Just simply amazing!!!!

Probably one of the best days and nights of my life- ever. 

Today on Koh Phi Phi, I, we have had such an awesome and amazing time. We booked a tour through a local agency and it went a little like this:-
Started on Phi Phi Island and took a longtail boat ride to monkey beach where we hand fed monkeys with grapes. 
Next stop was a snorkelling trip- with sharks!! Totally mind-blowing! There we are, just swimming away, surrounded by hundreds of tropical fish and in amongst them are black tip sharks, some of which are more than 6ft in length. So amazing to be swimming free among sharks!!! 
Next stop was cliff jumping!! We stopped at the far South West tip of Phi Phi and clambered up the cliffs to jump off there were various heights to jump from, ranging from 10ft to 50ft. Thing is, you had to climb up razor sharp jagged rocks to get there. It reminded me of when I was a kid, jumping off the prom, Barbican and warehouse in Penzance! I thought, feck it, and went straight to the highest point and jumped off it!! The force of the impact hurt my ass, and blew my Velcro watch off my arm!! ( I managed to catch it before it sank!)
After that, I was done!
Next stop was on Phi Phi Leh. We stopped in a bay and had a swim and some dinner. The water was soooo blue and clear. 
The best bit was yet to come. 
We continued around the coast of Phi Phi Leh and came into Maya bay. The beach that was used in the film "the beach". Absolutely stunning. When we got there though, about 4.30, it was packed with loads of boats and hundreds of people. Not so good. 
Now, this is where it gets great. We had paid to camp out overnight on the beach! So, as time went on, more and more people and more and more boats started to leave. Eventually, there was myself and Ju and about 30 other people left.  
We all sat around chatting and there are about half a dozen local Thai guys who stay here on the Island and cater for the camping tours. They cooked us a great Thai chicken curry, which we ate under the sheer rock face that surrounds the beach. There is a small hut which you can buy drinks from as well. Later on, the guys do a fire dance and cook BBQ chicken and carry on drinking and partying until you want to sleep. 
Here is the best bit. I am currently lying on "The Beach" next to Ju, in a sleeping bag, with the stars shining as bright as I have seen them, above me. Also, In the distance, there is a thunderstorm lighting up the night sky!! I just wish I could take a picture to show you how truly amazing this is right now. Another thing to add, which makes this even better, is, for those of you that have seen THE BEACH. The moment where Leonardo Dicaprio goes to the beach at night with the French bird and then they get it on in the water. Whilst they do that, the sea glows around them- IT'S TRUE!!!!!!
the plankton that is in the water, when you move through it, they light up and glow in the dark!!! It truly is sooo amazing and spectacular here that, being the wuss that I am, I am close to tears because it is so beautiful. I am just so glad that I am able to share this with Ju as well.  If you are ever in Phi Phi, you HAVE to do this trip! It is one of, if not the best experiences of my life!! I am just so glad to do it!!!
Now going to fall asleep, next to the woman I love, listening to chillout songs including PURE SHORES  and PORCELAIN  on the iPod, in a sleeping bag, on "The Beach" looking up at the stars. 
Such an amazing moment in my life. (sorry bro, lol!!)

Thailand and "anyone for the Bangkok Hilton?!"

Thailand at last and the Bangkok Hilton!!

Finally said a sad farewell and left Pangkor Laut to make the trip to Thailand. We ended up having to get another taxi back to Kuala Lumpur airport. We ended up in a nice Mercedez with a mad driver called mr Rajhmal, who had a great handlebar moustach! He was a mad driver because he would literally drive up right behind the car in front and I swear he actually nudged a few, and when he then overtook, he would pull alongside stare them out for 5 seconds and then shoot off!! I had to tip him as I was scared what he would do if I didnt!!
We made the 4 hour trip on only 3 hours, thanks to Mr Rajhmal, and had a 4 hour wait for our flight. I must say that KLIA is a really nice, clean and efficient airport. It took us only 10 minutes to get through to departure side. We spent our time waiting by pootling around on the net and watching movies. Eventually we got on our flight and flew to Phuket. 

When we arrived, we made it through passport control fine, picked up our bags and proceeded to go and meet our driver. As we were going through customs, we were selected to put our bags through the scanner. This is where I thought they were packing us off to the Bangkok Hilton! As Ju's bag went through the scanner, the female official started squealing and asked Ju to open it and empty it. She did and the customs bint pointed to something that Ju had bought of a beach seller in Bali. It was a solid frame, about 1 inch thick and about 10x6 in size. On the middle of it were 3 floating metal Buddah heads. She said it was bad, and I am immediately thinking, "oh shit, is it packed with drugs??!" 
It turns out that it is forbidden to remove from the country of Thailand, any images or figures of Buddah. What made ours worse is that it was just the head, which is sacrilegious!! We were worried as to what they were going to do, but at least it was not drugs!! We were taken to the supervisor, who looked a lot like Kim-Il Jong, and he tried to explain, in minimal Engrish, that it was illegal to transport Buddah, especially the head, but he would let us off and then tried to fasten some sort of bathplug chain around the gift with a customs stamp! Much bizarreness!
We eventually made it outside, to find our driver to drive us the 2 hours round to Krabi. Except, the hotel we had booked, which said it was in Krabi, was   Not in Krabi- it was 30km past Krabi, on the beach, in the middle of nowhere!! And our driver did not know the way!! He stopped twice to ask for directions, and then picked up a woman with her kid to take us there! Farcical stuff! 
When we eventually got there, there was no-one on the open air reception, as it was their day off! Eventually, someone arrived and checked us in. We were both too tired to care at this point, so we both just had a (cold) shower and crashed for the night. Also, let's be honest, anywhere we stay after Pangkor Laut was bound to be a bit of a comedown!!
This morning, we got up, went to have breakfast overlooking the beach, only to discover that the beach was black sand and there was literally nothing around us! We both decided that we would check out today, 2 days early and head to Koh Phi Phi. I sort of felt bad, as it looks like it is a family fun spa hotel and they really try and make an effort and were so nice, but it is just so isolated! So we paid for 2 days and scarpered! We are now sat on the overloaded sweatbox of a ferry to Koh Phi Phi for a week. Looking forward to doing a PADI diving course, and having a bit of a fecking party!!
Am writing this on my notes app on iPhone and will cut and paste when I can! Might even add some more by then, but for now, time to snooze on the ferry!!

G & J

Pangkor Laut, monkey hunting and "AIEEE"

Pangkor Laut Island Resort really is as good as it says on the tin! From the moment we landed we were treated like royalty! We were met at KL airport by our driver, Mr Logan, in our own private people carrier. Because we missed breakfast at the hotel in Bali and missed it on the plane as we were sleeping, by the time we landed in KL, we were starving! The fact that we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us meant that we had to eat something, so, being sacrilegious, we stopped at a McDonalds drive through! Well it was cheap, quick and just what we needed for a quick fix! Almost! It is nice to see that McDonalds staff are thick and incompetent all over the world, and not just in the UK!! Ju, being the fussy eater that she is, simply wanted a big mac with nothing but the bread, burger and cheese in it. Simple you would think?! Nooo. It took four, yes, four attempts for them to get it right! The first came with sauce and pickle, the second, no cheese, the third, sauce and pickle again, and finally, on the fourth go, they got it right! So, after an elongated food stop, we lay back in our seats and slept most of the 4 hours up to Lumut to catch the ferry across to the island.

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted with a cold flannel and a drink and then given the run down of the island. It is such a big complex that they use shuttle buses to get you from one place to the other!!
When we entered our room/ spa villa- Wow! It was amazing. Set about 50m from the shore, over the water, with our own sun balcony, huge bedroom, huge bathroom and a bath that managed to actually swim a stroke in, it was that big. Complete luxury!
We settled in, went for dinner and had an early night and slept so well.
Over the next couple of days we just mooches about the island, swimming in the spa pool in the morning and then catching the bus to Emerald Beach for lunch and sun in the afternoon.
On our first day on the beach, we discovered that there were hundreds of small hermit crabs on the sea bed, in the shallows of the water, and I managed to catch a few, most and inch or two in size. Ju was fascinated by them and sat on the beach having her own 'crab wars', where she would try and get one to fight the other!!
What was so funny was that, on the following day, when we went to the beach, Ju was reluctant to get in the water because she realised that the crabs were on the sea floor and thought that they would bite her. It was so funny because whenever anything touched her feet, she would jump and yelp
' aieee'! That was all I heard all afternoon!! That was my soundtrack to Pankgkor Laut- AIEEE!!
There is lots of local wildlife on the island and we were lucky to see Eagles, Hornbills, turtles, sea otters. There are also wild monkeys as well and Ju was obsessed about seeing them, and on day 3, she got her wish! We were on the beach when a cry went up from a woman to our left. 3 monkeys had come down from the trees and jumped on her table and were trying to pilfer food!! They scampered off, with Ju in hot pursuit, camera in hand, saying 'here monkey, come here'!! She got some good pics. One of them of a monkey with his head in an ice bucket!!
On our final day, which was our Wedding Anniversary, we had a nice lie in and mooch in the pool In the morning. I thought I would tackle the 3km Jungle trek that goes from the East of the island along the south coast and over to the west coast. The guide time was 60 minutes. So I told Ju to meet me on the beach in 1 hour for lunch and set off. No sooner had I set off and found myself a stick with which to beat away any monkeys or

Monitor lizards, then I felt something on my shoulder. I just brushed it and felt a cobweb and saw a fecking HUGE Black and yellow spider fall to the floor!! Those of you that know me well know that i am EXTREMELY arachnophbic!! Needless to say I literally shat myself, screamed like a girl and let off a fair few expletives! Thankfully I was on my own, so was not embarrassed any further! I even managed to take a picture of the bugger!
I managed to compose myself and continued on my trek, making sure to clear any cobwebs away with my stick! To say it was hot would be an understatement!! I was sweating more than the proverbial fat Man in the pie shop, who was also wearing a sweatsuit. Whilst running. In a sauna. That was in the middle of the sahara. It was hot!!
It was a good trek as well, some really steep bits, up and down, where they had cut into the hillside and placed logs for steps. I eventually emerged on the other side about an hour or so later, drenched in sweat and staggered on to the beach, plopped my stuff onto a lounger and fell into the sea. Bliss!!
Had a final lazy afternoon with Ju on the beach, still going AIEEE, whenever she was in the water. When we were leaving, 2 monkeys literally appeared in front of us and jumped onto a table and started rifling through someones beach bag. I still had my jungle stick with me and managed to beat them away before they took anything so they just ran to the back of the bar and took some fruit and sat on the road and ate it! Buggers!
We had a really lovely anniversary dinner. We just ordered room service and ate it on our balcony over the sea in our villa, with chill-out music in the background, the sun setting and local fishermen in their small boats catching barracuda. A perfect end to a perfect stay.
The resort really is an amazing place to go, and can recommend it to anyone, if you don't mind spending a bit of cash! We were lucky in the fact that we got a very good deal on the room, but the food is expensive, about £20 per dish minimum and the spa treatments are very expensive as well. But the whole experience is worth it. We shall never forget this place and hope to come back again someday.
Now though, we are on way back to KL airport, via another 4 hour drive (our driver has a fantastic handlebar moustache, I will try and get a pic) and a flight up to Phuket and another 2 hour car trip the other end to get to Krabi. Thailand, here we come! Just under 4 weeks of exploring all Thailand has to offer! Really been looking forward to this!
I will try and add pictures at a later date.
Until the next update, so long Malaysia, hello Thailand!!

G & J

Well, we had a fabulous time in Bali and would recommend it to anyone. When we arrived, there was a bit of confusion as to what we were supposed to do, but went figured out, in the end, that we had to queue to buy a visa to enter Bali, and then queue again to go through passport control which took forever!! When we had eventually made it through and got our bags, we then had to go through a further security checkpoint and put all our bags through a scanner!!

When we eventually made it out of the airport doors, we were met by a scene of total disorganised chaos! The best way to describe it is to imagine the very front row of a concert, all squeezed against the rails. Well, this is what it looked like, but the people were just those waiting to meet passengers, holding up name cards! Madness!

Then, we noticed how hot it was. Within 2 minutes, I was sweating like in a sauna! (I know, fat bloke!)

We eventually found a cab and $3 and 5 minutes later were at the hotel. We were surprised, to say the least, to be met by guards armed with semi automatic rifles, who did an under car bomb search and checked us out before we were to proceed!! (there are armed guards marshaling entry and exit points and all guests carry ID cards) this is a direct result of the bombings several years ago. At least we felt safe in the hotel!!

We were very surprised by the hotel itself. It was only a Holiday Inn, but with a Balanise twist. It was very well presented and the staff were SO polite and efficient. We were greeted with a cold face towel and a bowl of cold jelly, whilst we were checked in. Bloody nice touch. The room was good, not great, but modern, cool and good. The only annoying thing was, right outside our room was a decorative pond, and for the last 2 nights all we could here were bloody frogs all effing night! At one point, I climbed in and threw stones at the feckers!! Noisy bastards!!

Frogs aside, it was a great hotel with nice pool and swim up bar. Once we were settled in, we sat down on the front, in oversized wicker sofas, overlooking the beach and sea. We then proceeded to get quite pissed and silly, watching the lovely sunset and sampling the local brew "Bintang", which was rather nice!

We managed to make it up for breakfast the next morning and spent the day doing a mix of shopping in the local mall, which was a 15 minute walk up the beach, and parking about by the pool.

The following day, we booked a tour, doing several activities. First of which was snorkeling of the coast, which was ok, but because there were 20 other boatloads there, the water was a bit churned up and not as clear as it could have been, but still saw plenty of tropical fish. Next up was Turtle park, which is as it says, sort of! It is a small landing beach where they keep lots of turtles, some huge buggers as well, 4-5 foot long, as well as snakes, lizards, and monkeys! Got to hold my first snake, a big python, and, I must admit, it felt weird and I won't do it again in a hurry!! Even Ju had a go as well, bless her!

We then had a bite to eat then off for a 2 hour spa session, which included full body massage, scrub, foot bath, floral bath. I was so relaxed, I kept falling asleep!! Bloody lovely though!!

After our rub down, we then went on a small tour of the south of the island, encompassing a bloody great statute of some Hindu gods and a lovely cove beach called dreamland, which you could only reach by climbing down some steps carved through the rocks! We declined a swim, seeing as were all nice and fresh from the spa and then headed off to the clifftop temple at Uluwatau.

When we got there, our driver, Cherro, advised us to remove all of our jewellery, hats and glasses, as the monkeys that live in the temple love to grab things of people, which we saw first hand! We saw several hats nabbed, some glasses, they even tried to take the flip flops of someones feet!!

The temple itself was beautiful. Perched high on top of the cliffs and lots of nooks and crannies, but by God, was it hot!! After all that pampering and spa, it was all gone as I was again sweating more than the proverbial fat man in a pie shop!! We stopped off for a cool coconut water then back to the hotel for a cold shower and an early night!

The next day, we had a lie in and a lazy morning by the pool, until after lunch, as we were doing a shortened temple tour in the afternoon taking in 2 of the bigger temples. Silly me, fell asleep on a floating board in the pool for 30 mins and crisped my back! I did not feel it until that evening, but i was proper English Lobster!

Anyway, we set off on our temple tour, but got bogged down in Traffic! It took us 40 minutes to do 200m at one point!
I must take a side step here to talk about the traffic in Bali-It is Fecking Bonkers!!!!!!

There seems to be no sense of highway code! If you want to overtake, you do- Regardless of what is coming in the other direction! Even Undertaking is done with scary ease, and it does not matter who has right of way, as if someone wants to turn or cross the road in front of you, they will just do it!! BUT the worst thing is, MY GOD, the bloody bikes and scooters!! I have NEVER seen soooo bloody bikes and scooters on the road! If you imagine ALL of the bikes and scooters you have ever seen, ever, in your whole entire life, and then multiply by 1000, you are still not close to the number of scooters that there are on the roads in Bali!! And they literally have NO road sense or sense of danger at all, whatsoever!! I mean, it is not uncommon to see 3 people on a moped, Father, Mother AND BABY! Yep, thats right, a freaking baby!! Mum and Dad are ok with helmets on, not all the time, but baby? NO! Un-fecking-believable!! And then, there are the mopeds bombing round with 10-12 year old kids driving them! With 3 or 4 people on board! And seriously, they do not care about other traffic! They will pull out in front of you whenever and wherever they want! ALSO, there are the mopeds that really should be trucks, as they are soooo overloaded, they are wider and higher than a car!! Just Stupidly so! (oh and i forgot to say that, everywhere, by the side of the road, are people selling petrol-out of empty vodka bottles!!)

Anyway, Rant over, back to the trip.

We eventually made it to the first temple, and It was worth the trip, Cant remember what it was called, but it was bloody lovely, with lots of different tall and short stacks and immaculately kept gardens, surrounded by a moat. We could not stay too long there as we were trying to get to Tanah Lot Temple for Sunset, and were still a way away.

we managed to get there in time, (bonkers driving!) and on the way to the Temple, the streets are just full of market shops selling all kinds of tourist tut, but fascinating to wonder round!

The temple itself is another great spectacle. Built on a big rock that is separated from the cliffs, only by about 30 metres, and is easily accessible at low tide, (it was high tide, boo). There were other buildings on the cliff leading up to it, and it stretched even over to the next 2 bits of headland that were 5 mins and 10 mins walk away. We stayed to watch the sunset, but left as soon as it became apparent that it was getting too cloudy to see a good one, and that the clouds were actually storm clouds! Made it back to the car in time before the Heavens opened and the lightning came down!

Our last stop was to a beautiful restaurant that was on the beach. All the tables were on the beach and the food was in fish tanks in the restaurant or in the, fresh from that afternoons fish market, ice boxes. (I had chicken!) All was going great, until, just before our food arrived, it pissed it down again! So we legged it indoors and eat the dinner watching the rain belting down on the beach. Another good day, apart from, that night was the first night of the sodding frog chorus!

Because we had bugger all sleep, we had another lazy final day, in the shops, and by the pool, and Ju got her hair and nails done, AGAIN! And I stayed undercover, as i was still frazzled from the sun the day before!

Had a nice final meal in a local restaurant, and a meander along the main street back to the hotel, before finally calling it a night after packing at about 11, only to be kept awake by sodding Kermit & his friends again!

We were up at 0530 for our 8am flight back to KL and made it ok, both slept the 3 hours on the plane and for 3 of the 4 hours in the car travelling form KL airport to Lumut, ready for our next stop, which is the truly amazing and fantastic Pangkor Laut Island resort, which I will tell you all about in my next blog, whenever I get round to it!

Thanks for reading my version of War & Peace, and I will try to make my next one a lot shorter!!

Bye for now!

G & J

Bye Bye Bali, Hello Paradise-Eventually!!

Bade a fond farewell to Bali, and, after a 12 hour trip, including a 4 hour car ride, made it by Land, sea and Air the Pangkor Laut Island Resort! Bloody beautiful, what little we have seen already, and cant wait to explore the Island in the daytime tomorrow.
Will try and do a final Bali update when we have time and will try and add some more photos.
Cheers
G & J

Beutiful Bali.

Arrived In Bali on Sunday, and immediately it was Ferking hot again!! The most humid place so far!
Upon arrival, it was alittle bit chaotic! We got shuffled into a queue and had to buy a visa, which was $25 wach, then into another queue to get through immigration, which took forever! Then, when we finally got our bags, we then had to pass each bag through a scanner before we could even get out! When we finally got outside, the humidity was incredible! Within 2 minutes I was sweating like a fat bloke in a pie shop!!

Got a taxi to the hotel for only 3 Quid, but, what was slightly unnerving was the fact that when we got to the hotel, we were stopped at the entrance by armed security who did a bomb search of the car berfore we were allowed in!! *feck* And there are security all around the hotel, and you have to have a guest ID card with you at all times for security! At least we feel safe with all the security!!

The hotel was a surprise. Again, bloody nice! We were greeted at reception with a cold towel and a jelly! Bloody nice! The room was nice as well, not huge, but nice, clean and cool. The hotel itself, I think is bloodly lovely. Done in a Balanise style, with lovely lawns, a great pool with swim up bar and big four poster sunbeds! It is right on the beach as well, which is always nice!

Once we checked in, we just had a wonder round the hotel complex and found a great place to sit and have a beer, a nice big sofa overlooking the beach and sea! So we sat there for a couple of hours and sunk several "Bintang", which is the local beer! It just happened to be happy hour as well, so we ended up sitting there and watching the sunset, and it was just beautiful! We both felt so happy and content, just lying there watching the sunset, listening to chilled music, sipping Bintang!

Today was Valentines Day, and I managed to surprise Ju with a valentines card that I bought back in London! We then spent the morning and lunchtime looking around the local shopping mall, which is pretty big! Ju is happy because she has now got the set! New watch, New bag, New glasses! I am just glad that she has trouble finding shoes to fit, otherwise we would be broke!!

Had an afternoon chilling in the sun/haze by the pool and then had a lovely dinner in a local restaurant in our own little Balanise hut. I had a great dish, which was beef and chicken satay, but what was so great about it was that it came on the plate with its own little wooden BBQ to keep the food warm!

Have booked up a tour for tomorrow, so going for an early night as we are up early in the morning.

Again, having problems uploading pics, but will try and do some soon!

BALI

BALI.

It's Beautiful.
End of!!

Bali bound and heading to the beach.

Well, that's the cities done and dusted for now! Time to hit the beach at last!! I am now sat in a crumpled heap in KL departure lounge waiting for our flight to Bali. I was a little over exuberant with my celebrations in the bar last night after watching United beat City! Get in!!
Met a lovely Aussie called Russell, who was a fellow United fan who is also on his honeymoon and he was my wingman until about 1am this morning! Cheers fella, enjoy the rest of your Honeymoon mate!
I eventually stumbled upstairs sometime after 1 and, try as I might, I was unable to remain quiet, and apparently shook the hotel with my snoring!!! Poor Ju, she kept kicking me to get me to shut up, even put the telly on to cover the noise and was 2 minutes away from going to sleep on the bath to get away from the noise!! I am so sorry hon. xxx lol.
Really enjoyed KL. It was damn hot and humid, but I liked it. The hotel was great and an added bonus, being as nice as it Was, and I had the biggest and nicest T-Bone steak in there that I have had for many a year! I fought I was going to start mooing after I finished it because I had eaten so much cow!!!
We didn't actually see that much of KL. We spent most of the time in the shops and Market. Didn't even go and see the Petronas towers! Mind you, we could see them from the hotel as they were only about 2 minutes away. Loved Pentaling market. Such as busy and condensed Market. Bought several new watches there, which I love! I had to stop myself from buying too many!!
Now heading off to Bali, which is a bit of the unknown, but just looking forward to having a lazy time on the beach. In fact, I think we are beaching it all the way from now until we get to Bangkok on 11th March! So hopefully I will not be the colour of a milkbottle for too much longer!! Well almost time to board the flight now, so farewell Malaysia, for now, and hellooooo Bali!!


An Englisher abroad!!

Well farewell to lovely Singapore. I will definitely be back again!

Arrived in Kuala Lumpur mid-afternoon after a short hop from Singapore to, what I can only describe as Exeter airport, circa 1970!! The plane stopped in the middle of nowhere in the airport and some rickety red steps were pushed into place. Feck me, it is hot and humid here!! We gingerly made it down the steps and across the tarmac into a tunnel and then pointed to turn right! we walked around 3 sides of the terminal building for about 7 minutes, passing loads of passengers going all over the shop to other planes. It would have been so easy to jump on another plane! Eventually made it into the terminal and to passport control. Got yet another stamp our passports! When we got to baggage reclaim, it said that our bags were on belt 4.
Belt 4 was not moving. There were several bags scattered around on the floor by belt 4, but not ours. :-(
After making polite enquiries (where are our fecking bags mate?!!) We eventually found them scattered on the floor by belt 7!! At least we got them!

The next obstacle to overcome was how to get from the airport to our hotel in central KL. I did not realise, until we landed, that the airport is 70km from KL!!! Crapola!
We decided to get a taxi, fairly reasonable for about 20 quid. As we were paying for it, the 8 women who were in the other booths trying to sell bus tickets all started wailing like banshees, so much so that it actually made me jump! All they were doing was trying to get the attention of the dozen people who had just come through customs!! Talk about loud, geesh!

We eventually made it to our hotel in KL, and I was left a little red faced! I had not realised that, through the booking website, we had booked a 5 star hotel, for little money. So as we pull up in a taxi, and i get out wearing flip flops, shorts and an England football shirt (which i wore because i knew it was going to be stupid hot!), I thought, wow, this is nice!
When we got inside and went to reception and told them our names, the receptionist said, follow me please sir, and led us straight into the lift, up to the 20th floor and out into the VIP club reception!!!! I  felt like a right 'nana, sat there in my Chav outfit, whilst to my left, there was an Arab sheik watching the business news on the tv and on the other side were several people in suits having a meeting! I just wanted to ground to open up and swallow me there and then!

We eventually got booked in and taken to our room, which again, was bloody lovely! Huge Queensize bed, Huge ensuite with big bath and shower, free internet all day, free breakfast, free afternoon tea and free evening cocktail!! Needless to say, I got changed pretty damn quick!!

Eventually ventured out into KL to have a look around and popped in to a few shops and Malls

Found somewhere to eat and finally got Ju to eat something oriental! (she decided to tell me only after everything was booked that she hates Chinese food and especially Thai food! I just said, well your shit out of luck there then love!!) She only had Plain noodles in soup, but it is a start! We then had one of those "you had to be there moments' where, after asking Ju 2 of 3 times if she wanted to try some of my pork, the waiter placed a spoon and fork on the table and I asked Ju if she wanted the fork ( to help with the noodles) to which she gave an exasperated response "how many times do I have to say that I DON'T WANT ANY BLOODY PORK!" I looked at her and just held up the fork, and that just set us off!
Another first for me tonight, to go with the sunburnt hands! I have never eaten in one restaurant only to finish and then go into the restaurant next door immediately after leaving to eat again!! This happened tonight as Ju only had noodles and the next place was a sushi bar, which she can eat till the cows come home! So we ended up in the sushi bar eating again!
Managed to brave the Pentaling Street market  for a couple of hours after dinner and loved it! It is hookey watch heaven! So many there that I want,  but I have set myself a limit and am determined to stick to it, (within reason!!) Did not buy any tonight, but am going back tomorrow to get the ones I found that I wanted!

Hopefully I can resist temptation and not buy too many tomorrow!

Up early in the morning as we are off to an outlet centre that sells genuine leather goods, LV bags, etc, at half price and BOGOF prices! Ju is very excited about this part!

Hopefully we will not bankrupt ourselves tomorrow!!

I will let you know how we get on!!

G & J

Last day in Singapore, Singaapore Zoo & Night safari

Had a lie in this morning, then meandered up tp the pool for some swimming and more picture hanging over the edge! As it was a really sunny day, the photos looked better, as it was a clearer sky behind!

Upon lots of recommendations, we decided to spend the last day at Singapore Zoo and also stay for the night safari. Both bloody good actually.

We got a free shuttle bus up to the Zoo and had a good mooch around for several hours. It was so bloody hot and humid, then I realised that we were in the middle of a rainforest, so no bloody wonder! Hopefully sweated off a few more pounds! The Zoo is great, most of the animals are in encloseures, rather than cages and there are some monkeys that are free roaming in the trees above you. So you are always looking up to make sure that one is not about to poo on you!! I loved the White Tigers and Cheetahs, although they were bloody lazy and just lay there in the sun doing bugger all!

I would add some more pics, but there is a problem on the website at the moment, bugger!!
We were really lucky as well because, just as we finished, it pissed it down in biblical proportions for about 30 mins, so we just took shelter in the gift shop and succumbed to buying tut!

We then found a fish foot treatment spa, where you put your feet in a big tank of water and lots of little fish come and nibble away all the dead skin and crap. It feels soooo wierd at first and ticlkes like buggery, but once you get used to it, it just feels like they are vibrating on your feet. For some reason, i seemed to have 3 times as many fish on my feet as anyone else! The bloke nest to me had about 10 onhis and I had more than 100!! What are they trying to say?!

we then made our way to the night Safari and were greated by several half naked blokes dancing and breathing fire, which was quite impressive to watch! The Night Safari is good apart from the fact that it is  too dark to see some of the animals clearly and no flash photography is allowed. Still, worth going on though!

Well, our Singapore adventure is almost over. Flying off to Kuala Lumpur in tomorrow lunchtime for 2 nights. Only really going there to look at dodgy watches and handbags and possibly look at the Petronas Towers! Then we fly off to Bali on Sunday for 5 nights. Our first bit of beach holiday! Will see about doing a diving course there maybe, if it is cheaper than on Phi Phi that is! Agian, will update blog as and when internet is available.

I just want to add that, I really like Singapore and if you are ever in this part of the world, Might I suggest forgetting about the budget and booking a room at The Marina Bay sands. It is the only way you can get to swim in the pool, and it is a bloody good hotel as well!!

Until next time............

Singapore & When is a Jacuzzi not a Jacuzzi?!!

Wednesday 9th Feb. day 6

Well, we arrived into the sweltering heat of Singapore on Tuesday afternoon and managed to get a free bus from the Airport to the Hotel-Tidy!
First thing that struck me about Singapore on the way from the airport, was how lush and green it was. Avenues of trees lining the roads.

When we arrived at our hotel, The Marina Bay Sands, we could not help but go WOW! It is an amazing thing to see. It rises out in the middle of nothing, and it really does look like there is a boat on top of the hotel!!

We proceeded to check in and, AGAIN, we were upgraded to a bigger and better room because it was our first visit! Lets hope this continues all trip!
LOVED, the room. A large double with a kingsize, a balcony and a huge walk in bathroom!
First thing we did was to get changed and head up to the pool on the roof. It is a truly awe inspiring thing! An infinity edge pool, 57 stories up!! NUTS!

Now, this is where the Jacuzzi story comes in!!
TRUST ME!
On the upper side of the decking, there are several Jacuzzi,s, overlooking the other side of the hotel. I thought I would see if one was free and jump in it. I looked down the left, Full. Middle, Full. Right, Empty! Bonus, I thought! So i grabbed our stuff and jumped in. It was a little shallow, only waist deep. Hmmm. So i thought it must be for kids!
Noooo!
A security guard comes over and, very politely says, "Excuse me sir, but would you mind getting out of the fountain please?!" I was mortified!! Ju was not much help! She was too busy laughing, and was still laughing by the time we got back to our room!! NEVER again!!
Had a good day touring all the sights in Singapore. Stopped in Raffles for the obligatory Singapore Sling!
Had a long walk down Orchard road, doing all the shops and getting an earlyish night as we are up early to do some more touring tomorrow!

Will do another update soon, after we do the night safari!

G & J

Hong Kong and the Big Sleep!!

Well, we made it to Hong Kong in one piece, but the flight was not the best.
We left London about 30 mins late and had crappy seats. 2 of the middle 4 seats on a 747. Great thing is, the plane was called Air Force scrum!! Great!
Looooong flight to Hk, made worse by the fact that neither of us managed to get much sleep due to not being able to get comfortable in the shitty seats!
We landed in HK at 14.30 on Saturday afternoon, HK time, and by the time we got through the airport and into HK and into our hotel, it was 16.30.
We were both pretty much FUBAR, so we decided to have a 2 hour nap.
Only problem is that we did not wake up until 11pm!! So the evening was a blow out!
We decided to stay in bed and sleep until the morning and get up early, which we did. We got up at 7am, had a nice breakfast in the Hotel and were out the door by 8am. We wondered around the Wan Chai area of Hk, where the hotel is, looking for thr Peak Tram. Eventually found it, bought our tickets and made our way up to the top. BUgger me!! It is a stupidly steep tramline! Almost 45Degrees at some point!

Anyway, it was well getting up early for, as the views from there are truly stunning. An amazing view of all the towers and skyscrapers that make up Hong Kong. We then descended back down Via the tram and headed through Hong Kong park, which was a lovely tranquil surprise in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the city. It even has a small aviary in it, which was great.

We stopped for a bite to eat then went to meet up with an old School friend, who is from Hong Kong, who I have not seen since he left school 20 years ago! It was great to see you Josiah!! We have both put on a few pounds since we last saw each other! We had a great natter for a couple of hours over a drink in a rooftop cafe.
Ju and I then headed to the Temple night market and had a long walk ammong the shops, back down to the waters edge to cath the light show that they do every night on all the buildings overlooking the water. It was ok, nothing too special! Then it was back to the hotel and an early night!

Today, we cheated a bit! We jumped on a tour bus and toured most of the Island on a bus. Bloody good value though! Well worth doing a nd a great way to see lots of HK. We went to the South side of the Island as well and had a wonder through Stanley and Stanley market, which was a good trip, then went back to Hk and over the water and did a tour of Kowloon as well. I am amazed at the sheer scale of some of the buildings, how high and vast they are! HK just seems to go upwards!! We got on the Star ferry and have taken several trips on the Underground as well, which is a lot cleaner, cooler and efficient than LUL! Mind you, most things are!
All in all, had a great time here in HK. Another early night tonight as we are up at sparrowfart to go to the airport as we are off on our next leg of the holiday to Singapore. really looking forward to this one, as we are staying at The Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which it the feck off huge new one with the infinity pool on the roof!! We have 3 nights there before it is off to Kuala Lumpur!

Well, 5 days down, only 48 more to go!!!

Almost ready!!

Well, after not being able to sleep (got to bed at 4am!), We are now almost ready for the off.
All packed, just sorting out the house and waiting for our lift to the airport!

Our flight is at 1840 from Terminal 5 at Heathrow and I just cannot wait to get there now.

Here is a brief outline of our trip!

04 Feb. Fly from Heathrow to Hong Kong
05 Feb. Hong Kong. 3 nights
08 Feb. Fly from Hong Kong to Singapore. 3 nights
11 Feb. Fly from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2 nights there.
13 Feb. Fly from Kuala Lumpur to Kuta in Bali for 5 nights.
18 Feb. Fly from Bali to Kuala Lumpur, then Private car to Pangkor Laut Island resort, Malaysia. 4 nights.
22 Feb. Travel overland to Krabi in Thailand. 3 nights.
25 Feb. Travel to Koh Phi Phi island, Thailand (diving course) 5 nights.
02 Mar. Travel by ferry to Phuket, Thailand. 1 night.
03 Mar. Fly to Koh Samuii and then boat to Koh Pangnang Island. 3 nights.
06 Mar. Boat to Koh Tao Island.  2 nights.
08 Mar. Boat to Koh Samuii Island. 3 nights.
11 Mar. Fly from Koh Samuii to Bangkok. 3 nights.
14 Mar. Overnight train from Bangkok to Chiangmai. 5 nights.
19 Mar. Flight from Chiangmai to Bangkok. 1 night.
20 Mar. Flight from Bangkok to Male, Maldives. 6 nights at the Olhevulhi beach and Spa resort.
26 Mar. Flight from Male back to Gatwick.

Honeymoon over. :-(
Well, must go and do the hoovering before we go!
So, next time i type anything, I should be on the other side of the world! YAY!

The Night before!

Thursday 03 feb 2011

02.10am

Well. it has been a long time coming, but tomorrow, juliana & I are finally off on our trip of a lifetime/belated Honeymoon to the Far east. I have had great fun in planning and booking the Holiday, Now lets hope it is as good as I hope it will be!
Done 95% of the packing, Just a few bits and bobs to do tomorrow.
Am looking forward to my first lie-in in 3 weeks tomorrow as well, although I doubt I will get much sleep as I am so excited!

First stop is Hong Kong
We depart from Heathrow, T5 at 1820 tomorrow evening and Land at 1420pm HK time on Saturday, right in the Middle of Chinese New Year!!

Thought I would give this blogging thing a go, as Recommended by Lee. Cheers matey!

No Idea how it works yet, but thought I may as well try it at least!

Hope to do some posts most days.

Off to try and sleep now!!

Nite!

This Is our final destination of the Holiday. The Maldives!!