Writer / Photographer
With the backpacking part of this trip done and dusted. I've been in a reflective mood and put together a montage of the journey so far. Now it's onto Melbourne where another new experience awaits - living and working in a foreign country. Is Australia really the land of Milk & Honey? _____
Bored of Melaka and with a few days to kill before Singapore we weigh up a trip to Tioman Island. The weatherman tells us they'll be rain all week, but Time magazine had it down as one of the world’s most beautiful islands (in the 1970s), so we ignore him. Being a city person married… Continue reading Mosquito Island
One of the benefits of colonialism is that you get towns with plenty of character, and in the case of Melaka & George Town that'll get you world heritage status too. Well either that, or someone at UNESCO has taken a bung from the Malaysian tourist board. Melaka is the older of the two (by… Continue reading Melaka: A Poor Man’s GT
It's been 6 years since I was last in KL, but that was a honeymoon and sightseeing weren't exactly a priority, so we're back for another look... One thing we missed on our last visit (much to the disappointment of the missus) was a trip up the Petronas Twin Towers. So we book ourselves in… Continue reading KL: The Second Coming
After 2 and half weeks on Borneo, where it’s all wildlife and trees. It was time to get back to a proper city; 5 days in George Town, Penang was just the ticket. One of the first things I noticed was the amount of street art. Most of it painted by a Lithuanian fella (Ernest… Continue reading A Town Called George
For some reason, I've always had an interest in human evolution and how we got here. So when the guidebook told me that the oldest human remains in SE Asia were found in a nearby cave, I could feel a day trip coming on. The Niah Caves are about an hour and 45 minutes from… Continue reading Ancestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
A few of my favourites from the 17 nights we spent on Borneo. Where we stayed (nights)... Sabah; KK (3) -> Sandakan (2) -> Kinabalu Park (2) -> KK (2) -> Brunei; Bandar Seri Begawan (2) -> Sarawak; Miri (1) -> Kuching (5)
I'm no David Attenborough, but if they've made somewhere a world heritage site it must be worth a butchers... So off we set for a couple of days in Kinabalu Park. Our accommodation was just outside the park at Borneo's equivalent of the Villa Bella* - a rundown homestay; cold and damp, with grubby bed… Continue reading Parklife
It's not everyday you get to see an endangered species in its natural habitat. So the opportunity to visit an orangutan sanctuary was too good to miss. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre aims to return orphaned or injured orangutans back to the wild. Orangutans only exist on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and are… Continue reading Hanging with the Orangs
One of the drawbacks of being married to a Chinese Doris is that from time to time you can end up in some decidedly suspect eating establishments. One such establishment was Yu Kee Bah Kut Teh in Kota Kinabalu. From the outside it looks like a low grade canteen, which is due a visit from… Continue reading “Meat Bone Tea” to You & Me
Ben Rook 