Monkeys and vipers and boars, oh my!

My stinking clothing and I got back from Bako National Park a few hours ago and I've spent much of the intervening time in the shower. But what a wonderful experience! Probably it was those overwrought Victorian explorer stories I used to read, but I've always wanted to hike in the jungle.

Here is a typical path. You can't tell the steep angle from the picture, but it's almost ladder-like. And you have to be very careful where you put your feet and hands (so you don't upset something that will bite or sting you).

Bako is full of wildlife. I saw a large group of proboscis monkeys feeding in the mangrove swamp at low tide.

I also saw pit vipers, flying lemurs, a couple of other types of monkeys, frogs, amazing butterflies, and a python that two rangers carried out of the kitchen--preceded by several screaming cooks. Wild boars live in the forest and a couple of them have adopted the park headquarters.

A large band of silver leaf monkeys have also taken up residence at the park headquarters. This morning at breakfast they managed to elude the ranger with the slingshot and made off with one camper's sausage, another's toast, and the entire plate of a third person's breakfast. But they're cute little pests.

The jungle here grows on gorgeous sandstone that makes the beaches beautiful.

I wish I could have stayed longer.

And I wish I could have stayed longer in Malaysia. But some issues at home require me to be there, so I'm cutting the trip short and heading back. Thanks, one and all, for reading and for all your comments! See you next trip.

I reach the beach

The rain let up at last and I hopped a bus to a local resort town in search of a beach and a cultural exhibit. The resort was more of a resort-in-progress, but that may have been just as well, as I was able to lounge on one of their beach chairs without anyone minding.

You'll notice that the beach is deserted. Perhaps it was something to do with that ominous storm cloud trundling across the hills beyond.

Early tomorrow morning I'm headed for an overnight in the jungle, so there will be a brief hiatus in these posts. But I hope to have exciting pictures when I get back to civilization. Maybe I'll see a nice python or something. Or maybe the pet pig that hangs around the camp.

Monsoon

It's morning here and I should be out and about, but it's pouring. Although "pouring" doesn't really do this rain justice. Maybe pummeling is the word I want.

Anyway, it's a good excuse to post of couple of miscellaneous things here. Thank you for your comments on the blog, everyone! It's great to know that someone is reading it.

Caroline, you wanted a shot of the sarong. Here it is, taken in the kitchen of this hostel by an adorable, barely clothed young man with long blond hair. (Oh, to be 22 again!)

And for you bird fanciers, here is a hornbill that had apparently escaped its enclosure in the Kuala Lumpur bird park. I learned yesterday at the local ethnographical museum that the hornbill is sacred to the local tribes and it features in a lot of their art and beliefs.

 Early tomorrow morning I'm heading to Bako National Park, a tropical forest preserve that has a lot of interesting flora and fauna. By all accounts, it will be smotheringly hot and I'll be sleeping in a dormitory bed in a building that is rustic, at best. I can finally get good use out of my bug spray. And it will be a miracle if there's anything I can eat. But it will be great!

At last--the jungle!

Years ago, a fellow traveler told me about visiting an orangutan rehabilitation center and I've wanted to see one ever since. Before the practice was outlawed, people here used to keep orangutans as pets--at least until they got too big. To deal with all the newly emancipated primates, the government set up the rehabilitation centers to teach the orangutans to live in the wild.

Being a notorious cheapskate, I took the public bus and walked about a mile alone a lane in the tropical forest to reach the center. In no time the noise from the busy road was submerged by the whoops and squeals and hums of birds and insects. Huge colorful butterflies hung around some of the flowering plants.

To get the orangutans out of the canopy, the wildlife workers feed them at specified times. I saw several different orangutans, but this humongous male was the most impressive.

Back in civilization, I browsed the local markets. Here is a relatively small fabric shop for Patty's viewing pleasure. The fabric in the foreground is batik.

And this part of Malaysia is known for its seafood. These young men were only two happy to show off the day's catch, Notice the hairstyle of the two guys on the left: it's apparently regulation for fashionable young men around here.

The big fish on the left are $4.00 a kilo (2.2 pounds). I'm guessing that's cheap by our standards.

I'm in love!

Yes, I'm enchanted, delighted, and generally head-over-heels about Kuching. It's everything you want a tropical city to be: friendly, laid-back, picturesque... The streets are lined with ancient blooming trees and tropical flowers, the air is filled with the scent of incense from all the temples, and the river is criss-crossed by sampans used to ferry pedestrians from one side to the other. It's unselfconsciously filled with great colonial houses and traditional Chinese shop-houses.

Kuching means "cat" in Malay and the town was given its name in the 1800s by the Englishman Charles Brooke, its self-styled White Rajah. The town is very proud of this association and has erected some kitschy statues in honor of cats.

The river is bordered by a long promenade, where everyone in town seems to be strolling, eating, or generally hanging out. I had dinner there tonight, watching the sun set over the distant mountains, listening to the call to prayer waft across the water, and enjoying a hint of a refreshing breeze. It's hard to think of anything better.

Biking

There's not too much to tell today. I borrowed a bicycle from the friendly proprietor of this guesthouse, got out my not-so-trusty tourist map, and bungled around the city.

I started out by going to a district mainly inhabited by Indians and ran across a remarkable temple. The building is basically a brutalist concrete rectangle, but the facade is covered in very unusual statues. It must be the temple of the Fat Goddess, because a lot of the statues were of an immensely fat and very formidable-looking woman with boar's teeth. You wouldn't want to mess with her. Or her companion.

In case any of you are thinking of making a trip to the tropics, let me warn you about bicycling. Because you're generating your own breeze, you don't realize how much exertion you're doing. It's hard to drink enough here at the best of times, but you need even more when bicycling in this kind of heat. (It's consistently in the low 90s with 80% humidity.) It's really easy to get heat exhaustion. I had to sit by the river for a while, drinking water and recovering before I could make it home for a greatly needed shower.

Onward to Borneo tomorrow!

Exploring Malacca

Malacca has been designated as a UN World Heritage city and you see signs proudly proclaiming this everywhere. But as with other Word Heritage sites I've been to, the designation seems to be a mixed blessing. The wonderful traditional area is preserved, yes--but as endless rows of gift shops and cafes.

So today I went for a walk around some of the less tourist-oriented parts of the city. I had a wonderful breakfast of rice, curry, and dal in little India and then walked along the river looking for the big lizard/small crocodile things that somehow live in the polluted waters. Maybe they feed on garbage. Anyway, I spotted several, but none were posing for photos.

The parts of the river that haven't been converted to fancy shopping developments are quite picturesque.

I bought a very nice batik sarong at a little local shop for 22 ringgits--about $7. If I can find a cooperative fellow guest to take a photo, I'll model it and post the picture here.

After about 4 hours, I made my way back to the tourist sections and tried a very tasty snack of fried radish doused with chili sauce. The seller kindly let me take his photo.

I'm off to check out a place that does traditional Chinese massage and medicine. Maybe they have a magic cure for blisters. In any case, I think I'll try a bicycle tomorrow.

Malacca!

As I sit here typing this, I can hear a dragon dance being performed next door and the call to prayer from the nearby mosque. That sort of sums up this country.

When I woke up this morning, I had eight blisters on my feet. I have fewer this evening, but only because they've merged. It was a good day for a bus trip to Malacca.

Another great thing about this country is that English is so widely spoken. It makes everything so much easier! So, for example, I hobbled to the bus station and found that it was closed for renovation. So I asked some Indian guys, who spoke English and directed me to a shuttle bus to the temporary station. When I got to the bus stand, a Chinese guy who spoke English pointed out the bus, and then the Malay driver confirmed in English that I was on the right bus. Easy!

Malacca is great--full of wonderful old Chinese-Malay architecture.

And lots of pompous Victorian architecture left over from Malaysia's time as a British colony. This fountain is in honor of Queen Victoria.

After much hobbling around town, I tried cendol, which is a specialty of this town.

It contained kidney beans, corn, peanuts, sliced apricot, some green gooey bits, and some big round translucent gooey things. On top of all that was shaved ice, coconut milk, and a sweet brown syrup. "Very refreshing" as my seat-mates exclaimed.

From the toucans to the two towers

I'm exhausted and footsore, but happy. This morning I visited the famous bird park in the huge Lake Gardens park. It's the largest aviary in the world, they claim. Anyway, it was a very long walk in very high heat and humidity. I'll spare you the zillions of bird photos, but here is a remarkable turkey-sized pigeon:

I limped from the park back to my own neighborhood for lunch at the most amazing vegetarian buffet I've ever seen. Rice and a sampling of 7 dishes cost me about $2.30. And it was all delicious.

Finally, because no trip to Kuala Lumpur would be complete without seeing the Petronas towers, I made my way to the very upscale center of town. This architectural tour-de-force is the modern take on traditional Islamic architecture, financed by oil and gas money. Yes, everyone takes this photo. And here's mine.

I was dead tired and walking on blisters, so I made it back to the hostel early, before the apocalyptic thunderstorm that's going on now. On to Malacca tomorrow!

My luxurious private room

Your wish is my command, Linda. Here is my room at the Travel Hub. It's about 5 by 8 and this photo shows pretty much the entire room. My neighbor in the room next door, separated from mine by walls apparently made of cardboard, was having an argument with his girlfriend last night. Luckily, I brought earplugs.

Pounding the pavement in Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is everything I hoped for: a lively combination of traditional Malay, Chinese, Indian, with a smattering of people from everywhere else. I spent the day wandering the streets, where Indian, Chinese, and Muslim temples are crammed in between glittering towers and squat 60s concrete monstrosities.

Here is a Chinese temple around the corner from my hostel. The man in the foreground is waving incense as he makes an offering.

 

The streets are full of packed markets, selling knock-offs of everything under the sun, as well as fabulously colorful fabrics, snacks, hardware,...you name it.

This is a large, busy mosque complex. Despite the street noise, I could hear the musical chanting from the spot where I took this shot.

The Malay ladies love their colorful, patterned clothing! These ladies are enjoying cendol, the local--err, I don't know what to call this concoction. It's an iced drink made by combining a scummy-looking dark gunge (bean paste?) with a dark liquid (liquid brown sugar?) and then in pouring a white liquid with green squiggles (no idea...). All this wonderfulness is mixed together to make a refreshing drink. It's very popular and I have to try it--tomorrow.