You’re sat in the office on a dull afternoon reading this immensely interesting blog and quietly wondering to yourself, how can he afford all this? This round the world trip has been a long term plan of mine ever since uni when Jon and I said we would travel once we graduated. Well that didn’t happen due to money and the fact that I was enjoying Spain too much when Jon did set off. For this trip Espe and I had been saving for about a year, helped out by a pay rise (and an unexpected bonus a month before…
I explained previously how Sharks are the coolest animals on the planet, but I have to say, cuttlefish come close. I was fortunate enough to spend ten minutes or so studying one while snorkeling off the beach in front of our chalet, but even more amazing were the two large ones I saw while diving. The way they just “hover” about with their funky fins that ripple all around their body and the mass of tentacles doing their thing at the front is, in my eyes at least, impressive. Even more so is their ability to change colour to suit…
Tough one for May. The choice was between an abstract picture of some leaves in the rain forest or yet another sunrise. The sunrise wins as it looks better on the blog, but download the leaves for your Windoze backdrop so that you can admire its beauty instead of doing any work. Sunrise from Perhentian Kecil.
By their very nature they are humid places but nothing prepared me for what the worlds oldest rain forest had to offer. We left the clean, cheap and well organised Sri Emas hotel in Jerantut and took a three hour boat trip up the Terrangan River into the national park. Having found another superb, cheap and well run guest house (Tehan Guest House – I’m impressed with this part of Malaysia) we were ready for 4 days of jungle exploration. On day one we went for a simple 3.5km walk, yet the humidity was stifling and we found ourselves exhausted…
No, nothing to do with atoms but the cars. Malaysian in case you didn’t know (although if you didn’t you probably didn’t care either). Having crossed the border many differences from Thailand and the previous countries we’ve been to were obvious. Apart from the afore mentioned increase in visible wealth the level of English here is much better (colonialism to blame again I fear) and I’ve spotted many Malaysians reading books (something not at all obvious in the countries further north). Something that wasn’t immediately obvious though (probably as we were on a road less island), was the lack of…
Perhentian Islands, Malaysia; Tropical paradise or over priced tourist trap? The later was my first impression, yet that is not fair. Coming from Thailand we were not ready for the higher prices here (food, accommodation and internet) yet upon crossing the border Malaysia is evidently more affluent than their northern neighbours. The food is pricey but good (I soon found myself addicted to the Roti Canai – Indian style bread with curry sauce). The cheapest resort we could find was a steep walk away from the beach; mosquito infested with very basic huts and horrible shared bathrooms. Although there was…