After a couple of uneventful days in KL we headed to Taman Negara, supposedly Malaysia's best asset - thick jungle apparantly heaving with wildlife. Here we did a canopy walk billed as the longest and highest in the world. Half of it was shut, however, so 10 minutes laterit was over. A disappointment. Add to this the realisation that morning that Paddy had left his camera on the boat the day before, the fact that the mosquitoes were eating us alive - and you may understand why we left the next day (having seen no wildlife).

Next stop was the Cameron Highlands - the cooler central highlands famed for its tea plantations (BOH tea). Although we found it a bit congested and over-developed in town, we enjoyed it here at our basic Indian hostel. Armed with a shiny new camera we set off on a 3hr very steep jungle trek followed by a 10km walk through the tea plantations. The spectacular vistas in the cool climate were extremely relaxing until we realised we had to hitch-hike home. Still, a friendly farmer with a pick up truck obiged and we were soon rested. The second day here was even more relaxing as we again went to the tea plantations but on a motorbike we hired instead- so I quickly learnt how to ride that before sipping more fresh tea for the day. However, the cool climate had left us craving some beach time again; NE Malaysia obliged.

We travelled to Long Beach on Kecit in the Palau Perhentian islands. Staying in a small rustic cabin we had an amazing 5 days here. The cabin had no light, a pathetic fan that hummed only between the hours of midnight and 7am, but it was brilliant because it kept us up and out.For the first 3 days we did our open water PADI. A fantastic experience and I'm now a certified diver for life (down to 18m until I do my advanced course), but it's honestly hard to desribe how awesome it is to be gliding around weightlessly and effortlessly in the depths whilst schoals of fish, stingrays and even shraks swim around with you. Still, Paddy bought a DVD of one of our dives to give you all a better idea- I'll try and find the link online.

Most days ended with some sunset beach volleyball, whilst all night contained some of the best nights out I've had since I've been away- a group of about 20 people, all of similar age, open and friendly gelled instantly and we basically lived the 5 days together. It was a shame we all had to go our separate ways at the end but we have plans to meet a few of them in some latter parts of our trip.

From here it was back to KL to see the iconic Petronas towers before Bali.

On a regretful tangent however, our journeys across the mainland of Malaysia revealed an environmental abhorration. Juggernauts constantly rumbled passed us carrying logs felled from the once fecund land. The main road that we travelled on had only 8 years before been a dirt track overrun with tropical rainforest containing a cornucopia of wildlife. Now, however, it was a state highway lined predominantly by huge expanses of tree stumps, and the only wild animals to be seen are a few stray dogs scavenging amongst the logging workers' rubbish.

The local people, of course, make no money out of thier lost forestry; the vast profits harvested from the land only fills the pockets of the logging company bosses and the corrupt authorities that let them continue, and unfortunately there is no end in the foreseeable future. Indeed, with China's burgeoning manufacturing industry, demand for such resources continues to grow, and the potential for making quick money increases, at the cost of the environment. Apparently logging has even begun in Taman Negara.

Such realities certainly dampen a trip and whilst I loved Malaysia, I worry that a certain industrial cloud fuelling overexploitation may continue to spread across Malaysia and darken its future.