Let me start off by telling you all a fact about me. I don't like people who are over enthusiastic, particularly travelers who grate more than most. This is mainly because these people will always tell you about their trips as if it's the most amazing thing in the world and when they discover that you haven't made a particular stop that they made, they then continue to describe how fantastic the place is and in a small way try to make you feel that your trip is inadequate. Well excuse me for not visiting every town in the Lonely Planet and agreeing with every thing the bloody book lists as "a must see", I actually have a mind of my own. Grrrrrrr I get the feeling that the guide books are written by these very people to, which would account for my growing dislike of "the yellow bible". I mention this because while in Bangkok, earlier this week I happened to be accosted by not one but 20 of the aforementioned group of people. To make matters worse they were on a mission to give people "free hugs" to spread the happiness to fellow travelers on the Khao San Road. Seeing this I tried to prepare myself for the onslaught and was thankfully spared from their clutches by giving them a look of complete contempt and they passed me by. a*******s. I took great delight that they failed in their mission and they actually made me an unhappy traveler. I really hate these people and avoid them at all costs.

Anyway back to the joys of traveling, and there are many. Before heading back to Bangkok I spent one last day in Hanoi and quickly decided that it's my favourite city in SE Asia so far. I was also strangely organized for the trip to arranging money and visas for Indonesia while I was there and I booked my shared minibus to the airport in advance for my early flight to Bangkok. This was to save some money and avoid having to get a cab at 6 in the morning. I went to bed happy that I didn't need to worry. The contented feeling didn't last long as I managed to set my alarm for 6:30 when the bus left instead of 5:30am. After muttering a few choice obscenities to myself, I jumped into the shower, packed the rest of my bag and was at reception in 10 minutes. After asking the hotel owner if he could call me a cab to at he airport, he replied "oh much easier if you do yesterday". "I did" I replied and then explained that I overslept. This caused him to laugh a great deal and then stare at me blankly. "So........can you phone me a taxi"? ""oh much easier if you do yesterday". I know dickhead, but can you get me one now I thought. This went on for a few more minutes until he eventually called his friend and the guy arrived in 5 minutes. So, no problem at all really. Leaving Vietnam was an experience to. I was held at immigration for 10 minutes while the officer pulled my passport apart and then checked every stamp and detail in it. Then after getting through immigration, they pulled me back to immigration as the k*** hadn't even stamped me out of the country during his examination. Bloody hell.! Anyway, I get back to Bangkok in one piece and enjoyed two easy days there. (Avoiding the hippy huggers. arrrggggghhh it still grates!)

After deciding to skip the Thai Islands, I booked a bus to take me to the East Coast of Malaysia which is less touristy and more relaxed than Thailand. I decided against flying as I wanted too see the countryside and I actually quite enjoy traveling overland despite it taking longer. Thankfully the bus was devoid of vomiting locals, livestock etc and I settled down for the next 24 hours. What the agent didn't tell me was that I would have to change buses 3 times to get to Malaysia. The first change was ok, although when I arrived at the agents, I had a motorbike driver waiting to ferry me to the next bus. This was no problem until he got off his bike and then went arse over head through the door. Turns out he was absolutely wasted (at 6am) but still apparently ok to drive! I declined the lift which annoyed the agents and the bike driver, but there was no way I getting on the bike with him. Luckily another driver turned up and I made it to the bus. I finally made it to Kota Baru (Malaysia) 10 hours later after another change of bus, absolutely knackered and resolved next time to take a train. From Kota Baru it was a short bus ride the next day to the ferry which would take me to the islands of Pulau Perhentian.

The speed boat across was a cool if painful experience. My bum was recovering from 24 hours of being on a bus and didn't take to kindly to the bumps from the boat. Still we made it to the Island. I met a guy from Germany on the boat so Kaya and I teamed up to find a guesthouse. We picked a place called the Moonlight which was pretty awesome. At first the guy said he only had 1 room for 100 ringit. (15 pounds) After we said no and started to walk away and he suddenly had two rooms for 50 instead. I love the way the walking away tactic always results in a big price drop and the room you want. The owner was a bit of a loon, telling us about his time in prison and his sexual exploits. Being about 50 with a pot belly and no teeth I'm sure you can appreciate the picture wasn't pretty and was enough to put me off my pancakes that morning. The Island's were amazing and we had a great time just lazing on the beach. I also managed to work on my pink t-shirt line making it a dark red. mmmm lovely. SPF now stands for Sharp Pink Factor, 1 being white and 10 being apple red. I'd say i'm now on a 6 so it was another night of sleeping face down heating the room with my back . haha. Seriously the sun is so strong, I only have t take my T-shirt of for 20 mins and I'm red as! I'm giving up getting a tan unless I'm in Kent where you take your t shirt off for the whole day and nothing much happens.

Anyway we also had a good day snorkeling around the island. I really wish I had an underwater camera as it was amazing. I managed to miss the only sightings of a turtle and a shark, as not quite having the hang of a snorkel, I managed to inhale loads of sea water when I dived to take a look. Damn it. Apparently the trick is don't breathe in when your submerged. After the snorkeling we had a fun time in the bars getting rip roaring drunk and playing silly games invented by a fellow traveler form Hackney. Also he taught us how to dance to Sean Paul. See the pics.

Today however it was time to leave and as per usual I picked the worst day. The sea looked calm from the shore line but as soon as left the shore the wind picked up and the black clouds in the distance were suddenly above us. The huge waves obviously didn't bother our skipper though as we sped over the sea. At one point he had a cigarette in one hand and a phone to his ear to. Very reassuring. We made it back to dry land though slightly damp (meaning soaked through) and got back to Kota Baru.

So tomorrow I'm off to Taman Negara for a trek through the jungle and then making my way down to KL.

Sabartios!!!

Will