Season's greetings!!!

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks since our last blog entry - we've now travelled all the way through Malaysia and in to Singapore. Our Malaaaaysian adventure began in Penang, an island off the west coast of the country. Our hotel was FIT. Although our first dorm experience, we managed to bag a full room to ourselves... unfortunately this was for one night only, as the rest of our time there was shared with a fat, balding, old man (wearing a SKIRT) whose favourite night time activities included straddling pillows and moaning in his sleep. We visited Penang's National Park, where we trekked for 2 sweaty hours through a jungle, accompanied only by monkeys and giant ants. It was all worth it though, as we were greeted by the sight of baby sea turtles upon arrival at the beach (totally sweet, dude!) Happily forgetting all we were taught about 'stranger danger', we went out for a meal with the manager of our hotel - where we were made to try such delights as squid tofu, oyster omelette, dim sum dumplings, and unidentified "meat"... it was surprisingly nice!!

Our next stop was the Cameron Highlands - which was basically England (cold weather, rain, tea and scones aplenty) but up in the clouds. Our 18 bed dorm was certainly an eye-opener... and Em squared are still recovering from the trauma of witnessing a couple dry humping in the bed next to Gilbert. We considered offering to pay for a private room for them, but alas, funds are tight, so we stuck to our eye masks - a much cheaper alternative. While there, we went on various expeditions to tea plantations (Gilbert nearly lost the will to live, but Billington thrived off trying an array of teas!), butterfly farms and strawberry fields. Things took a turn for the worse when we decided to take a trip to 'Mossy forest'... which involved an excessive amount of slippery mud, blood, sweat, tears, and 2 pairs of plimsoles in the dustbin! In true Em squared style, our trip ended in sheer despair - thanks to a GIANT cricket in Billsy's shoe, swollen glands, altitude sickness, a strange rash and two ever fading tans.

We left the coldness and quiet country life for the heat and pure mayhem of Kuala Lumpur. After getting scammed by a taxi driver, we arrived at our snazzy hostel just outside of Chinatown (made all the nicer thanks to the group of Essex reemos we befriended!) On our first night, we decided to "wander" (in the dark, without a map - obviously) in the vague direction of the Petronas twin towers. We dicovered the hard way that just because you can see a giant building, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a short walk away! We felt oh too at home in a mahoosive shopping mall we happened across, where we found delights such as Topshop, Zara and Harrods, although our highlight was definitely chasing Santa up and down escalators in order to find out his ethnicity. We can confirm that he is indeed Malay. In an attempt to find the Thai Embassy to get our visas renewed, we found ourselves lost and in the middle of a 6 lane motorway... surprisingly we survived... and had our visa applications accepted, win!

Our final stop was a smallish town called Melaka. We absolutely loved it there! Lots of great food, street markets, lovely people and a hostel with a chill out area on the roof so we could enjoy watching the lunar eclipse. Everyone from the hostel ate together every night, resulting in peer pressure to be brave and try even more new foods! One highlight of our 6 days there was witnessing a man with, we quote, "a super power index finger", smash through a coconut - impressive stuff! We also met up with Billsy's relatives, Kate and Andy, and enjoyed spending a couple of evenings drinking cheap beer, eating good food and going on a canal boat ride with them. We weren't sure whether to feel like celebrities or freaks, as time after time, people posed for photos with us... apparently we're the palest people they've seen in a long time! Our favourite fans were 2 Japanese women, who literally ran across the park, screaming and pointing at us, followed closely by their camera holding husbands. One man saw this as a great photo opportunity and sprinted over to get in on the action. We can't help but wonder how many mantle pieces we'll be on by Christmas ;)

And so ended our time in Malaysia! We hope you're all feeling suitably festive... have a lovely Christmas and we'll get back on the blog in 2012! Peace out, stay reem, and MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT OUR CHRISTMAS SONG!! We are lyrical genuis' - it has to be said!