We stayed in the Carlton Hotel, which is very central in Singapore, a reasonable sized room though a little cramped with the 3rd bed for Elspeth. Other than the hotel in the Cameron Highlands, all were air conditioned, as were the shopping malls. We visited the Changi Gaol Museum (went by bus), which was very interesting. I had not appreciated that the Japanese killed quite so many members of the Chinese population in Singapore. We did see the quilt, of course, with Joyce’s contribution; it took us quite some time to find it! Other than breakfast, we ate in food malls. These were collections of little stalls, all in the same area, selling various kinds of food. I was sceptical to start, but with no ill effects right through the holiday. We met Elspeth’s friend, Cat, at Changi and she stayed with us for most of the rest of the day, as well as guiding us down to the river to find a restaurant for supper.

From Singapore, we flew to Georgetown, Penang and stayed in the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. This was a fine, recently restored, establishment in the best traditions of Colonial times, although rather built around by modern monstrosities. The doorman was dressed in bush shirt, shorts and long white socks; we had a suite of rooms, with high ceilings, fans and a sea view (but still with air conditioning); breakfast included curry and porridge (flavoured with duck or chicken, although I was later to discover this was rice porridge and not oatmeal), accompanied by Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’. There were some fine screens and other pieces of furniture. We took a tour around the island with visits to a batik factory, and Buddha’s recumbent, standing, pointing and gilded. There were some very fine carvings in the temples. The monks obviously liked pot plants! I did buy camera film in 2 different temples and we had a laugh about this being blessed by the monks and we are therefore hoping the quality of my photos will be better than normal! We did visit a Snake Temple, which had a very aggressive cobra and quite a large python, which fortunately had been recently fed chickens, but was not very happy when I prodded its meal…

From Penang, we drove to the Cameron Highlands (air conditioned Nissan X-Trail), avoiding the Expressway and through Ipoh and Taiping. We were delayed as the roads were flooded following a storm and a few cars had stalled in the deeper water. At one point, Elspeth opened her window to take a photograph, just in time for a tanker to whiz past and soak her!

We stayed in the Cameron Highlands Resort hotel, just on the Golf Course, which was very pleasant. I wondered if we were getting special treatment (we certainly had a room upgrade) as we were referred to as Mr/Mrs/Miss Cameron throughout in spite of all entreaties that this was my Christian name! In spite of being unable to buy a decent map (apparently ‘proper’ maps are the preserve of the military!), we managed a 5km walk/scramble through the jungle on our own and saw pitcher plants. My knee, which I had injured while cutting down a horse chestnut at home, held up well, thank goodness. The hotel arrangements for guided tours did not work out, so we booked a trip at a little stall in Tanah Rata. The Boh Tea plantation was interesting, still partly owned by a Scots family. I was surprised to see the workers (mainly Indonesians) wearing wellingtons and a rubber apron, until we were told that there were some particularly poisonous snakes in residence amongst the tea shrubs. During the visit to the Butterfly Farm, I was volunteered as a prop for various creepy crawlies, including scorpions (They, too, had been recently fed..). We then drove for 1½ hrs to an Oran Asli (aboriginals) village to pick up a guide and walk to see a Rafflesia flower. These are a kind of fungus, up to 2ft in diameter, but only last for a week before collapsing.

The walk in took 2½ hrs, initially up a logging track and later up a narrow path through the jungle. The guide from the Oran Asli set a fast pace until our minibus driver grumbled as the party was strung out over ½ a mile. One couple from Bangalore were not well prepared. While we were in our walking boots, he came in loafers and she in flip flops and very white cotton clothes. Her clothes were quite a mess after a slither or two down slopes. We did not see many birds, but the noise from the cicadas was at times deafening. We tried the blowpipe on return to the Oran Asli village and it was surprisingly accurate up to 20m.

We drove from The Cameron Highlands to Kuala Lumpur, knowing that we were due to have dinner with Tunku Adnan, who worked in Malayan Customs with Judy’s father, that evening. We were entertained at the Lake Club (members only) by Tunku, his wife Raja Noor and daughter Nita after scrambling around to get the correct clothes to turn up in planter’s rig! Tunku kindly took us around KL on the following day including a visit to a shop selling authentic Malaysian goods and Putrajaya, which is a newly built federal government city to the south west of KL, and has spectacular buildings and bridges. Lunch was authentic satay, with excellent chicken and beef, but I was less keen on the tripe (a favourite of Raja Noor). On the following day, we met Arfah, another family friend and now retired from her role as professor of law, who took us to older parts of KL and provided detailed guidance on lunch at a local restaurant! While with her, Judy mentioned that she had lost touch with Yu Lin, with whom she went to primary school and had last seen in 1972 at Gray’s Inn, London. Arfa put us in touch and we met with Yu Lin the next day for lunch. This was a proper Chinese meal (she owns at last part of the restaurant), with one of the highlights being a very crispy duck with head and feet still attached… KL was good for shopping and cheaper than Singapore. Judy and Elspeth had copied a trick learned on Philadelphia shopping trips and packed a suitcase within a bigger suitcase.

From KL, we travelled by overnight sleeper to Kota Bahru, in the state of Kelantan, on the north east coast of the peninsula, close to the Thai border. Most of the UK travel agents that we had contacted could not cope with booking a train, but the trip proved to be worthwhile and good fun. The rolling stock was 1950’s vintage (but with air conditioning), but with a narrower gauge and sleeper cabins larger than in the UK. Smokers would stand with the carriage doors open! This was not particularly dangerous as the train travelled pretty slowly. The journey was scheduled for 12 but took 14hrs, which suited us quite well as we had extra daylight time to look at the jungle. Rubber plantations seem to have been replaced by oil palm, covering huge areas. We stayed in Kota Bahru for one full day, but many shops were shut in celebration of the Sultan’s birthday. However, we did buy batik and silver Kelantan jewellery.

We then had a short visit to the Perhentian Islands for swimming and sun. Snorkelling was excellent with coral a short swim off the beach. We had acquired an underwater camera in Kuala Besut, our port of departure to the Perhentian Islands, but this proved quite difficult to use with a facemask! The transfer to and from the islands was by local boat with 2 x 200hp outboard engines bolted onto the stern, which was great fun, as we must have been travelling at 40mph. We had one guided snorkelling trip which included a dive at Shark Point (and there were some) and swimming with turtles. The ban on selling alcohol in Kelantan (a Muslim state) did not extend to the Perhentian Islands, but the hotel did not itself sell the beer (nothing else!). This was handled by a Chinese lady with a beach bar who ferried the requirements to guests after being hailed for a T (Tiger) or C (Carlsberg).

We did visit the Orchid Gardens in KL and came away with lots of photographs and 3 containers of young plants, all of which seem to have survived the trip home