Malaysia and Singapore

We leave Asia tomorrow, after being here for 3 months! I'm quite excited about being somewhere as hi tech as an air port. And about moving on. I'm not bored of Asia, and in a way I wish we had longer to do more, as I would love to go to the jungle and beaches of Malaysia as people we've met have said it's amazing and really unspoiled. But I think I'm still a bit restless from Thailand where I did get a bit bored, so I'm looking forward to Australia where because we're driving ourselves around, we're much more in control of what we do each day.
Soo... last time I wrote we were in Ao Nang and had just had our tatoos done. They still look cool. Then we went out to find dinner and went to this place called Bernies where they do huuuuge all you can eat barbeque buffets for a fiver! It was so delicious, they had mash which I haven't had since I left in February, and garlic bread, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, sausages, kebabs...oh all sorts. We stuffed ourselves. And then there was all you can eat ice cream!! Not that crappy soft scoop stuff but really posh lime, chocolate, strawberry and coffee sorbets. ah it was amazing. We went back to the room and couldn't move for several hours and felt quite ill after all of that.
Next morning we got up early and were picked up and taken, via various minivans, to Malaysia. At times we weren't too sure where we were heading but in the end they took us all the way to Penang and dropped us in Chinatown in Georgetown which was pretty good. Went and checked into the Blue Diamond Hotel which is lovely. It's a big old colonial villa, all the rooms are massive with 5m high ceilings and old fashioned light switches. Mike found it a bit creepy. We stayed in an open dorm there where we each had a double bed for about 1 pound ninety a night. bargain. There's also a really nice Mexican restaurant downstairs where we ate the first night. And one of the men who own it is awsome, he calls himself 'Mr Postman' and he was really helpful whenever we had daft questions or couldn't find things.
First day in Georgetown wasn't a huge success, we tried to go to Fort Cornwallis and the Art Museum but both are closed on Sundays so we just got very hot and sweaty. Ended up going to an internet cafe for about 6 hours so I could back up all of my photos. We did get to walk through Little India though and had a curry and roti for breakfast and some crazy Indian cakey sweet things. India is definately next on my list of places to go to. Particularly after all the Indian food in Malaysia.
That evening we wondered around all of the food stalls in Chinatown and ate loads of lovely things. The best was a piece of deep fried pasty stuffed with mince meat for 20p. Oh and the apple smoothie.
Next day we got up early an actually went to Fort Cornwallis. It was quite cool, but growing up in Kent I have been to so many castles in my childhood, and this one just looked a bit like them. It started to drizzle and I could have been in Rochester or Deal. Still it was nice to do something a bit cultural. We caught a trishaw to take us to a shopping mall and then the drizzle turned into some of the heaviest rain I have seen. We got soaked through. The driver put the hood up and gave us a little blanket. I had to put my sunglasses on to avoid the splashes and had the blanket pulled right up to my chin.
Got to the shopping mall and went in and that was when I really fell in love with Malaysia, it is so so so cheap!! They had really nice shoes on sale for 10RM which is about 1 pound 90! and T shirts for the same price! I actually spent a quite scary amount of money, but for 75 pounds I got: 4 T shirts, a beautiful dress, both series of Gossip Girl (series are cheaper here than Vietnam!) and AND a pair of Levis skinny jeans. bargain.
Left feeling quite horrified at how much my budget had been blown but so in love with my new clothes I wasn't too upset. I'm sure I'll make it all up somewhere. Shopping in Malaysia is great, not just because the shops are so cheap but because they actually sell really nice things. There weren't many chain stores in the shopping centre we went to, just loads of little clothes stores. And they all sold different stock (which was lovely after Thailand where every shop is selling the same Chang beer vest) and all of it was really quirky and cool. The designs of the t shirts were just really different, they were the sort of thing you'd expect to see in Spitalfields market in London for about 30 quid. and we got them for 2 pounds!
The next morning we wondered down to the bus station and caught our bus to Singapore. Oh, another brilliant thing about Malaysia, it has massive comfy seats on its coaches. I wish Vietnam would buy some for their sleeper buses. There are only 3 seats on each row and they are like arm chairs, with so much leg room. It's a shame we've been on 2 of these and are now about to catch an economy flight to Australia, I think we've been spoiled a bit.
So we got into Singapore yesterday afternoon and checked into Sleepy Sams which Lonely Planet bums on about quite a lot. deservedly though, it is probably the nicest place we have stayed on the whole trip. It's decorated like a really posh hotel, and is so clean with free internet, tv and comfy chairs, lovely breakfast, shower gels, moisturisers toothpaste etc. Just really nice. It's costig us a fortune though, 14 pounds a night! We got a rubbish exchange rate at an ATM so everything is costing us quite a lot here. Checked in yesterday and then went to a Morroccan restaurant opposite for a really delicious dinner. I will definately miss the food when we get home, we have eaten so well since we've been travelling.
Mike had found in LP that if we went to the Asian Civilisations Museum on a Friday night then we could get in for free. So we set off down to there, perving over how clean and lovely everything in Singapore looked. It seems to be abit like Hong Kong, but Hong Kong is much busier and intense, it's filled with sky scrapers and neon lights, and just feels like there's loads going on. Singapore is a bit like that but much more laid back. And it feels a lot more open, there's a lot more space and it's just a bit more chilled. Got down to the river and there was a river festival going on, with loads of tents selling clothes and bands and a bar. So we got a bit excited as this looked so lovely. Went and queued to get into the museum and got given a free mojito! So we went and had that sitting on a picnic blanket (free) on the grass next to the river while listening to a jazz band (free). Then a river parade started with lots of little boats playing music covered in lights. The museum was really good, lots of lovely fabrics and things on art and calligraphy which I liked. After we'd been round and spent a bit longer watching the band and everyone dancing we got ready to go. But as we were walking away we found another tent where a local band playing really good music were playing. So we stayed there for another half hour listening to them (for free) and falling in love with Singapore. Slept really well in our expensive beds.
This morning we had our lovely free breakfast and then walked down to the Esplenade Theatre and had a look around there. There was a cool art exhibiton in it with big suspended cushions and a lovely library where we sat and read movie scripts and felt very liberal and cultured. Then went to a shopping centre with the worlds largest fountain in. It was pretty cool but not as big as I would have expected.
Had lunch and then went to the Singapore Art Museum which is so nice. Really made me look forward to going to uni and getting back into art, I'm getting so restless to start making things. There was a show called 'Threads' which had lots of pieces made from fabric which I liked, although I think maybe I should be doing fashion or textiles...
so that's it up to now. We've got most of tomorrow here, and then catch our plane to Oz at 9.30pm. Is it a bit sad that I'm so excited about getting on a plane?