S.E. Asia

22nd October - 17th November 2000

Malaysia

	Kuala Lumpur
	Cameron Highlands
	Penang
	Tioman

Thailand

	Krabi
	Bangkok

Singapore

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	Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur
You should have seen my excitement as my flight left Heathrow! Yeess...I'm Outta Here!

Sultan Abdul Samad Building, K.L.	Before leaving for K.L., Malaysia, I took the easy option and got the airline to arrange a transfer and two nights hotel accommodation for me. I now know how easy it is to find a hostel on arrival, where you can stay for a whole month for the same cost as one night in a hotel! I didn't do much those first 2 days, just walked around and got my bearings, and lazed by the pool.	Petronas Twin Towers, K.L.
I returned to K.L. for a few days before flying home, and this time, got to visit the Petronas Twin Towers and the Sultan Abdul Samad building opposite Merdaka Square.

	Cameron Highlands

I took a local bus from K.L. to the Cameron Highlands (about 6 hours), and stayed at Father's Guest House, Tana Rata. It cost just 7 Ringitts (just over £1) for a bed and then toast and tea for breakfast! Definitely recommended - the staff were very hospitable too, a party at one of their homes, with fruit punch and Indian cuisine laid on!	Father's Guest House, Tana Rata, Cameron Highlands	I stayed for just 2 nights at Father's, as the local people were celebrating Deepavali (The Celebration of Light over Darkness), and everything was closed down for a long weekend, and moved on with my neighbouring room-mates to Penang.
	Father's Guest House, Tana Rata, Cameron Highlands
I have very vivid memories of the views of the tea plantations from the bus as we left the Cameron Highlands. I also have very vivid memories of the air-con on the bus breaking down, just as someone opened a durian (a nasty smelling fruit). Yuk!

Penang

Just 2 nights here in Penang, but another good hostel '75 Travellers Lodge' where I checked into a single 'cell'. Georgetown wasn't the most inspiring city I've ever visited, so Suze (from Australia) and I headed to Batu Ferringhi beach. More Malaysian hospitality, a local doctor and his family, who realised we had got lost before even leaving Georgetown, insisted on driving us to the beach.
Top of Page	Thailand
	Krabi
Five of us then left Malaysia and went north to Krabi, Thailand.

	Thailand has been my favourite country for years - and still is! I've never been to Krabi before, but will certainly be going back - it's stunning, and I love the people too. Again, I only stayed for 2 nights, this time at a kind of guest house. Even this cost less than £2 per night. I hardly ever wore shoes, and the beach was very nearby.
Vicky, Grace, Pip, Angela and myself in a bar in Krabi		Tham Phra Nang Beach, Krabi, Thailand

We stayed at Ao Nang beach, where I spent one afternoon alone on the beach, listening to 'The Beach' soundtrack. Perfect! The following afternoon, I took a long-tail boat to a Tham Phra Nang beach (above right). Unreal...

I left Krabi on the 4pm overnight bus to Bangkok (14 hours), and arrived at 6am on 1st November. I cheated in Bangkok, and as in K.L., had pre-booked a hotel. What lonely places hotels are! Still, for the first time in ages, I had my own bathroom and a television, so got up to date with the real world - the U.S. Presidential election nonsense, the Taiwan air crash and the floods in England.

The Bridge Over The River Kwai Tour, Thailand

This was my 3rd visit to Bangkok, and this time I actually got to take the 'Bridge over the River Kwai' tour.
The first stop was at the War Cemetery. Rows and rows of perfectly maintained graves. Someone was actually working on the graves at the time we were there.		JEATH museum: Japan, England, America & Australia, Thailand and Holland - exhibition of photos, paintings, guns, bombs, helmets etc., in a bamboo hut.

A long tail speedboat took us from the museum to the bridge, although walking across it felt a bit unsafe. An unexpected bonus was that our guide took us to the jungle to ride on an elephant. A 30 minute trek cost 300 Baht, about £5.00. It was great to feed bananas to the elephants as we trekked through the jungle, then into the River Kwai, before heading to catch a train along the infamous railway line.

	I got to spend a couple of evenings with friends Sally, Jean and Val (who were en route to Australia). Sal insisted on visiting the night markets in Bangkok's red-light district, Patpong, and just to add to the adventure, wanted to travel by tuk-tuk! We got out safely (of Patpong and the tuk-tuk)!
Baby Elephant		Sally, Sue, Jean and Val in Bangkok

The Beach Soundtrack... really sums up my mood in S E Asia. Track number 5, '8 Ball' goes: 'Today...I saw a man, using an empty whisky flask as a walkie talkie...This stuff...Makes me feel...Happy'. Well today, I saw something which made me feel happy: A guy in the back of a pickup truck, in the Bangkok traffic jam, sleeping in a hammock!


Top of Page	Singapore

Saturday arrived, and I needed to be in Southern Malaysia by Tuesday, so tried to book a bus or a train - but the only option available was a flight to Singapore on the Sunday. After 2 bottles of aeroplane wine and no lunch, I was in Singapore - and didn't know where to go! I managed to find some South Africans with backpacks and persuaded them to take me with them to their hostel - what a relief! I wasn't expecting much excitement in Singapore - this was my second visit, and I went everywhere I wanted to go on my first visit. So, I was very surprised when Sean, a lad that had been in Tana Rata, Penang and Krabi whilst I'd been in those places, turned up in the same hostel - very upset that he'd been 'thrown out' of Raffles earlier in the day! So guess where we ended up that evening. Paranoia set in when he was approached by a member of staff again - but he'd just forgotton to wait for his credit card - yes, a Singapore Sling was that expensive that you needed to pay by credit card! Leaving Singapore and getting to Tioman, Malaysia was to prove the most complicated journey so far. At the Singapore/Malaysia border, you had to keep leaving the bus with your baggage, seeing some officials, then waiting for the next bus - maybe 3 times. At Johor Bahru (JB), I had to get a very old local bus to Mersing, and then a ferry to Tioman. Guess what - I missed the last ferry and had to stay overnight at Mersing, along with 3 Singaporean lads also trying to reach Tioman.

Tioman
Finally made it to Pulau Tioman - just 1 day late...

They were expecting me at Berjaya Tioman Suites - a timeshare resort. A week of luxury after the hostels I'd stayed in before. I had 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, television etc. Trouble was that it was very lonely. There were a few Malaysian families around. They would often stop you and say 'Hello, where do you come from?', and you'd go on to make a conversation, then realise that that's the only English that they speak. It was approaching monsoon season too, so sitting on the beach was often out of the question! This is where I left and headed back to K.L...
		Tioman, Malaysia