Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia

I had 5 nights in Miri as I already had booked my flight into Sabah. Miri is quite a big city and has a nice feel to it. I checked into the guest house and headed out to the night market 3km away with some girls from the dorm. Although it was nice to travel with the Odyssey crowd it has also been great to meet new people and see where they have been or are going to and get some new ideas.

The reason for coming to Miri is Niah National Park. To get to the park I would have to take a local bus to the long distance bus terminal, then get a bus to a junction 16km from the park, and then I would have to get a taxi to the park HQ. This would take an unknown about of time and would be quite costly so I waited to find enough people to get a private van for a day trip.

Whilst waiting to get to Niah I explored Miri's shopping centres picking up a few pieces. I also walked up Canada Hill which is the site of the 'Grand Old Lady', the first oil well in Malaysia which was drilled in 1910. There are great views over the city and the South China Sea and also a very good Petroleum Museum which has been done my Shell and Petronas which filled a few hours.

It is a lot easier to meet people when you are on your own and I soon had some company for an afternoon at a local beach which was very popular with local traders who were quickly setting up BBQ's and grilling chicken and various unknown meat products!

I was soon befriended by 4 guys in the guest house so we had a day trip to Niah which was great fun. The park is famous for it's caves which are full of swiftlets which provide the nests for the pricey Bird's nest soup. The caves were huge and filled with over a km of boardwalk which led us through very dark passes into huge caverns. Huge bamboo poles hang from the ceiling which are climbed when collecting the nests- unfortunately no one was at work. The major disappointment of the day was the Painted cave which features cave paintings from human settlement 40,000 years ago. They were fenced off so we couldn't actually get close enough to the paintings to actually see what they were of. A great and long awaited day out was completed when the van driver stopped at the beach so we could watch the fantastic sunset.

Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia

From Kuching I got an express boat to Sibu. The boat was quick (4.5 hours) and easy as it headed out to sea and then up a river inland passing cargo boats of various forms. Sibu has no hostels so armed with a list of hotels and a map, I headed to find somewhere affordable to stay. I had initially intended to stay 2 nights in Sibu but after I walked and saw the attractions of the town which were 2 swan statues and a pagoda in 30 minutes, I decided 1 night would be enough!

Sibu wasn't a very night town and seemed pretty run down. I headed to the night market for dinner and made use of the WiFi in the room to catch up with home.

Next stop was Miri in the north of Sarawak. I caught the 9am express bus from Sibu (I couldn't get out of town any quicker!) and headed in comfort to Miri which took 8 hours.

Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

One short flight and I have arrived in Kuching, Sarawak on the Malaysian island of Borneo. Kuching is Malay for cat. I am unsure of the significance of the cat but the city has some noticeably plastic cat statues donning roundabouts. The city has a nice waterfront, some nick nack shops and an interesting, if a little dated, museum to look around. I also walked around the Sunday market which was huge and full of food, including a lot of stingray, souvenirs and even pets. It was about time I found some proper cake and I have discovered the local version of angel cake. It is very dense, sticky but very delicately put together with thin layers of different coloured cake making a stripy pattern is really tasty!

I have come to Borneo to see the wildlife. Just outside of Kuching is Semennggoh orangutan sanctuary. My attempts at getting there weren't too successful as the local bus didn't turn up and the tours wouldn't run with just 1 person. I'm pretty gutted not to have seen the orangutans but I will hopefully have another chance in Sabah.

Borneo is also indigenous to the Proboscis monkey which can be seen in Bako National Park so that's where I headed for 2 nights. Hearing that the accommodation in the park was limited and quickly booked up I headed to the national park office first thing Monday morning to book a bed. I randomly bumped into Mike in the office. He and Alice were heading to the park also for 2 nights so we all got the bus and boat together. It was nice to have a catch up of the last couple of months and also some company.

The national park was fantastic though incredibly hot. We saw Proboscis monkeys from a distance deep in the jungle sitting in the trees. The monkeys are a orange and white colour with huge bellies to digest all the leaves they eat and the males have big and unusual shaped noses used to attract a mate. They leap rather than swing from tree to tree.

We also headed on a night walk, not seeing a huge amount, a few frogs and a red and yellow kingfisher until the very end where right by a room, a flying lemur that actually flew, was sighted. The highlight was the big tree frog hiding behind the toilet door though!

The next day we went on a longer walk through the jungle and up a hill to an area which was completely different as it was very arid. The only wildlife we saw was a millipede so we were very excited to see Silver leaf Langurs up close near the park HQ. I did a bit of Proboscis stalking on the beach and the monkey wasn't bothered as I sat about 8m away as he pulled his dinner off the plants. There were also Macaques in the area but they were vicious and just stole your food and attacked you in the canteen area and also woke us up in the morning by running on the roof and fighting over the biscuits that we had put in the fridge to keep rats from coming in the room.

I feel incredibly lucky to have seen so many Proboscis' in Bako as there are only 150 in the park. A great experience.

Singapore

With only 2 nights in Singapore I was keen to explore which meant reading the map wrong and getting completely lost which was how I spent the first afternoon. Singapore is considerably more expensive than Malaysia so we spent the last night of the trip having a great time on a budget. We had to head to Raffles for a Singapore Sling. There is thankfully no dress code as we sat at Long bar drinking the most expensive drink we had ever bought and throwing peanut shells on the floor. It couldn't have been more of a contrast from Raffles as we headed to a night market for some great food served on plastic plates and with plastic cups and cutlery. From there we had drinks in Starbucks before saying our good byes as Pete headed to the airport to catch a flight to Cape Town.

Thanks to Pete, Kirsten and also Rich for getting me here. It's been a great 6 months with hopefully some long term friendships made. Everyone we meet asks what was our favourite country or whats the highlight been. There has been so many great times. I will never forget the scenery in Georgia, getting stuck in mud- everywhere, crossing the Caspian Sea, being in 45 degree heat with no air con in Khiva, camping in no mans land, horse riding in Kyrgyzstan, the pandas, the great night out in Hue when Pete returned and more recently the beautiful beaches. I feel incredibly lucky to have seen some many amazing things particularly in Central Asia where few tourists venture. From no on though I'm going alone which will be an adventure in its self.

The zoo was my main reason for coming to Singapore so I planned to spend my first day of 'going alone' there. I moved from a great nights sleep in a very nice double room to myself to a more appropriately priced hostel down the road. A trip on the metro and a bus and I was at the zoo.

Classed as one of the best in the world I had a great day out taking many a photo and seeing some of the shows. With most enclosures being natural, it was great to see the animals going about daily life. I could have sat and watched the monkeys for hours. The highlight was definitely seeing a group of bats hanging randomly underneath a rain shelter and also the close encounters with lemurs just before closing time when everyone had gone.

Next door to the zoo is the night safari. One of its kind. It only opens at night and displays all sorts of nocturnal animals that you wouldn't be able to see usually. I took a tram tour and also walked all the tracks. The animals were hard to spot and a lot were sleeping (this confused me greatly). A great experience though.

I got the impression that Singapore was mostly shops and fancy hotels. I spent my final morning heading in the correct direction to Marlion park which features lots of crazy architecture and a huge lion fountain (no photos though- I ran the battery out in the zoo). The newest feature of Singapore is Marina Sands hotel and casino. This huge complex is stunning. 3 wonky tower blocks all connected by a roof top swimming pool the size of 3 football pitches which looks from the outside like a ship. It's crazy the amount of money that's around.

From Singapore I got a bus back into Malaysia which was easy until I realised that the bus terminal I was going to wasn't the one which was in the city centre next to the hotel. I was practically at the airport and had to get a taxi back to the hotel which was near enough next door to the customs office. I'm sure this will be one of the first of many annoyances of solo travel.

I was to fly to Kuching early the next day so after being told many a time that my hotel room would be ready in another half hour I set out to find the bus station which was a mission. No one had heard of the airport bus- not hotels, taxi men, people in the 7-11. With my bus mishap earlier I didn't want to waste money on a taxi for 40km so I was determined to find the bus station. I did and it got me to the airport for 6am this morning for a quid 50 and I had a great flight (due to being given an exit seat) and I'm currently in a very nice but unfinished hostel in Kuching on the island of Borneo ready for some wildlife action.

Melaka, Malaysia

With group numbers dropping we headed to the coastal port city of Melaka in just a single mini bus. Melaka had a great feel to it due to its previous Portuguese, Dutch and British ownership. There was plenty to do as I hit the shops and found H&M vests in a factory outlet store. Very exciting as I have wanted them from go and I have yet to find the H&M in the cities!

With Roberta, Lesley, Barry, Pauline, Simon and Ben leaving with Kirsten for further adventures in Borneo we had another farewell evening out in the Geographer's cafe which had a jazz duo and the greatest pudding discovery so far- 'Apple Pie in a glass'. Yum!

I headed to explore the maritime museum which is held within a replica of the 'Flora de la Mar' which is apparently a Portuguese ship which sank off the coast. It was quite interesting but I escaped quickly as the museum suddenly filled with school kids. The naval museum wasn't so interesting but there was a big boat in the yard which you could clamber upon.

From Melaka the remaining 7 - Pete, Taylor, Katie, Nick, Joy, Dennis and myself headed over the causeway to Singapore after a little glitch at immigration when Pete had to talk his way into bringing his mega knife into the country! Who knows how he did it as Singapore is a country which has fines for everything- dropping litter, chewing gum etc.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

KL is the last major city on the trip and a great place to celebrate the last week of the trip as many people are flying on home or to further travel from here. We all gathered on the first night in the hotel restaurant to watch a slide show of photos from the trip. Many laughs as some great memories slid by. We then all headed to a Reggae bar where we had great food, drinks, a round of Odyssey Blues, dodgy dancing and a late night/early morning trip to one of the many 24 hour McDonalds!

The next morning some of us headed up the KL tower. This telecom tower has an observation deck at 276m with great views over the city and the Petronas Towers. There was an international base jumping festival on so we had great fun watching the jumpers fly by the windows from the top of the tower.

The Petronas towers were the only things I knew about KL. They were really magnificent (even city hating Lesley was impressed!) as they gleamed in the sun, their design based upon the 5 pillars of Islam, a minaret and a 8 sided star.

The other thing to do in KL is shop and everyone had a mooch. You could get anything you wanted here with most coming away with something- clothes, cameras and more luggage. All so cheap. I settled for a hard drive and a netbook bag.

KL has been a great city. Relaxed, very green with a definite draw to it. We have now headed a few hours south to Melaka on the coast sadly lighter James, Kay, Maggs, Kaye, Kylie and Neill who have all headed on to Australia.

Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia

From the Perhentians, we headed in minibuses to Taman Negara National Park. The journey should have been straightforward but it ended up full of hitches and much longer than expected. After lunch for some reason we were due to swap into a privately hired coach. Turned out the coach was broken down and we would have swap minibuses which were not big enough for all the luggage. After quite a wait, and a morning of maniacal driving, we ended up swapping buses at the road side with another full minibus heading the the other direction. We were assured that we were going to the park but after another 2 hours of driving we had stopped at a tour office and were having to change into another bus which would be going into the park. It was all very confusing as Pete had organised private transport as a quick and easy method to get to the park and avoid the faff. We transfered all our luggage into the coach, with the thermometer inside reading 42 degrees (the driver didn't seem to think there was a problem) and finally headed into the park arriving at our accommodation 11 hours after we left the islands! The final hitch of the day being that our booking was actually for a different hotel. Thankfully it all worked out and we have a full day to explore.

The Taman Negara claims to be the oldest jungle in the world at 130 million years old and it seems huge- there is green everywhere! The whole group walked to the canopy walkway. The walkway is hanging between the trees at about 50m above the forest floor. It was a lot of fun as the 50cm wide gangplank swayed from side to side! A not too strenuous morning was followed by lunch at one of the floating restaurants on the River Tembeling and a relaxed afternoon with everyone sorting arrangements for the next step of the journey.

Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia

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We spent the day crossing from the west coast to the east coast across the very scenic Cameron Highlands in order to get to the small fishing village of Kuala Besut. We stayed in not the highest class of hotel but apparently the best in the area to enable us to get onto speed boats to the Perhentian Islands. The speed boat crossing was so much fun and very quick so we had 3 full days to enjoy the island. A big bay with crystal clear waters and coral reefs just off the beach meant that most of us hired snorkelling gear. I saw lots of fish including sharks and Nemo's but the highlight was definitely the turtle that was swimming below me for about 10 minutes until I couldn't keep up with its speedy swimming!

The island provided something for everyone. It was much quieter and less developed than the Thai islands so you could sit on the beach without anyone trying to flog you stuff. Ben made numerous fancy sandcastles including one of the Petronas Towers, and some people walked to the other side of the island, hired kayaks or just read books in the sun.

Myself and Roberta went scuba diving with Kirsten as a prize for having one of the top 4 blogs. It was very enjoyable and great to practise newly acquired skills despite the poor visibility and strong current which ended the dive a little early due to us all bobbing up to the surface! Despite that we had a great morning seeing rays, porcupine and puffer fish. Thanks Pete and Kirsten!

The islands have been a brilliant stop for so near to the end of the trip. It was nice for the group to be together for a few days. The wildlife nearby was a definite highlight- Gibbons, flying lemurs, monitor lizards, squirrels and the turtle. I would not hesitate to return!

Georgetown, Malaysia

Georgetown from a distance looked like a city, with some high rise buildings but walking around, it felt like a town. Kaye and I spent hours getting lost in China town before heading to the colonial style buildings on the waterfront and then through Little India. Georgetown was nice to walk around for the day but there wasn't a huge amount to do. Saying that, it was nice to walk through the back streets seeing local life. The highlight definitely seeing the view of the city from the 7th floor car park of the shopping centre and the purchase of pink Hannah Montana umbrella.

From Georgetown we head over the mountains of the central peninsula to Kuala Beset which is on the coast which will allow a speed boat crossing to the Perhentian Islands which should be good.