For once, the flight to Singapore was on time, there was no queue at immigration and it was easy to get into town, where our accommodation actually had a record of our booking! What a result. Plus the Qantas flight was class, and we watched loads of good new films, as they were doing their Oscar special.

Anyway, the hostel we stayed at in Singapore was definately a shock to the system after our week of luxury apartment living with Mum and Iain, but it was cheap nonetheless. We're probably just being picky to not want to sleep in used 'Emirates' flight blankets and have a window!! We'd heard mixed reviews on Singapore before we arrived, but we really enjoyed our 3 days there. The first day we explored the city on foot, and liked Little India where we were staying and Chinatown. That night we went to the Night Safari next to the zoo, which was so much fun (good recommendation Sara). We rode the tram around some of the park, where you go past all the animals who are more lively at night, and saw elephants, tigers, lions, zebras, buffalo etc etc, but the fact that they were all so active and that they weren't in cages and seemed to be more 'free-range' made it alot more interesting. The next day, we went and saw some of the other animals in the daytime at the zoo, which we did on foot. The highlights for us were the Orangutans who just swing in the trees above and around you in one area, the polar bears feeding and the white tigers. Also, capturing a monkey touching itself and eating the 'produce' was a proud moment for us and will be framed on our return!

The next day we caught the luxury bus to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The seats reclined almost to supine and there was so much legroom, we could have stayed on there for days on end! Kuala Lumpur ws more hectic than Singapore, and not as clean, but our hostel was much better and the owners were really friendly. Everything, again was so cheap, and the food we found to be better than in Singapore. In the evening we went through the night market, and ate at a restaurant where they cook the chicken and the rice in these big claypots on a coal fire, and you just eat out of it with chopsticks (which we're starting to perfect). Rose couldn't help herself, and splashed out on a 2 pound Rolex watch.

In the daytime, we went to see the Petronas twin towers, which are amazing looking, and inside is a big shopping mall between them, where they had shops like Marks and Spencers and Topshop, which was weird to see after so many months. Then, on our way back in the evening, we stopped in a shopping centre in Little India to get a pedicure from some Nurse fish. So basically we just stuck our feet into a big tank of water for a pound, and the fish ate the dead skin of our feet for 10 minutes, which was unbelievably ticklish. It was quite embarassing how many fish were attracted to our feet in particular, but afterwwards we were rewarded with vaguely human looking feet for the first time in a while!

From Kuala Lumpur, we flew down to Bali, Indonesia in the evening. We've been staying in a 'rustic' room with an ensuite (outdoor) bathroom, for less than 2 pounds each a night, and have been living for just over 5 pounds a day the whole time here! We quite like it, but it's not a beach paradise like we naively thought it would be. The roads are congested with scooters and people trying to sell you all sorts of crap. It's really noisy obviously because of the traffic, but our hostel is quite enough at night. The beach is okay; it's quiet, but the beach and particularly the sea is swarming with litter, and everyone tries to give you a massage or pedicure or sell us something every 2 minutes, which sounds nice but it gets so annoying! Suprise suprise, there's not been more than a foot of dumping surf the whole time here, but the weather has been clear blue skies the whole time, which has been nice, although we can't walk too far because of the heat. There hasn't been much to do here, but it's been cool not to have to repack every 2 days and just chill for a bit. We've read too many books, so it'll be fun to catch the plane back to Penang in Malaysia early tomorrow morning after a week here.

We've tried many times to upload photos, but the computers everywhere here have been too slow so far, so until we get one thats fast enough, there won't be any pictures on here, but the suspense will make them all the more impressive we're sure!