Week 18

Mon. July 30    Penang to Butterworth

Woke to find it pouring with rain and us very wet, so we moved under the veranda of the hut and cooked breakfast. Had a swim afterwards in a really rough sea. It started to get wet under the veranda, too, so we went and had some fish and chips in Georgetown. They were good, too. Went from there to the British Council reading room to read and write letters. We did our shopping and then crossed back to Butterworth where we reoccupied our old campsite.

Tues. July 31    Butterworth to near Ipoh
Drove to Ipoh and had a look at some of the famous cave temples. You climb hundreds of steps to get into these enormous caverns, which are all richly decorated with dragons and various statues of Buddha.
Found a camp-site in a jungle clearing and settled in. Dulcie says there were tigers and bears crashing about near us. I don’t believe her, myself.

Wed. Aug 1    Ipoh to Port Dixon
Late start. Drove to Batu Caves outside Kuala Lumpur. Again, very impressive limestone formations with huge stalactites. Passed through K.L. without stopping and made straight for Port Dixon.
Set up camp on the beach and swam, lazed about and just generally enjoyed being in such a beautiful spot. It is a great pity, but our little holiday is almost over.
It has been so good to travel so relaxed, without any sense of urgency and to be just tourists. When we get back to Singapore we have all the headaches of getting the land rover on a ship and then trying to find some way of getting ourselves to Australia.

[First diary ends here]

There is a 5-day gap in the diary now. I guess not very much happened in those first few days back in Singapore.