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Published: April 24th 2008
Our reason for the blog title goes back to our audio-guide of KL Tower in Kuala Lumpur. The lady speaking had a nice British accent, but every time she said the country she said it like "Ma-LAY-thee-a". At this time we were still travelling with John, and we all had a laugh over the pronunciation. It became a running joke between the three of us!
Peninsular Malaysia feels like a different country than Malaysian Borneo. We really enjoyed our time in both parts of the country. As with most of our Asian cuisine experiences, Malaysia did not disappoint. We noticed that
Malaysian food seemed to be a blend of lots of different ethnic influences.
Cameron Highlands
After so many nights in the high humidity / 35 degrees celsius weather of KL, we loved the moderate temperature of the
Cameron Highlands, not to mention the beauty of the area. Apparently CH has the cheapest 18 hole golf course in Asia, making it a popular destination for Japanese tourists, some of whom extend their stay to several months to work on their golf games year round.
Our stay in Cameron Highlands was the first time we needed to wear a long sleeved shirt
Cameron Highlands - Butterfly Garden
Can you spot the frog? Incredible camouflage! We think it's called a Long-nosed Horned frog. since we climbed Mt. Kinabalu!
Our hostel was charming, with a German Shepherd mama dog playing with us (loved to chase a soccer ball if you would kick it) and her two puppies lumbering around clumsily behind her. It wasn't clear who was the papa dog, but then this scruffy mutt who looked like benji with bangs way down over his eyes came strutting around the corner and we thought "really?".
The area is famous for its stunning views, British colonized Tea plantations, Strawberry farms, and to Michelle's delight, Boh tea with scones and jam! The Cameron Highlands are a popular destination for people travelling from KL to the Perhentian Islands. We arranged a day trip that took us on a tour of the Highland Plantations, a hike through the "Mossy Forest", and a stop at the Butterfly farm, which is basically a zoo showing off the area's interesting creatures.
Francis, the hike guide, seemed to know everything about the local flora and fauna. Every few metres he would stop and tell us something interesting about a plant or animal. He said "Who will go to Taman Negara?", we said we were heading there. He showed us
Cameron Highlands - Nature Walk
Pitcher plants lure insects with their sweet smelling nectar, which also intoxicates the insect, causing them to fall deeper into the pitcher, where they are digested over a long period of time! The guide had us put our fingers in there at which point he screamed and laughed hysterically ... apparently the plant is not dangerous to humans. a leaf that when crushed and applied to a wound from a leech, would allow the blood to re-coagulate and stop bleeding. Since we heard some horror stories about the leeches in Taman Negara, we took note (and a picture) of this plant! We also saw some amazing
pitcher plants and wild orchids.
After the tour the two of us walked to one of the nearby strawberry farms and enjoyed waffles with fresh strawberries, chocolate, and whipped cream - for lunch!? To wash that down we had a strawberry milkshake! They both were amazing and so sweet.
There is a large Indian population in the town of Tanah Rata (the largest town in the Highlands, where we stayed) so we enjoyed some awesome Indian food!
Perhentian Islands
It took us 7 hours to reach the smaller of the
Perhentian Islands - Perhentian Kecil. We opted to stay on Long Beach, and we're glad we did. After visiting various beaches in Thailand and Indonesia over the last few months, we can easily say this is one of the best. It has fine white sand, crystal clear water, and an uncluttered ocean floor so you don't have to worry
Perhentian Islands
pretty close to paradise! about stepping on sharp coral (or something poisonous!) when you are frollicking in the waves. Opposite to this beach (the west side of the island) is Coral Bay, a smaller beach covered with coral, where you can watch the sunset.
We're approaching the end of our trip, and also the end of our budget, so we made the decision to only go diving twice (we would've loved to do more!). Still they were amazing dives and we saw a lot of things that neither of us has seen before. The first dive took us to D'Lagoon - a medium depth dive teeming with underwater wildlife. The second dive was one of the best we've been on this trip. We went to Temple of the Sea, and we were really lucky as we saw a lot of new things. Both dives were fantastic. If you're interested you can find our dive details at the bottom of this blog.
We also had a few interesting roommates on our island adventure! Our second night Travis woke to Michelle standing beside the bed, whimpering and hopping from one foot to the other like she really had to pee! She has a crippling
Perhentian Islands
The beautiful white sand of Long Beach phobia of rats and thought she had heard one. Earlier in the day, Travis spotted two rats running by the outdoor restaurant where we had lunch. Being aware of Michelle's phobia, he didn't mention them to Michelle.
Michelle reached to open the door and a gecko scurried down the wall and right into one of our backpacks. Michelle squealed and Travis - still with one eye open - rescued the gecko and chased the rat out of the room. Michelle saw it run off the porch and down the steps. Needless to say Michelle didn't sleep very well after that.
The next morning we switched guesthouses. Unfortunately, when we were getting ready for bed, Travis found himself looking over Michelle's shoulder right into the eyes of a fairly large rat. Michelle hadn't seen it yet and Travis found himself with the difficult decision of telling her, meaning another bout of squealing and a frightened wife, or not telling her, meaning she might see it herself and freak out even more. He decided instead to say "Michelle you should probably stand on the bed!" and he's never heard such a loud noise in his life as she realized almost
Perhentian Islands
Sunset at Coral Bay immediately that a rat was behind her!
We actually encountered a second rat in the same room so we asked if we could change rooms. The owner of the guesthouse was grumpy at this, saying "Interrupt my movie for a couple of dumb rats!?". Travis also asked the owner if we could take one of the 7 kittens that frequent the reception area back to our room for a little added protection, but again the guesthouse owner just grunted some grumpy answer and led us to our new room. He wasn't in the mood for jokes I guess! In the end we ended up getting a much more expensive (and rat-free) room with A/C at no extra charge so we were happy.
Our last night we changed guesthouses again and Michelle said "Promise me there are no rats! I hate rats!" and the man said "Hey man, those other places make you pay extra for rats, but not here! No rats here man! HAHAHA" - it sounded like he had used that line a few times before! To our relief, there weren't any rats. We did however find a cockroach (Travis shooed it out with a flip-flop) and
Taman Negara
Crazy caterpillar! a frog in our bathroom (Travis caught it in a ziploc bag and released it outside). Michelle didn't mind these little creatures compared to the disgusting rats!
Regardless of our adventures with the rats, our visit to the Perhentians was fantastic. The beaches were beautiful, the diving was unreal and the islands themselves are a slice of paradise.
Taman Negara Rainforest
We had another long day of travel from the Perhentian islands to
Taman Negara which included two boats and two minibuses and took a total of 10 hours. We were lucky to have two really nice Irish girls on the long minibus ride with us so that sped things up a little. We stayed at the same hostel as they did and although they had pre-booked everything through a tour, we ran into them several times over the next few days. We didn't have very long in Taman Negara so we booked a canopy walk and a night safari.
Our guesthouse was funny, it looked like a summer camp for kids. There were colourful drawings on the walls of each room showing some local insects and animals. There were also lots of inspirational signs around the
Taman Negara
The size of the trees in this rainforest reminded us of the ones in Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. property including "Think out of the box!" and "Wanna be cool? Drink H2O!" or "How Neptune disturb the orbit of Uranus?". Not sure exactly what that last one means?!
The guesthouse was right beside a Muslim Mosque which isn't always the best location for a guesthouse if you aren't Muslim. The reason we say that is because at sunrise, noon, and sunset, the loud speakers blare Muslim prayers. This is terrifying if you are asleep and aren't expecting it! We had our earplugs in on the second morning, and even though we knew it was coming, they didn't stand a chance against the glory of Islam at 500 watts being blasted into our rooms from a nearby loudspeaker!
The canopy walk was great. 500 metres long track suspended 40 metres above ground in one of the oldest rainforests in the world. On the canopy walk we met a Malaysian man named Mark who was really nice. He said that he loves Japan and we mentioned that we used to live in Japan and loved it too. Eventually we learned that he owned a company in Japan, and in Malaysia, India and several other countries. He had started a
Taman Negara - Guesthouse
Our guesthouse looked something like a summer camp for kids, with inspirational signs all over the place company called JobStreet which is like Monster or Workopolis in the SE Asian market. Over lunch we were talking about how we loved the Toronto Raptors and he said "Oh I own a Basketball team too! In Singapore!". He was a very interesting and nice man.
It was so brutally hot on the hike that we were drenched and had drunk about 3 litres of water before it ended. After lunch with Mark the two of us went back to the guesthouse and had a shower and just laid on the bed under the fan trying to avoid the hottest part of the day. The humidity was so high that we were breaking into a sweat just sitting in a dark room!
We tried to layout our Macau, Hong Kong, and China travel plans, but we were really struggling with China. The reason is we have such a short amount of time, and it is such a huge country with so many interesting sights. China is about the same size as Europe, so it's extremely difficult to see everything we want to see. What made things a little easier for us was our companions for the night safari,
Taman Negara
The canopy walk was suspended 40 metres in the air. Tory and Monique, Canadians who had recently travelled to China and gave us some great advice.
We talked to several people who had tried the night safari and got mixed reviews. It is a bit of a hit or miss activity. Unfortunately on our night we didn't see very things, although we did see some crazy looking
Leopard cats, a giant flying squirrel, and lots of frogs, birds, and insects.
Up next for us is Macau, Hong Kong, and China.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Michelle and Travis
Dive Details
Dive 1 - D'Lagoon Maximum Depth - 12.5 Metres
Bottom Time - 60 Minutes
Dive 2
Temple of the Sea Maximum Depth - 20.7 Metres
Bottom Time - 57 Minutes
Estuarine Stonefish (The most venomous fish in the world!)
Grey Bamboo Shark Round Batfish
Hawksbill Turtle (Just waking up, all groggy!)
Giant Moray Eel (The biggest we have ever seen - scary!)
Remora (Tried to clean Michelle!)
Smallscale Scorpionfish
White Eyed
Taman Negara
Beautiful views but the heat and humidity made us drenched after a pretty easy hike! Moray
Rhino Boxfish Black Botched Porcupinefish Lionfish Squid
School of Yellow Snapper
School of Fusilier
Long finned Bannerfish Humpnose Unicornfish
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Kevin
non-member comment
Wicked
:( each time you guys post a blog, it reminds me how much I miss you, and how much I wish I was there with you. Poor Travis...Didnt get his dream :Phaha. Kudos to you guys for even going near that snake.....or are you just using the...20X optical zoom or however much your camera is as a cover up? haha. Cant ait to see you in may:D Love ya both. Kev