We arrived in Langkawi 2 days before the end of Ramadan. As a result everywhere was very quiet. All the tourist’s seemed to have stayed away because of Ramadan and all the locals are heading back to their families for the holiday’s (It’s a bit like our long Easter weekend). All that said we still managed to eat and find accommodation.Aafter 2 days we were ready to move on, plus we didn’t really want to travel on the Saturday! So back to the jetty to catch the boat to Penang.
When we reached Penang we went looking for somewhere to stay… We struggled to find anywhere half decent for the price we wanted to pay. In the end we settled for a box with a bed in and shared a bathroom, it was clean so it will do! While in Penang we went to the shops (it’s a duty free island after all). Although as we discovered when we got to KL the duty free doesn’t make much difference. By far the best thing about Penang was the food! We stayed in Little India and the Indian food was amazing (I know we are supposed to be eating Malay food!). So after 3 days of eating and wondering around A/C malls it was time to catch a bus to KL.
We arrived in KL with 4 days to kill before heading to Borneo to meet our new friends. We visited the Patronas towers and more shopping malls and markets. Did some research for our trip home (Gucci or Prada?, I am a Louis Vuitton man myself!) hmmm how about neither! We stayed in a lovely guesthouse called ‘Reggae Bar 1’. The cleanest and nicest we have stayed in for a long time. There was lots of great food from China Town as well as some Malay food (chicken satay heaven). Before we knew it, it was time to catch a flight to Kota Kinabul (Borneo). Both a little nervous about meeting 10 new friends and excited at the same time we jumped on our flight.
When we arrived at the airport we made our way to the baggage reclaim and waited and waited … Travelers world (the company we are doing the Orang-utan project with) did tell us to keep a change of clothes in our hand luggage… But we decided to check that bag too! Just when we were about to give up, they came through. Panic over. So now we had to find Albert. But he wasn’t there. There were however 2 other westerners looking lost in the arrival hall. Sasha and Kerin were our first new friends. After a short introduction we were spotted by not Albert but his assistant who was here to pick us up.
When we got to the hotel 6 other new friends were waiting in the lobby to greet us, and there were 2 more on the way who caught a later flight. In total there are 12 of us 10 girls and 2 boys and ranging from 18 to 40+. Everyone is very nice and we all seem to be getting along well.

Regarding shopping PARENTS- don’t worry we didn’t buy any duty free goods- can only afford plain rice these days

Lots of love to all xxxxx