Travels in Borneo and Sumatra, meeting orangutans and proboscis monkeys with interludes re-living the Raj in Malacca and Penang, and RnR in Bali October-December 2024 Our convoluted route round Malaysia and Indonesia. Blue is flying, red is overland and sea. Part 1, Malaysian Borneo Saba - Sandakan Sat 26 - Mon 28 Oct. We had a nice stay at the Holiday Inn Express hotel at Heathrow terminal 4, where we could walk across the walkway to the terminal for our flight to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived on time at 7:10am and had planned to have a day in KL and fly on tomorrow, but Sheila was in forge-ahead mode, so we went to the Malaysia Airlines ticket desk and switched tomorrow’s flight to today. Three hours after we touched down in KL airport we took off again on the 2½ hour flight to Sandakan at the northeast corner of Borneo island. A nice taxi driver ‘captured’ us at the airport and during the ride to our hotel he upsold us for various tours, most of which we had hoped to do anyway. We stayed at the Sabah hotel just outside town, which was very pleasant, and in the evening we had a nice drink and meal in their bar, overlooking the swimming pool with the rain-forest beyond. Tues 29th. We went on the Sandakan city tour with Mr Arshad, our very good taxi driver. We started at the war memorial, a walkway through a nice rain-forest park on the site of a former Japanese POW camp, commemorating all the Australian and other troops who had died there. We then went to a very bright and colourful Chinese Buddhist temple on the top of a hill with views down to the harbour and the town .... .... followed by the historic St Michael’s church built in 1888 which was unfortunately closed on Tuesdays, and the nearby rather more modern St Mary’s Catholic church which was open. We went down to the waterfront and explored the stilt village, full of interesting wooden houses built on wooden posts out over the sea. Sheila gate-crashed a nice lady's sitting area at the end of the jetty and we sat and looked out over the sea for a little while. We were feeling the heat by now so it was a relief to go to the English Tea House in a characterful historic bungalow in nicely-kept gardens with a view of the sea, where we had refreshing seafood chowder and shitake mushroom soup, followed by a club sandwich and salty chips, half of which came away with us in a doggy bag – John over-ordering again. We went over to the nearby historic Agnes Keith house, a museum formerly the 1930s residence of Agnes, the wife of the British Conservator of Forests for the area, only to find that it was closed for renovations until next month. However, they let us walk around the gardens and take photos of the outside of the house. We drove around the centre of Sandakan town which was rather sad because most of the hotels (including a huge Four-points Sheraton), banks and shops closed during Covid and have not re-opened. We did like the wall art though. We also liked the market, which had large, bustling fruit and veg and fish sections right beside the jetty where the fishing boats dock and unload. Just across the road was a bright, modern shopping mall and in one shop Sheila went to buy some mascara at a fraction of the cost of her normal one, and the shop assistant pointed out the special deal which meant if you bought ANY other item in the shop you got 20% off - so by buying a bottle of water for a few pence she saved about £4! It was altogether a very enjoyable tour and we returned to the Sabah hotel to cool down and relax. We had another nice evening in the hotel bar with a couple of small, expensive glasses of wine and a tasty Malay satay. Saba - Sepilok (orangutans and sunbears) and Labuk Bay (proboscis monkeys) Wed 30th. Today we had a big day out in the rain forest. Arshad picked us up at the hotel and took us for the 45-minute drive to Sepilok where we dropped our bags at the Forest Edge eco-resort. Then just down the road we went into the Sepilok Orangutan Rahabilitation Centre (30 Malay Ringgit, £6 each). where we walked through the forest first to the nursery area where several charming Orangutans swung in from the forest for the free food handout from the rangers, then played and rolled about and swung from ropes for a while until they drifted back into the forest. We went along more walkways with occasional bystanders .... ... to the main feeding platform where more food was put out and more Orangutans assembled for another meal and a bit more playing and chasing. We eventually moved on and drove 20 minutes to Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary which was wonderful (60 RM £1.20 each). First we saw a mudskipper .... .... then a group of Proboscis monkeys assembled for their free food handout (cucumber and cake is their favourite). Oops, pardon me! As soon as they had eaten their fill they were off, and were replaced by a group of silver-leaf (grey) monkeys who gobbled the leftovers then came and played about on the observation walkway among the tourists .... ... until it all got too exhausting for them. On the way back we stopped at a local restaurant for a very tasty lunch, choosing from steaming dishes full of Malay or Indian-style meals (less than 50 RM for three of us). Next stop was the Borneo Sun-bear Conservation Centre (50 RM each), next door to the Orangutan Centre, where cuddly-looking black bears (the smallest species of bear) with big fangs and very sharp claws wandered through the forest and chewed corn-on-the-cobs that the keepers threw to them. Finally we went back to the Orangutan Centre (on the same day ticket) and this time the big old alpha male was in charge in the ‘nursery’ area, helping himself to the food while the youngsters played and swung and rolled all around him. Eventually we left and went to check in at the Sepilok Forest Edge resort. We had booked a lovely cabin in the woods with views of the forest, and a Jacuzzi in the bathroom (the reason Sheila had chosen this resort). Unfortunately it soon became clear that the weak point was the plumbing - there was no hot water, the bath drain was blocked and the bath leaked all over the bathroom floor. We had a fraught couple of hours while they tried to sort it all out and finally came up with temporary solutions while we retired to the restaurant. We will see how robust they are tomorrow. The restaurant was lovely, open to the forest and the gardens and with a very good menu. Sheila had a reasonably priced bottle of Heineken beer in an ice bucket (she always was a cheap night out!) but I hit a problem with the wine. There was no wine by the glass and out of the list of bottles of red wine ranging from £40 upwards, they only had the three most expensive ones and to my chagrin I paid £105 for a bottle of Angelique de Monbousquet Semilion grand cru 2019, which lasted for two nights. It was good but rather wasted on me (but Sheila will never let me forget it) and the food was delicious - Malay bruschetta to start and red lamb curry with rice. Thurs 31st. After several busy days we gave ourselves a ‘day off’, relaxing in the Forest Edge resort. We just got to breakfast before they cleared the buffet away at 10am, then we lounged on our balcony reading and enjoying the view of the rain forest .... .... interspersed with hot baths in our air-conditioned room to cool down. Most of the bathroom problems had been sorted out and we had to live with the towels on the floor stemming the leaky bath, but every time I looked in on Sheila she was in the jacuzzi disappearing under mountains of bubbles. We started lunch with our ‘welcome drinks’ that we didn’t have time for yesterday, lounging on the balcony of the restaurant and enjoying a different view of the forest, then a light lunch before retiring back to to our room. We had another nice meal in the restaurant in the evening. Saba - Kota Kinabalu Fri 1st November. At 8am we set off with Arshad our lovely taxi driver for the 300 km journey to Kota Kinabalu (KK to the locals). The first part of the journey was flat with endless palm-oil plantations and no rain forest in sight. After a couple of hours we started going up some hills and the scenery became more jungly and interesting. Apparently there are monkeys and orangutans here but we didn’t see any. After 180km we stopped at the Sabah Tea plantation and resort, where they had interesting but very basic accommodation in traditional longhouses made of bamboo . We went to their large restaurant which was full of coach-loads of tourists but we managed to get a seat with a nice view of the plantations, where we had a very good lunch from their extensive menu. We stopped again not far away at a little farmstead where one of the biggest flowers in the world happened to grow. It is the Rafflesia and it can’t be planted or propagated, it just happens to pop up here or there, blooms for a few days and dies. We were lucky that one had just opened that day and was now 78cm across (they can grow up to a metre wide), and for only £6 each we could walk through their plantation to see it. It was spectacular but smelled awful. It was certainly rare and impressive and we were impressed. They also had vanilla plants twining up many of their trees. 20km further along we stopped at a market in Ranau, hoping for a view of Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in Borneo, but it was hiding behind some clouds. For the next half hour we drove along snaking roads around the mountain and finally got a nice view of it from the other side. As dusk fell we drove into Kota Kinabalu and were rather overwhelmed by how big and sprawling and choked with traffic it was. We finally found our way to the Holiday Inn Express just on the edge of the central district, and said a fond farewell to Arshad who had been a wonderful driver and made all our excursions with him really special. We had a drink and a lightish meal in the hotel bar/restaurant and retired exhausted. Sat 2nd. After a very good buffet breakfast at the Holiday Inn we went on a walking tour of central KK. We looked at a shopping area (partly closed because this is a holiday weekend), posted cards at the post office, and looked round the central market and fish market (in full swing, holiday or not). We walked along the waterfront as fishing boats and small island ferries came and went. The concierge in the Meridian hotel very kindly booked seats on the bus to Brunei on Monday for us, and we walked round to the bus station and changed our seats on the bus to ones with a better view at the ticket desk - Sheila likes to survey the bus first-hand and always makes sure we get good seats. After crossing some pretty tricky race-track main roads we got back to the hotel to cool down and relax a bit. As dusk approached we walked back to the waterfront to watch the sunset, then had a delicious dinner of ribeye steak and seabass at Toscani, one of the restaurants along the boardwalk by the sea. A very pleasant evening. Sun 3rd. After a lazy day we set out for a look around the busy 'night market' (although it was only 5pm) with noisy fish and veg sections where all the vendors were shouting at the tops of their voices, and a food section with all sorts of fish, crustaceans and bbq meats that they were cooking up on the spot for customers at their tables. We tore ourselves away and went back to Toscani's just down the boardwalk, for another nice sunset and delicious lobster bisque, spicy smoked duck pasta and another excellent ribeye steak. Brunei - Bandar Seri Bagawan Mon 4th. We got to the bus station at 7am for the Sipitang Express bus to Brunei. Our booking was through Easybook.com but it would have been easy to have booked it directly at KK Sentral bus station, with a ticket desk and 'platform numbers' to know which bus to get. It was well organised, the bus was comfortable and air-conditioned (not too hot, not too cold) and set off on time. The first couple of hours of the journey was, again, constant road works as they upgrade the road to dual carriageway. The rest of the journey became farcical, as we stopped at endless border posts, and collected eight passport stamps for one day's drive across two countries. Firstly we crossed from Saba to Sarawak, two states within the country of Malaysia, but each with their own border posts. The road to Brunei is relatively straight but the border is loopy and next we crossed out of Malaysia into a bit of Brunei, then out of Brunei back into Malaysia, and finally out of Malaysia again and into Brunei again, all with their own border posts and passport stamps. At 5:30 we finally arrived at Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capital of Brunei, a modern city with huge shiny mosques and freeways and overpasses. The coach team kindly took us and another couple from Canada, right into the town centre and we stayed at their recommendation, the Brunei Hotel, which was very nice and in a great location just a block from the waterfront. We had a very good dinner of Thai Tom Yum soup, crusted seabass and seabass and chips, which Sheila had been yearning for, in their bright and airy restaurant. Tues 5th. We managed to have a nice breakfast just before they cleared the buffet away at 10:30, then we went for a walk. We were heading for the Royal Regalia Museum but managed to get a bit lost until some people directed us there. It was packed with all sorts of royalty-related stuff and mementoes, from the coach that was used in the Sultan's coronation to all the expensive gifts from other heads of state from all over the world. Most impressive. Sheila retired to the hotel room for her lunch - left over mango and sticky rice from yesterday's meal - while I walked about along the waterfront opposite Kampong Ayer, the largest stilt village in the world, and then found an Indian-style café where I had a masala omelette and lemon tea - eclectic lunches but both tasty. Our evening meal was just soup and salad in the hotel restaurant , but particularly tasty soup (Tom Yom) and salad (Thai-style beef). Malaysian Borneo - Sarawak - Sibu and Kapit Weds 6th. There is very little public transport in Brunei, so at 6:30 the taxi was waiting and took us for the smooth ride on very good roads across the country, past the oilfield that finances it all, and across the border back into Malaysian Sarawak on the other side of Brunei. The border crossing was so simple we didn't even have to get out of the car. By 8:45 we were in Miri, the first town in Sarawak, at the Padang bus station, looking at a selection of buses to Sibu, our next destination. We didn't fancy the 8:45 so we bought tickets on the 9:30 Freesia VIP express and sat and ate the packed breakfast that the hotel had given to us. The bus ride was very comfortable and we dozed most of the way apart from two quick toilet breaks and a ¾ hour lunch stop at Bintulu bus station, the midway point. We arrived at Sibu bus station at 5:30 to find that there were no taxis waiting. Nowadays all taxis are ordered online through Grab or similar apps so they don't wait in taxi ranks any more. A lady in one of the ticket offices kindly helped us to order a 'Grab' taxi, and the driver turned out to be waiting in an unmarked car nearby, and we went for the short ride to the Otel hotel in Hann's Commercial centre, a huge food and hotel complex about 3km from the riverside city centre. After checking in we went up to the third level and had a delicious meal of satay and shawarmas with wine and beer at the Falcon Grill. Thurs 7th - Fri 8th. It's always a bit rainy in Borneo but we knew we were heading into the rain(ier) season and today it arrived. We waited out a rainstorm in our hotel room then as it eased off about mid-morning we got a Grab taxi for 7 RM (£1.50) to the Tua Pek Kong Chinese temple by the riverside in the centre of Sibu. The temple was colourful and interesting and the friendly people there talked us through how they were moving the deity (a 120-year old statue originally from China) forward to a new position so that they could rebuild the back of the temple to take a heavy new stone statue that was already on its way from China in a container ship. There is a seven-tier pagoda with the temple and the people gave us the key to its door and encouraged us to go up to the top balcony for great views over the town and waterfront. Sheila bought and lit a huge joss-stick from the temple .... .... then we went and explored the nearby central market which was huge and colourful with very friendly stallholders, colourful cakes and rather unfortunate chickens. We eventually tore ourselves away and walked along the riverfront, stopping at the imposing express boat terminal to confirm that the express boats up and down river have all stopped running and been replaced by buses, leaving the terminal empty and forlorn and the express boats moored nearby looking dirty and dilapidated. In fact the whole riverfront was very quiet and the 'hectic water life' we had expected seemed to have disappeared. We walked to the Swan monument, the symbol of the city, at the end of the riverfront promenade. We used the wifi at a nearby hotel to order a Grab taxi back to our hotel. Sheila retired with a tasty passionfruit yogurt for lunch, while I selected a noodle dish from one of the stalls in the extensive Hann food court and followed it with a coffee and cake at the trendy FLOS patisserie and café nearby. In the evening we went back to the Falcon Grill (this is becoming a habit) for another delicious meal. Sat 9th. It was grey and rainy today but nevertheless we set out up-country to Kapit. Since the new road opened the express boats have been put out of business so we got the Kapit bus for a comfortable three-hour ride (the same time that the boats used to take). The second half of the journey was quite hilly and rain-forested and we felt that we were going towards the jungly interior of Borneo. Unlike the boats, which docked right in the centre of town, the bus stopped at a nondescript layby a couple of kms out, but there was a free shuttle bus to the town center so we transferred our luggage into that. At the Meligal hotel which had been recommended, a rude desk clerk told us abruptly it was full, so the shuttle bus took us to the New Rejang Inn which was clean and friendly and in a good location in the centre of town (although there is not a lot of choice and this seemed to be the only option). Despite the ongoing rain we went out for a walk, first to the wooden Fort Sylvia, built in 1880 by the white Rajahs to keep the peace between the warring local tribes, but closed to visitors today. It had several high-water markers on the wall showing the extent of past floods. We walked along the riverfront expecting it to be swarming with people loading and unloading ferries, barges and longboats as described in the guide book, but it was silent and empty, possibly because it was a wet weekend but more likely killed off by the new road. We had an assorted lunch at the 'Famous Bakery' on the town square then went over to the museum but that too was closed. We walked back to the hotel via the market which was in the process of closing up. In the evening we went to the nearby Lily Pond Café and Bistro (which is code for bar and restaurant) which had big illuminated signs for various brands of imported beers. Upon enquiry it turned out that they only had two brands of less well-known beers in stock but beggars can't be choosers so we sat on the balcony by the pond with a couple of beers and had a nice fish and chips and chicken carbonara. We were the only customers there for the whole evening and the waitress spent her time smoking with a friend at the other end of the balcony then when she saw one of us get up and walk towards the restaurant to order something, she ran round through a back door to be there to meet us as if she had been inside all the time! Despite the string of disappointments we still quite liked Kapit. Sun 10th. This morning the sun was shining and Kapit town was much more lively. The main market and two overflow markets were bustling with buyers and sellers, including a fancy-hat stall that we had trouble resisting, and all the cafés were open and crammed with people. A couple of boats went to and fro on the river but the riverfront was still rather quiet. We wandered around for a while then went for a breakfast of buns at the Famous Bakery at an end table right on the town square. We checked out of the hotel and our friend Aisam whom we met on yesterday's bus, took us down to a pharmacy just beyond the town square which turned out to also be the bus booking office, and we got the last available seats on the 2pm bus back to Sibu (if we'd known we'd have booked them yesterday). There was a list of rules about what you can bring on the bus - and you thought airports were strict! We had a drink in a nearby café until the minibus came to take us out to the bigger bus waiting on the edge of town, which took us back through the hills and rain-forest to Sibu. We just had time to check back into the Otel hotel, quickly unpack, and get back to the Falcon Grill. There they pointed out a promotion they were having on bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and Australian Shiraz wines, which we couldn't resist for around £20 each, and thoroughly enjoyed with a starter of veggie paratha and main of yet another shawarma, both extremely tasty, Sheila said she'd died and gone to heaven. Mon 11th. Food and drink in Sibu - a lovely breakfast of eggs Benedict and scrambled eggs and (real) bacon at Grey's café-bar, sitting out on their second-floor balcony, and a lovely dinner of veg paratha and fish and chips and the second half of last night's wines. Sarawak - Kuching Tue 12th. Like all the others, the express boats from Sibu to Kuching have disappeared, so we had to go by bus. First I tried to have a Mee noodle soup for breakfast at a café by the bus terminal, but although the soup was tasty most of the bits and pieces in it were rubbery and unidentified and although the noodles were OK there were so many of them that I had to abandon them half-finished because the 9am bus was about to depart. The Asiabus double-decker, with seats upstairs and a whole floor for freight and luggage downstairs, was very comfortable with three ‘armchair’ deluxe seats in each row, and for most of the way we drove smoothly along the dual-carriageway 'pan Borneo highway’, through a mixture of palm-oil plantations and rain-forested hills. We didn't realise that there was no proper lunch stop so a nice man in a nearby seat gave us half his lunch of tasty warm chick-peas. We arrived at the busy Kuching Sentral bus terminal with its bright shopping mall before 5pm, and after a bit of bother trying to order a Grab taxi because there was no wifi, we finally arrived back at the Harbour View hotel (with a nice view of the river but rather showing its age), where we stayed a year and a half ago. We set out to find a street of restaurants and bars behind the Hilton hotel that were mentioned in the guide book but they had all gone, so we walked down Carpenter Street, the Chinatown area, where there were still plenty of places open, to the Old Courthouse and the Den, our favourite café and bar from last time, which were still in full swing. We sat by the enclosed garden and fountains for a drink at the Den .... .... then watched the 8:30 music and light show by the river .... .... before returning to the Royal Chamber in Carpenter street for a nice meal including Sheila’s Wagyu beef burger that we came back for on subsequent nights. Weds 13th. We had a busy morning, firstly dropping off some laundry at Mr Clean just up the road from the hotel, then into Green Hill hawker centre, one of the cafés with several different stalls selling selections of different types of dish - noodles, rice, dimsum, etc. We both had delicious laksa noodle soup, a big bowl of noodles with a selection of prawns, veg and meat in a spicy hot soup, and practiced our technique with the standard chopsticks and plastic spoon that came with them, dangling strings of noodles into the tiny spoon, trying not to spill them and start all over again (you can ask for a fork and a metal spoon if it's too difficult but we didn't). We walked through Chinatown past one of our local temples and through the 'Harmony Arch' .... .... to the imposing historic waterfront hotel to see if we could negotiate a good price for a room with a view, but they were fully booked for a conference. We went to the Commons café in the adjacent Old Courthouse complex which had been our big favourite last time but it was a disappointment - the cakes were less fancy and tasty than before, the food menu had shrunk and become very ordinary and they were playing corny Christmas carols in the background. As we walked back along the riverfront main bazaar we happened to call in at the travel desk at the Ranee Suites boutique hotel to see if they could make a flight booking for us - they couldn't, but the hotel was so lovely that we booked two nights there as soon as our current hotel reservation expires! A bit further down the bazaar we did find a very helpful travel agent who booked us a flight to Kuala Lumpur, so it was a very worthwhile morning's work. We had our usual drink at the Den and our usual dinner at the Royal Chamber. Thurs 14th. We went for a big morning out at the Sarawak Cultural Village about half an hour north of town. We drove there with Kelvin our nice taxi driver from our last visit, and arrived early before it opened so we had breakfast of boiled eggs and toast at the food court and went and had a look at the nearby beach, which was huge because the tide was right out. In the village itself we walked around the small lake, visiting each of the traditional wooden houses of the different ethnic groups. Most of them were stilt houses and we climbed up the tricky ladders made of single tree-trunks with steps hewn out. It was all fascinating. At 11:30 we assembled for the cultural show with traditional music and dancing in colourful costumes, a blow-pipe dart man who burst balloons on the far side of the auditorium and a pole-balancing troupe. All great fun. We returned to the food court for a much more Malay-style lunch of very tasty Mee noodles with beef and then drove back to town. On our way out In the evening we stopped at a 711 store to buy a sim card for the phone which we should have done much earlier, but it was a bit of a rigmarole because neither the people in the shop nor us had a clue what we were doing, but after several false starts we got it working. We had a pleasant drink at James Brooke bistro and café in a nice position on the waterfront, watching the boats and lights along the river. Then because it's uphill we got a Grab for the very short ride to Top Spot, a wonderful seafood-court on the top floor of a car park, where we collected a huge plateful of prawns and all sorts of vegetables that they cooked up in oyster sauce and garlic with chillies and brought to our table, all for £9. We thought that the food court was alcohol-free but found out that one of the drinks stalls served big bottles of cold Carlsberg which was a nice accompaniment. A delicious evening. Fri 15th. We had another delicious Laksa noodle breakfast at Green Hill corner hawker centre/food court, then went and lit some huge joss sticks in the Tua Pek Kong Chinese temple beside the Harbour View hotel. Then we changed hotels, moving to the Sylvia Suite in the lovely Ranee Suites on Main Bazaar by the river. It had a private balcony with a view of the river and the evening light show, but whenever we wanted to use the sunbeds it always started to rain. There's so much good food here that we made this a three-meal day, and after unpacking we set out down the bazaar to Peanuts and Anchovies café where I had Nasi Lemak which is rice and chicken with spicy sauce, half a boiled egg and, of course, peanuts and anchovies. Sheila had yet another laksa noodles and was becoming quite proficient at juggling the noodles with chopsticks and spoon. After a quick visit to the post office, a 'neo-classical architectural marvel' built in 1931 .... .... and a lazy afternoon, we set out for our third meal of the day. We had a couple of drinks at James Brooke's watching the boats on the river, then went to the Ceylonese restaurant behind the Harbour View hotel, where the tables were set out over the road and pavement, and a big neon sign announced 'best cheese naan in town' and it was! We had the big naan well stuffed with cheese and a tasty tandoori chicken with rice, a raita and a cup of tea, all for £10. Sat 16th. After the hotel breakfast I went for a walk round, along the riverfront to Brooke dockyard then over the big modern footbridge and along the north bank to Fort Margherita, built by Rajah Charles Brooke in 1879 in the style of an English castle to protect the town from attacks by pirates. in the evening we had our first pre-dinner drink at the Den, our second one at James Brooke bistro then another huge meal of prawns and veg at Top Spot, although they didn't cook this one in the same tasty sauce as last time and charged more for it. Interlude, Peninsula Malaysia Malacca (or Melaka) Sun 17th. We said goodbye to the lovely Ranee Suites and got a taxi to the airport, had a second breakfast in the lounge and flew to Kuala Lumpur. After a lengthy walk through the airport to the bus terminal we got a bus going directly to Malacca. It was very comfortable with big wide upholstered seats and lots of leg room, but unfortunately after a little while it started breaking down. On every hill it slowed to a crawl and as we turned off the motorway towards Malacca it conked out completely. After a few uncertain minutes another bus pulled alongside, we rescued our luggage and transferred it to the new bus and continued into the town. Only moments later the most intense rainstorm broke over us, the road became a running river and the bus roof started leaking on us! We eventually made it to Malacca Sentral bus station with only moderate dampness and got a taxi through the pouring rain to the lovely old Majestic hotel in the historic old town. It had been a long day and it was still wet outside so we had a couple of drinks in the bar and dinner in the hotel restaurant, both in the original old hotel building. Mon 18th. We got a Grab to the ferry port to book the international ferry to Indonesia. It was all very well organised and we came away minutes later with tickets and boarding instructions in hand. We got another Grab back into the town centre to the far end of Jonker Street, full of shops and cafés in historic Chinese shophouses, and walked about in the sunshine shopping and sightseeing. 'Jonker Street' now includes several of the adjacent streets which are also full of colour and interest, and of course tourists. In the nearby 'Temple Street' (Jalan Tokong) as well as several temples, we found some Chinese incense shops and bought a joss-stick holder, and walked along to where it becomes 'Harmony Street' (Jalan Tukung Emas) because there are four places of worship - Buddhist temple, mosque, Hindu temple and church, almost side by side. Many of the offerings placed in Chinese temples are for the spirits of deceased relatives and friends. This impessive offering of cigarette butts and Guinness cans says a lot about one deceased's lifestyle. We followed the main Jonker Street down to the river and over the bridge to the main square in the Dutch/Portuguese quarter, with the distinctive clock tower, Stadthuys (town hall) and Protestant and Catholic churches. The main square was heaving with tourists so we retreated across the river onto the pleasant riverside walk. When we stopped in Malacca briefly on our way past in 1980, the square looked much the same but the river was very different - back then it was full of small wooden fishing boats but now there is nothing except the occasional modern tour boat speeding past. We followed the river, winding past colourful cafés and houses and some impressive wall art, all the way back to the Majestic hotel, which was much further than the direct road route but much nicer. In the evening we had drinks with a couple of our fellow guests chatting about travel on the verandah of the hotel (they recommended the E&O hotel in Penang where we had a lovely stay two weeks later), then got a taxi down to the centre and walked along the river again until we found the Atas restaurant, with nice jungly decor beside the river, part of the 1825 Gallery hotel, and had a delicious meal of seabass and chips and laksa noodles. Tues 19th. We set off on another tour of Malacca's historical sites, starting at the lovely wooden Sultanate Palace museum, complete with a royal audience hall. We went through 'A Formosa', the gateway that is all that remains of the Portuguese fort built about 1512. We climbed up the hill to the ruins of St Paul's church and nice views over the town and river, and down the other side into the town square with all its tourists and gaudy, noisy cycle-rickshaws (which were even worse lit up at night). We set out along the river again intending to walk back, but left the riverside at the third bridge to take the direct route to the hotel. However, we stopped at 'The Daughter', an eclectic antique shop and café and had a delicious egg, bacon, cheese and onion sandwich for lunch, before continuing the rest of our walk. Sometimes you just have to have an Indian meal, so after our customary drink in the hotel bar we went by taxi to D' Tandoori restaurant which had been recommended by some nice Indian shop-keepers we met a couple of days ago, and it was wonderful - we had butter chicken and chicken dopiaza with rice, naan and raitas and it was as good as any Indian restaurant in England. Wonderful. Weds 20th. We walked over to 'The Shore', a big shopping mall opposite the hotel, stopping to look at a big lizard, 6 ft head to tail, basking by the river on the way. The mall was a disappointment, half the units were unoccupied and there were no shoppers. Instead we got a Grab to the main square and went inside the historic Dutch Christ Church which had been closed yesterday, then went for a shopping stroll along Jonker Street. We walked a little way along the riverside where none of the cafés were open yet, then a short way along Jalan Temenggang to the Sterling hotel where we had nearly stayed, in a good location near the centre but rather characterless. In the afternoon we had a walk around Kampong Morten across the river from the hotel, a former fishing village of traditional red-roofed houses, some on stilts, named after Mr Morten, a former British District Administrator. It was nearly surrounded by a loop of the river beyond which rose the ugly high-rises of suburban Malacca, but the village itself was very picturesque. In the evening, the bridge across to Kampong Morten was brightly illuminated, as was the village. In the evening we went to Bulldog, a nearby restaurant with very particular rules. You must make a reservation via WhatsApp, they don't accept walk-ins, and you are supposed to choose your meal from their online menu and let them know at least an hour before you arrive, but we didn't do that and it was OK except they didn't have some items available because they hadn't stocked up. Nevertheless I had a nice meal with glasses of cold beer - my sambal udang with fried okra was really tasty but Sheila felt it was pretentious and over-hyped, and she somehow started her lamb shank by eating a whole chili and couldn't taste anything until next morning. Thurs 21st. After breakfast we went round the corner to a dentist's to get Sheila's tooth glued back in - a sticky toffee-covered strawberry treat yesterday had dislodged one of her crowns. The nice lady dentist was very good and it didn't hurt a bit. We went down to the main square and looked into the old Dutch Stadthuys but didn't go around it because it was just closing. We walked along Jonker Street and up a side street to Mamasita's, a very nice, elaborately decorated Mexican restaurant where I had guacamole tacos while Sheila had two sangrias to celebrate surviving the trip to the dentist - who puts Tequila in a Sangria? - that was Sheila's excuse for wobbling from side to side as we walked back to the hotel. We sat on the hotel verandah having our customary pre-dinner drinks as a tropical thunderstorm raged beside us and rain pelted down, then as it eased we went back to the Atas restaurant beside the river for delicious ribeye steak and seabass and chips. Part 2, Sumatra, Indonesia Dumai, Bukittinggi and Padang Fri 22nd. With much sadness we said goodbye to the lovely people at the Majestic hotel and went to the ferry terminal to check in for the ferry to Indonesia. We bought a new multi-country sim card that we should have got in the first place, from an efficient man at a stall in the terminal, which was easy and painless this time. The departure was all very well organised, we checked in our baggage and got boarding cards, just like at an airport, then went through immigration to be stamped out of Malaysia. The ferry was modern and quite comfortable but the only 'café' was a sort of pop-up stall that the crew created with a hot water urn and packets of coffee, tea and pot noodles. The Malacca Strait is one of the busiest sea-lanes in the world and we passed numerous oil tankers going to and fro during the nearly three-hour voyage until we docked in Dumai. Again it was efficient, we collected our bags which had been arrayed on the dock as we left the ship, and were directed to the visa-on-arrival desk who stamped us into Indonesia. We asked a taxi man to take us to the bus terminal but there doesn't seem to be one. We had a long drive across town to the office of the only bus line (they said) to Bukittinggi but when we found out the bus only ran overnight and was not airconditioned, we abandoned that and drove back to the town centre to a minibus/car hire office where we ended up booking a car and driver for tomorrow for £75. We stayed at the City hotel across the street from the office, which wasn't bad for £20 for a big family room, and had an interesting meal in their restaurant, ordering six different tasty small/medium dishes from their menu with the assistance of Google Translate, and three big Tsingtao beers. The speciality, a form of oxtail soup which turned out to have a complete cross-section of an actual large ox-tail in it, was not a success. Sat 23rd. We set off at 9am in our car with a very nice driver for the nine-hour ride to Bukittinggi. After leaving town, the first two hours were on a new, smooth, almost empty motorway through endless palm-oil plantations. The next 2½ hours were on much more congested and less-developed roads through a succession of interesting towns and villages with mosques that had very varied and colourful domes, until we reached the mountains, where we started winding up and over the forest-clad hills past rivers and lakes. We started descending the other side of the mountain to the spectacular Kelok 9 (‘nine turns’) bridge, a 'megastructure' opened in 2013 which doubles back over itself with fantastic views of the valley and mountains. Somewhere before Payakumbuh we crossed the equator but we didn't notice any sign about it. About 4pm we stopped for coffee at Payakumbuh, the first town after the mountain passes, then struggled on for two hours past rice paddies in valleys ringed by mountains and through thick traffic, to Bukittinggi where we stayed at the very nice Hotel Santika. We had an excellent meal and bottle of wine in their ninth-floor 'sky lounge'. Sun 24th. We went sightseeing in Bukittinggi, but first we went to a travel agent to book our way out tomorrow and our flights the next day. We went on a horse and carriage tour of the town .... .... stopping for a look at the main square with its clock tower, the symbol of the city, where Sheila was interviewed by a student for her school/university English course. We stopped at a market to see all sorts of brightly coloured fish in tanks, and some in individual jam jars which had to be kept segregated because they were fighting fish, with beautiful colours and only 50p each. While Sheila had a rest I walked up to the fort but it was now a zoo so I didn't go in. Later we both walked down to the Panorama point for great views of the canyon and a walk through the gloomy wartime Japanese tunnels in the cliffs. As darkness fell over the city we had a drink at the Hotel Santika Sky Lounge and another great meal, especially my beef rendang. Mon 25th. After another huge buffet breakfast we went for a quick walk to the ATM we used yesterday, but we couldn't find it and ended up hot and bothered in a Grab taxi back to the hotel. There our car was waiting and we set off down the mountain towards Padang on the coast. We had booked a 'tour' on the way and the travel agent and his son came with us for the ride. Our first stop was in Pandai Sikek, a farming village with all sorts of vegetables and rice growing in the valley and weaving and wood-carving workshops that we had a quick look at. Next we stopped at Bustanul Arifin museum in Padang Panjang, which was a modern copy of a lovely wooden palace/longhouse with carved wooden shutters and high traditional sloping pointed roofs. Nearby we went to Lembah Anai waterfall and then followed the West Sumatra railway, which was still partly operational, down to the coast. We drove through Padang town to the Ibis hotel and got a room with a view of the Indian Ocean. We went for a quick taxi ride to the spectacular main mosque (Masjid Raya Syekh Ahmad Khatib), then back to the hotel's skyline restaurant/bar for snacks and drinks. Interlude, Bali, Indonesia Tues 26th. We had planned to continue down the coast of Sumatra and on to Jakarta by bus and ferry, but we were put off by the long journey times and uncertain standards of the buses. So we flew from Padang airport to Jakarta and on to Bali, two flights on Citilink which were both on time, the only problem was the freezing cold a/c on the second flight. We got a taxi for the short ride to the Adhi Jaya hotel where we've stayed before, in the thick of the action on the main street in Kuta, and got a nice garden room, we just hope the cockerel next door doesn't start crowing too early (it didn't). Pretty soon we were back in the Bamboo Bar for Sheila's favourite lobster, where the culture shock kicked in - there were hordes of Aussie tourists with acres of tattoos, football and horse-racing on multiple huge TV screens, a DJ playing the Chicken song and prices double what we've been paying so far. The food was still excellent though. Sheila said I should take my shirt off to fit right in. Along the street every other shop seemed to be a tattoo parlour, not our style but you have to admit some of them are works of art. Weds 27th Nov to Thurs 5th Dec. RnR in Bali, as if we need rest and relaxation - it's been a relatively easy holiday so far. The Adhi Jaya breakfast buffet was excellent, probably the best yet. We went to Legian many times to wander round some shops buying incense coils, Sheila had various beauty treatments in a couple of salons, then back to the Bamboo bar for delicious seafood chowder, or another time steak sandwich, for lunch. We walked along the beach on a nice walkway as far as we could before the heat overcame us and we had to return to an air-conditioned mall. One morning we went by taxi to Sanur for a similar walk, past posh hotels and a look round posher shops before returning to Kuta. In the evenings we went to Mama's German restaurant in Legian for a delicious sizzling plate of mixed sausages and cold Erdinger dark beers .... .... or back to Bamboo for more lobster, or to Spice Indian restaurant for delicious pav bhaji and smoky butter chicken, or to Dolce Vita for wonderful Italian pasta and Australian beef or a huge plate of meats and cheeses, with nice wines and a limoncello to finish. Several times during our shopping in Legian we stopped for an ice cream or lunch at Azul restaurant, in a huge bamboo building with a view of the beach .... .... and one evening we ate there and had seafood tacos starter and an even better lobster and a big Bali fisherman's platter. For the last couple of days we switched from the nice garden room 321 to the even nicer family room 107 at the Adhi Jaya. Another interlude Peninsula Malaysia, Penang Fri 6th Dec. We were way ahead of schedule and reluctant to go home to the cold and damp, so we added another excursion to the end of the holiday. We flew on Scoot via Singapore (with a very tight connection but everything was on time) to Penang and stayed at the lovely Heritage Wing in the historical Eastern and Oriental hotel, which had been recommended by the friends we met in Malacca. We were just in time for complimentary canapés and wine in the Cornwallis lounge. Sat 7th. We met one of the hotel managers, David, and he helped us navigate the huge buffet breakfast, recommending delicious char kway teow noodles from the stir-fry cooking station, after which we added our own favourite, eggs benedict, from the eggs cooking station, and an assortment from the many other dishes on display. When we had finally finished, David took us for a fascinating tour of the lovely, historic old E&O hotel with its two swimming pools, selection of different restaurants and a gallery of photos of the celebrities who have stayed there. Our room had a view of the gardens and the Malacca Straits beyond. The Java Tree in the seafront garden at the E&O is still there, but the view behind it has changed radically since this pre-war photo, which hangs on the wall of the Gallery in the hotel. As usual, we waited until it was nearly midday, the hottest time, to set out on our excursion into town. We went by taxi to Gurney Plaza, a very bright, modern mall, but all the shops were exactly the same as every other mall, so we soon got another taxi to Chowrasta market, the opposite end of the shopping spectrum, but this too was a disappointment as most of the produce was cheap tat. We walked across to a Chinese district and this was more interesting, with several colourful Chinese temples and streets of picturesque traditional shop-houses, little cafés and street art, especially Armenian Street which was busy with shoppers and tourists. We walked to the nearby Little India district but by now we were hot and exhausted so we left it for tomorrow and got a taxi back, to cool off before our wine and canapés in the lounge. Sun 8th. We walked to the Cathedral and sat in the cool, bright interior for a while, then on to Little India for a wander round followed by an hour’s cycle-rickshaw ride around the historic old town, past more shops and temples, a minaret that looked like a lighthouse and a rather inappropriate-looking statue of an old-style rickshaw coolie. Mon 9th. We got the funicular train up Penang Hill but it was too misty today for photos from the top. We went on to the nearby Kek Lok Si Buddhist temple and monastery, and went via a little funicular, an electric buggy and another funicular .... .... up to the top where there was a huge statue of Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion, in a pavilion with a guardian demon, surrounded by statues and gardens. It was all very photogenic. Back at the bottom of the temple hill people were feeding the dozens of turtles in the turtle pond. We had a long Grab ride across the bridge to Butterworth on the mainland and tried to get some information at the station about trains to Kuala Lumpur, but there was no information office, no ticket office, just one person helping people to buy tickets from the machines. We went to the ferry terminal, part of the same complex, and bought ferry tickets (2 RM, 40p each, card only no cash) and had a pleasant ferry ride back across the water to Georgetown. We walked through the historic old centre of Georgetown past all the magnificent public buildings from the British era (one of our taxi drivers thanked us personally for them when he found out where we were from!) .... .... to the Queen Victoria memorial clock tower .... .... around the walls of Fort Cornwallis and its Heath-Robinson lighthouse, and along the pleasant seaside promenade. It had been overcast and cooler all day and it started pouring with rain 15 minutes after we arrived back at the hotel – a close one! Tues 10th. We got a taxi to Chew Jetty, one of the ‘clan jetties’, with wooden houses built out over the water on stilts, most of which are now tourist shops. We walked along Armenian Street trying to find street art to photograph, into Little India where Sheila had a row with a nasty woman in a beauty parlour threading her eyebrows. We ‘grabbed’ over to Gurney district to visit the two adjacent Buddhist temples, Thai-style Wat Chaiya Mamalaram with its giant reclining Buddha .... .... and Burmese Wat Dhammikarama, which were both lovely, colourful and peaceful (until Sheila started ringing the bell!). Weds 11th – Thurs 12th. With the help of David the manager at the hotel we booked a Grab driver for the 350km ride to Kuala Lumpur airport. We went across the second Penang bridge, 23km long, built in 2014 by a Korean firm and shaped like a dragon if seen from above, and on a motorway all the way to the airport six hours later (stopping briefly for a tasty noodle lunch at a service area). We flew home overnight, 14 hours non-stop. If you would like to see more of our travels just click the map.