Our first stop in the Malaysian leg of our journey was Georgetown in the Penang district of Malaysia. Being that we were only staying in Georgetown for one night it was rather unfortunate that we arrived shortly after 4pm on a Sunday. Aside from a number of restaurants and a few antique shops there was very little open, and so after dinner we mainly confined ourselves to the hotel to waste away the evening.
The following morning we had an early start to catch the ferry and bus required to get to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. As our bus journey was coming to an end it was becoming increasingly apparent that we would be spending our next 3 nights in a modern metropolis, with skyscrapers dominating the landscape whichever way you turned.
Our first choice of activities was to visit the famous Petronas Towers that dominate the skyline here. While the towers are the tallest in the city, you are only able to climb them as far as the sky bridge which runs between the two towers around half way up. At the equivalent of £16 per head for the privilage of going up to the sky bridge we decided to give it a miss and take photos from the bottom (you'll understand why a bit later).
In the evening we decided to check out a rather original idea...a theme park inside a shopping centre! The top 3 floors of the shopping centre are filled with rides and stalls, and for an entrance fee of around £8 you are able to go on the rides as many times as you like. They have everything from dodgems to a full blown rollercoaster! The evening was to celebrate Chris' last night with us, as he has decided to carry on his travels directly to New Zealand. I'm sure the whole group will miss you Chris, and we wish you (and your large collection of white shirts) all the best for the future.
Our final day in Kuala Lumpur was a very busy one, and began with the task of sending all of our souvenirs and items that Australia will not let us bring in home. The fortunate upside of this is that we are now carrying 6kg less around in our backpacks which makes them feel so much lighter!!
From the post office we made our way out to the Royal Selengor Factory and Visitor Centre out on the outskirts of the city. For those of you who have never heard of them, they are a fairly well known Pewter company that make all sorts of things from tankards to trophies. I used to sell a lot of their items when I worked in the jewellers and so there was a natural interest for me.
The factory was fascinating, and we got to observe several of the processes that go into making a tankard. The organisation only have this one factory, employing just over 300 people and they supply over 20 countires worldwide. All of the items are crafted by hand with no robotic machinery. Watching one lady put the pattern on a tankard using a just a hammer, you would have believed that some fancy piece of equipment was behind the end result. We found out that it takes around a years training to be good enough to strike a pattern by hand in this factory.
Coincidentally while we were there the factory workers were putting the finishing touches to the Formula 1 trophies for the Singapore Grand Prix that we will bee seeing in a few days time!
With both Vicky and myself sharing a love of the look of pewter, we decided to have a go at making our own pewter bowls to bring back home with us (yes I know we had only posted things home that morning, but this was too good to turn down!). Under the watchful eye of our instructor John, we carefully used metal letter stamps to strike our names into a round disc of pewter before beating the metal into half spherical moulds with a wooden mallet to let the bowl take it's form. Even with a wooden mould it is still tricky to get the bowl to come out smooth without any unwanted creases or kinks, but half an hour later we emerged with our finished products and a certificate of our workmanship.
Next on the agenda was a trip to the butterfly park on the other side of the city. The park is a giant netted enclosure where loads of different species of butterfly are able to fly freely while you walk among them. It is amazing how close you can get to the butterflies, and in some cases (such as the picture below) how close they can get to you!
We could have easily stayed in the enclosure for a lot longer than we did, as the butterflies are so incredibly elegant and graceful to watch. It was also quite quiet in the park as we seemed to be one of only a few visitors there at the time, and it was incredibly relaxing just to wander about and take everything in.
We did however have one final thing to do before the day was out though, and that thing was largely the reason for us not going up the Petronas Towers. The KL Tower is slightly shorter than the Petronas Towers in total height, however it does allow you to go right to the top giving you a higher view than you would have from the sky bridge of the twin towers. The view was fairly impressive looking out across the illuminated city at 9pm, although having less lights on inside the observation deck would have been even better as they caused reflections on the glass windows that you were trying to look through!
We left late the next morning to make our way over to the final stop on the Malaysia leg of our tour; Malacca. Malacca is a much smaller area than Kuala Lumpur, and is the kind of area that you might either love or hate. There are a lot of heritage museums and temples in the area, but many of us are "templed out" after seeing so many of them and unable to summon the enthusiasm for the heritage museums. We have mainly used our time here to catch up on the less glamorous but practical jobs like washing clothes, calculating finances and catching up on our diaries. We did find an incredibly nice local restaurant to eat at in the evenings though, and their food has probably been the highlight of our stay in Malacca.
Tomorrow we head off into Singapore where the large majority of our time will be spent watching the formula 1 qualifying and race. Check back soon for the Singapore F1 special!
The following morning we had an early start to catch the ferry and bus required to get to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. As our bus journey was coming to an end it was becoming increasingly apparent that we would be spending our next 3 nights in a modern metropolis, with skyscrapers dominating the landscape whichever way you turned.
Our first choice of activities was to visit the famous Petronas Towers that dominate the skyline here. While the towers are the tallest in the city, you are only able to climb them as far as the sky bridge which runs between the two towers around half way up. At the equivalent of £16 per head for the privilage of going up to the sky bridge we decided to give it a miss and take photos from the bottom (you'll understand why a bit later).
In front of the Petronas Towers
We began our second day in the capital by visiting the Chinatown area of the city which is right next to the central market. The Chinatown area is largely full of stalls selling fake items, and you can find fake copies of just about anything you want. I came away with an "official" Manchester United shirt, and a new "Oakleys" wallet for about £10 for the pair. The shirt looks identical in every way to the real ones, so much so that you would never know!
In the evening we decided to check out a rather original idea...a theme park inside a shopping centre! The top 3 floors of the shopping centre are filled with rides and stalls, and for an entrance fee of around £8 you are able to go on the rides as many times as you like. They have everything from dodgems to a full blown rollercoaster! The evening was to celebrate Chris' last night with us, as he has decided to carry on his travels directly to New Zealand. I'm sure the whole group will miss you Chris, and we wish you (and your large collection of white shirts) all the best for the future.
Our final day in Kuala Lumpur was a very busy one, and began with the task of sending all of our souvenirs and items that Australia will not let us bring in home. The fortunate upside of this is that we are now carrying 6kg less around in our backpacks which makes them feel so much lighter!!
From the post office we made our way out to the Royal Selengor Factory and Visitor Centre out on the outskirts of the city. For those of you who have never heard of them, they are a fairly well known Pewter company that make all sorts of things from tankards to trophies. I used to sell a lot of their items when I worked in the jewellers and so there was a natural interest for me.
Vicky with the world's largest pewter drinking tankard. It is in the Guinness Book of Records as being able to hold 3,000 litres of beer!
The factory was fascinating, and we got to observe several of the processes that go into making a tankard. The organisation only have this one factory, employing just over 300 people and they supply over 20 countires worldwide. All of the items are crafted by hand with no robotic machinery. Watching one lady put the pattern on a tankard using a just a hammer, you would have believed that some fancy piece of equipment was behind the end result. We found out that it takes around a years training to be good enough to strike a pattern by hand in this factory.
Coincidentally while we were there the factory workers were putting the finishing touches to the Formula 1 trophies for the Singapore Grand Prix that we will bee seeing in a few days time!
With both Vicky and myself sharing a love of the look of pewter, we decided to have a go at making our own pewter bowls to bring back home with us (yes I know we had only posted things home that morning, but this was too good to turn down!). Under the watchful eye of our instructor John, we carefully used metal letter stamps to strike our names into a round disc of pewter before beating the metal into half spherical moulds with a wooden mallet to let the bowl take it's form. Even with a wooden mould it is still tricky to get the bowl to come out smooth without any unwanted creases or kinks, but half an hour later we emerged with our finished products and a certificate of our workmanship.
In the "School of Hard Knocks" where we made our pewter bowls. You can see part of the factory in the background
It's very hard to smile while a butterfly is trying to eat your eyeball!
We could have easily stayed in the enclosure for a lot longer than we did, as the butterflies are so incredibly elegant and graceful to watch. It was also quite quiet in the park as we seemed to be one of only a few visitors there at the time, and it was incredibly relaxing just to wander about and take everything in.
Some of the butterflies are HUGE!
We did however have one final thing to do before the day was out though, and that thing was largely the reason for us not going up the Petronas Towers. The KL Tower is slightly shorter than the Petronas Towers in total height, however it does allow you to go right to the top giving you a higher view than you would have from the sky bridge of the twin towers. The view was fairly impressive looking out across the illuminated city at 9pm, although having less lights on inside the observation deck would have been even better as they caused reflections on the glass windows that you were trying to look through!
View across the city from the KL Tower
We left late the next morning to make our way over to the final stop on the Malaysia leg of our tour; Malacca. Malacca is a much smaller area than Kuala Lumpur, and is the kind of area that you might either love or hate. There are a lot of heritage museums and temples in the area, but many of us are "templed out" after seeing so many of them and unable to summon the enthusiasm for the heritage museums. We have mainly used our time here to catch up on the less glamorous but practical jobs like washing clothes, calculating finances and catching up on our diaries. We did find an incredibly nice local restaurant to eat at in the evenings though, and their food has probably been the highlight of our stay in Malacca.
The Geographer; our favourite restaurant in Malacca
Tomorrow we head off into Singapore where the large majority of our time will be spent watching the formula 1 qualifying and race. Check back soon for the Singapore F1 special!
Hi Vicky and Dan, really enjoying this leg of your tour. Great pics - love the night time view from the KL tower. Love the sea views and shot of Vicky diving - what an experience (among many). Happy early wedding anniversary - sure it will be celebrated in style. Singapore Grand Prix! Fantastic! (Murray Walker style.)Will give the TV close scrutiny looking for you in amongst the spectators. Expect you'll miss your travelling companion after so many shared experiences. Keep the blog coming - looking forward to the Australia leg. Love Wendy x
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