Hey all

After traveling over the border from Singapore to Malaysia, we have spent the last week traveling round the country, trying to fit everything in before we head to Thailand this afternoon!

We have had a great time in Malaysia, and loved every place we've been to. We started off in Kuala Lumpa - although we'd been told by lots of people hat there wasn't much there, we figured we couldn't come to Malaysia and not visit the capital, so we made a fleeting stop there for a day adn a half. As it turned out, we both really liked Kuala Lumpa. Phil didn't enjoy it as much as Singapore, it is true that both are very different in style. When we first arrived in Kuala Lumpa it was evident that the city wasn't as affluent or western influenced as Singapore, but that's what I liked about it. it was busy, bustling and hot, just as I had imagined Asia to be! We had one full day in KL and we spent it fitting in all the sights - not that there are that many to see!

We started the day with a trip up the communications tower (the 4th highest in the world)!, where we could see a really good view of Singapore from the air. The tower also had lots more 'attractions' such as a Formula 1 simulator, an animal park and a thing called the winter gardens which was basically an area which had been covered in fake snow and some snowmen put there to look like winter, all in the middle of KL's blazing sunshine! We had free tickets to the attractions with our tower entry so we had a quick look around them - as with the Big Banana in coffs harbour I did think why on earth are these things here, as the only people visiting them were people who had free tickets!

We spent the rest of our day in Kuala Lumpa trying to find the thai embassy as we had a problem with our visa (all sorted now), but it took up about an hour and a half just to find the wretched thing, onl to find out that we couldn't apply for a visa there, we had to go to a place called georgetown on Penang island - as you can imagine, it as very anoying! On our walk to the embassy we did happen to walk past the petronas towers though, which were pretty impressive to look at - in a city which is quite run down, the modern towers really did stand out. We had a strole round the colonial district with the rest of the day which was pretty nice - the KL colonial district consists of not just old British buildings but also Indian ones, and we visited some really impresive mosques - I had to wear a haedscarf and robe to go in, it was so hot I flet like I was going to faint in it!

On our final day in KL we spent the morning visiting a place called the Batu Caves, just outside of the city. We'd read that there was a big temple there in the caves, and that in January and February thousands of Hindus flock to the caves to make a pilgrimage, and apparently the sight is manic but spectacular. Unfortunatly, when we got there we learnt that the festival started in mif January, and it was only early january - we're great with our timings! The caves were well worth the trip on there own though, at the entrance there is a giant buddah statue, it mus have been atleast 50m high, and then inside the cave in amongst all the wild monkeys who were climbing about there were some different temples. The place was so good just because it was so different, I'd never expected to find a temple in a cave, and even though we're not of hindu faith, the place did seem to sort of have a strange sort of spiritual feel to it.

We left Kuala Lumpa after the caves, and headed to a place called the Cameron Highlands, where there are lots of tea plantations, strawberry farms, and coffee shops selling cream teas in the afternoon! The highlands were really cold in comparison to KL - the air was crisp, and jumpers were a necessity at night! We stayed in the highlands for 2 nights and a day, and spent our time visiting the tea plantations, exploring the town and eating scnes with jam and cream! The place felt very English with its tea, scones and cold climate, and was not the sort of place we expected to find in malaysia. We both really enjoyed it though, it was nice to have some vareity in the trip and it was a lovely pretty place to spend a few days.

We are currently on penang island, an island off the west coast of malaysia, where we have been for the last 4 days, and are leaving this afternoon for Thailand. Penang has been a great place to spend the last four days - as with Kuala Lumpa it is very busy and hectic, full of motorbikes, cars and rickshaws! It has some great fod - as with every town in Malaysia, there is a big Indian, chinese and malay prescence so all 3 cuisines are available, and we have spent most of our time eating Indian food so I can avoid the fish paste that seems to be put in every other style of cooking here! We have also got to grips with the local busses here and spent a day traveling up the coast to visit one of the beaches, and spent another day traveling to a fishing village in the north of the island - although when we got there it wasn't as small and quaint as we thought it would be, and although not as busy as the town, still had lots of motorbikes and street food stalls!

We're both quite sad to leave Malaysia as we've had a brilliant time here, but are ver excited about Thailand - we're starting off on the islands so have lots of sunbathing, diving (well, Phil does!) and a half moon party planned, so will update the blog in a few days time.

Lots of Love Cat and Phil xxxxxxxxx