Kuala Lumpur

We finally made it back to Kuala Lumpur after a nine hour bumpy bus ride from Kuala Besut, and headed straight back to the comfort of Louise and Iain's apartment! Again, we were made to feel really welcome and they continued to spoil us with great food (see photos) - including the biggest English breakfast you could ever imagine, a lovely banana leaf, and plenty of beer served in a proper pint glass - we'd forgotten what they looked like!

Thanks again guys, we had a fantastic time, and we're now looking forward to Thailand...

The Perhentian Islands

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur early after catching the horrendous overnight train from Singapore, and made our way to Louise and Iain's house (Louise is an old friend of Jen's sister). They were extremely welcoming and we spent two days catching up over good food and proper English tea!

We then took another night bus from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Besut, where we boarded the speed boat at 7.30am and made the short trip to Perhentian Besar. We had booked four nights at the Watercolours resort and planned to eat well, sleep well, and do our Advanced Open Water dive course.

The first day was spent recovering from lack of sleep (the night bus was just as bad as the night train) and swotting up on all the dive theory ready for the course. On day two we completed the navigation dive and the night dive. The navigation wasn't anything spectacular but taught us some key skills for finding our way around underwater (Jen is actually a better navigator underwater than she is on land!) In the evening we waited until dark and then ventured out for the night dive. It was an unreal experience and we managed to see loads of sea life that you struggle to see during the day - including the fish having a kip on the rocks! Our favourite sightings were the boxer shrimp, the coral catshark, the Jenkins stingray, and the plankton that illuminated when we turned off our torches!

On the third day we did the deep dive and the underwater photography dive. The deep dive was a great experience. We went down as far as 30m and it was again a completely different world. A lot more of the colours were lost at this depth and it was a lot cooler than on the surface. Here, we saw at least five bamboo sharks, a moray eel, two Jenkins stingrays, some porcupine fish, and many more. The photography dive was really cool too, as the visibility was perfect and it was a superb dive site. As we swam around we practised taking pictures of the fish, each other, and the coral. We soon found that underwater photography is a fine art and requires excellent buoyancy control to get the best results. However, we did get some really nice photos!

On our fourth and final day we completed the course with a wreck dive - a 92m cargo ship carrying sugar that sank in December 2002 called the Union Star - the dive site is known as the Sugar Shipwreck! Again, it was completely different to all the other dives, and it was really exciting and challenging to manoeuvre through the fallen masts and ropes whilst marvelling at the sheer abundance of fish. The pick of the bunch on this dive were the huge pufferfish, the giant blue trevally, the scorpionfish, and the lionfish.

After successfully completing the course (we are now Advanced Divers!) we went snorkeling for one last look at the fish. We realised that the island is fantastic for snorkeling as well as diving, and our whole experience of the Perhentians was topped off when we saw a 1.5m blacktip reef shark!

We now make our way back to Kuala Lumpur before flying to Chiang Mai...

Singapore

After a two and a half hour flight from Denpasar we arrived in Singapore airport at around 7pm. We took the shuttle bus to our hostel, which was situated in Little India, and went straight out for a curry. It was a long day of travel so we were pleased to get an early night.

The next day we planned to see all of the sights, but due to a tropical rainstorm, we ended up doing the two most popular things in Singapore; shopping and eating! The size of the shopping centres was incredible and they had everything on offer that you could imagine. We ended up coming away with a laptop for half the price you would get in in England... oops! After a brief stroll through Chinatown we headed back to Little India, where we had another fantastic curry (the nearest to a Bradford curry we've had all year!)

On our final day in Singapore we went for lunch at, and explored, Clarke Quay. After lunch we took a stroll through Fort Canning Park before meeting Alex (our Swiss friend from Indonesia) for a coffee. We then made our final trip back to Little India in order to collect our bags and make our way to the train station to catch the overnight train to Kuala Lumpur...

Open Water Dive Course

The dive course was over four days and included two theory sessions, two pool sessions, and five dives.

On the first day we watched a couple of videos, did some theory work and then climbed into our SCUBA gear for the first time. Once in the pool, we both found it really hard to get used to breathing underwater - it was a very strange and unnatural sensation! However, after persevering we became more and more comfortable, and were able to complete all the essential skills in the pool before our first dive.

We were now onto the fun part of the course! We did five dive sites in total including Manta Point, Meno Bounty, Hanns Reef, Shark Point, and Halik. Each dive site was very different and added to our experience every time. We started with our first dive at 12m, and by the end of the week we were going as deep as 23m.

As we became more comfortable in the water, we were able to really relax and take in the sheer beauty of the coral reefs and shipwrecks, not to mention the fish! Over the five dives we saw loads of weird and wonderful types of fish including trigger fish, cuttle fish, angel fish, spade fish, sweet lips, lion fish etc. etc. We were also lucky enough to see many hawks bill and green turtles as well as a white tip reef shark and an eagle ray.

It was absolutely incredible and we've definitely got the taste for it! Maybe our advanced course in Malaysia???

Gili Islands

We spent seven nights on the Gili Islands, staying in a really friendly little guesthouse called Pondok Lita. We were mainly here for our four day open water dive course (see separate post), but we also had time to relax on the gorgeous beaches, swim in the turquoise sea, and eat at a different restaurant every night!

The atmosphere on the island was nice - no cars or bikes and very few people hassling us to buys things. We had a great time but the diving really stole the show...

Sengiggi

We were tired on arrival in Sengiggi (Lombok) as we had spent the entire day on buses and boats, so we opted for a quick feed and an early night.

The next morning we rented a scooter each and set out to explore the area. There were a few teething problems to begin with, one example being when Jen first got on and went a bit over the top with the throttle, and nearly ending up through a shop window! (Don't worry Mum, I'm a safe moped driver now!)

We had an excellent day on our scooters and we got to see a lot of the area. Initially we took the curvy coastal road north, on which a 'wow' greeted every twist and turn as the beaches just got better and better.

In the afternoon we cut inland passing between two mountains covered in lush jungle. In contrast to the morning we found ourselves whizzing through terraced rice paddies and past crazy monkeys.

After a late afternoon curry stop back in Sengiggi, we went for one last spin and stopped to watch the sun set over Bali's volcanoes. It was a perfect end to a brilliant day.

Next stop... diving in the Gili Islands!

Padang Bai

We decided to spend a couple of days in Padang Bai before taking the ferry across to Lombok. After arriving and settling in, we chartered a 'boat' to take us out snorkeling. Having seen the 'boat' assembled in front of us (tying bamboo poles together etc.), we were cautious as the five of us jumped on board for the short trip. We made sure not to hand over any money until the motor arrived! The snorkeling was really good fun, as the visibility was excellent and we saw loads of fish.

The next day was a beach day spent at the Blue Lagoon - a short walk from the hostel. It was nice to be in a small and relatively quiet town on the beach. Next stop... Sengiggi

Ubud

We took the Perama bus from Kuta to Ubud on our second full day in Bali. As we made the journey north we passed through beautifully lush countryside, endless rice paddies, and small Balinese villages.

We found a nice place to stay and enjoyed two full days in and around Ubud. On the first day we explored the town, visited the Monkey Sanctuary, and had a great Balinese massage! To top off a lovely relaxing day we splashed out on a three course meal with plenty of beers - 10 quid!

On the second day we sighed up for a brilliant Eco-Educational Cycle Tour, where we spent the full day;

- Eating breakfast overlooking Mount Batur.

- Visiting a farm that produced coffee, cocoa, vanilla, and exotic fruits.

- Cycling 35km through traditional villages and stopping to visit a working Balinese 'compound' and temple.

- Stopping off at the rice paddies and learning the processes used in growing and preparing the rice.

- Finally, enjoying a feast of typical Indonesian cuisine.

Overall, we had a great day, helped by 25km of downhill cycling and loads of 'hellos' and high fives from the local kids!

Kuta

We arrived in Bali after a long day of travel which involved two flights (Cairns-Darwin, Darwin-Denpasar) and a lot of waiting around. Our first two days in Indonesia were spent acclimatising in Kuta - there were plenty of things to get used to, both good and bad!

The Bad

- Constantly being asked 'Sir, you want taxi?' or 'Miss, you want manicure?'

- Stifling heat and humidity that has you sweating after a few paces.

- The obligatory bartering over absolutely anything and everything.

The Good

- Great breakfasts with banana pancakes and fresh fruit juices.

- Ice cold Bintang beers for under a quid!

- Bargain Balinese massages.

After getting used to all of these things and realising that Kuta had little to offer us, except for good food and drink, we decided to head north to Ubud in search of the real Bali...

The Great Barrier Reef

We were up early in order to walk to the marina (our car was long gone) for 7.30am. It was a 2.5 hour journey out to the reef on our small 20 person boat. We were glad to finally arrive, as it had been quite a bumpy ride!

Once we were kitted out with snorkels and flippers we dove straight in and enjoyed nearly two hours of exploring the underwater wonderland. There were numerous different types of coral and sea life of various colours, shapes, and sizes. Amongst our favourites were the angel fish and parrot fish.

After a much needed buffet lunch aboard the boat we decided to make the most of our time at the reef and so jumped straight back in for another hour and a half. we had hired an underwater camera for the day and enjoyed taking silly pictures of each other as well as the fish!

We had a brilliant day and were both absolutely shattered by the end of it.