Java

Our tour of Indonesia began with an 8 hour train ride to Yogyakarta - central Java's main hub.  Whilst Jakarta is the archipelago's financial and political center, Yogyakarta is often seen as the cultural capital. 

Waiting on the platform for the train in Jakarta, we watched in amazement as morning commuter trains whizzed by with people hanging out of open doorways.  As the train pulled into the platform, station porters would run alongside and leap through the open doors to tout for business before the train had come to a complete stop.  It's safe to say the term 'health and safety' does not exist in the Indonesian transport system.  When our train arrived there was a gentle scramble for seats; the carriage was a little dirty and shoddy, but the seats were large and comfortable and the journey turned out to be fairly painless.

Yogyakarta
Central Java

After checking into a hotel, we made our way to a local restaurant for a traditional Indonesian meal of sate ayam (or chicken satay).  We washed down our meal with a bottle of Bir Bintang, the local beer - not bad, but we fear nothing will compare to the smooth refreshing taste of Beer Lao.  Yogyakarta is definitely more chilled and backpacker friendly than Jakarta; the streets are filled with people hanging around trying to sell batik and the roads crammed with rickshaw drivers - who also all seem to have friends owning the city's cheapest art and batik shops.

The following morning, we took a twenty minutes stroll through town to the Kraton - the sultan's palace; easier said than done, as we constantly had to dismiss the unrelenting offers and shouts by the touts, drivers and salesmen along the way.  The sultan's palace is still used by the present day sultan, so we could only access a small part.  Our tour guide walked us around the reception hall and surrounding buildings taking us through the history and meanings of various carvings and paintings.  There were large bird cages lining the pathways each one housing a cockerel - this we were told was the palace alarm clock system - no joke!! 

The Sultan's alarm clock stands ever ready...no batteries necessary.

Deciding we could no longer avoid the inevitable, we let our guide talk us into visiting a 'government' batik shop. 

At the shop we were shown the batik design process - the application of beeswax and layers of colored dye.  Despite the 'no pressure to buy', we did of course walk away with a small sample. 

Leaving the batik shop, we went to a traditional puppet museum to get a short glimpse of how Indonesian shadow puppets are made.

The puppets are carved out of thick buffalo skin and erected on to buffalo horn sticks and then painted.

We continued our exploration of the old city wandering a maze of narrow alleyways, crammed with hastily built houses and vibrant with daily life.  We passed rather quickly through a bird market, with the increasing threat of bird flu not many tourists linger in these markets anymore. 

The birds on sale were mostly pigeons, though there were a few parrots, sparrows and owls.  The merchants also sold bird food in the form of live crickets, cockroaches and mounds of maggots and ants. 

The next day began at 4:30 in the morning, when we caught a tour bus to the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan.  We stopped en route to take photos of Mount Merapi - usually only visible in the early hours before being hidden by the almost daily overcast skies.

Currently the world's most active volcano, Mt. Merapi has been making world-wide headlines with its imminent eruption.

Our first stop was Borobudur - a Buddhist temple built in the early 9th century; this colossal structure is considered to be one of the great South East Asian monuments.  The temple was shrouded in clouds when we arrived, creating quite a serene and spiritual atmosphere.  The temple is a 4-sided, 6-tiered squat pyramid covered with Buddha figures, stupas, and lion/dog stone carvings.  We spent a few hours admiring the temple structure and the views from the temples top when the clouds cleared. 

Because of the temple's large size and position on top of a hill, it was hard to capture in its entirety.

 

The carvings remain in excellent condition.

Buddhas and beasts protect the temple.

The top tier is ringed with stupas, each containing a depiction of Buddha.  It is considered lucky if you are able to reach through the diamond gaps to touch the statue inside.

Also at the top were a group of students taking a practice english exam.  They cornered us in groups of 3 or 4 politely inquiring if they could ask us a few questions and of course take the inevitable photos.  After the first two to three encounters, we resigned ourselves to our fate...

If only we could charge for each photo....

After Borobudur, we visited Prambanan - the most grand Hindu complex in Java.  The largest and most intricate of these temples is the Shiva temple, which stands flanked by 5 or 6 other chapels and a field of ruins.  Most of the larger statues inside the temples seemed to have disappeared or been heavily damaged but the outsides remain in impressive condition with quite ornate carvings.

From afar Prambanan resembles one of the great Angkor Wat temples of Cambodia.

Not all the temples of Prambanan have survived into the 21st century.

Soon after it was built Prambanan was deserted for reasons unknown before being rediscovered in the 20th century.

The carvings that line the outer walls of the temples tell the stories of Hindu gods.

Our sightseeing complete, we returned to the city to pack and prepare for our journey to Mt. Bromo the following morning.  Despite our grumblings in our blog about the annoying touts and taxi drivers, we have also met a host of genuinely friendly and helpful people in Yogyakarta and Indonesia in general.  We hope the people and city of Yogyakarta make a swift recovery from the recent devastating earthquake.

Mount Bromo
East Java

A 10 and a half hour bus ride took us from Yogyakarta to the small village of Cemoro Lawang which sits on the lip of the Tengger crater. The crater is home to Mount Bromo, an active volcano, which is one of three mountains which sit in the center of the caldera.  The next morning at 3am, we got up and stumbled down to some waiting jeeps which would take us on a bumpy twisty journey to the top of Mt. Penanjakan for an amazing sunrise view across the caldera.   

We stood at the viewpoint watching the rising sun paint golden colors of red, yellow and pink across the sky.

Mt. Bromo and the taller Mt. Semeru (the highest mountain in Java) were puffing smoke into the air which highlighted the grays and pinks in the dawn light.

After about an hour we drove down from the viewpoint on Mt. Penanjakan and across the sea of sand to Mt. Bromo itself.  Mt. Bromo is a large grayish-white crater of ash and sulphur.  A set of some 260 steps has been built up the side of the volcano to make climbing up to its ridge easier; having said that, it was still quite an exhausting hike given your lungs are gasping for air and receiving nothing but mouthfuls of eggy-smelling ash. 

Looking down from the ridge, you can see a giant crack from which flows an almost constant plume of sulphuric and ash smoke.

    

Eric takes a running leap inches from the steep edge of Bromo's crater.

Nikki tries to jump from Mount Bromo to Mount Batok. 

The Tengger caldra spans 10km wide with 200m high walls circling the flat 'sea of lava sand'.  Looking out over the caldera, thin wisps of clouds hung low in the air adding an eerie aspect to the desolate terrain.

In the afternoon we hiked around the lip of the caldra, and, of course, admired the views.

Malang
East Java

After spending another day enjoying the sights and cooling fresh air of the highlands, we took the local bus to Malang.  With a couple of days to spare before our flight to Sulawesi, we chilled out in this old colonial town.  Local travel agents tried to sell us tours of the local area, which included 'highlights' such as a swimming pool, a tofu factory and a dairy farm - complete with cow-milking (however, the tour operator could not guarantee we would actually be able to see the cow being milked; but there would definitely be a cow present).  At $30 each, we declined their offers.  Instead we used our time in Malang to write postcards, catch up on emails and play billiards. 

Malang was a mix of colonial period houses and hectic city streets.

After a transit night in Surabaya, we took a flight up to Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi.

North Sulawesi

Manado

Determined to avoid Bali, we decided to spend some time in North Sulawesi instead and see for ourselves its world renowned dive sites.  Situated on the Celebes sea, Manado is a compact yet bustling city where mikrolets rule the streets.  These doorless blue vans are a cross between a taxi and a bus, and for a set fee they will pick you up and drop you off along the city's main roads. 

Known locally as mikrolets, these buzzing cars outnumber all other vehicles 10 to 1. 

Manado will be permanently associated in our minds with fish and national flags.  Our hotel was located just minutes from the docks, and from its large rooftop restaurant we watched a near constant stream of boats sail into and out of the port. 

The hotel restaurant overlooked the main street and the dive and fishing boats moored in Manado's docks.

In the immediate areas located around our hotel was a large dried fish market where merchants seemed to sell a dried version of almost any fish, from tiny sardines, to green parrot fish and giant barracuda. 

Throughout Indonesia, it seems that nearly every male we have come across has been a football (soccer) fanatic.  Upon hearing that we are from London, they joyfully announce which English Premiership team they support and whom their favorite player is.  Eric has often been drawn into long debates about the winners and losers of the latest season and predictions for next year.  World Cup fever has certainly taken hold in Manado; throughout the city it is possible to see the national flag of almost every team participating in the tournament.  It seems the locals adopt a country to support just like they pick between Man U and Chelsea, identifying with their favorite player or choosing whichever team is the 'enemy' of the neighbour's favorite side.  Indeed it seems the locals would be upset if the Indonesian national team ever qualified for a major tournament, as this would mean they would have to forgo the enjoyment of supporting rival teams and their favorite international players.

One of many of Manado's flag vendors displays his wares outside the local cinema; the American flag remained suspiciously absent.

Bunaken

From Manado we hitched a ride on a local supply boat to the island of Bunaken.  Bunaken is a tiny island off the coast of North Sulawesi and is fringed with beautiful coral reefs making it a great place for snorkelling and diving.  After docking at Bunaken Village, we walked along Pangalisang Beach where we found a spacious bungalow for our stay on the island.  The beach was hardly a beach, but rather a coastline of mangrove trees and sea grass; when we arrived the tide was out, preventing us from having an afternoon snorkel and instead forcing us to spend our time snoozing in a shady hammock.

Eric tests out the hammock.

The sun sets over the mangrove beach in front of our bungalow.

During our stay on the island we did 4 dives, all on 'wall' reefs down to 30 metres.  True to its reputation, the reefs of Bunaken were teeming with a huge variety of colorful sea life.  We were treated with glimpses of sea turtles, sting rays, moray eels, tiny brightly coloured nudibranchs, anemone crabs, box fish, bat fish, flute fish and many more.  Best of all was the discovery of some minute pigmy seahorses which were bright yellow and clinging to strands of soft coral with their tiny curly tails.

Two rare 'le flipflop' fish are spotted swimming out of the blue.

Spot the spotted box fish.

The reefs were always teeming with life.

Two angel fish swim amongst the coral.

Evenings were spent at the 'Blue Parrot Cafe', listening to local guys play guitars and strum on a box bass (a homemade instrument made out of a packing crate).  We sampled the local plum wine (it tasted a bit like English Christmas Pudding), but sensibly stuck with beer.  Tangkoko

After 4 days on the island, we opted for a change of scenery, so we took a boat back to the mainland and headed to Tangkoko National Park.  From the docks we took a mikrolet to the bus station; we shared the 6-seater vehicle with 4 other people, our bags, their bags, their boxes and a set of bamboo hats.  Upon exiting the station, we immediately had to deal with a dozen touts and hawkers who were simultaneously trying to jam us onto already full buses and sell us snacks and drinks for the journey.  We decided to forgo the buses that were leaving straight away and got on an empty one, agreeing that having our choice of seats was worth the wait for other passengers (buses only leave when full).  Our backpacks were strapped to the roof of the bus as every inch of space inside the vehicle was reserved for customers - the aisle was lined with additional seating in the form of plastic chairs and even the driver shares his seat with a passenger.  Five minutes before the bus departed the station we pondered the fact that our bags would get wet if it rained, 10 minutes after we left the heavens opened.  The bus journey was only an hour long; we spent the time snoozing, staring out the window, and watching cockroaches climb up and down the carpeted walls of the bus. 

After arriving at Tangkoko Bus Terminal, we took a mikrolet to the town centre where we would be able to find a car to take us to the small village outside the park entrance.  We stopped outside a hardware store and negotiated a ride on a pick-up truck - the only form of  transportation up to the village.  The back of the pick-up was loaded with various supplies, from rolls of corregated iron, to fuel containers, to boxes of laundry detergent, to bags of vegetables and racks of eggs.  Once sufficient (ie too many) people had turned up it was time for us to depart.  The lucky two who had turned up first got to sit in the cab with the driver, the rest of us had to perch on planks of wood balanced across the back of the truck to form crude bench seats.  As if the winding, hilly, up-and-down roads weren't dangerous enough, the driver decided to enter into a race with another pick-up truck which had left at the same time.  We sat nervously smiling and desperately bracing ourselves whilst the rest of the passengers seemed either too busy gossiping to care or shouted at the driver, egging him on to go faster.  Somehow we made it to a guesthouse on the outskirts of the national park in one piece.

Nikki tries to control her shaking legs as she climbs down from the back of the pickup after a very nerve-racking one hour drive through the hills.

Tangkoko National Park is home to the world's smallest monkeys, the tarsius, as well as a huge variety of tropical birds.  After lunch and a short time spent recovering from our journey, we went on a 3 hour dusk trek into the park in search of the tarsius.  We walked for about 45 minutes and soon became incredibly hot and sweaty despite the setting sun.  The tarsius are nocturnal animals which live in groups inside hollow or cavernous trees.  Our guide, Semuel, skillfully located a family just after sunset.   

The tarsius grow to about 8cm high with bushy tails 20cm long; their tiny size and huge round eyes and ears make them incredibly cute.

A tarsius clings to the tree trunk; they were a little shy but we were able to stand quite close to them and some helpfully posed for our photographs.

We watched as they emerged from their sleep and sat on or clung to branches outside their home, where they waited for the growing sound of crickets, the signal for their night time hunting to begin.

Once the tarsius had departed for dinner, we walked back through the jungle in the darkness.  On the way back we stopped to see a tarantula.  The spider, which was as big as a man's hand, was sitting on a tree trunk at shoulder height.  Our guide insisted we stand a mere 3 feet away from it, physically pulling us closer to the tree trunk.  Our objections that we had "perfectly adequate zoom lens on our camera" fell on deaf ears.

We took a few pictures before the use of our flash finally spooked the tarantula.  It's a very scary moment when a giant tarantula, only three feet away, suddenly moves just as your guide turns off the only flashlight so you have absolutely no idea where it has run to.

...thankfully the tarantula had only retreated back into its hole in the tree trunk.

We returned drenched in sweat, but very happy with our evening's expedition.  After a fitful night's sleep in which we were kept awake by a huge thunderstorm, we departed at 5am for an early morning jungle trek.  The trees were still dripping heavily from the storm the night before, giving the illusion that it was still raining.  Our clothes were soon drenched from the damp air and wet leaves, and would stay that way for the remainder of the trek. 

Exhausted, soaked, disheveled, trousers tucked into socks and shirts tucked into trousers....what a sexy pair!!

One of the main hazards of walking through the jungle in the early morning is all the spider webs stretched out across the trails.  As our guide was walking in front he bore the brunt of them and could be seen flailing his arms around his head, wiping cobwebs from his face and hair.  On two occassions he was momentarily blinded when he got a web directly in the eye.  Unfortunately, our guide, like most Indonesians, was rather short so he didn't always clear the path completely.  Walking behind him we too occasionally walked face first into a spider's web. 

Spiders hung over the trails and giant moths clung to leaves.

We were primarily on the look out for the Sulawesi Crested Black Macaque - a black monkey.  Along the way we saw quite a few Red Knobbed Horn Bill's (Toucans) flying noisily above the jungle, and some Dwarf Kingfishers.  Our guide showed us an amazing tree that was a tangle of tree trunks and roots, and completely hollow inside. 

The tangle of roots formed a natural ladder making it possible to climb up inside the 300 year old tree.

After trekking for over 4 and a half hours, we still hadn't found any black monkeys, it was time to call it a day.  We found it ironic that we had found the world's smallest monkey so easily, but had been outsmarted by their average-sized cousins! 

Having completed our exploration of the park, we headed back to Manado, travelling the exact reverse of the journey that had brought us to Tangkoko.  It was now time for us to leave Indonesia and head to the Philippines.

Singapore

From Tioman Island, we ferried back to the mainland and eventually boarded a delayed bus to the Malaysia-Singapore border town of Johor Bahru.  The border crossing into Singapore was possibly the most efficient and easiest of our trip so far.  A local express bus took us from Malaysia via two immigration posts directly to the main downtown bus terminal in Singapore.  After a quick stop at a mid-range hotel to convert our remaining Ringgit into Singapore Dollars, we began our hunt for some budget accommodation.  Sleeping cheap in Singapore is comparable to slumming it in Beverly Hills...highly improbable, nearly impossible.   

We headed to Chinatown in search of cheap hotels, only to find that the area bore no resemblance at all to the 'real' China; immaculately clean streets lined with trendy PR companies and over-priced boutique hotels.  Even the local 7-11 was fitted with wood paneling and marble floors.  Tired and hungry, we settled for the cheapest room we could find and resolved to continue our search the following morning.  The next day we moved to a much more budget friendly room in the heart of Little India.  We had swapped our comfortable hotel suite for a windowless room directly above an Australian-run pub!


Our accommodation was above the 'Prince of Wales' pub in the heart of Little India, it came complete with friendly dog and live house bands every evening.

With our accommodation for the duration of our stay in Singapore finally sorted out, we began our exploration of the city and headed to the famous Orchard Road.  A wide boulevard lined with giant shopping malls and super trendy shops, Orchard Road is a place to observe the Singaporeans practicing their national pastime: shopping.

We also stopped by the world famous Raffles Hotel, named after Singapore's founder, and home to the Singapore Sling.

Singapore is a city renowned, and often criticized, for being too clean, too clinical and lacking any character; however, after spending the last ten months backpacking through Asia, we found it's cleanliness, modernity, civility and almost universal air conditioning a complete and utter luxury.  


Singapore's trademark - the merlion - guards the harborfront of the city's financial district.

Sunday cricketers brave the humidity to play a game in front of the City Hall.

Our days in Singapore were a blur of shopping malls and fruit smoothies; nevertheless, we did seek out some places of historical and cultural interest (there are some in Singapore if you look hard enough).  Our favorite being the Prisoner-of-War Changi Prison Museum.  The museum gave an excellent overview of the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II and what civilians and armed forces endured during their imprisonment.  We spent three hours wandering the exhibits and reading some quite harrowing accounts.  As we left we lit a candle of remembrance in the POW replica chapel.   

We also paid a visit to Sentosa Island - a small island at the foot of Singapore.  With it's manicured parks, beaches, educational rides and attractions, and resort type facilities, it offers an excellent escape from the concrete jungle.  We went to Sentosa to blend in with Singapore's numerous white-collared executives and play some golf... mini golf in our case.  

Eric lines his putt up for a birdie, whilst Nikki gets a hole in one.

Our overall impressions of Singapore were very favorable; with it's cleanliness (did we mention it was clean??), accessibility and friendliness.  Singapore is certainly unlike any other Asian city; even it's citizens differ greatly from their Asian neighbors: they apologize when accidentally bumping into you in the street and can often be seen forming orderly queues. 

Amazingly the best thing about Singapore was still to come. As we left to catch our flight to Jakarta, we entered Singapore Airport - truly the best airport in the world!!!  Free internet, free movies at the cinema, rooftop swimming pools, etc... we seriously considered delaying our flight out.  Much to our delight, we realized we would be back again to the airport when in transit en route from Indonesia to the Philippines.  

Jakarta

If Singapore is Asia's cleanest city, Jakarta is doing well in its bid to become Asia's most polluted city.

Having arrived in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, one of our first tasks was to obtain some local currency.  When we found an ATM machine we attempted to take out 3.6 million (how often can you say that!), however it would only allow us to withdraw 1.5 million at one time.  With hindsight, this was probably a good thing as we would have struggled to put 3.6 million worth of 50,000 Rupiah notes in our pockets.  We then took a taxi from the airport to downtown Jakarta and headed to Jaksa Road, the hub of all things backpacker... i.e. cheap hotels.

After dumping our stuff in an 'adequate' hostel, we went on a short exploratory walk around the neighborhood.  There were a few noteworthy shops and restaurants in the surrounding area but to reach them we had to negotiate busy streets lined with heavy traffic, hawker stalls, open sewers, scavenging cats, scuttling rats, rogue motorcyclists, and the usual groups of Asian men hanging around doing nothing but staring.  We certainly were not in Singapore anymore!

The following day we strolled out to explore the city - strolling is probably the wrong word, it was more like stumbled.  The pavements were uneven and covered with litter, foul smelling puddles, and other delights.  A constant stream of traffic was doing a grand job of ensuring there was no fresh air; after 5 minutes our throats began to itch and ache from the fumes.  We walked to the Monas - a tall column topped with a golden flame, it is Indonesia's national monument to independence.  We took the elevator up to the viewing platform where we enjoyed an amazingly cooling breeze.  The views, however, were blurred by a pollution haze, but we were able to make out many high rises and even the harbor and sea in the distance.  We became a tourist attraction ourselves when a local guy asked us to pose for a photograph with his family.  It was to be the first of many such requests during our trip through Indonesia.

The Monas (left) was one of the many monuments scattered around the capital.

Mosques as well as skyscrapers dominate the city skyline as viewed from the top of Monas.

We visited the National Independence Museum at the base of the monument; viewing the 50 or so dioramas - scenes from Indonesia's history - the artwork was quite impressive, the adherence to time lines and historical accuracy was not.  After returning to wandering the streets, and getting very hot and sweaty, we dived into the nearest air-conditioned restaurant for lunch, a McDonald's; unfortunately, whilst McDonald's has reached the shores of Indonesia it seems the ability to cook the burgers properly has not.  Visiting the restroom after lunch we looked in the mirror for the first time in over 24 hours (our hostel room has no mirrors) and discovered that we had been feasted upon by mosquito's as our faces, necks and torsos were covered in bites (we had each assumed that the other was suffering from a few sweat spots and politely not commented).  It was time to return to our hostel, upgrade to a room with an air conditioner and erect the mosquito net!

As part of our sight seeing of Jakarta, we visited Taman Mini, the 'little Indonesia' park, which has cultural displays and model houses from all corners of Indonesia.  The displays are build around a country 'map' lake which offers the novelty of boating around all the islands of Indonesia in under 20 minutes.  In the lake are grass islands made in the shape of the major islands of Indonesia; if you squint hard enough they do bear a vague resemblance, some even come complete with molehill-style volcanoes.  

Examples of the traditional houses of central Sulawesi and East Kalimantan

We wandered around learning about the different tribal houses and customs, and gathering useful information about some of the areas we would be traveling to over the next few weeks.  We again became a tourist attraction having to pose for some photographs and endure some staring and giggling.  We tried out a gamalang set (traditional Indonesian musical instruments) but didn't really stop to watch any of the traditional dancing or cultural shows, as stopping meant having half the audience turn around to watch us instead. 

Whilst admiring displays such as this gamalang set we were often asked to pose for photographs with the local tourists.

We took a taxi back from Taman Mini to the center of the city and stopped at one of Jakarta's new swanky shopping malls.  Affluent citizens can now shop at the likes of Gucci, Prada, and Tiffany's - though we were hard pressed to think of anywhere in the city one could wear such expensive designer gear.  All vehicles pulling up at shopping malls and large hotels in the capital undergo bomb checks, and we ourselves frequently had to pass through metal detectors and bag checks, even to get into fast food restaurants.  These checks serve as very visual reminder of the civil unrest the Indonesian government tries so hard to conceal from the outside world.

Having exhausted Jakarta's main tourist attractions, it was time for us to move on.  During our time in the city we had rarely encountered other foreign tourists; it seems they all bypass the streets of the capital and head straight for the over crowded beaches of Bali.  Much to the surprise of locals and touts alike we had decided not to go to Bali but instead to explore more of Java.

Penang
Northwest Malaysia

Our first stop in Malaysia was the northwestern island of Penang, where our plane from Laos landed amidst a spectacular lightening storm just before midnight.  Upon arrival, we were soon whisked away by taxi to the island’s capital, Georgetown.  The town was originally named after king George III; as Penang was once an important British colonial trading post in the early to mid 1900s. 

The Georgetown city hall and clock tower reflect the colonial history of the town.

Malaysia is officially a Muslim state, the first of our trip.  When we initially arrived we found the Muslim presence very visible as many of the women wear headscarves and the men don white skullcaps; however, the Islamic influence is not oppressive and mixes well with Malaysia’s increasingly western culture.  

We booked a room at a centrally located hotel just minutes away from the bustling streets of Chinatown and a few streets down from Little India.  The ethnic and cultural diversity that seemed to blend together in the everyday life of the local population was fascinating.  Indians, Chinese, Malaysians, Thais, Indonesians etc… all mixing and living together with no visible prejudices.  A very impressive sight!

Unfortunately, one of our own stereotypes was exposed during our hunt for outgoing bus tickets.  The bus ticketing business in Georgetown is primarily run by the Chinese and Indians.  Although we initially paid a visit to both Chinese and Indian vendors, our problematic bus ticket experiences in India were still very fresh on our minds, so we couldn’t quite cope with going back down that route.  Without too much thought, we headed to the Chinese vendor to purchase our tickets.  Upon hearing our request, the Chinese salesman picked up the phone and called the Indian travel agent next door to confirm seat availability on the bus.  The Indians owned the bus… and yes, we felt very embarrassed!!  Perhaps we should take a leaf out of the Malaysian example and leave our prejudices at home.  Later that evening, we boarded the 9-hour overnight bus to the Perhentian Islands. 

The Perhentian Islands
Northeast Malaysia

After a surprisingly comfortable bus ride (the best bus journey we’ve had on our trip so far – the seats reclined until practically horizontal!!!), we arrived at the Kuala Besut jetty, where an hour-long speed boat dropped us off at Long Beach on the Perhentian Kecil Island.  The Perhentian Islands have made a strong case for being Malaysia’s most idyllic islands, with crystal clear waters, stretches of long white sandy beaches and acres of untouched lush green rain forests. 

The view from our beach towels...apologies to those of you viewing this from your windowless offices.

The scramble for accommodation began as soon as we landed on the beach.  The island is covered with thick unpenetrated rainforests, with the only signs of man, ie guesthouses and restaurants, were clustered around the shore, sandwiched between the trees and the sand.  We secured ourselves a simple hillside bungalow, dumped our bags and went for a long cooling swim in the sea. 

Our hillside bungalow came complete with 2 'pet' lizards who kept us entertained in the evenings with their nightly moth hunting antics.

We spent most of our time on the island snorkeling and resting in the shade, making the most of the island’s cooling sea breeze.  We did manage to explore some parts of the rainforests by embarking on a small jungle trek across the breadth of the island.  Sweltering heat, swarms of mosquitoes and giant spiders deterred us from wandering too far away from the beach.  Even so, we did mange to see some wildlife, which included giant monitor lizards  (2 to 3 meters in length!!), and large sea eagles, which stood over half a meter high as they perched on the beach. 

Eric relaxes on the beach after a busy morning snorkelling. 

Our visit to the Perhentian islands also brought with it the first and long anticipated opportunity to go scuba diving on our trip.  Our first dive was a five-minute speedboat trip up the coast to the dive site, D’Lagoon.  We spent an hour diving down to 12 meters and exploring the reef and admiring the plenty of colorful corals and fish – which included Nemos (also known as clownfish), angelfish, batfish and a huge porcupine fish with giant bulging eyes.  The highlight was most definitely our stop at a ‘cleaning station’, where we saw tiny shrimp (less than a cm long and almost completely transparent) emerge from the coral and swim on to our fingers to clean our cuticles… amazing!!! 

Our second dive took us down to 18 meters to explore a reef formed on huge boulders and rock that seemed to have tumbled into the sea.  We swam up, around, down, under and through the gaps.  Fish highlights included large angelfish, bright yellow boxfish (literally the shape of a 3-d box – quite a bizarre shape for a fish), a well-camouflaged scorpion fish and more large porcupine fish.

The island also gave us the opportunity to get plenty of snorkelling done.  The 'house' reefs weren't the best, but they were teaming with plenty of fish.

Eric tries to blend in with the locals.... 

Don't you hate it when you try to take a photo of someone and a school of fish keep getting in the way?

In the evenings we feasted on beachside seafood BBQs, before falling asleep to the almost nightly thundering tropical rains and enjoying the cooling drop in temperature they brought with them. 

After a week on the island, we packed up our stuff, took a speedboat back to the mainland and boarded a mini bus which took us to our next destination, Taman Negara National Park.

Taman Negara
Central Malaysia 

Taman Negara gave us the opportunity to visit one of the most pristine primary rainforests in the world.  This area of the jungle is claimed to be the oldest in the world, and has been in existence for the last 130 million years – having been untouched by ice ages, volcanic activity and other geological events. 

We stayed just outside the park in the small village of Kuala Tahan.  The following morning we crossed the river and started our 3-hour trek through the rain forest.  There was no need for a guide as the trail was well-marked, and large and dangerous animals usually stayed clear of the tourist-trod areas.  We headed towards a treetop canopy walkway and encountered our first dangerous creature along the way – an extremely poisonous Red Headed Krait.  We stood and watched the snake slither away into a carpet of dead and rotting leaves before continuing on our way, a little more cautiously this time!

Eric: "Well it's big, but it's not quite a redwood".

A few km’s later, we reached the canopy walkway and were soon exploring the 400m long creaky set of ropes and planks suspended 25 meters high amongst the treetops of the forest.

Eric gingerly makes his way along the canopy walkway....

...with Nikki bounding on ahead.

Our wildlife sightings were mainly centered around the resort at the entrance to the park where we saw a highly poisonous Pope’s Pit Viper and some playful monkeys.

After lunch we went for another 2 hour walk through the jungle, but saw little of interest other than some giant ants and monitor lizards.  The heat and humidity quickly took its toll and upon returning from our day in the jungle we were in much need of a good shower to wash away the grime and sweat.  Unfortunately the shower head in our bathroom was situated immediately above the toilet meaning we had to lean over the toilet bowl in order to wash….’a good shower’ is certainly not the correct description, but it worked nonetheless.

Kuala Lumpur
Southwest Malaysia

The following day we headed to the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur ('KL' as the locals call it).  We found a hotel in the heart of KL’s vibrant Chinatown district where the streets were lined with hawker stalls selling fake watches sunglasses, bags, t-shirts, etc; all of which seemed to attract every Aussie tourist in town.  KL is a very modern Asian city with clean streets, skyscraper shopping malls and an efficient monorail transport system.  Within this small city, the Muslim influence still prevails; mosques are found between tall concrete buildings and the Islamic star and crescent adorn many building facades.  The crown jewels of the city’s skyline are the famous Petronas Towers – the world’s highest twin towers.  We climbed (took the elevator) to the sky bridge, which links the two towers via the 41st floor, to admire the great views it provides out across the city.

The view from the bottom of the towers.

The view from the skybridge.

We spent the next couple of days strolling through the city streets and also paid a visit to South East Asia’s biggest shopping mall.  Our visit to KL was brief as we planned to travel back to the east coast of Malaysia to Tioman Island where more diving was on the cards.

Tioman Island
Southeast Malaysia

An overnight bus and a short ferry ride brought us to the shores of Tioman.  The island gained its fame in the 1950’s when it was the setting of the mythical Bali Hai in the film ‘South Pacific’.  Since then it has been proclaimed as one of the world’s most beautiful islands…and also a duty free zone….both of which have helped keep the tourists flocking in. 

Despite the size of the jetty, the beach wasn't overrun with tourists, making it a great island escape.

We rented an ‘A frame’ bungalow on Salang beach.  Our accommodation came with a few dozen mosquitoes, an ant’s nest, 5 or 6 jumping spiders, and a sprinkling of mice droppings; but after 10 months of travelling none of this bothered us and we had soon rearranged the beds, put up the mosquito net and made it livable. 

Our 'A' frame was set in a picturesque garden..... even the monkeys liked to visit to search the nearby bushes for grubs.

The setting on the island was similar to the Perhentians, a carpet of thick rainforest fringed by thin strips of white sandy beach.  Tioman (in our humble opinion) lacked the more isolated charm of the Perhentians, but more than made up for this with its excellent snorkeling.  Along with the abundance of underwater life the island could also rival the jungles of Taman Negara, with its population of monitor lizards, squirrels, monkeys and the usual contingent of alarmingly large insects. 

  

Large monitor lizards feast on left-over scraps of fish from the local kitchens.

Whilst in Tioman we did two more dives.  Our first dive took us down to a deep 28 meters where the visibility was excellent.  We did some narrow swim-throughs coming across large batfish and giant star puffer fish.  On our second dive we brought along a small disposable underwater camera; unfortunately our underwater photography skills leave much to be desired but luckily we did manage to get a few good shots.  On the dive we encountered some large cuttlefish flapping their ‘skirts’ and dancing around, rapidly changing color in a courtship ritual; we watched, fascinated, for a few minutes then quietly left them to it.  We also saw some blue spotted rays and menacing moray eels.

Eric floats over a field of 'potato' coral.

Nikki swims through a school of fish (the vague yellow stripes behind her).

Nikki takes a closer look at a moray eel hidden in the coral.

Eric exits a very narrow swim-through.

One of our few successful photos of life on the reef.

Colourful fish seek protection under overhanging red coral.

Little 'Nemo's' hide amongst the stinging tentacles of sea anemones.

In Tioman, we rediscovered the much-undervalued board game ‘Ludo’, to which we have now become addicted.  In the evenings we could be found in the local restaurants frantically rolling the die and accusing each other of cheating, much to the amusement of the waiters (and wonderment of the 6 year olds sitting at the next table).  Lightening storms continued to be a nightly event.  We were often woken up by loud crashing noises and the shaking of our hut as rain dislodged coconuts from the surrounding trees and they fell heavily onto (but not through) our roof.

Time flies when you spend your days snorkeling and diving, so five days and a few dozen mosquito bites later we left the island and headed south by bus to Singapore.