Hi Peeps, I can't believe the trip and journey of a life time is about to come to an end. Well naturally there is still lots of stuff to do and planned and in Singapore too, but this will be my last Odyssey blog with all the chums I have journeyed with from good old Blighty to Singapore, where I get off for a few short days in KL before flying off to start my next leg teaching in Sri Lanka for over two months or so.
We have arrived in Malaysia at last and took the venicular up a very steep hill that overlooks the island of Penang where we stayed in George town. This very modern and slick transport soon whisked Mandy, Denis, Wendy, Colin and I up through the clouds at a very hasty rate of knots to a view that took your breath away when you reached the top.
A Mosque with gaily painted statues of gods and icons at the very top of the island.
A few days later and we are in the Pentian islands, remote islands off the Malasian east coast only reached by boat. The island we stayed on had no roads and behind my wonderful room was well....just jungle with only the beach in front! Those Odyssey guys know just how rough it can be on the road and reward you from time to time with these fantastic out of the way locations. Pre dinner cocktails with Denis on the veranda and only three small restaurants to choose from and nothing else......fab.
The island was staked full of wildlife from huge fruit bats, flying squirrels and giant lizards to monkies playing on your roof.
All too soon bags are packed again and we are in Kuala Lumper. If there is a large land mark you will find some one from the group doing it or already done it. And this is the KL tower, a huge telecom building built on rock and the lift to the observation deck at 250m straight up!!
Mandy, Denis and I at the top listening to comentary as we stroll around looking at the view. As you can imagine 250m is quite high and I kept well away from the edge....just in case.
The big towers across the way as you probably know are the Petronas towers, the highest double towers in the world, they truly are massive.
Denis and I strolled to them after the KL tower and had lunch in the massive mall at the base of the towers. While having fab fish n chips (sorry guys but some times you just have too), two Malay guys who work for Petronas sat with us (in my ignorance, I thought it was just the name of the towers not a company that own them). It turns out one tower is full of Petronas staff, a multi national petro chemical company and the other tower is let as offices. Quite beutiful when you see them as close as we did.
The old girl in a lonely car park. We've had our last trip in her now, having done probably just under 30,000 ks not all in Calypso as she wasnt allowed in Vietnam, or Cambodea and most of Thailand where we did pick her up again towards the end. Its almost time to start saying a few thanks and this is my first one. Jim has been our driver over the entire trip, through smooth road and rough, from very early starts to some very late finishes Jim has remained cheerful and ensured the old girl has been well serviced. Thanks Jim, oh just one thing, have you completed all the paperwork now..........?
Our last stop in Malaysia is in Malacca, a very funny quiet sort of place. Its quite large with over 600,000 people living here. A couple of local guys Denis and I were talking to over breakfast said the major industry here is tourism. We were advised to walk through a Chinese cemetry, the largest outside China, while some graves are the traditional sort, the one above was made like this and I just wonder.......why?
We have arrived in Malaysia at last and took the venicular up a very steep hill that overlooks the island of Penang where we stayed in George town. This very modern and slick transport soon whisked Mandy, Denis, Wendy, Colin and I up through the clouds at a very hasty rate of knots to a view that took your breath away when you reached the top.
A Mosque with gaily painted statues of gods and icons at the very top of the island.
My what a big canon you have Stevie. Oh yes, it had to be done did'nt it?.....Well I thought it was funny. Anyway, having spent a good couple of hours wondering around it was time to make our way back to the venicuar station. Denis poked me in the side and pointed to a small cafe menu - 'Devon cream teas sold here' and I guess that is still the infuence the old empire has on places like this today, and no we did'nt stop mores the pity!
A few days later and we are in the Pentian islands, remote islands off the Malasian east coast only reached by boat. The island we stayed on had no roads and behind my wonderful room was well....just jungle with only the beach in front! Those Odyssey guys know just how rough it can be on the road and reward you from time to time with these fantastic out of the way locations. Pre dinner cocktails with Denis on the veranda and only three small restaurants to choose from and nothing else......fab.
The island was staked full of wildlife from huge fruit bats, flying squirrels and giant lizards to monkies playing on your roof.
All too soon bags are packed again and we are in Kuala Lumper. If there is a large land mark you will find some one from the group doing it or already done it. And this is the KL tower, a huge telecom building built on rock and the lift to the observation deck at 250m straight up!!
Mandy, Denis and I at the top listening to comentary as we stroll around looking at the view. As you can imagine 250m is quite high and I kept well away from the edge....just in case.
The big towers across the way as you probably know are the Petronas towers, the highest double towers in the world, they truly are massive.
Denis and I strolled to them after the KL tower and had lunch in the massive mall at the base of the towers. While having fab fish n chips (sorry guys but some times you just have too), two Malay guys who work for Petronas sat with us (in my ignorance, I thought it was just the name of the towers not a company that own them). It turns out one tower is full of Petronas staff, a multi national petro chemical company and the other tower is let as offices. Quite beutiful when you see them as close as we did.
The old girl in a lonely car park. We've had our last trip in her now, having done probably just under 30,000 ks not all in Calypso as she wasnt allowed in Vietnam, or Cambodea and most of Thailand where we did pick her up again towards the end. Its almost time to start saying a few thanks and this is my first one. Jim has been our driver over the entire trip, through smooth road and rough, from very early starts to some very late finishes Jim has remained cheerful and ensured the old girl has been well serviced. Thanks Jim, oh just one thing, have you completed all the paperwork now..........?
Our last stop in Malaysia is in Malacca, a very funny quiet sort of place. Its quite large with over 600,000 people living here. A couple of local guys Denis and I were talking to over breakfast said the major industry here is tourism. We were advised to walk through a Chinese cemetry, the largest outside China, while some graves are the traditional sort, the one above was made like this and I just wonder.......why? It started off as a long trip, now I wonder where all the time has gone. We have travelled way off any normal tourist route, seen sites and visited places I may never see again all with the security, safety and knowledge of CJ. Thanks mate, this journey has been a real eye opener for me and was what I needed to move on and for that I shall be forever grateful.
Pete and Kirsten, you have a great company a great team and trips that just knocks the socks off anything I've ever done before. I truly hope you go from strength to strength and look forward to booking with you again.
Russel, Sylvia, Keith, Sandra, Colin, Wendy, Zoe, Susan, Denis, Ben, Lucy, Aoife, Clare, Jen, Sally Mel, Emily and Mandy, my deepest thanks must go to you all. You have been my best pals throughout my journey through thick and thin, through my highs and lows. Some may even think I'm still not safe to be let on my own and to that I say, yep you are probably right but you have to start some where.
For me I've learnt so much about myself, other people and just how darn easy it is to travel. I've had a few mishaps on the way too. Broken my toe, been in hospital twice and was on a morphine derivitive for four days (thanks again Sylvia, your an angel) didnt eat much for nearly two weeks, hence the weight loss but I'm fine now. Had a couple of colds the gippy tummy just once, fell out the truck and was mugged in Laos (which by the way was my fault and a very cheap lesson learned), the odd cut, burn and bruise, masses of mossy bites and a good dose of sunburn (you'd think I'd learn by now wouldnt you) and necked more pills than in my entire life before. But through it all, tried to remain erm.......cheerful......erm.....well most of the time anyway.
For those of you who have followed my blog, I hope you have found it reasonably interesting. To family and friends you know its not the end and I've still at least 12 more months of travel to do before I get back to dear old blighty. The blogs will not be so frequant but I will top that up with personal emails.
Love and big hugs to you all, Steve
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