Meeting Malaysia

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Malaysia

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Kuala Lumpur
October 9th- October 10th


After a delayed flight and some trouble with my bags I finally set off into KL and arrived at my hostel at 3am. Tired from a long day, flight, and Indonesian battle I quickly crashed for the night after a quick shower.

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Up early at 8am due to habit I couldn't try sleeping any longer and decided to start my day. After a shower and some breakfast at my hostels rooftop bar I set off on a little walking self tour of KL. KL is exactly what I need right now. After the battle that was Indonesia KL is a welcome relief. Not only am I familiar with the country a little as Sabah (Borneo) was in Malaysia but KL has a slightly modern and western feel to it so it will be a welcomed few days here to recharge my batteries from Indonesia. There are Macdonald's, 711's and KFC's everywhere. I even saw a few Kenny Rodgers Chicken. KL is actually really cool. It kind of reminds me of TO (it even has a CN Tower like building) in that it is very international but instead people from all over the world KL seems to be home to many people from all over Asia. You have little china (where I'm staying), little India, and even little Burma just to name a few. Walking around the city you see people from all over Asia. West to East. It really is a cool city to just walk around in. The buildings too are quite a mix of tall sky scrappers and Muslim like architecture. I really like the feel of the city and really enjoyed walking around and it was nice not to be hassled for transport and it gave me a really good chance to recharge.

While wondering around I started talking to a group of people, 3 from the Philippines and 1 from Brazil who where all walking around taking in the sites as well. I joined up with them for a while and had lunch with them before heading off on my own again. After exploring I headed over to the main symbol of KL and visited the Petronas Twin Towers. I wasn't able to go up them as all the tickets we already gone for the day but it was still pretty cool to see something I've seen in books and on TV so many times. I also walked around the mall that is at the base of the towers and restocked on some supplies I'm running low on like toothpaste and the like. It is really different to see a fashion store that sells Muslim attire. I guess I never really thought of their being stores like that before. Other than that the mall though was exactly like a mall would be like back home.

As easy as this city is to walk around as everything is within walking distance the one thing that makes it difficult is the heat! I don't think I've been in a city that is this hot. My walks around th city turn into 711 crawls as I am continuously stopping to grab a drink. It is really weird too how much the temperature changes from the sun to the shade. When you step into the shade you automatically feel about 5 degrees cooler. Not much humidity I guess.

Towards the late afternoon I headed back to my room and caught a nap. When I woke up an English guy was packing up his bag and we started talking about our trips. He was heading home today after about a year of working and traveling. When I mentioned I was going to Laos he got super excited and showed me some pictures which got me even more excited. Throughout this trip I have really focused on not getting excited for the next country as then I might miss out on the country I am in but Laos is really hard not to get excited for. The whole last leg of my trip is hard not to get excited for. Everyone I've met has said Laos is an amazing country. Anyway he gave me his Laos Lonely planet and since he had a long flight ahead of him I gave him the book I just finished "First the killed my father" which is about the genocide in Cambodia. Books the currency of backpackers.

Once place you do get hassled in is in one of the many markets in KL but any market is just asking for it. WHile I was walking down a market today I saw a guy coming toward me to offer me something. I started slowly and casually veering away to the other side of the sidewalk until he was close to me. I then gave him a quick spin move and walked passed him the other way. He started laughing (as did I) and he gave me a thumbs up. I should remember that move for later. While I was waling through the central market I saw a stall for Cute Fish which are like Dr. Fish in Korea. Since I didn't get a chance to try them and I was still limping a bit from Bandung Blistergate '08 I decided to give them a try. Basically you put your feet in water and a bunch of fish nibble on your feet, cleaning them at the same time. I put my feet in and they went nuts and after about 10 minutes I was finished. They actually felt a bit better already and they looked a lot better too! After the fish I grabbed some dinner and crashed for the night.

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Today I got up and headed for the bus station to catch a bus out to the Batu Caves. These where some huge limestone caves that have some Hindu temples built into them. Another site to go along with the caves and the temples are all the monkeys running around. It was really cool too as most of them had little babies clinging to them. After walking around the caves for about an hour I headed back into KL. On the way I had to go to the bathroom and couldn't wait any longer so I got off the bus and found a place grab some lunch. Ironically I found a Canadian Pizzeria that offered 2 for 1 pizza. Having not been full for a while I thought this might be a good way to fill my stomach. To pizza and a bathroom break later I was on my way.

One thing about this trip that has come in handy is my sense of direction and map reading skills. Even though I had no clue where in KL I was within 10 minutes I knew what direction I needed to be heading. Even being a bit lost in a different city is cool too as you get to see a things that are so different then you are used to and you get to see the city and the people as they really are. I eventually made my way back to my hostel and booked my bus up to Taman Negara which is a super old rain forest which I will be heading to tomorrow. After this I headed over to a big bird park they have in KL. Walking through here was alright, just birds really, but combining that with an escape from the heat it made the whole experience pretty cool. I have never seen so many peacocks with their tails open as I did here. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around KL just taking it all in and even through in a quick monorail ride in. A lot less crowded then the subways in Korea and Japan I'll tell you that much.

Seeing some dark cloud rolling my way off in the distance I decided to head back to my room for a little nap. Once I woke up I saw it it was still pretty dark and now with the sound of thunder getting closer so I slide down the street fr some sweet and sour chicken in the Chinese market for dinner. I really love eating in markets because it allows you to sit back and watch the action without being hounded to buy things. Afterwards I uploaded my Indonesia photos and then headed back to my room to organize my bags for the next day. Not a super exciting adventurous day but a nice and laid back day spent just taking in all that is KL. Just the day I needed. Oh and my feet feel a little sore still but about 100 times better than they were. Those fish do work!

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Taman Negara
October 11th- October 12th


Today started with a bus ride up to Taman Negara which is a huge national park in Malaysia. It is also believed to be the oldest rain forest in the world as they don't think it was affected by the ice age so it should be a pretty cool place to visit. After about 3 hours on a bus and a short stop for lunch I boarded the boat and began my trip up river to where I'll be staying. The entire boat ride took about three hours and like the bus ride earlier in the morning provided many cool views. The area people visit in the jungle doesn't really provide views of many animals like my other jungle trek but it more to just observe the jngle itself. Still during the boat ride we saw many wild water buffalo taking a dip in the river or graving nearby. Quite neat to see.

After arriving and doing some small exploring on my side of the river I headed over into the actual park itself for a short video and nature walk. Along the walk itself we saw some cool spiders and some caterpillars which were just bizarre to see. I also learned many of them here are somewhat posioness (about the same as poison ivy) and to rub the poison with you hair to get ride of it. Our guide was really cool and seemed to know a lot about the jungle. I have him again tomorrow so I got lucky in that I have a good guide. The best thing I saw on the night hike were mushrooms that glow in the dark. I didn't even know these existed. Really amazing.

Over dinner I met an Irish guy and an Italian couple who spoke very little English. It was weird though as I we were still able to have pretty decent conversations. Either I did better in my Italian class then I though or being in foreign countries for so long as made me really good at guessing what people are talking about. The four of us spent a good chunk of time talking before heading off on our treks for the night.

By spending a good chuck of time in Indonesia and Malaysia I have really been able to pick up on some of the language. Although each country's language is slightly different there are many similarities and the fact that they use roman lettering makes it a lot easier too. Also after getting my second load of laundry done on this trip I've come to the sad realization that my laundry done while traveling is 100 times better than any laundry I did in Korea.

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Today was my main day in Tamen Negara. After breakfast my guide and I headed over to the park and I began my trek across the big canopy walk. It is supposedly the highest or longest in the world and was a really cool way to see a big part of the jungle without disturbing it as you are walking some 40-50m above thr ground. Even though you're high up and the walkway has got some good wiggle to it the walk was very cool and the jungle itself is very amazing. After the canopy walk we continued on to a view point which about a 45 minute walk from the end. Along the way my guide told me so many cool things about the plants and bugs we saw along the way. You can really tell he's doing this because he loves the jungle and not because of any money he gets. He said his dad was a ranger here so he's pretty much grown up in this jungle. Also for some lucky reason I've ended up having the guide to myself so I'm pretty much getting a private tour through the jungle. This jungle is beautiful and it pretty huge too and you can hear so many cool sounds off in the distance including a ton of gibbons. I think my guide said it was 4,343 square km and that about 80%!o(MISSING)f it is completely untouched. Amazing that places like this still exist and hopefully that doesn't change and it continues to be a protected place.

After lunch We took a speedboat down the rapids to visit a Orang Asli tribe called the Batek people. They are one of only 2 tribes that live within the park itself. I had some weird feelings going into this as most of the tribe visits that happen in Thailand are quite phony and feel pretty unauthentic but this was actually quite cool as most of the people there continues on with their daily routine as if you aren't even there. A few of them gave me a short demonstration of how they make their blow pipes and darts and even gave me a chance to try it. Really cool experience. Although some wear everyday clothes and have watches and what not they live mostly off the land and only supplement some food through donations. Again amazing to see that people still live off the land like this. On the way back we stopped off for a quick swim in a small pool formed by to rivers meeting to cool off from the heat before arriving back at the main village where I am staying. The village itself is quite cool as about 1/3 of it is on floating buildings.

Before settling down to some dinner I poked through my Laos Lonely Planet book as I don't have anything else to read before meeting 3 other people who are doing the same tour as me, just 1 day behind. One of them is from Germany, one from Australia and one is from Stratford of all places. They're all heading to Cameron Highlands as well so I'll most likely meet up with them again when they get there.

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Cameron Highlands
October 13th- October 15th


Again out of luck of the draw I ended up having pretty much a private driver today drive me from Taman Negara to Cameron Highlands. The drive itself was beautiful as we drove down winded roads that went through jungle after jungle. So much green. But this was short lived as we eventually came upon hill after hill of cut down trees. Contrasting this to what I had seen for the last 3 days was really tough. Hopefully the logging doesn't get into the park itself as my guide, Apex, fears.

As soon as I rolled into Cameron Highlands and Tanah Rata I knew I was going to like it here. Its small and beautiful and because it is at a pretty high altitude it is a lot cooler than the rest of Malaysia. In fact many local people head up to Cameron highlands, and their other highlands in Malaysia as a break from the heat and use it as a chance to recharge. I think I will do the same. I already felt more energized after about an hour here. The place I'm staying at, Father's Guest house, is great too. The manager met me at the bus and showed me around the place. He really tries to make everyone feel at home. They even have a big living room where they show movies and 2 beautiful dogs that roam around the place. The buildings themselves of the guest house are historical too and the dorms in which I'm staying in are actually old British Bunkers. Really neat.

Tanah Rata itself is a really beautiful, small and quaint town. It kind of reminds me of Leamington except much smaller and instead of tomatoes their main crop is Tea. I spent part of the evening walking around the small city and even hung out in a random, mom and pop type convenience store for about an hour just talking with the guy working behind the counter about Canada, Malaysia and the economy crisis. Afterwards I headed back to Fathers to catch one of the movies showing and wrote some postcards over a few beers. Not a bad relaxing day at all.

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After an awesome breakfast I headed out to do a hike which is a popular activity here although i didn't see anyone else while I was doing it. The hike itself took me about 3 hours and was absolutely beautiful and a lot tougher than I would have thought. Gone were wide paths and stairs made out of wood and stone. Instead I found myself climbing, slipping and sliding my way up tree mossy trunks and tree roots while following a path that is very close to being overgrown by the jungle itself. Even though the area is really cool temperature wise (and therefore not much sweat) I still ended up drenched as the condensation and walking through clouds made my clothes pretty damp. It was such an awesome walk. I even saw a really cool waterfall. Not a bad way to start my day.

After a nice shower and a change of clothes I headed for one of the neighboring tea plantations only to somehow circle back on myself and end up nearly where I started. Along the way though I stopped for a must do in Cameron highlands and had some homemade scones, strawberry jam, and tea. Both were delicious. This area has a super British feel to it. Malaysia itself has a tiny one as they use British English but this area especially leans towards Britain. Many cars have the Union Jack on them and tea and scone places are all over. I think this are was heavily populated by Brits back in the day not only because of the army barracks but because of the tea plantations which where started up by the British themselves.

After relaxing for a bit back at Father's a van pulled up with the 3 people I met at Taman Negara. After they had gotten the tour we talked for a while and all booked a tour for the following morning which brings you around to all the main sites in the area. Should be a good day. We then all headed down into the town for dinner and then headed back to Father's and hung out for the rest of the evening.

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The first stop on our tour today was a rose farm which was actually quite cool. They had a ton of different kinds of flowers, many of which I have never seen before. The really cool thing about this place was the amazing view from the top of the farm. Since it is on a hill you can really see a lot of they city and other farms from the viewpoint at the top. We also got to see a green rose which was really weird and is known as being the ugliest rose. That fact is pretty true. After the rose garden we headed to a strawberry farm which was also pretty cool as they are grown above the ground in a bag sort of set up. Also because the temperature doesn't change a whole lot her it is able to produce strawberries all year round which is pretty neat. After a strawberry milkshake we were on our way to a butterfly farm which was more of an insect and snake zoo. The best part of this visit was when they guy asked me if I wanted to hold 2 scorpions as he was putting them on my shirt! Guess I wanted to! We saw some really beautiful butterflies and some really cool looking insects that simply blew my mind that there are bugs out there that look like that.

After here we headed to the main part of the tour a tea plantation. This plantation is owned by a Scottish family and has been here for about 80 years with most of the same tea plants still around. I didn't realize that tea actually comes from a tree. These trees live about a hundred and 20 years and are pruned every three weeks which is why they are so short they look more like bushes then trees. After stopping along the way for a few photos and to take in the view we arrived at the factory part of the plantation. Some of the machinery here has been around since the plantation opened 80 years ago which is amazing. Oh and by the way this place smelled amazing. We then had some tea out on their porch which provided us with some awesome views before heading to a bee farm (which wasn't much), a cool little temple and then back to our guest house.

After bidding goodbye to Tim (the Aussie), and Petra (the German), Brad (the Canadian) and I headed into town for some lunch and a stop to upload some photos before I headed on to KL and the airport for my flight early tomorrow morning.

Malaysia was amazing and really gave me a chance to recharge, especially by finishing in Cameron Highlands which is about 20 degrees cooler than anywhere I've been so far. I had kind of planned this hoping Malaysia would allow me to take it easy and store up some energy as this is a big point in my trip. Not only have I now been on my own for a month but I am about to head into the final and biggest part of my trip. To add onto that I am half way finished my entire trip which is really amazing. I could go home today and feel like I have already seen and experience so much. I have already met so many amazing and cool people and I still have so much more time to go. Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam are the areas which I focused most of my time on and also am looking forward to the most. Let the adventure continue!


**** To see my pictures from Malaysia click here ****

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