Lombok & The Gili Islands

Turtle Sanctuary - Gili Trawangan

We arrived in Bali and got picked up at the Airport by Andrew & Simone. It was really good to see them again. We spent their last 5 days with them in Kuta before making our way over to Lombok. We left Bali from Padangbai which is in the South East. From here we took the Local slow ferry over to Lombok. And yes it was slow! 5 hours later we were docking at Lambar. Approaching Lombok was breathtaking. It was a beautiful lush green islands filled with mountains. Unless you see it, it is hard to believe how lovely it really is. We found our driver who would be taking us to Senggigi. Another mini bus ride with more amazing scenery. We drove past local villages, Burning rice fields, waving children and a stunning sunset. Senggigi was just a stop over. We arrived in the early evening, ate in a tasty restaurant, slept bad as we were next door to what seemed like their only night club and left early in the morning to get to the Gili Islands. The drive from Lambar to Bangsal took us up the whole of the West coast. Bangsal is where you catch a small boat over to the Gili Islands. Gili Air is the smallest and the most populated Island closest to Lombok. Gili Meno is in the middle and is the quietest and Gili Trawangan is the biggest with the most accommodation and restaurants. Catching the small boat over is quite an experience. The locals are also using the boat as their main transport to and from the Gili's. So imagine 20 travelers and 40 locals battling it out to squeeze past the engine, climb on board the rocking boat, walk across the seats as the middle is packed with cargo and find a spot to sit without sitting on a pineapple. Oh and if your not quick enough to get on that boat then you will have to wait for the next one, which can take up to a few hours in low season. Our boat was meant to have 25 people max but we counted at least 41, not including the extra weight of the cargo, bags and double mattress which was balanced on top. With no life jacket in site, Sam was not feeling to confident on board. It took about 30 minutes but we survived and soon found a room in the village. From Gili.T you can see all 3 Gili Islands and Lombok. And on a clear day you can see Gunung Agung on Bali at 3142 metres high. With no transport on the island, it was good to breath in some clean air. Especially after Kuta! The only problem is that the only transport on the island is a Cidomo aka Horse and cart, so you do breath in Horse s**t but that made us feel a little bit at home in the countryside again. We walked the whole island in under 2 hours. It was hot but we enjoyed it. We only spent 6 days on Lombok & Gili.T but enjoyed our short time here. We are glad we popped over from Bali.

Singapore..... again.

Three months into our trip it was time to get back to Singapore before flying to Bali.
We really enjoyed Singapore last time so we thought we'd spend a few more days here before flying out. We arrived in Singapore at 10:30am found the closest MRT underground station which took us to our guesthouse. after dropping off our bags we headed to Orchard Road fore some food and a look around the malls. The next day we walked along Clarke Quay and stopped for a pint of ale in the brewerkz, where they brew their own ale. It was nice to have a decent pint of their finest hopback ale. We carried on walking down the river to the famous Singapore lion where we seen a Asian soap being filmed, and a super model having a photo shoot. That night we made our way to the night safari and started the evening by watching a Bornean tribal fire show.
We then watched the creatures of the night show before hopping on the night safari tram and beginning our tour of the park. As well as the tram we also walked the safari trails it was strange walking through a zoo at night. We seen some really interesting animals such as fruit bats, flying squirrels (which we actually saw fly), and the clouded leopard. By the time we arrived home it was gone midnight. On our final day we got the monorail across to Sentosa island, which now hosts a universal studios. All buses and transport on the island is free. We got the blue line bus to fort Sentosa, a fort that was built by the British and used in world war 2. The soldiers surrendered to Japanese and fort Sentosa become a prisoner of war camp for three years, until the end of the world war. After the fort we went to underwater world which has many different species of sea creatures a dolphinarium and UV jellyfish tanks. We spent a few hours looking around before heading to Sentosa beach for a beer and a pizza (extremely tasty) and enjoy watching the flowriders. We still cant believe how clean and efficient Singapore is by far our favourite city.

The Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

We left the Cameron Highlands at 8:00am and arrived at 4:30pm at Kuala Besut in the north. From there we took a speed boat for 40 minutes to Kecil the smaller Perhentian island. Upon arrival we were very excited, the islands were very beautiful with crystal clear waters like we have never seen, and we were told that there were many sea turtles to be seen. We found some basic accommodation on Panjang beach and slept in a wooden longhouse which was also home to many monitor lizards which lived beneath, one which was 5ft in length. We only had electricity during the night for our fan to keep us cool as the whole island is run on generators.
We took time to explore the island and walked the jungle path to Coral Bay. Walking this path lead to Matt breaking his toe on our last evening. On the third day we booked a snorkeling trip around the islands. We stopped of at some really great sites and the best coral reef in the Perhentians. Shark point was fun as we actually seen sharks for the first time, we seen a few black tip reef sharks the biggest one being two metres. After shark point we were taken to a secret spot between the two islands to see the turtles. The first turtle we seen was huge, Matt kept up well with his fins and was lucky enough to see it mate. The other turtles were a bit smaller and more relaxed so
we had plenty of time swimming with them and watching them surface for air which they do every 10 to 15 minutes. We finished our trip at turtle beach where the turtles go to lay their eggs, this area is protected and was absolutely beautiful. The rest of the time on the island was spent relaxed on the beach, drinking banana and strawberry lassies and doing a bit of bodyboarding. The Perhentian Islands are definitely worth a visit.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Adios Thailand, hello Malaysia

Our 2 months in Thailand were complete. We came back to Koh Phangan with no Full Moon Party to relax on the quiet island. It was only a short stay but it was good to be back again. We returned to Light In Bungalows and was surprised to find that we were recognised and greeted with warm smiles. Before we left Thailand, we thought we couldn't go without experiencing a Elephant trek. So we paid for a 1hour ride on Nelly. It was quite scary really, we were sat on top of this huge animal, trusting it with our lives. But we survived. And we enjoyed it, we got taken to a great view point where we could see the ocean & mountains filled with lush Thai trees.

Since we have gone into April, we noticed the temperature rise quite a lot. It was now
unbearable to sit in the sun. This made us look forward to the coolness of the Cameron Highlands.We left for Butterworth, Malaysia at 06:00am and after a few change overs & a long mini bus ride we finally arrived at 10:30pm Malaysian time. We only stayed in Butterworth for the night and got up early once again to catch the 8:30 bus to the Cameron Highlands. The 3pound bus ride took us on a 6hour journey with the best views & scenery we have ever seen. It was like a Jungle in the sky, Huge mountains with clouds covering the tops, Plants, Vegetation & Tea Plantations.
We were 5000ft above sea level and the air was crisp & clear. We arrived at Tanah Rata early afternoon and found somewhere to stay almost immediately. We put on our trousers for the first time in 3months and had a look around the town. As it started to get dark, we threw on a jumper and drank a cup of tea, crazy! It wasn't that cold but we were used to it being a lot warmer. The cameron Highlands is a good place for hard core walkers. On our first proper day we walked the Jungle path 4 to the Parit Waterfall & Watch Tower. What would have been a nice Waterfall was a little bit smelly with trash floating around at the bottom. And the Watch Tower with a great
view was collapsed into a pile of wood. We were quite surprised that we came across this in such an amazing place. Robinson Waterfall was better but we were still not impressed.We had a busy few days visiting strawberry farms & enjoying the best strawberry juice and sundae's. The Butterfly & Insect farm was also fun. Our favourite day was our tour day. We were the only people doing the tour so it was nice, our tour guide Nick was really good. We drove up to the top of Gunung Brinchang. The highest point in Malaysia accessible by road. 6,666 feet above sea level. Trekked through the Mossy Forest and got to try some wild Cinnamon. Stopped at a view point overlooking 234 hectares of Tea plants. Visited the BOH Tea Plantation, danced and tried blow pipe hunting with the Orang Asli Tribe and finished the day with a dip in a really nice & clean waterfall.....at last!

Koh Tao, Thailand

After a while away, we were ready for Island life once again. We caught our bus from underneath Hua Hin clocktower at 8:00am and after another maniac bus ride, arrived at Chumphon 4hours later. Chumphon is were Southern Thailand begins and were we caught our Catamaran to Koh Tao. We didn't expect the boat ride to be so bad but when the employees started giving out sick bags & tissue before we even set sail, we started to get worried. And right we were to worry. As you all know for the last 2years we have caught the Brittany Ferries crossing from Plymouth to Santander and every time we have both complained about how bad the journey was. Well we both felt even worse on this boat. For over 2 hours we had to put up with a very choppy ride with more then half of the boat vomiting, unfortunately we came under the sick category! poor us!
But as soon as we started to approach Turtle Island (Koh Tao) the sea calmed and the sun was shining again. And the boat ride was totally worth it. We found a room just before Hat Sai Ri Beach. Koh Tao is very big on caring for the environment, not every place has 24hour electricity and like everywhere else in Thailand, toilet roll down the loo is a big no no! Our first few days where cloudy in the mornings. We even had a 10minute downfall a few times. But the sun always found us by mid afternoon and by the end of our time on the island we found it extremely hot. On our second day, we decided to walk the South West coast of the island and had a amazing day. By following our Koh Tao map, we came across secluded beaches and paradise. We also found some great snorkelling spots. Koh Tao is one of the worlds most popular places to get your open water diving certificate, its also pretty cheap to do so. The waters are crystal clear, shallow and filled with coral reefs and tropical fish. Some of the marine life around the island include The Whale Shark, Black Tip Reef sharks, Blue Spotted Stingray and much more. We were lucky enough to see a puffer fish.
We went on a snorkelling boat trip that took you around the whole island. It was a great day and a funny one too. We started of by climbing down onto our boat "Thai style" which is by stepping of the pier, down onto the bars on the side of the boat and swinging onto it. Then you have to climb over 2/3 boats to get to yours! After this we realized our boat was stuck in between 5 other boats and the end boat was sinking. It was filled with Thai men trying to put pressure on one side of it and a machine pumping out the water. Everyone was screaming instructions to each other and after 20minutes we were on our way! We stopped at shark bay.......and saw no sharks! gutted! And also snorkelled in some amazing reef sights with Beaked Coral Fish, Harlequin Sweetlips, Parrot Fish, Long Fin Banner,Titan Trigger, Butterfly, Double Barred Rabbit Fish and sooooo much more species that only Leanne and Dave would know. We ended our boat trip on Nang Yuan Island, we came here 3 years ago and was again blown away by the beauty of it. Nang Yuan is 3 islands all joined together by a huge sandbank and surrounded by massive boulder rocks and live coral....so no fins allowed! After plenty of Musaman Currys, fried chicken in ginger and spring onions and banana & coconut shakes, our week on Koh Tao had come to a end. This is a very beautiful, peaceful and amazing island and we will miss it.
Our time in Thailand is nearly over and we will finish our last 4days back on Koh Pangan. We cant believe it has gone so fast.

Phetchaburi, Cha-Am & Hua Hin. Thailand.

PHETCHABURI
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There was no reason at all to stay in Pattaya any longer so we made our way to Phetchaburi, on the upper southern gulf of Thailand. It took us about 5 and a half hours and cost us a fiver each.
phetchaburi is an old Thai town not really seen by tourists, we only noticed a handfull of westerners in our two day stop. We hired a taxi driver for a few hours to take us to Khao Luang & Bandai Caves. The caves were nice and cool inside with plenty to see. Bats hanging from the cave tops, large buddha's, monks and monkeys. After this we went to Phra NaKhon Khiri
and caught a cable car to the top where we had a look around King Mongkut's palace. it's a national historic park, where sam was asked to cover up her sexy legs. Cobblestone paths then lead us to temple Phutta Sai yat and Sa Bua. At the top there are great views over Phetchaburi and the palace.

CHA-AM
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We caught a local bus to Cha-Am which took about one hour. Cha-Am is full of modern Thai culture and is a getaway spot for Thai families. It reminded us of being at the british seaside without the fish and chip shops. The long beach is full with multi coloured deck chairs, buckets and spades and screaming children. A blackpool for the Thais. The few shops and restaurants
that were there, closed early. But they did have a few sleeze bars where we could play pool and laugh at the good old english causing trouble. Another short stop before making our way further down the upper southern gulf.

Hua Hin
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It took us 40 mins to get to Hua Hin and we travelled there in a kitted out mini bus with widescreen tv and surround sound. The driver dropped us off outside the Hilton hotel where we didnt stay. Hua Hin also has a very large beach but is more accomodating to tourists. With plenty of bars and restaurants. Still not a place we would come on holiday too. In the evening we had a look around the night market and walked through the streets of Hua Hin. The following day we
visited the "famous" Hua Hin railway station. The train station features a beautifuly restored royal waiting room and a steam train. We then walked to the kings summer palace which was supposed to be open to the public, we were not allowed in so maybe he was there.

Pattaya, Thailand

Another 8 Hour journey took us from Koh Chang to Pattaya. From Pattaya we should be able to get to our choice of destination, Phetchaburi.
Pattaya is a really busy resort, popular with old & young white men looking for a Thai gal. It's not really a place we would choose to go but we both ended up having a nice 2days.
On our first evening we visited the Pattaya Central Mall. It's a great modern place, with lots of shops to look around and a cinema/bowling complex on the top level. We had a look around and thought we would treat ourselves to watching Alice in Wonderland in 3D. It was great. We both really enjoyed it and as we were sat there I think we both forgot we were in Thailand. At the beginning of the film whilst they are playing the trailers, they play a short film and ask you to stand and pay your respect to the King of Thailand.
On our second day in Pattaya we went to see "Big Buddha" . It was interesting to see because it was so huge! All around it there are lots of different types buddhas for every day of the week, they all have a meaning and the Thai people all come here to worship.
On our way back from Big Buddha we caught a taxi moped. Us and the driver on 1 bike, crazy!
Next we will be catching a local bus to get us to the Upper Southern Gulf.

Koh Chang, Thailand

We left Haad Rin (Koh Phangan) in the back of a truck which dropped us to the port to take us on a 3 hour boat ride to Don Sak. From there we took a coach to Surat Thani, two taxis and finally a ten hour coach ride to Bangkok where we arrived at 5 in the morning, the whole journey cost 12 pounds! After a power nap we went to explore Khao San Road. A busy tourist road in Bangkok full of bars, market stalls, food venders (selling fried water beatles, maggots, crickets
and scorpions). After indulging in none of this sam and matt booked their bus and boat ticket to Koh chang and Kyle sorted her transport to the airport. In the evening Khao San turns into a mad road where thai people still manage to open more stalls onto the already cramped street. We awoke the next morning bright and early and said adios to Kyle. After a 7 hour journey we
arrived on Koh Chang and went to our first stop, Klong Prao. Here we spent three nights of peace and tranquility on the deserted beach, eating fresh fallen coconuts for lunch, skillfully opened by Matt. We then moved to our next stop further south, Kai Bay, where we found our own little stone haven in a luxury resort. Taking full advantage of the swimming pool and free BBQ and only paying 10 pounds a night! Moving on to our final stop on Koh Chang, Hat Tha Nam (Lonely Beach) We stayed at a mellow place owned by a German guy called Thomas. The food was good, the beer was cheap and every night at 7pm he would play the latest movies
on a 50" screen. We spent the days relaxing on the beach in Matts hammock, playing pool, getting kicked out of a 5 star hotel and probably drinking to much beer. Which was all payed for with the 2000 baht (40 pound) that Matt found on the beach! Due to the blood splashers in Bangkok (Protesters) Kyle decided not to fly back from Australia but to spend some more time with her sister, we are hoping to meet up again in June. Her geographical skills will be missed but we must say we haven't had as much local attention brought to us, since her departure. In a nutshell we really liked Koh Chang, its really different from the southern Thai islands. It has a jungle feeling to it and the beaches are more natural.

Koh Phangan, Thailand

We caught the 13:00 boat to get us from koh Samui to Koh Phangan. Koh Phangan hosts the biggest beach party in the world, the full moon party, so we were all looking forward to getting there and seeing what all the fuss was about.It was quite cloudy on our way over and by the time we arrived at the pier, it was raining! We couldn't believe it. Our first proper rain fall in 5 weeks. Koh Phangan was already getting busy with people ready for the full moon. But we luckily found a place to stay, a bit more pricey than usual but we were prepared to pay it. Our first few days we spent looking around, on the beach and eating chocolate chip cookies. There was a nice buzzing atmosphere. Sam celebrated her 23rd birthday, swimming in the ocean and bathing on the beach. We also went out that night and danced the night away on the sand, whilst drinking buckets. Buckets are Koh Phangan's speciality, the beach is filled with stalls selling mini buckets of alcohol, with ice and plastic necklaces made from straws thrown in for free. Monday came quickly and it was time for the full moon party of March 2010! With our body's painted in luminous colours. Matt winning the body art competition, we headed for the beach. There was a nice vibe around, everyone was happy, drunk, dancing and jumping through burning rings of fire. Different types of music was being played from various beach bars. And fireworks were going of all night long. The atmosphere was great. When you get tired of dancing, you just sit on the sand for a while, next to some sleeping strangers before getting back up and dancing some more!
The full moon continues till 11am the next day, we on the other hand didn't stay to the end. Our dancing sand legs felt it the next day! On Andy's birthday we hired a 4x4 and drove around the Island to do some exploring. Our first stop took us to Phaeng waterfall, to our amusement, there was no water. This made us laugh. We drove on some more and came to a few small temples and a marble Buddha. And then onto Paradise Falls which....had no water! we couldn't believe it. We later found out that apparently the day we arrived was Koh Phangan's second rain fall they have had in 13months, Hence the lack of natural flowing water. Never mind, Andy continued to drive whilst Matt had fun standing in the back. The so called roads, were the worst roads either of us had ever seen. They were just a dusty, dirt track really. We eventually found a waterfall, with water and had a great time chilling on the rocks and swimming at the bottom of the fall. After this, we found some luxurious beaches that were practically deserted and well worth a visit.
All together we had a nice time on Koh Phangan, the buzz of the full moon party soon
passes over to a relaxed atmosphere and a gorgeous beach. A place we wouldn't hesitate to
return to, if given the opportunity to do so.

Koh Samui, Thailand

Another early start to get us to Koh Samui. What was meant to be a nice air conditioned bus ride to Don Sak in the Southern Gulf of Thailand....turned out to be the hottest, fastest and bumpiest bus ride ever, thanks to a unique bus driver!!
From Don Sak you get the ferry across to Na Thon, Koh Samui and from there you can get a Sawngthaew (mini bus style taxi) to Hat Chewang. Chewang is the most popular beach in Samui. Me and Matt had been there before so were both looking forward to returning and seeing how the place had changed.
Chewang is a nice place, there are lots of shops, restaurants and relaxing beach bars to keep you busy. Our first night we chilled on the beach once again. We had been away from the beach for a few days so it was nice to get back on one with a cool beverage....Pina Colada for sam :)

We had ourselves a bit of a luxury room, t.v, wifi, 1 minute from the beach and a swimming pool, not bad at 4 quid each.
The rest of our time in Samui was filled with days at the pool, Cheap Thai food and a bit of bartering. Matt kept himself busy by having another tattoo on his other leg. No sun, sea and sand for him for a week! All worth it of course!!
Our last evening in Samui was the funnest. We visited Koh Samui's Bar Ice. A bar which is -7 degrees, everything is made of ice. As its so cold you cant have glasses and bottles, so even your drink is given to you in an ice cone! In the bar they also have ice elephant sculptures, tables and a tuk tuk. pretty clever. Wearing flip flops wasn't the best idea.
All together it was a relaxing week in Koh Samui, sometimes its hard, never having to do anything or be anywhere.
Still a feeling were getting used to after 5 weeks.

Phuket, Thailand

We left Phi Phi at 9:30 on the ferry to go to Phuket, the journey took one and half hours and we once again arrived to a busy port. We then caught a mini bus to Kata beach on the southwest, which is meant to be the best beach on the island. Our very nice mini bus driver then helped us find accommodation, when we arrived we found our room to be lovely and spacious and rite in the center of town. We explored the area and walked to Kata beach and Kata Noi beach, which was a lot quieter. After a couple days of relaxing in Kata we made our way to ladyboy central.... Patong! We walked through the street during the day and it seemed pretty normal, however at night it was a different story. After refusing to pay 500 baht (10 pounds) to watch a vaginal talent show we decided to quench our thirst with a beer and a game of connect four. A few beers later we decided "perhaps a vaginal talent show would be interesting" so off we went withouth paying the street price. We seen The: Whistle show, RazorBlade show, Frog Budgie & Eel show, Dart & Balloon show, Candle show, Ping pong show and the Smoking and Ribbon show! When the show was finished we all needed another stiff drink, so we carried on until the early hours! The following day we hopped back on the bus to take us to Phuket town. There we decided we would head to Koh Samui the next day but needed to find somewhere to sleep for that night. 5 minutes down the road was the On On Hotel which also features in the film "The Beach" 2 pounds a night each wasnt bad even with the extra cockroaches. We went for a walk around town amd was happy to find a large park filled with lakes and wildlife, that night we retired early ready for our early journey the next morning.

Phi Phi, Thailand

We caught the boat from Krabi to Koh Phi Phi Don and arrived to a hectic pier of hotel touts.
Ignoring them and storming to the main guest house strip, we quickly found a bamboo bungalow footsteps from the beach. Koh phi Phi is a interesting Island, The main hotel and shopping area is on top of a giant
sand bank, which separates two mountains. If you make the sweaty effort to walk to the top of Koh Phi Phi, the view point is amazing. In the evening Phi Phi really comes to life. Fire dancers on the beach and Western style Thai boxing.....quite interesting. Matt came away with burns on his arm after trying his hand at fire skipping and fire limbo (only small ones mum).

Day 2 & 3 - MATT
Got up early to book my place on a camping trip to Maya Bay (Where they filmed "The Beach"), only thirty people are allowed at one time and there is only one company in the world which has the permit to do this. Me and Andy got our stuff together and set off at 2:30 on the reggae reggae boat, we passed Viking cave and had 45 minutes snorkling at a reef before arriving at the bay. When we got there all the riff
raff and boats were leaving, perfect! We took some time to take photographs and had a cold beer whilst the sun went down, doesn't get much better than that. After sunset we sat down as a group and had dinner followed by a beach bucket of whiskey and coke whilst listening to music and being entertained by the local king crabs which come out at night and live in the trees. After dinner we all made a campfire, watched a firedance show and listened to the Thais playing guitars and bongo drums. The sea
was glistening with electric plankton, when you disturbed the water it came alive with green, purple and blue neon dots. We spent most of the night lying on the beach taking in the beauty of the place and watching the billions of stars which filled the sky. This is one experience I will never forget, and would love to do again.The next morning we woke up at 5:30am to the sunrise over the bay (Thought I was still dreaming) Had some time for a few more photos and a swim before the boats and tourists returned, my cue to leave. The rest of the day I felt very relaxed and that's exactly what I did.

Day 2 & 3 - Sam and Kyle

We started our day by walking to the top of the island to find the tsunami village. We expected to find maybe a memorial or museum but actually came to the new living quarters where the Phi Phi residents live. The houses were really unusual, they were on stilts with the living space situated on the second floor. we then walked back down to town before trekking up another load of stairs to Phi Phi viewpoint. The walk was really ho and sweaty but well worth the views right at the top. You could see
the two mountains and the connecting sandbar in the middle as well as a poster which provided a snapshot of the area after the tsunami had hit. We couldn't believe the destruction until later when we found out that the tsunami hit Phi Phi on both sides of the bay. There was a really nice garden on top with some unusual and beautiful flowers in. Today was Suzannes birthday, Happy Birthday to Suzanne! Sam was very saddened by the fact that this was the first of her mothers birthdays that she has missed and did not get to drink a penis colada with her. On the other hand we had a fantastic day out on
a boat trip. We were on the boat from 9:00-7:00 and it cost us 9.50. We`had a VIP boat with free tea and coffee, water, a toilet and there were only 5 of us! Our first stop was shark tip point where we were glad that we did not see any sharks whilst snorkeling. However we did get to feed the fish bread and the various fish made it a good first stop. Our next stop was a choppy boat ride to a bamboo island. Needless to say Kyle experienced sea sickness, haha! Bamboo island was definitely by far the most
picturesque beach we have ever seen. We had to get in a mini speedboat to get to the beach which we are not exaggerating when we say was choppy. Waves were coming over the side of the boat nearly washing us out to sea and making us hold on very tight. After Bamboo island we had a bumpy lunch before we sailed past mosquito island on towards monkey beach. We snorkelled again here whilst avoiding getting hit by the many stopping boats. There was lots of coral so there were loads of different varieties
of fish and sea urchins to look at.Our final stop was Maia bay which we swam too and entered through a tiny cove at the back. To end the trip we watched the sunset in the bay then returned too dry land.

Krabi, Thailand

Before moving on to Thailand we had to make our way back to Georgetown, Penang to arrange our 60 day Thai visas. We stayed in Georgetown for two nights at a guesthouse called StarLodge, owned by two Chinese brothers who loved to learn for free. The next day we made our way to the The Thai Embassy to apply for our visas, a long wait but luckily we all got accepted. The following morning we got picked up at 8 a.m for a 9 hour mini bus journey to Krabi, Thailand, which was a long, hot and uncomfortable journey. When we arrived we met up with our friends from Langkawi in our hotel, that night we all went to the food market and on to yet another ReggaeBar! The following morning we went for breakfast and then got a
TuckTuck to the Tiger Cave Temple in a tropical rainforest, which is a place of worship and home to over 250 Buddhist Monks. There is also a GIANT staircase of 1237 steps which winds up a limestone cliff, reaching the top will reward you with an incredible view and there is a huge sitting Buddha, a golden pagoda and a few other small constructions. Tho very sweaty and tired it was worth the hike! Tomorrow we will get a boat to out next stop Koh Phi Phi.

Pantai Cenang, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia

That morning we got on another train which took us to Arau, the train was packed with school children and took alot longer than it should have, which seems to happen frequently here in Malaysia. Then we got a taxi to Kuala Perlis and made it just in time to sneak through the back door of the ferry to Pulau Langkawi. On the way we met a wild beast called andy, who turned out to be an alright guy.When we arrived we got a taxi to the nicest part of the island Pantai Cenang. We found our first nights accommadation at about 10:30 at night after being rejected by many full guesthouses, which wasnt so bad as the one we got was directly on the beach, next to a Reggae bar, with live music. The next day Sam got up early to get us a hut in the best guesthouse in town (Gecko) with the most amazing milkshakes, atmosphere and wildlife a guesthouse could have. We wake up to the sound of cockerills and monkeys every morning not forgetting the taste of the delicious banana pancakes! Chilled on the beach for a couple days and went for nice Malay food in the nights with our new friends, with a bit of hermit crab hunting and beer drinking on the beach in the evening. Today we went on a great island hopping boat trip for £5, the trip first took us to the lake of the pregnant maiden. From the ocean the hills look like a pregnant lady lying down, inside there is a fresh water lake which was great fun to swim in. On arrival sam got attacked by monkeys who robbed her of her cheesy twisters! The second stop of the trip was to watch some wild eagles feeding from the ocean, then we moved on to an island beach where we swam in the clear waters and played on the rope swing. Its a very hot island to stay on everyday hitting about 37!

Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia

After leaving Kuala Lumpur we headed for Butterworth station to get the ferry to Penang island. We arrived in Georgetown (Capital of Penang) 9 hours later. We stayed in our cheapest accommodation so far which was the YYYMMMCCCAAA. The next morning we got on a battered bus to Batu Ferrenghi (The first beach of our trip) we relaxed on the beach, and got burnt in 30 minutes, the sun here is very strong. In the evening we walked through the night market and also paid a visit to the fish spa, the fish eat your dead skin and now our feet feel like a babys assschvitz. For the next few days we chilled on the beach, watched the sunsets and ate in the local food court. On our last day in Penang we visited Teluk Bahang forest reserve, that night we got ready for our next journey to Pulau Langkawi!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

After leaving Singapore, we had a 7 hour train journey through the farmland and forest of Malaysia, Eventually we arrived. After searching for our hostel named Matahari we headed to a Reggae bar for drinks and food. The next day we booked in for the KL Hop on Hop of bus, a bus which hass 22 different stops around all the must see places of Kuala Lumpur. The patronas towers, 2 parks with lakes and a sanctuary for baby mice dear, were a few of many. That night we returned to our hostel to plan our next stop (Penang Island here we come)

Singapore

We arrived safely in Singapore after a long bumpy flight. Our first thoughts were how humid it was. After finding our hostel and dumping our bags we headed for Chinatown, it just so happened to be coming up to the Chinese new year so you can imagine how hectic it was. The next day we trekked around the city checking out the local attractions, we saw the famous Raffles hotel, Orchard Rd and many other things in this ultra clean city. Though very expensive Matt still managed to find sweet & sour pork and rice for 80p (Delicious). Next stop Kuala Lumpur!