I have just written perhaps the greatest blog entry of all time only to have the computer crash and burn and lose it. So this one may have a slightly angry tone to it as I am more than annoyed.

The last entry ended with me getting the bus to Mersing so I could get the boat to Tioman Island. I was travelling at this time with an American girl called Alexis who I had met in Melaka. We had to get a bus to a place called Klang which has nothing going for it apart from a bus station where everyone seems to have to change buses yet they still have not figured out an organized way to do this. WE got to Klang without incident and then found out we would have to wait three hours for the next bus (there were no direct buses available as it was Ramadan and everything was booked). I went for a wander and discovered we could get a local bus which would leave in half an hour for a much cheaper price. On we get. The bus driver seemed ok if slightly insane but as the bus journey wore on it was clear that he was actually totally mad. The clues were there - before we even left the bus station he was shouting at everyone who walked past "Mersing Mersing Mersing" then when we left the madness really began. Honking the horn constantly for no reason, driving on the wrong side of the road for no reason, overtaking on blind corners while going at about 20mph. talking and laughing to himself and driving with the door open which was quite concerning as I was sitting at the front! People got on and off seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We eventually, and miraculously, made it to Mersing alive. The driver then wanted to walk us to the office to buy boat tickets however we wanted to go and check bus times for when we returned to the mainland. Trying to communicate this with him was impossible and he eventually wandered off probably ranting something about foreigners. Bus times checked we headed to the boat ticket place where we also booked accommodation as everywhere was getting booked up due to Ramadan and we wanted to know we had somewhere. I thought the boat ride was 30minutes, for some unknown reason, because it was actually 2.5hours! The first night we went for a quiet drink and were out till 4am as we met a nice group of backpackers and locals. It was quite busy as it was the only bar open on the part of the island where we were. The next couple of days followed the same pattern of snoozing/reading in a hammock and going out in the evening. The lowlight of these days came when I ate a whole green chili thinking it was a green bean - this is not advisable. It was made worse as I had finished my drink so I had to gulp down Alexis'. The third night was quite tame as we had to be up early to get the 7.30am boat the next day. While we were packing in the morning a huge frog came in the room but I don't know where as the doors was shut! Who knows what other creatures were in there.It was pouring with rain and there was lots of impressive lightening while we walked to the ferry which may have been nicer if we weren't walking in it with our great big bags. We had a little nap on the ferry and arrived back in Mersing. We decided we should go get our bus tickets ASAP instead of just turning up at the time the bus left (which you can normally do but Ramadan was messing everything up!). I ran to the bus station whilst Alexis watched our bags. I'm glad I went as there was only one company running buses to Kuala Lumpur that day and once again we would have to change in Klang!!! This place is going to haunt me. We also decided to prebook accommodation in KL. The place we booked had good reviews and was ok - the only problem was the location. Mum - do not google Chow Kit! We saw a rat fighting a cat which isn't the best thing to see when eating. We also made the mistake of walking through the wet market and I can't even bring myself to type the things we saw there. To be honest we didn't do much in KL as there isn't much to do except go up the Petronas Towers and I didn't want to get up at the crack of dawn to get tickets to go up there. I did visit a Marks & Spencer and a Topshop in one of the huuuuuuge malls. After a couple of days there Alexis was flying to Hong Kong so it was time for me to leave for the Cameron Highlands. Again I took a local bus which had the added benefit of a hole in the floor which was nice. The driver wasn't mad but he did have an aversion to changing gears which meant that, as the road was very winding and steep, occasionally we would actually stop. I thought we would have to get out and push. After what felt like days we made it to the town at the centre of the Cameron Highlands and I made my way to a hostel. I booked a day trip which would take in the world's biggest flower via a 4WD drive, a tea plantation, a "mossy forest" and some other things. I specifically asked if I needed walking boots and was told no, just don't wear flip flops. Well, clearly he should have said don't wear Converse trainers either because when you have no balance anyway walking on very slippy mud with no grip is pretty dangerous! My trainers are wrecked! Luckily we got driven up this steep track which other tours had to walk up. No way could I have done that! After about a three hour hike (awful) we saw the flower which was vaguely impressive, then made our way back down again. And yes, I did slip over. We then got back in the cars, back down the track (which was the best part of the day) went to a village which was just uncomfortable, went to the tea plantation but couldn't do a tour because of Ramadan, went to a strawberry farm (because being English we have never been to one), drove up another hill to the mossy forest which was quite spooky, then higher to the highest point where apparently you could see an incredible view. We don't know because a thick fog decided to descend.

The next day I got a minibus to a place called Jerantut where you can get a boat along the river to Teman Negara National Park. A couple from my daytour were also on it. This was by far the most hair raising experience of my life. The driver was a total lunatic, we were getting thrown around, tiers were screeching it was dangerous and we told him so. At least we had time to recover before we got on the boat as we were waiting for hours (no exaggeration). The boat trip was really nice although it started to rain and got a bit chilly for a while. We got off the boat after about three hours and I decided I didn't actually want to do any trekking or anything and made up my mind to leave the next day, by bus to get the Jungle Railway up to Kota Bharu. Most people use this as a way of getting to the Perhentian Islands which are meant to be amazing but as I was on my own and they are quite expensive to get to, and I don't dive, I knew I wasn't going to go there but still wanted to do the railway and I 'm glad I did as the scenery was spectacular! Kota Bharu was quite a nice place to stay for a few days - very conservative Muslim so no drinking, but I could watch the football at McDonalds.

I decided it was time to leave Malaysia so booked a flight back to KL with a flight to Bangkok the same day. I met a nice Malaysian girl on the first plane who was on her way to KL to get her student visa so she could go to uni in Sheffield. I arrived in Bangkok ready for Thailand!

Next update coming soon - Thailand and the start of Laos!