SELMAT DATANG, No we are not dead or lost at sea!! It is a sad moment however, for both traveller and loyal blog reader! This will be our last post from SE Asia .... (this year anyway)...

The blogs have been a bit few and far between on this last leg of the journey, but internet access has been scarce or very expensive, and we will be home in a few weeks so we can update you then.

Currently, we are in KL or Kuala Lumpur the Malay capital, for our last few days. After leaving Bangkok, we tried to limit the travel and spend more time getting absorbed in the atmosphere. This meant "having" to spend the next 12 days on the tropical islands of Ko Lanta (in Thailand) and Palau Prehentian Kecil (in northern Malayasia) ... Both were fantastic!! We arrived first in Krabi after leaving Bangkok, and decided to go straight to Ko Lanta rather than staying the night. After 2 coaches, a minibus and 2 ferries, we made it just in time for out first tropical storm of the trip. Fortunaltey, it only lasted a few hours and the following 2 days were warm and fine, we hired a moto and spent the time wandering the secluded beaches, cruising the open highway (small single lane road around the island) and enjoying spa treatments at the place where we stayed. Soon enough, the monsoon began arriving and with the recent events at Myanmar and the fairly constant wind and rain we decided it best to move coastlines to East Malaysia. But not before having an all nighter with the couple who owns Ancient Realm (our accomodation) >>> Thanks Suki and Clinton for a great night ... oh and also Helga/Ida hehehe ;)

So we hit the Pehentian Islands on two hours sleep, nausea, heat stroke & probably bird flu from the five chooks that got jammed arround us after boarding the minbus. We ended up taking the overland route in a hired minibus, which we assured to be safe, through southern Thailand and the military zones. There was no problems, but the trip was an eye opener as to how real the religious war is there. Many road blockades, car searches, razor wire and soldier patrols with automatic rifles bigger than them...

Once in Palau Prehantian (Prehentian Islands) there are two islands Besar (big) and Kecil (small). We opted for Kecil as it was said to be cheaper, quieter and there are more empty beaches. We were not disappointed!! We picked a spot on the west coast of the island so we could watch the sunset from the pier, beach or on-beach resturant (there was also less pommy and yanky's on this side LOL). We had an awesome week of swimming, snorkelling, wildlife spotting (including monitor lizards, like goannas, but of massive proportions .. no joke these things are frigging massive), chilling at the beach resturants, and generally bumming around. Amy even got conned into a kayak circum-navigation trip of Kecil!! A good effort for her little arms ;) Only complaint was the islands have no banks or ATMs, so we ran out of maoney and had to continue on our way ... otherwise we may have stayed ... FOREVER????

A quick local bus ride down the south coast, we arrived in central Kuala Terengganu (KT). The city is a pretty typical Malay town, very friendly, easy to navigate and great food/curries! But these are not what drew us to KT ... the dark tales of the strapping young Admiral Brown travelling the surrounding pirate infested waters on his trusty (or not so trusty) sailing junk is what sparked our interest and we headed to yet another island, Palau Duyong Besar (this time in middle of river Terangganu) to check out the story. We stayed at a place called Awi's Yellow House and met up with the owner (Awi der) who is a close friend to the infamous Admiral Brown. In true malay stlye, awi was a terrific host, invited us to his home, showed us around, and filled in some of the blanks in the gripping tale of Admiral Brown.(Thanks CHris for the call and the word ... very much appreciated!) We thought the Yellow House was a really magical place, set in amonst the local village and mangroves. We kicked back and enjoyed the atmosphere, locals, food and resident characters. Also, a must for those interested in the art of timber boat building!!!

Unforuntley however, as always, time got the better of us and after 4 days at Awi's place, reluctantly we had to move on to KL (now) for a few days of sight-seeing, shopping and preparation for the return to the non-tropical land of Oz. There are some more photos up of our travels, so check them out, take care and we will see you soon ... very soon :(

>>> P.S. the :( is regarding leaving SE Asia not see you of course LOL <<<