Malaysia

That was tough!  I mean, we weren’t anticipating a gentle stroll, but the track up into the hills above Tanah Rata proved to be a steep, ragged, slippery, root-strewn struggle that didn’t let up for the better part of an hour, before easing into a more or less level ragged, slippery, root-strewn struggle. Which continued […]

Up at the crack for our 8 o’ clock pickup, joining a Land Rover full of young backpackers for the ride up to the highest of the highlands, to visit the second largest plantation of Malaysia’s largest tea company, now kingdom of the third generation of the Scottish family who established it between the wars.

Jonker Walk was interesting but nothing special when we visited on Thursday evening, but on Friday night, as advertised, it really sprang to life. Crowded with tourists and locals, the street was lined with stalls selling everything from head massagers to handbags, the majority featuring foods of every description, many poetically mysterious: hand punch lemon

An hour or so to kill in Kuala Lumpur Central Bus Station, as we wait for our bus to the Cameron Highlands, seems as good a time as any for a few thoughts after a week and change in Malaysia. Caveated by the fact that we’ve really only seen two cities – hardly representative of

Started the day by returning to The Saturday Ice Cafe, where we had a delicious breakfast yesterday, after negotiating with the lovely smiley old woman who at first refused our order for two bowls – “You try first! You might not like!” (we did) – and this morning greeted our repeat order with “Why you

I was getting baffled: is it an a or an e? Google of course knows the answer: the more familiar Malacca dates back to colonial times; nowadays, Melaka is the more acceptable form. Though everyone still pronounces it Malacca. Clear? Splendid! Clearer anyway than the tourist map with which we attempted a walking tour of

“Excuse me, do you know how we get to the bird park?” “We have a bird park?” It was that kind of day.  Excellent start, when we visited what’s become our go to street for street food, for what turned out to be an excellent breakfast of fried flatbread and some other crispy pancake-type affair,

…it really is the most astonishing building. Approached at ground level, Petronas Towers are enormous. If it were three or four stories it would be a huge building, with a footprint the size of a football pitch. But then you look up. YeGods! It just doesn’t stop. You get vertigo looking up. And up. And

A day dominated by jet-lag, in truth. Though we did make it up the KL Tower, with amazing views over this weird, futuristic landscape, and paid a visit to Chinatown and its market – slightly underwhelming, with stall after stall all selling the same tat, none of it at all interesting or remarkable. If you

Coming into Kuala Lumpur from the airport feels like travelling into the future. Every building is vast, super-high, and about a week and a half old. None of the frenzy of Vietnamese cities – hardly a beep, much less the sheer anarchy of, say, Saigon. It all feels very calm, very organised. And, it has