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Nice early pickup at 7.15am to get the 8.30am ferry to Ko Phi Phi. The weather was gorgeous and the view of the limestone karsts of Phi Phi appearing in the distance was amazing. Hopped off and hopped onto another ferry to Ko Lanta where a woman was selling ice-creams. Genius idea. Arrived in Ko Lanta and met off the boat by 2 guys from Fevrier resort who bundled us, another couple and our bags into the back of a pickup truck for the 20min journey to Klong Nin....

100 days into our adventure and today wasn’t particularly eventful. In Hat Karon, Phuket and there are “girlie” bars everywhere and lots of middle-aged european men with pretty young Thai ladies on their arm. Or two or three guys sat at a table with one girl. The beach is lovely, although mostly covered in sunloungers, we found a spot to lay a towel and sunbathed for half an hour before we could bear the heat no longer and went for a wander around the streets full of souvenier shops, clothes shops and restaurants....

Another mental journey planned by us. Instead of going overland up to Krabi we decided to fly to Phuket from Kuala Lumpur. So we could get the 30-day visa instead of the 15-day visa. (For some reason there is a difference in Thailand depending on whether you enter overland or via an airport???) Our journey: 7.45am Pink minibus taxi from Telak Nipah to Pangkor Town 8.30am Ferry from Pangkor Town to Lumut...

5 hour bus journey from KL to Lumut further up the coast, caught the last ferry to Pulau Pangkor and arrived at a car park full of baby pink ford rascal minibuses. The taxi dropped us off in Telak Nipah, the most budget bit of the island and we went to our selected B&B to ask for room. Sorry full. Next one. Sorry full. Next one…and so on until we’d exhausted every guest house & hotel in Telak Nipah....

Matt got up at dawn to go find the perfect view of the Petronas towers and came back 3 hours later with his sunrise timelapse from the KLCC park and was knackered so snoozed whilst I trawled the internet for ideas on what to do for Christmas. So many places to decide on. Found cheap flights to Bali but does it make sense to go that way or should we head overland through Malaysia and up to Thailand....

More dim sum yum. Extra this time. Felt like pigs but the food here is lush. Sam from Jalan Jalan was brilliant in advising us to walk to the bottom of Chinatown instead of the top to catch the local bus to the bus station. I’d read that it could take an hour from the square but it took less than 10 mins from the other end. Fab. We always seem to travel with our backpacks when the sun is hottest and today was particularly muggy and humid inbetween the rain showers....

Tuesday 14th December and we have been travelling for exactly 3 months and we’re now in Malaysia. Can’t believe how fast the time is going. Took a lovely luxury bus from Singapore to Melaka. The border crossings were simple. Off the bus at one side of the bridge to exit Singapore and get our passport stamped. Then off the bus again the other side of the bridge to get our entry to Malaysia....

Met up with Dulcie’s sister Esme, her husband Gus & 3-month baby Cleo for lunch as they are currently living in Singapore. Had lunch at a very lush Indonesian restaurant where we fell in love with Beef Penang and I fell for lychee juice made which comes with fresh lychees in the glass. Not sure Matt fell in love with his bright pink strawberry fizzy shake but he had to try it....

Bloomin’ ‘eck today was hot. Another partial downside is the temperature. Being so close to the equator it is very hot all day long. Even at midnight it is still very warm. So air-conditioning is everywhere, even outside cooling the streets in some places. A big waste of energy and very environmentally unfriendly. Visited Chinatown. The cleanest Chinatown I’ve ever been to. Very delicious food (dumpling soup and char siew wonton noodles) and cheapish beer compared to the rest of Singapore....

2 weeks til Xmas! Singapore is completely different to India. It’s kind of been a bit of a “culture-shock” for us and we’re having to adapt to another way of living again. It is very American-like with huge roads, sky-scrapers and 7-11s everywhere. And it is so very clean (even the money) and organised. Almost futuristic. People in cars stop for you at zebra crossings. It has a great metro system....