Selamat Detang to what could be my last update! Woo hoo! I did promise to update this a few days ago but i have just been non stop since penang! This could be a long update so hold onto your hats! haha! We set off from penang in the blistering heat and made our way to the bus station (i had heard the girls talking about the horror stories of the buses they have had to catch through thailand and we were all expecting the worst) but when we got there it was luxury!!! I mean three seats per row, reclining arm chairs (no obscence air conditioning!) just perfect! Well that is apart from the guy sat behind me who smelt like he had washed himself and eaten a pack of mothballs! Ewww! I cant beleive how bad those things smell and what i also cant beleive is how my mother used to actually allowed me to go to school smelling like that at some point! Thanks Mum! Me and emz must have been the laughing stock of school! Well i was anyways because i had to go on the dumb bus! I'm hoffified you did this to us! hahahaha! Anyways we travelled for 6 hours over to the mainland of malaysia. Through picturesque villages and towns and finally made our way to the assent of the cameron highlands. Winding roads galore! There were actually sheer drops on either side of the coach which was pretty scary to be honest! As we got further and further in the rain started and we were brought to the attention that we would be enjoying a couple of very wet days. It was quite nice actually to feel rain again! We arrived at our homestay which was on the side of a hill! It was pretty much a mix between a guest house and a hostel. We all dropped off our things and went out for our evening meal to a little chinese cafe. We all ordered our various meals and the more adventurous of group opted for a steamboat which i basically a raw platter of meats (including sea food!) and veggies/leaves and two pots of bubbling soup (one spicy and one plain) you then take what you want off the platters and plop them into the soup! I'm so glad i didnt take this option! The meat looked grey and unappertising and the choice of meat was even grosser! They had shark, fish (with bones) grey chicken and beef, shrimp, all other kinds of weird looking items, uncooked pig skin (ie crackling!) and even tripe! Flippin gross! Anyways i opted for a vegetarian meal (which i have pretty much done throughout asia!) and the other girls did similar to me. I ordered vegetarian noodle soup (which came with bones!) answer how that is vegetarian and also spring rolls! (which unfortunatley were very fishy and smelly!) Nadia ordered another type of noodle which actaully came out foaming! It was hilarious! She took one look at it and couldnt eat it! Not suprisingly at all! I blooming wouldnt either! So after we got our food our stomachs actually didnt feel hungry anymore! I'm so glad i starved myself as the other two girls got real sick! oops! The next day we got up and had sausage, scrambled eggs, toast and BEANS! I havent had beans in so long! I totally stuffed myself! haha! We then went out for a day excursion on a little rickety jeep. Our first stop was a picturesque view of the tea plantations and a talk about how the tea is picked. I never new that black and green tea actually comes from the same green plant! Ah well! We then made our way up to the peak of the mountain to look out over the valley below! It was nice but nothing like any of the views i had seen in california. There was also a viewing tower which looked more like a mobile mast that took you up higher to see the view. I was too chicken to go up as it basically didnt look safe and the four flights of steps were actually as steep and thin as ladders! No was hose! Our next stop took us to a clearing in the rainforest where we went trekking! This was actually the favourite part of my day! We saw lots of nice creatures (well as nice as insects can be!) saw lots of wild plants and ducked and dived, jumped and strode over various trees, bogs and everything in between! It felt good to do some proper exercise again. After this we went to the tea factory and saw the actual process of tea making- fascinating, loud, smelly and weird to watch! We had a fresh cup of newly made tea overlooking the highlands which was nice! The tea was strong and absolutely disguisting with milk but beautiful without! I resisted the temptation of hot chocolate fudge cake too- go me! We then went for lunch in a little cafe and once again i had vegetarian soup which suprisingly was very filling and very yummy! After lunch we went to the butterfly farm- the butterflies were the most beautiful thing i have ever seen! We also took a "very" close look at the insects and creatures they had too! Some people were brave enough to hold everything! Beetles, scorpians, snakes, frogs, toads, l;izards, stick insects, leaf insects (these were the weirdest things i have ever seen!) I plucked up the courage to hold a gecko and as nina had been holding him for a while we got him onto my hand but as he walke d onto my arm he must have sensed i was scared and proceeded to jump up my arm (which scared the bejeezers out of me!) and then stared at me with its mouth wide open and making a hissing noise! I must say after much holding my arm up in the air and screeching like a baby (much to everyone elses amusement!!) they finally took him off me! He obviously eith didnt like me or was just messing with me because nina took him back and he reverted bcak to being the quiet sweet creature i thought he was at first! Needless to say that was the first and last time i was gonna hold anything but butterflies! On our way back we stopped at a traditional village on the mountain side. I say viilage but it was actually five families living in the worst conditions on the mountain side with very little comforts and roughly ten children per family each. One of the girls was fourteen and had one child herself too. We had bought biscuits and sweets for them and spent a good our talking to them and trying out the blow pipe (a traditional hunting method!) As we were approaching form the track the children just swarmed the van and as we got out they all got very shy! They were the happiest children i have ever seen! All cheeky smiles! It was amazing how these villagers had nothing and still had the gift of brightening up any room with their smiles! I was very touched and priveledged to have been made to feel so welcome! After giving out the supplies we left here and went to a strawberry farm for fresh milkshakes (yummy-but i felt slightly weird tucking in after seeing what i had just seen) and then went to see a "picturesque" waterfall! Just take a look at the pictures and tell me whether you think its picturesque! I didnt see it myself! Maybe thats because ive seen so many that were much better! We then went back to the house for a well desrved shower! The following day we set off again for Kuala Lumpar. I was so excited to get to KL and spent the whole journey (again on a business class coach!!!) reading about KL and working out how to spend my two free days. We got to the hotel quite late in the day and did a walking orientation tour of the city. We saw the second highest building in the world- the twin towers!) and then decided that we had had enough of asian food and went to good old nandos. We went shopping in the night markets and scoped out what the bargains were etc... so that we new what to buy and barter for the next day! The girls made lots of cheap puchases but i hung out! I had a relatively early night as i wasnt feeling too hot (bad tummy!) to make sure that i was ok for the longer walking tour the next day. Unfortunately i wasnt ok the next day as i had been up most of the night so i didnt make the walking tour and decided to stay in my room and try sleep for the morning. This worked so i was fine for the afternoon. We went to a huge shopping mall and i found topshop- woo hoo! We ended up getting stranded in the shopping mall (oh dearie me!) because of the massive storm outside. It was so powerful that the floor was actually shaking! I ended up buying a skirt, a pair of shoes! (bargains!) and some hair accessories. When we left we went back to chinatown to hunt out the best buys. I ended up buying 20 dvds for 16 pounds (all the latest releases) and a gucci overnight bag which actually started off at 360 malay ringetts and i ended up paying 100. I'm great! So roughly 13 pounds! I was happy with my purchases and dragged myself away from the torment of buying so much more! We then had an afternoon/evening at the day spa getting pampered! The four of us went and it was like something out of a movie! We were all stripped naked (in the smae room!) given slippers and robes and had mainicures, foot baths, seaweed body wrap, showers, full body aromatherapy massages anad lastly a eye pillow treatment! It was awesome! It was so cool that we were all ion the same room and able to talk and relax together. Such an experience and so cheap too! We decided that we wanted to go out for a really nice meal for our last night and went in search of a really nice chinese. We found one and sat down in the middle of a wedding reception. It was quite funny actually, ive never seen a bride and groom look so fed up in my life. The bride was wearing the most disguisting bright orange dress which claashed with all the baby pink balloons. They played the same songs over and over again but it was nice to just watch. We had quite a nice meal but as soon as we had finished my stomach pains came back and nina had gone a shade of white/yellow and started shiverring. We decided to call it a night as we just didnt feel right! It ends up that i just had trapped wind but nina got terribly sick and ended up being ill for the next four days. She ended up having to go to the doctors in Melakka! Luckily i wasnt ill even though we had shared the same food! According to Joe the bigger girls who have a bit of meat on them dont usually get so ill! I was shocked that he said it but also glad i'm a bit plumper because she was so ill. After KL we headed south to Melakka. I wasnt really looking forward to it as its quite a small, historically orientated town and i had really had enough of history to be honest! We got there about lunch time and went out for a walking tour which ended up being quite interesting! We went to a night market which was rubbish compared to the ones in KL, looked around the shops and went out for one of the girls birthdays. Me and Karen then watched the england match! Unfortunately i bloody missed the goal! It was quite funny actually. I had ordered a vodka and coke and was delivered a bottle of coke and a glass with ice, when i asked where the vodka was he took my glass away and brought me it back with nothing in it again, i asked again and he took it and brought it back with no ice and nothing in it, i was getting slightly peeved, i showed him the menu and then he brough back another empty glass, i was sure he was just messing with me and i couldnt stop laughing, so in the end i got up and went to the bar and pointed at the bottle of smirnoff and he said "ah, wodka and coke!" yes, yes, yes i said. what the hell is so difficult!! anyways as i turned to go back to my seat karen shouted at me goal!!!!!! oh my god! I had totally missed it, even the replay! Bloody typical! But never mind the experience was hilarious! We spent the next day taking a trishaw ride around the town and the afternoon swimming and sunbathing in the public pool. Perfect! topped up my tan once more and burnt my face but never mind! The following morning we were setting off very early so we all had early nights. The coach this time wasnt as nice as the others but it was still an enjoyable trip to singapore! We crossed the border which i have never done before. You all get off and go through malaysian immigration. Get back on again and then get off again to go through singapore customs! We were all worried someone had put drugs in our bags and then we would end up being taken to prison for the death penelty but luckily nothing like that had happened!! When we arrived back in singapore we had another walking tour and saw all the major sights. It was so hot and sticky that we got a taxi back to the hotel and got ready for our night out at the night safari. The night safari was awesome! Its pitch black in some places so you never know whats lurking! You sit in a tram/jeep thingy and go around the park and see all the animals who have carefully been fed under dim lighting so you can see them! We watched a nocturnal animal show too which was fun! Oh my god the bathrooms at the park were amazing! We had been so used to holes in the ground that it actually felt great to sit on a toilet again! I bought a monkey too! The following day we had free so we walked down orcahrd road (browsed in the shops) went for lunch on clarke key and then went to raffles hotel to try out a famous singapore sling. Very yummy and after one we all felt pretty drunk! We didnt have much time left so had to go back to the hotel as everyone was leaving to fly back to oz. We all said our goodbyes which was very sad indeed and i was once again on my own! I checked into my hostel for the only night i hadnt got booked and went for dinner with a couple of roommates before going to bed early to try catch some well deserved sleep. Unfortuantely the room was a sauna so i'm in a bad mood today! I sweated like a piggy all night and because there were guys in my room i couldnt sleep in my underwear which added to my frustration. I checked out early and have arrived back at my favourite hostel of my trip! The one with the roof top pool! and am waiting for my room so i can sleep! Well this is ridiculously long so ive cut some details out but i'm sure i will tell you more details next week! Woo Hoo! I'm gonna chill out and look forward to my journey home and i'm actually swimming with pink dolphins on Monday so i cant wait for that! How bloody exciting! Anyways, i'm gonna love you all and leave you! If i think of anything else i will update! If not i might update again on monday before i fly on tuesday! I'm so flipping excited! Hope your all ok! Lots of love, , me over and out ..............