Chang Mai, Thailand - Heading North....to the 'Jungle'

ETA Chang Mai 7am.
Sleeper trains...a challenge for the freakishly tall people, although very logical. Its still light out when we leave Bangkok. So many people wandering along the train tracks, off home after work? Sitting down along the edge of the train tracks, eating dinner. Reflection of the counties wealth.
In the city people have little communities throughout, their temporary homes made up upon construction sites, under bridges, alongside rail tracks. The smells of the excrement stronger than you can imagine, and we're not even within spitting distance of them. (If Deken was here he wouldnt keep his lunch down for long at all) Classroom type setups under bridges, kids sitting listening and learning while the trains crash past overhead as does the traffic all around. Coming into Chang Mai in the morning, parents with their children, barefoot, side saddled on motorbikes and scooters on their way to school. Old women driving round on little motorbikes!

A swarm of locals flashing cards of hotels in our faces, we get picked out of the crowd as we disembark. A young lad takes us to a nice little hotel across from a playground, the grass is up to the waist of the children playing on the swings, but its a lush green and they're happy. I can recommend the HOLIDAY GARDEN VIEW HOTEL, the people are friendly and accomodating the rooms are of a good standard, they have a private pool out the back, and they have a small bar/restaurant. (Cost me 300 baht per night, single room w/ensuite...approx $10nzd)

Upon arriving we sign up for a 3 day trek in the 'jungle'...to interpret for those of you are New Zealanders, is simply a tramp in the forest. The ambience that is Chang Mai, quite the contrast to Bangkok. Wandered up the road for a look, a temple stands at the end of our road, the courtyard filled with people doing some form of meditation dance...Tai Chi maybe? Further down the road a young woman advertising laundry services, I took her a bag of clothes that were getting a little smelly, cost was 35 baht to wash everything in the bag...delivered with a smile, priceless actually. I get back to the hotel and sit down for a drink, look across to the playground and tehre are kids playing pingpong...using a branch as the net divider on their table. the streets of Chang Mai are a lot cleaner than those in Bangkok and the smells are sweeter. Mind you, I havent seen anyone come past selling fried chooks feet or insects since I've been in Chang Mai...maybe thats the key, the absence of the food stalls.

Chang Mai seems a little hotter than Bangkok, or maybe just more humid? Not quite as hectic here either, it is easy to notice the absence of motorbikes screaming round. Oh they're here...just not in the same numbers.

Chiang Rai, Thailand - Bangkok, Chiang Mai and to the border beyond

We arrived alive in Bangkok around 9pm after a bumpy, nail-biting Air Asia flight (mainly the take-off) from Phuket. Naturally, that morning the sky was blue for the first time we’d been in Thailand, but by evening the looming, ominous clouds had rolled in and the rain kept falling in sheets just in time for our take-off. I wasn’t the only one nervous, as the lady beside me had her legs crossed and her head in her hands, displaying all the body language of a nervous flyer. Her husband across the isle was also nervous but trying to be tough about the situation. I sat in the middle seat holding Scott’s hand, doing deep breathing and humming “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin in my head. As for Scott… he didn’t give a crap! Just sat there, and then stated that it really wasn’t that bad considering the weather. Aaaargh! Irrational thinking aside, it’s good though, imagine if we were both anxious wrecks, we’d both have ulcers by now with all the flying we have to do.

Bangkok is a bit of a sensory overload, and being in a state of recovery from being ill in Phuket, it made things a bit more difficult to deal with. Everything is overwhelming, the traffic, the smog, the food stalls, the vendors, the crowds, the noise, the smells… it is definitely a city to be tackled in good health. I refrained from eating anything but crackers and fruit and only drank water and ginger ale when I could find it, as the thought of or the smell of any food made me nauseous.

In the evening we officially begun our tour with Gecko’s and met our guide Al (that’s the shortened version, his Thai name is very long) and one of the people we were touring with, named Katherine. All formalities aside, we told Al we wanted to go to some markets to have a wander, maybe get some dinner. Trying to hail a cab was one of the funniest experiences. Al, being a local, but surrounded by three tourists would stop a taxi, talk to the driver, shut the door in his face and flip him the bird. We giggled, wondering why this was happening, and Al responded with, “He’s %#@ing crazy”. The taxis, you see, saw us with him and were trying to charge an inflated amount for the trip, without turning on the meter. By the fourth occurrence, the three of us moved away from Al so he hailed the cab alone, and what do you know? The driver agreed to use his meter at which point the three of us came running over and piled into the back. Strategy strategy!

At the markets Katherine and I went on a quest to find knee-length shorts which are not offensive in conservative South East Asia, but were slightly turned off when the vendors said to us repeatedly “It’s ok, have your size, extra extra large!” Wow, thanks. That’s incentive to buy, can I buy a new self esteem along with that 'cause it is now extra extra small… In all seriousness though, compared to the local population we are larger women. We only wished it was only extra large, not extra extra. Bruised egos aside we looked for food and were surprised to find an open air hawker’s market, where Katherine and I shared the compulsory fruit plate and water while Scott had a Tiger with some satays. And guess what was on a big screen hovering above the market? Premier League football, Manchester United versus Arsenal. Who ever knew the Thai people were such Man United fans? Oh, the cheers, the screams of horror, the roars, the shouts they made at the big screen! They gripped their chairs and pounded their fists in the air for their favourite team! The tension was thick! Emotion ran high! I can go on with the clichés! I’ll stop! Thank goodness Man United tied, I can’t imagine the ruckus if they had lost. Our trip back to the hotel was pretty uneventful, and Scott only had to shut two doors in taxi drivers’ faces before we got one with a meter (he did shut the doors nicely though and say thanks, and there was no bird flipping, that would make him a very rude tourist).

Our next full day in Bangkok we met the other girl on our tour, the very tardy Hannah, and jumped on the local buses to visit the Wat Pho (the Banyan Tree Temple), which has a reclining Buddha which is 46 meters long and 15 meters high. Just take a moment to imagine the enormity. Massive! And covered completely in gold leaf, really stunning. We also visited the Grand Palace, one the King’s residences where also stands the temple of the Emerald Buddha. Now the Buddha is of emerald colour, but is in fact made of imported jade, AND, there are in fact, three of them for the seasons, summer, winter and rainy, so they are switched accordingly! Back to the Grand Palace: the King uses that palace only for ceremonial purposes, during the coronation, or when other heads of state visit. The Palace is of Victorian design with a Thai design roof, so the Thai people refer to it as the building with western clothes with a Thai hat.

Our time in Bangkok was rounded off with some walking and shopping around and with a newfound game invented by Scott and I called “Things You Can Put on a Stick!”. It’s lots of fun, you should try it some time! We saw many unidentifiable foods along the streets, and I did promise myself I would be more open minded with my palate, but… easier said than done, especially when already sick. There are endless little rolled balls of stuff (meat? multicoloured?) on sticks, whole fish on sticks, bbq banana on sticks, little eggs that are obviously not from chickens (pigeon or quail?) with shells and all on sticks (one stick fits four), chicken feet on sticks… shall I go on? We also saw endless amounts of seafood and sea life and various parts of a pig, we think, and the notorious and personally distressing shark fins hanging from windows for the popular shark fin soup. This is just the tip of all the food we saw, we couldn’t even identify or imagine what a lot of it was. There is definitely no fussiness in the Bangkok palate, essentially anything goes my friends!

Two days in we took the overnight train to Chiang Mai. Music suddenly blared from speakers when at the train station. We were sitting on the floor with our bags (Al joked that he’d reserved the semi circle painted on the ground just for us). A video screen lit up with images of the Thai flag waving and the royal family, particularly the King. It was 6 pm, and all over Thailand it is customary in public places to play the anthem and to stand at attention during this time. Being a savvy traveler, I already knew this and we behaved accordingly, standing up straight, keeping quiet, hands at our sides. Thanks Lonely Planet! If I’d only been savvy about not stepping on money… can’t win them all!

Our sleeper train was actually pretty excellent, but c-c-cold! Set up as a bunk, the bottom seats facing each other became a bed, and the top bunk clicked down. All beds and bunks were efficiently made and organized by a very nice, quiet, but grumpy-dispositioned crew member wearing a mask who is probably sick and tired of dealing with stupid tourists and their bunk beds. Although the beds were comfortable, the lights in the cabin remain on all night (for safety and for the crew I assumed) and the air con vents are strategically placed to blast out their -30 degree air directly above the beds and onto your numb, cringing face (face, what face? Is my head still attached, because I can’t feel it!), where you lie shivering miserably under your little summer blanket. Mental note: warm clothing must be accessible when in South East Asian transport! Ok, lesson learned. I think. Will inform if I remember next time.

Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh air compared to Bangkok, and we were quite sad to only have one day there, we would rather have spent three days there instead. Our time in Chiang Mai was amazing. The city itself is much more relaxed and fresh, and the daily pace approximates that of a normal human. We tried a new and exciting form of transportation, the sawngthaew, which is essentially a covered pick-up truck (that’s a ute for all you Aussies) with benches down either side. You can even brave death itself and hang out the back if you wish. Alas, we were not feeling like extreme sports that day. Our trusty driver wound our way up to the base of the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Rajvoravihara (temple) where we then further climbed another 306 steps to reach the temple itself. Once at top you were rewarded with beautiful buildings, mosaic art and a view of Chiang Mai. Our guide Al took us in to be blessed by a monk with spring water for a safe journey and then we split into male and female groups, the males to have a white string tied around their writs by the monk, and the females by the apprentice, and fully initiated monks cannot touch women. We also kneeled in another area to shake a tube with numbered, wooden sticks. The one that falls out then relates to your fortune which you take with you in paper. The whole experience was fantastic and like nothing we had ever done before. Scott and I both kept our fortunes, but ask me where I put it?!? One backpack and you can still misplace your things.

Our next activity was especially exciting and one of our favourite yet: Thai cooking lessons! The four of us went with our adorable teacher Pui to the markets where she taught us about different fruits and vegetables we had never seen before. We diligently followed her around with our little cane baskets, buying ingredients like happy little Vegemites (that’s like good, healthy little children for you Canadians). We then went to the fabulous outdoor cooking school where we learnt how to make Pad Thai (Yummy!), red and massaman curry (Yum Yum!), chicken and coconut and tom yum soup (Mmmmm!) and sweet sticky rice with mango (Ohmagawd!). Who knew it was so simple?!?!? It really is, we thought it was highly involved and complicated, mais non! We promise to cook you Thai food next we meet, sans food poisoning!

Our evening was dominated yet again by night markets where I devoted my time to buying trinkets from people whose photo I actually wanted. Fair exchange, I say. Both parties in transaction left satisfied!

The next mode of transportation was the local bus, of the fancier, and severely over air-conditioned variety to Chiang Rai where we then switched buses to the no frills, air-conditioning via open doors held by bungee cords variety to Chiang Kong at the Laos border. Personally, I preferred the latter after we all made a mad dash to the back of the bus where there was leg room. Now, we’re not being fussy “westerners”, but we literally could not fit in the other seats, Scott barely squeezed in with his legs stretched out over the two seats. The back was heaps of fun though I thought, five of us thrashing around over every bump and pothole of the unsealed road, our guide Al bobbing his head up and down excessively with a big grin on his face during the 3 hour journey. It was hilarious! Particularly with my full bladder! It’s funny how an uncomfortable, bumpy and slightly painful bus ride can become one of those favourite moments, but it really was for me.

And the end of Thailand was upon us already… we said goodbye to Al and headed to the customs office to get stamped and board our little boat across the Mekong into Laos, where I will continue our story…

Bangkok, Thailand - Arriving in Bangkok

Arriving in Bangkok to meet Jodi, who's flight was due to arrive 15 minutes before mine, felt quite surreal. I was a little worried about trying to find her in the airport amoungst it all...as it turns out there wasnt really anywhere for her to hide anyway.
Easy peasy, and customs...not sure they know what it is in Bangkok.
Jode and I jumped in the que for the taxi, standing like giggling little school girls in the beautiful warmth that was Thailand. How exciting.
The hotel seemed to cater for most at breakfast time...an interesting assortment of fruit, potatoes, eggs (somewhat vanilla in flavour), bacon/ham stuff (well it tasted similair), pad thai, stir fried rice, stir fried veg, cocktail/breakfast sausages...they were Kinda scary looking, I gave them a wide berth. What a great feast though...if you're into that sort of stuff for breakkie.
We wandered the streets, ran into a man who 'has a friend in New Zealand', he was very nice and helpful...directed us to all the shops we should go to...even found us a tuktuk driver who'd take us right there, conveniently enough. It was extrememly humid, especially for us little whities. We must've looked like we were 'fresh off the boat', our skin slippery and slimey, drenched in our own sweat. MMmmmm.
So we were taken to a fabric shop where the tried to sell us clothing, make suits to fit us, skirts, shirts, you name it they'd make it for us. Tick number one off on the list of scams to experience. It was all a great time.
Our hotel had a pool we could lounge beside, close you're eyes and you're on a beautiful beach...open them and you're looking into the back of a block of cruddy apartments. Unfortuantely seeing how the Thai make a living on next to nothing, you can understand why they live as they do.
So what else is there to do other than to have a cold drink or two. Jode and I met some of the locals at a friendly bar down the road. The bar full of women making conversation, and hanging with us. Was nice talking to them about their work, when buying them a drink it costs twice as much as ours....got the picture now? But they were a great bunch of girls. Some a little young, so that was a little sad to see. Jode met a friend who had some birds trapped in a cage, and she got to make a wish and free them...dont remember how much it cost her. Tick number two.
Mark flew in from NZ, and quite rightly joined us at the bar. The women were even MORE friendly now.
The markets in Bangkok were unbelieveable...way too much to be able to see absolutely everything. There were pets galore there too, although somewhat upsetting to Jode to realise the squirells were actually tied to the cage. Crazy place to go, especially if you're clostrophobic...but the smells, the people, the food...an experience to embrace!
But leaving that all behind for greener pastures....we board the sleeper train to Chang Mai.

Sandakan, Malaysia - A tick on life's to do list

How to begin writing about a time in your life that you have dreamed about? Being in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo was like a fantasy, I couldn't begin to imagine being somewhere equally exotic and wild as plagued with the problems of reality. Unfortunately for me, this moment was heavily marked with being as sick as I can remember in a very, very, very long time. Everything hit me at once, the never-ending headache, runny everything, plugged everything... couldn't see, hear, taste or really enjoy anything properly. Fortunately Scott was fine and I don't think I passed anything on to him. Nevertheless (do I have to say it?), Sabah is incredible, and the bigger the wildlife/plant or green anything enthusiast you are, the more you want to explode with happiness, whether healthy or sick. Wow, I have so much to write about, I'll try not to ramble on.

We stayed at a lodge called the Jungle Resort, set a 5 minute walk from Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, one of only 4 orangutan sanctuaries in the world. The sanctuary is protected jungle which covers several square kilometers, and where orangutans (one of the great apes, our 3rd closest cousin with a 96.4% genetic match to us) that have been injured, confiscated, or left as orphans are reared by the sanctuary staff, rehabilitated and essentially taught how to "be" wild orangutans again. Once they are mature, they are released (with some exceptions) back to government-protected forests in other areas of Borneo. The sanctuary has 2 daily feedings, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the morning the orangutans (which by the way, means "man of the forest") are fed bananas and milk, and they looooove it! About 6-8 of them made an appearance and they feasted on their fruit. When they eat their bananas they break the peel down the middle lengthwise and then push it in their mouth as they pop out. A very cheeky appearance was also made by wild macaques that would take turns, or not, making wild runs for any bananas that the orangutans didn’t down quickly enough! The macaques put in some great effort into stealing the show! The afternoon feeding consisted of milk and what looks like long green beans, and I mean LOOOONG, like vine stalks. If anyone knows what that was specifically, please pass on. In the afternoon session a mother and baby swung in, and the baby was hilarious, a total and complete trouble-maker. He jumped off mum and started pulling the fuzz on another orangutan’s head, he tried to wrestle, jump on him… mum didn’t give a crap, just sat there eating her food until about ten minutes in where she got up, picked up the scrappy little baby and sat him down beside her and in front of the food. As Scott said, she was telling him “Ok, enough play, time to eat your dinner”. And he did. Need I say, adorable!

Ok, this paragraph is where I get on my soap box, I have warned! And the following applies to essentially every animal I write about in this entry. There has been HEAVY deforestation in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo), most poignantly for palm oil plantations. You can drive for endless kilometers and see nothing but palm oil plantation, dotted with palm oil factories, harvesters etc. It’s so different to hear about it, as opposed to seeing it yourself; it’s just difficult to understand its extent. Palm oil is found in many, many, many food items we buy, i.e. cookies, crackers, chocolate etc., and it’s listed in the ingredients. The big issue is that native forests are cut down to make way for the plantations. In the process there is an enormous loss of habitat and sometimes animals, such as gibbons and orangutans are purposely splayed because they are in the way. That’s how many young are orphaned. The key issue is that the palm oil industry is not regulated, and companies don’t need to state where the palm oil came from, therefore the demand for palm oil continues and so does the deforestation and habitat loss. So, what YOU can do is write the equivalent of your Minister for Foreign Affairs in your country, and demand that food companies act responsibly in their purchase of palm oil and state where it came from in their ingredients list. It’s not about destroying an entire industry; it’s about responsible and sustainable growth, and consumers knowing what they are impacting when they purchase a product. Alright, jumping off my proverbial soap box now. See, that wasn’t so bad! Ah! PS: if you want to know about the Orangutan appeal connected to Sepilok, visit: www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk. Oh, here’s a link (I think this is it) to an ex co-worker of mine' documentary trailer, she made in Borneo. She knows a lot more that I do as she’s spent a lot of time there: www.youtube/watch?v=4sTyJ8PTwZc

Also on our wildlife agenda was Turtle Island which was a 45 boat ride from Sandakan. During the day we went snorkeling just off the beach and came across the feistiest fish you ever did meet. He was about the size of Scott’s hand, was black with a yellow stripe, and would NOT back down when we happened to snorkel over his little hidey-hole. Whack! He aimed towards Scott’s head! Thunk! He head-butted my goggles! He was screaming “Get away from my #$@& seaweed hidey place!” (Not making that up, I am a fish whisperer. Yes, I know, another talent…). Scott made the mistake of resting his knee at one point on a bit of sand off the coral, and he swam his little fins off towards him and nipped him on the knee! At least, we think it was him, if not it was his Italian cousin, Vinnie the mafia-fish. Scott after all, did get whacked! He won, of course, we went back to the land, where the humans belong.

That evening we were fortunate enough to see a greenback sea turtle come to shore to lay its eggs. The island has a conservation program and the rangers regularly identify and tag the turtles, remove the eggs once they have been laid and re-bury them in a controlled, predator-free area where the eggs have a much higher hatch rate. Once they hatch, the little ones are released into the sea again, hopefully so that a small percentage survive to the age of 30-50 when they are able to reproduce again. And yes, numbers of sea turtles have declined dramatically and they too are endangered, not because of natural factors, but because of us. It’s fantastic they have these programs in place to try to balance out our damage. Oh, do you want to hear a funny (well morbid, really) fact about sea turtle mating? I did not know this. The male has a “claw” on each flipper that allows him to latch onto the female so she can’t get away while they mate, and during this long process she has to swim him around, and come up for air with the male attached to her so they don’t drown. The funny/morbid part, is that sometimes more than one male wants the female, and they all try to latch on, sometimes dragging her to the bottom too long in their “Who’s the man?! I’m the man!” struggle, and drown her in the process... What the??? Another factoid from the fascinating world of nature.

The most surprising part of our trip to Borneo, as we enjoyed it soooo much, was the Kinabatangan River. We stayed in a riverside lodge where we had to use mosquito netting at night, and the wildlife, both plant and animal was profuse! We got to the lodge by crossing the river in a rickety, powered canoe tied to a half-submerged jetty. Wow, is it ever “fun” to walk on an angled, slippery half-drowned jetty with all your crap! Our limits of balance and coordination were tested to the maximum! Needless to say, success was our game, we were like Olympic athletes on a balance beam when crossing it. But with bags. And it’s wet. And we’re not Olympians. And my runners are soaked. Again. God they smell.

Ok my wildlife aficionados, here is a list, carefully compiled by moi and our trusty boat guide Aloy of what we saw that was identifiable! Before we begin though, we didn’t see the pygmy elephants which are found along the river also; apparently we were about one week too early from when they arrive in that area. Bummer. At twilight and sunrise (but not necessarily all in the same trip) we saw: Long-tailed macaques (TONS, they are sooo cheeky!), pacific reef and little egrets, Proboscis monkeys (which was a thrill and a half as they are endemic to Borneo and are very shy of passing humans but there they were, males with their harems in trees hanging over the riverbanks), white-bellied and house swiftlets, oriental darters, swooping swallows, stork-billed kingfishers, crested serpent eagles, lesser fish eagles, silver langurs (another primate), a monitor lizard, a mangrove snake and pied, black, bushy crested and wrinkled hornbills. And that’s only what we identified and saw! Imagine everything else! All the birds and crocodiles and insects and plants and frogs…. And this is with major habitat loss! Imagine what must exist and what has not even been discovered? Imagine what was there before? Incredible. Needless to say, those were unforgettable canoe journeys and wildlife lover or not, it’s thrilling, and I would HIGHLY recommend it. The morning boat ride was at 6 a.m. but how beautiful to be up before the sun and to hear the echoing sounds of frogs and insects first, only to die down and begin hearing bird calls you’ve never heard before and then to see hundreds of dragonflies begin their morning fly-around to dry off their wings and look for food along the river banks…. It was so beautiful, definitely a moment to never forget.

Then it was back to the city of Sandakan. We took the local bus into town from Sepilok where we were staying, and whatever you imagine a local bus to be in the middle of Borneo, you are correct. Chairs falling apart, overcrowded at times, people smoking, standing in the open doorway when the bus was moving… the 40 minute journey took a very bumpy and leisurely hour and a half, but what an experience! On the bus we met the self-titled “two distinguished gentlemen, who were from Kuala Lumpur and were in their 70’s. What a crack up those two were! The ultimate team, like Siegfried and Roy, Bonnie and Clyde, Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Seventy year old Hardy boys, agile as agile can be, full of smiles, and telling us tales of all the mountains they’ve climbed, and kilometers of world they have walked… and this is as senior citizens! We had dinner with them in Sandakan, and took their photo, they were so lovely. And yes, the photo is out of focus, I could spit! We also met two Canadian women doing some hard-core backpacking. They didn’t know where they were going, how they were going to get there, where they were going to stay, or where they would be next. We got lots of tips on packing light and South-East Asia from them. Again, such nice people. Ah, one thing I absolutely have to tell about the bus is the lovely music they blared, as loud as possible over the speakers: Malaysian metal. Oh yes, there is Malaysian metal indeed, and I can now inform you all that no matter what the language, all metal songs, somewhere within their lyrics scream in a very Smashing Pumpkins/Metallica/Guns and Roses manner : “HHHEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYYYYYYYYY, YEAAAHHHHH!”. Remember, sound must imagined with raspy, throaty metal voice.

Alright until the next one….Over and out. Wait!!

Canaussie rating time my friends!

Jack fruit: 3, tastes good, but gives me tingly mouth and throat I’m so excited to continuously discover my many hidden allergies!

Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary: 5

Turtle Island: 3, it’s good to see what they are doing, but many things are difficult to see. Better to go diving if you have a certificate, it’s supposed to be amazing

Kinabatangan River cruise: 5++++

Malaysian Metal: hmmm, 2. Unless you really want to listen to metal in a bus in Borneo

Auckland, New Zealand - Blindly heading where many have gone before me

Bag packed, unemployed and blindly heading where many have gone before me.

Dreams of fun, exploration and adventure.

First stop Sydney. For a bit of sunshine, R&R and whatever else I seek out. Although this is my second time in Sydney, the first time I was 15 and travelling with my Mummy, I must admit I am a little excited about things.

Georgetown, Malaysia - Salamat Datang

We arrived in Penang very early in the morning, and having gotten up at 4:30 to go to the airport, we were exhausted. Our taxi driver was very friendly, welcoming us to Malaysia, and having a bit of a chat with Scott when he told him he had lived here. As we drove past areas our driver kept asking Scott if he remembered any of it, but since he was a child when he lived here, he didn’t remember much. The place where we stayed was called Hotel Mingood, and the staff there were incredible, wearing naught but smiles on their faces (and clothes, of course) and offering advice and brochures on what to do from the moment we stepped into their lobby. We went up to our room, spacious with baby blue walls and large windows, nothing glamorous, but right out of a movie where you see the major star staying “someplace, somewhere” overseas. Then we crashed. Until 1pm! Could not be helped, we were just so tired. Never fear though, readers, the adventure did follow!

We spent the afternoon having a bit of a walk around Georgetown. We were centrally located, and I’ll have to admit, I was a bit surprised by the narrowness of the streets and how run down the buildings were. Many buildings are of historical significance, and are as beautiful as they are old. Despite having been in countries where I have seen this before, I guess I just wasn’t prepared for it, or had a different picture in my mind from having heard stories of Malaysia.

We walked along Lebuh Chulia, which is a street dotted with guest houses, hostels, trades shops, mechanics…lots of variety! We stopped at a corner eatery which specialized in Tandoori, and very quickly learnt that the owner picked out for us what we were going to eat. “You will have Kashmir naan with Biriyani”. So we did. Then he dropped a small bowl with a sweet called kendali, which was quite good and said “try it, you will like it”. So we did. Overall, a yummy lunch experience, local restaurant, no thinking about menu items required! Our walk back met us with a downpour of rain. No, I digress, a torrent of water fell suddenly from the sky and left us dripping and laughing, and eventually not caring anymore as we walked under mother nature’s fully-powered shower head and back to our hotel room. (See attached silliness video of silly Scott in silly rainstorm).

Our next escapade is where we defined ourselves intrepid indeed! Having had a chat to our lovely hotel staff, they told us they could organize a scooter for us for the day and that would be the cheapest and best way for us to get around the island where Scott had planned. But of course, as I’m the one covered to ride a motorbike, little Jenn braved what I think of as the “relaxed chaos” (will explain later) of the Malaysian streets, bravely rode back to the hotel to pick up her husband and off they went! Super-scooter girl and her man! I will say that the attention you get being a female driving a scooter with a male passenger is insane. Workers calling out from their trucks, honking, staring, staring some more… did I say staring? It was quite funny and gave Scott and I a lot of enjoyment. Now by relaxed chaos I mean that there is no indicating, no following of lanes, no going in the right direction, lots of cutting people off, but it’s ok, like everybody is thinking, “no problem, man, cut me off, share a lane with me, cause I’ll do it to you later!”. They really don’t care.

We did a whirlwind tour of the north of Penang on our trusty little scooter, visiting the Wat Chayangkalaran (the reclining Buddha Temple), where Scott and I found the Buddhas for the year we were born. We then crossed the road to the Burmese temple. It’s difficult to describe temples in writing, because they are flashing with colour and vibrance, yet you feel peaceful and so much tranquility when inside them. In every temple, every corner, wall, statue is unique and completely beautiful. We also went to the kek Lok Si Temple, the largest temple in Penang, set up on a hill. To get to it you weave up through market and vendor stalls, selling everything from pins to t shirts to hand-made jewellery. It was a fantastic walk up, and the view of Penang once up there was worth the uphill trek in the heat.

The Botanical Gardens in Penang are not what we are used to in Canada or Australia. It is obvious that the lack of funds have made it difficult for them to maintain their grounds, and unfortunately many areas were closed when we went. However, the gardens are still beautiful like a family park and many families were picnicking there. A very interesting specimen to view in the gardens is the hungry monkey. What, huh? Hungry monkey? There are monkeys running rampant through the park! The second we got off our scooter Scott said, “Have you seen it?” There was a monkey at the entrance, and he proceeded very calmly to go and sit on somebody’s scooter. I had a very touristy reaction and shook Scott and exclaimed “There’s a monkey on the bike!” Unfortunately people feed them, which is against the law, that’s why they walk around closely to humans, and can become a bit aggressive. People, just DON’T FEED THE MONKEYS! DON’T EVER FEED WILDLIFE! Ever. Anywhere. Any type. Any country. Ok, got that off my chest.

We also went across on the ferry to Butterworth. We negotiated with a taxi driver to charge us per hour and take us to specific spots, such as the air base where his dad worked, his old house (it’s abandonded, up for rent, anyone interested?), and his old school which is now a school for the deaf. It was a task to get the taxi driver to take us back to the ferry again, as he was obviously milking the time we were in the cab with him. Here, let’s detour to this temple, oh, let’s go to the bird sanctuary, what was that restaurant you went to as a child? Yes, yes, thank you, that’s ok, we’ll go back to the ferry. Ok, ok, but now I’m going to drive safer and slower than every Malaysian owning a vehicle in this country, let’s go 40 km/h, like I’m 80 years old driving in the country on a Sunday morning and point out lots of sights again on the way back, are you sure you don’t want me to find a Thai restaurant? Thank you, thank you, ferry please! We did finally get to the ferry, where there were outdoor vendors, and I bought some type of battered, fried plantain, yummmmmm! About 10 pieces for 1 RM, which is 30 cents, give or take.

One of our favourite places in Penang was the Red Garden hawker’s market. Yes, food again, I know! But honestly, it’s just so damn good! We went 2 nights in a row and tried chicken wings (very different than the wings people think of) with very spicy chilli sauce, grilled corn, spicy green beans and char koay teow, which is an incredible noodle dish, made with some sort of egg noodles, and the flavour… incredible. We’re also in love with Malaysian coffee which is very dark and strong, but they sweeten it with something akin to butterscotch and put a bit of milk in. It’s just delicious. When they prepare it, they “stretch” it, pouring the coffee from the metal pot to the cup from up high, making it froth. I asked one of the guys at the market what the coffee was called and he wrote for me “copaly taray”. Stretched coffee! I repeated it back to him and he killed himself laughing, I’m not sure if we were laughing together or if he was laughing at me! That’s alright, after only a week Scott and I are getting used to that already. Ok, canaussie rating time. For scale, refer to blog #2.

Hot almond milk: 3+ it would depend on your mood. It’s like a steamer.

Char koay teow: 4

Fried plantain: 4+ what a good snack!

Dragon fruit: 3, not a strong taste

Kek la juice (sour plum): 1 too weird, almost salty

Riding a scooter in relaxed chaos: 2 for scary factor, 5 for cheapness and flexibility!

Sydney, Australia - Arrive in Australia, Visiting the Neighbours

Off up and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to escape the hustle and bustle that is the city of Sydney.

Absolutely divine weather to do the bridge climb. We go through the brief training session, don our super spunky jumpsuits and caps. (Jumpsuits especially desgned to breathe, keep the warmth in and the wind out. Although I guess it depends on who you are and how much of the wind is actually OUTSIDE the jumpsuit...am I right Grant?) So for the next couple hours we spend our time climbing and descending ladders, oohing and ahhhing at the city and its surroundings. Loved it, also very infomative if your brain is a sponge (most unlike mine).

The rest of the trip was spent visiting friends and family, or for me...meeting some great people. Who I hope to meet again sometime in the near future.