Singapore and Malaysia

Helloie everybody~

Long time, no blog, eh?! Sorry about that. As you can imagine, things are crazy here right now. A week after our vacation Aunt Sharon arrived and is still here. She is currently spending 3 days in Jeju! We leave Korea in 3 weeks time and it feels surreal. Seriously. We have so much to do... and I shouldn't be tackling it instead of blogging right now! So, I am going to just add to the email I sent out.

We went to Singapore and Malaysia. It was an amazing trip. I have been wanting to go to Malaysia since I started learning about it via Lonely Planet in September. I am so happy it ended up working out!

We had to make sure the trip was well-planned out, so we were constantly making the most of our time. We stopped in Singapore first and stayed with Mallory Gibson's family for 2 days and night. It was great to see them and how they live in Singapore. I look at Singapore as a "Stepford- country." It is perfectly manicured and the buildings are all beautiful, new and colourful. It is just like nowhere else I have ever been. The laws are really strict there and they do "hangings" every Friday. I couldn't believe it when Mal's cousin Scott told me that.

Mal's aunt Anne took us to places we may have never tried and made some awesome suggestions for our sightseeing. Singapore is definitely a cool place. It is like no place I have ever been. Anne took us to Raffles which is a beautiful hotel with a lot of history attached to it and we had Singapore Slings at the bar that created them! The next day we went on a river taxi through the beautiful Quays and to the Asian Civilization Museum. The museum was hosting very cool Buddhist exhibit. We also went to the "Battlebox." The Battlebox is where some of the Aussie and British soldiers were stationed in WWII when Japan was invading. It was really cool to learn about Singapore's involvement in WWII.



Then we hopped on the Jungle Railway up to Malaysia and made our way to the worlds oldest jungle. It is more of a trek to get to the jungle then one may believe. You arrive in a small town and then take a bus to the dock, and THEN take a 2.5 hour boat ride on a small wooden boat to the jungle. WOW. It was pretty amazing. And it wasn't commercialized which was even cooler. All the little floating restaurants were owned by Muslim families. It was great.

We slept in a 'hide' in the jungle the first night and also climbed the Canopy Walkway (the longest canopy walk in the world). The hide was really cool and there were about 12 other people sleeping in there with us... all waiting up and staring into the jungle, hoping to chance a glimpse of an animal! It was really neat to be way up high and listening to the jungle noises all night.

The next morning, we hiked back 11km in the Malay heat and booked a hostel on the outskirts of the jungle. We actually heard some pretty crazy noises at a few points during our walk and we found elephant tracks and dung! We took pictures and a video as evidence--- we were in amongst these incredible animals! People had warned us not to do the hike by ourselves. People said the trails weren't well-marked and we could end up getting seriously lost in the jungle. I guess Ian and I are 'jungle-trekker-extraordinaires' because we didn't have a hard time at all! Haha.

We met some really cool British guys that were heading to the same island that we were heading to next. We booked a night safari for that night too. The night safari took us through the wetlands and was really cool because we were sitting in the back of a 4x4 the whole time as our guide sat on the roof, pointing out animals with his extremely intense flashlight. Our guide could see ANYTHING in the dark... it was amazing. He pointed out animals that were hiding behind bushes and trees while in a moving vehicle. We saw boar, snakes, a leopard cat and more. I wouldn't have been able to spot them in the daylight! Remind me to tell you more about it in person when I see you!

From the jungle we hopped on the Jungle Railway again, up to Kota Baharu. We stayed there the night and then took the morning jetty over to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, according to a bunch of lists we found! Perhentian Kecil Island is absolutely beautiful! It is not commercialized at all and all of the people we met there were super cool and chill. Tons of divers and snorkelers head to the Perentian Islands because there are so many places to dive.We laid out the first day and on the second day we went on a day-long snorkeling trip. Oh my gosh--- I got so burnt the first day, thank GOODNESS we were snorkeling on the day-long trip on Day 2.

We went to 6 different locations and met a bunch of American teachers who are teaching English in Malaysia! We learned so much about the Malay culture and it was so interesting to talk to people who are teaching in a country as culturally different as Malaysia. The teachers have to act totally different and when asked certain questions, they must lie. For example, "Have you ever drank a beer?" Their answer would have to be "No." Drinking isn't 'the thing to do' in Malaysia. Apparently there are areas that aren't as strict as others, and it was so interesting to hear about it!

We swam with sharks at Shark point. I didn't see the sharks though, and apparently they were right by us, but we missed them! At one point, I thought I saw one, and motioned to Ian to follow me because I wanted to get close to it to take a picture... but it ended up being a large silver fish. I think. Oh well! Apparently there were Barracuda's swimming by us too! We also saw giant sea turtles, tons of beautiful fish and sting rays! We got really close to a sting ray and Ian swam even closer with the underwater camera and got a good shot!

The way the island is set up is really cool. We stayed on 'Long Beach.' and you cross the island to get to 'Coral Bay.' To cross the island, you walk about 10 minutes through a small rain forest/jungle. The first time we tried to find the path, Ian saw a giant lizard/crocodile. (We aren't sure which one- we made a run for it!) On the way back from watching the beautiful sunset on Coral Bay and drinking the most delicious milkshakes, we found a wider path back to our beach through the jungle! The third day at the island was our last day and we spent it drinking smoothies, nursing our burns, lying under an umbrella on the beach, swimming in the beautiful water and eating awesome food.

We headed back and took the Jungle Railway down to Singapore. We were on the overnight train so it took 17 hours! We were in the sleeper cabins, so it was a lot better than the seats we had on the way up. Anne picked us up back at the Singapore train station and we made the most of our last day in Singapore. We went for some awesome Indian food and checked out some art shops. Anne took us to a really cool museum that taught us more about Singapore during World War Two. So, all in all, it was an amazing trip! Picture links are attached!

Picture Links:
Singapore:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2150871&l=ead89&id=187905622
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2150900&l=b2fa2&id=187905622
Malaysia:
Jungle Trekking: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151161&l=49d2e&id=187905622
Perhentian Kecil Island: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2152256&l=d9a5f&id=187905622
More Island: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2152497&l=475a5&id=187905622
More, More Island: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153566&l=3f0cd&id=187905622