Ruff (for the rubbish)! In da Jungle, inna, inna Jungle!

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It was quite a painless journey from Singapore to Malaysia. We caught a local bus to cross the border, dropping us off at Singapore customs to get our passports stamped, then picking us up at the other side, drove across the connecting bridge and dropped us off at Malaysian customs in Johor Bahru. Getting the all clear, we strolled on through and caught a luxury coach to the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. By luxury, although really cheap, it meant that the seats were more like arm chairs and reclined with foot rests, like a lazy boy. It was something special, and from looking through the windows of others that we drove by, it seemed to be the standard. Nothing like the cramped Premiere and Greyhound buses in Oz.

In comparison to Singapore, the difference in cleanliness between the two countries was incredibly obvious, as much as we stood out as tourists in this place being primarily Muslim and Hindu. There were many buildings that we passed that were crumbling to pieces, and it just looked plain dirty, although I guess it payed some resemblance to certain places in London. Littering is a huge problem here, more so than in England. It seems that they either just don't care about what it does to the environment, or they are oblivious or dumb to it. Just looking out of the window of the bus I saw several people throw their cans or cigarette packets on the floor, without a care to the world. I couldn't believe it. I later discovered that this sort of behaviour is evident across the whole country, and especially with it being such a beautiful place, and how recently they have had their Independence, it is a great shame how they disrespect it. I have seen long tailed macaques play with rubbish left on the floor, and fight over plastic bags, a section of the jungle used as a dumping ground, and trash floating about in the sea.

I felt a little intimidated when I first got to the city (KL), people hassling us for taxis and to buy stuff of their stalls. Walking through the Chinese Market was the worst place for it, although I gained more confidence and felt more at ease when we returned there a second time, small culture shock I guess. Obviously knowing that certain items sold in these markets had fallen off the back of a lorry somewhere, it was a hilarious thing to see pretty much the entire market disappear within 3 minutes, after a lookout spotted a young looking police officer strolling towards the vicinity and giving the signal. They threw coverings over their stock and wheeled the tables anywhere they could to hide them, mostly into the back rooms of all the shops in the promenade. All that was left behind was some litter on the floor, a few plastic bags, a disabled guy with a stall, a massive tumble weed rolling through, and loads of tourists standing there confused, shocked or laughing. Hilarious!

In KL we did the usual touristy things you would expect in a capital city. The National History Museum was really interesting, telling the story of the original tribes that made Malaysia their home, who were then defeated and ruled by the Portuguese, who were beaten by the Dutch, who were beaten by the British. Then came the Japanese invasion during WWII, ending with British resuming reign until we, being the nice people we are, granted them their Independence in 1957. There are millions of flags hanging all over the country in pride. I enjoy learning from museums, but my attention span is getting shorter and shorter for them. One of the largest mosques in the world was next door to the museum, so took a look from the outside. It was incredibly elaborate, such a contrast to the dilapidated streets nearby. Everything that surrounded it was star shaped, even the patches of grass around the bases of the trees, benches and patterning on the ground. They display much importance to their religion, which is why it is so expensive to drink alcohol here, both of the main religions are against it, so it caters mainly to tourists.

We found that this wasn't the easiest city to navigate yourself around, you could see the building you wanted to get to, but all the roads and alleyways seemed to take you round it and spit you out in the opposite direction. Confusing. With immense humidity and the shear heat creating a permanent stream of sweat trickling down my face, we often retreated into one of the many shopping malls for a bit of air conditioning goodness. We actually found the worlds largest indoor theme park inside one of them, what a crazy idea.

They love having the world's greatest of everything here. We visited KL's twin towers, which used to be the largest tower in the world at one point, and starred up at it from the bottom, trying not to fall over backwards. Another glamorous building that contradicts it surroundings. Nearby it, and noticeable from any point in the city is the Menara Kuala Lumpur Tower, the 4th largest communications tower in the world. We went up it and viewed the city as it changed from daylight to night. There was no sunset to be seen, however, through the smog haze that covered the city like a warming blanket. It was amazing to see the transformation from grey to sparkling city.

My favourite part of KL was visiting the Batu Caves, situated on the out skirts. We endured a scary bus journey to get there, where the driver was a bit of a maniac and started to drive into the side of a car in front as it was trying to take over it, it wasn't going fast enough for him and thought he would try to scare them out the way. It did work though, just had to make myself look somewhere else not to notice everything that he was doing. They all just seem to beep if the person in front isn't going fast enough, even in a traffic jam. You also have to watch out for the motor cyclists riding on the paths, they do it a lot. We went there to see the infamous Hindu Temple situated within the caves. There are 272 steps that lead up to it, where lies grand statues, ornaments and alters for praying and blessing. It was really stunning, stalactites hung from the cave ceiling, dripping water, and many Hindus pilgrimage from far to visit it. Also, diverting my attention from the temple somewhat, were loads of long tailed macaque monkeys, my first experience at seeing wild monkeys roaming around. They were incredibly cute and so playful. Playing homage to the famous saying, one cheeky monkey stole a bottle of water off one of the people climbing up the steps, ran up a pole and sat on top of it whilst attempting to unscrew the lid and drink the water! Unfortunately there was also a sad note to the sight. A baby monkey was eating an AA battery that someone had carelessly dropped on the floor. I later saw that battery completely bitten in two, with acid dripping out of it. One tourist also kept picking up a carrier bag and handed it to the monkeys to see what they would do to it whilst he took photographs, now that is just pure wrong, immoral and unethical. I took pictures to show the world how wrong it was.

Desperately wanting to escape from the city, we caught a bus to the Taman Negara National Park, the jungle! Had so much fun there, although the mosquitoes were out in full force and were excited to finally get a taste of my delicious blood, that they had heard so much about. We had a really relaxing cruise along the river to get to the park, although at times I was worried about the boat sinking, since there was only about 10cms of it above water level. There were many herds of wildebeest and a monkey cooling down and drinking at the side of the river and forest, as we speed past in the motor boat. The journey was a bit sketchy, at one point the driver stopped the boat, and nailed a plank of wood down in the base of the boat behind me, a little worrying. Our home for the few days was in a hostel by the side of the river, and we ate in the floating restaurants at meal times. We went on a night safari in a 4X4, seeing tree snakes, a python, some birds, the eyes of a leopard cat in the distance, and some fireflies twinkling brightly in the darkness. I kept thinking I could see larger animals running through the trees, but am sure that I was imagining it. Mostly we guided ourselves around the jungle, where we have seen so much animal life, much more than I was expecting. Leeches, birds, black squirrel, skink lizards, monitor lizards, a bright green tropical grasshopper with red wings, giant ants, armies of small ants, wild boars, monkeys, bats, didn't see any elephants or tigers though, can't believe that they actually roam in the jungle that we were wondering around. The monkeys were great, we saw them swing between the trees, and they loved to throw fruit down at us as we stood there staring up, trying to spot where they were. One hit me on the back at one point too.

I cannot believe that we climbed through a bat cave on our hands and knees. It was called Gua Telingga, meaning ear cave. There were ropes attached to guide the way that you should go to get through to the other side, although at times it was hard to judge where they were leading, and occasionally ran around in circles. That is why most people pay for a guide! There was a guide behind us with a few people, so we stopped, pretending to take a water break, then followed their light after a while, just to be safe. It was mental, still can't believe we did it. I was in lead, as I had the best torch light. It was pitch dark and the temperature had increased to about 40 degrees C. We spent a lot of the time crouched down and on our knees, crawling around in the damp and dirt. In the first opening there was about 3 bats hanging from the ceiling, we were nervous to pass them at first, but soon felt silly about it as we encountered a larger opening with hundreds and hundreds of bats dangling down. It was a magnificent sight. Soon felt as ease really quickly and fell in awe at the sight. One circle that the rope lead me was into a smaller cave, tightly enclosed, but instead of the bats all sleeping, they were flying around, avoiding each other superbly. I stuck my head up into it, then crawled up there and sat there. The bats were flying around me, skimming my head, I could feel their presence rush past. Their wings created a wind tunnel that was pleasantly refreshing. We had to squeeze through a really thin hole to get out. Fabulous experience.

There was a canopy walkway through the tree tops, incorporating the assistance of some incredibly bouncy and rickety bridges. No more than 4 people on each one at a time, and we had to keep a distance of 5 meters between us, for safety. It was a short walk amongst the trees, from the view of a bird or monkey. The views were stunning from the top, could take it in from a different perspective, looking down at the jungle made it appear more as a jungle, rather than a walk in a English woods, from which time to time it seemed (just forget where you are, and that there are dangerous animals about).

So, out of the jungle, and up to the north of Malaysia, Longbeach on the Perhentian Islands. Three completely different sides to Malaysia. It was an even sketchier boat journey across to the island, an hour of speed and bumpiness as we literally flew over the waves. I quite enjoyed the excitement of it, but there was a poor elderly woman in the front of the boat with her head in her hands the whole time, worst place to sit for her really, would have been calmer at the back. That confirms that all drivers of everything are crazy in this country. I was so happy to be there. Stepping off the boat into crystal clear water that felt warmer than a bath, about 30 degrees according to the dive computer. It was a picturesque representation of an idyllic paradise. Just what was needed after the jungle. The weather was still pounding hot and humid, and the sky was clear. Perfect conditions. Just had to go for a swim upon arrival, even though it as 6.30pm.

The following day it was Adam's birthday, so we went diving to celebrate. I cannot express how amazing the diving was. Our first location was at D Lagoon, it was just us two and the trainee dive master guiding us. We descended to 16.5 meters, the deepest we had been at that point, and then gradually swam up. The visibility was 10 meters, and the water 30 degrees, such a peasant experience to dive in. The first thing I saw was the clown fish, swimming in and out of the anemone. Found out an interesting fact, that there is one female clown fish who mates with all the male clown fish to produce eggs, then when the female dies, the predominant male turns into the female and mates with all the other males to produce eggs, until she dies, then the cycle continues. How fucked up is that?!! We swam through 33+ bump head parrot fish, which were really large, bluey coloured fish, with a huge bump on their foreheads (hence the name) and massive gnarling teeth. Looked a bit scary, but completely harmless. Also saw a blue spotted stingray, panda clown fish, map puffer fish, flowery cod, blue ringed angel fish, and beaded coral fish, that we identified. So amazing. The second dive site, the Temple of the Sea, or the Pinnacle, was even more amazing. Pyramid shaped coral was the home of so many species of fish. Adam saw a huge reef shark swim behind me, although, since I was facing the opposite direction, I did not see it myself, always doing that, missed the turtle too! This time we went to 17 meters, even deeper than before, and swam upwards around the coral in a spiral. Saw more blue spotted stingrays, a bamboo shark hiding in a cave, yellow box fish, blue ringed angelfish, titan trigger fish (which can be dangerous if they think you are invading their territory), star and map puffer fish, long fin banner fish, spotted porcupine fish and hundreds and hundreds of one spot snappers. When you swim through a school of them, they simply part for you, and swim off in another direction. Amazing. I have so much more confidence under the water now, and cannot wait to go back down there. Still loads more to discover. We further celebrated Adam's birthday by drinking Chang beers and a spirit nicknamed monkey juice, but called Orang utan. An amazing way to spend a birthday, and conclude our short travel around Malaysia. Shame we could not spend more time there, but will just have to wait for Thailand.

A note on mosquitoes: I do not understand why they like me so much. I have tried everything to deter them, but still they come. Insect repellent, clothing, shoes, mosquito nets, I get bitten through all of them. I have even been taking vitamin B supplements, as they are supposed to not like it, but even if they don't, how will they know until they have already taken a sample? It is not even like they are getting everyone, I don't see anyone else walking around marked by the devil. Between myself and Adam, we have gone through a whole tub of Tiger Balm in a week, to sooth the itching, can you believe it? The mossys on the Perhentian island seemed to be on steroids or something, they were so huge and made your whole limb swell up around the point of incision, nasty.

Having already experienced what ruthless drivers the Malaysians were, it was not too much of a shock to me when I experienced the cuing system, or rather lack of, particularly in the airport on our way to Bali. It made me feel typically British as Adam and I stood there complaining about the country's inability to form an orderly que. Makes me laugh now to think of it. Going through security Adam put his bag on the conveyor belt and walked through the metal detectors, then as I went to do the same, the guy behind me tried to push in front of me. How hard would it have been to wait an extra 30 seconds. Just minutes later in the shop, a lady pretended to look at something in the aisle next to where the que had formed, then when she thought no one was looking, stepped sideways into the que, but in front of Adam. Minutes after that, we were quing at the terminal gate to get on the plane, people were stepping into the middle of the lane without even trying to be sly, and as the gate opened, all the people sitting on the seats for which the que ran between, merged into it. You could see all the Europeans at the back looking shocked, then joining in. The problem with non specific seating in air crafts, turns civilised people into savages. Will have to remember that one for our next flights back to KL and then onto Phuket. Well, if you can't beat them, you gotta join them!

Take care everyone, and enjoy the sun whilst it lasts. XX

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Photos

Monkey Business
Stretching in the Batu Caves, KL.

KL's Twin Towers At Night
From KL's telecommunication tower, the world's 4th highest tower.

The Batu Caves
Hindu Temple in the caves.

Good Enough Reason Not to Litter
Long tailed macquare trying to drink from an empty can of 100 plus.

Another Good Reason Not To Litter
He is now quite attached to this plastic bag, he could either try to eat it (like I have seen many try to do with the rubbish), or suffocate himself.

Parental Monkey Love
A cute pairing in the Buta cave temple.

Watch Out, We're in Bat Country
I sat in this cave with all the bats flying overhead.

Boat Trippin' To The Jungle
A bit sketchy, but very relaxing.

Floating Village
At the National Park, where good, cheap meals can be eaten, whilst watching the boats speed past.

Deserted Jungle Village
Where the Orang Asli people sued to live.

Jungle Stairway
Natural steps made from the wild roots of the trees.

Canopy Walkway
Trekking through the tree tops.

Canopy Walkway Bridge
Rickety and rockety.

Longbeach, Perhentian Islands
Real paradise.

Diving Gear Ready and Waiting
The only diving picture I have to put up, such a great day.

Crystal Clear and 30 Degree Waters
Longbeach, Perhentian Islands

The View From Our Hut, One Morning
Longbeach, Perhentian Islands

Comments

[christine]

I don't think you'll ever go to a zoo again after seeing so many animals in their natural enviroment.The diving sounds wonderful. You two are so adventurous I think you'll do anything. Just please be safe. I think you two are amazing. Keep it up. love you mum xxxxx

[Kerry]

OMG!
Just spent the evening reading up and the extended travels of you too and am very jealous, apart from the lack of orderly queing that i think i can do without. However, if they are all doing it better get tose elbows into shape for the barging past people in a less that sly manner! Well? what are you waiting for? Go have more adventures!