June 2012 – Page 2 – Where is Phil now?

T- 0, Lift off – I fly to England

Day 153, Tuesday 5 June 2012, Kuala Lumpur – Brentwood, Essex, England !

Well, bugger me, Asia is over. Though I planned it and in the end desired it, it came about all too quick. I really enjoyed my last few days, especially the time on Perhentian Kecil, awesome diving and good people make for a good time. One to repeat in the future maybe.

My alarm went off at 6:00 and I was up, packed, checked out and in the taxi for 6:30. It was a pretty reasonable ride to KL airport, which is a way from town. There are two airports in KL KL International (KLIA) where I was flying from today and the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) where I flew into from Kota Bahru yesterday – it is important to go to the correct one as they are away apart by road !

The check in was quick and painless and as I was at the airport so early I did have some time to kill before my flight. I went through security and immigration and drank highly expensive coffee and had an outrageously expensive sandwich for breakfast and generally hung out where the free wifi was working until my fly was called. I did call both my boys, Dom and Aiden and have a chat with them.

The flight to London was twelve and a half hours, it was reasonable painless, though of course I did not sleep. I had an aisle seat and the seat between me and the woman in the window seat was empty, there was a pretty good amount of leg room as well – good on you Malaysian ! I watched a couple of movies, the 2nd Sherlock Holmes – of which I was disappointed, as well as Underworld – Awakening – again disappointed, though I did not expect much more than and a hour or so of Kate Beckinsdale in tight leather- which is always good.

The service was good, food was OK, I had loads of red wine and a couple of whiskies and shut my eyes with my head phones on, I didn’t sleep but did manage to kill a few hours. We arrived on time at 4.00 PM on same day I left and the trip through immigration was the fastest and most pleasant since I left NZ, polite, smiling and welcoming – so unlike anywhere in SE Asia.

Sadly the weather in England sucked, it was 13 degrees and raining ! typical. I had no jacket or jersey – but it felt so NICE to be cold for a change – and not just from the blast of an overworked air conditioner – this was real air- lovely.

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My plane.

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Brentwood Essex, about twenty miles from London. It was the final day of the Queens Jubilee weekend so the traffic on the M25 motorway link from the airport to home was pretty light.
What can I say about England – it just looks like England, as we were driving from the airport to home through the green belt surrounding London I could tell where we were, the houses in England look like know other houses, the rolling grasslands and the trees look like no other combination of rolling grass land and trees – to my eyes anyway. It felt good to be back in the country of my birth after 26 years.

At the aiport I picked up an English SIM card and texted Meliesha, my daughter who who lives in Bristol. I am going to stay with her for a few days from Sunday before heading down to Cornwall for Coast path run. Naturally she did not reply, and I later got a Facebook message saying she had lost her phone and to call on Rich – her boyfriends – so typical.

The evening was spent chatting with family, unpacking my pack and reuniting myself with some of the things I had sent over in a box in December. It was great to pick up and hold my Canon 5d camera, but it weighs a ton after using the Panasonic GF1 for so long. I charged up batteries and made sure it all worked – which of course it did.

The view from my window.

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I forced myself to stay up until 10.00 PM, (5 am Malaysia and body time) I had been up for 23 hours by the time I went to bed so was knackered when I hit the hay.

It is good to here, but I am going to miss SE Asia I think.

T-1- shopping

Day 152, Monday 4 June 2012, Kota Bahru – Kuala Lumpur

Another lousy night, finally got to sleep just before I had to wake up. I seem to be having all these weird dreams that never come to conclusion as the alarm interrupts before the end, I can recall the dream for about five minutes before it all just fades away. Maybe I should write them down as soon as I wake. They could make for some interesting reading for any future shrink 🙂

I checked out of my overly expensive hotel at 6.45 and got a taxi to the airport, I was advised I would have to pay 60 Malaysian ringit for the ride as it is double prior to 7.00 AM, though my driver only charged me 30, which was still more than ‘fair’. The airport is a few kilometres from town, but considering I paid 50rm to do 75km the day before I considered 60 to be a rip-off. Sadly, being rip-offed by transport operators will be one of the enduring memories of SE Asia.

The flight to KL was excellent, shorter than expected and not a hint of turbulence, we also had one of those wonderful smooth Air Asia landings which I have come to expect. I can see why it was voted No1 budget airline. I will miss flying with them !

I was in no rush when I arrived in KL so took the opportunity to have a coffee and muffin breakfast at the airport – and the use of the free wifi, before catching an airport bus into KL Sentral, the main transport hub for the city. I had selected Melia KL (an overpriced hotel) in the main shopping district, purely based on its proximity to a mono-rail station. Last time I was in KL it was so hot and humid, I did not want to spend a lot of time wandering around the streets trying to find accommodation, and I knew it was all going to pricey in Bukit Bintang. As it turned out the Melia was about 50 metres from the Imbi monorail station so I was there before lunch time, and luckily I had access to a room straight away. The place was expensive and I was pissed off to have to also pay $20NZ for wifi in my room, I am used to free wifi everywhere – guess this is what happens when you the want to stay where the rich people are – bastards !

However – the newly expanded mall is directly over the road and the IT/photo mall is next door, so I am not complaining – I am here to shop ! The IT mall is six floors, five purely IT and mobile and one just selling all sorts of camera stuff, though prices were consistent and bargaining was not encouraged.

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The shopping mall over the road was even bigger, in fact it was MASSIVE – it even had its own funfair, including a rollercoaster – awesome!

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I was looking to buy a new wide angle lens for my big camera – a Canon 5d MK1, that had safely arrived at my uncle and aunty’s house in England. Much as I have loved the Panasonic GF1 that I have been using for the past five months I am keen to get my hands back on my trusty old Canon – though now the mkIII is out a cheap mkII was sooooo tempting !
I had heard prices in KL were not that hot compared to the UK, but well, unless my research was wrong, prices in KL were massively cheaper than the UK, so I ended up with two lenses – and a murdered bank account ! I picked up a 70-200 f2.8L USM (not the IS version as that was too much) this is a great gig camera as well as being the quintessential white Canon zoom lens – no Canon photog is complete without this bad boy in his kit. I also got a 16-35 f2.8L II USM wide angle zoom – which was the intended purchase ! I am now wondering if my camera bag will fit it all. I also had to buy a new small suit case to fit them !

I was also after some road running shoes as well as a pair of jeans, some street shoes and at least one t-shirt so I would not arrive in England looking like some sort of hobo. But finding Levis proved to be extremely frustrating, and I am a Levis guy – none of those $400 jeans for me ! After a while I gave up in and had a wee rest in the hotel and then went to the big flash (read expensive) mall in the evening and at least got myself a pair of 502’s – they were cheaper than NZ at least.

I wanted a pair of Asics 2070 road running shoes (I know, I know- but I have to get some running in before CPR and there ain’t no trails in Brentwood – and I am not wrecking my trail shoes on tarmac) as well as some decent street shoes – if you know me, this means sneakers. It is very hard to find reasonably priced shoes in Asia for UK size 10 feet !! i found loads of shoes I liked but no one had my size, in the end I did get some Puma’s that were OK – but nothing like my beloved Adi’s I left in NZ.

You can tell the first leg of travelling is over, I seemed to have accumulated more stuff.

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[Edit] I am typing this on the plane as I wing my way to London and the hostie seems to have taken an interest in how much red wine I can drink – so apologies for the very long tale of shopping in KL, normally I would say I went shopping and bought stuff. Though I could go on about buying camera stuff for ever…. I am really looking fwd to testing the fast wide lens at a gig – I know it is not the uber-cool Zeiss, but I am not that well off !

I pretty much killed myself shopping, thankfully it was either not as hot as it was last time I was here or I have acclimatised myself somewhat after five months, but four hours of wandering around malls not being able t find anything I wanted was enough. I hit the hotel bar for a beer and almost had heart failure at the price, $10NZ for a handle – I know this is Muslim Malaysia and beer is expensive, but this is taking the piss. I had one, and then went in search of cheap beer on the road, pretty much to no avail. I grabbed a couple of cans at a 7-11 and went to my room for the rest of the night.

T-2

Day 151, Sunday 3 June 2012, Kota Bahru.

Two more sleeps

It was a really noisy night, lots of people walking up and down the paths making lots of noise till all hours, so a lousy sleep was had, I had been on a pretty good roll with the sleep too damnit. I was up at 6.45 and met Daniel in the reception area and we walked down to the wharf at Coral Bay to get the ferry back to the mainland.

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It was a good run, not too rough and we were there nine. Before heading back up to Kota Bahru (KB) we had a final roti chanai then went our separate ways. Daniel was going to hitch and I was going to try and find some other travellers and share a taxi. After half an hour of waiting and interrogating people as they came past I ended up getting a taxi on my own to KB, it was about $20NZ for the 75km journey so not outrageous. This is a job I would be good at !

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The hostel I had to chosen to stay at didn’t exist any more and it appears a lot of the cheap ones are closed for the season – or maybe just closed ? so I ended up staying in a hotel at vastly more than I wanted to pay. But it had awesome broadband so I didn’t mind too much, I did catch up on blogs and then went walkabout.

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Loved this shop.

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And these bikes.

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Not sure if was just a Sunday thing but all the sites in KB -museums, grand palace etc were shut! So I wandered around had some lunch and then found the only place in KB that retailed booze. KB and the north east of Malaysia is quite a strict muslim region.

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I bought a bottle of NZ Pinot – it was not bad.

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In the afternoon it rained so hard I could not here the music from my laptop. From my window.

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After a couple of hours of wine and Youtubing I went for a walk out again to find a Chinese restaurant for dinner, the Chinese generally sell beer where the Malay’s don’t. I found a decent place and my last big Tiger and a very nice chilli chicken meal before wandering back to the hotel and snapping some graffiti on the way.

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I didn’t do much else after that.

Two great dives – T3 and Sugar wreck

Day 150, Saturday 2 June 2012, Perhentian Kecil

Unsurprisingly after seven beers last night I slept like a baby and woke at 6.50 which seems to be the prime crowing time for the local rooster. This suits me well. I woke feeling a wee bit dodgy, not hungover, just jaded I guess. I followed yesterdays example and lazed around till 8.00 then had quick internet catch up then off for breakfast and on to the dive shop for 9.00.

Today we are diving T3 (Awesome), I’ve heard good things about this site from lots of people and it was on my to do list for the Perhentians. One of things I’ve really liked about Spice Divers is they actually listen to the requests of their customers, they ask what we want to dive and how many days we have to do dive the sites, then try to fit the dives in around customer needs. This was cool, especially as I got to do all the dives I wanted – it pays to be a repeat customer as well 🙂 The schedule was changed a bit so I could do T3 in the morning and re-visit Sugar Wreck on the mid-day dive; that the other divers I had befriended were keen on doing the same helped I am sure, but I know they bumped some new customers to fit in what I asked to do.

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T3 (three reefs) is about twenty five minutes away by boat, as there was only five of us (Daniel, Jimmy, Catherine, myself and Mike the dive master) diving we took a small boat and had a pretty good run out. The swell is a lot smaller early in the mornings. From the surface T3 is just a couple of rocks sticking out of the water about a hundred metres off shore.

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There are some areas down to 24 metres but as only half of the group were able to dive past 18, the dive plan was to stick around the 16 metre mark – which means a longer dive time anyway. As it turned out, and something that is true of most of the sites here, the visibility is fabbo to around 16-18 metres and then deteriorates quickly, so the good stuff mostly happens at the higher depths anyway. What was really cool here was the thermo clime (difference in temperature – and usually visibility as well) was really marked here, I was able to float in warm water and lower my arms into water that was significantly colder, there was almost no gradient between, cool.

There was not a huge amount of stunningly interesting life at T3, the site is interesting as it is a mass of huge boulders lying on top of each other, there was plenty of fish and some great nudi branches but the fun thing at T3 is the swim throughs. We did four short tunnel dives, a couple were complex in that they were narrow and had turns, so when you entered the tunnel you could not see the exit. On one of the tunnels I got a bit stuck and had to think about how to twist my body to get myself and the tank through. In a cave on the surface I would freak out, but under water I was quite calm and able to make logical decisions, – it was only a matter of a couple of seconds, there was no threat of harm, but it did interest me that I didn’t get scared – faith in the dive master? but logically I could see I could get through, it was just working out the puzzle. It was fun 🙂 it was one of my favourite dives.

To maximise dive times for all of us the DM took those who got to the low limit on air (50bar) to the surface without taking the whole group through the decompression stops, which meant I was up before the Catherine and Mike, though not the first. So I had Jimmy take a picture of Daniel and I in the water and then I snorkelled down and took some shots of Catherine and Mike below.

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As we got close to the island we were dive bombed by some terns !

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This is how tight some of the swim throughs are – Mike exiting one, shot from the surface.

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After the dive I hung around the shop chatting with the other divers and staff. This seems to be one of the features of the shop, an encouragement to socialise with the other divers, whihc is great for us solo travellers. Richard and Blathnaid, my friends from Myanmar, recommended the shop because of this aspect. After the break we were diving Sugar Wreck again, I dived this on my first day but had really bad mask issues so didn’t get to see a lot. I was dead keen to go back as I love a wreck dive !

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We had a larger group for this dive so split into two, I got to dive with Jimmy, Daniel and Mike again along with a new diver. It was a good dive, again, visibility was best above 14 metres, but the ship had lots of places to explore – though of course we were not allowed to enter at all. The ship went down in 2001 and was carrying sugar – obviously. There were a lot of scorpion and dragon fish so care was needed. We did see some awesome little coral cat sharks – these are about a foot long and hide in the smallest spots, just lovely creatures.

And that was it, diving in SE Asia is over; but I did do thirty two dives in four countries – so I cannot complain !

After the dive I went back to my room and chilled for a while before heading back down to the shop at 7:00 where I hung around chatting till almost 9:00 – when the evening storm passed. I went for dinner with Daniel and Jimmy and then stopped for a couple of drinks with some of the dive shop guys. I could see they were going to kick on for a biggie so I left at 10:30 and went to bed.

There were some cool fire dancers on the beach !

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I leave the Island in the morning. I really regret not skipping Koh Tao and coming here earlier, once I got into the groove with the shop this has been one of the more enjoyable places to hang out, and the diving has been exceptional. A highlight of the trip.

Diving, photography, beer – almost a perfect day

Day 149, Friday 1 June 2012, Perhentian Kecil

Wow, the year is disappearing so quickly, its June already. A good day today, one average dive, one awesome dive and I am going to catch up with some of the divers I met today for a drink tonight. Not too much as one more diving day tomorrow – and the last dives of the trip. On the way back from the dive today I was wondering how I could extend for one more day, but not possible, I should have come here sooner I think. If you are planning diving in SE Asia, you have to put the Perhentians on your list!

Not as good a sleep as the night before, but still woke at 7.00 and was feeling OK, I think once I get to the UK I will take a couple of days of doing nothing much – if I can, oh apart from getting some running in every day to drop a couple of KG’s before I have to join Mal in Cornwall on the 15th. Heck that is only two weeks away now !

Lessons were learnt from yesterday so did a bit of washing, caught up on FB and some email and then meandered down to breakfast for 8.30, and things were open. There is a lot of mess on the beach this morning, there was a big party last night – which I of course did not go to, so lots of cans and fag ends all over the place. At least an effort is made to clean it early and it will be spotless again soon I imagine.

The first dive of the day was another wreck – Vietnamese – named as the vessel was sunk during the war, it is a deeper dive so only advanced divers can do it, this meant a smaller group which was good.

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What was surprising was there was already four other dive boats when we got to the site !

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We were hoping for clear calm waters but the ride out was a bit choppy and we found from one of the divers who were surfacing when we arrived that there was a strong current and visibility was down to four or five metres at the wreck, bugger !

The descent to the top of the wreck at eighteen metres was awesome though, a warm warm, crystal clear sea. However it all turned to crap at eighteen, I was not wearing a wetsuit and the water was quite cold (not NZ cold of course – Malaysia cold !) and visibility was terrible. Could barely see the wreck even up close, seeing fish was next to impossible. We did do a very cool swim through, the entrance was tight and pitch black, and as I was last diver through there was a lot of sediment in the water, It was quite scary going in and then it is totally dark until you look up a bit to see the torch light, and then suddenly you are in the hull and you could easily stand up. Definitely the high point of that dive. After the swim through we ascended up the mooring line, did the safety stop in the stunning crystal blue and then jumped back into the boat. It was a bummer about the conditions, but at least my mask was good and I could see clearly – just not much to see !

I hung around the dive shop over lunch chatting to some of the other divers as we waited for the second dive of the day to Temple.

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I had been told by Richard and Blathnaid, who I have kept in contact with since we met at Inle Lake in Myanmar, that Temple was AWESOME, one of their two favourite dives. So I was looking forward to this one.

The ride out in the full dive boat was “choppy”.

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And the site had a small swell going but not too bad.

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What can I say about Temple: my gear was good – I could see everything, the visibility down to about 14 metres was awesome, the water was warm, I saw bamboo sharks, eels, porcupine fish plus all the usual suspects. A fantastic site, and a great dive – I loved it, best dive for weeks – way better than anything at Koh Tao or Nha Trang. The only thing wrong with it, was it was too short ! The bamboo sharks are tiny and bottom dwell in small caves, in one tiny opening we saw a school of about five or six sharks, all under a metre long. We also got to swim in, through and with a huge school of trevaly and I got up close and personal with a nice sized snapper as well. Great dive !

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The ride back was fun, bouncing around the swells, luckily no one on the boat had any dry gear as it would not have been that way by the time we got to shore. I booked myself in for two more dives tomorrow and the guys will get me to a site called T3 which R and B also highly recommended – as did everyone who has dived there. These will be last two dives for a while, though I have completed thirty since I left New Zealand, so will not complain a bit ! The day after I leave Perhentians and soon after that SE Asia.

[edit] The rest of the post is written two days later : ) [/edit]

After the dive, a shower, a lie down and some internet time I wandered over the hill to Coral Bay on the other side of the island for the sunset. The path to Coral Bay was a good snap shot of the negative side of island Malaysia, though of course there are some beautiful bits too !

Unfinished construction

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Rubber trees in place of natives,

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and trash.

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When I arrived I could see the storm clouds gathering so raced out to the jetty to grab a few shots before heading back to find the nearest cafe where I had dinner and waited out the downpour.

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Luckily the rain finished and the sky cleared before the sunset so I headed back to the wharf to snap a few shots (quite a few in fact).

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And then down to the beach for some final photos.

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When it was too dark to take photos I headed back over to Long Beach and had a couple of beers with Jimmy who I was diving with today, and then hooked up with some English guys from the first day and had a few more. I wobbled back to my room at 12.30, a bit late considering I was diving the next day. The Tiger beer here is not as good on the head as other places…

A damn good day though ! diving, photography, companionship and beer !

A blurry old day

Day 148, Thursday 31 May 2012, Perhentian Kecil

Diving day today – double yay !

I have heard good things about the diving here and from what I saw from the boat coming in yesterday I am really looking forward to getting into the water – plus the first dive is on a wreck so even better.

You, my faithful reader(s), will be pleased to know I slept well last night and even the cock crowing from underneath my room didn’t really wake me from my slumber until after 6.30. A great start to the day. What was not so great is I could not find anywhere to eat breakfast at 7.00 – nothing was open, even worse the Nai Yang ! I walked back up to room, grabbed my phone and went and Facebooked for a while in the “reception area” of my “hostel” – not quite the words I would use to describe the accommodation, I will take a photo on my day off. It is comfy and quiet though – well last night it was any way.

I went back down to Long Beach at 8.00 and it was raining a little bit and mildly overcast, things were open so I did get to have poached eggs on toast for breakfast – I wanted fried egg and rice, and have not been able to get it for weeks – very disappointing as it is a great pre-dive feed.

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After breakfast I was off to the dive shop – “Spice Divers” to kit up and be briefed on the dive. There was ten of us diving, two groups of four with a dive master. The ride out to the “Sugar Wreck” site took about twenty five minutes. The wreck sits on the bottom at just over 18 metres so it is a good all round dive, with the top of the wreck at 5 metres, after the dive I jumped back in with a mask and snapped a quick shot.

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Sadly I had really bad problems with mask fogging and i could not clear it permanently even though I flushed the mask a dozen times, this really made the dive less enjoyable than it should have been, visibility was great and the water was so warm we did not use wet suits ! I enjoyed it, but I should have LOVED it. I will dive it again if it comes up over the next few days. The dive site – shooting into the sun.

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Through a miscommunication I missed the lunch time dive so remarkably spent a whole hour and a half on the beach under a shade – I never do beach, just not in my nature ! Long beach is beyond gorgeous, the sand is white and water crystal clear.

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The second, and late afternoon dive, was at Curtain Rock and again I had mask issues – different mask and different issue. This time things were blurry and I could not fix it all, it was like diving with my reading glasses on. Again a great dive made merely enjoyable by a dodgy mask. The first time it was my fault, but this time I am blaming the mask, though of course once you are under it is too late to fix.

The dive site.

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After filling in log books and chatting with the other divers for a while I wandered back up to le mansion for a shower, change and a rest. I met my new neighbour too.

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Like every night it is party night on PK tonight. I went down to the beach, where all the cafes are for dinner at 7:30, a lot later than last night and there was a few more people around. I had a mee noodle dish and another one of those awesome banana shakes, the cafes do not serve alcohol and neither do the mini-marts. The only place to buy beer is from one of the few bars, i grabbed a couple of cans and had one on the beach while I watched party night preparations take place. Not being either young or beautiful I decided not to stay.

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