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.
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| Boarding our flight to Sumatra |
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| 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.
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| On Samosir Island |
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| Beautiful Lake Toba |
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| 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.
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| The view over Lake Toba from near our hotel |
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| Jodie enjoys the pool at Tabo Cottages |
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| Samosir scenery |
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| Kathie at Parulubalang spiritual site |
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| Mark & Juan |
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| The stone chairs of Siallagan |
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| Angela |
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| Traditional local Batak houses |
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| Weaving |
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| Paul & Jodie try the local coffee |
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| Ruth entertains some school children |
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| Dave & Christine on one of Samosir's hilltops |
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| Buffalo on the hilltop |
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| This pedal boat got Paul's seal of approval |
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| Egrets... I've had a few |
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| Mark, Juan & Vai enjoy cold Bintang beers at a local cafe |
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| 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!
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| Leaving Tabo Cottages |
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| Rumah Bolon longhouse |
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| View from the northern end of Lake Toba |
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| Sipiso Piso Falls |
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| Dave in a rare moment of quiet contemplation |
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| Traffic enroute to Bukit Lawang |
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| Happy birthday Ruth! |
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| Cutting the cake |
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| 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.
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| Welcome to the Jungle! |
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| Emma tries out some natural mosquito repellant |
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| Thomas' Leaf Monkey |
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| What are you looking at? |
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| Our guide shows Lindsay a lizard |
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| Long-tailed macaque with a baby |
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| Mark & Kim find a giant ant |
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| 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.
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| The Baharok River |
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| Ready to go on our inner-tube rafts |
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| Steven... less ready to go! |
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| 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.
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| Exploring the "Bat Cave" |
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| Bukit Lawang |
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| 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.
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| Istana Maimoon Palace in Medan |
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| Kim, Lindsay, Steve & Ruth make some new friends! |
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| Medan's Great Mosque |
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| Steven & Kim at the Mosque |
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| We also found a funky shopping mall |
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| 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.
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| The street art of George Town - Angela has a go on the swings |
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| Jodie... Where's my husband? |
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| ... looking at a giant cat! |
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| Amanda hitches a lift on a motorbike |
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| Emma shoots some hoops |
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| Kapitan Kling Mosque |
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| Fort Cornwallis |
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| Esplanade food market |
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| Sunset on the waterfront |
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| 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).
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| The dock at Kuala Besut |
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| Taking the boat to the islands |
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| Christine, Mark, Angela & Amanda on the boat |
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| Arriving on Pulau Perhentian Besar |
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| Our chalets... |
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| ... and the view from them |
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| At the beach |
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| Amanda & Kathie went kayaking |
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| Some of the local wildlife |
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| Snorkelling |
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| 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 40th
birthday by catching and eating some of them after Jodie organised a fishing
trip!
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| Fishing off the Perhentian Islands |
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| Paul & Jodie caught a few fish, including this mackerel |
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| And some MahiMahi |
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| Which was all delicious! |
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| Perhentian sunset |
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| 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.
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| Paul & Jodie |
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| Dave holds up the Petronas Towers |
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| Kim in the Meara KL tower, shame about the smoke haze! |
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| KL tower at night |
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| Petaling street, Chinatown |
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| Merdeka Square |
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| Kim & Ruth at a local food market |
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| The Petronas Towers at night |
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| 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.
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| Welcome to Melaka |
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| Our beautiful historic hotel |
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| Stadthuys Square |
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| Angela & Vai take a "trishaw" ride |
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| Paul in one of the local parks |
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| Kim & Ruth at the Maritime Museum |
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| Ruins of St Paul's church |
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| Melaka |
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| St Francis Xavier church |
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| Paul tries some of the local cuisine |
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| Melaka River |
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| 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!
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| Teamwork - Vai, Juan, Christine & Angela help out with finishing the alcohol! |
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| Juan and Mark grab the "Red Cock" (vodka) |
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| Thumbs up from Jonathan & Louise |
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| Party on! |
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| 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.
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| Christine won the final border game |
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| 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.
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| Raffles Hotel, Singapore |
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| Singapore Slings at the Long Bar |
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| We made it! Celebrating the end of the road |
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| Amanda & Kathie with their Singapore Slings |
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| Paul |
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| Lindsay & Ruth |
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| Group meal at Shish Mahal near Little India |
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| Celebrate good times... with champagne! |
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| 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.
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| Sultan Mosque |
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| Paul by the F1 grandstand at Marina Bay |
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| Looking across to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel |
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| The hotels rooftop infinity pool |
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| View over the Gardens by the Bay |
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| And over the city |
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| Boat Quay |
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| Saying our final farewells in the lobby of our hotel |
