Malaysia

These Perhintion Islands are a magnet for young, predominately blonde, bronzed European beauties, so I was glad to be weightless underwater for a while with only the Puffer Fish to marvel at my waist belt.. and I'm not saying I'm a prawn-eating porker because even Kate Moss would feel a bit frumpy in this place. Diving here is very relaxed and relatively cheap but we decided to leave the disorganised Quiver Dive Team with their fading wetsuits and spend the next day snorkelling, swimming and sunning ourselves. Tough life huh! Practically clear as gin you can spot the little fishes in the shallow water even without a mask. It was certainly hard to tear ourselves away from such seclusion and paradise but we had four countries to visit in four weeks so we bid farewell to Gilbert the resident Ghecko and took the first boat taxi back to the mainland the next morning. Our next endeavour was to get to Thailand and we had no option but to get a car to the border - our first on-foot border crossing! Surprisingly enough it was very straightforward, no military men with guns searching through our bags and mistaking talcum powder for a suspicious substance then throwing us in jail... well, it happens in the movies! Anyway, a quick stamp here, another stamp there and we were through! Again we were suprised to find the tourist information office was, for once, full of information, and the friendly clerk sent us in the direction of the bus laden with useful leaflets. This border town is notorious for prostitutes and drugs but we didn't see any seediness, just lots of birds in cages - and by 'birds' I don't mean the colloquial word for women.

We were sticking to the East Coast, taking the VIP Bangkok bus to Chumphon and then onto the island of Ko Tao. There was no other bus option like the Indian style local cattle class, it seems big, a/c, lacy curtained cruisers like our one is the standard tourist travel. Ironically we were the only westerners on it, and we were certianly treated like VIPs - snacks upon boarding, superb Thai dinner and entertainment of a surreal Thai Gameshow; (Lots of instrument sounds at every movement, followed by canned laughter - in one scene an invisible, painted-face, sumo-type with pointy, scary teeth kept harrassing a guy who presumably couldn't see him, ultimately the guy couldn't sleep and ended up annoying his girlfriend. Hilarious... this would go down well in the England.)

Ten hours later, through a massive storm of terrential rain and thunder, we arrived at Chumphon, well, a crossroads near Chumphon to be precise. It was the middle of the night, in the middle of a large junction, with the only sign of life being a little Thai chap on a moped, who didn't speak English. (I knew you'd like a bit of horror to happen to us after all this fun and sun). So we were at the mercy of this moped boy, who called over his mate also on a moped and we wrote down our intended destination. If he'd have charged us 100Baht (200squid) we'd have been pretty much prepared to pay it but thankfully we agreed on a smaller fee and loaded up the bikes. Now if you can imagine, mopeds here are just the same as in the UK, they can carry one or two people, and a bag at the most, well, we also had to fit on our huge, rucksack which they tried to balance on the foot ledge below the handlebars... apparently turning was not necessary in these parts. Ahhh! I was less than happy with the situation but we had no time to waste, Andy plonked a helmut on my head and we were off.. we had a boat to catch! My moped taxi followed Andy's, thankfully, and I was soon laughing again when I caught sight of myself in the wing mirror with my ridiculous, mushroom-style 'safety' helmut, which was about as safe as a real giant mushroom. Hey ho, we arrived alive and just in time to get the 12 O'Clock Slow Boat.

The night boat takes a steady snail pace over to Ko Tao to deliver provisions and for 2pound we got to sleep onboard. Expecting to be the last on the very busy crossing we were infact bouncing around the sleeping chamber with just two French and one Thai. Bonus! Selecting a nice mattress and pillow we bedded down for the night, and as we got a few hours kip we were floating to a paradise island. What a way to travel!

The pier was a hive of activity at 6am with boats arriving and unloading their goods. Out of the three main islands in this area Ko Tao, or Kao To (Cow Toe) as Andy hilariously misprounces it, is the smallest, quietest and most laid-back. More importantly it is a mecca for diving, and we set off in search of the fishes!

Today we left Kuala Lumpur for the coastal town of Kuala Terengganu (KT) and as it was to take over 7 hours we were hoping for something better than the Indian buses! Thankfully the bus was great, arriving in KT we were at a bit of loss as had no guide book for this area so had to rely on a taxi tout, not something we like doing but had no choice. Walking round KT we were struck not by its natural beauty or golden beaches (couldn't find them) but by the lack of people both local and tourist. We found an outdoor cafe and as the evening wore on more and more locals arrived, probably spending most of the day sheltering from the heat and / or praying as it is a massively devout Muslim area. As ever we over ordered at dinner mainly due to language problems and Gem ended up with a huge fish.

Next day we got oursleves to the Perhentian Kecil Island by bus and more excitingly speed boat. It really did look like paradise as we arrived into the bay which has been saved so far from mass tourism and development. The water was so clear and warm, about 28 degrees!

Island life is very quiet and relaxed, most restaurants show a film in the evening, we watched Gangs of New York so after seeing 100's of people chopped up we retired to our room which we seem to be sharing with a small Geckho. On the way to the beach in the morning we passed a lizard that was 1m in length which was cool but couldn't get the camera out in time before he scurried off!

We decided to revive our scuba diving skills and booked a refresher and a wreck dive. The wreck dive was quite a strange experience to actually see something so big having been defeated by the sea and now be using as a marine home! This was out first dive without an instructor, we just had a guide with us and although I guzzled my way through the air in the tank at my normal alarming rate we did find it enjoyable until the weather turned! Whilst diving we saw several flashes of light, at first thought it was a photographer but then realised a tropical storm had gathered above us. Rising to the surface we could have been in the North Sea, the sea was rough, cold, pouring down with rain, pour visibility and constant thunder and lightening. The journey back to the island was freezing and took some time as the driver navigates by sight and when he couldn't see anything was quickly lost!
It was good to be back diving but the coral and fish life as nothing in comparison to what we had experienced in Eygpt and as the level of organisation was dangerously lacking we decided to call it quits after 2 dives and hit the beach again!

Decided to have a nice meal at the only resort on the island, got to have a few beers and watch the Japanese tourists take photos of everything all evening, such interesting people to watch!