Big thanks to Eddie for new blog ideas. On the bottom left now there are links to translated versions of this page. Apologies to Malay and Thai speakers I am still trying to find a site that will do it - bear with us!

I cannot stress this enough, one of the true joys of south east asia is drinks with chunks in. Bubble tea, pearl soy milk but the true king is Yeo's Green Tea with White Grape and Aloe Pieces. Its like drinking a really refreshing lake of sweet water with all the fish still in it! it has also taken the coveted "best soft drink of the trip" award. Chunks in a drink. Beautiful.

 

Greetings one and all.

 

Well check out our blog!  Argh what a few hours idled away on a computer can do eh?

 

Hope you are all rocking to our new track, if not get your speakers on dude!

Also, music related click Top Tunes of the Trip for a treat from Patrick.

 

We also put up a shortened book list of what we have liked and loved to read whilst 'On the Road'.

 

And finally look at my pictures!  As usual I sweated blood, sweat, and tears trying to get them on the blog, let's just say it involved solving The Mystery of the Pop Up Settings (and no that isn't the title of the new Harry Potter book!).

 

Yesterday we went to Batu caves where there are lots of Hindu shrines, good to see, but there were loads of monkeys around which were really cheeky (read evil) and kept looking at me ready to pounce.  I kept thinking 'should of had the rabies shots, should of had the rabies shots...'

 

Tommorrow we roll, heading to the Cameron Highlands for what is advertised as 'Olde English Charm'  - a home from home?

 

Bye for now, and enjoy,

love from Katie and Patrick.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hi there!

 

Check out our new background, of the Petronas Towers (hey I've been waiting 8 months to use that one!) we saw them today, pretty spectacular and space aged!  Central business district is very swish.  Whilst chinatown, little india, little side-streets are teaming with life and activity.  Just had a wonderful veggie chinese meal.

 

Also, check out the weather feature, good eh?  Got to give our main man Eddie a big shout for this inspiration! 

 

Yesterday we went to such a great museum, Islamic Arts Museum.  Such an eye-opener so many things of beauty under one roof.  Should have one in the UK.  Could of bought the whole shop!

 

Speaking of shopping totally brill here as we can actually afford nice things, I think all the rooms in our house will be chocked full of nicknacks, pictures, fabrics, photos - you name it!  Not very good at bartering though, but it is no big deal and hey I am improving with experience!

 

Tommorrow we will probably go to Batu Caves, home of Hindu shrines and lots of monkeys!

 

Bye bye for now, lots of love and kisses,

from Katie and Patrick  XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

 

Greetings all, sorry for the delay in blogging.

 

We have now left Singapore, it was very nice and I feel a good introduction to South East Asia.  Every day we walked past the most amazing Hindu temples, wandered through little India, and explored chinatown.

 

Singapore has a mix of old and new, but it is the new that really stands out!  We took a small river cruise from the place where Raffles first landed.  Singapore seems quite proud of its colonial history.

 

Speaking of Raffles we went to the famous hotel, and I am happy to report we partook in the legendary Singapore Slings.  Totally yummy but pretty strong, relaxing in the long bar where the floor was covered with peanut shells.  How decadent!

 

Moving on we entered Malaysia and the first stop was Melaka.  Brilliant place.  With lots of historical buildings, some of which we took a tour around.  The old Chinatown was fascinating.  You really feel like you are in a different world getting a glimpse of life that you didn't know existed.

 

The food was amazing.  We tried the famous Chicken Rice Balls, which are unbelievable, and of course satay.  We have also got the taste for soya bean milk believe it or not, totally yummy.

 

Most of our time has been spent wandering about, spending our money, it is so cheap here so it is nice to be free of a strict budget for once!  We even bought Patrick a pair of boots within the daily budget (it is his 4th pair but that is another story!)

 

Anyway, we moved on this morning to KL.  Just arrived in our hostel which is ok.  About to go and explore and try some more fabulous food.

 

Bye for now, lots of love from Katie and Patrick XXXXXXX

Got to Singapore last night, after a rather nice flight courtesy of Singapore Airlines.

 

So just to let you know where we are really!

Plus, it is raining very bad here so weather wise it is not so good, but wow rain after arid Australia, I even had a bath!

 

Speaking of Australia, we had a wonderful time with all the rellies it was really great.  After spending Christmas with the Ellisons, we have been in Sydney with Angela and John. Here we got to meet the lovely Evonne, Chris and Ryan, but missed Kathy as she is in the UK with my mum, so we have swapped over!

 

 Thanks so much, it has been great! Many many hugs and kisses.

 

Bye for now, love from Katie and Patrick - who will return as blog editor!

 

 

Well as our more regular readers may have noticed, I have gotten a little behind in my blogging but hope to make amends. Since our last report we left Darwin - possibly the hottest place on earth, to head to Alice Springs, which despite being in the middle of the desert, actually seemed fairly cool. After a brief tour by a guy from the hostel (Annie's Place) called Krusty we settled in for the night before heading off to Uluru (Ayers rock) the next.

I know it looks impressive in the pictures but I really cannot stress how much of a bloody big red rock it is. Really. Its big. But like so many of these trips the guide was a big part of the thrill. Rory was a great guy who really knew his stuff not only on the geology side of things but also aboriginal life and stories. We also checked out the Olgas and Kings Canyon on our geological wonderland, walking over the beds of ancient seas and over rocks made up from the sediment of eroded mountain ranges. Makes you feel kind of small.

 

Back in Alice we had a day to race round the things we wanted to see so we raced off the the telegraph station and hit it super lucky when we tagged on a tour led by Alec who lived at the station when it was a home for aboriginal children of mixed parentage, giving us a real account of life there and his own perspectives on the issue.

 

Also managed to stop in at the flying doctors museum and it reminded me of something we hadn't put on the blog earlier. Driving up the deserted highways of the west coast (like Mad Max but in a van with a cartoon character painted on the side) we drove over what looked like a zebra crossing and another on a few hundred metres down the road. Surrealist prank by a disgruntled road worker? No it was the Flying Doctors' emergency landing kit. Amazing people doing an amazing job. Finally on the subject, in really out of the way places they had unmanned stations with a numbered medical kit and a phone. You ring them up, tell them what's wrong and they say "put a number three bandage on it, take two number seven pills and don't babecue naked again" (or whatever.) There was a great story about a guy who was told to give his very ill wife one number nine pill. When meeting the doctor face to face a few days later he said "we were all out of nines so I gave her a four and a five and she came up right anyway.

 

Now if that's not the relaxed Aussie spirit I don't know what is.

 

Laterz.

 

Patrick and Katie.