Relaxing on Pulau Tioman

Another island off the west coast of Malaysia is Pulau Tioman, it is a lot bigger than the Perhentians and very different. We had to take a night bus and a 2hr ferry to get there (if a 4am drop off in front of a Chinese temple is to be considered a night bus). Tioman is like a "Pocket Coffee", the Italian chocolate with real coffee inside, one of my favourites...  it has got hot sticky jungle on the inside and lush beaches on the outside.

We stayed in a village called ABC (it is really called Air Batang, but I like ABC!)... walked around for a bit and got ourselves a little hut 1min walk from the beach - and that is pretty much it! You could hear the sea at night and the jungle during the day, something I have never experienced before.

The weather was not the best as it is coming into monsoon season, so the beach and the sea were not as good either. We just spend a few days not doing much: reading on the balcony, observing the monkeys that were coming from the jungle to look for food (or to explore my bag when I left the door of the room open!), playing cards with other travellers, eating nasi goreng (fried rice), drinking kopi ais (cold coffee) and having a few beers on the beach... Very relaxing.

Now onto the last few days to be spent in Melaka and back to KL, before our Thai adventures start.

Gotta love a beach swing!

View from the beach

Diving in the Perhentians

We came to these islands (one of my favourite places in the world!) to do some diving as we knew it was going to be really good. 

I had dived here before but this time it was even more enjoyable: first, we did a quick refresher course as we both had not dived for years - for Ben it was 15 years this month, to be precise!

We were quite lucky as it was the end of the season so we had a dive master all to ourselves and had a lot more time/attention than usual: we went for 4 dives altogether and saw a lot of different types of fish, the first and the second dives were on sandy patches with reefs - we saw loads of clown fish (Nemos!) and a blue-spotted stingray. The third one was called "Temple of the Sea" as it was a pinnacle, we swam around it and saw some nudibranches (little sea worms), some very colourful purple angel fish, a big puffer fish and a poisonous stone fish... Guess what? It looked like a stone!

My favourite dive was the last one: in 2012, three police boats were sank by the local authority to create an artificial reef - that is now known as the 'Polis Wreck' dive site. We were able to swim between the boats, with massive schools of barracuda all around us: it really felt like being in a Nat Geo documentary, when they were circling around us in huge numbers. There was a big grouper fish that lives inside the top of the boat, lots of catfish hiding underneath the wreck and a lionfish was seen next to them. We also saw some jenkins stingray sleeping and covered in sand with only the eyes and the tail sticking out. 

The three boats are connected by a rope you can walk on... I took my fins off and "walked the line", it is a lot harder than you think, 18mts deep and with all the equipment on!!

View from Long Beach

Let's go diving!

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Street art in George Town

George town, the main city on the Malaysian island of Pulau Pinang, is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Mixing Chinese heritage with Indian traits, Malay culture and Islamic influences, it is a really peculiar town with loads of hidden gems and a street called Harmony Street where a mosque, a Chinese temple and an Anglican church all lie within miles of each other.

During the George Town festival in 2012, Ernest Zacharevic was commissioned to paint a few murals. Since then, a few other artists have added to the street art popularity in George Town.

Here's a few we have seen!

A Minion

Old Motorcycle

Love Me Like Your Fortune Cat

Boy on Chair

Street Vendors

Grandmother and Grandson

Brother and Sister on a Swing

Children Playing Basketball

Kids on Bicycle

Flowers and teas

The central part of Malaysia includes the area called the Cameron Highlands. The wet and cool weather (that we really enjoyed after KL!) makes it possible to grow tea and strawberries that are the speciality of this area.

Around here, you can go for long treks and see the green scenery: one particular walk we enjoyed was the one that took us to see the Rafflesia. The Rafflesia is the biggest flower in the world, 1mt wide and weighting up to 10kg, it is impressive to say the least. It lives for 7days but it has no roots or leaves as such but grows on other plants as a parasite.

A 2days old Rafflesia

After the tiring walk, we got back to the town of Tanah Rata to reward ourselves with nice cake and tea and an 1hr long foot reflexology massage.

Since the last time I came to south east Asia, I have been dreaming about these cheap massages and how good they make you feel! Already looking forward to the next one...

Strawberry tea and cake

Massage heaven!

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Amazing Kuala Lumpur

ChinaTown: Jalan Petaling

With 1.6million people living in its urban area, Kuala Lumpur (or KL as it's also known) is a dazzling city.

Malaysia is proud of its multiculturalism and the capital certainly mirrors this: with a vibrant Chinatown area, full of shops and food corners, two big mosques and many modern museums, there is loads to be done - and tasted!

We were staying near Jalan Petaling that is a bustling market area with some amazing food corners. 

Malaysian food is a fusion between Chinese, Indian and other Asian cuisines. The Chinese influence is very strong so you will get a lot of noodles and rice, as well as some salty fish and shrimp paste that are an acquired taste to say the least! We also got some tasty Indian dishes - we are missing our curries and thali's a little bit!

Nasi goreng: breakfast!

Noodle soup with mince and salty fish

We also took time out to visit two of the mosques in the city: we got there in time for Friday prayers and it was very moving to see all the people sharing space outside the mosque on the hot tarmac to pray together.

Masjid Jamek

The hill country

Spent a few days in the hill country of Sri Lanka, we stayed in Ella and we walked up Little Adam's Peak... A short 2hrs trek with beautiful views took us to a green tea factory and a walk through some really nice tea plantations. The best of the tea from here goes into Lipton and Tetley's so it was nice to see the real deal.

After chilling out in Ella (chilling out is right as it was a few degrees less than the coast) we had booked a train to move onto Kandy, the second biggest city in Sri Lanka. We managed to get a seat on an Expo Rail carriage, where we could have a bit more room and free teas and coffees. We wanted to travel comfortably as this is supposed to be on of the best train rides in the world: and it was! The train slowly spirals around the mountain to take gain some height: Ella is 1031mt above sea level and the train passes some village that are over 2000mt above sea. You travel over old bridges (built by the British, of course!) at 20km/h, below you just tea plantations, valleys covered in mists and the odd waterfall. It was a long 6hr ride but the views were breathtaking!

After Kandy we hit Negombo for a couple of days before waving off Sri Lanka. Now onto Malaysia for more adventures!

Serendipity

Sri Lanka has been a really good surprise for us as we did not know fully what to expect. I guess the clue is in the title: the early Arab traders used to call this island Serendib - a word that has generated the English word serendipity: and we are definitely happy we came!

We have spent the last few days on the beach of Mirissa: a small stretch of sand on the south coast of Sri Lanka. You can surf/body board the waves during the day, then chill out at night when all the restaurants set up tables by the beach. You can dine with your feet in the sand, the stars above you, a candle lit on your table and watch someone juggling with firey ropes. Last but not least, you taste all the fresh fish you want as they display their catch for you to pick from: tuna, red snapper, groper and chicken fish. You can have it grilled, devilled (a local kind of sweet and sour sauce, served with rice) or pan-fried. A local Lion beer, cold and very cheap also goes down well.. As well as a few drops of rain at times, the ever-present monsoon season.

Our hotel was a 10mins walk away from the beach, on a river side. On the road we spotted a big spider, many fireflies and a big komodo dragon who was hanging out in the bushes. Needless to mention, it was taller than me. 

Mirissa is also a good spot for whale watching: after my NZ experience I was keen to give it another go. We boarded a crammed boat, many Chinese tourists and their massive cameras too, and sailed in very choppy waters, we could not take any pictures but we caught a glimpse of 4 blue whales and one that did its very famous splash-the-tail-in-the-water trick! 

The island is slightly smaller than Ireland but it's still Asia so travelling is slower and more complicated. Currently moving to the east coast then on through the hill country before flying out. Wish we had a bit more time to explore the north area but the rest of Asia awaits.