The Final Countdown

Having travelled many miles overland in our truck, and by buses, vans, boats and trains, it felt a little strange to arrive at Penang International Airport in Malaysia to catch a flight.

It was only a short hop over to Medan, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, then we were back in a bus to take us 160km south to Lake Toba.

Boarding our flight to Sumatra

Back on a bus again - at Medan's airport

Lake Toba occupies the caldera of a super-volcano, which is thought to have erupted catastrophically approximately 75,000 years ago. We arrived on its shore to board a boat to take us across the lake to Pulau Samosir, which is claimed to be the largest ‘island within an island’ in the world.

On Samosir Island

Beautiful Lake Toba

Dave & Mark take a dip in the lake

We had three nights staying at the beautiful Tabo Cottages in the village of Tuk Tuk, which gave us plenty of time to explore the island and experience the native Batak culture. Most of us went walking to the nearby historical sites (such as King Siallagan’s stone chairs and the ancient spiritual site of ‘Parulubalang’), some hired bicycles to get around, and a few of us went on a 4x4 tour to visit villages, plantations and also the top of the island, where there were great views across the caldera to a smoking volcano in the distance. We were also able to try some of the delicious local cuisine, such as rendang curry and gado gad.

The view over Lake Toba from near our hotel

Jodie enjoys the pool at Tabo Cottages

Samosir scenery

Kathie at Parulubalang spiritual site

Mark & Juan

The stone chairs of Siallagan

Angela

Traditional local Batak houses

Weaving

Paul & Jodie try the local coffee

Ruth entertains some school children

Dave & Christine on one of Samosir's hilltops

Buffalo on the hilltop

This pedal boat got Paul's seal of approval

Egrets... I've had a few

Mark, Juan & Vai enjoy cold Bintang beers at a local cafe

Emma & Amanda - alternatives to local food are also available!

Leaving Tuk Tuk we crossed back to Parapat and were met by a bus to take us back north. En route we stopped at Rumah Bolon (King Simalungun’s longhouse) and at Sipiso Piso (apparently the highest waterfall in Indonesia), then we continued on to Bukit Lawang. We also celebrated Ruth’s birthday with balloons, card and presents, and a delicious cake made in the tiny village!

Leaving Tabo Cottages

Rumah Bolon longhouse

View from the northern end of Lake Toba

Sipiso Piso Falls

Dave in a rare moment of quiet contemplation

Traffic enroute to Bukit Lawang

Happy birthday Ruth!

Cutting the cake

Ruth likes her jungle hat and new sarong

Bukit Lawang is on the edge of Gunung Leuser National Park, so we went jungle trekking in the park in search of some local wildlife. We came across Thomas’s Leaf monkeys, Long-tailed and Pig-tailed Macaques and, best of all, two female orangutans, each with a baby.

Welcome to the Jungle!

Emma tries out some natural mosquito repellant

Thomas' Leaf Monkey

What are you looking at?

Our guide shows Lindsay a lizard

Long-tailed macaque with a baby

Mark & Kim find a giant ant

Sumatran orangutans

After the hot and sticky jungle, our route home was somewhat more refreshing, as we jumped into inner-tube rafts and floated down the Bahorok River back to town.

The Baharok River

Ready to go on our inner-tube rafts

Steven... less ready to go!

Back in Bukit Lawang

The next day was free for people to relax, visit Bukit Lawang village, do some more jungle trekking, or head out to explore the nearby Bat Cave.

Exploring the "Bat Cave"

Bukit Lawang

Other, less cuddly, critters around the lodge

Next we returned to the city of Medan, capital of the province of North Sumatra. Here we had a free afternoon to visit the Great Mosque and the Maimoon Palace and to wander around the city centre, then it was time to fly back to Malaysia.

Istana Maimoon Palace in Medan

Kim, Lindsay, Steve & Ruth make some new friends!

Medan's Great Mosque

Steven & Kim at the Mosque

We also found a funky shopping mall

Heading back to Penang

Our second visit to George Town, on the island of Penang, was a little longer than the first so we had time to walk around and see some of the interesting sights of the town. There are a lot of interesting murals and street art to discover, historic buildings such as Fort Cornwallis, the waterfront, churches and temples, and some great local cuisine to be had at the various food markets.

The street art of George Town - Angela has a go on the swings

Jodie... Where's my husband?

... looking at a giant cat!

Amanda hitches a lift on a motorbike

Emma shoots some hoops

Kapitan Kling Mosque

Fort Cornwallis

Esplanade food market

Sunset on the waterfront

Love Lane, George Town

A full day on a bus took us across Malaysia from the western side all the way to the east coast, where we spent a night in Kuala Besut before taking a speedboat to the beautiful Perhentian Islands. We had three nights in beach-side accommodation, plenty of time to enjoy this tropical paradise. As well as water-based activities such as boat trips, swimming, snorkelling and diving, there were also trails to hike through the jungle and lots of wildlife to be seen – from squirrels and fruit bats to huge monitor lizards and a strange creature called a colugo (or flying lemur).

The dock at Kuala Besut

Taking the boat to the islands

Christine, Mark, Angela & Amanda on the boat

Arriving on Pulau Perhentian Besar

Our chalets...

... and the view from them

At the beach

Amanda & Kathie went kayaking

Some of the local wildlife

Snorkelling

Turtles

There was plenty of life in the ocean too – reef sharks, turtles, coral, stingrays, sea cucumbers and loads of different fish. Paul celebrated his 40^th birthday by catching and eating some of them after Jodie organised a fishing trip!

Fishing off the Perhentian Islands

Paul & Jodie caught a few fish, including this mackerel

And some MahiMahi

Which was all delicious!

Perhentian sunset

Leaving the islands

After a great stay on the islands, we rejoined our bus and were driven to Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. We had time to explore this culturally diverse metropolis and see such sights as the famous Petronas twin towers, the Menara KL tower, Merdeka Square, parks and gardens, museums and markets.

Paul & Jodie

Dave holds up the Petronas Towers

Kim in the Meara KL tower, shame about the smoke haze!

KL tower at night

Petaling street, Chinatown

Merdeka Square

Kim & Ruth at a local food market

The Petronas Towers at night

Inside the Petronas Towers

Our last stop in mainland Malaysia was the beautiful, historic port town of Melaka. Filled with old buildings (including our hotel), temples, churches, museums and ruined forts, we could check out all the sights either on foot, by ‘trishaw’ cycle, or on a boat trip up the river. Melaka is also known for its large array of delicious local foods.

Welcome to Melaka

Our beautiful historic hotel

Stadthuys Square

Angela & Vai take a "trishaw" ride

Paul in one of the local parks

Kim & Ruth at the Maritime Museum

Ruins of St Paul's church

Melaka

St Francis Xavier church

Paul tries some of the local cuisine

Melaka River

Murals on the riverside

Due to strict laws on what we were allowed to carry across the border when left Melaka for Singapore, we were ‘forced’ to have a “Drink It Up” party in the corridor of the hotel! People contributed various bottles of vodka and whisky that needed using up, and not only did we manage to get it all finished but, as an added bonus, had quite a good time in the process!

Teamwork - Vai, Juan, Christine & Angela help out with finishing the alcohol!

Juan and Mark grab the "Red Cock" (vodka)

Thumbs up from Jonathan & Louise

Party on!

Cheers!

Our last bus trip together as a group took us out of Malaysia and into Singapore, to end what had been an epic trip. Having travelled for 6 months, through 15 countries, driven over 18,000km in our truck, and travelled approximately 32,000km (we think) in total, we had reached our final destination and the end of the road for many of the group.

Christine won the final border game

Jonathan's map showing our route

We celebrated with the obligatory Singapore Slings at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, and had dinner out at a great restaurant on the edge of Little India. As we enjoyed our food and drinks, we naturally reminisced about our adventures, and we were able to play our end of trip slide show to further help remind our group of all the fun we’d had since April.

Raffles Hotel, Singapore

Singapore Slings at the Long Bar

We made it! Celebrating the end of the road

Amanda & Kathie with their Singapore Slings

Paul

Lindsay & Ruth

Group meal at Shish Mahal near Little India

Celebrate good times... with champagne!

Happy travellers - Odyssey's 2015 Istanbul to Singapore group

Of course, there was also time for some sight-seeing in this fantastic city – the interesting buildings, fabulous gardens, the famed zoo, the waterfront and shops. We enjoyed a few more drinks before we said our final farewells and went our separate ways – some to head home, some for independent travels, and some of us continuing on as a smaller group to Borneo.