I am now in Malaysia and it is the fifth county I have visited on this trip. Three more to go (Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines) meaning eight countries in total in 4.5 months. Leaving Thailand was sad as I do like it there, especially the food (fruit shakes, banana chocolate pancakes, green curry), and as I had been in Thailand for 26 days and had grown accustomed to it. My last blogged mentioned that I was in Krabi, Thailand where I stayed for 2 nights. I did a day climbing tour to Railay and it was awesome! With limestone cliffs jutting out of the ocean and the jungle and pretty beaches around, it’s no wonder it is a world class climbing destination. The climbing was really good, though I am not in climbing shape by any means and my muscles were super sore the next day. In the hostel in Krabi, I met a Canadian girl named Laura and her Germany friend Alex and joined with them in travelling to Koh Phi Phi. We had a really hard time finding reasonably priced accommodation on Phi Phi but did get a sweet deal on a snorkel boat tour around Phi Phi Don (the main island where everyone stays) and Phi Phi Ley (the marine park island with Maya Bay the beach from the movie “The Beach”). The snorkel tour was wicked in that we saw some nice islands, pretty beaches, and cool marine life. We even had the adventure of towing the second boat we were with as its engine broke, which resulted in our boat being low on fuel for the trip home later but we made it. Maya Bay is a really beautiful beach and definitely looks like it did in the movie. We looked all around for Leo DiCaprio but the only place we saw him was his superimposed large head on a small body for a boat tour add. The gals and I had a good time shopping and hanging on at the main beach on Phi Phi Don. We also went out one night to see the infamous fires shows put on at the bars on the beach. The lame thing was that Phi Phi closes at 1:20am on a Friday night. All the bars and clubs shut down and we all thought it was a party island. Guess we were wrong. Oh well, it was a good thing as we had to get up early to get ferry to the mainland, followed by a scary and crazy mini-bus to Hat Yai, and then another mini-bus to Georgetown on the island of Penang, Malaysia. The border crossing was no issue and the Malaysia boarder lady was super friendly, as are all the rest of the Malaysians I have met thus far. The gals and I wandered around historical Georgetown in the heat and ended up at the A/C mall as it was too hot to be out and the history of the place wasn’t that interesting to us. Georgetown is supposed to be food stall heaven but they all seemed to have the same food, well at least the food stalls we found. Maybe I will find more diversity in Kuala Lumpar. The gals had a tighter time line than I did so headed to the Cameron Highlands, while I went to the Perhentian Islands on the east coast. Little Perhentian Island also known as Kechil Island is beautiful with Long Beach being white sand with turquoise water. My bungalow had a decent view of the sea and I could hear the waves crashing on the beach as I went to sleep every night. I mostly just hung out at the beach and did my cycle of swimming, sun tanning and reading but I also did two dives one day. The first dive was to site a called Sugar Wreck and it was really cool to swim around a 90m overturned boat that had so much sea life around it. The second dive was to a coral reef and we saw 3 stingrays plus tons of fish and coral. They were both really fun and have made me really look forward to diving in Indonesia as it is supposed to be amazing there.
Climbing in Railay
Laura, Alex and I snorkeling at "The Beach"
Long Beach, Perhentian Islands
From the Perhentians, I took a bus to the Cameron Highlands which is famous for tea plantations and vegetable and fruit farms. I took a local bus to the turn off for the Boh Tea Plantation and walked the 3.5 km to the tea house but of course it started to rain about fifteen minutes into my walk so got soaked. Two others were caught in the rain with me and our just reward was pretty views of the tea fields as we sipped delicious tea and ate scones. So yummy! I will spend another day in the Cameron Highlands and then head to Kuala Lumpur to explore the city. Hope all is well with everyone. Much love from Malaysia xoxox
P.S.- I wrote most of this blog as I was sitting on the deck of my bungalow on the Perhentian Island, listening to the waves crash on the shore. It is a great place to type away on your computer and very relaxing.
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