Our Story

Photos: Cameron Highlands

lottie_and_george — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:02:00 GMT

Tea Plantations, Strawberries and Honey Farms

Photos: Perhentian Kecil

lottie_and_george — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:42:00 GMT

Photos: 2 day visa trip

lottie_and_george — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:35:00 GMT

Photos: In and around KL

lottie_and_george — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:31:00 GMT

Photos: Cherating Beach

lottie_and_george — Mon, 8 Mar 2010 03:39:00 GMT

where time stops...

Photos: Kuala Lumpur

lottie_and_george — Fri, 5 Feb 2010 13:30:00 GMT

Photos: Thaipusam Festival in Kuala Lumpur

lottie_and_george — Thu, 4 Feb 2010 20:15:00 GMT

Kuala Lumpur - first few days

lottie_and_george — Thu, 4 Feb 2010 15:06:00 GMT

Kuala Lumpur is a big brilliant city with loads going for it but is still very much developing. We are staying with Mary and Tom in their appartment in central KL which is great! (Mary is Georges Aunt for anybody that doesn't know). They have a first class view of the twin towers *check out the photo* and the aircon is heavenly! We aren't used to this heat and its difficult walking around outside for too long. Thankfully wherever you are trying to get to you can always take a route through aircon buildings, walkways and shopping centres. Food, shopping and eating out here is very cheap compared to the UK, especially if you know where to go. Everything is generally half or a third of the price it is in the UK, other than some food in supermarkets. Chocolate and Alcohol is expensive and supermarket shopping is a bit of a challenge.

We flew here on Friday the 29th, our flight was delayed by about half an hour so we arrived at KL airport at about 10pm our time (8 hours ahead of UK) and Tom was waiting for us. Was great to see a familiar face! We began driving back until the tyre burst. The car didnt have a spare tyre and the repair kit broke so we were a bit stuck... Tom rang the AA type of company in Malaysia but they took forever and we didnt know exactly where we were so we were waiting for an hour or more for them to arrive. When they got to us there were only three seats in the front of the truck so Tom had to sit is his car on the back the truck. Looked like he was having a whale of a time with the roof down and the radio on! Obviosuly he had great faith in his handbrake! The seatbelts wouldnt work but apparently 'no need seatbelts' We finally managed to get to the appartment and Mary thought the incident was pretty amusing. We hadn't eaten hardly anything on the plane because it was really quite gross and we had been put off by a seriously ill man with red bloodshot eyes in the aisle next to us that kept coughing stuff up. So we went out to get some food at a 24hour place down the road and Tom knew exactly how to order - they have lived here a while now. By the time we got in bed (after having a drink back on the balcony) it was 5am on Saturday 30th so we slept in until midday!

On Saturday Mary and Tom, along with two of their friends that also moved here from Aberdeen, Monica and Charlie, took us to the Festival - 'Thaipusam' It would be interesting to have a look at this link to find out more about the festival we went to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaipusam It was hot, dirty and facinating. Have a look through our photos on here and go to our youtube page to look at videos! We were totally sweltering but it was worth it! We took part and walked up the steps (you will see them behind the huge gold statue in the photos). It was amazing to watch the people walking up the steps carrying huge weight on the heads and shoulders. Some had metal hooks through their backs attached to ropes or chains, again, see the photos it will explain better than i can.

Since then we have been escorted around the city by Mary and Tom and have done a fair bit of wondering ourselves. We joined Marys friend Monica to spend the morning at an orphanage that she reguarly helps out at. We sat down with the kids and read out a story, asking them questions and then did some art and craft with them - making chinese dragons. It was good fun - a small place with about 60 children (i think thats what i was told!) Quite a strong structure made of metal sheets that they lived, slept and had lessons in. We are talking to Monica at the moment and she is tiring out her contacts to try and find us somewhere we can volunteer at reguarly. We are hoping to get something that we can do everyday for about 2 months. We are visiting another orphanage (still in KL like the other one) that is bigger that may need our help. We are in contact with a few people about that at the moment so will be finding out soon if its going ahead.

For now, we must go and have some lunch - have been doing this since 9 this morning so time for food now. Hopefully the videos will be all uploaded on youtube ok. Enjoy pics and videos!

All about Hong Kong!

lottie_and_george — Thu, 4 Feb 2010 12:27:00 GMT

Dear All Mothers, Brothers, Sisters, Dads, Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, Cousins and Friends; do not worry, our trip is now being published! Sorry it has taken us a while to get on with this, we have been in Kuala Lumpur since Friday and have managed to find ourseleves pretty busy. But we will start with Hong Kong! Scroll down to see a map at the bottom of every story we write. There are two photo albums of Hong Kong and some videos on youtube (link under the profile picture on the home page)

As soon as we came out of the airport express staion in Hong Kong it didnt fail to impress. It was early evening and dark so we could see across the harbour at all the lights. It really is the most impressive skyline - you can see why people go on about it. The first thing you cant help but notice, however jet lagged, is how efficient the Chinese are. As soon as we stepped off the plane there were people pointing us in the right direction. Not once getting out of the airport were you out of sight of a Chinese worker there to help. We were pointed down walkways and shown into escalators and then easily bought tickets for what they call the airport express train. We found the platform easily (all within the airport building) and then got on this train to Kowloon. The train was sparkling clean, spacious and looked brand new. It had plasma screens and huge luggage areas and even a map to show where you were headed with little LCD lights that lit up. We pulled into Kowloon airport station and were asked where we were heading. We said we were trying to get to the YMCA so we were showed onto a free hotel shuttle bus that stopped at The Peninsula Hotel (next door). We hadnt booked any accomodation in advance so decided to try at the YMCA first because a few people had recommended it and we thought it would be a safe option for our first night. Luckily we got there fine and they had space so we booked into a dorm room each (single sex). There were 2 bunk beds in each room, a little clean bathroom and then each bed had assigned a full length locker. The lockers were great - fitted our backpacks in there easy. There was a Chinese girl in my room (lottie) and george had his room to himself. The Chinese girl was nice - dont know her name - but we had a few struggled conversations in what she knew of English. She was only there one night of the five. Had the room for myself then until the last two nights when three american girls on a business trip for college stayed. George had his room to himself the entire time!! All felt really clean and safe considering we were bang in the middle of the city. We were so glad we were staying in such a nice place when we walked past the other hostels and Chungking Mansions. There are few big falling down grey buildings that they call mansions (for some reason?) in Hong Kong. *There will be a photo up in the gallery. And they are packed full of tiny dingy rooms belonging to privately owned hostels all within the one building. We then managed on our 2nd night to extend our stay there for the full 5 nights we were in Hong Kong which was great. Got a 10% discount with some cards that we had ordered before we left so they have already more than paid for themselves.

We did alot of walking everyday when we were there and on our last couple of days we used the MTR which is their underground transport system - which is again, really efficient, easy and clean. We loved the street markets and the shopping centres were impressive. My favourite trip was to Nan Lian Garden. I had read up about it so we decided to head over there - the New Territories part of Hong Kong. I also read they had a vegetarian restaurant there so that made me want to go even more. Chinese put meat in everything and its definitly not nice meat. It was sooooo nice *photos in the gallery. And we found the vegetarian restaurant in under a waterfall. The food was great and the service felt like you were in a 5star hotel or something but the price was not more than youd pay for Nandos or Pizza Hut. It was a four course meal and even George agreed it was nice without meat. All we are going to say for now so please have a look at our photos and am just trying to upload some videos.

Love to all x

Photos: Hong Kong - Skyscrapers, Street Markets and Bird Garden

lottie_and_george — Thu, 4 Feb 2010 09:19:00 GMT

5 Day City Stopover

Getting ready to go!

lottie_and_george — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:06:00 GMT

Just playing around and testing the website. So... have finally just bought travel insurance! Hours of sifting through websites to find a good policy and now thankfully its crossed off the to do list. Our stuff is all packed away and so the bedroom is bare! Rucksacks almost packed and sitting in the lounge taking up space (just to annoy mum really!) Lots of boring essential paperwork to copy and get ready still. Now all we have to do is decide what we are actually going to do and see when we get away. Watch out for future, more exciting, stories.