Walk up 1,237 steps or .....

Go on another boat trip. Quite taken with the idea of the hilltop monastery, but decided instead to get closer to the islands we can see from the patio.
Visited four islands and all lovely. Crazy cliffs that just rise vertically from the sea.
Swam off three islands and Darren has bright red legs where he towelled off the sun tan lotion.
RESPONSE TO READER COMPLAINT - sorry for the lack of a blog yesterday due to technical issues, will try harder in future. Anyway I did send one but the time difference helped mess it up
Ps - glad I have a reader who pays attention!

Patio doors today

Caught the ferry then a mini bus to Ao Nang which is just near Krabi on mainland Thailand.
Unbelievable room today with all the facilities of yesterday, but including a wall around the en-suite and patio doors leading out on to a massive shared patio with a fantastic sea view. Same price as yesterday at around £20. We are booked in for two nights and I don't want to move from it in that time. Worrying as already quite hungry - perhaps just a quick trip out then straight back.

Commemorative plates

On the trip yesterday Darren bought a plate with his photo on it together with stand and carefully displayed it in our room all evening. It was also useful for eating peanuts off but we aren't very good sharers.
Imagine my joy at being able to buy my own plate for the room on todays trip!
Just moved to Kuah as it is nearer to the ferry tomorrow and this hotel has hot running water, toilet paper, and a glass wall between the en-suite and the bedroom. All things we didn't experience at the last hotel. Also it has no window, but maybe they are over rated.

Another speedy boat trip

Enjoyed yesterdays outing so much we booked another one with the same company.
This one was much better organised and the guide even told us interesting stuff instead of shouting at us to hurry up off his boat!
Saw the mangrove swamp, fish farm, bat cave, etc, etc.
Lovely time had by all.

Lake swimming

Went to the Pregnant Maiden Lake as party  of the boat trip. Beautiful place and water quite warm so surprised Darren by jumping straight in! Local legend has it that if you swim in the lake that you have a baby! Let's wait and see.

How much fun for £5?

Just been on a boat trip to nearby islands. Didn't understand before we went why the trip was cheaper than the other operators, but did once we got going!
The minibus door didn't shut and then our little boat was packed.  The driver set off at an unbelievable speed with spray everywhere. Poor little baby opposite got soaked but great fun. Once we got to the first island the driver just yelled 'faster faster', and we all had to leap off. Lovely islands though, but we nearly got left behind on the first one, and he did leave two people at the last one. Hope they made it somehow!

Hello Langkawi

Interesting trip over on the ferry. The air con was so powerful it was like sitting in a fridge for three hours. The sea got rough about half way through and we couldn't see out of the window at all for spray.

Goodbye Penang

Had a lovely three days in Penang, finishing off with a great non scary Indian, just around the corner from this mosque.
Off to Langkawi on the ferry tomorrow.
Read in the paper the crossing might be a bit rough so fingers crossed.....

Feeding time

No, not us for a change, but turtles at the Lok Kek Si temple just near Panang Hill.

Bollywood future star

There is a funny advert on the tv out here about a guy who is ordinary, but dresses like a Bollywood star. Went to the bus station and the guy directing people to their stops could be him!
Very poor photo, but check out the moustache, sunglasses in a dark bus station, hair and necklace.

Trishaw - and dog update

The trishaw is a popular form of transport around here for the tourists.
It can get a bit frightening as you sit at the front and the driver edges out into the traffic, which is a bit crazy at times.
Quick update on dogs in Malaysia - there aren't many as it's a Muslim country, and they all look the same, no sign of poodles or great danes for example.   Managed to kill two birds with one stone with this picture - typical trishaw and typical dog.

Penang

Forgot to mention we arrived in Penang yesterday and the weather today is bright and sunny - first time this holiday.
Been to visit a famous clan house called Khoo Kongsi. Really amazing.

Successful lunch

Both spent absolutely ages making our choices for lunch and then when they arrived we couldn't work out whose was whose and I think we swapped. I ended up again with noodles and a lot of sauce which I have not yet managed to eat without splashing it all over my clothes.
Was trying to eat foot long sticky noodles with chopsticks and a spoon when another customer sitting nearby asked the waiter to bring me a spoon and fork.
Disappointingly I wasn't much better, but the pressure was on as I knew I was being watched.

Wot no Darren?

Note re-use of photo!
Coming to the end of our trip around the tourist hotspots of the Cameron Highlands and I have bagged the front seat in the landrover next to the driver and Darren is in the back with the other passengers. 'All aboard' the driver shouts and off we go out of the strawberry farm until someone in the back shouts 'stop one missing'
Am going to have to keep a closer eye on him in future.

Dressed for the occasion

Trekking in a very muddy forest in the pouring rain wearing little sandals and white trousers while carrying my new little silk handbag and an umbrella. Not ideal.
Still, the tea plantation was excellent.

Steamboat dinner

The local speciality is steamboat which we have just had for dinner tonight.
We knew it was a sort of one pot stew, but we didn't realise they brought all of the ingredients to your table and then you had to cook it all yourself from scratch, without knowing what a lot of the ingredients were or what it was supposed to look like once it was done!
A  bit like one of the rounds in Masterchef and obviously saving the staff a lot of time and effort. They did help us quite a bit but told us we could choose what to do with the two raw eggs       
so we decided to boil them in the soup! We didn't think they really went with the dinner but would have been nice for breakfast tomorrow.

Hibiscus

Arrived at Cameron Highlands. The hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia and very beautiful they are too.

Make yourself comfortable on the bus

On a bus to the Cameron Highlands. Huge airline style seats and curtains with drapes. All of the buses seem to have them and ours are burgundy and a sort of bright khaki colour.
I know we are travelling light but I bought some lovely cushion covers and a table runner yesterday that would match very well, so thinking of taking them out of Darrens bag to scatter around the bus!

Wot no dog?

Rhetorical question this - no photo really needed.
Have not seen a single dog since we arrived in KL, many monkeys but no dogs. 
Long may it continue - sorry Janet - but very frightened of them, particularly on foreign shores.

City Heritage Walk

Had a great time this morning on the Heritage Walk in KL city centre. Thank you to Jack our guide who brought it to life and took us to a local restaurant for brunch.
Ps, update from yesterday, a t-rex is not a coffee drink, although it is brown.

Sightseeing and weird food

Had some noodles and prawns along with some very scary additions that Darren said looked like sheeps eyes but I thought hopefully tofu. This was at a cafe  at the Petronas Towers - hence picture.
Just at another cafe ordering something called a t-rex that I hope is a fancy coffee.

Breakfast view

Sitting with my toast and marmalade enjoying the view of the monorail station in KL

Darren in space

Darren returning to earth in Soyuz spacecraft. Bet you didn't realise how far we have travelled!

Monkeys in KL

Walking along the street when a family of monkeys jumped out right by our side

Supersize us!

Arranged for extra legroom on the flight and assumed it would only be a few inches. It turned out to be so much space our feet couldn't touch the wall in front of us. Also no one took the seat next to us so we ended up with our own little room that was nearly as big as the living room in our new cottage!

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Modelling contract required

Just arrived at Gatwick airport and we are on the last flight of the night out to Kuala Lumpur.
Darren is wearing all his Rohan gear and is hoping to be scouted at the airport for next years catalogue.

Lego Christmas tree

All going smoothly so far, but a bit fraught last minute packing this morning.
Gigantic Lego Christmas tree in St Pancras station.

Almost empty desk

To do list almost completed - tick, music uploaded to phone - not ticked, web pages loaded on to the cloud (??) not ticked, eBook charged - tick.
Why does my computer never do as it's told when I am here on my own, but then behaves itself as soon as Darren sits down in front of it? V frustrating.
Still nice to see an almost clear desk again.

Modern technology in the Coggle household

Never let it be said that my dad doesn't do cutting edge gadgets. Here is his projector where each slide has to be loaded individually and  rotated 180 degrees, and then two other volunteers have to hold up the white board so that the pictures can be viewed.

Christmas dinner

Is my blog on auto shuffle?
No - it's a family Christmas dinner in London in advance of our trip.

'Grandad's wearing a soldier'

Roy has been paying his respects on Remambrance Sunday. The grandchildren are duly impressed.

Lovely day

Can't believe it's nearly the middle of November. Sitting out in the garden with coffee and pie. No, I didn't rush in as soon as we took the photo, but the seat was a bit wet on my bottom.

Correction

Have just viewed yesterdays photo on my computer and realised how strange it looks! Have tried again in the morning light to get a better shot.
Can report that the pie was very tasty so todays shot only shows a part pie. Also surprised to see my largest scary knife sitting next to it.

Key lime pie

Invited Paul and Sarah round for tea tonight and have made a key lime pie for afters.
Very concerned at the standard of photography on this site and vowed to do better this morning, but todays photo is even worse than usual. The pie manages to look like an alien spacecraft and it isn't really that luminous in real life!
I promise to improve tomorrow.

Busy day today

Out of the house at 6.10 and down to Kelston to try to finish all of the remaining jobs off. Going ok at the moment but could really do with more time for plaster to dry out. Wish I had taken my boots off before going upstairs!

Out of control garden

Waited weeks for it to start and then all of the leaves have come down in the last few days. Just got the net on the pond in the nick of time.
The fish must be wondering why it's suddenly gone so dark! Will have to bag all of the leaves up for my dad before I go away.

Cute luggage

Customised my rucksacks with orange and purple ribbon as they were black and very boring.
They also seem to have been made to fit a Tongan rugby player as all of the straps are about a foot too long once it is on my back, and some dangle down almost to my knees!  Have solved this issue by cutting them all much shorter and sewing the ends.
I do hope that won't cause a further issue  when I am away.  I am sure I will end up cramming it full of goodies as the trip goes on, so I hope that they aren't now so short that I can't shut it.