113 - May 23rd
Today's transportation path: sawngthaew to ferry dock, bus to different ferry dock, ferry to mainland, new different bus to "Train Station", and tuk-tuk to real train station. Why is train station in quotes. Well, at one stop a lady gets on the bus and announces that this is the stop for the train station. Okay, I know this is not the train station (having been to the train station a couple days earlier), but I figure the train station is just round the corner or something. The train station is not just around the corner. As we get off the bus she says she can call a taxi to pick us up in one hour. We politely inform her that the sign on the front of the bus and our bus ticket both state that we purchased tickets to the train station. She relies "Yes" and she will call a taxi to take us there in about a hour, would we like to eat at her restaurant? Well another couple of people (who's ferry had broken down earlier in the day and were now less patient) stormed off after having a few choice words. We merely stormed off. There were a few tuk-tuks ready and waiting to take us the final 15km (How convenient?), but we ignored them and marched on. Just to drive in the point a little more, we walked for about twenty minutes in the rain until we got far enough away for the tuk-tuks to have reasonable prices.
Today's transportation path: sawngthaew to ferry dock, bus to different ferry dock, ferry to mainland, new different bus to "Train Station", and tuk-tuk to real train station. Why is train station in quotes. Well, at one stop a lady gets on the bus and announces that this is the stop for the train station. Okay, I know this is not the train station (having been to the train station a couple days earlier), but I figure the train station is just round the corner or something. The train station is not just around the corner. As we get off the bus she says she can call a taxi to pick us up in one hour. We politely inform her that the sign on the front of the bus and our bus ticket both state that we purchased tickets to the train station. She relies "Yes" and she will call a taxi to take us there in about a hour, would we like to eat at her restaurant? Well another couple of people (who's ferry had broken down earlier in the day and were now less patient) stormed off after having a few choice words. We merely stormed off. There were a few tuk-tuks ready and waiting to take us the final 15km (How convenient?), but we ignored them and marched on. Just to drive in the point a little more, we walked for about twenty minutes in the rain until we got far enough away for the tuk-tuks to have reasonable prices.
114 - May 24th
Well, turns out we would have had plenty of time for the walk because the midnight train was delayed until 2am. Nothing like a 2am departure to set the traveling mood. When we reached the Butterworth train station we had made up about an hour of time, but still running one hour late. So, virtually on-time for SE Asia. In Butterworth we boarded a bus to Kuala Lumpur. The bus ran only two hours late. We finally arrive in KL three hours after we told Jimmy (Eliza's friend from Hong Kong) we would be there. No problem as we entered the hotel lobby only minutes after Jimmy arrived. We promptly dropped our bags and headed out for dinner. Dinner was eaten at a street restaurant with a local cover band playing in the background. "Sweet Home Alabama" never sounded so...so...so like they had never been to Alabama.
115 - May 25th
After the late night street concert and some solid Malaysian food we all slept well, very well, so well that we did not even open our eyes until nearly 11 am (which we all know is practically unheard of for John). The biggest problem with the 11 am wake up, is that breakfast at our hotel, ended at 10:30. Lucky for John, he was able to sweet talk the guys in the restaurant into some fruit to tide him over as we all got ready. As the only real thing on our KL "to see" list was the Petronas Tower, we headed there first. Well let me tell you, you need to get there early for your free tickets as it is a very popular activity (this may have had something to do with it being both a weekend and a school holiday, neither of which we took into consideration). Ah dear, after asking lot of people we learned that as a special school holiday exception they were going to be open for a half day tomorrow, at least we now have a plan.
Outside view of the Petronas towersHeaded over to Chinatown next in search of some "discount" DVDs and other culture. Later that day it appeared the seafood wanted to battle John again but he decided to take it on with a very early bed time (read 5pm). At this point Jimmy and I decided the only appropriate thing to do was go and get foot massages and try to catch the rockin' street band again. Luckily, both were successful!
116 - May 26th
Today I got up early (while Eliza and Jimmy slept) to get in line for Petronas tickets. I arrived before the ticket booth opened and got into the ill-formed line like everyone else. Just as the ticket window opened a security guard ushered everyone to form a more define line. It was at this point the several locals appeared out of no where and mingled in strategic places (i.e. near the front) of the line. So line forming is better in Malaysia in that they know how it is supposed to be done, but don't always follow. 1-1/2 hours later, Jimmy and Eliza appeared and we were ready to tour the tower. First off was a 3D video about the Petronas Corporation and their oil and gas explorations and drilling operations. Next was a quick elevator ride to the observation area (the enclosed bridge connecting the two towers). You maybe more familiar with the movie "Entrapment", same place.
On the Petronas bridge between the towers
After the towers, we headed back to the hotel to pack up and grab a bus to Singapore. Our bus turned out to be Super VIP. Which means three seats to a row instead of four. And more leg room. I know, we travel in style. The only problem with the bus was that by the time we got out of Singapore Immigration the bus had left us. Which was really annoying. Not only did the bus leave the three of us (Jimmy is still in tow), but the driver also left three other tourists. So, out of a total of 27 possible people, at least 6 were left. I am no math expert, but if you are missing 20% of your fares, maybe some thing is wrong.
On the bright side this did lead to Jimmy revealing one of his Five Creeds of Life: Never trust a bus driver. This creed can be applied all over SE Asia. When we finally did make it into town via a local bus (the bus driver appeared trust worthy, but we still eyed him suspiciously), we ate a good dinner, bid Jimmy a good night and crashed hard.
On the Petronas bridge between the towersAfter the towers, we headed back to the hotel to pack up and grab a bus to Singapore. Our bus turned out to be Super VIP. Which means three seats to a row instead of four. And more leg room. I know, we travel in style. The only problem with the bus was that by the time we got out of Singapore Immigration the bus had left us. Which was really annoying. Not only did the bus leave the three of us (Jimmy is still in tow), but the driver also left three other tourists. So, out of a total of 27 possible people, at least 6 were left. I am no math expert, but if you are missing 20% of your fares, maybe some thing is wrong.
On the bright side this did lead to Jimmy revealing one of his Five Creeds of Life: Never trust a bus driver. This creed can be applied all over SE Asia. When we finally did make it into town via a local bus (the bus driver appeared trust worthy, but we still eyed him suspiciously), we ate a good dinner, bid Jimmy a good night and crashed hard.
117 - May 27th
Woke up bright and early (thank you to the natural alarm clock that was the construction site across the street) and took off on our self guided walking tour of s'pore. In the first 2 hours of the beautiful, sunny warm day we managed to see just about all the "sites" listed in the greater downtown area, including the MerLion (see photo). When we were going thru immigration the night before (likely at the exact time our driver was taking off without us) the official asked me how long we were staying, I replied one or two days and he told me we would be able to see all of Singapore in that time, I laughed. Turns out he wasn't making a joke!
Said Mer-Lion
Attempted self portrait with the MerLion, or John's head has sprouted a leak
Saw a post office symbol on our map and headed over to check out some shipping info; in the 5 minutes between the MerLion and the shopping center, the dark clouds in the distance closed in and the sky opened up. Getting accustomed to these showers.
Jewish Asia - Singapore
Ended the day by seeking out a bar with Happy Hour (quite a popular phenomenon in S'pore) and had farewell dinner with Jimmy, it's been fun to get to meet up throughout this trip!
118 - May 28th - Happy B-day Biscuit Pants
Today we departed Singapore for the jungles of Malaysia. The train left at 5:30 in the morning, so we were almost half asleep by the time we realized they don't stamp your passport when you enter Malaysia through Singapore. And to think I am on the "Do Not Fly" list back home. Ahh security at it's finest. The view from the train through the interior of Malaysia was very pretty. Don't ask Eliza about it because she slept the entire way. Only walking up occasionally to pull the curtain shut and shade her from the sun. In order to see out the window, I would wait until she fell asleep to pull to curtain open and get my view back. This routine continued until our arrival in Jerantut. After arriving, we ate a SPICY local lunch, purchased some sundries at the local shop, and booked our tickets to Taman Negara.
119 - May 29th
We began the day by taking a bus to the jetty. The driver was in no hurry and even stopped to do some grocery shopping while we waited. Once at the jetty we waited for our boat. After an hour or so our boat showed up at took us on a nice river cruise to the town of Kuala Tahan on the edge of the park. There we wandered about to find a place to stay. Which wasn't hard 'cause there are only six different places to choose from. We then crossed the river (the park is on one side of the river and the town on the other) and explored a small section of the park. It is as one would think a jungle might be. Boiling hot, 100% humidity, and filled with animal and insect noise. Quite a difference from the temperate rain forests of Washington that I am used to.
Taman Negara
Then we headed back to the hotel to shower (highly needed, as 100% humidity leaves you sweating like Kraft cheese left in the sun). As we headed out for dinner we ran into Jenn and Alex (who you might remember from such places as Laos). Quite a surprise to run into them. It is not everyday you step out of your hotel in the middle of the Mayasian jungle and hear your name yelled. And for those of you keeping score, I am chalking this under my list of people we have met. They had grouped up with another couple of people and so the six of us headed out for dinner on a floating restaurant.
120 - May 30th
Due to the infamous school holiday we keep encountering, the "Canopy walk" was only going to be open until noon today and was likely to have a long line, this was the advise given by our helpful and informative from our guest house. That said, the 6 of us headed out bright and early to make the 2km hike to the Canopy walk in time for it to open. So the canopy walk is a series of 6 suspended rope ladders about 147 meters up from the floor of the jungle. Really quite cool, but I do not have a major fear of height (or any really) so I am pretty sure I had a very different experience from some other members of the group.
"Stable" canopy walk
The biggest (actually quite little in physical size) problem with everything related to hiking today is that it rained very heavily the night before, and in addition to some muddy paths (not a real problem) is that rain brings out the leeches. Before getting to Taman Negara I read about leeches in the guide book and started to develop a completely irrational fear of them. Before taking off on the hike this morning we made sure to have two lighters (to burn them off), covered our bodies in citronella (to avoid them in the first place) and have iodine with us (in case any leeches got to us). This also meant we started taking breaks at every sunny, wide patch on the trail to make sure no one had gotten leeched. After shrieking when I found one above my sock attempting not to panic as John flick/ burned it off, it looked like we were going to be fine. Not so. First casualty was Alex, who got a bite and go without ever noticing. The problem is, though leech bites do not hurt (or even feel like anything) they use a major anti coagulant and leave you with a solid bleeder. Though it was a beautiful hike with some awesome views there was a lot of time devoted to panicking whenever a leech was seen on the path or worse yet, on someone. Somewhere around the last 2 or 3km of our loop, the whole group was essentially engaged in a mild trail running exercise to get out of there as quickly as possible. All in all, Jenn and Jerone were bite free, Lindsay and John got one each and Alex and I lead the pack with 3 or 4 apiece. I will be fine if I never meet another leech in my life.
After a late (and leech free) lunch we signed up for a night Safari, which is an open jeep and a really powerful flashlight tour through the palm tree plantation on the edge of the jungle where a lot of the small to mid size animals go to feed. It was a really cool way to see the ecosystem at work.
121 - May 31st
After yesterday's hike taking about 3 times a long as the book estimated, we were hesitant embark on anything more major. After some discussion with the helpful gents at our guest house Jenn, Alex, John and I opted to take a boat up one of the tributaries to some rapids, known by the locals for good swimming. The ride up was completely breath taking, pure jungle hanging out over the water.
The boat dropped us off with a gesture to the right and "about 10 minutes". Well, off we go. Turned out to be a easy and leech free walk to the first rapids. After a brief rest and look around we decided to walk up to the second set. About 10 meters into the walk I had a leech drop on my hand (see previous days tirade on leeches for my thoughts on this one) and I promptly opted to turn back and spend my time at the first look out.
122 - June 1st
Today we headed by bus to the Cameron Highlands. Jenn and Alex accompanied us as far as Jerantut, but then we said good bye to them. We then continued our bus journey all the way to the highlands. The Cameron Highlands are located in central peninsular Malaysia and are popular because they are a good 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit cooler then the rest of Malaysia. They are a draw to the Malasians and Singaporeans (besides escaping the heat) because they can grow tea and strawberries there. We were not so interested in the strawberries because we can grow them back home (ok, I can't grow them personally, but my mom can). Once there, the cool weather felt amazing. It hasn't been this cold since Xi'an, China. We wandered around the town a bit (once again, the major metropolis of Tahan Rata took all of fifteen minutes to circumnavigate). For din-unch we ate at an amazing Indian food place.
For the first time in my life the picture in the menu showed a smaller portion than the actual food served. So, we might have over ordered. Now I did my best, but I am ashamed to say there was food left over. And this is coming from a guy who can eat an entire pig worth of ribs. Man I was in heaven, too much food and cool weather.
123 - June 2nd
In and around the town on Tahan Rata are a couple of hikes. Some up to the top of the higher peaks and some to a couple of waterfalls. Since Eliza has a little trouble with the whole "elevation thing" (the highlands are at about 4000ft high), we opted for a hike leading to a waterfall. Well this particular hike was more of a walk as most of the way was poorly paved, the river was was more of a spillway, and the water fall could have been easily navigated by a rubber ducky. But is was still fun to get out in nature and not sweat buckets. We headed back into town via the main road and had dinner at another Indian restaurant. Between the two restaurants we have found a good new dish. I can't be held responsible for the correct spelling, but it was called something close to "Thosi". It is a big rice pancake with all kinds of vegetables or other food wrapped inside. Which you then dip into different sauces. Really good.
124 - June 3rd
Since the Cameron Highlands are known for the tea plantations, so we decided we should see what all the hype was about. We jumped on the local bus which runs up and down the main road (there is only one main road) between the small towns. After thirty minutes of riding along in what only can be described as a jalopy, we alighted and headed on a 4km walk along a small road thought the tea fields. (side note: nobody over here says "get off" or "disembark" they all say "alight". British I guess. Just odd because it distinctively does not mean "set on fire". Which could prove to be disastrous if confused.) The walk was nice because a) it was cool and b) it was through tea fields.
On the walk to the Boh Plantation
When we got to the Boh Tea Plantation (our destination), we settled down for a nice cup of tea. Being the tea aficionado that I am, I can tell you that the tea was a 2008 vintage full bodied black tea with a high concentration of antioxidants and vitamins and minerals. Okay, I read that off the label, but the tea tasted good to me.
On the walk out we realized that we had perfect timing. The one-lane road leading to and from the plantation was bumper to bumper with cars. Nobody wanted to give up the right of way so they were literally at a stand still. The cars that left the same time we did ended up catching us 3 kilometers (thirty minutes later) down the road. Quite a traffic jam. Indian food again.
125 - June 4th
Today we spent some time planning for the next part of our journey. Eliza had planned on heading to an island called Palau Pangkor. But after several phone calls and emails we realized all the accommodation's were booked. At this time I think I should mention that we are still in Malaysia during the two week school vacation. And there are lots of families traveling at this time. This makes finding hotels more difficult, but until now not impossible. So we altered our plans and decided to head to the island of Langkawai. After another couple of phone calls. Thank goodness for Skype because it figures out all the area codes for you. No messing with +011-060-whatever. Anyway, we picked a place based on a recommendation from Jenn and Alex. After much computer work we headed out on another walk to see a waterfall.
This one actually had more than one drop and the more than one drops were all more than a six foot drop (much better than the previous disappointing waterfall). More Indian food.
126 - June 5th
Transportation: bus Ipoh, different bus to Butterworth, ferry to Georgetown, and ferry to Lankawai. Except for the last ferry part. See when you get to Georgetown the ferries stop at 2pm not the 7pm we were told. Oh well, we'll stay the night. Georgetown was founded by the British East India Company and has been used as a trading port ever since. So it is home to a lot of history and varied cultures. The architecture, mostly not-maintained colonial, is also worth the visit.
from the ferry
127 - June 6th
Hah, finally caught the ferry to Langkawai. It took about 2 hours and was a blue, beautiful ride. After taking a taxi to our guest house it was swimsuits on and beach bound for this duo (oh and about a 1/2 bottle sunscreen application between the two of us). Spent some time in the ocean staring off at the horizon.
128 - June 7th
So the thing about beach time is that, while wonderful to experience, is not that exciting (one hopes). Today's big news is that we bought a sarong to make into a large beach blanket that could easily be moved around to stay in the shade. I know, try to contain your excitement.
View from the beach
One interesting thing to observe on the beach here was the local population enjoying the water. As a large population of Malaysia is Muslim, many of the beach goers were covered, as in ankles to wrists and up to the head, even while enjoying the ocean. Made me feel a little indecent for even having a two piece on under my t-shirt and capris!
129 - June 8th Happy Birthday Momma Meds!!
Today's big variation on the beach theme was the awesome sand turtle John and I built. Well, John really worked more on sand supply while I did most of the building, but a group effort nonetheless!
Sunset in Langkawai
130 - June 9th
Side note on the START of my day today: Woke up to the alarm and like many people, needed to use the restroom. Headed in and for some reason looked in the toilet before sitting down. Was greeted with the most unexpected site at 7am, a lizard who looked far larger than the pipe, in the bowl, staring up at me. I promptly screamed, slammed the lid shut, and then ran out to the porch to fetch John. He took a look in the bowl and nodded then asked me what I wanted him to do about it. Turns out I had no plans past showing him, so I opted to leave the lizard there and avoid the bathroom for the last 15 minutes of packing up. Oy!
We now begin our epic three day journey to Koh Chang, Thailand. This process took three days and several forms of transportation. Here is a list in brief: taxi to ferry, ferry to Kuala Kedah, taxi to Alor Setar, overnight train to Bangkok. Highlights include buying chicken and sticky rice from the vendor ladies that hop on-and-off the train, and the extra wide bed because it was a Malaysian train.
131 - June 10th
Continuing the transport trend: From the main Bangkok train station to the subway, subway to monorail, monorail to bus station and bus to Trat. And in Trat we rode a tuk-yuk to the guest house. After checking in we headed to a night market were local food could be found. We ate one dish which shall not be named (they didn't speak English and we ordered by pointing) and a pad thai. Which was followed up another pad thai. The street food in Thailand has been so good. And at a dollar a dish, so plentiful.
132 - June 11th
Tuk-tuk to ferry, ferry to Ko Chang Island, hitched a ride to the sawngthaew station at the next ferry terminal (who knew we bought the wrong ferry tickets), sawngthaew to Bang Bao. We (Eliza) had to bargain hard with the sawngthaew driver because he wanted to wait for more people (even though he had five tourists and three locals already) to make the trip more lucrative for him. Anyway, he eventually agreed on a price, but we don't think he liked us too much because he ended up dropping us off ten minutes from where we were headed. We hiked the last kilometer or so to the resort. One of my promises to Eliza (in order to trick her into taking the crazy trip with me) was that we would spend a week at a fancy resort. So on Lankawai we spend a couple hours looking at different resorts. We ended up at the fanciest place I have ever stayed at, for less than the cost of our hostel in Singapore, sweet sweet low season. The Nirvana Resort. Beach side bungalow, two pools, sauna, on a peninsula (ocean on both sides) to name a few of the amenities. All-in-all nicer than I deserve, but Eliza was right at home. We ate dinner at a restaurant on a pier and settled into the most comfortable bed of the entire trip.
Aahhh....
And now, a preview to our lovely, waterlogged week in Koh Chang!
Said Mer-Lion Attempted self portrait with the MerLion, or John's head has sprouted a leakSaw a post office symbol on our map and headed over to check out some shipping info; in the 5 minutes between the MerLion and the shopping center, the dark clouds in the distance closed in and the sky opened up. Getting accustomed to these showers.
Jewish Asia - SingaporeEnded the day by seeking out a bar with Happy Hour (quite a popular phenomenon in S'pore) and had farewell dinner with Jimmy, it's been fun to get to meet up throughout this trip!
118 - May 28th - Happy B-day Biscuit Pants
Today we departed Singapore for the jungles of Malaysia. The train left at 5:30 in the morning, so we were almost half asleep by the time we realized they don't stamp your passport when you enter Malaysia through Singapore. And to think I am on the "Do Not Fly" list back home. Ahh security at it's finest. The view from the train through the interior of Malaysia was very pretty. Don't ask Eliza about it because she slept the entire way. Only walking up occasionally to pull the curtain shut and shade her from the sun. In order to see out the window, I would wait until she fell asleep to pull to curtain open and get my view back. This routine continued until our arrival in Jerantut. After arriving, we ate a SPICY local lunch, purchased some sundries at the local shop, and booked our tickets to Taman Negara.
119 - May 29th
We began the day by taking a bus to the jetty. The driver was in no hurry and even stopped to do some grocery shopping while we waited. Once at the jetty we waited for our boat. After an hour or so our boat showed up at took us on a nice river cruise to the town of Kuala Tahan on the edge of the park. There we wandered about to find a place to stay. Which wasn't hard 'cause there are only six different places to choose from. We then crossed the river (the park is on one side of the river and the town on the other) and explored a small section of the park. It is as one would think a jungle might be. Boiling hot, 100% humidity, and filled with animal and insect noise. Quite a difference from the temperate rain forests of Washington that I am used to.
Taman NegaraThen we headed back to the hotel to shower (highly needed, as 100% humidity leaves you sweating like Kraft cheese left in the sun). As we headed out for dinner we ran into Jenn and Alex (who you might remember from such places as Laos). Quite a surprise to run into them. It is not everyday you step out of your hotel in the middle of the Mayasian jungle and hear your name yelled. And for those of you keeping score, I am chalking this under my list of people we have met. They had grouped up with another couple of people and so the six of us headed out for dinner on a floating restaurant.
120 - May 30th
Due to the infamous school holiday we keep encountering, the "Canopy walk" was only going to be open until noon today and was likely to have a long line, this was the advise given by our helpful and informative from our guest house. That said, the 6 of us headed out bright and early to make the 2km hike to the Canopy walk in time for it to open. So the canopy walk is a series of 6 suspended rope ladders about 147 meters up from the floor of the jungle. Really quite cool, but I do not have a major fear of height (or any really) so I am pretty sure I had a very different experience from some other members of the group.
"Stable" canopy walkThe biggest (actually quite little in physical size) problem with everything related to hiking today is that it rained very heavily the night before, and in addition to some muddy paths (not a real problem) is that rain brings out the leeches. Before getting to Taman Negara I read about leeches in the guide book and started to develop a completely irrational fear of them. Before taking off on the hike this morning we made sure to have two lighters (to burn them off), covered our bodies in citronella (to avoid them in the first place) and have iodine with us (in case any leeches got to us). This also meant we started taking breaks at every sunny, wide patch on the trail to make sure no one had gotten leeched. After shrieking when I found one above my sock attempting not to panic as John flick/ burned it off, it looked like we were going to be fine. Not so. First casualty was Alex, who got a bite and go without ever noticing. The problem is, though leech bites do not hurt (or even feel like anything) they use a major anti coagulant and leave you with a solid bleeder. Though it was a beautiful hike with some awesome views there was a lot of time devoted to panicking whenever a leech was seen on the path or worse yet, on someone. Somewhere around the last 2 or 3km of our loop, the whole group was essentially engaged in a mild trail running exercise to get out of there as quickly as possible. All in all, Jenn and Jerone were bite free, Lindsay and John got one each and Alex and I lead the pack with 3 or 4 apiece. I will be fine if I never meet another leech in my life.
After a late (and leech free) lunch we signed up for a night Safari, which is an open jeep and a really powerful flashlight tour through the palm tree plantation on the edge of the jungle where a lot of the small to mid size animals go to feed. It was a really cool way to see the ecosystem at work.
121 - May 31st
After yesterday's hike taking about 3 times a long as the book estimated, we were hesitant embark on anything more major. After some discussion with the helpful gents at our guest house Jenn, Alex, John and I opted to take a boat up one of the tributaries to some rapids, known by the locals for good swimming. The ride up was completely breath taking, pure jungle hanging out over the water.
The boat dropped us off with a gesture to the right and "about 10 minutes". Well, off we go. Turned out to be a easy and leech free walk to the first rapids. After a brief rest and look around we decided to walk up to the second set. About 10 meters into the walk I had a leech drop on my hand (see previous days tirade on leeches for my thoughts on this one) and I promptly opted to turn back and spend my time at the first look out.
122 - June 1st
Today we headed by bus to the Cameron Highlands. Jenn and Alex accompanied us as far as Jerantut, but then we said good bye to them. We then continued our bus journey all the way to the highlands. The Cameron Highlands are located in central peninsular Malaysia and are popular because they are a good 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit cooler then the rest of Malaysia. They are a draw to the Malasians and Singaporeans (besides escaping the heat) because they can grow tea and strawberries there. We were not so interested in the strawberries because we can grow them back home (ok, I can't grow them personally, but my mom can). Once there, the cool weather felt amazing. It hasn't been this cold since Xi'an, China. We wandered around the town a bit (once again, the major metropolis of Tahan Rata took all of fifteen minutes to circumnavigate). For din-unch we ate at an amazing Indian food place.
For the first time in my life the picture in the menu showed a smaller portion than the actual food served. So, we might have over ordered. Now I did my best, but I am ashamed to say there was food left over. And this is coming from a guy who can eat an entire pig worth of ribs. Man I was in heaven, too much food and cool weather.
123 - June 2nd
In and around the town on Tahan Rata are a couple of hikes. Some up to the top of the higher peaks and some to a couple of waterfalls. Since Eliza has a little trouble with the whole "elevation thing" (the highlands are at about 4000ft high), we opted for a hike leading to a waterfall. Well this particular hike was more of a walk as most of the way was poorly paved, the river was was more of a spillway, and the water fall could have been easily navigated by a rubber ducky. But is was still fun to get out in nature and not sweat buckets. We headed back into town via the main road and had dinner at another Indian restaurant. Between the two restaurants we have found a good new dish. I can't be held responsible for the correct spelling, but it was called something close to "Thosi". It is a big rice pancake with all kinds of vegetables or other food wrapped inside. Which you then dip into different sauces. Really good.
124 - June 3rd
Since the Cameron Highlands are known for the tea plantations, so we decided we should see what all the hype was about. We jumped on the local bus which runs up and down the main road (there is only one main road) between the small towns. After thirty minutes of riding along in what only can be described as a jalopy, we alighted and headed on a 4km walk along a small road thought the tea fields. (side note: nobody over here says "get off" or "disembark" they all say "alight". British I guess. Just odd because it distinctively does not mean "set on fire". Which could prove to be disastrous if confused.) The walk was nice because a) it was cool and b) it was through tea fields.
On the walk to the Boh PlantationWhen we got to the Boh Tea Plantation (our destination), we settled down for a nice cup of tea. Being the tea aficionado that I am, I can tell you that the tea was a 2008 vintage full bodied black tea with a high concentration of antioxidants and vitamins and minerals. Okay, I read that off the label, but the tea tasted good to me.
On the walk out we realized that we had perfect timing. The one-lane road leading to and from the plantation was bumper to bumper with cars. Nobody wanted to give up the right of way so they were literally at a stand still. The cars that left the same time we did ended up catching us 3 kilometers (thirty minutes later) down the road. Quite a traffic jam. Indian food again.
125 - June 4th
Today we spent some time planning for the next part of our journey. Eliza had planned on heading to an island called Palau Pangkor. But after several phone calls and emails we realized all the accommodation's were booked. At this time I think I should mention that we are still in Malaysia during the two week school vacation. And there are lots of families traveling at this time. This makes finding hotels more difficult, but until now not impossible. So we altered our plans and decided to head to the island of Langkawai. After another couple of phone calls. Thank goodness for Skype because it figures out all the area codes for you. No messing with +011-060-whatever. Anyway, we picked a place based on a recommendation from Jenn and Alex. After much computer work we headed out on another walk to see a waterfall.
This one actually had more than one drop and the more than one drops were all more than a six foot drop (much better than the previous disappointing waterfall). More Indian food.
126 - June 5th
Transportation: bus Ipoh, different bus to Butterworth, ferry to Georgetown, and ferry to Lankawai. Except for the last ferry part. See when you get to Georgetown the ferries stop at 2pm not the 7pm we were told. Oh well, we'll stay the night. Georgetown was founded by the British East India Company and has been used as a trading port ever since. So it is home to a lot of history and varied cultures. The architecture, mostly not-maintained colonial, is also worth the visit.
from the ferry127 - June 6th
Hah, finally caught the ferry to Langkawai. It took about 2 hours and was a blue, beautiful ride. After taking a taxi to our guest house it was swimsuits on and beach bound for this duo (oh and about a 1/2 bottle sunscreen application between the two of us). Spent some time in the ocean staring off at the horizon.
128 - June 7th
So the thing about beach time is that, while wonderful to experience, is not that exciting (one hopes). Today's big news is that we bought a sarong to make into a large beach blanket that could easily be moved around to stay in the shade. I know, try to contain your excitement.
View from the beachOne interesting thing to observe on the beach here was the local population enjoying the water. As a large population of Malaysia is Muslim, many of the beach goers were covered, as in ankles to wrists and up to the head, even while enjoying the ocean. Made me feel a little indecent for even having a two piece on under my t-shirt and capris!
129 - June 8th Happy Birthday Momma Meds!!
Today's big variation on the beach theme was the awesome sand turtle John and I built. Well, John really worked more on sand supply while I did most of the building, but a group effort nonetheless!
Sunset in Langkawai130 - June 9th
Side note on the START of my day today: Woke up to the alarm and like many people, needed to use the restroom. Headed in and for some reason looked in the toilet before sitting down. Was greeted with the most unexpected site at 7am, a lizard who looked far larger than the pipe, in the bowl, staring up at me. I promptly screamed, slammed the lid shut, and then ran out to the porch to fetch John. He took a look in the bowl and nodded then asked me what I wanted him to do about it. Turns out I had no plans past showing him, so I opted to leave the lizard there and avoid the bathroom for the last 15 minutes of packing up. Oy!
We now begin our epic three day journey to Koh Chang, Thailand. This process took three days and several forms of transportation. Here is a list in brief: taxi to ferry, ferry to Kuala Kedah, taxi to Alor Setar, overnight train to Bangkok. Highlights include buying chicken and sticky rice from the vendor ladies that hop on-and-off the train, and the extra wide bed because it was a Malaysian train.
131 - June 10th
Continuing the transport trend: From the main Bangkok train station to the subway, subway to monorail, monorail to bus station and bus to Trat. And in Trat we rode a tuk-yuk to the guest house. After checking in we headed to a night market were local food could be found. We ate one dish which shall not be named (they didn't speak English and we ordered by pointing) and a pad thai. Which was followed up another pad thai. The street food in Thailand has been so good. And at a dollar a dish, so plentiful.
132 - June 11th
Tuk-tuk to ferry, ferry to Ko Chang Island, hitched a ride to the sawngthaew station at the next ferry terminal (who knew we bought the wrong ferry tickets), sawngthaew to Bang Bao. We (Eliza) had to bargain hard with the sawngthaew driver because he wanted to wait for more people (even though he had five tourists and three locals already) to make the trip more lucrative for him. Anyway, he eventually agreed on a price, but we don't think he liked us too much because he ended up dropping us off ten minutes from where we were headed. We hiked the last kilometer or so to the resort. One of my promises to Eliza (in order to trick her into taking the crazy trip with me) was that we would spend a week at a fancy resort. So on Lankawai we spend a couple hours looking at different resorts. We ended up at the fanciest place I have ever stayed at, for less than the cost of our hostel in Singapore, sweet sweet low season. The Nirvana Resort. Beach side bungalow, two pools, sauna, on a peninsula (ocean on both sides) to name a few of the amenities. All-in-all nicer than I deserve, but Eliza was right at home. We ate dinner at a restaurant on a pier and settled into the most comfortable bed of the entire trip.
Aahhh....And now, a preview to our lovely, waterlogged week in Koh Chang!
1 comment:
I love reading this stuff! The jungle seems beautiful; I probably would have freaked out about the leeches too. I can't wait to see you both!
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