17 AprilWe rose after 10 in the morning after a long and deserved sleep, from here we headed down to the restaurant for our toast and coffee breakfast. From there we walked down to the beach, grabbed two sun benches where we soak up some sun before the heat starts to push us towards the shade. I head to some of the locals to rent fins, mask and snorkels and we set off for the reef only 15 m from the side. You can swim out about 80 m to a wooden deck where one can...

16 AprilThis morning we rose early for breakfast and headed for the Thai consulate. We arrived there minutes before opening with hordes of people waiting outside much to our dismay. To our glee we found that all the people outside were represented by a tour guide who collected all their passports and documentation and only handed it in. We filled in the forms and were informed that we could get a 2 month visa at no cost!!! Take into consideration that at the boa...

15 AprilOne of our main reasons for staying in the mock capital was that the Thai Consulate was there. We got up, drank tea, ate toast with kaya (coconut, egg and butter type of jam - very nice) and headed to the consulate only to become drenched in the rain and having to put on the poncho we purchased in Jerantut - first time we've needed it. When we arrived at the consulate we were informed that it was close for the public holiday of Songkram festival (the wat...

14 AprilThe jungle train was an amazing experience we sat near a Chilean who had traveled much of South America, worked in India and was now backpacking South East Asia (SEA). Unfortunately our expected plans to travel South America were impeded in a sense due to him informing us that it was significantly more expensive to backpack or tour South America, which we thought was comparative to SEA.We continued the train ride with various photo opportunities, time to ...

13 AprilThis morning we met the agents and discussed our options with them, our options was to take the bus from Taman Negara to the Cameron highlands or to the Perhentian Islands for RM 90 pp. In the end we decided to go to the Perhentian Islands, but instead of taking the bus we opted for the jungle train. The bus from Taman Negara to Jerantut and the train to Kota Bharo cost us RM 43 compared to RM 180 with the bus, which the travel agents told us repeatedly w...