I arrived in Penang at the beginning of my holiday & had to have food before getting some desperately needed sleep. What I didn't expect was one of the most delicious things I've had the pleasure of eating: Roti Canai - multi-layered flatbread, crispy & buttery on the outside, soft & warm on the inside - served with a small bowl of daal for dipping. I was off to a good start.
After a good sleep & breakfast, I headed to the botanical gardens..... Now typically I avoid these, as botanical gardens tend to be strikingly similar no matter where I go - but the promise of monkeys roaming around the grounds meant that this one might be different. It ended-up being a lovely rainy, day with colourful birds & flowers standing-out against the wet brilliant green backdrop. And the monkeys
(doing their monkey business) were an excellent bonus. Penang is known for its food and it did not disappoint - with fried oysters & amazing curries & bru coffee & of course more roti canai, I was more than satisfied. I explored a huge Buddhist temple one day & discovered it was as much about gift shops as it was about beautiful sculptures & sacred spaces. Who knew one can express their enlightened Buddhist self by
buying Angry Birds swag? Penang is also known for its street art, and before leaving, I spent half a day walking around the core, hunting for all sorts of sculptures & murals - neat!
Next destination was Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. This area, with the cooler temperatures & high elevation rainforests is perfect for the cultivation of tea.
I spent 2 days hiking through the forests & up to tea plantations & generally wading through every shade of green I could ever imagine. Not wanting to walk the 10k home in the rain one day, I hitched a ride with 2 men back into town. It turned-out one was in the restaurant supply business & visiting from KL for the weekend to meet some of his suppliers.
Along our way, we stopped at a chrysanthemum farm and at a bell pepper farm to meet with the owners. The farms are HUGE operations with flowers (or peppers) as far as I could see. The divide between rich & poor in these parts was painfully obvious as we passed through small workers' villages to come to the houses of the plantation owners with their gated driveways & marble bathrooms, protected by very fierce dogs. That said, back at the plantation, I had a nice long conversation with a woman working at the tea shop. She was the 5th generation in her family to work at the plantation, and entirely content & proud of her work. She was simply delightful; I found myself a little envious of her.
On to Kuala Lumpur, where shopping malls are everywhere, though the best deals are to be found in the packed stalls of Chinatown, full of Prada & Hermes & Chanel & any other brand name one could want - all 100% authentic of course :) The highlight was certainly the Batu Caves -
a sacred Hindu shrine built in a cave at the top of a 300-step staircase, flanked by a massive gold statue of Murugan & another beautifully painted statue of Hanuman. The monkeys (Long-tailed macaques), though hilarious & very cute, were everywhere at the caves - ripping my bag to get at what was inside and stealing a man's glasses right off his head! Definitely a must see. I had dinner at the Jalan Alor Chinese food market, where I got my veggie-fix amidst the poached toad & insect options & spent the evening on the rooftop bar of the hostel with new friends.
An early morning flight to Borneo, took me to the sea, where I spent the next 2 days underwater around the islands of Mabul, Kapalai & Sipadan. I saw crocodile fish, pigmy seahorses, frogfish & eels. Also sharks & turtles, schools of jackfish & barracuda, giant clams & colourful coral & sponges - excellent diving & a nice change of pace.
Back on land I headed to a lodge on the Kinabatangan River, where I was told we had a good chance of seeing lots of wildlife. The sad part is that so much of Borneo has been taken-over by palm-oil plantations, and the animals are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas of natural habitat. This includes the 'person of the forest' - the orangutan - among the most intelligent of all primates. This river is one of these places of refuge where many different species of monkey are forced to share habitat. I spent 3-days at the lodge, and we saw lots of wildlife on our boat rides & hikes. From the water we spotted Monkeys! (long tailed macaques, curly tailed macaques, proboscis monkeys & grey
leaf monkeys). We also saw monitor lizards, crocodiles, kingfishers, eagles, hornbills, and many other birds. On our day & night hikes, we became pretty familiar with the insect life - all of which seemed to be absolutely HUGE, yet harmless… aside from the hungry leaches [not an insect - I know].
One of the highlights was the birds sleeping in the jungle at night. They sleep on an exposed branch with their head tucked under their wing to protect their eyes from the insects - simply stunning to see them so close! I stopped in KK, the capital of Sabah, for a day to relax on the beach & explore the markets before hopping aboard a boat to cross the border into Brunei.
Brunei is a sultanate, and one of the wealthiest countries in the world (oil & gas). Seeing as they don't need the money, they haven't decimated their rainforests for agriculture, and the country is home to one of the few primary rainforests left on the planet. Knowing this, it wasn't hard for me to get myself back into the jungles of Borneo for one last look. I headed by long boat up the river to a canopy walk. Now one would think that climbing 60m of aluminum scaffolding above the treetops would be tiring, but it was a breeze after the stairs through the forest from the boat landing site to the base of the towers. tripadvisor says there are 1300 stairs..... However many there were, it was certainly a tough climb! All was forgiven when I found myself above the trees looking at the horizon of green that went on forever.
Down from the canopy, we headed to a small pool at the base of a waterfall – excellent for the feet after such a long walk, though topping it off was the fact that it was actually a natural fish spa! I slept in a tent that night listening to the pouring rain, and in the morning we headed off on another
hike – this one through a rainforest trail & across a number of streams. It would seem (according to our guides) that every other plant we crossed could kill – just by touching it – so we weren’t quite sure what to trust by the time we got back to our camp! Back in the capital, I was taken on an unexpected tour to see mosques & markets & the palace & a famous hotel. This capped-off my 3-days in Brunei with enough of the sights to get
a good sense of the place before the last leg of my trip in Singapore.
I arrived in Singapore midday after a crazy run across the tarmac from my plane to customs & back to catch my connecting flight in KL & got myself to my friends’ home in time to find ‘my’ room & put my feet up on the balcony overlooking the harbour before they arrived home from work. Unfortunately my sore throat had turned into a lost voice somewhere en-route, and I was a pretty terrible conversationalist for the 3 days I was there. It wasn’t long before I discovered how HOT Singapore is, yet despite this, I probably spent most of the days walking – looking at the architecture & gardens, public art & people. I found refuge from the sun in food markets, cafes, museums & in the swimming pool at the condo – quite the luxury for a backpacker!
The food was generally excellent - as was the company, and it was certainly nice to spend the last few days with friends so far away from home. Though far away, it’s worth noting that Malaysia & Singapore has the same diversity I see in Toronto. I had never been anywhere else where the food & people & languages from all over the world have come together to live in a normal way like it does at home; I must say it is lovely.
