Party Time

Well yes thats right its time for another update from paradise, and well we have finally arrived . . . The last update was from Kuching or cat city in Borneo and we are quite a long way from there now :) In fact we are in Ko Pha-ngan warming up for a reunion with Anna and Belinda and some full on party action :) can't wait bring it on!!

Still have not got any photos of the camera yet but don't worry I will sometime soon and then I'll post the photos somewhere. Was looking throughthem the other day I think there might actually be a couple of all right ones :) we live in hope anyway.

Well since Kuching we have been through some pretty cool places and spent some time on some really nice beaches. Bring on the beach time I say. We started out flying to KL where we spent about a week checking out the sights, browsing the markets in china town etc. This was pretty cool lots and lots of fake watches, t-shirts etc just a pity we have so long left on the trip really so we bought nothing . . . to long to carry it with us hopfully we will be able to get some in Bankok or maybe even China we live in hope.

Took a day trip out to the Batau Caves near KL and the place was an absolute mess!! The hindu thriv blah blah was on about 4 days before we went out there and at the peak there had been 2 million people there . . . man the rubbish that 4 million people leave . . . ah well it was kinda cool to see it thought 273 very steep steps up into the cave and then lots of monkeys, roosters, cows, goats etc etc was definitely and experience.

We also spent a day at the water park in KL Sunway lagoon, this was dfo a welcome relief from the heat and hunidity. Thay have a wave pool there that has an 8 foot wave, unfortunately it wasn't running the day we were there but that would be kinda cool!

After KL we hoped on a bus and went up to Pulau Pankor for our first real beach time. I'd forgotten how cool this little island is. Lots of nice sand cheap meals and no clouds we had a blissfull time. Heaps and heaps of hornbills here in the evenings that would fly into the tree you were lying under and start hunting for bugs in the tree. It was really kinda cool.

The bus trip from Lumut up to Penang, hmm where to start . . . this was way hairy I mean really hairy this guy thought he was Michael Shumaker but in a friking bus!! I thought we were going to die. A couple of times cars, trucks going the other way had to leave the road tyo avaoid an accident as we were overtaking trucks . . . not good.

We went to Penang for Chinese New Year and we were a little disappointed as there was not much happening here at that time. Seems to be more of a family thing really. And of course firecrackers were banned in Malaysia now so was not as noisy as it might otherwise have been. Was still fun got to see Lion and Dragon dances and lots of drummers.

The beaches in Penang were a real let down. I know this is the first area where we had been that the Tsunami had hit but the damaged from that (if there was any) was not visible at all. Its just well the water was murky not very inviting so we swiftly moved on to Lankawi. This was a good move a beautiful stretch of white sand and water that was a little murky but heaps clearer than Penang.

A couple of decent restaurants, a nice reggae bar on the beach an even better sunset coktail bar and well paradise found. Oh and did I mention it's duty free as well . . . hmm cheap beer and well really really cheap Bombay . . . about $11 a litre hmmm G&T.

The place we stayed at in Lamkawi was right on the beach . . . our balcony about 10m of sand then the water it was fantastic never seen a better location than that :)

We now sit in Thailand and boy the trip up here was kinda interesting two full on 12h days to get here, getting stiffed rippedoff, etc etc but hey we made it, we have a place to stay for the full moon and its all good :)

Will update a gain soon but in the mean time "party hard"

Borneo bound

Well Hello we are currently in Kuching in Sarawak and for the first
time since we left it is pouring with rain :( . .

We are having a fantastic time around the place and have seen some
amazing things over the last ten days. Starting in Pulau Labuan where
we managed to find a cruisy little "Kedi Kopi" or street restaurant
where we were able to drink 750ml Carlsbergs at the princly price of
RM3.70 or about $1.20 hmmmm cheap beer what more can you want to relax
into a new holiday! Unfortunately not all the places have been that
cheap it's only because its a duty free island . . . hmm going to have
to find some more of those bring on Lankawi I say.

Did a lot of sitting by the pool, drinking, eating and sitting by the
pool in Labuan it was great just what we needed after all the fuss and
planning before we left. We had one lovely walk along our first
tropical beach here at where we got of the local bus and then walked a
couple of km's down the beach not realising that of course the bus
turned off about 20m after we got off d'oh. After an hour of no busses
going past decided we really should just walk back to see what the
story was at worst we were going to have to go to the resort we saw
5km up the road and call a cab we were very confused untill we saw the
side street . . lesson learned always walk back along the route the
bus came from . .

Next was of to KK which had become like a second home for us as we
used this as a base for exploring some of the wonders of Sabah. The
first one was of to Mount Kinabalu which is an extremely impressive
mountain. Can't really say more than that actually it's just well
amazing!! We did some walks in the rainforest and enjoyed the cool
mountain air hmm in fact wished that we had had winter clothing it was
cold up there. Was glad we weren't climbing it we saw in the paper the
day before we went up that the only place yhat you can stay at on the
climb half way up was rat infested and 75% of people got food
poisoning no thanks. I'll stick with mee goreng belly thanks!!

Next was of on our 3 day tour to the turtle islands, sepilok Oran-Utan
centre and the Kinabatangan river. The flight at 7am was waaayyyyy
tooo early!! I don't do 5.15 very well which Jane will confirm! Met
our guide Joel (pronounced jo-elle go figure) who we got to know
really well over the next three days as we were the only people on
this tour. Was OK when we stayed on Selingan (turtle island) but was
weird in a resort on the river being the only ones there. There was
like 6 staff just for the two of us . . .

Pulau Salingan just over the Phillipines border is an extremely pretty
island, but lacks much of a swimming beach but we enjoyed the relaxing
in the afternoon after the early rising. But hey we weren't here for
the swimming. This is the only island in the world where turtles come
ashore to lay eggs 360 days a year!! After dinner and interminable
games of uno as you are not allowed to walk around the island after
6pm so you don't disturb the turtles we eventually got to see a mother
green turtly laying her eggs. This was a rare moment and both of us
were in awe. After the rangers moved the eggs to the hatchery and
buried the eggs in an imitation nest.

The next stage of the evenning was one of the most amazing things I
have ever seen. We were given a hatchling turtle to hold so small they
were less than 1 hour from hatching amazing and then they were taken
down to the beach and were released onto the sand and 40 little
turtles made there way to the water and swam free . . amazing
experience.

After Salingan off to Sepilok the next morning where we saw the
feeding of the Orangs that are being released into the wild. They are
truely amazing animals and we were lucky enough to have 7 orangs
attend this feeding session. After Sepilok we were down to the
Kinabatangan river and an afternoon sunset cruise of the river where
we saw many different types of wildlife, Long-tailed and pig-trailed
macacques, Probiscuss monkeys, lots of birds kingfishers herons etc
and the best was a mother bearded pig and her 5 piglets apparently a
rather rare spotting it was pretty cool. Unfortunately there were no
Orangs, we were really hoping to see one in the wild.

Next morning off to Gomontong caves and into on of the biggest caves I
have ever seen. Unfortunately it was filled with guano and it stank of
ammonia, sort of ruined the experience . . . and I have never ever
seen soooo many cockroaches . . On the walk back to the carpark
through the jungle we were lucky enough to see some red leaf monkeys
apparently a rather rare sighting Joel had never seen them in the wild
before cool I say. On the drive out of Gomontong finally we got to see
the elusive Orang in the wild!! A nice big semi mature male with the
begginings of his face plate. This was a truly amazing sight as well
one that will stay with me for a long time.

Back In KK we went out to our favourite little island Manukan where we
had spent a day before and spent the day lazing around, sunbathing and
snorkling. I was amazed at the number of fich here thousands and
thousand it was really a beatiful place to spend an afternoon.

And from there we have now moved on to Kuching. I'll keep you updated
and when I get ther photos from the camera I'll load them into our
gallery and send you the links.

Untill next time

Nick and Jane