Malaysia: Perhentian Islands

The Perhentian Islands are situated off the north east of Malaysia.  There are 2 main islands; Big Perhentian Island and Small Perhentian Island.  I’ve met a few people on my travels who have been raving about scuba diving.  I’ve always enjoyed snorkelling but I’m not a strong swimmer and the idea of scuba diving, being so deep under the water with just a tank on your back, terrifies me.  But I have never actually tried to scuba dive and if you don’t try you never know!  So I looked into courses and the Lonely Planet told me that the Perhentian Islands were one of the cheapest places to do it.  A quick Google search later I found a dive school there with glowing reviews (Turtle Bay).  I contacted them about doing a day introductory course to see if I liked it, then if I did, I would progress with the course.  No problem they said, so I booked myself on it.

I arrived at Long Beach on the small island on the Saturday evening after a very long and uncomfortable bus and boat ride.  Peter was also there as he was doing his rescue divers course.  And Matt and Sarah (from Melaka) were also there, as well the two Swiss girls from the Cameron Highlands, Sabrina and Daniella.  I went for dinner with Matt, Sarah, Peter and Alex (hilarious Polish girl from the bus journey) and had a lovely evening on the beach, despite the torrential rain meaning we were stuck in the restaurant for ages!!  Later we met up with Sabrina and Daniella for a drink.

Sunday morning just after 9am I found myself sat in a room above the dive shop alone, watching a really cheesy American DVD and the start of my dive course.  What was I doing??!  I got through the first level and then before I knew it, I was out in the sea with 3 other people and my instructor.  Eek!  I took quite a few attempts to take my mask off under water, I freaked out a few times and my legs were shaking.  By the end of the day I was still unsure if I liked it, so thought I'm here now, I’m not in a hurry, I may as well finish the course and then decide.  Why not!  

The next day I continued with the dive course.  Videos, tests, practising various safety requirements in the sea, setting up my equipment, taking it off etc.  That afternoon I went out to sea again and I was already nervous about the removal of the mask.  Once down the bottom, I had to do it and managed to swallow a lot of water and freak out! It really wasn't nice.  I managed to calm myself down but the rest of the dive, I couldn't relax.  I had a word with my instructor afterwards and he said he knew I could do it as I had done it a few times before, it was just in my head.  He asked me if I wanted to continue the course and I said I'd have a think about it.  I walked away deflated.  Met Peter and Alex and over a beer they gave me words of support and talked about their diving experiences and I didn't want to quit, so I thought no, I'm going to do this!  I felt terrible that night and went to bed early.  Slept so well.

Day 3 and I said I wanted to continue but didn't want to go into the sea that day.  I finished all the videos, reading and tests.  Did a swim and treading water test and finished around 3pm.  The rest of my group finished that day - well done guys!

Day 4, this was it!  My instructor had to go to the mainland that day so I had another instructor, an English guy called Joe.  I explained my situation and we went out to the shallow sea to practise.  He was really patient with me and showed me if I put my head right down I don't breathe through my nose. This was easy!  I managed to do it several times.  Then we went out to sea and did it again.  Then in the afternoon my final dive, I was nervous again but managed to do it.  We did a few more tests and before I knew it I was back on the boat.  I had passed!  Yippeeeee! TBH I still wasn't sure if I liked diving but now I was qualfied I could dive without having to do any of the tests so will see what happens.  Peter also passed his rescue diver course so we agreed to go on a 'fun' dive the next day.

I was still nervous about the fun dive but once I got in the water the nerves disappeared and I started to enjoy it, especially when a turtle swam right past me.  So cool!  Peter filmed it too and it looks ace!  I struggled a bit with my buoyancy but I'm told that comes with time.  Looking forward to doing some more dives on my trip now I'm a PADI Open Water Diver!!!!

Really loved my time on the island. Its so relaxing and chilled.  The evenings were spent meeting up with the people I'd met in the last week, enjoying the food and watching fire shows on the beach.  So lovely here.  I did manage to get 45 mozzie bites at one point and I'm not even kidding!  So I was sad to leave but also glad that I wouldn't be scratching any more.  Loved my time here.  Now onto Penang.

Malaysia: The Cameron Highlands

Got up early to get the bus to Tana Rata in the Cameron Highlands.  As I got off the bus I approached another backpacker to see where they were going and if they wanted to share a taxi.  His name was Peter from Germany and was going to the same hostel as me!  Result.  We arrived at Father’s Guest House and I instantly felt at home.  Had a lovely welcome from Manager (Valarie from France), she showed us around, pointing out the free tea and comfy seating area in reception.  Everyone seemed very relaxed here and it was colder outside,  a welcome relief after 5 weeks of sunshine.  Myself and Peter went for a wander around the town.  It was pretty compact, and it seemed like the only thing to do here was eat or drink.  So we went and had cheesecake and tea, as you do!  Back at the hostel we met some other people, Jez from London and Cerys from Manchester, and a young Dutch guy who I can’t remember his name as we called him Justin Bieber as he looked like him!!  We all went for dinner later to an Indian, trying the tandoori platter.  So good! Afterwards we went to a bar and met 2 Swiss girls, Daniella and Sabrina.  Cerys and Sabrina had met previously in Thailand.  Had such a funny night playing a silly card game and getting far too excited! I was called a party pooper for leaving early (er midnight!) as I was on a whole day trip the next day.  I later found out they all stayed out until 4/5am and truth or ‘action’ (not dare) had been played.  The football was on at 3am but I think that was just an excuse to stay out drinking!!

The tour I had booked the next day was a whole day tour visiting some of the sights in the Cameron Highlands.  Visited a tea plantation, mossy forest, tea factory, butterfly sanctuary, strawberry fields, a random museum and a Chinese temple. Really good day but I needed a lie down by the end of it!  Was cool to see where tea comes from and how it’s produced.  Oh forgot to mention, that morning I was in the jeep at the start of the tour with my guide and a Dutch couple.  We were stopped by immigration and a very stern looking man asked me for my passport.  I said it was at my hotel.  He then questioned me as to why I wasn’t carrying it and what would happen if something happened to me.  I was a bit shocked by his directness and just mumbled back to him.  He then gave me a final warning.  I later found out that you can get charged for not carrying your passport with you in Malaysia.  Whoops!  Lucky escape and a learning for the rest of my trip!

The following day I had booked another tour but this time half a day, a jungle trek to see one of the biggest flowers in the world!  Woooo!  I was with the Dutch couple from yesterday, a guy from Singapore and our guide, Frances.  I was a bit worried about leeches as it had been raining the night before and the Dutch girl as also the same.  We asked Frances but he said there would only be one or two.  About 10mins into the trek I felt something on my ankle.  I thought it was just my imagination but when I rolled up my trouser leg it was there, a leech! URGH!  I did a bit of a girlie shriek and Frances came to the rescue removing it from my ankle in one clean sweep.  He’s done with before!  For the rest of the trek up (about an hour and a half there) myself and the Dutch girl were paranoid about leeches and kept stopping to check our ankles!!  Then as we got near the top we were warned there would be a lot of wasps.  I hate them!  I was sweating so much too as the trek was all uphill.  When we finally got to the flower, loads of Malaysian tourists in the way crowding round, we all got to see it.  Wow incredible! They only bloom for 5 days but they have them most of year round here. It was pretty cool to see.  We walked back to the jeep through the jungle ….. only to find our jeep stuck in the mud!  Frances had gone on ahead to try and move it as he had struggled to get us up the hill earlier.  The jeep wasn’t moving. A few people tried to help but it wouldn’t budge.  Luckily another company had space in their van so we got a lift back to the hostel.  An eventful morning!  Had a relaxing afternoon eating and drinking tea.  Paula arrived from KL so showed her around.  Had a great time in the Cameron Highlands.  Malaysia is so not what I expected, really loving it here.  So much diversity of things to do.  Off to the Islands next… can I do my dive course…..  all will be revealed soon!

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur (KL)

I visited KL in 2002 as part of a travel agent’s trip and didn’t like it much then so I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but someone had told me it was cheap to buy electrical goods there so I thought I’d have a look & it was on my way.  I booked 2 nights at a hostel in the city centre.  Travelled on a public bus (interesting, full of locals), a coach, train, another train and finally I was there!  The hostel owner was really welcoming.  So much so I had to politely excuse myself from her as it was 4.30pm and all I’d eaten that day was toast for breakfast! The hostel owner had told me it wasn’t far to walk to places from there, gave me a map and I was on my way.  What she failed to tell me was if I walked there, there were no pavements and the road had roadworks so I was walking towards 3 lane traffic!  I managed to find somewhere to eat and explored the city as it turned to night.  Little India, China Town, the Petronas towers, the magical fountains outside. Caught the train back (no more risking my life on the no pavement streets!) and headed to bed.

Next day I ended up meeting Paula.  She had decided to come to KL too!  We took the train to the Batu Caves which were really cool. Lots of wild monkeys on the steps to the caves which were really friendly compared to Ubud (although someone told me a few days later they saw one of them nick an iPhone and run off with it…. I would soooooo not have been impressed!).  We had some more amazing Indian food and went back into KL.  Did some shopping, bought a lense for my camera and watched the fountains again (still magical!), and some window shopping in China Town.  Still not sure I like KL.  The maps are not to scale, the men are a bit leery, they don’t have flipping pavements (!) and the people can be a bit rude.  Leaving tomorrow to head to the highlands… no  not Scotland, the Cameron Highlands!!!

Malaysia: Melaka

Val drove me to the bus station that morning.  Back to reality!  I could have cried!! But I was brave.  Got my bus ticket and wearily headed onto the bus.  I had to get my head back into the travelling mindset; meeting people, crappy accommodation, planning and organising. I had a 3-4 hour bus journey to do it.  This would be ok!

As I went to put my bags on the bus, I was asked if I wanted help by a young English couple.  They seemed nice and friendly and Val had overheard them saying they were also going to Melaka. We had to stop on the way to go through immigration.  At this point all the tourists stuck together and we had a little chat in the queue.  The English couple (Matt & Sarah) were travelling around Malaysia for 2 weeks on holiday. Matt had never done backpacking before.  There were also 2 German couples.  We got to Melaka and I mentioned to Matt and Sarah about sharing a taxi into the centre. We arranged with the 2 German couples to meet up that night.  We went to McDonalds at the bus station to find out the address of Matt & Sarah’s hotel and this was when Matt realised he’d left his wallet on the bus. Panic!  Sarah managed to find out that the bus driver had gone to fill up with petrol but he would be back later. We waited in McDonalds and after about an hour the bus returned.  The driver had Matt’s wallet.  Hurrah!  I think if we’d been in Bali it would have been a different story.  We headed to Melaka, about 20mins from the bus station.  My accommodation was fine, basic but had my own room and the staff were friendly and it was central.  We met that night and went for some food at an awful Chinese restaurant.  Pork ball soup. It was terrible!  Luckily as it was the weekend, there is a night market on Jonker Street selling all different types of food, electronic goods, toys, jewellery etc.  The market was so cool, really busy as people come from all over Malaysia and Singapore for the weekend.  Melaka is a UNESCO World Heritage place so there’s lots to do and it’s really pretty.  We had some food at the night market, walked around, went on a viewing platform thing then went to bed.

Next day I had a walk around the centre.  So easy to get around here.  Went to the Baba Nonya museum, learning about the history of Melkka.  Had some lunch; tried a laksa soup mmmm…. Then went back to the hostel.  Met a lovely Argentinian girl there (Paula) who was also traveling alone.  We then went for another wander and went to the Strats Chinese Jewelry Museum which was ok. Later we went for Indian food at a place recommended by our hostel, joined by Iggy from Spain.  The food was so good!  Tandoori chicken with naan bread yummy! The food in Malaysia is as good as people told me and it’s so cheap! Then we met Matt and Sarah, all walked down the night market again which was lots of fun (had some deep fried ice cream, yum!), then had a beer in a bar.  Had such a nice evening with some really nice, funny people.  I couldn’t stop smiling.  Didn’t get to bed ‘till 1.30am which was pretty late for me.

Next stop KL!

Singapore

After a quick couple of hour’s flight I landed into Singapore airport.  It was very clean, no smell of incense like Bali (which I actually quite liked).  Collected my bag and met Val in the arrivals area.  It was so lovely to see her and hear a friendly Scottish accent! We had a quick catch up at Starbucks in the airport and I already felt like I was back in civilisation!  Toilet paper in the loo’s, you betya!  We drove to her apartment on the island of Sentosa.  It’s connected to Singapore via a new underground tunnel, taking about 20mins or so to get into Singapore.  As we drove there the sign’s told me that Sentosa was ‘the island of fun’.  Wow where was I!  Disneyland is actually on the island, there’s a water park and loads of other exciting things.  We got to the apartment which can only be described as stunning.  The view on one side is over the marina, and the other to the pool and the sea, Indonesia in the distance.  I was shown to my own room with a double bed, balcony and own bathroom.  Was I in heaven?!  Val has a wee dog called Douggie.  He is so cute!  I unpacked my things and headed out to the cable cars.  I’m not a big fan of cable cars but Singapore seemed like a very safe place so I felt fine.  Enjoyed the views over the sea, seeing the big cruise ships coming in.  Then we had lunch at the top.  Later we went to some high rise flats called the Pinncale where you can go to the top and see views over the city.  Wow Singapore was not what I expected.  So many different areas to explore. Later I met Val’s hubby Murray and their lovely daughter Abby. We had dinner on the balcony and a glass of wine.  What a treat after just drinking beer in Indonesia for the last month.  Went for a walk around the marina with Val and Douggie the dog.  The sweat was dripping off me.  So hot and humid here.  Such a lovely day I headed to bed with a smile on my face.

Day 2 in Singapore started with walking the dog again and looking into some of the beautiful houses in Sentosa.  Some amazing houses here owned by very wealthy people so good to have a nosy in (as you do!).  We had breakfast in one of the bars by the marina then headed into Singapore to be proper tourists.  2 open top bus tours later I had seen most of the city and learned about the history and what life is like there.  Love a good open top bus tour!!  We met Murray and his work colleagues for lunch, then later visited Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling (when in Singapore….!).  The bar was lovely and so old fashioned, you could imagine distinguished ladies and gents sitting there in days gone by enjoying a drink or two.  That night we went for dinner at one of the restaurant’s in Sentosa.  I wasn’t feeling great though, think I had a bit of heat exhaustion.  Went home and had an early night.

Day 3 woke up and felt ok so we decided to go to the Botanical Gardens.  What a beautiful place.  Lots of open space, smells of flowers, tropical trees, lakes with fish and turtles, people doing exercises at different points around the gardens (saw a group of people doing line dancing…. Random but whatever floats your boat!).  As we walked around I realised I still wasn’t feeling great so I had an energy drink to help.  We visited the Orchid gardens which were gorgeous.  I especially liked the air conditioned room there!!!! Seriously, it was beautiful.  We stopped for a coffee, then headed to the shopping mall at the Marina Sands hotel for a bit of window shopping.  Gazed into the designer shops and entered the cheaper ones!  We managed to sneak our way almost to the top of the Marina Sands hotel (you normally have to pay) but we pretended we were staying there and a guest used his room key to activate the lift.  Ha ha!  Enjoyed the view but I was still feeling weak so came back and went for a sleep.

Woke up and felt a lot better and good job as it was my last night and we were going out for dinner.  We went to Arab Street which was so cool; little shops and bars, restaurants, buzzing atmosphere.  People relaxing and chatting after a busy working week (it was Friday).  We had some Turkish/Med food in a restaurant. OMG it was so good!  It was a lovely evening and I had to laugh as everyone I was with that night was Scottish -  8 of us in total.  All that way and I felt right at home, albeit if the sweat was running down my face the whole time!

Saturday it was time to continue my travels.  Was gutted to be leaving as had such a lovely time with Val and her family & friends.  But I needed to move on. I was really surprised as to how much I liked Singapore.  It’s such a clean city and there is loads for tourists to do, and I felt really safe there after crazy Bali.  Next stop: Malaysia!

Last few days in Indonesia

After the 3 night boat trip I spent a couple of lazy days in Laban Bajo.  Wrote some blogs. Went for walks around the harbour, met up with people from the boat trip.  As the days went on, more people left and continued with their travel plans.  Sarah and Steve (lovely couple from England/Scotland) had booked the ferry back via Sumbawa.  Guess what? Yep cancelled! Felt sorry for them but they managed to get a flight (albeit for 4 times the price).  Had a really lovely few days here.  It’s really unspoilt and the kids all want to say hello to you.  Cute.  I flew from Laban Bajo to Bali on the Tuesday. Nice quick, smooth flight and had company as I’d met an English guy (Stuart) on our Komodo Island tour who was getting the same flight. Great views from the plane on the way.  Shared a taxi into Kuta with a German girl I met in the taxi queue and managed to find a hostel.  It was a bit of a shock to the system being back in crazy Kuta in Bali! Busy streets, McDonalds, KFC, people hassling you to get into taxis. Take me back to the quieter islands!!  I had a nice leisurely day shopping, a full body massage for 3 pounds (thank you very much!), she was actually quite brutal! I’m sure I’d feel the benefits in a few days. Later I met up with Stuart (from the flight), Louisa (from the boat trip) and a Dutch guy from Louisa’s hostel.  We went for dinner and a few drinks in Kuta. OMG this place was awful! Loud music coming from the bars. People hassling you to go into the bars.  Bikes, taxis and cars on the busy street making it difficult for you to cross the road. Yes I felt OLD!  We had a couple of drinks but I knew I had to get up early in the morning to catch my flight to Singapore so wasn’t in the party mood.  I went home and back to the hostel.  I lovely air conditioned 5 bed room to myself Result!

I was glad to be moving on from Bali in the end.  In hindsight I spent too long there as I was still getting used to travelling alone.  After hearing about the murder in Ubud and loads of stories about people getting mugged, I didn’t feel very safe.  I think that’s why I wasn’t sleeping very well either.  Don’t get me wrong I did like it and it has loads to offer.  There were loads of less developed places I didn’t manage to visit and it was a good place to start my travels.  However, it does seem very corrupt there.  Someone told me that they had to pay for a Police report after they had things stolen from their room.  I mean, come on!  Now onto Singapore….