Our last day!   Starting at 5:30am (really nasty) and after quickly loading the car we drove to KLIA.  Helpfully, we didn’t have any details for where to leave the car, and even once we spoke to the agents we still didn’t really have a clue, so I dropped the luggage of with Li and went on a bit of an adventure by myself!

Flight to HK wasn’t too bad, although I really wouldn’t want to do any more than the 4 hours using AirAsia, there leg room is just really poor and you can’t get any sleep at all.  That being said we arrived safe and then had a good mince around the airport changing clothes, etc.  After dumping all our stuff with Left Luggage, we headed out on a cunning bus I found to the cable car station to head to the big budda.

We choose to upgrade to a glass bottom cable car on the trip up, but, didn’t realise just how bad the weather was up the mountain.   The wind on the way up was strong enough that I’m surprised they hadn’t stopped the cable car running completely (they would have done so in a ski resort) and then we entered a very large and quite boring big cloud, so had almost zero visibility.  In general though, the cable car was still quite good and Rebecca loved the glass floor; Li, not so much!

At the top we grabbed some very expensive, quite poor quality food, and had a quick wander around.  Then headed up to the big Buddha, which, given it was in a large cloud you couldn’t actually see until until about 15 feet away.   Li didn’t bother making the climb up the steps, but Rebecca and I did, and she was really good doing it as well.

A few photos at the top were taken, back down from the Buddha, but given the cloud and the wind it wasn’t very pleasant; however, Rebecca has a new “thumbs up” pose that seems to want to do everywhere and took full advantage of this at the top!

Back down the cable car; we took the same cunning bus back to the airport and, for I think the first time ever, had enough time to get a decent dinner.  So, a very nice Pizza Express was the order of the day, in fact, shockingly good, much better than the UK.

On to the plane, few bottles of red and I managed to get some of the good Upper Class whisky, and we’re on the way back.

Landed 30 mins early, meaning that there were no staff to get our buggy, but once collected, along with the rest of the luggage, we jumped in our waiting car and headed home.

Long grass, big pile of letters, the place looks a mess…but has a decent shower and looking forward to a nice bed & plenty of home cooked food now.

Our very boring proposed drive back to KL is looking more interesting now that I’ve been told of an orangutan sanctuary along the way, so we get on the road around 10am and drive for the 90 minutes to get to the resort that has the sanctuary in it.

The sanctuary itself is actually an island in the middle of a very large lake. After getting our boat tickets, we’re off for the 15 minute journey to arrive on the shore of the island. It’s very hot, around 35 degrees again and humid once more, we’re all beginning to become a little tired of both now after 12 or so days!

The sanctuary houses 24 orangutans and the key interesting element is that we are in the cages, not the orangutans. We see a couple of big adults and then around 7 that are only a few years old and playing around. The rangers show their skills off by passing sticks and putting their food up high to get with the sticks. In general all good, but would have liked to have seen more of the bigger ones as well.

An hour later we’re back on the road after what can only be described as the worst meal we’ve had since being away; what is it with chefs adding MSG to everything!

Three more hours driving and we reach one of the things we missed from our first visit to KL, the Batu Caves.

Just outside, north, of the main KL area, the caves are a Hindu monastery with a massive statue at the bottom of a very long set of steep steps. Once climbed we entered the caves themselves and they are enormous!. We entered the first cave which is like an aircraft hanger and then up some more steps to the highest of the caves which, it turns out, has a large hole in the roof. I’m not sure what you’d call this as it’s more just a very large hole in the ground rather than a cave, formed by water by the looks of it, but whatever, it’s huge!

Back down the steps and the last 30 mins drive back into KL went nice and quick, and Li had sorted out a good location right in the center of KL for our last night, saying that though, it was already around 8pm so not much of the evening left really. The serviced apartment that we have isn’t bad and is cheap, but glad that we didn’t have this type of accommodation for the entire trip as it’s just a little bit basic.

Out for the evening with one goal in mind, to do the final missing item in KL, get a photo of the Petronas towers from the sky bar at the top of the traders hotel, the best view in KL.  So with this in mind, we obviously mince around the shopping malls first, then go and have dinner, a very under welming dinner at that. Still the view was nice in the main KL City Park as they have coloured fountains all moving and dancing to classical music, very clever and effective.

Onwards to the bar to get my photos and, not surprisingly they don’t let children in the late, so I just grab a couple of quick shots and we head off to the apartment once more.

Bed by 1am, with the alarm set for 5:30 to have time to get to the airport tomorrow morning.

Our intention today is to do nothing really as we’re getting close to the end of our holiday so want to relax a bit

Li located some fruit for breakfast and we headed to the pool for the hotel. Rebecca joined in the kids club they have and made, or rather decorated a mug and coloured in a keyring. She also made friends with another little girl and they played in the pool together a lot

We couldn’t be bothered to leave for lunch so had it around the pool area and were very pleasantly surprised at the quality and the quantity you got.  More playing around the pool, a few cocktails, and the back to kids club whilst Li and I feel asleep in the sun with William, in the shade of course!

Seeing that lunch was so good we decided to have dinner in the hotel as well which was excellent. Great select of Indian food and amazing quality.  I collected my suits from the tailor, all good there, and the day is done.

Tomorrow we have a long drive back to KL but have been told about an orangutan island that is on the way back that we can make a stop off for, so up early is the plan!

Out late afternoon and made our way tour Georgetown which is about 30 minutes drive away. On the outskirts we stopped on a busy road with a lot of restaurants and ventured into one that markets itself as a live fish market.

We had mussels, clams and mantis prawns. All of which were cooked very nicely, although the clams in black bean were without a doubt the best

Rebecca seemed quite happy with the fact she’s watching the poor little prawns being drawn dragged out of the tanks kicking and screaming just so she could eat them. The main thing is that from our point of view you know it’s fresh and to be honest you only kill what you eat so there’s no wastage either which is pretty good

After lunch, which ended up surprisingly cheap given the experience, we continued the drive into Georgetown, and came against the first big issue, no parking, anywhere. Or rather, loads of parking spaces but they were all full and queues everywhere. People just double park, blocking everyone in all over the place, basically a nightmare!

Anyway found somewhere after about 45 minutes and started to wander. The issue we found when doing the research for Georgetown is that although everyone tells you it’s great and loads of food, we couldn’t seem to establish where exactly it all is. So we walk and walk and to be honest it’s all a bit boring. We ended up looking at a big tropical fish place and walk for miles but don’t really see much. Georgetown is a world heritage site but after being there it’s because it really hasn’t changed in 150 years with the one key exception, in that it’s all had 150 years of weather attacking it, so is really run down

One of the best things there is the street art which is in a few different places, one of which seems to be quite famous

After a few hours of walking, a few coffee stops and a bit of street food it’s getting dark but the place is starting to come alive with street traders selling all different types of food. But, it’s not as good as Hong Kong or KL to be honest. We give up but are very tired as we have walked miles so Rebecca and I grab a rickshaw back to the car and head home. 

Georgetown, in general is worth a look, but a few hours there first thing in the morning, which we missed with all the markets may be good or failing that leave it to the evening, the daytime is dead.

Good news is that the camera which learnt to swim is now working again, and bizarrely the lens and the controls are all working better than before, maybe a good wash is helpful every now and again!

So much for a lie in, both kids awake by 9am! Had a lovely view from our window though.

We still managed to mince a lot and finally left the room after 11.30 to go hunting for breakfast/lunch. We found that being in a tourist spot, a lot of places were quite expensive compared to what we were used to paying in our last place.

Tony dropped off some laundry nearby at a tailors. After breakfast/lunch we went back to the tailors so Tony could check out some material for suits and he decided to order one.

We decided to lounge around by the hotel pool side which was inconveniently located on the other side of the road. 

We spent most of the day relaxing by the pool until it started to thunder and go dark.

We had some rain and lightening before we finally decided it was dry to head out for some food.

The tailor recommended a good restaurant called the Living room and it was backed up by a couple of Aussies who just finished eating from there.

The food was good and Tony got his curry. We ordered Beef Rendang, Chicken Penang, salt & pepper squid. Rebecca had grilled king prawns with Chips and a huge milkshake you can imagine. 

We took a stroll through the markets and picked up a lovely dress for moi and some funky socks for Rebecca. Nearly midnight before we got back to our room. Very tired kids.

A really early start to the day (6am) to finish up packing and grab some breakfast before setting off on a long journey to Penang via the Cameron Highlands.

After a bit of mincing getting our luggage across the river, Tony set off to collect the car. It turns out the car has a dodgy battery and was flat. He hunted around for help to get the car kick started and it seems like a common practice as low & behold there were 2 men already on the corner of the road jump starting another car. 

We finally get on the road just after 8.20am and made our way to the Cameron Highlands. The roads were surprisingly well maintained and not a bad road surface. You get get a few cows mincing in the roads as you drove by. 

The kids and I managed to catch up on 40 winks {about 2 hours!} while Tony drove but soon woke up as we climbed the large hills of Cameron Highlands. 

The view was lovely in Cameron Highlands and we even tried out the local tea grown in the area (however I think Tony preferred his PG Tips still though!)

Rebecca had a good go with the camera as well

Tony took Rebecca strawberry picking as strawberries are very famous there. We stopped off for a bit of lunch in the town before heading on to Penang.  There also seems to a lot of flies around in general which was really off putting.

Rebecca has been subjected to squat toilets throughout the journey and has decided she finds them quite difficult. She doesn’t seem to understand why there isn’t ‘normal’ toilets about.

As we left Cameron Highlands, Tony plotted a route to get us back on to the motorway. We ended up driving through a Chinese vegetable farm area on an oversized pavement and we were getting quite a lot of dodgy looks as I think only trucks generally come through to collect the goods. However after weaving through these greenhouses we finally managed to get back on to a decent bit of road.

However we were surprised how cheap the toll charges for the motorways compared to UK and other places we have been to. The QE bridge crossing back home cost more than what the trip from Cameron Highlands to the bridge for Penang.

Many hours later as we got closer to Penang , the weather turned quite dramatically. There was lots of lightening and rain as we approached the island. The suspension bridge was quite long to cross and we couldn’t see much as it was dark outside. The lightening at one point was very impressive when it struck, it was so bright & blinding. We now  also know why the drains in Malaysia are so deep as the downpour was immense for short periods of time.

After a long day of travelling, we checked in to our hotel around 10pm and everyone was exhausted especially Tony. Bless him, he did pop out to go hunting for food to bring back. He did get a very tasty Indian curry and with 3 dishes and rice plus some poppadoms & nann, the total was less than £9 (bargain!!)

Kids finally put to bed by midnight and we followed not long afters.

Usual routine this morning of breakfast and Wi-Fi. Today’s mission is to try and find some money somehow as we are really running low in this silly town that doesn’t have any cash machines. First stop trying to exchange some sterling at the hotel place we’re staying at, 13% commission! Which is still better than the two hour drive but I’m not entirely happy. So we decided to try and push on and go to see the tour bloke we used before on the off chance he takes credit card, fully expecting them not to, and they don’t. But, spotting a missed sale he points us in the direction of, to be honest what I’ve been hunting for the entire time, an enterprising local that will break the credit card rules and “sell” you some money.  Finally, at a bargain 10% commission, which given that they have to pay 2% themselves didn’t seem that bad, plus we only needed £40.

Admin done we book a rapids boat trip for the afternoon for all of us and just Rebecca and I for a night safari

A quick lunch in the room and we head off to the jetty for our boat trip to begin. It’s good but partly add we’ve already done one we new what to expect and the rapids weren’t great. We still got wet and Rebecca loved that part

My highlight was finding the nice water proof bag that we kept the camera in was doing a great job of keeping the camera immersed under 3 inches of water the whole time. Camera zero, river one…. And it’s still not looking promising at midnight, only tomorrow well tell.

Dinner was in one of the floating restaurants again, lovely good and again very good value at about £8 for all of us to be completely stuffed, then Rebecca and I picked up our 4×4 for the night safari.

Off into the palm tree plantations and even through Rebecca did fall asleep we still managed to see a lemur, a couple of small wild cats, although not sure what they were, plus a snake and a few birds as well. Not to bad really for a couple of hours riding on the back of the truck. Home via our normal boat and Li’s done a great job of packing ready for tomorrow’s nightmare drive

Up around 9:30 and off to our breakfast, this time with phone in hand as we’ve found out the restaurant has Wi-Fi. Quick breakfast and we’re off on our hike towards the canopy walkway.

Leaving the main village where we are staying we quickly enter the rainforest The path we are walking on, which, although up and down quite a bit, is a very good condition boardwalk; this winds into the rainforest for around 2 miles and, given the humidity and heart seems about 10 miles!

We finally arrive at the canopy walkway, pay our money and we’re heading up into the trees. I’m not quite sure quite what Li expected but she seemed shocked to find it was quite high. About 50m according to the guide book, and at 500m long, they say it’s the longest in the world.

Rebecca loved it! She’s quite light so the rope bridge didn’t move very much as she literally ran across each span. We were both slightly more cautious and walked slowly across, Li pulling some very strange faces at points as the height becomes apparent; although in fairness, William flapping his arms like he’s trying to take off I don’t think helped matters

Back to the chalet, quick pot noodle,and we relaxed out of the heat for an hour or so, then headed off for dinner in the nice boat restaurant.  In the way back we spotted the tapir again plus some monkeys in the tress, so a nice end to the day. All good and the kids were in bed early as well so we relaxed and watched a bit of tv!

Apart from being woken up by William in the night, we’d both had the best night sleep since leaving, these beds are so good!. Up and out by 10:00 as the booking includes breakfast. We take our small trek down to the restaurant but and grab some half decent food, then try, and fail to go for the canopy walk as it turns out they only work half day on Fridays here, some religious praying is need in the afternoon we now understand. 

So, the obvious choice is jump in a boat to the other bank of the river and explore the town. Other than a large hill in the middle of the town there is almost nothing there, so takes about 15 minutes but we did have some odd tasting drinks whilst walking around, plus booked some interesting looking boat ride for the afternoon

Quick lunch in a not so good floating restaurant for lunch and back to the chalet for a 15 minute rest before heading back out for our boat trip.

Didn’t realised that we get two men to guide and drive us in the boat, plus the boat is ours alone! So we head of up river for about 45 minutes seeing some amazing scenery as we go. Most impressive though was the way these guys steered this long boat upon the river, between rocks, up rapids and avoiding everything in their way with amazing skill! One at the back with a small outboard engine, the other at the front with a large stick, I assume the junior of the two, to help push us along as we get dangerously close to rocks and fallen trees!

We get up some good speed at points and it feels like something out of James Bond with the jungle flashing past as we spotted up the river, trees lining both sides and monitor lizards are spotted swimming at one point!  We leave the boat and trek for what was meant to be 15 minutes, that takes about 30, through the undergrowth, no guide at this point bizarrely, until we get to a big natural pool that’s been caved out of the rocks by the river. After a quick, and not very relaxing swim as Rebecca was clamped around my neck like a leach, and we head back. It looks lovely, but to be honest a lot of trekking each way for a quick swim in a fast flowing river with a small child trying to drown you really didn’t do it for me.

Annoyingly, we get back to the boat and in the meantime a loaf more locals have turned up and are playing where our boat is moored on the side of the river; locals have obviously spotted this pool thing is just a pain add well, just don’t mention it to us.  Anyway back along the river, going with the current this time and we have a great trip back. Boat trip, amazing stuff, trek and swimming, not so much!

Given that we’ve now discovered the nearest cash machine is  about an hours drive away, and were low on cash Li came up with the idea of eating in the chalet restaurant as we can charge it to the room and then pay on card, so we did just this and it wasn’t bad at all but not to the same standard as last night by any means, plus about 5 times the cost!

Finally we get back to the chalet and I decide to take Rebecca out for a night time explorer. Torch in hand we leave and were pleasantly surprised, bats, lizards, big old crickets 4 inches long plus something called a Civil Cat, which is some strange looking creature about the size of a large cat, but with a fox style nose, spiked fur pointing backwards and a big bushy tail. Basically a big rat come squirrel, about two foot long! Finally then on the way back the prize of the night, a wild tapir standing eating some melon that someone has left out, I assume for them. At least 5 foot long and standing about 3 foot high it was quite a sight but didn’t seem to care about all the photos people were taking, an impressive end to a great day

Rebecca and I left the hotel to collect the car, with a quick stop off to get some fruit on the way, she loves the selection you get here. Hunting for the car hire place is interesting given its in one of the massive office blocks and nobody had heard of it. Found it by walking every floor and then, obviously, it’s closed! Assumed the bloke was out having a wander and after 30 mins he appeared as if nothing was out of the ordinary which I actually suspect is correct, it’s completely normal here. So with one person in front of us I’m told it’s a 15 mins wait, hence writing this blog from the car hire office.

The fun and games you get when hiring a car never cease to amaze me. Just how many things can they do wrong, firstly as suspected, they didn’t seem to know anything about the car seats, then as also suspected, they wanted to charge us extra when they found some.  Negotiations started and thankfully my prep in the hotel paid off and quickly the bloke backed down. Then off to do the damage check and I’ve never seen it being done so thoroughly, which of course means another 30 mins wasted.  Finally just as we’re about to leave the car seats, that were meant to be delivered to the hotel turn up randomly, which is a bit of luck they had wasted all my time or I would have had to go back for them!

2.5 hours later!!!. And I finally get back to pick Li up who, bless her, had to pack the entire room of our hotel up by herself, which just to be clear is about a 5 minute walk to the car hire place.  Anyway, getting everything in the car was thankfully not too bad as we’d opted for something of a decent size, Honda Civic, and to be honest quite a nice car, although could do with a little more guts under the bonnet.

We commence our journey and the roads are surprisingly very good, and, after a few stops, about 7:30pm we finally arrive in Taman Negara, in the main village; our hotel nowhere to be seen.

 Couple of locals are questioned and of course it’s the one that’s on the other side of the bloody great big river… No roads in sight.  Turns out that you have to get a little taxi boat to the other side, with all your luggage, but given we didn’t know this we end up having to unload everything. Next challenge, the car, there’s nowhere to park it, even though the hotel states parking.. Which is a bit of a joke given that there’s no cars even! Anyway, after some more talking to the locals they convince me that it’s good to use a secure parking that just seems a con to be honest, but it’s all the talk of slashed tyres that wins the argument at the end of the day.

A short lift back on the blokes scooter to the jetty and we’re the whisked away in Golf buggies to the other end of the big complex of chalets with all our luggage.  A change of rooms is in order and sorted out given the distance to the boats, which is quite good.  Dinner was on the other side of the river in a floating restaurant, amazing food including tum yum soup, and really cheap as well, plus a deal with the boat bloke means we can get back afterwards. Air conditioning is a godsend here, stupidly hot but a lovely place, really out in the middle of the jungle, plus quite surprisingly the best beds we’ve had since being away. Finally a good night’s sleep!