Malaysia

Love this place! As a whole, some of the nicest people we've come across on this entire trip; right up there with Malawians. A lot of tourists skip Malaysia, which was great for us. The really amazing spots have not been completely ruined by tourism and it has afforded us a few weeks of general solitude. The other foreigners we come across here tend to be the sort of 'travelers' we like: those who seek out the more remote locations in an attempt to avoid the crowds; those who will eat nothing but bread and ketchup for weeks to save up just enough scratch for a really good dive; those who will wear their underwear inside-out and backwards before they dare waste precious soap on a wash... people like ME.

Our first stop in Malaysia was the Perhentian Islands. Amazingly beautiful! Hands down, the clearest water I have ever been in. Tourism exists here, but not much, so the islands and the coral around them are still generally pristine. We spent five days swimming, snorkeling, reading, and soaking sun here. For about $8.50 a night, we snagged a couple of bunks in a small dorm with a great crowd. Lucky for us, being 'high season', we came across a number of folks who came too late to get a room and ended up spending their first night or two sleeping on the beach while they waited for a bed to open up somewhere. The food was good and cheap... lots of noodles, soups and seafood. One night, Brendan, an Aussie in our dorm, pulled out a stash of vodka and Carlsbergs he had picked up on Langkawi the week before. 

We chilled the beers first in a puddle of cool, fresh rainwater, later moving them to a sink with some ice we scored from the beach. I can count on two hands how many beers I have had since we left the states; I am happy now to be using the toes of my left foot as well...

After the Perhentians, we took the 'jungle train' inland to spend a few days in Taman Negara national park, one of the world's oldest rain forests. I will say the mosquitoes here are quite large -large enough they can't sneak up on you. No malaria in Malaysia though, which is great, but has made resupplying our medication a challenge. We only have two weeks left, and we need to get more before we go to Borneo.

We spent about four days in Kuala Lumpur, which was great. Malaysia is one of the most modern countries in this region, and Kuala Lumpur is a melting pot of ethnicities... people from everywhere, and so many neighborhoods to wander around in... and much much more really good and really cheap food. One of my favorite new discoveries is peanut cake; best described as two fat pancakes with a thick layer of extra chunky peanut butter spread between and served HOT! A slice of this goes for about 30 cents, and it is dangerous. I've also taken a liking to roti and curry for breakfast, along with rice and fish... it seems we get that every morning now... two plates of food and a hot tea with sweet milk sells for under a buck. Can't beat it. Kuala Lumpur was a beautiful city; the only drawback was the Indonesian Embassy, which refused to allow me in. We couldn't quite figure out what the deal was -they said shorts and short-sleeve shirts, and flip-flops (which is basically all that we have now) were unacceptable to their religious sensibilities, though they allowed Tatyana in with shorts, flip-flops and a stringy tank-top. I was left to stand outside the Embassy while Tatyana submitted our requests for visas. It must have been ladies' night at the embassy, because the guards let in every scantily-clad foreign chick that came up, while I stood there, dejected, seriously considering paying some guy on the street a few Ringgit to trade my shorts for his pants for an hour so I could get in and see what was so special about the place.

In a few days we'll fly out of Singapore to north-eastern Borneo, where we will cross the border into Indonesia to spend a month or so poking around the rivers and jungles... Should be interesting; Indonesian Borneo is not at all a popular destination, so we should have it all to ourselves. This also means we will probably not update the blog for about a month, until we can get to another computer (probably in the Philippines), so hang tight and enjoy the photos of Malaysia.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027058&id=1081248185&l=722bc0b701