Medway Students: On a personal note ...

I have not long returned from a fabulous 3 1/2 weeks in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, where I visited a number of former students from the University of Greenwich and the University of the West of Scotland. I'd like to say a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Joy, Mickey, Chiao, Sugu & Fu Yu, Anu and Prem for all they did to make my time there soooooooooo much fun.

I took over 1300 photos and my lovely hosts sent me another 600+ ... so, where to begin to give you a sufficient taste of my time away??!! I'll do my best :-)

Here's my 'Name that Fruit' quiz

(answers can be found at the end of this post)

It was lovely to be met at Suvarnabhumi Airport by Joy and Mickey. After checking in to our lovely hotel, and a chance to freshen up, it was off out to eat, explore and shop.

During the week Joy and I visited the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Vimanmek Mansion Museum ...

On Wednesday, Aug 12th Chiao arrived from Taiwan and the following day we left for a Koh Samui for a couple of wonderfully relaxing days at the beach ...

As the girls headed back home to Bangkok and Taipei, I stayed a night in Surat Thani on the mainland, before flying south to Malaysia ...

My nine days in Malaysia began with a three day trip to the Teman Negara National Park. Teman Negara covers a total of 4,343 square kilometres and is reputed to be one of the world's oldest tropical rainforests.
To get there involved a three hour coach trip from Kuala Lumpur to Jerantut; then, after lunch, a half hour trip to Tembeling Pier and three hours on a long boat to reach the heart of the park ...

After the evening meal we took a 90-minute night walk through the jungle, along with our knowledgeable and humourous guide called Pizzan. Day two involved a three hour trek through the jungle, a wobble along the canopy walkway (which is supposed to be the longest in the world and stands around 45m above the canopy floor!!), plus a white-water experience and a visit to an Orang Asli tribal village ...

My time in Malaysia was also spent catching up with friends Sugu & Fu Yu and meeting their new family addition, Praveena ...

Durian cheesecake ... it's just not right!!!

One bite is definitely enough!!!

For the final leg of my trip I took the bus from Kuala Lumpur down to Singapore which took almost seven hours on an extremely comfortable coach and cost less than £8 ...

Sri Lankan students Anu and Prem were my two wonderful hosts in Singapore and gave me a fantastic five days seeing the sights ...

My first decent coffee in 19 days!!!

Day one in Singapore included a trip up to the observation deck of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel which afforded the most amazing view of the Gardens by the Bay. A visit to the gardens themselves proved to be the real highlight of my time in Singapore ...

If you're not a fan of flowers you might want to scroll down further. I found the gardens sooooooooo beautiful and in amongst the nature were some amazing pieces of art work ...