A Week In Malaysia

My travel mates, Santhosh and SiddharthIt’s four o’clock in the morning. I arrived in KL two hours ago and am now sitting in a spacious but rather empty internet cafe. There’s plenty of time till shops open and busses to the airport start to drive. I’ll use it to write down and share with you some memories from the past week. Read on…

A word on night trains first. During this week, we travelled by train from Johor Bahru to Tanah Merah, from Tanah Merah to Jerantut and from Jerantut back to Johor. Each of these trips was during the night, and except for the second we got sleeper tickets. They are fantastic: going to sleep in comfortable, clean bunk beds at one place and waking up 500km away. One can even sleep in as they always had between two and four hours of delay ;-) Anyway it’s a bit more expensive than busses, but those night trains have become my favourite way to travel in Malaysia.

Long BeachDue to the delay I talked about, we arrived at Perhentian Islands (our first stop) in the late afternoon. The first task was to find some accomodation. We decided to stay on long beach on Perhentian Kecil, it seemed to be the most lively spot. There is plenty of accomodation; we choose a basic three-bed room with bath at Symphony’s.

After that, finally, the beach… Water on Perhentian is very clear and warm. Splashing around, we soon met some fellow travellers from Canada and the UK, and started to play volleyball together. After dinner we met again in the Palm Tree restaurant. Time to share with you the “Game of Rules.” But enjoy all drinks with moderation ;-)

The Game Of RulesTo play the game of rules, you need a set of cards and a good memory to remember all the rules (just give everybody a different rule to remember). Then place the cards in a circle on the table. In turns, everybody picks a card and carries out the corresponding action.

Ace (1) to six

Distribute a number of drinks. Say you got a three, you could tell the person next to you to sip once, and the person opposite you to take two sips.

seven

The game of sevens: in turns, people counts up, but skips all multiples of seven or numbers containing the digit seven. Each time a number is skipped, change the direction. Confused? It’s as simple as (going left) one, two, three, four, five, six, beep, (going right) eight, nine, … thirteen, beep, fifteen, sixteen, beep, eighteen, …

The rule card

For us, this was the number nine. But you can assign rules to cards as you want. Anyway, the rule card allows you to create a rule which has to be followed for the rest of the game. Example: Don’t use the word “drink”. From now on, if anybody uses the D-Word, they take a sip :-)

Categories

Everybody has to come up with a term from a given category, e.g. “brands of shampoo.” The first person who does takes too long dri… I mean, takes a sip.

The rime

Similar to categories, but with rimes. Start with one line of a story, and everybody adds a line that rimes.

And many more…

Use your creativity!

Santhosh, SnorkelingI have to emphasize here that the next morning, we went up early for snorkeling, and it was a great trip. Turtles, sharks, hundreds of fishes… So play, but don’t get a hangover!

Boat to Taman NegaraAfter the snorkeling, we were on the road (or, better, rails) again. Santhosh and me had to say goodbye to Siddharth: we got off at Jerantut, gateway to Taman Negara, whereas he continued directly to Singapore. The most scenic way to enter Taman Negara is a three-hours boat trip on the Sungai Tembeling. Honestly, it can’t compare with the adventures of Sungai Marikoi, but it’s worthwile.

Taman Negara has a marvelously adventurous feeling about it. I’m a bit sad that we didn’t have time for a multi-day trek inside the forest, but it’s always good to have dreams for the future, isn’t it? Still, on our short trips we saw giant trees, colourful spiders, lush canopy… just take a look at the pictures!

Rainforest

Spider

Canopy Walkway

Taman Negara: View from Bukit Teresik

Take Nothing but Photographes, Leave Nothing but Footsteps

Gua Telinga

We also had the occasion to visit an Orang Asli village. The Orang Asli have lived in the forest for ages. Bare-footed forest walkers, skilled hunters and resourceful rangers, they usually follow a nomadic lifestyle. There is a village relatively close to Kuala Tahan, however, where (I suspect) the lucrative tourism has made them settle for quite a while now. Nevertheless, It’s a very interesting visit. Guides explained to us the use of Sumpit, or blowpipes. In the picture you can see Santhosh giving it a try. Although made from natural materials such as bamboo and coconut, these pipes are precision instruments. Compared to the archery I practised in Switzerland, this is much easier (and, given the right poison, more deadly…)

Santhosh, showing his skills with the Sumpit

Making Fire using just Wood and Rattan

The last stop of my journey with Santhosh was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s ambitious capital. I had visited this city before, in September last year. This did not change the attractiveness of the metropole’s sights: We visited the Batu Caves just after buying some souvenirs at Pasar Seni. I was lucky to travel with Santhosh; he could explain me a lot about the Hinduistic background of those caverns. Later, we enjoyed the sunset on the Skybridge of the Petronas Towers (tipp: go there early in the morning and grab tickets for 6:30!) and let the day fade away in the harmonious parc at KLCC. Santhosh and me agreed that it had been an amazing trip. Finally, night train again, to Johor Bahru.

Batu Caves

Petronas Twin Towers by Night

In Johor, I met Mei Yun, Jian Wei, Viet and Daniel. Thanks to two Chinese travellers who let me use their cellphone, we found each other without problems. Soon, we were on the bus to Mersing and later on the ferry to Tioman Island. The Time Magazine’s claim, Tioman is one of the ten most beautiful islands in the world, made my expectations quite high. Indeed, the mountains, forests, beaches of the island are nice, but some of the most stunning flora and fauna is found under water. On our snorkeling trip on Saturday, we marvelled at green and red corals, softly swaying in the current. We observed hundreds of fish from just inches away, it was a bit like watching Finding Nemo from the inside.

The weekend was over way too soon; after a bit of beach volleyball on Sunday Morning, we had to make our way back. Instead of going directly to Johor Bahru, though, we made a stopover in Kota Tinggi. Jian Wei knows a friend from Poly, Ay Mei, who lives there. She led us to the very best eating place in the entire town (I believe), where we had a fantastic meal. We tried La La (shellfish), soft shell crab, sweet and sour porc, sweet potato leaves, sizzling beancurd, chicken cooked in sweet wine (a poem… the smell reminded me of Feuerzangenbowle, it was delicious) and Otah with plain rice. As an accompaniment, authentic chinese green tea. And all that for a price which would not buy us a Kebab in Switzerland…

Meal in Kota Tinggi: Before…

…and after

After the meal, we took one of the many busses to Johor, and from there I continued to KL. Once again I realised how fantastic it is to travel with local people. With the highest of friendliness, my friends made sure I got the right ticket for a bus to KL, even offered me some food for the way and accompanied me to the bus, before heading home to Singapore. Thanks a lot, guys. I’m in your debt… should you ever come to Switzerland, let me know!

So here I am, in an internet cafe opposite Putu Raya bus terminal in Kuala Lumpur. Six hours remain until I meet Quentin and Francesco and a plane takes us to Sumatra. We want to see the region around Medan, probably hike a volcano at Berastagi. Later I will go south to visit Natt in Palembang. On the 18th then, Singapore will see me again for some last few days of farewell :.-(

PS: See the complete Malaysia image Gallery.