Have officially had the worst train journey of my life!! Be prepared for a rant............ We decided that the train was the best option to get to Bangkok since the airport was awkward to get to and the flight times were rubbish. So we planned the timings of the taxis, ferry, bus, tuk-tuk and trains to get us here this morning for about 9. The train journey would take 12 hours and we were going to get a sleeper train, leaving at 8pm last night (sleeping in...

Haven't written for a while - been very busy, still alive though. Took us 6 hours to get from the highlands to Penang - very tiring. Arrived in Penang on Sunday and it was really hot in comparison to the highlands. wasn't that keen on Penang - was dirty and smelly and there were lots of prostitutes (think we were staying in the slightly dodgy bit of town). There were also lots of very poor people sleeping on the streets - they looked half starved. We went up...

Went to the Boh Tea plantation today - was really stunning!! Views were amazing and the process of making tea seemed suprisingly simple - it only takes a few days!! There was an entire village devoted to tea pluckers!! Hadn't realised that tea was fermented - i just thought it was dried. Did an interesting tour of the factory to see how tea is processed. Also, the difference between Oolang tea (probably the wrong spelling), green tea and black tea is just th...

Got a really cool night train from Singapore to KL. It took 9 hours and we got to sleep in bunk beds - I was very excited by this but Tom was less impressed - loser! Got into my pajamas after we'd been travelling for a bit, readt to go to sleep, and then all of a sudden this man was talking on the radio - couldn't understand his english - said something about passports, anyway - thought I'd ignore it. Then we stop and everyone starts getting off!!! Turns out we w...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! Got the bus to Cameron Highlands - took 4 hours and thought I was going to be sick at the end since the last 1 and a half hours were on windy roads around the hills/mountains. The hostel owner picked us up at the bus stop. We're staying in a hill town called Tanah Rata, which is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. The highlands are very picturesque and there are lots of tea plantations and farms. The thing I've been most struck with...