SINGAPORE

Singapore is one of only a handful of remaining sovereign city-states. It sits at the end of the Malay peninsula and is just around 85 miles from the equator. It is the worlds 4th largest financial exchange after London, New York and Tokyo.

Arriving by bus was a great way to see the city. We passed huge areas of new development all part of a city moving in one direction, forwards, at great speed. We stayed in the Little India disctrict of the city which was lively area full of interesting aromas and delicious food.

On our first day looking around the city we explored on foot and stumbled across a brilliant building. I must apologise at this sort of moment for those reading this with no interest in architecture but Lasalle College of Arts was one of the best examples of a basic architectural concept. The building is designed as a sort of exploded cube, each shard takes on a different department within the college. All the departments are bridge linked and a tent like structure shrouds the entire building from above. The majority of public space is open, providing the large numbers of sudents places to meet, reherse and learn. All in all this is a brilliant way of maximising the use of the building. Some of these spaces also help the music being produced to permeate the outer cube into the surroundings beconing people in to have a look.The outside is monolithic in its "cubeness" but still manages to provide excellent shaded walkways all around bluring where the building finishes and the street begins. The building was given an award for the best new building in Singapore last year, and I am not surprised. Anyway, I have got the architectural speak off my mind for now so those who have fallen asleep temporarily, I hope, may now wake up.

Later we continued on our wonder through the city taking in the luxurious Raffles Hotel, the Singapore Concert Hall, Esplanade and Downtown Singapore. The contrasts of the massive skyscrapers and traditional terraces and colonial buildings make the city a very interesting place.

I was told in advance that the Singapore Night Safari is a must for any visitor and so one evening we headed off to go and see it. It is a really exciting experience, afterall it is not often that you head off to a tourist attraction in the evening when all is becoming dark. Seeing all the nocturnal animals was a truly unique experience and a great way of passing an evening.

We had the opportunity to visit Sentosa a resort island south of Singapore. It would be a great destination for any family visiting the city however it was not to my taste, extremely tacky and touristy. Something which was far more interesting however, but probably doesn't sound it to the majority of those reading this blog, was an urban deisgn exhibition in the city. The exhibition explained some of the difficulties faced by a city, with a population the size of Singapore, in such a small area. Also that day we visited the Tiger beer brewery which was a brilliant experience. The tour included mock up street scenes where walls retracted to reveal the next part of the tour. It also included a section of 3D cinema about the beer making process and a bar where we were asked to pour the perfect glass of beer under pain of downing it. I ofcourse messed up the pouring on purpose to gain an extra beer, unlike Karl who was just rubbish. Believe that and you will believe anything! lol.

We spent the last of our time on the final morning exploring Orchard Road famous for its shopping after making a stop at the post office to send some things home. Karl was in one of his normal helpful moods!

We caught our flight to Cairns via Darwin later that day.

MALAYSIA - Kuala Lumpur

The capital of Malaysia greeted us at the end of a bus ride from the Cameron Highlands. It was quite a busy time of year while we were there as it was Chinese New Year. We knew this was coming up and had therefore planned to spend it somewhere we thought would be quite interesting and lively. However many people started to inform us that it is a real family celebration and they expected KL to be empty! Never mind, we went anyway to see what would happen.

The first thing that is obvious in this part of the world when you get off the bus, which was a sharp contrast to the Cameron Highlands, is the heat. It can literally hit you as you enter it. The heat and humidity combine to form what can be a very uncomfortable atmosphere, one which you find yourself constantly seeking refuge. As we felt the heat eminate from the tarmac beneath us we sort relief in a nearby mall. This became a real recurring theme of our visit there, spending a limited amount of time outdoors. We did have the chance to see several interesting parts of the city, firstly and most obviously were the Petronas Towers, once the tallest buildings in the world. We got a ticket to go up to the skybridge and had to return for the experience later that day. Here they are!

...and the real ones!

Upon returning we got in a lift up to the bridge. It is approximately halfway up the towers and therefore does not have as good a view as one would hope for from one of the worlds tallest buildings.

During the day we visited other parts of the city including the Kuala Lumpur Tower. It was however a complete rip off to go up so we just looked at it from below.

Merdeka Square provided us with quite a surprise. A cricket pitch surrounded by the city. It is the location where the The Union Flag was lowered and the Malayan hoisted in 1957, consistantly making it the centre of national celebration. It is surrounded by incredibly diverse buildings including a cricket pavillion and church.

By keeping in contact with travel aquaintances we met on the way we were able to establish that some people we met in Beijing were in KL and we therefore met up with Eilis and John for dinner and a few drinks. After thoroughly confusing the lady splitting our bill 5 ways we headed our separate way on the monorail.

Fearing a mad transportation shortage at this celebratory time of year we booked a bus early. It turned out to be a very posh one which had armchair like seats with in built massagers. The journey past very comfortably apart from the interuption of border formalities entering Singapore.

MALAYSIA - Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands are the Highest region of the mainland and benefit from all year round reliable weather, never too hot, never too cold. Because of this it is also one of Malaysia's favourite tourist destinations for both people from home and abroad. The British also loved it because of the climate and the fertile mountains and saw the opportunity to turn the area into the largest tea producing area in Malaysia. It is also famous for the trecks that can be taken in and around the area and after checking into our very picturesque and friendly hostel we sampled the delights of the scenic pathways. We were a little taken back by the Englishness of the area, particularly when arriving at Ye Old Smokehouse, a Mock Tudor pub/tea room.

It was like we hadn't let the countryside of England. It overlooked the local golf course which looked like quite a test. We did some investigation and made the decision to have a round on what had been described as the cheapest round of golf in Malaysia.

It would have to wait however as the next day we went on a fantastic tour of the region, take in a rose producer and the views from their land, strawberry farm, honey farm, tea plantation and visitors centre and an insect and animal centre. It was a brilliant insight into the area.

We learnt a little about the strawberries that grow all year round thanks to the excellent climate, the tea manufacturing process from plant to useable leaves at their beautiful site with a stunning visitors centre building and saw first hand some of the creepy crawlies that inhabit the Malaysian countryside including the mighty Rhinoceros Beetle which is one of the largest beetles in the world. Other delights that Attenborough would have been salavating over were lizards, snakes, toads, frogs and giant insects including a 10-12inch grasshopper, stick insects and mantises.

Next day while Clem was having a quiet morning Karl and I had a much longed for round of golf, the first for over 3 months. It was an interesting round with some pretty shoddy rented clubs, but still very enjoyable in some fantastic weather. The course featured a lot of water which Karl visited many times and used many of our allotted 6 balls each. In fact we found ourselves on the last tee, quite an intimidating shot with only one ball left each, we managed to keep the balls in play and finished the round, Karl having lost 10 balls, however he does hold a pose well!

We caught a bus from the Cameron Highlands south. Next stop Kuala Lumpur.