Georgetown, Penang - Malaysia

Our final stop in Malaysia is here in Georgetown on the island of Penang in the north, close to the border with Thailand. We checked into the Western Oriental hostel and managed to grab the last triple room in the place. We're only halfway through February at this point, but the heat and humidity are really starting to set in and all three of us are eager to get back to the water. Once we get to Thailand, our first stop is going to be in the Surat Thani province where we're going to get our scuba diving certification so that we can explore the underwater worlds of Thailand and Australia. Here in Georgetown we've been exploring the historical sites as we did in Melaka, as Penang is important for the colonial implications it had in both Malaysia and Thailand.



Most of the population in Georgetown is of Chinese descent, so we were hoping to arrive in time for Chinese New Year, but it turns out that the real celebrations won't get underway until the 18th, and we can't handle another week away from the beach. An appreciation for the sights and sounds of Georgetown notwithstanding, we're going to pack it up and move on tomorrow. We did get out yesterday to visit Fort Cornwallis on the edge of town as well as some different Hindu and Buddhist temples. The ladyboys are out in full force here along Love Lane, the street that runs perpendicular to our road. Some of them are more convincing than the actual women! We're trying to avoid eye contact.

The Cameron Highlands - Malaysia

We decided to escape the balmy filth of Kuala Lumpur for a little while to kick back and relax in the mountains - a cool retreat into the Cameron Highlands was a nice reminder of what life was like before the humidity set in. We realized that we had stumbled into a retreat geared towards couples seeking a quiet time away from the city, and a lot of the couples we met up there looked surprise to see three single dudes and no female counterparts. It was a nice place and we had our first experience sleeping in a dorm situation. The longhouse dormitory slept twelve people in total, and we had to take a bit more caution when leaving our personal belongings behind.

We opted for an arranged tour that took us around the area of Brinchang, the town next to our base camp in Tanah Rata where Father's Guest House was located. Our first stop was Sam Poh Buddhist Temple. The sculptures looked a little bit like plastic, but I was impressed with all of the different symbols that were worked into the design of the temple as a whole.

Next, we visited a giant rose centre full of all sorts of different floral life. The best part of visiting the centre was the view it offered of the surrounding highlands if you were willing to hike up a long stone staircase. We then checked out a small strawberry farm where we each indulged in a fresh strawberry milkshake, some dried strawberry snacks and a batch of the fresh stuff. After that we visited a live butterfly farm full of all sorts of different creatures and a nearby local market.

Our second-to-last stop on the day trip was at the Boh Tea Plantation, where we learned all about the exploitative methods of employment akin to all plantation work. It turns out that the people working on the tea farm are paid a humble pittance to collect tea leaves by the kilogram. "An expedient worker," our tour guide explained, "can earn up to RM44 on a good day." That's close to $14 in Canadian dollars. Most of the employees are foreign workers from Indonesia or Bangladesh. At the gift shop they sell hot cups of tea, and Phil and I were wondering what it must be like for the people working to watch a family of tourists spend the equivalent to a day's wage on snacks in the cafe.

We concluded our day trip in the Cameron Highlands at a lacklustre bee farm where we saw no honey. The evenings at our guest house were spent watching movies with all of the other travelers. We watched a pirated copy of The Inside Man and half of My Super Ex Girlfriend, but I was so disappointed that I left to write in my travel journal. At least the beer was cheap. If I ever return to Malaysia when I'm married, I'll definitely head back up to the highlands, but I don't recommend it for people looking for a party scene, unless you need some rehabilitation after partying too much.

Atop a Big City - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

While Kuala Lumpur is no Tokyo, it is a wide-reaching metropolis of glitter and lights. What makes it even more unique is that it's one of (likely very) few cities that can boast about having its own rainforest throughout its scattered urban areas. In order to get a really sense of what it was all about, the three of us ventured into the city for the day and took a ride up the 421 m Kuala Lumpur Tower to the observation deck and awaited the imminent dusk. Seeing a city of such grandeur in daylight was really cool, but to watch the sun set over a city and a rainforest was truly amazing. Adding to the spectacle was the nearby Petronas Twin Towers, which stand nearby and are the other major defining object on the KL skyline. From the angle of the KL Tower, you're really only able to see one of the two Twin Towers, but getting a birds-eye view of the entire city and the PTT's steel and glass framing makes for an incredible sight.

Like most of SE Asia, a trip to the top of the KL Tower was reasonably inexpensive at a mere RM 20, which works out to being around $6 in Canadian dollars. Compare that to the minimum charge of $25 to get to the main observation deck in Toronto's CN Tower and you can appreciate why it's a worthwhile day trip to make. And the photos we snapped from the deck during sunset alone were priceless.

The Batu Caves - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This statue of Lord Murugan is 42.7 m tall and was completed only a year ago.

Today we took a bus out of Kuala Lumpur to the nearby Batu caves, located about 13 km out of the city centre. Kuala Lumpur is a crazy city with lots going on so we decided to take a break from all the street hawkers and Islamic food stalls to visit this famous natural landmark which was discovered in the 1800s. At the front of the cave is the giant statue that marks the beginning of a 272 step climb into the mountainside. Inside we were dismayed to find that piles of trash had accumulated from the recent Thaipusam festival and the whole area stunk like garbage and sour milk. There were mangy roosters and cats lurking about the area. I was amazed at the natural elements of the caves but found some of the temples in and around the cave itself disappointing. It didn't stop us from taking lots of pictures, though I let Jacob and his superior camera do most of the work.

On the way out of the caves we were surrounded by hungry monkeys who were used to being fed by tourists and would snatch at anything you dangled in front of you. I nearly had my water bottle stolen right out of my hands.

The entrance archway on the road leading up to the Batu Caves

A view of the caves, the statue and the 272 steps we had to climb to go inside

Looking up from the inside of the cave to the extremely hot Malaysian sun above.

One of the hundreds of monkeys that live in and around the cave. You can buy peanuts or bananas to feed the monkeys, but they'll snatch things right out of your hand if you're not careful.

At the Cafe Limau-Limau

We were searching through Melaka, an old colonial town in southern Malaysia, for something - anything - to eat when we stumbled across what at first appeared to be a bar. Noticing the specials posted outside, we decided to venture inside. We had found the Cafe Limau-Limau, and as we walked deeper inside the bar we thought we had found morphed immediately into a small art gallery with a sunny patio in the middle of its main room. Beyond the patio were chairs and a back room with moss-covered deco and incredible natural lighting. Switching our cameras to black and white, we snapped some awesome shots of the different elements within the room and decided, just as my battery was dying, to get some interesting head shots to capture our physical state. The food was fantastic and my photos turned out fairly well also.

Tioman Island, Malaysia

Life in the slow, slow lane. I'm surprised there is no beer anywhere in this photo.

Now here's a life I could get used to. Other that a nauseous three-hour tour across bumpy seas to get to the island in the first place, Tioman Island was absolutely paradise. We arrived pale and seasick after spending a night in the quiet Malaysian town of Mersing. Everyone who stops over in Mersing is usually waiting for a bus out of there or a ferry to Tioman, because it's otherwise not a destination for really anything at all. But the locals were really friendly and we played some cards to pass the day before our early-morning journey to Tioman the following day. On the island we went snorkeling, did jungle trekking and passed the nights away with the company of the Air Batang villagers and the local (and only) bar that was open on the island. Phil, Jacob and I shared a wonderful chalet right on the beach (the picture of me below was taken by Jacob from the patio of our hut) for about $30 CDN/night for all three of us. I can't really do the experience justice with words (and a limited time frame in this Kuala Lumpur internet cafe) so I'll post some pictures for now and append to the story in a few hours. For now, feast your eyes on the magic of Tioman Island, and go if you ever get a chance.

Tioman Island is considered by some to be one of the top ten most beautiful islands in the world.

This is the view from our hut chalet in Air Batang (ABC) village

This is the view from near Monkey Beach on Tioman Island

With free roaming monitor lizards, Tioman is its own little Lost World

Sayonara and Southeast Asia

Well, I realize that I owe everyone 8 additional December blog posts. They were written, I'll have you know, but never published. I have them saved somewhere on the laptop that used to belong to me but now belongs to my friend Dave. I sold off my belongings and left Japan. I'm tempted to start a photoblog or a myspace page so that everything I do will be centralized, but that would mean two blog spaces that I would neglect.

There's much to be said about January in Japan. There were more good-byes and good-bye parties and farewell photos taking place for a whole lifetime. And, in a way, leaving Japan was like leaving a very special life. My social footprints will fade eventually and it will be up to me to maintain the network of friends I've built up there. I'll not hesitate to say that I'll return to Japan at some point in the future. It was just too important to neglect.

But let's focus on the present, shall we? I left Japan on January 27th and flew into Singapore, where Jacob, Phil and I stayed for three nights before departing to Malaysia. Singapore is like a souped-up version of a Japanese city but with English, tropical weather and people from India, China and other major corners of the globe. The food is exceptionally good and relatively cheap. Singapore is the most expensive destination in Southeast Asia and was the gateway for our entire journey. Our hosts were fantastic. Yuliana and Voldi not only put us up for free but showed us around the city and took me to a clinic when I had a health issue. We enjoyed a night of eating and Tiger beer in Chinatown where we met some other travellers and made some friends. The next day we spent at the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari which was great because I got to witness the feeding of giraffes, which are pretty much my favourite animals.

After leaving Singapore we decided we would enjoy some island life on beautiful Tioman Island, but after crossing into Malaysia and arriving at Mersing (the port city gateway to Tioman) we learned that there were no ferry boats going that day because the sea was too rough. We spent the day in Mersing playing cards and drinking beer and unsuccessfully attempting to use the internet cafe through 3 separate blackouts. Fortunately Gin Rummy requires no electricity.

The Tioman Island trip deserves its own entry, so I'll post some photos now and leave it at that. I'll write a second post later tonight once we've toured around Melaka, which is where I sit now after a 3 day vacation on arguably one of the most beautiful islands in the world.

I'm happy and I have a tan. I could get used to this.