Perhentian Islands

Remember those little islands you used to draw as a child with the sea, the sand and the palm trees? Well, they actually exist; about 19 kms off the northeastern coast of Malaysia. Perhentian means stopping place in Malay, and it is no surprise that many a foreigner get stuck here for several years - Every paradise island cliché you could ever wish for can be found here: Golden sunshine, blue skies, white sands, turquoise waters, green palms, fresh coconuts and beautiful scantily clad people. As if the surface wasn't awesome enough, I decided to sign up for the PADI open water dive course

 which revealed a whole other World beneath the waves which was equally, if not even more, breathtaking. Creatures of all colours, shapes and sizes lurk between alien rocks, anemones and corals... Among my scuba highlights were 2 beautiful green sea turtles, a slithery moray eel, and an adorable junior yellow box fish. Finding Nemo is actually unbelievably easy, the cute little orange buggers are absolutely everywhere... I'll try and not bore you to death with a description of every tropical fish I happen to remember though - the point here is it's amazing down there so go and check it out! If scuba isn't your thing then snorkelling is still pretty awe inspiring but there's nothing quite like the magical feeling of weightlessness you get when you are under the water. I recon it is the closest I'll ever come to being an astronaut!

As well as all the natural beauty of the place the island is really sociable as everyone mostly hangs out on the same beach (long beach) meaning we were able to meet plenty of people from all over the World.

Perfect though it seemed we did discover a very ugly under belly after a couple of days... Stories of tourists and locals getting beaten up with sticks for trivial reasons - last year alone two people were beaten to death and the only punishment for this crime is the cost of a police bribe. On a less serious note my iPod and cash were stolen while I went swimming and on a very tragic note an English tourist was killed when a boat hit her whilst snorkelling. When you are presented with that kind of perspective it seems silly to mourn the loss of a gadget and some cash. Sadly you come across tragic situations like this that remind you never to let your guard down fully as there can be danger in the most serene of places.

We did have an amazing time though and I was really very reluctant to leave... Having met plenty of people on that beach who 'stopped' for a few days and still hadn't carried on after a few years, I thought it best to escape paradise before it sucked me too far in!

Key info:

Accommodation: Bintang view - amazing wooden huts with beautiful views of the sea. Electricity from 7am to 7pm which makes sleeping in after a night out somewhat difficult! But that's what the beach is for anyway isn't it?

Dive school: Turtle Bay Divers - friendly staff and good instructors with a maximum of 4 divers per instructor which is just right.

Fresh coconut straight from the tree:

Long beach:

Bintang View:

Fire throwers and monkey juice at the beach bar:

Full moon rising;

Me being a sea astronaut:

Nothing much else to do but:

Singapore and Penang

Oh Singapore, Singapore, Singapore! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

At first I wasn't sure if I just loved this place for the pure joy of being back in civilisation, but after a few days there the love only grew. Clean, shiny gleaming city of awesome food, countless air conditioned malls, artificial beaches, landscaped gardens and towering sky scrapers in all shapes and sizes. We were initially worried that our wallets wouldn't be able to handle iy but honestly we didn't find it to be too expensive - the transport is reasonably priced and easy to use (keeping in mind that London is my reference point!) and the food is so cheap and sooo good - it's just the shopping temptations that you have to keep in check and if you can manage that (we failed a bit) then your smooth sailing. Having said all that the drinks in bars and clubs were unbelievably expensive so if partying is what you are after then you'd best come here with a heap of savings!

Our first day there we recovered from our overnight flight by lazing by the pool in a beach club on Sentosa island. The beaches are beautiful although noticeably artificial but sadly the sea is not particularly inviting - not surprising with it being the one of the busiest ports in the World. Before it gained independence in 1965, Singapore was the main British naval base in Asia and the World's largest dry dock which earned it the description the 'Gibraltar if the East' - it's no small wonder why we felt so at home! However having been to both I can safely state that Singapore is nothing like Gibraltar...

Once we got round to exploring we found a clean, cosmopolitan city whose inhabitants seem so relaxed that it's hard to believe there is such an abundance of economic activity going on. The highlight here other than the shopping is the stuffing of ones face at the various hawker centres dotted around the city. For less than a fiver (GBP) you can gorge yourself on dumplings, noodles, soups, dim sum, crab, pig intestines or pretty much any other food you can or can't think of all of which taste beautifully delicious (OK, so I didn't actually try the pig intestines... Maybe next time).

We very reluctantly left the city comforts of Singapore and headed to Malaysia based on the recommendations of some fellow travellers we met at our hostel. Our first stop was Penang where we didn't really have enough time to do anything other than head to a bar to play some pool and drink a Jaeger bomb or two which was fun enough but sadly I have nothing much to report about this city... I hear the assam laksa here (more food)is unmissable but sadly we missed it but it was a fun night out! At 5am we transferred our sore heads to a minibus to the Perhentian Islands where I'm currently sat writing this... All I'll say for the moment is that I may never leave here!

Chilling on Sentosa:

Marina Bay Sands:

Drinking coconut juice with a view:

Plenty of bars we couldn't afford at Clarke Quay:

The beautiful temple in China Town:

Sunset in Sentosa:

Fat prawns and the best dim sum ever:

Night bus to Penang with massage chairs!:

What I saw of Penang! :

Kerala

I've just discovered that I can write around my photos... Would've been far more useful to know that 3 months ago! 

I'm pretty sure I've said everything about India that I needed to say but for the sake of completeness here is our final leg:

After Mysore we headed to the relatively lovely and civilised town of Kochi. On our first night we went to watch Kathakali which is typical South Indian theatre dating back as far as the 17th century... Now, I can see how 5 hours of men skipping around in heavy make up and large skirts may have been entertaining back in the days before electricity, but we sat through a shortened 1 hour version I think we were more bemused than anything else!  Although it wasnt really my cup of tea, I do have to give credit to the commitment and talent of those involved - it takes 5 years to train as a Kathakali performer and it is clearly a highly skilled art; every eye movement, face movement and arm movement has a meaning and tells a story without the use of words . The make-up takes one hour to apply and transforms ordinary men into mystical heroes and demons in an impressively striking way. They then dance around each other to the (rather irritating) sounds of drums and cymbals gesturing and rolling their eyes like possessed folk but to be honest if we didn't have a piece of paper explaining the story to us I'd have been completely bewildered and clueless as to the meaning of all that expended energy!

The next day we signed up for a boat tour of the backwaters - Cata had a go at punting around in our eco-friendly boat and turned out to be quite the pro. We stopped off to see a couple of local businesses - one that made lime powder out of clam shells, another made rope out of coconut husks and finally a spice plantation. For lunch we were invited to eat at an Indian wedding where we were gawked at by the guests and served a beautiful tasting typical South Indian meal.

Our next stop took us to the beautiful rolling tea plantations of Munnar which are so serene and calm that we felt as though we'd left India entirely which was just fine by us! Finally, a 5 hour train ride took us to Kovalam beach in the South of Kerala where we rested our bones even further, spent our final rupees on a few souvenirs and flew out of India like bats out of hell...

A short and boring post but I am SO relaxed right now that that's all the India revisiting that I can muster! 

Hampi and Mysore

I think I owe India a bit of an apology... OK, so she and I don't see eye to eye, but perhaps I was a little too harsh. I feel a bit guilty, like I've scolded a child who didn't really know any better. It's not India's fault that I'm used to pavements and beef steaks, that I've been taught that burping in public is uncouth, it's not her fault that that I'm used to the polished surface of the West where a lot of the ugliness is swept into pipes, piled into dumps or hidden behind closed doors... So India, I am sorry for being so harsh; this will clearly never be a love affair but there is no reason we should end this brief encounter on a sour note. You've showed me some ugly realities and made me discover some of my limits so thank you for your honesty. 

What I realised today is that the reason India is so shocking is that ALL of it is on display whether you like it or not.  The good, the bad and the ugly is all in your face, all of the time and there is nowhere for you or it to hide. If you spend the right amount of money, there is a way to enjoy only the good of India and I'm sure it's a grand experience but I don't think it would feel right. So I can't on one hand complain about the dirt and noise and squalor and then on the other hand say I wouldn't want to travel in a way that would make this comfortable and enjoyable for me... There's a side of India that I'm sure I would love but it wouldn't feel real. As tourists I guess it's difficult to ever really experience anything that isn't sugar coated so now that I'm feeling less stressed and more reflective I can appreciate something positive within the chaos. Anyway, back to the travelling....

Hampi in Karnataka blew me away with its stunning landscapes worthy of a Disney film - A beautiful river winding round giant golden boulders broken up by palm trees and banana plantations and decorated with beautiful ancient ruins. Sadly, in an attempt to preserve the beauty of the place, conservationists have managed to all but destroy the community that live there... What we arrived to was a shell of what was until very recently a bustling and lovely 

small town. As of next year there will be nothing modern left in Hampi Bazaar as the whole village is being demolished and  moved some 14kms away which seems a real shame. Thankfully the highlights of our visit there were things that will remain unscathed. There is a resident elephant in the temple called Lakshmi whose daily wash in the river we witnessed in the morning - once convinced that she was suitably clean we headed to the temple to be blessed by her (for ten rupees of course). In the evening we clambered up piles of boulders and broken steps with a Polish guy we had met who kindly acted as our guide. The trek to the top was rewarded with stunning views but our moment of zen was soon cut short when a pack of giant evil demon rabies monkeys from hell with giant teeth and glowing eyes came and made us back away after an epic battle which we fought like the bravest of warriors. OK, OK, some tiny fluffy monkeys growled at us and the three of us squealed and ran away... But the rabies part may have been true and that's reason enough to have been terrified! Eventually we found a primate-free spot and enjoyed a stunning and tranquil sunset.

The most uncomfortable night bus ever got us to Mysore in the early morning where we spent a good 2 hours wandering around with our backpacks looking for an inexpensive hotel that wasn't falling apart. Eventually a rickshaw driver helped us out and we agreed to go on a day tour with him as well. He took us to a couple of temples, and then dropped us off at a tiny little oil shop where we were overwhelmed with 100 different beautiful smells but chose to buy the black jasmine and the water lily - good for skin and as mosquito repellent respectively. He then semi-kidnapped us and took us to a bar to show us off to some of his friends who we had a bottle of wine with (the men drink whisky with water, the women drink wine mixed with coke which is surprisingly nice). Our last stop was the amazing Mysore Palace which was completed 100 years ago. Unfortunately photography was not allowed in the interior (I managed to sneak one in) but you'll have to trust me when I say it's the most beautiful residence I've ever stepped in. From golden gates, to statues of panthers, marble floors, colourful pillars, stained glass windows and ivory inlaid doors and corridors... So far South India is slowly managing to cover some ground in redeeming my opinion of the country.