We shipped our UK Van to MALAYSIA 🇲🇾
There she is! oh my goodness. So Marianne’s going up in the van – the plan of action, they’re stacking pallets! Driving around the world for the past four years in our old UK van Trudy, has been quite a challenge and at times it can be pretty stressful.
We just had a fire in the van! But by far the most stressful part of the trip is when we have to ship her between countries. I mean do you remember the time when we collected her from the shipping port in the US…
The realisation that we have been properly done over on the ship!! Then there was the problems trying to leave the US…. I don’t know what we’re going to do? And what about our arrival into Japan? Do you speak English please? No!
But none of these came even close to the stress caused to us when we dropped Trudy off at the shipping port in Korea. And they damaged her when they tried to lift her with a forklift truck! Oh my God what are you doing? No!
Then they decided if one forklift didn’t work, that they should try two at the same time! one at each end. The big question is if they had all that trouble loading her onto the shipping Rack in Korea, how are they going to unload her when she arrives in Malaysia?
Success is Not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts – Winston Churchill Yes it is that time in the morning! No! 3:30 the alarm was set for, what kind of crazy time is that? I’ve had a coffee, we’ve woken up, but today we are leaving South Korea…
We have a plane to catch, to go to Malaysia, and fingers crossed there should be a taxi outside? but Korea you’ve been fabulous taxi is there! It’s very Posh Marianne! Yes it is very Posh! I feel like a princess! It’s a good start, we’ve arrived at the right terminal on time.
That’s it, we’re going! We’re off, we’re leaving, Air Asia flight over there. Boarding the plane I couldn’t believe that our two months in Korea had gone by so quickly. I guess it’s true what they say… time flies when you’re having fun!
The aircraft is being refilled please remain seated and release your seat belts, I usually feel like this when we leave a country, I mean after spending months there, you just about get used to it when it’s time to move on! Yet at the same time I’m excited to be heading to Malaysia,
A country we love! We’ve been there many times on our annual holiday back when we had normal jobs, we even went there on our honeymoon! But this will be the first time we’ve ever had the chance to explore it in our own van.
Welcome to Kuala Lumpur! Yeah, can you believe it? We are in Malaysia baby! Yay! you can feel the heat already and the humidity, and we’re half asleep because did we sleep on the plane? No of course not! We’re really excited to be back in Malaysia,
If you’ve been following us for a while you know that we’ve already done videos when we first started here in Malaysia, and it’s been quite a few years, probably about six years since we’ve been back here , but it’s definitely one of our favourite countries.
In fact we used to come here for our annual holidays every year, So we’re super excited to be in a new country with the van, in fact most of our family has been here too! and the ones that haven’t been, might even come out and visit us here! yay
So yeah there’s going to be a lot of travel and we’ll show you a bit of a different side to Malaysia, but it all goes according to plan my old school friend Natasha, from school in the UK, should be meeting us, to give us a lift to the hotel today!
Okay we’re through everything, immigration, passport, now let’s see if Natasha’s here. You good? Nice to see you! We haven’t seen Natasha and Peter since we were last in KL back in 2017. So the hours drive back to the city was spent catching up on each other’s news. A lot has happened since then!
But before heading to our accommodation they wanted to take us for lunch in a nearby local eatery. How could we say no to some Malay food?! Heading into the restaurant we were faced with a wonderful display of curries… I’ve missed the food here, and yes for the record it tasted as good as it looked!
Welcome to our apartment here in KL, which we’ve rented whilst we’re waiting for Trudy to arrive. Here is a quick show around so we got this wonderful Lounge look at this with a view over the skyline of KL there. it’s pretty nice isn’t it? It has got a big kitchen,
Then into the bedroom, oh hello! Bathroom, bedroom, and then through here you’ll see there is a second bedroom! There is bedroom number two! And the reason we have bedroom number two is because my niece Molly is flying from the UK today,
Because we’re going to take her to Borneo and go on a little bit of a mini road trip adventure, into the jungles here in Borneo! So we better go to the airport because she’s due pretty soon.
After being on the road for nearly 4 years we really miss our family and heading to the airport we were so excited at the thought of spending the next few weeks with Molly. Oh you made it! This is Molly – my niece this is Chris my uncle!!
The story behind Molly so many of you have asked why is Trudy called Trudy …. and it’s because I took Molly out when she was a young teenager in Trudy, and she was said Uncle Chris you need to give your van a name! so I said what should we call her ?
And you said? Trudy! Trudy the Tread van! it’s got a nice ring to it….. and it has stuck, so Molly is the reason that Trudy is called Trudy! So welcome to Malaysia – Thanks guys!!
We planned a couple of days relaxing in KL so Molly could get over our jetlag, but being her first time in Malaysia, she was excited to get out and about and so we headed to the Central Market. Built in 1888 it’s one of KL’s oldest. Then we walked to Chinatown,
Time to head down some of those small alleys. Perfect place to take some pictures to remember the day! Yeah so now we’ come down to Petaling Street, which is like there’s loads of street food and stores and stuff like that, you can get a tattoo!
As night fell we headed to the Petronis towers they always look so magical lit up at night. We stood there soaking up the atmosphere, enjoying the music, and watching the fountain show. I think Molly enjoyed her first full day in KL. She’s handling the jet leg so much better than we do, Oh to be young!
The next day we took Molly to see the Batu caves. Located in the Hills 13 kilometers from the city centre, this amazing Hindu temple is a must see for anyone visiting KL We decided to visit in the morning before it got too hot,
Because climbing the 272 steps is hard enough in the Malayan humidity let alone in the midday sun! There’s always a bunch of naughty macaques waiting to steal your bottle of drink, so make sure you hold on to your belongings! And it wasn’t long before we came face to face with one.
Okay after a few days chilling in KL, Molly has got over a jet lag, and I reckon it’s time we went to Borneo to go and find some orang utans! Okay that didn’t work! flight’s cancelled, it’s not cancelled, just delayed – next flight, we’re going to get a new plane!
Okay so apparently there was some technical problem with the plane, so we’re changing planes so our plans are slightly delayed, but it’s all good! It’s always better to find out a problem with the plane before you take off, that’s my logic! stop smoking!
I can’t actually see my seat from this steam what is that? We apologise for the delay of this fight, Welcome to Borneo! hey we made it ! Oh we’re in – pin code Hotel! Good morning, morning are you ready to go find some orangutans? I’m ready! You’re awake now love?
I’m awake, I’m excited! So this is Sandakan which is a one of the towns they use as a base to go to Sepilok the orangutang Sanctuary which is where we are going this morning, it’s bright and early it’s about 8.15 the centre actually opens at 9:00,
So we will see if we can find a grab! Yeah except I don’t know Direction so you have to tell me where we are! So yeah they don’t really use Uber over here anymore, they use grab and 5 minutes later we got a grab! There you go, so we’ve just learned about a new fruit called Talup
That you can only get in Sabah? Yeah can only get in Sabah, My name is Mimi, this is very good service Mimi our grab driver is taking us to find Talup. First time for everything! oh my goodness, is very big! I love these sporadic moments, wow oh wow it looks so strange inside!
Okay I’m trying, yeah, oh it’s got a very slimy texture. Oh my, oh that’s really good, is it good? It tastes like banana! Oh my goodness try that one Mols, it’s delicious, is it fruit? we’re going to have so much fun when we hit the road in our van!
Goodness this is just the best ! I think we should stop at every fruit store on the side of the road! it’s like a sweet jelly yeah um fruity thing! oh yeah so good! dragon fruit, mangoes, papaya, durian. Oh it looks like a clover garlic! what is this one called?
Oh my Godness! Mankis Mankis, that is lovely, it’s sour, oh I love it. Okay welcome to Sepilok, we are here it’s just after 9:00 in the morning and it opens at 9:00, first thing we got to do is going dump our bags, because they do actually have lockers here for the bags.
So yeah we’re going we’re going and dump these. So there’s 110 rings to get in you also have to pay for your camera, so what we’re going to do to begin with we’re going to walk down these walkways, and we’re going to go to the rehabilitation centre,
And then in about an hour’s time they do the feeding at the feeding station. We quietly headed down the wooden walkway starring up at the trees in the hope that would spot on orangutang, these critically endangered animals can only be found on the islands of Borneo and Samatra,
So it’s very rare to get a glimpse of them in the wild. But if we’re going to see them anywhere it’s here. Sepilok was established in 1964 to rehabilitate orangutangs that had been orphaned from deforestation, and the destruction of their natural habitats to make space to grow lucrative palm oil.
Check out the spikes on this tree, you wouldn’t want to go trekking through that would you?! We just heard a noise coming from in the jungle sounded like an elephant, and then one of the guides here we said is that an elephant and he said yes, it is!
So yeah this region does have pygmy elephants in it, although they are very rare to see. No luck so far this morning so we headed into the centre’s outdoor Nursery viewing area, where you can sit and watch the young Orangutangs being rehabilitated Okay so now it’s time to go to the feeding station,
What’ you reckon? Your first ever orangutan – that was that amazing, so cute like flying around, the way they move is amazing! We’ve arrived at the feeding platform, they’re just starting to come down they haven’t even fed them yet. What you reckon? love them, I want one!
There’s no guarantee that you’ll see a rang of tangs at the main feeding station but today we were lucky, and there’s always one naughty attitudy pigtail macaque that comes down to join the feed. after the rehabilitated orangutangs are released back into the wild they still come back to the platform to feed,
Until they get more and more confident and move deeper and deeper into the rainforest, it doesn’t matter how many times you come here it’s just the best! On a bucket list, this has got to be one of the top things to do!
Agreed? number one! number one! It’s been off it’s been absolutely fantastic, and getting the opportunity to come to the oldest rainforest in the world … what do you reckon love? I reckon I’m so out I’ve had to take me glasses off, they steamed up!
But I love I love the fact that the orangutans actually look like guys in the pub after having far too much beer on a Saturday night, leaning up at the bar with their hands in the air, I have a few friends that look like that!! You know who you are!!
Okay now we’re going to the sunbear Conservation Centre which is right opposite, that they have rehabilitating sun bears which are also locally found here. The Malayan bears are the smallest bears in the world and only found in Southeast Asia. Due to deforestation, illegal hunting and the capture of young cubs for the pet trade
A number of bears have ended up living in captivity indoors, The centre which opened in 2014 provides Care and Rehabilitation to 43 rescued Bears. We spotted a few of the Bears and even a nest of stingless bees whose honey is one of the Bear’s favourite snacks.
After loading our bags into a bus we then started the 2-hour Journey South towards the Kinabatangan River. We have got a few miles to go but it’s looking pretty wet out there Mols? it’s a rainy river, it is called a rainforest for a reason!
We’ve arrived in a rainforest and guess what!? It’s raining !! yeah where we’re staying is actually over that River, we got to get a boat across, so we’re just parked up here waiting for this storm to go past we get very wet! Okay the rain has almost stopped,
Welcome to the rainforest, Molly guess what it’s raining! And it has gone in my eyeball! heavy raining!! [Laughter] hi – thanks ladies, you’re welcome. Well we got here just before the heavens open again, the heavens are opening! Okay we made it and light!
The thing about staying in the jungle is at 6:00 a.m. in the morning the boat leaves to go on your first Safari cruise down the river, so I’m up bright and early but trying to get these two up, it’s been a bit of a challenge!!
There is a reason we were up late listening to you snore!! I don’t believe them!! So we’re going to go out and see if we can spot some wildlife this morning. I just notice that the lens is starting to steam up from the condensation from the air con!
You ready? Yeah baby! Born ready! born ready!! We headed out into the Morning Mist up the mighty Kinabatangan River. At 560 km long it is Malaysia’s second longest river, the surrounding Forest is one of the oldest in the world and has one of the richest ecosystems.
In fact is one of only two places in the world where you can see 10 species of primates including orang utans and the proboscis monkey, which can only be found here in Borneo.
If you’re lucky enough you may even see a herd of Borneon and pygmy elephants which we were lucky enough to see last time we were here. staring into the greenery we spotted our first primate, a family of macaques! and there’s a baby crocodile lurking in the shallows,
Looking up we spotted one of the eight species of hornbill found here, what an experience to see all of this nature and its natural world habitat, it wasn’t long before we saw a seriously large crocodile swimming alongside the boat, we even got to see the proboscis monkey.
Head out for an evening boat trip we spotted more amazing animals. but then the Highlight! that’s amazing – very close! Mohammad our guide has just managed to spot on a moving boat up the Kinabatangan River, a wild orangutang mother and a baby Mohammad you’re amazing thank you
This is gold !! This is just incredible – a lifetime experience! Honestly – we wish you could be here with us, because this is just Epic Heading back the sun started to go down and we were treated to the most magical Sunset over the forest,
I think this is a trip that Molly will remember for the rest of her life! Hey orang utangs! Yes Orangutangs baby !! Today is the day! so whilst we were in Borneo Trudy has arrived and this morning we are heading to Port Klang to pick her up!
And after the drama we had in Korea of loading her, let’s just hope the unloading goes a little bit better than the loading! Yeah our shipping agent said that the van Trudy is still on the flatbed rack, so we should be able to watch it and supervise the unloading of her.
And cry a little bit, and cry! So yeah we need to get a grab taxi this morning which is like our equivalent of an Uber, and the drive it’s about an hour’s drive but it’s rush hour so yeah we’re leaving like super early.
Thank you – okay so we’ve arrived at this restaurant so we’re going to have breakfast while we’re waiting for Abul the shipping agent, we’re about half an hour early, perfect breakfast a bit of roti, Curry and a coffee – what do you reckon Marianne iced coffee in the morning is the best!
So yeah Abul our shipping agent should be here probably in about half an hour, exciting times. I just hope Trudy is all right!! Look at that flipping the Roti !! Okay we met up with Abul, this is Abul our shipping agent who is going to take us now to get Trudy,
Apparently she’s still on the rack but the Magic’s going to happen! he’s going to show us how to do it properly. There she is, oh my goodness! good morning, Friend how you doing? you good? she made it! okay so Marianne’s going up in the van, plan of action they’re stacking pallets!
Okay, so what could go wrong? A 3.5 ton van driving down steps made out of old pallets, I told you the shipping process is one of the things that always causes us the most stress! here we go again! I am not going to lie, this is slightly terrifying!
So it’s a bit of a high angle, they’re piling up pallets with the metal on top, what you reckon? that’s the only way …. no comment! no comment we’re going to go quiet now! I’m worried about that the height there they’re not the same, the second one? yeah you see it stops there look
Okay we’re going for it It’s all right love actually – keep going Yes Woo hoo!! Oh my God – good job ! Okay that’s a high five moment! A few pallets broke but it’s good, it’s good it worked it worked!
Oh my God, that was so cool, but so scary all at the same time! It worked! good job ! We have brought down even a heavier car that yours!
I know, but I don’t know that! You know – but I haven’t done that – you’ve done it ! I haven’t done it! Oh my goodness Trudy is finally here! We got her off safely! We’re excited, a little nerve wrecking – I can’t believe that we’re actually driving around Malaysia!
I say this in every new country and every new country is like overwhelmingly different!
We spent a couple of weeks exploring Malaysia whilst we wait for notification that our van Trudy, has arrived at the shipping port. The big question is can we get her off without causing more damage?
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Travel vlog 620 | Filmed October 2023 | Malaysia | Country 37/197
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45 Comments
Here you are in Malaysia . I was going to say that you are going to be in one of the most friendly country that the nature is awesome but after Chris' commitments , I gave up. You folks have seen this part of the world already.
Well, OUR LOVES TO TRUDY THE SWEET GIRL, then to you too.
Enjoy and keep those videos coming. Love love love and 💕❤❤🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷
Welcome back to Malaysia 🇲🇾
Malaysia's rainforest is the oldest rainforest in the world..older than the Amazon's.. it's rich in wildlife conservations and flora and fauna… Enjoy more the hidden gems of MALAYSIA 🇲🇾 please 😊
Good grief that ending was sketchy!!! really looking forward to seeing your travels around Malaysia. Much love..
Welcome to Malaysia 🇲🇾
I have always wanted to go to Malaysia! It fascinates me. Really can't wait to see your adventures in this lovely country. Glad Trudy managed to get there relatively unscathed. Love how Molly have Trudy her name. The markets look amazing too.
Sepalok is so special we got lucky and saw 2 Wild Orangutans and a canoe ride to see pygmy Elephants. We also got very wet. Such a shame palm oil growth is destroying wildlife habitats.Guides are so good at spotting. Of course our fav was Turtle island and watching a live egg lay at 1a.m.
Marianne you done fab getting Trudy down….you Rocked it!!! Stay safe guys and takecare. Rose xxx
Welcome to my neck of the woods!
👍👋🏻
Sarawak borneo very beautiful I'm from England and wife she from Miri .we moving back to Sarawak in 4 years time 😊.. Sarawak very nice people and food just so wow..I love take my car to Sarawak ..try fine cost from England to Sarawak?
The adverts on YouTube are just OTT. 2 lots in the first 4 minutes!
That's a fantastic video really enjoyed it thanks phil uk
Great to have ur niece to see part of world u know so well. Love the sanctuary n the orang-utans esp u got to see wild ones too, lovely sunset one of my favourite things to watch. Least u got tredy down with no more damage.
Marianne you managed sooo well getting Trudy down !!!! You’re the best ! 😜💖
just wondering …. is australia on your list?
You two are such amazing cuple hope I end up like you two. 💞
The troubles you came across during these travels were trying but you guys always find a way to beat these challenges 👏👏
I love to see you guys with family it brings that extra smile to your faces 🫶
The caves look amazing and they cheeky monkeys 🙈 you gotta laugh 🤣
Orangutans 🦧 are my most favourite primate, so intelligent 🧐
Ahhhh how cute seeing that Orangutan in the wild ❤
Yay Trudy arrived safely 👏👏 well done Marianne great bit of driving to get her off 🙌🏾
I recently found your channel, so I am watching it from the very first episode, so I am now in Turkey with you during Covid, but WHY is Chris saying amPitheater all the time? It is amFitheater , although it is spelled with PH -> F -> am · fuh · hee · uh · tr
🙂
TARAP.. not TALUP
Nice one! That must have been nerve-wracking coming down those pallets, good job!
Awesome video as always Chris and Marianne. Congratulations Trudy is finally has her wheels on the ground in Malaysia. Prayers for y'all on your journey around Malaysia and for the rest of your journey around the world. I really hope that the Shipping company in South Korea compensated y'all for the damages to Trudy.
What an experience. She will never 4get. If only I could
Great video of KL & Borneo, glad you managed to see the orangutans and the bears 🐻
Nice to see that Trudy arrived safely and that the Malaysian shipping agent and team had more common sense to build a ramp to get Trudy off the shipping container
Another fab video 😊
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I love when family gets to join in!!! So happy for all of y’all!! So many lifetime memories made!!
Welcome to Malaysia..thank you because you love my country..enjoy your times
Glad to see that all of you including Trudy made it to Malaysia safely. Those orangutans have this to say about the manner of Trudy being loaded up in South Korea 🙈🙉🙊…they would’ve gone bananas, but Trudy disembarking safely, the thought does a peel
한국은 지게차들고 안전해주고
말레이시아는 운전위험하고..안타깝네요
한국은 정말안전해줬어요..
Just for the viewers here : the oldest rainforest is in daintree australia. But malaysia has the oldest tropical rainforest on earth at 140m years old. Amazon is about 55m years old.
The adjective for something from the UK is "British". So it's a British van, not a "UK van".
Mantap Bro 👍🏼
앞으로도 행운과 행복이 가득한 여행 되길 기원합니다.
I was too traumatised to comment on your misfortune at the Korean Docks, and enough people were reflecting your horror anyway. Unfortunately this careless behaviour happens in the UK too, at a lot of Salvage Car Auctions. They carry vehicles around on fork lift trucks because the batteries are disconnected for safety reasons, even on the undamaged cars. As a Trade Plate Driver, I have to take photos of every vehicle I deliver and note it down on the delivery app. If I miss any damage or fail to comment on it, I am liable, so my advice to anyone hiring a car or shipping a vehicle is to do the same. Photos are more widely accepted than videos mainly because they use less data, and sadly it's all about the blame game as my wallet will bear witness. But I wish you good luck in getting reimbursed, and hope you don't meet anymore ''Screwdrivers"!
Mangosteen i love those fruits too
Hope u checked those tyres for nails lol 😂
Thanks for that bring back memoirs when in the British army in Borneo jungle training in the 70s. As the Orangutans would climb down to find your 24 hours ration's
The Korean loading teams could learn from the Malaysians. You would think they should have a proper ramp to slide into place for loading vehicles.
Out of interest, you’ve been on the road for 4 years. What do you do about MOT’s for the van? Non-UK countries usually expect vehicles to be road legal in their original country etc. Or do some not?
Welcome to malaysia🤝😊😊
that is manggis in malay, in english mangosteen if im not mistaken
15:07 We call it 'manggis' in malay. For english, we call it 'mangosteen'.
I’ve been really looking forward to the Malaysia videos. My brother in law is Malaysian Chinese from Ipoh and of the people of Malaysia are like brother Kuan then you’re in great hands. He’s the best like the food. I hope you try the poached chicken and rice. It’s like a hug on a plate xxxx
the pallet work well. the last crumpling just a bit suspense.
Definitely you guys gotta visit Titan Logistics Malaysia. They are pros in handling motorhomes from & to anywhere in the world