Singapore – 25-28/08/14
The highlight of our stop over in Singapore was meeting our friend Marine and her children Eugene and Armance, a very old school mate of Alex. The kids were very close friends, 4 years ago and we were very pleased to get to see them again, especially as it was just as we had left it!
We stayed at Marine’s place, a beautiful traditional black and white Singaporean house. Although we had big rains everyday, it was still around 30 degrees and the showers were welcome to cool us down. When it was not raining the kids played in the garden or in the pool and they pulled comics and board games when outside was not an option. Alex discovered sway board which he was very good at very quickly, whilst Eugene was teaching Max how to build a zip wire in the garden. One day we left all the kids with Evelyn, the house maid, who took them to the water park; in the meantime, Rj and I took time to walk around Singapore city. A very modern city with lots of beautiful ultra modern glass buildings. Around Marina Bay, a new building looks like a boat on three towers, another looks like a lotus flower, one like a hedgehog. In town we saw some beautiful Chinese temples, we visited the renown colonial Raffles Hotel. In the city the people are young, smiley and polite but unlike Sydney, Singapore lacks personality and vibrancy. It is an odd thing to feel. Above the offices, below the shopping malls and food halls.
At night, the city lights up, the bars become lively, in Orchard Road, very loud music is played whilst lots of little restaurants provide European and Asian food in typical merchant houses. The street gets madly busy later and the centre on the drinking hub at later hours apparently…we don’t know, we are heading home to the kids!
Singapore also have a lots of beautiful green spaces and jungle forested areas. With the kids, we visited the Botanic Gardens a massive area with numerous themes such as medicinal plants, palms, historical plants as well as a discovery Center for kids where we saw yam, coffee, coconuts, bananas, papayas, and many more. We had a great time with our friends, but Singapore is not for us, a little like an Asian Switzerland.
Malaysia – 28/08 to 7/09/14
We had planned to reach Kuala Lumpur by overnight train from Singapore. Sadly the train was fully booked and we had to do the trip by plane intead, a short 45mn flight with Airasia. We booked the Pyramid Sunway hotel, recommended by a friend. Sure of the quality of the recommendation, I did not check the reviews or even the location, so what a surprise when, as the taxi drove through the road to the hotel, we found ourselves in the middle of a Disney-like world, with lots of fake carved statues of lions and mermaids. The big water park could be seen in the background, to the boys extreme delight. For us, it was our idea of a nightmare!
The lobby was huge, and decorated with brown marble and gold plated accessories. The room was of decent size but the carpet was dirty and when we found out that we had to walk to the hotel next door to access the pool and for breakfast, we considered reviewing our choice. As we exlored the area, in search of the pool and breakfast room, we discovered the partner hotel Sunway Resort & Spa, and were seduced by the more polished service, the easy access to pool and breakfast and their Club room offer (including afternoon tea and evening aperitif). And this is in this very oasis that we spent the next 4 days…The following day, we headed to the water park, to Ranj and my despair, but as a promise to the boys who had been so good at following us in our treks and adventures for the last 2 months, without complaining once. Thus, we spent the entire day, going down water slides, massive water funnel, speeding down water lanes, etc. To our great surprise, Rj and I had much fun and luckily we didnt feel too sick until the end of the day when our stomachs clearly had their share of abuse.
That evening, Dada & Lida surprised us with a visit and stayed in Kuala Lumpur with us for the following 4 days. 4 days in good company, of indulgence and laziness, spent relaxing by the pool, enjoying the delicious and copious multi cultural buffet breakfast, in the Club room, enjoying scones with cream and jam or little sandwiches and fruits or finally working out at the gym, trying to compensate for the over eating…We didnt see much of Malaysia over these few days especially as it coincided with a big bank holiday and massive celebrations taking place in town, making the center very difficult to access to. On our visitors last day however, we decided to hire a car and pop into town. We had a quick glimpse at the old railway station, the national Mosque and parked up to see the famous Petronas Twin towers. We enjoyed an overprice cocktail at the Sky bar of the Traders Hotel situated right opposite the towers to enjoy the sun doing down on the city and the towers lightning up in the dawn of the day. We finished our Day in Chinatown, as it was recommended to us. There must have been a nicer part in the area but we only found the popular market and its stalls of Chinese food and fruits and vegetables and cheap handbag replicates. Amongst those, the canteen like restaurant for which we finalise succumbed by lack of alternative. Although Rj and the kids had strange bowel movements for the next couple of days, we made it.
On Wednesday 3rd september, we drove Dada and Lida back to the airport, swapped for a smaller car and headed North for an expedited discovery trip of Malaysia.
The road takes us through thousands of kilometers of coconut tree plantations. Palm oil is the main revenue of Malaysia. We aimed for Pangkor Island, the closest nice beach resort to KL it seemed. We found very few reviews of the place but the pictures of the island looked good. With no hotel prebooked and a vague idea of how to get there, we switched on Tom Tom and headed adventurously. As we got to Pangkor ferry jetty, we found out that the ferry is for foot passengers only and that the rental car would not be of any use there! We debated what to do, reviewed our options and decided to leave the car behind. We hopped into the first and last ferry crossing for a mere 8Â GBP return for all of us.
Pangkor must be about ten kms long and 5 wide. The Eastern side closest to mainland is where the little town is. Not europeanised at all, the community, to the image of the country, is a fantastic mix of colours and cultures: the Malay, the Indians and the Chinese cohabit harmoniously. We saw, sat side by side in the food halls, the fully covered muslim women, the indian women dressed in sari, the chinese dressed in Occidental clothing, all speaking the same language, Malay, English and Smile. The Malay are amongst the nicest people we have ever met, extremely polite, very helpful, all smile and extremely caring. They thank you with their hand on their heart, the smile with their eyes and heart, they are truly special people.
During this visit to Malaysia, I could not help but thinking of that plane that mysteriously vanished above the Indian Ocean and that simply shot down by the Russians in the recent months. Indeed we’ve noticed the soar left to the Nation by these two tragedies: the big yearly celebrations that take place end of August weren’t as big as usual this year as commemoration to the lost ones. People have mentioned it here and there, subdued to the idea that they will never know or understand what happened. I feel upset, knowing that these people, so kind and giving, have lost so much and that the World does not seem to care…
So we stayed in a small hotel on the Western side of the island. The only “proper” hotel on that side, it provided us with simple but pleasant accommodation. Most of all, we were a stone throw away from an beautiful white sand beach. Very similar to the Brazilian beaches we already know, but tidier as already more exploited for tourism. However, we were there mid week of a non holiday period and the speedboats and sausages were safely tucked away leaving the quite white sanded beach to our single use. The waters are turquoise blue, the sand beach curves and soon turns into a rocky water side where massive boulders sit on the white sand. Two small islands covered in palm trees and jungle are in proximity, amongst which Pangkor Laut, a privately owned island with one of the most exclusive resort in Asia. Following some fishermen that I see sneaking through the boulders and the jungle, we reach a pristine creek, with the clearest waters, the whitest sand, the roundest boulders, the most beautiful beach I have ever seen.
From there we decide to swim across to the neighbouring island, approximately 500m away. The water is as warm as bath and is see-through for the first 20m. It take us a little while as the current slows our progress but we reach the small island easily. We were so impressed by the boys and they were extremely proud of themselves! We play there for 45mn, looking for shells and corals and decide to head back to main land the same way we came but this time the current is in our favour and we get back much faster. The taxi driver had told us that only the English swam across to the islands!
In the evening, we enjoy a candlelight alfresco dinner on the beach: Daddy’s Restaurant, the only restaurant on the beach serves cocktails and fresh watermelon juice, beautiful Malay food with curries and fresh seafood. Perfect!
We finish our mini trip through Malaysia by a quick visit to Cameron Highlands where a windy road takes us through the jungle. We see beautiful little villages tucked away by the side of the road, fruit merchants selling mangosteen, wild mangosteen, rambutans, coco juice, etc. Cameron Highlands is well known for its strawberry farms but we will not reach them as we are running out of time. Time to head back to KL tomorrow we have to catch our flight to Japan!
A little tour around the World 