Yes, I'm still in Bangalore, enjoying a lazy life and good company, however, that is all about to change as I prepare to go it alone in India. I finally pulled my finger out and started planning a rough itinerary, although I've only pin-pointed and booked one destination so far. It's a start. I'll figure the rest out as I'm going along. In the last few days, I've experienced more amazing food, but also what I'm assuming to be meat withdrawal. For two days I was devoid of all energy and unbelievably sleepy. I wasn't consciously craving meat, but my body clearly was. On Friday, I chilled at Big Straw (Vidya and Ashish's bubble tea cafe), and sampled various fruit lattes with aloe vera chunks, mango stars (awesome!) and mango bombs. They knock the socks off ... read more

On Monday morning, I went for dim sum before setting off on my 11am bus ride to Singapore. The journey was pretty straight-forward and the border crossing easy. Considering some of my previous international bus journeys, I was a little pessimistic. Arriving in Singapore, I went to the cash point to discover that I couldn't withdraw any money. Fun times. I found a money changer and changed the remainder of my ringgits into Singapore dollars, then hopped in a taxi, with the mindset to figure out the bank card issue later. As it happened, I drew money out the next day, no problem. When I got to the Happy Snail Hostel, I was pleasantly surprised to see Emma still around. I knew she'd been staying here, but assumed she'd have left by the time I arrived. ... read more

On the 3rd, Soph and I moved to the Federal Hotel for a little luxury (Sophie's birthday gift to me). It was a nice hotel, but very dated, and they only allowed free wifi for one device per room; a second was charged at 25RM. I'm glad we didn't pay cos the connection was awful. We constantly lost reception, and every time we went online, we had to go through the log-in rigmarole. Our password also had to be changed three times. Ridiculous. As became a daily pattern over the next few days, we just relaxed by the pool, shopped and ate. Tony and John joined us when they surfaced in the afternoon, and we sat laughing at their water-based stunts. One afternoon, we even had afternoon tea by the pool, too. Very British. Anyway, in ... read more

We set out on an afternoon tour of the Cameron Highlands, costing 50RM each. We started at the Mossy Forest on Gunung Brinchang. We walked through the moss-covered trees and moss-formed walkways, looking at cup-like pitcher plants and caking our shoes in mud. None of us slipped over, thank goodness, although there were a few near-misses! the guide gave us leaves which are used in Tiger Balm, told us to screw them up and then to sniff them. They smelled just like Tiger Balm. After the forest, we went to a high point where we looked out over the highlands. The scenery is truly stunning, and the cool temperature was much more to my liking. We stopped by Sungei Palas tea plantation, although the factory itself was closed to the public. There were a few people ... read more

On the Friday night, we went for a nice meal at the same place where Sophie and I had lunch, then went for a few drinks at Reggae Penang. On the Saturday morning, after I waited around for hours while everyone pulled their fingers out and got ready, we took the 101 bus to Batu Ferringhi, the closest beach to George Town. After experiencing Thailand's white sands and crystal-clear waters, we were understandably a little disappointed. Tony, Sophie and I hired jet-skis and sped right out at sea. The water was quite choppy, but we had fun. We went so far out that Edithe couldn't even see us to take photos! After a short time relaxing on the beach, I decided to grab a MacD's and head back to the hostel. I was sorely judged for ... read more