Day 2 in Sandakan, and back to KK for an upgrade

Today I set off for the Rainforest Discovery Centre where I was hoping to stumble across some hornbills amongst other things. I did end up seeing one, but it was too far away to photograph. Instead, I saw what looked like a goanna (it was a monitor lizard), and some very interesting flora.

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

After lunch and a rest back at the lodge, where I continued to try to photograph these giant “bees” (can anyone tell me what they are?), it was off to the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary.

What an interesting drive. We were transported in a small minivan over extremely bad roads for about an hour. To make it more precarious it started to rain steadily. Of course we got bogged, when the transmission bottomed out, and we had to get out to help push the van free. Other than that, no real dramas ensued on the way. The sanctuary itself was great. Plenty of monkeys around, four groups apparently, and they either had no fear of the rain or they were very hungry.

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

Four hornbills were around too, so I was thrilled to finally get a shot of one in the wild.

From Asia – Malays…

The rain stopped not long after we arrived, however the trip back would not prove to be so easy and I asked that we get the number of the sanctuary in case we had to send for a 4WD to bail us out. For one, the roads were now very muddy and slippery, and secondly we needed to be back at the airport in 2 hours. It took nearly that long, but our driver did a fantastic job of negotiating the almost impassable bogs. We got stuck once, but after moving me into position over the rear wheels my recent excess baggage helped regain grip and off we went.

Not helping was the grumpy water buffalo that seemed ready to gore the van to death whenever we got too close. The thing had been tethered by the horns to a tree, and was none too happy about it – tossing it’s head around and constantly crossing the road just as we were ready to rush past. After about 20 minutes debating what to do, I was about to get out and pull it back to it’s original tether location whilst the van got past, then all of a sudden he looked the other way for long enough that we floored it. In hindsight I am sure he was very gentle and just wanted to let us get on with our life so he could get on with his.

From Asia – Malays…

Arriving back to the Magellan Sutera Resort in KK (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah) I’m completely exhausted. However I’m told by reception that I’ve been upgraded to the Premium Suite (or whatever it’s called) as the room I was meant to be in has been in very high demand. This upgrade is sensational. It’s a suite nearly as big as my house, and it’s right on the ocean edge so I get to hear the waves crashing all night. Perfect – I might not go anywhere now.

From Asia – Malays…

From Asia – Malays…

Actually, I’m off to do 30kms of Grade 3-4 whitewater rafting tomorrow, so better get to bed.

Arrival in Kota Kinabalu (KK), Sabah, Borneo

I’ve got a lot of preconceived ideas about Borneo, or more specifically Sabah. My friend Veena has been telling me how much better it is than KL so expectations are high, and I also am very keen to see Orang-Utans in the wild. I imagine there should be plenty of opportunity to see wildlife and rainforest. Let’s see…

It’s a 5am start as I have to get to KLIA by 6:30am to check in. Once again it was raining at the airport. However once we are in the air, it’s a totally different story. This is what a stormy sky can look like when you’re above it, and the sun is rising. Notice there are storm clouds still higher than the plane (at about 33000 feet) over to the left.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

It’s very hot when I reach KK. The Magellan Sutera resort is spectacular, and the views across the sea to the nearby islands are postcard-worthy. I’m writing this a few days after the fact and I can tell you that it gets even better than today. You’ll have to wait for that one. The sea is crystal clear and green, and the fish by the jetties and in the shallows are aquarium quality, able to be seen so easily as the water visibility is perfect.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

We take lunch at the Waterfront, where Veena knows the local restaurateurs by first name. I haven’t been to the Aussie bar yet, and as it’s not in keeping with my mission here, I doubt I will.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

The surroundings are too idyllic to leave, so late lunch turns into early tea as we wait for the sunset, watch the fishing boats meander in and out of the harbour, and duck as the local public transport system roars overhead every 15 minutes.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

They seem to have an aversion to putting alcohol in the cocktails in Asia, but at least it looks good as the sun sets into the nearby island.

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

From Asia – Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu

KL – Bird Sanctuary and Royal Selangor Club

My final day in KL and I still had a list of things I wanted to do. I wanted to catch up with my Melbourne friend (and model) Natasha Shan

and I also wanted to see Lake Garden along with some of the parks within. Tash wanted me to try some more local food, so we combined both. She and her sister, Tania, picked me up at KLCC after I took the monorail to get there. Along the way you can see inside the old jail. I’m told that it was closed before the monorail was built, which is a good thing, as I can’t imagine how it would feel to actually be able to see the prisoners on your way to work each day.

First stop was a street corner offering with authentic Indian breads, curries and chicken pieces. I stuck with non-spicy stuff (surprising both girls at how sensitive my taste buds are), banana roti (I think) and fried chicken. Lovely. Later we stopped for “tea”, which is apparently an actual meal between lunch and dinner. KL-ians (sounds like something from Battlestar Galactica) eat six small meals a day!

Worrying about rain which eventually stayed away, we navigated to the Bird Park in Lake Garden. This kept me clicking away for quite some time, whilst Tania stalked peacocks with her new Nikon D60 until it decided it had taken enough photos and wouldn’t let her take any more. Of course I told her that a Canon would be far more receptive to her needs.

The day started well when this brat of a Lovebird decided to eat my finger. I had been watching another guy tempt it into sitting on his hand by offering his finger to nibble on. When it came my turn the bird decided my finger was far more tasty than the one he is sampling right now (stunt hand used for photograph) and took a chunk out instead. I hope he gets food poisoning.

I fell in love with Hornbills the moment I saw these two clumsily hopping and flapping their way around their cage. I’ve been looking for them in the wild ever since, and whilst they look awkward on the ground or whilst hopping between branches on trees, they look fantastic when gliding in flight.

I love this stork. I can tell it has a sense of humour by the look in it’s eyes, and I think it’s only putting on a typical stork pose because it knows we expect that and it likes to entertain.

I’ve never seen an orange Ibis and I must have taken about 20 shots of this one. You can see he really wants to scream, “Leave me alone you freak!”.

Dinner was with Tash and Tan’s family and friends at the Royal Selangor Club. This is a rather exclusive cricket club with spectacular night views.

I arrived early to find that I couldn’t enter via the public entrance because I was wearing jeans. I also had to wait in the foyer as I was not a member. Being yet another hot and humid day I was rather thirsty so asked if there was a nearby bar in which I could wait. The answer was no, but a good samaritan named “Henry” was on his way out as I asked the question. He came over to me and asked if I would like to join him in the “Cellar”, much to Tash’s later amusement as she wondered at my seeming ability to pick up anyone. Henry was great company, and it turned out he knew Tash’s Dad. I learnt all about his kids, where they were studying, and how much his 14yo daughter racks up in phone and internet bills (A combined $1000 a month!). I resisted the urge to tell him that it serves him right for having children, as I doubt much of the world feels the way I do about that topic. Henry was quite happy to keep buying me beers, but Tash eventuated to rescue me.

The food was, as expected, very very good, and the company even better. Sorry about me spoiling this one – I look like a well-fed deer caught in headlights. Do you now see why I am usually the photographer?

Ken, this is especially for you…

Leaving for home I noticed a building on which an entire side has become a digital advertising screen. Both video and stills run on this giant screen. I believe this is called City Hall. Blows Melbourne’s meagre efforts at looking modern out of the water.

KL – Batu Caves and Chinatown

Batu Caves is a very sacred and popular spot for Hindus – look it up in Google to save me having to write about it.  I decided to take the 20 minute taxi ride to see it.  The most significant things about the caves are the 272 steps to get to the entrance, and the largest statue of a particular Hindu deity in the world.

Another attraction that everyone told me about was that there were monkeys everywhere and to watch out that you didn’t have things stolen by them.  None to be seen, I’m afraid – except the two sad ones in a cage.  There were, however, a couple of fairly nondescript and tiny “temples” and a man with a big yellow python.  These girls were pretty excited about that.

The view back down to the ground, and overlooking the city wasn’t bad, and some of the architecture was OK too.  I think this place would be more interesting when the special events you can read about in Google are taking place.

An unspoken significant experience to be had at Batu Caves is being torn apart limb by limb by rabid taxi drivers fighting over who is going to take you back to your hotel.  I had to physically restrain one “gentleman” after he started to get a little over-enthusiastic.

Later that evening I decided to walk down to Chinatown.  This is like a little Bangkok, with fake everything for sale and hawkers trying everything to get your attention and business. I probably paid too much for leather Mont Blanc carry-on luggage, but I needed it and it is probably cheaper than I could get at home.  Well, I hope it is.

The food was fantastic however, and it was a lot of fun to watch the tourists go by as I ate.

KL – 24 hour neon

Kuala Lumpur went by in almost a total blur. So much to do, so many people to catch up with (where did they all come from, and why are they all in KL?), and so much food to eat.

There are a few things that really stand out for me in KL. One is that every time I have been at the airport (3 times now, soon to be 4), it has been raining. It’s the only time it has been raining for me in Malaysia. Therefore I still don’t really know what the airport looks like.

KL seems to be a city of contradictions. It is very modern, yet has much old charm, early 1900s British architecture, and Bangkok-style people-chaos. I stayed on Jalan Pudu, between Bukit Bintang and Chinatown, in an area known as the Golden Triangle. (Jalan means “street”). This seemed to be the busiest road in KL, and it didn’t help that it is also the home to the largest and oldest bus terminal in KL. All day, hundreds of buses would constantly crawl down this two lane road on their way to the terminal. At night this would turn into hundreds parked for a kilometre or so as they can’t get into the terminal itself. It seems that everybody wants to travel by bus to Singapore, Penang, Bangkok and more, 24/7. I can only assume it is because the television selections are almost non-existent here.

So to get anywhere I usually walked to the Imbi monorail station and travelled to a better place from which to source a taxi or walk further. Coming back to the hotel, I had to direct the driver to keep him out of traffic jams. A few things I have learned about Malaysians:

• They don’t like to walk – even very short distances. They think I am mad because I walk everywhere.
• They are scared of the rain. They seem to think it is acidic (I think it is refreshing)
• They are not very good at finding their way around their own city
• They don’t know terribly much about their own city.

This may seem like a short list of negatives, but in fact it worked to my benefit. It meant I got to show some of them sights they hadn’t seen, and it made me feel better about knowing where I was going and that I can handle finding my way around strange cities.

KL also uses a massive amount of electricity. I am told that this is because it generates too much, and has to have an outlet (???). All I will say is that they are obsessed with pretty lights and neon. I am not complaining because it makes for a beautiful skyline and attractive street-scapes (assuming you like that sort of thing).

So much of my time in KL was spent lunching and having dinner with friends and acquaintances. People love to entertain and look after you here. A really big thanks goes out to all my new friends who took such good care of me, especially to Natasha and Tania who did everything and more to ensure I enjoyed the local food, treated me at Royal Selangor Club and were better than perfect hosts.  Tania, you are going to love that Nikon (too bad it’s not a Canon).   See you back in Melbourne.

As I spent a lot more time being entertained, and a lot less time being a tourist, I’ve a lot less photos to share from KL.  Here’s a brief selection.

I’ve asked a lot of people, and I still don’t know what “chicks” are in this context.

Bukit Bintang and Chinatown are the closest things I could find to Bangkok. Bukit Bintang is much more accessible, but has some unusual sights.  This kid was supposedly selling bubble guns, but judging by his appearance and demeanor I got the feeling that his job was to attract  and distract tourists whilst his mates surreptitiously lightened the load of said unsuspecting tourist.

Every weekend there is a free concert right in the middle of the very wide Bukit Bintang walkway.  Tonight was some modern Indian pop.  I was watching them set the stage up earlier in the afternoon, and they pull out all stops.  This show was very well lit, with all the effects and a great sound system.  Not bad for free.

Neon nights.  Apparently you avoid the karaoke bars in KL. The brighter the lights, the more dodgy the venue.  This sign was the size of a small building.

Jen and Dee introduced me to Vincenzo and his fantastic Italian restaurant.  This is where I received a taste from home in a magnificent Black Angus steak. It was so tender you could cut it with a spoon.   He’s a great guy and I hope I’ll meet up with him again when he decides to visit Melbourne.

After dinner we tried to find a decent bar with a band. Closest thing to rock apparently was this band at “Backyard”. They played unusual versions of Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix tunes.  This guy could really solo, but like most Asian bands I’ve seen so far, was struggling quite a bit with the English lyrics and phrasing.  It didn’t matter because he was so into the music.

OK, I still have some KL nightlife, Chinatown and Batu Caves shots to post but I’m out of time and have another 5am start tomorrow.  I won’t have internet for a few days as I’m being Tarzan of Borneo right now, so my next post is not likely until at least Friday.  Maybe…

First night in KL

On arrival at KL I was met by a couple of journalist acquaintances. One works locally as a researcher, and the other is a photojournalist working out of Singapore. They were both quite focussed on the Anwar issue amongst other things, so I didn’t really get to spend much time with them, but we did get dinner.

KL is a city of neon and traffic jams. It also has the busiest and most chaotic bus terminal I’ve ever seen. In fact, Jalan Pudu, the road on which my hotel resides, seems to be the one road that all buses and taxis in Asia use.  Therefore if I want to get anywhere in a hurry I walk to another, better flowing road first before calling a cab.  I don’t understand why so many people want to travel to other parts of Asia by bus every night, at all hours, but I guess the TV isn’t good enough to keep them home. The Indians seem to do it more than most.

It’s also an intriguing mix of modern architecture with run-down or old dwellings.  At nights, think Bangkok meets Sydney.

Another Asian city, another Scorpions reference – this time on the busiest road in KL, outside my hotel’s bus stop.

Dinner was at a curbside, open Chinese restaurant. But not the type we have at home.  I couldn’t read the menu, understand the staff, or recognise anything in the pictures, so I left my fate in the hands of my local guide and dinner partner. I did OK with some well-cooked, white fish, some watery soup that seemed to be just there to use up table space, and some fried frog legs that tasted like spicy chicken.  I had no idea that the Chinese ate frogs, but I didn’t care as I was starving and it was the only substantial food on offer.  I ate all of them!

Whilst savoring roasted ribbits, I noticed some fairly significant movement out of the corner of my eye.  I turned to see what I initially thought was a squirrel scurrying from one piece of vegetation to another. It wasn’t a squirrel.  Apparently it’s also quite common in KL and nothing to make a fuss about, even if it is running around the outsides of a restaurant.

A respected photojournalist hard at work in a dark hotel room at 11pm. Our news-bringers never sleep.  I know that first hand now.  All I’ll say about that is that they should.  The results are rarely appreciated as much as the effort that is invested.

Neon neon neon.  Oh, and Canon.  Not a single Nikon sign anywhere so far.  KL is also Coca Cola city, as opposed to Bangkok’s obsession with the sickly sweet and relatively flat beverage that is Pepsi.  I also discovered that the reason Asia serves terrible hot coffee is that they do very good iced coffee.

The highlight of supper was exploring the wine list.  Chilean and Spanish wines are big here. There are some Aussie wines, but surprisingly few. I think the Asian taste bud prefers the more tangy or unusual South American grape varieties.  Shiraz is rare here.

Penang – Day 2, circumnavigation with a professor

The weather not only behaved itself, it became what one usually expects from a holiday destination. Once again, no sunscreen for me as I know my really olive skin can handle this equatorial ozone overload. My blisters are starting to heal thanks to open thongs (fresh air, salt water), and generous doses of Betadine. So I’m all set for another long day of exploring.

Professor Sam (I’ve since had it explained to me that I’m not using the right terminology, but this blog is not intended to be wholly factual, as you may have already figured out) picked me up around 10-ish and we headed to the chinese clan jetties. There are 7 or 8 jetties, each belonging to one Chinese family, or clan. They build outward towards the sea, rather than up or in. This view is looking back to Georgetown from the end of the Lim jetty.

Once again, temples are an important part of any tourist’s agenda in Asia. This is a very large one on a big hill in Penang, and I have a feeling this one is Buddhist, judging by the thousands of little Buddhas lining the walls.

Next stop was Penang Botanical Gardens, where I proceeded to frighten Sam when I suggested we stray off the beaten path and up a deep, dark, twisty, steep jungle path (which happened to be quite well paved). Originally we were looking for monkeys, but none were in the park. Instead I started looking for bugs and other interesting things. Once we stopped puffing and panting from the trek, I noticed large bullants, black termite type things, and this – a spider trying to cross a pond whilst being stalked by a couple of spider-eating inch-long fish.

Sam thinks she saw a sea snake (would that possibly be a pond snake?) so we shot through and headed back to the car to continue our search for monkeys. We found theme eating Hokkien Mee in the car park. Well, this one had western tastes and was sampling condensed milk instead.

And this one seemed to subscribe to Cleopatra’s theory that strawberry milkshakes would be great to bath in.

Once we got enough of the monkeys we continued west and eventually stumbled upon the world’s first tropical butterfly garden. There was so much to see here, lizards, snakes, tortoises, fish, plants and some pretty amazing butterflies. This is not one of the most amazing ones, but let’s not hold that against it. It just happens to be one of my better photos from the place.

Filed under the “really cute creature” category is this white squirrel. It’s not albino because it’s eyes are not pink, and it’s mate was brown, so I guess it’s just blonde.

In the “not so cute but I hope it tastes good” category are these scorpions. I say that because there’s a pretty good chance I’ll be eating some roasted ones in either Philippines or Vietnam.

I saw a few of these iguanas being paraded around Bangkok streets, where tourists were charged 20 baht to pat them. This is the first that actually looks alive and has any color. Perhaps it’s relatively happy.

I reached the leaf and stick insect display and spent about 10 minutes trying to actually find one. They really do have amazing camouflage, and I only found one leaf and two stick insects. Here you can see why.

We spent quite a bit of time at the Butterfly Farm, and I could easily have found a quiet spot in the garden and read a book for a day. However, it was time to move on. After another 5 minutes driving through Durian, Mango and Coconut trees planted in very precarious mountain sides and valleys, we entered the Fruit Farm. This was a lot of fun and very informative. Not only did we get to sample about a dozen different tropical fruits that I would struggle to find at home, but we were treated to a very funny and educational discourse from one of the farmers. He had an anecdote or phrase for every fruit and introduced to the group some ways many of the fruits could be used by a husband or wife to annoy each other.

Arriving back in the shop I found a jar of me. Actually it’s a herb from the sunflower family, probably used for cooking.

One of the fruit trees in the orchard is home to a giant moth.

The final stage of our tour around Penang was a return to the fishing village from the night before, to get some decent sunset/dusk shots. The previous night I had left my SD card in the laptop, so didn’t have enough internal memory to take a decent shot. This was my chance to rectify that.

There were about 7 or 8 kids po ttering around in the mud left by the deeply receding tide. This guy was a little more focussed than the rest so I watched him for a while. He was skating around on a board, with a bucket on top then, when he saw bubbles of a certain type, would stop and start reaching down as far as he could with his hands.

These mantis shrimp is what he was fishing for. The locals called them millipede prawns. Each would fetch him about 20 ringgits (approx AUD $6.50).

I’d had two very long but enjoyable days in Penang, and I was exhausted, so an early night was required. Penang itself doesn’t seem to sleep, and there were still plenty of people enjoying themselves on the main road directly under my 15th floor window at 3-4am. There’s no rest for the wicked, or me. So, with little sleep to fuel me I took a midday plane back to KL, where the rain met me again.

Penang – Day 1, around Georgetown

I checked into my hotel in Georgetown at 7am and slept for a couple of hours before deciding to walk around the town for the day, to see what I could find.  There was a lot to see!  One thing I discovered over the day was that I don’t really need sunscreen in this part of the world.  I guess the ozone layer is pretty thick here.  The weather was fantastic for the two days I spent here.  I took a ride on a trishaw, and discovered that the drivers are usually homeless – they sleep on the trishaw at nights.  Penang is very expensive compared to KL, and they can’t afford a roof over their heads.

A couple of men were playing checkers on the street, with bottle tops.

There is a tower in Penang called Komter. Like so much of KL and Penang, it was under renovation, upgrade or construction, but I was still able to get up to the top floor, which I think was the 60th or something. This gave me a 360 degree view of the entire island of Penang. I circumnavigate this tomorrow.  In the middle of the Komter observation deck is a very tacky wedding area. I don’t know who would want to get married here, but it looked like somebody was planning to do so that night.

For lunch I chose to eat from one of the many street stalls. This is an example of how many of them look.  I ate the Chicken Rice, as it seems to be one of the traditional and very popular meals in Malaysia.  I have to say I was expecting a whole lot more than what I experienced, after seeing Anthony Bourdain wax lyrical about it in one of his travel/food shows.  The rice was fluffy and well-cooked, but the roast chicken was almost cold.  I found out later that it is meant to be.  You have to add chili to get flavour, as the savory flavor we expect from roast chicken simply wasn’t there.  On the flip side, it cost me about $2 for tea, fresh juice, and the chicken rice.

Since Thailand, pretty much the only rock music I’ve heard outside Rock City has been The Scorpions. I first heard a “best of” album at poolside in Patong, and I’ve heard it regularly throughout Thailand and Malaysia.  Seems they’re huge in Asia.  Of course “Winds Of Change” is the real reason.  If Asians knew what their primary musical style was, I’m not so sure they’d be so crazy about them.

A phone booth with simple instructions on what to say once your dialee picks up.  I like it.

The tailor you go to when you’ve been asked to host the Academy Awards.

There are temples, shrines and mosques (and even some churches!) everywhere in Thailand & Malaysia.  From what I can gather, Hinduism has many gods.  My Indian is not at it’s best right now, but I think this temple is honoring the Goddess of breast implants.

And for those like me who don’t have time to stop for anything, there is always the fast food option. Self-installed in just 5 minutes, you can use this one to pray that the car to your left is not about to veer into your lane without indicating (as they always seem to do over here).

This is generally how the Hindu temples look in Malaysia. Penang and KL are both made up primarily of Indians and Chinese, with authentic Malays being in the minority.  Therefore Buddhism and Hinduism are both very popular, even though this is a Muslim country.

Once again, forgive my Indian translation, but I believe this could be a temple worshiping the Gods of Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

I walked past this very run down hair-dressing salon which advertises itself as “delux hair saloon”. Hate to see the budget ones!

A street-side shoe repairer still has work to do on a very quiet day.

The beggars are not as aggressive here as they are in Thailand, but I am glad I was not the only one to ignore them. It is very difficult to walk past without helping.

The street sweepers are human here, and they just walk into moving traffic without a care in the world. Here a couple of locals trade views on an upcoming footy match.

After a very long day walking around town I was picked up at my hotel by a friend of friend – Communications professor at Penang University, Sam.  She and her friend Kash took me to the best (but messiest) seafood experience I’ve had yet. Below you see the just caught trays and boxes of clams, pipis, whelks, crabs, fish, prawns & squid.  You load up trays with what you want, and they cook up a storm with it.  And boy, do they do a great job.  With the exception of the yucky orange crab fat, everything was stunning. I particularly loved the butter prawns.  Thanks Sam!  Only thing missing was some nice wine or beer to compliment the seafood – this is a Halal restaurant, so no alcohol allowed.

A view from the restaurant.  What a great way to spend a balmy evening.

In keeping with my ongoing obsession with macro bug photography, I present you with the unidentified giant bug that was crawling up my hotel room wall when I arrived home from dinner. I’m sure it was harmless but I relocated it to the outside corridor all the same.  Oh, and it had wings – don’t think having this thing dive-bomb my pillow at 3am would be that enjoyable.

OK – that was a very long post, but there was a lot to see in Penang. Tomorrow we have day 2, where Sam takes a day off work to drive me around the island.

Hello Malaysia

After many ups and downs in Thailand, I was actually quite sad to leave. I had come to understand the place so much better since I arrived, and although I still don’t like certain aspects of it, I can at least be comfortable there now. The people are not like anything we have at home, and if this level of friendliness keeps up whilst I travel, I’ll find it quite difficult to deal with the indifference on Melbourne’s streets when I return.

I landed in KL through quite a turbulent sky, and discovered once we were under the clouds that it was absolutely pouring.  Phuket was only an hour away and was magnificent when we left.

On arriving I found the place to be very modern and clean.  The trains are easy to use, and their paper money is very similar to ours. I took an express to KL Sentral where I met two of my many hosts whilst in KL.  The free internet in Starbucks made up for the bad coffee, which to be fair is the best coffee I’ve had since leaving home.

Exploring the shopping complex in the Petronas Twin Towers (tallest twin towers in the world) led me to a shop I’ll have to return to later. Malaysia’s electronics prices seem to be cheaper than even Bangkok, or from what I am told, Hong Kong.  I am very likely to pick up a pocket-size waterproof camera for those upcoming typhoons once the big Malaysia sale starts next week.

Outside the towers, and over a cold beer (which doesn’t stay cold long in this heat, so I have to drink instead of talk) I noticed a couple of guys that I thought were fishing with nets in the large pond.

They were, in fact, cleaning the pond on their daily schedule.  A few minutes later on went the fountain.

Eventually I jumped on the overnight sleeper train to Butterworth, Penang. I left at 8:45pm and arrived at 6am. I was supposed to share a cabin, but the other passenger didn’t turn up.  I’m thankful for that because there was barely room for my luggage, let alone another person.  It was tough to sleep because this train is not a smooth one.  There were many times when it felt like it was about to rock out of it’s tracks!  I also ripped the two things I bought in Bangkok – shorts and cabin luggage. That will teach me for buying cheap things. The shorts ripped on the cabin ladder as I made one of many trips down to answer a knock on the door.  The staff don’t seem to want you to sleep at all, and the train stops at every station along the way. I was advised that the other passenger could get on at any time, so I really couldn’t fall asleep.

Phi Phi Island & more snorkelling

My last day in Phuket – after a lot of messing around with the hotel tour manager who, as nice as she was to me, couldn’t seem to get a simple date right when talking to the tour company, I was finally confirmed on the Phi Phi trip.  Finally, the weather had cleared up completely and it was a beautiful sunny day.

Snorkeling is high on the agenda for this tour, so it was another opportunity to practice with my waterproof housing.  My shots were better this time, but it’s still very hard to track a subject, and the with pressure the housing still presses buttons it shouldn’t.  I might have to work out some sort of foam buffer to sit around the button area.  I also chose the wrong snorkeling set to take it down.  Later in the day we dived a fantastic reef and I left it in the boat.  That decision did allow me to enjoy the views, and practice my equilisation techniques whilst diving as deep as I could.

Monkey beach is one of the few places in the world where monkeys enter the sea.  These guys come out to meet the incoming hordes, in the hope of food. Whilst most of the clan are not that keen on the water, and running away shreaking whenever a wave breaks near them, one little guy was showing off near me, performing duck dives and somersaults under the water.  Despite multiple warnings not to get too close, two people were scratched.  You can’t tell some people.

One of the most enjoyable things to do when in Asia is collect examples of bad English. I didn’t get a photo of the “Sham” motor workshop, but I would go so far as to say that this particular business would not be out of place in some parts of Australia. This expensive speedboat hasn’t had a comparable budget put aside for the sign-writing…

Leonardo DiCaprio’s leading role in The Beach did more for this particular bay than any other marketing exercise.  You can, in fact, book the very disgusting room in which he stayed in Bangkok.  This is The Beach, and these are some of the long-tail boats used for short trips amongst the islands and for fishing on calmer days.

Phi Phi Island was beautiful, and these huts look very tempting for a later return.

I don’t remember what island this is, but it is indicative of the hundreds, if not thousands, of nature’s dramatic punctuations in the otherwise  vast, crystal blue ocean of this region.

The boat dropped us onto an island for one last swim and a cocktail before heading home. I decided to do some rock-pool exploring, and stumbled upon a nest of three, maybe four Banded Sea Kraits.  I’m told that these are the most poisonous sea snakes in the world.  These guys were resting in tiny pools of water during low tide.

I have been rushing from one place to another so far, and haven’t had a great deal of time for R&R.  To prove that I actually did stop and take a break, here’s my first Singapore Sling for the trip.  I was supposed to drink this in Raffles in Singapore, but time didn’t allow me to get there.

On my final day in Phuket I realised that I hadn’t captured much of the daily lives of people here, so I snapped a few views out the front windscreen of our bus. Almost everyone gets around on small motorbikes, and you’ll often see families of three or even four crammed in tight onto one. This little girl looked like she was doing the steering and having a great time.

Mornings and nights will find hundreds of trucks loaded with workers, ranging from factory and farm laborers to hotel staff. This is one of the smaller ones. I’ve seen them loaded with up to 30 people.

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