After the Perintian Islands the next stop on our travels was Penang, not a massive amount to report from Penang...we arrived around 6am after a very long journey from the islands and checked in to the Olive Garden Guesthouse. We spent a couple of days checking out the city...and visited an english pub where we ate bangers and mash!!! VERY cultural! We played around with the idea of heading to Langkawi but in the end decided that it was time to head to Kuala Lumpur because of time.

Arrived in a very sweaty and smoggy Kuala Lumpur (or KL as everyone seems to call it!)....quite a change from the Thai/ Malaysian Islands...lots of shopping malls and MacDonalds on every corner!! A random person we met whilst walking around with our bags looking for accomodation suggested that we stay at Wheelers guestghouse...which looked like a crack den from the outside (he did warn us not to judge it on first appearances!) but once you got the lift up to the actual hostel it was really nice!!  would definitely recommed it...the staff are v friendly, the rooms clean and it's a good central location (right next to Petaling Street Market and near the bus station and the Central Market).

It was actually really great to get back to the buzz of a city...we visited the Petronas Towers, the KL Tower and checked out alot of shops!! It would have been VERY easy to spend alot of money in KL! Spent an entire day at Times Square shopping Mall as it had an indoor theme park etc!...the dodgy haircut I got at 'Peter and Guys' (hmmm...should have known not to trust it from the start!) wasn't a high point though!!!...oh well thats what you get for $5!! Obviously we checked out the nightlife and had a really fun time at the Beach Cafe Bar!

Ida and Eva the swedish girls arrived in KL whilst we were there which was really cool and also met up with Clare who I had met on the Thai Islands.

So after a very cultural 5 days (!) Tom, Shaun and I made our way to Singapore and Chris made his way to Bangkok to catch our various flights to Oz. After discovering that I had left a few important things back at the hostel in KL whilst trying to get through the Malaysia/ Singapore border (not one of my brighter moments!!) Tom and Shaun made there way into Sinmgapore and I got a bus back to KL and did the journey again the next day with Ida, Eva and Clare!!! 

We arrived in Singapore (anyone who makes the bus journey be warned that it NEVER only takes 5 hours to get from KL to Singapore!) and we checked in to the Inn Crowd Backpackers Hostel in Little India for the night and the following day I made my way to Bob and Viv's (family friends who live in Singapore) and went for a delicious meal as it was Vivs birthday. It was amazing to have my own room for the night and would loved to have stayed longer but my flight to oz was the following morning and was a day behind due to my own stupidity!!

Any travellers looking to stay in Singapore should definitely check out the Inn Crowd Hostel...it's pretty cheap (by singapore hostel standards), very clean with free internet and really sociable...everyone there was really friendly and helpful. Also good and sociable if Singapore is the first stop on your tavels.

...before I knew it I was on a flight to Oz....only a month or so later than planned!!!