Advertisement
Published: April 30th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Its hard and dirty work but we are up for it
...another perfect day snorkelling in th sun!! Malaysia continued….
So after a good stay in Malacca we caught the bus to Mersing, ferry for 2 hours to Tioman Island, a 45 minute 4wd journey across the jungly centre of the island to Juara Beach….you really have to want to get there!
We had a little wooden hut on a spit at the end of beach with water on three sides …running water but no hot water and a fan and mosquito net but no air-con. Very comfy though and we went to sleep with the sound of the waves plashing on the beach. Interesting group of people staying there…. Swedes, Australians, Brits and two girls working for an NGO on the Thai/Burmese border.
Went snorkelling on the big boat one day and the fish were amazing loads of them and every shape and colour - also trekked to see a waterfall. The turquoise water at the jetties was so clear you could see the fish swimming down below. A couple of days later we went surfing!!! Fantastic fun and whilst Ian wasn’t standing he was able to catch the waves…roll on Bali where the waves will be big enough to stand on.
Went out
in kayaks another day and saw turtles swimming - there is a turtle hatchery at the other end of the beach - plus saw sting rays. Later in the day kayaked up the river into the jungle, very creepy with monkeys sat quietly watching and snakes wriggling.
Another highlight was the food and three particular instances - firstly the best banana porridge with honey so far on our travels (ambrosia that you could inhale), secondly the best meal we have ever had. The fishing boat came in late afternoon and the beach restaurant we thought was the best (Sunrise Café) did us a whole blue tailed mullet steamed in ginger, garlic, soy sauce and spring onions - it was perfect big chunks of white flesh eaten in a wooden shack on the beach with the moon overhead and it was 33 ringits (just over £5) together with vegetable salad and special rice. (I am not going to have a rant about not being able to get this quality of fish in UK and if you could it would be silly money).
Finally the best beach bar serving the best beach drink - It is a tree house that you
climb into overlooking the beach with lots of cool music being played as the sun goes down - order the coconut rum and the man goes to a coconut tree and cuts down a coconut makes a hole in it pours the rum in and sticks a straw in. The juice is still warm from the sun - blissful???
So Tioman Island was great and we had good fun with a load of people but I realised after nine days that I couldn’t live on a desert island - the days drifted into each other and as someone said even washing a pair of socks seemed to require a major effort of will power.
So with a very early morning start we headed to Sarawak in Borneo and Kuching the main town. Again 4wd vehicle, ferry, bus, plane from Kota Baru to Kuching - about 16 hours travelling.
Kuching is an interesting mix of the old colonial with the very modern paid for by oil and timber. We got the Borneo Post every morning and it is full of the unusual (oil palm worker runs amok and kills countryman; police football team investigated for match rigging) and
Old Male Orangutan
Reminds me of some Company CEOs I have known! the international (Madonna has hit No 1; concerns over rice price rising). The museums here are fantastic and we also went to the Sarawak Cultural village which has all the different houses built by the many tribes and peoples in Sarawak - Orang Ulu, Melanau, Bidayuh as well as Malay, Chinese, and Iban. We had a go with a blow pipe as well as played Chunkgu and listened to music and dancing - a great day where we realised the deep culture each tribe has. The head hunters round house was good too!
We spent a couple of days in the rain forest and met a Swiss couple who had been travelling for two and a half years (with just back packs!!!). We also stayed in a home stay owned by a guy who used to drink in my old local the Duke of Cumberland in North Ferriby!!! And this is in the middle of the rain forest!!
And finally…..today we went to see the orang-utans. What wonderful creatures they are - dignified and with great gravitas they deserve respect - the fact that they can pull your head off with one hand also may have something to do with it. They are amazingly human and the wardens say that they can “read” us better than we can understand them. To see them peel a banana and offer it to their young makes you think about how closely we are all bound together on this planet. We have seen some wonderful creatures - elephants, giant panda, amazing fish and now orang-utans - we are very lucky.
Tomorrow we go off to Singapore - then to Bali for a month - will keep you posted!
We did say that we would give our views on Malaysia - so here goes.
There is an unbelievable amount of jungle - habitation is on the fringes
There are some really interesting cultural places - Georgetown, Malacca, Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur (which we only drove though and is our one regret)
Every museum has been superb
There are some difficult areas in the North East and East where it is pretty fundamentalist and the wonderful scenery and wildlife is not matched by the people sometimes eg in the centre
We have met some great people and learned loads (special mention to Mrs Sunrise the cook at the Sunrise Café and Mr Coconut at the Coconut Grove and John and Xana at the Riverview for their work on turtle conservation)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0435s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jen
non-member comment
Great read
Hi Ian and Carol, Tu forwarded me the link to your blog. Great to read this entry and be reminded of that beautiful beach. Funny to remember the sock-washing comment too, that was Martin! Can't believe we actually got that lazy now, seems a world away. Life is good back here. Although weather not quite up to Tioman standards, narrowly missed being caught up in the Burma cyclone and has been pretty nasty here too. Will watch your blog as you head to Bali. Can't wait to see pictures of Ian up on his surf-board! Was lovely to meet you both and don't worry, Tu reckons I'm already starting to see the light and come around to your advice! ;-) Keep having a great time and keep in touch, love Jen