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Published: February 16th 2009
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Malaysia
Malaysia is an interesting place it’s a federation of 13 states that only came into existence as a unified state in about 1963 but has aspirations to be a first world economy by 2012. It has its own oil reserves, some profits from which are invested in providing a welfare system. Currently Malaysians retire on a full pension at 55, but as in the western world this is proving to be unsustainable Malaysia
We’ve just had an excellent couple of weeks in Melbourne, being wonderfully cared for by Jenny and Neil (Byrne). Its hard to believe but Jenny has been in Aus for almost two years (but happily, as yet, she doesn’t sound like Kylie).
She and Neil have set up a lovely home in Melbourne’s suburbs, I won’t mention that she has a swimming pool as we hear that’s its been a bit cold at home (!) Melbourne, however, was having a heat wave and after three days of 43C or 45C we were glad to scoot over to new Zealand. Little did we realise just how serious this weather would prove and we were so lucky to have missed the horror of the Bush Fires, which sadly, continue to ravage the Victorian countryside.
So we’re now in New Zealand for seven weeks, feeling well rested after the previous months in Asia. Thoughts have eventually returned to our blog and I can't believe that we're so far behind. A strange thing... a few months ago, out of the blue a text message popped up from my Mum - quite a big deal for someone still wrestling with
Kuching - Memorial to Charles Brooke
Kuching, although a capital, is still quite small but obviously developing quickly into a vibrant town. It was founded by a British colonialist, (Sir) James Brooke who helped out Brunei and was given Sarawak in return. Good Grief. use of the TV remote control. Just imagine how we felt this morning when an email came through from her; as the Aussies might say "Good on Yer Mum!"
And now then, back to September 2008, we were just about to leave Indonesia...
Onwards to Borneo
In high spirits and with Mama Mia’s Dancing Queen ringing in our ears, we set off for Jakarta Airport, heading for Kuching, Sarawak, North West Borneo. The flight was fun (especially the free squirt of Chanel 5 at the airport) and having landed at 9pm, we were settled and comfortable in our hotel less than an hour later.
Borneo was of course amazing, albeit ridiculously humid. Our main reason for going was to visit the Semenggoh Orang Utan Sanctuary, where Orang Utans, either orphaned or rescued from captivity, are trained to survive in the wild. As you probably know the name Orang Utan means “old man of the forest” and the resemblance to humans was striking; they even sweated just as much us. Our friends in Mumbai have recently commented how lucky we’ve been to have seen both Komodo Dragons and Orang Utans, two rare creatures. Can’t argue
Semengghoh Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre
The Sanctuary isn’t set up as a tourist attraction but visitors are welcome and are probably key to the centre’s funding. with that and the memories will live with us for a long time. We remain deeply indebted to Rose and David whom we met in Kyrgyzstan for recommending the trip.
We were there for the end of Ramadan and the festival of “Hari Raya Adil Fitri”, comparable to our Christmas festivities, not only exchanging gifts but also really bad television programmes. Malaysia’s an interesting place as the indigenous people only just form a majority; the other two main races are Chinese and Indian, who often continue to speak in their native tongues and follow their own religion. Strange and yet it all seems to work. In Sarawak, 40%!o(MISSING)f the people are Christian yet Ramadan was more noticeable there than any of the Muslim places we’d just been. So clearly everybody mucks in celebrating all the religious festivals be it Diwali, Christmas or Adil Fitri (end of Ramadan). Maybe it’s a belief in integration or may be they don't want to exclude any of the religions just in case it proves to be the true God!
The Santubong Peninsular
After a day or so of town life in Kuching we set off for the
Semengghoh Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre
There are set feeding times to which the Orang Utans can choose whether or not to come, dependending on the season and how much food is available in the forest. We were lucky enough to see seven or eight, including a mother and baby. Ahhhh. coast and the Santubong Peninsular. We couldn’t quite afford the Holiday Inn, instead booking into the Santubong Peninsular Resort on the sands of the South China Sea.
We arrived to find a huge complex, easily able to accommodate a thousand people and yet we were two of about eight guests. Our room was huge and even had a Hair dryer (a first since leaving Turkey) but with near 100% humidity what is the point.
One of the many things to do was a river trip, primarily to spot the rare bottle-nosed Irrawady dolphin. The trip took us down river past numerous villages and mangroves. Easily spotted all along the muddy river banks were bright blue crabs and mud skipper fish. These are quite the strangest of fish and so entertaining as they darted crazily along the muddy banks.
Views were slightly spoiled by a murkiness in the air apparently caused by smog from the burning of forests. The Malaysians blame Kalimantan (the Indonesian half of Borneo) for burning forest in order to plant Palms for palm oil, a cash crop used for bio fuel. Apparently, the smog was so bad one year it caused an obstruction to
Semengghoh Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre
Occasionally they come down from the trees - great for Orang Utan spotting, less good for a tourists' physical well being. This old lady was according to the staff being very grumpy and they kept us well out of her way. shipping in the Malaccan straights some 500 miles away.
There we were all “David Attenborough'd” up and flew back to the mainland for a few days in George Town, on the Island of Penang, close to the Thai border. It was still holiday time (Adil Fitri) but we were getting good at this travelling game so booked ahead; imagine our delight to arrive at midnight to find our room was above both a nightclub (Boom, Boom, Boom until 4am) and the local “knocking” shop. Bleary eyed we moved next day to something far more suited to a good nights sleep.
Penang
Georgetown wasn’t quite as Wow as we’d expected but with time to pass before going on to Thailand it was a pleasant place to wander around and we were happily entertained.
Imagine our surprise to see a Tescos! It was a little out of town but had a free shuttle-bus so it seemed rude not to go. Discipline prevailed and we only bought earl grey teabags and salt-and-vinegar crisps and at the check out were even offered club card points. Spooky.
The food in Malaysia had proved a little disappointing but
Santubong Peninsular
Although, only twenty miles north of Kuching its on the fringes of the jungle but its also a rapidly developing tourist resort area. at night the street level food stalls opened. Several streets around our hotel developed a festival atmosphere and although still missing Indian food we happily scoffed on the fusion food that is Malaysia’s own.
Cameron Highlands
Next stop was the Cameron Highlands, named after a British colonialist, its an area on the central mainland abut 1,500 m above sea level. This gives it a completely different climate; can’t tell you how refreshing it was to be cold after so long. I even broke out my sleeping bag to keep warm at night; cold beers were replaced by hot chocolate. Lovely.
The Cameron’s are famous for tea plantations and strawberries; would you believe cream teas are served every where, often from mock Tudor tea rooms. The area is quite small and glad though we were to have visited we were looking forward to the beaches of southern Thailand (well who wouldn’t) so we jumped onto the overnight bus to Hat Yai.
The Malaysian VIP buses are well named and quite something. They have only three seats across, don’t think bus seat more armchair and every other row has been removed so you can lay
Santubong Irrawaddy Dolphin
A happy day was spent on a boat trip ( we were the only passengers) down the Sarawak river on a hunt for the Irrawaddy Dolphins, which we saw albeit from afar.
Terry did well to capture an image of one of these shy creatures - well almost! almost flat. We were almost looking forward to the 14 hour journey!
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Dawn
non-member comment
It may be cold but................
Hi it may be cold but the snow in Europe has been fantastic. We got 2 weeks in aChristmas and New Year then 5 days in Jan and we are about to go out soon. That's if my injuries heal. I now know the benefits of wearing a helmet, and I have a very nice cast for my thumb especially for ski-ing. Anyway enjoy New Zealand I have so many favourite places there that I can feel a bout of jealousy coming on again. Dawn