Day 20 - Kota Kinabalu

Today we were supposed to visit Kinabalu park, mt Kinabalu and the hot springs. Unfortunately the heavens opened and the weather was absolutely terrible, so we decided to have a chill day at home and go out in the evening if the weather brightened up. We went out and got some food and came back to watch the new Jurassic world film (which we thought was really good) we had heard some bad news that there had been an earth quack in Lombok which is close to Bali (our next destination) so we were waiting to hear some more information because we were planning on booking our flights that day too. I don't really remember what else we did. Mainly just chilled watching telly and planning the next leg of our trip. Calum made us dinner which was, you guessed it, fried rice. (Mine was better just so you know) and by the time we'd had dinner it was almost 11pm. I was gutted we didn't get to do Kinabalu park etc as we were both really looking forward to it but the weather here has been rather rubbish so far. Hopefully, Bali (if we can get there) will be a bit sunnier)

Day 19????? - Kota Kinabalu

So as it turns out. I'm terrible at this whole blogging stuff.

Today was a great day! We decided to head to the Sunday market, the weather wa nice (for once) and we had a great time walking around all the stalls and seeing all the stuff they sell! From nicknacks to fresh vegetables. It was amazing and colourful. . I spent most of the time searching for an anklet for my bestftiend Holly back home, as she gets one every time she or someone close to her goes away. I haven't managed to find her one yet. I did find some wooden figures of the three wise monkeys which I had to buy (only cost me a few pound) everything out here is so unbelievably cheap.  After walking around the market for a while we decided to take a mile long walk to the big shopping mall we'd visited the day before. We didn't really get much shopping done though. We had a spot of lunch and by this point we were hot, sweaty and uncomfortable and decided to head home. In natural Calum fashion he decided to head out to the gym a few hours later. We were gonna spend the night at the beach watching the sunset but It was so cloudy we wouldn't have seen anything. When Calum got back I made us some fried rice for dinner. (It was fairly good if I do say so myself) and then we just chilled a little before we went to bed.

Day 18? - Kota Kinabalu

Yesterday we hopped on a short 2 and a half hour flight from Johor Bahru to Kota Kinabalu. The flight was short, sweet and pretty much empty. Which was nice. We had a meal on the flight of spaghetti bolognase, which was pretty tasty. We arrived at Kota Kinabalu international airport around half 12/1 o clock, flew through immigration and made our way to a taxi. The ride to our hotel was probably about 20 minutes but the taxi was comfy and air conditioned so it was ok. We're in an apartment for our stay in Kota Kinabalu. It has three bedroom as it is shared accomadation but so far no one else is here. It's got a shared bathroom, living room, dining room and kitchen. But it's cute and clean and the bedroom is plenty big enough for the two of us (the pillows are also super comfy). We spend most of yesterday planning and booking for the rest of our stay we then had a little walk up to the supermarket and a little street were a bunch of resturants are. To get there we have to cross a really busy road with no traffic lights and it's pretty terrifying because the people in Malaysia drive madly. We stopped in some restaurant for dinner. I had some kind of burger but didn't really like i picked out the chicken and just ate the rest. Calum had steak which didn't actually taste too bad. Quite tender too. We then grabbed some milk and cereal from the supermarket to have for breakfast and made our way home. I had a really good night sleep for the first time in almost two and a half weeks.


Today. I was up pretty early and let Calum sleep in for a while. We then had some breakfast and decided that today we would do a small food shop and go to the lok kawi wild life park. It was lush seeing some cool animals (I even fed a deer, which are my favourite) however I left feeling quite sad. The enclosures were quite small and a lot of the animals didn't seem overly happy. And in the reptile house there was a bunch of dead turtles in with the live ones which I really didn't like. So we left there pretty quick. It was cool to see some orangutans and proboscis monkeys (monkeys with big noses) and the otters were really cute. The elephant enclosure was closed but I'm not sure where they were being kept. We caught the end of a show where a macaw was doing some orettt cool stuff like playing dead when the keeper pretended to shoot it and solving a maths equation. We also got introduced to a massive snake. We touched it and lifted him up and he was super heavy but so soft. We then decided to leave (after I said a last goodbye to the deers) we wandered around for ages trying to find a taxi or bus or some kind of way home. But we didn't have much luck. Finally just as we'd decided to just start walking towards the city a taxi driver offered us a lift. Not the whole way but to the city. Where we'd be able to get another taxi home. The first taxi dropped us at a shopping mall. Which was massive. We decided to have dinner whilst we were there! I had chicken satay and chicken fried rice. Calum had seafood mee mamak which is a noodle dish. We had wing tongs and spring rolls as a side and Calum ordered himself some extra chicken satay. We then had a chocolate dessert. It was absolutely delicious. I wish we'd taken a picture. We then decided to head home and get some shopping done. It's now half 11 and we're sat watching the new Pacific rim film and enjoying some rest.
I can't wait to see where tomorrow takes us!

Days 10-15 - Tioman

Honestly there isn't much to report from here. We've had a wonderful time but mainly been relaxing. . There has been a few things we've wanted to do but factors got in the way. One day Calum wasn't very well, another we'd had a tropical storm which went on until the afternoon and by the no trips were running and today (the 31st) I've been feeling quite poorly. The island is beautiful and we've just enjoyed taking it all in. We found monkeys right in our 'back garden' there was loads of them. We've seen loads of monitor lizzards, which Calum's definitely braver getting closer to than I am. Lots of cats and little lizzards. Every morning whilst we enjoy breakfast we see little crabs scurrying along the beach and digging out holes to hide in. Our breakfast was included in the price of the room and is prepared by the 'hotel' managers mum. It's usually fried rice, pancakes, chicken nuggets and fried eggs but there is sometimes other stuff. Turns out the only cash point on the island is on a place called Tekek. which is only reachable by water taxi. Which was a weird experience but quite a cool one. The boat picked us up in the sea right outside our room and dropped us back in the same place. I was a bit scared to start but soon warmed up. We've also found a restaurant we really like called 'river side cafe' we've eaten there most days so far. They do a lovely fried rice (especially the Pattaya fried rice) which is basically egg fried rice wrapped in egg. I also usually get the chicken wings. And sometimes if we missed lunch we'll get some tomyam soup. Which is lush but a bit too spicy for Calum. Bless him. I don't want to leave this place it's so picturesque and wonderful but I am looking forward to getting out and doing some more adventuring. On Sunday however we did treat ourselves to a massage. We got a full body scrub with some coffee stuff a full body massage, a facial (which I loved) and then had some foot pampering whilst we drank some king of ginger tea and ate some kind of sponge cake. It was a lush evening and I definitely felt more relaxed (and silky smooth) afterwards. We've got one day left on this wonderful island before we move on to our next location. I'm going to miss it a lot.

Sorry the blog has been a little slack but the only Internet we have here is a hotspot from the hotel managers phone and he's not always around. So we haven't had much internet access whilst we've been here. I'll be sure to upload some photos when we have better wifi.

Day 9 - our journey to Tioman, Malaysia

This was a very loooong and tiring day! We woke up around 7 and had some breakfast. Went back to bed for a cuddle and got up around mid day and began our walk to the bus station. It was about a mile and a half away but with our heavy rucksacks and the humid heat it made it a challenge. But we got there eventually and we were on our way. Traffic was horrendous and we had to do the whole immigration and passport control thing again. Which is a bore but we got through it. Eventually we ended up in Larkin bus station. Ready to board our bus and get to mersing. Only to find out the next bus with available spaces wasn't until 9.30pm. It was currently about 3pm. So we bought our tickets and went to find somewhere to sit and get our rucksacks off. We ended up in a dunkin donuts shop and that's where we stayed most of the day occasionally buying something to eat or drink but mostly playing Pokemon go. Time went quite quickly considering and finally it was time to go and check in and get on our bus. It was only another 2 hour (or so) drive to our location and luckily Calum had managed to find and book a hotel only a 5 minute walk from where we were dropped off. Which after the long day we were both very thankful for. For some reason it was just as cheap for a room with two double beds, which is lucky because that's all they had available. So we still had the choice of separate beds. But it was nice to be in a double not single. I very much like to spread out when I sleep. However we ended up sleeping in one bed and I definitely slept a lot better. But I'm very thankful for aircon. Because the rooms get very hot. Especially if you have to share a bed with someone. The morning came around quickly and check out was at 12. So we got going to the ferry that was gonna take us to Tioman. It was an hour or so ferry journey but i think I just dozed off for most of it. It was quite a smooth ride which I was thankful for. Not a fan of choppy seas. Finally we it there and the second I stepped out of the boat my breath was taken away by one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen in my whole life. The sea was the bluest I think I've ever seen, meeting with gorgeous golden sands and a green jungle covering most of the inner part of the island. By this point I was desperate to get to our hotel. Drop our bags and dive straight in to the water. The hotel was a short walk away but it felt like miles with the sea looking so tempting. Our hotel turned out to not be a hotel but a little hut. Made from wood. It's beautiful and cute and set almost in the jungle and just up from the beach. I think it's definitely the quickest I've got changed in my life. Once we were checked in I was changed and straight down to the water. It is shallow water for what must be at least 150 meters before it even gets up to your waist. But it's the clearest water I've ever seen. And it's so warm it's almost unbelievable. We spent an hour of so in the sea before we cane in to get dry and changed and find somewhere to have some dinner. We had dinner at a little restaurant and we both had a mix grill (lamb, squid, chicken and prawns) I only really liked the lamb but Calum seemed to enjoy it all. We went back to the hut to get some sleep it's such a cute little building! I couldn't wait for our first proper day on this paradise island.

Day 8 - Singapore (water park)

This day was allll for Calum. I'm not a massive fan of water parks but they're one of his favourites! So we took a train to sentosa and a short walk got us to the water park. Around the water park was also universal studios. Which I really wanted to go to but we couldn't afford to. There was also lots of sweet shops and resturants around. But we were headed for the water park. I was just looking forward to the lazy river to be honest. It was also just our luck that on the day we actually decide to go and do something. It decides to rain. But honestly we were gonna get wet anyway and nothing gets between Calum and his water park. He came in the lazy river with me (which went on forever) and then I stood and waited for him to do the slides he wanted to do. And then he came on the lazy river with me again... and again! We enjoyed some time in the wave pool and Calum went onto some tank which had lots of fish and had a snorkel with them. They did have a dolphin tank. But I didn't like that very much. So we didn't go to see that. We had a great day there but it had to end eventually. As i was getting changed apparently there was a massive row between a boyfriend and girlfriend and one of them ripped up the other ones passport or visa (I always miss the drama it seems) we took a little walk through the gift shop and I found an orca teddy that I loved but Calum wouldn't let me have it (meany) and we began our walk back to the train station. Where we both are some catsu curry, some Asian dessert called strawberry milk ice and strawberry sago which were actually pretty tasty! We did a little bit of shopping. Finally we caught the train back to our hostel to get some sleep. Tomorrow is time to say goodbye to Singapore :(

Day 7 - Singapore

Today was a bit of a bad one. We woke up around 7 to go have some breakfast and then Calum came to my bunk so we could have some morning cuddles, naturally we both fell asleep and didn't wake up until a bit later. Probably around mid day! We decided to find an evening activity to do so we could spend the day just resting. The heat is really really wearing us out. So we decided to go to 'Gardens by the bay' which is home to singapores famous light trees. In the evening when we got there we found there was also a flower festival and a food market. We were less interested in the flowers. More interested in all the yummy Asian cuisine around us. Calum had some 'Laksa' which is some type of soup. I wasn't so keen. I had Thai green curry meat calls and rice cakes. It was quite spicy but very tasty. We also tried some rolled ice cream. I had Oreo and Nutella. Calum had nutella and banana. It was delicious. As we were walking around we noticed a massage tent and couple resist. For 10 ringgit each (about £2) we got a shoulder and neck massage. Calum really enjoyed it. I found it rather painful and kinda felt like the lady was trying to break my skull. The end result felt good though. Don't think I've ever had so much motion in my neck. We then decided to go and actually walk around the gardens and we were lucky enough to be there to catch the Gardens by the bay light show. Where all the light trees change colour in time to music. It was amazing to see. So beautiful. We went to the gift shop and got a little singapore trinket to go with the one we got in Kuala Lumpur. To remind up of the amazing places we've seen together. Finally at around 10.30pm we got a train back to our hostel and got even more sleep, when we could finally get there still in our separate bunks.

Day 6 - Singapore (beach)

As it turns out, I was just as bad getting out the bunk bed as I was getting in it . Calum got up at 9 and went for breakfast. I missed it stuck up in my bunk. I got down maybe an hour later and ended up getting moved to a different (and bottom) bunk . We then headed down to the taxi rank to get a cab to the beach . I was so excited to have a beach day. It was very quiet at the beach which was lovely. Lovely sand, the water was a bit of a funny colour but it was okay. It was nice to finally cool down in the sea, which To be fair .Was so so warm. Even when you first went in. We ended up paddling for a bit then heading to the same to Sun bathe. Both of us fell asleep and only woke up when the waves started getting our feet. We went for another little swim and then decided to go dry off and find somewhere to eat. We ended up in some on the beach little restaurant called 'bora bora ' we both had fish and chips. Which was pretty tasty. Not very Asian though. Only a week in and I'm starting to miss home quite a lot . We started there until the sun started to go down then we got a taxi back to our hostel to plan the rest of our Singapore adventures. I really hope this jet lag wears off soon.

Day 5 - Singapore.

After not going to sleep until about four in the morning .This day was quite a lazy one .We woke up about 7 to enjoy our complementary breakfast. Which was a help your self situation of noodles and toast. I finally got half decent at using chopsticks. We then went back to bed . We were both out in different dorms which kind of sucked but it was okay. We ended up not waking up until about 3 in the afternoon and then just chilled about the hostel for a bit until we decided to catch a subway and go to some light and sound show that was recommended to us. It was pretty amazing. We were going to stop for dinner in a super hero cafe which was quite quirky but decided against it and just headed home. We ended up having dinner in some American diner . The food was fairly tasty but wow, compared to Kuala Lumpur Singapore is expensive. We came back to the hostel and extended our stay a few more nights, they also moved us to the same dorm which I was very thankful for .However they put me on a top bunk next to Calum and turns out I wasn't very good at getting up the stairs. Took me about half a hour to finally get up. Eventually I did it and fell asleep pretty damn fast.

Day 4 - Kuala Lumpur (batu)

Day 4, we decided to get up early and head down to Bath caves. And in natural fashion we slept in and ended up leaving a little later than we meant to. We took a walk down to China town and got a taxi which took us to batu .The place was amazing and in front of the caves stands a massive golden statue (picture bellow) just down the bottom of the caves were lots of monkeys. They seemed friendly enough but they had massive teeth! After a small lunch of some fried rice we took a little walk and came across the batu caves villa, which was home To a bird house, reptile house and lots of Hindu culture. The room full of Hindu gods was a sight To see. And the bird house was pretty cool. The reptile house however was horrid. The animals all seemed to be miserable or dead. So we left there pretty sharp . We then walked across a small bridge where you could get a sight of a small waterfall. Which was very pretty . To get to the batu caves you have to climb almost 300 stairs  it almost killed me off but I made it to the top eventually. Calum found it a lot easier than I did. About half way up a monkey jumped on me and stole my bug spray from my bag and held it  hostage at the top of a lamp post. It was quite funny but scared the life out of me. Unfortunately the caves were undergoing some maintenance work so we didn't get to see the full beauty of if. But it was still a very beautiful sight . On the climb back down we saw some mummy monkeys with their baby's holding  on to them. It was really cute but unfortunately Calum had our his camera away so we couldn't really get any pictures. Once we'd hit the bottom we decided to have a look and some of the small stalls and we brought some Malaysian sweets (turns out me and Cal don't like Malaysian sweets) we then had a rush back home when our taxi only took us half way and we had to walk 40 minutes the rest of the way home. Baring in mind we had just under and hour aand a half before we had to be at the bus stop to get our bus to Singapore . Luckily we got back to our hotel with about 20 minutes to go (we stopped in a cafe for a small bite as we had a 5 hour bus journey ahead of us) .We had to quickly pack our bags, check out and leg it to the monorail . We made it  just in time. And got on our bus, which had  reclining seats and lots of room, and we were in our way to Singapore. Immigration was a nightmare and baggage claim wasn't much more fun .But after almost 6 hours since we left our stop in Kuala Lumpur we made it to our second location .Then a mile and a half walk to our hotel. We were thankful when we finally arrived .

Thanks for the memories Kuala Lumpur .Singapore,let's av ya.

Day 3 - Kuala Lumpur (elephants)

Today was a very early start and the first day we actually had something booked up. We got up around 7 got ready and headed straight for the monorail to take us to our pick up point. We got picked up around half 8 and our long old journey began. We had to swap busses a few times but eventually we were on our last bus and on our way to the elephant sanctuary. Our driver decided to take us a little of schedule to visit the Batu temple. Which was amazing. I think we're going there properly tomorrow.  We then stopped on the way at a fabric shop. Where the locals draw and paint silk fabrics by hand. It was really cool (wish we could have brought a scarf home for mum, she would have loved it! But they were a little pricey). After a short 15 minutes here we set off again! About 30 minutes from the sanctuary we pulled over for some lunch at a small Indian restaurant. Where we had fried chicken with rice and some green bean salad. Finally it was the last leg of our journey. When we arrived at the elephant sanctuary we watched a short video on why the elephant sanctuary came about then it was time to go and see the elephants. We had a really nice guide who talked us through everything we would be doing. Our first activity was feeding some on the baby elephants. There was three there who were about 3 years old and one who was about 1. The youngest one, Ellie was in there because she had gotten caught in a trap and lost her foot. Feeding them was amazing. It felt so weird. We fed them bamboo and bananas. They seemed to love it. Next we went to see some on the bigger elephants. You could feed them too but I'd wasted all my food on the baby ones. But we still got to stroke their trunks and say hello! Next we went to the river to watch the sanctuary workers bath the big elephants. They looked super happy to be cooling off in the water. After their bath they showed us the elephants and introduced us to each elephant. Told us their names and how old they were and showed us how clever they were. I was a little unsure at some parts because I was concerned at how the elephants were treated. But they all seemed orettt happy and you could tell the workers had a bond with them. Our last activity was bathing the smaller elephants. Which was definitely my favourite part. And something I got to tick off my bucket list. It was so surreal. Unfortunately the day had to come to an end and we started our long journey back to our hotel. Me and cal spent a majority of the ride asleep I'm pretty sure. Was a very long and extremely hot day. I caught the sun a little and somehow. Calum didn't burn. We got back to the hotel around 6.30/ 7 and we're thankful to get out of our very wet (from sweat and river water) clothes. We both fell asleep pretty quickly and didn't wake up until about half 9. When we decided to take a little walk to China town for some dinner. We're back at the hotel now enjoying the aircon and watching transformers on the tv. Tomorrow we're hopefully going to the batu caves and temple and having a last explore of Peraling market and then will be catching a 5 hour bus to our next location. Singapore, were coming for you!

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Day 2 - Kuala Lumpur

Today was a great day .We slept through our alarms again but only by an hour this time. We had some stuff planned for today which was exciting. But first things first. Breakfast. We had breakfast in our hotel today and we both went for an Asian breakfast which was a fried egg utop some spicy egg noodles, was odd having that for breakfast but it was delicious and filling .We then began our journey a quick monorail ride and 15 minute walk got us to our first destination  Klcc (Kuala Lumpur convention centre) which consisted of a good court and a few small shops .Outside was also Klcc park. Which was beautiful .We say by the water with a view of the twin towers which were formally the tallest buildings in the world up until 2004. we sent inside a while later for some ice creams and we also decided to visit the aquarium which was also inside the centre. It was an awesome aquarium one of the biggest I've seen. We got to stroke a sea cucumber which felt really strange and also some kind of small shark. When we made our way out of the aquarium we decided to head to bintang walk which is a large shopping centre and street lined with all sorts of shops. English and Malaysian. We took a picture by a groovy fountain but didn't do any shopping. A short was away was Japan alor . Which is a street of food basically. Lots of yummy street food and restaurants that sell authentic Asian food. We stopped in a restaurant and ordered Tom ka soup, chicken satay and chicken fried rice. We ordered two of each dish and when it came out realised we should have just ordered one as the portions were huge. But it was delicious .Especially the Tom ka .We then stopped at a stall in the way home selling lemon sugar cane water. Which was essentially lemonade. Calum liked it. I wasn't so keen .After almost a mile walk we made it back to our hotel .Very very sweaty. We both had a much needed shower and then got into bed for an early night .Tomorrow is another exciting day .

Day 1 - Kuala Lumpur.

Today was one very uneventful day .We slept through our alarms and almost missed check out .But we must have needed it. We rushed to get our bits together and left our first hotel .We had a little wander around the block and I was lucky enough to see a man with his trousers around his knees (sense the sarcasm) .We were on a hunt for some food but instead booked our next hotel and hopped on the local monerail to get there .We had stopped at a 7\11 for some drinks and a croissant each though .We got to our new hotel about 2 hours early but they let us check in anyway. We then spent pretty much the rest of the day planning the weeks activities and watching Tele. By 7.30 we really started to get hungry .We were going to just eat in the hotel restaurant but it was closed so we took a walk down to China town instead . on our way I managed to fall up some stairs and ended up with a nice bump and bruise on my knee. Only i could manage that in the first day.  We made it to China town where a massive market is set up. We hope to visit the market properly before we move on .Nothing really took our fancy food wise, but eventually we came across a Malaysian nandos and we just couldn't resist .Although I will just add we had things that aren't on the menu back in the UK .For example a cheesy garlic pitta. Which was lush .After some dinner there we took a nice stroll back to the hotel . We sat in the public lounge playing uno for a while . We finally went back to our room and decided to book a few more nights in the same hotel .Bring on Thursday when the real adventures begin.

Getting to Kuala Lumpur (part 2)

We woke up around 5am and went to find some more comfy seating to sleep in for an hour or so .Eventually, after what felt like a life time it was time to board our next flight . Bring on Kuala Lumpur. This plane was slightly smaller than the last one but still much bigger than what I was used to. I spent the first part of the flight watching Star wars: the last Jedi . Whilst Calum watched Star wars: Revenge of the sith (and sleeping) pretty sure I dozed a little too .We were served breakfast quite early into the flight , neither of us were overly hungry as we both had eaten an 'Arabic breakfast' at the airport . But I ordered the scrambled egg with chicken sausage, whilst Calum had sugared donuts. We then got some more sleep. It was another uneventful (and  long) flight . After what felt like forever the seatbelt sign went on and we began out decent into Kuala Lumpur international .Finally .We got a little lost trying to find baggage claim and managed to get there just in time. After having to go through immigration . Where I stuttered like an idiot when they asked me questions. But we for through and we got our bags .And that was it. We were there. We headed straight to the bus station after getting out some Malaysian ringgit and hopped right in a bus to our first hotel .It was quite small with not much going on .But it was a bed and there was a shower which after two days worth of travelling and airport chilling .We were absolutely desperate for .

Us happy to be in Kuala Lumpur finally! 

Getting to Kuala Lumpur (pt 1)

• We began out journey to the airport around 4.45am in Monday the 16th of July. Mark, Calums dad, was kind enough to take us . We arrived at Heathrow airport about 2 and a half hours later and had an English breakfast with Mark in the airport. Around half 8 it was time for uss to say goodbye to Mark and make our way to check in. Because of our flight itinerary and technically not having a flight out of Malaysia we had a few troubles at check in .But eventually we sent off our big ol rucksack and made our way through security. Naturally, I set the alarms off and Calum sailed through with ease. We then had about 40 minutes to spare until our flight boarded so we had a little look in the duty free and got some puzzle books from wh smith to keep us busy on our 6 and a half hour flight. We then went to our gate to wait for boarding. At about 10am we got to board the plane. It was absolutely huge. Calum kept laughing at me because I was so amazed by it .We had wide seats and loads of leg room .Also a cool touch screen tv which had tv shows , films, games and more. I decided to watch the new jumanji film whilst Calum played endless games of back Gannon. It was a pretty uneventful  flight, with a lunch of Thai red curry which was served about 1pm .  Didn't look like much but it was actually pretty tasty. I was sat next to some guy who must have been a nervous flyer because he grabbed the seat in front when we hit even the slightest bump. Whilst Calum got to chill in the window seat . Calum slept for a few hours o n the flight .I barely slept at all. But after a 6 and a half hour flight we finally landed in Qatar airport. Which  was  insane .Absolutely massive . We had 13 hours to kill before our next flight so we wandered round a bit then say down to have some ramen for dinner. Which was really tasty .We did have the option of a city tour from our flight company but we decided not to go as it was night time and dark outside so we doubted that we would see much. Eventually we found some comfy seats and I laid my head down in cals lap and had a nap. He eventually slept a little too. caption