Penang

After being recommended Penang by various people we made the journey up there with the main priority of eating. We had heard that the food here is very tasty, so, of course, out palate took charge and led the way to Penang, the city of culinary delights! J (everyone reading this will think all we are doing is eating, although we assure you that this isn’t true. It is a big part of our travelling, but not the whole reason for doing it!)

We had 2 days here. Day 1 was to do all of our domestic chores: washing, visas for Thailand, haircuts and post postcards- CHECK- all apart from the laundry. We spent most of the day looking for a cheapish laundrette with no luck. We walked miles trying to find a laundrette which we had found details of online, but this existed no more-typical! You would have no idea how hard it is to find a laundrette in Penang! After a full days search we gave up and just had to come to terms with having to pay more than expected to get clean clothes- and what a hassle. Don’t take washing machines for granted- they are a very useful invention! Well, that was pretty much day 1 over- not particularly interesting and a bit tedious L

Day 2- a little bit more interesting. We did a walking tour of the city, guided....well.... by us! We saw temples, the City Hall, the Supreme Court and most of the other sights.

The food is good here. We came across a massive indoor night food market which sells as many different cuisines as you can think of, from Western to Japanese! You can go around and chose which cuisine (or cuisines- depending on how hungry- or greedy you are!) They bring the food to your table and waiters come and take your drink orders. They even have a man selling newspapers and there is entertainment (which only stretched to karaoke in this case!) We also found a great Indian place- yummy curry, naans and rotis J As well as finding this amazing contraption which should definitely be brought to England- the wonderful water fill it up yourself thingy me bob! Very cheap J and totally cool and great fun to use!

Next,- across the border into Thailand. More beach action on Ko Lipe.

Borneo - Sepilok, Mabul and Sipadan

We've just left Penang for Thailand and tomorrow we're off to Koh Lipe (an island off the South -West of Thailand).

Here are some pictures of our journey through Borneo. We first went to Sepilok to see the Orang Utans and then went on to Mabul and Sipidan to do some diving.

Sepilok

Not so happy to see us!

Swing, swing, swing!

Mr monkey monk!

Hello....yes, we see you waving at us! :)

The tree top canopy in the Rainforest Discovery Centre

The rainforest

Is this leaf big enough to,umm, cover my you know what?!

Even bigger leaves! Amazing!

Absolutely content. Mummy and babies :)

Mabul Island

Mabul Island

Paradise!

Dive kit all ready to go!

A beautiful sunset....

....and a beautiful sunrise

Even purer paradise! :)

Sipidan

Sipidan Island

Jackfish

More Jackfish

Abbyfish!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....

Bumphead parrotfish

ehh?! Do I need to see a dentist?!

Green Turtle

He just smiled right back at me!

Reef Shark

Nudibranch

The Cameron Highlands

When we arrived in the Cameron Highlands it was 20°C - too cold not to wear a hat, scarf and socks ( what!? we hear you say - but this really is pretty cold for us now!). Who knows what will happen when we get to Russia and travel through the Siberian winter!

We spent a few days in the Cameron Highlands where we went on a few treks and enjoyed the cool weather. We felt healthy for a change! We also tried the local scones with jam and cream, so not so healthy after all! They had to be eaten  to see if they were up to my Devon standard! They were pretty good but were missing clotted cream - a bit too much to ask in SE Asia!

Our first tour on our travels took us around the surrounding area. We pretty much saw everything in the day - tea plantations, strawberry farm, museum, markets, mossy forest and the butterfly and insect farm. A whole lot to do in one day and well worth it.

Food was good but nothing on Melaka! Though, we did have a yummy steamboat and afterwards we thought our bellies were going to explode!

The Perhentians

So, we arrived on the Perhentian Islands after an overnight bus journey with a screaming baby and a bumpy boat ride- and to top it all off, 1 dodgy stomach from a curry eaten by Abby the night before. Remind me never to eat curry the night before a long journey again!

When we finally arrived at 8am we had nowhere booked to stay on Kecil. We found a room free at D’Lagoon and decided to pitch up there for a few nights, A private beach, a sea view chalet and a lagoon in the bay made us comfortable for a few days! J We did a lot of snorkelling- no point in spending money on diving when you can see even more with just a mask and a pair of fins! We saw a large group of Napoleon fish which swam with us for a while. We also saw parrot fish, clown fish and cornet fish. As it’s egg laying season for turtles at the moment we were hoping to see some action in this area, especially at night, but unfortunately we didn’t. L

We moved to Long Beach after a few nights for a bit more night life and a change of scenery. Long Beach is geared more towards swimming compared to D’Lagoon. We spent a few days lying on the beach and swimming- clear, turquoise waters, white sand and a few beers in the evening- not many though as at 8-10 ringgit a pop it starts to get expensive! L

Later we moved to Besar which is the bigger of the two islands. This island is a lot quieter and aimed towards couples and families. Here we stayed at Abdul’s Beach Chalets which was our favourite spot on the islands- quiet; a beautiful clean beach; clear water with a pristine swimming area and a pontoon to jump off of! J The food was good too!

Next, and finally was a move to Bubbles Dive Resort, Here we did a refresher dive and a second dive in order to prepare ourselves for our trip to Sipidan. The diving was good to get back into after a year, but unfortunately the visibility and the coral wasn’t the best we have seen.

Next, onto the Cameron Highlands for some well needed exercise, trekking and a little bit of cold! Wearing hats and scarves will be a nice change! J