Photos - Kuantan

Various coloured chicks being sold at the night market

Visiting our first Muslim mosque

Lost in the City

Kuantan, Malaysia

Travelling is an adventure, there’s a lot to see, and there’s lots to do. It’s also unpredictable, and that’s all part of the excitement. If it was predictable, however, we probably would've given Kuantan a miss.

It might have just been the area in which we stayed as opposed to Kuantan as a whole, but the friendliness of Singapore and KL seemed to pretty much vanish. Our greetings were met with blank stares, our questions went unanswered and Kerry was scrutinized everywhere she went, no matter how many times she changed her outfit. In our time here, we saw only one other non-Asian, who happened to be taking a taxi away from the city, suggesting that this might not the most popular destination for tourists and travellers.

Not much English is spoken here; it took us nearly three days to find out how to leave. We were starting to wonder whether it was actually possible. We waited over an hour for a bus that didn't exist, got told continuously conflicting information and felt like we were intruding every time we tried to speak to someone.

But, travelling is about experiences, good and bad. And it wasn't all bad…

We visited our first Muslim Mosque! Kerry was given an incredibly flattering long coat that looked like something inspector gadget might wear; it gave the Muslim girls something to giggle about at least. The Mosque’s interior wasn't what we expected, with modern massage chairs, bright walls and a fancy chandelier hanging from the ceiling. We visited two large shopping malls too, getting to these was an adventure in itself, Kuantan has almost no pedestrian access and red lights don’t seem to mean a great deal here. Running between cars, climbing over rubble and blind luck got us there in the end.

I don’t think we'll miss Kuantan very much, but we will remember it. And we learnt from it, for example, I now know to always say coca cola when ordering a coke, after receiving a surprise carrot juice from the waiter. And of course, being British, I profusely thanked him for it, tipped him suitably and gulped the disgusting drink down with a pleasant smile on my face.

Photos - Kuala Lumpur

All this + Jack's meal for less than £4!

Snaps of the Petronas Towers

Rainforest canopy walkway

Kuala Lumpur Tower

A very bad photo of baby monkeys!

The Malaysian capital

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Despite having a highly modern centre made up of complex skyscrapers, including the incredible Petronas Towers, KL feels distinctly different to Singapore. Within seconds of leaving the centre, the modern makes way for traditional; it get’s louder, more frantic (vendors shout you over, brandishing their wares in your face, countless masseuses battle for business) and TGI Fridays and Starbucks are replaced with individual street vendors and tiny stalls. It’s a big change from reserved atmosphere of Singapore but made for some great days of exploring and taking in the atmosphere. Seeing the Petronas Towerslight up at night was an incredible sight, made even more special by the regular flashes of lightening we saw above it.

We took the opportunity to visit the KL rainforest too - a section of ancient forest left within the city. We battled our way through the merchants – “Not today”, “No, thank you”, “Another time, maybe” - and made it to the dense, eerily quiet wilderness, where we saw monkeys! Probably the first of many in Asia but it was awesome nonetheless.

A lot of modern, a fair amount of traditional and a rainforest thrown in for good measure… not every city you visit can offer all that!

Photos - Singapore

Casual river and gondola ride through a shopping centre

A few snaps of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Singapore gardens

Singapore eye at night

Asia begins!

First stop … Singapore

After a fab mini holiday with Mum, we were soon back to our old cheapo travelling ways - goodbye sea view from the balcony, hello small, grubby hotel room with no windows.

The underground system in Singapore made it so easy to get around. On our first day we checked out the local area, went to the Singaporegardens and went to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (the world’s second most expensive building).

We arranged our journey to Kuala Lumpur and were pleasantly surprised to find that we could do the 6 hour coach journey for just £7 each! We spent our last few days exploring the crazy clean, ultra modern city and trying not to spend too much money on the incredible food they have here.

Photos of our mini holiday after volunteering

The hotel's infinity pool!

The ocean only a few meters away

Amazing snorkelling location!

The colour of that water!!

Boat selfie

Tortoise selfie!

Mum comes to visit!

With volunteering over we had the agonizing ordeal of having only each others company for a while. It was strange being back in a hotel with all the amenities we’d grown used to living without… A shower, what’s that? Meat was back on the menu and 6am risings were the first things to go. By normal standards, the hotel we were staying in was pretty poor but after a month of living on camp, it seemed like luxury… until Jay arrived that is.

Jay – Kerry’s mum, for those who don’t know – came out to meet us for several days before we headed off to our next stop. On the morning of her arrival, we headed to the hotel that she had booked for us. This hotel made our previous look like a bus shelter! With only 10 rooms it felt like we were getting exclusive VIP treatment from the staff, the rooms all had incredible views across the ocean. The restaurant served amazing Creole dishes and cocktails which Jay treated us to whilst we watched the sun set behind the hotels private infinity pool. The rooms had beds you couldn’t wake up from, huge TV’s, bath/showers (with hot water! Our first hot shower in 6 weeks), balcony’s and espresso coffee machines.

The hotel was a stone’s throw away from crystal clear waters, so clear that on several occasions we saw eagle and manta rays from our balconies! Despite Jay only being with us for 5 days, we packed loads in. We visited the botanical gardens and tea factory where we got to learn how tea is made – probably the most British thing that you can do in the Seychelles. We visted Anse Major – one of the top beaches in the world; it was a tough hike to get there but our perseverance paid off when we arrived at a stunning private beach with the sea one side, and a fresh water lake on the other. We snorkelled there for a while, the currents were quite strong and on several occasions I looked up to see Jay getting flipped over backwards by huge waves but I’m sure she still enjoyed it.

Our last trip was a big one. We went on trip back to Curieuse! Jay wanted to see where we had spent our last month and we were more than happy to go back there. We travelled by catamaran that toured a few smaller islands before arriving back on Curieuse. We landed and within seconds Jay was face to face with her first wild tortoise. Selfie time! After a BBQ just off the beach, we trekked over the familiar paths back to camp. We were really lucky and managed to see everybody who’d stayed behind after we left. It was amazing seeing everyone again and to show Jay our ‘home’ for the last month.

The 5 days went by fast and all-too-soon we were saying goodbye. We were off to Singapore, and Jay back to England. We want to thank Jay for everything during her visit; the cocktails, meals and home comforts are massively appreciated. But above all, thanks for the company and coming to see us! 

Photos from our final week volunteering

Community work with the locals ...

Hiking up Mount Curieuse ...

The charity challenge ...

Yellow team wins!!!

Our amazing volunteering group ...

One of my first ever games of beer pong!

Our final night together on Curieuse ...

Volunteering - week 4

Our final week started by heading over to Praslin to work with one of the local communities. We assisted TRASS (Terrestrial Restoration Action Society Seychelles) a local volunteering organisation who’s goal is to replant and manage the degraded forests across the Seychelles. The girls and I helped rake, pull up weeds and move fallen branches, while the boys worked inside a huge greenhouse removing rubble to create an even ground (when it’s 32 degrees outside, the last place you really want to be is inside a greenhouse) I’ve never seen Jack so wet! We had a really successful day and were rewarded with fizzy pop and party food – yay! That evening we started a camp wide Assassination Game that took place over the final week: we were each given a name (who we had to assassinate), an item which we had to “kill” (touch) them with and a place on camp (where it had to happen). The game made for a tense last week, leaving everybody suspicious of other volunteers. Jack was killed off almost immediately, taking a devastating blow from a ping pong ball. I managed to slay my first target with a first aid kit in the dorm room but was then taken out the same day by the toilets with - the ever deadly - grains of salt.

That week we also trekked to the top of Mount Curieuse, the highest mountain on the island. It was tough climb over steep rocks, through thick foliage, but it was totally worth it to witness the stunning 360 degree view of the island!

Our last working day was the day of the Amazing Curieuse Race! An event organised to raise money for the SSPCA (Seychelles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Thank you to all who donated, you will be pleased here that yellow team won!! Yaaay! Our team of four succeeded in completed tasks such as; getting an orange from one point to another only using palm leaves, taking as many selfies as possible with different tortoises in 60 seconds and a treasure hunt for painted rocks in the sea. This was followed by a volleyball tournament and finally, a quiz. Being in the lead we had the power to “buy” two staff members to help our team, thank god we did as they answered most of the questions! Our team won two bottles of sparkling wine, t-shirts and a massive bag of goodies! Go team Yellow!! The night ended with everybody loading up on alcohol and working on an epic barbeque feast. We played midnight beer pong and by 3am the boys were breaking out the tequila. The only real way to end a working week!

On our final night, we all grabbed a beer and headed down to the beach to watch one last Curieuse sunset. We took a frizbee and chilled out against the amazing backdrop. We really couldn’t have asked for a better month – incredible group, the best staff, an island of paradise and incredible life experiences. 

Photos from our third week volunteering