Malaysia - Truly Asia

mperry28 — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 19:28:00 GMT

Better late than never.....

Kuala Lumpur

We arrived in KL the night of November 11th, and just stayed the one night before heading to Teman Negara the next morning. We were tired from the day of travel from the Philippines (luckily we were able to leave the Philippines as the airport we were using to get out of Boracay wasn't affected by the typhoon), so by the time we reached our hostel all we really did was find a place to eat and walk around Chinatown a little. Chinatown in KL is pretty great, specifically Pedaling Street, which is covered in small street restaurants and endless vendors selling knock-off everythings, clothing, and Malaysian souvenirs.
We also spent our final day in Malaysia back in KL (since this is where the airport is). Since this time we had the full day, we got to explore a little and go to the Batu Caves, to see the Petronas Towers, and more of Chinatown. One day in KL is pretty much enough. It's a big city with a few things worth seeing, and I think we caught most of them!

Taman Negara

Welcome to the jungle! Taman Negara is apparently the oldest rainforest on earth, and is a huge national park and attraction in peninsular Malaysia. To get there from KL, we took a bus to Kuala Tembeling, where we then took a 3 hour ride through the murky waters of the Tahan on a riverboat over to Taman Negara. The boat ride was pretty great. It sat about 16 people, and was an old wooden thing that you basically just sat right on the floor of. It's possible to take quicker and cheaper transportation, but the boat was well worth it and a big part of the whole "exploring the jungle" experience. We arrived at Kuala Tahan (the land all the accommodations are on, right across the river from the park), and found a hostel that cost us about $1.50 each (how could we say no?). The next couple of days were spent fighting off mosquitos and trekking through the park. We went on a 'Night Safari' tour where 5 of us sat in the back of a truck trying to spot things in the dark, stopping occasionally when our guide found things worth showing us. The most exciting animal we saw was a slow lorris climbing along some power lines, which was actually just as we were pulling out onto the road at the start of our tour. Our day of trekking consisted of a lot of sweat and wondering why we ever started (and realizing that we're not trekkers), but we did walk across a series of suspended bridges (called The Canopy Walk) that was pretty exciting. On our final night we went on a walking tour through the park that was focused on seeing different insects, including spiders the size of tarantulas. Unfortunately for us, our experience in Taman Negara didn't consist of all the wildlife we'd hoped for, but as a national park that's become a popular tourist destination, you can't really expect that the animals would want to stick around.

The Cameron Highlands

Known for it's tea plantations, The Cameron Highlands are home to hills upon hills of the brightest green you've ever seen. The tea trees are endless, and we had the luxury of sipping freshly brewed tea right above the hills during our tour of the Boh tea plantation. Our tour guide, Mike, was amazing, and we also took a short trek through the Mossy Forest (known for its "Lord of the Rings" appearance, and basically an extremely old and quiet forest completely dripping with moss), learning the different health benefits and uses all different kinds of plants along the way (there's a botanical cure for everything!).
The Cameron Highlands is also home to some of the best Northern Indian food around.. Couldn't get enough!

Georgetown, Penang

Presumably once a beautiful English Colonial town, now a fairly rundown, Chinese/Indian one, Georgetown has lots of character, and lots of grime. Like any old city it has it's ups and downs, and though 2 days was plenty, we really enjoyed our time spent there. All over the city there's all of this wrought-iron street art set up on walls in different places of interest, and you can pick up a map and do a scavenger hunt to find all of them. It was a good way to get out, see the city, and pick up some quick facts about Georgetown (and the art was all actually really cool). We also went over to the Kek Lok Si Temple a massive Hindu temple in Air Itam. It was bright and ornate, complete with ponds of hundreds of turtles, the only downside being that there were also people asking for money, as well as a guy following me and a couple other foreign girls around offering us money (I guess one can deduce that if you're white, female, and non-Muslim, you're probably a prostitute), which kind of tainted the whole "serenity" of it. Also of note in Georgetown- the street food. Yuuummm.

Batu Ferringhi, Penang

Basically a skip. We took a pretty quick ride over on the local bus, expecting to find a beautiful beach and easier access over to Lankawi island. It turned out that the beach was really nothing to write home about, the water was home to lots of jelly fish, and we actually had to take the bus back to Georgetown to get the ferry to Lankawi. We spent two nights, found a really cool and popular food court with endless stalls of Indian, Malay and Chinese cuisine, which you went up and ordered from, supplied your table number, and then sat waiting as staff walked around serving drinks. The biggest spring rolls I've ever had! It didn't hurt that the walk to and from the food court was a lengthy trail of sidewalk-shopping, either.

Langkawi Island

The first thing noticed upon arrival in Langkawi was that it's a Duty Free island with possibly the cheapest booze prices in the world, which made for happy wallets. We stayed at a great hostel which was run by Sam, a ridiculous and lazy Malaysian guy who was always hanging around creating a fun and social atmosphere for everyone. We were lucky to have a great group of people there to hang out with every night either at the hostel or over at some local bars. We also met Connor and Lucille, an Australian couple we rented a car with for a day. We went to a couple of waterfalls, a crocodile farm, and stopped by a food market that was put up on weekends. We've been trying to meet up with them each country we've been to since, but have had no luck and keep missing each other. Guess we'll have to get to Aus!
Langkawi's beaches weren't the most impressive, but we didn't have the best weather anyways, so it didn't matter much. We did get one good beach day in where we lay around, swam, ran into a big group of people playing some drinking games, and caught the sunset. Otherwise we walked around and explored the downtown that had lots of good shops and restaurants, and hung out at the hostel with Sam! On our last day before our ferry back to the mainland, we were lazing around with Sam watching cartoons, feeling hungover, and standing around fishing with bamboo sticks and string in the small, swampy pond behind the hostel. I managed to catch one which I happily contributed to the tank :)

Boracay, cont'd

mperry28 — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 20:26:00 GMT

Boracay was incredible. In my first ten days there, I was lucky enough to meet a great group of people to have the best time with. It was sad to say goodbye, with everyone moving onto new places and things, but you never know who you'll end up running into again as you go :) And then Phil got here, and I switched hostels, and we met another great group of people again. We lay around on the beach every day and indulged in happy hour every night. Tough stuff! Unfortunately, Phil brought the rainy weather (and a typhoon) with him and it rained for a bit each day. But the most rain came the day of the storm, which we spent playing cards, having drinks, and hanging out in the wet outdoor common area with some of the others at our hostel. We were extremely lucky that for us, at Trafalgar Cottages in Boracay, the typhoon day actually ended up being a fun day. The worst thing we experienced was loss of power which meant loss of our fan and horribly sweaty sleeps- No big deal. So we spent our last few days without power and wifi, and then it was time to leave the beautiful beaches and ocean behind, and head for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

Boracay! 4 kms of crystal clear water, white sand beach, and tourists tourists tourists!

mperry28 — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 12:00:00 GMT

So after a bit of a journey, I have arrived alive to the tiny island of Boracay in the Philippines. It was a flight from Seoul into Manila, and then a quick flight from Manila to Caticlan, followed by a boat ride from the jetty port straight over to the island. A long day, but actually much easier than expected! After arriving here and talking to some people, I found out that an alternative route actually would have saved some money, which is frustrating. Note to self: no-more-booking-ahead! In this world, planning's for suckers and people without budgets!

Driving in from the jetty port to my hostel through the local roads was amazing. It's so exciting to see how other people live.. Sitting around in front of their stores, kids walking around bare foot, scooters weaving in and out of people, trucks full of guys hanging out in the back. Life seems so much simpler.

And then there's the main beach - White Beach. Lined with over-priced international cuisine, spas, diving shops, non-stop stores and stalls, and even complete with a Starbucks and Cinnabon, the images of the local outskirts are long gone. The beach is beautiful- crystal clear water and white sand- even if it is fairly crowded. Boracay definitely isn't a quiet and untouched island by any means, but it's a great place to start with 18 days of lying on the beach ahead of me.

I've met some people at the hostel, coming from all corners of the world. People who have already been travelling for 22months, are on around-the-world-tickets, permanently live abroad, or just have a quick 2 weeks away. It's amazing how many people live their lives in a world of travel and always want to see more. It's really making my potential 4months of South East Asia feel pretty inadequate! But it's also a reminder of how much you can see and do with your time if you want to, which is very encouraging :)

Phil will be getting here a week today, and by then I know I'll be ready to move on to the next place (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Beach time is great, but there's so much more to see and do! There's a whole world out there!!

S.E.A

Malaysia - Truly Asia

Boracay, cont'd

Boracay! 4 kms of crystal clear water, white sand beach, and tourists tourists tourists!