Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We had little time to settle in too much on the ship as we had a stop in Kuala Lumpur the next day on March 14. It was a full day tour that would take us around the city to see some of the monuments. It was about an hour drive from the port into Kuala Lumpur but our guide Suzy provided some useful information along the way. We found out she spoke 7 different languages which is apparently not out of the norm as many people in the area speak several due to the many different cultures inhabiting the country. Our first stop on the tour was to the Blue Mosque. It is one of the largest mosques in the world and was quite beautiful. We did not get to go inside but did get several good pictures from across a pond that separated us from the mosque.

The next stop was to a Museum. After a quick bathroom break, which were barely more than holes in the ground, we entered the museum. The museum was broken into 4 parts. Each part outlining a different time frame in Malaysia’s history. We didn’t have a lot of time there so after a few pictures we were off again.

After that we got to see a war monument in remembrance of those who died during WWII and during Japan's invasion of Malaysia. It was getting pretty hot at that point but thankfully we were not in the sun too much and were back on the bus again.

We then got to see the Petronas Towers as well as the KL Tower. Both were really spectacular to look at and again we got some nice photos. We then drove to the main part of town where we got to see the first church the British had built along with a gentleman’s club which was over 125 years old. At this point some of the older passengers didn't want to go out in the heat but most of us got off to take pictures.

This was the last stop and it was now time to head back. Besides the heat it had been nice out all day but we got a torrential downpour during the drive back. It was a little intense as the roads got a little water logged quickly but we obviously made it back ok.

Petronas Towers

Blue Mosque

War Memorial

War Memorial

Petronas Towers

KL Tower

Singapore

We left for Singapore on March 12 a few hours earlier in the day then we had originally planned which got us to the airport at about 2pm. We didn’t have much time in Singapore to begin with so it ended up being a good choice. The flight was only a couple of hours and the cab ride was fairly short and cheap. Unfortunately our cab driver took us to the wrong hotel. I guess he didn’t hear us when we said the Claremont and instead took us to the Fairmont. He only charged us though for the first ride to the wrong hotel so it was ok. When we finally did get to our hotel we quickly wished we had stayed at the hotel he took us to first. The AC in the rooms took hours to cool the room down and they just weren’t very nice looking. Thankfully we weren’t there very long and would just make do. After getting settled in it was time to grab dinner. Instead of trying something exotic we went with the old and trusted McDonalds. After that we continued our walk to Orchard Street which was probably about 20 minutes from the hotel. This was the main shopping street in Singapore. We checked out a few stores but didn’t end up purchasing anything. There was nothing that caught our eyes and the prices in Singapore our comparable to that in Canada if not a bit pricier. We walked back to our hotel and stopped for a few supplies but that was it for our fun that day.

We had initially thought we might go to the Jurong Bird Park early the next morning but decided we just wanted to get to our ship as soon as possible. After a lacklustre breakfast we grabbed a cab and were on our way. Thankfully the lines were small and it didn’t take very long to check in. From our initial sample of fellow passengers it was quite apparent we were going to be among the youngest. After checking in we had to take a 45 minute shuttle to where the cruise ship actually was. It gave us a bit more of a chance to see Singapore and overall it seemed like a nice place. In fact if you did not know you were in Singapore you probably wouldn’t be able to tell you weren’t in a coastal city or town in North America. We finally got on the ship and after dropping off a few things in our room quickly made our way to the buffet for lunch. After eating more then we should have we went back to our room to settle in. We unpacked and mostly vegged until it was time for dinner. After getting to see more of our fellow cruisers our initial assumptions were correct. Except for the odd child aboard we were the 2 youngest on the cruise.

Singapore has one of the biggest ports in the world

Ubud, Bali

On Wednesday March 9, 2011 we left Phuket very early in the morning for Ubud, Bali. We had both been really looking forward to going to Bali, it seemed like a really nice place and there was a lot to do around our resort.  When we got there and walked through the airport outside all you could smell was incense. We found our driver waiting for us and we left Denpasar City for Ubud which is about an hour drive. Along the way we saw a lot of statues and temples and we went through a lot of the small villages around Ubud. Ubud is the art center of Bali with a lot of small villages around it. Each village is known for something for example wood carving, stone carving or metal work. The hotel we stayed in was really nice and our room looked out onto the rice paddy fields and had a view of the volcano. The first day we stayed around the hotel which had a great restaurant and tried some of the local fare. The next day we went into town and walked the main streets. Ubud has a really big market and is really popular with tourists. It is also home of Ketuk the medicine man who was written about in Eat, Pray, Love. We made our way to the end of the road to see a bunch of temples that were in a forest that was overrun with monkeys! It was a bit scary because they run everywhere and there are SO many of them. You have to be really careful because they will take anything you have...they took a girls bottle of water out of her hand and drank from it and then used the rest to wash themselves. One also jumped on Jeff but luckily he was ok...other than the monkey prints on his pants. The monkeys are not scared at all and outside the monkey forest people have to get them off the parked cars because they run across the tops and they love to follow around the people who are setting out the offerings. Offerings are made to temples, in front of stores or to statues and they are made numerous times a day-hence why you smell incense inside and outside all the time. The offerings are made of a leaf that’s folded into a square basket and in it there are flowers, a stick of incense and some kind of cracker which the monkeys love to steal. When you walk down the main street in Ubud you have to be careful not to step on the offerings because the store owners put them out in front of their stores every day. The driving was even more interesting in Bali. We started to see how many pictures we could take of things people would carry on mopeds. Some of what we saw: children, a live chicken (held by the feet in someone’s hand), a ladder over one shoulder and woman carrying eggs and vegetables. The honking continued with people honking at everything and because the streets were narrower it made it seem like the driving was even worse. Street signs and stop lights are only a suggestion and it is common for the car to be halfway through the intersection before the light turns green. The next day we went to a temple complex called Goa Gajah and had a tour of the area temples and where we were told to wash our hands with this special water in a fountain that would bring us good luck. 

View of the rice fields from our hotel room

Offering

Temple Offerings

Main Street Ubud

Monkey Forest

Vegetable Tempura

Crispy Duck for Dinner

Monkey Forest

Temple in Monkey Forest

Temple in Monkey Forest

Temple in Monkey Forest

Goa Gajah

Where we ate dinner most nights

Goa Gajah

 

 

Phuket,Thailand

We spent most of Monday March 7^th, 2011 on a flight from Tokyo to Singapore and then a connecting flight to Phuket, Thailand. We arrived late at night and were really tired and couldn’t wait to get to the hotel which was about 45 minutes away. We got our first taste of the driving which is CRAZY! First almost everyone uses mopeds or pickup trucks, I’m assuming because they are the vehicles you can fit the most people in/on. When someone wants to change lanes they pass over the middle line into oncoming traffic and pass the car that way. They honk at everything...when passing a car/moped, when changing lanes or going through traffic lights to name a few. We finally got to the resort and were greeted with a welcome drink made of the national flower. The resort was really nice and was at the southern tip of Phuket and looked out over the bay. We spent most of the next day relaxing and swimming in the pool. They had a restaurant in the resort where we had some really great dishes but unfortunately we forgot to take pics of them.

How many people can fit in a truck?

Our Hotel

View of the harbour from our hotel

Tokyo, Japan

Hello Everyone! 

It’s taken us a bit of time but we finally have our blog up and running!

 We left for our World Adventure on Friday March 4^th, 2011 with our first stop being Tokyo, Japan.  We had to stop over in Vancouver first for a few hours and then had a 9.5 hour flight to Tokyo.  We were very happy to get off the plane...it was a long flight! I think we were both expecting to have a bit of a culture shock but were very surprised at how easy it was to get around. We got our bags and figured out how to catch the airport bus into Tokyo (the airport is about an hour away from the city center).  We got a taxi from the bus terminal that took us to our hotel only to realize that it was the wrong hotel. Our hotel was one from the same chain a few minutes away. So the receptionist grabbed our bags and walked us to our hotel. I think we were both shocked that he was actually walking us there and carrying our bags as if it was no big deal. Everyone was so friendly even though there was not as much English as we thought there would be. People were very eager to help us out if we were looking for something. A lot of the signs or instructions in Tokyo will start in both English and Japanese for example it will say “Read for Instructions” but then all the instructions will be in Japanese so we needed some help sometimes! We stayed in the Ginza district of Tokyo which is right in the city center. The streets are like mazes of spaghetti with streets up really high and ones crossing under it, it’s so busy. The next day we got up early and decided to start our Adventure off with some fun...and what better place to do that then Disneyland Tokyo! We spent the morning at the park and then decided to see the sights around our area after. We went to see the Imperial Palace and its grounds which are right in the middle of downtown Tokyo. The palace is up really high on a hill to protect it from intruders and today you can only get as far as the first bridge into the inside grounds of the palace so most of it is still off limits. The Palace grounds have a lot of trees but otherwise most of the grounds are bare with stones on the ground and there are no flowers or grass. Other then walking around the Ginza district we didn’t get to see much else because of the time change we ended up falling asleep early. One thing we did notice and you may have now with all the news coverage lately is that every second person wears a face mask. Some people have plain ones but you can even get them with designs like Hello Kitty.  We left Tokyo on Monday March 7^th only to find out later in the week that the before shocks of the earthquakes had begun the day after we left. We had thought of spending more time in Tokyo and were both happy that we didn’t. Seeing how many buildings, roads and people in such a small space and thinking about past earthquakes in Tokyo (I kept thinking about Kobe) is very eye opening at how bad it could be during an earthquake. I couldn’t imagine being high up on one of the highways that winds through the city center and an earthquake hitting. 

Imperial Palace

Face Masks

First Gate to the Imperial Palace

2nd bridge to Imperial Palace

Disneyland

Fancy Japanese Toilet Control

Ginza District at night