Fri 8th June
Woken up early at 6am by a terrific rain storm, it beat off the roof with an almighty noise.
Had a unintentional lie in til 10:30, he he he. Up and breakfasted (oats, apple and yoghurt, yum yum) then we quickly assembled some sandwiches for a picnic. (Love a jam sandwich for a picnic).
Waved down the North West Bus and asked to be dropped at Ledung Waterfall.
At one stage we were the only white people on the bus and I was the only woman, for a good while (40 mins) until we got to Tangkak. About 7km before our stop some Indian-Malay children boarded, said "good morning" and sat behind us. We chatted about where we were from, where they lived and their fave subject - English, of course. They helped us get off at the stop we needed,
"Keep going straight down that road". We shook their hands, thanked them and hopped off.
10/15 minute walk to entrance, 1RM each, then a 20 minute or so upward trek to reach the waterfall.
Some people were playing/bathing in the lower pools, which looked like fun. Up the uneven steps and through the Malaysian forest, we saw an army of ants, more lizards, and a massive centipede. Then, after a 900 ft high climb, the waterfall. We were rather warm at this stage. A good view and an impressive waterfall, but we couldn't find any further pathway upwards that was open. On the way down we spotted some (of the same?) monkeys (we saw yesterday). We stood and watched them for a little while. Back at the bottom we had a picnic on a fixed table and chairs by the pool of water a family were playing in (swing rope and some were fishing for something). I got biten a few times - remember to put repellant on the back of my arms next time. We walked out of the park for the bus. On the way some guys pulled over and asked us where we're heading - said they had to pick up their children, so they dropped us off at a bus stop further down the road. (Their childen climbed the mountain earlier that morning). Very nice of them and convenient for us.
While waiting at the bus stop a man pulled over and chatted to Frank - he had a friend in Nottingham. Lots of people were beeping/tooting waving, smiling and saying 'Hi'. Got back on same bus, same driver and was dropped off outside Wakalily Hostel.
Chilled, trimmed Frank's beard (it doesn't trim itself!) had some soup thickened with frozen vegetables (student food).
Lily came in with a new resident, Summer from Georgia, U.S.A.
We sat chatting, (I got a shower) and talked mostly about India, teaching, travelling and Thailand. May then came in and joined us. Summer went off to bed as she had an early start. We remained, still chatting, then drinking, soon enough we ran out of beers! Oh no. However, Lily (rather tipsy at this stage) pulled out a giant shot glass with two bottles of Absolute vodka in! I sipped from a cup but it was fairly strong stuff - not to my taste either.
Chatted about Catholics, Islam, pork, language, education, regailed funny stories and told jokes. May recalled a Malaysian green river/magic skin story she read in Readers Digest years ago. Lots and lots and lots and lots of messing, joking and laughing.
A good night - bed at 1:45am!

Sat 9th June
Up at 11:30am - well we had a late night!
Hired bikes for the day. Mine was a black, solid frame bike with no gears. Frank's was a sandy coloured bike, with gears and it could fold in half. Strange but true. Hard seats on both.
Cycled over the bridge, into and then all around town. Heading out of town we did an about turn, pulled over at a scooter garage to get my seat raised - a little trouble finding the right size spanner but it was sorted. Ahhh, much better.
We stopped at The Elephant café 434 a "world famous" coffee shop. As we parked and chained our bikes up outside an old fella said he'd watch them for us. "You going into café? Yes go have a coffee - world famous."
Very nice coffee.. Frank's was a little too sweet. Local Muar Coffee I had a coffee flavour milkshake - something cold and filling. Having finished we stepped outside and our bikes were still there. Robert, the chap who was watching them for us, introduced himself and asked us where we were from etc. One more ride around town, waving, smiling and calling "Hi" to everyone - proper mini celeb's eh? We crossed back over the bridge, cycled along some back roads and...
Off to the supermarket and the bazar for fried food. It was so good. Perhaps we shouldn't have eaten the food right in the middle of the bazar...seeing how they were all in the middle Ramadan (fasting!). Oh dear. However, everyone was fine about it, even encouraging us to try different dishes! I think they rather enjoyed the novelty of clueless tourists. Ha ha.