Hello from Kuala Lumpur!!!

It's been a few weeks since the last entry in Bangkok, since then we have been spending a LOT of time on beaches!

We spent 5 nights on Koh Phangan, I was glad we booked the package from Bangkok because the resort was gorgeous! Two simming pools and 10 seconds from the beach, the huts we stayed in were lovely and the night life in Haad Rin on the beach was lots of fun! Particually the fire throwing and fire skipping which never failed to make me squirm to watch! - A huge rope set on fire swung round and round with drunken holiday makers skipping over it - trying not to trip and fall directly on the flames (usually failing) as the speed got faster!

We then spent 4 nights on Koh Samui - we became a bit attached to Koh Phangan and didn't really want to move on but our package was booked - it was unlucky as it was the only time we'd been tied to something throughout the whole trip and it was out of hour hands to change it! Koh Samui was lovely though, another nice resort on the beach except on the first night there was a HUGE gecko on our wall - i actually thought it was some kind of wall piece when i first saw it until i heard it thud onto the wardrobe! There were two german guys staying next door who manouvered the wardrobe to the door until it ran out - while saying 'shizza!!!' a lot. There was also a small hole in the frame of the bathroom which is where we realised our nightly cockroach visitor was coming from, soon stuffed that with cotton wool though so he was no more! Koh Samui was a lot more relaxed and family oriented, not the party atmosphere of Koh Phangan - boohoo! It was nice to catch up on sleep and eat some good meals though! Thai New Year water festvial (lasts for 5 days) began on our last evening there and you couldn't go anywhere without getting soaked!! The taxis are like tuk tuks / trucks that you climb into at the back so people were throwing buckets of water at us in the 'taxi' as we got dropped off into the town for dinner! There was no getting away from it! It would've been fun to be there for the whole thing and get involved with the super soaking! Hilarious to watch entire familys aboard an open truck soaking everyone in sight with buckets of water!

From Koh Samui we went to the border by bus to get a train to Malaysia. It was a sleeper train but the bright white lights and blue curtains around the beds made it look like a compact hospital! I slept well though!

We crossed over to Penang on a 5 minute ferry where we stayed for 2 nights, lots of sight seeing and eating, very humid after spending so long with a sea breeze! It was a lovely little place and Malaysian food is good! Chicken rice espeically - the people are very friendly - e.g. the men like to say 'i love you okay?' when they walk past you on the street, ha!

After two days in Penang we went to the Perhentian Islands - it was immense!! Easily one of the best weeks of my life!!! Pure paradise. The water was the clearest i've ever seen! The sand bright white, we stayed in a hut on the beach on a very small Island with just one strech of beach -huge tree's covering the mountains behind, it was gorgeous! So nice to open the door every morning and see the sun coming up over the sea and stepping out of the door onto the sand! we stayed there 6 nights and considering thats the longest we've stayed in one place during our 9 weeks travelling it must've been good! We went snorkelling one day and i have never seen coral reef or fish like it! Every colour imagineable - we also had some bread given to us and when you held it you were literally surrounded by thousands of fish - it was a bit too much! We also went to 'shark point' - i saw 4 small ones below me! and turtle bay - i didnt see any as i was too damn slow getting used to the flippers on my feet! The rest of the days were spent on the beach and in the sea jumping the huge waves and reading, days just seemed to pass us by and it never got boring!!

Enough about that - to sum up - Perhentian Islands were fantastic!

We left there today for Kuala Lumpur - a 9 hour bus journey which was quite comfortable as we slept a lot and didnt really notice the time! The city is lovely, we're looking forward to exploring properly for the next two days, staying in the heart of china town at the moment and it's gorgoes, i love the hustle and bustle of the markets and the street food stalls, everyone seems very friendly here too!

Spending 3 night here in KL then it's off to Singapore!

Time is going to too quickly!!

My money is about to run out on this Internet session - sorry for the rushed typing!!

Lots of love, Lucy xxxxxx