October 6th-8th, days 173-175, Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia


We stay in a small town on the edge of a large national park, an area of ancient rainforest. The attraction here is the availabiloty of hiking in the jungle. The one everyone went on was to the rope bridges suspended between trees right up in canopy, giving a unique vantage point on the beauty of the jungle, not to mention an Indiana Jones-esqe feeling of adventure.

October 8th-11th, days 175-178, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia




So we head from the peace and tranquility of the islands and jungle to the busy metropolis that is KL, the capital of Malaysia. It's a rich international city of bright lights and sky-scrapers. It's a shame that Joy is now suffering from a nasty cold and so can't go out much. The most impressive thing is, of course, the Petronas Towers with their sky bridge linking them about half way up. Someone, who may have been a tout, informed me that the tickets were all sold out for that day, but a group who had booked tickets hadn't turned up, so I could have on of theirs for RM110 (Malay Ringits), about £30.
Thirty quid to go up and say 'oooh! aaah!' at a view of a city where the most impressive thing you won't see because you're in it? I think not! Later I became glad of my decision as Ben told me that they are normally on RM10! Maybe I'm becoming scam and tout proof, a lesson I learned in the school of hard knocks, a valuable lesson if travelling.

KL is also rather sad, because it's here that people start to leave the trip. We say goodbye to James and Kay, Maggs, Neil and Kylie, and Kaye, all people who six months ago we were just starting to get to know and now it's hard to imagine that we'll never see some of them again. We've travelled thousands of miles with them and shared the joy of wonderful experiences and the hardship of difficult experiences together. They've all flown on to Australia, some because it's home, some for more travel.

October 11th-13th, days 178-180, Kuala Lumpur - Melaka, Malaysia





Melaka is a World Heritage town and rich in maritime history. It's an important historic port in a strtegically important place, and stop-over for many ships en route between the far east and middle east. As such it has a maritime museum, and it also looks rather European thanks for colonial influence. It is also home to some good seafood resturants. Well worth a trip to if you happen to be in KL for a few days, it's close enough for a day trip.

Here, more people disappear. We have a party night in a bar/restuarant with live singing and a good atmosphere the night before the Borneo crowd head off for their 3-weeks extra trip. Goodbye to Kirsten, Lesley, Roberta, Barry and Pauline, Simon, Ben. Again, people who have been our travelling companions for six months, and some of whom we might never see again. Now there's only seven of us left.

October 13th, day 180, Arrival in Singapore, the end of the Odyssey Expedition!





That's it. We've completed the Odyssey Expedition. There are times, such as waiting in Baku for the boat to Turkmenistan, of the intense heat of that bushcamp in Uzbekistan and coming down with heat-stroke, when I wished I was safely at home, wondering why the hell I wanted to do this. At those times I really thought I woundn't finish it. Now I have. I don't think I'd have done without the wonderful support of Joy, and the friendly encouragement of Simon and James.

The border crossing is quite smooth, except for the customs officials taking a very keen interest in Pete's collection of large knives, causing an hour's delay. That's nothing compared with the 12 hours at the Kazakhstan border, we've all learnt patience. Then we're through and headed to our hotel for tonight. Singapore is an island city-state, but not all the island is built up. The part that is looks like the richest, cleanest, tidiest and most well organised place we've seen since Europe. The apartment blocks look like you'd need at least a 6 figure salary to live there. A very high standard of living for those who can afford it. Tne city itself is a lot of modern sky-scrapers, including one group of 3 tall buldings with what looks like a large boat resting on top of them. Most impressive.

No visit to Singapore is complete without a visit to Raffles Hotel to have a famous Singapore Sling. Everything in that bar costs an arm and a leg, so it's only one drink there. For me, the Singapore Sling finally marks the end of the Odyssey trip. Anything we do now is entirely up to us to organise.