Throw those curtains wide

As it turns out, it was actaully one of the best couple of days weve had- Russel a kiwi we met in Kl met up with us and took us on a whole host of adventures . he is what he likes to call an experience junkie and we tagged along. First up we met this local called Abu who took us round the city by night in his car - serenaded by the crazy frong album! he took us to a huge down town market, then out to the beach ( a more local malay version of blackpool minus the roller coasters) here we came across a group of all ages having a jam - we were immediatly scooped up into the hubub- handed instruments and played..it was alot of fun and far less intimidating than the expeirence with local we had had before! heading back to the hostel we arrived at 10 minutes to 12- the supposed closing time to find they had locked us out and that there were several gates meshes and padlocks that were just not going to let us in- dashing back to where we left Russel we managed to catch him and crash at his hostel-which the obliging owner let us do for free.
Next day we headed out to a small coastal village that russel had been recommended- again we hopped on bus with no real idea where we were going just a name..one the bus driver didnt recognise- he actaully stopped the bus several times to ask people were this place was! eventually he dropped us somewhere random..we meandered along in a vague direction- eventually a band of teenage boys rocked up on mopeds and escorted us to a random car which said they would give us a lift.. turns out it was only round the corner! Here we bumped into another Abu who offered to teach us to surf- as there were quite alot of muslim school children around me and em felt we would have to do it fully clothed and that it would be an impossible task so while russel went for it we struck up a game of frizzbee with the local kids, it was really really grate watching them slowly come out of their shyness and join in until we were all leaping about all over the place..they all waved and called as we had to leave but we left them the frizzbee ..they had obviously never come across one before. After a spot of questionable food Abu took us on a tour through his qaintly ramshackle village..goats cats and cow roamed free- there was a monkey sitting eating watermelon on an old fridge and hundred of fish laid out to fry amounst the rustic fisher boats. Beautiful. At one point we stopped at his friends house as the boys called out to russel to play footy- they produced tea and a traditional malay marble game which i tried and failed to conquer, we finished the trip by meeting Abus 90 year old grandmother, an amazing lady who we found crosslegged on the porch of the house with her cat.
This is the type of traveeling that we really want to do..and all the time it was waiting round the corner for us.
Back in khota bharu, we headed to this amazing nightmarket for food then round the corner to a bar..i say bar i mean table out side a garage in a backstreet - drinking is actually illeagl here as its a muslim state but they have to be leaneant towards the chinease but it certainly makes it more entertaining know that if they were caught there would be lashings and canings involved. seriously. Yesterday we stopped via an off lisence which was litterally a dodge iron gate which you made the exchange through, Russel bought alhol for a group of 19-28 yrs old..they passed around a beer with a straw between them. It really is a whole different world.