Island Paradise

We grueling woke up at 5:30am so we’d be ready for the 7:00am pickup. And we just finished breakfast when the driver showed up, so perfect timing!  And off to island paradise, or an hour or so on a bus to get to the island paradise.  The drive was very nice, and we had plenty of leg room on the bus ride.  Then after a nice comfy bus ride we had the pleasure of a bump 45 minute boat ride.  It wasn’t to bad but it did keep us nice and wet for the majority of the ride.

Then we just laid around the white sand beaches, and relaxed until 3pm, when we went snorkeling.  The reef wasn’t anything special, but it was still a lot of fun.  Oh, and the Olympus is having issues with water resistance.  It kept saying door open, and would be pretty wet around the battery, but it’s till fine.  I just need to keep it out from underwater until I figure out what’s going on.  Good trip for cameras this trip so far, lol.  But at least it’s still with me and working.

We fell sleep super early since I’m a pansy and I’m starting to feel a bit under the weather.  Hoping it won’t turn into anything, and I can kill it quickly.

Kota Kinabalu

We woke up “bright and early” today starting the day without any plans for tomorrow.  Step one find a camera, yes I’ve looked a few times, but I’m a cheap bastard and want a good price.  Unfortunately everyone here are jerks and won’t sell me one for a good price.  So I broke down and paid RM 1700 for the fancy new G12.  A bit more than I wanted to pay but I needed a good camera again, so it’s worth spending it for some good pictures. I found out after buying it that it came with a “leather” case and 4GB SanDisk card, but things I didn’t need or really want but they wouldn’t budge on the price, so at least it came with some crap to make the price a bit better. So overall it was the best price I could find at 5 or so different places, counting it as a WIN! After that I followed Nataly blindly around to a few stores to find a top, while I just played around with the settings on the camera.  I didn’t even notice we went up 3 flights of stairs. Oh the joy of a new toy…  PS damn monkeys! Oh as a side note if anyone wants to buy a G9 with underwater housing (great diving camera) let me know.  I’ll be working on selling it when I get back, not quite sure how much it’s worth but I hope it helps cover this cost of the upgrade.  Anyway I should shut up about the camera, I have a new one so expect some more pictures again.

So after running around for about an hour from store to store trying to get them to give me an amazing price on a camera, we headed back to the room so I could ditch the box and pack the messenger bag for walking around town.  And we looked a bit for things to do in the guide book and online.  After a little while we decided to hit a travel agency and see what they could find for us.  So it was off for a short walk across town.  Overall the city is a bit concrete, and bland;  just like the book says!  Due to war time building, or rebuilding or something like that.  But there was plenty of place to eat, and a ton of shopping.  No jungle paradise that’s for sure, but a nice modern city with all the amenities you could dream of before an adventure.  Once we found an agent we looked at all the things available to do, and settles on two packages. The first a 2 or 3 day jungle adventure, with a night jungle trekking, orangutans, and a river cruse. Then followed up by sandy beaches, and sleeping over the water. So we had our game plan, so <insert name here> started making some phone calls to make sure they were available.  But no one answered his calls, and after about 10 minutes of call the numbers that are supposed to be anwsered 24/7 he said he was very sorry but they weren’t anwsering.  So gave him our cell number, and booked a 2 day one night island just a little ways north of the city.  He said it was very nice, and it was much cheaper than the other locations we wanted.  So I’m hoping tomorrow or the next day he’ll send us a text saying they’re available.  Buf for now we’re still playing it by ear.  Which has been working great so far, it can be a little unnerving not knowing what you’ll be doing the next day, or even where you’ll be sleeping, but you get used to it pretty quick.  Plus there’s always a place to stay, and worse case we loose a day on the trip.

So since we had the next day and a half planned, we headed for drinks and some grub.  Along the way we of course stopped and gazed longingly at the sea.  Then I looked over and say the nice looking raid cloud, a mile or so away.  A nice wall of rain by the looks of it, but didn’t think much of it.  Then in about five minutes we had the pleasure of running for cover as it started to rain, quite heavily.  Nothing biblical mind you, just a nice strong rain. There was a building about half a block away that had a nice overhang that we took cover under along with everyone else that was on the streets. And walked down about a block to a horrible looking open area with no cover, then low out of no where, or across the street, rose a towering mall, beckoning us to enter.  So of course wondering around stores seemed much better than just standing next to a building waiting. So we wondered around looking at cell phones for about thirty minutes.  So I found an iPhone4 for RM498 ($166), slightly confused I had them turn it on.  And it came up with a nice apple OS and everything looked like an iPhone, but the price seemed way to low, and it seemed a bit slow.  But of course since I haven’t ever used one I had not idea.  The one of them had a stick on it, and they were mPhones!  Damn chinese knockoffs!  A little to spendy for an mPhone, even know it could be a lot of fun to have one. So with we checked back outside and the rain had reduced to a light dirzzle, so we werw off again!  In search of a cool refreshing beverage, and found it about two blocks away.

The drinks were very tasty and the prices weren’t to bad compared to US prices, but wow were they expensive compared to what I was used to around here.  So we only had one drink and walked down a bit further to Ocean Seafood.  A place we were recommended as a good place, but a little pricey, but I wanted somewhere nice since today Nataly and I have known each other for 8 months, and great 8 months at that! The place was packed, and we had to wait for about 15minutes. After sitting down our waitress came up to us before I even sat all the way down, asking what would you like to eat? So I asked if we could get a menu, and she motioned behind us… So I turn around and saw a menu on the wall, thinking that was a bit odd, we started walking towards it.  And our waitress wondered off to help other customers, then we saw what half of the restaurant was being used for; fish!  Not just piles of them, but tanks full of them. So we got to pick our food while it was still alive.  An entire restaurant full of them, I would have been just fine with a menu and them showing up fully cooked, but at least I know there were fresh I guess.  The food was great, and of course very fresh tasting.  One annoying thing about the restaurant was that when we came back to our table they had a little bowl of peanuts, some fruit, which afterwards we found out cost us money. Annoying but whatever, but there were also two wet nap on the table, and those cost money too?!?! WTF, jackasses… But other than those hidden costs, everything was great.

Then we headed back to the room, since we are going to be picked up tomorrow morning at 7:30.  But of to an island tomorrow morning!

Travel Day to KK

We’re heading to Kota Kinabalu, so today should be pretty boring post wise.  At least I hope; we already made it to KL we just have another 30 minutes or so until…

…ok that was close, not thirty minutes, more like started boarding 15 minutes ago!  The ticket I had said P3 was the gate it would board out of, and I guess they changed it to P1.  And of course I was to busy playing around on my laptop to notice.  All is good though, we made it just in time, we’re on the plane and waiting for two more passengers.  I’m hoping it won’t be to long, and we’ll be in KK!

Since today will be a boring post let’s change it to what I’ve learned so far packing wise. I brought too many clothes.  Here’s what I brought with me:

1. Two Pairs of Pants (Travel Zip off to 2nd as shorts)
2. Two Pairs of Swim Trunks.
3. Five Pairs of Socks & Underwear
4. One Jacket (Zip off Sleeves)
5. One Pair Thermals (For Climbing Mountain book recommended as it gets down to freezing)
6. Three Short Sleeved Shirts
7. One Long Sleeved Shirt.
8. One Sleeping shorts.

So that’s what I have with me, and it’s more than I need.  I’d say I could get rid of two pairs of socks and boxers, one shirt, the sleeping shorts, and one pair of the swim trunks just fine.  And replace the current long sleeve shirt with something lighter and maybe one more shirt gone. I’ve just been jumping in the shower at the end of a long day with my clothes on and washing them quickly. They’re usually most of the way dry by morning, but I just throw on my other set of clothes.  I could go with getting rid of 3 pairs of socks and underwear, but it’s nice to have the spare in case I can’t wash for a day while traveling, which has happened. Getting rid of these things would leave a bit more wiggle room in the bag, and still be quite confortable.  But hell I could probably just do one set of clothes and an extra pair of boxers just fine, but of course it’s nice to have some comforts.  The thermals are a bit annoying but would rather have then if needed, as the book recommended.  Over all I think I packed well, but on my next long trip I think I’ll be leaving a few more things behind to help lighten the load. And of course I’m not leaving the camera or laptop behind, since pictures are a must, and being able to document the trip has been quite a bit of fun. Also you might not want to take my advice on my packing items, since I’ve taken up most of my bag with a huge camera and laptop, but I still wanted everything in carry-ons and easy to take from place to place.  If you’re going to just stay in one place, just bring your entire closet who cares!  But if you’re going to move around lot try to get everything in one backpack. I would like to find a little case for the laptop still, so I can carry it in my main back without worrying,  I just didn’t have time to find the perfect one for this trip.  I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for one, that’s a snug fit.

Oh and the next thing I learned a the last place we stayed.  Air Conditioning and hot water in the tropics, is it needed? I thought damn skippy I need air conditioning!  I sweat like I’ve been running at the gym for twenty minutes just walking a block at night, give me as much air conditioning as you have! Well that still might be the case, but these last four days at the Gecko guest house, we were condition free.  The first day was a bit hard without it, after running around, you’d get back to a hot room, sad that it wasn’t a haven of crisp cool dry air. But after a quick unheated shower it wasn’t to bad, it helped rip the extra heat right out of you and back to a comfortable temperature. After the first day the lack of AC wasn’t too bad, actually in some ways it was nice after you got used to it.  The main reason being is once you get used to the AC you need it all the time, when you leave it you can’t wait to get back to it.  The outside world is horrible, and you want to just stay in your room all day, but without it outside can be cooler than the room, and you don’t feel the sudden shock when leaving.   Instead you end up feeling that sudden shock when you go to an indoor restaurant.  So really once you get used to it the lack of AC was almost preferable.  I guess we’ll find out since the next couple days will be full of AC again. Oh and as for the hot water, it was a bit of a rush each time but after you’re in it for a couple seconds it was just fine.  So I’d say hot water, who needs it!  As for AC I’m still up in the air on it, a quick shower and a simple fan seemed to do just fine, and I didn’t have to deal with the temperature shock every time I left the room. Then again, AC is cool and sucks out the humidity…

Oh another thing I’ve noticed in Malaysia is for light switches down is on, everywhere we’ve been.  Want a light on, down, want an electrical outlet on, down.  Electrical outlet, you might be asking.  Yep! All the light sockets have power switches on them.  Oh and most hotels require a key card be placed next to the door to keep the room powered.  In one way this is nice just leave everything on and take the key with you when leaving.  But it’s also can be bad if you’re trying to charge something in the room, since everything turns off when you leave…

Everyone has still been super nice, the locals are friendly, and happy to give you directions of advice on where to go. Beer can be a bit hard to find in some restaurants, and you’ll want to carry your own toilet paper with you when walking around since many only have a water bucket and hose to use. For those afraid of traveling to a non English speaking country everyone here so far has been able to speak English just fine, so that challenge is pretty much non-existent. Oh and so far I’ve noticed very few US travelers, lots of Australian and European travelers though. It is nice when you go somewhere and you don’t see any of us. And of course the wonderful alternative to ketchup, mmmm.

Island Hopping

So we decided to see how much “island hopping” would cost. Which included 2 islands, and eagle feeding. I was expecting it would cost quite a bit, and was surprised to find it was only RM25 a person, so less that $17 total for both of us.  So why not, relaxing on some island, and putting around on a boat for 4 hours for less than $20. Done and Done!

The first island we went to the had the lake of the pregnant maiden, which was a fresh water lake with a hill line that looks like a pregnant woman.  And a dock that looked like it was ready to collapse at any moment. Luckily it was covered in monkeys, so if it did collapse we’d all be surrounded by pissed off monkeys, and probable another lost camera... Don’t worry I kept a close hold on my camera the whole time, I’m not letting a 2nd camera get away from me on this trip.

While at the lake we rented a paddle boat for almost as much as the trip, but it was nice to get away from the crowds. Plus exercising in hot humid weather is fun!  I also had the pleasure of a foot “massage” by some very nice catfish. It kind of tickled, and they didn’t really try to nibble on my feet.  Instead they just kept brushing against them. The lady next to me on the other hand, sounded like they were trying to rip her foot off after about five seconds.

Here are a few of the evil monkeys that were guarding the docks, obviously trying to steel my camera…

Next we went to feed the eagles, well not actually feed the eagles that would have been very painful.  The captain threw some crap in the water and we watched at least 30 eagles come diving down for an afternoon snack. There were tons of the, all of which obviously broken and probably have never  had to work for a meal in there life.  Even if there were horribly broken it was still a lot of fun to watch. I did have some camera withdrawals, the pain is still strong…

Then we shot off the next island to just sit on the beach and stair off into the distance.  We even had a tasty snack of fried rice with a fried egg, and of course I had to ask for some chili sauce.  Oh I don’t think I’ve talked about the chili sauce!  So we have ketchup everywhere when it comes to food.  Well in Malaysia that have that too, but along side it that have chili sauce.  It’s kind of like a cross between ketchup, sweet and sour sauce, and chilies!  And it’s quite tasty, I’ve been doing my best to add it to anything I would normally add ketchup to.  I’ll defiantly be picking up a bottle before heading home for all to try.  Anyway we spent an hour and twenty minutes laying on the beach and swimming, it was pretty crowed on right were the boats dropped us off. Then we figured out an amazing thing called feet, and walked about 2mins to a very very empty portion of the beach. Had a nice swim, and just relaxed under a tree.  Overall the island hopping was well worth the less than $10 a person.

Then we headed in search of a new camera for me! We braved our luck with another scooter, unfortunately the mission was a failure, but at least the scooter had zero issues.  I found a P700 for about $100 more then retail in the states. And then I found a G12 for about $140 more than retail.  I’m hoping to find a better store on the mainland.  The Olympus is at least getting pictures, but it falls short for my main camera.  I need something with better zoon, more control and better picture quality, oh the horror. I’m hoping I can find a good deal on at least a half way decent camera.

Nails, Monkeys, and a Vanishing Act.

Yesterday was full of unexpected surprises.  Nothing horrible, but when everything was said and done, let’s just say it wasn’t the best day ever.  All in all it could have been much worse, and I kept a smile the whole day. I did require a couple beers when I got back to the Gecko just to help relax.  So I should probably start at the beginning yesterday, at first it was great!  We rented a scooter, and decided to cruse the island. First up we headed toward the cable car, to get a nice view of the island. Unfortunately right after we passed a police check point something felt wrong and the bike was sounding funny. Low and behold a FLAT! Luckily we were right next to a resort so we tried to get a hold of someone to fix the flat, but the guy that ran the shop there couldn’t get ahold of his friend to fix it.  So then we tried to figure out the phone number to devise a game plan. After about twenty minutes of trying to see if the hotel staff there could look up the number, we asked someone browsing the web. And within about five or so minutes we found the number to the place right next door, and then got a call back about 10 minutes after that; SUCCESS!

After figuring out what to do with the dead scooter, we rented one where we were at and headed back on our way.  One small annoyance, but at least we were on our way. Within a few minutes we were at the Oriental Village, and the flat was a distant memory. So we wondered around the oriental village for a little while looking at the shops and whatnot. Then found out due to high winds the cable car was closed for the day, so we took a couple pictures and headed to the beach instead.

Of course with the top notch tourist map we drove past the beach, but in doing so we ended up at a pretty neat waterfall. And it was covered in monkeys, well the area was, not the waterfall it self.  And of course I had to take some videos of the monkeys running around. I even got a few pictures of some monkey sex! It was a little inappropriate…

So after watching the monkeys running around for a few minutes I felt I had a couple good pictures of them so we headed up to the waterfall.  Which was a nice short walk in, and a nice amount of stair climbing. And of course right at the top there was a monkey on the guard rail just sitting there.  I was even able to get some pictures with him, then when we were finished taking pictures I walked slowly toward him, and then the little bastard charged me with teeth showing.  This of course made me jump and I started walking backward down the stairs straight into Nataly, luckily I wasn’t going to fast so we didn’t tumble down the stairs, and I kept the camera between the monkey and me which made me feel a bit safer.  Then he just ran up a tree and glared at me. So all was good again, but I kept on eye on that little bastard just in case he decided another run at me.  I really didn’t feel like having a monkey on my back, especially with those teeth. Then within a few seconds we were at the waterfall, a huge drop into a pristine pool; probably great for swimming. Took a load of pictures and headed back to the bike.

After riding to the end of the road, we pulled out the tourist map and saw I missed the beach, so we turned around and headed back. This time we found it just fine, and spent a couple hours relaxing.  I even got some videos of crabs making sand bubbles, and about thirty monkeys running across the path when we were leaving.  Over all a great time, relaxation, pictures, and videos.

Even with a couple small set backs the day was going great! And since it was getting a bit late and we needed to take a cab back to the Gecko we decided to head back to the scooter rental place.  But on the way of course we needed a sweet video of us cruising by on the it. So I found a nice little stretch of road, set the camera up and started recording. Then we shot down the road about 15 seconds or so, just around the corner that was there.  Spun around and flew back to get a high speed action shot! Then something happened, something was wrong, something…  I was driving back to far, did I pass the camera in my joy of the ride? Was I blind? Wait…. So I turned around, slowly going back to our u-turn spot turned around again…  My brain started thinking what might be going on, but I still was sure I was just blind.  So we passed again where the camera was; or I should say was left.  Vanished, no trace, no people, no cars, no camera, just an empty road.  Panic; my pictures from today! Nataly and I; the waterfall; the scooter; the beach; the videos of the crabs; the… the… the… damn it! So I headed back and fourth a few more times on the scooter; nothing… Got off walked up and down the road; nothing… Walked some more; nothing… Road some more; nothing… Road to the end of the road about a 1/4 mile away; nothing… Back and fourth, up and down the damn road…  Trying to peer into the jungle; nothing, nothing, nothing…  Gone… We spent at least 40 minutes running up and down the road to no avail, the camera, tripod, and pictures were gone all gone… S***! Really it was left alone for less than 60 seconds!!!!  A tiny little minute, less than a tiny little minute. So it was either a damn fast monkey, or the world’s luckiest and sneakiest damn snatch thief ever….

So we headed to the near by police station, which was closed of course, but luckily there was a number, and they sent a car so we could fill out a police report which took about twenty minutes of waiting in the heat. The report took at least an hour to get everything figured out; I’m hoping they find something, but I’m pretty sure it’s vanished. And of course I was to lazy to load up some “if found” pictures on the memory cards, or a label on the camera. Like what this guy did, guess I better do that just in case I ever loose a camera again.  It just seems like such an easy thing, and you never know maybe you’ll get your camera back.

And of course after the police station it was dark, which was fun riding the scooter back to drop off.  But when all was said and done, no one was hurt, we still our money and our passports, and all the other pictures from the trip so far were on the laptop also.  So it could have been much worse, still a bit sucky but not the end of the world.

Today we decided to just lay on the beach and do nothing, we needed a nice break from yesterday.  I’m hoping to pick up a Canon G12 or Nikon P7000 soon, and maybe even a new 5Dm2, which hopefully won’t be to much of a pain in the ass. But today was great, nothing eventful happened, which is just what we were looking for after yesterday.

Sorry for the lack of photos on today’s post most everything was on the SLR, luckily there were a couple pictures on the baby camera.  Here’s one of the last photos of my camera, may the monkeys treat it well, and if it was a thief that took it I hope it somehow lights on fire while he sleeps burning down his house and all his belongings.  I’ll miss you camera; at least until I get somewhere I can replace you for a good price..

Langkawi

We hit the 2nd ferry of the day, just in time for it to leave, so no waiting.  Just walked on; sat down; headed out. After an hour on the boat, and about 20 minutes in a cab and we found a room near the beach. The Gecko Guest House, a quaint little place that the book recommended for the budget end of things.  I think we’ll stay here for a couple days, and then hit something a bit more high end later. They also have scooter rentals for RM30 ($10US) a day!  Who’s getting a scooter, that’s right we are!  Assuming it stops raining soon, today we woke to a nice little rain that hasn’t had a chance to let up. But that won’t stop us from enjoying the beach, it just might keep us from enjoying the sun.  We were told yesterday it was sunny and warm all day, so I hope it will soon return.
The rest of the day was great, we laid on the beach, swam in the water and got stung by jelly fish.  I got stung quite a few times, unlike Nataly which only was stung once, but they were tiny little guys so it was just a slight inconvenience. Also while laying on the beach we watched little sand crabs eating, which creates little tiny “sand bubbles” when they’re done cleaning the sand. I’m hoping I can get a video before we leave the island.
Just an overall enjoyable day on the lazy beaches of Langkawi island, and I’ll end with a 3 picture set of the amazing transformation I went through after drinking a miracle beverage which induces a period of uncontrollable joy!  I’m sure this would be highly illegal in the states, but here Kickapoo Joy Juice is sold along side such beverages like coke, and sprite…

Lazy Days in KL

We spent most yesterday just relaxing and sleeping in a bit to late… There were plans to get the Bird Park, and a couple other things, but considering I think letting a lazy day take over was just fine.  Plus today I seem to finally be on track with the time zone! We did make to the Petronas Towers just before the lights when out for the evening, and wondered around the streets for awhile, but our main goal was the towers, and it seems like everything turned off at the same time all over town.

Today we woke up and ran straight to the mall and found a nice little bakery to get some snacks for the bus ride to Kuala Perlis.  We just had one and it was fantastic.  It was a chicken and cheese roll, with a little sweetness, and less than $1 US.  I can’t wait try the other two we picked up, but the bur ride will probably be around 5 hours.  Anyway I’m jumping ahead.  So rewinding back to the hotel to check out…

We took a cab to the bus station, which was about a 15 minute taxi out of the city center.  Once we got out of the cab, we had a guy take us to the ticket counter to purchase a ticket.  Which was a life saver, and cost us nothing!  Without his help it would have been much harder to figure out how in the world to do anything there since the ticket booths were just rickety little stands.  Once we got out ticket we thought it would be a nice 45 minute wait in the “cool” shade of a tree. It wasn’t horrible, but instead of the cool shade of a tree, we enjoyed the hot shade of the tree and the exhaust from all the buses around us.  Also our bus ended up being 45minutes late so we had the pleasure to waiting a bit longer.

But the bus was worth it! We’re on a double decker bus fully air conditioned, and huge seats. Oh and a movie! I was hoping for free wifi since I saw some ads saying some buses had that, but for RM45 (about $15 US) for each ticket I’m not complaining by any means. We may stay in Kuala Perlis tonight since the bus ended up leaving later than expected and I’m not sure if we’ll make the last ferry. But an extra town, plus we don’t have reservations anywhere so all is good!

We ended up in Kuala Perlis a little after 9, and found a crappy hotel next to the bus station, so tomorrow morning we’ll be off the ferry!