Our last port of the Beyond Ceylon cruise - Singapore

I've finally got round to updating this.  Well I had to.  We are starting our Amazon Cruise in two days.

We had no expectations or plans for Singapore.  I hadn't done any research and we had no idea of what to expect.  After an afternoon and a morning there, we should have perhaps found out a bit more about the place before arriving, but we had a good time anyway.

The ship docked at the Harbour Front Cruise terminal, from where we could see Sentosa Island, which is basically a resort, full of rides, touristy shops, apartments and such, a bit like Disneyland I suppose. And on the other side of the ship was Singapore, full of modern design and high rise buildings.  Not really our thing, although we do appreciate good architecture.

Singapore is well planned, clean and maintained.  Really nice, for a city.

Looking at the local map, we decided to do what we usually do and go for a walk.  Mount Faber Park was just across the road from the Cruise Terminal, so that's where we headed.

The clue is in the name I suppose.  Mount Faber is a hill, it was hot.  Very very hot, probably the hottest place we've visited on this cruise - I checked, the temperature was easily 35 degrees plus.
On such a hot day, walking uphill was hard work.  But the views and the sights made up for it.

Mount Faber Station, near the top, is actually a cable car terminal.  These little cabs run across to the Sentosa Resort.  Right over the top of our ships in the cruise terminal

The view from the top of Mount Faber.  Well worth the trip up.  Most people came up by car or bus, because there is a road up to this point. 

My arty shot.  It was Peter who sort of showed me how this could be extracted from the original photograph.  

 A jewel bug seen during our walk back down to the ship. 

 We really enjoyed this little trek out, especially the noises in the woodland as we made our way up.  It was almost as if we were in the jungle.  Awesome.

Once it was dark it rained.  Really, really, really heavily and sadly, we didn't manage to get any pictures of the cityscape by night.  We stayed on board ship in the dry.

Next morning, because we didn't know of any better things to do, we took a wander over to the Sentosa resort.  The "boardwalk" across is quite an experience, as it includes moving walkways, and the resort itself managed to keep us entertained for a short while.  But it is what it is.  Excellent fun when you're with a family no doubt.

Peter showing off his new watch.  And no.  We didn't buy it from here. 

The symbol of Singapore - the MerLion

The monorails were all funky colours, and just looked awesome running back and forth. 

A highlight for me was this bird

Tanimbar Corella or Goffins' Cockatoo.  It is "near threatened" in its home region of the Tanimbar Islands.  They make good pets though. From what I've read, there are thriving populations of escaped Goffin's Cockatoos outside of it's home territory.

And then it was back to the ship, for a quick shower, a late lunch and a lot of waiting.  We waited until we were called for our bus to the airport.  Then we waited at the airport until it was time to board the plane.  Then we sat on the plane and tried to sleep during the 12 and half hours it took to fly back.  (Actually, we did quite well, we got about 4 hours each).  Finally we were back in Heathrow, waiting for our luggage to appear on the carousel. 

So that was our first trip out to the East.  We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would happily recommend it, India and the flight included. I'm hoping that won't be our last visit that way.  

We've got four weeks now before we are off again.  Peter is booked to go to the Amazon with Cruise and Maritime.  We've done that cruise several times before, which means that we know what to expect.  It's a favourite, and we are really looking forward to it.  Just Awesome! 

Port Kelang and Kuala Lumpar - Malaysia

OK, so this post is a bit late and I've decided that because I'm at home and have plenty of wi-fi, I can provide more photos.  So herewith:

Well, we got a bit of a surprise yesterday afternoon.  After being told by the Shorex team that they didn't need any escorts, we got the paperwork for the "Glorious Kuala Lumpar" tour, an all day excursion which included a buffet lunch.  We had to be on the dock at about 8.15am.

It was an hour long bus ride into Kuala Lumpur, and our guide was brilliant.  She told us all sorts of stuff. I particularly liked what she told us about the Long Tailed Macaque feeding habits.  Apparently, they feed in the Mangrove Swamps when the tide is out on the shrimps that are left behind in the mud.  They also like crabs it seems, which they sort of  fish for, by sticking their tails into the crabs mud holes and sort of moving it around until the crab grabs hold. They pull the crab up and then smash it up with a rock.  Cool eh?  Although I'm not sure it's entirely true.

So our tour today included the war memorial

Felix de Weldon designed this monument.  The face of the topmost soldier was based on a previous president, but the rest of the soldiers don't look very Malaysian.

A panoramic view from the monument.  I'm not really a fan of cities, but it does look cool like this. 

Then we went to The Bird park...... to visit a butterfly farm.

The butterflies were plentiful and beautiful

And unusual too, this one a perfect imitation of a dead leaf

They had an insect display too, with loads of glorious creepy crawlies.  This is a giant weevil.  And it was giant. 

We were shown the unusual National Mosque and the Old Railway Station before we went on to Independance Square which is basically a big green surrounded by colonial buildings.  My favourite is know as the Grand Old Lady.

We were then taken to a restaurant for an absolutely awesome buffet lunch accompanied by a group of Singapore musicians who even played Jingle Bells to us, much to the delight of all the many passengers that had all arrived from the various tours.

After lunch we visited the KL Tower, which, at 421m used to be the tallest building in Kuala Lumpar.  Lifts take the public up to a viewing platform where you can see right across the city.

We could see across to the National Mosque, with it's unusual blue, umbrella shaped roof

and into the swimming pools at the top of the high rise hotels and apartment blocks.

We also got to see the Petronus Towers.  Twin towers which are now the tallest buildings in Kuala Lumpar

The last stops on the tour were for photo's of the Petronus Towers.

The towers are a bit of a feat of engineering.  Each tower was built by a different company, one Japanese and one South Korean.  They raced each other to be the first to place the spire at the top of the building, and the Koreans won. 

The Skybridge sits on ball bearings and can move up to one and half metres in either direction to accommodate the movement of the buildings.

The top of the spires reaches 452 metres, and these towers were the tallest building in the world from 1998 until 2004. So that was our tour in Kuala Lumpur.  I should mention that there was a bit of commotion amongst the escorts and guides during the day, as one of the passengers on a different tour had gone missing somewhere around the Petronus Towers.  Fortunately, he'd got back to the ship before us, having both blacked out and been mugged. he'd managed to get back by taxi.

So we were all back on the ship around 6pm, which was convenient, because we were all supposed to be back by 6.30 so that the ship could sail at 7pm.....  Except that at 6.30, a call came over the tannoy system for Mrs X from cabin 4--3 and Mrs Y from 4--2 to make themselves known to reception.  This often happens, as sometimes people are a couple of minutes late.  About 10 mins later, the call was repeated.  "Aye aye," we thought, "someone's going to be embarrased."

10 mins later the announcement came over the system for a third time, and we began to wonder if someone was going to end up being left behind.  I looked over the side of the ship, there was one member of the crew stood by the gangway stairs waiting, and no one else on the dock.

At 2 minutes to 7pm, a taxi came hurtling down the quay like something out of the movies.  It screeched to an (almost) handbrake turn to stop just in front of the gangway, and two women got out. Oh the drama.

Tomorrow we are in Singapore.  I have no idea what to expect, but I'm sure it's gonna be cool.  

Georgetown, Penang Island, Malaysia

I forgot yesterday to tell the story of people training.  And I suspect that this sort of training can only apply to people that can afford holidays like a cruise, because I doubt that people with less money (and perhaps food), could be so easily manipulated.

I usually notice birds and the sounds that they are making before most people, because I am particularly interested.  Therefore, at breakfast yesterday, I was probably one of the first to realise that there was a crow perched on one of the posts near the veranda (which is part of the restaurant) at the rear of the ship.  The crow was cawing repeatedly, and I said to Peter "It is going to keep cawing until someone notices and feeds it."

Sure enough, after about 10 seconds most of the passengers had realised the crow was making a right racket, and after just a few seconds more, one of the passengers said. "It wants food".  A few seconds more, and a piece of toast had been broken up and placed along the bannister for the crow to help itself to.  It's obviously behaviour that the crow has learnt, and which works on open restaurants on cruise ships rather than cafes and restaurants on land.

Tell me again how it is that humans are the most intelligent animals on the planet?

Anyway, back to today and Georgetown.  No tours today, so it'll be another walk abroad then, in the exhaustingly humid heat of Malaysia.  Not that we mind, we quite enjoy exploring.  Sometimes we don't find much of interest, and sometimes it turns into quite an adventure.  Today turned out to be a little bit of both to be honest, mostly because it took a little while to get to the interesting parts of the city.  That would be my fault, because I had automatically chosen a route that would take us along the coastline for a bit.  It wasn't until we turned and walked back towards the ship through the hustle and bustle that things became interesting.

City Hall buildings

I loved this little tree that we found in a park as we walked along the shoreline

Georgetown is like all cities, full of noise and people.  But it also a UNESCO World Heritage site, made up of a mixture of cultures and building styles, which made for a colourful walk. There is a quarter called Chinatown, and another section called Little India, and a vast amount of old colonial buildings.

Interesting.  But I'm not entirely sure these are hotels that I would book.  

Chinatown

We crossed the road here.  With a certain amount of nervousness I might add. 

My favourite street had to be the one where we found both the Hindu Temple and the Chinese Temple almost next door to each other.  Sadly the Hindu Temple was closed, but the Chinese one also turned out to be a free museum type building. i.e. it was not in use as a religious establishment and we were welcome to go in and have a look.  I loved it.  I loved the sculptures and designs decorating the building.  There's always been something a little mystical and romantic about Chinese dragons and Chinese legends, and this building was full of them.

Peter taking a break inside the Chinese Temple

Another Chinese Temple on the same street.  This one is in uses. The incense burners outside were potent, and inside, the first courtyard was almost like the local store, full of incense sticks and offerings that could be bought for use further inside.

By now, the heat and humidity was beginning to take it's toll.  (No, we still haven't used to it), and we turned to make our way back to the ship.  I think, if we had been somewhere cooler, we may have spent a lot more time wandering and soaking up the atmosphere.  Today we had just about enough energy to make our way back to the ship and find our way back up to the veranda for several cups of tea.  This turned out to be the right move as it happens, because just as we settle down, the heavens opened and we looked out onto a curtain of water falling from the sky. I've only seen rain this heavy once in Britain, but it seems to happen every day in this part of the world.  So now we were sitting on a couple of the only dry seats at the back of the ship feeling well pleased with ourselves cos we'd managed to get in before the rain started.

Tomorrow we'll be docking into Port Kelang, which is the port for Kuala Lumpur.  KL (as it's known), is a good hour away from the port, but we've not got any tours booked so we'll probably just stay local and have an easy day. Let's see what Port Kelang has to offer us.

Friday 2nd December, Langkawi, Malaysia

So today started wet.  That is, by the time we finished breakfast and went out on deck, it was raining, and it kept raining on and off throughout the morning.  We are on tour this afternoon, Peter is escorting and I'm a puckerjen ticket holder of the Mangrove Swamp and Batcave tour this afternoon. This morning I've spent my time up on the top deck enjoying the fantastic scenery and watching for the eagles that regularly soar over our heads and around the ship. 

There were two different types of eagles, the Langwaki Eagle, otherwise known as a brahminy kite  and brown and white in colour and white bellied sea eagles, which are bigger, and grey and white.  Try as I might, I couldn't get a decent photograph of either, but I did see a load of dolphins which cheered me up and managed to get a few pictures of some pacific reef herons - which can be either a "light morph" (entirely white plumage), or a "dark morph", which are charcoal grey.  There were three of the dark morph near our ship.

The rain had stopped by lunchtime, after which it was all aboard the bus for our tour. We drove through the surrounding paddy fields whilst the guide told us loads of useful information, such as the the fact that that Malaysia is 80% Muslim, something I didn't realise.  Their mosques are not as tall as the ones we've seen in Turkey and elsewhere, and I didn't see any minarets.

From the bus we were loaded onto speedy river boats and taken up river to watch the eagles feeding, and I managed to get pictures of both the Langwaki Eagle and the Sea Eagle.  I loved this bit. We also got to see Long Tailed Macaque (I think that's how you spell it) monkeys in the mangroves alongside the river and around the cave, but we didn't see any other wildlife, which was slightly disappointing. 

Amazing scenery alongside the river

Langkawi Eagle  - or brahminy kite

White bellied sea eagle

Our next stop was the fish farm.  A young Thai boy with loads of enthusiasm showed us some of the fish held in the farms.  He got people to get down on the deck and feel the skin of the manta rays as well as allow the horse shoe crabs to "comb" their hair.  Despite the fact that the fish pens seemed a little small for us animal welfare minded westerners to feel completely comfortable, it was an interesting and enjoyable half hour or so.

Laced or Honeycomb Moray Eel. 

Next we were taken to the batcave.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any usuable photographs (because it dark), but I think Peter might have managed to.  I can tell you that the cave is quite awesome in its own right.  The stalagmite/stalagtite rock formations were amazing and the bats just added to it.  We were through it all too quickly.  A tip for any future visitors.... the small cave didn't have any bats in and wasn't all that interesting.  If I was to do the tour again, I'd return to the entrance via the main cave and see the bats and cave formations for a second time. 

Long tailed Macaque monkey.

The tour took over 5 hours, and we didn't get back to the ship until 7.15pm, so we quickly cleaned up to get into dinner.  The show of the evening was Call My Bluff.  We thought that the contestants may include the Captain and the Hotel Director, as it had done with hysterically funny effect when we on this ship in March, but not so this time. Not that it made a jot of difference. It was another very funny evening, which we thoroughly enjoyed. 

Tomorrow we are in Penang.   No tours, so who knows where we'll end up...... it should be good though.

Thursday 1st December, Phuket, Thailand

No tours today, so we get to go for a wander.  I have only heard good things about Phuket, so now was the time to go and find out.

As usual, it was another hot and humid day as we disembarked the ship and made our way across the port.

With very little aim or intention we just walked.

Waste ground Thai style

These birds are everywhere in Thailand, easily as common as starlings or sparrows in England.  Turns out they are common mynah birds, and related to starlings.

We made our way through what we assumed were the suburbs of Phuket heading away from the main town, and then, at a convenient point (and with the help of maps.me) turned right towards a cove we could see on the map.

It was tiny and idyllic and we decided to sit and enjoy a cold drink at a beach bar.  The barmaid was very apologetic - she couldn't get a decent exchange rate for dollars and therefore we would be paying over the odds for our drinks.  When we asked how much a bottle of sprite was and she answered "One dollar", we didn't feel like we were being ripped off.

A flip flop tree.  We've not seen one before.

So we sat in the bar and watched the relaxed traffic of the Phuket fishermen.  One we'd finished our drinks, it was a walk along the very short beach, where we met a guy employed to clear the rubbish. He was freindly and chatty, explaining that he would clear the rubbish, but there were too many leaves for him to cope with, therefore someone else would follow behind him to take care of that.  Bearing in mind the filth and litter we'd seen in India, this was a delightful change.

On the other side of the cove, we had a stab at following the rocky coastline around the little bit of headland (called Cape Khao Khat) into the next bay. With the tide full, we couldn't get around and the rain didn't help either.  It wasn't too bad to start with, but after a few minutes it became a monsoon torrent.  We stood sheltered under trees, but still managed to get absolutely soaked. At least it cooled us down a tad.

These wasps were vicious looking and fascinating.  We watched the grubs wiggle under the care of the cruel looking adults. Turns out they are hornets - Vespa affinis or lesser banded hornets.

We bumped into a couple of Australians on the way back.  They told us that if we'd headed towards Cape Panwa, that's very nice too.  Something to remember if we come this way again.

After lunch we popped down to the souveneir stands to buy a few gifts for family and a t-shirt for Peter.  He managed to find one without elephants on it for a mere $6, so that'll help keep him dressed until we get home.

Tomorrow we'll be in Langkawi, Malaysia. I've always hoped I might see one of the mantis's that this area is known for.  Fingers crossed.