Melting in Malaysia

Hello!

As you may have already worked out I am now in Malaysia. After I left Singapore I went to Melaka where I spent a couple of nights in a delightful little hostel. Melaka was teeny tiny but quite charming. Lots of colonial history and pretty churches etc and plenty museums to feed my enquiring mind. Some of the museums were better than others; I wasn't a big fan of the literature museum which pretty much just consisted of laminated text about various Malay authors and where they grew up. It was the start of Ramadan when I arrived, and where I was staying was right next to where they do the call to prayer in the morning and evening, so I had that to wake me up at around 5.30am each day. From Melaka I went on to Kuala Lumpur, where I met a Canadian girl on a shopping mission so I ended up getting an excellent insight into the workings of shopping malls in KL (they're pretty much exactly the same as anywhere Western except the food courts are better). Aside from shopping I also visited the Lake Gardens (nice), the Petronas towers (impressive from the outside, couldn't be bothered to queue up at 8.30am to get a ticket to go up to the top...), and just generally wandered round examining markets and mosques. Also had a fish spa nibbling experience which was exceedingly tickly but nice, and a lot cheaper than in London (I think I paid 2 pounds). Had a wild night out on my last night, which started off in the Sky Bar with views of the Petronas towers and then moved to somewhere cheaper where it was happy hour all night.

After that I moved on to the Cameron Highlands with Andy, an Australian guy I met in KL. Stayed in a dingy guest house with grumpy staff, visited tea plantations (very beautiful), and went on a rainforest trek led by a topless, handlebar moustache-wearing guide with scary tattoos and some kind of animal horns on the front of his 4x4. The trek was good - got to see the Rafflesia flower in bloom, and had a little dip in a waterfall, then stopped off in a slightly dodgy Indian restaurant on the way home. The town where we were staying was really dead in the evenings which was a bit dull, especially as I wasn't keen to get back to my guest house too early, but we found a nicer hostel with a bar where we met some English girls (these Brits get everywhere) and spent the night playing cards and drinking beer.

The next morning we got the mini bus to Kuala Besut, and then the ferry to the Perhentian islands. The 6 hour mini bus ride was fairly awful, on account of the bumpy winding roads, my head repeatedly banging against the metal bar on the window, and my recently acquired travel sickness, but I made it in one piece. We stayed on Long Beach on Kecil island which was postcard beautiful but not at all long, and where all the guests were backpackers around my age. I went snorkelling on day two (and burnt my back) and saw and fed some pleasing tropical fish, sharks (didn't feed those) and a giant turtle. Days were spent scorching myself on the beach and occasionally mustering up the strength to get some food or a drink, and evenings were spent at the monkey bar listening to the charming local band and drinking 'monkey juice' (some kind of unidentified spirit that's a bit like rum that all the locals love - very tasty). All the people I spoke to were delightful, including Ladin (I can only guess at the spelling), a local boy who taught me his dance moves at the beach bar, and a group of Irish guys who were all very amusing. I could quite easily have stayed there for longer, if it wasn't for the flight from Borneo to Bangkok which is already booked, so I made my way back to KL today and am flying to Kuching tomorrow. The bus journey was 9 hours, but the long distance buses are much nicer than any we have in England so it was peachy. It would have been peachier if we could have bought some food on the way, but since it is Ramadan nowhere was selling anything to eat or drink.

Having a great time but I must have word from my cherished ones. Send me your tales from home and tell me things about the rioting! Absurd!

Lots of love! xxxx