Blogs from Pahang, Malaysia, Asia - page 68

Day one: 10 August: Thursday Ingo and Conny picked me up from outside the Puncak Inn and we drove down to the Gap where we birded for an hour or so, netting me seven new species. Then we headed for Taman Negara. We were going to just drive all the way there but a wrong turn at Jerantut saw us ending up at the ferry terminal at Kuala Tembeling instead. In terms of wildlife the boat trip is very poor (mainly Pacific swallows and water monitors), but for sheer style there's no better way of entering a national park. It may cost a bit more (but not much) and take a bit longer than the bus but it beats it hands down. The boat is a long low-sided affair with wooden plank seating, like a big ... read more

Another bus journey takes me through some more wonderful scenery, mountains and winding roads, to Cameron Highlands. Which is situated in the North Western corner of the state of Pahang and is about 6000 ft (2,000 Meters) above sea level. The air is much cooler and fresher here, (more like home) and you are surrounded by valleys and mountains of vast green scenery, tea plantations, flower gardens, vegaetable farms and fruit orchards. There is a butterfly farm, honey bee farm, rose garden, cactus gardens, you name it, whatever grows, grows here. Apparently the fruit and veg have no seasons, because the environment and atmosphere allows them to grow all year round. Also very popular here is jungle trekking and a game of golf. I met a couple on the bus, who were on holiday from their ... read more

Yes I do realize that my dates are pretty messed up, but I think this is the close to the correct time piriod along the trip. (if nothing else the dates organize which order they show up in my blog) I have a most severe case of blog lag & some messing up on dates is due to that, the the rest of the messing up is due to the fact that we never really knew which day it was along the trip anyways so a lot of my diary entries remain unmarked. I think that the most incredible mess up job we had was on our flight from San Francisco to Singapore. At one point the plane landed in a place called Taipi, & the flight attendants told us that yes we did have ... read more

Well, I made it to Malaysia, not that it's difficult to jump on a 30p public bus from Singapore! Caught a coach 2hours north up to Malaka, a little stop-over to break up the journey to Kuala Lumpur (KL to its friends). Malaka is quite a lively little place, full of Singaporean, Chinese and Indian tourists taking the heat off us travellers, (yes, I do view myself as a cut above the 'standard' tourist), however saying that, you don't get half as much hassle here as in Indo - thankfully! It's been hard to enjoy the lively Sat night street markets, line dancing (!) and kareokee because my ear is still killing me and I'm necking paracetamol like they're Smints, but at least I can get my teeth to meet meaning I can chew now so ... read more

Well I was glad to escape the huffel and buffel of the big city(KL), I really just can't do them for long, too many people. The original plan was to hit up Tioman Island after taking a little side trip to Cherating, a little eastern coast town, and then Singapore to meet my girl Tammy. Well... after seeing Cherating and meeting the fantastic group of people that I did I couldn't help myself, I just stayed. I don't know how long, 6 or 7 days, it was I think the most relaxing time I've had on my trip thus far. Cherating is pretty well known for it's Batik workshops, its making designs on fabric with dye and wax, and so I tried to discover an artistic side to myself and well I think I did. Maybe ... read more