Gabe + Haley: Malaysia (with a minor interlude in Singapore) Installation & Happy Birthday Marci-Girl

Ok so we are more than a little bit behind on blogging.  It’s just that we were really busy swimming in waterfalls, hiking canyons, taking Thai cooking classes, relaxing, and watching the daily rainbows from our deck in Pai.  And then we got to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and the adjustment to that place was intense enough that we couldn’t dream of writing a blog.  And then we went to the Perhentian Islands where internet (and electricity, for that matter) sucked.  And then we got to Singapore two days ago after the train ride from absolute hell and have been running running running all over this island nation for the past two days.  So that’s our excuse.

Pai was awesome in every way.  We spent way too much time on our amazing deck and explored some really nice waterfalls and a beautiful canyon.  The canyon would have been better had we chosen to visit it a) not in flip flops and b) not at high noon where it could not have been any hotter than it was.  It was still gorgeous though.  We also ate our way through town and discovered some amazing restaurants – especially Charlie and Lek’s – where we finally took a cooking class (local market tour included) with Lek.  If you go to Pai, take their class.  Oh, and also eat every single meal at their restaurant.  We were really sad to say goodbye to Pai and would recommend that anyone go there, at least during the low season.

Bueng Pai dreamin’

Bueng Pai moon rise

If this team can’t teach you how to cook, give up.

flying squirrel seems to be my preferred rock jumping pose

haley living on the edge

180 degrees of Pai Canyon

coconut dog at bueng pai farm

After Pai we headed back to “Harry and Margaret’s Guesthouse” in Chiang Mai where we had the pleasure of meeting their son Mike, plus one final night of their wonderful hospitality.  Gabe got to pick up the finished prototype of his product and order a few more to be sent to the U.S.  He was really happy with the result.  We said a sad final goodbye to our good new friends Harry and Margaret and boarded a flight to Kuala Lumpur (and if you are cool and an Asian local or ex-pat, you call it KL).

Flags on a building in KL

Worms Michael?

KL was not exactly our favorite place on the trip so far, to put it mildly.  It made sense as a gateway to Malaysia given our plans for the Perhentian Islands, but it wasn’t for us.  The biggest shocker was going from our heavenly lake-front bungalow in Pai, to a windowless box with no bathroom in a hot dirty city….for the same amount of $$$.  We did our best to see some stuff in KL despite the searing heat.  Highlights were seeing the monkeys at the Batu Cave, visiting the SkyBar at Trader’s Hotel to get an awesome view of the Petronas Twin Towers and their pretty cool Bellagio-type water fountain show.  We checked out the night market in Little India, visited the National Mosque (pretty cool – I had to wear a head-covering and everything), the Islamic Arts Museum (the building itself was the coolest part, that and the tiny handmade, hundreds of years old Qur’ans), a really beautiful Indian temple, the Lake Gardens (an oasis in the hustle and bustle of the city), Merkedea Square, and generally wandered the city.  We also had a lovely lunch at the Chinese Temple vegetarian buffet with the nicest friend of a friend ever, Yiga, who gave us the lowdown on Malaysian culture (one interesting fact:  your RELIGION is printed on your ID card and if you are caught eating during the day during Ramadan and they check your ID card, you can get arrested!).  And as KL is a Southeast Asian capital, we of course hit the malls (exclusively for A/C purposes, no electronics shopping believe it or not).  The malls in KL beat any other SE Asian malls thus far (for those of you who know, Singapore was AFTER).  They are massive – they go on for multiple city blocks, they are 12 and 15 stories high, they have amusement parks (like with actual roller coasters) inside. On our last day it was so hot that we decided to just stay in mall to see a movie after slipping in for an A/C break.  We saw The Watchers.  We laughed and liked it. One night we ate noodles that looked and felt like worms in your mouth, but tasted great.

muslim haley

big bright towers in KL

That night we left KL on an overnight bus for the Perhentian Islands.  This is where the beauty and kindness of the Malaysian people really shined for us.  We had a 10pm bus from the craziest, hottest, dirtiest, unorganized-est, chaotic-est bus station that ever was (sorry for all the adjectives, Gabe).  We got there at 9:40pm and after wandering up and down and around and asking a million people (none of whom knew anything) and getting on every bus to ask if it was ours, it was clear that ours was either not coming, or left early, or never existed in the first place.  In any case, in the midst of trying to figure out what the hell to do, Gabe asked a guy from another bus company if he might know where our bus was.  While he didn’t know, he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be showing up at that point.  So what did he do?  He asked a guy from yet a third bus company to put us on his bus, and then at the overnight rest stop transfer us to a different bus that would take us to our original destination.  “How much?”, we asked.  “No money. I help you.  You follow him.  He tell you where you go.”  Blindly follow him we did, on his bus we went, off at the rest stop we got, on to another bus with no questions asked we boarded.  And aside from mild cases of hypothermia despite wearing jackets and sweaters and socks and pashminas (the warnings about Malaysian bus A/C were not all hype), we arrived at the ferry landing intact and exactly on schedule.

The 30-minute speedboat to Perhentian Kecil was beautiful if not a bit bumpy, and we hopped off at Coral Bay in search of a place to stay.  After just a few steps down the beach, we were more than a little disappointed.  The Perhentians were not exactly the off-the-beaten track islands we had read about and the places to stay (at least in our price range) were downright gross.  After looking at pit after pit we settled on a pit that was at least generously discounted when purchasing a scuba diving package.  We reconciled that at least we’d be underwater most of our stay and would therefore not have to spend that much time in it.  And we ended up having a really amazing stay due to our diving experiences.  We did 5 dives over 3 days.  All of the dive sites were like swimming through a giant aquarium – the number of fish and sea creatures was mind-blowing.  Among other things too numerous to list, we saw gigantic schools of brightly colored fish, a coral garden out of Planet Earth, bamboo sharks, lion fish, angel fish, bat fish, barracudas, giant morey eels, blue-spotted rays, pufferfish, triggerfish, one turtle and the jackpot…..a whale shark!  The whale shark was so indescribably cool and we were so lucky to see it that we are still getting over it (it was our dive guide’s 227th dive and her first whale shark – it was my 9th dive and probably Gabe’s 15th or so).  It swam above us once casting a huge shadow, then swam past us 2 more times at eye level where we were able to hover for a minute or so and watch him – he was only about 6 feet away. So, so, so, so cool.  We also did a dive at a ship wreck which was interesting as well.

on the way to the pinnacle dive site in the perhentians

pretty place seen from the boat leaving the perhentians

After the Perhentians we started making our way to Borneo via Singapore.  We took a miserable overnight train from the Northern end of Malaysia to Singapore that was supposed to take 13.5 hours and ended up taking over 18.  There was never an explanation as to why we weren’t moving, when we would start moving again, and exactly how late we were going to be.  And the A/C only worked when it felt like it.  We arrived in Singapore in some of the worst shape we have been on the trip this far.  Waaaahh, our sleeper train from one paradise to another was delayed, waaaaahhhhh.  But, I did find the sweetest kitten ever during our long wait at the train station.  And as you can see from the picture below, and contrary to what Gabe would say, I did NOT torture him.

you be the judge

The cleanliness and organization of Singapore was a welcome relief and we have spent the last two days wandering through this very Vegas-like city/island/country.  The malls dwarf and pale any other mall we have seen in Asia in size and impressiveness.  They are 10 times more luxurious, the fake outdoor “streets” are more realistic, the A/C is colder, the prices are higher, and the number of people seems to be infinite.  The whole city feels futuristic.  The architecture is waaaaaaay out there and extravagance is the only way to go.  Yesterday we got to share a lovely sushi meal with our sweet friend Sheela whom we had not seen in almost two years, and we also spent half a day at the Singapore Zoo which is supposed to be world-famous where the animals roam freely and seem really happy.  This was definitely the case for the orangutans and we spent the better part of an hour watching them roam freely above the tourists doing exactly as they pleased.  But as for living conditions of the rest of the animals, I was not so impressed and am resuming my boycott on zoos for the remainder of my days – with no exceptions, world-famous or not. We also got to go to the top of one of those huge buildings, that had a huge infinity pool on top of it looking out over the Singaporean skyline. Plus we watched a water fountain light show that made the KL show (and the Belaggio show for that matter) look soooo 20th century.  They projected video on the water spray.

see the happy people in the fountain?

This mom orang utan had 1 baby, but then another mom got sick and couldn’t take care of her baby, so this mom adopted the other baby and now has two babies. the other mom didn’t seem to mind.

swimming pool on top of singapore

So that brings us to today.  We leave for Kuching on Malaysian Borneo in a couple of hours where we hope to have many the jungle adventure – the goal is wild orangutans, turtle egg laying reserves, jungle treks, and general leech, mosquito, and bed bug avoidance.  Wish us luck.  See you on the flip side.

Love,

Haley and Gabe

Other notes:

We have been through 4 umbrellas since January.  I am pretty sure the count is not up yet.

KL is now the hottest place we have been.

They still hang people and cane people in Singapore and you don’t even have to do anything that bad (14g of heroin and you die). Chewing gum and being gay are illegal too.

Malaria medicine starts tonight.  Hopefully it’s not too late.  (Don’t worry, Moms.)

We met and had a great evening on Perhentian with an Italian guy named Emiliano.  He took a picture of a rainbow for us and we’re trying to get him to send it to us.  And we might meet up in Borneo if he hurries up.

The dive culture on Perhentian is hardcore.  Whale shark sightings cause absolute mayhem, everyone running for the boat like the island is on fire.  The employees at the dive shop we used tried to see the whale shark about a half hour before we did and missed him.  They all sulked for the rest of the day.  And they weren’t that happy with or nice to us when we got back from our dive.

Perhentian Kecil could have been an island paradise.  Trash and ugly development (and I use the world “development” lightly here) got in the way.  Obviously, we are more than a little bit spoiled.

On this trip, right as we are arriving in a new place, one of us (usually Gabe) always says, “remember, we’re not gonna like it”.  Someday we will get over ourselves but we tend to be disappointed by most places upon arrival, and then they grow on us (or not).

The place where we took the train from Malaysia to Singapore was one of our favorite places in Malaysia so far.  Wakaf Bharu.  Just this little workaday town with super friendly people and some bad-ass satay in peanut sauce.  Highly recommend it though there is absolutely nothing to see.