Day 5 of our Malaysian adventure and we were up and out early and on a plane to Terengganu for four days of paradise at Tanjong Jara Resort near Dungun, where my younger sister Emma is interning at Lang Tengah Turtle Watch.

I have never before (and may never again) stayed somewhere so beautiful and peaceful. From the moment we were met from our (almost dodgy) taxi right to the end of our stay we were properly looked after, and with in an hour of arriving I had seen (and held) a baby Turtle.

Basically days 5,6 and 7 looked like this;

But sometimes there was some added rain, (it is almost monsoon season).

At Tanjong Jara the Lang Tengah Turtle Watch team and rangers look after nest that are laid on the beach, they are put into the hatcheries and checked until the little baby turtles are ready to go off into the world. By doing this they prevent poachers from getting the eggs, and can make sure turtles head to the sea (instead of up towards the hotels, they are attached to lights), and they go in large numbers, giving them the best chance they have to survive. The project started on the Island of Lang Tengah and began it's first season on Tanjong Jara earlier this year. Check out their website or Facebook for more information on their fight to save the sea turtles.

Night 7 there was finally a massive storm, which was incredible/scary (massive lightening loud bang, floor shook kind of storm). The rain was epic.

Day 8 We woke up extra early to go snorkelling!!

we jumped on a bus, then a boat which took us to Tenngol Island just 45 minutes away.

Now, I'm a strong swimmer and swim in the sea a reasonable amount during the summer, but when it comes to floating I'm not a natural. Also when you wear a snorkelling tube you become very aware of your own breathing and for whatever reason I panicked a bit, over exaggerated my breathing and generally had a minor freak out. Once I'd calmed myself, I was off, and swam out pretty far to make sure I saw some clown fish and sharks!!! (Yes actual sharks, they might only be Reef Sharks that do not hurt humans, but a shark is still a shark right?)

So I actually had a pretty amazing time, and we saw some pretty epic things, and maybe we spent a bit of time discussing why Ariel was a idiot for wanting to be part of our world (yep both Jenny and I were singing 'Part of Your World' in our heads).

So after this wonderful swim, we had to swim, back to beach, and that's when we realised how far out we went, so we headed back for some food and a rest feeling pretty proud of ourselves.

Later we headed back on our boat and out to Turtle Point for some more snorkelling fun times! To answer your question, no we did not see any turtles – blame Emma, she has previous for not seeing turtles. This time the water was deep, and once again I panicked and could not get my breathing right, and then began to worry that because the water was deep I would actually swim too far, get to tired and drown, even though there was plenty of other people around and a beautiful boy who had afloat in case anyone got in trouble I was still concerned, so I made one of the best decisions I made all holiday.... I wore a life-jacket!!!!! I could actually float! Hurrah! And it was incredible...

Later, after a shower and well deserved rest we joined Emma and her gang and headed to Dungun for the night market where we tried loads of different food, including some rice cooked in bamboo or some kind of leaf (which I am so desperate to find and make) as well as more Putu Bamboo and pancake type things with peanut butter, a sweet sauce and sweetcorn in, which my mouth enjoyed but my brain struggled with.

Then it was back to the resort for our final night, for a drink of two and to see some more tiny turtles being released.

Our last day was spent helping Emma with her turtle talk and colouring in some turtle pictures for the upcoming beach clean and lounging by the pool, before we sadly had to say our goodbyes and head back to KL that evening.

One final night in KL, and we headed back home, and yea, I cried.

I had such an awesome time and fell in love with Malaysia, and am already planning another trip!

I also need to send a lot of love to Jenny, Jo, Emma and Turtle crew for an awesome experience. I had the best trip, with the best people.

Picture by Jenny, make sure check out her blogs about Malaysia too!