Perhentian Paradise

Our original plan to enter Malaysia was overland through Hat Yai and the south east border - however this area is currently under a high state of alert for terrorist activity according to the State department travel advisory service and so we wisely decided to fly to Kuala Lumpur ("KL") instead and make our way across to the Perhentian Islands from a different route.

The first thing we noted about Malaysia is how different it is to other areas in south east asia that we had visited so far. It appears a far more developed country with multiple train and transit systems in the city, wide sweeping motorways and, unfortunately, around KL many housing estates reminiscent of english suburbs with rows of identical houses.

However we soon passed this by and headed off for a spot of beach relaxation at the Perhentian Islands. These are two gorgeous little islands off the east coast of Malaysia with the most clear and clean water we have yet seen. The snorkelling here is fantastic - we also had an excellent powerpoint presentation given somewhat nervously by a resident diving instructor on all the local coral and fish types that helped us identify the multitide of fishes that had been inspecting us during the day.

The highlight was snorkelling with turtles, although keeping up with them was impossible - they can move alot faster than you might expect! Apparently you can also swim with many sharks around these islands, but we were thankful not to have a close run in with them on this trip.

Something also unexpected were the large monitor lizards on the islands. We first saw one curving crocodile like through the shallows near where we were snorkelling - it would have been easy to have believed this was some sort of saltwater alligator.

Gary had visited these islands over 10 years ago and is pleased to report that aside from a few more budget and some mid range resorts added, the islands remain largely unspoilt and unchanged.

Khao Sok - Bugs and Lake splendor

Khao Sok national park is in the south west of Thailand. We were uncertain about going there as the cyclone that hit Burma was also impacting weather in this area. However we decided to chance it because some friends we met in Vietnam had mentioned that this was one of the best places they had been on their travels. We were not disappointed.

The park is covered by the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world (even older than the Amazon), huge limestone mountains or Karsts shooting straight up in the air, and a large breathtaking lake.

We stayed in a jungle lodge where the mosquitoes outnumber the people by several billion to one, each one of which took a sample of blood from Caroline but declined to nibble on Gary. Hence we normally settled down to dinner in full head to toe body armour, enveloped in a concoction of deet and natural insect repellents (that Channel will not be advertising any time soon). Despite the bugs, the setting was very atmospheric and quite the experience. After a heavy rain one day, the frogs were out in joyous chorus throughout the evening and night - its quite difficult to describe just how loud they were, but we imagined that there must have been a full plague on our doorstep.

The national park itself is stunning. The drive to the park itself through many limestone karsts (cliffs) is worth the visit, but the real gem is the Cheow Larn Lake. The lake is over 100m deep with clear blue water and sheer cliff faces reminiscent of Halong Bay - in fact we would say that this far more beautiful than Halong bay as it does not have many tourist boats, the water is very clean, there are lots of animals (monkeys, gibbons etc), caves to explore and there are floating villages and chilled out accommodation that also provided a fantastic lunch. Best of all Lonely Planet barely gives the park a mention so it will hopefully continue be unspoilt and remain good value.

Ko Pha Nang

After Cambodia we flew back to Bangkok and arranged a sleeper bus to take us down into southern Thailand (Don Sak), the ferry drop off point for the Ko Samui, Ko Pha Nang and Ko Tao islands off the east coast. Our initial plan was to spend a week at Ko Tao learning to dive - but as we had not even built up any confidence in the water snorkelling, we bottled it and went for the slightly less challenging option of Ko Pha Nang where we could snorkel and generally bum around on the beach for a few days.

We avoided the busier party places of the island (being too old now to join the teenager full moon parties!) and split our time between Thong Nai Pan and Koh Ma

We do not often mention specific accommodation in our blog, but we make an exception here to praise "Dreamland" at Thong Nai Pan on its fabulous setting and swimming pool. This was the perfect place to unwind, read several books, and laze about in the pool - being fairly new to the whole swimming thing, Gary was able to perform his first dive, albeit not very gracefully !

This was also Caroline's first experience at snorkelling and we loved it - we now can't wait for the crystal clear waters of the Perhentians in Malaysia to do some more, where apparently you can swim with Turtles and Sharks (or at least away from sharks).

At Koh Ma we splashed out on our first extravagant accommodation - a whopping $60 a night for an ocean bungalow with all mod cons including a DVD player (Gary's treat) and a bathtub with a seaview - sheer decadence watching the sunset from the tub and settling down to a bit of Jason Bourne.

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the main town to be based in for trips to Angkor Wat. It had a more welcoming and slightly safer feel than we experienced in Phnom Penh - although unfortunately we did not get to see very much of the town, other than at night, as we spent most of our time at the temples.

Siem Reap gets a special mention though because of the fabulous Khmer food that we had there (and some fairly excellent cocktails). Highly recommended are the Khmer fish dishes and curries. Eating in the old town area provides a rest from the usual hassles as they kindly cordon off a 3 block area where all the main restaurants and bars are and very few touts and sungthaew drivers can bother you there - so you can choose your dining location at your leisure and eat your meal in peace (if somewhat artificially created!)

One of the most saddest but impassioned and moving evenings we have spent on our travels was to attend an evening concert in Siem Reap by "Dr. Beat", a hosptial doctor from Switzerland who also plays cello as a fund and awareness-raiser for the Children's hospitals that he has established. It is heart-breaking to hear about the challenges of delivering quality health care for severly sick children in Cambodia. Dr. Beat talked about there being 3 main reasons why so many Cambodian children die from treatable diseases: 1) "Tuberculosis" - over 60% of the population suffers tuberculosis at some point in their lives which severly weakens their immune systems to other diseases; 2) "Attitude" - The developed world and aid community believes that poor countries should have healthcare, facilities and medical equipment that matches their economic status i.e. poor and not the expensive diagnostic medical equipment that we have in the rich world and 3)"Corruption" - present at many levels, corruption is a way of life even at schools and hospitals.
Dr. Beat's hospitals have attempted to eradicate the corruption that is so endemic in Cambodia - by paying proper wages to its staff, and making treatment entirely free to Children, and as a result they are able to save 90,000 children per year, entirely on donations. Here is the website if anyone is interested in learning more: http://www.beat-richner.ch