The End.....?

What's this? The end? Tonight marks my last night of over 16 months of travelling. It has been a hell of a journey and I have seen and done some pretty incredible things. I'm really looking forward to going home now and seeing everybody.

The last 2 days I have been in Bangkok, back on Khao San road. I noticed that all the clothes I've been wearing for the last year and a half are pretty grubby and splashed out on all sorts of cheap stuff for myself. I spent 4 hours yesterday wandering around Bangkok's weekend market, one of the largest in the world. It feels very odd to know that this is my last night in Asia so I've been eating curries and buying crap I don't need all day.

To all that have been reading this blog, thank-you so much and I hope that in the future I get to go to some more exciting places. As a matter of fact, when I come home I will shortly be visiting people in Wales and Scotland. And since I have never been to either, that's kind of the same as travelling... sort of.

Keep an eye on my blog as I will be updating my 'Top 5's' (I never really had any time to sit and write those down) and adding some lovely pictures for all of you to admire.

Good-bye for now! x

In The (Tubing) Vang Vieng

I know most people would be hard pressed to remember what it was I did around this time last year, but it just so happens that about 13 months ago I visited the small Laos town, Vang Vieng. If the name Vang Vieng doesn't ring a bell then you most likely haven't been in South East Asia. It's a bit of a phenomenon on the SE Asia tourist circuit and most people that visit Thailand take the grueling bus journey over the border just for Vang Vieng. It is a beautiful place surrounded by incredible limestone cliffs dotted with caves and rice paddies. However, no one is there to see that... it's really just for the craze of Tubing.

Tubing is basically another excuse for an enormous piss up, but this time it's on a river. Most people hire out a large rubber tube and get a tuk-tuk up the river to the first bar. These bars are built hanging over the river and most have massive swings, zip-wires and slides, and all have a LOT of alcohol. Tiger whiskey (the local brand) is free and they don't mind just handing out bottles of the stuff. Or you could opt for the greatly popular Lao Lao bucket. That's right - a BUCKET of alcohol. Or of course you can stick to beer. Not drinking isn't really an option.

When you get bored of the first bar or notice that the number of tubes are starting to decrease, you hop on your tube to go down to the next. Some handy Lao kids don't mind hauling you in with ropes, and they have an expert aim. Basically the process repeats until you get too drunk and get a tuk-tuk back, or if your still a bit sober you can attempt to tube back to town. Suffice to say they whole thing is really, really dangerous and it's no surprise to see the majority of Vang Vieng's visitors with a bandage on somewhere. On our first day we had glorious weather, didn't drink too much, had an excellent time, and tubed down the river until the rain started getting so heavy that we couldn't hear each other shouting across the tubes - so we got the tuk-tuk back.

The second time I went we met a group of people who were celebrating their friends birthday. This meant that around every 10 minutes it was time for a birthday shot. It was really funny and we somehow got a lot of very strange things spray painted on ourselves. That night, Dom - whose birthday it was - passed out in the bar and subsequently had the majority of his head shaved and the majority of his body covered in permanent marker... I think he may have even had his ear coloured in. Somehow, someone managed to convince him to keep his hair as it was until he left Vang Vieng!


The third day turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Primarily because of the free whiskey. I foolishly got involved in a game of beer pong, except we didn't use beer, we used whiskey. I got hideously drunk and somehow ended up getting lost in a rice paddy because I refused to go near the water. Eventually I got a tuk-tuk home and had some sleep. When I woke up I found that I had broken my toe and vomitted on the floor. That was my last day tubing.

So don't worry about me or anything. I am completely fine. Except for the toe thing, that hurts. The whole thing is very stupid and dangerous but the times that I wasn't 100 times over the limit was really good. The swings are excellent and the tug-of-war over the mud pit and the mud pit volley ball is very funny. We stayed there for about a week and the last three days I was there I was quite keen to leave. I was, as they say, tubed out. Also I found it really interesting that I felt so much older than everyone there. It was strange being the older one, that never happens!

I am now back in Bangkok after a very unorganised bus journey back into Thailand. I have some very exciting news... ... ... ... ...






... more to come.

Jungle Trekking in Northern Thailand

As I said in my previous entry I went away for 3 days into the jungle with my guide Izz. Izz was brilliant and it was the first time I had a female guide for something like this. She was really funny and had a proper laugh with us as a group. There were 9 of us in the group: Me, Andy, Bri, 4 more English, and 2 Spanish girls. We all got on really well and it was strange socialising with the English lot as they were all 18. In some ways I felt really old and in others it was like we still had the same conversations! Strange. We had a meeting the night before the trek where we introduced ourselves to each other and Izz told us what it was we were doing and what we would need for this trek.

In the morning we got up really early as the start of our trek took us 3 and a half hours into the jungle in the back of a pickup. On the way there we found a couple of road laying teams pouring sand onto the road and levelling it out over pot holes. So we jumped off the pickup and gave them a hand! Izz told us they would work most of the day doing that and would only get the equivalent of about 2 pounds a day. We stopped off at a small market and bought some sweets and stuff for the kids in the villages that we would meet in the trek. By the time we got to our stop we had suitably gotten to know each other and were ready to set off. At the start of the trip we were shown how the tribe members set up traps to catch the small animals that they could eat in the jungle. Some of them looked really deadly too! The first day trek was excellent fun and Izz showed us all the different things we could eat or use for medicinal purposes in the jungle. We walked about 6 hours and stopped to hack down banana trees to get the middle out to cook up for our dinner. It was really fun and she showed us how to make bags to carry stuff using the banana leaves. We then hacked down bamboo to get to the shoots, which we'd also use for our dinner.

The walk was really quite difficult with some pretty hard climbs. Eventually, around 5.30pm, we got to the place we stayed on the first night. It was part of the Karen hill tribe but there were no families living there. The people there worked on the rice paddies that were all around us giving a remarkable view. We made dinner which was a mix of some stuff Izz bought from the market and the food we foraged in the jungle. It was really interesting to see all this and to have all of it put together, and the fact it tasted pretty good helped too.

That evening we met one of the Karen tribe members who gave us a gun to play with! It was a very old rifle that had to be loaded with gunpowder and about 10 tiny pellets making it like some really weak powered shotgun! The idea was to go out in the evening for a few hours and see if we could catch anything to eat the next day. We walked around the jungle for about an hour and hadn't seen anything. To be honest I thought the whole thing a bit of a farce since there were 9 of us and the 2 guides making a lot of noise that would surely scare anything away anyway. Then one of the Spanish girls spotted a snake. It was about a foot or so long but really thin and apparently not at all dangerous. I looked at it thought 'what would be the point?' as there wouldn't be any meat on it and there's no way we could actually do anything with it. But Izz told us we would be able to add it to our lunch tomorrow and since we hadn't caught anything we decided to go for it anyway. So we chopped off its head and it took about 10 minutes for the nerve endings to finally give out! It turned out I was right - we were shown how to skin it and the we just barbecued the whole thing and chopped it us to pass around. There was no actual meat on it really. So we carried on in the jungle and by this point it was getting to midnight and we were really tired from a day of walking. Then, right towards the end, Izz spotted the tail of a small bird and instructed us to shoot it! Again, such a small thing wasn't worth killing and I'm not even sure it wasn't set up. I mean the English guy that shot it got it straight away and the next thing we knew the dog was sniffing at the dead bird on the ground. It could have easily been thrown there by one of the guides. No way of knowing though. So we went back with a small bird and a small snake.

The next morning we got up and made some breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs cooked over the fire. It took a while for us to get up and go as we were all so tired from the day before. Just as we were about to set off, the guide who'd taken us in the jungle gave us a dead animal, which was nice of him. He said he'd caught it in a trap overnight. It was like a ferret thing but with a short tail, maybe a polecat? Don't actually know though. Izz put the bleeding mess in her bag and we set off. The walk was even harder on the second day and we walked up to the highest point on the mountain and there was an excellent view of the biggest mountain in Thailand.

On the way up there we got to a stream where we stopped for lunch. We made a fire so we could cook up some vegetables we'd got in the jungle to have with some noodles Izz had brought from the city. It was really cool because we obviously didn't have bowls or pans. Instead we cut down some bamboo and made pots to cook everything in, bowls to eat everything out of and made chopsticks as well! It was so fun and we cooked using the water from the stream next to us. We decided to eat the snake and bird, but that turned out to be a bit stupid. We were going to cook the polecat but in the end Izz just skinned it and cooked it for later on. Eating out of a bamboo bowl was quite difficult but it was really cool, at least until all the flies decided to make an appearance!

We had been so lucky with the weather as well and it only rained a bit in the evenings, which is quite unlikely in the rainy season up a mountain. During the walk in the afternoon we suddenly came upon a couple of elephants that had been waiting for us to trek though the jungle. I did elephant trekking last year in Thailand and it was good but it felt pretty stupid rocking up at an elephant pen and sitting on the back of it while it walked around for an hour that time. But this was completely different. We were in the middle of the jungle and it was actually part of the trek. We were on the elephants for about an hour and then had a hard, steep walk to get to the main village of the Karen tribe. On the way there we got more bamboo and Izz showed us which mushrooms would be safe to eat and have for our dinner. The tribe village we stayed at in the second night was made up of 6 families who kept pigs and water buffalo that they would breed and trade with other villages. It seemed like a really interesting life. All the children were sent to school 6 days a week and we had brought sweets and things to give to them as presents but foolishly we left them in the pickup on the way over! Izz said she would get them back to them soon though.

That night at dinner we had our polecat thing and some mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Also a couple of the families made us some dishes as well including a really good pumpkin leaf soup and some really spicy curry paste. We also had these crisp things dipped in sweet and sour sauce that was really good. We spent most of the night having a few beers, making slingshots, and talking to Izz about life in Thailand and how her job effects her and her family. It was really interesting and she really wanted to learn about how life is different at home. I nearly forgot to mention our two companions: Steve and Geoff. They were two dogs who met us in the place we stayed at in the first night. They followed us the rest of the way so we gave them names, which Izz found really funny because the Karen tribesmen don't name their dogs.

On the third day Izz took us fishing. We had these small round nets to catch small fish but it didn't really work and no one was very interested as we were all so tired. But Izz also started catching grasshoppers and other insects and showing us how to burn them and eat them. It was really cool and actually tasted quite nice. We had a 2 hour walk to the place where we went rafting. Again, I did the bamboo rafting last year but this was so much better. We raced along the river and got stuck a few times. The water was quite disgusting though. At the end of the rafting we got to a large village where a lot of people who work in Chiang Mai live. From there we got back in a pickup and were taken to the largest waterfall in Chaing Mai, the Mae Pae Waterfall. The waterfall was huge, some 100 meters high, over a few tiers. The water was really cold but very deep and there was a great spot to dive into. The waterfall was so powerful there was no way you could stand underneath it. After that we got back in the pickup to go home and everyone conked out. It took about 2 hours to get back from there and once we got back we were all so glad to have hot showers and sleep in a comfy bed!

It was definitely one of the best things I have done since coming away and it's something I think everyone (fit enough) who comes to Thailand should experience. In Chiang Mai the more popular (and cheaper) treks are the touristic ones which sound a lot like what I did last year. And although this one was three times the price it didn't matter because it was a hundred times better. We had a day to chill out a bit and have a massage but had to catch a bus that evening to get out of Thailand since our visa was due to expire. So we've caught a bus to Laos and gone up to Vang Vieng.

South to North in 28 Hours

As the blog title suggests we have spent a lot of time travelling. I have been to Bangkok a number of times now and I was in no hurry to return. We had originally planned to spend the night in Krabi and go north the following morning but when we arrived at the dock in Krabi after the 1 and a half hour boat trip, we were told we would have enough time to catch the evening bus to Bangkok. We had to get them to take us into Krabi town to pick up Bri's sunglasses that she had made and managed to get back to the bus station in time to head up north. We were taken to a restaurant where we had to wait for half an hour before being loaded onto a pickup truck and taken 10 minutes down the road to another restaurant. Eventually we got on the big bus to take us north and I watched Avatar and the first Lord of the Rings film - without sound - and at 1.30am we stopped at yet ANOTHER restaurant. I was getting pretty annoyed at this point, especially when I was told I should buy food since this would be the last stop before we arrived in Bangkok at 6am. I tried to politely explain to him that on a normal night, I don't wake up at 1.30am for some food.

We finally got to Bangkok at about 7.00am and jumped into a tuk-tuk to go straight to the train station. Fortunately we didn't have to wait long before our train, which would take 12 hours to reach Chiang Mai. We finally arrived in Chiang Mai around 9.00pm and found a cheap guest house. I was completely exhausted and was thankful for the bed! Slept in a bit the following morning and set out to find a trekking trip that suited what we were after. There are loads of "Tourist" treks costing around 20 pounds for 3 days and very few "Non-Tourist" treks which are at least 3 times as much! Saying that though, I essentially did the tourist one last year in Kanchanaburi and had no wish to do it again. So we opted for the expensive one and are due to leave tomorrow. Today then and we spent all this morning learning how to cook!

That's right a cooking course. It was excellent fun and I made pad see uw, a fried thick noodle dish, then some sping rolls before trying stir fried hot basil and then khaw soi curry. Safe to say I am absolutely stuffed now and probably wont need to eat again today! The khaw soi curry is supposed to be a local dish which is basically a red curry but with curry powder in it as well. It tasted really good and we were showed the "special ingredient" which made it even better! I will have to cook for people when I eventually come home.

So a short post today but this is because I will be on a 3 day trek from tomorrow morning and I hope to have much to say when I get back!

Back in Thailand

It was hard leaving the Perhentians since the islands were so relaxing. I would definitely advise for people to take a couple of weeks out there if your looking for a holiday. It's really easy to get to from Kuala Lumpur and there are some really nice but more expensive holiday resorts on the Big island. But anyway, leave we did, and bound for Thailand we were.

I have to admit I wasn't overly keen on the idea of going back to Thailand since I had saved up all this money in Australia to see and do new things and going back to Thailand wasn't really on my to-do list. I did, however, have a fantastic time last year and I know only too well that when visiting a country you cannot expect to see everything. Thailand is also a beautiful country and there is a lot to do here. So we went across the border from Malaysia, which gives us a 2 week visa. The town we arrived in, Sungai Kolok, wasn't the Thailand I remember. I found out that a lot of Malaysians go there for the Thai prostitutes, which might give you a better insight on this small border town. To get there we had to take a taxi, which turned out was really cheap. On the ride there we spotted a truck full of coconuts on the road which had monkeys riding on the top. When asked about it, our taxi driver told us that they use the monkeys to climb up the trees and bring the coconuts down! We only had to wait in Sungai Kolok for 6 hours and the internet was really cheap - hence I managed to change my blog around loads and add more stuff. If you haven't noticed I have started writing a running top 5, though I have to say its hard. It does, though, give me something to keep myself entertained on long journeys!

We caught the bus late afternoon to Krabi and were surprised by the number of military stops there were out of Sungai Kolok. I had heard of problems in the south and it is, from what I hear, not recommended to travel at night. Not that we had any problems. I have just been reading on BBC News that the Thai cabinet are considering extending the current state of emergency laws that are still in place following the anti-government protests. Who knows if this will be a good idea? For now it seems that the laws will be gradually lifted over the next 3 months. Not that anyone here would even notice. This island (Koh Phi Phi Don - or just PP) was one that was devastated in the 2004 tsunami and while the government didn't actually give the people here permission to rebuild, they have done so anyway. It seems that everything here is business as usual and a lot of places are starting to expand. It doesn't seem that the people here are concerned with its government and it seems to cater exclusively to tourists anyway.

It was very late when we actually arrived in Krabi. At 3.30am there isn't an awful lot around the bus stop that happens to be 4km's away from town. We couldn't have walked that far with our bags and who knows whether or not it would be safe. We spotted a 7/11 and found out there was a hotel nearby. Opting for the safe mode we set off for the expensive option. As we started walking a drunken Thai man started calling to us and seemed to jokingly offer us a lift into town. He had this motorbike with a sort of trailer attached to the side of it. We obliged. Needless to say we were a bit scared and were worried we had done something stupid, but in actual fact it was really funny. He took us into town and I think was very happy when we gave him 150 Baht (that's 3 pounds) when we got there. Driving into town he was going up one-way streets saying: "No police! Shh!" Which we thought was hysterical. We safely got a guest house and got some much needed sleep.

We spent the day exploring Krabi but the weather was really bad. It even gave me cause to think that going to an island probably wouldn't be worth it if it would be raining incessantly anyway. But we heard the weather was better out there and so we booked the boat for the following morning. In our exploration in the evening we came across Krabi's night market and got some delicious food. We then found a bar where we could watch football and after that ended a local band came on stage to play. They were really good and looked so comfortable pulling off some excellent solo's. They had a break and after that they were really excited to bring on stage a musician from Phuket who I gather was famous. It was a really good night out and I didn't get back in until half 3!

The boat ride went fine, taking an hour and a half to get to PP. We found some nice accommodation and had an explore of the beach and the bars. It seemed very much the same as the islands I visited around this time last year. I watched an amazing sunset over the karst limestome rocks from the bay and I would have put it in my top 5 (maybe even at number 1!) were it not for the sheer amount of rubbish. It wont even break the top 5 now since the whole beach is littered with bars for the all night PP parties every night. I quite literally mean littered as well. I had a few drinks and watched the football but was so tired from the night before I didn't stay out long. Also I really didn't want to feel rough for the next day I had booked a trip rock climbing!

Rock climbing was quite high on my "Things to do whilst travelling" list I keep in my head and I am so glad I have finally done it! I met my guide, Tarr, at the end of the beach and it was only a short climb to the limestone wall that already had a top rope set up. I did a 16mtr climb and two 24mtr climbs, which were very different to the indoor climbing I used to do at home. Tarr told me he was very impressed with my technique and I have my climbing buddies at home to thank for that! The view from the top of the climbs over the bay was incredible and for all my worries about the weather it was a really fine day! After the three climbs I went and got some lunch and when I got back Tarr told me he would teach me how to set an anchor and lead climb. This is something I always wanted to learn back home and Tarr was very adamant that I told no one about it (maybe I shouldn't be putting this in my blog!) since I hadn't actually paid for it. We didn't have a lot of time and he wasn't very patient but I am now, officially a beginner lead climber! I was completely shattered after all of this and was looking forward to having some food and getting some sleep.

The following morning we actually set an alarm! We got up for a day trip (that's two tours in two days for me, something I rarely do) to see the surrounding islands and do some snorkelling. The trip started at Monkey Beach. It is exactly as the name suggests, a beach with some monkeys on it. I didn't bother getting out the boat for this one but watched happily as one girl teased a monkey with some banana's and as soon as she turned her back it jumped on her. She screamed a LOT! Hahaha. The next stop was The Beach beach. As in the beach where they filmed The Beach. A lot of what is beautiful about the beach in the movie seems to be mostly camera tricks. It was also insanely busy, which does take the beauty away from it. It was still very nice, but compared to the Perhentians... wait, compare ANY beach to the Perhentians and the same thing happens! Anyway we went onward to a brilliant snorkel area and saw millions of amazing fish and loads of coral. It was quite deep too so you can really swim down and see loads more. I think I saw a barracuda. I mean, I'm pretty certain it was a barracuda anyway. We stopped at a couple of cool swimming places and a nice beach before going to another snorkelling spot called Shark Point. We were told that there were some harmless black tipped reef sharks in the area. Briony was really nervous and she hates sharks and somehow, unbelievably, she was the only one to spot a shark out of the 10 of us there! She pacicked and swam straight back to the boat but she was fine. We had one more stop on the way back which was a cliff jump. It wasn't too high - some 8 meters or so - but it still rocked me to say the least. It was really cool though but after that I was ready to go back to PP.

We went out last night so I am a bit hungover today. When we stopped at the very popular Reggae bar (which ironically has a Thai boxing ring inside) I thought I spotted one of our friends from Bundy. I asked Briony and Andy and they both said no, that's not him. Then he walked past and lo and behold... yes, it was Joe from Bundaberg! It was really great to catch up with him and have a few drinks. As it happens his friend is a boxer at home and we convinced him to get in the ring. The guy he went up against had no experience whatsoever and the fight was over after 1 round. We watched a whole load of other fights, some of which were very very funny, and one bout of Thai boxers. It looked pretty hardcore but they were throwing themselves on the floor a lot giving the impression that it was actually fake. We then went out to the beach for the party in which we all managed to lose each other.

And so today, our last day on PP. I still haven't swam in the sea here because it looks quite disgusting and I am currently trying to map out some sort of future travel plan. Some decisions to be made it seems!

The Perhentian Islands

The Perhentian Islands were just stunning. Every morning I would get out of our dingy little cabin and step onto the sand and just say: "Wow, this is a-maze-ing!" And it really is. We took the boat there from Kuala Besut, a small port town that only really exists to send people to Malaysia's best known islands. The main part of the Perhentians is the Big and Little islands. The big island (though it is about the same size) is mostly comprised of expensive looking resorts while the small island has a few cheapies and a couple of bars. None of the islands have any roads or hassling sellers or loud music or anything that could otherwise annoy you at a beach resort. The water is turquoise blue and crystal clear making it perfect for snorkeling and diving alike. There is nothing about this island that anyone wouldn't enjoy!

The boat was a quick one and took just 30 minutes to get to the island where we managed to find a cheap place to stay. The room wasn't the best but since nowhere in the island offers electricity from sun up to sun down and there was little chance of air con at our price range, we spent our time mostly on the beach. We stayed with Yvonne, a Dutch girl we met in the Cameron Highlands, and she watched the England-Germany game with us so we watched the Holland-Slovakia game with her as honorary Netherlands fans. Speaking of the England game - that was terrible right? I cannot believe how Capello could get it so tactically wrong. We were so open at the back and could have shipped more than 4. Anyway, enough football. It was fun watching the game on a big screen with plenty of English and German banter and a few (expensive) beers. Being as we were on a paradise island I actually found it difficult to care much about the football.

So other than lounge on the sand, swim in the sea, and have some drinks, we did little else on the island and that worked out just perfectly. We met up with some really nice English people who shared our views on the shocking football display and showed us where the best food on the island is. The food was a buffet style barbecue where you choose your meat and are entitled to unlimited supplies of everything else. We made full use of that and suffice to say we felt quite ill after! We did this the last two nights and were treated to a spectacular sunset last night. I also tried a shisha pipe for the first time. I haven't smoked in over a year so it gave me a bit of a rush. It tasted a bit like apple flavoured Hubba Bubba. I was quite drunk before I tried it and for some reason it was just me, Briony and the bar owner left. I think that reason could be that it was 4.30am and all the English had gone to bed depressed and Germans can't hold their drink. Haha!

The island is quite expensive since they do not harvest or make anything on the island. It is actually a marine park meaning they aren't even supposed to fish (though they do) so everything comes from the mainland. Also everything is run on generators so the rooms, internet and anything cold or hot is expensive. I can accept the raise in prices for this island, it is definitely worth it.

We left the island this morning and have just crossed the border taking us back into Thailand. Next stop is Krabi. This bus doesn't leave for a couple of hours so as you might have noticed I have used this time to 'pimp' my blog up a bit. You may also have noticed I have added a new 'page' to my blog (if you haven't noticed you can spot it right beneath the header at the top of the page). I will be using this to keep a running top 5 of all sorts of things that I have seen and done, partly for my amusement and partly to make you all jealous! Haha! I will also try to get pictures of these places up as well in case you weren't feeling jealous enough. I hope you enjoy.

Walking the Peninsula Interior

A Home Away From Home

The Cameron Highlands is a fantastic and beautiful hill resort surrounded by jungle shrouded mountains high enough to justify wearing jeans and jumpers. In fact on a normal day the temperature was around 21 degrees Celsius. It certainly did not feel like a tourist spot in SE Asia and around every corner were further reminders of England. Firstly the highlands are full of tea plantations making tea of all different varieties and selling them with scones, jam and cream. There were some brilliant spots to look out over tea plantations and jungle whilst sipping on a fresh cup of tea. We did a lot walking around the Cameron Highlands and it was really easy using the Tanah Rata town as a base to do so (even though the maps didn't make any sense at all). Most of the places of interest where within walking distance and it didn't take us long to suss the place out and meet lots of really nice people.

The place we stayed in, Fathers Guest House, was placed (annoyingly) at the top of a steep hill. It was definitely worth the ascent though. The backpackers rooms were replicas of what was known as Nissen Huts used by British troops in an army camp north of Tanah Rata during World War 2. These were essentially corrugated iron roofed bunkers. One day we walked down to the Cameron Valley Tea Plantation to have tea and scones and get some excellent views of the rolling hills filled with tea plants. Another day we opted for a longer walk to Gunung Berembun. This walk took us about 5 hours and as we started the walk we met a lady who was also staying at Fathers. I say lady because she was 67 years old. She was very excited about doing this walk but in hindsight it probably wasn't the one for her. The walk had some very steep ascents and descents, some of which were conquerable only with ropes. The walk started out flat enough and on the map it told us we would see the Robinson Waterfall. We saw some sewage pipes which could have been that but I'm not sure. It was a really good trek through the jungle with moss carpets, twisted trees, and the constant humming, singing and screaming of insects and birds around us.

We spent another day taking a shorter walk across to the Parit Falls. Parit literally means Pit and the waterfall was nothing more than that. It was full of garbage and looked quite nasty. The walk was very tame compared to the day before (it even had a path) but it was definitely worth it as we found a strawberry farm. The farm had a small cafe and when I asked for a milkshake they told me I would have to wait a short while since they needed to go pick some strawberries. As fresh as it gets my friends!

Tamen Negara National Park

We left Tanah Rata and got a bus to Jarantut where we jumped on a ferry to Kuala Tahan. This took about 3 hours and when I say ferry I mean a long wooden boat with about 20 people in it. The boat ride was very relaxing but the water looked quite grimy. When we arrived in Kuala Tahan we were given a short introduction before we left to find some accommodation. Tamen Nagara is famous for jungle trekking and has the longest canopy walk/suspension bridge in the world at 530m. We arrived late afternoon so it wasn't the best time for trekking especially as the mosquitoes and leeches were out in full force, so we took it easy to start with. On that first night there was a concert taking place by the bus station. We walked down to see what was going on and it seemed that some member of Parliament had come to inspect something or other and they were holding this shindig for him. They had an orchestra and some singers from Kuala Lumpur and some traditional music and dancing going on. Between the good music and dancing it was nothing more than an elaborate karaoke night, which was brilliant! They got the old Parliament guy up to sing and he was loving it. Then two others started singing some songs in English which we joined along with. It was all really funny.

Jungle trekking being the priority, we mosquito sprayed up and set off the following morning. The walks through the jungle were great though we had no idea where we were going most of the time. We had to pretty much make up some of the routes. We found our way okay to the canopy walkway, which, although much bigger, was very similar to that in the Poring Hot Springs in Borneo. It was also much scarier in some places reaching up to 40m in height above the ground. When we got to the end we trekked over to Bukit Teresek. The climb took about an hour from the canopy walkway and when we reached the top of the hill we had a fantastic view point over the jungle. After that we made up our own walk for the next couple of hours taking us to a spot in the river that was great for a swim. The water was very brown and the current very strong but that didn't stop us. It was great to wash all that sweat off too!

On our last evening we decided to try out the night time 4WD drive safari. We were looking forward to this but it turned out to be quite a let down. The pick-up we were crammed into the back of wasn't 4WD (either that or the driver had no idea what he was doing) and we managed to get stuck whilst chasing a leopard that wasn't a leopard. We had seen a couple of birds, wild pigs and some tied up cattle at this point and when the guide got really excited by the small cat he ordered the driver off the track to get a better look at it. The driver managed to burn out the clutch trying to get back on the track so we had to push it out and then wait for someone to pick us up to take us back because he'd completely knackered the car. I didn't get a great look at the wild cat but apparently it did have a really nice pattern on it. Not sure it was worth it though other than for the amusement of watching the driver manage to completely destroy this car.

We had planned to stay another night and camp in the jungle to see if we could see any of the nocturnal animals that roam the jungle at night. This included sun bears, tapirs, snakes, spiders, big cats, and more. However, we found out the England - Germany game was on the following evening and there was no where here to watch it so we booked our way out of the national park not just because of football but also because we had been walking for about a week now and we were tired.

Next stop - Perhentian Islands. Perhentian means 'place to stop' in Malay and it certainly is that. More to come...

Muddy Estuary

Muddy Estuary? Confused? Muddy Estuary means Kuala Lumpur in Malay, a city that grew from a tin mining village into the metropolis it is today. It now has a population of 6.5 million and is an astonishing city where every corner brings a new surprise. Before all that though I must finish the entry that has now been broken up into 3 separate parts:

Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 3

So the final part of this entry concludes the visit of my parents and my time in Borneo. The entire week was so very different to what I have experienced in my travels in the last 15 months and I have drawn up a few conclusions on this. Firstly though, our last day together in Borneo was an excellently chilled out affair which included a nice stroll around the city. We stopped for lunch at the seafront for Thai food, which was easily as good as the food in Thailand. It rained heavily for quite a while but when it ended we had time to walk around a bit and make sure dad had plenty of pictures to go back home with. Mum and dad packed everything in the evening and had to get up at 4am the following morning to catch their flight home. It was a hurried goodbye to ensure they didn't miss the flight and it felt almost like I was saying goodbye to guests visiting my home.

During the day me and Briony watched a film and finished off the Pimms by the side of the pool before catching a taxi to the airport to fly to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived at about half 11 and had no idea where we were staying. We made our way to the Chinatown area and bumped into, none other than, Andy! He had booked us in for a night in a hostel and even though it was very late none of us were tired so we stopped for a drink until 2.30am when the bar shut.

- End of Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo -

Okay so I mentioned a few conclusions I had drawn in relation to travelling and holiday-ing and the differences between the two. So the first is the very obvious comfort vs. cost. Your on holiday, why sacrifice comfort for just a few extra ringgits? (Malaysian currency) It all makes sense but it did take me a few days of adjusting to not break down everything we did in costs and compare it to other experiences. Travelling is a different experience altogether here. If you want to be away for a long time you have to stretch every rupiah, ringgit, dollar, baht, etc, etc. This is most often achieved by hunting for the cheapest places to stay, which often leads to staying in some awful, awful places. The other way is to eat where the locals eat; the food is good and you wont get sick - normally. However you can get bored of this. Noodles and rice as a staple can get a bit bland so trying different food stalls or restaurants mixes things up a bit. Another stark difference is sweat and cleanliness. I very much enjoyed being able to wear jeans inside restaurants and being able to take a hot shower whenever I wanted. That was the well to tell the backpackers from those on holiday - make-up and smell.

Another obvious difference was to be able to get around easier and stress free. Organising trips away from the hotel meant pick-ups, drop-offs and English speaking guides all along the way. Along with this comes a greater sense of safety and security compared to taking local transport. I have just read a responsibletravel.com magazine in which one article advises travellers to reduce their carbon footprint by travelling overland and not by plane. When holidaying in lands afar this is obviously impossible but do I travel overland to reduce my carbon footprint or is it to save money? I would be lying if I said the former.

A few more differences in favour of holidays:

> Better service
> Better Western food
> Cool down in a swimming pool
> Faster and better transport
> Stay right on a beach (or other place of interest)
> Free toiletries
> Nice room with TV, etc

And some in favour of travelling:

> Greater sense of experiencing culture
> Stay right in the middle of town
> Getting lost and discover more in exploration
> Meet more locals and travellers
> Your money goes to help local communities and businesses
> Easy to change plans

On top of all this I have found it very interesting to watch someone who has never been to the far east seeing it for the first time. When you have spent so long travelling it is easy to see past what newcomers see on first arrival. While this can be advantageous (such as how dirty some places can be) it also means you forget how people might see the locals and what their day to day lives consist of. Transferring back to travelling from this holiday has encouraged me to want to speak to other people more and to realise that each place is so completely different to the last. Plus we stole all the toiletries!

Back to Kuala Lumpur

The area of Kuala Lumpur we stayed in was just south of the Chinatown block. Chinatown was mostly filled with markets very similar to those in Bangkok's Khao San road. On our first day we explored the city by walking to the famous KL TV Tower. The TV Tower stood tall in the center of the city and was lit up at night so it can be seen by those at ground level (and probably those at plane level). The tower is nested in a forest sanctuary at the heart of the city. In this "forest" it is quite easy to forget you are in a huge city. We didn't go up to the top of the tower as the weather wasn't great and we knew we could go up the even more famous Petronas Twin Towers for free instead. So we walked off to find a bookstore to discover what else is recommended to do in KL. The bookstore was situated on one of KL's many massive shopping centers and we found out there was another shopping center which sounded worth seeing. Why? Because it had a theme park. Yes, a theme park inside a shopping center!

The theme park was ridiculous. I did not expect it to be so big, but it was decked out with a massive roller coaster and several other thrill rides dotted around it including one similar to Ranger on Brighton Pier and one much like Rameses Revenge. It was a very funny few hours and we did not expect it at all. We strolled back in another direction as it got dark and saw the TV Tower lit up like a beacon.

On the Saturday we walked to the Merdeka Square. Merdeka means Independence and the square has a massive flagpole to commemorate Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957. We were very intrigued on arriving at Merdeka Square as some sound testing was going on and a huge stage had been erected in front of the flagpole. We spoke to an old Indian man who told us to come back in the evening as there was going to be a festival of some sort. We then carried on our walk to the National Mosque - a very new building which we weren't allowed inside of - and to the Kuala Lumpur National Museum. The museum was really good and gave a good (if slightly biased) account of Islam history in SE Asia and in particular Malaysia. After visiting the museum we walked over to the Twin Towers to get a look of it. On the way we accidently found the Little India Saturday Market. A bustling and colourful market which sold a variety of foods and clothing. We came back here for dinner and tried all sorts of things including a sort of egg wrapped samosa and sweet spring rolls. We hooked back round to the Merdeka Square to watch some of the concert. It was packed out and looked really stunning.

The following morning we got up really early so we could queue for tickets to go up the Twin Towers. We took the train there and got to the building at about 8am only to find that we were about 1100th in the queue. We were quite lucky actually as an hour and a half later we finally got our tickets to go up later in the afternoon with very few tickets left. We took the train back to the area we stayed in for breakfast and took our time trying to plan where we wanted to go next. In the afternoon we went back over to the Twin Towers where we watched a short film about the building and architecture of the buildings before taking the super fast lift to floor 41 where we walked along the sky bridge that links the two buildings together. The views weren't all that incredible as the city is always shrouded in cloud at that time of day but it was brilliant to look down from the height.

We stayed around the towers as it got dark so we could see it lit up at night. When we had taken our fill of photographs we caught the train back and watched some football before heading to bed. The following morning we checked out and jumped on the bus to the Cameron Highlands. We are now in the Tanah Rata town and are having a great time. I will tell you all about it soon!

Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 2

Kicking it straight off with part 2 - my birthday. (For those of you confused check the entry before this - 'Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 1'). We got up and had the usual breakfast in the room but with a cake mum had brought from England. We then spent the morning relaxing in the pool area. It was a great day for it too. For lunch we stayed in the pool at the bar for burgers and chips! The waiter (who was enamored with me the entire time I was there) found out it was my birthday and came back with a mug of beer with some cherry's on the glass! After lunch and another swim we went out of the resort for a short jungle trek. It was a very hot and sweaty climb up to the top but we were awarded with some great view of the bay. We took our time to catch our breath and talk to our guide Anna. Anna was nice though didn't seem to know and awful lot about the jungle and there wasn't really much to see. When we got back to the room we found a cake! We never found out if it was from my waiter friend or just from the hotel.

After showers we got ready for dinner, another barbecue. There was an incredible amount of food and apart from the chicken sausages it was all amazing. The hotel band came over and sang me a beautiful rendition of happy birthday. There was no way we could eat all the food that was there but we made a good go of it. I was then awarded with yet another birthday cake, bringing the total count to 3! When we finished eating, having also been eaten by many mosquito's, the band came back and played mum and dad's song - aw. It was a brilliant evening but I wasn't going to get drunk on my birthday for tomorrow was to be a big day!

So we woke up at 2.30am for the England match, not that it was really worth getting up for seeing as we didn't go to bed until past 12am. After the match was over we showered and got ready for my big birthday day out. For my birthday my parents had arranged to go to one of only four Orangutan rehabilitation centers in the world. This meant a short flight to Sandakan on the east side of Sabah and Borneo. This was a very scenic flight as we roamed over the islands and back around towards Mt. Kinabalu. It was an awesome sight as Kinabalu is only seen early in the morning before it is completely shrouded in cloud. Arriving in Sandakan airport we met up with our guide for the day, Zul. Our first destination was the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. When we got there we were ushered into a cinema to watch a 30 minute video on the work that the center had done and information about some of the Orangutans past and present. It was very informative and the UK charity fronting it sounded very interesting. After the film it was nearly time for the 10am feeding. This meant that everyone - in their hundreds - piled onto the viewing platforms to see if any orangutans would show up from the jungle for some bananas and milk. During the wait we saw a hornbill fly from tree to tree.

When it came to 10am the guide went up to the platform with some bananas, which were quickly seized upon by the noisy makak monkeys. Since the whole platform was completely taken by the monkeys we knew it very unlikely that the orangutans would be interested in heading there. However, some made it down the the platforms we were standing on, one of which was very interested in a small child roughly the same height, until the guide snatched the child away. That orangutan was happy to play around the platform performing roley polies for attention and swinging around the base. Another much older male orangutan strutted along the hand rail toward us with everybody surrounding it to get a good picture. A couple more younger ones were playing around the platform as well, all keeping well away from the annoying makak. When the orangutan left we made our way along the boardwalk toward the screeching cacophony of the makak and ring tail monkeys soaring along the plane. They were clearly in gangs, screaming at each other. It was incredible to see so many jumping around on the trees all about us. For lunch we were taken to an English tea house. The food was great but we all agreed that for a day of doing Malaysian/Borneo tourist things it would have been good to try some local foods. After lunch we were taken down to a water village. This was made up of houses on concrete stilts of which Zul maintained were much nicer inside that out. It was interesting to see two completely different celebrations across the same waterfront. One family was celebrating the loss of a loved one whilst another was celebrating a marriage. We were taken into one woman's home which was very well decked out. She was very pleased to show us around and sold a couple of bracelets to mum.

We were then taken into Sandakan for a look around the markets but they were starting to close. We then visited the Buddhist Puu Gih Jih Shih temple on top of a hill offering great views over the city and its harbour. The temple was covered in the usual gold leaf and housed 3 large Buddha statues. There were a number of pillars all with dragons embossed around the edge. Back into Sandakan we went into the memorial park to see what the city is most famous for. In 1945 Sandakan was used by the Japanese to housed2400 prisoners of war; 1800 Australians and 600 British, and forced them on one of the infamous death marches across Sabah. Of the 2400 only 6 survived and the memorial park gave a very intelligible insight into how the prisoners were treated and how the 6 escaped. The pictures depicting how the town was destroyed and how it grew back up again were very interesting as well. So after all this we were feeling very tired and depleted after a long, but fascinating day. We flew back to Kota Kinabalu and got back to Nexus early evening.

The following day was a very good day for relaxing. We had excellent weather and spent loads of time swimming in the sea and the pool. In the afternoon we took to making a piece of batik art. We were shown how to merge the colours together and all of us really enjoyed it! It was great fun especially as it was raining in the afternoon - as it often does - and it was a definite must-do rainy-day activity. We had dinner at one of the resorts restaurants for some Indian/Malaysian food. It was brilliant and the band came back over to sing us more songs. I tried a prawn sambal, which was like a sort of spicy curry with big tiger prawns.

Our last day out was to spend the day out in the Mt. Kinabalu National Park and the Poring hot springs. The drive there was long but definitely worth it. We stopped in a nearby town on the way where we got some amazing views of the mountain with the sun shining on it, making the clouds look very silvery. After a little hunt around the market we got back in the car to head to the hot springs. When we arrived we managed to tick off one of the things mum really wanted to do alongside seeing orangutans, walk the canopy bridges. She was mostly fascinated by this because it was designed by the same person who designed the one at Q Gardens in London. Apparently this one was more scary. Briony didn't help by jumping up and down on the boardwalk and swinging it, even though I told her not too .. .. .. and the pictures came out brilliantly! The walk itself was on shaky bridges connected by trees overlooking the jungle. I'm not sure anyone else noticed the view but it was quite amazing. After the walk we went up to the Kipungit waterfall. A large waterfall that was freezing cold.

When we were refreshingly chilled we headed for the hot spring baths. These were made up of large tiled concrete baths, some in segments for individual baths that took forever to fill. The hot water came straight from the ground and the cold from the waterfall. We also tried the very very hot and relaxing foot bath. We thought this was the end of the day but as we got back in the van our guide told us that a rafllesia plant was blooming near where we were. The rafflesia plant is the largest plant in the world and blooms just once in its lifetime for just a few days. After it has bloomed it turns into a dark grey sludge. Nice. So we went to where the plant was, which was essentially in someones back garden. It was a hilarious walk as it was so wet and muddy there was no way we could get up and down the steep slopes with our shoes on! We were slipping about all over the place and I'm sure we'll remember the walk to the plant as much as seeing the plant itself! After another exhausting day we were all very sleepy once back at Nexus but there was time for a relaxing dip in the pool before it got dark.

And that concludes part two. Sorry I have to keep doing this in segments but I really don't want to miss out any details lest I might upset somebody and the internet place is now closing. I'm not too far behind now so look out for another update soon!

Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 1

This entry will probably sound different to previous ones since it hasn't really been traveling so much whilst in Borneo. No, I didn't twiddle my thumbs for a week - it was way more exciting. Whilst in KK me and Briony rented a motorbike and drove down to the airport to meet my parents! Yep, since I don't plan to come home any time soon and I have been away for 15 months now (hard to believe it's been that long) they decided to come on holiday to the far east and see if they could meet up with me. It has been an incredible week and I have done a lot of things I can honestly say I am not particularly used to.

Before all that though I had a few days in Kota Kinabalu before they got there. We used our time well and had a real explore of the city. We fancied a day out to one of the islands but decided that since we have a couple of days to kill we could rent a tent and camp out at one of the nearby islands within the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. We chose Mamutik since the Lonely Planet hyped it up to have the best coral garden of the lot. So we got our tent, got our provisions, got our ticket and jumped on a boat. The boat trip was fast and it was surprising the whole thing didn't tip right over. At the island we rented out a couple of snorkels and masks and looked for the best camping spot. We followed the walking trail around the whole island (it wasn't a very big island) until we found the best spot for camping nestled in the corner of the beach by a cliff. Feeling very hot and sweaty I went straight into the water to cool off. Cooling off in the South China sea north of Borneo is completely impossible! It is incredibly warm and unbelievably relaxing. After the swim we donned the snorkels and set out to this coral garden. We saw loads of brilliantly coloured fish and corals, of which I recognized a good many from the days at home visiting fish shops with dad. The vibrancy of the fish was amazing, even though some evil fish did bite me! We came to the island prepared and had our dinner of crisps and Pop Mie (pot noodle) for dinner. When it started to get dark we got our survival skills on and made a fire.

The fire wasn't going overly well as the wind started to pick up. Then it started to rain. Rain in a rainforest is quite rainy. So when the storm started we grabbed our tent, which so happened not to be waterproof and the peg bag held just a single peg, and it sort of snapped in two as it was pouring down with rain running across the island looking for shelter! We found a large shelter on a concrete plane and it even had a light! So we sat down in this shelter watching the storm pelting down all around us. It was very funny and although sleep came very fitfully I did get some in. The following morning we got up and put our snorkels back on for a long swim. This took us all the way around the island, taking about 2 hours. It was incredible and everytime it started looking samey suddenly something else would pop out at you. We saw clown fish, moray eels, puffer fish, and loads more that I have no idea what their names were. I really wish I had an underwater camera!

Back on land on the worlds 4th biggest island we spent a whole day walking around a few places around KK. First we trekked up the steep road going to the Signal Hill lookout point. This lookout point gave us a great view of some buildings... but that was about it. Following the road around we got to the KK Wetland Center and bird sanctuary. Not as exciting as it sounds. We snuck in without paying and strolled around in the baking heat seeing nothing at all but some tiny crabs in the marsh. The walk took us up to the main harbour and down back to the city center where we stopped for ice cream on the way - needs to be done.

We checked out of the hostel the following morning and hired out the motorbike to drive down to the airport. Originally my parents coming to Borneo was supposed to be a surprise for me, but with obvious 'where in the world are you!?' difficulties that wasn't to be. So it was excellent to surprise them at the airport as they thought I'd be meeting them at the hotel resort. After saying our long awaited hello's we bid them goodbye as we hopped back on the bike for a 45 minute drive to the Nexus resort north of KK city center. On the way the rains came very heavily and we got drenched! We very nearly beat them to the hotel too but they edged in front at the final hurdle. We got checked in, which was a bit of a mission and involved much confusion in trying to change rooms. Thankfully we confused them enough to sneak Briony into our room without any notice. (It feels like we've done a lot of sneaking recently!) After we got in we had to take the bikes back to the city. When we got to the bikes we realised we had made a very foolish error in forgetting about how it's kind of rainy in a rainforest and we left our helmets upside down on the bikes. Needless to say they were full to the brim with rain water! It took much deliberation but we had to take the bikes back so we squeezed out as much water as possible and braved the dampness. When we got back to the shop the guy there joked about us smelling bad... I think it was a joke anyway!

So we got some lunch, grabbed our bags and caught a taxi back to Nexus. The Nexus resort by the way is absolutely amazing. We have stayed in some pretty cool places but obviously at as low a cost as possible so we've never experienced anything like this! There were pools, with pool bars! And it had a 6km beach. And 8 restaurants. And it was quite stunning! So after much catching up and gossiping about news at home we went for a walk along the beach as the sun was setting. It was really nice and we watched some local teenagers hauling in a fishing net. Didn't look like they did too well though, just a few little crabs. It rained a bit but there was a huge rainbow as well so we didn't mind. When we got back mum and dad took us out for Chinese at one of the resorts 8 restaurants. It was nearly as good as Chinese food in China! We stayed up until the early hours of the morning drinking imported wine and Pimms, telling Briony many "when Ian was little..." stories. My favourite.

The following morning we got up and went into town on the shuttle bus. The first port of call was to stop in a local restaurant me and Briony enjoyed before for laksa. I think they were quite astonished by the price, especially after the cost of last nights Chinese. We had a walk through the handicraft market along the waterfront and bought some strange looking fruit, which turned out to be pretty horrendous. After buying supermarket supplies the rain started coming down hard again. I thought at this point mum and dad might be wondering why the hell they came to this place when it just rains all the time anyway! Thankfully they knew that you can't have a rainforest without rain and the landscape wouldn't be so green were it not for the copious amounts of rain. The rain died down in time for us to go and catch the bus back.

The following day we got up early to get to the town for a day trip back into Tunku Abdul Rahman national park. We chose Sapi island to visit this time, Sapi means cow though I'm not clued in to it's significance. Mum was amazed as to the heat of the water and proclaimed in excitement that it was hotter that some baths she has had. We had a swim for a while and then stopped for a barbecue lunch. While we were waiting to eat a large crowd amassed close to where the barbecue'ers were barbecue'ing. We quickly realised it was a monitor lizard and seeing how I've already seen plenty of those I wasn't too fussed at running over, camera armed. However there wasn't just one, there were at least half a dozen going after scraps of food. Shortly after we got over there two of the lizards started wrestling! It was quite a sight to see the lizards get right up on their back legs holding each other up with their strength, almost like they were dancing. They then proceeded to throw each other about trying to get an upper hand.

Back to lunch and there was an incredible amount of food with just about everything ou can barbecue except burgers. After food we rested for a while before taking mum and dad out snorkeling. It was really exciting to be able to show them something like that. I felt like a kid again - "Mum! Dad! Come look at this!" - and until they both managed to get injured I think they really enjoyed it. Injured snorkeling..? Yes. Mum got bit/suckered by a huge fish she had to rip off her leg and dad managed to cut himself on coral. I'm sure there are many out there, mostly surfers, who can attest to how sharp coral is. We got the boat back to KK and decided to stop for a coffee. This somehow transcended into cheesecake and iced coffee with ice cream! Not too sure how that happened but we were definitely all glad for it! As the sun was setting we walked through the night market area. Having visited a lot of night markets I was expecting to see all the same things. However, this market was huge! It had all the usual stuff plus loads of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. We stopped for dinner and for 4 people to each and have a drink it cost less than 5 pounds. A true traveling experience.

I'm afriad I have to wrap this up as it is taking a LONG time for me to play catch up here! So I will get Part 2 up as soon as I can. I'm not too sure how many parts there are going to be just yet. It will all depend on how much I can get on the internet in the next few days! I am currently slumming it in Kuala Lumpur which is an excellent city to explore - more to come.