Malaysian peninsular and the Perhentian Islands
Trip Start
Aug 04, 2005
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4
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Trip End
Aug 04, 2006
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Khota bahru, Malaysia
Friday, August 26, 2005
Anyway we wended our way off to Tana Rata in the Cameron Highlands. Really beautiful scenery on the tea plantations. Met a really nice german couple on the way there (Michael and Silke) and spent the first afternoon roaming through the Sungai Palace plantation with them. Turned into a bit of an epic walk...ended up with tea and coconut cake, very civilised. That evening we felt we deserved a top meal so we went to the steamboat and cooked our selves a veritable fondue delight of jellyfish, cuttlefish, oyster chicken etc quite tasty!
Next day we went on a 16km hike through the jungle with lots of up and downs, the guide, Kali, was excellent. Katherine even did the vine swing! (never again - K)
Then it was off to Taman Negara the main primary jungle in the middle of Peninsular Malaysia. After an uneventful night in Jeruntut we caught the boat into the jungle. 3 hours on a long thin boat going up the river was amazing. Saw a snake swimming and some buffalo cooling off. First day we did the 45m high canopy walkway (saw a giant ginger squirrel) and then hiked for another 6km which was pretty hard going. Finished off with a swim with the monkeys at the end.
The next day was a real adventure! We caught the boat up the river to do a 9km hike. On the boat we met Terry from the UK (really nice guy) and Ana and Anders from Sweden. Unfortunately for us the pace was rather slow! We banked on doing it in a few hours, the Swedes planned for going all day (and probably most of the night with their sandwiches, torch etc). In the end, after 5 hours of walking (shuffling), we had covered 5km! K and and I bowed out and got a boat back and Terry left them to it and walked properly back to the resort in 1.5 hours! Next time we hike we'll do it at our own pace.....great day though.
Once we left Taman Negara it was a 12 hour journey to the Perhentian Islands of Besar and Kecil. We struck lucky and found the perfect resort (flora bay) on the island of Besar and ended up staying for 10 days. There are no phones, no mobile signals and the internet is as slow as the swedes on a trek...really nice to be isolated for a while. Beaches were to die for and the sea was the warmest we have ever been in, like a bath. Perfect for a hammock in the shade and watching the world go by (avoiding the large monitor lizards and the monkey that chased me out of a tree!).The islands diving and snorkelling included really beautiful corals and fish including sea snakes and sharks (6 on the first day!)
Katherine did her open water PADI divers course in a record time of 2.5 days. I converted my BSAC sports diver up to PADI Rescue Diver which took a day of 1st aid courses 3 days of practice and scenarios and then a day of incidents with fake blood and unconscious divers included! We ended the 10 days with katherine and I making our first dive together which was excellent.
All the island people were really friendly and the other divers we met were great fun. The boat back was an adventure, it was well overloaded going towards a storm. In the end we turned back as water was coming over the sides! We set of an hour later in two boats which was alot more comforting. Lisa and Jon we hope you got your train to Singapore OK!
Anyway that is the end of Malaysia for a while. We also have to say good bye to Michael and Silke who have spent the last 2 weeks with us (since Tana Rata). They've been really good fun and made us realise "everything is Soo Beautiful"!! and it's true about the towels and the speedos! I'm sure we'll see them in Heidleburg....or Vegas at some point.
For now we're off to Krabi and Phi Phi in Thailand, if we can figure out how to get there, for more beaches and diving...hope all is well at home, by for now R&K
Comments
Hopping the Grass
Well, you might be travelling the world, having a good time and all that. But you are missing the fiercest time back home. You really would have wanted to be here when we headed to a well known venue on the way to Westerham. Everyone was on form, and Pauly handing out calling cards went down a storm. Lets do the time-warp again...