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South East Asia - Week Three

Monday, up early. Hot, fever, sweaty, headaches, achy, sick, panic. Visit the paramedic who is in our group who thinks its a tummy bug. As she sits me down i blacked around the edges and convinced i was going to pass out ran to the loo to be sick. Defiantly going to the doctors now, defiantly not going diving. Not happy. We managed to get the boat to take us early and then get a cab to the doctors. The surgery was interesting and everyone looked at us as usual. I wasnt in the mood and couldnt even muster a smile back, i had no energy. Doctor spoke reasonable english which was good an prescribed me a number of pills. Turns out i had gastroenteritis, not dengue! PHEW! Panic over and 8 pound down for the consultation and drugs, we manage to get back in time for Tom to catch the dive boat. I was heading back to bed so no point in Tom watching me sleep for a day, there was good diving to be done. Toms diving was great. He went to Sibuan Island. Tom's Tale: Diving was great this time around altho I did spend most of the day worrying about Carol and feeling a bit bad about her not being here. Its strange diving with just the guide as Carol and I usually mess around a bit under water and I felt that I had to be on best behaviour. The site was really cool as there was a massive wall of coral that was full of bright fish and we saw loads of turtles. Some of them were in small caves sleeping, which was cool to see. There were three dives all in all and each one was as good as the last. Borneo is definitely an amazing place to dive, just wish my buddy had been with me to enjoy it aswell. I watched films and slept all day, only getting up at 4.30 to wash and meet Tom at the jetty when the boat got back in. Got to dinner early today and everyone stood in line with plates ready, not that this stopped the others getting in front and piling their plates full of stuff again. Turns out that they did the same on the boat at lunch and piled their plates twice causing Maurice to not get enough vegetarian food. They also had noodles when they got back, where do they put it all!!! Nice night with everyone, off back to Malaysia in the morning.
Tuesday, breakfast. We finished the beans, when 'fatty' got there they were empty much to his disappointment. Seemed like karma came around. Packed our wet things, thats everything and got the boat back to the main land. Taxi was waiting to take us to the airport, so got in and took off, stopping only at the garage for oil and the petrol station for petrol. As the suspension seemed to have gone at the back, we had to spread out around the car as the wheel was nearly touching the arches. The driver was crazy, it was raining and he was razzing it. We slept. Seems outside wasnt the only wetness as when i got out my bum was soaked through from the seat, i looked like i had had an accident. Really need some dry and sunny weather, Langkawi here we come! Airport isnt that much fun. Managed to weigh our bags and rearrange our dirty clothes into the day bag. They weigh a ton because of the mud and wetness, need to wash!!! have 2 flights today, one to Kota Kinabalu and then another to Kuala Lumpar. Looking forward to it. Flights were good, got to KL late and got a posh taxi straight to the hostel we had booked online...only to find that they hadnt got our booking. Typical. It was midnight by the time we got there, we were tired and now homeless. After a little whinge, the man arranged for another hotel to collect us and stay there at no extra cost. The hotel was lovely, hot shower, tv, luxury! Sleep was needed.
Wednesday we woke late and then got ready and out for some breakfast. Today i was starving== myself to rid myself of this bug, and i wasnt happy about it. Although i only missed 2 meals, it made me miserable that i couldnt eat. You always want what you cant have and i felt guilty that i would get so down about this and yet some people have no choice. WE walked the city today, firstly making our way to the central market for some souvenirs for home and some brunch. No souvenirs were brought but we did find somewhere to have our feet washed and exfoliated.....by fish! We all sat on the chairs dipping our feet precariously into the water. It tickled like mad but once through the pain barrier was pretty funny, and the feet after felt oh so silky smooze. Lunch was a bargain and the boys tucked into Curry Mee (noodles) it smelt yummy. I was allowed a slice of brown toast, yum. After brunch we walked to the parks in the hope of finding some free entry, we didnt. We did see the national mosque and we went into the islamic art gallery. It was pretty interesting, but after an hour Tom and I got a bit restless and playful so we soon left incase of being asked to leave. AS we walked back towards home we saw loads of monkeys on the road, something normal but still funny to see. When we got home, which seemed like it took ages, we got dressed and headed out for a ruby murry. We found a really nice restaurant and ordered a Tosai for me, which is a flat bread. The man smiled and when it arrived it was Huge. It looked like the size of a bin lid and was rolled up like a wrap. Ive never appreciated a giant bit of bread before as i did then. They even found me some poppadoms to have. Waste not want not, i ate it all while the boys ate their monster hot curry. We had decided to head towards Penang for Pads last few days with us to get some sunshine and beachiness. We thought we would fly as it was cheap and would save on a days travelling, so we went to book online only to find that it was too late to book for the next day. This is where the fun began. The hostel told us there was an agent round the corner who could book it for us so the men went to book, only to return and say that the price had gone up (obviously) from the price online but it was booked, tickets would be here later as the systems were down. When we got home from dinner, the hostel man said that the agent had been round and we needed to go to the office in the morning to collect our tickets, fine, sounded like a plan...
Thursday arrived and an early one at that. We vistaed the Petronas Towers today, the famous twin towers that you see on all Kuala Lumpar info and in the film Entrapment, We had found out that the gates open at 7.30am and that you needed to get there early to ensure that you got tickets as they gave out ticket times and as we were leaving in the afternoon, needed a morning ticket. So we got up at 5am to walk to the train station and get a train to the towers to then queue for an hour. AS normal, it doenst quite work that way, we wanted till 9am to be let in but we were lucky enough to get the first ticket of the day and up the super quick lift to the 42nd floor and across the sky bridge. The view over KL was beautiful and the sun was that new morning sun. You are only allowed up for 10 minutes before you get the super quick lift all the way down, round the visitor centre about the petrol company and then into the mall. The towers are the head office for a petrol company called Petronas. However underground there is the hugest shopping mall where we went for our breakfast and a quick look around before boarding the train back to the hostel to get to our flight. Pad nipped out to get our tickets while Tom and i arranged bags, Pad took ages, there was a problem, Tom went to investigate. There was a problem, the system was down last night and they couldnt book our already inflated flight. So they booked it this morning and now it had gone up even more. What started as a cheap flight was now a flight and with our ever increasingly tight budget, wasnt something we wanted to hear. We had made an error, it was meant to be cheap and save time but now we had to get to an airport which was hours away, in all we could have bused it for a lot less and only an hour more. Oh well, it was done and we were off. Another flight later and we were in Penang and heading for Bata Ferringhui beach on the north coast. When we arrived at our hostel it was perfect. there was a small track road between us and the beach bars and beach. First stop, a beer. We watched the sun set over the water, stunning. as we were drinking, a massage man came around offering free hand massages if you would consider going to his chinese herbal massage. He gave me one and then told me that i had stomach issues and my hip was sore, both correct. He was doing a special offer and so we arranged to visit him the next day for a go. WE had another Ruby tonight, this time i joined in with a mild one, yum. WE were disappointed though that still we have found no lime pickle to have with poppadoms, tut tut, what is this world coming to? Few more beers before bed, then bed.

Friday, Pads last full day here. WE mooched along this morning to the beach for breky and then went to explore Penang a bit more. WE all had a pamper today. Pad was desperate for some more fish nibbling action so spent 30 mins with his feet in a tank before getting a massage, Tom has a much needed hair cut ot relieve himself of the hot helmet he had been sporting for a few weeks. The hairdresser was obviously gay and stroked Toms shoulder as often as possible. I had my chinese massage, which i must say was the weirdest massage i have ever had. He warned me that my shiatsu points went quite low but i wasnt expecting him to have to rub my coxyx. I went with it though, bent into all ways, cracked about and left feeling bruised and smelling of horrible oil, but much bendier! Tonight was partay night so we got on the glad rags and went for dinner on the beach followed by beer, wine, cocktails, jack daniels, shisha pipes (which gave me a headrush and dizziness, nice though) and a bit more of the above. At some time late, i traded my wine for poppaums, i must have been drunk. Tom and Pad got in Long Island Ice teas which came in huge pint glasses and tasted like they had a pint of spirits and a dash of coke. Soon after they were both leathered. It was hilarious. When we headed home, Pad could hardly get up and wobbled all the way, Tom was a giggly mess, we were all going to feel it in the morning.

Saturday was Pads leaving day and it went so quick. We sorted photos in the morning, sharing them from both cameras then headed out for breakfast. One the way the lady at the hostel said that Pad should get going now as the drive to the airport can take longer if there is traffic. We had planned enough time to have breakfast together and re count the last 3 weeks but now the taxi was being called and bags were being got. It was sad to see him go and in such a rush. Typically enough he got to the airport early and had an hour to waste getting breakfast on his own. Today Tom and I lounged about, caught up on photos and made use of the free wifi in the hostel. Suddenly 3 became 2 again and it had gone so quickly. Today was also halfway through our planned trip, that as well has gone very quickly, too quickly and scary that we will be home sooner than when we went. Off to Langkawi in the morning, early up and out.

Sunday, up at 5am and ready for the first bus at 6am. Again, the hostel lady must be a panicker as we got there an hour before we could even get into the ferry terminal so sat on the road and waited...or went back to sleep in my case. Ferry over was good, made better by our homemade breakfast of canned coffee and banana chips. WE arrived in Langkawi and managed to find a group to share a taxi with the the beaches. The taxi only went so far so we walked for ages with our bags in the boiling heat to find somewhere to stay. We were on a mission to get it cheap but in a good location so asked in every place on the road. IN the end we found somewhere cheap in a perfic location, just across the road from the beach. We checked in and then went to check out where we were. The main reason we were in Langkawi was 1) Because its stunning and 2) Because it has tax free beer, yes the cheapest in Malaysia we've been told. So these were our main objectives. We walked to Pantai Tengah where we had lunch in one of the roadside places. The thing we have found here is that when you order food, they always assume that we want it mild, typical westerners or something, so we always say we like it spicy, then it becomes a game and they watch you eat to see if you can handle it. Today we had noodle soup, spicy and it was just that, spicy. Not eye sweating, just nice. The chef came out to ask us personally with a giggle whether it was hot and we didnt have the heart to say that a few more chillies wouldnt have gone a miss. He was very proud of himself. Carrying on our trek we found the cheapest beer, 1.8RM. Equivalent of 35p for a can of Tiger beer. Bargain. We loaded up on a few,showered and changed, then sat on the beach and watched the sun go down. Why hadnt we thought about this before. We sat next to a bar which had live music, listening to it and not paying over the odds for their drinks, genius. With that we went back to the shop, got more beer and returned to our spot. The beaches here are beautiful, although quite busy now with tourists. We were wanting to go to the chairlift that takes you to the top of the island but time went and it was too late. We wanted to move on in the morning and so had to find our way out as tomorrow we crossed into Thailand, Land of the free and we couldnt wait. We heard about a place called Ko Lipe and booked a morning boat out there. Another early morning to come!