I arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday 4th July in the afternoon, after a rather uneventful train trip from Butterworth, Penang (6.5 hrs). Transport system in KL is rather good, with both the LRT (Light Rail Transit) and a monorail which offers good views of the city. My hostel was in Chinatown, where most budget hotels are. I stayed at the Matahari Lodge 2, Pasar Seni, one stop away from Central Station. It's good value for money, if only lacking character or ...

I am now in Georgetown, on the island of Penang in Malaysia. I spent Friday night in Bangkok after travelling by minibus from Kanchanaburi. Given that my backpack is bigger than the average Thai (I must really learn to travel lighter), I had to pay for 2 seats. Still, at £4.50 for both I can't complain! I took the opportunity to do something highly cultural and went to see Spiderman in 3D at the cinema, with a bucket of sweet and salty popcorn and Air Con. A c...

I have not been very good at updating this blog regularly. I am leaving Kanchanaburi to return to Bangkok before making my way to Penang in Malaysia. Kanchanaburi is famous for its bridge over the river Kwai, which killed over 100,000 people to build, from POW or forced labourers dragged from Japanese invaded countries. I travelled from Bangkok by taxi with Belinda, a 3h ride with heavy traffic. Belinda founded the Elephant Conservation Network (ECN) many years...

I left Jakarta to fly to Phuket on Friday 1st June with Air Asia. Nick was arriving the next day, but no flight was available for me on the Sat. I checked in a hotel near the airport, at the Nai Yang Beach Resort for the night. The beach is home to a few kiteboard schools, which seemed popular. Apart from that, it's pretty quiet, with a small strip of bars, restaurants and tailors. The resort is across the road from the beach, with nice spacious rooms and good s...

I was told last Monday that I could join ZSL field team in Berbak the next day for a week or so. This is a great opportunity for me to go into one of the last places with wild tigers, so I jumped at the opportunity. The first few days were spend waiting mainly, either traveling from Jakarta to Jambi (Tue), or waiting for a boat in Jambi to Haritam Laut (Wed), or for the boat to be fixed and the entry to the national park to be cleared (Thur). The boat journey i...