Return to Asia

He made it!

Sir Thomas Stanford Bingley Raffles surveys Singapore. I wish I was called Sir Thomas Stanford Bingley Raffles

Joy Juice. Leaves itself open to all kinds of innuendo but I'm not that crude, obviously

Laura makes us sew bags together and sells them to rich tourists. Or here's us sewing Canada patches on our bags

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil

Quite simply, a massive beetle

The Cameron Highlands

Just before we left Australia, a Didgeridoo guy plays four at once at the night market in Darwin

So, it's been a while since we began in Malaysia, almost six months ago but we are back with a vengeance. We've had a few days in Singapore, where we picked up some fresh meat, Tom and Laura. Now we're back in Malaysia on our way North to Thailand in time for the Full Moon Party in Ko Pha Ngan on June 1st. That promises to be a fun night...

So, at the moment we are in an area called the Cameron Highlands, famous for acre upon acre of tea fields. You can go to one of the tea plantations and eat tea and scones, how rather awfully lovely. Talking of eating, now we're back in Asia I can eat like a king again! The good old British pound and un-balanced world economics ensure that I can get a massive noodle soup or curry for less than a pound. Sweet.

Nick's more or less recovered from the vomiting curse now, he is still wary of what can happen if you upset them though. Let that be a lesson to all.

While in a city called Malacca a couple of days ago we went fishing at a local commercial fishing pond, which was a new experience for me. Firstly because I've never done much fishing. Secondly because at 6pm they release a load of fish into a massive pond and then it's kind of a race to catch them because there are only so many in there. I say race, although that implies speed, and this lasted about 3 hours. In which time the local guys next to us caught all our fish. I blame the bait. Or the weather conditions. Or the fish.

Also, back on food, had a meal in a restaurant called Capitol Satay, where you choose a selection of different skewered foods and then dip and cook them in a massive vat of boiling satay sauce in the middle of the table. There was such a variety of skewered stuff that I couldn't even tell you half the stuff I put in my mouth but I could tell you that it tasted good.

Next we're heading for Penang, then the Perenthian Islands off the North-East coast of Malaysia as we have decided that Tom is so pale that it scares little children. ('Do they have sun in England mummy?') The Perenthians are your standard, run of the mill tropical islands with white sandy beaches so we'll bum around there for a few days I should think, maybe do some snorkelling if such a whim takes us.