The journey here took longer than it should have as we got to the bus stop at 7am and were told that there is a shortage of drivers so the bus to KK isn’t going today. Instead we had to take a bus to Serasa where the ferry was leaving from, which we did, to be told that the  morning tickets were sold out so we had to wait until 12.30pm. We waited and got that ferry, then another fast boat followed by a bus. It was a long day and we arrived late so checked in and went straight out for food.

The next day we woke up and got a boat to Manukan Island which is part of Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park – which consists of 5 islands just 15 minutes away from the city. Manukan island was really nice, we spent the day there and took the last boat back. In the evening we went out for some food with two guys from the hostel we were staying at – which by the way is a space ship style hostel!

The next day we did some more island hopping, this time to Sapi Island which was alot more crowded. We heard it was good for snorkelling but we didn’t think so – the water wasn’t as clear and there wasn’t as many fish as some some of the places we have been for snorkelling! We still had a good day sunbathing and chilling out. We had a few beers with some of the guys from the hostel in the evening.

Brunei was never on our itinerary until we decided to travel via bus from Kuching – Kota Kinalabu via Miri. When we looked into it, we realised that we would be passing through on the only three days in a year that the Sultan opens his palace to the public so it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!

We stayed in a nice Airbnb and we were glad as there wasn’t a lot to do here, especially because it was Eid and most things were closed, so we spent alot of time on the sofa watching TV. When we first arrived, we had a walk down by the waterfront and got some lunch. Later, we had a walk to the mosque which was impressive.

The next day we had a relaxed morning, had a walk around the city and later on met Mel who is a tour guide reccomended to us by a guy we met in Kuching. We arranged to do a boat tour of the river and the water village. Two Chinese girls, Flora and Alivera, that were staying at our Airbnb joined us and one German guy, Thomas. The boat tour was really good, we saw lots of proboscis monkeys in the trees along the way. We were also shown around the water village and then got off the boat and were actually taken into two of the houses. As it was Eid, the families had little buffets/sweets and drinks for us. We were actually in one of the houses for nearly two hours which we thought was a bit awkward, but they didn’t seem to mind. On the way back, it chucked it down raining so there was six of us in this small boat under one umbrella!

The next day was the big day. We were going to the biggest residential palace in the world, to meet the Sultan and the Queen. Once we got there, we had a buffet which was amazing- beef, chicken, lamb, prawns and then cakes aswell. It was only 8am (best breakfast ever)! We were split up at this point as the Men meet the Sultan/shake his hand and the Women meet the Queen. Kerry was with the two Chinese girls from the Airbnb and a German girl we met and luckily we saw Mel with Thomas from the day before so Jonho had someone to queue with aswell. We queued for a couple of hours and the Sultan and Queen were just shaking hands with most people and didn’t speak to them. However, the Queen had a conversation with Kerry. She asked where she’s from, who she’s with, what we are doing here and welcomed us to Brunei. Kerry was quite smug about this. We also both got a gift (a cake) and a card off them. In the evening, we had a walk around the water village and watched more TV.. oh and Kerry ended up having a photo shoot with the two Chinese girls from the Airbnb.

Arrived here in the evening, went out for food and to the supermarket to get some snacks for the national park the next day.

We headed to Lambir National Park the next morning, checked into our chalet (which makes it sound nicer than it was… It felt like a prison) as we were staying here for one night. We walked to a waterfall which was packed with families on days out, swimming and having barbeques. It was a Malaysian holiday which is why it was so busy. It was good though, we love going to waterfalls that you can swim in! In the evening we drank the bottle of Rum that we brought with us and chilled at the chalet. The national park had loads of chalets and us two were the only people staying there! It was so quiet and weird.

The next day we were thinking of doing another walk in the national park but it was closed, possibly due to the rain or the fact it is a Malaysian holiday. We couldn’t really keep up with the holidays through the month of Ramadan! Lots of places were randomly closed/ only open for half a day. We took a bus back into Miri where we went to the shopping centre and then back to the room to watch a film. In the evening we went out to a chinese/seafood restaurant recommended by a taxi driver, it was so good!

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We arrived late in the afternoon so after checking in, we had a walk down to the waterfront and had some food there before heading back to the hostel for an early night.

The next day we went to Semenggoh Nature Reserve. This is one of the best places to see semi-wild orangutans. They have feeding times where the rangers have lots of bananas and coconuts for them. Apparently from speaking to other people, they don’t always come for feeding but we were lucky as about 8 or 9 came and they were so close to us. It was an amazing experience.

The next day we went to Kubah National Park and hiked to a waterfall which took around 1 hour 20 minutes. And good news… Jonho’s foot survived this, didn’t hurt or swell up! The waterfall was really cool as it was just the two of us there and we could go right under the waterfall and swim in the little pools around. In the evening there was a huge storm so we stayed in the hostel waiting for it to stop before braving it and heading out to eat!

On our final day we woke up at 6am and there was another storm. We thought as they usually only last around an hour or two – we would still go to Bako National Park. This is one of the best places to spot Proboscis monkey’s in the wild. We got there and the rain had calmed down so we were glad about that and even happier that within seconds of arriving there was a few Proboscis monkey’s in the trees around the park headquarters. We did three walking trails, taking us around 3 hours and along each trail, we didn’t see ANY proboscis monkeys. However, we did see other monkeys and bearded pigs and went to a nice view point and beach along the way. On one of the trails, Kerry decided she was brave and walked across a wooden plank which had clearly collapsed and wasn’t safe… and went down with a bang, brusing her arm, leg and cutting her hand. This is when we decided to get the boat back to the headquarters. We were glad we did as it was actually a really nice boat ride, we got a little tour of the national park by boat. Back at the headquarters, there were tonnes of proboscis monkeys again! We spent ages watching them jump from tree to tree, looking for food. They are funny looking things!!

The next day we went to the airport for our flight to Miri.

We arrived early, around 6am at the ferry point to get to Langkawi island. Here, Kerry was proposed to by an Egyptian man whilst Jonho nipped to the toilet so we spent a while trying to avoid him (he ended up sat next to us on the ferry). We arrived at the hostel and there wasn’t a room ready for us so we had to wait around until 1pm. We just chilled out and had breakfast. Later on  we went out and got lunch, walked to the beach which wasn’t very nice after we have just been at some paradise beaches, had a beer (it would have been rude not to as it is a duty free island), went back to the room for a nap and In the evening just chilled at the hostel playing cards with some friends we met, Emi and Adam.

The next day, we hired a scooter and drove to the cable car which was really steep. Kerry thought this was the best cable car EVER. Then we went to the 3D Art museum as this was included in the ticket price.. it was tacky but funny to take photos! Later in the afternoon, we went to a waterfall which we swam in and then drove to a beach further away where we sat and chilled on bean bags, met Emi and Adam here and then all went to a place called ‘Scarborough fish and chips’. It was pretty good, but not as good as back home!! In the evening we went to a pub, and drinks and played pool with people from the hostel and some malaysians.

On our last day we were knackered after such a busy day and a late night. We had a lie in, went for some food and went to a coffee shop. Had a nap and chilled at the hostel.

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We got the bus to Kuala Besut which is where the boats leave from. We got a speed boat to the Island which was fun and then walked down the beach to find somewhere to stay. We sat chilling on the beach for the day and swam in the sea! The water was so clear and warm!! In the evening we bought a bottle of vodka because it was pretty expensive on the island for beers. Plus, we thought it would last us a few nights. However, we drank most on that first night whilst watching the fire show and felt a little worse for wear the next morning.

We went out for brunch and then came back to the room for a nap on the hammock and did some travel planning. In the afternoon we went to the beach again and in the evening went to a different bar with an acoustic singer.

The next t day we booked onto a snorkelling trip. We stopped at 6 places and saw turtles, fish and baby sharks!!! We were so excited about the baby sharks – I mean it’s pretty cool swimming with sharks right?! We really love snorkelling. In the evening we went back to the place to watch the fire show before heading to bed.

On our final day, we walked to the next beach (15 mins) called coral bay. This was a smaller beach, more rocky but still very nice!

At 4pm we had to catch the ferry back to Kuala Besut and then we had an overnight bus to Kuala Perlis (for our ferry to Langkawi)…

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We ‘missed’ the 7am ferry. AKA it drove off at 6.40am as we were walking down the pier!?!?

There was another ferry to somewhere called Tanjung Gemok at 8am and a local man said we should be able to catch a bus from there so we got on that ferry. We arrived in Tanjung Gemok with the intention of getting a taxi to Romping and then a bus Kuantan where we could get another bus to Kuala Terrenganu.

Instead… We got speaking to a lady whilst trying to book a taxi and she said her son was picking her up and they would take us too!! We were buzzing. It took us 2 hours to get to Kuantan in their car and then we took a bus to Kuala Terrenganu.

Once we arrived we planned to go to China town for food as we heard it is meant to be really good here. Most places were closed though – possibly due to Ramadan. We got some food, sorted our bus for the next day and then headed to bed!

We took the 11.30am ferry and arrived around 2pm, found a place to stay and went out for some food. We met an American guy called Josh and he joined us for the day. We sat on the beach and swam in the sea. Mostly swam in the sea as there is LOTS of sand flys which we didn’t even know existed until they ate Kerry alive. This island was so quiet, most of the shops were closed and not much going on, but it was beautiful! We had food and some beers in the evening.

The next day we started at 10am for our snorkelling trip. We stopped off at 4 different spots and a paradise beach. There were so many fish, the water was so clear, the beach was unreal and all in all, we had a top day! In the afternoon we walked down by the river where there were some HUGE monitor lizards. In the evening we met a guy called Alex who was from London and a couple from Newzealand. We ended up having quite a few beers before calling it a night as we had to catch the 7am ferry back to Mersing!

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We are finally leaving KL!!

We got up, took the train to the main bus terminal and arrived around 45 minutes early. Our bus was due at 12.30pm…. It arrived at 3.30pm.

From Mersing our plan was to get the last ferry (6.30pm) to Tioman Island. The bus was expected to take atleast 5 hours, so obviously this was not possible so we booked a one night stay in Mersing by the harbour.

Kerrys day trip to Melaka… I woke up early and got the bus which took around 2 hours. Once I got there, had a wander around and bumped into a restaurant which had a que of people coming out of it waiting to be seated – so asked a group of girls what the restaurant was. They told me it was chicken and rice balls which Melaka is famous for and asked me if I wanted to join them, so I did! The girls were around my age or maybe a little younger and were really nice.

Afterwards, they left to check into their hotel so I had a walk down by the river, went to the Dutch grave yard, to the church, the palace, the fort and finally had a walk down Jonker street which is the main busy street there.

Melaka was a really nice city. It felt more like a town and reminded me of Bakewell!