Diving the Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

After the combination of Kuta and Kuala Lumpur, a serious craving for a relaxed atmosphere and the ocean were kicking in.  The Perhentian Islands were the perfect answer.

We jumped off the boat at Long Beach on the smaller island which seems to be oh-so-creatively named...'small' and as always with our hefty backpacks stumbled to the nearest, and cheapest looking, accommodation available, 'Symphony'.  Which we later found out was known for robbery and abuse from the staff - brilliant.

Perhentian Islands, we were told, are one of the cheapest places in the world to gain diving qualifications whether it be basic Open Water or your dive-master.  So, after refreshing on one or two delicious lassies, we spoke to Matahari Dive Centre and managed to swing an excellent deal of around 200 pounds each to for both our Advanced Divers course and accommodation (with a power shower!!!!).

We highly recommend diving with these guys (it's the bright orange dive shop out of the many dotted along the shore).  They treated us amazingly well and were all lovely! They warned us of the negative stories they'd heard about Symphony and allowed us to stay in the Staff Accommodation for a night as all the rooms were full.  Although, this ended up with the entire dive centre seeing Jodie completely stark naked as we were sharing their shower room and failed to control the foreign locking system.

Adding to our wonderful stay, was the family's three year-old, adorable daughter who allowed us to attend her birthday party and was forever grabbing our hands for a dance with her.  Her father gave us fruit straight from the trees and helped us to arrange our boat off the island and bus to Penang.

The diving itself was pretty amazing.  We were able to see small sharks, turtles, sting-rays and of course many incredibly colourful fish.  We were able to experience wreck and night diving which we hadn't previously and both were seriously cool.  During our safety stop on the night dive, we each turned off our torches and as we moved our arms and legs the plankton lit up luminously green! Amazing!!!!

Our navigation dive on the other hand was hilariously dire! I (Jodie) managed to forget how to control the compass leaving us well and truly lost.  You know you are in trouble when there's not a reef or a single fish for company.  HAHAHA very confusing.

Anyone thinking of diving, do it!!! Just go to Perhentian and become a dive master!!! (that's our plan) and say hi to Dee and Crumb from us!

Meg and Jod xxx

Goodbye Bali

For our last days in beloved Bali we headed back to Kuta for a final night out in Sky Garden, HOWEVER, this was not until after our travelling day back from the Gili's of EIGHT HOURS, we decided to save about 3 pounds each and take the public bus... huge mistake, we ended up surrounded by buskers, moving sweet shops, pot noodle counters and endless sales pitches, hilarious to say the least! But if you have the option; take the fast boat, it cuts 7 hours off your journey!

Of course we headed back to Sky Garden for our final night out; we simply cannot get over FREE DRINKS for two hours....... its brilliant.

After a month of travelling Bali, we still only managed to see about 2 thirds, we weren't able to squeeze in the entire North-West of the island, surely an excuse to head back with more friends in tow?

Goodbye Bali, we love you

Next stop Malaysia....

The Plan

    Hujambo, Selamat Sore, Hai, Sawatdee, Ayo Bowan.

 

So firsts thing's first on the travel front; the plan - believe me it's changed alot over the course of the last few months. 

First, we were all about Bali, Thailand, Australia, New Zeland and Fiji.  The classic gap year route with countless bagpackers just like us to meet, surf, sun and beautiful auzzie boys.  Saaweet enough, but when we sat down to think about what we wanted from our experience and from each country we planned on visiting, we were unsure.  We don't want to just gain a tan and sit on a beach drinking smoothies (although for a little while it might be nice!). We want exotic locations (not just a hot England), exciting cultures to learn about, cool sites and beautiful, rare species to see!

So, we decided to mix things up a little;

Kenya - Bali - Malaysia - Thailand - Sri Lanka.

(hence the 'hello's at the beginning of this post).

Unfortunately, we had to crop Madagascar out of the equation where we had planned a diving, teaching and conservation project, due to cost reasons.

We plan to stay for roughly a month in each country.

Kenya; the one place in which we plan to stay still, mostly due to it being our first and probably most dangerous stop.  We're in the process of organising a volunteer project; perhaps staying with a tribe, building for the community and a conservation project all in one...

Bali; I suppose it's difficult to give a real plan at this stage of each of the stops, as really our plan is to explore and see something new - the religion and temples as well as the wildlife here,

Malaysia/Thailand; Something very exciting/death-threatening here. Our flight drops as to Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia and picks us up in Bangkok (eeeeek!)  So making our way along the coast, visiting different islands on the way should be interesting!  We are also looking at a short conservation project with Orangutans in Malaysia with real gap if funds permit.

Sri Lanka: Our last stop before home and the most planned yet.  Jodie is lucky enough to have friends from Sri Lanka who have helped us plan our route, places not to miss out on and some volunteering.  After arriving in Colombo, we will hopefully be able to stay with some of the locals who live not far away before heading straight up to the mountains to explore the temples, the national park and visit a friend's family (hopefully digging into a traditional dinner of curry) and to volunteer in the children's orphanage.  Then, as we begin travelling down towards to coast and more touristy side of Sri Lanka, we will stop off at the wildlife orphange, volunteering there for a couple of days.  We will finish our trip with the "beach boys" as our Sri Lankan helper puts it before heading home to Jersey.

Woah, apologies for the waffle but hopefully you find our plan even a quarter as exciting as us! 

Comment and let us know what you think or if you've been to any of these places - tips much appreciated!

We'll keep you posted,

Jodie and Megan

(photos from Nat Geo)