drunks – very happy drunks (no fighting like in Glasgow)!!
I haven’t seen much of Melbourne yet as that was only this morning and I slept for half the day – luckily my dorm mates were all out on the piss last night and were asleep too!!! And now it is raining so I decided I catch up on my blog again.
Hope your all coping with the on set of the British winter – I am looking forward to the Oz summer which is just around the corner…….:-)
Bye Bye
Jack xx
