TravelStream™ news feed for member laura1 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/laura1 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:45:40 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216202460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216202460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216202460/tpod.html Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:45:40 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Singapore, Singapore

Singapore is known for its strict laws that are enforced with very high fines.  It's illegal to sell chewing gum (though it's perfectly legal to chew gum).  It's illegal to jaywalk.  It's illegal to bring durian on the subway.  It's illegal to not flush a public toilet after use.  It's illegal to own pornography.  It's illegal to litter.  It's illegal to walk around naked, even if you are inside your own house with the curtains closed.  Obviously, weapons of all sorts are illegal.  It's also illegal to bring anything that violates copyright laws into the country - like my copy Lonely Planet guidebook to Malaysia and Singapore and the copy dvds hidden away at the bottom of my bag (all purchased very cheaply in Vietman where copyright laws do not exist).  Luckily I was not stopped for a search at customs.When we first arrived in Singapore, Michael and I went to meet with two of his former colleagues from Germany who now work in his company's Singapore office.  They had invited him out to dinner that night and he invited me to join them (with their permission first, of course).  After checking our email in the office (I've learned to take advantage of free internet access wherever it's offered), we were taken out to a wonderful Indian restaurant on a rooftop overlooking the river and downtown Singapore.  Not a bad way to start out.  After dinner we went over to Nico and Sandra's apartment and got settled in.  They were wonderful hosts and a lot of fun to hang out with.  The one dinner with Michael's former colleagues turned into two dinners and a lunch.  I'm not one to turn down free food, especially when it comes from restaurants a bit above my travel budget.Adding to our social engagements, after dinner in Little India with Nico and Sandra on Friday night, we met up with Mark, an Aussie guy who lives in Singapore who I had met in Saigon.  He took us to an Irish pub filled with expats and live music.  We spent a few hours chatting before all three of us started to fall asleep and decided to call it a night.  Even with our busy social calendar, I managed to get in some shopping time in a couple of the massive malls, though I was very disappointed with Zara's summer line.Singapore doesn't have too many tourist attractions, but there was one place that everyone, other travelers and Singaporean residents, said not to miss - the Night Safari.  The Night Safari is connected with the Singapore Zoo, but is only open at night (hence the name).  It's set up so that you go on a "Safari ride" through the different animal habitats, with a break in the middle to get off and explore some other exhibits on foot.  The safari ride itself was a bit cheesy, but there were some interesting animals to see.  By far the coolest part of the night was while we were in the flying squirrel habitat and a flying squirrel flew directly over our heads.  Unfortunately my gut reaction to something flying just a few feet above my head was to duck, so I didn't see its entire flight from tree to tree, but what I did see was really damn cool.After a few days both of us had our fill of Singapore and were ready to move on.  Plus we both had flights to catch out of Kuala Lumpur (mine the day before Michael's), so it was time to say goodbye to our gracious hosts and pack our bags for my final Asian destination.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215165960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215165960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215165960/tpod.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:47:20 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Kuala Tahan, Pahang, Malaysia

Taman Negara is the main national park on peninsular Malaysia.  As such, it is visited by many tourists, foreign and Malaysian alike.  I was told that there were a number of day hikes you could do on your own and therefore expected it to be similarly mapped, signed, and easily accessed as the Cameron Highlands.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  Instead the guest houses and tourist office in Taman Negara does their best to get you to sign up for overpriced tours.The major attraction in the easily reachable part of Taman Negara is the canopy walkway - the longest suspension bridge in the world.  It was a bit scary at first, but after the first couple of sections I relaxed a bit and was able to really enjoy walking through the forest far above the ground and near the treetops.  I shouldn't have been nearly as nervous as I was about it since this walkway was much safer and more stable than many other bridges I've crossed on various hikes throughout my travels.After the canopy walkway, I decided to continue on the basic path up to the nearby peak Bukit Teresek.  On that walk I met a French couple, two Austrian girls, a South-African girl, and a Brazilian guy.  We all linked up and hiked together in front of the massive tour group on our tails.  Not only did we reach the peak before the tour group, but we decided to head down the more difficult, more interesting path on the other side rather than turning around and heading back to the start like the tour group.  The heavy rains the previous day made for some muddy sliding.  The rains also seemed to bring the leeches out in full force.  At first it was kind of cool to see a leech on the ground wiggling its head around looking for flesh to jump onto, but once you see one on your shoe the novelty wears off really fast.  We loaded up on the insect repellent and went with the sexy look of pants tucked into socks, but we still had to stop periodically to flick them off our shoes before they had a chance to climb onto our legs.  One of the Austrian girls wasn't as so lucky and managed to have two leeches bite her, but the rest of us happily escaped leech free.After our hike, I made plans with the French couple to meet up the next morning to attempt another hike.  We decided to do a less-traveled hike to a nearby cave - Gua Telinga.  There are tours that go to the cave, but we figured we could hike there and explore it a bit on our own, saving each of us about $20 for a 3 hour tour.  The hike was really nice and much less traveled than the hike from the previous day.  We even saw some animals - a wild boar, a few squirrels - one of which even threw things off the tree to get us to go away, and a scorpion.  The cave itself was definitely the highlight of my jungle time.  It was dark and damp with narrow passages and full of bats.  We got incredibly dirty climbing through it, but had a wonderful time.  One entire leg of my pants was covered in muddy water when I emerged from the cave, but it dried eventually.  After another leech-free hike we were quite proud of ourselves.Unfortunately, the French couple was leaving the next day to head to the Perhentians and I hadn't met anyone else to go hiking with.  Most people seemed to stop in Taman Negara for just a day or two and weren't interested in longer hikes.  I thought about doing a 2 or 3 day trek into the jungle, but the pouring rain that seemed to arrive every night led me to decide that a longer trek wouldn't be so much fun.  So after two days of jungle hiking, I threw my hiking clothes in the trash (no more hiking for this trip and there were so many rips and stains that these pants were long beyond salvageable) and packed my hiking boots away into the bottom of my backpack.  The rest of my trip will be spent on beaches and in cities, so no more need for the getting dirty gear.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216939200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216939200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216939200/tpod.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:45:57 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Lafayette, California, United States

After 446 days, 29 countries (30 if you count Canada), 4 continents, and more miles than I can keep track of, I arrived back at SFO where this little trip began on May 6, 2007.  Unfortunately my journey to SFO involved two overnight flights and over 9 hours in the Tokyo airport.  But I survived and even managed to get a total of about 6 hours of sleep on the two flights combined.  Plus I got to see Mt. Fuji out of the window of the airplane which was pretty damn cool.Since I've been back stateside, everyone seems to ask one question: "What did you learn on your trip?".  Well, here's the short answer: I LOVE paved roads.  Especially the kind that go straight and stay completely flat.  Although I've had some problems with motion sickness in the recent past, I never would have thought I would need the mass quantities of Bonine that I managed to go through throughout my trip.I also discovered that mosquito bites itch the most when they're on my ankles or elbows.  Asian mosquitoes will bite me even through layer upon layer of DEET while both North and South American mosquitoes avoid me if anyone else is nearby.I also have a strong affinity for Western-style toilets.  Even though I eventually figured out how to effectively use a squat toilet, I like to sit when I pee.  Enough said.As for food, I learned that Japanese food is the least vegetarian-friendly of anywhere I traveled, and that Thai food is still my favorite cuisine.  Bolivia had the worst food of anywhere I visited - I went on a ban of all things fried for almost three months after leaving there.  Mangosteens are my new favorite fruit, though they are followed closely by Ecuadorian blackberries.  The best fruit shakes were in Ecuador, though the Asian fruit shakes weren't too shabby.Bus windows provided the most "authentic" look at local life.  I visited very few places that are not regularly traversed by travelers, but whenever I was one of only a few Caucasians to visit somewhere, including bus rest stops, all of the locals would stop their daily lives to stare and try to figure out what theses strangers were doing in their town.  When I was hiding behind the anonymity of a bus window, no one stopped to stare because they didn't even notice I was there.  In most of the developing world, the buses drove right through the only "street" in most of the towns they passed.  Looking out the window as the bus rolled by (typically slowly because you can only go so fast on uneven dirt roads) I could see what daily life without any interruptions was like for these people.The second most common question people have been asking: "What was your favorite place?"  My four months in South America were my favorite chunk of my journey.  It had the right mix of outdoorsy things (like hiking), cities, and history for me.  I loved the both the cloud forests and the rain forests.  I found the traveler's network to be stronger there than anywhere else I visited, making it the easiest place to meet people to hang out and travel with.  The local culture was also very open and welcoming - every person I came in contact with wanted to know everything about me and tell me their life story.  Maybe some of the other countries I visited would have felt more welcoming if I could speak the local language, but with most languages specific to just one country it wasn't ever worth the time and effort to learn more than thank you before I crossed the border to the next country and next language.  That being said, there were some other places I visited that I loved - Berlin, Krakow, Vienna, Sarajevo, the Croatian and Montenegrin coastline, the Cappadocia region of Turkey, Laos, Japan, southwest China, and the Perhentian Islands and Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, to name a few.I know you're all concerned that I'll lose my travel bug now that I'm back in the US and settling down into a regular, everyday life.  Not a chance!  I already have a new dream trip.  Now that I've already gone around the world, that kind of trip has lost its glamor. ;)  If I make the opportunity to take another large trip I want to travel from the US through Mexico, Central, and South America all the way down to the tip of Argentina riding buses, trains, boats, and various other forms of public transport.  At this point it's just something to dream about, just like traveling around the world was not all that long ago...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216645740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216645740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1216645740/tpod.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:58:39 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I knew from the 15 or so hours I spent in KL at the beginning of my time in Malaysia that there wasn't much I really wanted to see there.  It's pretty much your standard large, Asian city - massive shopping malls, some outdoor markets, a Chinatown, a Little India, and a couple of large buildings.  In KL the Petronas Towers are the large buildings and also the main (or only) real tourist attraction in the city.  I had two goals for my time in KL - get up early enough to get a free ticket to go to the sky-bridge in the Petronas Towers and taste durian.Monday morning Michael and I dragged ourselves out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7am to discover that the sky-bridge is closed to visitors on Mondays.  Oh well.  I decided that a little bit of retail therapy would help me cope with the change of plans and spent a few hours scouring the malls.  Tuesday morning we managed to get in line at the towers just before 8:30 am.  About two hours later we were handed tickets with a 1:30pm entry time.From 1998 to 2004 the Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world (before that the Sears Tower in Chicago was the tallest, but the Taipei 101 is currently in the lead).  They're still the tallest twin towers, a fact that they're very proud of and repeat a few times during the 20-min 3-D video that you watch prior to being led up the freight elevator to the sky-bridge observation deck.  The sky-bridge is located on the 41st floor (actually, that's just the part for visitors, the second story of the sky-bridge is only for people who work in the building).  The 41st floor isn't high enough  to see over all the other buildings in KL, making the view a bit of a letdown.  Plus they're very strict that visitors can only go from the elevator to the sky-bridge and back, so the only way to get a picture of the sky-bridge from the 41st floor is to give one of the "tour guides" your camera and ask him/her to take a few pictures.  Not exactly ideal, but the only option.On my final day I still had one thing left to do in Asia - taste durian.  I have smelled durian many, many times, a very easy thing to do from almost a block away, but still hadn't had the opportunity to taste it.  Every time I attempted to buy some in a market, they insisted that I buy a whole durian - about 1-2 kgs.  All I wanted was one bite and really didn't want to buy an entire fruit (a little bit bigger than a cantaloupe) just for one bite.  My pleading to allow me to just buy one small piece must have been desperate enough that the older man working the durian stall along the street in Chinatown gave me one section and wouldn't even take any money for it.I tried not to breath through my nose as I put the durian into my mouth but I couldn't avoid the pungent smell.  It tasted even worse than it smelled - like I would imagine raw sewage to taste, with a custardy texture.  The texture was smoother than jack-fruit, but there was nothing remotely sweet about the flavor.  I managed to swallow the bite, but didn't even consider taking a second bite.  Unfortunately there was no trash can nearby so I had to hold this smelly thing in my hand for almost a block before I found a trash can and a McDonald's bathroom that thankfully contained soap to try to scrub as much of the smell off my hands as I could.  I wasn't entirely successfully, but at least it wasn't overpowering anymore.  When the taste was still in my mouth 10 minutes later, I bought some cut-up mango from another street-side stand in an attempt to taste something sweet instead.  It helped get rid of most of the taste in my mouth, but I still had a bit of residual flavoring from my throat for the next few hours.  After tasting durian I cannot even begin to understand why anyone would like this stuff.  I guess it's one of those things like Vegemite - you either grow up eating and loving it or you'll never like it.  But tasting it was a quintessential Asian experience that I didn't want to miss out on.To fill the rest of my day, I went over to the Royal Palace and watched the changing of the guards - not nearly as pomp-filled as London or Lima or really anywhere else that changes guards, but it was something to do.  The palace looked nice, but tourists aren't allowed past the gates.After visiting the palace, it was time to grab some dinner and head back to the hostel to take a shower before heading to the airport for the first of two consecutive overnight flights.  I had a great time in Asia and everywhere else I'd been on my travels, but after 14.5 months on the road, I was ready to head back to the Bay Area and see everyone again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215648660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215648660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215648660/tpod.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:43:40 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Pulau Tioman, Pahang, Malaysia

After all the craziness getting to Mersing, I was very happy to say goodbye to Eva, Manya, and Ariel (they were headed to a different, smaller island) and wait to board my ferry to Tioman Island.  Tioman is a much bigger island than the Perhentians.  It has a number of different beaches, none of which are pure backpacker beaches like the one I visited on the Perhentians.  Based on recommendations from other travelers, I decided to head to Salang, the beach that's the furthest north, since it sounded like a good mix of a nice beach, cheap accommodation, some backpackers, a few monkeys, and a handful of monitor lizards.  While waiting for the ferry I met Michael from Germany who I ended up spending the week hanging out with.In 1958 Tioman Island was used as the setting of the fictional Bali Hai in the movie version of the musical South Pacific.  Then in the 70s Time magazine named Tioman as one of the world's most beautiful island.  With all this attention, Tioman Island has become much more commercialized and built up in comparison to the Perhentians.  There's a small airport on Tektek, a beach near the center of the island.  On Salang Beach there was electricity all day long.  There was a paved sidewalk along the length of the beach and a couple of the locals even had motorbikes to ride up and down it.  The restaurants even made an effort to serve your food in a timely fashion - completely unheard of on the Perhentians!  The beach itself wasn't quite as pretty, but Tioman had something that the Perhentians sorely lacked - hammocks.  I spent many hours reading in a hammock overlooking the ocean.  This is my idea of relaxation!Even though the beach itself wasn't nearly as beautiful as the Perhentians and the water wasn't quite as clear, I still managed to enjoy myself.  Most of my time was spent alternating between the beach and a hammock, working my way through a couple of good books.  I thought about going snorkeling, but decided against it since I knew I'd prefer reading on the beach.  Tioman also lacked the characters who inhabit the Perhentians, or at least if they are there, they don't hang out on Salang Beach.Tioman is a very popular weekend destination for Singaporeans.  During my first couple of days the island was pretty empty but come Friday afternoon it filled up and remained packed until Sunday evening.  The many Singapore residents on Tioman included Nico and Sandra, a French couple who Michael went scuba diving with.  They invited Michael and me to stay with them in Singapore, where they've been living and working for the last 6 months.  Neither of us wanted to turn down an invitation for free accommodation in our next destination, so of course we said yes and arranged to see them on Wednesday when we were planning on arriving in Singapore.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215411660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215411660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1215411660/tpod.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:31:59 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Cherating, Pahang, Malaysia

During my travels in Malaysia I met a few people who had stopped in Cherating.  They'd all described it as a sleepy beach town, but said that it was a nice, relaxing place to stop for a couple of days.  They were right - it wasn't anything spectacular but it was an okay beach and a nice little town.  I spent my two days there relaxing, reading, and chatting with people.  On my second day I met Eva and Manya from Germany.  Manya had been living in Kuala Lumpur for about 6 months, but was heading back to Germany in a couple of weeks.  The two of them, along with Manya's Malaysian boyfriend, were driving down to Mersing, the port city where the ferries leave for Tioman Island, the next morning and offered me a ride with them.  Of course I accepted the offer.  It would save me money, time, and a bus change in Kuantan.The original plan was to leave at 10 am and arrive in Mersing around 2pm.  Later that night Manya's boyfriend got a call from a friend of his they were meeting in Mersing telling him that they needed to be there by 11am.  So the new plan was to leave Cherating by 7am.  The three of them were staying in a different set of chalets down the road from where I was staying, so they said they would come pick me up in the morning.  That night we hung out at the beach-side bar with a bunch of their local friends.  Knowing I had to wake up early, I left the bar at midnight and set my alarm for 6:15am.The next morning I woke up and saw that my alarm clock said 6:52am.  Uh oh!  Not knowing whether I has slept through the alarm or if it didn't go off, I raced to get dressed and pack my bag.  I somehow managed to be ready by 7:05am and before they arrived to come get me.  When they still hadn't arrived at 7:15am I decided to head over to their chalets and see if they were almost ready.  I was a bit panicky when I didn't see anyone up and moving around at their chalets.  I checked and the car was still there, so I knew they couldn't have left without me.  I banged on Eva's door and ended up waking her up - all three of them had overslept as well.  We woke up the other two and after a bit of morning craziness we were on the road about a half-hour later.  An interesting start to the morning, but we ended up getting to Mersing around noon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214818980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214818980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214818980/tpod.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:43:07 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

Olivia and I arrived in Kota Bharu in the evening after waiting almost 3 hours at the ferry terminal bus station.  Fun times.  That evening we explored the night market.  There wasn't much there for me other than the delicious banana murtabak.  Murtabak is a thin, crepe-like pancake that's typically filled with beef, chicken, vegetables, or bananas.  You can have dinner and dessert just eating murtabak.  It's really just another version of the ubiquitous banana pancakes that you see on menus in tourist restaurants throughout South-east Asia, only this one is actually eaten by locals more often than tourists.My plan for Kota Bharu was to spend a day just hanging out, doing laundry, and catching up on internet things.  All went as planned until shortly after Olivia left that morning I received an email from Esther saying that she decided to leave the island earlier than planned and would be in Kota Bharu to meet me that afternoon.  I decided to stay an extra day to hang out with her and go to the free music and dance performance at the Malaysian cultural center.  It was well worth seeing.  My favorite part was the group of 12 drummers playing on 6 drums.  We were even given a chance to try (it was not so easy, but I think I managed to keep up fairly well).  Of course we visited the night market each evening, as it is the major attraction of Kota Bharu.Kota Bharu is known for being the most devoutly Muslim city in Malaysia.  Malaysia has a very large Muslim population, but those on the east coast, particularly in the northeast are much more conservative than those in Kuala Lumpur or along the west coast.  In Kota Bharu, at least 95% of the women I saw wore a head scarf.  There were even a number of women walking around in full burkas.  Every restaurant is halal and the guide books all warn women not to walk around in tank tops or short shorts unless they want to be harassed.  It definitely has a very different feel than the hectic motorbike craziness that I've encountered in many other parts of South-east Asia.After a fun couple of days and about 5 hours total of internet time, I had clean clothes and was ready to head south into the jungle.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214643420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214643420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214643420/tpod.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:08:17 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia

I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep on the 5.5 hr minibus ride to the Kuala Besut ferry terminal, but still wasn't too happy about the 5am departure time.  At least that got us to the jetty in enough time to board the 11am fast boat to the island.  I'm not generally a fan of little speedboats, but I managed to survived the ride without completely losing all grip in my hands.  The boat dropped us off at Long Beach, aka backpacker central, on the small island just before noon.  The Perhentian Islands are absolutely stunningly beautiful.  I'm not even sure how to put their beauty into words.  The water was so bright and crystal clear that when standing with your shoulders covered you could look down and see your toes wiggling.  I don't think I've ever seen water as clear as this.My first full day on the island I ran into Sonal, a British girl I had met in the Cameron Highlands.  She invited me to hang out with her and Esther and Olivia, Scottish and Canadian girls who she had met the day before.  The four of us ended up spending the rest of the week sunbathing, waiting for our food to arrive, drinking monkey juice, and giggling together.  We discovered that only one of the restaurants on the island was even close to consistent and that getting food within a half-hour of ordering it meant that the kitchen was really fast.  Even if we were the only people in the restaurant.  One of the waiters in Lily's Restaurant became our favorite and we dubbed him "the hardest working man on the island" as he raced around to take people's orders and bring food out.  He was even nice enough to bring us glasses with ice for our water after we only asked once (three times seemed to be the standard).In addition to "the hardest working man on the island", we spent quite a bit of time laughing at the various other characters on the island.  At the top of the list is creepy, bug-eyed, starer guy.  He seemed to take a liking for Sonal and would stare at her with his eyes bugged out, his head bopping, and a cigarette hanging out of his lips.  Classy.  Olivia's impression of him was priceless.  Then there was the Richard Branson wanna-be who we think worked at the dive shop.  He wasn't nearly as scary as bug-eyed starer, but he seemed to appear everywhere we were (yes, it was a small island, but still).  And we can't forget about scary smiley guy who seemed to have a perma-smile complete with teeth-whitening treatment.  He tried to talk to us a couple of times, but we did our best to shoo him off.  Umbrella strutter man was so into himself that he barely registered who he was taking money for the umbrellas from.  I think Long Beach probably rivals Vilcabamba, Equador in the number of weirdos who seem to have made the island their home (though bug-eyed starer and umbrella strutter man are both locals).Once the intense noon heat wore off a bit, we parked ourselves under the purple umbrellas (well, three of us did - Olivia oiled up and stayed in the sun) and spent most of the afternoon alternating between lying in the shade and taking a dip in the water.  It was pretty tough work.  I even managed to get only a slight sunburn that quickly turned into a bit of a tan so I don't look nearly as pasty as I usually do.  At night we frequented Safety Stop, one of the three bars on the island, since they let us have a bit of influence on the music.  When there was no rain, we sat on bamboo mats at tables on the beach.  Safety Stop was where we discovered that even though the vodka says smoothness on the label it is anything but smooth.  After a night of vodka and pineapple juice I couldn't even sit at the same table as someone drinking pineapple juice the next day.  Much better than the paint-thinner vodka was the monkey juice rum.  A vanilla rum that tasted very good when mixed into the Peanut M&M milkshakes.  After one night of smoothness we stuck with the monkey juice.  I had more late nights on the island than I've had over the last six months combined.  One night we were out so late dancing on the beach that when it hit 6:30am and started to get light out, we decided to just wait up and see the sunrise.  It was absolutely magnificent and well worth the complete exhaustion we all suffered from the next day.The late nights wouldn't be so bad if we could sleep through the whole morning, but the heat didn't allow that.  All electricity on the island is supplied via generators.  Once daylight comes, the guest houses typically turn off the generators until around 7pm.  The one at our guest house wasn't so consistent but usually turned off by 9am the latest.  The room quickly became so swelteringly hot that we would wake up within a half-hour of the fan going off since it's quite difficult to sleep when dripping with sweat.  At least it made the cold shower feel acceptable instead of icy.  In addition to generators supplying the electricity, there is no hot water anywhere on the island, even in the one relatively expensive resort.  By the end of the week I actually started looking forward to two cold showers a day.  Though I never got to the point of looking forward to the mosquitoes or the sand-flies.  These two insects made a pact to attack me as much as possible, leaving my legs looking like I was ridden with leprosy.  Hopefully now that I'm off the island they'll go back to normal.It was sad leaving the island and the girls, but after a week it was time to move on.  Sonal had already left to head up to Thailand and Esther decided to stay another day or two until her cash ran out (there's no ATM on the island), but Olivia and I said our goodbyes and boarded a boat to the mainland, waving goodbye to paradise as we rode off and Olivia discovered just how much I dislike speedboats.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214121180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214121180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1214121180/tpod.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:01:49 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Georgetown, Pinang, Malaysia

Leaving the relaxing, cool (literally) Cameron Highlands was difficult, but after a week I decided it was time to move on.  Rather than heading straight to the Perhentian Islands I decided to stop in Penang for a couple of nights.  Penang itself is actually a large island just off the west coast of Malaysia near the border with Thailand.  Penang is connected to the mainland by a large bridge and also by 24-hr ferry service.  Georgetown, the main city in Penang, is full of colonial architecture and old buildings.  My favorite random fact about Penang is that many scenes in Anna and the King, the 1999 remake of the King and I, were filmed there.  I always love a good musical reference.I didn't spend much time in Penang, but a day and a half was more than enough time to follow the self-guided walking tour to see the historic portion of the city, including a stop at the interesting Penang museum that highlights the history and culture of Penang.  I luckily managed to duck into the museum right before a downpour started (it's currently the west coast monsoon season) and was happy to find that it was bright and sunny by the time I finished looking around.  My favorite part of the city was the Little India and Little China sections.  The food in Little India was wonderful and very vegetarian friendly.  Plus the atmospheres in both Little India and Little China were very energetic while also being very different from each other.  I spent some time looking at about 5 different Buddhist and Hindu temples (there were more, but I was a bit templed-out at that point).Malaysian culture is very interesting.  There are three main ethnic groups in Malaysia - the indigenous Malays who are devoutly Muslim, the Hindu Indians, and the Buddhist Chinese.  The west coast is more heavily populated with Indians and Chinese while the east coast, particularly the northeast, is very heavily Malay with only a few people of other ethnicities.  This makes for a very interesting mixture and quite a bit of diversity in food.  It also makes finding vegetarian food incredibly easy since just about every city seems to have at least a handful of Indian restaurants which serve many different veggie options and Chinese vegetarian restaurants are also quite common, especially where there are Buddhist temples.  It definitely makes my life a bit easier when I don't have to search for food or eat the same thing every day.  The three ethnic groups seem to live fairly well, relatively integrated lives, but I haven't really had much chance to talk to anyone or see much mixing yet.  I'm sure I'll learn more as I continue my travels.After two nights in Penang, I woke up at the crack of dawn to catch my 5am minibus to the Perhentian Islands on the east coast (where it is not monsoon season).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1213522920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1213522920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/laura1/the_big_trip/1213522920/tpod.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:45:16 -0400 Succumbing to Wanderlust

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Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia

When I stepped off the bus in Tanah Rata I felt a wonderful rush of cool air.  In addition to wonderful hiking trails and a relaxed atmosphere, one of the appeals of the Cameron Highlands is its year-round cool weather.  It never gets much above the mid-70s, even in the middle of the summer.  This was a very nice change from the smoldering heat and humidity I've experienced for the last couple of months.  In the evenings it was even cool enough to warrant wearing the fleece which had been hidden away at the bottom of my bag since I left Japan in April.The guest house I was staying at was really great.  It had a very social atmosphere and comfy couches in the TV room - perfect for relaxing after a day on the trails.  There are 13 interconnected trails all around Tanah Rata and Brinchang, the two main cities in the Cameron Highlands.  On my first day I joined Sander and Shaun, from the Netherlands and Australia, for a hike up the very steep Path 1 to the highest point in the region.  The hike itself was really nice - very steep and rather muddy, but with lots of tree roots that made natural steps up the mountain.  The view from the top was a bit disappointing since one side was completely covered in fog, but our efforts were rewarded by the view on the walk down the road back into town.  About half-way down the road we started to see the rolling hills of one of the tea plantations.  Some of the hills were so steep we couldn't imagine how they were able to collect the leaves from the plants.  Unfortunately the tea plantation is closed on Mondays so we didn't get to go in for the official tour, but after talking to everyone it sounds like the view of the fields is the best part.  After a stop in Brinchang for lunch we attempted to find the start of Path 2 to head back to Tanah Rata.  When we couldn't find that trail-head we changed our plans and headed down Path 4, which we determined should lose its designation as Jungle Path and the sign should be changed to say Sidewalk 4 as it is essentially a sidewalk that goes a little bit into the forest.  Not nearly as exciting as Path 1.Day 2 Sander and I decided to go up Path 10 to the second highest point on any of the trails.  Path 10 was not so well signed and on 5 different occasions we started out something we thought was a path that turned out not to be.  Eventually we found the right trail and took Path 10 into Path 12 though we were unable to follow our original plan and loop back around to take Path 11 back to town because of a pesky power station that was impenetrable (not that we actually tried to get past the barbed wire gates).  Rumor has it that some of the trails are so badly marked because the local guides don't like that their services are unnecessary and attempt to make them necessary by removing as many signs as they can.  Even without the signs any competent hiker can find his or her way around without a guide.  As for the incompetent hikers, well, maybe they shouldn't be hiking in the first place.On day 3, Sander, Sil (another Dutch guy), and I headed out on Path 13 and then made our way back on Path 9A.  We attempted to find Path 8 but instead managed to spend an hour and a half walking back and forth on dead ends, eventually finding the actual path after we gave up because it was getting late.  Oh well.  All of the treks were really beautiful, actually feeling like we were in the jungle instead of just a couple of hour's walk from town.I decided that even though I wasn't too sore, I could use a rest day and spent my fourth day just hanging out and relaxing.  When it started pouring rain around 1pm I was really happy I had decided not to hike that day.  It had rained each of the previous evenings, but not until 6 or 7pm, at least an hour after we were off the trails and back in town.  The trails were muddy enough the day after the rain - I wouldn't want to be on them during the rain.Since there were still a collection of trails my feet hadn't stepped on, I decided to hang around for a couple more days to do a bit more hiking.  I went with Kika, from Spain, on Paths 7, 3, and 5 - a much easier and shorter hike than the 7 hour hikes I had done with the guys earlier in the week.  As is my luck, on the easier, shorter hike I managed to slide in the mud, landing on a tree root that managed to rip a nice hole in the butt of my pants.  Luckily I only need to wear these pants a few more times for hiking in Taman Negara and a little patch should hold them together enough for that.  After another round of hiking these pants will be completely dead instead of their current half-dead state.Before leaving the Cameron Highlands I took one more day for a bit of R&R, finishing up the book I was reading and watching a couple of movies.  I also said goodbye to the waiter/cook at the Indian restaurant I had been frequenting in town (though I didn't give him a framed photo like a Canadian couple from my hostel did).  He made a mean banana lassi.  Yum.
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