Australia Singapore Malaysia 2025

Up at 4 to get to airport via taxi and train.  It was raining hard and seems to have done so all night. A bit chaotic at airport as, after checking in, we had to get a bus to our gate.  There is a train but there were staff at every door at the station moving everyone on towards the bus as the train doesnt start till 7.  A very wet KL Airport. While queuing for the security at the gate,  Paul couldn't find his phone.  After unpacking his hand luggage twice, we came out of the queue and he went to retrace his steps.  While he was gone I looked and found it straight away.  Not sure how he missed it twice.  By the time he came back we were near the end of the queue and one of the last to board. The flight was 1.5 hours late leaving due to delays at the security screening which was done at the gate and took ages.  Flight home was good and we arrived at Heathrow 1 hour late, at 16:30, so it made up some of the delay at KL.  It was a mad dash ...

We were quite late getting out as we spend some time after breakfast doing a bit of packing.  We then caught the monorail to the KL Tower, another iconic sight on the KL skyline.  What the map doesnt show you is that the entrance is situated high on a hill and we had to walk up loads of steps and slopes to get there.   KL Tower grounds After we had finished looking around we saw the Hop On Hop Off bus so we bought a day ticket and spent the next hour being driven through the KL traffic jams.  It was quite interesting and we saw some sights that we wouldnt have otherwise seen.  We sat upstairs in the open air part and it was quite pleasant especially when the bus was moving.  It started raining lightly at first which was really nice but as it got heavier all the passengers moved to the back, covered area.  Hop on Hop off bus The bus runs on 2 routes, City and Garden.  We had been on the City so decided to also do the Garden route afterwards....

Today we went on a tour to Melaka (or Malacca), a coastal town south of KL.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has been occupied by the British, Dutch and Portuguese over the years. It was originally created as a trading town where ships from China would dock alongside ships from southern countries and they were allowed to trade for free but piracy became a big problem.  The coach left at 8.15 for the 2 hour drive.  It was very hot and mostly sunny with no rain. We first went to see St Peters Church, the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia, built in 1710 by the Dutch as a protestant church but converted to a catholic church for the Portuguese.   St Peters Church    St Peters Church     St Peters Church Garden, pond and clock tower  We then made a short photo stop to see a replica of the wooden boat that first landed here with Portuguese explorers. Next was a walk to A Famosa, which was a Portuguese Fortress built in 1512.  ...