Thoughts On Langkawi

Langkawi was a very relaxed island with a slowed down pace of life.  The people are warm and welcoming and the entire island is duty free, which means that everything falls very nicely into my backpacking budget.  A beer for 50 cents is a beautiful thing.  The beach was a 30 second walk from our guest house and the water was as delightful as a warm bath.  Langkawi was the kind of place where you forget what day it is, not that knowing what day it is really matters, but you know what I mean.

My standard day would consist of waking up and going for a run on the beach, diving in to the ocean occasionally for a cool down.  Going back to the guest house for a shower and a cup of coffee while I wrote or drew in my sketchbook (I'm much more consistent with this than I was in Europe, a fact that makes me very happy).  When Dave got up we would head to an Indian restaurant called Red Tomato for a breakfast of Roti Canai and fresh squeezed orange juice and maybe another cup of coffee.  I don't know how I never had Roti before but it is incredible, it's like naan bread but rolled out really thin, add some onion, garlic, or egg for breakfast and you're in business.  They cooked theirs in a giant clay pot and served it with two different curries.  After breakfast if we were feeling up to it we would challenge the man who ran our guest house to a game of chess or backgammon but we never won.  He would tell us that we needed to double think and triple think if we wanted to beat him, I'm still trying to figure out how.  After that we would walk around and explore the island and spend some time on the beach reading or swimming.  And that's about it.  We spent a few nights getting to know four people traveling from Sweden.  There was a bar called Sunba where playing pool wasn't even a game.  The locals on Langkawi don't miss their shots.  Some of the cleanest playing I've ever seen.

There wasn't a whole lot to see and do on Langkawi but that was the beauty of it.  Coming from a city like Kuala Lumpur where all your senses are bombarded and overloaded at every turn, a place like Langkawi feels like a breath of fresh air.  Being there also provided me with plenty of time to think, plenty of time to dream.  I have met some incredible people out here and I don't think it's been by accident.  I truly believe that if any person approaches a situation with an open heart and a smile, only good will come to them.  Only good can come to them.  It's simply a fact of life.  But yes, I do realize that having this outlook is a double edged sword because not all people think the same way.  Someone coming in to a room with a smile could appear as a target rather than a friend.  But have no fear!  I have been surrounding myself with only good people and steering quite clear of any potentially iffy situations.  I'm open to new experiences but at the same time being smart about which ones I choose.

To sum things up life is good.  No better than that.  Life is great.

Motorbiking Around Langkawi

Langkawi is an island off the northwestern coast of Malaysia and about as close to Thailand as you can get (only a 20 minute ferry ride away).  Our first day there Dave and I decided to rent a motorbike ($5 for the whole day) and see the island.  Here we are in the middle of some rice fields/alligator country.  We didn't actually see an alligator but being aware of the alligator farms on the island we sure were hoping.

Next stop was a jungle path off the side of the road that led to this waterfall.

Here are the only rules of the waterfall.

A most refreshing swim.

Here I am on skull beach, named so because of all the bodies that washed up on shore here due to the demon in the ocean who would devour sailors... or maybe it was the prisoners who attempted to escape from the prison on the island in the background.

Another jungle path leading to a waterfall.

The view from one of the highest points in Langkawi.

But of course with my luck with peaks of mountains it started pouring rain on us.  Here we are stopped at a food stand on the way back for cover from the rain and assorted deep fried snacks.  The man who owned the stand didn't speak any English so we just went with our instincts, still can't figure out what we had but there was a delicious spicy sauce to dip it in so we were happy.

Peeing in the Shower

Has never been so easy.

Ipoh

After the Cameron Highlands we (Gabrielle, Juliette, Dave, and I) decided to stop off in Ipoh before heading to the island of Langkawi.  Ipoh is known for their cave temples and as we discovered, absolutely delicious Chinese food.  Here is a restaurant that the owner of our hotel recommended to us, again we asked for a menu and they said no.  Wet noodles or dry noodles is all they wanted to know.

Left to right: Juliette, Gabrielle, and Dave... French, French Canadian, French Canadian.

Outside a cave temple.

 

Inside the cave temple.  It got too dark to take pictures but we walked up about 200 steps, it was a very large cave.

 A man sitting in the most common chill-out position found in Southeast Asia... monkey doing the same.

 Some older men spending time under a giant mushroom.

The next morning before continuing on to Langkawi I ordered a "special breakfast" off of the menu.  What they brought was one piece of ham, one fried egg, one hot dog, one piece of toast, two fried imitation crab sticks, one chicken burger patty, a small pile of beans, and a tray of ketchup.  Quite special indeed.

Here was our hotel in Ipoh.  The man there had a theory about lottery numbers and a book with every number that had ever won.  Of course I asked for lotto advice and he gave me four numbers to play, I ran next door and bought myself a ticket with his winning numbers but checked the Sunday paper two days later only to find that I hadn't won (I don't get it!  How could I lose when he had that book?!).

Into the Jungle

The walk to the Boh tea plantation was about three hours each way but only half of that time was through a jungle, and I wanted some more jungle.  I asked at the reception desk of my Guest House about the jungle treks nearby, there were about 17 trails so I asked which one was the hardest.  They told me that trail number 1 was what I was looking for but due to the recent rain it would be too muddy and difficult (the main problem being losing your shoe in the mud).  Well naturally I took this as a challenge, the trail would take me to the tallest summit in the Cameron Highlands at 6,666 ft. in elevation, to the top of Gunung Brinchang.

So in the morning I awoke and began my adventure.  I invited everyone who I had hiked with the day before but they preferred the leisurely stroll to the strawberry fields.  I began by walking from Tanah Rata (where my guest house was located) to Brinchang (one town to the north).  The walk was only about an hour and a half but it took me another 45 minutes to actually locate the trail head.  The funny thing about the people here is that if you ask them for directions and they don't know the answer, they'll go ahead and tell you one anyway.  So after a nice walking tour of the entire town I found my way down a small road to a sign marked Jungle Trail No. 1.

The trail began at a reasonable incline, I even thought that it was a little too easy.  Where was this "hardest trail available"?  I was walking on what were essentially steps formed naturally from tree roots... or I guess I should say I was initially walking.

 Then began the climbing.

As I progressed the trail seemed to be getting steeper and steeper.  And as I would reach my hand up to the next branch, all I could think about was that giant snake and all the other creatures that call this jungle their home... but I was loving every second of it.

In sections the path would flatten out and that's where the mud pits introduced themselves to me.  Now I understood about losing a shoe.  I should mention that having not packed any hiking boots (much much too bulky to carry around), I was doing this trek in a pair of Crocs I bought in town for 15 ringit (the standard $5 Chinatown price).  I considered getting trainers or something more athletic but honestly these Crocs did the trick.  If they got muddy I would just stand in a stream and they were clean again.  They were also extremely light and buoyant on the mud.  But back to the mud pits, there weren't too many and it was actually pretty fun because you had to choose between either sidestepping around them (boring), or trying to hop across pieces of debris to the other side (awesome).  So they turned out to be not so much a threat but more of a game.  That having been said I got an hour long shower's worth of mud all over my body.

 As I came closer to the peak the jungle began to darken and become enshrouded in clouds.  Quite an enjoyably mysterious setting to be walking through.  Couple that with the fact that not a single sound from the civilized world can be heard and wow.  Just me, my camera, and a jungle.  It felt good.

 

After three hours of hiking, climbing, and leaping across pits of mud I reached the peak and was blessed with this glorious view...

Aaaaaaand a furious thundering rainstorm...

Luckily for me at the top of the mountain there are electrical towers and a bit of cover.  So I spent about an hour here waiting out the heaviest of the rainfall.  Then I began my long walk down via an alternate back route of roads.  I met a guy from Spain on my way down and had a friend to talk (and wait out the two other heavy downpours) with.  I also got see the second of three Boh Tea Plantations.

It's funny because even though there was no view at the top of the mountain and it poured rain all over me I still very much enjoyed the day.  I'm finding more and more that it is never really about where you are trying to end up, it's about how you're getting there, and more importantly, that you're having fun with it.

Boh Tea Plantation

The winding road up to the Cameron Highlands....

Up here the air is crisp and cool, two thick blankets are absolutely necessary at night.  Quite a nice change from the city.  The Cameron Highlands are known firstly for their tea plantations, specifically the company Boh (does this exist back home?  Buy the Mango infused tea if it does).  The first night we arrived we met a couple who was traveling, Gabrielle and Juliette, from French Canada and France.  We all decided to trek through the jungle and out to one of the Boh tea plantations the next morning.  Here are some of the sights along the road on the way to the plantation.

A picture from the viewpoint at the top of the plantation.

A bit of delightful afternoon tea and a butter cake after a long walk.

Now after we all had some tea we got a tour of the tea factory.  Never before have I smelled such beauty.  As soon as we walked into the factory I looked over at Dave and there was a look of pure bewilderment across his face, I assumed mine was doing the same.  The best way we hoped to describe the smell was that of a fresh cut lawn combined with the smell of a hot cup of tea.  But so fresh and crisp.  It left quite an imprint on all of us.

Now after our afternoon tea the three guys (we picked up another when we were walking) decided to hitchhike back to the hostel but Juliette and I fancied a bit more walking.  There is lots of road leading up to the plantation but the rest of the trek is purely jungle paths.  So while we were in the jungle we were walking and I heard a rustling to my left that sounded as if it were coming closer.  I move closer to see what it is and right next to the trail slithers by a six foot snake about as thick as a 2 liter bottle of Coke... whoa.  Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough with my camera, I mean this thing was moving fast, but let me tell you every jungle trek I did after that was tinged with a certain deep horrifying fear that I would find myself face to face with this fellow.

More Kuala Lumpur

Before moving on to the Cameron Highlands we decided to go on a walk around Kuala Lumpur.  Kuala Lumpur actually means two rivers (fun fact) and that's what is in the picture below.

Pay special attention to the giant one-eyed octopus on top of the building in the background...

Here we visited a mosque, just one of the many that are all around the city.

Being a mosque we had to don some mosque appropriate gowns because we were all wearing shorts.  The weather here ranges from I'm dripping wet and all my clothes are soaked to I'm just damp all over.  The one on the far right in the picture is Dave, the one I've been traveling with.  The ones in the middle are two more French Canadians, I seem to meet lots of them.

More walking around the city...

After all that walking we were in the mood for a nice heavy lunch.  What we found was a small local Indian restaurant behind a cell phone store, through a few rooms of textile manufacturing, and up some stairs.  Oh my god.  Some of the best food on my trip, hands down best Indian food of my life.  So we all sit down and they place these giant banana leaves in front of us.  We are going to ask for a menu but it becomes quickly apparent that there is no ordering here.  A man comes with a bucket and plops a large mountain of rice in front of you and then gives you four small piles of vegetables?  Then pours some curry over your rice and brings a small plate of chicken.  I'm not to clear on what it was I was actually eating (no English spoken here) but it was amazing.

From our hostel balcony we had a mosque to the front, a Hindu temple to the side, and Chinatown behind us. Here is the temple at night.  The picture can't fully capture how much minute detail there truly was but it was a place to get lost in.

Chinatown night market!  Every night the market would come alive with food stalls and shops.  The shops would sell either sunglasses, handbags, watches, or shirts.  But so much of the same makes for some great bargaining.

After so much city life we were ready to move away from the cement and into the jungle.

Kuala Lumpur

Here is a view from my window on the bus ride from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, straight jungles of palm trees.  The bus ride was six hours and we went through immigration three times so I got lots of awesome stamps on my passport.  I made some friends on the ride by sharing my mystical chocolate covered goji berries from California.

Kuala Lumpur is a crazy mish-mash of cultures, combining Chinese, Indian, and Malaysian... Soooooo needless to say the food is blowing my mind.  I'm staying in the Chinatown district, which has the cheapest accommodation and the best food.  In searching for food I try to find the dirtiest looking place that has the most people, they tend to be winners every time.

 Next day I headed out to the Batu Caves with a Russian girl from the hostel named Natalia.  The best part about the caves?  There are monkeys!  Tons and tons of little bastard monkeys!  I actually found myself much much more interested in what the monkeys were doing than the actual caves so I videoed them a lot.  I've been told that I will be encountering many many more and I couldn't be more excited.  They are as common as squirrels except they'll come steal your sunglasses or wallet.  They especially LOVE plastic bags, I saw a little girl with a bag full of bananas... bad call on her part, the monkeys went to town.

Some afternoon delight.  The Tiger Beer is Singapore's beer but it is insanely popular here too.  And to accompany my beer is an Ultra Rare Dragon Fruit!

Dinner in Chinatown with some new friends.  I was eating a massive plate of Chicken Fried Rice (for $2) when five people sat down at the table next to me.  One of the guys (the one to my left) was taking a picture of the rest and I offered to take one with him in it too, after he invited me over to their table and we all had a big Oak Tree Inn family style dinner.  I was already pretty full from my fried rice but this guy Jack wasn't having any of that, he kept putting more and more food on my plate.  Turns out he is from Malacca (a town I passed on my way up to Kuala Lumpur) and he invited me to come stay with him.  May take him up on that but also may keep heading north.

After all that food I needed a long walk so I went to the Petronas Towers, which were absolutely awesome at night.  They are in the nicer part of town, which kind of reminded me of what I think Tokyo might be like but on a smaller scale.  Tons of neon lights and video billboards and hoards of people.

The hostel I'm staying in has a rooftop terrace area where everyone hangs out as the sun goes down.  I've met some cool people from all over the world but most important is a major chiller named Dave from Montreal, Canada who is on the same path as me (for the next week or so at least).  So we're staying in Kuala Lumpur for one more night and then we are going to head north to the Cameron Highlands: tea plantations, strawberry farms, butterfly farms, honey bee farms, and the worlds biggest flowers!