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Published: February 4th 2005
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Dear all,
We arrived in Malaysia and went straight to KL for a couple of days. Had fun shopping under the Petronis twin towers although we didn't go up it or buy anything! Explored China town and the busy markets. Cindy was suprised at the people saying 'Come and look at these watches miss'. Again we didn't buy anything apart from food of course. James had his much sought after Chicken Cashew nut and Cindy had Veggie noodles... This was of course suplemented by the legendary Tiger Beer! As it was Cindy's first time in KL she thought it had very modern buildings but quite dirty and polluted, but we had fun all the same.
We then hopped on a bus off to Kuala Selangor. This sleepy little town has the most amazing Firefly tours. We got off the bus all dis-orientated and were walking down the sidestreet when we were picked up by a very loud local who organised the hotel and the tour for us! He picked us up to take us to the tour in the evening and had the music in the taxi at full volume even when he had a call on a mobile
Locals learning to swim on Pangkor
While sunning ourselves this merry group of locals appeared out of nowhere on there lifejackets. They were learning to swim and having a great time. Beats learning in the local urine infested pools! phone where he would shout into his mobile rather than turn down the volume. We found it well worth a visit but only for a day as there is little to do other than a big Nature Reserve and the fireflys of course. We hopped on the little motor boats once darkness had fallen and cruised up the river close to the shore. The bushes were all twinkling like Christmas tree lights. Full of Fireflys's. It seemed like all diffenent bushes were flashing at different speeds (Cindy is giggling at this, I don't know why :-). We both though it was very pretty. Mavis Cinders says this would be really cool for the wedding - the twinkly lights not necessarily the flashing ha ha ha!
By now we were in need of some serious beach therapy! We headed off to Palau Pangkor on the West Coast just further up than Kuala Selangor. This is a tiny little island that takes just thirty minutes on the moterbike for a round trip. We know this because we hired a moped. I had grand visions of being the next Evil Kenevil while Cindy spent most of her time screaming and telling me
to stop. Lets just say we did a few unexpected wheelies!
Each day we lazed by the beach sunbathing and swimming whilst in the evenings we went to a seafood restaurant just down the road from the hotel. I had Red snapper, Seabass, Okka fish and Stingray! Would have to say that I found Sting Ray a bit of a let-down (turns out it's also one of Cindy's favourite animals) so I wasn't in the good books that night! We did manage to have sausage and beans for breakfast though! It was a really nice break and after 5 days we thought we should be getting on with the travel trail again...
So, onwards to Taman Negara which meant an 8-hour coach ride down to KL and then back up to Jerantut. Arrived and booked a tour at our hotel into the Rain forest for three days. We met 2 Canadians; Brittany and Jordan, and Serina and Jemana, from the UK and Dubai. We travelled up by longboat that looked like it was about to sink. But the views were fantastic. Huge Jungle trees with a small river winding its way through. The first day we went on
the Canopy walk. This consists of beams suspended 25m in the air by the odd bit rope here and there! It felt really dangerous and we'd be suprised if anything like this would be aloud in the UK. Health and safety would have a field day out here but it is well worth it! We then trekked for several hours through the Jungle on what were supposed to be the easy walks. Cindy and I have decided we need to get fit for Sumatra (He says being fed another Chocolate biscuit!)
Had dinner in a floating restaurant as the whole 'resort' is floating on water or by the river bank. We shared a room with Brittany and Jordan and had a bunk bed each! We had to pay extra for the bat in the room but that is nothing yet!
Day 2 we were told to set out a 8:30am and the usual Malaysian organisation made sure that we actually started our trip at 12:30pm! Trekked 8km on a windy jungle path. We have never sweated so much than we have during the last few days. The trek pace was really fast and we had to carry our
The Canopy walk
25m above ground level and it was still hot up here! and scary too rucksacks in 30degree+ weather and 100% humididity. Whose idea was it to do this Cindy? Arrived at our Hotel le Cave for the night. We were accompanied by Bats and Rats, Spiders as big as your hand and goodness knows what else. It is safe to say that nobody got much sleep that night. We joined up with another group of tourists and all 30 of us slept in a long line surrounded by candles and a fire to ward off all the evils. The jungle sounds really scary at night so you can imagine that we are really looking forward to Sumatra and the Orangutans now. Baby wipes came in very handy on this trip. Well done Mrs Wilson!
Day 3 was more agony of trekking. Hardly getting a chance to see any animals at all. We did see lots of elephant poo though. We also saw Monitor Lizards, smaller lizards, Birds, one snake, massive ants and the occasional monkey. All the time there was a lively jungle chorus and we knew we had lots of company during our travels. All in all a strenuous but fun trip. Made some cool new friends too.
We are now
Jungle view
This was the view from the climb we did on the first day. Trees and trees all massive and really tall back at Jerantut and are waiting for our Jungle train out of here. Slapper Kate has let us down (just joking slapper we will see you on the 16th that is fine!) and we are meeting her a day late in Bangkok. We are just trying to decide where to go next.... Watch this space. Thanks for everybody's messages, we are getting them but we want more as it's lovely to hear how you all are.
Lots of Luv
Cinders and James
p.s. Yes I know Saints are going down (James) :-(
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