Hello from Malaysia. If nothing else our passports are looking pretty impressive!

We made the border crossing late last night and arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 4 am. For some reason ATM's (and chip and pin machines) don't open until 6.30 in Malaysia and as we only had Thai Bhat we couldn't buy anything or go anywhere. We took refuge in a 24hr KFC for 3 hours before beginning the now familiar hostel hunt. Once again we defied Lonely Planet and hostel owners that were charging more to find a room for under 10 dollars. We've managed to never pay over the 10 dollar mark for the eight weeks so far (apart from Steph's birthday!!), a record we're proud of and walk far to maintain! Admittedly we've got less this time for our money than ever before but it's a place to sleep! KL itself seems a lovely city and our hostel is in the middle of chinatown and all the atmosphere that brings.

Since the last blog we've been on Ko Tarutao. The island is protected as a national park and development is not allowed meaning that we could camp on the beach. The island was amazing and every bit what you imagine it to be. We spoke to a Thai man in Chiang Mai and when we told him we were heading to Tarutao he looked around him then asked "How did you hear!". Because of time we'd had to pick just one Thai beach and from that moment on we had a suspision we'd picked well, and so it proved, there were very few other people there and it wasn't unusual to have the mile long white sand beach to ourselves.

In truth though, the illusion that we'd happened across some secret that only locals knew about was just that, an illusion. The park is listed in Lonely Planet and they lay out exactly what you get; an empty paradise island with some basic facilities. So why was Bangkok absolutely heaving with westerners while Tarutao was half empty with tens of unused tents?

The only conclusion can be that it isn't what people are looking for. The busy places are those crammed wall to wall with bars or this year's "Next Big Resort". This kind of macabre "I want to see somewhere just before it dies" is a little strange and probably only going to lead to disappointment as if you've heard of it it's proabably already too late. A big motivation seems to be the ability to say "I was there when it was just starting up", a kind of holiday version of seeing a big band before they get big. Personally, I hope the resort chasers never stop, that way I can visit Ko Taruatao in ten years and recognise everything. It was the first place in eight weeks we felt genuinely sad to be leaving.

Camera battery has died so we'll add more photos and finish the blog tomorrow

Love to everyone

Greg and Steph

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UPDATE 16.3.09 (Steph)

Hi all, currently on internet again sheltering from torrential rain! This pattern started on Ko Tarutao where we saw some pretty impressive lightening storms most nights though only got rain one night, however here the heavens just open around 6pm! It's really humid during the day and the storm tends to clear the air which is much more comfortable! The umbrella has now come in handy for both sun and rain!

As an addition to Greg's blog just thought I'd add that although our Thai island was paradise it didn't get off to a particularly auspicious start; having being travelling for 24 hours to get there the first thing we wanted to do was run into the sea, which we did...until Greg felt a sharp pain in his foot...which turned out to be the result of a stingray having been stepped on! The wound was pretty deep but luckily we met a Hawaiian life guard who was familiar with this kind of thing so could tell us what it was and that he was going to be fine! The national park staff also appeared with some contraceptive pills which Greg took and they dissolved one on the wound - apparently this is the remedy local fishermen swear by and sure enough the pain had gone completely within about 3 hours! Needless to say we didn't do anything the next day...or the next day, or the next day actually but that's just how we wanted it! Left feeling a bit sad as Greg said but also very relaxed!

KL has been great apart from the early start, however hostel owners let us leave bags despite not knowing if a room was available (it was still 7am!) so we went off to see the Petronas Towers and get our free ticket to go up to the skybridge. The towers are a pretty impressive feat of engineering and architecturally stunning, the lift takes you to the 41st floor in 41 seconds! Obviously pretty impressive views and all the better being free! There's also an attached shopping centre where you can do the inevitable British-label spotting game (first M&S and Topshop we've seen!) and a public park area which all makes for a very nice (and very Western) atmosphere. However the thing that has struck me most is the complete mix of cultures and ethnicities here, it's the most multi-cultural place we've been with lots of Chinese and Indian people and influences (not least on the food), it's really interesting just to walk around. We've been to the National Museum today which was very good for giving some background to a country that has been through quite a lot in the last 200 years or so and makes you realise how far it's come considering it didn't become independent (from Britain, obviously!) until 1963. Tomorrow we're off to visit a mosque and hopefully see the Petronas Towers at night before going south to Melaka which according to some locals we were talking to over lunch is really nice. It was a centre of trade in years gone by (that's the museum talking) so has a lot of history and is also another place for great food!

So, now you're up to date! Both really looking forward to Australia and everything else to come, hope you'll all be there with us in spirit, if not in person!

Lots of love

S&G xxx