A journal of my travels in Malaysia...

Malacca and Chinese New Year 6th - 9th February 2005

Our journey to Malacca was a little bit premature all (yes all) buses from Singapore to Malacca were booked out for 5 full days around Chinese new year. So we took the last couple of seats on Sunday night across the Johor Straits and into Malaysia.

Malacca is steeped in history primarily due to it's very strategic position for trading ships from India and China. The Indians, Portugese, Chinese, Dutch and British have all at one point or another staked a claim on this small town. I'm not sure we could ever understand it all but we had a stab of getting to grips with the Chinese influence by taking a trishaw around the backstreets of Chinatown.

The local Chinese population celebrated the new year in style and brought in the year of the rooster. For us it was not typical new year celebrations and was pretty sober … alcohol is not readily available in these parts!

Jerantut and The Jungle 9th - 11th February 2005

Not a bad thing this limited alcohol lark. How many of us can say we could get up at 5.00am to meet a 7.30am train on New Years Day?! So we boarded the "Jungle Train" which traverses Malaysia's mountainous jungle clad core from south west to north east. Our destination was Jernatut where we planned our two days away in the jungle. We journeyed the 3 hours up stream on a motorized canoe to arrive in Taman Negara National Park -the oldest rainforest in the world covering 4343sq km. We had time in the afternoon for a dip in the river with the locals and a very disappointing visit to an "indigenous village" (term used very lightly), where we learnt how to light a fire and use a blow dart. We also managed to fit in a 4WD night safari (once again the term safari used very loosely).

The next day we headed for the 4 hour self guided hike taking in the jungle canopy walk and spotting a few monkeys whilst we were at it. Overall though, the trip to the "jungle" was fairly disappointing … on a positive note it is very accessible but somehow lacks the spellbinding properties of our trip to the Amazon.

Island Paradise 12th - 17th February 2005

Sometimes when traveling you are caught between the desire to see as much of a country as possible or stay in one place and enjoy it. After an overnight train (first class sleeper train I might add) and a rocky boat trip we arrived in Perhentian Kecil and immediately knew that the rest of Malaysia could wait for another time.

One of 2 islands Kecil is the smaller and cheaper option. We based ourselves in Long beach - with its 20 or so chalet complexes and restaurants means that the beach is usually packed. With the season not yet started it was almost deserted. Our new waterproof camera case, at the ready, I booked some diving with Spice Divers Spice Divers and headed off to 2 wrecks (Vietnamese and Sugar Wrecks) and 3 reef dives over our short stay. The water was a little murky from the Monsoon but the fish, turtles, Manta Rays and coral were excellent and made up for what the visibility lacked. Between us we did 11 dives for the price of 2 on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia - I know where I'd rather be diving!

Kuala Lumpur 17th - 21st February

A short flight from Kota Bharu with Asia's equivalent of Easy Jet and we arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL). We made a mistake of arriving to a new city late in the evening and relying too heavily on a Lonely Planet recommendation. Staying in their 'Authors Recommended Hostel' - was frankly nothing more than a dump and a fire trap. The next day we moved out to Pondok Lodge, in the Golden Triangle area of KL - an altogether far nicer hotel. With the Vietnam visas sorted we booked our onward flights for Monday and took in the sights and sounds of KL.

KL is famous for the Petronas Towers, with 88 stories it was the tallest building in the world when it was completed. However, despite free entry, tourists are only allowed up to level 41 to the bridge. Even more impressive for views of KL is the Menara Tower. At 421m, the 4th highest telecommunications tower in the world the observation deck is right where is should be - AT THE TOP! Check out the photos of both.

The best thing about KL for me (and the rest of Malaysia come to think about it) is that it has the best tasting food at the cheapest prices. Breakfast is never more than 70p, lunch maybe a pound and a slap up dinner may stretch the budget to 2 quid each. The best value meal we have had is from street hawkers and the variety is beyond belief - our dinner of 3 plates of curry, 5 roti breads and 2 cans of pepsi set us back RM15 (2.14 pounds). Still, I'm not sure I could stretch to curry for every meal … what I wouldn't give for a cheese sarnie!