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Sarah's Travels
Hey guys
Last time I left off I was on the way to Ko Pha Ngan which is about a half hour boat ride from the main Island of Ko Samui. The Island itself was beautiful, with some lovely beach side bungalow resorts around the coast. But I didn't get a chance to stay in any of these as the Island was totally booked out due to it being Thai New Year and the full moon party both on the same day! I ended up staying in the down town area which happened to be the best place to get involved with the New Year celebrations. Thai's celebrate the New Year with the Water or Shokran festival which involves throwing water over everyone you pass in the street. The only thing to do was get involved so I got myself a water pistol and started getting my revenge. In the evening I headed over to Haad Rin where the full moon beach party was happening. There were bars lining the entire length of the beach and each one was blasting out a different type of music.
From Ko Pha Ngan I headed out of Thailand and into Malaysia. It took 19 hours, a boat, a bus, a train and then another boat to get to Penang just off the coast of Malaysia at Butterworth. I wasn't sure what to expect of Malaysia but I really liked Georgetown where I was staying. It had a real mixed atmosphere of Indian and Chinese cultures but it somehow worked. I ended up staying for a few days and took in the sights including Penang Hill which is the tallest point on the Island and it takes half an hour on two funicular trains to get to the top. The views were amazing you can see right over to mainland Malaysia.
After Penang I took a bus to Kuala Lumpa where I arrived during the most horrendous rain storm I have ever seen. The roads in the centre of the city were flooding to almost knee high, but within half hour of the rain stopping the water had all cleared away and everything was back to normal. There isn't much to do in KL, and it isn't really a tourist destination. Most people just stay a few days while waiting for connecting flights or buses to their next destination. I did go up the Petronas Towers to the sky deck on the 41st floor, which had some impressive views, but apart from that there wasn't much to do.
From KL I got a bus to Singapore where I met up with my mum for a few days. It was nice to experience some luxury and to know that hot water, bed linen and air con came as standard (most of the guesthouses in SE Asia lacked at least two of the above!). We spent some of our days seeing the sights, but most of the time we spent shopping!!
So now I am in Australia. I arrived in Darwin early on Monday morning to find that the town was on cyclone warning, cyclone Monica was heading our way. This meant that nothing was open on Tuesday when it was due to hit, even though we only ended up with the tail end of the storm with some heavy wind and rain for 24 hours. My next stop is going to be Kakadu National Park and then on to the Red Centre to see Ayres Rock. Hopefully I'll catch up more from there.
Love to you all,
Sarah x
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