After getting hooked on diving in Asia, my plans for Australia rapidly transformed to the point that the majority of my time in Australia would be spent underwater in the Great Barrier Reef. As the only living thing visible from space, and longer than the Great Wall of China, the Great Barrier Reef is massive. It is possible to visit parts of the reef from almost every coastal town in Queensland.

There are several options for visiting the Great Barrier Reef, depending on how much of it you want to see and how much money you have to spend. Cairns is where most people visit the Great Barrier Reef from due to its close proximity to fantastic dive sites. Day trips are offered by numerous companies, all of which take snorkellers, certified divers and those who are diving for the very first time. Most of the boats are used only for transport, with the diving and snorkelling taking place from permanently moored pontoons in reefs close to Cairns. This leads to there being a lot of people on each of the day trips from Cairns, resulting in the reefs that they visit no longer being in pristine condition.

Some day boats do go further afield, and take a far smaller number of people out to reefs that are still in good shape. I travelled up to Port Douglas to join the Poseidon on a trip out to the Agincourt reef where I did 3 dives and was blown away by what I saw. An abundance of fish, both large and small, colourful soft and hard corals, and only a few other divers in the water. There are only two day boats that go as far out as Agincourt, Poseidon and Silversonic, and both are based in Port Douglas.

The Agincourt reef was impressive, but it was nothing compared to the dive sites to come. The further north you go, the better the condition of the reef, but due to the distance of the northern reefs, it is not possible to visit them on day trips. You need to go overnight. This kind of dive trip is known as a live aboard. You spend several days and nights on a boat, visiting various dive sites and essentially doing nothing but eating, sleeping and diving. This kind of trip costs a fair bit more than your average day trip, but probably not as much as you would think. Close to the departure dates, all of the companies offering live aboards make any remaining places available at stand by rates which are typically half price. If you make a booking through one of the many travel agencies in Cairns, chances are you will get it for even less so it definitely pays to wait until the last minute and to shop around for the best price.

From Cairns, there are three boats that are highly recommended for live aboard dive trips. They are Mike Ball’s Spoilsport, the Spirit of Freedom and Taka. They all make weekly trips to the Cod Hole in the northern Great Barrier Reef and to Osprey Reef in the coral sea. Each boat leaves on a different day of the week so it is unlikely that you will see any other dive boats whilst on a live aboard. Another option for a live aboard of sorts is offered by a number of dive companies that own pontoons near Cairns. The pontoons have sleeping quarters allowing guests to stay overnight before being transported to another pontoon the next day. The pontoons are not however very far apart, just at different dive sites within the same reefs. This option is a lot cheaper than one of the real live aboards as it is essentially just a floating hotel.

I decided to join Taka on a 4 day/3 night trip to the Cod Hole in the northern Great Barrier Reef. We set sail on Tuesday evening with the intention of reaching Cod Hole overnight with the first dive there early on Wednesday morning. When the morning arrived we weren’t at Cod Hole. The Skipper had deemed the conditions too rough to reach it safely, so we were moored up at Vertical Garden on ribbon reef 9. Although we were all rather disappointed to be missing Cod Hole which had been billed as the highlight of the trip due to the feeding of the giant potato cod, we were ecstatic when we emerged from our first dive – the sea may have been choppy and there may have been a bit of current, but the fish were out in force. For the next 3 days we continued to dive some spectacular dive sites, with highlights being Pixie Pinnacle, Pixie Wall and Steve’s Bommie. Each night we did a night dive and twice we did drift dives where we jumped in at one end of a wall and got picked up at the other end. We were only really supposed to do a drift dive once, but my dive buddy and I got a bit confused by the dive plan on one dive and ended up getting whisked around a corner by the current and having to pop up the safety sausage when we surfaced in order to get picked up as we had ended up at the other side of the reef. We were so far away that the camera guy couldn’t focus on us when he zoomed right in. The girl that came out in the tender to pick us up wasn’t impressed, but we still had a nice dive.

After almost a week of diving from Cairns, I started to head south and had to make a stop for one more day of diving. The Yongala sank in 1911 and was left undiscovered for close to 50 years following that. Lying at a depth of 30 metres and over 100 metres in length, the Yongala is reputed as being one of the world’s best dive sites, so I couldn’t let the opportunity to dive it pass me by. There are dive operators in both Townsville and Ayr that do day trips out to the Yongala wreck. I chose to dive from Ayr because it is a lot closer to the dive site, taking only twenty minutes by boat to reach it. As I made my descent down the buoy line, I was amazed by how much life there was around the wreck. Before diving the Yongala I wasn’t sure what to expect, I guess I thought I would be able to see the shape of the boat, but at times it was difficult due to the amount of soft coral growing all over it. As a result of there being no other reefs near by, the Yongala attracts a huge amount of life, it is teeming with fish. Giant turtles call the wreck home, and sharks cruise around feasting on the smaller shoals of fish that surround you as you swim by. It truly is a fantastic dive site.

If you get the opportunity, I thoroughly recommend diving somewhere in the Great Barrier Reef. Although you can see a lot when snorkelling, it just isn’t the same as being deep underwater, being surrounded by fish and having large predators passing by you. The Great Barrier Reef is home to some of the world’s best dive sites and when you book through travel agencies it really doesn’t cost that much to go diving.

• Diving during the Malaysian monsoon
• Itinerary for Australia part 2
• Shark cage diving

1. Fish sauce – Used to flavour almost every dish throughout south east Asia it is difficult to avoid fish sauce. I always make a point of explaining that I am vegetarian and don’t want any fish sauce, but I am certain that I have eaten it at some point along the way. I’ve adopted the stance of if I can’t taste it and they have insisted that it wouldn’t be used, then its all good. There isn’t much else I can do about it.
2. Spitting – Without doubt, the Chinese are the worst for spitting. Signs in public places request people not to spit. In spite of this it is still very common to hear and see people spitting everywhere in every Asian country I have visited, apart from Singapore.
3. Squat toilets – On average, I would say one in five of the places I have stayed over the last few months has had squat toilets. I have become used to them, but I much prefer Western style.
4. Bargaining – Bargaining is a part of everyday life in Asia, its expected almost everywhere. To get a reasonable price you need to bargain. After a while, it becomes tiring. I am looking forward to fixed price shops where you know you are paying the same price as the next person.
5. Scams – Whether it tuk-tuk drivers in India trying to rip you off, or being passed between mini bus operators in Thailand, it always leaves me feeling pissed off.

• Singapore scooter tour
• Flights booked!
• Photos from India

I hadn’t used a kick scooter since I was a child, but after a few minutes I’d got the hang of it and was flying down the street, darting passed the queued up traffic. It certainly beat walking around in the humid conditions. Amazingly, the only injury of the night was suffered by our tour guide who took one corner too quickly and ended up lying on the pavement.

The Inn Crowd conducts the free scooter tours several times a week. To join one, you just need to sign up at reception with places being given on a first come first served basis. I can thoroughly recommend the scooter tour as a fun way to see the city.

• Hong Kong Goldfish Market
• Photo of the week – Chinese dragon
• Diving during the Malaysian monsoon

The beat of a drum was approaching me, getting ever closer. Then from around a corner appeared a Chinese dragon dancing its way along the street. Whilst in Singapore I came across dragons a number of times, the Chinese new year celebrations were still in full swing.

• Photo of the week – Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
• Singapore scooter tour
• Photo of the week – Mobile Garden

When my time slot arrived I along with 49 others was ushsered in to a small cinema where we were all issued with a pair of 3D glasses. The short film was essentially an infomercial for Petronas with a little information about the towers added in at the end. The 3D film wasn’t really anything special, especially now that almost everyone has experienced the IMAX.

Following the film and security screenings we entered the lift. 41 floors were ascended in less than a minute, that certainly beats the lifts I have encountered in offices back in the UK where four floors takes forever. Fifty people is just the right number for the bridge visit. Its not too crowded and everyone is able to get a get view from both sides of the bridge and take all the pictures they want, all featuring a spot of reflection from the glass.

The bridge did provide some great views across the city, but a picture of the Kuala Lumpur skyline is incomplete without the Petronas Twin Towers in it. I spent an entire afternoon walking around the city looking for a good place to take my shot, one that included both the towers and the Kuala Lumpur Tower, but I was unsuccessful in my quest, there was always another sky scraper in the way. In the end I settled for returning to the Petronas Twin Towers in the evening, all lit up its quite spectacular.

• Itinerary for Malaysia
• Photo of the week – Taj Mahal
• The not so pink city

I have posted many photos on this blog, but very few that feature me. This photo was taken by Chris King when we were diving Hin Daeng near Koh Lanta.

• Koh Lanta
• Photo of the week – Serengeti sunset
• Photo of the week – fishing in the Mekong Delta

I’m now in Singapore, almost three months after I left Vietnam and I have only just got my Vietnam photos uploaded. Its taking a while to get through the photos because the internet that I have had access to whilst in Asia has generally been expensive and slow so whenever I have had access to internet that is free and fast, I have taken advantage of it and uploaded as many photos as possible. Hoepfully more to come soon…

• Photos from South Africa
• Photos from India
• Received a visa for Vietnam

The east coast of peninsular Malaysia gets hit by a monsoon every year between November and March, effectively closing down the east coast islands. Businesses close and ferry services stop running between the islands and the mainland. In mid February I was feeling optimistic and started looking into the possibility of diving from either the Perenthians in the north or Tioman further south. The Perenthians had only just opened and I was informed that there was no chance of diving until the end of March, so all hope was pinned on Tioman.

Some friends had recommend B+J Diving Centre on Tioman so I dropped them an email to see what the diving conditions were like. When I learned that the diving was good I jumped on a bus to Mersing and caught the next ferry over to Tioman.

Since it was still low season, Tioman felt a bit like a ghost town, especially the main town Tekek village. So many places boarded up, restaurants constantly empty and shops that never seemed to open. Tioman is essentially a quiet island that at one point someone wanted to make into a big resort destination, but it never took off so now Tioman stands half finished.

Tioman was unfortunately still being hit by the tail end of the monsoon. There was a strong wind making the sea rough and every night there was a heavy downpour for around an hour. Even the local fishing boats were coming into the bay at night for protection. The monsoon meant that the diving conditions weren’t optimal. The journey out to Coral Island made myself and others sea sick because it was just so rough. In addition to the rough conditions, the visibility was rather poor at times. I was just a few weeks too early.

After a couple of trips to Coral Island, it was decided to stick to dive sites closer to Tioman for a few days until the weather improved. I dived 6 times in total at a range of sights, with lots of fish, giant turtles and something I hadn’t seen before – a cuttlefish. Diving from Tioman was a lot of fun. I had never dived a wreck before so diving in the marine park where there are 12 fishing boats sunk was interesting and we also dived at a site with a car wreck – this was no where near the pier so I’ve no idea how the car got there.

• Diving the Great Barrier Reef
• Photo of the week – Diving Hin Daeng
• Shark cage diving

Taman Negara is the world’s oldest tropical rainforest and has been a national park since 1938 when it was named King George V National Park until Malaysia gained independence. The park is huge, encompassing three separate states and a total area of over 4000 square kilometres. Taman Negara is home to a vast range of wildlife from tigers to rhinos to exotic birds, but for the average visitor, long tail monkeys, ants and lizards are probably all that you will see.

I made my way to Jerantut from which there are two ways of reaching Taman Negara. You can either take the bus to Kuala Tahan or you can take a boat. Both options take two to two and a half hours. On my way there I took the boat option, as usual it was the typical Asian long tail boat that made its way ever so slowly along the river to Kuala Tahan. Whichever option you take, make sure you go as early as possible to avoid the peak of the heat. The boat there was in the middle of the afternoon so I fell asleep and woke up with a nice red arm that had been left dangling in the sun.

Kuala Tahan is a village that serves no other purpose than as an access point to Taman Negara. All along the river front are floating restaurants, all offering the same menu and same high prices. I didn’t have a single decent meal whilst I was there. Kuala Tahan offers several budget accommodation options, from the noisy hostel just up from the river to quiet bungalows set back a bit from the village. There is also the option to camp if you have your own tent or can find one to rent that has all the poles. There is no accommodation within Taman Negara itself, but there are hides which can be slept in.

The park head quarters are located across the river from Kuala Tahan, so a short boat ride is required to get there. Before you can enter the park you must obtain a permit (and a camera permit) from the head quarters. Surprisingly, the cost of these is minimal, but it is advisable to get these the night before you want to enter the park to avoid queues in the morning.

Most visitors to Taman Negara don’t stray too far from the park’s head quarters. There are several trails nearby and a couple of companies more than happy to lead the way. For these trails a guide is not necessary, they are well sign posted and the most difficult part is coping with the humidity! Around the head quarters the park is very busy, especially the canopy walk which is claimed to be the longest in the world. I waited close to 40 minutes for my turn to start the canopy walk and then quickly wished that I hadn’t bothered. It was just too busy. Before you can take a step, you need to wait on the person on front of you to move. Still, it was nice to see the forest floor from above.

Further afield it is very unlikely that you will see anyone. There are plenty of day treks that are manageable without a guide. Most are over rugged terrain, with the path disappearing at times, so a bit more challenging than those close to the park entrance. Tour companies offer the opportunity to take you even further into the park with 2 to 3 day treks, but after my experience of trekking in northern Thailand I chose not to take this option.

Taman Negara is a great place to trek in Malaysia, but the humidity is a killer. Just 30 minutes after setting out I was soaked through with sweat. What should be an easy 10km walk ends up taking all day because of the heat. The park is extremely popular with tourists and Malaysians alike. I was there over Chinese New Year and the place was mobbed, so if you are going over a holiday, it is advisable to book accommodation in advance.

• Itinerary for Malaysia
• Cameron Highlands
• Khao Sok National Park

The Cameron Highlands sit high above the rest of peninsular Malaysia in a cool calm that is a welcome break from the Asian heat. Scones and jam, tea plantations and strawberry farms all hint towards the British past. Most of the towns are a bit on the over developed side with large hotels, golf courses, starbucks and KFC all having a presence, but just beyond the town limits lies a jungle waiting to be explored.

Tanah Rata is probably the best places to use as a base in the Cameron Highlands if walking is your plan. From town there are around 16 numbered trails ranging from a one hour stroll to full day climbs. The majority of the trails are not very well marked and finding the trail head can often be the most difficult part. With fallen trees blocking the path, stream crossings where the trail seems to disappear and unmarked intersections where several trails meet, it can be difficult to know which way to go.

Several companies and guest houses in Tanah Rata offer daily guided walks along various trails, usually leaving around 10am and returning in the early afternoon. If you are not comfortable walking on your own, fear getting lost, or just want to be with someone that can tell you about the animals and plants that you see then this is a good way to go.

The Cameron Highlands can be accessed from either the north or the south. There are daily bus services to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Butterworth, and tourist mini buses go to Taman Negara. I arrived from the north, from Ipoh which took just over 2 hours.

• Itinerary for Malaysia
• Khao Sok National Park
• Exploring the Highlands and Islands of Scotland