31.03. - 02.04.2012 Melaka, Malaysia

We left in the afternoon by metro to come to the outskirts of Singapore. There we waited for a bus to bring us to the boarder to Malaysia. The boarder was the biggest crossing we've seen so far. Everybody was running so we also started running through the border! After passing the departure of Singapore we had to get back into the bus to reach the immigration of Malaysia. All was very efficient, new and clean. As I mad a little mistake when I bought my bus ticket in the first place, I had to get another one to reach JB town bus terminal. There we found the last bus for the day, leaving in 5min. So we paid and ran to one of the platforms. When the bus arrived we boarded and enjoyed the ride. It was late evening when we arrived in Melaka and we had to take a taxi to get to Chinatown. As there was a weekend night market on, we had to squeeze our way through to a guesthouse we've seen online and wanted to stay with. We arrived and there was luckily still Alan who checked us in and made us feel welcome.




We dropped our bags and went on the slowly closing market to find some food. It was still a great atmosphere and we had a couple of different interesting looking food items!








For some strange reason they were celebrating St. Patricks day on the 31.03. Don't ask me why, but everybody walked around with Guinness hats on and irish music came out of the pubs. It's very surreal to see the Chinese red laterns over the Guinness pint glass decoration in the middle of Chinatown.




Afterwards we went to sleep and had a good rest in our shared bedroom.




The next couple of days we went and visited many of the beautiful stores in the historic center to look at the different artwork and go and see some of the many temples during the daytime and brows over the market in the night time.












I was very pleased to see that they erected a statue to honor my arrival. It was very moving! Very!




Here are more pictures to explore of Melaka.

29. - 31.03.2012 Singapore

After passing Singapore customs without getting into trouble for importing Australian wine, we decided to sleep at the airport as it was already 23:00. We found a museum observation deck with carpet floor and took over a cozy little corner. We did not fall asleep very well and soon after, security came to ask all other travelers (probably 10 others) to move away and respect all the songs they put up every 4 meters. So we walked around and looked for a cozy, warm and comfortable corner or place to sleep. Everything in this airport is made of tiles and the seats are created by people who have no ergonomic feeling at all. Not for seating and definitely not for sleeping purposes! So Chrisy tried to sleep on the seats and I took all my long cloths to place them under my body and try to get some sleep. Every 20 min I had to move, as some of my muscles or bones started to ache. I don't know who gave such ratings on www.sleepingonairports.com? We preferred Auckland a lot better and were not only disappointed, but also pretty groggy next morning!




So we took the metro to go and find a hostel close to Arab Street. It was right next to the Sultan mosque and we got everyday free prayers through the speakers transmitted.
We checked into the Sleepy Sam's Guesthouse and received breakfast that was delicious with coffee better than Starbucks and just the thing to pick us up after the last night.




After such a refreshment, we were full of energy and ready to go and explore the city with our city public service pass. As we love metros, we walked to one station and drove to the close by Little India. We passed many little roads, temples and interesting shops.




Hajl La, a street close to Arab Street really cute!








But as we are not here for fun, we had to go and do more research and learning! So we went to "Aravind's Curry" to sample some Chettinad food. The owners must have seen that we are clueless and pretty much told us what we have to eat. We got brought one sample after the other one and started to enjoy their hospitality and food. The salty Buttermilk was a wonderful positive surprise for our palet together with the spicy banana leaf dish we ate. We received many different kind of drinks we had to drink to help our digestive system. So we drank them and we felt good. Full, but good!












With so much food in our bellies we rolled out into the city to do more exploring. There were still 7.572.192.472 temples to see! (or something like this).












We managed to get hold of Kevin who works now here in the city. We know him from our time back in Dublin, Ireland where we had the pleasure to work with him. So we walked in Flip-flops into the Ritz Carlton Marina Bay. The friendly doorman welcomed us with open arms and before he could assist us, we already ran into Oscar, who also worked with us back in Dublin (small world!).
For all of you who work in the 5 star hospitality... there is nothing better then standing in the main lobby during your shift with some stinky low budget travelers whilst being on your shift and have taken some pictures by the bell boy! (right!?!)




It was good to see Oscar after all this time. Unfortunately he is still a busy man and we were not able to catch up with him outside of work. As of Kevin, he hooked us up with a "self guided art tour" through the hotel and promised to meet us after his shift. So we received an I-Pod and an art brochure and went off to explore some of the many art objects of the hotel.












It was very impressive to see this well integrated sculptures and many paintings, even though I felt a little under dressed for the venue.
After Kevin finished his shift he met up with us and we went to a Hawker food center to eat. We ordered a couple of different dishes to be able to try some of the many culinary influences. One of them is the "Carrot Cake" which doesn't contain any carrots and it isn't sweet either, (don't ask me why) but it was yummy!












Kevin invited us for late "wedding drinks" and we caught up with filling the hole since we've seen each other the last time. It was a wonderful evening. He dropped us off with a taxi at the end of the night.
The next day we did more exploring of the culinary diversity and the cultural background of the city. We followed some of Kevin's tips and had fried chicken rice, laksa and all different kind of food.












After so much food we walked around and visited more temples. One of them is the temple of the thousand Buddha's.








In the evening time we went back to the Marina Bay area were we met up with Kevin. Chrisy shot a couple of amazing pictures of the city. One of the commercial district with it's modern skyline and one of the casino, which looks like it's been left behind by aliens. There is a bar and pool on the very top of the building and has every evening a light show beaming into the sky in the night time. There is also a water fountain show on the water surface and live music in a little pavilion.








After so much sightseeing we were hungry and Kevin brought us to the "Boon Tan Street" in the middle of the financial district. After 7pm one grill is lined up with the next one and all offer "the best kebab sticks"! so we ordered 35 sticks with different meats and some other food to try. The atmosphere was fantastic and the "tiger ladies" made sure we didn't have to stay thirsty.








As a treat we also had a mud crab in a tomato sauce which ended up in a very messy, but very tasty feast. The night was hot and the spices six the rest to make us sweat this evening. It was an amazing time and we want to say thank you again to Kevin who made sure we had a good time in Singapore. We ended the night in a bar in the Arab street where we smoked a shisha and had a couple of drinks.




This was our last night in Singapore and we enjoyed it very much. Before we left the next day we drove to Orchard Road, this is the fancy shopping area of the city and dis some souvenir shopping (just kidding), and visited the St. Regis hotel to see if it was worth it's name. And it was a beautiful place with very elegant looking doormen welcoming our arrival. I had to have a look at the pool and we browsed through the lobby and the restaurant as well.




During one of our taxi rides we had a very entertaining driver. He educated us about the current situation for owning and driving a car: to be able to own a car you need to buy a 4 year license for 25.000 Singapore dollars. After the time you need to buy another license. To be able to drive on the road you need to have a device in your car which is electronically connected to checkpoints along the road. You need to buy cards for day time tax and cards for night road tax. Ao to be able to sit behind the wheel, you need to have a lot of money!

Look for yourself at more pictures of Singapore

21. - 28.03.2012 Sydney, Australia

A short flight brought us back to Sydney where Sharon with her two girls, Celeste and Madeline was already waiting for us at the luggage belt. It was great to see Sharon finally in her home country. We met 11 years ago in Ireland and when I was in Australia 10 years ago she was in Germany.

A short drive that felt a bit longer due to Celeste being a bit scared with two new faces inside the car. (or just the fact to have Robert next to her) She cried so much, all our hearts were in pain! However the detour over the spectacular Sydney Habour Bridge was amazing.





Sharon prepared a delicious dinner and Matt, her husband, arrived in the meantime as well from work. It was just nice to sit together and exchange stories.

The next morning we took the bus to Sydney Circle Quay and enjoyed a walk past the Opera House and through the Botanical Garden. We took the train to Newtown, King street, where I used to work at a cafe called "Citrus". I wanted to find out if it still existed and also enjoy the atmosphere of that part of the city. We had lunch at an Asian place and went to the "Citrus" to have smoothies. Yes, it still exists, it just changed a bit.








Sharon has a year pass for the Sydney Zoo, plus one for a guest and she even organized another pass from a friend so we all were able to visit the zoo free of cost. The zoo is beautiful and even if you just come for the view and skyline of Sydney, it is totally worth it.











We really wanted to see the "Magic Flute" at the Sydney Opera House, but it was already sold out as it was the last show. But we still went to the Opera House an hour before the show started to look if somebody wanted to sell tickets and luckily enough, we got tickets. That how it happened that we ended up at the Opera in Thongs (=Flip flops). The Opera was amazing.


Finally the weekend was here and Sharon, Matt and of course the children had time for us. So what are Aussies doing on a beautiful day on the weekend? We went to the beach to have a Fish and Chip picnic. Sharon and Madeline even went for a dip in the waves.





Later that evening we went to an Australian Footy game. It was two local teams, the Giants against the Swans. It was the Giants first ever game, quite a young team and they lost that game. It is a fun sport to watch and we enjoyed the evening with a meat pie.








On Sunday we all drove to Gap Bluff and enjoyed a walk along the beach with Sydney in the background as well as a walk along the cliffs.





The next day we took the famous ferry to Mainly Beach, were we had a nice day at the beach and a walk around Mainly.


In the evening all us of had "Spaetzle" for dinner that Robert prepared.


On Tuesday morning we went to the Sydney Fisher Market. The buzz was amazing, especially a lot of Asian Tourists who bought the biggest plates of seafood. It was like a big food court with the most amazing fish. You were able to buy and choose your food from different shops, buy wine and then have a picnic outside in the sun.








Later we went to "The Rocks" were the story of Sydney begun, with a lot nice warehouses and great view over to the Opera House. We also walked onto the Habour Bridge.








Unfortunately even the nicest visit had to come to an end and on Wednesday it was time to say goodbye. After a great lunch at a garden center (thank you Sharon and Matt for the invitation) they all drove us to the airport. So while seeing Sydney disappear in the distance we were on our way to the next continent: Asia!

Enjoy more Sydney photos.