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Published: June 25th 2008
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The rest of my time in Australia flew by, similar to my time in Singapore and Malaysia. I ended Australia in Cairns where the weather was lovely and I stayed in a nice hostel called Bohemia Resort. I did a couple of day trips from there including a days snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and a trip into the rainforest and to some stunning waterfalls. The snorkelling was great fun, I even spotted a few sharks. I made friends with a couple of girls, one of whom, Larissa, was staying at my hostel which was cool as it gave me a buddy to hang out with up there. We were given a really nice buffet lunch and the oppertunity to try scuba diving. I gave it a go but really didn't like it, so decided I'd be sticking to snorkelling from then on!
I flew out of Cairns on the 30th May, and into Singapore. I stayed in a hostel in Little India called The Inn Crowd which was great for meeting people and fairly close to everywhere I wanted to go. As before, Singapore was hot and stuffy and rained lots, but I was with a nice bunch
of girls so we always found something to do! I stayed in Singapore for a few nights and visited lots of temples, shopping centers and the zoo. The zoo was really fun - it has monkeys swinging around in the trees everywhere and I think a highlight was when one of the monkeys decided to have a wee on the pavement just as an unsuspecting tourist walked under it (what a grose sense of humour I have!).
From Singpore I got a bus up to Melaka in Malaysia. The bus was like no bus I've seen before - there were only three seats in each row so lots of room and each seat had cushions and leg rests, similar to airplane seats but with more room. The border crossing was fairly hassel free, and the journey was only about four hours long. One night was plenty in Melaka; it's a nice area but apart from a few museums there's very little to do there. I got a bus up to Kuala Lumpar the next day. KL was a nice city and very easy to get around. I stayed in an area called the Golden Triangle which was pretty central
and within walking distance to the Petronas towers. The shopping in KL was amazing, but I managed to control myself - I'm saving for Bangkok where everything should be cheaper! I stayed a couple of nights in KL, before going to the Perhentian islands. I decided to save money and get the overnight bus to Kuala Besut (where you get the ferry to the islands) instead of flying with my friends. It was one of the scariest rides of my life - I was the only girl on the bus and there was one other white person but they weren't very friendly. I was hoping to sleep on the bus, but the man behind me kept stroking me and prodding me and as the bus was full I couldn't move seats. The weather was terrible and the driver a bit of a lunatic but luckily I did eventually make it to somewhere near where I was hoping to go and I hopped in a taxi to the ferry. I met with my friends there who told me about there one hour long, comfortable flight, I wasn't amused!
The Perhentians were absolutely stunning. I was meant to stay there for
a few days, but ended up there for a week and a half! I paid little for a very basic hut with a bed, fan and mosquito net - all I needed. The weather was fairly mixed, but when the sun was shining we lazed on the white sand beach, with the clear sea to cool us down! Heaven! I went on a days snorkelling trip which was fantastic, better than the Great Barrier Reef. I swam with big sea turtles, sharks and lots and lots of fish. The food on the island was also good with fish barbeques an option every evening. I arrived with a nice bunch of people, and met more and more people the whole time I was there, ending up leaving with some other people! I even met up with some of my friends from New Zealand which was awesome.
I left the Perhentians and made the 24hour journey to Ko Phang-nan in time for the full moon party on the 18th. The journey was long, and the over night bus definitely wasn't as comfortable as the bus in Singapore but I was with friends so it wasn't too bad. Ko Phang-nan was buzzing
with tourists and it was lucky that we got there a day early because accommodation was hard to find. We ended up in little huts on Leela beach which were actually fine and cheap. The full moon party was crazy - around 40,000 people on one beach with buckets of alcohol. I was ill, so went but didn't drink which I think made it scarier! It lasted all night, and after parties went on for days but we didn't go. It was definitely an experience! We escaped the party madness and went up to Bottle Beach on the north of the island. It as much nicer there and quieter, fairly similar to the Perhentians but without the nice sea. We all recovered there for a few days, enjoying the sunshine and good food.
I'm now on Koh Tao which is a really nice island but it keeps raining which is a shame. We had a really rough ferry crossing over with lots of people throwing up, but I was lucky and me and my bags made it in one piece! I've managed to find a bargain place to stay where I'm paying 400B (around 6pounds) for a room with
fan, en-suite with flush toilet (not something I'm used to here!) and satellite TV - woop! I'm not sure how long I'm staying here for, there's not much to do when the weather's bad.
I fly home a week on Friday which is really scary, so I guess this'll be the last blog. I hope everyone's well, and I guess I'll be seeing most of you pretty soon!
Hats xxx
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anonymous
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This looks like such fun... xxx