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Hello,well justr about done with Malaya. Still have my last meal from the market in me and drinking a mango juice.
I last left you in Singapore after having been in Indo. Gunned it straight out of Singapore the next day on a bus to Melaka. The border crossing bridge is not as shabby and jammed packed with cars as I remember when our high school team travelled through back in 96(or 97). Nice smooth trip through and up. Lots of rubber trees and not much else. Got in to Melaka - an ancient capital of the trade routes through the Melaka straights - around 4pm and found my mate Olly. We scanned the China town street for a bit and found a place to eat. Ate fantastic Malay food known as Lemak laksa - noodles with a coconutty sauce - and then moved on to a bar. Had an over priced beer then moved and had some more. The next day we checked out the old(1600's) church on the hill built by the Portugese when they tried to rule the spice trade. Then saw a replica of the sultan who controlled this region's palace. Quite nice.. Then caught the bus to K.L and transferred to another bus to take us up into the jungle.
Known as Taman Negara(National Park) it's over 130 million years old. Apparently it has elepahnts and tigers and snakes though I didn't see any. We(me, Olly, and a dude that was staying in the hostel) went and stayed out in the jungle for a night in one of the huts provided. It was pretty cool. Stopped off during the hike to check out a bat cave which was sweet. Then went for a swim in the river. Olly being to scared of the current to swim across was left to watch our stuff while we swam acrtoss then walked up stream and floated down. Nice and relaxing. Didn't see anything that night. Heard some cool jungle sounds and I won poker. Next day we trekked back and I relaxed preparing myself for island life.
April 6: My bday was spent boating down a river then waiting all day for a 5 hour late train and riding that to Kota Bahru. April 7th: got a taxi to the jeti and a fast boat over to the smaller island of the Perenthians. Beautiful. Just kicked it there for 4 days eating fish for dinnner and snorkling. Not much night life which was a little disappointing but I've been told not to worry cause my next destination - Ko Phi Phi, southern Thailand island - has some. Looking forward to it, but not looking forward to having to decipher whether the girls I'm talking to are really girls.
Enjoyed Malaysia more than I thought I would. The jungle wasn't as junglely as I was hoping for - not the dense, thick forest like I pictured with snakes dangling from the trees - and the beers are too expensive. But it's sure got some nice places and interesting history. The poeple are friendly and a surprising number know English - thanks again to previous English teachers.
Anyway, onwards and upwards.
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