The Venice Palace Hotel Narathiwat

... but at that time of evening and with no real competition in town there was very little bargaining to be done. It had free wifi and breakfast was included - tea and noodles, yum yum, but they didn't start serving till 7.30. Normally, we would set off before 6, but the clocks had gone forward, so we had an hour's grace, and we had paid for our breakfast so we were going to damn well eat it. Anyway, it was 'only' 75 kms to Kuala Bersut where we were to get the ferry to ...

After a long wait and a very uncomfortable sleep on a cold airport floor I boarded my AirAsia (Asia's version of easyJet) and flew to the north-eastern top of the island. Once I arrived at Kota Bharu I had to catch a taxi to the port of Kuala Besut, from Kuala Besut I had to catch a boat to the island I was staying at!

... towards the rave/full moon set (it was a quarter moon, any excuse for a **** up!). But i managed to find a reggaee bar that played a combo of two tone, ska reggaee and ambience, which gave out roll mats and bottles of vodka for around the price of a happy meal, combined with some ice and sprite i chatted to various people made plenty of friends and as the crowds started to dispurse and i considered whether to ...

... each evening, as it is the major attraction of Kota Bharu. Kota Bharu is known for being the most devoutly Muslim city in Malaysia. Malaysia has a very large Muslim population, but those on the east coast, particularly in the northeast are much more conservative than those in Kuala Lumpur or along the west coast. In Kota Bharu, at least 95% of the women I saw wore a head scarf. There were even a number of women walking ...

... our ferry to Perhentian Island. There were rows of trishaws waiting to be picked up outside the market and Argi directed me to one which is manned by a bespectacled old man. I know instantly why he chose the old man - it has always been his style to benefit the less fortunate and the most needy. Compared to the rest of the trishaw drivers, this old man looks more frail, thin and quiet ...

... by the jungle train. Checking into a nice hotel with wi-fi we soon discovered that Oliver's friend Eddy had moved apartments the weekend - meaning our free accommodation in Singapore was no longer available. Hmmm what to do now - (1) continue on down to Singapore and fork out the extortionate amounts they demand for accommodation (2) go check out KL (3) go down the coast and go ...

... a 24 JAM, as they are called here, and luckily they had the same one we had just broken. $13 AUD, in Rainbow Beach, 5 ringgit in Kota Bharu. We had run into the same problem in Mackay in Australia, and couldn't find one at midday on a Sunday. "This is a sleepy little town" everyone kept telling us. Well, apparantly SE Asia is a far more hip place then "sleepy Australia". Anyways, back off to bed we were, to wake early for the jungle.

... seen in south east Asia so far. Several stories high and a couple of buildings long, it comprises fruit, veg, meat and fish (all the usual stuff) clothes and more cakes than I've ever seen in my life. Makes a nice distraction for an hour or so, but you can't really fill two days of your time here, which i need to do. Luckily they have a cultural centre here which has been putting on free performances here for about 6 months, and there ...

... Kota Baru is a very Islamic place and this really hit home when we saw an advert that we'd seen before in other parts of Malaysia such as KL, the adverts feature different clebs and one of them is a Malaysian TV presenter. In the ad in KL she is wearing a dress, nothing really reavealing just a normal posh frock but in Kota Baru in the same ad, the same woman is wearing a red trenchcoat and a headscarf!

... se passe bien je retrouve des sensations un peu vieilles, mais ma buoyancy c'est no problemo. Par contre la visibilite c'est ****, car on ne voit pas a plus de 4 metres : eau trouble pleine de plancton. On voit des barracuda des puffer fish et j'en passe... Par contre je me suis fait un delire a propos de mon masque qui se remplissait d'eau lors du premier tour de l'epave. J'ai voulu le vider, mais au contraire je l'ai rempli. D'ou je ne voyais plus rien. J'ai attrape ma ...