Penang, an Island off the west coast of Malaysia, was founded at it's capital, Georgetown by Captain Francis Light. He did so in a rather spectacular way- he blasted a cannon of gold coins off into the air, which caused a mad frenzy amoungst the locals who hurridly chopped down lots of the jungle in an attempt to claim as much of the gold as possible. As such, the way for Georgetown was created. We saw Georgetown in style with a rickshaw ride each. Bless the...

So Koh Pha Ngan was everything one would expect of a Thai tropical island- palm trees, beautiful sea, warm weather and noisey gekkos which would wake you during the night. We had 4 full days there- enough time to relax a bit and enjoy being in the same place long enough to unpack properly! We did the usual- elephant trekking, snorkelling and getting a traditional thai massage- which I mistakenly thought would be really relaxing. Sixty painful minutes later I real...

The Cameron Highlands- a welcome break from the city heat. It's situated about 1500m above sea level which means that it's nice and cool. So nice to not want a shower every ten minutes! There's lots of tea here, one of the biggest plantations in the whole of Malaysia. The company is called BOH and you probably won't see any of it in Tescos as it's only sold in Malaysia. It tasted very nice though, and enjoyed seeing how it was made. That was after trekking throug...

Kuala Lumpur, a huge thriving Metropolis, where you really have to look where you're going for fear of being flattened by a moped. We've climbed, well, elevated both towers, the KL tower at night and the twin towers during the day. Both gave fantastic views of the city. We visited Batu caves as well today, huge caves just out of the city which have been transformed into Hindu shrines with massive statues everywhere. Very pretty, just watch the monkeys who will tr...

Melaka, Malaysia, was once one of the most thriving ports and trading grounds of the past, founded first by the Portuguese, later by the Dutch and finally the British. As with most things it fell into decline once the British arrived and its status declined along with some of its best buildings. The Porta De Santiago is the only remaining part of the fort that once stood in Melaka, destroyed by the British in fear of the Dutch trying to use it in defense of them....