Hong Kong

Hong Kong is probably the perfect definition of the word “city.” The place is bustling all the time with big double decker buses, double decker trams, taxis and hoarders of pedestrians always brushing past you as you walk through the streets.

In Hong Kong I stayed in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is in Kowloon. The place is full of cheap guesthouses and finding accommodation there was easy. The accommodation though was not of the greatest quality, it was quite small and not in the nicest of neighbourhoods but the location was central and suited my purposes well enough.

Watching the light show across Victoria Harbour on my first night there was incredible to see. After seeing the harbour before in movies and on TV, the scale of it was much larger in real life. Taking the tram to the peak which overlooks the city the next day gave a real indication to the sheer size of the city.

While there we visited the Big Buddha statue. To get there we had to get an overpriced cable car ride, which went for about half an hour. Unfortunately, the day was so misty that we couldn’t see anything from the cable car. I was quite disappointed in the end by the Big Buddha. Sure it was big and Buddha like, but the whole area seemed to be a tacky scam geared at taking stupid tourist’s money. For example you could not visit some areas inside the monument without purchasing an extra ticket.

The food in Hong Kong was also different… compared to the Malaysian Chinese food I’ve become used to anyway. I found Hong Kong food is less geared towards flavour, and more towards healthiness. For example, the food there was far less sweet than the food you can find in Malaysia. I also took the opportunity to try some different foods while there including a variety of odd things at dim sum, and a watery tofu dessert, which to my surprise actually tasted quite good.

Ocean Park was also a highlight of my Hong Kong trip. Being a huge fan of roller coasters I chose to visit this park over Disneyland. It’s very much like Sea World in Australia, with a few added extras. One of the best added extras would have to be the Giant Pandas. An-An the panda just sat there eating bamboo leaves the whole time, and really did look like it was a guy in a suit. The rides at Ocean Park were the standard theme park fair. I was able to confirm my love for roller coasters by sitting in the front seat of the two roller coasters they have at the park, and enjoying every second. The only problem that I found with the park was that it was too big, which made it troublesome to get around. To get from one side to the other you need to take a cable car, and then to negotiate your way around that side you need to take a series of really long, really slow escalators.

In Hong Kong I also travelled briefly into the New Territories, or the burbs of Hong Kong – where lots of the people live. About an hour out of town I was surprised with how busy the place still was. There were heaps of tall buildings everywhere which would put most city centres to shame.

See videos of places visited:
Victoria Harbour light show:


The Abyss Ocean Park - Hong Kong (take 1)


The Abyss Ocean Park - Hong Kong (take 2)


Dragon Rollercoaster Ocean Park - Hong Kong

Macau

Billed as the “Vegas of the east” and being the highest volume gambling centre in the world I was very much looking forward to my visit to Macau.

The place is very different to what I imagined. There are heaps of casinos for sure, but I found the place to lack a sense of excitement. The casinos are big, with lots of tables for most budgets. Baccarat is the game of choice, with some other Chinese games I’ve never heard of as well, but most of the games I’m familiar with were there too. Although I started off positive, in the end, craps let me down,

To me, most of the casinos looked the same. The one that really stood out was the Venetian. Apparently the 4th largest building in the world by floor space, it has to be seen to be believed. The outside is modelled to look like a series of buildings from Venice, but the inside is the most amazing. A series of indoor canals, complete with gondolas, singing gondoliers and fake sky make it quite the experience.

Aside from the casinos, Macau has a very European feel to the city with narrow cobblestone street and old churches etc. – which is a strange feeling when the city is full of Chinese people. I found that English was used a lot less than expected. Luckily I travelled with a Cantonese speaking friend, but otherwise things would have been more difficult. Most shops have signs in Chinese only.

On the plus side Macau is very easy to get around and for free too! The place is so small that you can walk to most parts yourself, but when you can’t, there is usually a free shuttle bus offered by a casino which will take you to the right general direction. As a result, paying for transport is almost unnecessary.

The airport in Macau is also quite cool and worthy of noting. The runway is quite literally a narrow strip of land in the middle of the sea, with the planes able to drive onto the runway from the airport on small causeways. The plus side to this is that take offs and landings are more exciting, the downside is that the taxying from the airport takes ages as the plane has to drive the entire length of the runway each time

Inside the Grand Canal, Venetian Casino Macau

Gunung Gading National Park

At Gunung Gading I was finally able to shower under a waterfall. That was one awesome feeling. In fact, at water fall number seven at the park, there’s even a rock located right under the waterfall which is in a perfect spot for you to sit on and relax for a while. When you’re sitting under a waterfall it’s a little difficult to breathe, and almost impossible to keep your eyes open, but it’s is incomparably refreshing. The river is made of really clear, really cold water which rushes over you. Unfortunately we had to leave after a while because we felt the water level was rising and thought we might get stuck.

The national park is quite a good one, not too far away from Kuching. We caught a bus with a group of students from uni to head there for a weekend barbeque. The tracks are pretty good and well marked. It was raining the day that we went so the rocks and tree roots were very slippery, but luckily, now that I’ve had a few jungle walks under my belt I was able to handle the conditions fairly well.

Unfortunately we didn’t get a sighting of a rafflesia flower (biggest flower in the world which is supposed to smell like rotting human flesh), but the day was good regardless.

Pontianak

“Not the trip I expected it to be” is probably the best way of summing up my Pontianak experience. Pontianak is a bustling city which lies smack bang on the equator (marked by the equator monument) somewhere in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

I never really intended on visiting Indonesia, but when the opportunity came up, I decided I may as well go. Not really looking forward to it, or expecting much, I was definitely impressed by the city.

I stayed at the house of a friend I was travelling with. This was an experience in itself. The householders spoke very minimal English (slightly more than my attempts at Indonesian though), so most communication was done non-verbally. The household consisted on Tante (indonesion for aunty), her two daughters and a daughter’s husband and son. The son was toddler who developed a liking for us and would always play with us, constantly talking to us in Indonesian, not seeming to mind that we didn’t understand a word he said.

In Pontianak I got my first massage. It wasn’t as good as I had thought, sometimes being quite painful, but not bad overall. I guy came to the house and it lasted about an hour in total. Once again half the fun was trying to talk to the guy who spoke very little English. Also on the beauty theme, I got my first shave from the barber using a straight razor. The best part of both was the price. The massage cost about $5AUD and the shave was about 25 cents – amazing.

Most things in Pontianak are amazingly cheap. The problem is keeping track of your money. Because the exchange rate with Indonesia is so bad I had trouble the entire time figuring out exactly how much the money I had was worth. Also, doing maths with hundreds of thousands of rupiah, while mentally trying to convert everything into Australian Dollars and Malaysian Ringitt (which I have become so used to) is confusing to say the least.

Probably the thing that I spent most money on was food. I was able to try frog for the first time. Apparently there is only one vendor in the city, and our trusty friends were able to take us there. I had deep-fried sweet and sour frogs with rice and a soup which tasted pretty good. Funnily enough, it tasted like chicken (although it was annoying to eat because the bone to meat ratio is so high). I also had a version of one of my favourite Malaysian dishes, Kolo Mee, with the pieces of pork replaced with crab meat. I have to say that the Pontianak version was better. Durian flavoured ice cream was also a winner.

It was refreshing to see the Pontianak city after spending so much time in Malaysia. It’s not really a tourist town with very few tourist attractions. There is the equator monument and a mall (which we spent a surprising large amount of time in) – but that’s about it. People in Indonesia seem active, and will do things even if there is no air-conditioning (unlike Malaysia). The driving is mad. The craziest I have ever seen. The roads are clogged with scooters, driving past in random directions at various speeds. Road rules are non-existent, as are lane markings. But somehow it all seems to work. It all adds up to make Pontianak a really interesting place.

Getting to and from Pontianak was half the fun. We caught a bus from Kuching to Pontianak. The bus ride takes ten hours in total. Crossing the border was a challenge. We were able to buy a visa for 10USD (I found it really strange we had to pay in USD) but when trying to pass through immigration it seemed that the guy had never seen a foreign passport before and didn’t know what to do with it. After much stuffing around he finally figured it out… but just as he was processing my visa the power went out. Apparently this is a usual occurrence. After waiting a total of about 45mins the power was back on and we made it through. The people on the bus didn’t look too happy that we held them up- probably not the best way to make new friends. But friends we did make somehow. The lady sitting next to us invited us to her place for “roast chicken and cheese” but unfortunately we had to decline.

The border crossing on the way back was also tough to get through. We were at the border before 5am (waiting for it to open)… but unfortunately it seems the rest of Indonesia had the same idea. So after about 2hrs of waiting in line we made it back to Malaysia.

Manchester United

I don’t know what it is about English football (soccer, for all intents and purposes), but the people in Malaysia love it. Especially Manchester United. Everyday you’ll see people walking around in Manchester merchandise (even beanies – though it’s over 30degrees everyday). Cars are decked out with Man U stickers, and the letters MUFC appear in random places (it took me a while to figure out what it was… then it clicked that it was Manchester United Football Club.

What’s more surprising is that Malaysians seem to love this sport even though they are terrible at it. There is no national team of note, and even the locals at uni can’t keep up to the pace of the international students. I think I can put it down to Manchester United’s successful marketing campaign in Asia… but the widespread interest still amazes me – it’s comparable to Melbournian’s love of AFL.

So it was no surprise that the “battle of the reds” (rivals Manchester United V Liverpool) was preceded with much hype. I heard adds about it on the radio starting from about a week in advance. The best part was when the warden of the hostel I am staying at arranged it get a temporary Astro satellite TV connection into the courtyard of the hostel, so he could broadcast the game on a projector for all to see.

There was a big turnout on the night of the game (Sunday night, 10pm), with a large percentage of the hostel residence turning out to watch the game. About 70% of the crowd was Man U supports, with the rest not really caring and supporting Liverpool for the night just to egg on the Man U fans.

The game was a good one, and it was backed up by one of the loudest crowds I’ve ever seen (almost worst than drunk guys watching the footy at the pub), with people screaming at the referee, the players, at each other, and just screaming in general. Towards the end, the crowd started getting quite rowdy and I was surprised there wasn’t a riot.

The 2-0 scoreline in Liverpool’s favour, crushed the fanatical Man U supporters, and after some angry outbursts eventually silenced them. I can’t wait to see the fireworks at the upcoming uni futsal tournament.

Bau Longhouse and Lundu Waterfall Weekend

Another weekend another trip, the homework is starting to accumulate. Nevertheless, this weekend it was our university librarian who led us on a memorable experience to stay a night in a longhouse.

A convoy of two cars set off on Saturday afternoon to a small village near Bau (southwest of Kuching). When we arrived there we were introduced to a man known only as ‘Uncle’ who treated us to some interesting snacks and drinks. These included glutinous rice cooked and served in pitcher plants – amazing – and something you could only find in Borneo.

After the daily torrential downpour (which I have come to expect in Kuching), which lasted about an hour, we commenced our hour long trek from Uncle’s house, through the jungle, to the longhouse, where we were to spend the night. The walk was tough going, mainly because we had to carry all our own supplies up, which included a large (and heavy) icebox. However, after some hard work we made it to the village at the top of a hill just as light was fading.

The small village consists of a handful of wooden houses (only one of which is occupied by locals – the rest look well maintained though). We were the only tourists there. The locals came and cooked a feast for us that night which included rice, chicken mixed with some flowers cooked in bamboo, pork in durian paste soup and small chunks of BBQ pork face (yes… nose, ears cheeks etc). We ate on the floor in candle light. It was a good meal, but I found the pig nose a little hard to digest. Uncle entertained us for the rest of the night with his sayings and sugar cane wine (which he makes himself).

One of the many highlights of the night was the random bat which flew into the house and flew around for a while scaring the daylights out of some. It must have had some made sonar.
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The next day we headed off in search of a waterfall near the town of Lundu. I thought this would be nearby, but I was wrong. Without a bit of local knowledge from our librarian/guide, we would have never found this place. It is definitely off the map, and I doubt you could find it any guidebooks. We drove somewhere in the direction of Lundu, then went down a gravel road for about half an hour. This led us to the middle of nowhere, where there was a small Kampong with dogs and roosters running wild.

Here we met our local guide who was to take us to the waterfall. This is the first time we have actually needed a guide. The path to the waterfall is unmarked and towards the end does not exist at all. We were led into the jungle to a river (I swear at one point monkeys were throwing things at us from the trees… but I had no confirmed sighting of them). At the river the narrow path ended, and we travelled upstream, barefoot climbing rocks and jungle until we got to a huge waterfall. The entire walk took approximately an hour, but it was certainly worth it.

The water was freezing cold and the current was strong, which was perfectly refreshing after the walk. We spent a while swimming around at the base of the waterfall, with the more adventurous members of our group diving in from the rocks which surrounded. Another highlight was finding the “washing machine” – a natural spa, and the “waterslide”, slippery rocks which we were able to slide down uncontrollably.

All good fun, now back to that homework.

Mt Kinabalu - and the rest of KK

We flew into Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah in Western Borneo on Tuesday night, spent the night there and the next morning were on a public bus (pronounced rickety old mini-van) heading to Mt Kinabalu. The bus ride to the mountain was less than ideal. We arrived at the bus station thinking the bus was going to leave by 7.30, but close to an hour later we finally departed. The ride itself was quite average too. The bus was so old and run down that it could barely handle the steep roads leading to the base of the mountains, and we found ourselves being overtaken by trucks regularly.

Nevertheless, we finally made it to the base of the mountain, and after jumping through the administrative hoops required (and paying huge amounts of money) we were ready to climb.

The first day’s climb was 6km to the Laban Rata rest house located halfway up the mountain. The first day wasn’t too bad, and we made steady progress up the mountain. We rarely saw our guide the whole day, but he kept popping up intermittently. I don’t think a guide is really needed as the track is very well marked out, but it is a requirement of the park to have one to climb the mountain. The terrain and climate changes quite noticeably as you climb. At some parts we were able to see the pitcher plants which only grow in Borneo. Towards the end of the day the wind started to pick up and it became very cold, but eventually we made it to the rest house after about 4.5hrs of solid walking uphill.

The rest house itself is quite nice (but freezing cold). It lacks heating or hot water, but the dorms are acceptable, and the staff there feed you as much as your heart desires. The first night we were given a buffet dinner. We woke at 2am the next morning to be treated to a buffet supper. After “supping” we started the climb to the summit at 2.30am with the aim of reaching the top by sunrise. It was quite a crowded climb with many other tourists there, and as such was slow going. The last 2km is up rock face, and the climbing is assisted by ropes. In some places it is steep enough that found I could not stand and needed to crawl up.

After about 3hrs of tough uphill climbing we made it to the top just before sunrise. It was a bit crowded so we couldn’t stay long. Even without the crowds we could not have remained at the top for long because it was so cold. Every time you stopped moving, your body would start to freeze. This was quite a surprise, considering the extreme heat we faced in the town of Kota Kinabalu, only 2hrs away.

After taking our photos and admiring the unique view, we made our way back down the mountain, stoping for buffet breakfast at Laban Rata. The descent wasn’t anywhere near as tiring as the climb, but it was very straining on the legs. The last kilometre was the toughest, and by the time we reached the end each step was painful.

The legs were sore for the next two days, and climbing stairs proved to be quite the challenge. But nevertheless, the mountain climbing experience was definitely worth it.

Now onto the town of Kota Kinabalu (KK): We had trouble finding decent accommodation their, staying in three different hostels on each of the three nights we stayed there. But it did prove to be a case of third time lucky, with the Kinabalu Backpackers Lodge proving to be the best. The town has a really good market, one of the best I have seen, and Philippino BBQ which we ate for dinner there was excellent (if not a little messy to eat). The shopping in the town is much better than Kuching, but nowhere near the standard of KL or Singapore.

Other than that we spent one day at Sapi Island which is part of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, just off the coast of KK. We spent the day snorkelling there. It was my first time snorkelling, so it was fun to be swimming through the coral and fish. The island itself, much like the town of KK, was nothing spectacular, but a passable tourist destination.

Brunei

I imagine that Brunei is what the world would be like if there were no drugs or alcohol. Clean, safe, rich, pleasant… just nice in general. Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) is the capital of Brunei, and where we spent most of our time. It’s quite an interesting city. Walking around there is always a random building with a gold roof in sight, which is a constant reminder of the wealth of the country.

However, an interesting statistic that I found out was that close to half the population of BSB life in Kampong Ayer (or the water village), which consist of rickety looking houses built on water. For this reason, a main form of transport seems to be the water taxi.

Sightseeing around Brunei primarily revolves around looking at mosques. There are two main ones in the city. The smaller Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque is located in the middle of the city, and the other, Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, is a few km’s outside. The Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosquei is a very impressive building, especially at night when it is illuminated by blue lights. It was definitely a wow moment when seeing the mosque for the first time.

We also took a trip out of the city to the city of the Bangar via speed boat. There is a lot of jungle trekking etc. to do from this town, but due to time restrictions we were not able to. We just enjoyed the speed boat ride through narrow rivers with thick jungle on either side to and from the city.

The other main attraction which we visited was the Empire Country Club and Hotel. The hotel is an extravagant resort only within reach of the rich and famous, so as a mere commoner, it was nice to be allowed inside and take in the luxury. While walking past the man made beach of the resort be bumped into celebrity Pamela Anderson, and also during our day at the hotel we bumped into singer/actress Samantha Mumba. The resort also boasts a cinema and a Jack Nicklaus designed golf course, which costs $220 to play a round of golf on.

And this wouldn’t be a post about Brunei if I didn’t have at least one paragraph about the sultan. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah is a rich man. We visited his private residence, the Istana, but due to the fences and trees around the outside the view was not great. The Regalia museum is located in BSB city, and contains heaps of stuff about the sultan and his life. Most interesting are the presents that various heads of states have given the sultan over the years (why? I don’t know). Judging by the museum and the glimpses of his house I could only imagine what the inside of his house looks like.

Miri to Brunei

Mid semester break arrived, and presented the perfect opportunity to travel around Borneo. First stop was Miri. Miri is located in Sarawak (same Malaysian state as Kuching) and is a small oil rich town on the northern coast of Borneo. We flew in at night and left the next afternoon so there is not much to report about the town itself. There are some natural attractions in the vicinity of Miri, but in the one day we spent in the city, we ran out of things to see and do pretty quickly.

We decided to catch the bus from Miri into Brunei (which is about 3 hrs away). This proved to be a little more difficult than expected. To catch a normal public bus we would have had to catch three separate busses, changing at various towns along the way, so instead we opted for a private bus. This also wasn’t easy. The private bus (PHLS Express) leaves from a deserted bus station on the outskirts of town. We had to catch a public bus from the city of Miri to a shopping centre called E-mart. From there we had to wander around for a while to try and find a bus station.

We thought this would be an easy thing to do, but having no luck we turned to asking the locals. Even they did not seem to know of a bus terminal nearby. Luckily, after much mucking around, we found a taxi driver who knew what we were talking about and pointed us in the right direction.

After about a 10 minute walk, we could see the bus terminal, a huge deserted terminal in the middle of a paddock, with only one bus parked there. After getting on this bus, the ride to Brunei’s capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, was painless and we arrived there in no time at all.

Selamat Hari Raya

In Malaysia, Hari Raya marks the end of fasting in the Muslim month of Ramadan. The end of Ramadan is a big occasion, much like Christmas or Easter in Australia, with a two public holidays given to mark the occasion (although sometimes local Malays are known to take a longer break)

Amongst the fireworks and other general celebrations which occur during this time, I was most interested by the “open house” concept. During Hari Raya, local Malay’s open up the doors to their houses and invite their friends an relatives to come and join in a feast. A large variety of local foods and cakes are offered at these open houses.

Over two days, I was lucky enough to attend six open houses (too much free food!). On the first day I was invited to visit the houses of three staff members of the university I attend. All were very friendly, and by visiting the houses of locals I was given a unique opportunity to experience what life is really like for the people in Malaysia.

On the second day I went with a group of international students to the open house of the Governor of Sarawak. The open house was held at his residence, the Astana, which is a palace located on bank of the Sarawak River. The house is open to the public, but only a few are allowed inside to meet the governor. Obviously being a group of international students, we were luckily chosen to enter the palace and meet with the governor. After shaking the Governor’s hand, and saying "Selamat Hari Raya" (which is the custom), we feasted on the large variety of food which was available, especially enjoying the local layer cakes.

When inside, we were interviewed and photographed by the local media. Apparently we were going to be on TV (although I never saw the news report). However, the next day while I was at an Indian restaurant, the owner of the restaurant recognised me from my picture in the newspaper. Looks like I’m turning into a minor Malaysian celebrity.

The Penang/Langkawi Weekend

Having missed out on flying anywhere the last long weekend, me and a friend decided the take Monday off and make our own long weekend so we could visit the two islands of Penang and Langkawi. The only problem was we underestimated the size of these islands, and the time it would take to fully explore them.

Langkawi first: It was completely not what I expected. I was expecting Langkawi to be something like Bali (or what I expect Bali to be). A commercialised town swarming with western tourists, and perfect white beaches. It was none of the above. The island was much larger than expected, with only a small amount occupied by touristy shops etc. There were quite a few westerners to be found but nowhere near as many as I had expected, and the beaches were underwhelming. We were even advised not to swim in some areas because of the risk of jellyfish.

The rest of the island was more interesting. Being driven through the centre of the island, I couldn’t help noticing the striking similarity between Langkawi and Sri Lanka. In Langkawi the roads are much better, and fewer people walk, but the landscape and buildings etc were remarkably similar.

To travel between Langkawi and Penang we hopped on the ferry, which is a choppy 2.5hr ride away. In hindsight, this was not the best idea. The ride was not a pleasant one. On the way about half the people on the boat threw up (luckily I was not one of them). 2.5hrs is too long to be on a boat. And to make it worse, it is quite expensive.

Now onto Penang: Penang is a very nice city. In fact, while I was there I kept feeling that I would enjoy myself more if I was based in Penang rather than Kuching. I thought Penang would be a small, relatively quiet island (similar to Kuching), but was surprised to find that it is more comparable to Singapore. It’s a large and busy city with lots to do. The city is famous for its food, and for good reason. It’s very different from the Kuching style though, much more spicy and far less sweet. I enjoyed the change – sampling some of the dishes at Gurney Drive.

Getting around is also quite easy thanks to the reliable bus service. The shopping in Penang also seems quite decent. The nightlife is fairly busy. Overall, the city has a lot going for it. However, the best beach in Penang, Batu Firinggi, proved to be slightly disappointing.

Unfortunately, we weren’t there long enough to fully appreciate the scenic/historical aspects of Penang (most of Georgetown is a world heritage site), but it seems the town, which is now a free trade zone and is set to become Malaysia’s first green city, would be a good place to live in the future.

Mt Santubong

Merdeka Day (Independence Day) long weekend arrived in Kuching, so a trip was in order. This time, in preparation for the climb of Mt Kinabalu (scheduled for a month’s time) I organised a trip with a group of students to climb Mt Santubong, the highest mountain in Sarawak.

Twelve of us in total took the trip, so a mini-bus was organised as transport. Being my third jungle trek since coming to Malaysia I was feeling quite enthusiastic at first - that was until the mountain came into sight. It looked big, very steep, and very difficult to climb. It was all of the above.

The ascent took about 3-4 hrs. It mainly consisted of walking through a jungle track. At some points you need to use ropes and climb ladders to get up the mountain, at other points tree roots and rocks act as natural ladders to help you up. Reaching the summit was somewhat disappointing. There was no view at all, completely blocked out by clouds. The only highlight was the sighting of a slightly cheeky monkey at the top while we took our short lunch break.

Instead of coming straight back down the mountain, we went the long way down, in search of a waterfall. The long way down proved to be a very long way down. In total we spent about 8 hrs walking. But the waterfall we found was quite nice. Cold, fresh water, good enough to jump into for a quick swim. There were lots of creatures around the waterfall area too, including a few frogs which looked dangerous.

Finally, after many hours of walking through jungle and feeling very exhausted we made it down the mountain, and continued on a short walk to Damai beach to cool off.

Although being extremely tired I headed into the city area later that night to watch the Merdka Day fireworks… they were more disappointing than the view from the top of Santubong.

Futsal

Last night I played in my first university futsal tournament. Completely organised and run by students, the night tournament was an impressive event to take part in. In fact, all participants and organisers came from the large number of international students. Apparently Malaysians aren’t very good at futsal, preferring to play badminton, table tennis, squash, basketball etc.

Groups of students make their own teams, segregated by nationality. In all there were seven teams: Zimbabwe, Keyna, Nigeria, the Arabs, Tanzania, Pakistan and team International. The notable exception is team Malaysia. Not really belonging to a particular nationality, myself and a group of friends formed “Team International” consisting of and Australian-Italian, a German, a Swede, an Iranian, a Mauritian a West Malaysian and myself – an Australia-Sri Lankan.

The skill level in the tournament was high and most matches were played in good spirit. However, there were some instances where some teams took things a bit too seriously, which did spoil part of the night.

Play got underway quite late – at 10pm, and the tournament eventually finished at about 4am the next day. It was very tiring, and we all felt it for the next few days. Although “Team International” put up a decent showing, Tanzania were the victors on the day beating the Kenyans in the final.

Bako National Park

There must be easier ways to get to a beach than an early morning taxi ride, preceding a journey by bus, followed by a boat ride, and a 1.5hr walk through the jungle. However, Telok Pandan Kecil beach at Bako National Park was certainly worth the effort.

After a short taxi ride to the city bus station we boarded a public bus (which looked like it had been built from Lego) for the hour long ride to Bako National Park. The bus ride was nothing special, but the following choppy speed boat ride in the South China Sea, which takes you to park headquarters, was a highlight in itself.

The beach at Bako was our ultimate destination, so after a quick breakfast, during which we encountered some of the wild boar and monkeys which roam around the national park, we started our trek along the path to Telok Panadan Kecil. It is only a 2.5km path but when negotiating mud, rocks, tree roots, climbs and descents in the tropical heat it took about 1.5 hrs to complete. Although we didn’t see any wildlife on our walk, at one stage a strange grunting/howling noise coming from inside the jungle was able to scare us sufficiently.

The track finishes at a cliff face which gives an awesome view of the beach below, and the surrounding National Park. The descent from the cliff was the trickiest part, but most certainly worth it as the picturesque beach was one of the most unique ones I’ve seen. Apart from looking like a postcard, there is plenty to explore around the area, with a few caves and waterfalls, and a couple of small rivers leading to the sea. There are also heaps of creatures we spotted including lots of crabs, lizards, fish and even a strange sort of jumping fish/frog thing (later discovered to be called mudskippers).

On the whole, Bako provided an excellent day trip from Kuching.

Mudskippers in Bako National Park - up close

Weekend in Singapore

It was my fourth visit to Singapore (I think) so I knew what to expect. Singapore is a really cool city, and this time I experienced Sentosa Island and the nightlife at Clarke Quay for the first time.

The night life was amazing, and rivals any city I have previously seen. Sentosa Island is a bit tacky, but still a good place to visit. It’s largely still under construction (with casinos and other things on the way) and I image it will be awesome when finished. The highlight of the island had to be the downhill luge track which was fast enough, but a little too short.

The hostel we stayed at was good enough. It was a bit strange that you had to take your shoes off at the front door. The whole place was a bit short of space, and as a result the staircase leading to our room would be a candidate for steepest staircase in the world. But the facilities were clean enough and the vibe not too bad.

Food was more expensive than expected, and as a result ended up trying some of the strange offerings at Singaporean McDonalds, including the “Double Wasabi Fish-o-Fillet,” the “Oriental Spicy Chicken Burger” and the “Seaweed Shaker Fries.” All were decent, but for me the shaker fries were the standout. Never eaten so much Maccas in one weekend, but still did manage to sample to local hawker food outlets.

Other than that Singapore gets a little less cool each time I visit. The outdoor markets were slightly disappointing, and all other shopping was quite expensive (especially the electronics at Sim Lim).

I think I’ll just do my shopping in Malaysia.

Kuching - driving

Public transport in Kuching consists of a handful of busses which run irregularly. As such everyone in Kuching drives (Malaysians don’t walk because they don’t like to sweat). This doesn’t mean that they are good at driving. In fact most seem to be quite average drivers. Traffic here is less chaotic than other parts of Asia, but it is not uncommon to experience traffic jams at peak times of the day. Lane markings on roads mean little as drivers tend to drive wherever they like on the road. Seatbelt wearing, although legally required (I think), seems largely optional.

I’ve witnessed a few near misses, but in general the speeds travelled at are low enough to permit crazy driving. Also, drivers on the road expect other drivers to behave erratically which also helps.

However, I was a passenger in a car crash. On the way to the airport, in wet conditions, our taxi driver wrote off his car. The traffic on the main highway was clogged that day so our taxi driver decided to take the back streets to avoid the congestion. As he was driving along a white van did a right hand turn in-front of us (when he shouldn’t have). With the reflexes of an ailing 80 year old man the taxi driver slammed on the brakes, but we skidded into the van as it was turning at about 30-40km/h causing the van to go spinning off the road. “Sorry la, sorry la” were the words uttered by the Chinese taxi driver just after the collision. All were unharmed in the taxi, but the driver of the van seemed to have hurt his leg. Bystanders gathered around as expected including a bunch of army guys who were nearby and the taxi driver’s big boss (who showed up in a shinny new Mercedes minutes after the collision).

Although the taxi driver had almost killed us all, he still wanted 10ringitt for driving us this far. After politely telling him that this was not going to happen, we got in another taxi, put on our seatbelts tightly, and proceeded to the airport just before check in closed.

Kuching - First Take

Kuching is a city located on the jungle island of Borneo. You are reminded of this fact as you fly into the city, seeing dense forest in all directions. When you step out of the plane, just as in other Asian cities, you are instantly slapped in the face by the humidity. My first few days here were quite hot as well, although it has cooled down slightly now that rain has become more frequent. Still, the temperature is above 30degrees everyday.

The population of the city is just under a million, and the people are friendly enough. There is quite a mix of people and religions here too. This is good news for food, as there is a fairly large variety of food available.

The city itself is fairly small and quite unhurried, consisting of a waterfront area (where stuff is cheap) and the “big building” (hotels and shopping centres – where stuff is more expensive) area. The people here a super laid back. They always look like they are on holiday. Saying “hello” and waving to foreigners for no apparent reason seems like a popular thing for locals to do. There are not many tourists around though.

It seems like a pretty good place to live. I will put that theory to the test in the coming months.

Orang-utans

Deciding there was a need to see some of the local wildlife myself and three other international exchange students (an aussie, german and swede), headed off to Matang Wildlife Centre. Asking a taxi driver to take us there, we ended up at Semmengoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. Crazy taxi driver he was too. It was probably for the best that we ended up at the wrong place.

The centre is in the middle of a huge jungle. The centre is not much of a centre really. A couple of buildings, and a couple of cages to keep rescued crocodiles (crocodiles can’t be released into the wild because other crocodiles will eat them, or they will eat people). The stars of the show are the orang-utans which are now completely wild and roam free around the jungle. For tourist purposes only (I think) there are two feeding times during the day where rangers put fruit out to lure orang-utans towards the centre.

We got to the park a few hours before feeding time, so we went on a guided trek through the jungle. Thinking it would just be a leisurely stroll I was a little under prepared. Never have I sweated so much while we climbed through some quite dense jungle. One of the group was bitten by leaches. During the hike (which lasted a couple of hours) we saw a large variety of oversized insects, butterflies which were the size of small birds, pitcher plants (which are able to eat animals), wild boar tracks and lots of jungle.

It was after the hike that the orang-utans turned up though. They are a mix between human and monkey – having the tree climbing agility of monkeys, while still maintaining some human mannerisms. They are able to move with surprising speed through the tree tops while carrying food with their feet.

After seeing the orang-utans getting home proved to be a small story in itself. Our pre-arranged driver back to the city never turned up, so we were stuck waiting out the front of the park. The friendly rangers waited near by for a while, but I think they were waiting for us to leave so they could close the park. One offered to drive us to the main road to a bus stop which was to take us back to the city. Having no better option, we jumped in his car (I have never a seen a car so close to falling apart) and he drove up about 3kms through back streets to a bus stop.

We had no idea where we were by this stage but waited at the bus stop for a while with a local (who couldn’t speak English). After a while the local got up and left, which made me a little nervous, because night was approaching and it didn’t look like this bus would turn up. Eventually we were able to stop a passing taxi, but the driver told us he was going home and the city was too far away for him to drive us. He told us to call a phone number he suggested. After a short argument where I pointed out that we couldn’t order a taxi because we didn’t know where the hell we were, he agreed to order a taxi for us. After another wait, a taxi eventually pulled up and took us back to civilisation – to Top Spot Food Court in fact, where I had one of my best meals since being in Malaysia.

Swine Flu

It has become apparent that the average Malaysian person is paranoid of Swine Flu. I have seen many signs around KL and Kuching warning people of the dangers/symptoms of swine flu. In some department stores staff member’s temperature is measured daily to ensure they don’t have a fever and they wear stickers if they have a clean bill of health.

As a result of this paranoia, saying you are from Melbourne, Australia doesn’t make you heaps of friends. This is so much so that all students coming from Australia to study at Swinburne Uni in Sarawak were required to undergo a period of quarantine. It turns out that the quarantine wasn’t really as serious as expected – the rules being: “do what you want, just don’t come to campus.”

This was easy enough to obey, so during the “quarantine period” I was able to meet some other exchange students, familiarise myself with Kuching and see and taste some of the local sights.

Kuala Lumpur - in general

Kuala Lumpur in general – best description is a less “perfect” version of Singapore (ie. Less clean, but generally still the same kind of place). For those who have never been to Singapore, apologies for the crappy description. It’s hot and humid. It seems that if you go outside you will get wet – either rain or sweat or both.

It’s good for shopping, both upper end stuff, and market stuff. Although Dave had previously given me the heads up before hand, not knowing where it was, I accidentally stumbled across Petaling Street Market. An amazing place. Here you can buy a fake version of just about anything. From Rolexes to fresh white Nikes, to Louis Vittons, to Ray Bans. Everything can be found here. Haggling is a must. My new principle is don’t buy anything you actually want because you will be ripped off (you need to make the vendors want to sell their goods more than you actually want to buy the goods in order to get the price down). Also pretending to leave without buying is a sure fire way to slash the price of anything by at least 50%. I spent a couple of hours wandering through here, before I found Central Market (an indoor, and more importantly air conditioned market) which actually sells authentic stuff like local handi-crafts, souvenirs etc.

Oh I forgot to mention, that food can be bought basically anywhere for quite cheap ($3 AUD for main meal seems about average).

In terms of food, Jalang Alor seems to be the place to go. The street sides are lined with little food stalls, and at night, they put tables out (even on the road) and serve heaps of customers (both locals and tourists). The place is very busy, and it’s interesting sitting and eating dinner on the middle of the road as cars and pedestrians pass by. Most of the time I order by pointing at a picture, only to find that what is brought out doesn’t look much like the picture. Also most of the time, I’m not really quite sure what I am eating, but it seems to taste pretty good, so no complaints yet. Chinese or Indian style food seems to be most common.

Sightseeing in Kula Lumpur seems to involve towers. The biggest and most famous are the Petronas Twin Towers – the largest twin towers in the world. The biggest building(s) I have ever seen, and make all the other sky scrapers in KL look small and inferior. I reckon even King Kong would have trouble climbing this bad boy. You can climb to the skybridge for a free lookout of the city, however, there is only a limited number of tickets available each day. I was advised to get there early to get a ticket. I did get there early – but not early enough, as all tickets were snapped up before my arrival. I consoled myself by taking some token photos Valentino Rossi’s motorbike (which is in the lobby of the building), exploring the shopping centre which takes up the bottom 5 floors of the building and then heading to the next best tower, KL Tower.

KL Tower, was unfortunately not free, but admission to the observation deck did get me complimentary admission into the “Animal Experience” as well as a ride of a dodgy F1 simulator (and a free pony ride, which I decided not to take). KL Tower is a big pointy tower (much like the one in Sydney) which gives 360degree views of the city (supposedly better view than the Petronas Towers).

Cosmos World!

The Classic Inn is located just behind the huge Times Square shopping centre – home to 10 levels of shops. A ride of one of the escalators can be similar to a ride on a roller coaster if you are scared of heights. Speaking of roller coasters, did I mention that Times Square contains “Cosmos World” – Malaysia’s largest indoor theme park? (which I think implies there are others, although I’ve never of one in Australia). This theme park is amazing. It is seriously right in the middle of the shopping centre.

As soon as I entered I headed straight for the main attraction, the “Supersonic Odyssey” (I think this proved to be a bad move in the end as all the other rides – except “Space Attack” seemed a little lame in comparison). Supersonic Odyssey is a massive indoor rollercoaster and is heaps of fun – well worth the entry fee just for this ride. As an added bonus, while you’re on the roller coaster, you can check out the various levels of the shopping centre – try doing that at dream world. As previously mentioned, the other rides couldn’t live up to the awesomeness of the roller coaster. The “Space Attack” made a valiant effort, spinning you around and around, and stopping while you’re upside down to try and force that last meal out of your mouth. So after attacking all the rides I had one last ride on the “Supersonic Odyssey” before leaving.

For video of the Supersonic Odyssey check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t80GNrabXXE

Kuala Lumpur First Impression

Getting out at KL LCCT airport was hassle free. The hardest part was trying not to cough and sneeze while walking through the Swine Flu screening area. Once I was outside, I was promptly reminded I was in Asia again when I was whacked in the face by the heat and humidity. After a bit of stuffing around I was able to get some money changed and ready to try and find my way into the city (the airport is a long way from the city centre).

I was convinced by some guy to catch the “Aerobus” to KL Sentral. It seemed a little dodgy, but was cheap so I got on. It worked though, and in just over an hour I was at KL central. This is where the challenge of finding my hotel began. In hindsight, having a map at this point would have been beneficial, but was not essential.

KL Sentral is much like Melbourne’s Spencer St Station – which connects normal trains with V-line, long distance busses etc. The only problem is it’s doesn’t’ seem to be located as centrally as its name suggests, so a small trek is required to get anywhere useful. After wandering around KL Sentral for a while trying to find the monorail (which was supposed to lead me to my hotel) I asked some guy and he pointed somewhere around the corner. I followed his vague (but accurate) directions, to find that the monorail station is not actually located within KL Sentral, but just around the corner and across the road.

After the exciting monorail ride, I was able to locate my hotel (the Classic Inn) quite easily.

The Classic Inn is a pretty cool place. It is a sort of a hotel sort of a hostel. Hotel quality with hostel atmosphere. Definitely one of the cleanest places to stay.

The complementary breakfast is worth noting here. There is no “restaurant” here, so anytime in the morning, all you have to do is go and sit in the lobby/outside area and someone first comes up to you and asks you if you would like coffee or tea. After the prompt beverage, a three course breakfast is unexpectedly brought out to you. First what I think is a toasted palm sugar sandwich (delicious), followed by a selection of fruits (I had, and was impressed by, star fruit for the first time), then the main course which is an egg/rotti thing with some kind of curry (also good). A great was to start the morning – all at no extra cost.

The Flight

It’s best to start from the very beginning, so why not start with the flight. The flight was Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur (8hrs). The flight was my first time on Air Asia. It wasn’t too bad, although the seats are quite small, and are not really suitable for long flights (luckily the seat immediately next to me was empty so I could stretch out).

I slept pretty much the whole flight, so I didn’t notice too many things to report. However, there was one funny incident. My seat was in the centre row of the plane. The centre row consists of three seats. I was sitting in an isle seat, the one immediately next to me, and in the other isle seat sat a large black man…

When the man sat down he didn’t take any notice of me and just looked straight ahead. This didn’t bother me, but it was when he pulled out a copy of the Koran (what I assume was the Koran) and started reading/chanting quietly and intermittently kissing certain pages was when I became a little worried. It was like a scene straight out a movie, when the token Muslim terrorist sits next to the unsuspecting hero (Wesley Snipes?) on a plane.

But it turns out he wasn’t a terrorist, and I didn’t need to save to plane from bombing/hijacking like Mr Snipes (which is just as well, as I have already done my tax return for the year). He turned out to be a nice (yet somehow scary man) going to visit he’s sick uncle in Malaysia. I had short conversations with him throughout the flight on the odd occasion when I wasn’t asleep and when he wasn’t reading the Koran.

On a side note, I missed the meal on the plane (as I always seem to do) because I was asleep. However, I woke up while the others were eating, and by the horrible smell, was glad that I missed the meal.