I'm going back to Thailand, for the third time! I had a holiday in Feb to March 2014 that started in Melbourne, then I flew to Cairns, stayed about 2 months, then flew to Darwin for a few days, then flew to Singapore, took the train to Kuala Lumpur, was in the city when the MH370 went missing, travelled by bus to Melaka - very cheaply. It cost RM 12, and took 2 hours by coach from Bandar Tasik Seletan, KL. It is easy to get to BTS, by train from KL Sentral or any other of the train services. Maps are clearly displayed - as long as you get over the differences in the types of transport available from KL Sentral, then you'll be fine!
I also travelled to the wonderful Batu Caves, easily accessible by train as well, it is actually just outside the train station of the same name! Not expensive, and wonderful Hindu statues and temples await amongst the breath taking caves!! Plenty of healthful veg food, I'm a vegan so I look for that particular kind of food!
Melaka was one of my favourite towns, I found it peaceful by the river, staying in a cheap single room, an easy walk to the river, and the bridges over it in a quieter part of town than the more touristy areas that I only encountered after I took a river cruise, as the disembarkment point was far from my accommodation. Which we passed after a fair amount of time on the boat tour. I also discovered the history of Melaka, and climbed aboard a replica Portuguese vessel, that serves as the Melaka museum. A local school excursion was in the process after I paid my entry fee, and climbed the stairs to board the ship as I discovered old coins, and a lot of information about ship types, the story of the safe port clear of typhoons that encouraged many traders from all over the world to drop anchor for a spell.
I was quite enchanted by Melaka, finding it preferable to the loudness and dirtyness of Petaling Street in KL city! I did try staying there for a cheap $3 AUD a night single room price, but it was too loud for my liking, and the hotel was shabby and worked up on the website to be a hippy retreat. I'll say no more!
Also in lovely Melaka, was the day trip worthy Melaka Zoo! Fantastic enclosures, lovely staff, interactivity with the environment. Food and drink about the zoo, take plenty of water and solid walking shoes for the long walk around. Although they did have a little passenger train for all people to take in the zoo. I saw a bird show as well, and was involved in the bird show as an audience member! Many amazing animals there.
I also have been to Ipoh by train, a nice Gold Class train, only a few hours north of KL Sentral, and took a cab to Lostworld - a fun park, with a lot of pleasant water based rides and attractions! Before I passed through the entry point, I bought a new swimming costume after trying it on. After I entered the park, I found the very good locker service, you pay a small amount to the attendant and then can re-access your locker as many times as you want before closing time! I was lucky in the wave pool to find 100RM in two separate 50 RM notes!
The majestic rounded and sudden mountains similar to Krabi area around Ipoh were a welcome sight as the backdrop to the water park. If you're sick of the heat when travelling north or south, then I recommend going to Ipoh to enjoy a day of play in the water. The sky was a brilliant blue and the day was humid! I had more than 12 hours until my connecting northbound train to Hat Yai, Thailand.
Once the sun began to disappear, people started to leave the park, and I wandered out to enjoy an iced fruit drink a the nearby hotel cafe, and then waited in the hotel lobby for a cab back to Ipoh train station.
I regretted having such a heavy backpack, but I was able to leave it safely at Ipoh station after asking the staff there to mind it for me whilst I enjoyed my day trip!
The train then took me to Hat Yai, eventually, after the long and hot wait at the customs/ border train station. They only sold alcohol for drinks, and I did not have any drinks left, so we all sat hot and panting as we waited for the same train we had travelled on to become a smaller train with less carriages. Finally the train arrived, and we were grateful to be back inside the air con!
We got to Hat Yai quite soon after the border station, and the first thing that I looked for was the drinks for sale on the platform! Hat Yai was just a stopover town for me, except for a fairly high priced tuk tuk to the hotel 250 baht I think it was, which is high for Thailand!
I travelled on from Hat Yai after a quiet hotel sleep, eventually. The train to Hua Lumphong was due, and several hours after it was due it finally arrived! I got chatting to a guy who was used to Thai travel on the platform as we waited and on the train, until finally arriving the next day after sleeping in the upper berth at Hua Lumphong, Bangkok.
I had had a special mission in Bangkok to fulfil, for a retired Bangkok local man that I had met in my first journey in Thailand, near Wat Pho. He asked me to bring tourist toys from Australia, all I could manage were some cheap soft small koala souvenirs! But he was thankful at our meeting point which I was late to owing to the lateness of the train from the south, so it was only a brief meeting where I was out of sorts, and could only manage polite greetings and giving him the toys and he paid me some baht for my troubles.
I hauled off the next day on the train from Hua Lumphong to Chiang Mai. I stayed there about ten days, discovered the cheap bicycle hire and pedalled, often lost, around the city square, taking pics of attractions such as major Wats and other lovely places. I enjoyed a fish foot bath, a student Thai massage within a wat massage school, a professional Shirodhara massage with singing bowls which would have been dreamy had it not been for the scatty ladies at my accommodation; bothering me about coconut oil on the sheets that they couldn't wash out. One was actually yelling in my ear and saying she would call the police. I said 'go ahead, it's only sheets!'
That was on the last night though, so I left the keys and went elsewhere, discovering a much nicer place after hauling my full and heavy backpack along the balmy night streets. I actually walked to find a place, instead of using the net, as I did not have it on my phone, was previously using wifi from the backpacker that I left, due to being harassed unfairly on my holiday when I was just trying to relax.
Anyway, I flew from Chiang Mai to KL, stayed the absolute last night in Port Dickson, then got a cab in the morning to KL airport. There were staff members at KLIA wearing white tshirts about MH370, it was still missing when I had to leave. That was fairly terrifying, and unsettled me until I knew we were flying over Australia, crying tears of relief that we were coming home. But the flight was so turbulent, moving with regularity as though on small waves, and I threw up multiple times so they wheeled me out once we reached Melbourne Airport.
But here I am, getting ready to go again to KL, Malaysia for the convenience of the flight and also the price, and then to go on by airport shuttle, train overnight from KL Sentral to Hat Yai, one night in Hat Yai and then a morning bus to Phuket to my prebooked hotel near the beach. I'm going for more dental work, and possibly to go to Atmanjai for a 5 day detox, after dental surgery. But mostly to rest on the waves and sand and in the warmth, as I have just been through a month long illness of antibiotic caused c.Diff Colitis, and three hospitalisations. I am weak and really needing this time away to be low agenda and unwinding, rebuilding my health and my atrophied muscles.
Peace to all, I have also been made the Australian Ambassador and Coordinator of We All Are One Ministry - an orphan charity based in Mwanza, Tanzania. I hope to travel there soon as well as possible and have been invited to visit for 2 weeks when I can make it!
