A Week In Taiping After an hour, the bus turned up and I hopped aboard to find many staring faces and chitter chatter, nothing I wasn't used to already. I remembered part of the drive to Taiping and after getting a taxi to Hotel Furama the receptionist confirmed that he remembered me too. Several Malaysians I have spoken to along the way, after hearing my name, called me Richard the Lion Heart and the receptionist was no exception taking up the nickname once mor...

The main tourist attraction of the Blue Mountains, Scenic World, was our destination for the day's activities. We arrived just after opening time to beat the crowds and headed inside where we bought our tickets and headed outside onto a precarious metal mesh platform where we were to catch the world's steepest railway to the valley floor. A grey cockatoo sat on a railing and immediately caught our attention as it preened in the morning sun. After a short burst of...