Hello again everyone, we can't quite believe that it's been so long since we last blogged (very sorry about that, as it'll mean that this will most probably be a longer than normal blog for you to plough through)! We've been up to a fair amount, so we'd best just get on with things really!
TUESDAY 19th June
We spent the morning exploring China Town, where we saw two Chinese Temples and also a Hindu Temple. They were pretty nice, although the Chinese Temples we went to weren't as nice as the one we saw in Penang when we did our Heritage Trail walk around George Town. Once we'd seen the Temples in China Town, we made our way to the Post Office to send home yet another heavy parcel of things we don't want to be lugging around with us, at least this time it didn't take us over 2 hours to sort out (unlike in Hong Kong)! After the Post Office, we made our way into the Colonial District and went to Merderka Square (Independence Square) - where Malaysia's independence was declared 50 years ago (and is also the sight of the world's tallest flagpole)! Whilst at the Square, we popped into the History Museum. We then decided to make our way over to the Islamic Arts Museum. This was a really great museum and we ended up spending over 3 hours there! There were 2 special galleries, which were the most impressive - one was 'The Spices of Life' and was more informative than being made up of artifacts, but it was really interesting at the same time and we learnt some cool facts about spices and the production of perfumes and make-up etc! The other special gallery was a black and white photo gallery of portraits of people, which was really interesting (I think Steve was especially enjoying himself around this gallery, especially when he found the old cameras on display). There was one amusing photo, it was a group shot of some officials in a garden and in one of the windows of the house in the background is someone peeping through the curtains!
Once we'd finished the main part of our sightseeing for the day and were almost dead on our feet, we decided to head over to the Petronas Towers to see them lit up at night and to also get some dinner. The Towers were pretty cool and Steve got a couple of photos, although he was 'upset' that he didn't have his new tripod with him to take some better photos! By almost 20.00 we were absolutely shattered and so went back to the hostel.
WEDNESDAY 20th June
We got up early this morning and made our way back to the Petronas Towers so that we could get a free ticket to go up onto the Skybridge. We hadn't thought that it would be that busy, but we were wrong and there was an enormous queue when we finally got there just after 09.30! We ended up having to wait for 40 minutes before we could get tickets and then we found that our tickets would only let us go up to the Skybridge at 13.15! We went to the foodcourt to grab some breakfast and decide what we wanted to do in the mean time.
We ended up taking a half an hour walk to a Craft Complex nearby, which sounded really good. There were meant to be lots of craft shops/stalls, places where you could have a go at doing things like pottery and batik etc and also an artist's village. However, when we arrived it seemed to be very sleepy and the majority of it not open! The artist's village was OK and the only place you could have a go at doing things was a little batik shop! After a little while of exploring, we made our way back over to the Petronas Towers, where we arrived just in time to be ushered into a mini cinema to watch a movie about the Petronas company. We then had to go through lots of security checks, including X-ray machines and metal detectors before we were herded into the huge lift (which took us up 41 floors in 41 seconds - scary stuff). Once finally on the bridge we were only allowed to stay for 10 minutes, so we took a few hasty photos and had a wander around (my vertigo was trying to get the better of me, but I managed to sneak a little peek over the edge) before being shuttled back down to ground level in just 41 seconds!
After the excitement of the Skybridge visit (which by the way is the highest 2 storey skybridge in the world) we ended up going back to the craft village to try our hand at batik painting! We chose our designs and then had to trace them onto the silk in pencil, one of the assistants at the shop/stall then went over this outline with the wax/resin mixture (we could have had a go at this ourselves, but both decided we weren't steady enough of hand to do it well enough). It was then our job to fill in the design with the dyes provided. We ended up taking a fair amount of time over this, but both really enjoyed it, once we'd finished, they framed our paintings for us and we were finished! Steve did a lion fish (as we'd seen one whilst diving in Koh Tao) and I wasn't sure what to do, so ended up doing flowers (I kind of wish I'd done something relating to our travels more, but it's too late now)! I think I've found something to do as a hobby when I get home and am a bit gutted that we weren't able to buy a batik kit, as it was too expensive.
After fixing our creative craving we made our way back to the Petronas Towers so that Steve could take some more photos of the towers lit up at night and also so we could grab some dinner from the foodcourt before making our way back to the hostel.
THURSDAY 21st June
This morning we made our way to the bus station to buy tickets to get us to Melaka later on. We then went back to the hostel and got our bags packed up, it was then a matter of just waiting for the time to arrive when we had to go back to the bus station to catch the bus. The journey was pretty good and we were in one of those buses which has larger and therefore fewer seats in it. It was kind of funny as well, as there was a large tour group of people on the bus as well and we wondered whether they were maybe from Intrepid! When we got to Melaka, we had to catch a taxi to get to the part of town we wanted to stay in. Unfortunately the guesthouse we'd originally wanted to stay at was full, but luckily we found a much better (and better value) place to stay at instead - Shirah's guesthouse, the staff were really nice and the room was pleasant too. Once we'd cooled off and freshened up we decided to go out for a little while and went to the ruins of St. Peter's church on the hill, as well as the remains of the Portuguese Fort (Fort Santiago). It was then back to the hostel for some much needed sleep!
FRIDAY 22nd June
We spent the day exploring Melaka. First of all we went to the Sultanate Palace, which had display about previous Sultans and the cultural heritage of Melaka. We then went to the People's Museum. The first floor wasn't particularly riveting, as it was about the structure of the government and what it has to do (it was like being in a human geography lecture at Uni)! But the second and third floors were better. The second floor had a display of kites from around the world and from different periods of history, whilst on the third floor there was a really good display of 'Enduring Beauty', which showed the means by which people from all over the world have enhanced their looks to become 'more beautiful'. There was some fascinating stuff about lip plates, piercings, tattoos, corsets (there was an English woman who ended up with a 13 inch waist - ridiculous), scarification, neck rings, bound feet, head binding and goodness knows what else!
After taking in the museum, we went to see Christ's Church, a very simple Dutch church, which was somewhat spoiled as there were postcards and souvenirs on sale at the back! We then went into China Town to have a wander around there. We went to a few Temples, unfortunately at one Hindu Mosque we arrived during prayer time and so couldn't go in, but the others we went to were very interesting. Other than that we just wandered, soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying seeing the traditional shops and people doing their daily things.
We went back to the room for a couple of hours to get freshened up and relax before heading out to the night market. We ended up getting sent in the wrong direction, so it ended up taking over half an hour to get there, but we made it in the end! The first thing we came across was a man featured in the Malaysian Book of Records for his extraordinary Kung Fu finger, which can punch through a coconut! We were quite intrigued and the 'show' was due to start in a couple of minutes, so we decided to wait around and watch (a very bad idea that turned out to be). The guy started off by 'warming up' and basically did some high kicks and bounced a round a bit, he then did some cool stuff with fire - he had 3 'batons' which he wafted around and then ate the flames before then breathing fire etc. Then he got his whip out and cracked it a couple of times, it was then that we got excited as he got his stuff set up for the coconut Kung Fu finger! However, he then proceeded to take a VERY long time faffing around, selling his various ointments, for joint and muscle pains, which even Del Boy would have been proud of! He also got people to give the coconut a bash in the place he was going to pierce it and he himself knocked it around a fair bit, before finally getting on with it! It was fairly impressive to see him in 2 or 3 'hits' with his finger to pierce the coconut. He then did some more whip tricks - cutting paper with them, whilst an assistant held the paper up for him. He also did some more flogging of goods. We thought he was going to do an amazing trick where someone threw the coconut to him and he somehow pierced it, but he ended up just catching it (the whole thing was a wind-up) and to finish he cracked the coconut with his elbow. All told this lot took him an hour to do and we were so bored! We finally got to have a look around the market, which wasn't the best one we've been to and also was quite sad as we saw lots of animals in tiny cages being sold (there was even a tiny baby monkey). We finally made our way back to the hostel and went to bed feeling dejected as we'd thought the market was going to be much better.
SATURDAY 23rd June
We didn't get a huge amount done today. We had to get packed up and checked out of the hostel and then had the task of getting to the bus station again. We were going to be good and get the bus there, but unfortunately we saw it pulling away as we were about 5 metres away! In the end we got a taxi there, and had a very nice chatty driver who was really friendly, and was pointing out sights to us on the way. Once at the bus station we were lucky enough to buy tickets for a bus that was due to leave in literally 2 minutes time! So we got loaded on and sat back and waited to arrive at the border to Singapore. We arrived after almost 4 hours (during which time we'd had a stop for lunch as well) and had to make our way through border control getting stamped out of Malaysia and into Singapore and getting our luggage X-rayed. We then hopped back on the bus for about another half an hour to get into Singapore city.
Once off the bus we headed straight for the underground and made our way to Little India to try a hostel there, but we found that their room rates had doubled and we couldn't afford it, so we got back on the underground to China Town. We spent an age getting very hot and sweaty trying to find a hostel, which we're sure must have moved or closed, but luckily we spotted another one on the same street and the rooms were much cheaper. Unfortunately we could only stay one night, as the room had been booked in advance for the next night. We decided to stay for the one night, as by this time we were thoroughly fed up of lugging our bags around and were in desperate need of a shower! After freshening up (and taking advantage of the first free laundry service we've come across), we went out into China Town and spent an age looking for an ATM and then had some dinner before going back to the hostel to dry our washing and also phone a couple of hostels to see if they had spare rooms for the next couple of nights.
SUNDAY 24th June
We ended up having a rubbish night of sleep, as the hostel is above a pub, which has karaoke until 02.00 in the morning! So it was a bit difficult getting up, but we needed to get checked out so that we could go to another hostel before going sightseeing for the day! However, when we came to check out, there was no-one around to return our deposit and to give the key to, we ended up having to wake to up the owner by phoning her - I'm not sure she was too impressed, as I think she'd been working in the bar until it closed! So we were laden with our bags again (we have a new appreciation for snails) we made for the underground and went back to Little India to get to our new hostel. By the time we got there, which was only just 10.00 we had to have another shower before we could go out for the day!
We started off having breakfast and then began sightseeing. Our first stop was to visit 2 Temples, one Hindu and the other Chinese, they were right next to each other and were pretty busy with people praying and burning incense etc! We then went over to the Singapore Art Museum, which was quite nice and had an interesting display and movie about the copper plates made to store 'copies' of original paintings (calcography), from which they can make prints. We then wandered around Fort Canning for a little while, before making our way towards St. Andrew's church, there was a service on, so we only peered in, but it was very beautiful. Our next stop was the Asian Civilisation Museum. We ended up spending several hours in here and it was really good, there was another display about 'beauty'. I don't think it was quite as interesting as the one in Melaka, but it did have videos of tattooing and piercing (not ear-piercing, but back piercings, the same method used for nipples, eyebrows, navels etc) - it was totally gross and I can't believe Steve's had these things done to him, although he took great pleasure in further detailing the procedures whilst pointing out the tools they used etc (I hadn't quite managed to watch all of the piercing video, so he felt he needed to fill me in)! On leaving the Museum we went and had a look at the Theatre, which looks like 2 huge durians, before heading back to the underground once again to make our way back to the hostel for the night and to rest our weary feet!
Well, we think that's finally about it for this one! Sorry it's so long, but we're just getting so much sightseeing done! Next blog will be from yet another country and it's going to be completely bizarre being back in Western Culture, but the drop in temperature is going to be bliss, I'm sure we'll be steaming from the residual heat for a few days!
Bill - I'm not sure you will recognise me when I get back, I'm certainly doing lots of things I NEVER thought I'd be able to do through fear - I'm even considering doing a skydive!!! We were really pleased to get your comments and are glad to hear you're all enjoying the blog.
Andie - We're glad that you're still getting a chance to catch up on the blog every now and then and are glad it wasn't too time consuming (pretty surprising since we manage to ramble on for so long most of the time)! Yeah, Pirates of the Caribbean was pretty naff, but even so, we've managed to watch it twice!
Mum - Was great to get your (very long) comment, it really cheered me up to hear from you! I don't think I've been body snatched, but I can't count on it, seeing as I am doing so many extraordinary things for me! I certainly can't wait for the change in temperature when we get to New Zealand, I'm actually getting excited by the prospect of having to wear a jumper! The scenery is going to be amazing, I can't wait to lay eyes on it all! We'll get tonnes of photos I'm sure. Sorry to hear the rain is holding up your gardening plans, but at least you're managing to get things done around the house - I'm glad you're considering my shelf space needs! Glad you managed to finish your floristry course even with your arm as it is - impressive stuff really, considering. I hope people want to continue more next year, so you can get even better! Good luck at work - let us know how you get on. Also, Steve had a little giggle about the fact that everyone will now know that you can't get your bra on on your own! Keep taking care of yourself and keep up the physio exercises!
Lawrence and Trina - We just got your comment as we were updating the blog! We're glad you're keeping up to date with our travels and are enjoying hearing about it all! I know what you mean about all the crazy stuff we've been doing, it all feels so surreal! The sharks were so scary, and it's completely bizarre, that I (of all people) have actually swam with them - Steve loved it!
Sunday 24 June 2007
Monday 18 June 2007
Tropical Rainforest - warts and all!
Hello again everyone, we've got a fair bit to update you on, as the internet was so expensive in Taman Negara! We've just arrived in Kuala Lumpar today and are getting ready for some city sight seeing again (it will be so nice not to have to be climbing up and down loads of hills for a while)!
THURSDAY 14th June
Today was fairly boring, as we ended up spending almost the entire day on one bus or another! At 10.00 we left our guesthouse in a minibus and at lunchtime had a stop for some food and changed minibuses. We then got taken to Jerantut, where we had to wait for a coach to arrive and to also fill out applications for National Park entry permits and camera licences. By around 18.30 we finally made it to the edge of the Taman Negara National Park! We then had to find some accommodation, unfortunately our first choice was fully booked, but we managed to get a place at Teresek View Motel instead, which we'd also been looking at as an option. Once we were settled in, we went out for dinner and also met up with someone, who was able to provide us with our permits so that we could enter the park each day. After that we made our way back to the motel and crashed!
FRIDAY 15th June
We got up really early this morning, so that we could start our walk without being in the most intense heat of the day. However, when we came to get breakfast we found that nowhere opened before around 07.30-08.00! So we didn't manage to get the cool start we'd hoped for! We finally got over to the National Park and informed the Park Ranger of our route and then headed off for a bit of trekking. Stupidly we'd decided to walk up a hill, even though we were already so worn out from all our walking in the Cameron Highlands! However, it wasn't too bad and we didn't have to do too much scrambling! The views from the top were certainly worth the hike. So after making it to the summit of Bukit Teresek, we decided to do the Canopy Walk. Don't ask me what possessed me to actually actively suggest this, when I'm petrified of heights, all I can say is it seemed like a good idea from the ground, when I couldn't see what we'd be walking on! After a bit more walking we arrived at the Canopy Walk and it was blooming scary! We were around 40 metres above the ground and were swinging around in cargo nets that had ladders laid down in the bottom of them, with a plank of wood to stop you falling through the gaps. It certainly didn't seem to be the most stable of structures, but somehow I made it round, I think I did it rather quickly, as I had to wait for a while for Steve to finish!
Once we'd finished walking and were completely drenched in sweat, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the National Park's Resort Restaurant. It was quite nice, and we sat and chatted there for a while, before heading back across the river to our more modest accommodation! We spent the afternoon recuperating a bit and eventually ambled out to one of the floating restaurants for dinner and then turned in for another early night.
SATURDAY 16th June
We weren't up quite so early today, but we were up and about and went to the Park Ranger to buy a map to find a route we could walk. We had wanted to go to Lata Berkoh (a waterfall), but unfortunately it was a four hour walk there and another four back, so we wouldn't have time to walk it and the river would have been too high to cross, due to the downpour of rain we had last night. We could have got a boat either there or back, but they would only go if there were four people and we didn't know anyone else, plus it was expensive. So in the end we decided to walk to Gua Telinga (a cave). The walk was probably the easiest we've had so far, there was only one uphill bit, and although it lasted a long-time, the gradient wasn't too steep. We saw some HUGE insects, like ants and millipedes and also some wasps building a nest and wild pheasant-type birds. After a couple of hours we reached the cave. We had a look inside, but I decided I didn't want to go in, as it was far too small and far too full of bats (considering I'm slightly claustrophobic and scared of bats, this was a pretty sensible decision), so I turned around to get out, but managed to slip over and ended up being wedged, quite painfully, between two rocks, with my left leg in a pond of gross water full of bat poo and wee! After a lot of help from Steve and a lot of struggling, I managed to get out and then sit myself down on a little bench outside of the cave. This is where things took a horrible turn for the worse, beware if you have a nervous disposition! I went to take my boot and sock off to get the water out and noticed a weird black splodge on the front of my ankle, I was going to brush it off, but Steve realised it was a leech! So we frantically started to check ourselves for anymore, I didn't seem to have any, but Steve found 2 small ones. After trying to lift them off with twigs, unsuccessfully, Steve remembered something from TV and whipped out his lighter and then gently scorched them to make them let go of our flesh and then we were able to use my tweezers to pluck them off - it was totally gross! I then took my sock off to tend my wound and ended up ripping another leech off that we hadn't noticed as it was so small (the other one I had was pretty large by the time we took it off) and I also then found out that I hadn't been eaten by just 2 leeches, I had in total 6 leech bites! Steve had 3 and later on said he was jealous he didn't have as many bites as me - weird or what?! So after cleaning up the cuts, my ones wouldn't stop bleeding either, we were back in our boots and getting ready to move on, when a tour group of people turned up. Steve followed them through the cave system, so that he wasn't in there alone in case of an accident or anything. He really liked it, apparently it was very small in places so you had to scramble along and could even reach out and touch the bats if you'd wanted to. It was also pretty wet and he'd ended up having to wade through knee-high water full of bat poo and wee - stinky stuff we can assure you! Once he'd finished in the cave, he came back round to the entrance, where I was waiting and we headed back. We made pretty good time, despite the frequent stops we made for leech checks (we found a couple on our boots occasionally, making bee-lines for our socks, but we managed to get the pesky things off)! So after another couple of hours we were being taken back across the river and headed straight for the motel so that we could have showers!
SUNDAY 17th June
We were both so tired today that we didn't have an early start at all! Our boots were still soggy from yesterday, so we didn't want to go trekking again and so decided to do Rapid Shooting. However, this would commence at 15.00, so we ended up spending the morning in the room reading our books and generally lazing around! We went out for lunch and afterwards it was nearly time for Rapid Shooting. It was quite good fun, although not as white-knuckle as I was expecting. We were taken down the river in a little long tail boat and driven through the slightly rougher waters and basically spent an hour getting drenched (especially me, as I was at the back of the boat). We didn't go as far as normal, as due to torrential rain in the night, the river became too dangerous and so we had to turn back, but it was cool none-the-less and we had a giggle.
When we got back to the room and showered to remove all the river water, we then sat and read some more and then were informed that we had to move rooms, as they were installing air-conditioning units in all the rooms on our floor, so we got upgraded to an air-conditioned room at no extra cost for our last night! Once we were moved we got our bags packed up and then went out for dinner and returned our park entry licences, as we would be leaving first thing in the morning.
MONDAY 18th June
It was a very early start this morning, we were up at 06.00 so that we could catch the 07.30 bus to Jerantut. When we arrived a man kindly asked where we were going and told us the different buses we could use to get to Kuala Lumpar and what time they left and also showed us where to buy tickets. A young woman overheard our talking and told us she was using the same buses as us to get to Kuala Lumpar and that we could follow her and she would show us what buses to catch etc. Our first bus took us to Termoloh and from there we used another to get to Kuala Lumpar, luckily all the buses left within half an hour of us arriving at each place so that by 14.00 we were in Kuala Lumpar and getting checked into our hostel! We've spent the afternoon having a little wander around the market and craft centre and that's about it really!
That's all for now, we'll be in Kuala Lumpar for a couple of days and then in Melaka for a day, so the next time you hear from us, we'll probably be in Singapore and coming to the end of our stay in South East Asia! We can't believe we're almost finished here, it'll mean we've been away for three months already and only have a month and a half to go - crazy stuff! Anyway, we hope everyone is well, keep commenting, missing you all!
Claggy - Very glad you're not too jealous of our trip and your new job sounds wicked, I can't wait to hear more about it when we're back. So glad you're enjoying it loads, take care and speak to you soon(ish)!
Nan and Grandad - Thanks for the comment you left us. Steve has been slipping over as well, but he seems to have a knack to stay on his feet more than me! We'll try and stop snorkeling in the mud, you certainly can't see as much that way! We're back to intense heat and humidity again, so we're looking forward to being in more temperate New Zealand in about 8 days time!
THURSDAY 14th June
Today was fairly boring, as we ended up spending almost the entire day on one bus or another! At 10.00 we left our guesthouse in a minibus and at lunchtime had a stop for some food and changed minibuses. We then got taken to Jerantut, where we had to wait for a coach to arrive and to also fill out applications for National Park entry permits and camera licences. By around 18.30 we finally made it to the edge of the Taman Negara National Park! We then had to find some accommodation, unfortunately our first choice was fully booked, but we managed to get a place at Teresek View Motel instead, which we'd also been looking at as an option. Once we were settled in, we went out for dinner and also met up with someone, who was able to provide us with our permits so that we could enter the park each day. After that we made our way back to the motel and crashed!
FRIDAY 15th June
We got up really early this morning, so that we could start our walk without being in the most intense heat of the day. However, when we came to get breakfast we found that nowhere opened before around 07.30-08.00! So we didn't manage to get the cool start we'd hoped for! We finally got over to the National Park and informed the Park Ranger of our route and then headed off for a bit of trekking. Stupidly we'd decided to walk up a hill, even though we were already so worn out from all our walking in the Cameron Highlands! However, it wasn't too bad and we didn't have to do too much scrambling! The views from the top were certainly worth the hike. So after making it to the summit of Bukit Teresek, we decided to do the Canopy Walk. Don't ask me what possessed me to actually actively suggest this, when I'm petrified of heights, all I can say is it seemed like a good idea from the ground, when I couldn't see what we'd be walking on! After a bit more walking we arrived at the Canopy Walk and it was blooming scary! We were around 40 metres above the ground and were swinging around in cargo nets that had ladders laid down in the bottom of them, with a plank of wood to stop you falling through the gaps. It certainly didn't seem to be the most stable of structures, but somehow I made it round, I think I did it rather quickly, as I had to wait for a while for Steve to finish!
Once we'd finished walking and were completely drenched in sweat, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the National Park's Resort Restaurant. It was quite nice, and we sat and chatted there for a while, before heading back across the river to our more modest accommodation! We spent the afternoon recuperating a bit and eventually ambled out to one of the floating restaurants for dinner and then turned in for another early night.
SATURDAY 16th June
We weren't up quite so early today, but we were up and about and went to the Park Ranger to buy a map to find a route we could walk. We had wanted to go to Lata Berkoh (a waterfall), but unfortunately it was a four hour walk there and another four back, so we wouldn't have time to walk it and the river would have been too high to cross, due to the downpour of rain we had last night. We could have got a boat either there or back, but they would only go if there were four people and we didn't know anyone else, plus it was expensive. So in the end we decided to walk to Gua Telinga (a cave). The walk was probably the easiest we've had so far, there was only one uphill bit, and although it lasted a long-time, the gradient wasn't too steep. We saw some HUGE insects, like ants and millipedes and also some wasps building a nest and wild pheasant-type birds. After a couple of hours we reached the cave. We had a look inside, but I decided I didn't want to go in, as it was far too small and far too full of bats (considering I'm slightly claustrophobic and scared of bats, this was a pretty sensible decision), so I turned around to get out, but managed to slip over and ended up being wedged, quite painfully, between two rocks, with my left leg in a pond of gross water full of bat poo and wee! After a lot of help from Steve and a lot of struggling, I managed to get out and then sit myself down on a little bench outside of the cave. This is where things took a horrible turn for the worse, beware if you have a nervous disposition! I went to take my boot and sock off to get the water out and noticed a weird black splodge on the front of my ankle, I was going to brush it off, but Steve realised it was a leech! So we frantically started to check ourselves for anymore, I didn't seem to have any, but Steve found 2 small ones. After trying to lift them off with twigs, unsuccessfully, Steve remembered something from TV and whipped out his lighter and then gently scorched them to make them let go of our flesh and then we were able to use my tweezers to pluck them off - it was totally gross! I then took my sock off to tend my wound and ended up ripping another leech off that we hadn't noticed as it was so small (the other one I had was pretty large by the time we took it off) and I also then found out that I hadn't been eaten by just 2 leeches, I had in total 6 leech bites! Steve had 3 and later on said he was jealous he didn't have as many bites as me - weird or what?! So after cleaning up the cuts, my ones wouldn't stop bleeding either, we were back in our boots and getting ready to move on, when a tour group of people turned up. Steve followed them through the cave system, so that he wasn't in there alone in case of an accident or anything. He really liked it, apparently it was very small in places so you had to scramble along and could even reach out and touch the bats if you'd wanted to. It was also pretty wet and he'd ended up having to wade through knee-high water full of bat poo and wee - stinky stuff we can assure you! Once he'd finished in the cave, he came back round to the entrance, where I was waiting and we headed back. We made pretty good time, despite the frequent stops we made for leech checks (we found a couple on our boots occasionally, making bee-lines for our socks, but we managed to get the pesky things off)! So after another couple of hours we were being taken back across the river and headed straight for the motel so that we could have showers!
SUNDAY 17th June
We were both so tired today that we didn't have an early start at all! Our boots were still soggy from yesterday, so we didn't want to go trekking again and so decided to do Rapid Shooting. However, this would commence at 15.00, so we ended up spending the morning in the room reading our books and generally lazing around! We went out for lunch and afterwards it was nearly time for Rapid Shooting. It was quite good fun, although not as white-knuckle as I was expecting. We were taken down the river in a little long tail boat and driven through the slightly rougher waters and basically spent an hour getting drenched (especially me, as I was at the back of the boat). We didn't go as far as normal, as due to torrential rain in the night, the river became too dangerous and so we had to turn back, but it was cool none-the-less and we had a giggle.
When we got back to the room and showered to remove all the river water, we then sat and read some more and then were informed that we had to move rooms, as they were installing air-conditioning units in all the rooms on our floor, so we got upgraded to an air-conditioned room at no extra cost for our last night! Once we were moved we got our bags packed up and then went out for dinner and returned our park entry licences, as we would be leaving first thing in the morning.
MONDAY 18th June
It was a very early start this morning, we were up at 06.00 so that we could catch the 07.30 bus to Jerantut. When we arrived a man kindly asked where we were going and told us the different buses we could use to get to Kuala Lumpar and what time they left and also showed us where to buy tickets. A young woman overheard our talking and told us she was using the same buses as us to get to Kuala Lumpar and that we could follow her and she would show us what buses to catch etc. Our first bus took us to Termoloh and from there we used another to get to Kuala Lumpar, luckily all the buses left within half an hour of us arriving at each place so that by 14.00 we were in Kuala Lumpar and getting checked into our hostel! We've spent the afternoon having a little wander around the market and craft centre and that's about it really!
That's all for now, we'll be in Kuala Lumpar for a couple of days and then in Melaka for a day, so the next time you hear from us, we'll probably be in Singapore and coming to the end of our stay in South East Asia! We can't believe we're almost finished here, it'll mean we've been away for three months already and only have a month and a half to go - crazy stuff! Anyway, we hope everyone is well, keep commenting, missing you all!
Claggy - Very glad you're not too jealous of our trip and your new job sounds wicked, I can't wait to hear more about it when we're back. So glad you're enjoying it loads, take care and speak to you soon(ish)!
Nan and Grandad - Thanks for the comment you left us. Steve has been slipping over as well, but he seems to have a knack to stay on his feet more than me! We'll try and stop snorkeling in the mud, you certainly can't see as much that way! We're back to intense heat and humidity again, so we're looking forward to being in more temperate New Zealand in about 8 days time!
Wednesday 13 June 2007
Trekking in the Cameron Highlands!
Hello once again, we're back and updating you on the past few days. It's been so nice being in the cool refreshing air of the highlands, but all too soon we'll be back in the hot humid air of the lowlands. We've been pretty energetic over the past few days and are rather achy and sore now, but we're bearing up! Here's what we've been up to anyway.
SATURDAY 9th June
Today was quite good. We actually got up and got going this morning and made our way out to Air Hitam, near to Penang Hill again, so that we could go to the largest Chinese Temple in the area - Kek Lok Si. On our way up we had a bit of a gauntlet of souvenir stalls to fight our way through, but as long as we kept moving, we managed to not get pulled over by someone trying to sell us things! At the top we came across the Pond of Liberation - although it didn't seem too liberating for the turtles trapped inside (there must have been verging on a hundred or so of them and it wasn't very big), especially for the ones that had died and were just left floating around. We soon reached the Temple itself though and began wandering around to explore. Our first find was the Pagoda, which we decided to climb to the top of, which was quite sweaty work, considering how hot it was as usual! We then wandered around some more, looking at altars and rooms of worship and then made our way to the top of the Temple complex, where there was an enormous statue of a Bodhisattva, it was 120 feet high and completely cast in bronze - the largest statue of it's kind in the area. Unfortunately there was construction work going on, as they are building a vast 16 pillared pavilion to go over the top to protect the statue from the elements. We were a little disappointed with the Temple, as there wasn't as much there to see as we'd expected, but it was still a nice trip for the morning.
Once we'd finished at the Temple and run the gauntlet of stalls back down to the street, we had to jump on a bus back to George Town, from where we caught a bus to Batu Ferringhi, as we wanted to see the Dragon Boat Races we were told about at the tourist information office. Once at Batu Ferringhi, we saw a poster for the Boat Races and realised that they were in fact another 6-8 km down the road! So we had to wait for another bus, which dropped us off at the pier, from where we still couldn't see any signs of the boat races! So we went into a little shop and asked for directions, where a family kindly offered to let us tag along with them to get to the Boat Races as they were going themselves. So they gave us a lift the rest of the way - which was a real relief when we saw the huge hill we would have otherwise had to trek up to get there and they dropped us off at the top. We had a bite to eat and then sat and watched the Boat Races for about an hour. It wasn't quite what we were expecting and there did seem to be more competitors present than spectators! So we decided to make our way back down the hill to the main road to catch the bus again. Steve got some chilled corn water to drink on the way as well, he really liked it, but I found it slightly bizarre! It was a fair old walk, but we managed to get there in the end and after a bit of waiting, a bus turned up and we were able to make our way back to George Town once again.
SUNDAY 10th June
It was a very early start this morning, as we needed to get our bags packed and meet our taxi driver at 07.15 so he could take us to the bus station. Once at the bus station, he kindly took us up to the ticket office so that we could find out what number bus we needed to board and he showed us which bus it was and where it would pull up when it was time for us to get loaded onto it. The bus was quite nice, it had huge seats in it, which reclined and everything, but it was still pretty uncomfortable having to be on a bus for so long to get all the way to the Cameron Highlands.
After around 5 to 6 hours, we finally pulled into the bus station at Tanah Rata and as we stepped off the bus, someone from one of the guesthouses we wanted to stay at was there and offered to take us there so we could look at the room and decide if we wanted to stay or not. It's a really nice guesthouse, so we decided to stay put and got settled into yet another room before heading off into the town of Tanah Rata to explore a little bit, although to be fair, we soon found out that there isn't really a huge amount to Tanah Rata!
MONDAY 11th June
We were absolutely insane today! We decided to go for a nice trek through the highlands today and picked out a nice sounding route and set out on our way. However, we soon found out that the guidebook wasn't lying when it stated that the path was steep and strenuous, as in places it was almost vertical and you literally had to haul yourself up using tree roots and slippy foot holds! I managed to fall over a couple of times and so by the time we got to the top I had a fair layering of mud over me. After an exhausting 2 and a half hours we finally made it to the top of the hill and sat down to some well-earned lunch! We then decided to begin our descent, but found that we couldn't find the trail we had initially wanted to use, but had to go on a shorter route back down. It was a pretty tough and steep descent and was another slippery route and so I took a few more tumbles and added to my coating of mud, so by the time we got back my trousers were a browny colour rather than the green they'd started out as! But it was a good walk and as mad as it may sound, we decided to do another walk, which, according to the map and book were quite short and not too strenuous. However, we soon found that the route very steeply descended and once we got out to the road, where the return route started, we realised it was getting relatively late for starting on the way back, when it was going to take roughly 2 hours. So, instead we made our way to the main road to wait for a bus or taxi to take us back into Tanah Rata. We didn't have to wait for too long when a taxi turned up and dropped us off at the guesthouse, which was a huge relief! We spent the evening feeling pretty worn-out at the hostel having dinner and watching the movie that was playing on the TV.
TUESDAY 12th June
Another day of insanity, although we hadn't thought it would be so bad. We decided to do another Highland trek and so caught the bus to Binchang where the route started and after being pointed in the right direction we managed to get our walk underway. For the first half of the walk, it was very easy going compared to yesterday's walk, but towards the end it started to undulate severely and some of the ascents were just as bad as yesterday and so we were again scrambling up rocks and tree routes etc. What made this walk worse was the amount of boggy areas, where very unexpectedly you would sink vast amounts into the mud! After 2 hours of hard work we managed to make it to the top and luckily found a shelter to hide under, as it was starting to rain and very quickly became torrential! So we sat, absolutely caked in mud and a bit soggy, eating our lunch! I was muddier than Steve, as I'd managed to fall over a couple of times again!
As the rain eased off we decided to start wandering down the road to the Tea Plantation we wanted to visit. A few people stopped and offered to take us down to the main road, but stupidly we thought from the extremely useless map we have (that doesn't even have a scale), that it wouldn't be too far to the plantation and so declined. However, after over an hour of walking we'd only just arrived at the plantation! It was soon closing and it was still raining very hard and we were soaked through to the skin and so decided to just get to the main road so we could get a bus back to Tanah Rata. After another hour or so of walking we finally made it to the main road, but after 15 minutes of standing around we decided to walk towards Binchang and just keep our eyes open for a bus or taxi on the way. After 45 minutes or more of walking along the road, we still hadn't made it to Binchang, but a taxi did finally come along and so feeling exhausted and soggy we got in and got dropped back off at the guesthouse, where we had a very well-earned shower before heading out for some dinner!
WEDNESDAY 13th June
We had a bit of a late start, but in the end caught the bus back to Binchang! Now mum, don't get too jealous at this point, but we went back to the Tea Plantation we'd passed yesterday. We managed to make much better time than yesterday, as we weren't already tired from walking for 2 hours and it was also not throwing it down with rain! So after about an hour of walking we made it to the Sungai Palas Tea Plantation. We had a tour around the tea factory - where, I'm not joking, we were inhaling tea from all the tea dust that was flying around (you would have been right at home there mum)! After the tour, we treated ourselves to lunch at the plantation's cafe and had each had a cup of tea using the leaves from the plantation - it was very nice!
It was then time to make our way back down to the main road to get a bus back to Tanah Rata. Once we got down, we found out that the bus wasn't due for another half an hour, so we decided to have a little wander around the Butterfly Garden. It was OK, but as well as butterflies, they had lots of other animals, like insects, snakes, birds, rabbits etc which were kept in rather poor conditions, and we even saw another dead turtle in one cage. So it wasn't a great trip to have made, so we ended up leaving after about 10 minutes and sat outside waiting for the bus to come instead!
That's about all we've done since our last blog. We're off to Taman Negara National Park tomorrow, so it's going to be sad leaving behind the cool refreshing weather of the highlands and going back to the hot humid weather we're so used to, but we've got to keep moving on! Hope everyone is well, missing you all as usual!
SATURDAY 9th June
Today was quite good. We actually got up and got going this morning and made our way out to Air Hitam, near to Penang Hill again, so that we could go to the largest Chinese Temple in the area - Kek Lok Si. On our way up we had a bit of a gauntlet of souvenir stalls to fight our way through, but as long as we kept moving, we managed to not get pulled over by someone trying to sell us things! At the top we came across the Pond of Liberation - although it didn't seem too liberating for the turtles trapped inside (there must have been verging on a hundred or so of them and it wasn't very big), especially for the ones that had died and were just left floating around. We soon reached the Temple itself though and began wandering around to explore. Our first find was the Pagoda, which we decided to climb to the top of, which was quite sweaty work, considering how hot it was as usual! We then wandered around some more, looking at altars and rooms of worship and then made our way to the top of the Temple complex, where there was an enormous statue of a Bodhisattva, it was 120 feet high and completely cast in bronze - the largest statue of it's kind in the area. Unfortunately there was construction work going on, as they are building a vast 16 pillared pavilion to go over the top to protect the statue from the elements. We were a little disappointed with the Temple, as there wasn't as much there to see as we'd expected, but it was still a nice trip for the morning.
Once we'd finished at the Temple and run the gauntlet of stalls back down to the street, we had to jump on a bus back to George Town, from where we caught a bus to Batu Ferringhi, as we wanted to see the Dragon Boat Races we were told about at the tourist information office. Once at Batu Ferringhi, we saw a poster for the Boat Races and realised that they were in fact another 6-8 km down the road! So we had to wait for another bus, which dropped us off at the pier, from where we still couldn't see any signs of the boat races! So we went into a little shop and asked for directions, where a family kindly offered to let us tag along with them to get to the Boat Races as they were going themselves. So they gave us a lift the rest of the way - which was a real relief when we saw the huge hill we would have otherwise had to trek up to get there and they dropped us off at the top. We had a bite to eat and then sat and watched the Boat Races for about an hour. It wasn't quite what we were expecting and there did seem to be more competitors present than spectators! So we decided to make our way back down the hill to the main road to catch the bus again. Steve got some chilled corn water to drink on the way as well, he really liked it, but I found it slightly bizarre! It was a fair old walk, but we managed to get there in the end and after a bit of waiting, a bus turned up and we were able to make our way back to George Town once again.
SUNDAY 10th June
It was a very early start this morning, as we needed to get our bags packed and meet our taxi driver at 07.15 so he could take us to the bus station. Once at the bus station, he kindly took us up to the ticket office so that we could find out what number bus we needed to board and he showed us which bus it was and where it would pull up when it was time for us to get loaded onto it. The bus was quite nice, it had huge seats in it, which reclined and everything, but it was still pretty uncomfortable having to be on a bus for so long to get all the way to the Cameron Highlands.
After around 5 to 6 hours, we finally pulled into the bus station at Tanah Rata and as we stepped off the bus, someone from one of the guesthouses we wanted to stay at was there and offered to take us there so we could look at the room and decide if we wanted to stay or not. It's a really nice guesthouse, so we decided to stay put and got settled into yet another room before heading off into the town of Tanah Rata to explore a little bit, although to be fair, we soon found out that there isn't really a huge amount to Tanah Rata!
MONDAY 11th June
We were absolutely insane today! We decided to go for a nice trek through the highlands today and picked out a nice sounding route and set out on our way. However, we soon found out that the guidebook wasn't lying when it stated that the path was steep and strenuous, as in places it was almost vertical and you literally had to haul yourself up using tree roots and slippy foot holds! I managed to fall over a couple of times and so by the time we got to the top I had a fair layering of mud over me. After an exhausting 2 and a half hours we finally made it to the top of the hill and sat down to some well-earned lunch! We then decided to begin our descent, but found that we couldn't find the trail we had initially wanted to use, but had to go on a shorter route back down. It was a pretty tough and steep descent and was another slippery route and so I took a few more tumbles and added to my coating of mud, so by the time we got back my trousers were a browny colour rather than the green they'd started out as! But it was a good walk and as mad as it may sound, we decided to do another walk, which, according to the map and book were quite short and not too strenuous. However, we soon found that the route very steeply descended and once we got out to the road, where the return route started, we realised it was getting relatively late for starting on the way back, when it was going to take roughly 2 hours. So, instead we made our way to the main road to wait for a bus or taxi to take us back into Tanah Rata. We didn't have to wait for too long when a taxi turned up and dropped us off at the guesthouse, which was a huge relief! We spent the evening feeling pretty worn-out at the hostel having dinner and watching the movie that was playing on the TV.
TUESDAY 12th June
Another day of insanity, although we hadn't thought it would be so bad. We decided to do another Highland trek and so caught the bus to Binchang where the route started and after being pointed in the right direction we managed to get our walk underway. For the first half of the walk, it was very easy going compared to yesterday's walk, but towards the end it started to undulate severely and some of the ascents were just as bad as yesterday and so we were again scrambling up rocks and tree routes etc. What made this walk worse was the amount of boggy areas, where very unexpectedly you would sink vast amounts into the mud! After 2 hours of hard work we managed to make it to the top and luckily found a shelter to hide under, as it was starting to rain and very quickly became torrential! So we sat, absolutely caked in mud and a bit soggy, eating our lunch! I was muddier than Steve, as I'd managed to fall over a couple of times again!
As the rain eased off we decided to start wandering down the road to the Tea Plantation we wanted to visit. A few people stopped and offered to take us down to the main road, but stupidly we thought from the extremely useless map we have (that doesn't even have a scale), that it wouldn't be too far to the plantation and so declined. However, after over an hour of walking we'd only just arrived at the plantation! It was soon closing and it was still raining very hard and we were soaked through to the skin and so decided to just get to the main road so we could get a bus back to Tanah Rata. After another hour or so of walking we finally made it to the main road, but after 15 minutes of standing around we decided to walk towards Binchang and just keep our eyes open for a bus or taxi on the way. After 45 minutes or more of walking along the road, we still hadn't made it to Binchang, but a taxi did finally come along and so feeling exhausted and soggy we got in and got dropped back off at the guesthouse, where we had a very well-earned shower before heading out for some dinner!
WEDNESDAY 13th June
We had a bit of a late start, but in the end caught the bus back to Binchang! Now mum, don't get too jealous at this point, but we went back to the Tea Plantation we'd passed yesterday. We managed to make much better time than yesterday, as we weren't already tired from walking for 2 hours and it was also not throwing it down with rain! So after about an hour of walking we made it to the Sungai Palas Tea Plantation. We had a tour around the tea factory - where, I'm not joking, we were inhaling tea from all the tea dust that was flying around (you would have been right at home there mum)! After the tour, we treated ourselves to lunch at the plantation's cafe and had each had a cup of tea using the leaves from the plantation - it was very nice!
It was then time to make our way back down to the main road to get a bus back to Tanah Rata. Once we got down, we found out that the bus wasn't due for another half an hour, so we decided to have a little wander around the Butterfly Garden. It was OK, but as well as butterflies, they had lots of other animals, like insects, snakes, birds, rabbits etc which were kept in rather poor conditions, and we even saw another dead turtle in one cage. So it wasn't a great trip to have made, so we ended up leaving after about 10 minutes and sat outside waiting for the bus to come instead!
That's about all we've done since our last blog. We're off to Taman Negara National Park tomorrow, so it's going to be sad leaving behind the cool refreshing weather of the highlands and going back to the hot humid weather we're so used to, but we've got to keep moving on! Hope everyone is well, missing you all as usual!
Friday 8 June 2007
Island Hopping and Exploring Penang
Hello again, as promised, we're in Malaysia for this blog - how exciting, another country! We've got a fair amount to catch-up with, but hopefully it shouldn't be too long a blog (maybe).
MONDAY 4th June
In the evening on Sunday we didn't really do anything. We'd spent the afternoon having lunch at Cafe89 and then trying to find an ATM and last of all we booked a day trip to go Island hopping on a speedboat. We then went back to Cafe89 to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3, it was very exciting stuff!
So, onto Monday. It was our Island hopping tour today. We got picked up from the hotel and dropped off at the beach to wait for the other people coming on the trip and then we all loaded onto a speedboat for the day. We made a couple of stops at beaches in the morning, but each for only 30 minutes, so we didn't get a chance to explore - not that that was a problem on the second beach, as they took us to where they filmed some of the movie The Beach, so it was just packed with tourists and covered in litter! So we were glad to leave that one! Unfortunately though, from the way the leaflet was written, we were expecting to make a few more stops to be able to get out and explore. But instead when we came to the caves, Monkey Island and the lagoon, all we could do was look at them from the boat. We had an inclusive lunch on Phi Phi Island (so glad we didn't end up staying there - it really isn't that wonderful at all), it was a pretty simple affair, but it did the trick of getting us filled up. After lunch we made 3 stops to go snorkeling, but again, unlike as stated in the literature, they didn't provide any fins, so it was a tad awkward at times, but it was still cool getting to watch the reef life. I was gutted though - I'd just got back onto the boat when Steve saw a 'real' Nemo fish (like in the movie), he said it was really vibrantly coloured and cool, and it even had a baby Nemo with it - but he'd run out of film in his camera! After all the snorkeling in the afternoon, we were taken back to shore (it was a pretty soggy affair, as it had started to rain so there was lots of water coming into the boat) and then dropped back off at the hotel. It was quite a good day, I'm just not sure it was worth as much as we paid for it.
Once back at the hotel, we got freshened up and de-saltified and then headed back to our usual haunt, Cafe89, for dinner and another movie! There were loads of people there that night, so although they started to put on The Departed, everyone wanted to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3, so once we'd finished dinner and had a drink, we left and went back to the hotel.
TUESDAY 5th June
Today, we decided to do our own beach thing and so decided to make our way to Railay Beach. Unfortunately we just missed the 09.00 longtail boat and so had to wait an hour for the next one. But it gave us time to put on suntan lotion and read our books for a bit. Once we were finally on Railay, we went straight to East Railay Beach, and once there, because we were so hot, we sat straight down in the shade of a tree and read our books for an hour or so! We still weren't cool enough, so found a, rather overpriced, place to have a couple of cold drinks. We then felt ready to do some exploring on the island. We went to the Inner Princess Caves first. They were pretty cool, although it was slightly eerie, as it was dingy, had loads of bats in places and we were the only 2 people in there! But there were some really cool limestone features, like flowstone and stalactites and stalagmites. We wandered around some more and made our way to the Princess Caves, which had a small altar in it, as well as a lot of phallic-shaped offerings! The island still has remnants of the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, some parts of the island are derelict and full of damaged buildings, rubble and rubbish etc - there were certainly plenty of stark contrasts. After seeing the Princess Cave, we went back to East Railay Beach for a late lunch. Steve wanted to find the lagoon, and so we went to West Railay Beach, where I sat and read my book and Steve went off for a death-defying walk/climb up to the lagoon. The path was rather treacherous and he only just made it back in one piece! He was also disappointed, as it wasn't a nice as he was expecting it to be, so wishes he hadn't bothered with the strenuous effort of getting up there in the first place! Once Steve was back from the lagoon, we caught another boat back to Krabi Town and made our way to the hotel for a shower - but the water wasn't working, so we had to go to dinner (yes you guessed it, at Cafe89) whilst still being all smelly and sweaty! We got to request a movie tonight (well, actually I requested it and Steve whinged about it) and we saw The Holiday with dinner!
WEDNESDAY 6th June
It wasn't a very exciting day today. We had to get up really early so that we had time to get checked out and have breakfast before catching the 07.00 bus to Penang. We were on a minibus the whole way there. We stopped in Hat Yai around lunchtime and had to wait for a second bus to take us the rest of the way to Penang and from then on it was straight through, apart from the stop at the border for immigration control and customs. It was a pretty easy journey and when we got dropped off in Penang we were only a 2 minute walk from the hotel we wanted to stay at!
It was quite late and we hadn't had a proper lunch, so we went out for an early dinner. We ended up at a shopping centre place and had dinner there and then decided to watch a movie in the Cinema upstairs - we got tickets for Shrek 3 and when we got up to the screen - there was a movie still running, we presumed it was just finishing, so waited outside. A security person then ushered us in and showed us to our seats. Not wanting to see the end of the movie first, we left and decided to wait for it to finish properly before going in, but we then realised what the problem was! We'd forgotten to put our watches forward and so had missed the first half an hour of the movie! So we had to buy a couple more tickets and wait for an hour or so to watch the whole movie!
THURSDAY 7th June
Today was a tad frustrating at times! We decided to go to Penang Hill today, but wanted to pop to the Tourist Information Office first for some maps and info etc. However, when we finally located them (after some very iffy directions from people), both of the offices were closed! So we wandered around the bus terminal looking lost, as we couldn't find the bus numbers we needed to get, but finally came across a different one that could get us there as well. So we were finally on our way and were dropped off about 5/10 minutes from the train station which would take us to the top of the hill. We went to buy our train tickets, and as it was so busy, found we had to wait for 2 hours before we could go up! So we sat and had a couple of cold drinks and then whiled away the time being rather bored in the waiting room and finally we were packed into the train like sardines, and on our way up!
At the top we decided we wanted to do one of the 'well sign-posted' trail walks, but soon found after half an hour of wandering, that the trails are not clearly sign-posted, if sign-posted at all, so we had to give up and accept defeat and headed back on ourselves. We did manage to find the temple mentioned in the guide book and so had a wander around that. It was really ornate and also being renovated, so it was a bit of a shame, but it was still stunning. By this time it was getting relatively late on in the afternoon, so we went and had a couple of drinks and then had dinner at a restaurant, with great views over George Town. We then decided to make our way back down to the bottom of the hill, but as on the way up, it was so busy that we couldn't catch the first train that came and so had a bit of a wait to get down, but again we were packed in like sardines, so it wasn't the most comfortable of trips. Once back we had to wait for the bus to take us back into town and back to the hotel for the night.
FRIDAY 8th June
Today has been much more successful than yesterday. We actually managed to find an OPEN, yes, open Tourist Information Office and they were really helpful. We got a map of a couple of Heritage Trail Walks around George Town and decided to mix the two together to create our own super long walk! We started off at Fort Cornwallis, which was kind of strange to wander around, as although you read about all the colonies Britain had, it's weird to be there and actually see the effects and 'aftermath' left behind from it all. The walk was really nice, although it was VERY hot today and it was hard work not melting! We even got invited into a couple of the Temples we went to see, which was really cool and we expect that not many tourists have ever even bothered to go to them. We had a really great lunch of scones with jam and cream - yum (today's really reminded us of home, what with all the English architecture and having scones for lunch)! But soon our Heritage walk was over and we started the new journey of trying to find a bookshop, the post office, an internet place and also some dinner. We managed to find the bookshop and the internet place, but will be working on the rest after blogging!
We think that's about it for now though folks. We're off to see the Kek Lok Si Temple tomorrow and also the Dragon Boat Races as well, should be cool and then we'll be heading off to the Cameron Highlands on Sunday - bring on the coolness of being at higher altitude! Thanks for all the messages, we're still really enjoying them. We can't believe that we're half way through the trip now, it's crazy - it feels like yesterday that we were being dropped off at the airport, we'll be home before you know it now! Missing you all.
Sam - Sorry I didn't read your comment before we chatted on MSN, hope everything goes well with planning and getting money together for your dive instructing - let us know where you go and when (although we might be back in the UK by then).
Nan and Grandad - Thanks for the post, we're really glad that you're enjoying reading it (sorry it's so long at times, we just like you to all know what we're up to). We did both use up a LOT of oxygen when we saw those sharks - I still can't quite believe I've done it!
Jason - You have done the bloggy thing right! Glad to hear you're following our travels, hope you're enjoying reading about it all. We're really looking forward to being able to get back and share our photos with everyone! No worries about the postcard. Take care of yourself and say "hi" to all at your end and pass on our love.
Mum - We have to agree the down-time has been really nice. I don't think we notice just how much we do and so when we get down time it feels really luxurious! Also do feel kind of lazy, as it feels like we should be off seeing things all of the time, but it's not humanly possible!
MONDAY 4th June
In the evening on Sunday we didn't really do anything. We'd spent the afternoon having lunch at Cafe89 and then trying to find an ATM and last of all we booked a day trip to go Island hopping on a speedboat. We then went back to Cafe89 to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3, it was very exciting stuff!
So, onto Monday. It was our Island hopping tour today. We got picked up from the hotel and dropped off at the beach to wait for the other people coming on the trip and then we all loaded onto a speedboat for the day. We made a couple of stops at beaches in the morning, but each for only 30 minutes, so we didn't get a chance to explore - not that that was a problem on the second beach, as they took us to where they filmed some of the movie The Beach, so it was just packed with tourists and covered in litter! So we were glad to leave that one! Unfortunately though, from the way the leaflet was written, we were expecting to make a few more stops to be able to get out and explore. But instead when we came to the caves, Monkey Island and the lagoon, all we could do was look at them from the boat. We had an inclusive lunch on Phi Phi Island (so glad we didn't end up staying there - it really isn't that wonderful at all), it was a pretty simple affair, but it did the trick of getting us filled up. After lunch we made 3 stops to go snorkeling, but again, unlike as stated in the literature, they didn't provide any fins, so it was a tad awkward at times, but it was still cool getting to watch the reef life. I was gutted though - I'd just got back onto the boat when Steve saw a 'real' Nemo fish (like in the movie), he said it was really vibrantly coloured and cool, and it even had a baby Nemo with it - but he'd run out of film in his camera! After all the snorkeling in the afternoon, we were taken back to shore (it was a pretty soggy affair, as it had started to rain so there was lots of water coming into the boat) and then dropped back off at the hotel. It was quite a good day, I'm just not sure it was worth as much as we paid for it.
Once back at the hotel, we got freshened up and de-saltified and then headed back to our usual haunt, Cafe89, for dinner and another movie! There were loads of people there that night, so although they started to put on The Departed, everyone wanted to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3, so once we'd finished dinner and had a drink, we left and went back to the hotel.
TUESDAY 5th June
Today, we decided to do our own beach thing and so decided to make our way to Railay Beach. Unfortunately we just missed the 09.00 longtail boat and so had to wait an hour for the next one. But it gave us time to put on suntan lotion and read our books for a bit. Once we were finally on Railay, we went straight to East Railay Beach, and once there, because we were so hot, we sat straight down in the shade of a tree and read our books for an hour or so! We still weren't cool enough, so found a, rather overpriced, place to have a couple of cold drinks. We then felt ready to do some exploring on the island. We went to the Inner Princess Caves first. They were pretty cool, although it was slightly eerie, as it was dingy, had loads of bats in places and we were the only 2 people in there! But there were some really cool limestone features, like flowstone and stalactites and stalagmites. We wandered around some more and made our way to the Princess Caves, which had a small altar in it, as well as a lot of phallic-shaped offerings! The island still has remnants of the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, some parts of the island are derelict and full of damaged buildings, rubble and rubbish etc - there were certainly plenty of stark contrasts. After seeing the Princess Cave, we went back to East Railay Beach for a late lunch. Steve wanted to find the lagoon, and so we went to West Railay Beach, where I sat and read my book and Steve went off for a death-defying walk/climb up to the lagoon. The path was rather treacherous and he only just made it back in one piece! He was also disappointed, as it wasn't a nice as he was expecting it to be, so wishes he hadn't bothered with the strenuous effort of getting up there in the first place! Once Steve was back from the lagoon, we caught another boat back to Krabi Town and made our way to the hotel for a shower - but the water wasn't working, so we had to go to dinner (yes you guessed it, at Cafe89) whilst still being all smelly and sweaty! We got to request a movie tonight (well, actually I requested it and Steve whinged about it) and we saw The Holiday with dinner!
WEDNESDAY 6th June
It wasn't a very exciting day today. We had to get up really early so that we had time to get checked out and have breakfast before catching the 07.00 bus to Penang. We were on a minibus the whole way there. We stopped in Hat Yai around lunchtime and had to wait for a second bus to take us the rest of the way to Penang and from then on it was straight through, apart from the stop at the border for immigration control and customs. It was a pretty easy journey and when we got dropped off in Penang we were only a 2 minute walk from the hotel we wanted to stay at!
It was quite late and we hadn't had a proper lunch, so we went out for an early dinner. We ended up at a shopping centre place and had dinner there and then decided to watch a movie in the Cinema upstairs - we got tickets for Shrek 3 and when we got up to the screen - there was a movie still running, we presumed it was just finishing, so waited outside. A security person then ushered us in and showed us to our seats. Not wanting to see the end of the movie first, we left and decided to wait for it to finish properly before going in, but we then realised what the problem was! We'd forgotten to put our watches forward and so had missed the first half an hour of the movie! So we had to buy a couple more tickets and wait for an hour or so to watch the whole movie!
THURSDAY 7th June
Today was a tad frustrating at times! We decided to go to Penang Hill today, but wanted to pop to the Tourist Information Office first for some maps and info etc. However, when we finally located them (after some very iffy directions from people), both of the offices were closed! So we wandered around the bus terminal looking lost, as we couldn't find the bus numbers we needed to get, but finally came across a different one that could get us there as well. So we were finally on our way and were dropped off about 5/10 minutes from the train station which would take us to the top of the hill. We went to buy our train tickets, and as it was so busy, found we had to wait for 2 hours before we could go up! So we sat and had a couple of cold drinks and then whiled away the time being rather bored in the waiting room and finally we were packed into the train like sardines, and on our way up!
At the top we decided we wanted to do one of the 'well sign-posted' trail walks, but soon found after half an hour of wandering, that the trails are not clearly sign-posted, if sign-posted at all, so we had to give up and accept defeat and headed back on ourselves. We did manage to find the temple mentioned in the guide book and so had a wander around that. It was really ornate and also being renovated, so it was a bit of a shame, but it was still stunning. By this time it was getting relatively late on in the afternoon, so we went and had a couple of drinks and then had dinner at a restaurant, with great views over George Town. We then decided to make our way back down to the bottom of the hill, but as on the way up, it was so busy that we couldn't catch the first train that came and so had a bit of a wait to get down, but again we were packed in like sardines, so it wasn't the most comfortable of trips. Once back we had to wait for the bus to take us back into town and back to the hotel for the night.
FRIDAY 8th June
Today has been much more successful than yesterday. We actually managed to find an OPEN, yes, open Tourist Information Office and they were really helpful. We got a map of a couple of Heritage Trail Walks around George Town and decided to mix the two together to create our own super long walk! We started off at Fort Cornwallis, which was kind of strange to wander around, as although you read about all the colonies Britain had, it's weird to be there and actually see the effects and 'aftermath' left behind from it all. The walk was really nice, although it was VERY hot today and it was hard work not melting! We even got invited into a couple of the Temples we went to see, which was really cool and we expect that not many tourists have ever even bothered to go to them. We had a really great lunch of scones with jam and cream - yum (today's really reminded us of home, what with all the English architecture and having scones for lunch)! But soon our Heritage walk was over and we started the new journey of trying to find a bookshop, the post office, an internet place and also some dinner. We managed to find the bookshop and the internet place, but will be working on the rest after blogging!
We think that's about it for now though folks. We're off to see the Kek Lok Si Temple tomorrow and also the Dragon Boat Races as well, should be cool and then we'll be heading off to the Cameron Highlands on Sunday - bring on the coolness of being at higher altitude! Thanks for all the messages, we're still really enjoying them. We can't believe that we're half way through the trip now, it's crazy - it feels like yesterday that we were being dropped off at the airport, we'll be home before you know it now! Missing you all.
Sam - Sorry I didn't read your comment before we chatted on MSN, hope everything goes well with planning and getting money together for your dive instructing - let us know where you go and when (although we might be back in the UK by then).
Nan and Grandad - Thanks for the post, we're really glad that you're enjoying reading it (sorry it's so long at times, we just like you to all know what we're up to). We did both use up a LOT of oxygen when we saw those sharks - I still can't quite believe I've done it!
Jason - You have done the bloggy thing right! Glad to hear you're following our travels, hope you're enjoying reading about it all. We're really looking forward to being able to get back and share our photos with everyone! No worries about the postcard. Take care of yourself and say "hi" to all at your end and pass on our love.
Mum - We have to agree the down-time has been really nice. I don't think we notice just how much we do and so when we get down time it feels really luxurious! Also do feel kind of lazy, as it feels like we should be off seeing things all of the time, but it's not humanly possible!
Sunday 3 June 2007
Beach Bumming
Well, for once, this should honestly be a short blog, as we've hardly done anything since we last posted! So sit back and relax!
FRIDAY 1st June
Well, after a lazy afternoon yesterday, spent reading on the beach and then going to bed very early as we were so tired, today was spent much in a similar manner of relaxation! We rented some fins and snorkels so that we could explore the reef a little bit - when we first went out though, the tide was pretty shallow and we were getting moved around so much by the waves, that it wasn't really safe for us, so we headed back to shore. We generally bummed around, reading, having lunch on the beach, having a swim in the hotel pool (before having to get out as there were people getting in doing their PADI Open Water practise - ha ha, we didn't use a pool at all, we got to do it all in the ocean) and not a lot else! When the tide had come in a bit more, we gave snorkeling another go. It was pretty nice, although the visibility wasn't brilliant, unless you actually dived down further - so Steve's hopefully got some nice pictures. It was so relaxing just floating around watching the fish swimming around etc.
After freshening up again, we had a bit of a wander to return the fins and snorkels and then headed back to the beach. We ate dinner whilst watching the most beautiful sunset - it was just amazing, and Steve got so excited by it that he took about a million photos!
SATURDAY 2nd June
Today was a real beach bumming day for us! We had to check out of the hotel (as we'd booked an overnight boat and bus journey to take us to Krabi), and so didn't want to go snorkeling again, as we would need a shower when we'd finished. So, instead we found nice shady places to sit on the beach and we ended up playing hang-man in the sand for most of the day - it ended up being a Lord of the Rings themed game too! We have a slight obsession about Lord of the Rings at the moment - we've got Silmarillion and the Hobbit and are desperately trying to find an English copy of Lord of the Rings!
So after playing a lot of hang-man, we decided we needed to discuss our plan of attack for the next few days, so got engrossed in our travel guide for a while. We went paddling in the sea and then decided to stop for dinner and watch the sunset from the beach again. Unfortunately there were lots of storms in the direction of the sunset, so it wasn't as brilliant as yesterday, but it was still nice getting to be outside eating dinner and hearing the ocean.
It was soon time to be getting on the boat - which was a rather interesting experience shall we say?! It started off OK, there was a lack of headroom, but there were only a few people on the boat, so we thought we would be fairly spaced out. But by the time we left, the boat was full and it was literally like being a sardine in a tin can! We had to lay stock-still on our backs, otherwise we would end up rolling onto the people next to us (the girl next to Steve didn't seem to realise how little space there was and kept rolling into him - so he kept trying to get me to move over, but I had about 2mm spare between me and the girl next to me)!! Trying to get to the loo was interesting as well - there was no space between the ends of the mattresses and so to get to the loo, you had to walk on people's mattresses and fall over their feet and bags before having to lower yourself through a 'trap-door' and then be able to access the loo! It was all a lot of hard work - I ended up waking someone up because I tripped over their foot!
So after an 8 hour boat ride, during which we barely had any sleep what-so-ever we had landed in Surat Thani!
SUNDAY 3rd June
Once in Surat Thani and being unloaded from the boat we had to wait for a taxi to take us to the bus. It was a bit nerve-racking, as all the taxis left and there was only Steve and I and another couple waiting, so we weren't sure as to whether we'd missed it or not! Thankfully a pick-up turned up after about 10 minutes and we were whisked off to a cafe to wait for the bus to arrive. Finally we were herded into another taxi and taken to the bus. We were a tad annoyed, as we'd paid to go on a 'VIP' bus, which should have taken us straight to Krabi with no stops, but instead we were bunged on a normal public bus that happened to pass near Krabi! So after 5 hours on a bus (it should have only been 2 hours if we'd been able to get on the bus we'd paid for), we were taken off the bus and got into a minivan which took us into Krabi Town at last! By this point we were smelly, tired, hungry and just in desperate need of a wash! We managed to get quickly booked into a little hotel and managed to have a wonderfully cold shower and at least feel vaguely human again!
Well, we think that's all we've done over the past few days - told you it would be short! Hopefully we'll have some more interesting things to tell you about next time as we're thinking of doing things like rock-climbing and snorkeling etc. Next time you hear from us, we'll probably be in Malaysia! Hope you're still enjoying the blog and have recovered from the traumatic shocks in the last post! Missing you all!
Greg - The diving was excellent - Steve enjoyed it so much, that he kept getting over-excited and using his oxygen up too quickly! Except, when we saw sharks, then I used up about half a tank in the space of 2 minutes. I did need some persuasion, but mainly knew I would be really jealous of Steve if he did it and I didn't - so, really I had to do it!
Mum and Dad - Glad the decking is going well, I bet you're excited about it all coming along mum and I bet you're excited that it's almost finished so you don't have to build it anymore dad! Glad to see your brain hasn't got the better of you yet dad! It certainly gave Steve and I a giggle reading about your thoughts on PADI diving!
Andie - You should be jealous! It's amazing out here - maybe we'll manage to convince you to do some travelling eventually (especially once you see the photos)! Hope the PhD stuff is going well, don't forget to let us know what happens.
FRIDAY 1st June
Well, after a lazy afternoon yesterday, spent reading on the beach and then going to bed very early as we were so tired, today was spent much in a similar manner of relaxation! We rented some fins and snorkels so that we could explore the reef a little bit - when we first went out though, the tide was pretty shallow and we were getting moved around so much by the waves, that it wasn't really safe for us, so we headed back to shore. We generally bummed around, reading, having lunch on the beach, having a swim in the hotel pool (before having to get out as there were people getting in doing their PADI Open Water practise - ha ha, we didn't use a pool at all, we got to do it all in the ocean) and not a lot else! When the tide had come in a bit more, we gave snorkeling another go. It was pretty nice, although the visibility wasn't brilliant, unless you actually dived down further - so Steve's hopefully got some nice pictures. It was so relaxing just floating around watching the fish swimming around etc.
After freshening up again, we had a bit of a wander to return the fins and snorkels and then headed back to the beach. We ate dinner whilst watching the most beautiful sunset - it was just amazing, and Steve got so excited by it that he took about a million photos!
SATURDAY 2nd June
Today was a real beach bumming day for us! We had to check out of the hotel (as we'd booked an overnight boat and bus journey to take us to Krabi), and so didn't want to go snorkeling again, as we would need a shower when we'd finished. So, instead we found nice shady places to sit on the beach and we ended up playing hang-man in the sand for most of the day - it ended up being a Lord of the Rings themed game too! We have a slight obsession about Lord of the Rings at the moment - we've got Silmarillion and the Hobbit and are desperately trying to find an English copy of Lord of the Rings!
So after playing a lot of hang-man, we decided we needed to discuss our plan of attack for the next few days, so got engrossed in our travel guide for a while. We went paddling in the sea and then decided to stop for dinner and watch the sunset from the beach again. Unfortunately there were lots of storms in the direction of the sunset, so it wasn't as brilliant as yesterday, but it was still nice getting to be outside eating dinner and hearing the ocean.
It was soon time to be getting on the boat - which was a rather interesting experience shall we say?! It started off OK, there was a lack of headroom, but there were only a few people on the boat, so we thought we would be fairly spaced out. But by the time we left, the boat was full and it was literally like being a sardine in a tin can! We had to lay stock-still on our backs, otherwise we would end up rolling onto the people next to us (the girl next to Steve didn't seem to realise how little space there was and kept rolling into him - so he kept trying to get me to move over, but I had about 2mm spare between me and the girl next to me)!! Trying to get to the loo was interesting as well - there was no space between the ends of the mattresses and so to get to the loo, you had to walk on people's mattresses and fall over their feet and bags before having to lower yourself through a 'trap-door' and then be able to access the loo! It was all a lot of hard work - I ended up waking someone up because I tripped over their foot!
So after an 8 hour boat ride, during which we barely had any sleep what-so-ever we had landed in Surat Thani!
SUNDAY 3rd June
Once in Surat Thani and being unloaded from the boat we had to wait for a taxi to take us to the bus. It was a bit nerve-racking, as all the taxis left and there was only Steve and I and another couple waiting, so we weren't sure as to whether we'd missed it or not! Thankfully a pick-up turned up after about 10 minutes and we were whisked off to a cafe to wait for the bus to arrive. Finally we were herded into another taxi and taken to the bus. We were a tad annoyed, as we'd paid to go on a 'VIP' bus, which should have taken us straight to Krabi with no stops, but instead we were bunged on a normal public bus that happened to pass near Krabi! So after 5 hours on a bus (it should have only been 2 hours if we'd been able to get on the bus we'd paid for), we were taken off the bus and got into a minivan which took us into Krabi Town at last! By this point we were smelly, tired, hungry and just in desperate need of a wash! We managed to get quickly booked into a little hotel and managed to have a wonderfully cold shower and at least feel vaguely human again!
Well, we think that's all we've done over the past few days - told you it would be short! Hopefully we'll have some more interesting things to tell you about next time as we're thinking of doing things like rock-climbing and snorkeling etc. Next time you hear from us, we'll probably be in Malaysia! Hope you're still enjoying the blog and have recovered from the traumatic shocks in the last post! Missing you all!
Greg - The diving was excellent - Steve enjoyed it so much, that he kept getting over-excited and using his oxygen up too quickly! Except, when we saw sharks, then I used up about half a tank in the space of 2 minutes. I did need some persuasion, but mainly knew I would be really jealous of Steve if he did it and I didn't - so, really I had to do it!
Mum and Dad - Glad the decking is going well, I bet you're excited about it all coming along mum and I bet you're excited that it's almost finished so you don't have to build it anymore dad! Glad to see your brain hasn't got the better of you yet dad! It certainly gave Steve and I a giggle reading about your thoughts on PADI diving!
Andie - You should be jealous! It's amazing out here - maybe we'll manage to convince you to do some travelling eventually (especially once you see the photos)! Hope the PhD stuff is going well, don't forget to let us know what happens.
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