Dear All I'm still in Malaysia and having a lovely time. I got more used to Georgetown in Penang and enjoyed people watching and I did some sight seeing. I went around the coast one day to have a look at a beach resort, Batu Firrengi but didn't stay. It's not as nice as where I am now - Langkawi. I also tried lots of local food. One of the things I tried was Laksa, which is a local noodle speciality. I tried it at a hawker food stall place so it was really authentic. Again I was the only westerner eating there, and the source of entertainment. Not only was I trying to eat slippery noodles with chopsticks (they did offer me a fork and spoon but I insisted on chopsticks) but it is also pretty spicy and it was the hottest day I think I've ever experienced so I think they thought it was very amusing how hot I was getting and that through the meal I drank about 2 litres of water. I arrived here to Langkawi 5 days ago intending to spend 2 nights here and 5 days later I'm still here. I am leaving tonight though and doing an overnight journey to the other coast of Malaysia to the Perhentian islands. They have been so highly recommended that I didn't want to miss them. The journey is rather complicated so I don't know how its going to go - taxi-ferry-taxi/bus-overnight coach-taxi/carpool thing-ferry-walk. I leave here at 5 this afternoon and should get to the island at some point around lunchtime tomorrow. Could be interesting. After then I'll be heading up to a Thai island or two. So I might not be on the email too much over the next week or so as I've heard that internet is limited or non existent. Langkawi is really nice with a lovely beach with flour like sand. The sunsets have been beautiful and I've sat and watched it every night apart from last night when there was torrential rain at the time. I have been swimming in the sea most mornings, trying to overcome my fear of being bitten/stung/pinced. It would be a lovely way to start the day as its so pretty but I am just a bit nervous of what I'm sharing the water with, not helped when a crab got the sole of my foot the other day. Do any of my family remember the time in Wales when one got me when I was a child? I don't react too well to it and to say the least, I was not looking cool in the sea 3 days ago. I think people thought I'd been got by a shark, not a tiny crab. I have been to see some waterfalls and wondered around the shops but spent most of my time relaxing, reading, chatting to people and eating the amazingly delicious and cheap local food. One day I went with a couple of people from my hostel in a tiny dingy with a motor to a nearby island to swim in a lake and feed monkeys. The monkeys were really funny. We were giving them oreo cookies but they only liked the cream in the middle so took them apart and threw away the biscuit part. One also stole my diet coke from me - they love it. I'm not sure how healthy it is for them. We saw mums with little baby monkeys clinging onto them - v cool. We went out for St Patricks day as there is an Irish bar here. The bar staff were such a laugh and it was really fun - I even joined in the Irish dancing and there was a conga. Other than that night out, mainly I've been hanging around my hostel which is a nice place to be and has an outside bar. There are lots of cute kittens and chickens and chicks hanging around and there were even some cows yesterday. We've watched some English football and I saw some in Penang too, which always makes me think of home. It was quite bizarre to be sitting outside at 11pm really sweating as it's so hot, and watching it snow at Old Trafford. The weather is incredibly hot. It's not possible to sit outside for a lot of the day and pretty hard to sleep, particularly the night when there was a power cut so the fans didn't work at all. The people in Malaysia have been so amazingly friendly, always helping me to choose food, get the right bus, tell me how much it should be and just saying hello and stopping for a chat to find out where I'm from. Its been really good. Wish me luck on my epic journey. Josiexx