Well i can't believe it is finally coming to an end. 10 countries and 5 months down the line we are preparing for our departure from Bangkok and our return to the UK and all our emotions are pretty mixed right now. We are happy knowing very soon we will be back with our friends and family, but sad that this journey finally has to end.

I should update now with whats been going on the last month. We stayed in Kuala lUmpur for about 4 or 5 days and it was quite a funny old city. It is somewhere in between Singapore and Bangkok in that it is not quite as modern as Singapore though tries desperatley to be so, Petronas towers etc, and its not quite as busy and bustling as Bangkok though, yet again, it tries to be. Having said all that, Kuala lumpur has more of a personality than both Singapore and Bangkok combined. The mixtuer of cultures really creates a nice society and we probably ate the best food so far in Asia in KL. So despite being somewhat inadequte compared to its two big nieghbouring capitals, KL still holds its own. Zenna and Oran had a look at the Nottingham campus in KL, which unfortunatly was in the process of moving to another site so they were unable to see what it would be like when they plan to study there, but got enough of a sense of the place to decide they defintly did want to go and make me feel very jealous.


Clowning around in KL


The Petronas Towers


Next we jumped on a bus back to Singapore to take a flight to Bangkok as we decided 3 weeks was only enough time to see one country properly and all decided on Thailand. Also Oran left his mobile phone and camera on the boat from Indonesia so he took a boat back to Indo from Singapore to collect his valubles.

Bangkok. It's ridiculous, never seen so many toursists in one place at the same time. Oran and I wanted to get out quickly and on to the scuba diving which we had decided on doing back in Singapore. Zenna had heard about a massage course in Bangkok, and just as he had done so in Salvador, decided that there was more to Bangkok than anyone would let you believe and he would be the one to find it. So he stayed and learnt an ancient art while Oran and i jumped on a bus full of tourists to learn the new one!
Can't forget a quick shout out to Rosie and Gen who we had met in Miami right at the beginning of our trip, and as coincidence has it we bumped in to in Bangkok at the end of both our trips! So hope you two are okay and all the best.
Koh Tao was beautiful and very relaxed, we had a great group learning Scuba with us, 3 Danes and a Canadian. Mike, our instructor, and his girlfriend Dayna were really sound and a good laugh as was the rest of the group so the 4 day course just flew by. We stayed in contact with the Danes and made our way to Koh Pangang where we would reunite with Zenna and all go to the Full Moon party, nothing as tribal as it sounds, just a big party on the beach but it wasa good laugh non the less, and yes we all got very, very drunk...some more so than others. We met another great bunch of people at the bungalows where we were staying on the island, including 3 Leeds lads who had been travelling Cambodia and Vietnam previously. We all went to the aprty in one big group and had a top night. After two more days of chilling out at the beach, catching some sun and watching dvds we returned to Koh Tao where oran completed his advanced scuba diving and i was very sick due to the vast volume of alcohol i consumed the previous weekend. We still managed to enjoy our 3 days there and then we were going back to Bangkok, Oran and i were dead set on doing foot massage mostly due to Zennas praise for the school he learnt it. So we Boated and Bussed it back to Bangkok, the following day oran went to a tiger sanctuary and saw the River Kwai, a worthy trip he told us..and quite scary!


Rosie and Gen Part II: The Farewell


Koh Tao


Celebrating passing our diving course


Celebrating passing our diving course part II:Dayna and Mette


getting ready for the Full Moon party


Noughts and Crosses


getting ready for the Full Moon party


Sunset on Sairee Beach, Koh Tao


Sairee beach

Our last week was very relaxed, Zenna practised what he had learnt 2 weeks previously at the entre, while Oran and i completed our foot massage course. The peole at the school were lovely and it was really nice to sit and talk to regular people, with the number of tourists the only Thai's you tend to have an opportunity to speak to are those selling you something! So it was a worht while course and another skill learnt to add to our list from the trip. We managed to squeeze in a quick look at a temple and tried to get some good photos of the "Reclining Budda" which is gingantonormous,to give you some perspective, one of its feet is as wide as i am tall!


The Reclining Budda


With Nok my massage teacher


Oran with his teacher

And thats it people. 5 months, 10 countries, 3 good friends and 1 website. It has been quite a journey and i am glad we could share it all with you! Hope you have enjoyed it but don't be too sad, this is only the beginning. Coming soon, Zowtrip Part II:Everywhere Else!!!

Malang to Malaysia

Question:
What happens when you follow a blog like Zenna's?

Answer:
It's called Post Zenna Blog Effect, when the standard of Zenna's contribution raises the bar and expectations so high that other blogs will just not compare.


I would love to be that good. Instead, I'll have to give you a load of pictures and a few words.

Malang was a good place to get back in touch with our Western routes by visiting KFC and McDonalds, who served rice as the standard accompaniment to Fried Chicken and Big Macs, not french fries. It works folks trust me. To confuse us even more McDonalds also sold Fried Chicken! Time Crisis 2 got rinsed out at the arcade, and we found a dodgy looking cinema where we watched "Macho", a film that may well be the worst kung-fu film ever made.

Our next stop was Jogjakarta. There are two must-see tourist spots in this city: Prambanan, a set of massive Hindu Temples; and Borobudur, the largest Buddhist Stupa in the world. We made it to Borobudur and here are the snaps.




There's an Indonsian on my shoulder!

At KFC The Willem 'Smile' attracted the attention of Willya, a resident Jogjan Uni student. Thanks to the smile, Willya and her friends we had a fantastic time in Jogjakarta. Go snaps!





Our friends Willya, Shinta, Leli, Icha and Rio


Zenna, Oran and Willem

Where Jogjakarta ended, Jakarta began. The capital city of Indonesia which has a reputation for being big, bad and ugly. It scored on most accounts, but we had no trouble there, apart from Willem getting his nipple tweaked by a 'fruity' Indonesian. Me and him also went to the Theme Park and that was our highlight. We left Jakarta pretty uninspired, saying 'see you soon' to Indonesia, and made for Singapore by ferry. The ferry was a mini-experience in itself, if only to see how mass numbers of Indonesians are transported from island to island. Very big, very overbooked.


Indonesia done

We liked Singapore for its clean streets, pleasant Underground, handsome buildings, efficient public services, cheap electronics and great Indian food. There was also an amazing jumping fountain near our hostel, I can't wait to tell you about it.

Our bus to Kuala Lumpur was only 5 hours. KL is home to the former World's Tallest Building, the Petronas Towers (Petronas is Malaysia's national oil company). It's the twin tower building they used in the 1999 blockbuster Entrapment. A heist in the movie involved extracting huge amounts of money from the International Clearance Bank which is located in the towers. I would have loved to have seen this but we were only permitted to visit the Skybridge on the 41st floor. Still, we'd stood on the same ground as Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones.



We have also visited the university that Nottingham has built out here, and it looks incredible. Zenna and I are definitly looking to spend a semester or two here in the next few years.

Today we spontaneously took a bus back to Singapore and booked a flight to Bangkok. We'll be there tomorrow night.

One month left now!!!

wills email

hello Nora very nice to hear from you. of course i rememebr you it was a shame you were not around the weekend we left. I don't know when i will be back in Indonesia, not for some time i expect but hopefully sooner rather than later!
We are going to Thailand tomorrow and very excited about it. hope you are well and enjoying Mr Dede's classes! hope to hear from you soon.
Willem

Hey Mia thanks for the email. It is a shame that we had left before you came to the hotel as we would have loved to be shown around the city by you and your friends! lpease say hello to them and sorry that we were not around!

We are back in Singapore at the moment, we spent 4 days in Kuala Lumpur but found a cheap flight to Bangkok tomorrow from Singaopre so took a bus back her today. I am missing Indonesia very much as i have not met people as friendly as in East Java since we left there.

We fly home in just under one month on 5th September and then we will start our courses at university and i am very excited about that.

Orans email is oranhassan@hotmail.co.uk so that is why it has not been working.

Hope to here from you soon and let me know how life is back in Malang and how your course is at university.

Willem