Round the World '06-'07

KL

gareth — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 05:19:42 +0000

I have been in KL for about 5 days now, and really should leave tomorrow for Singapore. I have pretty much done everything there is to do here. I have visited the KL towers, and the petronas sky bridge, the national museum, the lake gardens, the bird park, the shopping malls and and the Batu caves.

The architecture of some of the sky scrapers is really great as you can tell from the number of photos of the petronas towers I have uploaded! The lake gardens and bird park are really nice too. They have a parrot show at the bird gardens with birds riding bicycles, scooters, and even a bird that could count and do sums!

The batu caves were OK but I wouldn’t go back unless there was a big festival on. Apparently in February there is a big hindu festival where men do a lot of body piercing and drag weights from hoows in their backs! Might be more interesting than just an empty cave with 250 steps to climb to see it! There was great view of KL from the top though.

I have had a great time in KL, and would say that it is a lot more interesting than Bangkok with a lot more to do.

Taman Negara National Park

gareth — Tue, 30 May 2006 08:36:56 +0000

After sitting in the sun on the Perhentians for days, I was feeling thoroughly unfit. To remedy this I decided to go for a few days of jungle trekking in the Taman Negara national park, “The oldest rainforest in the world”. Leaving the Perhentians we stayed overnight in Kota Baru, before leaving on the ‘mail train’ at 6am the next day. The train ride was very scenic, very cheap and very uncomfortable! I was one of the lucky ones with a seat!

10hrs later we arrived in Jerantut, where we planned to stay the night and get a boat up the river into the national park in the morning. We were then told that it is currently the Singaporean school holidays and that most accomodation in the nation park was full of school partys. We decided to go to the park straight away and so jumped on the bus.

We found a dorm room with space so took it straight away.

After a rainy night we were up to go and do the Canopy walkway’, which is 500m of ladders and boards held together with rope strung up in the trees about 40m high. After that, feeling energetic we decided to follow the trail up a mountain to the view point, about 10 minutes later I was regretting the decision as I had already lost half my body weight in sweat, (only a slight exageration)!

4hrs later we finally made it back to camp, having only been attacked by a couple of leaches which had to be burned off.

After lunch we planned to go on a night jeep safari, but it was cancelled due to heavy rain, so we just decided to leave in the morning having had plenty of exercise already!

Penang

gareth — Mon, 29 May 2006 13:51:34 +0000

I arrived in Penang after a long day travelling first by boat then bus from Phi Phi. After checking in to a hostel, me and Dave (I first met him in Vietnam a few months ago) went to look for something to eat. We found a little chinese stall that was selling a ‘herbal pork soup’. That sounded quite nice to me so I duely ordered a bowl full. Whenb it arrived, there was not a single bit of pig that I recognised by sight or taste! After bravely eating all I could, I asked the lady what was in the soup. The list was as follows; Pork meat, kidneys, liver, ear and tail! We shortly after left to find something else to eat!

Penang was quite interesting and we visited ‘Fort Cornwallis’ built by the british East India Company when britain took Penang for a trading post. We also went round the mansion of the chinese buisnessman Cheong Fatt Tze, which was really interesting, and built according to Feng Shui principles.

We left Penang for the Perhentian Islands on a super VIP overnight Bus!

Perhentian Islands

gareth — Mon, 29 May 2006 13:41:10 +0000

Still travelling with Dave, we made our way to coral bay, only to find out that all the rooms were doubles, and that all the nightlife was in Long Beach! Not to worry we trekked through the jungle in flip flops to long beach and found an A frame hut for 25 ringit a night (3 pound 70!). It was pretty basic though, just 2 crappy beds and 2 even worse mosquito nets! However the attraction of the islands is not in the accomodation, but the setting. Even less developed than Kho Tao, and even perhaps more beautiful! (sorry Emma, I know you will be jealous!). We took a snorkelling trip which started in Shark Bay. While waiting to get in the boat, thoroughly fed up at being the only one to miss the sharks, I looked down and saw a Black Tip Reef shark about 5ft long! It was excellent. After that we stayed in our snorkel and fins ready to jump off the boat at the sight of a turtle. Not to be dissapointed again, I was the first one in when one was spotted. Immediately I was being stung all over by some kind of sea lice! We all followed the turtle which must have been at least 4ft long til we were knackered. Then it was back to the beach for lunch. In the afternoon we did a few more sites, and saw lots of nice fish and coral, and a few squid. We were then taken to a deserted beach only accesable by boat for some sunbathing and frisbee!

Nightlife in the Perhentian’s was limitted to one bar which sold alcohol, which was predictably pretty busy in the evenings.

A couple of days lounging on the beach, and topping up my tan and I was ready to move on.

Kho Phi Phi

gareth — Sat, 27 May 2006 10:30:40 +0000

Went on a nightbus from Bangkok to Phi Phi, the weather was beautiful when I arrived, but by the time I had got out of the shower, it was raining, a lot! Spent 3 nights there before finally giving up on the weather and heading south to Malaysia. Very disapointed at not having seen the small island or gone cliff jumping or canoeing, but the seas were too rough.
I guess I’ve got an excuse to come back again though!!!

Kanchaniburi

gareth — Mon, 15 May 2006 10:08:19 +0000

Emma and I booked a 3 day 2 night trip to Kanchaniburi, about 2 hrs from Bangkok. On the first day we were taken to the Allied war cemetry for all the soldiers who died while building the Thailand-Bhurma Railway, specifically the Bridge on the River Kwai. After that and some museums about the railway we were taken by pick-up truck to the Erawan Waterfall, which has 7 levels of pools. Again it was probably the most beautiful waterfalls I have seen. We were given a picnic lunh by the falls, and the chance to go swimming. However there were cornfish in the pools which would come and suck at your feet or anything else that was in the water, so my swimming was limited to a 20 second girly scream! Emma thought this was hillarious til she refused to go back in to the water!
Afeter the Waterfalls we went to an elephant school where we got to ride bareback on an elephent. The bloody thing threw me off 3 times! We were in the river though so it was really funny for everyone else. It was probably my best experience so far (until later in the trip!).
The 2nd day, we went on a bicycle tour of the countryside in the morning. My pedal fell off! but was easily fixed by borrowing a hammer from a house! We climbed to the top of a mountain, and then went in a cave temple which had lots of bats in! After that we went to a monkey training school where they train monkeys to pick coconuts on farms. We saw monkey show which inlluded a monkey: riding a tricylce, playing basketball, counting, selling things. We both got to hold a baby gibbon which was absolutely gorgeous, but really quite lazy compared to the rest of the monkeys.
in the afternoon we went to the tiger temple. It is basicly as budhist temple where they look after all kinds of animals, but the biggest draw are the tigers which you can stroke just like a dog. They were absolutely ammazing and while Emma prefered the Elephants and the Monkeys I thought the tigers were awsome! Easily the most exciting and unique thing I have done so far!
The last day we went on a trip to some natural hot springs close to the Bhurmese Border where I think the local childeren were more interested in the foreigners than the hot springs. On the way back to Kanchaniburi we went to “Hellfire Pass” which is railway cutting on the Thailand-Bhurma railway built mainly by Australian POW’s where there was a 50% mortality rate for the workers. The museum was really interesting, and the scenery around the area was stunning.
We came back to Bangkok in the evening.
Emma has got some tailoring done in Bangkok which she is really happy with. last night I took her to the Thai Boxing, and had a great time. There were more KO’s than last time, and I was more weary of the scammers around the stadium!
I took Emma to the airport this morning and I am heading down to Kho Phi Phi tonight by bus.

Kho Tao

gareth — Mon, 15 May 2006 09:43:55 +0000

Me and Emma left Bangkok on a night bus to Kho Tao. The journey was great compared to Vietnam and Cambodia but Emma didn’t really manage to sleep unfortunately (I was out like a light all night, I guess I must be getting used to travelling now!). Kho Tao is without a doubt the most beautiful Island I have ever seen, I still thin I prefere mountain views but Kho Tao was spectacular. Pristine white beaches and blue seas were all around. Emma spent 3 days doing here SCUBA diving accreditation, while I just worked on my tan! She really enjoyed it and I think she was glad that she spent the time and money to try SCUBA. I just did 2 dives in 1 afternoon, (got to save some money for the great barrier reef!) btu I saw a blue spotted ray which was the first ray I have seen. I was really pleased. We spent our last day going snorkelling in some of the Island’s undeveloped bays including “Shark Bay” where you can see reef sharks. I was actually bitten in Shark Bay, but only by a tiny fish about an inch long with no teeth!

Bangkok

gareth — Sun, 14 May 2006 05:42:32 +0000

I arrived in Bangkok after a horrific bus journey from Angkor Wat. We were in a minibus on the Cambodian side of the border, and first the back window fell out, then the suspension broke, but was fixed with a block of wood!, and then the engine got a hole in it so the oil was just pouring straight through. But after 7hrs it finally got us to the border. The Thai side was such a contrast. A huge VIP bus, and proper sealed roads!
I found a nice little room that looked similar to the execution cells in cambodia! But it was very cheap. I spent the 5 days waiting for Emma to arrive, by exploring the Khao San Rd area, it is really very full of backpackers and tourists. I went to see the Thai boxing one night which was excellent. They play funny music throughout the rounds which can get a bit annoying, but I guess it adds to the atmosphere.
When Emma arrived in Bangkok I met her at the airport. The next day we visited the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The grand palace was very impressive but it was really similar to the palace in Phnom Pehn. We had a great day though, despite the tuk tuk drivers trying to rip us off by telling me that the palace was shut until the afternoon for a celebration and that he could take us on a sight seeing tour til then. Which turned out to be complete rubbish! Luckily I had heard about similar scams because Emma really beleived him and was quite interested in the ‘tour’!
I had had enough of Bangkok by then that we left after 2 nights on a night bus to Kho Tao.

Angkor Wat

gareth — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:11:14 +0000

I have spent the last 3 days at the temples at Angkor, what can I say but AMAZING! Words cant really describe some of the temples, so you will have to check the photos, or rent Tomb Raider from the video shop! I am a little bored of ruins now though to be honest, so I am leaving tomorrow for a really long bus trip to Bangkok. I’m not looking forward to a 16hr bus trip!!! It will be worth it though when I get to see Emma in Bangkok on Sunday.

Sihanoukville

gareth — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:07:28 +0000

Not much to say about Sihanoukville except that the beach was great, the weather was mainly great, with a few thunderstorms in the evenings, and I stayed there for 5 days doing not a lot!

I got the bus back to Phnom Penh, went to the shooting range. This time I had 30 rounds of an Ak-47, and threw a hand grenade!

The next day I got the bus to Siem Reap, to see the Angkor Wat temples.