Andrea: "Why won't you let me make money to earn a LIVING?!?" is what the cab driver screamed at me after ignoring his many "Taxi" and "Yes?" cries. "Yes? Yes?" he kept saying. "Um, I didn't say anything to you," I replied. His plea to help him earn a LIVING was actually answered by an animated Spanish guy from our bus who explained to him that "Europe is in a recession right now and we can't afford to take a taxi." The cabbies stared at each other as we sta...

Vern: Somewhere in the middle of Malaysia the English found that the rising land flattened out into a plateau surrounded by gentle slopes ideal for growing tea. So they cleared the jungle, planted seeds and constructed Tudor mansions with large porches on which to sit and admire their crops while sipping on the fruits of their (forced) labour. Thus, rather unexpectedly, we found a little bit of Surrey in the jungle of the Cameron Highlands. We were both secretly...

Vern: We caught a bus from Singapore to Malaysia, which at some point stopped for a long lunch break and never started up again. After a while another one arrived, so we made the switch and were once again on our way. At a shiny bus terminal, miles from the city centre, we disembarked (at the driver's insistence) and with a little help found a walkway to a nearby train station. The train system in Kuala Lumpur is infuriating! Each line is operated by a different...