After arriving from K.K, here I was setting foot in my fourth country of the trip. I was so excited to see what It was like here in Singapore. I followed the very accurate directions to Little Red Dot hostel just a bit out of town, via a metro and a short stroll. When I checked in, the staff were super upbeat and friendly which made a nice change from K.K. I felt great energy here and that carried on when I met Chris from the UK. I was shown to the amazing dorm room which had 'capsules' to sleep in, similar to Reggae Mansion, which meant u had a lot of privacy, your own light, curtain and plug sockets. To my surprise, the staff member, Desmond told me I would not get a 'capsule' but instead got the very top space, pretty much the loft area which was huge. It was awesome! Not long after,Chris and I started chatting that evening about our previous travels and after telling him about the food night safari tour thing the hostel had going, he agreed to come along. It wasn't long before a group of us solo travellers had gathered to head out on the town to explore all the cuisine that Singapore had to offer. There we were, new friends Chris, Brett, Gemma, Lauren and Me, along with our driver and our upbeat guide Desmond. We hopped into the swanky air conned mini bus which took us around the city, while Desmond pointed out the great food stalls and the odd numbered Lobongs or lanes, where the infamous brothels were to be found. We had such a laugh on the trip and we all got along so well that I was so happy I had opted to go on this trip. The best thing about it was it was free. We stopped off at the first street stall where we ate a mix of vegetarian tofu dishes and tried out some stingray. Being vegetarian I really didn't want to but at the same time I would regret not trying these things when I am older so I went for it. 
We walked around town and checked out some of the unusual fruits at the very brightly lit and colourful stalls. Having been told about the oh so smelly Durian fruit, I opted to try some but after a few minutes of realizing how insanely gross it was, it only left Desmond with a big bag of the squishy uneaten fruit. The only way to describe it was like squishy onion mashed potatoes, and don't get me wrong I love potatoes, I'm Irish sure, but this was a no go! Never again! 
Afterwards we were brought down to the harbourside area of Glutten Bay were we saw lines of food stalls, selling all kinds of Singaporean food. Here we got more food, and sat by the beautiful night skyline. I couldnt believe how beautiful It was at night and I could not wait to explore the next day! The following day I had considered doing a full day trip on the city sightseeing buses which was super expensive but worth it i thought. That was until I spoke with Brett and the receptionist and it dawned on me that exploring a city by yourself is always much better. So I did! 
That day I started in Little India where I stopped off for a Masala Chai (Addict) in a local indian store, before carrying on to many of the city malls and to Bugis Street where the Asian markets sell super cheap clothes, gifts and crafts. I spent most of the day shopping and purchasing crazy cheap clothes at the markets and in high street stores that by the time I got to the Singapore Flyer, I had a dozen bags hanging off my arms. I paid $30 for the Singapore flyer which is higher than the London Eye and gave great views over the city during the 30 minute 'flight'. I coudlnt help but think It would be better at night time but nevertheless, the scenery was great! Afterwards I went to The Marina Bay Sands Hotel for a gander and then carried on via metro (my legs were killing me) to Chinatown for more shopping and some street food. I ended the day by taking a metro back to Lavender station towards my hostel and that evening we had a lovely group dinner together. It had started out quite funny because we pretty much ordered drinks in a posh Indian restaurant where we had imagined it would be cheap, and after ordering, we straight away asked for the bill to the disgust of the waiter, without ordering any food. He laughed in our faces as he picked up the bill full of coins, from an obvious group of backpackers, and we gathered ourselves and set off to find somewhere cheaper, which we did!
After our meal in a local restaraunt, we bough some beer and headed back to the common area of the hostel for a chat and some drinks before we one by one set off to bed. Gemma asked me to wake her up to say goodbye and swap email addresses which I did the next morning and kindly asked her to pass it on to Chris who was going to Bali the same time as me. I had recommended Bedbunkers to him and said I would see him there. Singapore had been great to me, It was short but sweet but I made some lovely friends and had some unforgettable experiences. And of course I came away with a backpack full of new clothes! 

Luxury for a traveller x

So to update you on where I have been since Kuching, I will start with Miri where I turned up after 12hours on a bus which wasn’t so bad at all. I stayed at Coco House which, when I turned up and got my bearings, realized was not so close to town after all. After checking in to my huge empty dorm, and asking for directions and a map, my first day was spent at Taman Selera beach which I got to via a local bus. I took the bus from the local station which took me a few minutes to get to and to my surprise; I was dropped off at the side of the road and told that the building site across the road was the beach. I made my way through the rubble and what looked like a local neighbourhood, to the beautiful beach which was amazing, given that I tried to forget what was behind me. I stayed there for a few hours and then decided to take the long walk back into town, taking in a few temples and the local handicraft centre and the main streets which weren’t too impressive. The next day I had planned to go to the Niah Caves which were an hour or so away from Miri. I was picked up at 8am, just after the free breakfast and was surprised to find myself, the only western traveller on the tour. Everyone seemed so nice, but considering I didn’t speak Malaysian, I didn’t get the opportunity to mingle as much as I would have liked. That was until, the group separated and I was touring the incredible caves with three lovely Asian girls and our guide who I had a great time with. We giggled and screamed as we walked through the scary pitch blackness of the huge caves and spotted enormous spiders on the hand railings. We walked for hours and hours through the different parts of the caves, the jungle and met other tourists along the way. They took turns taking pictures with me which was cute, and made me laugh when two guys walked by, saying to me, ‘they’re cute boys no?, get their number yeah’? After a long day, our guide Danny took us to a local restaurant for our free meal while the other half of the group stayed to tour the caves. The Niah Caves were incredible and I was so glad I did it considering it was a bit over budget, but very highly recommended. I had been to many caves before including the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur and Halong Bay, Vietnam, but the Niah Caves had that special something, and with a quaint setting in the beautiful Borneo jungle, they are hard to pass up.

My time in Miri eventually came to an end and I decided to make my way to Brunei, another country to tick off my list. I took the early 8am bus straight to Bandar, the capital, which was a super smooth journey, consisting of two very quick and easy immigration stop offs. When I arrived in Brunei, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. I checked into K.H Soon Guesthouse which my friend Willem was staying at, and turned out to be the cheapest at $18 per night. I spent the day walking around Bandar with my very helpful, borrowed, guide book, and took myself to some of the most beautiful sights including the Mosque which is situated right in the city centre. When I say city, It is the smallest and most compact city I have ever been to which made it very easy to get around and see in one day. With luck continuously on side during this whole journey, I found myself chatting with a local woman from Brunei who had a small business with her husband, taking people on trips down the river to see the Kampong Ayer floating village, the proboscis monkeys and the other exceptional wildlife on offer so close to civilization. I agreed to go with Wann and her husband Mark for a two hour trip, one hour by myself, before we would pick up some others to take the wildlife section of the tour further downstream. It was a scorching day and I was very excited to spend it with locals on the river. The first hour was great, touring the Kampong Ayer village aka The Venice of Brunei, the Kampong Ayer museum and meeting many of Wann’s family members who were extremely friendly and welcoming -typical for Brunei communities I was told. I felt in great hands as we chatted and mingled with her family and when we returned to the boat, we travelled downstream to pick up a lovely couple who joined us for the rest of the wildlife trip, where we saw lots of proboscis monkeys, crocodiles, monitor lizards and many other animals. The sun was beaming down on us as we laughed and chatted together about our travelling experiences. We were so happy to have found this great tour and It was one of the biggest highlights of Brunei for me, by far. That evening, I made my way to the city centre again to check out the really nice night markets. I walked around in awe, as I watched families gathering to play sports and eat street food together in the cities open park with the magical backdrop of the beautiful Mosque. Tourists and locals walked around the markets sampling the street food while some sat and chilled in the park or by monuments near the Mosque. I sampled some street food before randomly spotting Willem from across the street in the local coffee shop. We chatted for a few hours there before heading back to our guest house and planned to leave to Kota Kinabulu the next morning via an 8hour bus journey. The next day, we set off at 7am and after 8 stamps and 4 border crossings we arrived in K.K as it’s locally known as. When I arrived in K.K, I said goodbye to Willem who was staying at a different hostel. When I took my taxi to Borneo Global Backpackers, I was a bit confused as to why wer drove so far out of town, and into a sort of industrial estate. Not what I had imagined! When i checked in, the guy was not able to help me when I asked about tours to Mount Kinabulu or The Tip of Borneo, which made no sense considering they doubled as a tour agency too. 
It wasnt long before I met Anna, a german girl from my dorm who seemed to have a lot in common with me.We chatted for a while and decided to take the 20 minute walk to the bus station the next morning together, where I would go to the tip of Borneo by local bus and she would go to Mount Kinabulu. The next morning, having been woken up by the torrential rain outside, Anna and I looked out and realized that today may not be the right day to go. Disappointed, as it was my only day In K.K, i decided not to dwell on it and would opt to wait it out and instead check out the city. Later on when the rain eased, we walked into town, where we went our separate ways, a short but sweet new friendship which I had learned a lot from. I had given her tips on yoga and studying her Teacher training in India while she advised me on places to go in Bali. It was great! The day was spent walking around the city which didn't impress me much, before ducking into a coffee shop out of the heavy rain. Fed up, I took a taxi all the way back to the hostel where I stayed for the evening and looked forward to getting to Singapore the next day. K.K was not what i expected but had it been nice weather, and had I been prepared for a mountain climb on this trip I think it would have made it better. As Anna said, people think when they travel that they have to do everything but they don't realize that they can always come back and do the things they've missed, if you really want to, you will. This gave me the closure I needed for Borneo and I was sure I would see Mount Kinabulu and The tip of Borneo one day.

 It was onwards and upwards and next on my list was Singapore! 

My first few days in Borneo where great. I had mixed feelings to begin with, missing my travel pals, but at the same time, excited to experience something new. I spent an hour or so chatting to a group of girls in the kitchen over boiled eggs, toast and tea. We all agreed that Beds hostel was heaven on earth, providing us with unlimited eggs, and knowing me I was loving it. They had been telling me about their time in Borneo and where they planned to go next which gave me some ideas, considering I had arrived in Kuching with not a notion of where I actually was in the world. I quickly opened google maps and found myself, right there smack bang in Kuching, Borneo. I had no plans for a route and didn't have time to spend more than a week here so i thought I should get a move on with some ideas. They planned to go out sightseeing but after a previously heavy night, they opted for movies and junk food, which sounded appealing to me. Nevertheless I scrambled to get myself together and planned to get out and spend my day enjoying Borneo.


The best thing about the hostel was the friendliness of the staff. They gave me a lot of great tips and advice on what to do in Kuching and also gave me my own private room for the same price as a dorm, seen as their guests had extended their stay. I could see why! I took a map with me and headed out to explore the city. I walked towards the waterfront and admired the view of the small dainty river boats and the beautiful architecture of the government buildings across the way. 

I kept walking the promenade until I came across one of the many shopping malls, called Riverside mall. I headed in for a look around which only teases me because my bag is full as it is, but whatever. I went in! It wasn't long before I came across a hair salon which turned out to be around €6 for a hair cut. I opted in, In dire need of one and I thanked my lucky stars I hadn't caved in India, and gone to the pop up barber near the ashram. I had a quirky junior stylist who washed my hair without bringing me to the sink, which was pretty cool. He scrubbed, washed and massaged to his hearts content before taking me to wash it out. The shampoo and conditioner smelled luscious. He cut my hair exactly how I had asked him and styled it perfectly, leaving me still haggered looking but with beautiful voluminous locks. I tipped him, and headed on my way to the city. I could see an 'India Street' on the map, and so I headed that way. The street as it turned out, had not one single Indian person, nor textile but was apparently named so because of past settlers. The street was lined with market stalls and knock of phone shops which suited me. I hadn't planned to buy a phone and it was just 'out of curiosity' as my mam's catchphrase would go, that I decided to inquire about one. With crazy prices for a 'real' one and cheap prices  for the fake, useless ones, i thought id give it a miss. I set off instead to the textile museum, which i caught the last 15 minutes of, by chance. It was very interesting and reminded me of the textile museum in Sucre, Bolivia which I had liked. I made my way back through the city and stopped off at a roadside cafe where I ordered some yummy Fried Mee Hoon (Thanks Sarah), because when in doubt just order that. It was lovely! My Paneer Butter Masala addiction in India was now being replaced by this yummy veggie noodle dish and i had no complaints. 

My second day in Kuching saw me take the same route towards India street and this time, actually make a purchase. I had stopped off at The Chinese History Museum which was very interesting and then carried on. I got chatting to two young stall merchants and an older man who had great English. It seemed easier to buy a technological item from someone you could mutually understand, who knew? We chatted for ages and the older man I later came to know as Musa, gave me some great tips on travelling Sarawak, Borneo. I ended up buying a Samsung Galaxy S4 with screen covers and a phone cover for €65 which to me seemed fake, but i didn't care. A phone was a phone and until I could get another I phone, this would do! They set it up, registered my sim card for me and Musa even walked me over to my bus stop where I had planned to go to Semmongoh to see the Orangutans. Little did I know, he just heard Orangutans, and sent me off on the wrong bus, to my dismay. It wasn't until I got to Bako National Park an hour later that I embarrassed myself asking about the orangutans feeding times. When i realized where I was, It was too late, and too expensive to take part in any national park boat rides, or activities. I had wasted my time. Well, when i figured this out, and decided to go back to Kuching, I turned around and the bus had left, with not another one in sight for an hour. My patience was up. I would never make it back on time to go to Semmongoh. I just wanted to sleep! 

When the next bus took me back, I pushed the button when I suddenly saw my hostel and rushed off the bus as fast as i could. I headed into a local Chinese eatery where, yes, I got very much stared at for asking if they had a menu. Nevertheless, the lovely woman made me some spicy veggie noodles which were just what I needed before settling down in bed to watch The Great Gatsby. The beds were amazing in Beds, and It suddenly made sense... 'Ding'! My last day In Kuching, saw me sat for two hours on my computer trying to come up with a plan, while eating eggs and toast, obviously. I finally came to a decision to take the bus to Miri which would be 14hrs, not so bad considering my record is 36hrs or something. It would save me accommodation too which was a bonus for us travellers. I booked it for 9pm with Mr Chong, via the lovely hostel lady, who told me he would pick me up at 7:30pm. Hmm ok then! I headed off for my last chance to see the Orangutans at Semmongoh, not before stopping off with Musa to purchase a memory card for my phone, at a discounted rate of course.I pretended I had wanted to go to Semmongoh today as if yesterday I had actually wanted to go to Bako, luckily he didn't ask how it was. After thanking him for all his help and chats, I took some directions and found the K6 to take me to the right place. I had noticed that everyone was very friendly here, they all said hello in the street and smiled as they passed by and if you needed any help, everyone was there for you. I loved places like this. When I got to Semmongoh, we all walked for 1.3km before reaching the sanctuary. As i approached the crowds, I noticed them looking up at the rare sighting of a grandmother and baby orangutan outside of their feeding times. We watched for ages, while taking pictures of them swinging around and eating bananas, typical! When we went to the feeding area at 3pm, there was only one cheeky orangutan there eating all the bananas and grabbing coconuts to smash off the trees. He was entertaining enough. After taking the last bus back, I walked back through the city, taking in the sight of the beautiful Indian Mosque, and then made my way back to my street where I had a beautiful dinner of.. guess what... Fried Mee Hoon, in The Hong Kong Noodle House. Afterwards I headed back to Beds, where I waited for Mr Chong who arrived at 8pm, due to his dinner time. When he greeted me, I couldn't help but think of Mr Chow in the Hangover. He spoke very fast, broken English but expected me to know what he meant. As I got into his brand spanking new, gleaming white, Mercedes Benz, I began to think of human trafficking. There had been many situations in my travel life where I have had this thought, but after seeing 'Taken', you just never know. I figured the lovely lady wouldn't be in on it, so I trusted that he was taking me to a bus. As I sat in the front seat of the air conditioned car, which smelled like new leather and floral, I tried to respond to Chong's questions, blissfully unaware of a single word. At one point he asked if i was married and if he could come to Ireland, which we both laughed at, me being the one awkwardly laughing. As we got to the terminal, he pulled up and walked me to the counter and at this point it seemed like I had entered into an Indian style deja vu situation. As I walked around the terminal, every face turned to look at me as if i was something out of the ordinary. Promoters popped out of the wood work asking where I was going, slowly moving on to the usual 'Where are you from' 'Are you married' questions to which I laughed at. I couldn't believe it. It was Malaysia, what could possibly have changed from the outside world to inside this terminal. As I walked to the supermarket, everyone came after me asking if i was ok, if i knew where i was going and that i needed to be back for 9pm. When i came back to take a seat, all prospective passengers turned to stare at me, so I put my earphones in and blared some crazy tunes to keep me occupied. On board the bus at 9pm, we got comfortable, and as the bus pulled away, there of course, was Mr Chong, hysterically waving up to me. I couldn't help but wave and consequently burst into laughter, considering this was just a long line of weird situations I have been apart of. I set off on the 14hr journey to Miri and I was very much looking forward to chilling out, watching movies and pigging out on donuts, crisps and cookies. Bye Bye Kuching, It was an entertaining few days!  

Sitting here, completely exhausted, feeling wired in KLIA, a familiar place at this stage, I think of the relief I am feeling to be in this place right now. Having left from the Perhentian Islands at 8:30am yesterday, I am now sitting in the departure lounge only 22 hours later. Where do I  start? Maybe I will start at the beginning when Perhentian life was easy and my only thoughts were deciding which part of the beach to lie on. Our first day on the Island was tiresome don’t get me wrong, we were all googly eyed as we arrived just of the taxi boat which, at this early hour was not something we wanted to deal with. With lack of sleep, I started a fight with the taxi boat guy who demanded 2RM for taking us two metres from our ferry closer in to the beach. As we hopped out of the boat, into the sea, we struggled to grab our bags and wade through the water onto the mainland, with no help from him. Pissed off I ignored his plea for money and set off down the beach. When he demanded it, I gave him ten which he threw back at me and then continued to make comments from a distance as we walked back and forth checking hostels. ‘Oh you can’t afford 2RM he kept saying’, but it was the moral of the situation, you know! The morning kept getting stranger, having enquired about rooms with a very rude guy at Panorama and subsequently an even weirder guy at sunrise- which looked like a crack den at first glance. We then checked out a room in Oh La La which we decided against, and just before we were ready to give up and face plant the sand, we found what we thought was a good deal at Matahari guest house. Julian, Sarah and I would share a room for 100RM which considering the prices everywhere else was good, well that was until we heard about prospective 15RM dorms around the island, but oh well you live you learn!  

We left our stuff in the room, showered the sweat and tiredness away under a cold shower before heading to the beach. My plan was to stay 3 nights and then I would go to the Cameron Highlands before going to KL. Sarah and Julian would stay 5nights. Our first few days were very relaxed and chilled and Julian even started his PADI training while Sarah and I lay on the beach and concentrated on our tans. Each night, there was a fire dancing show at Beach Bar which played catchy dance tunes and provided amazing entertainment. It seemed as the nights went on and the more local we became, that this place was drawing more and more crowds in. Our first day we ate at one of the locak beach cafes which was where we saw Michel from Germany. It wasn’t until the fireshow that night, that we invited him over and got chatting with him. Julian had invited him to join his PADI training which he agreed he wanted to do. The next few days were great, we were living the island beach life, we had been hanging around with Michel and Julian was loving his PADI course. At first it was a bit frustrating having no electricity at certain times of the day but with time, we became accustomed to knowing when we could use the wifi and charge our electronics, and with only one plug between us, it somehow seemed to work.

A few days later we bumped into Diego once again who was staying at Moonlight guesthouse  and he mentioned that Dave and Willem had arrived. That evening we met them at the fire show where they introduced us to a group of their new friends. We chatted for a the rest of the night until Sarah and I headed to bed. I said my goodbyes as I had booked my ticket to the Cameron Highlands to leave the next morning. After a short chat with the guys about how much better it would be to stay on the island and how boring the highlands would be, It dawned on me that I was leaving just as my friends arrived, and I didn’t want to. Subsequently, I told Julian and Sarah I was not going, and instead forfeited my bus ticket, my hostels deposit and in turn opted to stay 2 more nights with them in Matahari, which ended up working out for us all! The next night, we all arranged to walk the jungle pathway to Coral beach to have dinner together. When we got there, we joined the table of over 10 people at Mama’s restaurant on the beach. It was here that we met Michael from Switzerland, two of Julian’s friends from home and a few others who were sat at the opposite end of the table. It was always great meeting new people and I loved moments like this, chatting about travel stories, future plans and pretty much anything ‘random’. Afterwards, guess what we did… We went to the fire show again. It was hard not to go when there was always so many people there and the music was so great but we still laughed about how many nights we had actually been here. This would be our 4th. The show, for me, never got old and I could have sat and watch the skilled dancers all day if I could, It was awesome, literally! I decided to have a few beers, considering I hadn’t drank the night before with everyone, I thought sure why not! One by one, we would casually walk to the cheap beer vendor alongside the beach bar and save ourselves a few RM. As the evening went on, the group got smaller, some people tired from the previous night and some opting to get up early for their PADI. I on the other hand, was the last one standing, with Toby and Michael. We drank more beer and eventually moved on to Toby’s Lychee liqueur which was a bad idea. We stayed there till what I had thought was around 2am but later found out it was well after 4am, before heading off to bed before the sun came up. Even at that hour, the music still blared from the beach bar and they continued to practice their fire dancing on stage which was cool! Michael and I had arranged to meet for breakfast at Panorama the next morning which deep down I knew wasn’t going to happen, nevertheless I agreed and set my alarm in the hopes of getting myself up. From what Julian told me, and told Michael, it seemed that my alarm did in fact go off but that I quickly turned it off and headed back asleep. I felt bad but knew I couldn’t get up just yet.

Later on after some stints of sunbathing and time washing away my hangover shame in the cold sea, we arranged to have dinner that night at Panorama, as a sort of farewell for everyone. I had gone to my yoga class at 6pm on the beach, not the best idea hungover, but I felt like I needed to, and afterwards I got ready for our last night. I had been attending the yoga since I heard about it the day before, from an Argentinian girl who had seen me doing yoga on the beach. I joined the beach class and met Neils and his wife from Germany, both of whom coincidentally live in Rishikesh with their  children. I told them about my training and I found out that the Argentinian girl had studied her Yoga TT in Rishikesh also. It was so nice to be around people who loved yoga as much as me and even though I had been doing it myself every morning, it was nice to have some guidance today. Half of the group ate at Coral beach and half of us at at Panorama, including a girl Sarah had met in Spain a year prior. It was weird that these reunions kept happening and I couldn’t help but think of the coincidence of meeting Andy, a guy I had met in Goa, again here on this island. It was so weird!

After dinner, we of course went to our last fire show, and I had of course apologised to Michael for standing him up. He joked about having flowers and candles set up and told me about all the effort he had put in… At least I think it was a joke! Ha! During the night as we all chatted and mingled with many new people, we thought it would be funny to pretend that we were on our honeymoon here on the islands together. It was all in aid of joking with a group of French guys who had joined us, but with more and more questions about how we met, the wedding and all of that, it became a bit more serious. Ooops! We couldn’t let them down now eh! Gradually everyone went their separate ways at different times, some to sopt glowing plankton in the sea, some to mingle with others and some to take over the dancefloor. It was a great night! That was until I realised at one point that my bag was gone, I had obviously left it down somewhere and with drink in my system, forgotten where I had put it. I could have screamed, but with yoga training, I kept my cool, kept calm and looked on the positive side. My phone was gone, my precious phone but my passport was safe at home which was my number 1 priority. My driving license was gone too but sure, I hated it anyway It was an excuse to get a new modern one. None of my cards were gone literally just some change, and an inhaler, which I had lots of anyway! My poor phone though! We searched the beach with Michael's flashlight but there was nothing. A few young boys also helped, but I couldn’t tell if this was another Sihanookville incident and they were actually in on it. Sure what could I do now!

I headed to bed with an hour or so to spare before it was time to get up and get our 8am ferry! When the alarm went off, I hopped up with a banging head, got my bag ready and headed to the beach for one last look before I had to leave. With no luck, I asked at the beach bar, where the fire dancers took my email address just in case it turned up, they also offered me a morning beer, in island life style, but I declined, I had enough beer in me. After I headed back, we grabbed our bags, checked out and the four of us including Mike headed to our boats. He left before us, while our boat didn’t actually leave until 8:45/9am and Julian had a bus to catch at 10am. We waited on the beach, took another search stroll but nothing. The boat came and just as I was about to get on, I saw Michael, who came over to say goodbye. He told me he would let me know if it turned up, but I had little faith that it would. It was sad to say goodbye, and now after arriving in Borneo 24 hours later, I am regretting not staying and saving myself all this hassle. The trip to Borneo pretty much has to be the most challenging trip I’ve had on this journey so far. Where do I begin?

The three of us swayed side to side, as we sped along the sea in this speed boat that seemd to be a toy for the teenage drivers. Hungover as hell and exhausted, I just wanted to get there, book my ticket, arrive in K.L and take my flight, but no, no way was that going to happen. When we arrived just at 10am, Julian said goodbye and ran to catch his bus to Taman Nagara, while sarah and I headed to the bus station to find a way for me to get to KL and her to Bangkok. We were told that because of a national Malaysian holiday, the bus to KL was full at 9am and for the one at 8:30pm. I knew I wouldn’t make my flight if I left that late, plus id booked my accommodation at Reggae Mansion for that night. When the time came, and after much deliberation and decision making, Sarah and I sadly parted ways, which left me with a hole in my stomach. I was alone again! I hated these moment, and I knew I would miss all my new friends a lot! She hopped in a cab to the Thai border while a lovely tour operator gave me another option. I could get a taxi to another bus station and take a 5/6hr bus to Kuantan and while there I could take a bus to Kuala Lumpur which goes every hour. Great I thought! I took the 25RM cab to the station and then booked a 35RM bus to Kuantan which I was told would leave at 11:30am not at 1pm like I had been told so this was a start. I walked around looking for an ATM but couldnt find one so instead I used my last bit of money to buy some food and water. When my bus came, another lovely tour lady pointed it out to me. The bus journey took almost 7hours and arrived in Kuantan at 6:30pm. When I got out, I went straight to the bus tickets counters and was told that all buses were full apart from one or two that had space at 10:30pm. There was no way I was making it to Reggae Mansion so it dawned on me to take the 10:30pm bus and just go straight to the airport. I would be exhausted but I had no choice. By sheer luck I found a shower for 1RM, so I killed an hour under the cold fresh water and pampered myself to pass the time.

When I was finally ready, I went and stacked up on some roasted chickpeas, veggie snacks and dried pineapple, you would never guess I’m a veggie eh! The next bus ride, due to leave at 10:30pm didn’t in fact leave until 45 minutes after which frustrated me. When on board, I had the most ridiculous seat at the back which didn’t recline or fold out beneath. I constantly kept falling from side to side banging my head and occasionally used my bag as a pillow which was even worse. There were numerous stops in KL, so I waited until the end, where I was told that a taxi was the only way to the airport from there and would cost 100RM. It was no use thinking about the train or the bus considering the time of day it was. I didn’t want to take a taxi of course, but what could I do, stay in KL and have to book another flight if I still wanted to go to Kuching. No, I decided to get away from the annoying, creepy man and luckily I did because a lovely old Chinese lady pulled up and told me to get in that she could take me for 80RM. We had a nice chat as we drove the hour journey, and she told me about the dangers of getting taxi’s in Malaysia because apparently anyone, no matter what background you have, can be a taxi driver which is pretty scary. I couldn’t help but think of the consequences of getting into the other taxi, but I guess my gut was right and I ended up in safe hands with this sweet lady. I drifted in and out of sleep as she talked about random things, but I was so tired that I couldn’t stay awake. I woke up just as we arrived and I waved her off, thanking her for her help. My flight to Kuching was due to leave around 7:25am but I was nervous checking in with no boarding pass, after my Goa experience and this time I had phone to show an email. Luckily the woman had no qualms about it and issued me my ticket. And this is where it gets me to, starting my Perhentian blog. Currently I have arrived at Beds Hostel in Kuching, Borneo and am still pretty wired. I have already met some cool people who I will go sightseeing with today, so who knows what Borneo will bring for me.

Hopefully all good things!

 

 


 

The next morning, I got up super early in the hopes of having a huge breakfast again, digesting it and having one more before my flight. My flight was at 11.25am and so I decided to take Callan's plan and head to the airport via metro and aero bus. As I said goodbye to the staff and headed off towards the station I couldn't help but think about how I enjoyed  my short time in K.L. I bought my ticket and headed K.L Central where I would then take the bus from downstairs. I had left myself some time to get to the airport and I had no doubts about anything going wrong, that was until, an hour later when I got off the bus, I realized I was at the wrong airport. After asking a staff member for the check in info, he told me I needed to go to KLIA and apparently I was in the low cost airlines airport, He told me to take a taxi for 40RM which was not going to happen, so I opted for the airliner bus. Frustrated and having been told that it would arrive in twenty minutes I couldn’t help but worry that I may not make my flight. I didn't know how long the bus would take and I didn’t know If they would let me check in, if I arrived so late. Nevertheless I powered through, thought positively and with this mind set in process, the bus came , eventually left and somehow arrived at KLIA on time for me to check in, get to my gate and take a minute to breath. Boy was this a relief. During this situation, I couldn't help but think that my Langkawi dream of tropical beaches, mocktails and sun may be blown away but at this moment it came right back on track. It was a great feeling. On board Malindo Air, the cheapest airline ever I imagined, we got great service, plenty of movies and even a snack. The sweet life!

When we arrived at Langkawi airport, I was greeted by  a gust of warm breeze and the glare of the hot sun on the sky as If being welcomed to the Island. I was so excited to find a nice retreat and set up my humble abode for the next few days. I took a taxi to Pantai Cenang and decided to check out a few guest houses along Beach Road before asking for Gecko guesthouse. Another great tip from the lovely Susie. I checked into an 18RM dorm which was super cheap (not as cheap as India but cheap in general). I was greeted by a lovely lady who showed me to my room and within the space of 5 minutes I had got my bed, met Julian, Dave, Sebastian, Sarah, Nikos, Diego, Korey, Mark and Jacob and was already heading out for lunch with them. I told everyone my story and they told me theirs, we walked and talked, ate and chatted more and within a few hours we had decided to charter a boat to a neighbouring island for the evening. It seemed to be a great start to my island vacation. That evening we went our separate ways to do different things, but low and behold we managed to meet up on the beach to charter this boat. We decided to pay 35RM each for the boat and when It pulled into shore (well as close as he could get apparently) we waded through the water with our belongings and food/drinks in hand and struggled onto the boat  awaiting departure. As we waited and waited, Diego and Nikos were wandering the beach with the boat driver and we couldn’t figure out why. After a good 30minutes of sitting and waiting to leave, we were told that the guy had no fuel to take us there and wasn’t aware he had to take us. The whole situation made no sense but when it came down to it, we got off the boat, got our refund and claimed a spot on the beach to chill on instead. We laughed about what a great boat trip we had and that the best part was when were…. ‘On the boat’. The evening turned out to be great fun and a good evening to celebrate Diego’s birthday. We all got to know each other over some drinks (2% Mango beer for me) and spent the evening laughing and joking with each other. We ended the night in bar for fresh juice/beers and some Shisha. Langkawi was becoming one of my favourite places!

The next day we lost two more of our group to other parts of Malaysia- Jacob had left the day before. This time Diego and Mark were leaving and Sebastian/Korey/Julian and I had planned to take a motorbike trip around the island together. We said our goodbyes and talked about meeting up in NZ as we planned to be there the same time, and the rest of us headed off to rent bikes. We rented three bikes, one of which Julian and I shared as I planned to be a lazy passenger for once and Korey and Sebastian both had their own bikes. We took a full circuit and took in sights such as the amazing Cable Car with beautiful views of Langkawi, many different beaches and finally ended in Kuah Harbour where we had an unusual dining experience that evening. Touring the island was great and the scenery was incredible for the whole journey. The cable car was the highlight and it seemed like a family day out considering all the pictures we took, and afterwards we even stopped by a stall for some Belgian waffles. It was funny because, we would make it a routine to pull in and wait for Korey who hadn’t driven a bike before, or drive close to Sebastian to tell him his blinkers were on, or generally just shout at each other about how much fun it was. In the evening time we lost Sebastian and Korey who hadn’t seen where we had gone and so we drive back around and around looking for them. Looking to spot Sebastian’s white t-shirt or their bright orange bikes but we couldn’t find them. We decided to go back to Starbucks where we had just been, and with luck on our side, there they were, safely together like two little buddies. Dinner at the Harbour was unusual as I mentioned, and the reason being that when I asked the old grumpy Malay man for veggie food he pointed to another restaurant and ordered me to go there. I decided on veggie fried rice- which came with chicken but whatever, I gave it away. One great thing though, was the watermelon juices which we had two of to hydrate us before the journey back to Pantai Cenang. We got back that evening and had a chat and some drinks in the common area, with me and Sebastian coming up with a plan to get him to the airport the next day. Theoretically we would drive his bike with me on the back pulling his suitcase slowly along the road, which of course would save on taxi fare and also I could drive it back. Luckily the next morning we decided against the risk. For first hour of my 25th birthday I celebrated in my pjs with Sebastian, Julian, Dave and Sarah in the common area drinking a lovely 7up courtesy of Sebastian. Then it was time to get my old age ass to bed!

The next morning, I walked to do yoga on the beach while Sebastian walked to the taxi stand. We said our goodbyes and I headed off across Beach Road. Doing yoga on the beach was very relaxing but slightly annoying when it came to the sweat and sand mix, but even more annoying when you open your eyes from a lovely posture to see people surrounding you or hearing the clicks of cameras when in shoulder stand. I tried not to take any notice and let them by pass me and so they did but the day before during  our bike trip, I was casually doing some poses while the boys walked out to an island, when I opened my eyes to a woman with her camera pointing at me and smiling very happily. She also uttered some words in Malay and some hand gestures which I presumed were the poses I was doing, and she went away. When I looked around, a few people from the beach cafes had been staring at me too. It came to me…. This isn’t India! Nevertheless I carried on that morning and it seemed like as the mornings went on, the people got used to it and knew me. It was my birthday and I was having a great one. I was feeling great about myself, my yoga and my life and I couldn’t wait to celebrate with everyone that night.

When I got back to the hostel, I had breakfast with everyone! I had been planning to spend a nice chilled day at the beach and maybe go out that evening but with a suggestion from Sarah our plans changed. We decided to go Island hopping instead which would cost only 30RM and entertain us for 3 or 4 hours. Julian, Korey, Sarah and I booked the trip and we would leave at 2pm. We spent the morning hourson the beach before grabbing a very well put together sandwhich to take with us and headed back to Gecko. A taxi picked us up not long after and before we knew it we were out on the waters, on a super fast speed boat.  It was the start of what would be one of the best birthdays ever. We stopped at Pregnant Maiden Island to admire and have a dip in the freshwater lake before going to an Island full of eagles to see them being fed. We ended the trip at a tropical beach where I entertained the crowds with my ‘plough and shoulderstand’ asana’s unintentionally of course. And the headstand seemed to be the icing on the cake for them. After the beach we sped back on the boat, tearing through the waves of the sea and creating copious amounts of adrenaline on board our boat. We raced other boats, waved at our fellow travellers and screamed as the driver near capsized us during his rapid turns. When we got back, we quickly got ready, added some new members to the group and ultimately headed out for a lovely Thai meal. The restaurant had been attractive to us considering it was it was suitably positioned next to a cheap cocktail bar playing great music. When the group of us finished our meal we took two steps to our right and plonked ourselves on bar stools to order a round of colourful cocktails. After a few rounds of cocktails, a sing song and some chats, we then moved onto the next stop, a small pop up street bar. It wasn’t your typical popular bar but this had something going, considering the crowds of people hanging around it, including our roommate Dave who looked like a local propped up in between everyone. We must have stayed there for a few hours, drinking cheap cocktails, making new friends and ultimately having an awesome time. The highlight was meeting Kristian from Sweden, a travel blogger and founder of The Fun Mission and Rayann a Malaysian travel blogger who when I met him said ‘Omg you are Worltravellerz’, ‘Omg its you,I have seen your website’  which took me by complete surprise. I couldn’t believe that Worldtravellerz had reached Malaysia let alone other bloggers. We stayed there chatting about blog advice and tips while I inspired them with my Indian experiences. I urged them to go! When we were all pretty far along, drink wise, we took a taxi to Sunba where we danced the night away to a local rock band, who occasionally played the soppiest songs, but nevertheless we went crazy for them. We spent hours just dancing, going crazy and inevitably having the best night ever! If this was what 25 meant then I was loving it!

The following day was not so good, hangover wise, considering I had been detoxing a few months before India, and ultimately while in India, hangovers were alien to me. I knew why I didn’t drink at this point. Needless to say, yoga wasn’t on the cards for me and I ended up pulling a Dave and being the last one in bed at 12pm… so unlike me. I woke up, groggy as hell, blurry and panda eyed and wished my day away. Sarah and I spent most of the day chilling on the beach rehydrating on smoothies and in the evening time we decided to finally go to Dr Eduardo Sanchez’s yoga class we had been talking so much about. We had seen a poster in the hostel and so with a few minutes to get there we decided to take a taxi, that’s easier right? No! The first few taxi drivers we asked had no idea what we were talking about and with some luck we found a driver who seemed to know his way around Pantai Cenang, well he was a good liar anyways! He analysed the photo of the map on my iphone and agreed to take us there, but told us he didn’t quite know but he would look for it. After driving in the wrong direction, ending at the beach, we told him to turn back and take us to the right place, to which he agreed. We must have driven for about 45minutes through the countryside, well beyond the starting time of the class, before we reached a main road which clearly wasn’t where we wanted to be. Driving 5kmph, he turned and laughed, asking if we should go back now. We agreed and gave up hope of any yoga this evening. When he dropped us back to Beach Road, we took ourselves and our energy to the beach where I gave Sarah a private yoga class complete with onlookers, Korey, Julian and a small child who was shockingly good at mirroring our the postures. We finished up just as the sun set and headed back to the hostel. That evening our new Dutch buddy Willem joined Sarah and I for a delicious Indian meal of Paneer Butter Masala and some Chai at a local fancy restaurant. We dined and laughed hysterically as Willem told us travel tales of his time in India, some funny stories including the time he hijacked a bus, set up a camel safari business and bought hundreds of women’s Indian sandals to sell to Dutch women back home. It wasn’t long before we were back at the cosy common area among more friends, that we laughed in convulsions once again as he spread his stories to more and more curious ears. We couldn’t get enough! After a good abs workout from all the laughter, It was time to head to bed and fully recharge from today’s hangover. The atmosphere in Gecko was a very familiar one, one I really enjoyed and one that in a very short time I knew I wouldn’t want to leave. Nevertheless Julian, Sarah and I planned to go to take a 19hour journey of taxi/boat/bus/boat/taxi to the Perhentian Islands the next day. It was clear that this was a sort of ‘Gringo trail’ and that our friends would be following us over in a few days. Never say goodbye always say see you soon! And we would!

The next morning was spent on the beach with Korey, Julian and some of the Gecko newcomers who took part in some banana boating, while Sarah took a lift to Kuah town with Dave to go shopping. Later on we met up and grabbed a very well put together sandwich from a local store before our taxi came and whisked us away to the ferry terminal. We were sad to leave but we were glad to be going together and very excited to explore the tropical Perhentians we had heard so much about. It was a super long journey from leaving Gecko at 3:30pm to arriving at the Perhentians at 7am the following morning and with lack of sleep due to the ice cold bus temperatures and bright lights shining, all we wanted to do was sleep. It was hard to appreciate the beauty of the island in these delicate conditions but the ferry from the mainland to the islands certainly woke us up for those few minutes. It was like island hopping all over again, going at super-fast speeds, and watching Julian s face as he worried about his backpack going overboard, It was clear I wasn't the only one who knew it. We were on board with three Irish girls whose accents I recognized straight away and It felt slightly comforting. We were off to the Perhentians and despite the tired eyes, we lit up when we caught sight of the clear blue seas and white sandy beaches.

Bring on the Island life! 

 

The beginning of Malaysia!

It was quite hard to say goodbye to India and prepare for a more westernised country but at the same time I did long for a sense of normality when it came to living and travelling. I imagined my time in Malaysia to be very calm and relaxed with spots of yoga on the tropical beaches every now and again but I didn’t expect to meet so many great people and ultimately have one of the best birthdays I could ask for. Arriving in Kuala Lumpur was pretty straight forward and my flight from Delhi to Colombo to K.L had been unusually smooth sailing overall which was a first for me. Having booked to stay in the highly recommended Reggae Mansion in K.L, I had my directions of where to go in the city. Within an hour or so I had taken the KLIA express to the central station and then took the metro to the stop near my hostel. On arrival the excited staff welcomed me and asked about the flags on my bag, something people always ask me about.  We chatted for a bit until I got my key, paid and headed to my dorm absolutely exhausted. After settling in to my cosy alcove bed in my 8 bed dorm, I cuddled into the fresh linen, hugged the fluffy pillow and before I knew It I was out for the count. I slept continuously until the following morning when I awoke feeling refreshed and excited to explore the city. I went down to the restaurant and sat down for one of the best if not the absolute best free breakfast a hostel had provided me. There was unlimited scrambled eggs, malay noodles, fruit, tea/coffee/juice, toast etc. I was in heaven. I stocked up, getting myself energised for the day ahead. I planned to explore K.L but had no idea where to start. I had put my name down for a city tour but with no one else signing up, the tour didn’t go ahead.

I decided to head out and get a start on the cities sights and where better to start than at the Petronas twin towers. With a map in hand and a huge canon around my neck, I set off down the road looking super touristy in the direction of the towers. It was at one set of traffic lights that a group of Chinese tourists came up to me and asked if they could follow me to the towers, other than that the conversation went downhill as they had no more words of English. I warned them that I wasn’t entirely sure of the way but they could follow me if they wanted, but it turned out that after Id taking the wrong road, they had already stopped behind me to ask someone for directions. Taking their actions on board, I stopped and asked a lovely Scottish couple for directions, who I chatted with for a few minutes as we walked in the direction together. They told me to visit the Batu Caves and said it was well worth it, which seemed like a plan to me. I said my goodbyes and after a few more minutes walk, I had arrived right beneath the towering towers. I walked away from them to get the best pictures of them as I could, and judging my every other tourists placement, I knew where to go. After a lot of picture taking, I headed into the mall and looked in some expensive shops before heading up to the skybridge to buy a ticket. It was here that I met Callan, an Aussie traveller also in the queue to see the skybridge. When our time came to get a ticket, we were told it was booked out until 6pm and even at that, the cost was crazy. We both walked away from the desk and continued chatting about our travels.

After a while, I mentioned the Batu caves and because Callan had a good few hours in K.L before his flight home, he asked if it was ok to join me. We got directions and headed off on two trains to Batu Caves. We got on great and it was so nice to have company while sightseeing in K.L. When we got to Batu Caves, we couldn’t believe how cool it was. There was temples, Hindu statues, monkeys everywhere and amazingly steep cliffs in front of us. It was almost like being in India again but the monkeys weren’t as cute and fluffy here. We headed towards the caves which was free to enter and had around 200 steps that led up inside. We walked up, occasionally stopping to get a monkey photo and feeling slightly out of breath towards the top, we made it inside. It was very familiar and we both agreed that it reminded us of the caves near Halong Bay in Vietnam. We spent some time there before going to a small café and having some food. I was super excited when I saw Indian food and masala chai on the menu and so I ordered my favourite Uttapam and a chai of course, while Callan ordered the Thali. After our meal we chatted and I looked around admiring all the things that reminded me of India. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that it dawned on us that thus was in fact and Indian restaurant. Here I was thinking well Malaysia has very similar food to India, I could get used to this, but in reality we were probably just in little India. We couldn’t stop laughing at our naivety! After our food we headed back on the train to K.L central where I would change to my metro line and Callan would go back to the airport. It turned out that he had a few more hours to kill so I suggested we go sightseeing around the Masjid Jamek area where I was staying and so that’s exactly what we did. We walked around the area for a while longer and saw many sights including an 80yr old Banyan tree, the National Gallery and an awesome sculpture fountain! When we came to the end of the street and had seen everything, It was time for us to walk back to the train station where Callan would head off to the airport. It was a great day spent with great company and as we wished each other well, we went our separate ways, a common occurrence when meeting people travelling. Im sure we would cross paths again one day!

It was earlier that day, when in the common area of Reggae Mansion that I booked a super cheap flight from K.L to the island of Langkawi for the fine price of €18.50. I had been wondering what my Malaysian plans would include and after hearing  abput Langkawi from lovely Susie in Rishikesh, I decided to look up flights and truth be known, the flights were cheap. I finally had a plan! It was back in my room where I met my next group of travel friends, from all parts of the world, who invited me to the rooftop for some drinks. Keeping my healthy living lifestyle going, I decided not to drink alcohol and so opted for some soft drinks instead. We chatted on the rooftop with the beautiful backdrop of the K.L tower and the Petrona’s tower shining some light on us as was the glare from the full moon. Coming from India its always hard to describe India to the next batch of people you meet but nevertheless I tried and I succeeded when I met a guy from Ireland, Navan to be precise, who had been to India before. We had a very long in-depth conversation about India and what experiences we had, spiritual and non spiritual, cultural and non cultural. It was a truly enlightening chat and It was something I longed for, having left India even if it was only a day prior. We all chatted until well after midnight and so I decided to head to bed and try and get some sleep before my flight.

The next morning, I got up super early in the hopes of having a huge breakfast again, digesting it and having one more before my flight. My flight was at 11.25am and so I decided to take Callans plan and head to the airport via metro and aero bus. As I said goodbye to the staff and headed off towards the station I couldn’t help but think about how I enjoyed  my short time in K.L. I bought my ticket and headed K.L Central where I would then take the bus from downstairs. I had left myself some time to get to the airport and I had no doubts about anything going wrong, that was until, an hour later when I got off the bus, I realised I was at the wrong airport. After asking a staff member for the check in info, he told me I needed to go to KLIA and apparently I was in the low cost airlines airport, He told me to take a taxi for 40RM which was not going to happen, so I opted for the airliner bus. Frustrated and having been told that it would arrive in twenty minutes I couldn’t help but worry that I may not make my flight. I didn’t know how long the bus would take and I didn’t know If they would let me check in, if I arrived so late. Nevertheless I powered through, thought positively and with this mind set in process, the bus came , eventually left and somehow arrived at KLIA on time for me to check in, get to my gate and take a minute to breath. Boy was this a relief. During this situation, I couldn’t help but think that my Langkawi dream of tropical beaches, mocktails and sun may be blown away but at this moment it came right back on track. It was a great feeling. On board Malindo Air, the cheapest airline ever I imagined, we got great service, plenty of movies and even a banana cake snack. The sweet life! Here I was off to live the Island lifestyle! 

Bring on Langkawi!