Hi All

We realised that we have not put on a proper post for over a week and thought it was about time that we brought you upto date with what we have been upto.

We got the bus from Penang to the Cameron Highlands last Thursday. We only spent two nights there, good job too because it was freezing!! However it did allow Linda to go out for her first and only jog so far. Thats what being away with a couch potato does for you!!! We thought we'd have lost loads of weight by now but we seem to spend more on food a day than on accomodation!!!

At the Cameron Highlands we went to a Tea Plantation and we could have gone trekking but spent time with Penny's Uncle Peter and Auntie Susan instead, which was lovely. We had our 1st "steamboat" and what we thought would be our last as we didn't know what to do and so didn't rate it very highly. A steamboat is lots of raw meat, fish (cuttle fish, prawns, mussels, JELLY FISH etc), veggies and noodles. You cook it in a big pot of chicken soup in the middle of the table. We thought that it was quite bland and a bit odd!

We were thinking of going to Taman Negara but were not that keen having already been jungle trekking in Thailand. When My Aunt and Uncle suggested that we travel to Kuala Lumpur with them by taxi (not the usual backpacker mode of transport) this made our mind up for us and we gladly accepted. Queue cheesy song.........we are staying at the YMCA. Linda worked at the YMCA hostel in Coventry a few years ago and its nothing like that. In fact its probably the best place we have stayed because it is like a hotel but very cheap (5 or so quid a night each, including brekkie). Not bad for Malaysia's capital city.

We've done the usual sight seeing, eating and more eating. We went up the telecommunications tower the other day which gives a 360 degree view of KL from about 1000feet. We were in the middle of a great thunderstorm and saw another building struck with lightening. But thankfully it didn't get us!!!!

On Sunday we went to KL Baptist Church. Their new building is only 4 months old and is amazing. We were made to feel incredibly welcome from the moment we walked in. After the service a lovely lady called Connie looked after us and took us for coffee in their new cafe. We then were taken shopping and for lunch after which we met members of her family at a lion dance display given by the world champions. It was fantastic and very acrobatic but difficult to describe. After that Connie took us to her home where we had our 2nd "steamboat", which was delicious as they knew what they were doing and put the right ingredients in together at the right time (and no JELLY FISH!!). Thank you Connie for such a lovely day, bless you.

We said goodbye to my Uncle and auntie last night who head back to England tomorrow. They looked after us so much and it was lovely to have poolside lunches at Le Meridian hotel with them. Another non backpacker experience! Thankyou to you both.

We braved haircuts today but ended up spending lots more than we expected to. They "forgot" to tell us that a conditioning treatment cost almost 20 quid each on top of what they originally explained! We nearly fell over when we got the bill, especially as Linda has such short hair!!! But as a result we've got highlighted, silky smooth hair!!

We hope to go up the Petronas towers tomorrow and maybe even the cinema. We leave for Melaka by bus on friday and then Singapore on Monday by train. Our flight to Cairnes, OZ is next thursday. Here's to some new experiences........

Thanks for all your comments, please keep it up we really, really appreciate it.

Till next time. Love from Linda and Penny xx ;-)