From the Perhentians we all headed back together to Zubin's parents house in Kuala Lumpur which, to be honest, we didn't want to leave. I could quite happily live out my next 6 months of travelling in that house. James and I hadn't realised quite how much we were missing the comforts of home, but the delights of a home-cooked meal, a fantastically hot shower and the amazing hospitality of Zub and his parents certainly served to remind us.

Food formed a big part of our stay – I think on average we were eating once every 3 hours, which means James and I are both now back up to our fighting weights again. Malay food is absolutely delicious – we enjoyed local specialities including Char Kway Teow (flat noodles with chicken and prawn), Pau (giant dim sum buns filled with pork, chicken, or bean paste) Lam Mee (the birthday noodle dish), Pork Char Sui (Malay style pork) and Banana Leaf Curry (curry served on banana leaves which you eat with your hands). But the absolute highlight had to be the Malaysian mangoes, which were the yellowest, sweetest mangoes we've ever tasted. I am not sure UK mangoes will ever taste quite the same – fortunately we can buy a version of the real thing in Tooting Bec, so I think my Saturdays will soon be spent making pilgrimages there to satisfy my mango cravings.

But we did a lot more than just eat whilst we were there. Zubin gave himself over to being our tour guide and chauffeur for the duration of our stay, and we definitely saw the best that the capital has to offer. A highlight was the Islamic Arts Museum, built by a reclusive local millionnaire who has spent a fortune creating miniature models of the grandest mosques of the world, including Mecca and the Medina. It made me realise just how little I know about the Middle East, and also how interesting it would be to visit – our previous experience of Islamic countries being limited to Morocco. But that's for another trip.......

We did the obligatory tourist thing and went up the KL Tower, to see the cityscape as the sun was setting, including the magnificent Petronas Towers. The area around the Tower has been turned into something of a 'tourist attraction' and as part of our ticket, we also got to ride in F1 simulator cars, and I went on a pony ride around the car park, much to the amusement of the boys. I think they were just jealous as they were too heavy to ride themselves.

On Wednesday Zubin's parents, Rada and Jessie, very kindly took us out for a morning's sightseeing whilst poor Zub had to work. We had a guided tour of Putrajaya, the new administrative district, which was created by the former president, presumably as a sign of his great wealth and power. It currently covers some 46km squared. Rada talked us through all the different government departments – there are many, a brand-new building for each one, all lined up along the same road. And at the top of the road stands the Presidential Mansion, giving the big man a great view of his domain. The mansion looks more like an Ottoman Sultan's palace, or a mosque, so grand is its exterior (and presumably its interior too). The mosque is actually next door, and there is also accommodation onsite for all government employees – flats for the administrators, and large multi-roomed homes for the big cheeses, making it very clear to all when you've made it.

No visit would have been complete without a big night out, and Zubin did us proud. We started with martinis at the SkyBar on the 33rd floor of the Traders Hotel, which had an epic view across to the Petronas Towers. The bar was amazing - comfy booths with amazing views around an indoor swimming pool (sadly not for night-swimming) – and they had an 80s night on whilst we were there, much to my delight. We also met up with Eil, who has recently moved back to KL, so it became something of a Hertford reunion! After that it was on to Rootz, a new rooftop superclub, where all the young and beautiful people hang out. KL seems to have adopted American 'bottle service' style clubbing in a big way – you have to buy a bottle at the door in order to beat the queues. To James' eternal shame we duly bought our bottle of Smirnoff, which Zubin held aloft as we headed inside. Once inside we enjoyed dancing to the best of R&B from now and the recent past, including some classics from the uni years, which went down very well. However, the highlight of the evening was a conversation with some Kazakh girls that Eil and Zubin met over the course of the evening, who then joined us to share some late-night Chinese food (because 3 main meals a day no longer seems to be enough!). Of course the conversation turned to Borat, as Todd (quite genuinely) said,

'The only things we know about Kazakhstan in the UK are from Borat, but obviously that's all made-up. So tell us one thing we should know about Kazakhstan.'

Kazakhstani girl (after a thoughtful pause): 'We eat horsemeat.'

Amazingly, we managed to keep straight faces at the time, but have since been quoting it to each other ad nauseum. Hopefully it will be more or less out of Todd's system by the time he gets home, although James and I are still laughing about it.

Todd, James and I were up before 6am (poor Todd, still jetlagged after 30 hours of travel to get here!) in order to travel cross-country to Kuala Besut, the mainland gateway to the Perhentian islands. Our driver was a wannabe Michael Schumacher, and we travelled on increasingly winding roads, never below about 70kph. At times it was a white-knuckle ride, but he got us there safely, half an hour ahead of schedule. He also seemed to know all the best stops for photo opportunities, so we were able to capture the morning mist rising over the forest, which was pretty spectacular.


Once at Kuala Besut, we caught a speedboat across to the Perhentian islands – Perhentian Besa and Perhentian Kecil (literally, 'Big Island' and 'Small Island'). The speedboat itself was fantastic – 45 mins cutting through waves at high speeds. Our destination was Long Beach on Kecil, but as this was the last stop we had a great mini-tour of the other beaches and the town on Kecil island. The town was the destination of a couple of engineers who had joined us on the boat with a couple of trip switches ready-mounted on plywood, some copper wire, and a lot of tools. Clearly this is the practical side of island living.

This was the first time we hadn't pre-booked accommodation, and so we joined the hordes of backpackers trudging from hostel to hostel along the beach, trying to find the best deal. In the heat of the day, still wearing our backpacks, this was not a pleasant task, and we quickly wised up to the fact that leaving one person with the bags, whilst the other two scouted for somewhere to stay, was a lot easier! Unbeknownst to us before we arrived in Malaysia, our visit coincided with the Malay school holiday, and as a result, rooms were few and far between. We had a bit of a race against two other British couples who'd arrived on the same boat as us, and whilst we managed to bag the last two air-conditioned rooms on the beach, it did mean that Todd and Zub had to cosy up in a double bed for the first night. Not that they seemed to mind too much.

We quickly found Bubu, the best place on the island for food and to watch the football – at nearly £100 a room per night it was too pricey for us to stay at, but we certainly made the most of its facilities, becoming regular customers over our 3 days there. The boys were very happy about being able to enjoy so many matches, and even I came around to it, although I did manage to fall asleep sitting upright about 10 mins into the USA-Slovenia game.

The weather was a bit hit and miss, and so we missed out on any real sunbathing on the first day. That said, there's something about tropical rainstorms that makes them fascinating to watch – at least for the first few hours. The novelty starts to wear off a bit after that. Fortunately on our second day we awoke to glorious sunshine, and baking heat even at 9am. We made the most of the weather and the crystal clear warm water – some would say a little too much, as we were all burnt by the end of the day. The boys had decided a midday swim was a great idea, and so all sported various shades of red on their backs. As a native, Zubin had eschewed any kind of suntan cream and so was more sunburnt than the rest of us put together – so much so that by the time he went back to work, people wondered what on earth had happened to him on his few days off!

James and I also put our new PADI qualifications to good use and did our first 'fun' dive, whilst Todd and Zub came snorkelling. This was a particular achievement for Todd, who had only the previous morning overcome his fear of open water and allowed Zub to teach him how to snorkel. James and I were the only two divers in our group, and had a great dive where we saw blue-spotted stingrays, more triggerfish, some parrot fish and a couple of little Nemos (technical name: anemone fish. I prefer Nemo myself). It was fantastic to just be able to enjoy the experience of diving, and it's starting to feel a lot more 'normal' being underwater now. It also gave me the chance to try out the underwater camera (thanks Jo Fitz!) which was a lot of fun, although more challenging than photography above the water, as everything seems much closer and larger than it actually is.
We also had another Gap Yah encounter, this time at 5am, when our drunken neighbour staggered home and woke up her room-mate and half the island shouting:

“Harriet? Harriet! I've lost my Blaaackberry Harriet.”
Pause.
“My Blaaaackberry, yah! On the beach! The BEACH! I lost it on the beach. I need you to help me look for it.”
Pause.
“So I'll meet you there ok? No there, ok? There! OK?” (This continued for about 5 mins).

Eventually Todd went outside to tell her to shut up, only to find her semi-naked and being pulled into clothes by a tired cabana boy. We have no idea whether she met her friend Harriet, or if she found her Blackberry, nor do we care. Kind-hearted, forgiving citizens that we are, we made sure we made as much noise as possible as we were leaving at 7.30 the next morning.