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Malaysia
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Originally I had thought we would head straight to Bangkok to Singapore, but then we decided to check out what Malaysia had to offer first. Definately was a good decision as the weather is really good this time of year (not like monsoon everywhere else we will be going) and the people are lovely. Our first stop was to Pulau Tioman, supposedly one of the top 10 islands in the world, althought it was given this title in the 70s so we were a little aprehensive. Decided to stay in a place called Salang, which my rough guide described as "very developed with hotels all along the beach", however upon arriving its possibly the smallest beach place I've ever been with about 4 bars! Its a very beautiful island, pretty much completely covered in dense jungle and loads of monkeys and monitor lizards and large bats (argh!). Not so many western tourists either, mostly malaysians and singaporeans! Did some snorkling here and really enjoyed being on the beach after not seeing very much of the beach in south america! Randomly bumped into a guy who I knew from college, Shane O'Neill so thats two people I've met so far that I knew! After Tioman Island we headed to Melaka which was supposed to be a nice colonial town. The highlight here for me had to be the hostel we stayed in, run by a bunch of fruit cakes! Melaka is a nice town, but after being in so many towns and cities, they all start to look the same to me! We decided to skip Kuala Lumpur as the only thing I wanted to see there was the Petronas Towers and again, have seen a good few skyscrapers at this stage! So after a miserable 10 hour bus journey (with broken a/c for the most of it) we landed in the Cameron Highlands. Main reason for visiting here was to see the tea plantations and for the cooler weather. Its probably the only time in asia that I will put on a jumper and jeans in asia and still be cold. Was even able to get tea and scones with jam and cream so I was in my element! Also was really bold and had starbucks in cameron highlands, shame on me! Being a bit offput by a the previous bus journey that could have been done in three, I was dreading the next journey to the Perhentian Islands. However we were delighted to discover that there was a mini bus shuttle service directly instead of going by public transport which would have taken ages! Spent most of the bus journey debating whethere we would do a Padi open water scuba course or not. We had planned to do it in Ko Tao as its a popular place to doing but after talking to a few people they recommended to do it on Pulau Perhentian. So after much humming and hawing we ended up signing up for the course, doing it in three days and it was just myself and ferg with one instructor so we got plenty of attention. I was a bit nervous about doing it, but its great fun. We had to do six dives in three days to get certified so I was knackered after it. You have to do a bunch of skills, one of them being floating for 10 mins in the water which I just about managed to do! And we had to study as there was a written exam as well, never thought I'd have to study on my trip, but really it was pretty easy stuff!! There was quite the motely crew at the dive place but they were really friendly folk, two brits, an argentine, a spaniard and our guide Jimmy who was Indonesian. We got to see loads of fish and a really cute turtle which was my favourite thing! They have these things called cleaner shrimp which will pick off all the dead skin on your hands, a manicure of sorts. Before our last dive, we hadn't seen any sharks. Our guide made a sign with his hand which I thought was for some kind of fish, but then a reef shark just appeared, swam slowly by and disappeared off into the blue again. I got a bit of a fright so ended up inhaling a load of air and started floating up to the surface much to everyones amusement. Also learnt that laughing underwater is a bit dodgy, ended up swallowing water!! So after a day lazing on the beach ended up leaving Pulau Perhenthian with a Padi Open water certificate and some sunburn! Next stop is Thailand on the night train!
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