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We woke up with the plan to have a beach day and didn't fancy the breakfast that Uncle had to offer in the hostel so thought we would head to a little bakery we found yesterday. Uncle was very persistent and would not let us leave the hostel without having breakfast so we had to come up with a plan to get out of it. He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for us as we tried to sneak out so I resorted to saying we needed to get money out of the ATM down the road first. He did not look very happy, like a wounded puppy, but I was sure he would get over it so made a dash for the exit! We went to the Rainforest bakery and had English breakfast tea and a cream cheese and salmon bagel, it was gorge! After, we got some money out and headed back to the hostel. I bumped into one of the guys from last night and they said about 7 of them were heading to the Batu Ferringhi beach just out of the city on scooters. They asked if we wanted to join. We were in two minds about it because we were nervous about driving the scooters. Masa had been on them once before in Vietnam, but wasn't confident on them, and me and Sarah hadn't been on one before at all. I was keen to drive my own as knew I would be a nervous passenger and would prefer to be in control. Sarah didn't want to drive one just yet so went on the back of someone else's. So we got to the scooter hire place and they literally told me how to turn it on and off and that I had to put petrol in, the next thing I knew, everyone had hit the road and were heading to the petrol station which I had no idea where it was. I had no time to over think or panic about the scooter so just set off! I was right at the back which was a pain as I was clearly going to be the slowest. I survived making it to the petrol station, we all filled up then set of towards the beach which was a 30 minute drive away. I had no idea where we were going so we tried to drive in tandem. Now, I should have known that would be a terrible idea from the start but I didn't really have much choice. Masa and I were at the back, there was so much traffic weaving in and out of all of us and we had to keep swapping from left to right between four busy lanes of traffic. Then the inevitable happened... Masa and I got stuck at a red light only to watch all the others drive off into the distance! We were on our own! We drove forward only to find the road split into two and there were no signs for Batu beach. We pulled over and decided to drive back towards the city to ask for directions. We found some locals who told us to go straight then left. We were currently in the furtherest lane to the right side so we had to try cut across four lanes of traffic to get into the left lane. We both panicked and decided to drive round in a circle again so that we could get into the left lane further back in preparation. As we were driving round, a little Chinese man on a scooter came up beside us and said 'your friends are this way, follow me!' Bingo! What a lovely man! So we followed him closely and he kept stopping to make sure we had both caught up with him. We followed him for about 10 minutes until we reached to point that he told us the group were waiting for us... But they had already gone! We thanked the man and asked him where we had to go from there, he told us to keep going straight for 20-30 minutes until we got out of the city and up a hill. So that's what we did. It was so much better to get out of the city with less traffic! We arrived in Batu Ferringhi alive...just! We tried to look out for the group but couldn't find them. I then called Sarah who said they were all at the ferry port as were heading to Monkey Island. Some of the guys had been there a few days before and said it was amazing. So we headed on 3 km further and found them at the ferry port in a restaurant. I was so glad to make it! We all got on this tiny little typical Malaysian motor boat and headed round to Monkey island. It was so peaceful and beautiful! I was quite untouched with only little wooden bamboo shacks. The sea was so warm. We had some chicken satay on the beach and then all had a go on a jet ski! It was so much fun! Masa and I went on the same jet ski as she hadn't been on one before. We swapped half way through our 15 minutes but Masa didn't like driving it so I took over again. We were having so much fun, but then hit a big wave and I could feel Masa sliding around from side to side on the back before she managed to flip off and go flying through the air! Luckily she was ok and found it as hilarious as I did! We were laughing so much we didn't move for about 5 minutes so the jet ski guy came out to us to make sure we were ok and said that he saw the whole thing and that it was epic! We still had 5 minutes left so we carried on but I could definitely tell Masa was nervous. I felt a bit bad! After, we sat and sunbathed for a bit and then decided to get the boat back to Batu Ferringhi. I was dreading the journey back to the hostel and it was even more horrendous than the first journey there! I was driving round a tight corner and felt the bike start to drop, so I sped up to try and gain more control but ended up losing complete control of the bike and headed onto the other side of the road towards oncoming traffic! I thought that was it, my mind literally shut down for a couple of seconds as I braced myself for impact! Luckily, very luckily, the guy on the other side of the road swerved and I managed to stop myself! I heard people behind me shout and realised I hadn't hit anything and was ok. Sarah and Mike (the guy driving the scooter Sarah was on) were behind me and saw the whole thing. I looked back at Sarah to see the worry across her face! She asked if I was ok and I just told her I was fine and drove on which was probably the best thing I could have done or I think I would have been to scared to continue. I was really nervous taking corners after that. Once we got back into the city, we all managed to get lost but Sarah, who has probably got the best sense of direction I've ever known, managed to get us back to the bike shop. I couldn't wait to get back and hand the bike in. I felt exhausted, I'd experienced so many adrenaline rushes today! We all had showers then headed back to the night market for dinner and drinks. I had chicken katsu curry which was amazing, and freshly squeezed orange juice. The fruit juices here are amazing, I've never had any juices quite like it, just so fresh! Lindsey (one of the Canadian guys in the group) and I shared chocolate waffles which was also amazing. We all made our way back to the Reggae Mansion bar and shamelessly sang a bit of karaoke. This will be a day I won't forget for a while!
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