The rain in Malacca stopped about half an hour before we were due to leave! We were picked up by our driver for the 2 ½ hour journey north to the city of Kuala Lumpur, unfortunately it was the weekend of the Chinese New Year so everybody was on the move, we were warned to expect heavy traffic for the next few days. In the end the journey took about 3 ½ hours but it was quite comfortable and it was interesting to watch the changing landscape. Continue reading Kuala Lumpur
The drive from Singapore to Malacca took about three hours, we had to stop twice for customs formalities, once to leave Singapore, and a second time, across the bridge to enter Malaysia. The road to Malacca was new, fast and not too busy so it was an easy journey. Along the way we were interested (alarmed?) to see the endless mile after mile of palm oil plantations, native rain forest is burned to clear ground for this lucrative crop, in the process valuable diverse forest is lost and the habitat of Orang Utans and other animals destroyed. Continue reading Malacca, Malaysia
After the bustle and unfamiliarity of Indonesia it was nice to touch down in Singapore which is much more westernised than Yogyakarta and Surabaya, cleaner, and more familiar as we have been there before. We were looking forward to a chance to catch up on some domestic chores; laundry, haircuts, travel arrangements for our trip across Europe; and also, to catching up with our friends Mark and Jennifer who live in Singapore. At their suggestion we had booked into the One 15⁰ Marina Club on Sentosa Cove just west of downtown Singapore and very close to where they live. We had a very comfortable room with a balcony overlooking the marina. Continue reading Singapore
The flight to Surabaya was delayed about one and a half hours and when we arrived we were held on the plane for 20 minutes because of a violent electric storm immediately overhead. Eventually we were allowed off and got drenched in-between the airplane steps and the shuttle bus to the terminal. The ride to the terminal was enlivened by more people taking photos of Mark and coming to shake his hand. Outside the airport we were met by our new guide Faisal and his driver. Continue reading Surabaya to Mount Bromo
From Yogyakarta we drove four hours north to the coastal town of Semarang, it was interesting to watch the scenery change as we moved away from the city and up to the coast. On the way, we stopped at a roadside fruit stall to buy some jackfruit to try; a jackfruit is about twice the size of a rugby ball and the flesh is similar in look and texture to bulbs of garlic but with a distinctive sweet flavour, inside each segment is a large, very hard seed like a conker. It is always nice to try something different. We have also tried snake skin fruit which has an aftertaste which is hard to describe, I quite liked it, Mark wasn’t so sure. Continue reading Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan, Borneo
Mark And Kim's Adventures 