Funny Phrases and References so far...

Blogger: Jamie

Despite there have only been 6 days past of our trip we have already come across some rather funny and some quite strange phrases and references.

Firstly, when staying in Singapore sausages were refferred to as Sunny Side up Eggs, yet there was no sausage as part of the Breakfast, weird, slightly humourous yet confusing.

Secondly while in a Phillipine Kareoke run bar the bar maids thought that we had look a likes:
Jamie= Harry Potter? (Glasses, Hair, Wand, Scar, Who knows. None of which I knew I had)
Joe= John Travolta? (Which Joe was quite pleased with, as you can imagine)
Ben= Some one else from Harry Potter? (Your guess is as good as mine)

We came to the conclusion that the only two English/American films that they had seen were Harry Potter and Grease. Rather funny, but probably another unconvincingly clever technique to try and make us buy more Pitchers of Tiger Beer.

Whilst in Kuala Lumpur, China Town night market, a taxi driver approached us simply repeating Boom Boom well thats what it sounded like anyway. Until it conitnued with the hand actions we then realised what he actually meant....
We quickly moved towards the nearest main road steering well clear of the rest of the 'comical' taxi crew.

I am sure there will be more and that I have probably missed some.
Updates soon.

Tomorrows travel and todays activites..

We are currently sat in the lounge researching how to get from our hotel to the airport tomorrow. Even though we are in central Kuala Lumpur and the airport in Kuala Lumpur international, the airport is 70km from our hotel. Transport is still cheap but it just means we need to leave earlier as our flight to Penang leaves at 13:40 tomorrow. We are aiming to set off around 10:30 arriving at the airport at 11:45 and checking in with plenty of time.

Our flight is from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, an island of the west coast of malaysia and our final destination in Malaysia before Thailand. The flight cost 17 pounds which is cheap however we are flying with "AirAsia" who don't have the best "On-time" reputation. They boast that their flights are 85% on-time, which they are trying to build up after a previously damaged reputation. We still think that a 85% on-time flight isn't worth boasting about.

If our flight is not cancelled or delayed we arrive in penang tomorrow at 14:40. We have booked in at the Hydro Hotel, again very cheap accomodation with a 4-star rating. Its only 13 pounds a night each !

Here are a few pictures of the hotel we have booked for 3 nights (29th June, 30th June, 1st July)

Hotel Entrance

Hotel Pool

Hotels Private Beach

View from hotel

Jamie has just pitched a potential plan for today:

1. Go for a dip and a chill in the mid-day sun until 1ish


2. Head out for a cash from a atm on the way to the monorail


3. Take the monorail to Bukit Nanas and visit KL (Menara) Tower, lots of pictures from the observation deck


4. Then onto the Pentronas Twin Towers


5. A short monorail ride from here will take us to Bukit Bitang Station where the Sungei Wang Plaza is located (The Sungei Wang is a well-known shopping centre with many shops so may be worth a look)


6. Later we may want to head for the centralmarket which is an air conditioned, heritage market where there are many Malaysian souvenirs. This can be easily accessed via the Putra LRT to the Chow Kit stop.


7. After a good browse and some good local food we may opt for a taxi back to the hotel dependant on our tiredness.

How does that sound? :)

Sat by the pool

Just posting whilst we're sat on a few deck chairs next to the pool.
We've had a walk around the area, Me and Ben got an iced Mocha and Jamie got a Mango smoothie.

It is currently the hottest time of the day and is a beautiful 34 degrees. We've got a print out of a guide to Kuala Lumpur and we're looking at the available activities and other things to see in KL for the remainder of our stay here.

Me and Ben got some "Emporio Armani" and "Ray-ban" Sun glasses last night for 1.90 pounds! Obviously counterfeit but its good enough for us!
Today I bought some Tshirts, a Jack jones tshirt for 5 pounds and a hush puppies tshirt for 4. Bargain Bin. We're going to the launderettes later to wash our currently sweaty clothing items.


On monday we have booked a flight to Penang, we were originally going to go via another overnight train however after the last one, its only 17 pounds each to fly so saving time for an extra few quid and not arriving tired is a more favourable option. We've booked a hotel in Penang called the Hydro Hotel, and its 14 pounds each per night, for 4 star accommodation.

We're now going to have a soak in the pool, and enjoy the rest of our stay.

Some More Pictures Recently Taken

In an Executive Suite overlooking the Petronas towers...

On Wednesday night we headed into Chinatown to get some grub. We used the MRT (Underground rail system) which is very cheap and very well organised. A nice fresh chinese meal was followed by a singsong in a karaoke bar where we bumped into a few interesting characters including 2 American Guys who thought they were "Singapore Idol" even managing to sing out of tune to "The house of the rising sun". It was a great night where we enjoyed a couple of beers and some snacks before tucking into bed for the next day. We new we had a relatively early start as we new we had to check out by 12.

Yesterday we headed across to Santosa, we headed to the island (which is off the south coast of Singapore) by Cable car, and then had lots of fun with numerous activities on the island.

Below are videos of the toboggan

Last night at 22:00 (Singapore time) we got a train to Kuala Lumpur.
Boarding the train was a bit of a pain, we had a "Swine Flu" test which included filling out a medical form and getting a temperature test. Not the best thing to find out at last minute! I just coughed and sneezed and it seemed to get me a "Fast track ticket" to the front (Joking of course!)
The train lasted 7 hours, and the ride was as smooth as sandpaper. It has to be the bumpiest, shakiest train in the world which probably explains our unavoidable insomnia. Jamie had the most sleep, even then it was mostly a couple of hours split up into short intervals during the travel.

We arrived at the hotel and made our way to checkin.

We reserveda club lounge room for 14 pounds a night. Due to us arriving early, we just planned to use the luggage room and wait for minimum check in however they upgraded us to the Executive suite free of charge!

So, for 14 pounds a night, we have an executive suite, executive lounge, free drinks, coffee, coke etc and food :D

At the end of the (first) day..

So, its nearing the end of the first day and today has been great.


Still tired but we've just been for a swim in the pool which I hope will fresh us up for a couple more hours. We're about to go out for some food, we're going to chinatown/little india which is pack full of various restaurants.


We're wanting to get to sleep at around 10pm to get some sleep before tomorrow. We have to be checked out by 12pm but that'l be ok as we have to be up for breakfast before 11am. This mornings breakfast was great, it was delicious dish of Ham, Eggs and lettuce with some toast and Jam too which made it a little bit normal. Seemed strange but tasted fantastic.



We went into Singapore later on, finding various shopping malls. I found a great t-shirt which was staring me in the face. It was 6 Singapore Dollars which is about 2.30 which enabled us to come to the conclusion we're going to have a T-shirt challenge! We're the person with the cheapest tshirt (which fits) wins. We're not quite sure what they win, but the winning is the most important thing.





Tomorrow is a day of travelling, so possibly no blog post tomorrow however I'm sure it'l be updated within the next few days. We're getting the KTMB train from singapore to Malaysia and its a sleeper setting off at 22:00 and arriving at around 6:30 am.



Be posting soon!




Commonly used words repeated frequently so far: reeeally, At the end of the day, ideal

Arrived in Singapore

We have landed in singapore and arrived at our hotel.

The final flight from Dubai to Singapore was fun, had some seriously freaky turbulence which scared me a big bit. There was also a russian lady who decided that Ben's Nintendo DS was that amazing, she would take it off him, whilst we were mid-game playing mario kart, she then gave it him back. (She was like a female and russian version of Mr Bean). She then started poking at Ben's inflight screen, and also took Jamie's last chewing gum without asking which we weren't happy about as his breath could have done with the extra freshness.We were finding it funny however we're glad that she isnt flying back on the same day as us. (well we hope she isn't).
When we got outside the airport and our bags finally arrived at the baggage carousel we headed outside, finding the 31 degree weather outside a shock, especially as it was 10pm at night.
The hotel worked out at 20 pounds a night each, which seems reasonable as it includes breakfast and is near the centre of singapore.

















The Hotel room itself is quite cosy, small but ideal for what we want.

We arrived at the hotel by taxi, checked in, showered, dumped our bags and went out to find something to eat.

Putting bags on beds. Room is air conditioned but doesnt seem to have much effect :(
Good ensuite with shower/toilet/sink and hot tub (the last part is a lie).


We went out to find some food as we were starving, and me and Ben ended up eating some random food, which i didnt have a clue what it was (I didnt want to know). It turned out to be a chicken dish with rice which was beautiful and only 60p each!



Anyway we're off to bed as its 1:15 in the morning and we've got to be up at half 10 to make breakfast before 11.
We're 7 hours ahead at the minute and haven't managed to get any sleep so we're all really tired.

:D

Tired In Dubai

We are now in Dubai Airport waiting for our flight to Singapore.
The flight was a lengthy 7:30 hours, and we still have another 7:30 hours to come.
The onboard entertainment was cracking, with a wide range of movies, games, tv shows and even a sms/emailing service from the plane whilst mid-flight!

There was an open bar, which was nice but not really used. However, on the one occasion Jamie did get a drink, it wasn't long before it was on his Jeans (due to Joe's clever table moving reactions). Luckily he does carry spare jeans with him incase of accidents.

Despite the bags under the eyes getting bigger, the excitement is still upon us. We have just got a Big Mac meal and paid in Pounds. Feel abroad.

It is extremely hot outside in Dubai, "Like an Oven" as Jamie said. However, I would regard it as a sample of whats to come.

Ben has now popped back from the toilet having decided not to go when he found that the toilet was just inbuilt into the floor. (Not that great when you want a no. 2!)

We are extremely tired, missing our beds already. Its not easy to sleep upright when people are banging into the side of you as they walk down the isle on the plane.

In 2 hours, we'll be off again arriving in singapore 13:55 GMT and we'll be sure to be posting as soon as possible :)

Ben, Jamie and Joe
Live and not awake, in Dubai Airport.