A Home Away From Home
The Cameron Highlands is a fantastic and beautiful hill resort surrounded by jungle shrouded mountains high enough to justify wearing jeans and jumpers. In fact on a normal day the temperature was around 21 degrees Celsius. It certainly did not feel like a tourist spot in SE Asia and around every corner were further reminders of England. Firstly the highlands are full of tea plantations making tea of all different varieties and selling them with scones, jam and cream. There were some brilliant spots to look out over tea plantations and jungle whilst sipping on a fresh cup of tea. We did a lot walking around the Cameron Highlands and it was really easy using the Tanah Rata town as a base to do so (even though the maps didn't make any sense at all). Most of the places of interest where within walking distance and it didn't take us long to suss the place out and meet lots of really nice people.
The place we stayed in, Fathers Guest House, was placed (annoyingly) at the top of a steep hill. It was definitely worth the ascent though. The backpackers rooms were replicas of what was known as Nissen Huts used by British troops in an army camp north of Tanah Rata during World War 2. These were essentially corrugated iron roofed bunkers. One day we walked down to the Cameron Valley Tea Plantation to have tea and scones and get some excellent views of the rolling hills filled with tea plants. Another day we opted for a longer walk to Gunung Berembun. This walk took us about 5 hours and as we started the walk we met a lady who was also staying at Fathers. I say lady because she was 67 years old. She was very excited about doing this walk but in hindsight it probably wasn't the one for her. The walk had some very steep ascents and descents, some of which were conquerable only with ropes. The walk started out flat enough and on the map it told us we would see the Robinson Waterfall. We saw some sewage pipes which could have been that but I'm not sure. It was a really good trek through the jungle with moss carpets, twisted trees, and the constant humming, singing and screaming of insects and birds around us.
We spent another day taking a shorter walk across to the Parit Falls. Parit literally means Pit and the waterfall was nothing more than that. It was full of garbage and looked quite nasty. The walk was very tame compared to the day before (it even had a path) but it was definitely worth it as we found a strawberry farm. The farm had a small cafe and when I asked for a milkshake they told me I would have to wait a short while since they needed to go pick some strawberries. As fresh as it gets my friends!
Tamen Negara National Park
We left Tanah Rata and got a bus to Jarantut where we jumped on a ferry to Kuala Tahan. This took about 3 hours and when I say ferry I mean a long wooden boat with about 20 people in it. The boat ride was very relaxing but the water looked quite grimy. When we arrived in Kuala Tahan we were given a short introduction before we left to find some accommodation. Tamen Nagara is famous for jungle trekking and has the longest canopy walk/suspension bridge in the world at 530m. We arrived late afternoon so it wasn't the best time for trekking especially as the mosquitoes and leeches were out in full force, so we took it easy to start with. On that first night there was a concert taking place by the bus station. We walked down to see what was going on and it seemed that some member of Parliament had come to inspect something or other and they were holding this shindig for him. They had an orchestra and some singers from Kuala Lumpur and some traditional music and dancing going on. Between the good music and dancing it was nothing more than an elaborate karaoke night, which was brilliant! They got the old Parliament guy up to sing and he was loving it. Then two others started singing some songs in English which we joined along with. It was all really funny.
Jungle trekking being the priority, we mosquito sprayed up and set off the following morning. The walks through the jungle were great though we had no idea where we were going most of the time. We had to pretty much make up some of the routes. We found our way okay to the canopy walkway, which, although much bigger, was very similar to that in the Poring Hot Springs in Borneo. It was also much scarier in some places reaching up to 40m in height above the ground. When we got to the end we trekked over to Bukit Teresek. The climb took about an hour from the canopy walkway and when we reached the top of the hill we had a fantastic view point over the jungle. After that we made up our own walk for the next couple of hours taking us to a spot in the river that was great for a swim. The water was very brown and the current very strong but that didn't stop us. It was great to wash all that sweat off too!
On our last evening we decided to try out the night time 4WD drive safari. We were looking forward to this but it turned out to be quite a let down. The pick-up we were crammed into the back of wasn't 4WD (either that or the driver had no idea what he was doing) and we managed to get stuck whilst chasing a leopard that wasn't a leopard. We had seen a couple of birds, wild pigs and some tied up cattle at this point and when the guide got really excited by the small cat he ordered the driver off the track to get a better look at it. The driver managed to burn out the clutch trying to get back on the track so we had to push it out and then wait for someone to pick us up to take us back because he'd completely knackered the car. I didn't get a great look at the wild cat but apparently it did have a really nice pattern on it. Not sure it was worth it though other than for the amusement of watching the driver manage to completely destroy this car.
We had planned to stay another night and camp in the jungle to see if we could see any of the nocturnal animals that roam the jungle at night. This included sun bears, tapirs, snakes, spiders, big cats, and more. However, we found out the England - Germany game was on the following evening and there was no where here to watch it so we booked our way out of the national park not just because of football but also because we had been walking for about a week now and we were tired.
Next stop - Perhentian Islands. Perhentian means 'place to stop' in Malay and it certainly is that. More to come...
About Me
Wednesday 30 June 2010
Tuesday 22 June 2010
Muddy Estuary
Muddy Estuary? Confused? Muddy Estuary means Kuala Lumpur in Malay, a city that grew from a tin mining village into the metropolis it is today. It now has a population of 6.5 million and is an astonishing city where every corner brings a new surprise. Before all that though I must finish the entry that has now been broken up into 3 separate parts:
Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 3
So the final part of this entry concludes the visit of my parents and my time in Borneo. The entire week was so very different to what I have experienced in my travels in the last 15 months and I have drawn up a few conclusions on this. Firstly though, our last day together in Borneo was an excellently chilled out affair which included a nice stroll around the city. We stopped for lunch at the seafront for Thai food, which was easily as good as the food in Thailand. It rained heavily for quite a while but when it ended we had time to walk around a bit and make sure dad had plenty of pictures to go back home with. Mum and dad packed everything in the evening and had to get up at 4am the following morning to catch their flight home. It was a hurried goodbye to ensure they didn't miss the flight and it felt almost like I was saying goodbye to guests visiting my home.
During the day me and Briony watched a film and finished off the Pimms by the side of the pool before catching a taxi to the airport to fly to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived at about half 11 and had no idea where we were staying. We made our way to the Chinatown area and bumped into, none other than, Andy! He had booked us in for a night in a hostel and even though it was very late none of us were tired so we stopped for a drink until 2.30am when the bar shut.
- End of Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo -
Okay so I mentioned a few conclusions I had drawn in relation to travelling and holiday-ing and the differences between the two. So the first is the very obvious comfort vs. cost. Your on holiday, why sacrifice comfort for just a few extra ringgits? (Malaysian currency) It all makes sense but it did take me a few days of adjusting to not break down everything we did in costs and compare it to other experiences. Travelling is a different experience altogether here. If you want to be away for a long time you have to stretch every rupiah, ringgit, dollar, baht, etc, etc. This is most often achieved by hunting for the cheapest places to stay, which often leads to staying in some awful, awful places. The other way is to eat where the locals eat; the food is good and you wont get sick - normally. However you can get bored of this. Noodles and rice as a staple can get a bit bland so trying different food stalls or restaurants mixes things up a bit. Another stark difference is sweat and cleanliness. I very much enjoyed being able to wear jeans inside restaurants and being able to take a hot shower whenever I wanted. That was the well to tell the backpackers from those on holiday - make-up and smell.
Another obvious difference was to be able to get around easier and stress free. Organising trips away from the hotel meant pick-ups, drop-offs and English speaking guides all along the way. Along with this comes a greater sense of safety and security compared to taking local transport. I have just read a responsibletravel.com magazine in which one article advises travellers to reduce their carbon footprint by travelling overland and not by plane. When holidaying in lands afar this is obviously impossible but do I travel overland to reduce my carbon footprint or is it to save money? I would be lying if I said the former.
A few more differences in favour of holidays:
> Better service
> Better Western food
> Cool down in a swimming pool
> Faster and better transport
> Stay right on a beach (or other place of interest)
> Free toiletries
> Nice room with TV, etc
And some in favour of travelling:
> Greater sense of experiencing culture
> Stay right in the middle of town
> Getting lost and discover more in exploration
> Meet more locals and travellers
> Your money goes to help local communities and businesses
> Easy to change plans
On top of all this I have found it very interesting to watch someone who has never been to the far east seeing it for the first time. When you have spent so long travelling it is easy to see past what newcomers see on first arrival. While this can be advantageous (such as how dirty some places can be) it also means you forget how people might see the locals and what their day to day lives consist of. Transferring back to travelling from this holiday has encouraged me to want to speak to other people more and to realise that each place is so completely different to the last. Plus we stole all the toiletries!
Back to Kuala Lumpur
The area of Kuala Lumpur we stayed in was just south of the Chinatown block. Chinatown was mostly filled with markets very similar to those in Bangkok's Khao San road. On our first day we explored the city by walking to the famous KL TV Tower. The TV Tower stood tall in the center of the city and was lit up at night so it can be seen by those at ground level (and probably those at plane level). The tower is nested in a forest sanctuary at the heart of the city. In this "forest" it is quite easy to forget you are in a huge city. We didn't go up to the top of the tower as the weather wasn't great and we knew we could go up the even more famous Petronas Twin Towers for free instead. So we walked off to find a bookstore to discover what else is recommended to do in KL. The bookstore was situated on one of KL's many massive shopping centers and we found out there was another shopping center which sounded worth seeing. Why? Because it had a theme park. Yes, a theme park inside a shopping center!
The theme park was ridiculous. I did not expect it to be so big, but it was decked out with a massive roller coaster and several other thrill rides dotted around it including one similar to Ranger on Brighton Pier and one much like Rameses Revenge. It was a very funny few hours and we did not expect it at all. We strolled back in another direction as it got dark and saw the TV Tower lit up like a beacon.
On the Saturday we walked to the Merdeka Square. Merdeka means Independence and the square has a massive flagpole to commemorate Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957. We were very intrigued on arriving at Merdeka Square as some sound testing was going on and a huge stage had been erected in front of the flagpole. We spoke to an old Indian man who told us to come back in the evening as there was going to be a festival of some sort. We then carried on our walk to the National Mosque - a very new building which we weren't allowed inside of - and to the Kuala Lumpur National Museum. The museum was really good and gave a good (if slightly biased) account of Islam history in SE Asia and in particular Malaysia. After visiting the museum we walked over to the Twin Towers to get a look of it. On the way we accidently found the Little India Saturday Market. A bustling and colourful market which sold a variety of foods and clothing. We came back here for dinner and tried all sorts of things including a sort of egg wrapped samosa and sweet spring rolls. We hooked back round to the Merdeka Square to watch some of the concert. It was packed out and looked really stunning.
The following morning we got up really early so we could queue for tickets to go up the Twin Towers. We took the train there and got to the building at about 8am only to find that we were about 1100th in the queue. We were quite lucky actually as an hour and a half later we finally got our tickets to go up later in the afternoon with very few tickets left. We took the train back to the area we stayed in for breakfast and took our time trying to plan where we wanted to go next. In the afternoon we went back over to the Twin Towers where we watched a short film about the building and architecture of the buildings before taking the super fast lift to floor 41 where we walked along the sky bridge that links the two buildings together. The views weren't all that incredible as the city is always shrouded in cloud at that time of day but it was brilliant to look down from the height.
We stayed around the towers as it got dark so we could see it lit up at night. When we had taken our fill of photographs we caught the train back and watched some football before heading to bed. The following morning we checked out and jumped on the bus to the Cameron Highlands. We are now in the Tanah Rata town and are having a great time. I will tell you all about it soon!
Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 3
So the final part of this entry concludes the visit of my parents and my time in Borneo. The entire week was so very different to what I have experienced in my travels in the last 15 months and I have drawn up a few conclusions on this. Firstly though, our last day together in Borneo was an excellently chilled out affair which included a nice stroll around the city. We stopped for lunch at the seafront for Thai food, which was easily as good as the food in Thailand. It rained heavily for quite a while but when it ended we had time to walk around a bit and make sure dad had plenty of pictures to go back home with. Mum and dad packed everything in the evening and had to get up at 4am the following morning to catch their flight home. It was a hurried goodbye to ensure they didn't miss the flight and it felt almost like I was saying goodbye to guests visiting my home.
During the day me and Briony watched a film and finished off the Pimms by the side of the pool before catching a taxi to the airport to fly to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived at about half 11 and had no idea where we were staying. We made our way to the Chinatown area and bumped into, none other than, Andy! He had booked us in for a night in a hostel and even though it was very late none of us were tired so we stopped for a drink until 2.30am when the bar shut.
- End of Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo -
Okay so I mentioned a few conclusions I had drawn in relation to travelling and holiday-ing and the differences between the two. So the first is the very obvious comfort vs. cost. Your on holiday, why sacrifice comfort for just a few extra ringgits? (Malaysian currency) It all makes sense but it did take me a few days of adjusting to not break down everything we did in costs and compare it to other experiences. Travelling is a different experience altogether here. If you want to be away for a long time you have to stretch every rupiah, ringgit, dollar, baht, etc, etc. This is most often achieved by hunting for the cheapest places to stay, which often leads to staying in some awful, awful places. The other way is to eat where the locals eat; the food is good and you wont get sick - normally. However you can get bored of this. Noodles and rice as a staple can get a bit bland so trying different food stalls or restaurants mixes things up a bit. Another stark difference is sweat and cleanliness. I very much enjoyed being able to wear jeans inside restaurants and being able to take a hot shower whenever I wanted. That was the well to tell the backpackers from those on holiday - make-up and smell.
Another obvious difference was to be able to get around easier and stress free. Organising trips away from the hotel meant pick-ups, drop-offs and English speaking guides all along the way. Along with this comes a greater sense of safety and security compared to taking local transport. I have just read a responsibletravel.com magazine in which one article advises travellers to reduce their carbon footprint by travelling overland and not by plane. When holidaying in lands afar this is obviously impossible but do I travel overland to reduce my carbon footprint or is it to save money? I would be lying if I said the former.
A few more differences in favour of holidays:
> Better service
> Better Western food
> Cool down in a swimming pool
> Faster and better transport
> Stay right on a beach (or other place of interest)
> Free toiletries
> Nice room with TV, etc
And some in favour of travelling:
> Greater sense of experiencing culture
> Stay right in the middle of town
> Getting lost and discover more in exploration
> Meet more locals and travellers
> Your money goes to help local communities and businesses
> Easy to change plans
On top of all this I have found it very interesting to watch someone who has never been to the far east seeing it for the first time. When you have spent so long travelling it is easy to see past what newcomers see on first arrival. While this can be advantageous (such as how dirty some places can be) it also means you forget how people might see the locals and what their day to day lives consist of. Transferring back to travelling from this holiday has encouraged me to want to speak to other people more and to realise that each place is so completely different to the last. Plus we stole all the toiletries!
Back to Kuala Lumpur
The area of Kuala Lumpur we stayed in was just south of the Chinatown block. Chinatown was mostly filled with markets very similar to those in Bangkok's Khao San road. On our first day we explored the city by walking to the famous KL TV Tower. The TV Tower stood tall in the center of the city and was lit up at night so it can be seen by those at ground level (and probably those at plane level). The tower is nested in a forest sanctuary at the heart of the city. In this "forest" it is quite easy to forget you are in a huge city. We didn't go up to the top of the tower as the weather wasn't great and we knew we could go up the even more famous Petronas Twin Towers for free instead. So we walked off to find a bookstore to discover what else is recommended to do in KL. The bookstore was situated on one of KL's many massive shopping centers and we found out there was another shopping center which sounded worth seeing. Why? Because it had a theme park. Yes, a theme park inside a shopping center!
The theme park was ridiculous. I did not expect it to be so big, but it was decked out with a massive roller coaster and several other thrill rides dotted around it including one similar to Ranger on Brighton Pier and one much like Rameses Revenge. It was a very funny few hours and we did not expect it at all. We strolled back in another direction as it got dark and saw the TV Tower lit up like a beacon.
On the Saturday we walked to the Merdeka Square. Merdeka means Independence and the square has a massive flagpole to commemorate Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957. We were very intrigued on arriving at Merdeka Square as some sound testing was going on and a huge stage had been erected in front of the flagpole. We spoke to an old Indian man who told us to come back in the evening as there was going to be a festival of some sort. We then carried on our walk to the National Mosque - a very new building which we weren't allowed inside of - and to the Kuala Lumpur National Museum. The museum was really good and gave a good (if slightly biased) account of Islam history in SE Asia and in particular Malaysia. After visiting the museum we walked over to the Twin Towers to get a look of it. On the way we accidently found the Little India Saturday Market. A bustling and colourful market which sold a variety of foods and clothing. We came back here for dinner and tried all sorts of things including a sort of egg wrapped samosa and sweet spring rolls. We hooked back round to the Merdeka Square to watch some of the concert. It was packed out and looked really stunning.
The following morning we got up really early so we could queue for tickets to go up the Twin Towers. We took the train there and got to the building at about 8am only to find that we were about 1100th in the queue. We were quite lucky actually as an hour and a half later we finally got our tickets to go up later in the afternoon with very few tickets left. We took the train back to the area we stayed in for breakfast and took our time trying to plan where we wanted to go next. In the afternoon we went back over to the Twin Towers where we watched a short film about the building and architecture of the buildings before taking the super fast lift to floor 41 where we walked along the sky bridge that links the two buildings together. The views weren't all that incredible as the city is always shrouded in cloud at that time of day but it was brilliant to look down from the height.
We stayed around the towers as it got dark so we could see it lit up at night. When we had taken our fill of photographs we caught the train back and watched some football before heading to bed. The following morning we checked out and jumped on the bus to the Cameron Highlands. We are now in the Tanah Rata town and are having a great time. I will tell you all about it soon!
Monday 21 June 2010
Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 2
Kicking it straight off with part 2 - my birthday. (For those of you confused check the entry before this - 'Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 1'). We got up and had the usual breakfast in the room but with a cake mum had brought from England. We then spent the morning relaxing in the pool area. It was a great day for it too. For lunch we stayed in the pool at the bar for burgers and chips! The waiter (who was enamored with me the entire time I was there) found out it was my birthday and came back with a mug of beer with some cherry's on the glass! After lunch and another swim we went out of the resort for a short jungle trek. It was a very hot and sweaty climb up to the top but we were awarded with some great view of the bay. We took our time to catch our breath and talk to our guide Anna. Anna was nice though didn't seem to know and awful lot about the jungle and there wasn't really much to see. When we got back to the room we found a cake! We never found out if it was from my waiter friend or just from the hotel.
After showers we got ready for dinner, another barbecue. There was an incredible amount of food and apart from the chicken sausages it was all amazing. The hotel band came over and sang me a beautiful rendition of happy birthday. There was no way we could eat all the food that was there but we made a good go of it. I was then awarded with yet another birthday cake, bringing the total count to 3! When we finished eating, having also been eaten by many mosquito's, the band came back and played mum and dad's song - aw. It was a brilliant evening but I wasn't going to get drunk on my birthday for tomorrow was to be a big day!
So we woke up at 2.30am for the England match, not that it was really worth getting up for seeing as we didn't go to bed until past 12am. After the match was over we showered and got ready for my big birthday day out. For my birthday my parents had arranged to go to one of only four Orangutan rehabilitation centers in the world. This meant a short flight to Sandakan on the east side of Sabah and Borneo. This was a very scenic flight as we roamed over the islands and back around towards Mt. Kinabalu. It was an awesome sight as Kinabalu is only seen early in the morning before it is completely shrouded in cloud. Arriving in Sandakan airport we met up with our guide for the day, Zul. Our first destination was the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. When we got there we were ushered into a cinema to watch a 30 minute video on the work that the center had done and information about some of the Orangutans past and present. It was very informative and the UK charity fronting it sounded very interesting. After the film it was nearly time for the 10am feeding. This meant that everyone - in their hundreds - piled onto the viewing platforms to see if any orangutans would show up from the jungle for some bananas and milk. During the wait we saw a hornbill fly from tree to tree.
When it came to 10am the guide went up to the platform with some bananas, which were quickly seized upon by the noisy makak monkeys. Since the whole platform was completely taken by the monkeys we knew it very unlikely that the orangutans would be interested in heading there. However, some made it down the the platforms we were standing on, one of which was very interested in a small child roughly the same height, until the guide snatched the child away. That orangutan was happy to play around the platform performing roley polies for attention and swinging around the base. Another much older male orangutan strutted along the hand rail toward us with everybody surrounding it to get a good picture. A couple more younger ones were playing around the platform as well, all keeping well away from the annoying makak. When the orangutan left we made our way along the boardwalk toward the screeching cacophony of the makak and ring tail monkeys soaring along the plane. They were clearly in gangs, screaming at each other. It was incredible to see so many jumping around on the trees all about us. For lunch we were taken to an English tea house. The food was great but we all agreed that for a day of doing Malaysian/Borneo tourist things it would have been good to try some local foods. After lunch we were taken down to a water village. This was made up of houses on concrete stilts of which Zul maintained were much nicer inside that out. It was interesting to see two completely different celebrations across the same waterfront. One family was celebrating the loss of a loved one whilst another was celebrating a marriage. We were taken into one woman's home which was very well decked out. She was very pleased to show us around and sold a couple of bracelets to mum.
We were then taken into Sandakan for a look around the markets but they were starting to close. We then visited the Buddhist Puu Gih Jih Shih temple on top of a hill offering great views over the city and its harbour. The temple was covered in the usual gold leaf and housed 3 large Buddha statues. There were a number of pillars all with dragons embossed around the edge. Back into Sandakan we went into the memorial park to see what the city is most famous for. In 1945 Sandakan was used by the Japanese to housed2400 prisoners of war; 1800 Australians and 600 British, and forced them on one of the infamous death marches across Sabah. Of the 2400 only 6 survived and the memorial park gave a very intelligible insight into how the prisoners were treated and how the 6 escaped. The pictures depicting how the town was destroyed and how it grew back up again were very interesting as well. So after all this we were feeling very tired and depleted after a long, but fascinating day. We flew back to Kota Kinabalu and got back to Nexus early evening.
The following day was a very good day for relaxing. We had excellent weather and spent loads of time swimming in the sea and the pool. In the afternoon we took to making a piece of batik art. We were shown how to merge the colours together and all of us really enjoyed it! It was great fun especially as it was raining in the afternoon - as it often does - and it was a definite must-do rainy-day activity. We had dinner at one of the resorts restaurants for some Indian/Malaysian food. It was brilliant and the band came back over to sing us more songs. I tried a prawn sambal, which was like a sort of spicy curry with big tiger prawns.
Our last day out was to spend the day out in the Mt. Kinabalu National Park and the Poring hot springs. The drive there was long but definitely worth it. We stopped in a nearby town on the way where we got some amazing views of the mountain with the sun shining on it, making the clouds look very silvery. After a little hunt around the market we got back in the car to head to the hot springs. When we arrived we managed to tick off one of the things mum really wanted to do alongside seeing orangutans, walk the canopy bridges. She was mostly fascinated by this because it was designed by the same person who designed the one at Q Gardens in London. Apparently this one was more scary. Briony didn't help by jumping up and down on the boardwalk and swinging it, even though I told her not too .. .. .. and the pictures came out brilliantly! The walk itself was on shaky bridges connected by trees overlooking the jungle. I'm not sure anyone else noticed the view but it was quite amazing. After the walk we went up to the Kipungit waterfall. A large waterfall that was freezing cold.
When we were refreshingly chilled we headed for the hot spring baths. These were made up of large tiled concrete baths, some in segments for individual baths that took forever to fill. The hot water came straight from the ground and the cold from the waterfall. We also tried the very very hot and relaxing foot bath. We thought this was the end of the day but as we got back in the van our guide told us that a rafllesia plant was blooming near where we were. The rafflesia plant is the largest plant in the world and blooms just once in its lifetime for just a few days. After it has bloomed it turns into a dark grey sludge. Nice. So we went to where the plant was, which was essentially in someones back garden. It was a hilarious walk as it was so wet and muddy there was no way we could get up and down the steep slopes with our shoes on! We were slipping about all over the place and I'm sure we'll remember the walk to the plant as much as seeing the plant itself! After another exhausting day we were all very sleepy once back at Nexus but there was time for a relaxing dip in the pool before it got dark.
And that concludes part two. Sorry I have to keep doing this in segments but I really don't want to miss out any details lest I might upset somebody and the internet place is now closing. I'm not too far behind now so look out for another update soon!
After showers we got ready for dinner, another barbecue. There was an incredible amount of food and apart from the chicken sausages it was all amazing. The hotel band came over and sang me a beautiful rendition of happy birthday. There was no way we could eat all the food that was there but we made a good go of it. I was then awarded with yet another birthday cake, bringing the total count to 3! When we finished eating, having also been eaten by many mosquito's, the band came back and played mum and dad's song - aw. It was a brilliant evening but I wasn't going to get drunk on my birthday for tomorrow was to be a big day!
So we woke up at 2.30am for the England match, not that it was really worth getting up for seeing as we didn't go to bed until past 12am. After the match was over we showered and got ready for my big birthday day out. For my birthday my parents had arranged to go to one of only four Orangutan rehabilitation centers in the world. This meant a short flight to Sandakan on the east side of Sabah and Borneo. This was a very scenic flight as we roamed over the islands and back around towards Mt. Kinabalu. It was an awesome sight as Kinabalu is only seen early in the morning before it is completely shrouded in cloud. Arriving in Sandakan airport we met up with our guide for the day, Zul. Our first destination was the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. When we got there we were ushered into a cinema to watch a 30 minute video on the work that the center had done and information about some of the Orangutans past and present. It was very informative and the UK charity fronting it sounded very interesting. After the film it was nearly time for the 10am feeding. This meant that everyone - in their hundreds - piled onto the viewing platforms to see if any orangutans would show up from the jungle for some bananas and milk. During the wait we saw a hornbill fly from tree to tree.
When it came to 10am the guide went up to the platform with some bananas, which were quickly seized upon by the noisy makak monkeys. Since the whole platform was completely taken by the monkeys we knew it very unlikely that the orangutans would be interested in heading there. However, some made it down the the platforms we were standing on, one of which was very interested in a small child roughly the same height, until the guide snatched the child away. That orangutan was happy to play around the platform performing roley polies for attention and swinging around the base. Another much older male orangutan strutted along the hand rail toward us with everybody surrounding it to get a good picture. A couple more younger ones were playing around the platform as well, all keeping well away from the annoying makak. When the orangutan left we made our way along the boardwalk toward the screeching cacophony of the makak and ring tail monkeys soaring along the plane. They were clearly in gangs, screaming at each other. It was incredible to see so many jumping around on the trees all about us. For lunch we were taken to an English tea house. The food was great but we all agreed that for a day of doing Malaysian/Borneo tourist things it would have been good to try some local foods. After lunch we were taken down to a water village. This was made up of houses on concrete stilts of which Zul maintained were much nicer inside that out. It was interesting to see two completely different celebrations across the same waterfront. One family was celebrating the loss of a loved one whilst another was celebrating a marriage. We were taken into one woman's home which was very well decked out. She was very pleased to show us around and sold a couple of bracelets to mum.
We were then taken into Sandakan for a look around the markets but they were starting to close. We then visited the Buddhist Puu Gih Jih Shih temple on top of a hill offering great views over the city and its harbour. The temple was covered in the usual gold leaf and housed 3 large Buddha statues. There were a number of pillars all with dragons embossed around the edge. Back into Sandakan we went into the memorial park to see what the city is most famous for. In 1945 Sandakan was used by the Japanese to housed2400 prisoners of war; 1800 Australians and 600 British, and forced them on one of the infamous death marches across Sabah. Of the 2400 only 6 survived and the memorial park gave a very intelligible insight into how the prisoners were treated and how the 6 escaped. The pictures depicting how the town was destroyed and how it grew back up again were very interesting as well. So after all this we were feeling very tired and depleted after a long, but fascinating day. We flew back to Kota Kinabalu and got back to Nexus early evening.
The following day was a very good day for relaxing. We had excellent weather and spent loads of time swimming in the sea and the pool. In the afternoon we took to making a piece of batik art. We were shown how to merge the colours together and all of us really enjoyed it! It was great fun especially as it was raining in the afternoon - as it often does - and it was a definite must-do rainy-day activity. We had dinner at one of the resorts restaurants for some Indian/Malaysian food. It was brilliant and the band came back over to sing us more songs. I tried a prawn sambal, which was like a sort of spicy curry with big tiger prawns.
Our last day out was to spend the day out in the Mt. Kinabalu National Park and the Poring hot springs. The drive there was long but definitely worth it. We stopped in a nearby town on the way where we got some amazing views of the mountain with the sun shining on it, making the clouds look very silvery. After a little hunt around the market we got back in the car to head to the hot springs. When we arrived we managed to tick off one of the things mum really wanted to do alongside seeing orangutans, walk the canopy bridges. She was mostly fascinated by this because it was designed by the same person who designed the one at Q Gardens in London. Apparently this one was more scary. Briony didn't help by jumping up and down on the boardwalk and swinging it, even though I told her not too .. .. .. and the pictures came out brilliantly! The walk itself was on shaky bridges connected by trees overlooking the jungle. I'm not sure anyone else noticed the view but it was quite amazing. After the walk we went up to the Kipungit waterfall. A large waterfall that was freezing cold.
When we were refreshingly chilled we headed for the hot spring baths. These were made up of large tiled concrete baths, some in segments for individual baths that took forever to fill. The hot water came straight from the ground and the cold from the waterfall. We also tried the very very hot and relaxing foot bath. We thought this was the end of the day but as we got back in the van our guide told us that a rafllesia plant was blooming near where we were. The rafflesia plant is the largest plant in the world and blooms just once in its lifetime for just a few days. After it has bloomed it turns into a dark grey sludge. Nice. So we went to where the plant was, which was essentially in someones back garden. It was a hilarious walk as it was so wet and muddy there was no way we could get up and down the steep slopes with our shoes on! We were slipping about all over the place and I'm sure we'll remember the walk to the plant as much as seeing the plant itself! After another exhausting day we were all very sleepy once back at Nexus but there was time for a relaxing dip in the pool before it got dark.
And that concludes part two. Sorry I have to keep doing this in segments but I really don't want to miss out any details lest I might upset somebody and the internet place is now closing. I'm not too far behind now so look out for another update soon!
Wednesday 16 June 2010
Kota Kinabalu - Holiday in Borneo Pt. 1
This entry will probably sound different to previous ones since it hasn't really been traveling so much whilst in Borneo. No, I didn't twiddle my thumbs for a week - it was way more exciting. Whilst in KK me and Briony rented a motorbike and drove down to the airport to meet my parents! Yep, since I don't plan to come home any time soon and I have been away for 15 months now (hard to believe it's been that long) they decided to come on holiday to the far east and see if they could meet up with me. It has been an incredible week and I have done a lot of things I can honestly say I am not particularly used to.
Before all that though I had a few days in Kota Kinabalu before they got there. We used our time well and had a real explore of the city. We fancied a day out to one of the islands but decided that since we have a couple of days to kill we could rent a tent and camp out at one of the nearby islands within the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. We chose Mamutik since the Lonely Planet hyped it up to have the best coral garden of the lot. So we got our tent, got our provisions, got our ticket and jumped on a boat. The boat trip was fast and it was surprising the whole thing didn't tip right over. At the island we rented out a couple of snorkels and masks and looked for the best camping spot. We followed the walking trail around the whole island (it wasn't a very big island) until we found the best spot for camping nestled in the corner of the beach by a cliff. Feeling very hot and sweaty I went straight into the water to cool off. Cooling off in the South China sea north of Borneo is completely impossible! It is incredibly warm and unbelievably relaxing. After the swim we donned the snorkels and set out to this coral garden. We saw loads of brilliantly coloured fish and corals, of which I recognized a good many from the days at home visiting fish shops with dad. The vibrancy of the fish was amazing, even though some evil fish did bite me! We came to the island prepared and had our dinner of crisps and Pop Mie (pot noodle) for dinner. When it started to get dark we got our survival skills on and made a fire.
The fire wasn't going overly well as the wind started to pick up. Then it started to rain. Rain in a rainforest is quite rainy. So when the storm started we grabbed our tent, which so happened not to be waterproof and the peg bag held just a single peg, and it sort of snapped in two as it was pouring down with rain running across the island looking for shelter! We found a large shelter on a concrete plane and it even had a light! So we sat down in this shelter watching the storm pelting down all around us. It was very funny and although sleep came very fitfully I did get some in. The following morning we got up and put our snorkels back on for a long swim. This took us all the way around the island, taking about 2 hours. It was incredible and everytime it started looking samey suddenly something else would pop out at you. We saw clown fish, moray eels, puffer fish, and loads more that I have no idea what their names were. I really wish I had an underwater camera!
Back on land on the worlds 4th biggest island we spent a whole day walking around a few places around KK. First we trekked up the steep road going to the Signal Hill lookout point. This lookout point gave us a great view of some buildings... but that was about it. Following the road around we got to the KK Wetland Center and bird sanctuary. Not as exciting as it sounds. We snuck in without paying and strolled around in the baking heat seeing nothing at all but some tiny crabs in the marsh. The walk took us up to the main harbour and down back to the city center where we stopped for ice cream on the way - needs to be done.
We checked out of the hostel the following morning and hired out the motorbike to drive down to the airport. Originally my parents coming to Borneo was supposed to be a surprise for me, but with obvious 'where in the world are you!?' difficulties that wasn't to be. So it was excellent to surprise them at the airport as they thought I'd be meeting them at the hotel resort. After saying our long awaited hello's we bid them goodbye as we hopped back on the bike for a 45 minute drive to the Nexus resort north of KK city center. On the way the rains came very heavily and we got drenched! We very nearly beat them to the hotel too but they edged in front at the final hurdle. We got checked in, which was a bit of a mission and involved much confusion in trying to change rooms. Thankfully we confused them enough to sneak Briony into our room without any notice. (It feels like we've done a lot of sneaking recently!) After we got in we had to take the bikes back to the city. When we got to the bikes we realised we had made a very foolish error in forgetting about how it's kind of rainy in a rainforest and we left our helmets upside down on the bikes. Needless to say they were full to the brim with rain water! It took much deliberation but we had to take the bikes back so we squeezed out as much water as possible and braved the dampness. When we got back to the shop the guy there joked about us smelling bad... I think it was a joke anyway!
So we got some lunch, grabbed our bags and caught a taxi back to Nexus. The Nexus resort by the way is absolutely amazing. We have stayed in some pretty cool places but obviously at as low a cost as possible so we've never experienced anything like this! There were pools, with pool bars! And it had a 6km beach. And 8 restaurants. And it was quite stunning! So after much catching up and gossiping about news at home we went for a walk along the beach as the sun was setting. It was really nice and we watched some local teenagers hauling in a fishing net. Didn't look like they did too well though, just a few little crabs. It rained a bit but there was a huge rainbow as well so we didn't mind. When we got back mum and dad took us out for Chinese at one of the resorts 8 restaurants. It was nearly as good as Chinese food in China! We stayed up until the early hours of the morning drinking imported wine and Pimms, telling Briony many "when Ian was little..." stories. My favourite.
The following morning we got up and went into town on the shuttle bus. The first port of call was to stop in a local restaurant me and Briony enjoyed before for laksa. I think they were quite astonished by the price, especially after the cost of last nights Chinese. We had a walk through the handicraft market along the waterfront and bought some strange looking fruit, which turned out to be pretty horrendous. After buying supermarket supplies the rain started coming down hard again. I thought at this point mum and dad might be wondering why the hell they came to this place when it just rains all the time anyway! Thankfully they knew that you can't have a rainforest without rain and the landscape wouldn't be so green were it not for the copious amounts of rain. The rain died down in time for us to go and catch the bus back.
The following day we got up early to get to the town for a day trip back into Tunku Abdul Rahman national park. We chose Sapi island to visit this time, Sapi means cow though I'm not clued in to it's significance. Mum was amazed as to the heat of the water and proclaimed in excitement that it was hotter that some baths she has had. We had a swim for a while and then stopped for a barbecue lunch. While we were waiting to eat a large crowd amassed close to where the barbecue'ers were barbecue'ing. We quickly realised it was a monitor lizard and seeing how I've already seen plenty of those I wasn't too fussed at running over, camera armed. However there wasn't just one, there were at least half a dozen going after scraps of food. Shortly after we got over there two of the lizards started wrestling! It was quite a sight to see the lizards get right up on their back legs holding each other up with their strength, almost like they were dancing. They then proceeded to throw each other about trying to get an upper hand.
Back to lunch and there was an incredible amount of food with just about everything ou can barbecue except burgers. After food we rested for a while before taking mum and dad out snorkeling. It was really exciting to be able to show them something like that. I felt like a kid again - "Mum! Dad! Come look at this!" - and until they both managed to get injured I think they really enjoyed it. Injured snorkeling..? Yes. Mum got bit/suckered by a huge fish she had to rip off her leg and dad managed to cut himself on coral. I'm sure there are many out there, mostly surfers, who can attest to how sharp coral is. We got the boat back to KK and decided to stop for a coffee. This somehow transcended into cheesecake and iced coffee with ice cream! Not too sure how that happened but we were definitely all glad for it! As the sun was setting we walked through the night market area. Having visited a lot of night markets I was expecting to see all the same things. However, this market was huge! It had all the usual stuff plus loads of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. We stopped for dinner and for 4 people to each and have a drink it cost less than 5 pounds. A true traveling experience.
I'm afriad I have to wrap this up as it is taking a LONG time for me to play catch up here! So I will get Part 2 up as soon as I can. I'm not too sure how many parts there are going to be just yet. It will all depend on how much I can get on the internet in the next few days! I am currently slumming it in Kuala Lumpur which is an excellent city to explore - more to come.
Before all that though I had a few days in Kota Kinabalu before they got there. We used our time well and had a real explore of the city. We fancied a day out to one of the islands but decided that since we have a couple of days to kill we could rent a tent and camp out at one of the nearby islands within the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. We chose Mamutik since the Lonely Planet hyped it up to have the best coral garden of the lot. So we got our tent, got our provisions, got our ticket and jumped on a boat. The boat trip was fast and it was surprising the whole thing didn't tip right over. At the island we rented out a couple of snorkels and masks and looked for the best camping spot. We followed the walking trail around the whole island (it wasn't a very big island) until we found the best spot for camping nestled in the corner of the beach by a cliff. Feeling very hot and sweaty I went straight into the water to cool off. Cooling off in the South China sea north of Borneo is completely impossible! It is incredibly warm and unbelievably relaxing. After the swim we donned the snorkels and set out to this coral garden. We saw loads of brilliantly coloured fish and corals, of which I recognized a good many from the days at home visiting fish shops with dad. The vibrancy of the fish was amazing, even though some evil fish did bite me! We came to the island prepared and had our dinner of crisps and Pop Mie (pot noodle) for dinner. When it started to get dark we got our survival skills on and made a fire.
The fire wasn't going overly well as the wind started to pick up. Then it started to rain. Rain in a rainforest is quite rainy. So when the storm started we grabbed our tent, which so happened not to be waterproof and the peg bag held just a single peg, and it sort of snapped in two as it was pouring down with rain running across the island looking for shelter! We found a large shelter on a concrete plane and it even had a light! So we sat down in this shelter watching the storm pelting down all around us. It was very funny and although sleep came very fitfully I did get some in. The following morning we got up and put our snorkels back on for a long swim. This took us all the way around the island, taking about 2 hours. It was incredible and everytime it started looking samey suddenly something else would pop out at you. We saw clown fish, moray eels, puffer fish, and loads more that I have no idea what their names were. I really wish I had an underwater camera!
Back on land on the worlds 4th biggest island we spent a whole day walking around a few places around KK. First we trekked up the steep road going to the Signal Hill lookout point. This lookout point gave us a great view of some buildings... but that was about it. Following the road around we got to the KK Wetland Center and bird sanctuary. Not as exciting as it sounds. We snuck in without paying and strolled around in the baking heat seeing nothing at all but some tiny crabs in the marsh. The walk took us up to the main harbour and down back to the city center where we stopped for ice cream on the way - needs to be done.
We checked out of the hostel the following morning and hired out the motorbike to drive down to the airport. Originally my parents coming to Borneo was supposed to be a surprise for me, but with obvious 'where in the world are you!?' difficulties that wasn't to be. So it was excellent to surprise them at the airport as they thought I'd be meeting them at the hotel resort. After saying our long awaited hello's we bid them goodbye as we hopped back on the bike for a 45 minute drive to the Nexus resort north of KK city center. On the way the rains came very heavily and we got drenched! We very nearly beat them to the hotel too but they edged in front at the final hurdle. We got checked in, which was a bit of a mission and involved much confusion in trying to change rooms. Thankfully we confused them enough to sneak Briony into our room without any notice. (It feels like we've done a lot of sneaking recently!) After we got in we had to take the bikes back to the city. When we got to the bikes we realised we had made a very foolish error in forgetting about how it's kind of rainy in a rainforest and we left our helmets upside down on the bikes. Needless to say they were full to the brim with rain water! It took much deliberation but we had to take the bikes back so we squeezed out as much water as possible and braved the dampness. When we got back to the shop the guy there joked about us smelling bad... I think it was a joke anyway!
So we got some lunch, grabbed our bags and caught a taxi back to Nexus. The Nexus resort by the way is absolutely amazing. We have stayed in some pretty cool places but obviously at as low a cost as possible so we've never experienced anything like this! There were pools, with pool bars! And it had a 6km beach. And 8 restaurants. And it was quite stunning! So after much catching up and gossiping about news at home we went for a walk along the beach as the sun was setting. It was really nice and we watched some local teenagers hauling in a fishing net. Didn't look like they did too well though, just a few little crabs. It rained a bit but there was a huge rainbow as well so we didn't mind. When we got back mum and dad took us out for Chinese at one of the resorts 8 restaurants. It was nearly as good as Chinese food in China! We stayed up until the early hours of the morning drinking imported wine and Pimms, telling Briony many "when Ian was little..." stories. My favourite.
The following morning we got up and went into town on the shuttle bus. The first port of call was to stop in a local restaurant me and Briony enjoyed before for laksa. I think they were quite astonished by the price, especially after the cost of last nights Chinese. We had a walk through the handicraft market along the waterfront and bought some strange looking fruit, which turned out to be pretty horrendous. After buying supermarket supplies the rain started coming down hard again. I thought at this point mum and dad might be wondering why the hell they came to this place when it just rains all the time anyway! Thankfully they knew that you can't have a rainforest without rain and the landscape wouldn't be so green were it not for the copious amounts of rain. The rain died down in time for us to go and catch the bus back.
The following day we got up early to get to the town for a day trip back into Tunku Abdul Rahman national park. We chose Sapi island to visit this time, Sapi means cow though I'm not clued in to it's significance. Mum was amazed as to the heat of the water and proclaimed in excitement that it was hotter that some baths she has had. We had a swim for a while and then stopped for a barbecue lunch. While we were waiting to eat a large crowd amassed close to where the barbecue'ers were barbecue'ing. We quickly realised it was a monitor lizard and seeing how I've already seen plenty of those I wasn't too fussed at running over, camera armed. However there wasn't just one, there were at least half a dozen going after scraps of food. Shortly after we got over there two of the lizards started wrestling! It was quite a sight to see the lizards get right up on their back legs holding each other up with their strength, almost like they were dancing. They then proceeded to throw each other about trying to get an upper hand.
Back to lunch and there was an incredible amount of food with just about everything ou can barbecue except burgers. After food we rested for a while before taking mum and dad out snorkeling. It was really exciting to be able to show them something like that. I felt like a kid again - "Mum! Dad! Come look at this!" - and until they both managed to get injured I think they really enjoyed it. Injured snorkeling..? Yes. Mum got bit/suckered by a huge fish she had to rip off her leg and dad managed to cut himself on coral. I'm sure there are many out there, mostly surfers, who can attest to how sharp coral is. We got the boat back to KK and decided to stop for a coffee. This somehow transcended into cheesecake and iced coffee with ice cream! Not too sure how that happened but we were definitely all glad for it! As the sun was setting we walked through the night market area. Having visited a lot of night markets I was expecting to see all the same things. However, this market was huge! It had all the usual stuff plus loads of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. We stopped for dinner and for 4 people to each and have a drink it cost less than 5 pounds. A true traveling experience.
I'm afriad I have to wrap this up as it is taking a LONG time for me to play catch up here! So I will get Part 2 up as soon as I can. I'm not too sure how many parts there are going to be just yet. It will all depend on how much I can get on the internet in the next few days! I am currently slumming it in Kuala Lumpur which is an excellent city to explore - more to come.
Saturday 5 June 2010
Indonesia: A Summary
Easily one of my favorite South East Asian countries (so far!) Indonesia has been absolutely incredible. The country is simply massive and considering I visited just 3 of the 6000 inhabited islands within Indonesia I feel like I have seen and done so much in just one month. It would be so easy to travel Indonesia for a year and not get bored. Each island that I visited was so different from the last, almost like stepping into a new country; different languages, religions, architecture. I've witnessed various traditional arts including lessons in shadow puppetry, Batik artwork and seen performances of 'gamelan' (a traditional Indonesian orchestra) accompanied with Batak dancing. After Bali we got around using just local transport. Public buses, coaches and trains were really cheap and not too uncomfortable even though the seats aren't designed for Western (tall) people. One thing I noticed is that every man in Indonesia chain smokes all day long. Cigarettes are really cheap and I don't think I met a single guy who didn't smoke. It didn't bother me so much except for on the public transport. When you get on a bus or train it waits until it is full before heading off. The longest we had to wait was 2 hours and when the entire bus is smoking it actually becomes quite hard to breathe!
It rains often and the landscape is inevitably the greenest I have seen. Although much of the countries rainforests has been razed for logging, there are expanses of national parks dotted all over the country making for unbelievable viewing. The majority of travelers in Indo are Dutch but we also met a number of people from the UK, America, Australia, France and Germany as well. Despite this, Indonesia is the least 'touristy' country I have visited in South East Asia and although some cities have their tourist zones (Kuta Beach in Bali, Sosrowijayan area in Jogjakarta, Masjid Raja area in Medan, to name a few) it is not on the scale of that in Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia.
A conversation with a local tends to go as such:
Local: Hello mister!
Me: Hello
L: Where are you from?
Me: England/Ingerris
L: Ahh, David Beckham!/Wayne Rooney!
Me: Yeah. World Cup?
L: Ahh, yes
Me: Abu Kabaarh? (meaning: how are you?)
L: confused look (I can't roll my R's)
Me: Bagus? (meaning: good?)
L: Ahh, ya. Married?
Me: Tidak (meaning: no), We're just friends
One conversation ended with a bus driver thinking that I am a piano teacher somehow. The locals love to practice their English and most who try received some sort of high school education in English. Some actually spoke very good English and would strike up a conversation in any situation, be it on an opelet (local minibus) or just passing in the street. A Batak man named Gom-Gom in Medan even gave me his e-mail address to add him on Facebook after a conversation about University life in Indonesia. Some locals only know how to say 'hello mister!' and will do so whenever we pass by - even to Briony! Learning the Bahasa language isn't too difficult for the basics e.g please, thank you, yes, no, counting, etc, and a lot of the words come from variations of English, Dutch, German and Latin.
I really enjoyed Indonesian food as well. The basics were simply fried rice/noodles/thin noodles with veg, egg and chicken, which you can eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. The best food was in Pangandaran for its fish. Barbequed fresh fish, such as red snapper, and fried prawns were really tasty and really cheap. The local beer is called Bintang and you can find it everywhere you go. It is taxed quite heavily though. The other popular drink is Arak, a rice wine. Arak goes into every cocktail and can be very deadly.
I just realised I havn't mentioned Lake Toba in my blog yet. Toba, one of the worlds largest and deepest fresh water lake was really cool. The island (that isn't really an island) in the middle of the lake is huge and it would be possible to explore it for weeks. It was very chilled out and although we were only there for 3 nights we managed to see a lot of the Tuk-Tuk village where we stayed and the villages to the north and south. We stayed in a traditional-styled Batak house with a pointy roof and low ceiling. We spent one day on mopeds speeding around the villages. It was really fun and we found a place with a jetty that had a long diving board into the water (see the picture below). There were some fantastic views of the mountains that surrounds Toba and the climate was very different to that of the rest of Indonesia. It felt much cooler and fresher.
Me and Briony left Tuk-Tuk on Thursday afternoon and went back to Medan. We arrived quite late but managed to find a cheap place to stay and a cheap place to eat. Because we were flying out early we needed to get up at 5am to catch our 8am flight to Kuala Lumpur. We got into Malaysia and waited in the airport for our next flight to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, northern Borneo (I must be one of AirAsia's most valued customers by now!). We arrived in KK late afternoon yesterday and after getting on buses having no idea where they were going we found our way to the northern part of town where the cheaper hostels are. There are more backpackers here than I expected and virtually no motorbikes. It's actually quite a culture shock after Indo with its large un-congested, clean roads, the high rise buildings, KFC and Pizza Hut down every road - you could be in Australia or America and not even notice were it not for the people and the Japanese cars. It is a cool city though and being right on the sea it looks very pretty. From the seafront you can see the off-shore islands and I am looking forward to visiting those. I have already tried laksa, a great Malaysian coconut/prawn/chicken/tofu curry dish that left me stuffed.
That's it for now. Hope you have had as much fun reading this is I have had writing it. Also, I want more comments on my posts telling me how much you are enjoying it!! Now I get to spend some time in Malaysia. Hurruh! x
It rains often and the landscape is inevitably the greenest I have seen. Although much of the countries rainforests has been razed for logging, there are expanses of national parks dotted all over the country making for unbelievable viewing. The majority of travelers in Indo are Dutch but we also met a number of people from the UK, America, Australia, France and Germany as well. Despite this, Indonesia is the least 'touristy' country I have visited in South East Asia and although some cities have their tourist zones (Kuta Beach in Bali, Sosrowijayan area in Jogjakarta, Masjid Raja area in Medan, to name a few) it is not on the scale of that in Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia.
A conversation with a local tends to go as such:
Local: Hello mister!
Me: Hello
L: Where are you from?
Me: England/Ingerris
L: Ahh, David Beckham!/Wayne Rooney!
Me: Yeah. World Cup?
L: Ahh, yes
Me: Abu Kabaarh? (meaning: how are you?)
L: confused look (I can't roll my R's)
Me: Bagus? (meaning: good?)
L: Ahh, ya. Married?
Me: Tidak (meaning: no), We're just friends
One conversation ended with a bus driver thinking that I am a piano teacher somehow. The locals love to practice their English and most who try received some sort of high school education in English. Some actually spoke very good English and would strike up a conversation in any situation, be it on an opelet (local minibus) or just passing in the street. A Batak man named Gom-Gom in Medan even gave me his e-mail address to add him on Facebook after a conversation about University life in Indonesia. Some locals only know how to say 'hello mister!' and will do so whenever we pass by - even to Briony! Learning the Bahasa language isn't too difficult for the basics e.g please, thank you, yes, no, counting, etc, and a lot of the words come from variations of English, Dutch, German and Latin.
I really enjoyed Indonesian food as well. The basics were simply fried rice/noodles/thin noodles with veg, egg and chicken, which you can eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. The best food was in Pangandaran for its fish. Barbequed fresh fish, such as red snapper, and fried prawns were really tasty and really cheap. The local beer is called Bintang and you can find it everywhere you go. It is taxed quite heavily though. The other popular drink is Arak, a rice wine. Arak goes into every cocktail and can be very deadly.
I just realised I havn't mentioned Lake Toba in my blog yet. Toba, one of the worlds largest and deepest fresh water lake was really cool. The island (that isn't really an island) in the middle of the lake is huge and it would be possible to explore it for weeks. It was very chilled out and although we were only there for 3 nights we managed to see a lot of the Tuk-Tuk village where we stayed and the villages to the north and south. We stayed in a traditional-styled Batak house with a pointy roof and low ceiling. We spent one day on mopeds speeding around the villages. It was really fun and we found a place with a jetty that had a long diving board into the water (see the picture below). There were some fantastic views of the mountains that surrounds Toba and the climate was very different to that of the rest of Indonesia. It felt much cooler and fresher.
Me and Briony left Tuk-Tuk on Thursday afternoon and went back to Medan. We arrived quite late but managed to find a cheap place to stay and a cheap place to eat. Because we were flying out early we needed to get up at 5am to catch our 8am flight to Kuala Lumpur. We got into Malaysia and waited in the airport for our next flight to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, northern Borneo (I must be one of AirAsia's most valued customers by now!). We arrived in KK late afternoon yesterday and after getting on buses having no idea where they were going we found our way to the northern part of town where the cheaper hostels are. There are more backpackers here than I expected and virtually no motorbikes. It's actually quite a culture shock after Indo with its large un-congested, clean roads, the high rise buildings, KFC and Pizza Hut down every road - you could be in Australia or America and not even notice were it not for the people and the Japanese cars. It is a cool city though and being right on the sea it looks very pretty. From the seafront you can see the off-shore islands and I am looking forward to visiting those. I have already tried laksa, a great Malaysian coconut/prawn/chicken/tofu curry dish that left me stuffed.
That's it for now. Hope you have had as much fun reading this is I have had writing it. Also, I want more comments on my posts telling me how much you are enjoying it!! Now I get to spend some time in Malaysia. Hurruh! x
Tuesday 1 June 2010
Java and Sumatra (worlds best coffee!)
Where were we then? Ah, Jogja. Fascinating place. First time in a while we saw tourists in this chilled out and quiet part of town. We stayed in the northern part of the city known as the Sosrowijayan area (it took a lot of effort to remember how to say that). The narrow alleyways filled with plenty of restaurants, shops and batik galleries were really nice, especially once I found my bearings (again, took a fair amount of effort). We jumped straight into being a tourist on the second day of being in Jogja and visited the temple complexes of Borobudur (Buddhist) and Prambanan (Hindu).
We got up early to ensure that we had the whole day to visit the temples but when I woke up I realised I had somehow got conjunctivitis! This didn't stop me from going to see the temples though. Both temple complexes had a very Angkor Wat feel to them and being as they were both built in the 9th century it wasn't suprising that they were mostly either in ruins or rebuilt.
Borobudur is made up of 6 square platforms and three circular platforms that you can climb to, to reach the top. It has over 2,500 bas relief panels and over 500 Buddha images - so you can guess the scale of this monument! The relief panels depicted many stories and myths, one of which was about a Prince who having been brought up in the palace had not seen the outside world. When he saw death and poverty outside the palace he decided to become a hermit and was taught about the world, eventually achieving enlightenment. We took our time in climbing to the top, encircling the platforms as we went up. When we eventually reached the top, which comprised of a huge dome in the middle and many more bell shaped stupas protecting Buddha images inside, we were greeted with loads of groups of students from a nearby school who were learning English. The idea was to introduce themselves and ask us questions about us, even giving some information on the monument and Indonesia itself. It was great and really good fun to talk to them at first, but with my eyes playing up and after finding it very difficult to get some space I decided to scarper. I did get some good pictures though and from the top you can see surrounding volcanoes which look spectacular.
The minibus man was waiting for us to have breakfast and take us to Prambanan. It didn't take too long to reach there and it was a lot quieter than Borobudur. Prambanan was made up of one main temple complex with images of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma inside, the Shiva temple being the tallest at 47m. There were many more temples around the main site but most (similarly to the temples around Angkor Wat) were still in ruins and awaiting redevelopment. Having seen mostly Buddhist temples in South East Asia, it was really interesting to see a Hindu temple and to learn about the struggle between the two religions vying for their dominance.
Back in Jogja for the third day there we decided to explore the city some. The 'kraton', which was the sultans palace in Jogja was nice though there wasn't much to see. The guide though was very interesting and taught us a lot about Indonesian family life. He also showed us a good place to buy batik art. We learned about the laborious making of batik art and I even bought some. Later on we walked the the water palace. It was being completely re-done and so there wasn't much to see. It will be very interesting to see the completed palace though. We also got taught about the making of Javanese marionettes and how they are used in performance.
We left Jogja for Pangandaran (still can't say it right) by public bus despite the insistence of tour agencies to take us by minibus. It worked out a lot cheaper though we did get stranded in a place called Cilicap for a night. It wasn't bad though. There wasn't anything there but we did get a chance to try deep fried catfish! Yum. The next morning we went to Pangandaran, a place famed for its beaches and the nearby national park. We had learned that there had been a few drownings in the sea recently and once we went for a swim it was very easy to see why. The current is the strongest I've been in and the waves get very sizable. We hitched a boat to the white sand beaches, where we were attacked by wild monkeys trying to snatch our bags. Other than trying to keep our belongings away from monkeys it was an incredibly beautiful place. The water was so blue and the beach lined with the edges of jungle.
We stayed in Pangandaran for a few days, relaxing and soaking in the sun. Briony's surfer friend from home joined us as well and the four of us shared a really nice room near the beach. It was nice having a few days of not worrying about getting up early and filling the days with activities. We had one very funny night out with one of the locals we made friends with - Cornea. We went through a lot of the local favourite - arak (rice wine) - and beer. From Pangandaran we got a bus up to Jakarta where we went straight to the airport for our flight to Sumatra.
Medan in Sumatra was our next destination though we didn't stay there. I am very glad we didn't because it was extremely busy and the roads very polluted. We got across the other side of town and got a bus to Bukit Lawang. BK was an incredible place. Little more than a village with a wide river running through the middle, BK's residents were really fun and it was funny watching the kids jumping off rocks and playing in the river on large rubber tubes. We were greeted in BK by some of the many trekking guides that the place offers. Amar convinced us to take a 3 day trek into the jungle and the trek itself was absolutely brilliant! The orangutans we saw were semi-wild and brought there as orphans or from captivity and nursed back to health.
As we were getting reading in the morning before we left we foudn a scorpion in our room!! It was pretty big as well and moved very fast. It stayed by the wall with it's tail up in the air ready to strike if we went near. It was really scary and we had to keep a constant eye on it as we packed our stuff up. We left around 9am on the first day and within an hour we caught sight of our first orangutan. Sandra (the orangutan) and her baby came down to greet us as the guide gave her some food. It was quite incredible to see the great ape and you could simply watch them for hours. That isn't advisable to do so, especially if you have food on you! We saw one of the male orangutans soon after. The guide told us it was one of the biggest in the jungle. He didn't come down as the other one had but we watched him high up in the canopy, languidly moving form one tree to the next. On the first day in the jungle we spotted 12 orangutans in total, which we were really lucky to do so, giant ants and monitor lizards. The walk on the first day totaled around 6 hours and we camped the first night by a really nice waterfall and played card games until we eventually decided to sleep on the hard ground. In the morning with no one getting much sleep we took our time in getting ready, having a shower in the waterfall and watching one of the orangutans as it came down to see if we had anything for her. She stole someones tea and gave the empty cup to her baby, who played with it like a human child would.
On the second day the walk was shorter though a lot harder involving almost vertical climbs and descents. I had a lot of fun on this walk and when we found some vines we started copying the orangutans and leaping about on them. The walk took us to the big river where we swam about and jumped off a huge rock. We then walked up river, crossing it 4 times which wasn't easy! We arrived at camp for the second night at about 3pm which gave us time to explore along the river for a bit where we had a swim and found another, smaller waterfall. Dinner that night consisted of fern leaves and banana tree with tempe, tofu and sardines. It was really nice, though it didn't look too appetizing. The third day we 'rafted' down the river back to BK. The raft was 6 tubes tied together with one guide on the front and one on the back wielding big sticks to guide us over the rapids. It was great fun but not very comfortable!
Back in BK we stayed another day to recuperate and explore a bit. After that we went back to Medan to get on a bus to Lake Toba. We arrived in Lake Toba yesterday where we got a ferry across to the huge island that sits in the middle. Toba is a volcanic lake and all around us are huge mountains. It's very pretty and although the sky is quite gray, I am very much looking forward to exploring it!
We got up early to ensure that we had the whole day to visit the temples but when I woke up I realised I had somehow got conjunctivitis! This didn't stop me from going to see the temples though. Both temple complexes had a very Angkor Wat feel to them and being as they were both built in the 9th century it wasn't suprising that they were mostly either in ruins or rebuilt.
Borobudur is made up of 6 square platforms and three circular platforms that you can climb to, to reach the top. It has over 2,500 bas relief panels and over 500 Buddha images - so you can guess the scale of this monument! The relief panels depicted many stories and myths, one of which was about a Prince who having been brought up in the palace had not seen the outside world. When he saw death and poverty outside the palace he decided to become a hermit and was taught about the world, eventually achieving enlightenment. We took our time in climbing to the top, encircling the platforms as we went up. When we eventually reached the top, which comprised of a huge dome in the middle and many more bell shaped stupas protecting Buddha images inside, we were greeted with loads of groups of students from a nearby school who were learning English. The idea was to introduce themselves and ask us questions about us, even giving some information on the monument and Indonesia itself. It was great and really good fun to talk to them at first, but with my eyes playing up and after finding it very difficult to get some space I decided to scarper. I did get some good pictures though and from the top you can see surrounding volcanoes which look spectacular.
The minibus man was waiting for us to have breakfast and take us to Prambanan. It didn't take too long to reach there and it was a lot quieter than Borobudur. Prambanan was made up of one main temple complex with images of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma inside, the Shiva temple being the tallest at 47m. There were many more temples around the main site but most (similarly to the temples around Angkor Wat) were still in ruins and awaiting redevelopment. Having seen mostly Buddhist temples in South East Asia, it was really interesting to see a Hindu temple and to learn about the struggle between the two religions vying for their dominance.
Back in Jogja for the third day there we decided to explore the city some. The 'kraton', which was the sultans palace in Jogja was nice though there wasn't much to see. The guide though was very interesting and taught us a lot about Indonesian family life. He also showed us a good place to buy batik art. We learned about the laborious making of batik art and I even bought some. Later on we walked the the water palace. It was being completely re-done and so there wasn't much to see. It will be very interesting to see the completed palace though. We also got taught about the making of Javanese marionettes and how they are used in performance.
We left Jogja for Pangandaran (still can't say it right) by public bus despite the insistence of tour agencies to take us by minibus. It worked out a lot cheaper though we did get stranded in a place called Cilicap for a night. It wasn't bad though. There wasn't anything there but we did get a chance to try deep fried catfish! Yum. The next morning we went to Pangandaran, a place famed for its beaches and the nearby national park. We had learned that there had been a few drownings in the sea recently and once we went for a swim it was very easy to see why. The current is the strongest I've been in and the waves get very sizable. We hitched a boat to the white sand beaches, where we were attacked by wild monkeys trying to snatch our bags. Other than trying to keep our belongings away from monkeys it was an incredibly beautiful place. The water was so blue and the beach lined with the edges of jungle.
We stayed in Pangandaran for a few days, relaxing and soaking in the sun. Briony's surfer friend from home joined us as well and the four of us shared a really nice room near the beach. It was nice having a few days of not worrying about getting up early and filling the days with activities. We had one very funny night out with one of the locals we made friends with - Cornea. We went through a lot of the local favourite - arak (rice wine) - and beer. From Pangandaran we got a bus up to Jakarta where we went straight to the airport for our flight to Sumatra.
Medan in Sumatra was our next destination though we didn't stay there. I am very glad we didn't because it was extremely busy and the roads very polluted. We got across the other side of town and got a bus to Bukit Lawang. BK was an incredible place. Little more than a village with a wide river running through the middle, BK's residents were really fun and it was funny watching the kids jumping off rocks and playing in the river on large rubber tubes. We were greeted in BK by some of the many trekking guides that the place offers. Amar convinced us to take a 3 day trek into the jungle and the trek itself was absolutely brilliant! The orangutans we saw were semi-wild and brought there as orphans or from captivity and nursed back to health.
As we were getting reading in the morning before we left we foudn a scorpion in our room!! It was pretty big as well and moved very fast. It stayed by the wall with it's tail up in the air ready to strike if we went near. It was really scary and we had to keep a constant eye on it as we packed our stuff up. We left around 9am on the first day and within an hour we caught sight of our first orangutan. Sandra (the orangutan) and her baby came down to greet us as the guide gave her some food. It was quite incredible to see the great ape and you could simply watch them for hours. That isn't advisable to do so, especially if you have food on you! We saw one of the male orangutans soon after. The guide told us it was one of the biggest in the jungle. He didn't come down as the other one had but we watched him high up in the canopy, languidly moving form one tree to the next. On the first day in the jungle we spotted 12 orangutans in total, which we were really lucky to do so, giant ants and monitor lizards. The walk on the first day totaled around 6 hours and we camped the first night by a really nice waterfall and played card games until we eventually decided to sleep on the hard ground. In the morning with no one getting much sleep we took our time in getting ready, having a shower in the waterfall and watching one of the orangutans as it came down to see if we had anything for her. She stole someones tea and gave the empty cup to her baby, who played with it like a human child would.
On the second day the walk was shorter though a lot harder involving almost vertical climbs and descents. I had a lot of fun on this walk and when we found some vines we started copying the orangutans and leaping about on them. The walk took us to the big river where we swam about and jumped off a huge rock. We then walked up river, crossing it 4 times which wasn't easy! We arrived at camp for the second night at about 3pm which gave us time to explore along the river for a bit where we had a swim and found another, smaller waterfall. Dinner that night consisted of fern leaves and banana tree with tempe, tofu and sardines. It was really nice, though it didn't look too appetizing. The third day we 'rafted' down the river back to BK. The raft was 6 tubes tied together with one guide on the front and one on the back wielding big sticks to guide us over the rapids. It was great fun but not very comfortable!
Back in BK we stayed another day to recuperate and explore a bit. After that we went back to Medan to get on a bus to Lake Toba. We arrived in Lake Toba yesterday where we got a ferry across to the huge island that sits in the middle. Toba is a volcanic lake and all around us are huge mountains. It's very pretty and although the sky is quite gray, I am very much looking forward to exploring it!
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