Thursday 11th December 03 We arrived in Georgetown, the capital of Penang, after a 6 hour bus ride and hurriedly booked into a hostel, as we could see a storm brewing in the sky! We had dinner in another guesthouse which is renowned for it's chocolate cake, so of course we had to indulge ourselves!! After having a look along the main street of Georgetown and seeing a giant rat at our hostel, we tucked into bed whilst listening to a strange rustling sound under our bed! Nat had to look to see what it was after Dan was too scared, only to find nothing but our imaginations playing tricks on us! Friday 12th December 03 After seeing the rat last night we checked into a nicer hotel which was spotlessly clean! We took a rickshaw to the KOMTAR shopping mall, which is 58 stories high (!!) and has recently had a new shopping mall built next to it! We spent the whole day looking around both malls (trust me, this took hours!). Little did we know that while we were shopping a great thunderstorm had started and as we had left our umbrella at the hotel, we had to take a bus along 3 completely flooded roads! That night we had dinner in China Town which was very nice and look forward to our journey to Malaysia's capital - Kuala Lumpur (KL). Saturday 13th December 03 Our journey to KL was onboard a luxury coach with seats that fully reclined so we were able to get some sleep. We booked ourselves into a hostel in KL's China Town district. The evening was spent looking around the hectic market stalls of China Town - and they were hectic to say the least!! We then took to the quieter streets and found a Reggae bar where we had a few drinks and found Man Utd to be playing Man City so Dan was content! Sunday 14th December 03 Today we looked around the 'Times Square' shopping mall, which has recently opened and is based on New York's Time Square, with its own theme park and cinema inside! After this, we searched for KL's Little India with no joy so spent the rest of the day having a look around China Town's shopping malls. Monday 15th December 03 We took the Metro Train to see the Petronas Towers (the worlds tallest building) which consists of 2 sky-scrapers linked together by a sky bridge at level 41. While we were taking photos of the towers, we met an Englishman who gave us some advice on where to go in KL. So following his advice we headed for another shopping area and much cheaper than the designer malls that we had encountered in KL, and to an area where he insisted we should head for dinner but after having spent ages trying to find it, it was far too expensive for us - so we headed straight back to what we know! Tuesday 16th December 03 Today we woke to do a little bit of shopping before trying to locate a local bus stop to take us to the Batu Caves, which are amazing and only 10 minutes drive from KL city!! The caves are set deep into the hills and remain in use today for religious festivals. As we arrived at the caves a massive storm was brewing and the heavens opened up just as we got set to climb the 247 steps up to the caves. On our return we went out for dinner and took to the local market for a few last minute bargains before our departure. SINGAPORE Wednesday 17th December 03 Today we took a 7hr coach trip to Singapore. Today Dan had his first dose of feeling ill since our arrival, coming down with a stuffy cold. We eventually arrived in Singapore after delays going through Immigration and took a taxi to McKenzie hostel, which had been recommended to us by someone we met on the boat to Ko Lanta in Thailand. We checked in and went out for dinner at the infamous Newton Hawker Centre, where around 50-60 stalls battle it out, all cooking roughly the same food to entice you to dine with them - interesting! Thurs 18 December - Today we took advantage of the free breakfast that was provided in the cost of our room. After lining our stomachs for the day we headed off to Orchard Road. This road is lined with approximately 20 massive shopping malls. Having shopped for a few hours we took the train to little India where we found a posh Indian restaurant to treat ourselves to some home comforts. The shock at this restaurant was that half a pint of lager and a bottle of water cost more than the food for 2 people - work that one out as we still cant!