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For our first travel in Asia we chose a trip in Malaysia. As we had to transit via Singapore for our international flights we also decided to visit this country.

Due to timing and other personal issues the itinerary that we built from A to Z was quite difficult to prepare and we had to chose among the numerous interesting steps available. So we decided to explore the west coast of Malaysia.

After a 11 hours flight we land at the Changi Airport at Singapore. As day is yet close to the end, we just had time we walk and dinner around our hotel, in the nice and animated quarters of Clark Quay and Boat Quay.

We start the day by the Arab/Muslim quarter, around Arab street, the pretty Bussorah street terminated by a mosque, Bagdad street, North Bridge... Close to this we visit the Little India and after lunch Chinatown and his very active markets and shops. We finish the day in the Safari Night, considered by some Singapore guide books as a top "step to see" in Singapore. We see some "usual" wild animals but also some other quite impressive, like Giant Flying Squirrels and Giant Bats that are in huge birdcages in which we can walk.

In the morning we leave Singapore by bus to enter in Malaysia, direction Malacca (as known as Melaka) that gives his name to the famous strait. After lunch we visit this small city, Chinatown and his oldest Malaysian Chinese Temple, the Church, the hill... I must admit that I expected a more typical and interesting town...

We leave Malacca by bus to the capital of Malaysia : Kuala Lumpur (KL). Sometimes noisy and polluted KL is a really modern city and has some interesting things to see. For our first day we see the Old KL Station (train), the nice Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) facing the also nice Sultan Abdul Samad Building. We continue up the Little India in which we receive a huge rain and storm. In the evening, after a typical meal composed by a Nonya Laksa main course, we walk into the animated and colored Chinatown market near Jalan Petaling.

Early wake-up this morning to catch our Air Asia flight to Penang from

the KL International Airport (KLIA). After a quiet and short flight (50 mn) we land on the Penang airport in the south of the island. Then we directly go to our hotel on Batu Ferringhi beach on the north coast and after make our reservation for the bus 2 days later we can start our visit. In Georgetown we start by the famous Khoo Kongsi which is the grandest clan temple in the country. We continue in the center with another temple and by doing some shopping. We finish the day by a delicious Indian typical meal.

Today we still continue our trip on Penang and we start by 2 nice temples around Georgetown. First of all the Wat Chayamang Kalaram, a thai style temple in

which there is the 3rd biggest sleeping buddha of the world (33 meters long). Facing this temple there is the Dhammikarama Burmese Temple. Then we go to the Penang Hill funicular to reach the top of the island and his nice point of view. A few things to see (treks to do...) on the top but clearly there is a lack of information... However we are successfully able to walk a part of the descent by walk through the forest of the hill. Here stops our trip on this island. If Penang does not have the best beaches ever seen, the ambiance is quite nice and it is worth to see this part of Malaysia. Tomorrow we will leave it for the Cameron highlands.

It's time to do the longest journey (by bus) of the trip (around 5 to 6 hours) to join the Cameron highlands from Penang. After arriving we have to find an hotel. Once done it is yet late in the day so we walk through the small Tanah Rata town and organize our next day planning.

Early departure for a road mountain to Gunang Brinchang, one of the highest peak of the continental Malaysia (2000 m), across a beautiful landscape of tea plantations. From the peak there is a nice view on the forest. Then we did a short

trek in the "mossy forest", a quite strange place with almost no fauna and that could let think to a fake or even a sci-fi forest :o) When going down we stop in one the (3) main tea producers, the Boh Tea Plantation. Then we stop shortly in a Butterfly farm, not an exceptional one although. After (another) Indian lunch, we go to Brinchang for a short visit... Just when arriving we receive a huge rain but after a while we are able to visit a flower/cactus planation and shortly the city. If the small cities (Tanah Rata and Brinchang visited for us) are neither very insteresting nor very beautiful, Cameron Highlands offers a lot of potential activities (treks...) into beautiful landscapes. Definitely a step to see in Malaysia !

As usual we leave our current place by bus early in the morning. We come back to Kuala Lumpur for the 2nd part of the visit of the city. Despite a rainy day we decided to go to see the famous Petronas Towers, the highest twin towers of the

world, and the environs, called the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC). Actually these towers are nice (it is even better by night) they are less impressive that we thought. We try to see how we could visit the Sky Bridge (the gateway between the towers). Despite the entrance is free you need a ticket and it seems that daily quota is quickly distributed during the only morning... But by chance we are able to go due to the absence of... 2 people in a group ! Lucky ! :o) This is definitely not the best point of view of the city but it was quite funny and when we will see the towers later in the TV we will be able to say "We were here !" :o) After going down we go quickly to the (handi) Kraft Center (forget it there is almost nothing !)... Then we come back to our hotel near KL Sentral by the KL monorail.

This morning this is the KL Menara visit (TV Tower) which offers the best point

of view from his 421 metres above the street... Immediately at the bottom of the tower a small "jungle" forest have been preserved in the heart of the city, with some animals (monkeys, snakes...). Mosquitos warning ! :o) The time to leave Kuala Lumpur comes shortly so before leaving we lunch on the Jalan Bukit Bintang, in the "Gold Triangle" which is an area that could be named the "shopping paradise"... Then just have time to walk through the Central Market before taking the KLIA Ekspress to rejoin the airport. We take a short (50-55 mn) flight to Singapore with Malaysia Airlines.

Last day of the trip... and 2nd part of the Singapore visit under a hot sunny weather. Walk around to the Merlion statue, which is the Singapore symbol ("Singa" means "lion" in Sanskrit), then the very nice colonial style Raffles Hotel. We finish the day with some shopping before coming back to hotel and then airport.

For our first trip in Asia it was a good choice. Singapore and west coast of continental Malaysia are worth to see places. These countries are a lot of positive points : quiet destinations, multi-cultural and kind populations, lot of interests to see, very well served by transport...