If anybody is still looking for him it turns out he's been hiding in the reefs close to Pulau Perhentian Besar -just off the Eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia.
So after what seems a very quick 2 weeks in Malaysia we are now in Thailand. Sungai kolok to be precise. At the train station to be even more precise. We're waiting for our train to Hat Yai and we failed to realise that there was a time change as we crossed the border from Malaysia so we have an extra hour to kill. Therefore to I have decided to use said time to write about our jungly and beachy adventures.
After our rainy days in the cameron highlands the day we left was beatiful sunshine. Thankfully it was also clear when we arrived in Taman (park) Negara (National) -Malaysia's oh so inventively named national park (in fairness it used to be called King George V national park, but was changed at independance). Upon arrival we took thge boat over the river from the park entrance from the small village of Kuala Tahan in order to make plans and arrangements for our time there. Having booked Bumbun Kumbang (a hide in the jungle) for 2 nights we crossed back over the river to spend the night and buy supplies.
Day one of our jungly adventures saw us walk on the world's longest canopy walkway -a rather wobbly contraption made from ladders, planks and ropes. After that it was back down to earth to walk to the hide. The walk was fairly short (only 11km) but not easy. It ran parralel with the main river for most of thge time so there were many ups and downs across the plentiful tributary valleys. The jungle was humid, pretty thick and had more leeches than you can shake a guidebook at. We reached the hide with plenty of time to cool off and settle into the hide. Although there was dung promising of elephants, sadly we saw no more than a few monkeys.
On the 2nd day we left some stuff at the hide so were travelling with lightened loads aiming for the caves located further into the park. Sadly a lack of signposting on the trails caused us to walk a superfulous 4km however this did result in us seeing a bear!.............footprint or 2. After backtracking we found the caves in time for lunch, a nice and cool spot, if a little full of bat poo. That night we shared the hide with 3 other people but had no major sightings.
Day three saw us take a different -and far less obvious path back to Kuala Tahan. After a short while we came across a river about 15m wide and 1m deep with no way across it. So it was off with the boots, socks and trousers for a good old wade across the river. That, along with sections where myriad paths criss-crossed, doubled back on themselves and generally made you walk round in circles with a confused look on your face slowede us down somewhat. We still made it back in time to catch a boat to Jerantut from where our train left that night, headed North.
After the train it was a fairly easy 2 bus and a boat trip over to the Perhentian islands -Two small islands 21km from the mainland in the South China Sea. We stayed on the smaller of the islands -Perhentian Kecil in lemon grass chalets on the rather strangely named long beach. I suppose it depends on your idea of what constitutes a long beach, but anyway, thats not the point. The point is.... Wait, what's my point again? oh dear, it seems i've lost my train of thought -nevermind i'm at the station, I'm sure it will be along soon. sorry, bad joke. Lets get this blog back on track. Haha. Sorry.
The island was B E A utiful with crystal clear warm waters. We spent 4 nights there, played a lot of volleyball, went snokelling and managed to watch the england match, to boot. The snorkelling, whilst not even comparing to the Great barrier reef was good fun and as i have said we saw 'Nemo fish' as well as plenty of everycolour fish (well thats what I call them) and a shark and a big old turtle. On the whole it was a thoroughly good few days and cemented Malaysia a big Browlesy thumbs up!
So we're now in Hat Yai and it is time to get some dinner and see if we can find somewhere showing the england game at 2 in the morning......hmm, wish me luck.
xxMattxx
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Monday, 3 September 2007
If cabbages ruled the world
If my first impressions of Indonesia were- how shall i put it- well, how DID i put it, wow, i used "rather disappointed" -how very restrained of me, Malaysia couldn't be more different. I'll fill in the gaps in a bit, for now i'm going to talk about Malaysia. I love it already. We got a bus up from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (KL), upon arrival we headed for the chinatown district where the majority of backpackers stay. A guy from one of the hostels saw us and guided us back to his hostel. From the outside it looked like an absolute dump, but inside was perfectly nice with a good atmosphere and loads of other backpackers.
Now, imagine you've never been to Ireland -I suppose a fair few of you haven't but if you have just imagine. Then imagine your travelling around and don't know every countrys' national day, and it just so happens that you arrive in Ireland on St Paddys day. You'd think that was pretty cool huh?. Well, now imagine that, not only is it St Paddy's day but it is the 50th anniversary of St Paddy's day!! Awesome hey. Well my friends, that (in a rather longwinded and slightly random metaphorical way) was what happened to us in Malaysia. Oh except of coarse we arrived into KL (the capitol) so in the whole imaginary thing you would have to arrive into Dublin.
So after a few drinks in the hostel we went out to join in with the street celebrations shouting Merdeka (meaning independance) at the top of our voices. We then spent the next day seeing the sights of KL as well as booking our bus up to the Cameron highlands where i am writing this.
Bus travel in Malaysia is 18249% better than in Indonesia- trust me, i did the math. It is cheaper, a lot faster, more comfortable and you don't get ripped off. Oh and people don't try to steal things from your bags. Now, as I say, we are in the Cameron highlands well Tanah rata to be precise and it's lovely. It's nice and cool with mountains, jungle, tea plantations and ok so it rains a fair amount but hey, we're British- we can cope with a few drops of rain. Yesterday we walked to a nearby tea plantation, learn't how to make tea -there are 5 key stages don't you know, and got rather wet. Despite the rain it was very nice- you can't beat a nice cup of tea. Today the rain has held off so we were able to do some walking of the jungle tracks. The views were by no means amazing but it wern't half nice to do a good bit of walking. Tomorrow we're off to the largest national park in Malaysia for more jungley adventures.
Right. Now for the gaps. I left you in Maninjau, from there we took a 34hr bus trip down to Bandur Lampung. I was a thoroughly enjoyable trip -NAT!!!. Our aim, as i believe i mentioned, was to visit the Taman National Way Kambas but either the tour organisers had all skipped town or they have been taken under the powers of the mighty cabbage over-lord. So it turned out to be the Taman National No-Way Kambas. We toyed with the idea of visiting the famous volcano to see if it was all it was krakatoered up to be but that was looking like it would be a tad too pricey. So with no-where else in our plans we headed to Jakarta. This gave us four full days in Jakarta which is roughly four full days too many. It did have a rather impressive shopping mall which proved useful for escaping the heat/smell of the city. Then it was on to Singapore aka. the Lion city. It is a rather impressive city and when your arriving from Indonesia you feel as if you've travelled into the future. We spent two nights there exploring the city and visiting the rather impressive (if a little too big) asian civilisations museum. After singapore, it was onto malaysia which I won't write about now on account of the fact that i have already done so.
There are at last some more photos on the website and more will follow in the not too distant.
xx Matt xx
Now, imagine you've never been to Ireland -I suppose a fair few of you haven't but if you have just imagine. Then imagine your travelling around and don't know every countrys' national day, and it just so happens that you arrive in Ireland on St Paddys day. You'd think that was pretty cool huh?. Well, now imagine that, not only is it St Paddy's day but it is the 50th anniversary of St Paddy's day!! Awesome hey. Well my friends, that (in a rather longwinded and slightly random metaphorical way) was what happened to us in Malaysia. Oh except of coarse we arrived into KL (the capitol) so in the whole imaginary thing you would have to arrive into Dublin.
So after a few drinks in the hostel we went out to join in with the street celebrations shouting Merdeka (meaning independance) at the top of our voices. We then spent the next day seeing the sights of KL as well as booking our bus up to the Cameron highlands where i am writing this.
Bus travel in Malaysia is 18249% better than in Indonesia- trust me, i did the math. It is cheaper, a lot faster, more comfortable and you don't get ripped off. Oh and people don't try to steal things from your bags. Now, as I say, we are in the Cameron highlands well Tanah rata to be precise and it's lovely. It's nice and cool with mountains, jungle, tea plantations and ok so it rains a fair amount but hey, we're British- we can cope with a few drops of rain. Yesterday we walked to a nearby tea plantation, learn't how to make tea -there are 5 key stages don't you know, and got rather wet. Despite the rain it was very nice- you can't beat a nice cup of tea. Today the rain has held off so we were able to do some walking of the jungle tracks. The views were by no means amazing but it wern't half nice to do a good bit of walking. Tomorrow we're off to the largest national park in Malaysia for more jungley adventures.
Right. Now for the gaps. I left you in Maninjau, from there we took a 34hr bus trip down to Bandur Lampung. I was a thoroughly enjoyable trip -NAT!!!. Our aim, as i believe i mentioned, was to visit the Taman National Way Kambas but either the tour organisers had all skipped town or they have been taken under the powers of the mighty cabbage over-lord. So it turned out to be the Taman National No-Way Kambas. We toyed with the idea of visiting the famous volcano to see if it was all it was krakatoered up to be but that was looking like it would be a tad too pricey. So with no-where else in our plans we headed to Jakarta. This gave us four full days in Jakarta which is roughly four full days too many. It did have a rather impressive shopping mall which proved useful for escaping the heat/smell of the city. Then it was on to Singapore aka. the Lion city. It is a rather impressive city and when your arriving from Indonesia you feel as if you've travelled into the future. We spent two nights there exploring the city and visiting the rather impressive (if a little too big) asian civilisations museum. After singapore, it was onto malaysia which I won't write about now on account of the fact that i have already done so.
There are at last some more photos on the website and more will follow in the not too distant.
xx Matt xx
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