Mrs Butterworth

And so to our last country of the trip; Malaysia.

Overnight train from Bangkok (24 hours including delay!) and we were in Butterworth. We weren't staying though- just for our sins, and as if we hadn't had enough overnight trains* we booked tickets to head straight out of Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur that night. So, just enough time to drop the bags in the left luggage, change the baht into Malaysian dollar and then catch the ferry over to Georgetown.

You can imagine Kieran's delight to discover that Georgetown was declared a Unesco World Heritage site last year! So that was one we weren't expecting. It did seem to be a bit deserted though...We pottered around, peering our heads in quiet Chinese temples, tasting chocolate at Chocolate Boutique, eating yummy Roti at a Vegetarian Indian restaurant, listening to the Muezzin's call to prayer along with Christmas carols and generally soaked up the very multicultural vibe.

Then on to our last overnight train for the trip- Butterworth-Kuala Lumpur. Should have been a no brainer (even if we were both on the top bunks-they're not a cheaper price for nothing). It was leaving at 20.40 and getting in 5.40 the next morning). Of course, the best laid plans...Train arrived late & we had the berths above the noisiest family of the trip yet- I think about 15 people in the extended family and not one of them seemed too bothered that their 3 year old was clomping up and down the carriage in what sounded like wooden clogs and screaming until well after 12!! Had to sleep with the ipod on just to drown her out! Similiarly she was up clomping around by 5ish- I'm wondering if she (and everyone else on the carriage who didn't have ear plugs or ipods) got any sleep at all!

We've had our first tropical rain storm too here in Kuala Lumpur. I've remembered that I'm not a big fan of that muggy soupy heat (not least because it makes my hair frizzy). As we couldn't check in to our hotel at 7 in the morning we thought it an obvious opportunity to get to the Petronas towers by their 8.30 opening time to get in the line for tower tickets. No such luck...they were sold out by then- apparently you have to get there by 6.30. And that ain't going to happen any time soon. Still, a visit to the National Museum of Islamic Art, trips on the Skyline and a couple of laksas & mee gorengs later and we're back on the tourist track. For the last couple of days anyway- we'll be in Melbourne next time we blog!

* 25, we've counted