Hello hello hello. . . . . Don't worry I am still alive. . . . . Just been off the radar for a few weeks. . . . Well I did go out for the night in Kota Bharu and then made my way over to the Perhentian Islands as planned. . . I took a crazy taxi journey from Kota Bharu to Kuala Buset where the boats leave from. The taxi driver was a little nuts, he seemed to have a bit of an obsession with his horn, however didn't use it when you thought he might, you know, overtaking on blind bends or when he nearly kills a pedestrian, no, just random beeps every now and then. . . . Weird?!?!

So anyway, I got to the waters edge and it wasn't quite what I imagined the harbour place to be like, well that's because it wasn't. . . . "Yo dude, what bit of Kuala Buset Jetty don't you understand?". 'It's no problem' he say's, these people cheaper. . ..Yeah yeah, my arse. . . . ! Any how, I paid the crazy lady 60 ringet for the pleasure of a return ticket on a fast boat. . . hmmmm, fast boat?!?! We'll get to that later! So I said goodbye to the nice taxi man, who was happily settling into his lunch at the place, me thinks he might know them?!?! And off I went in a minibus to the jetty place, funny, that's where I asked the taxi driver to take me. . . . ?

So, we got there and I jumped on a boat called 'Symphony' and for some reason the name rang a bell. . . . That bell rang a little loader later when the boat kept konking out. . . . Aaarrrrr yeah, this is the boat that they recommend you don't use in the books! So, as I watched all the fast boats race past taking all the other people to the islands, I contemplated if there would be any vacancy left when I finally got there. . . ? If I got there. . . .

So, 2 hours later, baring in mind the slow boats only take an hour and a half, we finally got to Long Beach, my chosen destination for the next few days. . . . Well I thought it was only going to be a few days anyway! And despite the slightly irritating ride over I was happy and content. I had already made my decision on where I was staying, so headed to the far end of the beach to the Moonlight Chalets, Later renamed the Moonlight sheds! My first encounter was Dee Dee. . . . hmmmmm, now there's a lady boy if I ever saw one! However, she / he was very friendly and offered my several of Moonlights splendid chalets. . . . . Now come on, these are not chalets. . . . There bloody sheds and not good sheds at that. . . . ! I picked the best of a bad bunch, the furthest one away from everything, deep in the forest and was quite happy to dump my bag and get settled. . .

My next door neighbour was a nice chap called Patrick from Bradford, who I would go on to spend quite a bit of time with. . . . Once I had dumped my stuff I chatted to Patrick for 30 mins or so about where's good to go, etc and we ended up eating together that night also. . .

Now then. . . . . As you are probably aware, I went off the radar for about a month. . . . ? Now this is because I enjoyed it that much on the island that I stayed. . . So, needless to say it all gets a little hazy as to what I did, who I met, etc. . . . . So, I am gonna try and remember, but it may be a little fragmented and I may just summarise things as the days just turned into weeks. . . . Please bare with me. . . It's been emotional!

So after probably just chillin out for the night and chattin with Patrick I had my first of many nights with not much sleep, not sure if I was still acclimatising or just the fact that the bed was so bloody uncomfortable?!? The following day, I took my first wander down the beach to check the place out, but easily found myself back at moonlight and chatting to Steve, one of the instructors at Sunlight Divers based next door, well in the same block really. . . . !

I asked some basic questions about the diving as it seemed quite popular and Steve's very chilled out relaxed approach worked on me and I immediately signed up to do the Open Water Course. . . . . . Over the next few days, I started the course and had Dee, a Malaysian guy as my instructor. . . Now Dee has probably dived more times than I've eaten, so the guy knew what he was doing which gave me great confidence. . . Not that I was not confident in the first place. . . following my dives in Australia, I was eagerly awaiting getting out there again. . . But this was a course and you know what that means. . . . ? Work! Doh!

You basically get given the thick book that you have to read and do mini quizzes as you go through, once you have completed each section, you do a knowledge review and answer questions, which you go through with your instructor. . . . After each section is complete, in theory you go in the water and do them skills. . . . . You can speed the process up a little, but I was happy to take my time! I had already subconsciously decided that I was staying here longer than 3 days!

Along with the reading, etc, I also had to watch the accompanying videos. . . . This did get a little tedious I must admit, but still, in a strange way it was nice to be using my brain a little. . . . . ! So, as I said over the next few days, I studied hard, past my knowledge reviews, watched the videos and yes, I did get in the water. . . . . The first couple of times, we did the skills, some of which I had done before, filling your mask and clearing it, retrieving the regulator, etc. . . But here we did loads and loads of skills, which was really good!

After the skills, we did some confined water diving, basically off the shore and not too deep and again did more skills. . . . This was then followed by some proper diving, after we had done some more skills (of course). So all in all, the course was great, I got to do 4 dives and learnt plenty more about diving. . . . Oh yeah, sorry, I had an exam to pass also. . . . . I got 96% so was happy with that, I was a qualified open water diver. . . . . So the natural progression was to follow on to the next stage of Advanced Open Water.

However, before I did that, I did go out on a few fun dives and you know the bonus to a fun dive. . . . .? You don't have to do any skills, you just go diving, hence the fun part!

Along side the diving, I did start to meet some more people, I cannot really remember in which order, but I will mention a few as we go on. . . There was this crazy American guy called John, who I had a mixed impression of, some days I liked him, other days, I could kill him! We collectively reckoned he had ADHD Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder as he always seemed to want to be the center of attention and he had too much energy, bouncing around like Tigger! I did like the guy most of the time, but when your having a conversation with someone and he comes bounding in and says "if you could only eat one vegetable for the rest of your life, what would it be?", it sort of throws you off your stride. . . . Now I know you are saying, give the guy a break, I did and it was funny most of the time, it just got a little irritating sometimes?!

Anyway, that's John, bless him! I also met Simon and Jayne, a really nice couple who had been travelling for about 11 months, They spent a lot of time with us. . . . Evening meals and just chilling around. . . . Adele, a little cutie from Nottingham, she was adorable and I reckon you could fit her in your top pocket!?! Come to think of it, there were a lot of English people?!

Anyway, along with the chilling out, diving and socialising, I also played volleyball most days, from around 5pm to 7.30pm, with Patrick some locals and any random people we could grab. . . . Now this really did help me to lose a bit of weight and keep fit, I loved it and got better and better. . . . We played some awesome games and some not so good ones, depending on who was around. . . There was a stage for about 5 days, where we had these really competitive Italians guys and they were good, but didn't like it too much when we beat them! Hehehe. . . . But all in all, it was a great bit of fun and awesome exercise!

Well, I think I am rambling now. . . . . You still with me?

Back to Sunlight Divers. . . . . So, Dee got me started then for my Advanced course you get to do 5 adventure dives, 2 mandatory, Deep and Navigation and 3 of your choice. . . . I chose Peak Performance Buoyancy, as it was recommended by everyone, shipwreck and night dive. . . . !

Doing these dives I got to dive with all the other guys, 2 with Sunny, the most beautiful and talented young lady on the island. . . . Sunlight was her business (she had 2 dive shops), she was only about 24, was studying Astro Physics, etc, etc. . . And she was cool. . . . . I did the ship wreck dive with Steve, Deep dive with Wade, a Canadian guy, nice, but always moaning about something or other. . . And then I did my night dive with Bob, a coolio Malaysian guy, as thin as you like! I also did a fun adventure drift dive with Mike a cool guy from Manchester. . . . I really got to like Mikey and did loads and loads of fun dives with over the following few weeks. . . . . There was another guy there helping out and also doing his dive master course, Steve, a coolio Canadian guy, who I also happy great times with. . . He was a really funny guy and completed he course while I was there, so had to do the customary initiation of a snorkel test and other horrible things, Check out the photo's, bless him, he lasted til the end, then puked. . . .

So, the advanced course. . . . Loads easier, only a few skills, but basically just diving. . . . Great fun! Around the island, there were plenty of great dive spots, which I pretty much mastered, as I did them so many times. . . . One of my favourites was Sugarwreck, a ship wreck that sunk about 10 years ago (I think). So, the wreck was still in good condtion, but been there long enough to become part of the sea. I dove the wreck 5 times in all and each time was great, the first time the visibility was awesome, some 15 - 20 metres, which was rare for this site, but great to see everything and each of the other times, the vis wasn't so good, but it didn't seem to matter as it made the site more spooky and eerie. . . . There was also an air pocket in the wreck 7 metres below the surface which you could go up into and chat. . . . You wouldn't want to stay there long though, not sure the air was that clean, obviously!

The other sites offered there own little specialities, such as T3, which had some awesome swim through's, which I nearly got stuck in once! Plus good coral and plenty of marine life. . . . I saw little nemo's, bamboo shark, nurse shark, a glance at a black tip shark, blue spotted rays, other stingrays, different types of barracuda, snapper, file fish, box fish, grooper, giant puffer fish, porcupine fish, bumphead parrot fish, white eyed moray eels, giant moray eels (which were huge), 2 different types of turtles that were beautiful to watch swimming around or just minding their own business munching on the coral. . . . I saw lion fish, scorpion fish both can be deadly. . . The list goes on and on. . . . It was great! Hence I stayed for a month and did 31 dives. . . . As part of that we did go out on a day trip to a neighbouring island, Redang. . . . Here we took a slow boat (converted fishing boat) for the day and did 3 deep dives, which was awesome, very tiring, but great fun. . . . This is also were I properly met a few more people. . . .

Lea, a Canadian girl, very friendly and good fun, she was in my dive group. . . Andy, I big English guy, just done his dive masters in Thailand, but didn't really seem that good in the water. . . ? hmmm. . . . ? Ruth, a really coolio English chick from London. . . Ended up spending loads of time with her also, great fun and great to dive with. . . . We buddied up as dive partners for a lot of dives. . . . ! Adele was on the trip, now with her friend Ailie who I absolutely adore. . . She is like my little sister. . . A real cutie from Newcastle. . . . . We got on really well. . . . There were some other dudes, but didn't really mix with them, 2 English guys, 3 French guys and a Korean girl who just seemed to sleep the whole day?!?!?!

The diving at Redang was great, at was nice to get away for the day. . . . On the way back we cracked open a few beers and me and mikey lead the way on some sing a longs. . . . Yeah yeah, I did my usual, which actually seemed to go down really well, I'll have you know. . . . That night we got back, showered and headed out for some food. . . . Then partied the night away at the Palm Tree bar. . . . . . Now the Palm Tree is pretty cool the first time you go and maybe the 2nd, but you soon realise after a few visits, that Bob the DJ, plays the same music, not only that, but in the same order, not only that, but has the same cheesy DJ comments at the same time. . . . ? You have to laugh, but how easy would it be to mix it up a little. . . . . . Needless to say, I didn't go there too much after. . . . !

So, I hope you're still with me. . . I told you it would be fragmented. . . . So, I had a great time there, loads of diving, volleyball and laughs. . . Met some great people and generally just chilled out after New Zealand. . . .

People came and went, but I seemed to stay and I think I became part of the woodwork at Sunlight, I was even getting more customers and helping out with things. . . I loved it. . .

I also met Tom, now Thomas seemed to be a very intelligent English guy and to be fair he is, he is also nuts, and extremely funny, with some slightly disturbing dark humour. . . Tom worked for a week or so at Moonlight and arrived about a week after me. . . He then finished working there and started his diving. . . Tom was also part of our little click. . . . We all used to go out and eat together and generally have a great laugh. . . I also got in on a few poker nights with Mikey, Steve, Tom and few others from other dive shops and to be fair I did alright by it. . . . It was 6 ringet buy in (about 90 Pence) and you were good to go. . . . I was up everytime I played and my biggest take home equated to about £5. . . Yay! Tom also seemed to do quite well, so not sure if we were that popular. . . Not really, it was all a bit of good fun!

Like I said, I really got on well with Mikey, Ruth and Tom and we did some partying together. . . . Ruth was a teacher from London, just over for a holiday for a weeks. . . . She was a trained dive master also and was great in the water. . . . She had a little problem with her moneys so I helped her out a bit. . . . . She did leave, sort of as planned, but 14 hours later turned up back on the island, looking somewhat distraught. . . ! Her flight from Kota Bharu had been delayed that much that she missed her connecting flight from KL home to London. . . . To say she was not happy would be an understatement. . . . Plus, she had no money or means of getting any on the island, or another ticket. . . . So, Bobby to the rescue again. . . . We managed to sort another flight and I paid. . . .We then transferred moneys from accounts, etc and all was well in the world again. . . . I actually left the island with Ruth and we went to the Cameron Highlands together for a few days and then to Penang for her flight to Bangkok and then home! We had a great laugh and I hope to see Ruth again in London, when I am back in the UK. I also hope to get up to Edinburgh to see Mikey and Sunny as that is where they are both studying. . . . In fact I really want to lots of people I have met from the island. . . . .

So, I think that's about it for the island. . . . I did do so much more and have lots of stories, but, I am finding it hard to get it down in any order, so the rest will have to wait til we are having a beer sometime?!?!

So, a few days ago I headed off with Ruth towards the Cameron Highlands and to see the Tea plantations. . . . As the highlands are so high up the climate is somewhat colder and wet. . . . A bit of a shock from the 35 degrees everyday. . . . But still we got to this great hostel that Tom recommended and chilled out for the day. . . . We both had problems getting money out, but after a few phone calls the panic was over. . . Don't you just love cautious banks. . . Yeah great, stuck in the middle of nowhere with no money, thanks HSBC. . . . . We just chilled out that night and didn't do much as I was feeling a little dodgy and some of the crap food I had to eat. . . .

The following day, we were up early and off on an eco tour with our guide Satya and a French couple. . . . He drove LandRover which was pretty cool and talked for India. . . . We first visited the tea plantation, owned by BOH and had a few stories and a bit of history. . . We then went to the highest point in Malaysia and got to see the best view ever. . . Well, not quite, we were up in the clouds, it wasn't a clear day, Doh!

Still, we then mozied on down to a point on the dodgy road and headed off into the mossy forest. . . . It was great watching the French girls face as she saw the track and her white trouser blend in colour. . . Satya knowledge of Floura / Fauna was excellent and he kept pulling leaves off trees and rubbing them together for us to smell. . . . . There were anticeptics, ginger, cinnamon, teas, etc, etc. . . It was great. . . The forest walk was also one to be desired, I little bit tricky in places, but thought it was great. . . . After the walk we were taken to the BOH tea factory and given a very quick tour before sampling the tea in the shop. . . . Ruth bought some of the tea we had tried. . . yum yum, it was nice! Save some for me, when I visit. . . . .

After that we headed back and got dropped off back at the hostel. . . . We then mozied back down to the town and had some food, this didn't seem to help my still upset tummy. . . . So we headed back to the hostel and played Monopoly! Yippee. . . I hadn't played this for years. . . . Still to Ruth's disgust, I kicked her ass. . . . My business brain still works. . . . Come to think of it, I kicked her ass a few times at scrabble on the island also. . . . . hehehe. . .

We didn't do much that evening, as I was bent double in pain and visiting the loo a little more than usual, I also had a bad night sleep, but seemed ok in the morning ready for our trip to Penang. We got the coach fine and slept most of the way there, just listening to music. . . . Once in Penang, I dropped my bag off at a hostel in Georgetown recommended by Patrick, he was right, cheap and very clean and nice! I then went with Ruth to the airport. . . She seemed happy that I went with her from the island as she felt a lot safer. . . . I chilled out at the airport with her for a while because, as ever, Air Asia flight delayed. . . . Slight panic and she couldn't miss this flight. She needed to get her flight from Bangkok home as she was back to school on Monday in a new job. . . . We said our goodbyes as the flight was confirmed and I headed back to town. . . . I didn't do much in the evening, just took a walk down to a little Chinese celebration thingy, but got bored and went for a beer. . . . . After that I played on the internet for a bit and chatted to my sister for ages, as I got free internet in my room. . . . . I managed to get all my photos on, so am pretty much up to date now. . . . .

So that's me. . . . I have just had my new favourite breaky, plain rice, 2 fried eggs and some chopped chillies. . . . A coffee and typed this rubbish up. . . . I hope it sort of fills you in on my last 4 weeks or so. . . And I hope everyone is happy. . . I am. . . .

Ciao for now people. . . I'm off to Thailand in the next few days. . . So, see ya there?!?!