Soggy in Pagandaran

Dave and I got out of Jakarta fast and headed to Bandung, where we were greeted with another big, stinky city. The scenic train ride through the mountains tricks you, making you believe that you'll come across some kind of mountain oasis. Apart from being a bit cooler, this place isn't much to write home about.

It was in Bandng that we jumped on the tour group bandwagon. Doing this is the equivalent of being put in handcuffs, but it does have it's advantages. We were able to visit harder to reach locations such as Mt. Papandayan, last eruption was 2002, and viewed the newly developed vents. We visited Naga Village, a village where people stick to traditional ways of life. We splashed in a river fed through a cave and jumped off waterfalls, taking refuge by swimming underneath the falls into a cavern. Tonight we tried a barbequed meat called "flying fox", these bad boys are a type giant bat. Very chewy. Tomorrow we are off for a jungle hike and toward Borobodur which, is a world heritage site.

Singapore - Jakarta

( flooding Jakarta)

After a quick flight from Malaysia we arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia...what a change! Just to clarify we took a bus out of Singapore (~2hrs) and went back to a border town in Malaysia to catch our flight, because it worked out much cheaper...and Dave likes to save!

Last week the street we were walking down this afternoon was a river, a tour agent we spoke to had to take the boat to work. Beautiful now though, beautiful is a term I apply loosely. Every computer I try and use here seems to shut down on me, so it may take some time to update the blog with photos.

("illegal" housing Jakarta)

Singapore was a lovely city, why we went from the cleanest city in the world to one of the dirtiest, I'll never know. Singapore was a whirlwind visit of museums, scanning local architecture, sculptures and taking some time to relax at Changi Beach park and in our neighbourhood Kampung Glam. We met up with a friend we'd met back in Pai and got to experience our first Sting Ray tasting. Hold up there dolphin huggers, Singapore wouldn't allow anything endangered to be served. It's pretty tasty and easy to eat.

(Singapore, Theater Center/Dave the Chinese warrior)

Tomorrow we're going on a Jakarta city tour, just because it isn't an easily accessible city if you haven't a clue how transport works. Indonesia is going to be the old game of taking a chance and hoping it pans out. Stressful, but sometimes very rewarding!

Chinese New Year Lingers in Melaka

(Top: View from cable car to the top of Genting Highlands, pigs roasting on the street, tourist party table in the street).

(View of Chinatown in Melaka with lots of red lanterns for New Years celebrations, gravestones for the Dutch who settled in Melaka in the early 17th century, religion was brought early to Melaka, Thaipusam Festival activities).

Chinese New Year has made it difficult to do anything in this country and we can't wait for it to be over. Tourist destinations are overrun with people from every country coming to visit their family here, or to take a holiday.

We spent a day in the Genting Highlands just outside of Kuala Lumpur. It is quite a bit chillier there and Dave and I spent the first part of the day in the indoor amusement park. We spent the rest of day in the casino, at the outdoor amusement part or trying our hand at archery. This place was also packed full of Chinese tourists. Later on we were invited to a street party outside of our guesthouse with 10++ roasted pigs (yep roasted right over fires on the street in a city as big as Toronto), free beer, free Indian food buffet and plenty of unfortunate karoke. Dave and I did a good job recruiting people from our guesthouse to experience a neighbourhood Chinese New Year tradition.

Melaka has been difficult. Again, it's the top tourist destination in Malaysia for some reason. This city was a principal trading port for the Portuguese and the Dutch since the late 15th century so there is a lot of history to explore. It's a really interesting place, with lots going on right now. So, that means we can't wait to leave either. The guest house we are staying at is really intersting, an old Chinese-Nyona style home with lots of character and a beautiful garden sitting area.

Our bike ride yesterday brought us outside of Melaka, looking at rubber tree plantations and tasting all the local fruits right off the trees. Our trip got extended when we ran into a local Thaipusam Festival. This is a Hindu festival honouring Lord Subramaniam by piercing their cheeks and acts of physical resilience. They remove these piercing and redo it again the next year. There is lots of dancing, painting their bodies and throwing tumeric powder at each other. One man in the photo grabbed onto a girl and she went into a trance and was havocked with tremors until her family rushed her to the hospital. It's all very strange. We were invited to be apart of the festival, but we're not those kind of tourists. Later we met up with our friends from Langkawi for some Jonker Street activities.

We are going to attempt heading to Singapore. Cross our fingers that we can get there!

Happy Chinese New Year in "The Lump

(Dave standing outside one of the busy markets in Chinatown, government building Sultan Abdul Samad in Merdaka Square)

(The famous Petronas Towers, don't see the rope used in the Sean Connery/Catherine Zeta-Jones movie ENTRAPMENT).

(Posing while Malaysian ladies laughed at me in front of the Petronas Towers and Lake Titiwangsa, a mosque at sunset).

I'm not sure why, but Dave has decided to defy everyone else in this city and call KL, " The Lump". No one else thinks it's that funny.

Dave and I left Cameron Highlands to find Kuala Lumpur rainy and cool. We decided to stay in the Golden Triangle area, where the business section/shopping district is. With Chinese New Year coming up in another couple of days, we're out of the action (China Town), but only about a 15 minute walk to get into it. We have experienced the craziness of the malls here (West Edmonton mall comes to mind), the Petronas Towers, China Town, India Town, Old Colonial Square and Lake Titiwangsa. We were also preached to about Jesus in a mainly Muslim country...I'm so confused. The transport systems are beautiful, the people are eclectic, it has coffee shops that would make Toronto jealous. Overall a beautiful city, well developed, expensive and a lot of fun. We were lucky to meet up with more friends before they took off to Australia, it's a small world when you run into friends from a month earlier in a huge city. Tomorrow we're going to hit Genting Highlands (the Vegas of Malaysia) and head south afterwards to Melaka.

Sipping Tea in the Cameron Highlands

(Top:Taking a breaking during our hike at Robinson Waterfall. Exploring the local insect population, Dave stepped on this guy's leg and broke it off. Watching the rain pour into the valley over cups of tea. On the road, looking to see how far our destination was from us still).

The Cameron Highlands are fantastic! It is cold (10-21 degrees), there is rainforest, lots of hiking trails and all kinds of weird looking creatures. The tea plantations have been here since the 1920s and were great to explore. We've rediscovered strawberries here, there seems to be more of a boost on strawberries than the tea plantations. Dave and I took shelter from the rain, as it rains a lot here, at Boh's Tea Estate sipping teh tarik (a frothy tea beverage, where tea is pulled or stretched from one glass to another). Up in the air whether we hit Kuala Lumpur or explore some smaller towns in the area. The mountains prevent us from any travel to the east coast.