Trip Plan - Part 4 -Thailand, Malaysia & Singapore

  Dublin, Ireland
Tuesday, February 19, 2008

7th Country - Thailand

We'll begin in northern Thailand and may opt to go straight to Chiang Mai. Close to the Burmese border, it's situated within a rural area of Thailand, the city is surrounded by some of the highest mountains in Thailand and is the religious capital of the country.

Chiang Mai

Bangkok

Again, with no real set plans for Thailand, we'll probably just spend a couple of nights here before taking the train south to Bangkok. As everyone knows, Bangkok is a tourist paradise, we'll probably spend a few night here, seeing the sights, take a cruise on the river, eating from the street stalls and visiting the bars and nightclubs in the evenings.After Bangkok we'll more than likely head further south to Phuket, Ko Phi Phi and Krabi. Here we'll be relaxing on the beaches, snorkelling and drinking cocktails.

Phuket

Ko Phi Phi

While we're in this area we might also go to the Phuket Fantasea theme park, the Gibbon rehabilitation centre or the Sirinat National Park. All in all, we'll probably spend the best part of a month in Thailand and probably visit more places than I have mentioned but again, we've no set plans and will listen to what other travellers have to say about places before we decide exactly what to do during our time here.

Krabi

8th Country - Malaysia

When we get to Malaysia we'll take a short bus trip to Alor Star, a small city in the northwest of the peninsula. Alor Star itself is a traditional Malaysian town slowly being transformed to a modern day city. Some of the main sights here are the Balai Nobat, a royal tower whose sole purpose is to safeguard the royal musical instruments, Pekan Rabu, the landmark market of the town with hundreds of stalls trading from morning til night and the Alor Star Tower, a modern telecommunications tower with a bar and restaurant on top with views of the jungles of Malaysia to the east and the Indian Ocean to the west.

Alor Star

Langkawi Island

It is from Alor Star where we'll take a ferry to the tropical island of Langkawi in the Indian Ocean. A divers paradise with warm shallow waters surrounding its 99 islands and golden beaches, Langkawi is also a duty-free island so no taxes on any consumer goods. It's also famous for its wildlife with crocodiles, snakes and eagles in abundance. Due to its tax free status accommodation, food and drink is really cheap here with a beer in a bar costing around €0.30. Happy days. From Langkawi Island we'll take the ferry back to Alor Star then make our way down the west coast towards the state of Penang and initially the town of Butterworth. Butterworth is famous for its Bird Park with over 300 species of exotic birds but is mainly used as a place for people to transport between the diving and snorkelling areas around the coast of Penang.

Penang

Taman Negara National Park

We'll take a trip to Penang Island, connected to the mainland by bridge and maybe spend a night or two there before making our way inland to the rainforest area of central Malaysia and the Taman Negara National Park. Containing all sorts of wildlife including tiger, leopard, elephant, tapir, monkeys and deer it takes 3 days for a full trek through the rainforest including a walk on the canopy of the rainforest, rafting in the rivers and swimming in the natural springs. From the isolation of the rainforest we'll take a 3 hour bus trip to one of the most modern cities in the world, Kuala Lumpur. With many sights to see including Independence Square, the Sultan Abdul Samad building, the National Mosque, the National Museum, the Lake Gardens and Chinatown, we'll probably spend a few nights here. We'll also visit the Golden Triangle area of the city home to numerous shopping malls, restaurants bars and clubs as well as the Petronas Twin Towers, formerly the tallest building in the world.

Kuala Lumpur

Melaka

From Kuala Lumpur we'll make our way south towards Singapore stopping of at Melaka on the way. Melaka is an old Portugese then Dutch colony city and still contains many Portuguese and Dutch influenced buildings dating from as far back as the 16th century. There is still a Portuguese settlement in the city today where a Portuguese dialect is still spoken and the people eat in Portuguese restaurants. While we're here we'll also visit the Night Market and Klebang beach famous for its kite-flying, a national pastime in Malaysia. From Melaka we'll take a bus or train down to our

10th country - Singapore

Singapore is not only the smallest country we'll be in on our travels but also one of the most expensive. Apart from being the busiest port in the world, Singapore is famous for its shopping.

Singapore

We'll walk along Boat Quay with its hundreds of restaurants, and cross into Clarke Quay with its pubs and clubs. We'll also visit Santosa, an island off Singapore famous for its beaches and parties. No trip to Singapore is complete without drinking a Singapore Sling in Raffles Hotel so we'll be sure to do that before we take our flight to Sydney to start our new life (well for a year anyway) in Australia.................