Just a quick update for now.... Arrived in the near-paradise of the Perhentian Islands about 6 days ago. White sand and turquiose sea - very beautiful!

Did my PADI Open water dive course, which I finished yesterday - none of this 'learning in a pool' nonsense for me. Had all my lessons with the fishies. Oooh and a shark. Tres cool.

Heading back to the mainland tomorrow - and then into Thailand soon after. Attempting to find some other idylic island to relax on - I am soooo over cities! This is the way forward... perhaps I'll just stay here forever (kidding mum).

I've been sharing a room with a girl that I met on the bus here. It was a slightly awkward set up, as we arrived and there were hardly any rooms available - so we agreed (for the sake of our wallets) to share - then we found out that there were only double beds available. Was dreading waking up cuddling in the morning! (We didn't...)

I'd definetly come back here. There are so many parts to the islands - I stayed in an area called Long Beach - the cheap backpacker area. We spent a lot of time thinking about 'when we're rich and come back'! I've spent a fortune doing that.

Oh yeah, there were huge monitor lizards that lived under our bungalow. I mean HUGE. These things were over a meter long from nose to tail - they looked a lot like a croc. Not sure who was more shocked when we first clapped eyes on each other. He became a permanant fixture throughout the week - sadly I think he won a fight with a ginger cat on my last day... poor thing had its leg all but ripped off. So the dive school took him into a room to, well, to die probably... Nice.

Ok, well this hasn't made much sense, but you get the idea xx