Sharks, Rays & Gracie the Sea Cow.

The time to overcome my fear of SCUBA and just get on with things had arrived. When I learnt you can "Dive with the Sharks" at Underwater World here in Singapore, I thought this presented the perfect opportunity. The aquarium is home to the largest collection of sand-tiger sharks in the world. Though they are pretty harmless to humans, they look very fierce with their many dagger-like teeth on display. As we wandered around Underwater World, I began to wonder what I'd let myself in for. Not only had my last diving experience caused me to become terrified of breathing underwater using SCUBA gear, but here I was, about to climb into an oversized fishtank with more sharks per metre that you're likely to encounter in the Deep Blue! It didn't help that on observing the shark tank, we were watching them from the magnified glass section...they looked enormous!

I was poorly prepared for the days exertions, having being awake since 4:30am. I told myself this was not connected to fear, but deep-down I understood otherwise. Grabbing a bite to eat before the dive, some dark force had me ordering a smoked salmon sandwich before I realised what was happening. As I nibbled away, I thought about how a shark can detect a drop of blood or fish oil from hundreds of metres away. Andy wouldn't swap sandwiches, so I reasoned that the sharks were bound to be well-fed and used to humans entering their domain. And surely the other fish would smell more than my post-sandwich self?

Going backstage at the aquarium was an adventure in itself. It looked a bit like the film-set from Minority Report and there were lots of shallow tanks fed by sprinkler-systems showering the specimens beneath. In one tank were loads of little black-tipped reef sharks and another full of turtles. More scarily though, housed in one corner tank were two bull sharks! Following numerous incidents of massacre in the aquarium, they had been quarantined. One such occurrance involved the staff arriving one morning to find just the head of a massive grouper remaining...weighing 22kg alone! They are going to build a bigger tank to give these sharks a proper environment soon (or sell them to the Chinese opposite?) Just peering over the edge at them was terrifying enough as they were very active. Inquisitively they swam very quickly to the edge of the tank, turning at the last second to face us and raise it's head out of the water! Bull sharks are well-known from their aggressive nature as they clearly demostrated to us by their tail-thrashing. They are also notorious for eating almost anything and, along with Great Whites, are responsible for the most attacks on humans.

I was almost thankful that it was time to get in the aquarium. I soon remembered that you can actually breathe underwater with your SCUBA gear, but it felt a little disconcerting being without fins. I also had more weight than usual on my belt, to ensure you stay down (and no air in my BCD). The idea was that we walked around the bottom of the tank...something which you never do as a sea diver, in case you damage coral or stand on anything dangerous. But I didn't have long to worry about these minor details, for within seconds, the bloke handed me a massive leopard shark to hold!!! You hold them sort of like a baby or as you might an oversized baguette and they just let you get on with it. Sadly, despite taking some amazing underwater shots, we've just discovered that it was a dud camera and none of them have come out, so you'll just have to believe me. It was seriously as big as me and I held it for ages because I didn't know what to do with it afterwards. Eventually I sort of "threw" it into the water, which wasn't met with much emotion, it just waggled its tail a bit and disappeared. Photos seen here are taken from dry side of the tank!

The sand tiger sharks must have been in a separate tank as we didn't encounter any of those, but there were plenty of black-tipped and white-tipped reef sharks and we took some great photos of each other lying down next to one. They felt quite nice - not rough and sandy like the leopard sharks. Enough sharking about! We then swam over the acrylic viewing tunnel to feed the sting rays. It was so surreal having strangers taking photos of you and being a part in their home-movies!! The bloke had a bag of snails with which to feed the rays. There were all sorts in there including cow rays and huge eagle rays, but to be honest I only really saw the underside of them. They seemed to be loving the snails but it wasn't very enjoyable as they sort of snatched them from you with their jaws and you could hear them crunching the shells. When they'd finished, they sort of swam over your head and I was concerned that they'd knock my regulator out of my mouth or that they'd get me with their enormous 2 metre wingspan. Even worse, I envisaged being attacked with one of their fierce barbs. I was then made to stroke this gigantic moral eel which was quite disgusting. They just look plain evil with their gaping jaws and this was much bigger than any I'd ever seen in the sea. Finally, it was time for something a little more relaxing...

We swam through an underwater "door"made of stones and came face-to-face with Gracie the Dugong. A dugong is a type of seacow and they are now endangered. Fortunately for Gracie, she was rescued 8 years ago off Pulau Ubin. Her mother had been caught in a fishing net and as a calf, Gracie wouldn't have survived alone. In ancient times, sailors often mistook the calls of seacows for those of mermaids (or sirens). As they lived around underwater rocks, the sailors were often lured to their deaths. The name is derived from the Malay word duyung, which translates as mermaid. Gracie weighs about 160kg and is still growing. By the amount of sea grass we fed her, this is no wonder. She was gorgeous anyway and seemed to genuinely enjoy our company.

Underwater World is just a fraction of the activities to be had on Sentosa, the man-made island just off the shores of Singapore. Bizarrely created because Singapore was running out of space, they even imported a load of sand to make a beach which is actually very nice! After a quick ride down the Luge on a go-cart, we went off to the Lagoon, to see the pink dolphins. These beautiful creatures displayed their party tricks and provided a perfect finale to our day of aquatic adventures.

Another "must-do" for anyone coming to Singapore, has long been a visit to the famous Raffles Hotel. It was here that the Singapore Sling was created in the hotel's Long Bar 1915. Recipe especially for Joe G! Actually, it's such a tourist trap that they have jugs of it pre-mixed and it's a bit too sweet for my liking. It seemed to be full of middle-aged women filming their cocktails and at nearly 7 quid a go, we could've given it a miss. Unable to persuade Andy to book us in for the night, we shuffled back to Little India for the last time...tomorrow, Borneo!!!

Singapore

Almost 6 months ago when we started our little journey we thought that when we reached Singapore that would mean the end to our Asian travels and Australia would be beckoning. However tomorrow we fly to Borneo for a month and then back to southern Thailand for another month after that. Apart from southern Thailand which we flew over to meet Andy and Emma, we've traveled overland from north Vietnam near the Chinese border all the way here to the teeny tiny country of Singapore. Founded in 1819 by Sir Thomas Raffles, Singapore is now a very modern city / country lying at the end of mainland Malaysia. Being a former British colony, there's still a lot of influences around, most people speak English, all the signs are in English, along with Chinese, Indian and Malay, which tells you what a lot about the ethnic diversity of the place.
Singapore is very, very, very clean! This is because its a nanny state and there are signs everywhere telling you what to do and what not to do (even worse than England). There are fines for littering, smoking, eating or drinking on the tube, which is why its such a sparkling place. However this does seem to take a bit of the spirit out of the place, there's just not the same kind of energy here as there is in Tokyo or Bangkok. Saying that however, should not diminsh in any way what a brilliant place it is. Theres a ridiculous amount of things to do and anyone flying via here should spend at least a couple of days exploring and definitely shopping.
We've been staying at a small hotel in 'Little India' right in the heart of Singapore, the locals aren't the friendliest bunch for some reason, but theres some very tasty food and its right next to the MRT station (tube). The underground here is unbelievably efficient, trains every 2-3 mins, obviously immaculate, lcd screens everywhere, you can buy a card as well that you just top up when you want and use it on all the tubes and buses, the cool thing is, you keep it in your bag or wallet and tap it on the sensor as you walk through and it deducts the fare automatically. Nice.
Our first couple of days were spent lost in the insane amount of shopping centres here. There's a road called 'Orchard road' in the center that has at least 10 shopping malls dotted along it, all of them at least 6 levels high, makes Churchill shopping centre look like a corner shop! Electronical goods are very cheap here, at least a third off UK prices and they have all the latest gadgets as well, I was after some underwater housing for my little Sony camera, but was told it was an old model and they didn't stock it any more, I only bought it in January!
Once we had escaped the clutches of the shops (having bought no techo stuff at all) we headed for some history lessons at the Changi prison museum. This museum tells the story of the Japanese occupation of Singapore during the Second World War and back in those days the Japanese were a thoroughly nasty bunch who spent their time killing and enslaving the population and Allied forces. The museum used to be in the Changi prison that housed the British and other troops captured when Singapore fell in 1942, but that prison was knocked down and a new one built to house inmates.
Singapore has loads of parks and lakes, which seems wise as most of the population live in high rise apartment blocks with glamorous names like 805 or 362 and I even saw one called 136! Amongst the numerous activities for bored Singaporeans to escape their apartment block life, is the Night Safari! Its open from 7.30pm till midnight and if you go on a Friday or weekend night its a 'shitfight'. Meaning theres tons and tons of people there which spoils the image of walking quietly together looking at the animals, but it was still good fun. The idea of the zoo is so you can see what the animals get up to at night, you can walk or ride around in a kind of tram with commentary, which is what we did. You're not allowed to use flash photography, so as not to hurt the animals senses, so I've stuck up a piture of a wart-hog type creature that we saw at Singapore zoo. The commentator had an accent that sounded like an American David Attenborough and kept going on about 'the magnificent lions', when he wasn't telling people off for using their flashes. Its a bit of a dream like experience riding around in the dark and then subdued lighting picking out lions, rhino and all sorts out of the darkness. The animals are in cleverly disguised enclosures that are surrounded by moats, so they look like they're free, the enclosures are really big though and the animals all look in beautiful condition. One particularly exciting part was walking through the bat cage, a giant area where fruit bats are kept, they're the worlds biggest bat and are vegetarians, but they still look quite scary when they're swooping down near your face! When we bought the ticket to the Night Safari we got a combo one that lets you into the Singapore Zoo as well. Its easily the best zoo we've ever been to, its a huge place with tons of animals, virtually all in cage free enclosures with bags of room to run about. After getting your ticket checked, you walk into the park and straight away you see several different kinds of monkeys that are allowed free reign of the park. We spent 3 hours walking round the zoo, cause we got there late, but given the chance we'd have spent all day, you could spend most of the day watching the Orang Utan family that live in several trees in the middle of the zoo, with ropes inbetween and no fences, they can come down and wonder about the rest of the place if they want to. Other highlights were the Probiscus monkeys with their daft noses, the butterfly enclosure and the Rhino.
Apart from visiting all the wildlife in Singapore, we've been eating our way through it, there's some amazingly tasy food, given all the different cultural influences here. Indian food eaten off a banana leaf, chinese at a street food vender in the middle of Chinatown, steak at a French restaurant on the waterfront, it's hard making these kind of food choices every day!

Finally.....football. Ohh England. What a hard task it is as usual watching our side. Still we managed to beat Ecuador 1-0 eventually thanks to Becks, who although playing like he's on Heroin, still manages to set the goals up every game. Portugal for the quarter-finals then... a tricky one and no mistake, lets hope if Sol scores this time they'll allow it for once and we'll not be robbed again! Thats a piture of a Probiscus monkey by the way, not Rooney!



Singapore Zoo slideshow

Pulau Tioman

A very frustrating last day in KL! I had 40 quid nicked from our room, undoubtedly by the maids - a final assault on my well-bashed credit card. Security are "looking into things" but this was the last thing I expected of a 5 star establishment. O.K. so I left the money on the bed (accidentally), but figured they wouldn't dare take it for fear of loosing their jobs (or their hands). It's not nice having your Ringgit pinched, I can tell you. We made the 10 hour bus and ferry journey to Pulau Tioman. I was as surprised as anyone else to find that we were all still intact after the kamikaze driver proved how you can actually drive on the right hand side of the road and even though you have THREE near misses, you still make it O.K. Must have thought the English girl who berrated him for "driving like a maniac" and could he "PLEASE slow down!!" was quite insane (who, me?).

Pulau Tioman was used as the setting for the film South Pacific in the 1950s and later voted one of the "Top 10 islands of the world." However, this was in the 1970s and I suppose a lot can happen in 30+ years. We know we've been spoiled after the Perhentian Islands and we know we're feeling a touch homesick after the kids' departure, but the fact that I received 50 (exactly 50) bites on the first day didn't help chivvy me along. Sandflies are apparently endemic to the islands beaches and to top that, a swarm of flying ants appear to have descended on us overnight. During-the-night cold showers and a dip in the sea provide my only sanction. And it's raining again. The choice of accommodation is, as an Australian man once succinctly put it, "A Shit Fight." We planned to spend a week here, but are calling it a day ater only 72 hours. Just check out the musty pink mozzie net and damp walls...and is it within health & safety guidelines that the shower should be plumbed into the toilet cystern? All for 6 quid a night, you can't go wrong. Here's Andy (bless him), trying to look enthusiastic.

During a period when the sun came out yesterday, we ventured out to the reef with our snorkelling gear. The coral isn't quite as stunning, nor the fish quite as plentiful but it wasn't long before we happened upon a huge turtle! Andy began splashing about as though he was fitting, but once I'd calmed him, we actually managed to swim with him for about ten mintes. It was a magical few moments and I really did feel as though he liked us! I felt sure he was about to ask us to stay for tea, when Andy signalled we should go back to get an underwater camera. There's something about boys getting over-excited. I recall a similar situation on the Perhention, whereby I foolishly shouted "Shark!!" to my fellow snorkel-buddies. I'd literally glimpsed the creature for a few seconds, when the two Andrews came hurtelling through the water at breakneck speed, leaving Em & I in in the wake of a million bubbles and a face full of (size 10) fins. Then they chased the poor thing out of sight. Little wonder that when I next spotted one, I whispered to Em and we were able to watch him for maybe a minute or more. Another mysterious difference between boys and girls.

Then, on our return to shaw, we saw another turtle - almost bumped into him in fact! Such a relief when you see something that big in the sea and it turns out to be something lovely (rather than a predator of sorts). Tioman itself is actually shaped like a turtle, which I like. We're staying on the beach of Kampung Air Batang on the North West side of the island (periliously close to the turtle's head). Last night we visited the Northern-most bay of Salamat, just to check there wasn't something we were missing. The terrifying speedboat journey in the pitch black was the best bit about the evening, though it did cross my mind the possibility of being speared by a jumping Longtom (needlefish). We've seen plenty of them whilst snorkelling, and they seemed like harmless baracuda. Apparently though, there have been a few instances where they've jumped out of the water and speared night-fishermen to their death!!

One thing which is mandatory when you enter these islands, you have to pay a "marine conservation" fee. Brilliant, I'm all for that and it sounds quite progressive by Asian standards. But when the tourist industry is booming, only one thing matters and that's money, not poor little Nemo. Seeing a scary amount of dead coral washed up on the beach is one thing, seeing a baby shark in line for the BBQ is another. And this doesn't go near the number of places with shark-fin soup on the menu. Every Chinese restaurant in every Chinatown proudly displays it on menus and for as little as a few quid a time.

I'd like to digress here to make you all feel better. Travelling isn't always about having a great time. Sometimes, you have to endure rankness along the way (pink nylon hotels aside). All part of the "journey," but truthfully, not a facet I enjoy. Some time has elapsed since the glory days of Japanese toilets. Knowing how you all love a toilet tale, here is a classic example of a public Asian bog. I wouldn't have thought it necessary to detail the instructions for use at this juncture, but I can tell you that it in fact involves a degree of skill and dexterity to keep your trousers clear of other peoples secretions. Invariably there is nowhere to put your bag and on the occasion that there is, you simply wouldn't risk it. The following method has been discoved by trial-and-error over the past 5 months; all steps must be adhered to.

1. Check all vaccinations are up-to-date.
2. Ensure you have tissues.
3. Prepare senses by a) allowing eyes to become accustomed to the dark, b) begin mouth -breathing c) try to ignore presence of flies/wasps/mosquitoes/bats.
4. Put bag around neck with tissues in one hand.
5. Set about complicated mission of wrapping trousers in your own pants whilst simultaneously pulling them down. This will ensure they are not in danger of trailing in the dysentry/cholera/hepatitis concoction.
6. Face the right direction- facing against the slope of the porcelaine will mean that splash-back will ensue - a terrible prospect.
7. Using the tissue to protect from cross-infection, hold door closed with one hand. If the door does happen to have a lock, DO NOT use - this could be your last ever mistake.
8. Upon completion (you will know from experience that a combination of starvation and dehydration are necessary whilst on the road, to ensure such visits are shot-lived and as infrequent as possible. Avoidance of hot curry the night before also beneficial), rise carefully and do all of above steps in reverse order.
9. Take water from the pail and sluice down the lav (no point in this particular case).
10. In case you want to "do it like the locals" you can use thie water for a spot of personal duching. (Yeah, right)
11. Retreat quickly from the scene of the nightmare and get your wet-wipes at the ready.
12. Resume normal respiration only when in open-air.
13. Don't forget to pay the lady on the way out (quite what for, I'm unsure).

On a wing and a prayer, we're off to the sterile comforts of Singapore. No germs, just shopping, Raffles and cocktails...how civilised.

KL - City of Gin, Nudity & Old Handbags.

Kuala Lumpur. After a 13 hour overnight train journey which largely involved no sleep and the rest of our cohort taking photos/m-pegs of my attempts to gain access to my bunk bed, we arrived in the Malaysian capital. (Can I just say that I only got into a situation requiring assisstance from a train man once - the rest of the time I was adequately nimble.) I'm only glad the whole carriage found it so amusing. Further hilarity ensued as Andy offered his Nips around. Looking a little jaded on arrival, Em & I went off in search of luxury accommodation, leaving the boys with a PSP & a latte apiece. Following much searching of the mid-range hotels which all either looked like Pauline Fowler's living room (circa Arthur's decline) or smelled of pepper, we cut to the chase. Before we could work out if we could afford it or not, we took rooms at the Istana Hotel, a grand 5-star sky-scraper in the middle of the Golden Triangle, overlooking the Petronas Towers. Check out the crystal in the lobby! Wondering how I was to justify this extravangance to Andy, I remembered I had the perfect excuse - the boys needed a decent T.V. for the World Cup!! For the first time ever, football is my friend.

The Petronas Towers, now stand as the tallest twin towers in the world (451.9 metres) and the second tallest building worldwide. They do seem to capitalise on this fact a bit too much for comfort, given that the NY ones formerly held the title. In order to gain access to the viewing platform situated part-way between the two towers (only 146 metres above the ground), you have to get there early for tickets and endure an exceeding boring video detailing the building of the thing. The only bit I heard was that "in case of fire, one has to evacuate to the safer of the two towers." How settling - they don't even tell you which is the crap one. Following our cable-car adventures, the boys were feling a bit apprehensive and Andrew's palms were very clammy. Thank God Em was on hand to reassure Andy that she "had a bad feeling about this" immediately prior to boarding the lift. The views were nice, amidst the smog, but it was actually rather uninspiring in the end. The eight-sided star used in thr floor-plan is typical of Islamic art, and by night is does offer quite a majestic sight.

Over the past four days, we've bored Andy rigid with our shopping antics, had massages and eaten lots of great food. Alternating between Chinese and Indian for each meal, our figures are coming on nicely. Chinatown does this amazing thing with bits of pork by curing it in some treacle-MSG compound. Andrew developed a bit of a habit and worked his way through half a kilo (with minimal assisstance).

We've had to have a few drinks to keep everything in equilibrium and rinse through our coronary arteries. Indeed, our quest for booze, even in the capital of a Muslim country, is quite a challenge. On the first night, the girls headed out to Chinatown as we figured there's be some kind of liquor-store there. As we weaved through the night-market amidst shouts of "Hello handbag?" (really must moisturise this tan more intensively), the place we found was an hilarious hole filled with old soaks. Clearly unused to female customers, we caused quite a stir, especially when we asked if they sold champagne. Content with 2 (small) bottles of local gin, we scurried back like George Best home from The Priory.

In desperate need of a spot of pampering after a gin-fuelled evening, we booked ourselves an appointment with the hotel spa. Em suggested we go for a Mococa package, which sounded very exotic and I went for the same. The Mococa proved to be quite an experience and basically involved being rubbed and scrubbed with various ingredients more commonly found in coffee shop. First I was washed, then scrubbed with coffee, then washed, then scrubbed with bits of chocolate and crushed nuts (possibly, I was blind-folded so I'm not sure). This debacle went on for an hour and was basically like an elaborate bed-bath. It was far from enjoyable as the room was freezing, despite three requests for warmth. The language-barrier didn't help. As I pointed at the A/C controls, she took this as a signal to turn up the volume on the "relaxing" music. I'd really like to meet the person who chose the CD which was on a loop for 5 hours. I don't know many people who would find Enigma doing cover versions of The Flying Pickets soporific. I was about to sneak off to the sauna when I was allowed to shower off my ingredients. Resembling a Feast in a shower-cap, I peeled off my chocolate-streaked disposable pants and as I luxuriated in the warmth of the shower, I began to feel more like a patient than an Asian beauty. Sadly there are no photos to highlight the extent of my anguish at the time.

The highlight was waiting for the bath to fill. This took 30 minutes and in the end had to be supplemented by bucketfuls of hotwater. By now I was getting a bit twitchy - I'd been "done to" for 2 hours and I was more tense than when I went in. Would this happen at the Treatment Rooms? I think not. Sensing discontent, the woman with painted-on eyebrows chucked so much lavender oil and orchids into my bath that I almost had a respiratory arrest. Then followed a great massage and a pedicure, so all was redeemed at the last moment. The whole procedure took 5 hours, longer in fact, than most operations. By the time it was all over with, it was 11pm and we'd missed dinner. Still, I smelled like a Starbuck's and my skin felt baby-soft...Goodbye Handbag! My quest for the ultimate massage will continue however. The gold standard is set... Big Rajasthani woman with hands like kebabs, boiling up a dirty pan of ghee, lying me on a filthy towel and kneeding me like a roti...

There's been some half-hearted attempts to visit temples, but mosques just don't do it for me really. We visited Masjid Jamek, which is supposed to be the most beautiful in KL but it wasn't so we headed for the Central Market for a spot of hard-bargaining instead. The main Hindu temple, Sri Mahamariamman, was quite nice but I disgraced myself by failing to remove my shoes (it wasn't obvious). At least the colours of Little India light up the smoggy air, while the smell of Sandalwood and incense finish off your respiratory system. KL's an interesting mix of cultures and examples of old and new are juxtaposed at every corner. Ladies in Muslim dress eating a KFC, monks shopping for computer games, and old Chinese, Indian and Muslim temples lying side by side in apparent harmony with sky-scrapers seemingly poking from their rooftops.

Despite my informative wafflings, I'm feeling very hungover today. This is a direct result of Andrew & Em's farewell evening and polishing off the gin. The shock of finding Andy naked in the hotel corridor at 5am this morning is still lingering. I doubt I shall recover. I truly expect to find that our belongings have been evicted and the police waiting for us when we return to The Istana tonight. It was a fraught few mintes as I scanned the local vacinity for wet patches this morning. We've had a really great time with the kids and will miss them terribly. I now only have Andy to talk to, and I don't have reinforcements when justifying spending more than a fiver on something. It's back to budget for Samson. As if this isn't enough of a burden, I have the additional embarrassment of a boyfriend who sleepwalks. What if it continues? I might have to make him a little sign to wear round his neck, lest he be found in a naked in a public fountain, surrounded by ladies in pink headscarves. Even worse, what if the next person to rescue him is my Mum? I'm off to M&S to purchase him some paisley pajamas.

The kids holiday slideshow

The Perhentian Islands

The Perhension Islands by Samantha Croom aged 30 (June 5th till June 11th)

Hi from The Perhentian Islands! We've been staying on Pulau Besar, the larger of the two islands which make up the name. It also happens to be the posh one and is for grown ups like us. We (Em & I) went on an expedition through the jungle to find somewhere decent to stay...not easy after 12 hours of travelling on an overnight bus. Considering it's the posh island, this was actually more difficult than anticipated so we did the decent thing and went for the most expensive beach hut we could find. And very lovely it was too - except for the staff. They seem to go out of their way to be as unfriendly and unhelpful as possible. Quick example - sat down in restaurant for dinner, we ordered barbequed seafood platters, to be told that at 9.15 pm it was too late for a barbie (what?), so we had to have a re-think. Some woman with all the effervescence and charm of Myra Hindley trundles back half an hour later, only to inform us that it was now, in all probability, too late to have dinner (they officially shut at 10.30). We aint bovvered though as Andy's had a word and now we just boycott them (with the exception of using their internet & Magnum supplies).

Enough of that - the beach!! We are overlooking a little bay which is just one aspect of the beautiful coastline. A bit of a walk along the shore takes us to a gorgeous powder beach, overlooking montains and coral reef. Being that I had a bit of a diving freak out in Vietnam, I have chickened out of diving here. Andy's been several times, but he'll tell you all about that later on (jelous, me? I was until today...) Much of the coral is unfortunately dead in the first few metres, but things pick up no end a bit further on. We've seen all manner of nonsense - the marine life is unbelievable!! Better than any dive I ever did I think (and with much reduced risk of complications!). We've seen parrotfish, angelfish, cuttlefish, loads of Nemo (clownfish) and fiesty little brown ones which nibble you if you go near them. On a more terrifying note, we've encountered the Titan trigger fish - a very aggressive fish with massive teeth. They've been known to attack divers unprovoked and we even heard a tale of one ripping a human ear off. It's a good thing Andy didn't know this when he persued one on our first day here.



My first shark by Andy Masters aged 34

The diving and snorkling around the Perhension islands is easily the best I've ever done. The sheer amount and diversity of fish, the beautiful coral and the clear blue water make these islands a must visit if you're at all interested in marine life! I realise I sound like a Malaysian advert, but it really was that good and I can't wait to get to Australia to see how it compares. It was especially memorable, because I saw my first shark whilst diving and in the following days all 4 of us saw sharks when we were snorkling. The sharks in question are black tip reef sharks, quite comman in these waters and not a threat to us humans. The shark I saw was on my third dive of four and was at a site called Tiger Rock. The site was really atmospheric as it featured a collection of several towers of stone and coral rising some 20 meters from the sea bed to the surface. We descended down to the bottom and spent the next hour swimming around the rocks, gradually rising to the surface. We had been swimming for about 15 minutes maybe, when I accidently cut my finger on some coral (it can be amazingly sharp), it was only a small cut, but enough to bleed! It was strange, because underwater the colour of my blood was green. I suddenly remembered that I'd been told there was a good chance of seeing a shark and so became a little nervous, even though Josh would've been jealous of my dying from a shark attack, I really didn't want that to happen! My cut sorted itself out pretty quickly, but then, just a few minutes later I saw the dive master do the classic sign language for 'shark', by holding his hand in front of his forehead as though is was the dorsal fin of a shark. I looked into the depths and out of it swam a 2 meter long black tip reef shark, it swam towards us slowly and then turned around and went back the way it had come. It was an awe inspiring and very surreal moment for me, having been fasinated by sharks since I can remember. I'm also pleased it didn't come too near or it might have had a nibble at my finger :) It was a stunning dive, I also saw a lionfish, some cuttlefish, needlefish, lots of parrotfish and lots of schooling reef fish. Other highlights of the diving included us all seeing a Green sea turtle whilst snorkling and my personal favourite was the bumphead parrot fish (also called the humphead), a gentle giant about 3-4 long.

We all managed to do about 3-4 hours of snorkling a day, seeing sharks every time, Emma even saw one just a few meters from the beach in the shallows. Its a beach holiday none of us will ever forget!

Underwater photography courtesy of disposable kodak camera.

England 2 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago

I couldn't keep this blog up without mentioning the most important event of this year, the World Cup! Last night was not only an England game, but also Andy and Emma's final night with us in Malaysia, as I write they are in mid-air on their way home, nursing nasty hangovers :)
It was absolutely fantastic to have them with us for the last 3 weeks and when we've recovered from our own hangovers, we'll probably miss them, possibly a lot. I will certainly miss my footy watching pal who has shared the joys of watching England and all the rest of the games. Its a bit of a pain here as some of the games kick off at 3am, but at least the cable tv repeats all the action constantly 24 hours a day.
Last night our new hero ( never thought I'd say that word about him), Crouch, got us the win late on and then we got to enjoy a Gerrard classic, the rest of the game was a bit of a slog, but it was good to see Rooney back on the pitch and Lennon looking good to. The other highlights of the evening were winding up an idiot from Northern Ireland by telling him he was English :) ( he left at halftime ) and then for the first ever time in my life I sleep walked. We'd had a teeny weeny bit to much to drink and got back to the hotel at about 2am after the game (kick off midnight). We went to bed and I found myself at about 5am standing in the corridor outside our hotel room, very confused and very naked, wondering what the hell was going on. Luckily no one was around and I somehow had the wits about me to ring our door bell and Sam came and rescued me. I seem to remember her being a bit annoyed with me, before realising what had happened and then laughing at me :) Really, really, wierd!!!!
Some cracking matches coming up, particularly Argentina v Holland and Brazil v Australia. Heres hoping we beat the Swedish for the first time in decades in 5 days time and also that we manage to avoid Germany in the second round, we don't want to humiliate the tournament hosts just yet!

Penang

Penang is a small island about two and a half hours south of Langkawi. We took the floating tomb or as the locals called it, the ferry, to Georgetown the main city on Penang. The sea was quite choppy and the boat wazzed it along at very high speed, so that it seemed that the boat might turn over at any second and considering that we were below deck with another 100 passengers with no quick means of escape, we were slightly scared. The small matter of most of the locals throwing up around us didn't help speed our crossing. We won't be taking any more "ferrys" in future.

Our primary motive for visiting Penang was to get a bus across to the eastern side of Malaysia to get to the Perhension islands. I know I said Penang was an island, but its joined to the mainland by the longest bridge in Asia, hence the bus route being possible. On getting to Georgetown, we discovered that we wouldn't be able to get the bus until the Monday evening (night bus) as it was the Kings birthday (selfish) and all the buses were already booked solid. This meant either a very expensive taxi ride across Malaysia or hang out in Penang till the Monday. We stayed and lucky for us we did, because Georgetown was an interesting place and the food was unbelievably delicious.
After looking at various nightmare hotels, including one that had a bed with just the mattress on it, no sheets, pillows etc, we settled on the 'Hong Ping' with its a/c, tv, hot water and all the other comforts of home. Basically the four of us spent our time, you've guessed it, looking at....temples (some cracking ones in Georgetown), discovering a bit about the history (former British colony) and eating our way through the many Malaysian, Chinese and Indian restaurants.

One particularly impressive temple was 'Kek Lok Si' which is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia (not that hard, cause most of the country is Muslim). There seemed to be dozens of small and large temples within the overall structure, culminating in a giant statue of a female Buddha. Walking our way through the hot, narrow market at the foot of the hill of temples we came out into an enclosure which featured a small pond with a bridge over it and in the pond were hundreds of turtles, which people were throwing lettucie type greens to. We spent a good 2-3 hours wondering in and out of the fantastically coloured buildings in the intense heat (Thats Andy at the base of the statue).

That was Penang, nice place, lots of Asian hustle and bustle and some of the best Asian food we've ever had! Amazing Dim Sum and the tastiest Tandoori chicken this young chap has ever come across.

Next time on the Andy and Sam blog....close encounters of the shark kind :)

When 2 became 4

So we two are now four ... hurray!!! Emma Penelope Lewins and Andrew Bernard Davies are now in our travelling posse. They arrived several days ago, looking rather pasty, on the island of Langkawi. An emotional airport reunion preceeded a VERY drunken night, involving a bottle of Bombay Saphire drunk on the beach and midnight-sandcastles. The following day was a bit of a write-off. Largely due to the weather, I might add, but Andrew took the opportunity to sleep off his gin/jetlag. A few days of sunning under their belts, they are now a bit pink and mozzie-bitten, but hey kids, lookin' good! Langkawi was nice for the fact it had an amazing beach - Tanjung Rue. Beautiful white sand and an even more gorgeous hotel whose facilities we used more than once. Other than that, there's not much there. Except did I mention the cable car?

We were introduced to the idea by Lila, our lovely hotellier. She was great for many reasons; she loved football, was genuinely lovely and kind, oh and she had a vastly entertaining way of pronouncing "no." It sort of came out as a very exaggerated "Nieuyyyewwww!!!" I digress. We decided to visit the cable car on our last day, imagining it to be a tame affair.

We couldn't have been more wrong. As Em & Andrew farted about in a pharmacy, Andy was strangely absent from the procedure which saw them being coated in herbal oil. The man informed them it was for "sunburn and insect bites" and so they bought a bottle (turned out to be muscle-rub). I went in to see what was taking so long, at which point the man became very excited. He produced a bar of soap temptingly named "De-Fat," claiming it would knock off at least 10 pounds. As if to emphasise the point he prodded Andrew's belly. I really think if I'm expected to be culturally sensitive whilst I'm away (i.e. covering my arms, legs, and chest whilst staving off combustion and not holding Andy's hand / showing him any affection etc. etc.) I really think they should mind it aswell.

Anyway, I'm off again - the cable car!! Andy was nowhere to be seen because he was busy building up a palm-sweat looking at the mountain we were to climb. At 700 metres, the pharmacy three hadn't taken much notice. That is, until we had boarded the car. Our worry steadily grew in to a mild panic as we ascended. The mild panic became a generalised feeling of sincere consternation as we swung above treetops and waterfalls. The consternation bit swiftly descended into mass hysteria as we actually stopped on the cable, an eery silence aside from the howl of the wind outside. After a while it re-started and we took the final ascent up the sheer rock-face at a gradient of not less than 45 degrees.

That said, the views at the top were amazing. But all we could think about whilst gazing out over the whole island, was our impending descent. We bravely took a few photos from a viewing platform suspended above the valley and Andy ensured he stood a good distance from the edge. Em was quite eager to "get back." I reasoned that Malaysia surely had higher safety standards than anywhere else we'd visited, but Andrew was quietly remembering the cable-car disaster in Austria of several years ago. At least he kept that to himself until we had landed. By the way, I'm not sure what I'm doing in that photo there - I seem to be raving, in little world of my own. Heights can do funny things to some people.

I could go on. We caught the ferry from Langkawi to Penang, a large island 3 hours south. We weren't quite prepared for the unpleasantness of the exerience. The sea was extremely choppy and it wasn't long before we were surrounded by pukers. There seemed to be plenty of lifejackets, but I didn't enjoy being in the downstairs bit. It wasn't helpful that I kept remembering bits from the Poseidon Adventure, in particular, Kurt Russell drowning.