BootsnAll Travel Network



Rafflesia

November 13th, 2008

The world’s largest flower.

The 4 hour trek through the muddy jungle was worth it – the flower is massive! This parasite plant can be found in the jungles of SE Asia.

Leaving the Highlands would not be complete without sampling their strawberries. The girls and I visited one of the many strawberry farms in the Highlands and found out that most if not all the strawberries here are grown hydroponically (without soil). It’s definitely not your ordinary strawberry farm.

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Tea Plantation – Cameron Highlands

November 11th, 2008

So I’ve had a pair of jeans in my backpack that never really came in handy on this trip of mine – until now!!! It’s freezing here in Tanah Rata! I should of expected it being up in the mountains and all. I’m sure glad I decided not to get rid of them back in Bangkok.

Anyway, it is beautiful up here. Cameron Higlands is especially known for their vast areas of tea plantations – Home of the BOH Tea, leading tea producer in Malaysia. The tea are grown and packed here in the Highlands. If you’re a big tea drinker you would love this place!

Making your way to the plantation, the scenery is lovely – tons and tons of green, perfectly aligned rows of tea plants! The girls and I walked our way down to the plantation (1.5 hour walk) and took in the breathtaking scenery.

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After enjoying a cup of tea we started our way back up the mountain. We were half way up when it started to rain – so we tried to hitch hike our way back to the town – and after 20 minutes of trying… finally a local stopped and we hopped in the back of his truck. Terima Kasih!

A tray of plates drying out on top of a tea plant 🙂 Thought this photo was awesome…

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Taman Negara

November 11th, 2008

Taman Negara, Malaysia’s greatest national park and the world’s oldest rainforest. There are two ways to get to Taman Negara from Kuala Tembeling by bus direct or by boat. I definitlely recommend the slow boat ride on the Tembeling river – it takes about 2.5 hours to get to the park but the scenery is gorgeous.

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I met a few Dutch girls (Daisy, Esther, Carmen) on the boat ride and shared a dorm room with them at RM10 ($3) a bed. I signed up for a jungle trekking tour and canpoy walk the first day – which was quite boring. The jungle trekking went for only 30 minutes long up to a hill top – wasn’t real trekking, it was like a walk in the park and the guide for our group wasn’t that informative either. I wanted to learn a bit about the plants and species that lived in the jungle but the guide didn’t help on any of that. I could of easily done the trek on my own. The only thing I saw on the trek was an army of ants in the millions making there way to who knows where – their own full moon party perhaps? 🙂 Anyway, on a good note, the canopy walk that came with the jungle trek was cool.

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The cave exploration was awesome. Hands down beats the trekking/canopy tour and our guide was very informative. I’ve never really been inside a bat cave before so I was pretty excited! The cave is small and takes about 40 minutes to explore. I had to crawl through loads of guano (bat droppings) and squeeze my 120 lb frame between rocks that only gave you so much room to maneuver. I had no problem at all but I think a muscular, heavier set person might find it a bit difficult. Thousands of bats hang over, just chillin’ above us and beside us, as we tourists explore their home and snap photos. If you are clastrsophobic and afraid of bats then you wouldn’t want to do this activity. I climbed out of the cave drenched, muddy and reeking of guano. Perfect first date? I think so 🙂

So all of the travel agencies here in Taman Negara were charging RM90 a head for a bus ride to the Cameroon Highlands. Which is a total rip off!  I asked around and a local said I can take the local bus to Jerantut for RM3 and “maybe” catch another local bus to the Cameroon Highlands. I took my chances and caught the early bus out, crossing my fingers that there is another local bus to the Highlands. I was wrong – I got to Jerantut and was notified that no local buses ran to the Highlands.  Luckily, I met a trio from Germany (Lena, Lisa, Elena) and a french women (Elodie) on the bus who were all trying to get to the Highlands…so we stuck together and managed to book a van to take us there at RM55 a head. Sweet deal – beats paying RM90! Overall, had a great time in the jungle and I will definitely be back one day for the seven day trek up Gunung Tahan!

Note: There are no ATMs here so you better pull out money before you come – because the closet ATM is at the next town, a 2 hour bus ride away.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdizon

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Kuala Lumpur

November 6th, 2008

Ok so I landed in KL, went straight for the ATM machine and freaked out because I couldn’t withdraw any money! I forgot to inform my bank that I was heading to Malaysia! (it was a last minute add on to my itinerary). Luckily, I had some dollars left from Cambodia, which gave me two days in KL while I sorted out everything with my bank. Pheww! 🙂 Anyway, been here for three days now – got me a room in Chinatown at RM30 ($8) a night. I did all the main tourist sites around KL – The Petronas Towers (quite impressive – a must see when in visitng KL), The KL Tower (here you can get the highest view of the city) Little India, and the bustling night market in Chinatown (Good shopping here – I’m tempted to put my bargaining skills to the test….I’m definitley getting better at it!)

Petronas Towers

KL’s Communties consist of Indian, Chinese and Malay – so you can imagine the variety of culture and food. Had my share of all – delicious! My preferred choice: Malay food. One of my favs – Nasi Lemak (rice boiled in coconut milk). I had mine served with a chilli shrimp paste, with a few sticks of chicken satay – yum! I love the chili shrimp paste – good stuff! (It’s definitely an acquired taste though). Oh and the alcohol aint cheap here, Malaysia being predominantly Muslim, I found myself paying 8 ringgits ($2.50) a beer.

Nasi Lemak

Anyway, I’m pretty much done here in KL – today I’m making my way north to Taman Negara, Malaysia’s greatest national park. I’m looking forward to trekking through and exploring the world’s oldest jungle!! Dating back 130 million years ago…

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Lantau Island

November 5th, 2008

Spent my last day in Hong Kong on Lantua Island. I took the Ngong Ping cable car over the hills to the Tian Tan Buddha Statue (Big Buddha), the world’s largest outdoor buddha statue in the world. It was a 20 minute ride up with a panoramic view of the Island.

Caught the metro to Hong Kong Island and took the Star Ferry back to Kowloon. Finally the haze has gone, the view of the city was much better than last night 🙂

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Big City, Small Girl

November 2nd, 2008

I’m in Hong Kong! It was a one hour bus ride from the airport to the city. The route included crossing over a massive bridge (Tsing Ma) and a lovely view of Hong Kongs oh so many skyscrapers. We got to the city around rush hour so the city was swarming with people. Big city – tons of double decker buses, taxis, high-end shops, restaurants, skycrapers….I felt so small just walking around. My cousin Sheena would love it here – being a fashionable city girl herself. Anyway, I checked in at one of the many hostels in Chungking Mansions (Kowloon). Got myself a cell-like room which included a/c, my own bathroom, a tv for HKD 150 a night ($20 USD). It’s freakin’ expensive here – definitely a huge change coming from Cambodia and paying only $2 USD a night. In addition to Cantonese, English is also spoken widely here, which makes things a lot easier for me 🙂

   

Had a full day of site seeing:

Victoria Peak – Took a tram to the top – the city view from here could of been better without all the gloom.

Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery – They weren’t kidding, tons of buddhas statues displayed. Even as you go up the gazillion steps to get to the top – very nice.

Hong Kong Space Museum – Watched the sky show “Odyssey to Space”

and ended the day with an awesome view of Hong Kong Island at night from the Star Ferry Pier. The city lights were stunning! I’ve never seen anything like it.

So here in Hong Kong they have what’s called an “Octopus Pass”. The metro, the ferry, cable cars, buses can all be paid with this one transit card. In addition, you can use it at convenient stores – pretty cool eh? I’m guessing that’s why they call it the Octopus Pass – ya? Traveling today I’ve already been on a bus, a tram, and the metro. I found it pretty easy – which is surprising for a non-city girl. The public transit system back home can sure use a system like this.

By the end of the day I was in search for some Chinese food. I found a restaurant a few blocks from my hostel. I came in with an empty stomach and sadly left with an empty stomach because the service sucked that bad! I sat down at a table and it took 20 minutes (i timed it) for a waitress to come over – and the only reason why she came over was because I flagged her down. The waitress gets to my table, I open the menu to show her what I want and before I could even order she steps away to clean up a table across from me. I really didn’t get it. I figured I’d give her a few minutes – but 5 minutes went by and I just couldn’t sit there anymore so I left. Good thing though – because down one block was a little restaurant packed with locals. The waiters shouted “Welcome, come in come in, sit sit” as I stood at the door. I had some roasted geese with bakchoy and rice. It was scrumptious! Good food, Good service and cheap! (HKD 37).

Tomorrow, will be my last full day in Hong Kong – not sure what I plan on doing….I might go to Lantau Island to see the Giant Buddha and then take the ferry back to Hong Kong Island for a stroll in the city.

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I heart Cambodia

October 31st, 2008

First and foremost – I recovered all my photos!! Yay!! How? Don’t ask because I have no idea. I gave it another shot at a different internet place this morning and there they were sitting in my flash drive. You bet your ass off that I burned a copy of all the pics on a CD right then and there – just in case my flash drive decides to go awire on me again.

Anyway,

Had a wonderful 10 days in Cambodia and dream of one day going back soon. Here’s my Cambodia experience in a nutshell:

Photobucket Explored the Angkor Temples!

Photobucket Royal Palace

Photobucket Russian Market – loads of cheap stuff!

PhotobucketAte a fried spider – which was quite good! Thanks Oran!

Photobucket My favorite Khmer dish – Fish Amok

PhotobucketMy first football game! Cambodia vs. Philippines! I was rooting for both teams!! 🙂 Philippines took it 3-2.

Photobucket NACA Orphanage – I miss them already!

Photobucket Made some great friends!

Itinerary Update:

I leave for Hong Kong tomorrow morning. Due to lack of time and funds, I’m not heading up to mainland China instead I booked a flight to Malaysia. So I’ll be in Hong Kong for four days and then jet off to Malaysia for two weeks before heading home.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdizon

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Lost pictures :(

October 30th, 2008

I got up early this morning to hit an internet cafe to catch up on uploading all the pics from Cambodia onto my blog site. Lo and behold I come to find that all my travel pics to date were no longer on my flash drive. My mouth dropped 🙁 I thought, “Shit Shit Shit, could this really be happening?” I quickly tried my flash on several computers and no luck. I was devastated. I wanted to cry. It was like waking up from a bad dream – but it was real. My Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia pictures all gone!! I don’t know what happen – Where could they have gone?? Argh!! There were more amazing temple pics that I would of loved to show you guys – Bayon (complex of face towers), Ta Prohm (jungle takes over ruins), Banteay Srei (exquisite decorative carvings), etc….. Such a bummer… 🙁

Ok enough of my whining.

On a positive note, pictures are just pictures. You can have all the pictures of the places you’ve been to but to actually be there and feel and experience everything is something that you can never lose. Right? Yep, feeling a little bit better 🙂 In addition, I still have this blog that I can look back on – and I think I have a few pics on my camera from my last few days in Cambodia which I’ll share with you all tomorrow.

Alright, I’m out – I’m going to drown my sorrows in a big bowl of massaman curry.

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It’s all the little things that count…

October 29th, 2008

My mom-away-from-home

So I got up at 6am today to catch my bus at 6:45 – Phnom Penh to Bangkok (total 14hrs). On the bus, I’m seated next to a mother and her baby boy who is absolutely adorable. Anyway, so at our first rest stop the mother (who doesn’t speak a word of English) puts the baby in my arms and actions out that she will buy something to eat. I nodded my head and smiled. A few minutes later, she returns with a bag full of grilled bananas. The mother literally placed a banana right in front of my mouth…. I couldn’t say no. Just as I was finishing it she pops another one in front of me. I gave her a big smile and said “Awkun” (Thank you in Khmer). The grilled bananas were quite good might I add 🙂

So anyhow, it was just about lunch time when we took our second stop. The bus stops at a small local restaurant out in the middle of no where and we all get off. The mother actions out again with her hands “to eat”. I responded “Yes, but I will go to the toilet first”. As soon as she heard the word toilet she grabs me by the arm and directs me the right way. Ok so here comes the funny part….So she opens the bathroom door, steps in and signals for me to come in with her – so I did. She points at the “squat toilet” and gives me the ok to go ahead – so here I am ready to relieve myself and she’s doing the same thing but on the actual floor right in front of me. Awkward? Maybe just a little because i didn’t expect that at all.

So after all that, she takes me into the restaurant and sits me down at a table with other locals. She leaves to order up some food – there are 5 massive pots in the main kitchen and I could see her from afar pointing at a few… She returns with a beef dish, fish dish, veggies and rice. They all were delicious! I tried to ask her what the dishes were called but she couldn’t understand me – so I just said “very good” – she agreed and poured more fish onto my plate 🙂 haha…just like what my mom would do! The mother wips out her money to pay for the food but I insisted and covered it.

On our third stop – the mother buys a large baguette, breaks it in two and offers a half to me. I couldn’t stop smiling. I kept thinking to myself (while eating my baguette) “Wow this is amazing! She is amazing!” She was my mom-away-from-home for that 14 hrs on the bus, always making sure I was ok! At times during the bus ride, she also held my hand, spoke to me in Khmer (even though I couldn’t understand – i enjoyed it), played me some Khmer music videos from her cell phone, etc….

In addition to my experience, I had a guy friend who had trouble crossing the street in Phnom Pehn.  Traffic in this city is insane! Crazy motorbikes/cars speeding down the road (here in Asia the cars come first then pedestrians) and most of the time they will drive around you rather than stop.  A local man took notice of his trouble and took my friend by the hand and assisted him to the other side.

It’s these little things that count and mean a lot……that speaks a whole lot for the Cambodian people.

When we finally arrived at the Poipet Border – I wished her well and said goodbye. She wanted me to come with her but I told her I had to stay on the bus to cross over to Thailand. I will miss her.

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Two more days…

October 27th, 2008

My time here in Cambodia has come and gone. I wish I could stay longer. With the short amount of time I’ve spent in this country – I could honestly say that I’ve met some of the nicest people here. My last week in Phnom Penh I’ve been doing some volunteering at an orphanage (NACA – National Action Culture Assn). Tomorrow I will have to say goodbye and it will be the hardest thing I’d have to do so far on the road. Ok….I’m stopping myself now before I start crying….

To my darling nephew Donovan – Happy Birthday lil D! I love and miss you every day! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you! I will see you soon and we are sooooo going to Chuck E’ Cheese!!

To my big brother Steve – Happy Bday! I love and miss you!! Have an awesome birthday and know that I’m thinking about you!

The kids and I made a special birthday video for you both. I’m currently having trouble uploading the video but I’ll get it up as soon as I can. Love you guys!

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