Friday 6th February, Utan Teluk Nipah

Scooter 'round trip' of the island - 9 miles all the way! - with mini-Chinatown fishing village (warehouses jutting out on stilts over the water, men net-making in a loft and buddhist shrine facing the sea); Sri Pathira Kaliamman Temple, where steps lead into the sea to cleanse the faithful (and a majestic goddess with 18 arms is about to spear a weedy little man squirming at her feet; an disused and broken jetty in front of an abandoned pirate ship (my story); a hornbill!

And a kayak trip to the uninhabited island opposite our little village for an end of day swim. Swimming in the sea is more like being in bathwater, welcomingly but not quite refreshingly so. (At home it's something between shocking and pepperminty at any time of year; I am hoping to find out in Sidmouth in a month or two!). We took an 'island-hop' trip to a snorkel area one day, and found some shoals of spotty or striped or oh-so-fashionable see-through fish to be charmed by; but an unfortunately lifeless-looking sea bed and yukky amounts of plastic jetsam did rather spoil the experience.

Evenings start to get interesting after nightfall, around 7pm, when the street food stalls start to smoke or steam as they cook snacks like corn or chicken wings, waffles or satay or tangjuan, and whole sit-down meals with curry, dahl, laksa; rice and roti and noodles; fresh fish or crab or prawns, these not at all cheap but pulled out of the waters today and oh-so-goooood on the grill. Coconut shake, yeah. Good times.Read more