Blogs from Pahang, Malaysia, Asia - page 66

So... Malaysia was interesting. But now I'm safe and sound in my little plot of land in Singapore, and I'm liking it a lot better than I have in the past. I don't by any means ever plan on moving here, but it'll do for the next couple months. My classes are turning out to be pretty interesting- well some of them- well one of them. I'm taking a Gender and Sexuality in Japan class which I actually really like. I'm pretty excited to stop in Tokyo for two or three days after the semester is over. What is Singapore like? Right now it has been hazy and grey for about two weeks because Indonesia is burning rainforests over in Java. I have absolutely no idea why they are doing that, but it sounds like a ... read more

Imagine a warm English autumn day. Broken clouds dot the sky and the warm sun is diluted only by a slight chill on the breeze. That's pretty much the climate up here in the Cameron Highlands which is perhaps why there's quite an English feel to the place. Restaurants in the town offer cream teas and tours take you to strawberry farms (actually nothing more than a greenhouse full of gro-bags) and tea plantations. Now there's nothing more English than tea, I'm sure you'd agree, and although we don't grow the stuff back home, they certainly do here - by the valley-load. On our long, winding journey up through the mountains, we passed a couple of tea plantations and it all looked rather interesting so today's adventure was to head for the nearest one to us ... read more

Instead of paying to go on a guide jungle trek today, we decided to adventure out on our own following trails number 4 & 6. Trail 4 is the gentlest of all the jungle treks in this area and I was surprised to see that the first section of it is even paved. The route runs alongside a little stream that wound through the forest and trickled down in litlle waterfalls every so often. The water was crystal clear and it would have been very picturesque if it hadn't been for all the garbage washed up on the banks. Along the way we passed a cool looking mini suspension bridge but it had fallen into disrepair and been roped off which was a shame. The path grew steadily more difficult and we were soon surrounded on ... read more

Well......little did we realise that the transfer onto mainland would be quite so torturous!!! First up, after much deliberation, and thanks largely to a brewing tropical storm....we decided to leave paradise on the 7.30am ferry! BIG mistake...the storm a-brewing meant that it was somewhat choppy on the open seas and ERROR of all errors we managed to sit ourselves directly beneath the AC outlet...bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! We arrived on the mainland basically as blocks of ice and for once it was a huge relief to go outside into the humidity...... to a place called Kuantan, where we would have an overnight stop before heading into deepest darkest Jungle territory! Kuantan was good, not a great deal to see but enough for an overnight stop........ The morning dawned to a city full of closed shops.......Simon you know you mentioned ... read more

: Tioman Island: It's the most famous island in eastern Malaysia known for its peaceful and beautiful beaches. We took a 30-minute flight from Singapore to the Malay island on a small aircraft that seated about 20 people. One airline company has a monopoly on flights coming in and going out that tickets were the most expensive part of the trip. We stayed at the Berjaya Beach Resort, the main resort in that area. The beach was very tranquil and the water crystal clear. Jellyfish: While on the beach, we noticed that there were tons of tennis-ball size jellyfish around us. Andrew jumped out of the water like a little bitch only to find out that they don’t even sting. With the good news, Andrew then decided to torture the little fellas. He stacked them up ... read more