It's still VERY VERY warm where we are now but at least the air-con is cooling us down so we've managed to get a bit of life into us and it's time to update the blog again. We've a lot of catching up to do so without further ado...
We made our way further down the east coast of Australia to Surfers paradise, Byron Bay and back again to Sydney. Surfers was a really nice place to kick back and enjoy one of the better hostels we've stayed in. It was run by an Irish guy who couldn't do enough for us so (and this is becoming a habit) we pottered around and didn't do a lot. This is quickly becoming the lazy mans guide to a round the world trip. Su, being the energetic one, did take a few photos. Here's one to prove that we actually were there:
After a short stay in Byron Bay, which was great, we then hit Sydney again and met up with our good friend Niallo, and my friend Massey and his wife Bella who I knew from my days in Copenhagen. We stayed 5 nights in Manly to catch up with Niallo again and had a right good booze-up. We then went out to Balmain and stayed with Massey and Bella in their gorgeous house. Even though they had to work they gave us a key and let us wash our clothes, have a bath, and basically gave us the comforts of home. How good is that!? Niallo even treated us to a dinner one of the nights. Free food! We were on a roll!
So we flew out of Sydney to Singapore, looking forward to seeing what Asia had to offer. Not without one look back while in the plane and managed to snatch one last glimpse of the sky tower through the clouds - the photo is a bit fuzzy but you'll get the gist:
We soon found out what Singapore had to offer, and it was this: THE HILTON! Yes! Su's wonderful parents had booked us in for two nights of luxury as a birthday present to Su and boy, did we lap it up! This was our room:
I can't imagine it getting much better than this on our travels so we made the most of it and hardly left the room. I know I know, there's no point travelling the world and not seeing the sights but have you seen the room above? And we're backpackers - there's no way we could afford to actually do anything in Singapore except eat and enjoy the luxury. We did make it to the swimming pool at one stage and we wandered around the hawker stands to buy cheap but very nice local dishes. Many thanks again to Larry and Rose for a fantastic 2 days! Su, of course, was in her element...
It wasn't to last though as we flew on to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and stayed here:
Can you spot the difference? It's subtle I know. Here's the hallway outside our room:
Mountjoy eat you're heart out. Still, at 7 euros a night what can you expect? It was grand really. And Kuala Lumpur was a great place - we stayed in Chinatown and were right beside the China market where you could get everything from cheap knock-off Gucci bags to cheap knock-off Bolex (or is that Rolex?) watches. And of course then there's the Petronas towers - which used to be the tallest building on the planet. Tallest or not, they're still a sight to behold:
Really, photos don't do it justice. It's amazing!
We got a nice VIP bus to Georgetown in Penang. Su tells me that Penang is north-west of peninsular Malaysia. Our room here was 4 euros a day so as you can imagine, cats weren't being swung. We didn't even bother with photos. Our days in Georgetown were spent watching the European cup final, visiting Little India, drinking more beer, and chatting with the locals. It's really a melting pot of different cultures so we had a great time.
And that's it really! Malaysia was great and now it's on to Thailand and Koh Lanta. Su is going to do the next part of the blog so tune in!!
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