Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 23/2/14 - 26/2/14

Batau caves

Round 2 in KL. Got kicked off the bus at 5am on a central reservation. Not quite the bus station we were expecting, but as we’d walked around here before, I knew we were only a few streets away from the hostel.

Decided to not go anywhere near Serenity hostel where we stayed the first time round due to it being absolute pants, so we’d taken the advice of Lucie and Josef and booked into Suzies Guesthouse in Chinatown. A cheery little bloke let us in, and even though we weren’t entitled to it, put out breakfast for us. He then cleaned up the room we were booked into as soon as the current occupant had left to get her early flight, and we were snug in bed by 6.30am, despite check-in not being until 1. Jo was out for the count, I watched movies and drank tea until about 11 when we ventured forth. We had to get a few bits, so we went straight to the mall.
 

View from Batau caves

Monkeys!

When there, we got hungry again, and decided to treat ourselves, and as a little belated anniversary treat, had an all-you-can-eat at a pizza restaurant. Four pizzas, one portion of meatballs, one carbonara and one chicken Caesar salad later, we were suitably stuffed. We waddled back, slept off the food coma, then met Lucie and Josef for dinner. Jo couldn’t eat, but I managed a mutton curry and naan somehow! Said our sad farewells to our Czech friends as they flew to the Philippines the following morning. We gave them as much info and help as we could in planning their trip, and vowed we’d see them in either Prague or England one day.

Elvis deer

Steve and Jo at national mosque

Next morning we were up at a reasonable hour to meet up with Steve to do some tourist bits. First stop was the Batau caves, which are without a doubt the easiest tourist attraction I’ve ever been to. It even has its own train station, so you can just walk out of the single entrance which sends you in the right direction, then go walk straight up the hundreds of stairs into the caves! Simples! There are some temples built up there too, but to be honest, we were too taken with the melange of monkeys, cockerels and pigeons fighting it out. Stopped for a drink and listened to some stories which made me realise how cool Steves job is, then headed back to the city. Got a bite to eat, then walked for bloody miles taking in the National Mosque, Botanic Gardens (complete with deer Elvis impersonators), and Merdaka square.

Steve, Jonatan, Aina, Jo and me. Last night with Steve

Hot and weary we returned to shower and freshen up, then the Swedes (Aina and Jonatan) turned up at the hostel! Would have been a fantastic coincidence if Jo hadn’t emailed them and recommended the place. We five went out for something to eat, then a couple of beers down Pingaling (sorry, Petaling, I just find Pingaling easier to remember) Street which is the main hawker street where you can buy anything and everything… apart from anything genuinely made by the brand they purport to be.

We then had to sadly say goodbye to Steve as he was off to Bali in the morning. Another night in KL, another goodbye.

Jo outside Petronas towers

Following morning, after a minor eating competition with the Swedes for breakfast, we arranged to go up the KL Tower for afternoon tea. This wasn’t because we’re being terribly English, but because a ticket up the tower is 50 ringgit, or a ticket to afternoon tea (which is at the top of the tower) is 50 ringgit. That means it’s basically free food! Jo and I headed out first, and went for a look around the Petronas towers, then headed to KL Tower to meet the Swedes. When we got 300m odd up, and were seated, we were then told it was a buffet. 8 eyes lit up into a luminous glow at this revelation, and we headed off to stack up plates with sandwiches, scones, cakes and curry puffs in as reserved and sophisticated manner as hungry and penny pinching travellers possibly can. Two hours quickly passed as we literally span around the tower, taking in the 360 degree view of the city, before we were kicked out, fit to burst.

The Swedes headed off for the Petronas towers to have a look around, and Jo and I did some chores to ready ourselves for our upcoming flight.

Jonatan, Aina, me and Jo at the top!

Petronas towers

Back at the hostel, the four of us sat around chatting, none of us hungry for many hours, until it was time to say yet more goodbyes as we would be going to the airport very early next morning. We said our sad farewells to our new friends, and retired to bed, happy that we have one more place to visit when we get back to the UK; Gotland!

Next morning we were up at 4, aiming to get a taxi to the Sentral station for a bus to the airport. Didn’t see a single bloody taxi, and ended up walking miles along roads and motorways to KL Sentral. Next stop would be Kuching to start our Bornean adventure!

Langkawi, Malaysia - 14/2/14 - 22/2/13

The beach

Got the boat up to Langkawi along with a British couple who were magicians/entertainers and were going straight up to Koh Lipe. Had the craic with them about timekeeping (boat was an hour late despite being 8.30am) and that the boat showed ‘Captain Phillips’.

Langkawi! Tax free haven of Malaysia, which means I’d hopefully be able to afford to drink! But first we had to get to the main beach. No buses, and cabs with no meters: brilliant, I’m definitely going to end up in a row. Luckily, Jo ran off and found a minibus taking a few travellers at a much lower price.

Jo, me, Josef and Lucie

We hopped in with them. First stop was a place called Soluna where we dropped off a Czech couple. The place looked good, but felt like we were miles away from civilisation. We got off by the main road and hadn’t walked 2 minutes when I spotted Brooke in a café on the other side of the road. We went over and got some grub and tried to glean some info on the accommodation here. We then walked and walked looking for somewhere and in the end stayed in Gecko, the same place as Brooke, but we weren’t happy, so we went in search of somewhere better for the following days. We then bumped into Lucie and Josef, the Czechs who were staying in Soluna. Turned out to be not far away at all, so Jo and I resolved to go and stay there for a few days. We went and sat on the beach drinking beers together for a couple of hours, then met up again later for dinner in a cheap little Indian place. Finished the night off pissing around on the beach with the camera, jumping around with a torch in my hand like a muppet.

Chief barman

The bar.... RIP

Photographer Jo

First thing we packed up and checked out, then wandered over to Soluna and checked into the dorm there. Then hit the beach. Bloody baking (I’m sure my tolerance for the heat is waning as I age), so we came back in the afternoon. Went back out to walk along the beach and watch sunset. On the walk back we came across a little bar in the street made of pallets with some music and really cheery guy behind the bar. As we had sent Brooke a message that day saying we’d meet her outside 7-11, which was right next to the bar we thought it would be rude not to have a drink. Two hours and unmeasurable number of cocktails later, we were certain Brooke hadn’t got our message, so we stumbled off to get some grub and bumped into her anyway! She was getting stalked by a little Indian man, so she was overjoyed to see us, as it scared him away. Had one more cocktail, then home to our dorm for bed.

View from top, including skybridge

A little worse for wear the next morning, we got some breakfast, then came back to the hostel to arrange hiring scooters for the day for Josef and Lucie, Jo and I. We got a little lost getting fuel and wound up at the end of the airport runway, luckily a local bloke could see our bemusement in our faces, and told us to follow him. We then proceeded to fly around the perimeter of the airport, then straight across a dual carriageway (including central reservation), and told to just keep going straight and we’d see the signs for the waterfalls. Soon found them and walked up, but as Langkawi hasn’t had significant rain in months, it was less a ‘falls’, and more a ‘dribbles’.

View from another viewpoint

We came back down and stopped near the cablecar, where Jo ran off to find out prices… half an hour later she returned. Eventually we sped round to the other entrance, and Lucie and Josef headed off in search of a beach.

The cable car turned out to be in a weird semi-theme park with a big fake lake and lots of stalls selling ice-cream, so I could see how Jo took so long to navigate the place.

We went straight up in the car, and at one point you are going almost vertically. The views were stunning, and as we were all alone in our little car, I rocked it about snapping away out of all windows. We got out and had a wander around, though sadly the bridge which looked so cool was closed for maintenance works. We then got back in a car and went up even further, and across to a second peak. I was running around like an excited toddler, filling up the memory card on the camera rapidly, but Jo was suffering a little (about 40% heat, 60% hangover), so we sat in the shade and took in the view, then made our descent.

Grabbed lunch in the theme park, then sped off in search of a beach.

Riding home

Went to the very end of the road, past loads of very expensive looking resorts, and then had to turn around as the road just stops at some private gates. Found a beach to have a dip, which got invaded with monkeys around dusk, so we made our way back.

Went back to the bar again for more cocktails, where we met an English guy called Steve, and then met up with Brooke again as she was off to Koh Lipe in the morning and we’d have to say farewells that night. We got some dinner and then a few more drinks, then said we’d see Brooke again, just not sure where or when.

View from centre of the island

We had hoped to go to Koh Lipe ourselves, but only if we had the time and it was cheap. For some reason, the 1 hour journey to Koh Lipe by direct bus is more expensive than getting anywhere else in Thailand, and as we were content with the beaches in Langkawi, we didn’t see the need to move on.

Boring day to write about, but great day to live on the 17th. Laid on the beach reading and dozing, showered and watched sunset, then met Steve, Lucie and Josef at the bar, had drinks, food, and more drinks.

Not a self shot for once!

Bit of a shock the next morning when we went out for breakfast; the bloody bar had disappeared! It was still there when they were cleaning it up a few hours before at closing, but it’d now vanished!

Hit the beach, then said farewell to Lucie and Josef, as they were off to Melaka.

Big eagle

Met up with Steve for dinner, but took the disappearance of the bar as a sign that we should have an early night.

Moved accommodation next morning to a private room with air-con as a little treat to ourselves as Jo and I had been together 4 years.

My view for most of our last day

Met Steve and got some mopeds, then sped off for Gunung Raya, the highest point on Langkawi. Our little moped got up there, but the 15km winding road had really taken a chunk out of the fuel tank. We took some pictures, then coasted (not easy on an automatic) as much as possible back down. Ran on fumes for a few more km until we found a petrol station, then completed a loop of the island. Stopped at the port in Kulah to take a picture of the giant eagle because… well, that’s just what you do in Kulah, there’s not much else to do there!

View from balcony

Headed back to Cenang beach where we were staying, and hit the beach for all of five minutes until Jo declared it too windy, so got ice-cream instead.

Went out for Indian with Steve as it was his last night in Langkawi. Had a couple of beers, then hit the hay.

Slow day next day, just mooched on the beach, said farewells to Steve, and that we’d see him in a few days in KL. As it pissed with rain in the evening we stayed in our room watching Despicable Me. Rocking-and-blooming-roll!

Our final sunset on the island

The 21^st was our 4^th anniversary, so had breakfast on our little balcony, then hit beach. Went for a coffee in Starbucks as a treat (coffee isn’t that great, but air-con, big comfy seats and free wifi).

22^nd was our last day in Langkawi. We did the usual and laid on the beach, then got showered, grabbed a street burger, and got picked up. A boat then took us to the bus terminal on the mainland, and we got on a deserted bus bound for KL once more!

Georgetown, Malaysia – 9/2/14 – 14/2/14

Love Lane

Got off the bus to Georgetown at a bus station on the outskirts. We deliberated getting the bus, but after chatting with a local old lady, we discovered it may be quicker, but it takes a bloody age to get to town, so we “shared” a taxi with a young Australian couple who were on holiday. I have put shared in quotes because we really sort of hijacked them. They were getting a cab, and we didn’t really give them a choice; we were getting in that cab with them whether they liked it or not. So in a battered Toyota Corolla, with our backpacks on our laps because the boot was so small, and all 25 stone of a driver, we set off. If the suspension wasn’t already knackered when we got in, it sure as hell was now.

Love Lane

Laksa and Kickapoo

Jo and I hopped out at Love Lane, which is a backpacker area of the city. We did our normal walking around and around asking about accom and looking at rooms. Quite a gulf in quality if not price in Georgetown, and we looked at some absolute holes, some huge dorms, and finally we found 80’s Guesthouse. Newly opened, and absolutely amazing. Clean, spacious, and done to a high standard, in a lovely old building. We had a bed in the double dorm, which is a dorm with 4 double beds in it, but as the only people in there, it was effectively a private room. Enough praise now, but it was so good, Jo felt the need to send them an email saying exactly how good it was, and how nice the staff were.

We dumped our stuff, then went out wandering to get a feel for the area and get some food. Didn’t do much in the evening, just relaxed around the hostel sorting ourselves out.

Bit of street grub

Thai Buddhist temple

Something's wrong, but what?

In the morning we met up with Brooke as it turned out she was in Georgetown too, so we had a little wander, then got motorbikes and went for a ride along the coast. Stopped at a couple of beaches and a Chinese cemetery. We stopped at one beach, with three little huts serving food and selling drinks, and that was it. I had the local speciality, Laksa, which is a noodle soup with fish. I put on a brave face, but in all honesty, it was rank. Had a can of Kickapoo, which I bought purely for the name (obviously) and chatted for ages, sitting looking out over the beach.

We got back on the bikes and went up to a pier that services boats to and from a national park. By now it was getting late, so we headed back, stopping where my eagle eyes saw a load of monkeys. Pulled over for a look, and suddenly there were dozens of them, including one with only one hand, but it didn’t seem to slow him down.

View over Tek Lok Si and the city

Perfectly natural shot...

Headed back to town, cooled down, headed out for street food, then met Brooke and went to an Indian veggie place for (my second) dinner.

Our bikes needed to be dropped back off by 11am, so we got up at a reasonable hour, and headed with our bikes to Tek Lok Si, a massive Buddhist temple with a huge Buddha statue. I had loads of fun and games navigating one way streets, but soon enough we escaped the labyrinthine city streets and were on our way. We continued up the hill to look out over the city in the mid-morning haze.

Monkey

Pretty much deserted

Returned to the city via Buddhist Burmese and Thai temples, and dropped off the bikes quickly so we could find somewhere with aircon quickly, as the heat was getting intense. Went to a café for a little sit down and cool off, then Jo and I went off in search of a mall for some clothes shopping. That was pretty unsuccessful, so we just headed back to freshen up, then got some noodles on the street. Whittled away the evening playing cards.

Monkey stop

Following day we had a lie-in, then didn’t venture from the hostel until gone 2pm. It was just too hot, and we met Aina and Johnatan, a Swedish couple who had exactly the same idea as us; fully exploit the breakfast, tea and coffee, and chill out in the comfortable and cool hostel until it cooled down a bit. Scarily, they seemed incredibly like us; beach bums, Aina thought 45 mins hiking was plenty, Johnatan had a sketchbook full of designs, and both normally healthy, but fully submerged in eating and drinking what they like whilst away!

Beach at sundown

Tek Lok Si

We went out wandering to get our boat ticket to take us to Langkawi on the 14^th, then just mooched about all afternoon, eating and drinking whenever our stomachs got below 90% full. That night after dinner, we sat in a bar having a couple of beers, and the doubt over whether flying to Oz on 23^rd Feb was just too soon was starting to creep up on us both.

Next morning, the doubt had obviously germinated in our minds in our sleep, as first thing we did was go to the Air Asia office to enquire about moving our flight. Came back to deliberate what to do, said our goodbyes to Aina and Johnatan (I’m just going to call them “the Swedes” now as it’s easier to type!) as they were off to Kuching in Borneo. As this was our planned destination if we extended, we made them promise to give us a full report on what it’s like.

Chinese temple

Fort Cornwallis

That afternoon, we went out to look for any sights we may have missed (or foods we hadn’t tried yet), and ended up in a place called Mugshots which had an attached bakery doing lovely bagels. We then went to the Air Asia office and moved the flight to Oz forward to 19 March. We’d only regret it if we didn’t, I just knew it. How often are you going to be a £13 flight from bloody Borneo?!

Spent the evening watching the Hobbit while Jo booked our flights to and from Borneo. Then met up with Brooke for dinner in a very busy, but very tasty Chinese place. So busy we shared a table with a British couple from Bristol who live in Perth, and are taking a year out drive from Perth back to the UK. That was the last thing I needed, more cool adventure ideas to sit and stew at the back of my mind for later on in life!

Church by the waterfront

Jo and Brooke at the popular Chinese

Up early the next morning to catch the boat to Langkawi. During the night, Jo woke up the couple who were snoring. Bloody typical, the one night we have anyone else in the room with us, and they snore! Didn’t hear a peep after Jo shook them awake at 4am to tell them to shut up though!

Ipoh, Malaysia – 8/2/14 - 9/2/14

Ok, only as short entry for this one. Ipoh is a former British colonial hub. At one point I believe it was the capital of the Straits Settlements. It is now a small city, with some nice architecture, and throbbing heat and humidity for a couple who have just come down from the hills where they’ve spent four days in balmy 28 degrees. It felt double that, and as not many people stop here there wasn’t an abundance of places to stay. We decided hell with it and after a bus into town, stayed at the Tune Hotel which is owned and run by Air Asia. Air con. TV. Mega-clean. It was perfect. As we were too early to check in, we left our bags and walked and walked and walked for about four hours in savage midday heat to see every sight we could and wanted to see. Returned as broken and sweaty messes, we stayed in the room for ages until the sun went down.

Later we had a real struggle finding anywhere to eat. We weren’t expecting this at all, and it took us ages until we stumbled across a little Chinese place that did loads of dim sum, with people walking around with trays and steamer baskets of various dumplings and other goodies. Problem was, everyone in there was Chinese, and nothing was in English or even Malay, so we had no idea what anything was. Managed to avoid the shark fin (which seems to be in abundance here) as I recognised it from seeing it somewhere a few days previously, but had some other random things, including what I though was spring roll, but wrapped tightly in chicken skin and had a gelatinous blue core.

Jo had a stomach ache on the walk back, but sods law we stumbled across a market, so we had a quick look around and retired.

Next morning, before checking out, we were lucky enough to be there the one day of the week the flea market is held, and right outside the hotel. Saw people selling everything, from worn-out old flip-flops, to air-conditioning remotes, to homemade machetes, to penis pumps. Very entertaining!

We got some fruit, had an unhealthy breakfast that I’m so ashamed of that I can’t bring myself to name it (although you could mistake their initials with a football team), and checked out. I then rather cruelly dragged Jo all the way to the bus station on foot. We then hopped on another bus bound for Georgetown, Penang!

Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia – 4/2/14 - 7/2/14

The map

Locals posing

Up good and early in Melaka and took bus direct to Cameron Highlands (another beautiful, comfy coach). As we got closer, we wound our way up into the hills and through tea plantations, and past waterfalls. Got kicked out at the charming little town of Tanah Rata, which is basically a town congregated around the main road that winds its way further through the hills.

Tandoori dinner

We fobbed off the hawkers trying to take us to accommodation so far out we needed to take their minibus, and went to a place just off the main road which was dirty cheap because it was just that; dirt. Great atmosphere, loads of open circulation areas to sit and chat with others, and we had a “special dorm” which was a

Anyone seen Harry Potter?

small room off the dorm. It was actually more of a cupboard, and all of the dorms were in the attic, but by the bounce of the floors, they didn’t bother to doing any reinforcement first. Our bed was also just a mattress on the floor. Despite all of this, it was private, and not swarming with creepy crawlies, so we were happy as Larry.

Our hike took us through this

Didn’t do a whole lot first day, just got our bearings, got the low-down on the hiking routes, and chatted. Had some amazing dosa and tandoori chicken for dinner.

Corny picture

Didn’t sleep spectacularly well as bloke in room one side was pushing heavy furniture around all night, and on the other side was a grizzly bear. Well, I assume this due to the amount of noise they made. Even normal earplugs wouldn’t cut it and had to get out the silicon specials. It was also really cold. This was a bit of a shock as we knew it would be cooler due to the altitude, but the night was freezing! Both slept wrapped in blankets, trousers and hoodies.

The park

Got some grub and set about walking. I’d nicked a map off of a bloke leaving that morning, and had a plan which rolled a few sights and 3 routes into one circular route. I started feeling a bit dodgy, so stopped off for brief loo break in the next town, then went to a strawberry farm, and from there we had to find a route that started and would take us through forest for a few hours and take us back to Tanah Rata. Could I find it? Could I buggery. The bloody map was two years old, and it was the newest revision available, but there was now a huge development going on which had messed around the roads, so we couldn’t find the start of the track. We walked around the development hoping for a bit of luck, but just saw a load of new homes, and what looked like a load of plant levelling a mountain and forming a quarry at its base next door.
Luckily, we

Shot on my cheapo f1.8 Pentacon lens

stumbled across some German lads coming off the trail who sent us in the right direction. We were now about 2 hours behind plan, and it took a good 45 minutes to get to the start of the trail. I couldn’t guarantee we’d be back before dark, so I took us along a remote windy track around the hills which would get us to

Strawberries and cream

Tanah Rata a lot quicker. This somehow took us through the middle of another huge development. Massive swathes of forest had been ripped up, and scores of tractors and plant were moving and levelling earth, while teams of guys were reinforcing the remainder of the hill-face with spraycrete. Got some funny looks as two hikers would do walking through effectively a quarry, but they let us through. Got us back to town, Jo did some pull-ups in the park, and played around on some huge (and somewhat incongruous) fibreglass fruit and vegetables. Had some scones and tea for afternoon tea.

Went to the same Indian place for dinner, which is where it all started to go wrong…

View from mountain

Tea plantations

Day didn’t start well when I awoke and went to the loo three times in ten minutes. I didn’t feel confident enough to leave the hostel for breakfast, let alone go on a tour we’d booked to the mossy forest, up a mountain and to a tea plantation, so I had to stay in bed watching movies on the laptop and dozing. Strangely, one of the snorers in the next room snored all day as well as night. I resolved that it must be a tape someone was playing on a loop to wind me up, but you think that’s me being paranoid… but you would think that, you’re all out to get me!

Finally ate a piece of toast in the evening, but felt weak as a kitten. I put it down to the Indian food, as it is all cooked in a lot of palm oil, and very heavy, which I’m not used to.

Sunrise departure

Day 4 was a bit of a waste as I was still weak, and Jo was content to arrange photo-albums online while I read and listened to music. Had a bit of a final walk around town, and was a bit sad to leave without taking full advantage of the hikes, but there will be other places to hike, and I was happy I’d seen as much as possible.

Early next morning I got some photos of sunrise whilst stood on a giant lettuce (best place to get a good shot) before we boarded a bus to Ipoh.