Category Archives: Backpacking

Kuala Tahan back to Kuala Lumpur, to Melaka, Malaysia

August 13, 2015Backpacking, Flashpacking, Malaysia, TravelJerantut, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Tehan, Melakakarenfranza

8/5 – Back to KL by bus today. Thank goodness we don’t have to go back by slow boat! Had lunch in the little town of Jerantut while waiting for the next bus.

Magazine rack in Jerantut. Is this the Malaysian equivalent of Cosmo?

We were unable to book the nice hotel with the pool that we stayed in before our trek, but booked a very nice older hotel in Chinatown, the Mandarin Pacific, and the bus dropped us right at the door!

When we were in KL a week ago, we ordered new glasses – both of ours were scratched, broken and superglued after fourteen months on the road. We each got progressive bifocals, and a second pair of sunglasses for about a third of what we would pay back home. Today we went to pick up our new glasses – what do you think?

We’re singing, “I can see clearly now…”

8/8 – Time to bid farewell to KL.

They’ve got one of the nicest bus stations we’ve seen – sparkly clean and modern, and everyone queues politely.

When we were on our way to Georgetown several weeks ago, I sat next to a young man on Bus 101 who suggested that we stop in Melaka (Malay spelling = Melaka, English spelling = Malacca) on our way to Singapore. We’d never heard of Melaka, but it looked to be about halfway between KL and Singapore on the map, and the young man said there was lots to do there. So, as we have been doing throughout this trip, we modified our itinerary to spend four days in Melaka. Jim had a hard time finding a hotel room, but we didn’t stop to wonder why. Turns out that August 9th is the 50th anniversary celebration of Singapore’s independence from Malaysia, and this was a four day weekend where Singapore folks come to holiday in Melaka. We picked the busiest weekend of the summer to visit! Here is Dutch Square, at the center of town:

How do you get around Melaka? Lots of tricycle cabs decorated with Frozen characters, blaring out Let It Go as they roll down the street!

Or maybe a horse-drawn buggy?

There are lots of photo opportunities for tourists. Here’s a Malaysian Blue Man:

This guy said he was Captain Malaysia:

Jim is bullish on America.

The main area is Jonker Street, where there are lots of things to buy, and lots of things to eat. Below is the Malaysian equivalent of a Trader Joe’s, with folks lined up to purchase authentic Chinese (we think) delicacies.

There’s a Hard Rock here.
Texas isn’t the only place with this slogan:

Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Tahan, Taman Negara, Malaysia

August 6, 2015Backpacking, Flashpacking, Malaysia, TravelKuala Lumpur, Kuala Tahan, Nusa, Taman Negarakarenfranza

7/30 – walked over to the Mandarin Hotel to have breakfast and catch our 8:30 bus to start our jungle adventure. We are on our way to Taman Negara (translates as Country Garden), which is the Malasian National Park containing the oldest old growth rain forest in the world.

Shades of British colonialism – the Full English breakfast was offered, with mushrooms, baked beans and tomatoes accompanying the eggs and toast. Haven’t had that in a while! Our bus left at 9:30, and was full of Italian and Dutch tourists. Off we go!

We rode until noon, and were delivered to Jerantut, Pahang, where we queued up to pay for our entrance to Taman Negara of 1 ringgit (25 cents) and our camera permit (5 ringgit) that will allow us to take pictures in the park. The man was very clear in communicating that this permit must be carried with us at all times and produced upon demand. Failure to have the camera permit results in a 5000 ringgit fine.

After a quick lunch, we hopped on another bus for the short ride to the jetty, where we were packed onto two long boats for the three hour ride up the Tembeling River to Kuala Tahan.

The brown water was opaque, but there were enough exposed trees and branches to show that the river was shallow.

We rode past a big clan of fat water buffalo snoozing in the sun, all piled up on one another.

We also saw some monkeys in the trees, and a big monitor lizard lumbering along the shore, but they were too far away to snap.

Halfway through the trip, the lead boat got stuck on a sandbar, and we watched with amusement as everybody jumped out and helped push the boat through the calf-deep water.

As we should have expected, we got stuck a short time later, and all the guys couldn’t wait to jump out and help!

A half hour before landing, the sky opened up for a typical tropical afternoon drenching. Unfortunately, our packs were all lashed to the front of the boat, and no one had thought, on a sunny afternoon, to put their pack covers on. We arrived at 5:30pm with wet packs, sore bottoms from sitting on the hard deck, and full bladders – no facilities on board the small boat of course, and we were all drinking water in the hot sun.

We disembarked and walked over to the hut marked Nusa, where we expected to find a small boat that would take us to our camp, Nusa Holiday Village. All was dark and still – no one and no boat. We went to the floating restaurant next door, and were told to climb the hill and inquire about Nusa.

The travel agent at the top of the hill rolled his eyes and at first refused to help, but then thought better of it, and called Nusa on the phone. He apologized for his moment of pique, but said Nusa does this (leaving folks stranded) all the time. 45 minutes later, the Nusa truck rolled up to pick up the four of us who were waiting. We were wet and hot and hungry. Our adventure was not off to a good start.

Nusa Holiday Village was billed as a resort, and we had prepaid at a much higher rate than our normal budget allows, as it got high ratings online and was supposed to be ‘da bomb’. It’s the busy season for tourists here, and every budget place we had tried was booked solid. We talked ourselves into the high priced ‘resort’ as Jim was really eager to hike in this jungle. Imagine our surprise as we trudged up the steep hill, over the swinging bridge to find a dinky, musty cabin with no windows and no amenities whatsoever. Well! How about the restaurant, which also got rave reviews? We ordered chicken curry for supper, and got curry with chicken bones and skin. Ugh. We’re captives here, with no other restaurant choices. It’s going to be a long week!

Penang to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

August 4, 2015Backpacking, Flashpacking, Malaysia, TravelButterworth, KL, KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur, Nice People of Malaysia, Penangkarenfranza

7/27 – Time to leave the island of Penang, the same way we arrived.

We took an early morning ferry from Georgetown back to Butterworth Station on the Malay peninsula mainland.

There, we waited for our Very Nice bus, which would take us for the six hour ride to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, or, as the locals call it, KL.

The bus really lived up to its name, with BarcaLounger seats, and a driver who called out every hour to see if anyone needed a rest stop. Very Nice!

As we approached the tall buildings of this modern city, I turned on my phone to check the GPS. There are several bus terminals in KL, and we were not sure which one this bus would take us to. I was heartened to see that we were progressing nicely toward the bus terminal that was nearest to our hotel. Closer, closer…. Oh no! The bus kept rolling along, even though we could see our hotel out the window! Now we were getting farther away, and, wouldn’t you know, it was starting to rain. By the time the bus stopped, we were 10 miles away, with no idea how to get back to KL Sentral.

Two university students saw us hunched over my phone looking for a metro or bus to get us back across town, and they asked how they could help. Nice People of Malaysia! They walked us over to the metro station, helped us buy tickets from the machine, and showed us on the metro map how many stations and where to change trains. Although we thanked them profusely, I neglected to get a photo. They were beautiful people. In a half hour, we were back at KL Sentral, walking the two blocks to our hotel. We have a rooftop pool!

7/28 – Last year when we were in Istanbul, we shared breakfast with two brothers on holiday from KL. The younger brother Rool, who had the better English, invited us to look him up when we got to KL. Today, we did just that!

Rool picked us up and drove us to an authentic Malay buffet for lunch. Here we are with Rool and his six year old daughter Alicia.

So many delicious choices! We really love Malay food. I even had some fermented durian (the orange stuff on the right).

After lunch, Rool took us on a tour of KL. Here are the famous Petronus Twin Towers, which were the tallest buildings in the world for several years (not anymore). There is a walkway that connects the towers at the 42nd floor, which telescopes to compensate for the swaying of the buildings in the wind.

There were shiny malls and designer shops, and government buildings.

A wonderful day – thanks Rool, we had a great time! Another Nice Person of Malaysia!

Teluk Bahang to Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

July 29, 2015Backpacking, Flashpacking, Malaysia, TravelChinatown, Georgetown, Little India, Penang, Teluk Bahangkarenfranza

7/25 – Time to get back to the city. We watched Bus 101 rumble through town every 15 minutes the whole time we were in Teluk Bahang, but as we stood at the bus stop in the sweltering heat with packs on our backs, no Bus 101 was forthcoming. After 45 minutes, we wondered what could possibly explain the lack of buses, when four Bus 101s came rolling down the street, one after the other! An hour later, we were back in the city, to stay for a day in Georgetown, before making our way south to the capital. Our trendy hotel:

With an additional fruit that is not allowed:

We asked what is wrong with mangosteen – is it another smelly fruit? We were told that the red juice of mangosteen skin permanently stains whatever it comes in contact with, and that is why it is not permitted.

Our hotel is in the Chinese part of the city.

There is a Sam’s here!

A Chinese temple:

Traveling by tricycle rickshaw:

We asked our hotel clerk, who is of Chinese descent, how to get to Little India. “Walk down the street” he said. “When you see Indian people, hear Indian music and smell Indian food, you are in Little India.” Easy enough!

Ganesha, son of the goddess Parvati. Lord Shiva cut off the boy’s head, which angered Parvati, so he replaced it with an elephant’s head.

Hanuman is the monkey god.

Our yummy lunch – spicy chicken, vegetables, rice and ginger tea – we love Indian food! The Malay and Indians eat with their right hands only – no utensils – but we were offered spoons and forks.

The Kapitan Kling Mosque, the oldest in Penang, dating from the seventeenth century:

Reminders of when Malay was a British colony. St. George The Martyr Church, the oldest Anglican Church in Southeast Asia:

The Light Street Convent:

Fort Cornwallis:

The 60 foot tall Jubilee Clock Tower, built in 1897 to commemorate 60 years of Queen Victoria’s reign. The tower tilts slightly, but withstood being bombed during WWII:

A lovely town, with new delights around every corner!

Penang National Park, Malaysia

July 28, 2015Backpacking, Flashpacking, Hiking, Malaysia, Travelcanopy walk, Monkey Beach, monkeys, Penang National Park, Turtle Beachkarenfranza

7/20 – So, here we are at the northern end of Penang Island to do a week’s trekking in Penang National Park.

Mind you manners here please – no lewd kissing!

Admission to the park is free, and there are several trail routes to choose – to the University Research Center, Monkey Beach, the Lighthouse, Turtle Beach and the Canopy Walk. Unfortunately, the Canopy Walk is closed for renovation. Our first destination is the University Research Center.

This trek hugged the coastline, with different views of the water (Straits of Malacca), always on our right.

Parts of the trail were relatively flat and easy to navigate, while other parts involved some climbing and scrabbling over rocks, big roots and downed trees.

The weather was HOT, and we sweated buckets even walking in the shade of the jungle. Very pretty tree trunks here.

Here are the same “temple-eating” trees (Ficus strangulosa) that we encountered at Angkor Wat in Thailand. Looks like they also eat bridges!

There are several buildings and a pier at the Research Center. It was a nice place to stop and eat our lunch before retracing our path back home.

7/21 – The next day we hiked farther along the seaside trail to see Monkey Beach. As promised, there were monkeys here, long-tailed macaques of the agressive variety.

We were sitting on a bench and talking to some Malaysian students and a couple from Switzerland, when a monkey jumped down and grabbed Jim’s backpack! Luckily, his reflexes were quick, and he was able to snatch it back. The monkey stayed on the ledge, looking a little disgruntled.

The beach was pretty, and we met another group of Malaysian students who had all just graduated from university. They are all engineers!

7/23 – Today we hiked up the mountain toward Turtle Beach. The terrain was steep, and it was dark under the canopy, but still very hot.

There was a waterfall, and a dirt path used by water buffalo to haul logs out of the jungle.

These roots look a little snake-like, don’t you think? I examined them carefully before stepping on them!

We hiked up to the Canopy Walk, which looked like it was intact, but was roped off so it could not be used.

We’ll have to come back another year to walk the Canopy!

Bangkok, Thailand to Penang, Malaysia

July 24, 2015Backpacking, Flashpacking, Malaysia, Thailand, TravelBangkok, bus 101, Penang, Sleeper Train, Tuluk Bahangkarenfranza

7/18 – We took the sky train and the underground metro across town to get us to Bangkok’s main train station at Hua Lumphong in time to board our mid-afternoon train.

The reminder posted in the station’s restroom, which tickles me every time I see it! We’ve encountered similar reminders throughout Asia.

Jim had booked our tickets a week in advance to assure we would get an air conditioned car and lower berths on the 22 hour sleeper ride.

We will miss Thailand!

On board, we met an American expat named Tom, who’s lived here for eight years. He said he moved to Thailand because Miami was too cold!

After a tasty dinner in the dining car and a peaceful night’s sleep on the rocking train, we arrived at the Malaysian border by mid-morning, and we all got off for our exit and entry stamps. We don’t need a visa for Malaysia, and can stay for up to 90 days.

The train ride ended on the mainland in Butterworth, where we caught a ferry across the Straits of Malacca to the island of Penang.

Georgetown is the big city here, full of shiny buildings and big shopping malls. We are not staying in Georgetown, however, so as soon as we got off the ferry we boarded the 101 bus, which we rode for an hour and a half to the little town of Teluk Bahang, home of Penang National Park.

We are staying at the Amal Inn for the next week, very convenient for exploring the jungles of Malaysia’s top nature park.

Malaysia has Chinese, Indian and Malay cultures living in harmony, with three different styles of food and religion. Today we heard the Muslim call to prayer for the first time since we left Turkey. The town is small, but the park is huge! The western alphabet is used here, and many of the signs are repeated in English, so we should be able to navigate easily here. We’ve been told that Malay food is great! Tomorrow we will explore.

Koh Chang to Bangkok, Thailand

July 15, 2015Backpacking, Flashpacking, Hiking, Thailand, TravelBangkok, Klong Koi, Koh Changkarenfranza

7/13 – As we wind down our last days on Koh Chang, here are some more pics of our adventures:

On one of our walks, we stumbled on a posh resort with a helipad and other things for the very rich. We opted not to pay the entrance fee to tour the resort (see rich tourists in their natural habitat!), but did take some pics of the elephant statues just inside the gate.

We stopped to have lunch at a roadside stand on the road to the resort- barbecued chicken wings, sticky rice and spicy shredded papaya salad. The road doesn’t get any traffic except from the workers on their way to and from the resort. The proprietor had no English, but we let her know the food was delicious!

This is called “hairy fruit”, or rambutan. You slice open the hairy skin and discard it to find the sweet, grape-like fruit inside. The fruit is just a thin layer over a very large pit, so bite down carefully!

7/14 – We woke early to get on the minibus to go back to Bangkok. One ferry ride and nine hours later, we walked, exhausted, into our hotel. Bangkok is one huge traffic jam, and the ride that was supposed to take four hours took more than double. Our driver asked us to direct him to the hotel (!), then could not follow the directions on our GPS. After the third try, we got out and walked. Only a few days here, then we catch the train for the 24 hour ride to Malaysia. Back on the road again!

Koh Kong, Cambodia to Koh Chang, Thailand

July 1, 2015Backpacking, Cambodia, Flashpacking, Thailand, TravelBangbao, Bangbao Beach Resort, ferry, Klong Koi, Koh Chang, Koh Kongkarenfranza

6/22 – We arranged transport over the Thai border with our Koh Kong hotel. A posh air conditioned van picked us up and delivered us to the border, where people pushed handcarts of goods and produce across the border.

Our van driver put stickers on our shirts and escorted us to the border, where the stickers identified us to the van driver on the Thai side. We are back in Thailand for another 30 days. When we were here in April, we explored the northern part of the country. Now we will spend a month on the vacation island of Koh Chang, home of white sandy beaches and azure seas. Koh Chang means Elephant Island, as it is shaped like an elephant ear.

Another posh van, and a two hour drive got us to the ferry terminal. We watched as the ferry pulled away from the dock, so we will have to wait a half hour for the next one.

We shared the van ride with Kennedy Smith, a Scot who spends half his time here. He loves the climate and the food, and has a Thai girlfriend. (Newsflash: if you’re an old white guy looking for a pretty young girlfriend, Southeast Asia is the place for you. I stopped counting all the old men with sweet young Asians clinging adoringly to their arms.). Kennedy told us about the different beaches, and to stay away from the ‘walking street’ where the prostitutes were located. The ferry ride took about a half hour.

Koh Chang, here we come!

Our van ride was supposed to include a drop off at our hotel, but when we told our driver where we were staying, he added $15 to the fare. We chose the most isolated beach at the end of the island, far from the other towns. A half hour after dropping Kennedy off at his place, on a single lane road with exciting hairpin turns, we reached Klong Koi village.

Where was our place? We shouldered our packs and walked down the beach, as there is no road (and no sign!) for the Bangbao Beach Resort.

So now we are settled in our cozy cabin for the next three and a half weeks. We have air con, a good hot shower, and amazing wifi, considering where we are. The best restaurant in the village is 20 steps away, and the clear waters of the Gulf of Thailand are right outside our door. I think we’re going to like it here!

Kep to Koh Kong, Cambodia

June 29, 2015Backpacking, Cambodia, Flashpacking, ThailandKep, Koh Kong, minibuskarenfranza

6/20 – Time to press on: our 30 day Cambodian visa is about to expire, and we have set our sights on a Thai island that several travelers have recommended to us. Our first step is to get from Kep to Koh Kong, the nearest town to the Thai border. We purchased minibus tickets from the travel agent at the beach in Kep, and showed up at 7:15am the next morning for our minibus, which arrived a half hour later (no worries – bus times are merely suggestions here). We made a stop in Kampot to pick up more passengers, then another stop after all the seats were full, then another! We ended up with 13 people in a van with 8 seats – the two youngest backpackers were invited to sit with the luggage (our driver called these the VIP seats), and everybody else just squeezed together for the four hour ride without air conditioning. I had time to reflect that this was how I envisioned all our travel in Asia would be, and how amazingly modern most of our transport has been.

Koh Kang is a harbor town, right on the border of Thailand. It is not a tourist town.

We walked down to the water to watch the fishermen at work.

This is definitely not a beach for swimming!

There are wide promenades and statues that hint that this town once positioned itself as a place for visitors, but the sidewalks are being reclaimed by the local flora, and the area has not been maintained.

A schoolyard with statues:

On to Thailand!

Kampot to Kep, Cambodia

June 15, 2015Backpacking, Cambodia, Flashpacking, Hiking, TravelBotanica Guesthouse, Kampot, Kepkarenfranza

6/3 – We stayed in Kampot for three days, then decided to move to a place with a swimming pool, a half an hour’s drive away in nearby Kep. Here’s what we saw on the tuk-tuk ride.

The roundabouts have statues on them, which helps with directions. Take a left at the white horse!

If Kampot was laid back, this place is barely on life support. There is no town that we can see, just a series of guest houses along the main, dusty road. Only one lane of the road is paved – the motorbikes and tuk-tuks ride in the dirt.

We are staying at the Botanica guesthouse, run by an old Frenchman and his young Cambodian wife. It is comprised of eight thatched roof cottages that are hidden from one another by lush tropical foliage and flowers. It is gorgeous.