Daily Forecast: Hot and Sunny

We are now in beach heaven. It started on Pangkor Island (west coast of Malaysia) where we spent most of the day at Coral Beach. One of the nicest beaches on the island, it had beautiful sand with clear, calm water, and no crowds or vendors pestering you, making it an ideal place to relax. Coral Island was about 500 metres from shore and it was an easy swim out and back with a sand bottom that wasn't any deeper than 4-5 feet if you needed grounding along the way.

From Pangkor, a ferry back to the mainland and a 3 hour bus ride north, followed by another ferry delivered us to the island of Penang which has many lovely beaches as well (although a little more crowded). We are spending 3 nights on the NW part of the island in Batu Feringgi, a small seaside town. Our hostel is 30 metres from the beach so once again we have our own little piece of paradise to enjoy. Yesterday we ventured out to the Penang National Park and hiked almost 5 km along a rainforest trail to Monkey Beach, spotting monkeys, marine lizards, crabs and many bird species along the way. After some refreshments on the beach we chose to join several other people on a boat ride back to the park entrance rather than exhausting ourselves further on the hot and humid trail. Following some more beach time back by our hostel, we spent the evening at the nearby Holiday Inn (one of the nicest I have ever seen) in their lobby bar watching the final of the Australian Open tennis tournament which turned out to be a great match.

The Malaysian food has been fabulous. There are many choices and all have been very tasty.......curries, satays, rice dishes, seafood and even bbq corn on the cob dipped in a seasoned honey sauce.......and all very inexpensive. There are food markets and street vendors everwhere so you don't have to walk very far to find a good meal. The other interesting item is watching Muslim women in their beachwear which to us looks no different than their street clothes. While the men and very young children will enter the water with bathing suits on, the women and older girls (perhaps 10 and over) will either just wade into the water or fully immerse themselves with all of their clothes on including their head scarves....we weren't sure if they brought along a change of attire or if this was a clever way to maintain a cooler body temperature.

We did more beach strolling today and had a sunset dinner on the beach. Tomorrow we are heading into Georgetown (Penang's main city) to explore some historical sights. It will also put us close to the harbour where we will be taking a fast ferry on Wednesday morning all the way to the island of Langkawi, situated at the northwest point of Malaysia. We will spend several days there (more beaches) before crossing into Thailand.

Life is good.

Tea & Scones

I should have checked with my Asian friends before getting too excited about New Year's Eve. As it turns out the lead-up was more spectacular than the actual event. Similar to our Christmas and U.S. Thanksgiving, the holiday is more about family getting together than going out partying on the town. Many places closed down early so that their employees could join their families and although there were still some fireworks, it turned out to be the quietest night of the week. We splurged on a bottle of wine and some nice cheese so that we could have our own celebration in our hostel. On New Year's Day we went to the Malaysian Chinese cultural centre where they had an open house and hosted several thousand people for lunch giving us a better insight on their special day.

We also had two nice walks through two beautiful inner-city parks (Lake Gardens and KL City Centre Park), including the large outdoor Bird Park with an amazing variety of species and also found time to do a geocache. We really enjoyed our time in Kuala Lumpur........it was a wonderful city to spend time in.

Our initial plan was to head over to the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia where several friends had recommended special places to check out, Tioman and Perhentian Islands in particular. However, in talking with other travellers and confirmed by the Malysian Tourist office, there is still one month to go in the east coast monsoon season and as a result the majority of hotels and hostels on the islands are closed until March, and the boat trip over there can be rather unpleasant due to the rough seas. So we altered our plan and headed instead for the Cameron Highlands in the centre of Malysia. We are currently in Tanah Rata which is a small town stiuated close to 2,000 metres above sea level. The temperature is a consistent 20C during the day (and down to 10C in the evening) so it is a perfect temperature to do some exploring outside which we have been doing. On our first day we walked to a nearby village where they had numerous strawberry farms. Unfortunately, the holiday week had cleared out their fresh supply and it will be few more days before fully ripe berries will be available. Today we took a tour with a small group to a large tea plantation and learned all about the tea making process as well as sampling several different types of tea and some scones. The trip also included a short jungle walk in a mossy forest (very damp but amazing tropical life including Pitcher plants) and a visit to an Insect / Butterfly park where our knowledgable guide took many of the insects (but not the tarantulas) out of their cages for pictures and touchy-feely sessions (picture of the large Rhino beetle attached).

Tomorrow we are taking two buses and a ferry to Pangkor Island on the west coast where we will be back to a sunny and hot climate but this time we will be spending some quality time on the beach to relax for a few days...........not that we are very stressed out, but just to slow things down a little.......we have less than 3 months to go!

Happy New Year

We are currently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and enjoying it very much. It is a lovely city and although it has 1.7 million people, it is much cleaner with much less chaotic traffic and visible poverty than Jakarta. It is easy to get around, either by walking (we have a central location) or by using their LRT system which moves people around the city quite effectively.....passengers don't have to perch themselves on top of crowded intercity trains like we witnessed in Jakarta. Celebrations have already started for Chinese New Year (Monday) so we have decided to stay an extra two days to get the full experience. The year of the Dragon (power. prosperity and success) has everyone very excited around here. Every day, wherever we go, there are decorations, dragon dances and mini-parades. It should be a wild time tonight as midnight approaches.

One of our first adventures here was to visit the Batu Caves on the outskirts of KL. There are three large caves with Hindu shrines and they are allegedly guarded by a 150 foot protecter. Suspecting he wasn't very mobile for such a big man, I faked going right and easily got by on the left side even with my artificial knee. My own personal opinion is that the real deterent to entering the caves are the 272 steps up a steep incline. They put up more of a defense in the afternoon heat and took their toll on some weakened souls who never made it to the top. For those that did make it up to the caves it was an incredible spiritual and visual experience, one that should not be missed by anyone travelling here.

Yesterday we walked around the city with our first stop at Merdeka Square (Independence square and colonial architecture). Then we hiked over to nearby Chinatown where the large street market was bustling and the fabulous food smells from the street vendors seduced us into stopping into a food market for a tasty lunch. The food here is quite good.......Indian, Chinese and Malay..........and very cheap with generous servings. Being a Muslim country however, alcohol is very expensive especially wine which is ridiculously priced ($50 for a $15 bottle back home, with the restaurants charging even more). Fruit drinks and mineral water are inexpensive though so we are refreshing ourselves with those, and I suppose cleansing our bodies before abusing them again in Thailand.

Today we are going to walk around the Lake Gardens area, a huge inter-city park with many attractions. And then we might want to have a rest so that we can stay awake until midnight!

Another Point of View

Borubudur (Buddhist Temple) & Parambanan (Hindu Temples)

Here we are in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city with a population of 20 million in the greater metropolitan area. There are very few traffic lights, lots of traffic circles and many vehicles, and as a result crossing the street becomes quite a challenge. We often wait for a local to follow across the road which has taught us to hold our hand out with our palm facing the oncoming vehicles to get them to at least slow down. Together with the stifling 30C humid heat (we've heard about the Calgary temperatures so we are not complaining, just saying), and the air pollution caused by the volume of traffic, it makes it very difficult to walk around the city so we have occasionally taken the LRT and some special buses (private lane) to get around. We have also taken advantage of some large air-conditioned shopping malls when we encounter them (lots of high end stores with similar pricing to Canada so no deals at the malls but it is a good opportunity to cool off).

We are staying in a wonderful hostel........a large lounge area to share stories with other travellers while enjoying a Bintang or two, and good showers which come into use once or twice a day. The editorials in the Jakarta newspaper (English version) are also interesting to read, providing a perspective on life over here.........how the U.S. is trying to win favours with SE Asia countries (resuming diplomatic relations with Myanmar, giving used F-16 planes to Indonesia) to offset efforts by the Chinese who have been trying to get cosy with them for years (and whom the local countries are wary of). The recommendation was to tread softly with ties to one or the other since tensions are sure to build between the U.S and China in the coming years. Another article discussed government corruption and whether they were any better off with democratically voted leaders........pointing out that political campaigns require lots of money and are usually funded by big business who expect favourable legislation or contracts in return. And finally lots of letters to the editor in support of their government's plans to eliminate a gas subsidy (they currently pay 50 cents / litre) which will avoid a 2% deficit budget. Since it will apply to private passenger vehicles only, the arguments are that it won't hurt private business (the gov't owns all the gas stations), it won't hurt the poor (who don't own vehicles and use public transit when they can), and it will help to improve the air quality by cutting down on vehicle traffic with higher gas prices.........nice to see common sense prevailing in spite of minor protests from the people who can afford to pay more. The paper doesn't carry my favourite Dilbert comic strip......I suppose it wouldn't make sense to most people over here.

Tomorrow we leave Indonesia and head north (just above the equator) to Kuala Lumpur, Malyasia, our last major city (still much smaller than Jakarta) before hitting beach towns and villages for several weeks which will be a nice relief from the busy cities.

Driving for Dummies

After two days of long mini-bus rides, I have been able to figure out the best driving strategy for Indonesia..........drive as often as you can in the passing lane. And since every road seems to be two lanes, that means you are driving directly into oncoming traffic. We experienced some wild rides in South America but Indonesians know how to take it to a new level, Java in particular. It is the most populated island in the world with almost 150 million people covering a surface that would only make up 20% of Alberta. So there is plenty of traffic and everyone seems to be in a hurry. Since there are no passing lanes, or long stretches without oncoming traffic, the plan of attack is to draft closely behind the vehicle in front of you (1-3 feet seems appropriate). Then you pull out to pass when you sense weakness in the eyes of the oncoming driver who will always slow down and pull over onto the shoulder if necessary. People on motorbikes (50% of the vehicles) seem to be the least of anyone's concern so they are clearly at risk in these situations.......but then again we have seen families of 3, 4 and even 5 people on one bike, so they obviously enjoy the challenge. We encountered more than 10 near misses but all had successful outcomes, and we have witnessed no road carnage to date, so one can only conclude with 100% certainty that being beyond aggressive is the way to go. Size also matters, as our most recent uber driver 'turtled' a few times when confronted with large transport trucks who were hurtling towards him while passing slower vehicles.

When not closing our eyes and praying on the bus we have done our best to keep both feet on the ground and use that as our mode of transportation. We had a good hike in the mountains, going up to the Mount Bromo crater. Unfortunately it was a foggy and misty day so our view was limited but at least we got some exercise. Almost everyone else came on 4x4 jeep tours (to within a kilometre of the crater), or on horseback to within two hundred metres of the final steep incline.

We are currently in Yogyakarta. Today we toured the Kraton, the Sultan's palace grounds, where a group of girls politely asked if they could have their picture taken with us........we assume that they thought we were Brad & Angelina. Then we tempted fate and took a non-motorized ride in a becak (even lower on the road safety totem pole than motorbikes) to a batik workshop (a fabric dyeing technique) where we purchased a nice piece of fabric art to bring home. Tomorrow we are taking a short trip to Burobudur to view an historic Buddhist temple and then on to Prambanan to see a large Hindu temple. On Monday we are going to give the bus ride a rest and travel by train to Jakarta (7 hours)......we have been told that trains always have the right of way and everyone gets out of their path so we should be able to enjoy the scenery along the way :)

If I Had a Million Rupiahs......oh wait, I do

We have moved on to Indonesia, starting in Bali. Seeking some local currency, we stopped at an ATM and were able to withdraw 1.5 million rupiahs. Hoping there was some fortunate mistake on our behalf we soon learned that all this cash was actually worth less than $200. The Bare Naked Ladies will have to do another take on their song for this country since our first million didn't last very long.

Our first night was spent in Kuta, the party capital of Bali. Lots of bars and restaurants, along with tiny streets filled with autos and motorbikes. It seemed more crowded than Singapore with only a fraction of the population. We walked the beach in the morning.......it stretches for many km's but unfortunately so does the litter which was sad to see. Probably a good place to stay for the young and restless who like to party into the morning but one day was enough for us.

We then moved inland to Ubud which is much more immersed in Balinese culture, with many small temples, local artisans and performing dance troupes. We spent today walking through the Monkey Forest Sanctuary, leaving our snack food in our room so that we wouldn't be molested by the macaques like many other people were. Some pool time and a quick trip into a bar to avoid an afternoon shower made for a very laid back day.......which is good because tomorrow we will be on the road (and water) most of the day. In the morning we bus back to Kuta, then take a van to the north-west corner of Bali where we will catch a ferry for the island of Java, and then continue on up into the mountain town of Cemoro Lawang where we will get a chance to explore Mt. Bromo, an active volcano site.

Singapore - A Blueprint for Success

It would be difficult for anyone not to be impressed with Singapore. It is a large city / small country (600 square miles, similar in that respect to Calgary) with a population of 5 million people. Yet it is well organized and planned, especially considering the constraint of being surrounded by water. They have an excellent underground rapid transit rail system (cheap and extensive routing), along with lots of taxis and buses. Cars are expensive to license and own, minimizing both traffic and polution. It is a very clean city with lots of green space. There are a multitude of assisted housing apartment complexes that cater to families, however, other housing is incredibly expensive. Food is cheap but alcohol is taxed heavily. They have financial reserves of $150B so planned improvement projects happen quickly and are done properly. They have tough laws, so crime is almost non-existent yet you rarely see any police officers. It should be mandatory for every city planner to spend time here to learn how to make a large city seem small and friendly.

We were fortunate to spend our last three days with a good Xerox friend from Vancouver (Cornell) who recently relocated to Singapore to work for Fuji Xerox. While his family is waiting for the end of the school year to move here, we were able to stay with him in his lovely 29th floor condo overlooking the Singapore River and the harbour area. Cornell was an excellent host and guide. We made trips to the Singapore Zoo (varied and active wildlife), Sentosa Island and Mount Faber (connected by cable car), and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (incredible rooftop views), and had a delicious dinner in Little India.

Tomorrow (Monday), we are flying to Bali, Indonesia.....an unusual twist for us but flights here are reasonably priced and it will avoid backtracking over the same route on the islands of Java and Sumatra which are long and narrow. Off to the beach!

South East Asia - The Start of a New Adventure

We're a little weary but we have arrived safe and sound in Singapore.

Our Vancouver to Hong Kong flight (14 hours) was late getting in and we ended up just missing our connecting flight to Singapore. Fortunately there was another flight departing two hours later, which meant we arrived at our hostel at 1 am local time........9 am in Calgary which meant a total of 24 hours from our initial departure from the Calgary airport. We didn't get much sleep on any of the 3 flights but we did take some jet lag prevention tablets along the way and we felt remarkably good today. With a late morning start we managed to walk around 4 different areas of the city.......Chinatown (bustling with New Year's just over 2 weeks away), the Riverwalk area (bars and restaurants galore right beside the Singapore River), City Centre (financial hub, gov't buildings and the famous Raffles Hotel nearby) and finally Orchard Road (major shopping district).........well over 10 km's in all. They have a great underground metro system here (so we've been told) but our legs needed some exercise after all the sitting on our trip over so we will check it out tomorrow. The Zoo and a hike are on the agenda. The weather is in the 25C (low) to 30C (high) range for the entire week so that may start to slow us down but right now we are full of excitement and anticipation for the journey that has just started. And Singapore is truly a beautiful city, and very safe, so we are taking advantage of the opportunity to spend almost the entire day outside.

The only problem so far has been with the internet. We had no access until late tonight and I am quite sure there are still some lingering problems.......I just checked the hockey scores and it indicated that Russia beat Canada in the World Junior semi-final.......that can't be right can it?