Advertisement
Published: October 12th 2009
Edit Blog Post
We have partaken in a plethora of activities since entering Malaysia...We've snorkled and climbed, drank tea and eaten a LOT of Indian Curry (mmmmmmmm)!
But it all began in Kuala Lumpur with a super trip around the city curteousy of our two Malaysian buddies that we had met whilst in Japan! They took us to all the best sites in a CAR!!! can you believe it?! So nice not to have to wait for a smelly bus for a change! We were able to sample food from all the best local haunts and as a result Malaysia went straight into number two position (just behind Thailand) on our 'Favorite Foods' chart. I don't think we realised how much we missed the mighty Indian Curry. Malaysian food is a perfect mix of Chinese and Indian influences. Never before and probably never again, will we have a curry for breakfast, but in the spirit of adventure and not wanting to lose face amongst our Malay friends we gave it a jolly good go.
On the subject of consumption, we headed to the cool retreat that is the Cameron Highlands, where we drank some more tea complemented by strawberry scones. This place
Hindu Shrine at the Batu Caves
Was strange (but nice) for us to see signs of Hinduism after 9 months was developed by the British colonials and has a very different and non asian feel to it. We relaxed in a climate that reminded us of a beautiful summer's day in England: 26 degrees and perfect sunshine with a cool breeze! It was lovely for us to escape the heat and humidity of the city and we hired a scooter to zoom us around the area. On our 'not so speedy scooter' we headed to Malaysia's largest tea plantation called 'Boh', riding our scooter through the beautiful, greener than green, rolling hills with rows and rows of tea plants.
From the Highlands we took a bus to the coast and hopped on to a Speedboat at Kuala Besut in order to get to the Perenthian Islands on the East Coast. The boat was massively more powerful than it needed to be and the driver promptly mashed it into full throttle to begin our bouncy journey. (We have learned from previous experience its better to sit at the back of the boat on such occasions), and watched with some satisfaction as the guy who had 'nabbed' the front seat went from a look of glee to a look of trying
Lower Observatory deck at KL Tower
..with Li peng and Tan, our sightseeing guides/friends :) to hold his lunch down.
We stayed on Kuala Kecil, the smaller of the two Islands, for a good 5 days of beach time, snorkelling and eating. The Islands were beautiful, the water was very clear and we saw some very cool sea life too, but perhaps not quite as much as the Galapgos Islands earlier in our trip. We still managed to spot a handful of black tip reef sharks and follow a couple of huge turtles underwater for a time. Following this, one day saw us hire an ancient sea kayak for the day, and as usual we spent half the time going round in circles trying to keep the damn thing in a straight line. After deciding that it wasnt worth the hassle we tied it up to a floating platform and did some more snorkelling. By the end of the 5 days we had had enough beach time and were keen to try something new, so we headed via KL to the Malaysian part of Borneo called Sabah.
After one day in the Capital of Malay Borneo (Kota Kinabalu) we met up with our friends from the UK Hannah and Rich. In between regular
visits to the local Starbucks, we managed to plan our next few days. We managed to hire the worlds smallest car, a Perodua something or other and drove to the 'Tip of Borneo' a strip of coastline ending in a spectacular beach and rugged windswept cliffs right at the North Western corner of the Island. Whilst investing heavily in the actual attraction, the local government seemed to overlook the need to pave the road there, and with the Perodua's off-road capability 'limited' at best, we were glad to arrive with all 4 doors still on their hinges.
The long drive back to Kota Kinablalu took us past some great views of our next challenge, the climb of Mount Kinabalu, and our legs began to ache just by looking at it! The mountain towers above all the others on the island, and looks seriously technical stuff from a distance, but having been assured by our local Malay contacts that even toddlers can walk up it, we headed to the park with an aura of invincibility.
The Aura previously mentioned, fizzled out approximately 0.5km into the 12km climb, when we realised how much up hill there was. No one could
have imagined how much up hill is involved in reaching 4,000m. Every step seemed to be made for some sort of giant bear, rather than meer humans, so after what seemed like a million squat thrusts, we made it to the overnight stop at the Laban Rata guest house. Our guide Din (or Nid as Nat seemed intent on calling him), a man of few words, had gotten us this far, and arranged to meet us at 2.30am the next morning for the summit attempt.
At this point the entire top of the mountain was a huge waterfall, as it had been raining heavily for an hour or so, and the water rushes off the granite peaks in waves. With excuses already pre-prepared including but not limited to 'I slept like crap' or 'I've eaten too many eggs from the buffet' to 'I've ran out of pants' we decided to hit the sack early with little or no motivation to surface at the required time to make the summit attempt.
Like valiant warriors heading into battle to save precious land, defend loved ones and fight to the last breath for their ideals and beliefs, Mat and Rich defied
the odds and rose at the appropriate hour of darkness to embark on their quest. (Nat and Hannah - had a nice hot milk and went back to bed)
The time 5am........The Place 4,095m above sea level.........My Hands...Freeeeezing!!
At this point we realised we had climbed a little too quickly for our own good, our 2 hours or so of scrambling up rocks and tripping over ropes, had lead us to the summit in record time! The bad news was it was too bitterly cold to wait around for the Sunrise, so a unanimous 'Bugger This' was agreed and we headed back down to the guest house taking in the sunrise on our way down.
A quick re-fuel at the guest house, and by midday we were down at the Park HQ eating our lunch followed by a trip to the (Very) Hot Springs at Poring.
We had a great week with Rich and Hannah and were sad to leave them in Kota Kinabalu, 2 days later, to return to Kuala Lumpur.
Which brings us up to date, apart from a few days at the very quaint and aesthetically pleasing 'Venice of the East' called
Melaka, on the West Coast of mainland Malaysia, where we currently reside. We are staying at the newest guest house in Melaka, a brilliant place called Old Town Guesthouse, we would throroughly recommend staying here. We head to Singapore tomorrow in preperation for our flight out of Asia the following day.
Australia beckons!...............barbies, ute's, bush tucker, Alf and boxing kangaroos all await our arrival.
We hope everyone had a great summer back home, and thanks for your messages.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.322s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0454s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
jane.wetton@oswaldrecord.co.uk
non-member comment
flip flops
hi matt and nat nice flip flops on the scooter matt. do i recognise these? these views are amazing. nat you really are getting used to fishes now. wow loads of them . is matt practising for base jumping on his arrival back in the uk? mum xxxxx