SINCLAIR TOUR AND TRAVEL – 5494 5083 GRAND MALAYSIA TOUR Departs 3rd Sep – 14 Days $6,999 pp twin share. Single $1,300 Tour Inclusions: Door to door transfers Fully escorted with Di and Peter Sinclair English speaking guide Return flights Singapore/all internal flights Singapore City Tour World Heritage Listed Malacca Boat trip on Malacca River Historical Ipoh Mangrove Forest/Orang Utan Island Cameron Highlands Tea Plantation Butterfly Park, Rose Garden Kinabatangan River Cruise Sepilok Orang Utan rehabilitation Centre Sandakan War Memorial 5 Star Kota Kinabalu Resort ALL MEALS DAY ONE 3rd SEP BRISBANE/SINGAPORE After pick up from your door as usual, you’ll be transferred to Brisbane airport for your flight to Singapore. We Depart Brisbane 11.35pm and fly to Singapore. Arrive 8.50pm where you will be met by your Siam Express representative and transferred to your hotel, located in central Singapore. Overnight 4 star Hotel Jen Orchid gateway, Singapore DAY TWO 4th SEP SINGAPORE - CITY TOUR / KUALA LUMPUR After breakfast, we’ll check out and be picked up for a Singapore City Tour. Visit Merlion Park, Chinatown, Clarke Quay with boat ride, Singapore Botanic Garden and the National Orchid Garden. Enjoy lunch at a local Chinese restaurant and be transferred to Changi Airport for your departure flight at 3.25pm for Kuala Lumpur. On arrival, we’ll be met and transferred to the 4 star Parkroyal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Dinner at the hotel and overnight. (B/L/D) DAY THREE 5th SEP. KUALA LUMPUR / MALACCA – CITY TOUR At 10.00am we’ll depart for a 2.5 hours (151 km) drive south of Kuala Lumpur to historical Malacca, the third smallest state in Malaysia and one of the oldest, and most strategic trading ports in Malaysia which has undergone Portuguese, Dutch and English rule. We’ll drive past the largest 17th century Chinese cemetery outside of China, located at Bukit Cina. We’ll stop at the foothill to view the Sultan's well and visit the 'Abode of Merciful Clouds' or the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple (1600s) the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia.Visit to Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum. Baba Nyonya are descendants of the early Chinese immigrants to the Malay Archipelago who inter-married with local folks. They were partially assimilated into the Malay culture, especially in food, dressing & language yet they still retain some of the Chinese traditions & culture they brought from China, thereby creating a new kind of mixed culture of their country of origin with local elements. Among those, Baba Nyonya cuisine has been developed with strong influence of the spices of Malay cuisine & the famous Sarong Kebaya clothing for the ladies. An included Baba Nyonya lunch today at a local restaurant. We’ll continue to view the famous gateway, the well-known Portuguese "Porta De Santiago" and the ruins of St. Paul's Church lined by 17th Century Dutch Tombstones. Visit "Red Square", the salmon pink Dutch Administrative buildings which today house the Malacca Ethnography Museum and government offices. The majestic Christ Church building (1753) is next on your stop. Overnight in 4 Star, Equatorial Hotel Malacca. (B/L/D) DAY FOUR 6th SEP MALACCA – RIVER TRIP – JONKER STREET Today’s excursion is at a more leisurely pace and features an hour boat ride along the Malacca River, relaxing and seeing the city in a different way, where once the merchant ships came from ports in India, China and Arabia to trade their textiles and silk for spices and scented woods. The centre street of Malacca’s Chinatown was once renowned for its antique shops. During the Dutch Malacca era, servants and subordinates of Dutch Masters used to live at the nearby Heeren Street. After the Dutch left, it became noblemen’s street. Rich straits-born Chinese started to live and do business within the street area, giving the street a deep-rooted ethnic and cultural flavor. Over the years it has turned to clothing and crafts outlets as well as restaurants. Today it is known as Jonker Street. Overnight at 4 Star Equatorial Hotel Malacca. (B/L/D) DAY FIVE 7th SEP MALACCA / IPOH – HERITAGE WALK, SNACK VILLAGE At 8.00am we’ll depart for a 4 hours (354 km) drive North West of Malacca to Ipoh in Perak. Enjoy a scenic journey passing through rural countryside and farmlands. After lunch at Ipoh we proceed for a walk in Ipoh city. In just over 130 years, Ipoh has transformed itself from a sleepy Malay village to the bustling metropolis it is today, the fourth largest city in Malaysia with a population of over 700,000. Its boom period began around 1880 and lasted until well into the 1930s, largely on the back of tin mining and it became known as the town that tin built. The tin rush drew in hordes of migrants, mostly Chinese, many of whom went on to build substantial fortunes. This wealth is reflected in the architecture of the period and many fine buildings remain in the old part of the city, west of the river. The Railway Station is a superb example of colonial architecture, completed in 1917 and designed by talented British architect, A.B Hubback, who also built Kuala Lumpur's famous station. Across the street is the stately, neo classical style Town Hall and Old Post Office building also designed by Mr Hubback during the First World War. The Birch Memorial was built in 1909 to commemorate the first British Resident of Perak State, JWW Birch. His somewhat heavy-handed attempts to extend British authority over the area resulted in him being stabbed to death in 1875. The Chartered Bank building (still occupied by the bank) dates from 1924. At that time Chartered Bank was the leading bank for the tin industry and the major banker to the Straits Trading Company, a big tin-ore exporter, whose former office building lies directly across the street from Chartered Bank. OCBC Bank now occupies the Straits Trading Company premises which were built in 1907 in Italian Renaissance style. Nearby is another bank building, Mercantile Bank, built in 1931 in art-deco style. The building remains in excellent condition. Mercantile Bank was taken over by Honking Bank in 1959. On the next corner sits the premises of the former Perak River Hydro-Electric Power Company, formed in London in 1926 and for many years the largest power supplier in Malaya. They built a dam and hydroelectric power station at Chenderdoh on the Perak River in 1930. The gleaming white neo-classical High Court building was completed in 1928. The next point of interest is the Royal Ipoh Club. It was believed to have been founded in 1895 and occupied a prime location overlooking the town field. The other bastion of British colonial life is the Church of St. John The Divine. When finished in 1912 it was the largest church in Malaya. Its bricks were cemented with coconut fibre, sugar and egg whites among other things. A few minutes away is the Museum Darul Ridzuan. It has a modest general collection of exhibits of St. Michael's Institution, a school with over 2,000 pupils. It is a massive gothic style building, with classroom doors and windows aligned north/south instead of east/west so as not to disturb pupils with early morning and late afternoon sunrays. Next door is the Town Padang Mosque. It was constructed in 1908 in Moghul style and has features similar to those in the Red Fort, Delhi. It was financed by a wealthy Muslim Tamil businessman, Shaik Adam. Inside is a lovely iron spiral staircase. The F.M.S. Bar & Restaurant, said to be the oldest restaurant in Malaysia which began operating on its current site in 1923 and is still operating today. We proceed to Kacang Putih Village. This village makes snacks brought to the country by migrant families from India, it eventually became every Malaysian's favourite snack and even became a name for a village. The moment someone says kacang putih (chick peas), the thought that comes to mind is the crunchy snack food -- a favourite amongst Malaysians. But when one is in Ipoh, Perak, it is advisable to be precise when saying kacang putih because there is a village in the outskirts of the city which goes by the same name. At Kampung Kacang Putih in Buntong, visitors can get not just chick peas, but a wide variety of crunchy deep-fried, roasted and steamed Indian snacks, including murukku, pakoda, omom and kadalai. Visitors are shown how these crackers are made from varies types of beans, vegetable, seafood etc. and taste various types of delicious snacks. This humble village has a thriving family-run cottage industry producing these snacks and is now considered one of the country's main suppliers. The kacang putih industry, which began in the late 1940s, had its beginnings at the foothills of Gunung Cheroh in Ipoh. Proceed to check in and overnight 4 Star Weil Hotel. (B/L/D) DAY SIX 8th SEP IPOH - ORANG UTAN ISLAND - MATANG MANGROVE FOREST After breakfast, we depart Weil Hotel for 1 hour 15 minutes drive to Bukit Merah (87km) and then by boat for 20 minutes to Orang Utan Island at Semanggol, Perak. While most of Malaysia’s orang-utan rehabilitation efforts are focused in east Malaysia, such as the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre in Sabah, other initiatives are also forming in Peninsular Malaysia toward this goal. One fundamental hub that contributes to these efforts is the Orang Utan Island situated within the Bukit Merah Laketown at Semanggol, Perak. The Orang Utan Island is a research institution dedicated to the preservation and research of the orang-utan.