Summer Holiday

The first half of my summer was spent picking apart body parts. My dissection skills leave something to be desired. I was asked to do a deep dissection - let's just say I went a little bit deeper than they wanted, removing things enthusiastically. I could have really benefitted from a bit more supervision and help.

Second half of the holiday I spent about two and a half weeks travelling around Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Brunei and Kota Kinabalu (in Borneo) with my flatmate L--- (and J-- was in Brunei and Borneo).

The holiday was extremely frustrating. I really fell out with L---. We're like chalk and cheese. I found out that although travelling solo isn't ideal, it's better than a poor travelling companion. I didn't enjoy being the one who had to sort everything and didn't enjoy the general selfishness and lack of gratitude. To be honest, I'm pretty sure L--- didn't enjoy my company either, so I don't think I've got too much right to complain.

Anyway, I should concentrate on some of the highlights of the holiday to make me appreciate the good times out there. Some bits just stand out for me.

• Having the skin nibbled off my feet by "doctor fish" in Kuala Lumpur

"Goldfish shoals, nibbling at my toes. Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun" - Red Dwarf Theme.

Plunging my feet into a shallow pool filled with tiny fish which attack your feet was a really weird feeling. It's like having your feet firmly prodded and poked - a very ticklish sensation. It's a bit scary, my paranoid streak made me worried that there was a little gang of piranhas hiding somewhere, waiting to pounce. It did make my feet feel noticeably softer and the skin generally felt nicer. I'd really recommend it.

• Snorkelling with the fishes on the islands near Kota Kinabalu

I never understood the idea behind snorkelling before. Scuba - you could freely wander along the bottom, breathing happily from your big tanks of oxygen. Snorkelling - you have to swim right at the surface, and you still can get water in your snorkel and so you can't go deep.

And then I saw the fish.

The islands near Kota Kinabalu are wonderful for snorkelling. A short boat ride from Jesselton Point, you have the choice of 5 islands to explore. I snorkelled on two small ones - Mamutik and Sapi. The water was warm (bath temperature) and blue. The sand was white. The fish were amazing and diverse: such beautiful colours, different sizes and characters. So many beautiful corals beneath them (I still can't believe that they're alive). I risked my digital camera to try and take photos - putting it in a clear plastic bag and taking it underwater. Sadly this was my best photo...

Sadly there just wasn't enough light to get a good, clear, focussed one of fish with my cowboy underwater camera.

I also kept getting bitten by fish, not as pleasantly as the doctor fish (but no actual damage - getting scratched by corals was more painful).

Anyway, these were a few of my highlights of my holiday, I'll leave it there (coming back to it if I have time)

AcidCat