BootsnAll Travel Network



Archive for the 'Malaysia' Category

« Home

The Cameron Highlands and Penang Island…our last days in Malaysia

Saturday, February 11th, 2006

From Taman Negara we headed to the Cameron Highlands, a complete change in landscape and climate. The Cameron Highlands is famous for its tea plantations and agrigulture. It’s also where the Malaysians go for a breath of fresh air. (The temperature hangs around 20C, and the air is balmy.) As we drove into the main village, we passed tea plantations, hydroponic strawberry farms, cabbage farms and lots of fruit, vegetable and honey stands. It was very green (like everywhere in Malaysia) and when we stepped out of the bus, there was a cool breeze blowing.  We found a nice little guesthouse, the Twin Pines Chalet, and Fab and I spent the first evening relaxing. Chicken burgers for dinner and a card game.  The next morning we booked a tour to see the area’s main sites, the Boh tea plantation and factory, the Rose Garden (a large nursery containing 100’s of species of roses and other exotic plants,) a honeybee farm, a butterfly and insect farm, a strawberry farm and a Buddhist temple.  As you can imagine it was a big day. We felt a little like cattle as we were herded from site to site, but it was an easy choice for seeing all of the attractions. Our favorite was the tea plantation (a bit more modern than those in Darjeeling, they we were using machines for harvesting the leaves) and the butterfly and insect farm. We got to see many of the bugs that we could only hear in the jungle and Fab got a bit of scare when the caretaker put a scorpion on his shirt. 

The Cameron Highlands also have some fantastic hiking trails, so we spent our second day hiking up to a nearby peak to enjoy some of the views. The path was great going up, but when we reached the top we found a rockslide caused by newly installed powerlines had wiped out the next part of our trail. Fabien and I played Tarzan as we descended a very steep and slippery path.  I was sure that we were completely lost but eventually, navigating with our compass, we ended up on someone’s farm. We followed a steep, rocky four-wheel drive road to the end of the farm, where we found a tea plantation, then we took a path through the tea plantation, to the factory and up to the scenic cafe. I don’t think they get many visitors at this cafe who arrive by foot. We rewarded our 3 hour hike with strawberry tea and shortbread cookies, before finding out that we still had another hour walking uphill along a congested and polluted road.  We arrived in town just as the rain was starting, phew. That afternoon, we caught another bus to our last Malaysian destination, Georgetown, Penang.

I am writing from Penang. We have spent a couple of days here, two very hot and sticky days.  Georgetown is Malaysia’s oldest colonial settlement. It has a port feel; it’s very diverse, the usual Malays, Chinese and Indian, but also Japanese and European.   Yesterday, we visited several interesting sites, including the old fort and Cheong Fat Tze Mansion.  Today we took a bus out to Penang Hill, where we visited a huge Buddhist temple (the biggest in Malaysia, and a mix of Burmese, Thai and Chinese styles) before taking the funicular 700m (2100ft) up to the top of the hill. From the top, we had a great (but cloudy) view of Georgetown. We decided to walk to the bottom to the botanical gardens to see the Thaipusam festival. I mentioned this festival when I wrote about Kuala Lumpur, it is a huge Hindu festival, where devotees spear their cheeks with long steel rods and pierce their chests and backs with metal hooks in penance. The devotees do not bleed and they do not feel pain, they say it is their faith that prevents pain. The festival actually overtook the whole city of Georgetown, as the devotees and other followers made a procession through the streets to the large temple near the botanical gardens. We were overwhelmed by the masses of people and the festive atmosphere, music blaring, people dancing and the impending lightning storm. We tried to find a bus back to town, when the rain started. We gave up, stopped for a beer to get out of the rain and then made the 45 minute walk back in the pouring rain. We rewarded ourselves with a splurge- sushi for dinner. Just another day in Asia.

We are leaving for Thailand at 4:45AM tomorrow, it will be a big day of travel but in 24 hours, we’ll be on a beach in paradise.

The Steamy Jungle of Taman Negara

Friday, February 10th, 2006

Imagine having the opportunity to visit the world’s oldest tropical rainforest.  Taman Negara is Malaysia’s largest protected national park, and we were quite excited as we made the trip 60km upriver by longboat to reach the park.  For 2 1/2 hours we buzzed along the big river, occassionally spotting birds, more often their nests, and cattle taking an afternoon dip.  When we reached the village of Kuala Tahan, we struggled up the hill in the torid afternoon heat to find our guesthouse. We were a bit disappointed when we saw the two lane road. We weren’t as isolated as expected, but we were clearly in the jungle as beads of sweat poured down our backs and mosquitoes buzzed around our heads. Our first two nights, we stayed in a cute little bungalow surrounded by banana trees and tons of tropical flowers, in Kuala Tahan, the village across the river from the park entrance. To get to the entrance, we paid 50 sen (about 10 cents) for a boat to shuttle us across the river, which we would catch from one of the floating restaurants. 

Our first day in the park, we set out with a small group (Marcus from Austria, Claudio from Switzerland and Tyrone from England) to do the canopy walk.  The canopy walk was a series of 10 rope bridges, connected by 9 wooden platforms, strung between 50-100 feet above the forest floor.  We cautiously made our way from bridge to bridge, climbing higher and higher. Rope-walking is definitely and adrenaline sport.  When we finished, we did a short, but steep hike, up to a couple of viewpoints,to see the surrounding hills. We were all dripping in sweat by the time we were halfway up, but the views were worth it, and we took an alternative route for the return, which proved to be an obstacle course of it’s own, as we climbed up and down, over tree trunks and across streams. I was exhausted after 4 hours of walking in the heat, so after a big lunch of fried noodles, and a cold shower, I caught an afternoon nap before our “night safari.” We actually had enough time before the sunset, to visit one of the hides (a watchtower built by the park service where you could watch animals in a clearing- they put an artifical salt lick there to attract them.)  We went, fully armed with zoom lens, monocular, etc, to watch for animals.  In the end, we only saw a couple of wild boars and various birds (including our favorite, the Kingfisher,) but the sounds were amazing.  After dinner, we got ready for our night safari at 9pm.  8 of us piled into the back of 4-wheel drive truck, our guide perched herself on the roof with a spotlight, and we headed for a palm plantation. The sensation of being in the middle of this plantation at night was quite cool, but our efforts were not fruitful. Our spottings for the evening included, one leopard cat (about the size of a domestic cat), an owl, a couple of sleeping robins, the backside of another cat and a wicket spider.  After 2 hours, our buts were numb and we were completely exhausted, happy to have a cozy bed to return too. 

For our 3rd night, we decided to sleep in a hide inside of the park.  There we would have a better chance for animal sighting, and we’d actually be sleeping in the jungle.  We rented sleeping pads from the camping office, and took our sleep sheets and toothbrushes as well as a picnic dinner.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get from the park headquarters to BunBun Blau (our hide) and we made a couple of interesting stops along the way. The first was at an Orang Asli village (Orang Aslis are the aboriginal people of Malaysia; there are small tribes,all over the country.) There wasn’t much going on when we arrived, but we later crossed paths with a man who was carrying a spear for hunting and surveying the treetops for dinner. The tip of the spear is covered in a natural poison.  I’m glad we didn’t look too tasty.  We also visited a cave. From the entrance of the cave, we could hear the thunderous echo of the croaking frogs. We made our way across the slippery rocks to get inside. I had to hunch down as bats I had disturbed flew around me.  It was a bit unnerving, and after a short distance, we decided not to go further.  Our hide was quite rustic, open windows for watching wildlife on all sides, and wooden beds. Fabien and I were alone for a couple of hours, and we sat at the window watching a fierce rainstorm outside. No animal sightings, but around 6:30pm, our bunk mates arrived, covered in leeches! The leeches come out in full force when it’s raining, and they are disgusting little creatures. After they stripped down, disposed of their unwanted guests and nursed the bites, they introduced themselves, and Australian couple and an Italian girl.  We perched ourselves in front of the window, waiting for animals which were probably scared off from the extra commotion caused. We had our tuna fish sandwiches, then climbed into our wooden bunks where we spent a not so restful evening listening to the sounds of the jungle.  It was actually quite fun, and when we woke up the next morning with our stiff backs, we were excited about the walk back. It was a quick walk, as we tried to avoid the leaches. I arrived unscarred, while Fab found one his sock, that left a nice bloody stain.  YUCK!

When we reached the village, we caught the boat back down the river to Jerantut where we spent an uneventful evening before heading to the Cameron Highlands. More to come…

Life in the big city…Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Monday, February 6th, 2006

After Melaka, our next stop was Kuala Lumpur, a true urban jungle. Actually, for a capital city, KL is quite small and manageable. The population is only 1 million and the city is well connected with public transport. It ... [Continue reading this entry]