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Published: February 25th 2010
As the sun rises over Melbourne on the 6th of Feb 2010, I board my 1st flight (of many) on my long awaited world journey. As I walked towards the aircraft, I thought of all the people I've ever travelled with and how they're not here with me now - not physically anyway! I'm disappointed that my ideal of travelling with only hand luggage has failed so miserably...pain already throbbing in my shoulders... apparently these back packs aren't meant to hurt :/ hmmm...
Spent 36hrs getting to KL from Melb!! gotta be a record!! upside is I got to spend a day in Perth with Bo & his family, which was super cool =) downside was spending 8hrs in Singapore airport, sleeping with one eye open (as metalica would say) until I finally reached KL - totally exhausted & sleep deprived.. wasnt this trip s'pozed to be relaxing?! :/
Kuala Lumpur -> 7-9Feb '10
Found great cheap hotel in chinatown close to everything... didnt do much 1st arvo...explored the busy streets & began sampling the local food =) so far tres bon! next day I walked all over KL! saw the twin towers - didnt get to go on
sky bridge coz it closes every Monday & my only day in KL was a Monday! :/
nevermind...walked on thru business district, chinatown, central market, city mosque & even saw monkeys!! food fantastic so far & ppl very friendly & approachable - already had a "romantic proposal" by a local Indian-Malay...hmmmm...
Pulau Penang -> 9-11Feb '10
up early on Tue 9th Feb to catch flight to Penang (Pinang). didnt like the place as soon as I landed in the airport! aint it funny how instinct works sometimes!? reluctantly i went to the info desk, got a map of the island (which i found totally confusing!) & caught a taxi to Georgetown coz Penang doesnt really have a beach resort!! so much for my week of relaxing on the beach :/ even the local Malays in KL & Penang were saying to me "why u come to Pinang? you should go to Langkawi or another island.. much nicer.. Pinang doesnt have much to offer".. hmmm... not a great sign! & was quickly confirmed. I found out that Penang is the 2nd biggest city in Malaysia after KL...only interesting for those looking to explore the outcome of a very Britishly colonised
city in Asia... not much else... I decided that I had enough insight into British colonisation from having lived in Australia for the past 2 decades or so, so the first thing I did after finding a hotel was to find Air Asia booking office & buy a flight out of there!! I gave myself 2days to explore the island, since I was there now... rented a motorbike & literally saw every corner of the island over 2days & 1 petrol tank =)
Penang highlights: riding across the 18km bridge; massive buddha statue at top of mountain; receiving a blessing by hindu monk at the temple & meeting Sandra at the beach (another lone traveller from Spain who almost looked like my identical twin!).
Sabah, Borneo -> 11-20Feb '10
to contradict Pinang, I loved Sabah the minute I landed there! I think subconsciously I could smell the Philippines from there & so I felt at home right away... turns out I was right, Sabah is full of Filipino-Malays (among multiple ethnic groups) & I soon became buddies with them =) the first pinoy-malay i met was james - who stopped me 2hrs after arriving in Sabah as I was
walking along the jetty looking for some sort of beach tour to do... he was looking for a tourist wanting a tour on the islands... perfect match! =)
had a fun chat with James, he gave me a "discount" where the price kept rising instead of falling ;p didnt book anything but told him i'd be back. then he asked me out for dinner that night & sick of dining alone 3 times a day, i accepted. James was good enough to invite his other friends (all filipinos) & I had my Sabah posse from day 1 in Sabah! =) by the end of dinner & bucket loads of beer (mostly drunk by them, not me ofcourse ;p) we were best buddies & they were chauffering me around the city (Kota Kinabalu) & promising to show me Sabah - apparently this would ease their boredom, so as a favour to them i agreed ;p
The next day Mus (Mustafa the divemaster) & James took me to the tip of Borneo - a 3hr drive from the city & the most northern point in Borneo, hence the name. I must admit there were many moments on that drive that I thought
"what am I doing in this car with strange men who could abduct me in this land of tourist kidnappings for ransom"... I felt very sorry for my mother if things went bad, but luckily for me Mus & James were perfect gentlemen, took me to the tip, shouted me food & snacks & did a great job of entertaining me with their black humour jokes =)
In a nutshell, Sabah was amazing! Mus, James & their friends became my friends & I truly felt like a local coz I'd get up each today & wonder over to the jetty in my own time, sure to meet someone that i know there. we'd sit & have a kofi for 1.5hrs as ppl arrived & then go diving - yes, scuba diving. Since Mus & his mate Tulasy (funniest Indian I ever met) are divemasters & decided to take me diving since they were takin the boat out anyway with other students...I no complain! ;p loved scuba & on my last dive, finally saw 2 turtles which was the whole reason i went to sabah in the first place! by that time i had been convinced by the "Valentines Day dive
group" (14 of us went diving for V-day & ate a candle lit dinner together on Mamutik island) that i should get my dive license & that's exactly what I did, finishing the exam minutes b4 flying out of Sabah on the 20th..hehe..in true Halabaloo fashion ;p
Caz & Anu met me in Sabah on 17th Feb & we climbed Mt Kinabalu together - a majestic 4095m high, with a mid-nite climb to summit (starting at 2:45am to watch the sunrise at 6am & freeze our butts off!! was amazing & definitely one of my greatest physical achievements! never thought i could make such a high altitude & not feel sick at all!! was a memorable experience with 2 quotes coming out of it:
1) "yeah bow wow wow, whatever" Anu in reference to my repeated local quotation "Boleh Bah Kale Kaw" which made all locals laugh hysterically =)
2) "if you hold in your farts it doesnt make ur burps any louder!" Hala in response to Anu questioning whether I'd have even more energy than current if I didnt talk so much all the time - as many can imagine, I talked non-stop most of the mountain climb &
descent ;p hehe... energy is energy I say... ahem!
anyway, enough info on Sabah...def da highlight of my trip so far! spent the 20th at Tune Hotel in KL only to wake up early & catch a bus then ferry to Langkawi (12hrs of travel for the sake of saving some carbon footprint & seeing the countryside...hmf! only good part was sleeping all day & getting hooked on a tv series on the ferry ;p)... by this stage I was a bit sick with Sinusitis from my many flights, scuba, mountain climb & general lack of sleep & over-activity :/ Caz & Anu yelled at me for being incapable of relaxing & doing nothing & threatened to tie me to a bed in langkawi if I didnt force myself to do nothing..hehe..niki & mummy would've been proud of them! ;p was quite easy to follow their orders coz i really wasnt feeling well initially & there wasn't much to do on Pulau Langkawi other than rest, swim, tan & ride a motorbike around.. I also made the most of the many massage parlours & indulged in 2 body massages, a sinus treatment, a much needed hair spa & treatment
& a facial - boy was i pampered by the end & ready to hit the slopes of Japan! =)
on the nite of 25Feb, I farewelled Caz & Anu (leaving them with great memories & a full belly from gate crashing their super swanky Vet dinner on the beacg 😉 hehe... tnx heaps girls!! miss ya already!!! tnx for the food sampling - i'll surely go hungry without u! ;p
flight count
-> 6Feb-26Feb '10
melb-perth
perth-singapore
singapore-KL
KL-Penang
Penang-KL
KL-Sabah
Sabah-KL
Langkawi-KL
KL-Tokyo
total = 9!!! with an average of 3 flights per week!!! hmmmmmm.....
tan-o-meter
starting in KL: 3-5 on the Hala-scale ("can't quite call you snow white")
thanks to a bit of tanning already done in Melbourne's summer =)
by the time I left Malaysia: 6-8 ("yep! you got colour!) =)
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Why am I not surprised?
Hala making friends with a bunch of random dudes who happen to be awesome? No... Sound awesome mate! Keep it up - I'm living vicariously through everyone's travel stories at the moment