Still in KL... and watching the rain.

Hey hey there again,

Well am sat at the internet cafe again during my last night in Malaysia... feels very very strange! Had a great couple of days here - went to the Batu caves this afternoon which were pretty cool, although we gave the aggressive monkeys some much needed room! Spent the afternoon chilling out as it was just too hot, but unfortunately it really started raining which wasn't great this evening. Huge thunder and lightening storm, the first time it's rained on us in ages - but hopefully the humidity will clear.

So... heading home again tomorrow for 3 weeks. Flying from KL to United Arab Emirates, then to London Heathrow, then an 8 hour stopover before heading to Dusseldorf on Friday... (if anyone happens to be around LHR terminal 5 during Friday daytime before 2pm, feel free to come say hi!) Not sure when am moving to the UK during the 3 week period, and money will be very very tight after shelling out hundreds of pounds for this air ticket, but hopefully will be able to see a few people, before heading back on the 16th July to Bangkok...

Feeling happy and sad about leaving Malaysia and the girlies, and happy and sad about going home too. Will be nice to not live out of a rucksack too for a while, and to drink red wine again. At least I can leave again after 3 weeks and meet up with the girls again...

Anyway, hope you're all doing well and enjoying the UK summer,
Loads of love,
Alice xxx

Perhentian Islands, Redang Island and back to KL...

Hey hey there,

Well we made it to Kuala Besut on the bus (not very comfortable, but we survived), and managed to pick up the speedboat to the Perhentian Islands. We went to the bigger island first, but as accommodation was all booked up with the Malaysian school holidays - they have a kind of 'spring break' or our 'summer break' here on the islands - we went to the smaller island by taxi. Managed to find some very basic accommodation but about half the price and nicer than the next more expensive hotel. So we were happy, especially when the dive shop let us use their showers...

It was soooo hot on the beach. Almost unbearable even under the umbrella we hired out. Jumped into the clean water occasionally, but really suffered in the heat. So decided to go diving with Turtle Bay dive company the following day. They were absolutely brilliant - great banter, friendly service, really kind and very professional. What more could we want?! We went diving around the Pinnacle off the Perhentian Islands first of all, which is basically a huge pointy rock that sticks out of the water. The base is quite wide, and loads of fish and coral live there, including a 3 legged turtle nicknamed 'Tripod'... a huge mass of fish, was something really special, and reminded me of a bigger version of Julian Rocks in Australia. Saw loads of boxfish, pufferfish and porcupine fish, which made my day. They are my favourite fishes of all, and absolutely love them. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Second dive was on the Sugar wreck, which went down 10 years ago and is about 88m long. It took 2 days to sink, and fortunately no one was killed. It has grown lots of coral already, and we saw 3 baby coral cat sharks asleep under a blanket there. Had great fun swimming around the mast, and in and around the wreck. There is an air pocket made by divers' bubbles during the season, so we could stick our head into it and talk to each other (although not breathe the air in, as the air itself isn't very safe). But a really surreal experience! Was quite difficult navigating around the wreck when there were so many sea urchins with their long spikes on the floor, and lots of barnacles and sharp shells stuck to the ropes and the wreck... but was brilliant fun.

So much so, that we decided to go diving on Redang Island, as it's meant to be the best dive site in Malaysia, and better than the majority of Thailand. One hour away by speedboat, Redang Island is where the rich Malaysians come for weekends away from KL, with the white sands, clear seas, beautiful snorkelling and diving, and the resort hotels monopolise the island, charging exorbitant fees. There is a campaign to do the same for the Perhentian Islands, so we were very glad to get there before the backpacker scene becomes priced out, and not many people can enjoy the natural beauties Malaysia has to offer.

Anyway, we went diving and both times it was brilliant. Again, the coral was different to other places - very flat against the sea floor, but then huge rocks towered over us, creating chasms we could swim through. Sometimes the current was awfully strong, so we had to turn back, but the volume of fish was marvellous - as soon as we jumped into the water and descended, we were greeted by many many schools of fish. We also saw a couple of disgustingly ugly (and scary) moral eels - (look up on youtube about the moray eel that bites off a diver's thumb).... but lots of beautiful blue spotted fantail rays - so graceful. And managed to see a puffer fish, so I was very excited. Hired out the dive company's camera for this day, and you can see the photographs on picasa. Loved having a camera down there... someday I'll have my own!

So the Perhentian Islands were very small and remote, and had glorious beaches and tropical forests. We stayed on Longbeach, which had a few shops, reasonable places to eat, a couple of dive companies, and our accommodation. So everything within about 100m - brilliant to have things so nearby! We loved our time there, and enjoyed the balance between falling asleep on the beach, and having something structured to do like diving. The weather was beautiful, the food was good (we managed to get some western style food for a reasonable amount of money, which was greatly appreciated after our time in Chinatown)...

So took the boat back yesterday morning, and had to change speedboats half way through as our boat had a 'problem' and we needed to get the bus very quickly... 9 hours later we were back in KL, and settled down to relax for the evening. Got up horribly early this morning (6.30am), to go up the skybridge in the Petronas Twin Towers (it's the same towers they filmed in 'Entrapment') before coming back to the hostel for some food...

So maybe going to the market this afternoon, but having a few days in KL chilling out. I have to fly home to the UK on Thursday (will have an 8 hour stopover in Terminal 5 on Friday if anyone is desperately bored!) arriving in Germany on Friday, so just seeing a few last sights.

Anyway, hope all is well in the UK,
Loads of love,
Alice xxx

KL - Perhentian Islands - and my 100th post!

Hey hey there,

We've enjoyed our stay in KL so far, sorting out visas on Tuesday, and then taking the tourist bus on Wednesday to sightsee the city. Brilliant to unusually see a general view of the city with minimum effort from us! Managed to see the orchid garden, I saw the butterfly garden, and general lovely things around the place.

We are staying around Chinatown which is great, as it means the food is cheap and we have lots of little shops selling everything. Have to admit, we had a lazy day today and watched hours (well 4.5hrs) of Grey's Anatomy. Wonderful to chillout and not rush around like headless chickens, as have been spending mornings sorting things out.

We leave on the bus today to go to Kuala Besut, to get the speedboat (yay, no slow boat for us!) to go the big Perhentian island tomorrow morning. Hopefully arrange diving tomorrow for Saturday or Sunday, then will have to travel back to KL to the same hotel again all Monday. Loving having a room to ourselves, rather than sharing a dorm - we are 'so over' dorms! Perhentian looks amazing, so excited, although very tired already! Fancy relaxing and sleeping on the white sands... but first of all we need to get there. Hopefully the bus isn't too bad. Going to find a non-Chinese place to eat at this evening - so sick of greasy Chinese food!

So back to KL on Monday to hopefully sort out our Indian visas, and have already planned our sightseeing for next week - hopefully we'll be able to do it! We wanted to leave some things to do around KL for when we came back again, before I fly home on THURSDAY... drawing ever nearer....
- Fly from KL to UAE then to London Heathrow for 7 hr stopover then to Germany - arrive 26th June
- Fly from LHR to UAE then Bangkok on 16/17th July to meet the others in Bangkok.

Anyway, not sure how much the internet will be working on the Perhentian Islands, or my mobile signal, but just wanted to update you on where we are when. Will log in again to the blog when I next get a chance.

Loads of love to you all,
Alice xxx
ps hopefully see some of you very soon!!!

Bali to Singapore to Kuala Lumpur... in under 12 hours

Hey there,

The flight was amazing! Definitely made up for the early start. In fact, we were so early to the airport, check in hadn't started, and neither had the departures lounge opened... Singapore Airlines was brilliant, huge breakfast (the size made up for the taste), films... big chairs... unfortunately the flight was only 2.5 hrs long so didn't get to watch too many films.

Singapore was so nice, (all that we saw of it in 1 hour), - so clean, everything works - drivers kept to their own lanes and it was so clean, (so cliche). But lovely and friendly and helpful. Managed to get a bus for 6 hours up to Kuala Lumpur, going through immigration so easily and customs too. Actually, that was because no one was manning the station, but oh well! The bus was big and empty, and the seats were comfortable and even had massagers in the back of them, such luxury.

So arrived in KL, and are staying in the Backpackers Travellers Inn in Chinatown, as it is cheap. We splurged an extra 50p per night to stay in our own room, rather than the rather bleak and dismal dorm rooms. It's absolutely fine, although the lights when walking through Chinatown are rather too much for me, and am feeling rather dazed...! Oh well, I'm sure we'll get accustomed... Anyway, trying to sort out our visas here in KL at the moment, so might get stuck here for rather a long time, at least a week if we have to do our Indian visa, and it looks like we'll have to.

So hope all's ok in the UK,
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx

Kuta, Bali (again)...

Hey hey there,

We finally made it back to Bali again, on the slow boat (it takes 5 hours to go 20-25km across the 3000m deep stretch of water between Bali and Lombok). We were a little stiff after all the travelling, but survived it well enough. So just hanging around Kuta today and yesterday, doing a little shopping and chilling out on the beach when we get too hot and bothered. We managed to move into a basic hotel, which was much cheaper than the one we were originally in when we returned to Kuta.

So heading off to Singapore tomorrow morning, and then hopefully will manage to get all the way up to Kuala Lumper the same day. Really fancy treating myself to a massage and pedicure today, hopefully will be able to get them both for 4 uSD - so not really that expensive! The bed did nasty things to my back last night...

Anyway, love to all, and will email again when hit an internet cafe in Malaysia.
Alice xxx

Gilly Air Island, Indonesia

Hey hey again,

Well we managed to get a great ride over to Gilly Air with the diving company, Lombok Dive, and got ourselves a basic but fine bungalow looking over the turquoise sea. The island itself is small, with limited facilities, but idyllic in its relaxation! We found a gorgeous cafe/restaurant with large wooden plinths with cushions to sit on and watch the sun set. The food was cheap and delicious (when the electricity was on, the milkshakes were brilliant), and when we ate somewhere else on our last night, we regretted it!

Unfortunately there was quite a lot of rubbish floating around, which the Indonesian government needs to sort out with tourism increasing, but it was still beautiful. Went snorkelling (saw a sea snake and turtle), and also played in the divers' bubbles - a cheap spa! Very fun. Went diving twice, and saw turtles, lots of fish, lion fish, and a shark... a white tipped reef shark. It looked so evil and menacing and sly in its eyes, and we got a little too close for it... H and J were fine, but I was a little (hugely) scared! Luckily J let me hold her hand for a while until it swum by, and we swam slowly away... gotta remember that we are in its world, and it probably wouldn't harm us at all, but it just looked so evil! However, the dive company was horrific (Dive Lombok), and the tour agency that sold us the dives (Smile Tours in Senggigi) wasn't much better. Five days later, and stranded for 24 hours in Senggigi, we have finally sorted things out and are complaining to PADI about them. It all turned out alright, and we are now certified PADI Advanced divers, but it wasn't an easy process.

So going to watch the sunset in Senggigi harbour tonight (we missed it by 10 minutes when we were here on the way to Gilly Air), before heading back to Kuta in Bali tomorrow.

Lots of love to you all,
From us all,
Alice xxx

Senggigi, Lombok, Indonesia

Hey hey there,

What a wonderful place Indonesia is! We travelled (late as always) up from Kuta to Ubud 2 days ago, and had a lovely time wandering around. The hotel we were staying in - well 2 bungalows really, were run by a very friendly family, with a beautiful 7 year old girl called Tiara, who had a certain obsession with playing with a little chicken... surprised she didn't accidentally ring its neck, seeing as that is how she was often holding it... not surprisingly, it was rather loud! Breakfasts were delicious - tea/coffee, fruit salad and banana pancakes to set us up for the day, the mother even getting up early despite my protestations, in order to make us our breakfast before we caught the bus... the room was lovely and large, and the fan worked well. We really enjoyed relaxing for a few hours in the afternoon when it was too hot to do anything else - lots of reading done.

Ubud is lovely, although quite difficult to walk along the pavements which often have holes in, are uneven, have steep inclines to let cars through, and are scattered with daily offerings they seem to make here (very difficult not to inadvertently tread on one when walking along)... plus continuous offers of 'transport' or 'taksi' wear a little thin. But the town itself was lovely, and we discovered a brilliant little restaurant which did delicious food, and very very cheaply too. So meandered around the market until we were too hot and bothered and hassled, before heading to the monkey sanctuary. They were really cute, macaques, with lots of babies. The little ones looked so wrinkly they actually looked old - reminded me of the Benjamin Button film. The males were quite aggressive, and they weren't backward about jumping on you, or in Hayley's case, on her head. Very entertaining for me, also entertaining was when a wet monkey (he had been swimming) climbed up J's leg... but the best part was when a monkey pickpocketed J. He undid her bag (albeit not zipped up, but had a popper on it), and dug around for her purse, before scooting up on the entrance wall. Hilarious for Hayley and me, not so much for J. Bananas thrown at him were only caught and he put the purse between his feet to catch more bananas. Luckily a slingshot appeared and he dropped the thing. Very very funny to watch...

Yesterday we went diving on the SS Liberty. It was a US cargo ship that was sunk by the Japanese in WW2, but was actually sunk below the water when the volcano exploded, raining rocks down on it in 1963. It was a brilliant day. G'day, our guide and dive master, collected us from our hotel at 7.45am, and put us into a comfy car/van thing to take us to the site, 2 hours away. We found boxes of cakes on our seat, - this was after eating the delicious banana pancakes for breakfast and had unlimited bottles of soft drinks. Such luxuries for us, as we only normally drink water, and can't afford to buy cakes, as they don't fill us up for long enough. The drive was gorgeous, through rice paddy fields, and along roads which always seem to have some sort of building on their side. We had a very nice hotel as our base for the dive, and it was beautiful, with palm trees overhead. The boat is 20 metres from the beach, so we were able to walk down off the beach and dive like that, rather than using a boat. The dive itself was lovely, seeing a stingray, garden eels, lots of nemos, groper the size of me, stonefish... the wreck is growing its own coral reef system on it, and give it another few years, it will only improve. For me I much preferred the Yongala, but this was also fantastic, and so relaxing as the water was 31 degrees celsius, and G'day was such a professional, competent, friendly and helpful person. Also fantastic because we were the only people in the group! We also managed to go inside the wreck (wonder how much longer people will be able to do that), and fed some fish bananas. They weren't small fish, and it was really funny to feed them, especially when G'day put a banana down my BCD (inflatable jacket) and they surrounded me... But I especially loved the HUGE school of silvery bluey fish swirling past, they were 10 inches long, and amazing to see them swimming in formation... such a perfect day.

We travelled for about 11 hours today to get to Senggigi in Lombok. It is fine, but nothing spectacular, although the sunset in the harbour/beach was beautiful. There were lots of funny boats on it, and we finally realised that we had arrived in Asia. We are heading to Gilly Air tomorrow morning (where the internet is slow and expensive, so don't worry if we don't check in for a couple of days, although my mobile is still working. Unfortunately I cannot retrieve voicemails on it if I miss your call, but texts work fine). We are being taken on the dive boat, (missing out running the gauntlet in a very hectic port with lots of annoying men), and will do 2 dives, finishing our PADI Advanced training (hopefully). Not sure how long we will spend there - long enough until we get bored of beautiful beaches and want to get back to Kuta. Will be nice to be away from the traffic! Although grabbing a lift on the back of a scooter was fun today...

Anyway, will be in contact soon, but lots of love,
Alice xxx

Bali! We have arrived...

Hey hey there,

Hope all's well in good ol' England, and hope it's a little cooler there...! We spent a (lovely) day flying yesterday, from Cairns, which was alright but nothing spectacular, to Darwin, which was very hot - yes we are qualified to say we've seen it, as we stepped outside the airport for all of about 7 minutes...! We had a stopover there of about 5 hours, and didn't really want to spend much money, so had a delightful time hanging around the airport. Only an hour delayed leaving to Bali, as they couldn't start one of the engines (I think Jetstar is a bit like Ryanair or Easyjet), but the bonus was that we did get a free meal on the flight. Delicious, but, as always, not enough.

So we landed yesterday, and had a bit of a culture shock as it was about 1am our time, and we were used to easy Australia! But we managed to find a lovely guy called Sultan on the Poppies 1 Road, who helped us find a cheap hotel. (He worked in a tourist office, which was still open at 11pm, he wasn't a random off the street!) So we are staying in a very friendly place for a total of 10 US dollars a night for the 3 of us, with a huge double bed, another big single bed, and an adequate fan for the heat, plus our own bathroom. Such a hard life! It even includes an egg and tomato toastie with tea or coffee in the morning, loving this...

So Bali... well we are staying in Kuta, instead of grey Denpasar. It is wonderful - a maze of alleyways with people selling all sorts of things, and the most gorgeous clothes. Reminds me a little of the medinas in Morocco. The locals are so friendly! (and small) - things are thankfully very cheap here. We can eat a tuna steak with vegetables for a pound, or a fresh juice for 27p which was huge)... and for a little more money you get a lot.

The beach here is the main focus, with lots of people on it, and enjoying the water, as it gets very humid and hot during the day. There are a lot of people hassling us to buy stuff, but they do it in such a nice way, it doesn't feel too bad. They are incredibly friendly and helpful. We walked around Kuta today a little, and bought a dress or two (for all of 4.5 USD), and also saw the memorial to the Bali bombings in 2002, which were around this area. Very sobering, and a fitting monument to all who died. Lots of English names up on the board.

We gave up walking around and headed for the beach, where I had a 2 hr private surfing lesson for 12USD - for a little more I could've got a free massage, a date and soft drinks, but I passed that up. He, Rizzle (his friends were called Tiger and Oraz), was a fantastic teacher and managed to get me standing up on the board on my 3rd attempt. Far better than the lesson I had in the Outer Banks in the US when I was younger. What can I say? I am now a pro. Surfing on the board all the way in, managing to change its direction, even got an injury. (Unfortunately it wasn't gushing blood, so not very impressive, just clonked myself on the back of the head with the board like a slight retard)...

So we are all a little full now after our veggie curries and tuna steaks, but just wanted to say that we arrived safely and are very content here. Luckily it is also very safe (as long as you're not male, single and stupidly drunk) which is more relaxing that South America, however we are aware that we are at most risk when we think we are the safest - so we're not letting our guard down. However, the atmosphere here is wonderful, and I think we've talked to most of the population in Bali already!

The roads are VERY narrow, barely letting a small car through, and add in 2 million scooters to the 4 million humans, lots of pedestrians and the odd horse, and life becomes very entertaining! We were walking down a narrow alley last night finding a hotel, when 3 scooters came roaring towards us... we shrieked and jumped out of the way, only for the guy in front to say, laughing, 'Don't worry, take your time'... and for the 3rd guy to say 'I'm going to kill you!' Luckily he was joking (or so we like to believe)... we did meet him again today and he was lovely, - the phrases they have picked up here are hilarious. Reminds me a lot of Morocco - again, 'Charlies Angels!', 'Looking is free', 'Hello darling', 'Hello treacle'... plus all the footie talk.

Anyway, we are heading into the middle of Bali tomorrow (all of about 45km away), to see some monkeys and do some 'culture', before swinging onto the north coast, and then down to do the Liberty ship wreck in Tulamben on the East Coast, which is also in some people's top 10 dive sites globally. Two dives there coast 45 USD - a fraction of the price in Australia. We will then head to Padangbai to maybe dive there, before heading over to the island of Lombok (to Senggigi) and then the Gilli islands, before flying to Singapore on the 15th. Internet is pretty hard to find in some places, so may not be able to check in as much, but at the moment my UK mobile (07877 421 666) is working, so in emergencies feel free to call it. As much as I'd love to hear from you in non-emergencies, it costs me a fortune to receive calls and messages!

Anyway, better dash and find a fan, but love to all, from us all,
Alice xxx

Thank you!

A massive thank you to everyone we met who made our time in Australia so special. We loved every minute of it, and were amazed at how kind and generous people were. Thank you for everything, we had a fantastic time!

Off to Bali today (hopefully the plane will arrive there!)
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx