Malang to Malaysia

Question:
What happens when you follow a blog like Zenna's?

Answer:
It's called Post Zenna Blog Effect, when the standard of Zenna's contribution raises the bar and expectations so high that other blogs will just not compare.


I would love to be that good. Instead, I'll have to give you a load of pictures and a few words.

Malang was a good place to get back in touch with our Western routes by visiting KFC and McDonalds, who served rice as the standard accompaniment to Fried Chicken and Big Macs, not french fries. It works folks trust me. To confuse us even more McDonalds also sold Fried Chicken! Time Crisis 2 got rinsed out at the arcade, and we found a dodgy looking cinema where we watched "Macho", a film that may well be the worst kung-fu film ever made.

Our next stop was Jogjakarta. There are two must-see tourist spots in this city: Prambanan, a set of massive Hindu Temples; and Borobudur, the largest Buddhist Stupa in the world. We made it to Borobudur and here are the snaps.




There's an Indonsian on my shoulder!

At KFC The Willem 'Smile' attracted the attention of Willya, a resident Jogjan Uni student. Thanks to the smile, Willya and her friends we had a fantastic time in Jogjakarta. Go snaps!





Our friends Willya, Shinta, Leli, Icha and Rio


Zenna, Oran and Willem

Where Jogjakarta ended, Jakarta began. The capital city of Indonesia which has a reputation for being big, bad and ugly. It scored on most accounts, but we had no trouble there, apart from Willem getting his nipple tweaked by a 'fruity' Indonesian. Me and him also went to the Theme Park and that was our highlight. We left Jakarta pretty uninspired, saying 'see you soon' to Indonesia, and made for Singapore by ferry. The ferry was a mini-experience in itself, if only to see how mass numbers of Indonesians are transported from island to island. Very big, very overbooked.


Indonesia done

We liked Singapore for its clean streets, pleasant Underground, handsome buildings, efficient public services, cheap electronics and great Indian food. There was also an amazing jumping fountain near our hostel, I can't wait to tell you about it.

Our bus to Kuala Lumpur was only 5 hours. KL is home to the former World's Tallest Building, the Petronas Towers (Petronas is Malaysia's national oil company). It's the twin tower building they used in the 1999 blockbuster Entrapment. A heist in the movie involved extracting huge amounts of money from the International Clearance Bank which is located in the towers. I would have loved to have seen this but we were only permitted to visit the Skybridge on the 41st floor. Still, we'd stood on the same ground as Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones.



We have also visited the university that Nottingham has built out here, and it looks incredible. Zenna and I are definitly looking to spend a semester or two here in the next few years.

Today we spontaneously took a bus back to Singapore and booked a flight to Bangkok. We'll be there tomorrow night.

One month left now!!!