ONE DAY IN MALAYSIA

Singapore is lovely, but it’s all city. There are heaps of trees; all of the freeways are lined on both sides with lovely big trees, the walkways & bridges all have flowers growing over them. There are gardens (one guide told us that we foreigners may not realise but Singapore has gardens & a garden has plants & trees – that’s how you know it’s a garden!) & there also are parks. There are older sections of the city like Chinatown & Little India, but other than that; it’s all big buildings. We wanted to see something different, some countryside and some traditional Malaysian culture. So we decided to take a day trip into Malaysia. Once again, no visa required.

Singapore & Malaysia are joined by a ‘causeway’ which is basically a bridge, about 1.2 kms long. We had to get off the bus to go through the Singapore Checkpoint to get out of Singapore, then off again to go through the Malaysian Checkpoint to get into Malaysia. It’s a bit scary; the bus driver told us do not take any photos, smile, act normal; all these things ‘cos they sometimes have trouble getting through. The police over there look a bit more serious than ours do; they drive around in big red vehicles that look like our armaguard trucks, they don’t seem to know how to smile & some of the ones we saw were walking around with BIG guns held in front of them. So, we got off the bus at the border, smiled & behaved ourselves. We were told not to take any photos so I've downloaded this one from the internet. We couldn’t believe how many cars & motorbikes were crossing over when we did; there was a constant stream of traffic. They reckon 60,000 vehicles cross over every day.

The first state you enter in Malaysia is Johore Bahru. A lot of people live there & commute to Singapore every day for work because the cost of living in Malaysia is a lot lower than Singapore. Because they’re an oil producer, petrol is extremely cheap so they go there just to fill their cars up, smokes are about 1/3 the price of anywhere else but you’re not allowed to take any into Singapore & maximum tax paid is 28%. The retirement age in Malaysia is 55! If you get old in either Singapore or Malaysia & don’t have any money you have to live with your kids; there are no pensions. (Our girls are now sighing with relief that we don’t live over there!)

The first place we stopped at in Johore was a pewter factory. They showed us how they make it; 98% tin & 1.5% something else I can’t remember that gives it the shine & about .5% silver. They melt it then put it into a mould, spin it around for a few seconds & next thing it’s set & being unmoulded. Then they just have to file it & put any decorations on it with a razor blade. Pretty smart. We bought a pewter budda; he’s very nice.

Next we were headed for the state of Malacca; about 300 kms from Singapore & only 180 kms from Kuala Lumpur.  The highways were all really good; even the back roads were. All along the way there were oil palms, rubber trees, teak trees & rice paddies; but mostly oil palms. Palm oil is used as a cooking fat, in chocolate & other foods. It’s grown all across Malaysia and it’s worth a lot of money to them. The rubber trees had little cups tied to them where they’d nicked the tree to get the latex out of them. They produce 1 cup of latex a day but 70% is water; in other words they don’t get much out of them. They only milk them once every two days too so they don’t ‘overwork’ them. The rubber is mainly used for tyres but a few other things as well. 

When we arrived in Malacca the first thing we did was have lunch. After seeing the old town as we drove through, we were amazed at the lavishness of the hotel; it was huge & elegant. It had a beautiful spiral staircase in the foyer that went straight up for several stories. The spread we had for lunch was hard to believe; lots of beautiful hot dishes, salads, fruit, cheeses, soups & the desserts; wow. It was like having high tea. There were all of these tiny little cakes, tarts & little cups of desserts to choose from. It was way out of place for the type of town it was in. I’ve now tried jack fruit, dragon fruit, star fruit & guava. The only one I liked out of them was the guava. The dragon fruit & star fruit didn’t have much flavour & the jack fruit has a texture a bit like a pawpaw but tastes quite a bit like a banana.

After our lovely lunch we went for a tour around the city then they dropped us off so we could walk around & see more. We went into the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia where they showed us how you could have your future told by shaking chopsticks in a container & when one falls out you can get an answer to any question you ask about your future. Then if you don’t like what your future holds all you have to do is burn the answer & start again. Simple hey? You can change the course of your life so easily! The temple was beautiful too by the way.

We walked through the streets & saw lots of traditional Malaysian shops, markets & people. Even a lady riding a bicycle with a traditional Chinese hat on! You usually see them in story books. There was even a huge dragon draped over an intersection. It was great.

 



















We crossed the bridge over the river& met up again at the square where there’s a beautiful old church, an art gallery, markets & a fountain built for Queen Victoria Regina who reigned from 1837 to 1901. The history in this place is amazing. In Australia you‘ll hear history back to 1770, but mainly the 1800’s onwards, in Malaysia they’re talking about the 1100’s as if it was yesterday & they mention things that supposedly happened there before Christ. It’s amazingly old.  It started as a little fishing village & is now listed as a World Heritage Site.

We met up with our guide again where she gave us the option of walking back to the hotel & meeting the bus or having a trishaw ride. You can guess which one we picked; who wouldn’t?

 

There were so many trishaws in the square & they were all decorated beautifully. Some of drivers were being a bit pushy so I chose the one who’d already let us take photos of ourselves with his trishaw; I could see him looking at us hoping but he was too polite to say anything.

He took us all over the town. We saw a Portuguese ship (Malacca was invaded by the Portuguese centuries ago), a Portuguese fort, an American freighter from WW2, the beautiful river, the beachfront. He showed us lots of the history of Malacca as well as giving us a fun ride. Although he did ask us to get off & walk while he rode up a hill at one stage! We bought a great painting of Malacca which had been done by one of the locals. Things are so cheap; it only cost us $20 which is about $8 Australian.

It’s getting late by now so time to head back to Singapore. After we got through customs twice again, we noticed the traffic coming the other way from Singapore; it was incredible. There were cars lined up kilometre after kilometre, waiting to get back into Malaysia after working in Singapore. We couldn’t believe how many. Fancy having to go through that every day but depending on what you do, wages in Singapore can be really low so some people don't have a choice. Our bus driver told Phill that he earns $7 an hour.

It was pretty late when we got back & we were tired & hungry so we went to an eatery in the back street behind our hotel. It was a 24 hour Asian market type & they had all the usual weird & wonderful foods we’d become used to seeing around the markets like Pig Organ Soup, Pig’s Stomach soup, Shark fin soup, Sea Cucumber, Red Residue Mee Sua (residue of what??). We’re not quite that game so we steer clear of them & stick to things we know, like chicken & pork with noodles or rice. We got soup, a small salad (not our usual type of course), rice & meat with sauce for $2-$5. Amazing. I don't know how they make any money out of it & there's so much competition. Well, Malaysia for a day isn't really enough but it was certainly better than not at all. We've had a great day & one day we may get back & see some more.

OUR FIRST DAYS IN SINGAPORE

5 DAYS IN SINGAPORE!  We've been waiting for this! It was worth every cent & every minute we spent. We both loved it.

Last Saturday we put the van into storage & to fill in time we went to a movie; The Avengers. It was great.  As we walked out I said to Phill "Feel like going to Singapore?" & he said "Yeah, why not?"  So I said "Let's go then". So we drove to the airport & 4 1/2 hours (+ waiting time of course) later we were in Singapore! How easy is that?

We weren't very impressed when we went through Customs in Darwin & found out that we couldn't take any liquids, aerosols or gels with us if they were over 100ml. No one had told us! So here we are, standing in line, pulling out all of our toiletries in front of dozens of strangers! How embarrassing! It all went in the bin. So one of the first things we had to do when we got up the next day was buy them all over again!

When we arrived in Singapore it was 9.30pm & it was a balmy 29 degrees. It gets up to about 33 during the day; pretty warm & humid but lovely. We felt very important when we walked out of the airport to see a man standing there with a board with our names on it! He drove us to our hotel & we proceeded to check in only to be told they couldn't find our booking. Not happy! After a stressful first few minutes, the clerk swiped our credit card for $1000, gave us a room & said they'd try & contact our agent the next day. Of course, it was Sunday the next day & Monday was a holiday so it was 3 days before anything was done. We were a bit worried but it did finally get sorted out thank goodness.

It was about 10.30pm by the time we checked in but we were hungry so we went for a walk. Everything everywhere is open late, all over the city. We ended up eating at a place across the road from our hotel. It's a beautiful old restored convent called Chijmes.  The church still stands & the old convent is now full of restaurants & bars of every type you can think of. It was so full there was almost standing room only. The night life in Singapore is amazing & you feel completely safe walking around.

On our first day, we decided we'd probably see more if we walked so off we went. We found our way across the city to  the harbour & there was a walkway across the river where we came across a huge shopping centre with ice skating rink, all the well known designers shops, a casino, museum & a hotel precinct called Marina Bay Sands.

The people of Singapore are so friendly, we even got a free hug on the way over!

The hotel is made up of three 200 metre tall towers. On top of the hotel is Skypark & the observation deck which is built as a cantilever structure and then there's  a 150mtr long infinity pool, then a restaurant at the other end. It looks like a long ship beached on top of the three towers. The view from on top is amazing; you have 360 deg views all around Singapore. They say on a clear day you can see some of the Indonesian Islands. We went for a walk down to the pool area; that was pretty impressive! They look like they're going to fall off the edge hey! We weren't allowed to have a swim though 'cos we weren't staying at that hotel.

This is the Flyer, it's about 140 metres high & takes about 1/2 hr to go round. You get an incredible view from it. Singapore is such a clean city, you never see any rubbish, you're not even allowed to bring chewing gum into the country! The harbour & river are all used as drinking water so that has to be kept clean. They even have outside washbasins with soap at the eateries in the markets.

Take a look at the port - it's the busiest in the world with 600 million containers going through it every year.

This is the view looking out to sea from the top of the Marina Sands. About 25% of Singapore is reclaimed land & they keep filling in more & more. A taxi driver told us that there aren't any hills in Singapore anymore, it's all flat. They've bulldozed all of them into the ocean to make more land & they've increased Singapore by 25%. Amazing hey?

We went for a ride down the river on a 'bumboat'; you get a great view while enjoying yourself! The walk along the river is lovely too, there are restaurants & bars all the way. A lot of the riverside restaurants are pretty expensive though & you can't afford to get drunk in Singapore, that's for sure! The drinks are very expensive & there's a $10,000 fine & 4 year's disqualification if you get caught drink driving too! 

A lot of the restaurants have fresh lobster & huge crabs. They price the lobster by the weight of what they use for the meal so you're a bit scared to have it; you have no idea how much it's going to cost! We had lunch at one & sampled some lovely asian food & of course I had to have a Singapore Sling! Yummy!

 

This is Clarke Quay - a mix of restaurants, bars & shops. It's a very colourful place! Those boats are also used as restaurants.

The Merlion a mythical creature with the head of a lion & the body of a fish. The fish body respresents Singapore's origin as a fishing village & the lion's head is for the city's original name (Singapura) which meant 'lion city'. 

 

We went to the zoo the next day. The first thing I did was feed the elephants which I just loved! I could touch & stroke them & it was so lovely!  Isn't she just adorable?    Don't you just love the green & orange blobs? It was raining so we had to buy some ponchos - not the best look but better than being wet all day!

We had breakfast with the animals. They brought some orangutans & snakes in & we both held a snake for the very first time!  They're warm & soft; not like I expected. This zoo is really good; all the animals are easily seen with the enclosures being wide & natural looking & the barriers are hardly noticeable.  There's every animal imaginable, many you wouldn't see at any other zoo. They had a show where they got a guy from the audience up against an orangutan to see who could peel a coconut first. You can guess who won!

The highlight for me was the elephant show & ride. The show is great. It's so funny & the elephants are amazingly clever. The ride wasn't long enough but I still loved it. You all know how I feel about elephants! 

I know.... you're wondering which ones are the apes & which are the humans???

We caught the bus then the train home from the zoo. The public transport system is very good & it's pretty easy to find your way around Singapore. The fares are very reasonable too. There are barriers to keep you away from the railway lines at all of the train stations; what a great idea! I'd feel much better about having kids with me at the station if we had these! They have an electronic road toll to help ease congestion in the CBD. It costs more to use the city roads at peak times so more people use public transport. Once you get out of the city though, the traffic is really bad.

We went to Little India where a lot of Singaporians with Indian heritage live. It's not very far out of the city. There are a lot of curry eateries & Indian cloth & clothes for sale.

Buying your own home is out of reach of most Singaporians. About 85% live in public housing. Some blocks are very old & some are quite new, but nobody has a yard or a garden. I guess they don't know any better but I can't imagine living like that.  Houses are very expensive. On the weekends they all meet at the parks & beaches to get together with their families. They don't have room at home.

We had a night out in Chinatown where we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, then a look around the shops & markets. A chinese man painted whatever we wanted onto a paper fan in chinese characters. I got 'Happiness & Good Health' & Phill got 'Happy Traveller'. That stumped him for a minute; take a look at his face!

Then we had a trishaw ride to the river & jumped on another 'bumboat' to see Singapore at night. The lights are beautiful. Singapore is an amazing sight at night, it's so full of life. Nobody seems to look at the time, they just keep on & on.

All traffic is supposed to give way to trishaws so the 'uncles' or drivers just go for it, down the middle of the road, in front of buses, cars, you name it! It's a bit scary at times but loads of fun!

 

Last day in Darwin, what to do?  We decided on the Oil Tunnels.

During WW2 the navy changed from coal to oil power so they had to store the oil in huge tanks near the harbour, but when Darwin was bombed by the Japs in 1942 most of the tanks were blown up. They then decided the oil needed to be underground, so they got a heap of men together to start digging underground tunnels through rock. Big job. Some were up to 170 meters long & 5 mtrs high. They lined them with steel; like huge sideways drums & put pumps in to keep the water out. It was a huge job; all done by manpower.
 

Then, when the war ended, they just decided not to use them so just closed them down which really upset the workers; they'd put an awful lot of hard work into them. So they just sat rusting for the next 50 years until they decided to open them up to the public as a tourist attraction to commemorate 50 years since the end of the war.

It was interesting to see & there were heaps of photos to look at. Also interesting to see that no one in the photos was overweight in those days too!
 

After that, we went across the road to the Harbour Precint. That's where I'd live if I lived in Darwin! (If I could afford it!) It's lovely; big parklands, trees, an enclosed swimming area (safe all year round - no crocs or stingers!),  a wave pool, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, shops. Very nice. We had a drink at the Irish Bar - you should have seen the size of the bottles of Jameisons & Guinness! Wouldn't mind a couple of them.

 

 

After that we went & had a look at the Skycity Casino. It's right on the water with a grassed entertainment area, restaurant & large bar overlooking the water. Quite a nice area for a drink at sundown. The casino areas aren't very big & the pokies aren't any good; they take all your money!
 

Time to head home to the van & have happy hour with the neighbours then watch the footy - what a life! But someone's got to do it!

It's really hot so yesterday we decided to go to the beach. We went for a lovely long walk along the water's edge but we only had a short dip in the shallows 'cos there are signs at all the beaches to watch out for box jellyfish. There've been croc sightings lately too so we weren't about to take any chances. It got too hot so we jumped in the air conditioned car & drove around the coastline to check it out instead. It's nice but it doesn't compare with Queensland of course.

The van park we're staying at is in Hidden Valley; the suburb where the raceway is. The track is used for V8's, drags, mud racing, motocross & go-karts. There's motorbike mud racing  this Saturday night but we're heading to Singapore! We went down to have a look & we got right down into the pits & onto the track. I was going to get onto the grid & take off but I was missing my motorcycle!
 

Last night we went for a drive along the pier at Darwin Harbour where there are food outlets, a restaurant & a bar. One outlet had crocodile, camel, kangaroo & buffalo on the menu. We planned to eat at the movie later so we didn't have any but we might have to go back before we leave!
 

So instead, we grabbed a drink & just sat & enjoyed watching the sunset & the boats coming & going. It was just lovely. A guy came & sat near us with his little daughter & they were throwing chips into the air for the seagulls.

 

 

There's also a display on the pier about the bombing of Darwin during WW2. I had no idea it had been raided so many times! There were the two initial strikes but another 62 followed over the next 18 months. It's so hard to believe. These photos were on one of the plaques, look at the ship laying on it's side beside the pier. 

Next we went to the Deckchair Cinema to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The movie was a bit hard to follow but the cinema was great. It's outdoors alongside the waterfront below the city. It has a bar, meals available & heaps of old layback deck chairs with cushions to relax on to watch the movie. They reminded me of the old Chermside cinema with it's hession seats when I was a kid. (now I'm showing my age!)

The first thing I did today was get my hair cut. It's been driving me crazy. We don't always have power for me to blowdry or straighten it & it's been too hot so I said to Phill the other day that I might just cut it all off. I asked him what he thought & his wonderful reply was "You used to look younger when it was short". Well, I said to him; that's because I WAS younger; it's been 4 or 5 years now since it was short!

Phill's been working on the van most of the day, doing a bit of updating putting in an extra power point & stuff so we didn't get up to much else but tonight we went to the Mindil Beach Markets. We couldn't believe how popular they are. The carparks were all full, with overflow all down the streets & it was like walking around the ekka; people everywhere. They're good markets; lots of stalls with the usual jewellery, clothing, pictures, souvenirs & that but talk about food! There were so many food vendors, all different nationalities; too many to choose from so you just have to eat lots! Yum!

DARWIN HERE WE ARE!  Finally! Might have to change the name of the blog... Been there - done that? 

The road from Katherine was quite windy & a bit hilly; a nice change. The roadside bushland was surprisingly quite wet; puddles here & there & a lot of palms along the way which only grow where it gets pretty wet. I know they're just getting over the wet season but I guess I just think of the Australian bush as being dry. We followed 4 huge dump trucks from Katherine almost to Adelaide River. That slowed us down quite a bit & you should have seen people trying to overtake them! A bit scary at times.

Darwin is pretty small as far as a capital city goes; only about 120,000 people & it doesn't take long to get from one side to the other. We were in peak hour traffic this afternoon & it wasn't much different from any other time of day.

We booked into a caravan park yesterday; luckily only for one night until we worked out what we were doing. The site was hardly big enough for the van & there were trees on either side; luckily Phill is so good at backing it but it still took a lot of manouevering. Then the taps were so far away that our hose didn't reach & the amenities were terrible & to top it off it was straight opposite the airport & near the RAAF base. From about 3am the next morning the planes taking off were nonstop. There wasn't much sleep happening! So today we moved to another park & it's lovely. We've booked in for 4 nights so we can have a look around Darwin & then on Saturday WE LEAVE FOR SINGAPORE! We've been to the travel agent & booked 5 nights. Yeah! Then by the time we get back all the parks should be open.
 

We had a walk around the city today. The CBD of the city really consists of only two main streets; one with a mall. It's pretty small.

Parliament House is pretty impressive; they call it their 'White House'. It's right in the city beside the water with lovely parklands surrounding it.

The beaches & ports are only a couple of streets away & the marina at Cullen Bay isn't far. It's lovely & there are some lovely estates there with some very big, beautiful houses & lovely apartments.  The marina has a 'lock system' to keep the water in as they have such massive tide shifts. It also protects the area from cyclones.

 

We went to Cullen Bay & Mindil Beach but you can't swim; there are stingers & possibly crocs. These beaches are only about 2kms from the CBD. There are lots of beaches all around Darwin.