Last stop.......Singapore

Singapore is a tricky one....definately wasn't our favorite place on the whole trip, yet is probably the place we would most like to live in compared to all the other countries. Mainly because everything is in English, everything is new & modern (a bit like SA), their is a working, clean public transport system & generally people seem to have a good way of life. It was extremely warm & difficult to walk further than 100m without breaking into a sweat.

We arrived the first night at the Classique hotel, accommodation was a little pricey & even this 3 star was more than most european hotels. It was nothing great, but comfortable & relatively clean. We arrived in the early afternoon so took a walk down to the Bugis market, a bit like Camden, had some hawker food & onto the famous Orchard Street which is like Oxford Street on steroids! It is lined with shopping mall after shopping mall, featuring everything from Louis Vuitton to Gap. It is not the easiest place to shop as it was extremely busy & until you get into a particular mall, you don't really know what is inside. The Christmas decorations were everywhere & very over the top, massive snowmen & arches across the road, light etc etc. After battling for a while we decided enough was enough & got the tube back to the hotel, empty handed ... until we came across a Mackey D's & tucked in!

We didn't get the best nights sleep as they were doing roadworks on the road below the hotel & Jacqui got quite a few bites, don't think they were bed bugs but they were no mossies so not sure what they were! So we decided to check out as we hadn't paid upfront & look for something better, and boy are we glad we did, we managed to find a very sweet 4 * for just a little more than our current place as it was so last minute (website was wotif.com). It was a mystery deal so all we knew when we booked was how many *'s & an approximate location. The hotel turned out to be the Furama Riverfront, the location was not ideal, but ok, the hotel itself was very fancy & a fitting end for our trip.

After moving house we arbed around the hotel, checking everything out before heading up to Orchard to catch the hop on, hop off bus, remembering to stop at the Hard Rock for Keith of course. As there are not that many sites to see & it was extremely hot we just kinda sat on the bus the whole way round enjoying the A/C. We visited their China town which deserves as mention as the cleanest, safest, nicest China town we have ever been to, and there have been many on this trip, in SA & in London! We tried some satays at their food stalls before walking to another major hawker centre (Lau Pat) but the food was nowhere nearly as appetising as Malaysia had been, but we did stumble upon the satay club which was just stalls & stalls of satay, so like it or not that was dinner, & we liked it. It was a long walk home as there were no direct buses but I guess we needed to sweat out all that satay sauce.

The next day was a relax day so we just spent it sleeping late, making the most of the buffet breakfast & then retiring to the pool. Although the peace & quite was somewhat interrupted by building works in the room next to ours, although a quick complaint to reception & we were whisked away to the 17th floor for a change of rooms...the executive suites! A much nicer room with all the extras, kinda like being upgraded to 1st class on a plane....although that's never happened to us before so not sure what its like really. It was a little overcast but it was more more than warm enough. Jacqui had enough energy to spend an hour in the hotel gym....i had enough energy to lift up my book to eye level for half an hour before having a nap. We had booked to go on the night safari in the evening so had a bite to eat at the Cafe Cartel, best ribs I have had in a long time. Try it out if you are ever in town. The night safari was pretty good, a part from our bus seemingly full of South Africans, much like everywhere we went. They basically chuck you on a 'tram' and drive you through a massive park / zoo full of nocturnal and not so nocturnal animals from every continent. So tigers, lions, giraffe, buffalo etc etc. Everything is lit in a really dim light so you can see quite easily & all the animals are 'free roaming', well free inside their paddock. Only downside is it's absolutely packed, lots of kids & very commercial, however the Ben & Jerrys shop made up for it.

On our last day we again went for the relaxing option of chilling by the pool, gym, shopping, eating finished of with a trip to Swensons which we heard did the most amazing ice cream, they were sold out of the ice cream fondue which was a pity but we were able to find something to tickle the tastebuds. After that it was off to the hotel to get spruced up & to the airport for our arduous 21 hour flight home. Will definately consider paying the extra next time & flying direct.

The trip home was long & uneventful, and we were greeted in London by sub zero temperatures & snow, ah, it great to be back! 

Thanks for reading, we had an amazing trip & would definately recommend South East Asia to anyone out there.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

We had a couple days before we had to be in Kuala Lumpur so decided to go into the mountains for a bit of nature. The bus took about 5 & a half hours although most of that was spent in 1st gear getting up the mountain: CH is about 5000m above sea level, which is where we were coming from. Unlike the Thailand bus trips, the lunch stops here were really good, my personal favourite being 'cup of corn', a cup of sweetcorn with lots of butter for 50 pence, whilst Jacqui delved into the packets of fresh fruit at 20 pence a pop. 

We managed to find a cute guesthouse called the Hillview Inn just outside the 'main' strip in a tiny hilltop town called Tanah Rata. There really wasn't much there except for a few restaurants & travel agents. The whole area is famous for it strawberries, and scones with strawberry jam (scrumptious). 

For our first dinner, we ate at one of the many Indian restaurants, we shared a chicken claypot and a lamb tandoori with garlic & cheese naan. Even though we were full we pursued with hot choc's and pudding which was a mistake, but we will learn....although we have been saying that the whole trip!

It is a lot cooler up in the mountains & rains in the afternoon so we even managed to whip out our only pair of jeans & tracksuit tops for a rare outing. We proceeded to arrange a day trip for the next day but found out that the Boh tea factory is closed on Mondays- bugger. And that was the one thing Jacqui was looking forward to. The sight-seeing tours involve visiting all the local attractions. A very unintentionally honest tour organiser lady told us the bee farm has no more bees, the strawberry farm involves buying a strawberry milkshake, etc so we decided to get a map and do a 3 hour hike by ourselves through the mountains. 

The next day we set off for our hike after having hot oat porridge with honey and banana for breakfast- such a cute place this! Its such a good feeling as the mornings are very cool. The mountain is thick forest and the path doesn't get walked much! It was very enjoyable as it was a nice change to all the beach and city activities we have been doing. The peak was at about 6100m although there was not much of a view to speak of. On the way back down the mountain, we took the wrong path, well it ended up not being a path at all! After slipping, sliding and jumping through steep virgin rainforest and hanging on roots and branches for about 15 minutes we decided we were lost. I think it was the having to crawl on our hands & knees & make our own path which gave it away! So we turned back & now had to crawl vertically back up the mountain to where we went wrong which luckily we found. Part of the problem was the trails were so old & washed away it was very difficult to actually differentiate between path & bush. We were covered in mud and scratches by the time we finished! We finally found the beautiful waterfall and rewarded ourselves with delicious local Boh tea and scones with fresh strawberry jam (still covered in mud) which is the best we have ever had! I had to buy 2 jars to take back with me!

We spent the late afternoon drinking more tea in the beautiful hotel garden. We watched a movie in the common lounge area (very cute) before heading out for dinner. We had western food for dinner which wasn't the best.

We left early the next morning on a VIP bus to KL.Cameron Highlands was a really pretty and relaxing stop, and those scones with cream and strawberry jam will never be forgotten!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it is affectionately known, was next on our agenda. We stayed in Tune Hotel which is run by AirAsia- everything branded in the companies colours, very cheap compared to the rest of KL but anything extra was charged for. You had to rent towels, buy aircon & wifi vouchers and everything had advertising. We had a Pensonic hairdryer advertised on our door, and inside we had McDonalds, Maggi & some tour company pasted round the wall. Still it was nice & central-ish, fairly new & modern, & most NB, cheap!

Our bus got in 2 hours earlier than expected so we jumped on the tourist bus & did a circular of the city in rush hour traffic before jumping off in China Town to hit the main market on Petaling Street. After a brief taste of the pestering and over eager shop assistants we decided we needed some food before taking it on. Nando's looked very inviting & so we scoffed down a half chicken each (what fat pigs!) & instantly felt a lot more like shopping.

It really is difficult to describe the market, firstly it was packed, secondly there were just so many over-crowded stalls & shops, and lastly, the people at the shops are virtually pulling you in by the arm. I got tapped & grabbed a couple times which was pissing me off, luckily they weren't doing it to Jacqui but they were the normal chirps. I obviously look British as I seemed to get 'yes, mate' & 'oi mate' in there best cockney accent.

All the hassle was just about worth it as there were some bargains but bargain was what you had to do in order to get them. Generally they start at 70% over what you should pay & it took us a while to get the hang of it & actually get some deals, Jacqui got a Prada bag for £20 down from about £35 which we should have got for less! As for shoes, well with both of us being yeti’s with massive feet, only the guys shoes fitted Jacqui & nothing fitted me so they were out. Feeling battered & exhausted we managed to escape the market & make it home.

KL is really sticky & hot, & very uncomfortable when the sun is out. Luckily it was overcast a bit while we were there which made it just about bearable. It is the exact opposite to London, here you can't wait to get on the tube/monorail as it is super cold & as soon as you get off it, you are hit by the wall of heat, oh & you have to stand on the right on the escalators to let people past....more confusing than it sounds!

Christmas Eve was spent sightseeing although after waiting for our tourist bus for 30 mins, it preceded to break down in the middle of a highway 15 mins later in the middle of nowhere. So instead of waiting even longer for another one we had to walk about 3km to our destination, the Petronas Twin Towers. Sweating like....well.....sweating profusely we took cover in the shopping center at the bottom to cool off. Next was the Menara KL tower, which at 421m is one of the tallest in the world. They made us buy a stupid package ticket which included daft things we didn't want do like an animal petting zoo & a 'winter' park, I use the word winter but it was literally cotton wool with a plastic polar bear & some fans blowing vapour, & it was outside so wasn't even cold!

Had lunch at the Hard Rock (for Keith) and the food was pretty good. We then visited a few hotels trying to find a traditional roast dinner for Christmas. We settled on the Concorde Hotel that has a massive Xmas buffet.

Christmas! Merry Merry! Happy Happy! Aaaah!

We slept LATE for a change, got on our Sunday best & headed out for lunch which was 12:30 to 16:00 & we were determined to use all that time to eat. We got there at 12:30 on the dot & proceeded to eat continuously till 4, we took it slow & it was hard at times, but we pulled through in the end. Starters, 5 helpings of mains, 2 helpings of pudding....the buffet was western, chinese, thai, japanese, malay and indian so we had to try everything. They had a Santa come visit the kids & hand out presents & a band singing Christmas carols who were highly entertaining, especially the huge fat gay one who pranced round like a queen shouting ho-ho-ho in her deepest voice!

There seems to be a lot of South Africans around, we have plenty in our hotel, a family of them sat next to us at Xmas dinner, some were on our flight to Singapore & you hear them in the streets all the time, definitely the accent we have heard the most in Malaysia. It makes you think if there are any left at home!!

After dinner we rolled out to the main shopping area of Bukit Bintang which has malls and malls of shops, starting with the Louis Vittons, Prada, Bvlgari etc etc & ending with Topshop, Gap & so on. We skipped the high-end stuff & settled somewhere in between & treated ourselves to some presents for Xmas & ended off a nice day at the cinema after speaking to all the family back home. We watched ‘Yes Man’ which I had heard a lot about & it was hilarious, although the funniest was laughing at all Asians laughing at the Western jokes, they were loving it! 

Boxing Day we went to Batu Caves which is the site of a Hindu Temple where millions of Hindus go on a pilgrimage every year & stick spears through their tongues & hooks in theirs backs, wear shoes made of nails & other crazy things. All in the name of religion of course! The caves were impressive but by the time we had climbed the 272 steps we were sweating so much we just wanted to get back in the shade. We scurried back down the stairs, passing a girl throwing up halfway up the stairs & headed back to the A/C.

Next up was the KL Bird Park, with the largest walk in aviary in the world. Most of the birds were pretty much what you could find in our back garden growing up, ostriches, macaws, lories etc. The best bit was definitely the bird show which had birds riding bikes, doing math’s sums and other such things birds shouldn't!

That night we headed to the Petaling Market again, we were very prepared this time: we spent time formulating an action plan- we had a list of what we wanted & what we were willing to pay. We were prepared to bargain hard with those guys & we did! Generally you should be able to get your item for 50-70% less than the starting price, after 4 hours of wheeling & deeling as well as fighting of various salesmen, we struggled back to the hotel with all our bags & got onto the task of getting them into our bags! We don't have too much luggage, our backpacks are basically full but our hand luggages are empty so we are sorted me thinks...

Me thinks wrong! Bladdy Air Asia has a limit of 15kg per person, we knew that but were a little over last time & they didn't mind, we came in at a slightly heavy 37kg (but no hand luggage) & after being quoted an exorbitant fee we went off to the luggage shop & had to buy a small bag & repack. After which we weighed 32kg....& the cheeky so & so still moaned, we argued with him for a while & he said we need to remove another 1kg!!! So Jacqui promptly tied one of my belts and a towel around her waste, & put a pair of pants under her arm & told him to weigh it again, after which he reluctantly said we could go through...

Singapore here we come!

Penang (North-west Malaysian Island)

From what we had read before coming to Penang, the main reasons for visiting it is to see the mix of cultures that exist and see how they all coexist peacefully. It is difficult to imagine but when you arrive and are greeted by an indian taxi driver, taken to our chinese/indian/malaysian run hotel, go out for a quick bite of japanese food before having a drink at a british pub. That is Penang and the whole attraction of the place!

We arrived late at Mingood hotel and headed to the Red Garden hawker center, the Penang food scene is very hawker based. You find a table, remember the number & then walk round the various stalls & order your various dishes quoting your table number each time, then as the various colored plates arrive, you pay for each, the different colored plates representing each hawker stall so then know which plates are theirs. We settled on Japanese, but had the choice of any asian food really, but with most menus having the local names we went with the safer options, chicken katsu and salmon teriyaki.

Hotel Mingood is a nice hotel, only about a 2 or 3 star. Its old but very very clean and the room is massive! There is internet in the lobby and breakfast (corn flakes) on the roof. It is run by a very strict, grey haired, friendly lady.

We started sighseeing the next day but the heat really was unbearable so decided to hire a scooter to take us around Georgetown. Everything in Georgetown is fairly close but the scooter just helped a little, although the 1 way system proved hard to navigate & it was our first time on a scooter in an actual city which proved more hair raising than when on a laid back island!

Basically on 1 street in G'town you can visit an Anglican church, Catholic cathedral, Chinese temple, Hindu temple and 2 Muslim mosques, all within 1 km. Crazy stuff. The only mistake we made was doing this on a Friday afternoon which is when prayers all happen I believe, Jacqui being nosey as she is was kindly asked to leave the grounds of the one mosque as it was all men praying, no women and she wasn't exactly wearing traditional dress! Really don't know how they wear all those clothes in that heat.

To escape the heat we headed to their massive shopping centre, Prangin mall, which was rather huge but full of pretty random junk and nothing really worth buying unless you are into psychodelic girls clothing and other typically asian crazy things.

For dinner we went to the best known hawker center on the island on Gurney drive, again a massive selection of all types of food. We had some chicken satays, fried cuttlefish with chili and some local malay dish, can't remember the name but it was similiar to a pad thai. Also tried the local freshly made sugar cane juice- was very nice! The little kids seem to help their parents run the stalls so you end up getting served drinks by a cheeky 6 yr old boy who runs around saying "drink?, drink?.

Went to the Gurney plaza, another HUGE shopping centre, this time with proper shops, Guess, Adidas, Starbucks and suprisingly a Nandos. Jacqui as usual managed to find something to buy :) Tried filling our scooter up on the way back and put 5 ringgits in which is basically a pound, and we were on empty empty, next thing the tank is overflowing down the side of the bike. Those bikes have like a 2 litre tank or something stupid. Jacqui thought it was funny until she realised there may be petrol all over her new dress but luckily its packet protected it.

The following day my human GPS system went haywire & instead of a 5 min ride down the road to the museum, we ended up far out of town in the middle of nowhere on some highway. Being the humble male that I am....we stopped & asked for directions & were at the Penang museum in no time, albeit a little hot & sweaty but not too worry as the museum was fully air conditioned!

Penang has a pretty colorful history as it has been a Portuguese, Dutch & English colony as well as being the base of the East India company which we all learnt about in primary school history. Then there is how all the different cultures and nationalities have all collided there over time. Francis Light (British) requested Penang in about 1857 to become a trading post for the British from the Sultan, and then later it was declared it a british colony. He was basically responsible for developing the island and creating all the main infrastructure. Its crazy how the transition from a British colony to an independant Malaysian island was so smooth. I think we see a trend... All countries that were previously British are 'successful' but SA was part-dutch so is that were we went wrong?

After that we briefly visited an elegant mansion and a Chocolate Boutique before having a nap and heading out to the night market and hawker center in Batu Ferringhi, which we thought looked pretty close on the map so decided to scooter it. . .bad mistake. We had been going for about 25 mins when we came across a sign saying it was still 11km away, which is a lot in scooter kilometres! Then it got worse as the 2 lane roads became narrow single lanes winding through the mountains, reminding us of our fateful trip to Luang Prabang. We got there eventually unscathed but very nervous for the return leg in the dark.

The beach in BF was pretty dire, very much like Durban beach, tons of people, jetskis, 4 X 4's, horse riding etc. Am glad we decided to stay in G'town and not near the beach. We scurried off to the markets and bought a couple football shirts for peanuts and ate some good spring rolls from the famous spring roll lady and Jacqui had a vegetable noodle hot plate, I had a erm... Oh, chicken with cashews again.

The journey back was a little hair raising but in the end I drove like a granny in the yellow line (when there was one), held up the traffic and we got back in one piece.

We got up early'ish the next morning to get a taxi to the bus station for our 10am bus to Cameron Highlands. We departed over the connecting bridge to the mainland- pretty impressive!

So all in all Penang was thoroughly enjoyable on our scooter and we enjoyed learning about the interesting history of the area!

Vanilla Coke, Langkawi (Malaysia)

The island of Langkawi (the archipelago is 99 islands) is beautiful, it has long blonde beaches, lots of forest, duty free shopping and magical legends that explain its geography. As it is school holidays, total silly season, it is a complete mix of all eastern nationalities and religions- there are muslim woman with colourful headscarves and full length skirts and blouses, chinese ladies in mini skirts and tank tops, and hindu woman in saris with their red forehead dots.

It is quite a large island but we were staying in Cenang which is on the best stretch of beach and the main tourist area with all the restaurants etc. We were staying at the 5 star Meritus Pelangi Resort and after much deliberation when choosing a place for Langkawi, we were very happy indeed. They really did think of everything ( although made sure they charged for most extras!)

On the first night we headed to the highly recommended Orkid Ria restaurant which was rather pricey compared to what we had been paying in Thailand although a 5 star experience would only be complete with a 5 star meal...and it was. We had a dozen chicken satays to start, Jacqui had amazing indonesian style duck and after eyeing up the tiger prawns the whole trip I opted for 3 butter tiger prawns and boy were they worth it! They were absolute monsters, have never seen so much meat on a prawn (pronounced prown), they were deep fried and then cooked again with an egg yolk, flour and sugar mix sprinkled on the top, like little strands of it. I would highly recommend it! All in all it came to about 120 ringgits (£24)

The following day was put aside for sightseeing so we ambled through town in the stinking heat looking for a car to hire, but as it was school holidays...we ambled for awhile. Finally got a cute Kia Rio for about £12 a day. Was a sweet little car with all the fittings, most NB was aircon, and Langkawi FM blasting on the speakers. Now we were sorted. We headed up to the 7 Wells Waterfall which luckily had swimming pools at the top as we were dripping by the time we climbed the 700+ steep steps to the top. Was funny seeing all the muslim women in the full lengths climbing the stairs and jumping into the water fully clothed. At least I will still be slightly fit for football when we get back!

Then off to the cable car which was very similiar to the table mountain one. After a long wait we hopped into a cable car and started the 700m ascent after which I had to put my hands in ice as Jacqui crushed them the whole way up. The 3 yr old opposite us was less scared!

At the top there is a massive suspension bridge joining the 2 peaks, quite an impressive engineering feat but it does wobble a little when you walk across. Jacqui got about 3m down it and decided it was best from a photography point of view so she stayed on the solid bit and took pictures while I walked across. We got there just in time as they closed the bridge as we got off as there was a storm brewing. Reluctantly Jacqui got back on the cable car, closed her eyes and we headed down. When we got back to the hotel we jumped in the pool to cool down and Jacqui calmed her nerves with a strawberry milkshake...

Dinner time we ate at Rasa, I had barbequed fish with garlic & lemon and Jacqui had the ginger & mushroom beef, wasn't the best meal we have had, although we had banana fritters and ice cream for pudding which were very good.

Up early the next day for our half day tour which involved jumping into local speedboats and holding on for dear life as the driver sped across the Andaman at high speeds with little regard for, well anything. First stop was the Island of the Pregnant Maiden, there is a rather complicated legend about it but I won't bore you with the details. It is basically an island with a mssive lake in the middle. Quite pretty and worth seeing but with it being school holidays it was very busy and the weather was't particularly great either. After that we went to a small bay full of mangrove trees to watch the eagle feeding- was cool to seem them swooping down and picking up food from the water up close. After 10 mins there (it had now started raining) we headed to White Rice Island, again there is a story, but basically it was a beach...and you could swim....and it was raining....and we have just come from the paradise that are Thailands beaches so we kinda sat under a tree and looked at out photos and cleaned up the memory card. That was pretty much the tour, so not the best we have ever done.

With the bad weather we headed into Kuah town which is where all the duty free shops are and managed to find a few things but not that much. Altbough we did have the most amazing double cheesburger meal at McDonalds. . . maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it was amazing, and only £2 for a meal, bargain!

Back to our abode and a late dinner at a local place, Jacqui just had stir fried mix wegetables which were the best we have had, delicious! I had a green chicken curry but they brought me a veg one meant for a local and my mouth nearly exploded, it was SO SO SO hot! They definately tone them down for us tourists.

The next day was a lazy day, chilling round the pool, drinking tea and milkshakes and reading a book. It was our last full day not in a city sort of a place so though we should appreciate it. For dinner we ventured out to Wonderland Foodstore which was the number 1 rated restaurant in Langkawi on Tripadvisor.com. It was a bit of a drive but well worth it, I had butter prawns again and Jacqui had some local chicken dish, can't remember the name right now but it was good and well priced restaurant, all in all, 40 ringgits (£8).

The following day we piled into the all you can eat breakfast again, then rolled back to our rooms to check out before relaxing by the pool and J went for a reflexology foot massage. From what I understand, the guy was pretty good but tried to explain how each part of the foot corresponded to a part of her body but most was lost in translation. We returned the car and got a taxi to the jetty and did some more shopping there before we got on the 3 hour ferry to Penang.

Langkawi was fabulous- we loved it! It was so much fun exploring it in our li'l blue car and staying in a palace fit for royalty with the most scrumptious brekkie! Oh, and the vanilla coke!

WOWAWEEWA!!! Langkawi, Heaven in Malaysia

What more can a girl ask for? So it's my turn to report on the blog, and how appropriate. I thought it couldn't get any better than Ko Lipe, but now we are staying at a 5 star resort on Langkawi as my present.

We arrived at the resort and had the concierge take our bags to our palace - chalet 3205 over looking the Cascade pool and surrounded by a lake. The room is huge! We have a balcony, lounge area, tv, desk and work area. The bed is the size of some of the previous hotel rooms we have stayed in, it's about 3m x 3m! We have a huge walk in bathroom with mini bar, fridge, cupboards etc, there is then another door leading in to the shower and toilet area. The chalets are made from dark wood and resemble Malay houses built on stilts. The decor and wood engravings are exquisite. We have some sort of throw thing on the bed with a big gold metal pipe on either side: every evening they come and make the bed for you and give you more free toiletries, drinking water, fruit and a english newspaper! The staff are wonderful and have been trained very well.

At the moment I'm chilling under a bonsai tree on the lawn alongside the beach recovering (again!) from my very decadent and extravagent breakfast! We get brought tea and coffee before digging into the fruit- the most sweetest and juiciest papaya! Oh how I miss paw-paw! So many things in Malaysia remind us of SA. There is also watermelon, pineapple, melon and bananas. Then onto the dried fruit and nuts, cereals and wonderful selection of yoghurts. There is a smoothie man who makes anything you ask for, with any fruit you want. There is a great selection of breads and health breads with different jams and spreads. They have one of those large oven toasters which makes the toast just perfect! Then you have the eggs, anyway you want, just ask the chef. Fried, boiled, scrambled, omelette, sunny-side-up, mixed with onions and mushrooms, anything you want! The only bummer is no bacon... This is muslim country! So beef bacon and chicken sausages. Next onto the waffles and pancakes: scrumptious! Then onto the banana bread, danish pastries, croissants, doughnuts, scones with cream and jam, and muffins. I don't think that I'll be moving from this spot for a while! All I see is one horizontal stripe of sky, then green mountain, then blue still Andaman sea, then a huge strech of white sand full of shells, then the lawn, and then my toes at the end of my deck chair. And the cherry on the top, we have vanilla coke (OMG Luke is over the moon) and Top Deck (yes remember Top Deck!) waiting for us in our chalet! This place is just full of all things nice!

Bye-bye Ko Lipe

So, the rest of our stay on Lipe involved lying under our favorite pine tree, eating yummy food and watching movies and live footy at Pooh's bar. They show DVD's every night on a big screen, we watched a 100% legal copy of the new James Bond. . . and I stayed up till 2.30 watching Spurs v Man U while Jacqui had a head, neck, back and shoulder massage that was out of this world from Tonsai massage opposite Pooh's massage!

We had a few snorkels out to the edge of the reef in front of our bungalow, about 200m offshore, which at low tide is only about 0.5m deep. We tried to go out then but with all the coral, was not easy. There are plenty of fish right close to shore and get quite big, most of the coral is dead which is a pity but I guess with all the boats and the tide getting so low everyday + all the snorkellers it would never have stayed alive.

We had some great meals on Lipe & I know how Ted likes a good report on food! Hot hot hot penang curries at Thai Hut Resort, Chicken with ginger and oyster sauce, iced milo shake from The Banana Tree, cheap Pad Thai(£1), 200g of fresh barbequed prawns, a 300g mackeral steak, green curry, Ho Muk(steamed fish with yellow curry served in banana leaves), chicken with cashew nuts(a favorite), Massaman curry and amazing deep fried bananas and ice cream from Zanom!

It was with heavy hearts we bode farewell to Nun & Nick from Idyllic and jumped on a longtail to Pattaya beach to get the speedboat for 1200 baht to Langkawi which is in Malaysia so involved passport control at a beach hut/restaurant. It took about an hour to get there and apart from a brief rainshower which left everyone sopping wet, was uneventful. We always seem to get caught in heavy down pours out at sea!