Hello Bali. I said, Hello Bali.

We were up bright and early this morning to catch a 6:30 shuttle from the airport hotel to KLIA for our 8:50 a.m. flight to Bali.  Things were tracking OK.  Man, you go through a lot of security, though.  Our bags get scanned twice from where we're leaving, and they get scanned again in Bali when we arrived, not to mention the usual immigration.  Anyway, barring that, the plane was about 20-25 minutes late, but we were waiting for some luggage from a London, UK flight to get on board.  I guess we had the people.

I should have mentioned last night for the end of our Malaysia tour, that we had some interesting discoveries in Malaysia.  Firstly, one part to another is very different - no surprise - we have that in our own country.  I had the impression that the people in KL or anywhere else on the peninsula didn't even really think about the people in Borneo.  They have 2 large regions there, and it is VERY different there.  Secondly, the country has corruption going on in its government.  There are major projects that get done with government money, but then it seems they just walk away and it isn't maintained, and in some cases, not even completed for all kinds of reasons.

Thirdly, and best, they have a real mix of cultures.  Our one driver told us he went to school with Chinese, and Malays (he was Indian), and the teachers told them, "You play with the Chinese boy, Chinese boy, you play with the Malay boy, etc.  And it was never more evident than in a convent we went by in Melaka where nuns taught school.  And there were girls there in the Muslim hijab.  All religions go to school there.  And in spite of the colonial dominance over a few centuries, they take it all in stride and make the best of it.  Now that's living in harmony.

We arrived in Bali after being thoroughly checked out (and I don't mean with eyes), and met up with our driver, Made (maday).  He took us to the Tanah Lot Temple, a quite extraordinary temple sitting in the edge of the ocean.  We had some lunch beforehand, and the views of the sea were quite spectacular there.

This is the Tanah Lot Temple.  But there were 3 or 4 of them in this same location.

We then wanted to go to our hotel in Ubud (oobood), the Komaneka at Monkey Forest.  We saw monkeys in a forest, and in the parking lot when getting here.  And other sights along the way, like this woman carrying foodstuff on her head.

And this guy with a bundle of rice on his bike.

And then our hotel, the Komaneka Monkey Forest.  What a spectacular spot.  Rooms like this aren't too hard to take.

The whole thing, not just the bedroom, is ours.  Joanne & Dan's is the same.  We had dinner here tonight as we are all whipped from our early rise.

Sorry this is so late getting out.  And I don't know when I'm going to get today's done because the internet connection is verrrryyyyy ssssllllooooowwwww.

Last Day in Malacca and Malaysia

This morning we took it easy.  We arose, had breakfast on the club floor and I took some pictures while Gerard and Dan went to print our boarding passes for our flights tomorrow.

These are from our hotel balconies (yes 2 of them).

A school right next to our hotel.

And our pool.

We then went off to find the river boat cruise.  It's a 40-minute cruise on the Melaka River from near the mouth of the river upstream.  After being told to go to the wrong side of the river at the tourist information centre, we finally found where to go.  We had a little time to kill before the cruise was to leave.  We went by this water wheel.

Gerard and I went to the Portuguese ship replica while Joanne & Dan went to the customs museum.

So we set off on the river cruise.

 

Many of the buildings along the way were vividly painted.

Some interesting sights along the way.

I have to say, some parts were nice, but as in Kuala Lumpur, they sure could do some work to clean up the area, starting with the river itself.  It does not smell very good, and in parts it's almost unbearable as it stinks of sewage.  It's really too bad.

Here we are after the ride with the boat in the background.

We then went looking for a place to have a beer and some lunch.  Not here.  Besides, it was right beside the stinky river.

Not here.

Not here.  They had food in one spot here, but no beer.

And not here.

But further up Jonker Street we found a place.

We visited another heritage house, then went back to our hotel and relaxed in the pool until it was time to have some food before leaving for KL Int'l Airport, about 2 hours away.  We're staying at a hotel near the airport tonight before our flight tomorrow morning to Bali.

It's hard to believe we're nearing the last stage of our trip, but we're also excited about heading to Bali.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere are Signs

This morning we got up bright and early and headed off to Melaka, which was about a 2-hour ride away.  We had a van driver take us there and when we got to Melaka, he showed us various sites.

The first thing we did was stop at a local restaurant for some coffee or tea.  This was a sign at the restaurant I thought amusing.

Then Shawn, our driver, took us to the Portuguese settlement.  Melaka is on the Melaka Strait, being a body of water between Thailand/Malaysia and Sumatra/Indonesia.  The trade ships from the 16th century to the early 20th century ran through here and as a result, Melaka was a major trading port.  It was conquered by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then the British, not to mention occupation by Indonesians, Chinese and Japanese.  Oh, and the Malays live here too!  So it's a real mix of cultures.

Here we are at the shore.  Across that water is the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

We went to the only fort remaining, built by the Portuguese.  Fort Famosa.

St. Francis Xavier was a missionary here.  He died in China in 1552 and his body was brought to this place where it lay in an open grave for 9 months until they could ship it to Goa, India, where he did most of his missionary work.

The body lay here.  They had to cover it with a cage fine enough to stop coins from being thrown in.

When the Dutch took over, they built Christchurch down in the town.

Then there's a fountain to Queen Victoria just outside the church.

And there's a Dutch windmill right near it.

We stopped at a bridge over the Melaka River and saw something in the water.  At first we thought it was a type of alligator, then noticed it had a forked tongue!  It's an iguana - I had no idea they got that big.  They hang out in this area because of all the restaurants nearby.  Hmmm.

We then went to a museum of a famous Chinese family who lived in the area.  Lots of interesting artifacts and the house is quite intact.  Then we were off to lunch at Nancy's Kitchen.

The food was very good.  And the restaurant had all these signs which we found humorous.

As if someone is going to do this deliberately.

The window is interior and doesn't open to the outside.

Good job it's a secure connection.

This is too high for anyone to touch!

And this was at the door of a mosque property.

So Shawn, our guide, led us in.

We also went into a Chinese temple.

After dinner, we went for a Trishaw ride around the town for half an hour.  Quite fun.  Man, those guys work.  Fortunately, there are no hills in the old port town.

Until tomorrow.

City of Lights

Today we split up again.  Dan & Joanne went to a shopping mall, and actually took in a movie.  Gerard and I thought we would go see what the Perdana Botanical Gardens were like.

We took our time getting going, but then set off before 11 am.  We took the monorail to the Central station.  Then we got kinda lost.  It took us quite a while to find the National Museum, which is more or less at the entrance to the gardens.  So we thought we would take in what the museum had to offer.

It was set up in 4 parts, prehistoric, Malay kingdoms, colonial, and modern.














We spent about an hour there and determined it was too late to visit the gardens, as we were to meet with Dan & Joanne at the cultural show at the Tourist Information area in KL, and we hadn't had any lunch yet.  So we went there and had lunch at the restaurant on the grounds.  Very nice.

The show was interesting, a video by Tourism Malaysia which looks like most other tourism advertisements, then the cultural dancers came out.  The dances were quite good.  They were varied and very colourful.

It was time to head back to our hotel to enjoy the pool after the heat and humidity.  Have I mentioned how hot it has been here?  It's been around 32C every day and quite a lot of humidity, feeling like 45C. I hesitate to say this, but it hasn't rained at all on our trip, at least not to interfere with anything we've done.  A couple of downpours while we've been in a car, and at night, and a bit of rain a couple of  evenings when we were out eating or having a drink.  But that's it!

On the way back to our hotel, we walked past this sign.  I just had to get a picture.

And then notice what's in front of the sign all along the sidewalk.  Enforcement could be a problem?

Here's the pool where we hung out for a bit.

We had dinner and drinks at our hotel, the free place, before we headed out to the KL Tower for views of the city.  This is a view of the tower itself between other buildings.

 While up the tower, we had great views of the city and there were a lot of lights, but it was difficult to get decent pictures because of the slant of the glass, and it was night time, with no tripod.  The view of the Petronas Towers from the KL Tower was not so great.  Too much of an angle, so you couldn't see both parts.  So none of them are here.

But here's one last one of the Petronas Towers from the roof of our hotel.  Best I could do.

They are quite impressive.

Tomorrow morning we are off early to Malacca (Malaka) about 2 hours south of KL.  It's on the Malaysian shore, facing the island of Sumatra which is in Indonesia.