Salamat Detang! (aka. welcome)
At the end of my last blog I was in Kota Bharu planning on catching the 630am train the next morning through the jungle and then a series of local buses to arrive in the Cameron Highlands. Well, traveling at the whim of bus schedules sometimes calls for a change of plans. Also needed if you sleep in and miss your train!
I tried, someone half-heartedly to wake up for that train the first day. But I didn't make it. Meaning, I would spend another day in KB, where there's really not a lot to do! I wandered through the central market at attracted a lot of stares (a 'semi-caucasion' looking women traveling alone in Malaysia - predominantly muslim, definitely attracts a fair bit of attention/staring!). I bought some local deep fried treats for breakfast? And then found a big fabirc store with a big sale on. The problem of traveling though Malaysia at this time of year, on a limited budget, everything is on sale!! I bought a beautfiul piece of fabric which I'm hoping I can tie into a dress - I couldn't try it out in Malaysia because it would show my shoulders...My real breakfast ended up being some roti and curry, after which I spent the majority of the day reading Harry Potter. At night I grabbed some dinner with a Birtish & Irish guy also staying at my guest house. The Irish guy has been loads of places and really got me interested in traveling to India! Next time.
The next morning I successfully managed to wake up for the train, which was a really nice switch from the bus. At times the jungle vegetation would brush right up against the train, gorgeous! I got off in Kuala Lipis, where I was supposed to begin my three-bus journey, however, the bus times didn't coincide with my wishes. I was faced with spending the night in one of two small-local towns...the guys at the train station were very nice, and after having lunch with them & a quick tour of the twon on the back of one of their motorcycles, I decided to just take the bus to Kuala Lumpur, and head to the Highlands from there.
KL - staying in chinatown, the city reminded me of a smaller Hong Kong, with an extra splash of Islam and satay! My first morning I lined up at 820am to get a free ticket to up to the skybirdge of the famous Petronas twin towers. After going up 41 stories, I hit the malls...sales everywhere! But I managed to mostly contain myself - my backpack can't fit much more! Day 2 in KL I went to the Hindu shrine at Batu caves and around the National Mosque. At prayer time I happened to be walking by another mosque in the city, where prayer mats spill out of the mosque and onto the sidewalks and stairs.
After 2 days in KL, I took a windy bus up to the Cameron Highlands. Up at 1500 meters, I had to wear long sleeves and sleep under 3 blankets! I saw huge tea plantations, trudged through the jungle getting fabulously muddy!, and tasted the local strawberries. A really nice retreat before heading back to the heat and humidity of Singapore.
And here I am. Staying at my aunt & uncles with a large bed and real shower all to myself! So luxurious. It feels really nice to be in a house again, and yet bizarre that my backpacking days are practically over! A plane awaits me in 3 days to take me back to Hong Kong to meet up with my parents.
Sorry for the novel (for anyone who actually reads all of this!!)
xoxoxo. :D
Monday, July 30, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Island Life
Sooo I've spent nearly the last week lying on beaches in Thailand (Ko Phi Phi) and Malaysia (Perhentians). It's been fantastic, and soo nice just to chill out, relax, and get a tan!
Ko Phi Phi was very nice (although after being to Long Beach on Boracay Island in the Philippines, it's hard competition to find another beach to match). But it was packed, littered and swarming with foreigners...so it quickly lost its appeal. There was no local culture to see unfortunately.
This is where the gang split up - Natascha and Antonie headed to Ko Panghan for the half-moon party, and I head into the 'dangerous' parts of Southern Thailand to cross into Malaysia.
I took the train from HatYai, Thailand to the border, and along the way (but mom, it's okay, I have safely passed through the following...) a local guy, who was visiting home for one night, said that he was scared to pass through the area and didn't know how I wasn't frightened, and traveling by myself! I have only been this way by turning a naive, blind eye to the travel warnings about this area. However, after he said this, I noticed the armed (machine gun) security/army guy on the train car. And at all of the stops after, the guards had sandbags piled up around the entrance of their quarters to take shelter behind for shooting, as they were all also carrying guns!! Hmmm, I don't know whether they made me feel more safe or not. Most people say that the attacks aren't against foreigners as I think it's the muslims in the area not happy with the government, but I was traveling on a local train, having seen only two other westerners board a few cars back. With a sigh of relief however, I made it successfully across the border to lovely Malaysia.
A couple of local bus rides and a lot of stares/smiles, completed with a ferry ride out to the Perhentians, I arrived at a much less-touristy island, with amazingly clear water!! Paradise, pretty much. I spent a couple days here with a group of really nice Brits, and then on my last day went snorkelling and saw Nemos!!
I am now in Kota Bahru waiting to take the train south to Koala Lumper, from which I will head to the Cameron Highlands for a couple days, and then finally arrive in the comforts of Singapore at the end of the month! I was supposed to take the train this morning, but had a terrible time dragging myself out of bed at 4:30am! That will be tomorrow...
loves & misses,
hugs & kisses,
I can't wait to see you all soon!!
Ko Phi Phi was very nice (although after being to Long Beach on Boracay Island in the Philippines, it's hard competition to find another beach to match). But it was packed, littered and swarming with foreigners...so it quickly lost its appeal. There was no local culture to see unfortunately.
This is where the gang split up - Natascha and Antonie headed to Ko Panghan for the half-moon party, and I head into the 'dangerous' parts of Southern Thailand to cross into Malaysia.
I took the train from HatYai, Thailand to the border, and along the way (but mom, it's okay, I have safely passed through the following...) a local guy, who was visiting home for one night, said that he was scared to pass through the area and didn't know how I wasn't frightened, and traveling by myself! I have only been this way by turning a naive, blind eye to the travel warnings about this area. However, after he said this, I noticed the armed (machine gun) security/army guy on the train car. And at all of the stops after, the guards had sandbags piled up around the entrance of their quarters to take shelter behind for shooting, as they were all also carrying guns!! Hmmm, I don't know whether they made me feel more safe or not. Most people say that the attacks aren't against foreigners as I think it's the muslims in the area not happy with the government, but I was traveling on a local train, having seen only two other westerners board a few cars back. With a sigh of relief however, I made it successfully across the border to lovely Malaysia.
A couple of local bus rides and a lot of stares/smiles, completed with a ferry ride out to the Perhentians, I arrived at a much less-touristy island, with amazingly clear water!! Paradise, pretty much. I spent a couple days here with a group of really nice Brits, and then on my last day went snorkelling and saw Nemos!!
I am now in Kota Bahru waiting to take the train south to Koala Lumper, from which I will head to the Cameron Highlands for a couple days, and then finally arrive in the comforts of Singapore at the end of the month! I was supposed to take the train this morning, but had a terrible time dragging myself out of bed at 4:30am! That will be tomorrow...
loves & misses,
hugs & kisses,
I can't wait to see you all soon!!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
In the jungle..
After a crazy day of running around Bangkok in a tuk-tuk, we took a sleeper train up north to Chiang Mai. They were a LOT more comfortable then the hard sleepers on the China trains. There are only two beds per berth, and in the morning you can fold th etop one up, and the bottom one into two comfortable seats. They do however leave the lights on all night, for safety, which makes it a little more difficult to sleep (my ability to sleep anywhere seems to be diminishing, gasp!!).
At the train station, we were whisked away to our GuestHouse (because we had arranged everything through TAT-the governmet tourist authority or something, which ended up costing more, ahhhh, but saved us some hassel of planning things!). After a nice swim in the pool, we hit up the night market. I wasn't really in the shopping mood, still upset about news from home...but still purchased a few things, all useless!
The next morning we had an early start to begin our 2 day jungle trek! First up, elephant riding!! It was great fun. We did a couple farly steap hills up and down where you would've fallen out of the seat if you didn't hold on to the one pole keeping you in there, with white kuckles! There were about 10 places along the way to buy bananas for the elephants...and they were certainly hungry. They pulled down huge tree branches for the leaves if you stopped feeding them the bananas. We also had a mom, so her little baby walked along beside us, super cute! But was a pushy eater, and got saliva all over me begging for more bananas. And at the end of the ride when I tried to keep some of the bananas for myself, the baby followed me around and kept wraping her trunk around my arm...little bugger!
After lunch we began the treck. It was up and down and hot and sticky..mmmm. When we finally arrived at the waterfall I jumped straight in, dirty clothes, muddy shoes and all!
That night we spent in a local village, lying on thin mats, under mossie nets in bamboo shelters! So we didn't get much sleep. Also, they have this crazy tradition called a 'black pancake party'. There is no eating of pancakes involved. But rather, they wipe the black soot off of the bottom of the cooking pans/woks and wipe it all ovr your faces. If you lose the game, or they just feel like it. It starts off with cool striped/dotted designs, but you end up covered! There were a couple American girls that were so black when they closed they're eyes and mouths you couldn't see them at all!! Not fun to wash off, but ridiculously fun to see.
Day 2 in the jungle was thankfully all downhill...and a bit cloudy. This hurt the knees, but was a nice break from the large uphills we covered the day before. After lunch was bamboo rafting. And as soon as we had all stepped on the 'leaky' raft, our 'driver' took off, throwing us onto our hands and knees. There would be no hope of staying dry. After a few bends in the river, lucky me who was sitting at the back of the raft, with the driver at the front, got swung around on a big turn...and headed for a large tree trunk over hanging into the river!! Thinking I was strong enough I layed on my back and stuck my legs out to push the raft away from the tree. But alas, I was no competition for the current and as the raft continued forward, my feet stuck on the tree, pulled themselves over my head and I flipped into the water!! AHhh, I was most worried about losing my sandles and sun glasses, but luckily came out alright...with a good laugh all around. I wish I had a video of my ridiculous stunt.
Enough trekking. We were going to go to the night market again that night...but instead hit the bed at 8pm, and did not move until the next morning!
More to come...
xoxoxoxoxox
Loves & misses to everyone.
At the train station, we were whisked away to our GuestHouse (because we had arranged everything through TAT-the governmet tourist authority or something, which ended up costing more, ahhhh, but saved us some hassel of planning things!). After a nice swim in the pool, we hit up the night market. I wasn't really in the shopping mood, still upset about news from home...but still purchased a few things, all useless!
The next morning we had an early start to begin our 2 day jungle trek! First up, elephant riding!! It was great fun. We did a couple farly steap hills up and down where you would've fallen out of the seat if you didn't hold on to the one pole keeping you in there, with white kuckles! There were about 10 places along the way to buy bananas for the elephants...and they were certainly hungry. They pulled down huge tree branches for the leaves if you stopped feeding them the bananas. We also had a mom, so her little baby walked along beside us, super cute! But was a pushy eater, and got saliva all over me begging for more bananas. And at the end of the ride when I tried to keep some of the bananas for myself, the baby followed me around and kept wraping her trunk around my arm...little bugger!
After lunch we began the treck. It was up and down and hot and sticky..mmmm. When we finally arrived at the waterfall I jumped straight in, dirty clothes, muddy shoes and all!
That night we spent in a local village, lying on thin mats, under mossie nets in bamboo shelters! So we didn't get much sleep. Also, they have this crazy tradition called a 'black pancake party'. There is no eating of pancakes involved. But rather, they wipe the black soot off of the bottom of the cooking pans/woks and wipe it all ovr your faces. If you lose the game, or they just feel like it. It starts off with cool striped/dotted designs, but you end up covered! There were a couple American girls that were so black when they closed they're eyes and mouths you couldn't see them at all!! Not fun to wash off, but ridiculously fun to see.
Day 2 in the jungle was thankfully all downhill...and a bit cloudy. This hurt the knees, but was a nice break from the large uphills we covered the day before. After lunch was bamboo rafting. And as soon as we had all stepped on the 'leaky' raft, our 'driver' took off, throwing us onto our hands and knees. There would be no hope of staying dry. After a few bends in the river, lucky me who was sitting at the back of the raft, with the driver at the front, got swung around on a big turn...and headed for a large tree trunk over hanging into the river!! Thinking I was strong enough I layed on my back and stuck my legs out to push the raft away from the tree. But alas, I was no competition for the current and as the raft continued forward, my feet stuck on the tree, pulled themselves over my head and I flipped into the water!! AHhh, I was most worried about losing my sandles and sun glasses, but luckily came out alright...with a good laugh all around. I wish I had a video of my ridiculous stunt.
Enough trekking. We were going to go to the night market again that night...but instead hit the bed at 8pm, and did not move until the next morning!
More to come...
xoxoxoxoxox
Loves & misses to everyone.
A Bumpy Ride
These next few posts are long overdue...
Day 3, my legs were exhausted after biking too far on day 2, but I finally dragged myself out for my last day of exploring. I stopped off quickly to check my e-mail before, and for those who don't know, that's when I got some bad news about my grandma. I knew she was in the hospital, but she had gone down really fast and this really shocked me. It was really hard news to take being on the other side of the world and I was ready to jump on a plane home immediately. I spent the day exploring the Angkor Wat alone...just taking my time, and missing my family. It was a rough day, but I couldn't make any decisions until any final news came from home...turns out grandma is still as stubborn as we all know, and she's now thankfully been moved out of the hospital for some more personal care. I am always thinking about her. But from here, all I can send is my love and thoughts (always)!
Back to travel news...
Once we had exhausted ourselves exploring the Angkor Temples, it was time to head for Thailand. We set out on the notoriously bumpy/hoprrible road from Siem Reap to the border. Because we wanted to take the train from the border to Bangkok, and didn't know if the bus would get us there in time, we opted to hare a taxi with a German girl. The price was only a little bit more, and the shocks a bit better! It was was still ridiculously like a roller-coaster. Huge pot holes litter the dirt road; the cars are very resilient. From the border we took third class to Bangkok - which means hard wooden seats for 6 hours stopping at every train station along the way. Some of which were only little name posts hammered into the ground! With sore bumps we arrived in the chaos that is Bangkok, wow!
Day 3, my legs were exhausted after biking too far on day 2, but I finally dragged myself out for my last day of exploring. I stopped off quickly to check my e-mail before, and for those who don't know, that's when I got some bad news about my grandma. I knew she was in the hospital, but she had gone down really fast and this really shocked me. It was really hard news to take being on the other side of the world and I was ready to jump on a plane home immediately. I spent the day exploring the Angkor Wat alone...just taking my time, and missing my family. It was a rough day, but I couldn't make any decisions until any final news came from home...turns out grandma is still as stubborn as we all know, and she's now thankfully been moved out of the hospital for some more personal care. I am always thinking about her. But from here, all I can send is my love and thoughts (always)!
Back to travel news...
Once we had exhausted ourselves exploring the Angkor Temples, it was time to head for Thailand. We set out on the notoriously bumpy/hoprrible road from Siem Reap to the border. Because we wanted to take the train from the border to Bangkok, and didn't know if the bus would get us there in time, we opted to hare a taxi with a German girl. The price was only a little bit more, and the shocks a bit better! It was was still ridiculously like a roller-coaster. Huge pot holes litter the dirt road; the cars are very resilient. From the border we took third class to Bangkok - which means hard wooden seats for 6 hours stopping at every train station along the way. Some of which were only little name posts hammered into the ground! With sore bumps we arrived in the chaos that is Bangkok, wow!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Angkor pictures (a few)
Some pictures from the opast 3 days...a small sample of the 250+ I have to filter through...
Friday, July 6, 2007
Rainy Season
We've not only entered Cambodia, but also the rainy season! Yay. In Siem Reap, the rain has a very distinct schedule. The mornings are decent, but cloudy. And around 2-3pm the rain begins, always! Which means waking up at the crack of dawn (literally, we've had breakfast at 4:30am the past 2 days!) in order to maximize one's time for viewing the temples. It also means that by 8pm, you're ready to squish 3 people into two shoved-together double beds!
After a short stay in Phnom Penh we headed up to North-eastern Cambodia. Skipped out on the Irawaddy dolphins in Kratie because they cost $8! Spent one day in Ban Lung - saw a couple waterfalls & swam in a volcano lake. Jungle trekking was $20/day, so that was out...therefore, we headed back south & over to Siem Reap. How did we get back south from Ban Lung? Well, we missed the 6am bus because we thought it left at 8am. Our only alternative was a share-taxi, which cost a little bit more, but saved us wasting a day, so we said yes. The taxi came to pick us up at our guesthouse with one other man in the front seat. But was that all? Ohh, no, we stopped in town to pick up 2 more people - in a toyota camry! They tried to squeeze one of them in the back with us, but there was definitely no room without having to sit on each other, which we wouldn't have. So two men each shared either of the front seats - yes, even the driver!?! It was obnoxiously ridiculous! Oh, and we also got a flat tire along the way.
Siem Reap...
After another day on the bus, we made it to Siem Reap. Yesterday we started on a 3-day pass for the Angkor temples at 5am with the hopes of catching the sunrise. Unfortunately the road to get to the temples is never-ending, and the sky was bright by the time we arrived; the clouds also helped ruining the splendor of the sun-rise & sunset.. The spread of the temples however is massive! I've seen at least 10 different temples, all with something unique to offer - elaborate carvings, huge towers with steap stairs you can climb up (at your own risk!), trees' roots taking over the structures, hidden passageways, etc. It's HUGE & amazing!! And I haven't even been to Angkor Wat yet! Also great exercise if you're riding a bike. After day 2, and over 40km's (at least) of riding today, I was longing looking at the tuk-tuks that went zooming past!
Random note - I bought a cow 'bell' made out of bamboo today, which I'm very excited about!
I won't bore you with the details of the temples, you'll just have to hold out for pictures.
SORRY clause: my camera has ben very bust the past 2 days, and has chosen this perfect moment to run out of batteries, meaning that I can't upload any photos of Angkor!!! I'm very disappointed, but will try again tomorrow.
xoxoxo
After a short stay in Phnom Penh we headed up to North-eastern Cambodia. Skipped out on the Irawaddy dolphins in Kratie because they cost $8! Spent one day in Ban Lung - saw a couple waterfalls & swam in a volcano lake. Jungle trekking was $20/day, so that was out...therefore, we headed back south & over to Siem Reap. How did we get back south from Ban Lung? Well, we missed the 6am bus because we thought it left at 8am. Our only alternative was a share-taxi, which cost a little bit more, but saved us wasting a day, so we said yes. The taxi came to pick us up at our guesthouse with one other man in the front seat. But was that all? Ohh, no, we stopped in town to pick up 2 more people - in a toyota camry! They tried to squeeze one of them in the back with us, but there was definitely no room without having to sit on each other, which we wouldn't have. So two men each shared either of the front seats - yes, even the driver!?! It was obnoxiously ridiculous! Oh, and we also got a flat tire along the way.
Siem Reap...
After another day on the bus, we made it to Siem Reap. Yesterday we started on a 3-day pass for the Angkor temples at 5am with the hopes of catching the sunrise. Unfortunately the road to get to the temples is never-ending, and the sky was bright by the time we arrived; the clouds also helped ruining the splendor of the sun-rise & sunset.. The spread of the temples however is massive! I've seen at least 10 different temples, all with something unique to offer - elaborate carvings, huge towers with steap stairs you can climb up (at your own risk!), trees' roots taking over the structures, hidden passageways, etc. It's HUGE & amazing!! And I haven't even been to Angkor Wat yet! Also great exercise if you're riding a bike. After day 2, and over 40km's (at least) of riding today, I was longing looking at the tuk-tuks that went zooming past!
Random note - I bought a cow 'bell' made out of bamboo today, which I'm very excited about!
I won't bore you with the details of the temples, you'll just have to hold out for pictures.
SORRY clause: my camera has ben very bust the past 2 days, and has chosen this perfect moment to run out of batteries, meaning that I can't upload any photos of Angkor!!! I'm very disappointed, but will try again tomorrow.
xoxoxo
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