A quick flight from Bangkok (one of the round-the-world segments) delivered me to this Orwellian city state. One small step off the cross walk or smoking a cigarette too close to a doorway and you will be in jail or at least fined about $500!

It works. This was the cleanest place I had been in months ... maybe ever. A shock to the system after Cambodia and Vietnam. Not only was it clean, but there was the complete lack of the hustler chorus line that seemed to follow me in other countries. Beautiful.

What was not, was the steep price tag that came with the hostels here. For a room in the downtown area of Little India it was about $50!!! And that's with a shared bathroom. Me and my travel buddy went online and found one for $35 in an area called Geylang.

Moving there the next day we found out why it was so cheap. I can't chew gum in this country, but the United Nations of brothels exists. First we passed a Thai, then Vietnamese and finally a Malaysian brothel and in Singaporean fashion the Police were around and anyone found littering would have been fined! I do not understand Singapore.

We decided to stay because well, I've been in worse (Athens has prostitutes in the actual hostels!). We chalked it up to seeing a different side of Singapore and headed for the famous shopping mall.

If I wanted to I could walk for days without breathing fresh air. The malls are all the glitz and glam as they are enormity that I had been prepared for. Not only do they supply the public with the goods they need, they are also the dining experience in Singapore. This is the cheapest and easiest way to eat here. What a change of pace from the street stalls in Vietnam!

Once we extricated ourselves from the air-conditioning we also took advantage of the park in the centre of town which hosts the Fort Canning bunker, which was built in 1936 by the British.

This underground series of rooms with secret escape route was supposed to be the key lookout for Asia during the Second World War. Well, that is until Lieutenant General Percival and the allied forces caved to Japanese pressure on February 15, 1942.

Now it's filled with reconstructed scenes of the allies debating what to do and a poster covering the wall indicate that Bermuda was one of the supporting colonies; though not sure how much choice we would have had.

Not complete with the colonial history included in the bunkers we headed for the "colonial" area complete with cricket pitch and statue of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles who founded modern Singapore by increasing trade through the Malacca straits.

The name of the city state, though, comes from an Indonesian prince who was sailing by the Island when he swore he saw a lion running along the shores (it was actually a tiger). Singapura or Lion city, however, stuck and now the mascot of this unique city state is a lion/fish statue.

Trade is still incredibly important for Singapore, which hosts one of the largest ports in the world and survives with an influx of foreigners who hold-down jobs that keep the city-state up.

With all the different nationalities, however, there is no animosity towards each other. Malays live next to the Indian community while the expats are welcomed into the community as fundamental contributors.

These various groups can be seen hobnobbing together in the Quayside here in Singapore where random bars that resemble clinics or coloured houses host the drinking and nightlife of Singapore.

After a whirlwind tour the first day we extricated ourselves from Geylang the second to meet up with my Singaporean friend I met in Vietnam and drag her around the city, high heels and all. Protesting, she reminded us that no one actually walks in this city. That's too bad because it has some beautiful streets from Chinatown with it's organised lanterns, to the lion on the sea, parks and one of the tallest hotels I have seen. Of course we had to get a drink here to finish off our day.

Next stop? The Island of Sentosa. This is a theme-park island attached to Singapore by monorail which passes the largest ports in the world to disembark on a man-made beach. Of course there are buses to take the pedestrian-adverse where they need to go. I refused. We walked to Fort Siloso which was built by the British to defend the surrounding water. Unfortunately, the Japanese entered Singapore from the North and therefore made the guns at Siloso almost completely redundant. While the British were run out of Singapore, unfortunately, the Japanese taking over were no better, if not worse, to the locals here and the island went through some hellish times. (Changi Prison in Singapore was the centre housing many POWS who were lucky if they left).

After some heavy history it was time for some fun on the luge before delving below the waters of the aquarium with its tunnel. Sentosa is a weird mix. The next day we had an early start for the bus to Malaysia! There is a public bus that will run you across the border for a mere $4. Apparently many Singapore residents people do this to simply buy gum and cigarettes before returning. These of course need to be only bought in moderation, though, otherwise you could be caught trying to supply.

After disembarking the bus twice (Singapore side then to enter Malaysia) we found another bus to take us to Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. My travel buddy had cut his foot quite badly while he was in Laos and it wasn't healing so we needed to get to a decent hospital.

This cosmopolitan city is like Singapore with less rules. Yes there is litter here and just because people jaywalk all hell has not broken out! Unfortunately while I might have been freer to do what I want my bank was going to throw my wallet in jail. When ATM after ATM denied me I finally called. My bank has banned ALL OF MALAYSIA! No amount of fighting was going to change this (apparently put in place to deter fraud) and I was just very lucky I had a travel buddy until I could take cash advances on my credit card.

Kuala Lumpur, needless to say did not get off to a good start.

Once we had his foot fixed and I had some cash we decided not to waste any more time and get out to see some of the city. Of course where else do you start but the Petronas Twin Towers – the tallest twin towers in the world. To visit the bridge between them required getting up before 9 a.m. That wasn't going to happen so instead we took advantage of the throngs of shops, the cinema and aquarium that exists in these towers. I will confess ... we ate a Chilis. Yes I was in Malaysia, my name is Robyn Skinner and I ate at an American chain restaurant. At this point I have been in Asia for about four months and I was getting very tired of noodles and rice (yes a celiac said that), which are staples of Malaysian food.

But we were not the only ones. It was Ramadan while we were here and every day around 6.30 p.m. people would be lining-up outside the restaurants. The first night we walked by the line thinking we would have to leave our names only to be shown a table immediately ... then it dawned on us. They have to wait! I can't imagine the willpower that must take.

Like Singapore there is a colonial area of Kuala Lumpur which we had to visit and a China Town which we walked through briefly with it's bazaar. Finally after about three days in this town I had enough. I was still struggling with a head cold (damn that air-conditioning) but I needed to get out of a city so we headed for the bus station and a six-hour bus ride delivered us to the naturally cool Cameroon Highlands.

It was an amazing bus ride alone through the dramatic, green and lush forest that envelopes Malaysia (and this wasn't even Borneo which must be absolutely beautiful). Almost immediately I felt better. It was off with the shorts on with the jeans and sweaters before setting off for one of the hikes the next day.

We didn't have a map so we took a photo of the directions. This served us well the first day leading us past waterfalls, over fallen trees and finally to the largest tea plantation in Malaysia. Tea shrubs stretched as far as we could see and of course we had to take a break from the hike to imbibe the product. Felt truly civilised drinking tea while looking over the green fields.

We had a brief tour of the factory where the leaves are dried and organised into the lovely drink before heading back to the main road. It was going to be another six kilometres or so before we could get to the bus stop. Luckily the Malaysians are very generous with rides and a couple stopped their truck and offered to give us a lift to the main road. Or well that is at least we understood from the sign-language we exchanged.

Terima kasih (thank you) and we tried to find the bus ... only it was a Sunday afternoon and we were pretty sure we were not going to find one. So we started walking. Within 10 minutes we got another lift with a tour guide! I was definitely warming to the Malaysian people.

The next day we tried a second hike in this neighbourhood. Again we took a photo of the hike. It was never going to go well when we left the door and the grey clouds gathered. Soaking wet we took numerous wrong turns until we were sure we were on the right track. Well until we ended up at a power station! The only way home was to grab onto the wires and throw ourselves around the corner ... Soaked and fed up with trying to find the path we followed the main road back to the hostel.

We found an amazing little restaurant with some incredible Gado Gado (a salad with potatoes, peanut sauce, carrots, lettuce and various other vegetables) to help recover the day.

The next morning we had to rise early for the bus and ferry to the Pehrentian Islands.

Next stop: Pehrentian Islands