Kota Bharu was a fantastic place to take photos, especially as the people were so friendly and inviting.
Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
Featured Travel Photo
This was taken by chance while we were having something to eat on a street stall in Kota Bharu, Malaysia
Friday, 13 November 2009
Five Spend 10 Days in Sabah, Borneo
Day 1 – Kota Kinabalu, Friends Arrive
It was an odd day for us flying back to Kota Kinabalu as it was the first time we had retraced our steps in all the 4 months we’d been travelling. There was a good reason for this as we had some friends (Colin & Steve) and my sister, Ambreen, coming out to spend 10 days with us.
That day we took two trips to the airport - once to Terminal 1 to pick up Colin and Steve and the second time to pick up Ambreen at Terminal 2. We took the local bus in each time to save costs and the nice guy at the bus station did look at us oddly the second time we turned up.
They all arrived safely and on time and they were greeted with balloons and a banner. In hindsight blowing up balloons in an airport is not such a good idea as when they burst you get some strange looks from the security guards.
Day 2 – Mamutik Island
On day two of the trip to Sabah, we went snorkelling in the Abdul Tunku Rahamn National Park, just off the coast from Kota Kinabalu. We rolled into the ferry dock rather late, and hired some snorkels, masks and flippers for a pretty reasonable price. Mahmoud and I already had a snorkel and mask from our trip to Thailand which helped! We boarded a speedboat from the ferry dock, from which it was a 10 minute hair-raisingly-fast ride to the tiny Mamutik Island.
The island was very pretty, with all the necessary amenities (although the changing rooms were being renovated), and we set about our business of snorkelling and sunbathing. The snorkelling was decent, although it was low tide and the water was very shallow around some of the coral. Ambreen bought some “bottled bread” (bread in a water bottle), and we fed the fish. This generally resulted in a frenzy of fish surrounding the person with the bottle, and meant you got to see a lot more than if you just snorkelled around. A couple of us got bitten by the fish – I started to get a little paranoid by it, and got out shortly after getting a nip!
All in all, it was a good day – although Colin got a bit sunburned! We rounded it all off by watching the sunset with a drink back in Kota Kinabalu, followed by a trip to some local hawker stalls selling fresh cooked seafood. It was delicious, and some of the nicest fish we’d had on our trip so far. A great start to our group trip in Sabah!
Day 3 – On the plane to Sandakan
We took taxis to Kota Kinabalu airport, where we caught a domestic flight to Sandakan – a mere 45 minute flight from Kota Kinabalu. We were descending before we’d even finished climbing, and once we’d landed we picked up our bags, and had reached our hotel – Hotel London – within half an hour of our arrival.
Hotel London was cheap but clean and basic, and was a decent place to stay. Sandakan was an odd place – a bit soulless as it had been rebuilt following it’s destruction in WWII, and quite unclean with more cockroaches than Mahmoud and I had seen in our entire five month trip combined, but the people were friendly and it was a good place to base our activities in eastern Sabah from.
We spent the first day relaxing into our surroundings, and exploring the town. We had a quick look around the local market, and then sat by the smelly seafront and had some food and drinks. Bedtime was early on day 3 – ready to be up and ready for our trip the following day to Sepilok Orang-utan Sanctuary!
Day 4 – Sepilok Orang-utan sanctuary
The thing that everyone wants to see in Borneo is the orang-utan. Literally meaning “man of the forest”, they are rare to see in the wild, but the Sepilok Orang-utan Sanctuary is one place where tourists can go to see partially rehabilitated orang-utans being fed. We took a 45 minute local bus from Sandakan to the centre, where we were just in time for the 10am feeding.
When we arrived, there were hundreds of people waiting at the feeding station, kept quite by men with large signs saying “Silence!”. We crept past the other tourists, and looked up into the canopy, where we saw our first orang-utans. They were hanging there, waiting for the feeding to start – we counted just three. There were two feeding platforms there, the larger one of which the orang-utans were waiting at and all the tourists were clustered near. The keepers must have changed their schedule however, as much to the chagrin of the dozens of tourists clustered at the larger platform, they used the other platform for feeding the orang-utans. Fortunately for me, I was standing right there when the feeding began, and got some good video of the feeding! There was a lot of angry muttering from some other tourists – they felt a bit short-changed!
The best part of the feeding was when one large orang-utan jumped onto the viewing platform and knuckle-walked through the crowd – he walked right past me! Everyone jumped out of the way, as you’re not supposed to touch them in case you give them diseases, but it was great to be so close.
We came back for the second feeding at 3pm, at which point we saw another five orang-utans, including a nursing mother and her tiny baby. They are very human in their actions, and she handled her baby with such tenderness that it was very sweet.
On our way back to the main centre, we saw an Australian man stroking some macaques - really very odd behaviour considering the prevalence of rabies in Borneo. Even more odd was when he encouraged his young daughter to stroke them – bizarre, you wouldn’t catch me going anywhere near them! One of the macaques jumped on his shoulder which I think made him nervous – if it had been me, I probably would have screamed and run around in circles, but he very calmly coaxed it down. When lots of macaques started jumping onto the walkway we left for Sandakan – being surrounded by monkeys is not fun!
Day 5 – A trip down the Lower Kinabatangan and Gomantong Cave
Gomantong Cave was on the way to the river trip. Our first experience of a cave in Borneo was amazing and we had high hopes for this one too. We arrived and were led down to the mouth of the cave by our driver who we had hired for the day. Travelling in a group of five had its advantages as you can spread the costs.
The cave was looked simple enough, a walkway to the back of the cave and then circled back out again. As we started to walk into the cave the stench of the bats and birds was the first thing that hit us, a bit like our previous experience. Looking over the walkway I started to notice the piles of bat and bird droppings and then I saw them. COCKROACHES! Hundreds and hundreds of them, just like in a horror movie. I went to steady myself as it was a little slippery underfoot too and as I went for the banister of the walkway I pulled away just in time it was littered with COCKROACHES too. I stopped and gathered myself and then noticed around my open toed sandaled feet more COCKROACHES. After that I don’t really remember much about the cave, only that we all stamped our feet all the way round and stopped briefly at the back. It’s an experience I won’t be repeating anytime soon.
After the cave we headed onto the river .So far our river trips have been some of the highlights of our trip, the one to Siem Reap and Cherating a couple of favourites. I was hoping this one would not disappoint as along the river banks you are supposed to be able to see proboscis monkeys, pygmy elephants, long tailed macaques and horned billed birds.
We saw all of these and the highlight was definitely a herd of pygmy elephants. There must have been over 50 of them grazing by the river bank and we spent a lot of time watching their behaviour. Just fascinating!
Day 6 – A bus trip to Kinabalu National Park
Our last morning in Sandakan greeted us with rain, and we made our way to the bus station to catch the first available bus to Kinabalu National Park. Arriving at the bus station was a bit of a shock – it was more of a car park than a bus station, and on pulling up, touts surrounded the taxis we were in. We managed to buy a ticket for a bus that was leaving immediately, but the experience was a bit of an odd one – nothing like anything else we’d experienced since Cambodia three months beforehand. I can imagine for Steve, Colin and Ambreen it would have been rather weird!
The bus sped off to Kinabalu National Park, and the weather just got worse as we got closer. The first half of the five hour journey was solely through palm oil plantations. It was shocking to see how much jungle has been cleared to make way for palm oil – it makes the scenery pretty dull to watch too! Unfortunately, at about the point the scenery should have gotten better we went up into the cloud cover and couldn’t see anything! So, unfortunately, what could have been a decent journey was a bit dull. Having a toilet on the bus didn’t help – buses with toilets always stink!!
Still, we arrived at our accommodation near the park – Kinabalu Pine Resort. The accommodation was okay, but kind of overpriced in comparison to other Malaysian accommodation. The weather was miserable when we arrived too – it was so foggy we couldn’t see further than a few metres. Worse still, it was cold – only about 20 degrees – we had to wrap up warm!
We wandered into the small nearby village for some lunch, and eventually settled on a small restaurant which served some decent food – but the village itself was a bit dull. On our way back to the hotel, the clouds parted to reveal Mt. Kinabalu looming overhead – it was very beautiful with the mists rising off of it. We were very relieved that the weather was improving – there would have been nothing worse than two nights in the fog and the rain!
Day 7 – In Kinabalu National Park
After a chilly night’s sleep, we awoke to a gorgeous blue sky and lovely soft light over Mt. Kinabalu. This was in stark contrast to the previous day’s rain and mist, and it was definitely a relief to have a bit of good weather.
After breakfast we chartered a minivan to take us to the park headquarters, from where we did a guided tour of the park’s botanical gardens. The gardens were ok, and we would have rushed around them if we hadn’t been on the tour. The tour was really interesting and informative, and for all her apologies for her “poor English and information”, the woman who showed us around was very informative and easy to listen to – some tour guides preach but she chatted to us and it was much more interesting than I thought it would be!
After the botanical gardens we opted to do another guided walk, but it was not quite so useful as it basically contained the same information on a different walk. Still, it was a nice little walk, although we were always at the front of the crowd of oldies who were on the tour with us! Just before the walk started, Steve noticed that he had a cut on his leg. We weren’t sure what had caused it, as he hadn’t felt anything bite or scratch him, but Steve is not good with blood and he felt a bit woozy and had to sit down. Then he fainted! We were all a bit surprised, and he did come around quickly, but it was pretty scary for a few minutes!
We did an hour long walk back to the park headquarters for lunch with the intention of doing another one in the afternoon, but unfortunately the weather packed in and it rained for the rest of the day. After hoping the weather would clear, we eventually gave in and went back to the hotel. That’s the problem with travelling in the monsoon and in the hills – it all gets a bit unpredictable!
Day 8 – Poring Hot Springs, and back to Kota Kinabalu
On our final day in Kinabalu National Park we decided to hire another mini van to take us back to Kota Kinabalu via Poring Hot Springs. Poring is the name given to Bamboo in Malaysia and at Poring you get to see some really big examples of it surrounding the hot springs. There were two attractions – the first being the springs and the other being a Canopy Walkway high above in the treetops.
The weather pattern in the park had been of nice weather in the morning and then rain in the afternoon. So as soon as we got to the springs we headed straight for the walkway just in case the weather turned. I’m good with heights but when I first stepped onto it I had a slight wobble, however I turned round to Colin who is not a big fan of heights and smiled to say everything was good. We all managed to get round and being up so high was terrific.
The weather soon turned after that and we waited around a bit for it to clear but the rain stopped play again so we headed to Kota Kinabalu. Steve’s prayers were answered as he was a little concerned at the erratic nature of some of the driving he’d experienced in Malaysia, as our minivan driver was very cautious in his driving. His overtaking was non-existent so the journey back seemed to take forever. Luckily the cloud cover was not so low and some of the views were pretty impressive.
Day 9 – Snorkelling at Sapi
On our final full day in Kota Kinabalu we decided to go snorkelling again as we had had so much fun the first time and our visitors would soon be returning to the weather back in England. This time we chose an even smaller island called Sapi off the shores of Kota Kinabalu. I have to say that for me this was the better of the two islands we visited. Firstly because we got a longer hair-raising ride on the speedboat to get there and secondly the water was deeper so snorkelling was a little easier and just as much fun. Ambreen once again bought some bread stuffed into a plastic water bottle which the fish loved. At several points the fish that had gathered got frightened off, from what we thought were other snorkallers. However I spotted a larger looking fish in pursuit of the smaller ones as they fled. At one point the larger fish flew between Ambreen and I in a flash of silver.
Day 10 – Goodbye Borneo
The 10 days in Sabah had been fully loaded. I was really pleased with the way things had turned out. The Snorkelling was great, using Sandakan as a base to visit the Orangutans, and river trip was ideal. The trip up high to Kinabalu National Park was a bit damp but still lots of fun. Above all it was great spending time with Ambreen, Colin and Steve and the five of us had lots of fun. It was for us like having a mini holiday, jammed packed with activities, as travelling for a long time has become a way of life. A fantastic one I may add!
Written by: Mahmoud & Jono
Friday, 6 November 2009
Our time in Sarawak
Aside from our time visiting the amazing Niah Caves, we had five more days in the Sarawak region of Malaysian Borneo. During this time, we used the town of Miri as a base to explore the region of north-east Sarawak. During this time, we spent most of our evenings staying in Somerset Hotel, a decent “No durian” hotel in Miri.
There wasn’t a great deal to do or see in Miri, but we did spend a bit of time wandering around the town. There was a fairly impressive Chinese temple there, and a healthy looking market. One thing we noticed in Miri that we haven’t come across anywhere else, was that people offered us fruit when we were walking down the street, or taking a taxi – or sitting around doing nothing. From this respect, the people of Miri seemed very hospitable. I got the impression that not a lot of tourists go wandering around the town, as I got a lot of curious looks and smiles during our outings.
One interesting place we visited was Ming Café, a really odd place which was sort of Westernised, served beer, and yet had a lot of local families dining. We partook of the dirt cheap Indian buffet, which was delicious. Still, there was something that didn’t quite ring right there, and I think it might have been the middle-aged sleazy looking older western men which seemed to frequent the place. In fact, there was a generally slightly sleazy feel about Miri, which we hadn’t experienced elsewhere in Malaysia. There seemed to be a lot of dodgy looking bars about the place – I think it might be somewhere which certain Brunei citizens visit to “let loose” a bit!
While in Miri, we visited Lambir Hills National Park, and stayed in the accommodation at the park headquarters. Well, it was an interesting place to stay. We were the only ones there for the two nights we stayed, and as such were the only ones using the on-site café, pretty much the only ones doing any walks, and definitely the only ones being bitten by hordes of mosquitoes. The accommodation was very basic, and a wee bit grotty feeling. The bathroom was clean, but smelled of those little smelly sanitizers they put in public loos – ewww!
There were a couple of interesting walks which we did. First was the quite short walk to Latak Waterfall, just 20 minutes from the park headquarters. This was a brilliant and clean waterfall and bathing pool, with a few little fish flitting about. Brilliant for us to cool off after wandering about in the jungle, but we had to be careful of the ever-present mosquitoes which went after any bit of exposed skin! We visited this waterfall a couple of times, and both times had it all to ourselves – it was excellent!
The second walk we did was a 9km walk to and back from Pantu Hill. It was pretty tiring wandering about in the humid jungle, and after an hour or so I was sodden from all the sweat. I was dripping constantly, and no matter how much water I drank I seemed to sweat out twice as much! The walk was hard work, and a lot of ascending and descending meant we were pretty tired by the time we got to the climax of the trek – the hill itself. Just a few hundred metres above sea level, the view was still well worth the hard work, and we could see for miles around.
The trek itself was very interesting, and we saw plenty of wildlife and interesting plants. The most interesting animal we saw were giant ants – you see pretty big ants around South-east Asia, but none as big as these ants – I kid you not, some were the size of small mice! A part of me wished that an Orang-utan would come swinging through the trees past us but they don’t live in this particular park, and as predicted none came. We did, however, spot a wasp nest. In fact, we unwittingly stopped right next to one. I felt a jab on my leg, and thinking that I’d been bitten by one of the giant ants, swatted it away. I then got a jab on the hand, and subsequently spotted angry looking wasps flying out of a hole in the ground. I screeched at Mahmoud to run, and bounded off down the hill, fuelled by a bit of adrenaline. We didn’t get stung again, but my stings swelled up a fair bit – ouch!
Once our time in Miri was over, we flew back to Kota Kinabalu on a very short 50 minute flight. I was really pleased that we’d managed to get to Sarawak – I felt that we got to see some amazing sights in both Niah Caves and also Lambir Hills, and we’d gotten to experience a bit of Borneo that we otherwise would have missed.
Friday, 23 October 2009
Niah Caves - An Awesome Sight
After Kuala Lumpur we finally ended our overland adventure and boarded an Air Asia flight to Borneo. We’d spent the last 3 months travelling overland by bus, boat and car and both of us felt odd getting on a flight. To get to Borneo we had no choice but it did feel weird.
Air Asia is a low-cost carrier and it felt like boarding an Easyjet flight, the only difference being the theme was red not orange. Borneo is split into two distinct regions and our 2.5 hour flight took us to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. However we wanted to be in Sarawak so we boarded another 50 minute flight to Miri the following day. We did have some time in Kota Kinabalu but we knew we’d be returning in a few days so only went out for some dinner.
The whole reason for going to Miri was to explore some of the rainforest and caves in the area. The effort and cost to get there was richly rewarded as I got to see the single most impressive sight I’ve seen in the 4 months of travel so far, the caves at Niah National Park.
We chose to do Niah National Park as a day trip from Miri, an area of rainforest which also includes a set of caves. Once at the park, about a 2 hour drive from Miri, you have to hike for about 1.5 hours through the rainforest to reach the caves. It’s hot work as it’s just what you’d imagine a rainforest to be like, very hot and humid. The caves themselves are famous for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the bird nests inside them are highly sought after as a delicacy and secondly, the remains the oldest human life in South East Asia were found in the caves.
Upon reaching the caves, I couldn’t take in what I was seeing. First you reach the Traders Cave which is where all the workers who used to harvest the bird nests lived. It now contains some rickety structures which until as recently as 1970 were home to the workers. The Trader cave is huge but around the corner you come across the Great Cave which is enormous. I really could not comprehend what I was seeing at first, as it’s so vast. A few people had made the hike into the cave before us and as I saw them in the distance I really got a feel for the enormity of what was in front of me.
As I settled into the view I started noticing the clicking noises the birds and bats were making up above me and as we explored further into the cave the ground underfoot became soft with their droppings. As we ventured further in, the air became still and heavy with the stench. We turned another corner and in front of us was a beam of sunlight like if a spaceship was ready to beam someone up. That single sight was the just awesome, absolutely magical.
About another hundred meters in we turned on our torch and the path got darker and darker until there was only the light from the torch. A few more minutes into the walk Jono said “I don’t want to go too far in” and even though I was thinking the same we ventured on. I had had the foresight that morning to stick a spare set of batteries into my bag and I was thankful as I don’t know what we would have done if the torch light had gone out. It was pitch black. It’s funny how the mind plays tricks on you as the shadows caused by the torchlight spooked me a few times and I was really pleased I was not alone.
I think it was about 15 minutes of walking in total darkness before we saw light ahead and an exit. As we got closer to the exit I heard voices and when we got out there was a group of school kids, one of them was hyperventilating while surrounded by all her friends. The darkness must have got to her.
Following a further 20 minute walk we got to another cave which had paintings and remains of prehistoric man. There were basic drawings on the walls, wooden burial boats and what looked like recently excavated human remains. It’s a pretty inhospitable place now and I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like back then.
The whole trip was amazing and we had to do the whole journey backwards to get out of the caves and rainforest but this time we had a little more confidence and I even shone the torch around a bit, not afraid of what I might see this time.
Air Asia is a low-cost carrier and it felt like boarding an Easyjet flight, the only difference being the theme was red not orange. Borneo is split into two distinct regions and our 2.5 hour flight took us to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. However we wanted to be in Sarawak so we boarded another 50 minute flight to Miri the following day. We did have some time in Kota Kinabalu but we knew we’d be returning in a few days so only went out for some dinner.
The whole reason for going to Miri was to explore some of the rainforest and caves in the area. The effort and cost to get there was richly rewarded as I got to see the single most impressive sight I’ve seen in the 4 months of travel so far, the caves at Niah National Park.
We chose to do Niah National Park as a day trip from Miri, an area of rainforest which also includes a set of caves. Once at the park, about a 2 hour drive from Miri, you have to hike for about 1.5 hours through the rainforest to reach the caves. It’s hot work as it’s just what you’d imagine a rainforest to be like, very hot and humid. The caves themselves are famous for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the bird nests inside them are highly sought after as a delicacy and secondly, the remains the oldest human life in South East Asia were found in the caves.
Upon reaching the caves, I couldn’t take in what I was seeing. First you reach the Traders Cave which is where all the workers who used to harvest the bird nests lived. It now contains some rickety structures which until as recently as 1970 were home to the workers. The Trader cave is huge but around the corner you come across the Great Cave which is enormous. I really could not comprehend what I was seeing at first, as it’s so vast. A few people had made the hike into the cave before us and as I saw them in the distance I really got a feel for the enormity of what was in front of me.
As I settled into the view I started noticing the clicking noises the birds and bats were making up above me and as we explored further into the cave the ground underfoot became soft with their droppings. As we ventured further in, the air became still and heavy with the stench. We turned another corner and in front of us was a beam of sunlight like if a spaceship was ready to beam someone up. That single sight was the just awesome, absolutely magical.
About another hundred meters in we turned on our torch and the path got darker and darker until there was only the light from the torch. A few more minutes into the walk Jono said “I don’t want to go too far in” and even though I was thinking the same we ventured on. I had had the foresight that morning to stick a spare set of batteries into my bag and I was thankful as I don’t know what we would have done if the torch light had gone out. It was pitch black. It’s funny how the mind plays tricks on you as the shadows caused by the torchlight spooked me a few times and I was really pleased I was not alone.
I think it was about 15 minutes of walking in total darkness before we saw light ahead and an exit. As we got closer to the exit I heard voices and when we got out there was a group of school kids, one of them was hyperventilating while surrounded by all her friends. The darkness must have got to her.
Following a further 20 minute walk we got to another cave which had paintings and remains of prehistoric man. There were basic drawings on the walls, wooden burial boats and what looked like recently excavated human remains. It’s a pretty inhospitable place now and I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like back then.
The whole trip was amazing and we had to do the whole journey backwards to get out of the caves and rainforest but this time we had a little more confidence and I even shone the torch around a bit, not afraid of what I might see this time.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Great Attractions in Kuala Lumpur
We left Melaka, which had a lot of charm and character for such a tourist-trodden town. However, we had a schedule to keep to before our flight to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo in a few days time, so we headed to the bus station to catch a coach to Kuala Lumpur. We’d asked a couple of people if we needed to book a bus ticket in advance or not. The hotel we were staying at said “Yes, definitely”, and the tourist office had said “No, definitely not”, so we decided to leave it to chance and just turn up. We arrived at 10am to find a bus for the 2 hour journey. We walked straight up to a counter and bought a bus ticket for a 10am bus – noting it was 10:05am we verified that the bus was still around – and jumped straight on. There was us and two other passengers, and off the bus went. So easy!
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at midday, and thanks to some skilful navigation by Mahmoud (!), we got off the bus fairly close to our hotel. We lugged our bags around the back of the Times Square shopping centre, to a small hotel called Classic Inn. It was a neat and tidy little place, very good value for money in the heart of the city. Shocked that we’d arrived at our destination at a time of day in which we could actually do something, rather than the 5-7pm arrival time we normally have, we planned our next moves.
First of all we wandered through the massive shopping mall next door – 11 floors of shopping and food goodies, including Malaysia’s largest indoor roller coaster, which you could hear roaring around the track from most of the mall. We had some really surprisingly yummy Malay food from the food court – you wouldn’t have thought it would be great quality there, but it was really nice. We wandered up the road to the Petronas Towers after that, the most internationally recognised buildings of Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. They were an amazing sight in the mid-afternoon sun, and made me feel very small standing next to them!
The next day we turned up and went on the “free” tour up to the 41st floor skybridge. I say “free”, because in return for turning up and having a look you also get the privilege of being subjected to a 10 minute corporate video about how great the Petronas company is. They give you 3D glasses to make it more exciting, but unfortunately it didn’t make it that much more exciting for me! Still, the view we got after the video was amazing. We were popped onto an express elevator which blasted us up to the 41st floor, and we walked out onto the skybridge. Definitely worth a mundane corporate advertising video!
Another highlight was our visit to Merdeka Square and Chinatown. Here you get a sense of the more traditional side of Kuala Lumpur. We didn’t linger too long in Chinatown, as we’ve seen a few and to be honest it didn’t even touch Melaka’s Chinatown. Merdeka Square housed some impressive buildings, including a massive flagpole with a massive national flag hoisted up it – pretty cool!
On that same day, we walked down to the nearly deserted Kuala Lumpur train station, and then on to the state mosque – a beautiful piece of architecture. We didn’t go in as the mosque was closed to tourists at certain times of the day, but it was worth the look. Our main mode of transport around the city was the metro and the monorail. We planned to walk from the mosque to KL Sentral (the Central train/bus station) to get the monorail back to our hotel – it turned out to be a bit far though, and we ended up walking back to Chinatown to get on the metro from there!
It was pretty hot in Kuala Lumpur while we were there – fortunately for us, there are a lot of shopping malls in the city with good air conditioning systems – perfect for dipping in and out of on a hot day! We spent a bit of time in shopping malls while there – although we didn’t buy a lot, there were some great people watching opportunities. While we were there, preparations were underway for the Hindu Deepavali ceremony. One woman in the Times Sqaure Shopping Centre was attempting a Malaysian record of the largest Rangoli done by a single person within 48 hours. A ??? is a large piece of art created on the ground – traditionally using flour, but in Malaysia done using coloured rice. Her piece was very interesting, but she looked absolutely shattered! I think she’d been going non-stop for nearly 36 hours by the time we left KL – it looked like hard work.
Another highlight was when we went up the KL Tower. The view from near the top was incredible – at around 481 metres you could see the whole city. We chose to go up at night, but when we got there, there was a fair bit of glare from lights within the tower, and the view was spoiled a little bit by that. The other slight disappointment was that even though the brochures we’d picked up from the tourist information office said that the entry fee was 20RM, it was actually 38RM – nearly twice the price! Still, in the end it was still worth it, and the lights of the city were an impressive sight from so high up. It may have been a little better if we’d gone during the day though.
Being in Kuala Lumpur, you could be in just about any western city. English is everywhere, and the multi-ethnic population gives the city a diverse feeling. It’s very different from the rest of Malaysia – you could be anywhere, so it doesn’t really feel much like Malaysia. The only bad point that I noticed was that Buddhist monks tend to come up to foreigners and try to push good-luck charms into their hands and then demand money. This happened to me a few times – each time I just ignored them, but one time a monk followed me for a few minutes down the road, about 2 feet behind me the whole way! I had to dip into a shop to lose him in the end! After seeing the humble and friendly monks of Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, these guys seem like real con artists.
I enjoyed Kuala Lumpur from a sights and comforts perspective. You need to look hard though, or you might forget you’re in Malaysia! Still, from our perspective, it was a great stop for a bit of home comfort, and to see some amazing urban sights. The people are friendlier than you might expect from a big city too, which was a pleasant surprise. I’m pleased we spent four nights there – it was a welcome stop-off before arriving in the more “rustic” Borneo!
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Charming & Historic Melaka
Cherating would have been a disappointment if it hadn’t been for the river trip. I was amazed at seeing all the different animals, the monkeys flying through the air were a particular highlight. I was, however, pleased that we left and headed to Melaka, another world heritage sight. It’s a coastal town first colonised by the Dutch and then taken over by British.
To get to Melaka we first had to take a local bus to Kuantan and then get on a coach to Melaka. We hailed the local bus to Kuantan from the main road and jumped on board and made ourselves comfortable for the hour-long journey. I love to watch the locals go about their business and a local bus is just perfect for this. One thing common in all our journeys so far have been the women who are travelling with unbelievably heavy bags. It amazes me how agile they move about with such heavy loads were as I still only manage to fumble about with my backpack and hold everyone up. One oddity on this occasion was a man who had adorned on him chains made out of D clips. I could tell this was not normal behaviour as I caught the others on the bus taking furtive looks. Strange!
We got to Kuantan within the hour and headed for the main bus station to get our ticket. Once that was sorted we had time to kill so I thought it was about time I started to replace some of the clothes I’d been wearing constantly for the last 4 months. We found a big mall and I got myself a right bargain.
The bus journey to Melaka was slow, we thought it was going to take 5 hours but after we stopped at every little town on the way it dragged out. I think by the time we got to Melaka, we were the only ones who did the whole journey. The scenery along the way was pretty interesting mainly because we got to see swathes of country side covered in plantations and even more swathes slashed and burned.
We arrived in Melaka after dark and headed to the hotel we had chosen, Baba House, right in the centre of China Town. Checking in they only had a room for two of the 4 nights we’d planned to stay so we had a scout round some of the other hotels nearby but all were full for the weekend. This is the only time this has happened and it was because we were approaching the weekend. Luckily we asked at reception the next morning to see if there had been a cancellation and got a room for the remaining two nights, which was a spot of luck.
Melaka was full of character and had a lot to do and see. We easily filled our time there, ambling about looking at all the different sights and taking in the atmosphere of the place. Melaka is full of history and some of the more interesting sights were the Mosques, which, unlike the traditional dome roofs you see, had peaked roofs - very Chinese looking. I did wonder if they had been converted to mosques, but apparently they were built like this.
The first thing we did was take a trip up the Manara Taming Sari tower. As you ascend, the platform rotates so that you get some fine views of the city. We went up on a particularly clear day and I think I could see Indonesia in the distance as it’s only about 50km across the sea.
As we were there at the weekend, the place had a real holiday feel to it. There were Eid celebrations still going on and even though Eid was 2 weeks ago, in Malaysia they have a month long celebration. We stumbled upon one such celebration coming off the tower. As we exited, we sort of fell into the celebrations and were being offered food. It was rude to say no so we had a plate full each of rice, chicken curry and beef skewers. While we munched on the food a band started playing and we were entertained by some singing. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and it reminded me of the street parties held back at the silver jubilee in the UK. Great spirit.
That evening, just outside our hotel, a huge night market appeared and we found that it only happens at the weekend. It was great, you had everything being sold from roasted dried squid, which stank, to bric and brac someone had collected. Karaoke also featured heavily in the nooks and crannies as you’d hear the singing before you saw it. There was even a stage dedicated to it at one end of the market. Very brave for them to go up and sing in front of the big market crowd.
We had one of the oddest experiences in Melaka, the shirt I’d bought in Kuantan turned out to be a bit too big so I decided to find a tailor to get it adjusted. Whereas in Thailand you were falling over them shoving their cards in your face, in Melaka they proved to be a bit more allusive. On the hunt we went and after roaming around for a while we came across one. We walked in straight to the back past all these people sat at sewing machines to ask if they could adjust it for me. I did notice that they were all eating and that there seemed to be a lot of camera lighting about but thought nothing of it. When I asked if they could help, I got an odd look and was told that it wasn’t a tailors shop. I looked puzzled which elicited that it was actually a film set and they were taking a lunch break. Anyway I did find a tailor and he adjusted my shirt for the princely sum of 90p.
Oddly, we found some of the streets cordoned off to traffic, so we went investigating and we found a crowd looking skywards where we’d feasted on the free food the day before. As I looked up a man hurled himself off the top of the tower and what we’d stumbled across this time was base jumping. Amazing really, having been up there the day before I knew how high it was - pretty high, but not high enough to base jump from. I was so busy taking photos that as he landed I had to run out of the way as I nearly got taken out.
Melaka is also hosting the Eye on Malaysia at the moment, it’s sort of like the London eye, but smaller and portable. You also don’t go round once but that may have has something do with us being the only ones on it. It’s a bit out of the main city, in the middle of nowhere so I don’t think it gets many visitors. The sun was setting as we were on it so the view were spectacular over the sea and I think we definitely got value for money by going round and round and round.
To end a great stay in Melaka we found ourselves a restaurant serving Nyonya food, which is a mix of Malay and Chinese. To describe the food is hard but if you think of Chinese food but made by an Indian chef then you get a little idea. I think on the menu it described it as the original fusion food.
Melaka is charming, it’s people are warm and friendly. The historical as well as the modern sights are worth a visit and the weekend is definitely the best time to come here and lucky for us that’s just what happened.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Exploring the East Coast of Malaysia - Kota Bharu & Cherating
Penang was a whirlwind introduction to Malaysia, complete with very bad weather, so we were quite pleased to be leaving and on our way to the east coast, starting with a stop in Kota Bharu.
Our taxi arrived to take us to the bus station, and was driven by a middle aged Indian man from New Zealand. He was a very nice man – but we’ve found taxi drivers often have sad stories to tell, and they’re often driving a taxi because their old lives didn’t work out. In this case, his family still lived in New Zealand, and he was estranged from his wife – he was working as a taxi driver rather than his normal profession as an engineer, because nobody would employ him at his age – I felt a bit sad for him.
Anyway, we got on the bus and it broke down about halfway to Kota Bharu – typical that we travel all around southeast Asia, and the bus breaks down in a first world country rather than the likes of Cambodia. Fortunately, we stopped at a scenic outcrop in the rolling hills of central Malaysia, and it was a good photo opportunity. Another bus came and picked up a few people, but we were too slow with our bulky bags. Malaysians are very similar to Indians, in that rather than queue in an orderly fashion, everyone just rushes to the front and tries to get on first – we were just too polite in this case! The new bus came and went, and after a few minutes the remaining ten or so of us got back on the old bus, and off we went. I have no idea what was wrong with the bus, it seemed fine after that. Maybe there were too many people.
We got to Kota Bharu a couple of hours late, and checked into our hotel – Crystal Lodge. It was pretty disappointing to be honest – compared to what we usually get for the price, Crystal Lodge was a bit tired and run down. Plus the WiFi didn’t work in the room, which got us both a bit upset. Once we’d calmed ourselves, we went out for some food. What a surprise! People stared at us as we walked down the street, and nearly everyone smiled or said hello. We walked into a small family run restaurant on the street corner near the hotel, and the rather surprised owners handed us a couple of menus in Malay. We ordered a couple of dishes, having very little idea as to what they were, and ended up having a very nice meal. The woman who was cooking came out and hovered nearby while watching us eat – a bit disconcerting, but we were genuinely enjoying the meal (luckily), so didn’t have to pretend to like it!
That pretty much sums up Kota Bharu in a nutshell actually. Tourists generally spend at most a night in Kota Bharu, and very few spend any time at all, so really the locals don’t see many people from out of town. As a result, many people were quite curious about us and where we came from, and keen to talk to us. It was strange to be stared at so much – it reminded me of our time in India, but the stares seemed a lot more friendly, whereas in India people tend to stare more out of curiosity, and because it’s just what they do! We spent three nights there, and generally had a pretty good time, although three nights was definitely enough.
I think the highlight for both of us was the central market – definitely the best produce market we’ve seen. Housed in a massive concrete structure, the inside was lined with rows of vegetables, fruit, fish, chickens, dry goods, packaged goods – everything. I bought a bag of chocolate and a bag of sweets, although the sweets turned out to be cough sweets which weren’t so nice. A few people were keen to chat with us – one old man held up his mushrooms for Mahmoud to take a photo of which was very sweet. It was definitely one of the hubs of town, and all sorts of people were there doing their shopping. I think though, they were just as interested in watching us as we were in watching them!
Another highlight was the daily cultural show. We watched batik painting, kite making, top spinning, and drum banging. It was very interesting, and narrated by a slightly eccentric man with a few bad jokes, who had to leave halfway through to pray at the nearby mosque. The top spinning was very impressive – they spin the metal tops, and they spin for about two hours apparently – I guess whoever’s top spins the longest wins, although they need to resort to tactics such as oiling them while they spin and transferring them to smooth oiled surfaces etc. Unfortunately, the boat from the nearby Perhentian islands arrived shortly after the cultural show started, and tourists from the island descended on the performance, so it wasn’t quite so peaceful after that. There were a few really daggy tourists there – you know, the sort who look like they have poo in their dreadlocked hair, holes in their clothes and look like they haven’t washed in about 6 months. We have taken to calling such people farang kii nok (Thai description for birdshit Westerner) – on such an amazing spiritual journey, that they forget the rules of basic hygiene.
After Kota Bharu, we headed down the east coast to Cherating. The bus didn’t break down fortunately, but we did have to be vigilant in looking out for our stop as the bus was not due to stop at Cherating, and we had to get the driver to drop us off. On the bus we met a young Afghan student who was studying in Malaysia. He was only 22, but looked about 35. He took quite a shine to Mahmoud when he learned of his Pakistani heritage, and chatted away for quite some time. He also ate some of my sweets! I had to hide them in the end.
Cherating was like a ghost town. It was so quiet there – I can’t imagine it is so quiet all year round. We were the only people staying in our hotel, and one of very few visiting the town – I think even the locals must have gone to busier pastures, it was so quiet. Anyway, our hotel was a bit of a dump for the price – Cherating Bayview Resort. Worst place we’ve stayed value-wise – actually, worst place full-stop really. It was not a pleasure to sleep in the room, and mosquitoes broke in, formed an attack squadron and chewed on my face and neck all night. Furthermore, the place was run by a sour-faced middle aged woman who didn’t look like she was that pleased to have us there!
Well, Cherating was a good place to relax, but in comparison to the beaches of southern Thailand it really did fall a bit flat. Still, it was peaceful and the beach was good to walk up and down. There were only a few restaurants open in town, and only one on the beach itself, which was where we ate most of our meals.
One thing we really enjoyed was a trip up the river which ran alongside the town, and into the mangrove swamps. We saw an amazing amount of wildlife – snakes, otters, water monitor lizards, crabs living in trees, kingfishers, monkeys (which weren’t used to humans and bared their teeth). It was a really great trip, but at the end the boatman apologised thinking we hadn’t seen enough – we were more than happy though!
After three nights in Cherating, we were more than ready to head off to our next destination – Melaka. With only a limited amount of time to spend in the peninsular part of Malaysia, we were conscious of spending too much time “relaxing” in Cherating, and wanted to get on and see what else there was to see! The east coast was definitely worth seeing though – we got a lot out of both Kota Bharu and Cherating. It was definitely a cultural experience – I felt like we got to see an unmissable part of Malaysia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
My Blog List
