UK Couples First 24 hours of Van Life in MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

UK Couples First 24 hours of Van Life in MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

That is the first time I have ever seen a warning elephant sign! Wow! I reckon that will do Marianne! What you think? You did good! After setting off from the UK in January  2020 in an attempt to drive around the world in our old Fiat Ducato van Trudy,

We still can’t quite believe that we’ve actually arrived in Malaysia! Oh there’s monkeys on the road! This is madness! Yet here we are after 4 years of driving heading down to Johor  Bharu Mainland Malaysia’s most southerly city.

I lived in Singapore back in the’80s and being only a couple of kilometers away it was the perfect chance to go and catch up  with some of my old College friends. Singapore doesn’t allow camper vans, so we jumped on a bus!

It was so lovely to see everyone again and although we hadn’t seen everyone for so many years, we laughed like it was yesterday! Cheers! The real Voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new Landscapes but in having new eyes. Marcel Prost

Good morning, after that fabulous weekend in Singapore we’ve woken up here in a hotel in Johor Bharu, right at the south of Malaysia it’s another beautiful sunny day here in Malaysia! We’re pretty well packed up, we are and I’d like to thank our niece Molly for teaching us a new terminology !

We only have a couple of coat hangers, so she taught us the word floor drobe – so yes  we had a floor drobe! but the floor drobe is pretty well tidy now!

But before we hit the road we’re going to go find a Roti shop, because I think there’s a Roti shop at the end of the street here, and we’ll go get some breakfast! Morning there’s Trudy ready for the next  adventure!

In fact it’s if you’re wondering what’s in the wind screen all of these are tickets that we had to put one for each hour that we parked here. I tell you what, you can feel the heat as  soon as you come out of your air con room outside,  

It’s definitely humid, we haven’t actually  slept in Trudy since we’ve been in Malaysia,   but we’re going to give it a bash tonight but  I think it’s going to be quite hard going! For those of you that have ever been on holiday  over to Malaysia, you’ll know what I’m talking about!

Two coffee without sugar, two roti canai plain, and two roti canai onion! You can actually see them making the roti. good morning, that’s my onion roti there Yeah this is a typical breakfast place here  in Malaysia, they have curries out here for lunch,

And Roti, best way to start the  day right? I love Roti! If I can’t have a Turkish breakfast I’m having Roti! So in case you’re wondering, I speak a few words of Malay, because years ago when I lived in Singapore I used to live with a Malay family.

But when you do order white coffee or  coffee they normally put like condensed milk   in it which makes it really really sweet so  if you say ‘Kosong’ it means no sugar! oh it’s good Thank you – there you go breakfast for a queen! Thank you it’s really light flaky bread,

And then I’m not so keen on spice, so I always ask for just the dhal curry, which is really tasty and flavoursome, there you go, three dishes of dhal, so if you’re new to roti over here in Malaysia,

Roti Canai, you can actually get different types you can have it with onion, plain, with cheese in some places. I’ve gone for for an onion one, so there got onions inside, then you got three types of Curry, normally a dhal curry,

A spicy fish curry, and this one I’m not sure probably a meat curry of some form. Okay it’s Roti time! Trudy is all packed up, she’s ready to go, baking in the Sun! But before we left we wanted to show you the  map and our route for Malaysia,

But it was too hot to do it outside so we’ve come into this little  work room that they’ve got in the hotel. Marianne looks like a TV show presenter! Okay so let’s show  you this is the map of Malaysia,

So we’re currently down here in Johor Bharu and the plan today is we’re going to be heading past Kota Tinggi, down to the Coastline and then basically over the next couple  of weeks we’re going to be heading all the way up the coast all the way to Kota Bharu,

And then back down through the middle back to KL, because we got to do some work on the brakes, and then after  that we’re heading back up through the Cameron Highlands here, up to Penang, up to Langkawi and then  we’ll be heading into Thailand.

So it’s going to be a busy month ahead lots to see and do and and I think it’s time we hit the road, let’s do it! So the first stop we’re going today is about half an hour away still in Johor back into the city,

There’s a very unique and unusual looking Temple that we’ve heard  about that we have to go and check out! Early morning traffic here in Johor this morning! So a lot of you ask why don’t we have  air con in Trudy or why don’t we fit air con in Trudy.

Trudy does actually have some air on  while we’re driving, although it is a bit of an old system and doesn’t work really well. But really we’ve looked at putting um air con in, but it’s the power, it’s the amount of power – Trudy’s only got 2 x 100 amp batteries,

And there’s not really any space to fit anymore in the in the battery locker, so it is what it is! and we are actually when we fix the leak in the roof, the company that we visited is going to look at trying to put an extractor fan in the roof,

Or air con and increasing our battery power if they can, so watch this space we’ll be able to tell you more on that in a week or so time. Johor Bharu is actually a massive city, I didn’t realise it was so big, it’s been years since I’ve passed through here,

But it’s one of the Cities that a lot of people from Singapore come to, because everything is slightly cheaper here, or in some cases quite a lot cheaper including fuel, it’s so close just to nip over with the Causeway and come into Johor, but there’s so many more high-rises than I remember!

Yeah it works! Okay so we’ve parked  up and it’s literally 5 minutes walk, and we should be there, is the car lock on? yeah we need to remember to turn that off when we get in !

So yeah, a lot of you ask if we worried  about leaving Trudy in the cities and stuff, like that? We always worry, but we’ve got a car  lock alarm system in Trudy with a tracker which   is fabulous you should definitely check them out because it works absolutely great,

But just remember to turn it off before you get in otherwise you  get an alarm as you get in! Yes you get text saying somebody’s in your van! Here we go they got some scaffolding on the entrance here, but wow! Built in 1922 the temple is one of the oldest Hindu temples in Johor Bharu,

But it hasn’t always looked like this, back in the ’90s the chief priest was riding through Bangkok in a Tuk Tuk, when he spotted a twinkling light a  couple of miles away, the driver told him the light was coming from a temple, so he went there.

It was the glass artwork at the temple gate that had caught his attention, he was so amazed that a  small glass artwork captured his attention from so far away, that he decided to use the same technique in his Temple, and believed that the impressive glasswork would attract devotees and visitors from all over the world.

The new Temple with its 300,000 glass pieces opened  in 2009 and it’s the first glass temple in the world. Well that was absolutely fantastic! What a  place, the detail is actually being renovated parts of it, but definitely worth a visit I’ve never seen anything like it! Right we’re back into the oven!

And we’ve got 45 minutes to the next destination we’re going to head Northeast up towards Kota Tinggi and towards the coast! yeah hopefully tonight we should be, if all goes according to plan somewhere by a beach, which would be lovely! Whenever you’re stationary there’s  always bikes that weedle their way down through the middle like that!

You definitely need eyes in the back of your head so the reversing camera is definitely helping Marianne isn’t it? yeah, I love my little reversing camera! Trudy’s getting a few horns from the  motorbikes as they drive past, always a lovely welcome here in Malaysia.

It’s not uncommon to see a whole family of three, mum dad and a a young child sometimes even four on a motorbike with or without helmet,  so I know we don’t do that back home but  it’s quite a common sight over here.

There is a police car following us, it didn’t take long to get noticed by the police somewhere along the line, the police cars tucked behind  somebody else, so I don’t think we’re going to get pulled today…. no they’ve  turned off yes!

We definitely chose the right side of the traffic because it’s jammed on the other  side. It’s interesting many of the motorcyclists wear their jackets back to front, it must be to stop the wind I know when I used to ride a motorbike your jacket blows up with the air,

Which is actually nice kind of cools you down, although maybe the Air’s too hot here  and it actually makes you warmer I’m not sure. All these baby Palms growing, which is one of the main crops you get over here, palm oil palm sugar  and rubber,

We haven’t seen any rubber trees  yet but Malaysia makes a lot of rubber! That’s it, we just pulled off, we just saw the Sign that says welcome to Kota Tinggi. Okay we’re just coming into downtown Kota  Tinggi and I’m pretty sure there should be a car park?

Oh there is a big River you can tell there’s been a lot  of rain because the river’s brown! The rain has been washing all the mud off the mountains! So there’s a car park, so we need to try and get into there… turn right again, there is loads of parking here?

Okay – how do you pay for the parking? We have these tickets where we parked at the hotel but they said they won’t work in Kota Tinggi, they’re just for Johor Bahru. okay we just parked up on the road and I think I saw a sign that shop looks like they sell parking coupons.

So we’ll go and give it a bash! Where are you from? England – England whaw !! you drive here? Yes it is very far [Laughter] Thank you – Do I scratch this – yes you scratch it – It is Okay – oh you know what you’re doing? I know what I’m doing!

And the heavens have opened! Don’t you love rainy season? There you go so we put the tickets in  the window, so I think we should probably go and find some lunch, somewhere to shelter indoors  a little bit, it’s absolutely hammering it down! Alright Marianne?

We’d heard that the Yap fung noodle house was one of the best places to have a traditional lunch in Kota Tinggi, the restaurant had been in the Yap family for over 50 years and three generations later it’s now run by the Yap Brothers. We ordered a plate of their famous pork noodles,

Which are all made on site I just love these old school traditional restaurants, and could imagine the same restaurant, making exactly the same food, the same way, all those years ago. As I always  say, anywhere that’s lasted that long must be good! There you go how good does that look?

Noodles with some pork, different types of pork, some greens, and they got spicy spicy sauce here, and it comes with some soup, with some bits in probably a fish ball maybe, Mmmm absolutely delicious, stopping here for  lunch was definitely a good idea!

So after that wonderful lunch the rain has actually stopped for the moment, so we’re going to enjoy it and have a little walk around. I’ve just spotted some street art down this road so we’re just going to go and check that out.

There’s a local lady just telling Marianne where to go and look at the street art, so that’s nice, everybody’s very friendly! It’s quite common to find a couple of streets in each City filled  with colourful art painted on the sides of buildings. It’s nice… Yeah!

Got art on the walls,  it’s a lovely little …. oh the sun’s coming back out now! that’s a really cute little cat down there!   Oh yeah – a little cat, some food stands, oh it’s great!

Heading across the road we found more colourful street art that brightened up what would have normally been a very dark ordinary looking Road, there’s loads of them! So there are orangutans down there look, and then we got a Transformer here, and what’s that? Oh it’s a massive crocodile, that is huge! that’s great!

I’m loving this one, so they got the ostrich and they’ve made  the neck out of the drain pipe. And there is the river that  runs through Kota Tinggi, the river is looking very Brown because it is  monsoon season here in Malaysia,  

And it’s obviously rained a lot  washed lots of mud into the river. we just spotted a baby monitor lizard! You’ll find a hawker Center in every  town filled with local food stalls, you’ll get some of the best foods in them!

Okay back into Trudy and we got about an hour and a half to the coast! Let’s see if we can find a nice Beach  Park up or somewhere near the water would be nice! I just can’t get over how cheap the fuel is!

So diesel is 2.15 RM a litre, and believe it or not that is 36 pence a litre!! 36 pence! So wherever they’re getting it from can we get it in the UK at that price please?  yeah we need to buy fuel from there!

I wish it was like that we were driving all those miles in the states! All the way across there you can see the cups on the bottom of  the trees and that is because they’re all rubber trees! okay that is the first time I have ever  seen a warning elephant sign!

What’s that? What the heck is that? Is that a tapier? tapier? I don’t know there’s some really weird animal warning signs, but one was definitely an elephant! I never thought I’d see an elephant warning sign! I can see the sea! Oh my goodness!

So we’ll sus it out yeah, there’s a little car park here, this looks good, so this is one option, and then we’ll just drive to the end look at that ! there’s loads of parking on the beach here,

So right at the end, there is a little car park with a jetty where boats go off to the islands,

So we’re going to see if there is somewhere to eat because we we haven’t got the Jackery charged up yet to power the fridge, so we’re going to just drive around and see if there’s anything open! Does it go anywhere? No it’s blocked! There should be a car park down here,

Because this is where the the ferry goes to the islands, so we might be able to get something  to eat somewhere here? Maybe in that building there? They might do food? let’s have a look! There you go, that is the sea look at that!

So yeah I’m hoping they’ve got some kind of food in this building here but we’ll give it a bash! Can you hear that? the jungle bug noises? There’s definitely jungle behind you Marianne! where the Sea meets the jungle! Of all things I didn’t expect to see a massive Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Nope, no that was not what I was expecting to eat today! that’s the only food here? Everything else is closed …. I reckon that will do Marianne what do  you think? You did good!! I think the beach spot came good, look wow, and there’s a breeze! Oh it’s lovely!

Look at that for a beach ….. all the way along sand and it’s super windy  today which is lovely! oh that’s amazing! Join us next time as we continue our around the world drive and head up Malaysias East Coast

After Shipping our UK Van to Kuala Lumpur we are ready for our first 24 hours of Van Life in Malaysia

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Travel vlog 622 | Filmed November 2023 | Malaysia | Country 37/197

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