Arrived at the Cameron Highlands at about 2pm after a very windy coach ride! We are high up, about 1500m above sea level i think, and so the climate is very different - just like england!! Which is actually quite nice as we all got to put our jeans and fleeces on for the first time in weeks which was a nice novelty! We got a mini bus and did a sort of tour of the local attractions. First stop was a rose garden - the biggest in malaysia. It was very prett...

Travelled for about 10 hours yesterday from Krabi in Thailand down to Penang, an isalnd which is its own state with a capital (Georgetown, where we are staying) but is a part of the country of Malaysia. We arrived at about 7pm and went out for Indian food which was really good, then a couple of drinks which are extorsionately priced as it is a Muslim country and so teh governmnet taxes the hell out of alcohol. It makes them the same prices as at home, but i...

Left the hotel at 9am and headed down to the beach with the group where we all boarded a speedboat and headed off on our day tour of the local islands. We visited about 5 islands and they were all simply beautiful - Krabi beach pales into insignificance compared to what we saw today! The sea was a clear turquoise, even about 100m out from the shore you could see the bottom, and it was warm. The sand was white and the vegetation was so green. We went s...

Left for the beach yesterday at about 10am and arrived at about 12.30pm. We were checked in and at the beach by 1pm! The beach is about a 2 minute walk down the road from our hotel and I have never seen anything like it - its just beautiful. The sea is really warm, literally about 30 degrees even when its too deep to stand up, and is the clearest blue-green. We spent the afternoon sunbathing - am now loading on the aftersun as am a little pink! - and ...

Got the overnight train back to Bangkok which went really quickly, the 'disco cart' - essentially the diner with a cd player and some fairy lights - helped pass the time, along with Natalie, the ladyboy waitress hehe. No-ones really fussed about being back in Bangkok, but the weather was glorious, over 40 degrees, so after a sleep (we arrived at 7am) we went into town and had a wander. Then we went and met the new group and our new tour leader, jeff, an...