Malaysia - Taman Negara

After spending time in the orderly streets of Singapore and my stomach recovered from Kuala Lumpur, we were excited to escape from the cities and venture up to the jungles of the Taman Negara. We traveled by bus to Jerantut a small little town with not much except a few shops, a post office, and the compulsory KFC, and then went by boat up the river into the jungle. We still had a while left before we had to fly out to Borneo and the plan was to spend a few days in the jungle and then head off to see a little more of peninsular Malaysia. But the jungle sucked us in and we both fell in love with the area and never wanted to leave. We ended up spending the rest of our trip in a little hostel on the river. The place didn't have hot water or a solid structure, but what it lacked in stability it made up for in character. The guy who owned the place was the most laid back guy I've ever met - not concerned about money or rules and was often found painting in his room late into the night.

The base for the jungle is a little town called Kuala Tahan that is set right on the river across from the national park. Along the water are a whole group of floating restaurants (they have to float because during the rainy season the water level goes up so high that they would be covered) where you can eat, book tours, find guides, and get water taxis across into the park.

The boat on the ride into Kuala Tahan

Water buffalo on the side of the river

On our first day after lunch we took a taxi into the park to check out the scene and get a feel for how we wanted to spend our trip. The guy driving us across offered to take us on a tour that afternoon and offered a price lower than all of the package companies. We decided to take the chance and see what he had to offer, and set off on an afternoon down the river. First we went to visit a local native tribe called the Organ Asli (literally 'original people'). These tribes are the descendants of the first people to settle peninsular Malaysia, and are the only people allowed to live within the park ground and use the trees and animals for their survival. They hunt using poisoned bow darts and live a nomadic life living in huts. When a member of the tribe dies they abandon their huts and move to a new settlement. On our visit they showed us how they traditional start fire and how to make and use blow darts.

Learning how to start a fire

They had a pet giant squirrel. This guy is the baby, and right after this picture our guide put him on my shoulders and he crawled across my back.

One of the huts they live in

I never hunt deer in Pennsylvania, but I thought I'd give the blow darts a try

And I almost caught a bear!

On the way back from the settlement we stopped a really cool rope swing and went for a swim in the river. Our guide was a young guy of about 20 and while we were there all of his friends came from the town to play on the swing. We ended up staying for a few hours, watching playing in the water and relaxing on the shore.

By hiring our own little guide we were able to do what we wanted and decided that this was probably the way to go for the rest of the trip. As it is the low tourist season we were able to get pretty good prices to do everything we wanted. That night we decided to go on a walking night safari, and we hired the guys father as our new guide. He went by 'Freeman' and was a smart old man with eyes full of the mischief of a small boy. As we walked through the jungle listening to the night sounds he pointed out different insects and plants teaching us so much along the way. He knew everything from what baby termites eat to what plants are currently being used for AIDS research. He had an amazing knowledge and appreciation of the jungle, and his excitement was infectious.

Because we really liked the night walk we decided to do an overnight in the jungle the following day. We walked 4 hours into the jungle to an open air pavilion that was an old fishing hut on the river. On our trek we saw lots of animals including a water monitor, a family of otters playing in the water, loads of monkeys, and a wild boar. We arrived in the evening and went for a good swim in the river and then went back up to set up camp. I have a deep love for hammocks, and in Cambodia on an impulse I decided to buy one. I thought it was going to be useless and a waste of space in my bag, but Freeman told me I could spend the night in the jungle in my hammock, which was probably the highlight of my trip. At night he cooked us chicken curry and rice and we sat talking and listening to the crazy sounds of the jungle. In the morning we could hear the gibbons call as we went for one last swim before packing up camp and heading down to meet the boat that would take us back to Kuala Tahan.

Loving my beautiful red hammock

The monkeys can be cheeky here too

Cool mushrooms on the trees

The insects were GIANT. This centipede was almost as big as my giant sized foot.

And GIANT trees...

The park also has a bat cave that you can climb through, but unfortunately just before we came a rock fell near the entrance and they were closed to the public. Freeman seemed to think this was silly and that we could still go in, so we decided to go and check it out. We climbed past the taped off entrance and shinning our lights ahead crawled into the tiny caves. The caves were COVERED in bat poop, which was probably worse than normal because no one had gone through them in a while. We crouched and crawled through the caves sliding through the poo and coming face to face with the blind pig nosed claw fingered beasts that called the place home.

Crawling over the taped off entrance to get into the caves

Bats EVERYWHERE

That's not dirt, it's bat poop. I hope I don't get Ebola.

There is also a long canopy walk way that connects through the tree tops where you can get a cool view from up above.

I don't like things that suck my blood, be it mosquitos, nurses, or leeches, and the jungles of Malaysia have really tested my nerve. Although I had been warned about the mosquitos I didn't have a big problem with them, but what really got me was the leeches. On our first walk through the jungle I saw what I thought was a cute little inch worm and stopped to pick up the leaf and check it out. Our guide quickly informed me that what I originally thought was cute was the little monster that wanted to eat me. They sit on the ground and leaves sticking out their heads like a submarine periscope looking around for fresh meat to feed on. When they find you they latch on and inch up until they find a spot they like, and sink their teeth in. We had been warned to wear long pants, but actaully found it was better to wear shorts because then you could feel them crawling up your legs. Most of the time I caught them, but ocassionally they had a meal before I ripped them off my body.

Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

After Singapore we made the short flight to Kuala Lumpur. I had survived an entire month of travel with no health problems, but in Singapore of all places I picked up my first case of travelers stomach. I have a baby stomach to begin with. If I run too fast I throw up. If I take a shot I throw up. Really a lot of things make my belly ache, so it's amazing that I lasted so long with no problems. But this short flight was a test on my body, and I spent the entire time hovering around the bathroom. This made my first 2 days in Malaysia a kind of blur, I became much more familiar with the bathrooms of Kuala Lumpur than the sights.

The second day we were there we headed to the Batu caves, a group of caves outside of the city that houses Hindu temples. You have to climb almost 300 stairs to reach the caves, and the entire staircase is crowded with flocks of wild monkeys. When we first got there I thought they were really cute and watched as people fed them bananas, coconuts, or whatever snacks they had handy. I climbed the stairs but was feeling kind of weak because I hadn't eaten much the day before. I bought a Sprite at the top to get some sugar and was kind of in a daze as I wandered around the cave. Suddenly a monkey ran by me and grabbed the can right from my hand. An Australian family was walking behind me and I heard the woman say 'what a cheeky monkey!' Afterwards I watched as another monkey stole a soda bottle from someone. The monkey then proceeded to unscrew the cap and drink it like a human. Smart little monkeys!

This is the tallest statue of Murugan (a Hindu deity) in the world.

KL also has the Petronas twin towers, the tallest twin buildings in the world and the third tallest building in the world (after Dubai and Tapei 101!). Underneath is a shopping mall with any store you can dream of. My appetite was slowly coming back so I indulged in an Auntie Annes soft pretzel.

Kuala Lumpur is also a very multicultural city with a strong Indian and Chinese presence. On the street our hostel was on there is a Hindu temple and a Chinese temple. And of course as a Muslim country there are lots of mosques all around. I had read that you need to dress conservatively on the streets, so I pictured the city as being very serious and uptight. But it was very modern and felt just like any other city.

We went to visit the National Mosque where there are only certain hours tourists are allowed in, and women are given a robe to cover up inside. We wandered around for a while and when we were looking at the prayer room a volunteer came up to us to give us some information about the building. He ended up talking for over an hour telling us all sorts of things about the mosque and Islam. I realized how little I actually knew about the religion and it was a very interesting conversation. Some things I found very interesting and agreed with, and some things were a bit of a stretch. For example his argument against evolution was that if evolution existed people would have eyes on the back of their heads and wouldn't have to eat because we would have evolved to make life easier. He even pulled out pictures of things in natures spelling the word Allah in Arabic, just like when Catholics think they see Jesus in a piece of toast. He gave Helen a copy of the Koran, and for some reason I got pamphlets including 'Sex in Islam'. Overall it was a very informative trip.

The outside of the mosque.

The main prayer room. This room holds up to 3,000 people and the area outside can fit another 12,000! Non-Muslims aren't allowed inside.

Singapore

Singapore is a very strange city, especially arriving directly from Cambodia. The city has a lot of old colonial influences mixed with different Asian cultures and then topped off with intense tourist appeal. Everything is extremely clean and orderly in the city, and it all feels like it was planned deliberately. At times I felt like I was in an amusement park walking down the streets modeled after a country instead of really in a new place. They are very big on keeping the streets clean, and there are big campaigns throughout the city about being polite to one another. They have a special set of adds directed at public transport where three woman sing about proper etiquette. Right before the trains pull into the station you can hear them sing 'Train is coming, train is coming, please start to queue!'. You can see one of the videos here:

Video for trains

Here is another example of adds on being polite:

There are also lots of signs about not littering, and all the trash cans are painted in creative ways.

Here are some of the old colonial buildings. The first is the cathedral and the second is the old city hall. All of these buildings are grouped together in one area.

Right near the colonial district is an area geared more towards the average tourist. In the 60s Singapore came up with the Merlion as it's tourist symbol. It is half lion and half fish and sits on the river with a fountain shooting out from it's mouth. Singapore means 'lion city', and the old Javanese name was Tamasek which means sea town, so the Merlion I guess joins old and new.

Across from the Merlion is the new concert hall. It has a strange spiked dome the some people think looks like a durian (the smelly giant fruit of southeast Asia).

Also in this area is a new hotel/casino that has a giant growth connecting the roofs. It is in the shape of a boat and apparently has a big swimming pool across the top.

You can't go to Singapore without drinking a Singapore Sling, so we made a trip to the Raffles hotel where the delicious treat was invented. As soon as we walked into the bar we saw a crowd of other tourists also enjoying their pink fruity beverage, and it was obvious to the bartender what we wanted. We ordered 2 and joined in with the crowds eating peanuts and chucking the shells on the ground. Each drink cost $25US making it the most expensive drink I have ever had in my life. Just out of curiosity we asked to see the drink menu, but with 15 dollar beers we decided to stop after the first round. The bartender took pity on us a gave us a free drink.

We stayed in Chinatown and visited Little India, so along the way we also had some good food. This first picture is fried frog, and the second one is a shrimp and banana dumpling wrapped in dragon hair (which I think was fried noodles).

There were tons of cool temples all over as well. I got to see my first Hindu temple!

The river at night is really pretty and lit up with lots of restaurants along the side.

Most people only think of the city when they think of Singapore, but there is also a bit of area outside including a few islands and a small rain forest. One day we left the city and went to a monastery and a WWII graveyard.

Cambodia - Sihanoukville

Unfortunately after Siem Reap Pam had to return to her normal life and I was once again on my own. I still had a few more days before my flight to Singapore so I caught an overnight bus down to the very south of Cambodia, an area called Sihanoukville that I was told has nice beaches. I upgraded my bus ticket to pay for a bed which turned out to be pretty comfortable. The seats were two stories of reclining beds, almost in a beach chair position. I had the very front seat so I was kind of sitting over the drivers seat, sitting (or sleeping I guess) next to an Australian woman. I slept through most of the night and after 12 hours we were really close to the beach. I had just woken up when I heard the driver freaking out. All of a sudden we swerved around this giant truck in front of us and smashed into some stuff on the side of the road. Then I saw the entire door of the bus go flying off. It turned out our brakes went, and the bus couldn't stop. One driver jumped out and was yelling to warn people to get out of the way, and then the other guy jumped out too. Because we were in the front seats over the driver with a clear view of the windows we are the only people on the bus who could see what was happening, and we were also freaking out as we were on a bus with no breaks and no drivers. Fortunately we were on a flat road so the bus slowly came to a stop, and we all climbed out. Everyone was a bit shaken up but ok, but the front of the bus was totally smashed up. The cops arrived really fast, and all these moto bikes swarmed. We figured that another bus wasn't coming anytime soon, so me and the aussie girl jumped on two bikes and headed into town.

We found a place that was right on the beach and checked in only to realize the beach was disgusting and covered in trash. We were going to leave and try to find an island but instead walked down the beach about a mile or two where we found a much nicer beach with little bungalows and decided to move there. I again had to survive a terrifying motto bike ride with no helmet over this crazy pot holed road. Our new place was 5 bucks a night for both of us. It had no hot water, only had power from 7pm til 11pm, and I don't think the walls really met the ceiling. But the people were amazingly friendly, the food was delicious, and we were about 10 feet from the beach, so it all worked out. It is currently the rainy season so it's the low travel time, and on the first day we didn't see any other tourists at all. There were people patrolling the beach trying to sell the usual: bracelets, scarves, food, massages, etc. Because we were the only ones there who could actually buy anything everyone just camped out around us and continued to try to sell their wares for hours at a time. My Australian friend ended up having her leg hair threaded and I bought myself a full body massage for 5 big bucks from an old woman with very strong hands and a sincere smile.

Our bus after the crash

Sunset on the beach

This dog was my bff on the beach. One time I was petting her and stopped to turn the page of my book and she actually bit the page so I would keep paying attention to her. Reminded me of murphy!

One old woman was walking down the beach with this plate of shrimp on her head. We bought some each day and they were delicious!You can see the crowd around her as they tried to sell bracelets and convince her to get her leg hair threaded. She finally caved to both.