Upon entering the airport terminal we knew we’d arrived in Sydney when we were greeted by an Irishman, almost knocked unconscious by a falling surfboard and then asked to clean our muddy shoes. With sparkling shoes in hand we eagerly headed to our 3 ½ star Travelodge hotel which we had managed to book cheaply in Singapore. It must be noted at this point that Emma, unsurprisingly, has been the main organiser during the trip and booked numerous places for us to stay. However, there have been general trends relating to her chosen accommodation in that they were required to fit into one of three categories for them to be deemed acceptable: 1) Demonstrates a certain level of building site activity so that the occupant can be woken up promptly to the sound of drills or hammers (Aurangabad & Dehli)
2) Located either above or next to a nightclub so that the guest can enjoy a somewhat muffled dancefloor experience from the comfort of their own bed (Penang & Auckland)
3) Crammed with enough bugs to have the guest running around with a torch/lamp at 2:22am attempting to kill mosquitoes/cockroaches (everywhere else)
Thus it was with the utmost smugness, on my part, that we rolled in to our cheap and classy establishment. Although, Emma would not agree to carry me around Sydney on her shoulders in order to parade her great accommodation booking boyfriend.

And so to the fantastic city of Sydney.

It was really good to be back and to us it is the best place that we’ve ever lived. Emma stayed there in 2003 for 4 months working as a waitress and I was there for 5 months working as a touch-typist for the Government (it is amazing how fast one can type with two fingers when they’re skint and need a job). Thus we’d both been eager to return and share our previous experiences with each other. Emma was to show me the great places to eat, drink red wine and shop. I was to show Em the cheapest places for pool, beer and the Hungry Jacks Burger joint where you can offer the workers as much money as you want and they still won’t sell you their Hungry Jack caps.

Day 1: After arriving at our hotel and marvelling at the view from our 18th floor room (which included the Campbell St. eyesore which once housed me during my time in Sydney and for some reason has managed to evade demolition) we headed off excitedly to see some of the sights. First stop being Blackbird café at Darling harbour, for dinner, where we gleefully munched on pizza and demanded some money back when our wobbly table sent wine over my trousers. And then of course to the Opera house and Circular Quay where it sunk in that we were actually in Sydney and no we weren’t dreaming.

Day 2: We awoke to a beautiful blue sky with not a cloud to be seen. “Is it really winter here?” asks the ginger as he reluctantly slaps on his factor 30 sun cream. Then it was off to Circular Quay via the Botanical gardens, complete with comedy white birds and flying foxes, and to the Opera house. At which point we randomly bumped into two fellow UEA medics, Bhav & Randeep, who were also spending a few days in Sydney having spent a few weeks in India. Where despite being Hindi speakers they too were ripped off on numerous occasions. Not just us then.

After a coffee and a catch up in the Rocks Café, where Emma once graced the tables as waitress extraordinaire, we bid them farewell and hopped on a ferry and cruised past the Opera house on our way to Manly. A very pleasant afternoon was then spent strolling along to Shelley beach, picnicking on turkish bread sandwiches from the deli, supping a cold schooner of Tooheys over a game of ping pong. Then headed back on the ferrycat with some hot chocolate from the bald man. Who I discovered wasn’t some bald bloke selling hot chocolate but was actually a shop called ‘Chocolate from the bald man’. Very nice chocolate. Em didn’t speak for about an hour afterwards and just sat with a glazed look in her eyes. (It wasn’t the same eating one of the little pots of melted chocolate without you Becks!)

Day 3: Yet again we awoke to clear blue skies. Perfect. We decided to head over to Darling Harbour and have the famous (to the Greig Girls anyway) Sweetcorn fritters from Café 22. They tasted as good as Emma had claimed them to be and as with most café’s in Sydney they make coffee’s to die for. After a very filling breakfast we walked the short distance to the Sydney Fish Market. Hundreds of different fish and shellfish displayed on ice filled counters; who needs to pay $15 to go to Sydney Aquarium when we could see them here! But with very filled bellies there was no room for any fresh calamari and chips, maybe next time. The market is very near to where Emma used to live in Pyrmont. In comparison to my ramshackled, overfilled, cockroach ridden terraced house the ‘Palladium’ was 5*. Luckily she couldn’t show me the swimming pool, gym or her old rented penthouse apartment all for a similar price to mine as we didn’t have a swipe card to enter the building.

Not sure quite how but according to Em (Becks and Mum you will back me up here) a trip to Darling harbour wouldn’t be complete without singing ‘Monorail, monorail, monorail, monorail’ as the monorail passes you overhead. Remember that Simpson’s episode? So after a quick rendition we headed to the main drag of George street and headed through China town to find a Sushi train restaurant that I’d had been too.

Emma takes over the task of typing: After tramping round for half an hour with claims of ‘its just round the next corner’ and ‘I’m sure its round here somewhere’ we settled for a smoothie and set off for Glebe. Here Simon managed to get a $8 haircut and visit second hand book and record shops; I can never understand wandering aimlessly round shops in which you have no indention of buying anything. Anyway we did discover a 1.3L bottle of Hardy’s Shiraz for only $9. A bargain I am sure you will all agree (if only Waitrose sold them Mr Kerr) so we went to one of the many BYO café’s for a quick snack before the evening entertainment we had both been looking forward to for 2 months; a trip to the Opera House to see Barber of Seville, part of Simons birthday present! Running late as ever we were marching back to our room for a quick shower and change when we bumped into two more friends form UEA; Kevin and Caroline. A quick hello and ‘isn’t this a small world’ followed with an arrangement to meet up the following night for some drinks.

The opera was fantastic. There is nothing quite like arriving at the Sydney Opera house in your glad rags with a ticket for the Opera. Despite seats with a slightly restricted view it was an experience not be to missed. Well done me for being organised and booking it months in advance; at least someone is organised. We walked home to our own rendition of ‘Figaro’ planning when we could next return to Sydney, we both love it.

Day 4: Today, I hate to tell you, the skies were a perfect Sydney blue again so we decided to do the Coogee to Bondi walk. This is a super 2 hour walk along the rugged east coast with waves crashing and lots of surfers and surfing to watch. By this time we had earn’t our steak sandwich on the beachfront and after some shopping for bikini’s (I had lost mine after leaving it on the roof of our car in Malaysia), rash vests (to prevent further snorkelling sunburn in Vanuatu) and t-shirts (a boy can never have too many apparently) we were rather tired and ready for a snooze. A quick 40 winks rejuvenation and we were back out to meet up with fellow medics Chrissy and Kev for some cheap beers in the backpacker pubs of Sydney. Scruffy Murphy’s, Three wise monkeys, the shark bar….fantastically bad places with cheap watered down beer. Great stuff!!

Day 5: Our last day; how could the time have passed so quickly? We had a few bits to buy for Vanuatu and obviously had to visit the Opera House one last time. The day passed far too quickly and it was sunset before we managed to walk over the harbour bridge for great views of the opera house and botanical gardens. A final meal, yet more pizza at the Australian, was followed by a beer to toast Sydney farewell from a rooftop bar sitting above the Rocks area.

And then to Vanuatu where the last recorded eating of a human being occurred in 1969. Some say it still happens….or am I thinking of Wales?

Missing you all. E & S XXX

Sydney remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Thus we spent the next two days idly touring the limited sites of Singapore without having to once look at a guide book or read a map. Thus we could use all our mental capacity in preventing ourselves from becoming soaken from the constant Singapore rain. The best way to achieve dryness being to move stealthy from mall to mall; not a difficult feat in a city which would be more aptly named Singamall. Or indeed Singapour given the amount of rain we had to endure. However, after about 5 minutes we felt malled-out and so we turned to our tour guide for some more interesting activities. Luckily he had much experience in guiding and was able to dredge up some activities, other than shopping, for us to enjoy:

1) Lugeing:

We spent our final afternoon on Sentosa island which is a short monorail, or more expensive cable-car ride, from Singapore. It is mall free and acts as a Scarboroughesque amusements arcade, without the gambling of course; this is after all Singapore the cleanest of clean cut cities. You can spend your hours there playing crazy golf, heading up the Carlsberg tower to look back upon the malls of Singapore, laze upon a man made beach looking back at the huge cargo ships carrying various mall goods or luge. The luge involves climbing onto a piece of plastic on wheels, pulling the handles back to go and pulling them further back to stop. In Singapore you are given a helmet and a full safety talk before being allowed to trundle to the next safety check. After which you are free to whiz down the hillside track as quickly as possible with the winner taking all. At the end you get your picture taken and are then encouraged to slow down by large sponge safety barriers and a bored looking luge attendant. However, an alternative ending to your journey is to pretend you’ve lost control of your luge buggy and to crash into the safety barriers, thereby, sending them flying and an angry looking luge attendant scurrying. Full credit to Dan for not even attempting to be subtle and sending them flying with a head on collision. Great stuff!!

2) Chilli-Crab:

Thanks to some insider information we learned that as part of the Singapore food festival we could lay our impoverished student hands on some free chilli-crabs. And so we collected our free food vouchers from the tourist information and headed to Chinatown. Once there we found a respectable looking chilli crab merchant, ordered the bare minimum to accompany our crab (i.e. a drink and boiled rice) and sat back in anticipation. We were then presented with a huge plate of crabs submersed in chilli sauce and a pair of chop sticks. Now for those of you who have used chopsticks before we would like to point out that attempting to eat fully shelled crabs, even with a claw crusher, covered in thick red sauce is somewhat challenging. Unless of course you’re one of the two Chinese guys sitting opposite us; which enables you to gracefully eat a whole plate of crab whilst remaining spotless. It also enables you to sit and laugh at 3 hungry westerners struggling to eat chilli crabs and looking like a bunch of 3 year olds in a ketchup factory.

3) Museum & Outdoor Cinema:

The national museum of Singapore provided us with some interesting mall relief as we wandered through its many rooms of interesting exhibits. They provided us with insights into the food of Singapore (no mention of chilli crabs though), the lifestyles of the different ethnic groups, the history of Singapore cinema and most interestingly a stone banquet in which all the food had been carved from different rocks. The banquet was so realistic that our tour guide had admitted to almost trying to steal a sandwich until he realised at the last minute that it would have broken a tooth or two. Interestingly there was also a BBC party taking place but despite being licence fee payers we were refused entry. Maybe if I had pointed out that my father was the star of one of their most popular afternoon programmes, namely Diagnosis Murder, we may have been permitted to have supped champagne with the big wigs: maybe next time.

Outside the museum there was an outdoor cinema where we spent the evening watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s. We all agreed we enjoyed it but then proceeded to be demented by Moon River for the next week and a half. Having just recalled that I will now be singing it at random times for another two weeks. “My huckleberry friend….”

4) A Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel:

An overpriced, funny pink coloured cocktail, drunk whilst surrounded by multitudes of people drinking the same drink and eating peanuts in a bar with a floor covered in peanut shells. And it didn’t even taste that nice (although Em says she really liked hers but that’s probably because I paid!) Still it just has to be done and no trip to Singapore can be said to be complete without parting with large amounts of money for a Singapore Ming, err sorry Sling. It was great fun, the hotel was pretty damn swish and our tour guide provided an excellent target for peanut shells.

And so we bid farewell to Singapore thankful that we’d had Dan as our guide so that we could avoid mall boredom at all costs. What we weren’t thankful for was the discovery of “The Maximator” a 12.8% Dutch beer that was very cheap and could be purchased from the 24 hour 7/11 opposite the hostel. But that’s another story….

More photos to follow soon. Love Em and Si xxx

Singapore remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Having jetted over from Penang on a two hour hover-ferry-of-sorts we arrived in the duty free haven of Langkawi with great expectations of cheap booze, great beaches and cracking snorkelling.

At the ferry terminal we used our India haggling skills to cause a face off between two rival hire merchants thereby resulting in us hiring a rather fetching 0.6L Daewoo sports car at a very reasonable price. Thus we hit the road with a hairdryeresque roar from our sewing machine on wheels. And then we did what all good couples do when they get into a hire car and head off into the sunset. We had an argument about which way to go!

Our little car:

Once directions were resolved we headed to our beach destination of Pantai Cenang on the other side of the island. After checking in to a rather reasonable room complete with beach view, fridge and television we made the most of the exceptionally cheap beer and stocked the fridge with tiger. We then sat, drank some beer and watched the rain fall onto our nice beach. Whilst Em bemoaned the fact that she still hadn’t had a good tanning session.

That night we went to a traditional Malay drinking establishment: Debbie’s Irish Bar. Which was full of homesick Irish drinking overpriced Guinness. Needless to say we took part in the festivities and felt somewhat worse for wear the next morning.

Day 2: Post Monkey Tensions (PMT)

Our second day on Langakawi continued in the same rainy vain as the first, thus we decided to make the most of our hire car and explore the island.

Our first stop was a place called the seven wells. So named because there are seven natural pools (we only counted 3 though) connected by rock which you could slide down as the channels were very smooth. The lonely planet had made them sound like a natural water theme park. However, it failed to mention the multitude of monkeys which greet tourists as they begin there trek up the 700ish steps to the pools. I decided to be brave and walk straight through the throng of monkeys which didn’t seem too aggressive. Em followed somewhat reluctantly and was faced with the biggest monkey of the lot who must have smelt fear as he began chasing her back down the hill. “Siiiiiiimmmonnnnn!!” echoed. A rather scary experience – Emma adds. Whilst I did what all good boyfriends should do; I stood and laughed (whilst secretly thinking “thank god that big bugger didn’t head for me!”) Needless to say Emma was unimpressed with this ungallant act and then demonstrated PMT for the remainder of the walk.

After the pools we headed to some more beaches, some of which we couldn’t gain access to as they were now privately owned. However, we did make it to a really lovely beach on the far side of the island. Although, by this point it was chucking it down. No tanning to be done today. We then headed back to the ferry terminal for which would be the first of our 3 visits to sort out our ferry and bus tickets back to Kuala Lumpur. Needless to say we became unimpressed with the set-up by the time we had to head there for a third time; you could only buy a ticket one day before the day of travel. However this did mean we could pick up some more cans of 30p Tiger and 6 pound bottles of Bombay (Mumbai?) Sapphire Gin.

Day 3: No sunbathing today, again.

We rose to find bright blue skies and no rain clouds in sight. Thus it was with much reluctance that Em clambered back into the hire car to return to the fantastic beach we’d visited in the rain the previous day. When we arrived there she was further denied any tanning time as I persuaded her to come trekking through the sea on sand banks and try out our new snorkels. Unfortunately the water was murky and thus snorkelling was a waste of time. It was still good fun to be 500 metres out to see and only knee deep in water.

Upon returning to the beach Em at last managed to set up camp and begin some serious tanning. However, after 5 minutes the clouds then appeared and it started to rain. She was not amused at my ability to minimise anytime spent on a sunny beach. And so we headed back to our beach hut via the highest point on the island which provided us with some great views of clouds.

Pantai Cenang was a fairly touristy place but with some excellent places to eat and shop. On our third night we enjoyed one of our nicest meals in Malaysia and to give it that authentic feel it was served to us by ladyboys. Thus we experienced the ladyboy double take which has you initially thinking that you have been served your food by a nice Malay lady. “Wait a minute those hands are quite big, those shoulders are quite broad, I think she could have me in a fight, now isn’t that an adams apple; wait a minute I think that may be a man!” Still they made very good waitresses and are probably hired on the basis that they can carry twice as many plates, open bottles with their teeth and sort out any rowdy customers whilst providing a female(ish) guise. The perfect waitress?

Us on the beach outside our beach hut:

Day 4: Bus station nightmares

We had enjoyed our time in Langkawi but had hoped for better weather and better snorkelling. It is well worth a visit but is quite touristy. Thus we much preferred the Perhentian islands with its clear blue skies and crystal clear water. ‘Whose silly idea was it to leave the Perhantian islands anyway?’ Em asks as she is forced to tramp round the whole of Malaysia under the guise that “we may never come back to Malaysia so we should see lots of it”!!

Another ferry took us to the main land where we became stranded in Kuala Perlis as our bus had broken down. Thus we sat for 3 hours and watched half hourly buses bound for Kuala Lumpur come and go unable to board as we had ‘the wrong ticket’ and had to wait for ours to arrive. For once we were organised and had bought our tickets in advance; what a mistake. There must be a bout 5 different tour operators running exactly the same service and we had picked the one which broke down. Luckily we managed to get onto another bus after much badgering of Bus company workers and we headed back to Kuala Lumpur to begin our journey to Singapore.

Sunset at Pantai Cenang:

Enough rambling, hope summer is still sunny for you all back in the UK.

Love Em & Si xxx

Pulau Langkawi remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Our Baby Doc house where we are staying. The hospital is 10m infront of this building which is all painted in blue and white too. We are in the first one to the left of the picture as you look at it.

Please note the following two photos were taken after we had both done a morning wardround, I had delivered my first baby(!!!), an emergency department afternoon shift (lots of patients with malaria), 2 bloods and 2 abdominal ultrasound scans - I think we deserved a break!

Down the hill from the hospital is a little resort alled Deco which is pricy but lovely every few days for a quick sunbathe, swim and coffee plunger. (And yes that is a ginger sunbathing - a rare site!)

Me out from the swimming pool drying off in the late afternoon sun.

More to come, lots of love.

Em and Si xxx

Vanuatu remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Sitting proudly at the bottom of the attractiveness scale sits the ginger male. However, there are a few things in this world that do indeed love the ginger male.

Firstly there are Grannies who look upon a ginger bonnet and proclaim “Ooo, I wish I had hair like yours” and “What a lovely hair colour”. The main reason for this love of ginger hair can probably be assigned to cataracts which are well known to distort the colours we see. Thus ginger becomes the ultimate blue rinse!

Secondly we have mosquitoes. Which on our travels have regularly feasted on the fair skinned vessel of the ginger male.

Finally, and most importantly we come to the bed bug… During a cold and dark night in Penang lay two medical students trying to sleep despite the all night rave going on next door. Whilst beneath the sheets secreted snugly in an ageing mattress (unbeknown to said medical students who were very pleased with their traditional Malaysian styled room) lay a battalion of bed bugs! The sentry spotted him first. Word travelled fast from private up to commander, teeth were sharpened and horns were blown as the cry went out from the massed throng; “We got ourselves a ginger.” They had read of such mythical creatures, some had even seen pictures on the internet, many had dreamed and some had prayed for the coming of a ginger banquet. Whilst the students slept the bed bugs launched their night attack and feasted greedily to the nightclub beat of Malaysian Techno.

Casualties of war: Simon bed bug bites = 200
Emma bed bug bites = A big fat 0!!!

Same bed, same length of time in said bed, same sheets, same mattress on the same night – is there any justice in this world for the ginger male???

The next morning a very itchy and angry Simon demanded free accommodation at said Malaysian hotel which was granted by the very apologetic Chinese owner not wanting to lose his glowing write-up in the Lonely Planet. Financial times were hard with Simon only charging 5p per bed bug bite, the things students do to save 10 pounds.

And now onto Penang itself…

World Music Festival: One of the main reasons for leaving the island paradise of the Perhentian islands was the prospect of an evening of world music. Thus we dressed in our best/cleanest clothes and having learned our lightening lesson from Tamen Negara packed our umbrellas, having seen a few streaks of lightening on the horizon, and headed with much enthusiasm to the botanical gardens on the outskirts of Georgetown (the capital of Penang). We boarded the free bus to the festival at which point it started to rain. “We have our brollies, clever us, we’ll be fine”. However, we were proven to be wrong and regretted not packing our emergency ponchies as the rain started to get heavier and heavier. After 5 minutes of standing outside the festival gates we were soaked to the skin as the rain bounced off the floor with such force that it soaked us from the feet upwards. Luckily we hadn’t bought our tickets and so we were able to flee from the washed out scene. Unfortunately the free buses were only one way and so despite our pleas of “we’ve come to the world music festival by mistake” we had to get an expensive taxi back to bed bug central. After a quick dry we headed for some nice food and a great cup of coffee which warmed away some of our disappointment.

Apart from our world music festival disappointment and the constant itchy reminder of bed bugs we did enjoy our time in Georgetown. It had a very colonial feel to it and was a good place to mooch around. The Eastern oriental hotel, built by the same brothers who built Raffles in Singapore, was a beautiful air conditioned haven which made us want for large pay checks to fund bed bug free luxury travel. The Penang museum was also excellent, with some great exhibits showing traditional Penang life – no bed bug exhibits though - and for anyone visiting we would highly recommend it. On a culinary note having had our best Thai meal in India we now had our best Indian meal in Malaysia at a lovely restaurant called Rice and Spice. On an historical note Emma’s granddad had once lived in Penang, very near to our hostel, and worked in the local hospital. We liken his time to something similar to the last King of Scotland although we are fairly sure that he wasn’t working for any dictators nor was he involved in any bloody coups.

Eastern and Oriental Hotel:

Trishaws in Penang:


We left Penang on the highspeed ferry to Langkawi with hopes of good beaches, great weather and a chance to try out our newly aquired snorkel gear. One final cultural note: whilst on the ferry to Langkawi Emma had the window seat whilst Simon sat next to her in the second of 4 seats. After much dithering of two Islamic ladies, dressed in full traditional black clothing, the husband asked if Emma and I could swap seats so that they wouldn’t have to sit next to Simon. Was the lady unable to sit next to a man due to her cultural/religious beliefs or should she be added as number 4 to things who love ginger males? She may have found being too close to be too much.

Missing you all,

Em and Si xxx

Penang remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Lessons to be learnt in the jungle:
1) "My that lightening looks pretty, it really brightens up the place."
"Shall we take our umbrella with us?"
"No I don't think we'll need it, its just a short boat trip and walk."
Followed by the most almighty of thunderstorms that left us wet and almost set the floating restaurant, that we fled to, adrift. We were also forced to buy emergency yellow ponchoes that made us look like two wet versions of big bird from Sesame street.
Lesson: always take waterproofs/umbrella to a rain forest.

2)"Is that a leech?"
"Yeah I think it is."
"Wow look at it move, its heading straight for you."
"It is the little critter, quick film it!"
Meanwhile the other leeches hanging out in the local vacinity:
"Is that a tourist?"
"Yeah there's two of them, there watching Larry."
"That stupid ginger one has got his camera out."
"Good old Larry he gets them every time!"
"To the legs boys, time for some leeching."
Followed by numerous leeches attaching themselves to our shoes and trousers. One almost attached itself to my head when Emma tried to flick it off my trousers but only succeeded in catapulting it off the elastic of my sock towards my head. Thankfully I headed it into the jungle.
Lesson: never stop to film a leech.

Our time in Taman Negara was a short but very enjoyable one. After our first night thunderstorm faux pas we rose from our jungle hut clad in beige and sparkly walking shoes (when in Rome?) ready for some trekking.

New Merrels

We took our hostel boat to the national park and set out on our trek to the canopy walkway; a 45 minute walkway set highup in the trees. Within our first 2 strides we began to sweat and this sweating theme continued unabated for the rest of the day, increasing and decreasing in its severity. When we read in the guide book that humidity was high in the rainforest we didnt think that much of it. However, after 5 minutes of gentle walking you realise in human terms that this means you're going to sweat like a fat lad at the Taj Mahal (We had seen a rather large gentleman at the Taj Mahal, who will remain nameless as we dont know his name, and he was exceptioinally sweaty. Thus he has come to symbolise extreme sweatiness). Thus we merrily sweated our way to the canopy walkway, we merrily sweated our way around half the canopy walkway, which was really good and pretty high, as half of it was, typically, closed for repairs.

The canopy walkway:

Then we decided to follow a trail to the top of a hill for a good view of the river and its rapids. This is when the sweating really kicked in. Thank goodness for eyebrows. When we finally reached the top of the hill we realised that the walk hadn't really been worthwhile but we felt healthy after a good sweat. A quick nibble on some dry biscuits and then we began our descent into the depths of leech hell.

Sweaty Bettys:

Luckily for us we had heeded the warnings of the locals who had told us that after heavy rains the leeches can be pretty bad. Thus we had socks tucked into long trousers and were wearing shoes. (Unlike some of the boob tube, miniskirted and flip flopped ladies we saw skipping around the jungle like some Chav amazons (Chavazons?) who we suspect are still in the jungle somewhere being sucked dry by leeches). Therefore, despite the leech onslaught (they move like slinkies with evil intent) following our filming we were able to flick them off with Em's leech stick and escape unsucked albeit with leech fear.

Land of the flying leeches:

Now leech fear is an interesting phenomenom for it makes people who walk slowly begin to walk exceptionally quickly. It also makes people who dont like hill walking charge up hills like they dont even exit. Emma is one of these people and with a good dose of leech fear I could hardly keep up to her. There were effectively scorch marks in Em's tracks as she blasted on the homeward path. We were only allowed to stop for breath for a quick leech inspection and then we were off again. Thus our walk took us about 2 hours for the first 2km and then 15 minutes for the second 2km.

However, such a revelation can be very useful to someone who has collected a sizeable collection of leeches for future usage. Thus the cat is out of the bag and when Em needs to be hurried up a leech may mysteriously appear by her shoe. "Is that a leech?" "Oh my god!!". Leech fear strikes and boom Em will be off like the clappers. Thus no more long drawn out trips to the shops, no standing idly looking longingly through the windows of jewellery shops, no more stopping for a quick chat....the possibilities are endless. They may also be constructive. Em and I are considering doing the Great North Run next year and with a good dose of leeches at the starting line I reckon she could get under 1:30. Great stuff.

Enough nonsense. We departed Tamen Negara on the Dutch bus surrounded by 15 Dutch people who chatted on in their bizarre langauge as we sped merrily towards the prospect of beaches.

Bye for now
Simon & Emma

"I'm a sweatybetty get me out of here" remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Having negotiated India and then the leeches we were certainly ready for some relaxing and stress-free holiday time (I know you were all beginning to feel sorry for us.) And boy did we find the place to do it!

We escaped from the jungle on a bus then reached our island via a very bumpy and slightly hairy hour long boat ride from the mainland. Having selected our accomodation from brief descriptions in the Lonely Planet we eagerly awaited arriving at our remote island retreat. We were not disappointed as we pulled up to a beach with clear blue waters, white sand, cold orange juice on arrival and a hut over-looking it all.

The view from our hut:

Desperate to get in the sea with changed into our swimming gear and waided our bright white bodies into the gently lapping warm water; heaven! The evening followed with simple malay food, Tiger beer and continuation of our Rummy card tournament (which I am winning 2-0).

The following morning after a substantial lie-in we headed round the coast to turtle beach (a 10 minute walk) for a sunbathe and snorkel. As you can see below it was picturesque and we were very pleased with our choice of location... More beer, food and cards followed that evening (now 3-0 to me!)

Keen to see some of the marine life we signed up to a snorkelling trip for the following morning. We were astounded at what we saw. First stop we saw a turtle, which was over a metre long, grazing on the sea floor; such a graceful creature despite its size and a first for both Simon and I. Then to some amazing coral with an array if sealife (too many to mention) via shark point (where we infact saw no sharks) and finally to 'the best snorkelling spot in Malaysia!' Surley not, it cant get any better we thought. But it did... We pulled up to a grim looking lighthouse and donned our snorkels and flippers into the sea again. Here we entered a Disney picture perfect under-water world. Coral, fish and colours like we only see in Finding Nemo. It was stunning; every shape, size and colour of fish were there in huge shoals. If only we had an underwater camera!

However 4 hours in the sun took its toll on us with both suffering with bad sunburn (me in particular as Simon was wearing a t-shirt; I was likened to a barbers pole). It was all too exciting to think of suncream in between the locations. So the following day we retreated to the shade, read books and discussed our next move. It was time to leave with lots of Malaysia still left to see.

To make the most of our last we day we went for one last snorkel the morning before our boat at 12 noon. We were in the sea by 7.30am and after an hour were disappointed with what we hadn't seen; we were in search for the friendly sharks everyone talked about. Near to calling it a day we spotted a black tipped tail of a shark; from there on in there was no stopping us! 3 sharks, 1 stingray, a family of Nemo's (AKA Clown fish), bright blue little ones, multicoloured big ones and millions of silver tiny ones. What a way to leave our island!

We were for once organised after our early start and had a relaxing half an hour in hammocks and on deck chairs before our boat arrived.

Reluctantly we waided our now red, white and slighty brown bodies onto the overfilled speedboat (capacity 12, actual 25; almost felt like we were in India again) to take us back to reality. We are now in Kota Bahru, an uninspiring town in North Malaysia ready to head to Penang tomorrow to a World Music Festival!

Bye for now, wish you could have been here...

Emma

Perhentian Islands remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Having arrived safe and sound in Kuala Lumpur. Albeit slightly frazzled as the previous entry may hint at. We spent a couple of days exploring its sights and sounds. As our first impressions had suggested it was a clean, modern and fairly quiet city when compared with Dehli. We merrily ventured around its street marvelling at the lack of people. the lack of hassle and the lack of filthiness. However, it soon became apparent that Kuala Lumpur lacked quite a lot and we began to worry that Malaysia was going to provide us with a sanitised travel experience. Dare I say it, after previous statements to the contrary, but we missed India. Come back street hawkers I'll buy your silly pipes, come back rickshaw dirvers I'll let you rip me off; just please take me back to India!! (A main point of interest regarding KL is getting around it. It took a while to grasp that its a very small city and that we were getting trains and taxis a very short and walkable distance. Thus we started to come round to the idea that maybe we should start walking. After all they were such short distances. Wrong!!. Walking in KL is not meant to occur and wishing to move from point A to point B can entail heading via point F, P and U whilst having to negotiate 6 lane highways, railway stations and rivers.)

The plot thinned as we decided to leave KL and head northward to the jungle. An organised bus tour would make life easier and indeed it did. However, we were forced to join the middle aged beige brigade complete with various zippy trousers that allowed them to transform a simple pair of beige trousers into various things: shorts, crap err sorry crop trousers, y-fronts, thongs, scrabble sets etc. Amazing things!

Beige brigade boat bonanza

Thus we bumbled along in complete comfort and with complete ease to catch our boat to the jungle of Taman Negara. Whilst awaiting our jungle transporter we sat on our rucksacks surrounded by various brands of spotless sandal and walking shoes, feeling as if we had mistakingly signed up for a ramble through the Yorkshire dales rather than a trip to the deadly jungle. Although we were both sitting on our sparkly new pairs of walking shoes. However, they were kept well hidden for fear of being tarred with the same beige brush. Although I'm sure we'll be there some day in the future clad in beige with a multitude of zips. It seems to be a natural progression. Although I pray to god that I wouldn't be there wearing matching sonic the hedgehog hats (have you still got those dad??).

Our boat arrived and with it a sense of interest in Malaysia. The 3 hour trip up the river to the heart of the jungle (geographically it may not have been the centre but for a sense of drama please assume that all jungle references refer to its centre, and maybe even complete darkness with a hint of fear) was really worthwhile and a very relaxing way to start our adventure....

Enjoying the River boat trip

Tales of beige and beyond remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Freedom fighters concerned about where to buy your tickets? Your worries are at an end with India Rails all new service designed to take the travel hassles out of freedom fighting.

This one is for Mr. P Hawkins

The Hardest street in Mumbai (Courtesy of Mr W J Smerdon esq (the naked electrician))

Mumbai book seller (could have been you Becks; good job you're loving that database!)

Anyone for cricket?

Santa's Little Helper

Any ladies looking for a modern man? (Will takes a tea-break from cleaning)

Potentially amusing sights and signs remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

After an overnight flight from Dehli, involving a couple of decent films but little or no sleep, we have finally escaped the clutches of India and become enveloped in the welcoming arms of Kuala Lumpur. Despite the post flight eye sting and general weariness I write this in a very happy mood indeed. First impressions of Malaysia are promising and our residence in the 'hectic' (guidebook description), tranquil (our post-India description) Chinatown area is cheap and cheerful with a cell like feel. It is clean though.

So we bid farewell to India with mixed emotions. Mine of utmost joy, Em's tinged with sadness.

India was a fascinating place to visit and we would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to have a unique travel experience. We saw some amazing sights, sites (especially the Taj Mahal) and sounds. Never a dull moment. However, for Em and I it was a country that you could love one day and hate with as much fervour the next. Perhaps you cant love all of India all of the time, you can just love some of India some of the time. Having said that we did visit some of the main tourist spots and probably experienced the worst touting and hassling. People who have visited the far South (Goa, Kerala etc) & North (Leh, Minali etc) talk very highly of them.

So Malaysian adventures begin after some much needed sleep. I only hope that I dont start having any post-India flashbacks in which the slow-calm Malaysian fan will turn into a noisy-I'm going to drop off this ceiling Indian fan, akin to Vietnam veterans seeing helicopter blades (you've seen the films!). Whereas Vietnam vets would see little people with strange hats attempting to shoot them I expect to see hawkers holding soap-stone elephants in elephants, pipes, books of post-cards, small bicycles fashioned from tin cans, leather whips, I love India t-shirts, strange sequened rugs and countless beads all being sold at a 'special good price for you my friend'. Its all coming flooding back.......am breaking into a cold sweat.

Need some sleep.
Love
Simon & Emma (who is fast asleep and will give me a good telling off for writing such nonsense. Tee hee wait until she see's my all new funny sign section!)

Malaysiahhhh remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Upon leaving Khajuraho we headed to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The journey was always going to be an interesting one involving buses, taxis and trains, but after 12 hours we were very pleased to reach our destination. Hungry, tired and sweaty we jumped in a rickshaw to our pre-booked hotel.

Keen to see the Taj for the first time we wandered to an area with rooftop restaurants. Much to our surprise the surrounding area is not full of expensive apartments and hotels charging a mint for a glimpse of the Taj. It was infact a skanky scum-hole with below average eating places all in dis-repair - much like the rest of India. Not deterred we headed upstairs to a rooftop eatery and had a wonderful close-up view. The food was average but the two boys come waiters provided much entertainment showing us their hand-stands and how to 'pick up the Taj'.

The next morning we had a short walk to the East gate entrance at 6am to join the other tourists in queuing for tickets. By 6.30am we were in (after placing our torch in a locker for security reasons???) and first saw the world famous monument in all its glory. What a sight for sore eyes! (Shame about those people standing in the way - as yes you are correct, Simon is wearing a t-shirt with a gnome on it!)

The Taj was built by an Emperor as a memorial for his second wife who died giving birth to their 14th chilld in 1631. This left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey overnight. 22 years later is was completed after 20,000 people worked on it and at a cost of US$70 million (in today's money). It is constructed from marble and semi-precious stones and apparently looks as spectacular today as it did when it was built! We won't disagree; an incredible building, like no other. The building is totally symmetrical (sorry could't get a birds-eye-view photo to prove it) with her mausoleum being the centre point. And what a day to have seen it on: 07/07/07 and the day it was voted the number 1 of the new seven wonders of the world! Well worth the visit - it was every bit as beautiful as we had imagined.

The view from behind the Taj Mahal:

Off to Kuala Lumpar tomorrow for some relaxing and sun-bathing (well for me anyway!)

Bye for now.

Emma xxx

Agra and the Taj Mahal remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

After leaving the madness of Varanasi behind we headed, via Indian Airlines - complete with hail falling from the air conditioning, to yet another World Heritage site for some temple tramping. Em was overjoyed at the prospect. However, given that it was my choice to visit here, whereas Varanasty was Em's choice, she couldn't prostest too much.

Thus we have spent the day visting the temples of Khajuraho famed for their erotic artwork. And when the guidebook states erotic what it really should say is pornographic as the things we have seen in stone would make Mary Whitehouse blush and write to points of view in a fuming fashion. Take a look for yourself (Mary please look away now).

However, the focus upon the erotic shouldn't detract attention from the fact that the temples are exceptionally detailed and beautifully created. They are also located in a well kept garden free from touts. Although no lazing upon the grass allowed.

So Khajuraho has provided much needed r & r with much consuming of pizza, pasta and salad at Cafe Meditteraneo. When you start to sweat curry you know it's time for a change of diet!! We also hired some bikes for visiting outlying temples which meant we could exercise for the first time in weeks and not have to haggle for a "special good price".

Cycling through village: Kids want pens, they get nuts and raisins. Such is life!

We bid farewell to Khajuraho tomorrow and head to India's most famous temple - the Taj Mahal.

Wish you were here
Emma & Simon

Khajuraho remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Our time in Varanasi proved to be an interesting one. Overall our experiences tilt the balance towards it being Varanasti rather than nicey (apologies for the cheap puns). However, it is an absolutely fascinating place despite its less attractive elements (Ross?)

Meeting our colleague Ross:

Varanasi is the holy city of Shiva through which the sizeable Ganges (Mother Ganga) flows. It is a site of pilgrimage for Hindus. A site to wash away all your sins in the Ganges or to die which offers moksha (release from the cycle of birth and death). Thus a sunset boat trip offered up a multitude of fascinating sites which took people watching to a whole new level. Our trip was about two hours long but we could have spent hours just watching the daily goings on. However, our daily goings on (i.e. a need for breakfast) forced us ashore.

And so the main question thrown up by our floating tour was "would you have a swim in the Ganges?". In all the heat and humidity a quick dip in this holiest of rivers (certainly holier than the Tyne) would have been greatly enjoyed. However, we weighed the sites for and against during our trip and decided no. Please decide for yourself:

Sites for:
- Multitudes of people swimming in the river.
- People washing their clothes.
- People drinking the water.
- People brushing their teeth in the water.
- People praying in the river.

Sites against:
- 1 dead buffalo floating past.
- 2 human corpses floating by.
- 3 corpses being cremated upon the shore their ashes to be ceremoniously placed in the river.
- Countless amounts of rubbish floating by.
- The odd sewerage pipe pumping into the river.

And despite the latter sites people still continue to bathe etc in these waters. Maybe they are right and the religious powers of the Ganges keep them free from harm. They certainly believed that and they were there to tell the tale.

Thus Varanasi was a fascinating place and unlike any we have ever experienced. As mentioned it had its negative sides: incessant touting, people waiting outside your hotel at 5:30am and for most of the day to drag you to their boat or silk shop, a very real sense of 'we're going to be robbed' after dark (which was almost realised when someone attempted to snatch our bag from a car), and the countless amounts of purving men (but thats just India for white women and Spencer's bar in Norwich). However, it was well worth a visit but not somewhere we'd go back to.

Two tourist mugs: "20 rupees please sir", "But I didnt want paint on my forehead"

Hope all are well
Simon & Emma

Varanasi remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

After 5 weeks of residing in the Hindu colony of Dadar and playing baby doctors we bid farewell to Mumbai and headed to Dehli. A place which seems to strike fear in to the hearts of westerners perhaps due to its link with the dreaded Dehli belly (only a couple of epsiodes of that but thats a story perhaps not suitable for this blog. maybe a bog blog??).

Our departure was very well timed and almost delayed due to persistant mon'Not so'soon (which has finally arrived 4 weeks later than expected) which saw us housebound on saturday and unable to do any last minute sight seeing, posting or shopping. Luckily Dehli provided some much needed shopping relief and I fear that Emma may come down with a severe case of Dehli Shoppy upon our return.

Floods in Dadar:

After arriving in Dehli, yesterday, we had a quick explore and were very pleasanty suprised as it seems less hectic than Mumbai with actual open spaces and grass which you can sit on. It is also much quieter as it lacks the persistent horn honk which characterises daily Mumbai life.

Red Fort in Dehli:

However, despite the almost relaxing atmosphere of Dehli we have fled for a week in much less sedate places for some more horn honking madness and sightseeing. Our current stop is Varanasi.

Varanasi is one of the holiest places in India thus it is utterly chaotic. More on that soon.

Mumbye remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Please look in wonder and feel free to gasp in awe at the fantastic gingers that inhabit this continent. Decide for yourself whether they are natural or just attempting to achieve folliclular enlightenment.

Ginger 1: Ajanta cave ginger

Updates: 28/07/07

Ginger 2: Bearded biker ginger

Ginger 3: Granny street ginger

Ginger 4: Lounging ladies man ginger

Ginger 5: Bus lazing ginger

Ginger 6: Red Fort strolling ginger

Ginger 7: Ellora caves tour-guide ginger

Ginger 8: Taj Mahal ginger

Ginger 9: The final ginger (in Delhi):

Gingers in India remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

A quick note on how we have been getting on since the last post...

Lucky for us the monsoon has still not started, although it is even more imminent than last time. We are very grateful for this delay as popping out for a coffee, a quick shop, or wander round a market in the evening would not be the same in the pouring rain!

Unlike in the UK you do not need a doctors prescription to buy drugs in India - you simply request the drug at a pharmacy and most things are available for less than a pound. Lucky for me as last week I was the first to get an upset stomach with 2 days of D&V. But with a course of self-prescribed antibiotics all is now well. Since then Simon and Will (another student from UEA) have both been on antibiotics too!

We are now over halfway through our placement at KEM with mixed experiences. I started well Obstetrics and Gynaecology with one registar taking her under my wing. The contrast to th NNUH in Norwich is obviously massive, and not easy to convey in words (photos to follow). Overall I am very glad I will never be in labour at KEM as despite excellent medical knowlege facilities are non existant. Giving birth in one large room with up to 15 other women in labour, on a metal bed with no pillow or covering, with your grubby nightie hitched up to your chest and no pain relief cannot be pleasant. I didn't need to speak Hindi to establish that. A huge difference from the individual rooms, with your choice of music, one-to-one midwife care with your partner next to you as in the NNUH.

Labour ward at KEM:

But there is a very different attitude to pregnancy and labour here - with most women being un-educated and in an arranged marriage with their role in life being housework and child birth. To them, I am told, it is a more mechanical process with much less emotional involvement. A sad state of affairs.

Emma in theatre scrubs at KEM:

Unfortuntely for my registar, and me, she was suddenly admitted to ITU with cerebral malaria!!! She will hopefully be fine ands make a full recovery but in her abscence I got very little practical experience or attention at all. Hence I joined the boys and am now in general medicine. My first day was today with a morning in a neurology clinic and afternoon in paediatrics. We received excellent teaching and although not so good for the patients there are some amazing pathologies. And it seems the norm to present to a doctor at a very late stage so the presentations are from a textbook as so advanced - perfect for medical students!

General medicine ward at KEM:

But don't worry - its not all work and no play! Despite us doing a 6 day week we are not struggling to eat some delicious and very cheap food, visit excellent shops (even Simon bought clothes and shoes!) and trips to the cinema; where a few sweets cost more than the ticket and it is the only place I have worn a jumper since leaving the UK!

Anyway time to go - the Rocky films are shown every monday evening - its number 3 tonight!!!!

Fingers crossed for it being Simon to write next time.

Emma

Antibiotics and KEM hospital remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Victoria train station:

Mumbai taxis:

Simon in Elephanta Island cave:

Gateway to India and Taj Hotel from boat:

Em and Si on Marine Drive:

Gateway to India:

Our first meal in our Dadar Flat (thanks Lalita!);

A few photos... remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

As we write this we are in a hot and sticky Mumbai internet cafe with drops of sweat dripping down our backs! Lovely we know but that is the truth. The sound of 10 degrees with the odd shower at home does seem appealing at times when compared with our 35 degrees and imminet monsoon!

But not all is bad. We have just been out for our first Indian meal in a restaurant and after initial language difficulties we had a delicious curry, a rice disk, two naan and a sprite for less than 2 pounds - bargin!

Fo those of you who are wondering what we have been eating for the past 5 days we have somewhat landed on our feet with our apartment... It belongs to a cousin of a doctor we know in Norwich and the cousins sister lives upstairs. We have somewhat been taken under her wing with daily 10.30am shopping trips into Dadar. We have been introduced to the local store owners so as not to be ripped off and have had many lessons on what to at and what not to eat - very helpful. Much to Simons delight she is trying to turn me into a traditional Indian houswife with instructions on how to grow bean sprouts, make yoghurt, mango juice and how the milk steamer works. All sucessful so far, bar the yoghurt! Luckily for me however it is common practise to have a cleaner/cook come in daily. So we have had a lovely Indian come in and cook traditional dahl, japathi and rice fo us every evening. I even managed to get some cooking lessons from her despite her total lack of English and my total lack of anything but English!

Today we headed to Elephanta which is an island an hours boat ride from Mumbai. It has several caves full off buddist carvings - very impressive. However we were both more taken by the wild monkeys and excellent market stalls up and down the hill!

Tomorrow we are off to find the hospital where we start our placement and I may have my sari fitting!!! I am going to try and video record a taxi ride; no one would believe what a free-for-all it is; they need not have bothered with the white lines!

Hope you are all well, please add comments to the site.

Love,
Emma and Simon

P.S. Someone forgot the cable to download photos from her camera, but we will endeavour to buy one so you can see this crazy city for yourselves.

Rain drops not falling on our heads - yet! remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Welcome to our Travel Blog! We hope you will enjoy visiting this site while we are on our 'Excellent Adventure' also known as a Medical Elective. We intend to regularly update this as we go with our latest trials and tribulations so you know what we are up to. There will also be some photos so you don't forget our happy faces either.

We are just back at University for the final 2 weeks of placement before we jet off. Only 2 OSCE's and a 4 hour exam to go after that!

On that note I had best do some revision, but with our India VISA's firmly stuck in our passports the excitement is building.

Emma x

31 days till takeoff remains copyright of the author LadyMassey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs