Sunbrun and Engines

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Hello. Thanks for all the messages. We have heard about the Thailand situation but not in much detial. I will look into it further. We are initally planning to go straight from Bangkok to the north to get our Indian visas then go to Loas. If stuff is still looking bad then we may head straight to Loas or even get a flight there. We will see closer to the time. If you hear more do let me know.

On to what we've been up too. We went from Penang to the perhentian islands. It turned into a bit of a nightmare journy. It was an overnight bus...so no sleep and it was meant to drop us at the jetty to get a ferry. However, it droped us in a different place at 4:30 am so we had to get a taxi that was really expensive. We eventually found the right ticket office for the boat but the people there told us our boat tickets, which we had already purchaced, were no good because slow boats (cheaper) don't go anymore so we had to pay extra for a fast boat. After a long argument we ended up paying more for the fast boat (grrrrr). The Island was a bit of a disapointment for me becuase it is much more developed now than it was when i went before four years ago. That time it was litterally a few cafes and not much accomodation and only a handful of tourists. This time it was very busy and bits of it looked like a dump due to biulding work, plus everything was very expensive. We did have a good time snokeling yesterday though and saw lots of fish and a shark and mantor rays which was lovley.

On the first day we went swimming and like ture English people we got sunburnt, dispite factor 50 suncream. Now I am in some pain as i got more burnt snokeling even though i was wearing shrots and t-shirt and had factor 50 on.

So we left the Island today, which should have been easy but........the boat broke down in the middle of the sea. The drive did try to fix it but they couldn't find the right tool. It's times like that that I really wish we had brought Gareth Howe along! But unfortunatly i left out that vital bit of handlugage so we had to wait for an hour and a half for another boat to turn up. I started to feel a bit seasick at this point so i sat at the front and looked out to sea. This was very relaxing and tranquil until the driver started fishing. He was pulling out beautiful tropical fish......then wacking thier brains out. So i relocated.

We're not quite sure what were doing now because we messed up our route a bit. We thought this new road was open but it doesn't seem to be so we can't sensibly get to the cameron higlands from Kota Baru. So...we are going to Kuala Terenganu tomorrow to look at some big waterfalls then decide what to do next from there.

It's been very hot today so I'm feeling a bit spaced out. Especialy due to the fact that i always caryy on rocking after I've been on a boat so I'm sat here feeling like the waves are rocking me.

So... Andrea - hope you get registered ok and enjoy being a student again. Say hi to Jackie and John for me.

Kev- I wish I could send some curry home for you. This is the real deal. You and Gaz would love it.

Cath - lovley to hear form you.

Off to check out the thialand situation. A coup is a massive thing seems as the King is such a big figure there.

Take care all

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Photos

Sam in the crystal clear warm water.
Not to make you jelous or anything....

Something to be proud of.......
....100% imported potatoes.

Comments

[justmakebelieve]

turning green....
I want to go snorkeling! Why am I starting my travels somewhere cold....? btw, apparently the King has backed the coup in Thailand, which should be good news in terms of stability.