Back from Teman Negara

Teman Negara

Originally uploaded by A-Boy.

As you can see, I have just visited Malaysia’s Teman Negara (“national park”) which is the country’s first park that was created in 1939! It rained a bunch in the rainforest, no surprise there, but I was lukcy enough to be the very last visitor allowed on the canopy walk before it was closed due to…. any guesses… rain! It seems pretty lame on there part – its a freakin rainforest and it wasnt even raining that hard – but Im glad I got to go.
In order to reach the boat that goes up to the park’s main village, we had to cross a flooded highway, under about 2 feet of water. Large areas of the country are flooded from heavy rains, and the river in the park had just come down about 3-4 meters in the last couple of days, but I still think it was in flood!
The most exciting part of my time there was a tree. I went for a forest walk to hopefully see some animals and, CRACK, CRACK, CRACk, WOOOSHHH, BOOOM!! A full sized tree, probabaly 20-30 meters tall, crashed down a scant 5 meters from where I stood. Thereafter I freaked out and retreated to civilization, safe from tumbling trees. This morning, I saw a story in the paper about 3 soldiers who were killed by a falling tree – so it is dangerous!
Anyways, tonight I’m flying Bangladesh, without the permethrin I had hoped to buy (because I couldnt find any) – so pray with me that I dont get any nasty souveniers from a Bengali mosquito.

SCUBA diving

Zan and I after a dive

Originally uploaded by A-Boy.

I just went on two SCUBA dives, it cost me 100 bucks for a package that included everything – just 100 bucks!! And I’m not even licensed, I had my own personal divemaster, Zahn (pictured) who operated everything on the suit for me. In the US that would have to cost 300-400 at least!

So long for now, KL

From the cafe I’m sitting in right now, I definitely feel like an expat. Georgetown (on Penang Island) is firmly on “island time” – the Westerners around here seem to be content to sit down with a beer, have a smoke and watch the traffic go by as the locals. Nobody seems in a hurry to do much of anything, and the sales clerks here are much more subdued, so much so that when I went to get some credit for my cell-phone, the guy woke up with a start!

As for what I’ve actually been up to in KL… I spent my first full day in the country with two Americans I had met on the flight – Charlie and Rasheed, who were both on holiday from their graduate studies in Sydney. We first explored the luxurious KLCC shopping centre at the base of the Petronas towers (think Entrapment w/Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones) and picked up some afternoon tickets for the Skybridge visit. We also happened to run into a 103″ plasma TV, which was probably the coolest gadget ever. After thoroughly soaking up the A/C, we departed the Christmas decoration that was KLCC and headed for Chinatown.

Where KLCC was clean, orderly and luxurious, Chinatown, not surprisingly, was not.  We headed into a couple of temples, which was slightly disturbing to those of a Judeo-Christian upbringing. Something did feel slightly wrong with polytheism and idol worship. Nevertheless, we saw a Hindu wedding party waiting outside the temple, and they happily and enthusiasticly posed for my camera (the bride is in blue):

This must be what it will be like in Bangladesh, and it will certainly be fun to photograph people there. Anyways, enduring countless hawkers pitching their products, I only bought a sports watch ($6) and some bootleg Adidas ($22). After walking through the main center of the city (Merkada Sq., where they declared independence from the UK), we returned to visit the Petronas towers skybridge that connects the 41st floors on both towers. It was very nice, but I would like to try and visit the Menara KL tower where you actually go to the top.

Terima Kasih! Comin’ at you from Malaysia

I’ve been in Kuala Lumpur for a day and a half – and boy is it nice to finally travel in a cheap country. By pure chance I was seated next to two Americans who were on holiday from their studies My first night, a proper dinner at a local cafe cost me 5.70 ringgit – all of $1.70!! Unfortunately the sleeper train to Penang is booked for the next two nights so it looks like I’m taking the bus   Maybe I’ll go to the rainforest instead and book a ticket for a few days from now.  Now I’m going to try and buy Adnan a camera from the enormous market downstairs, which probably has 200 stores or something, it’s really easy to get lost, but I’ve made it out before!

G’day mate! Greetings from Sydney

Sydney is one of those cities that you gotta love. The women are gorgeous, the weather is lovely, and the beaches are perfect. I’ve decided to learn how to surf at Bondi beach, and from my first lesson I’ve already gotten up on the board, so hopefully I’ll really have learned something by my 3rd lesson.

I’ve been staying with the parents of a family friend, and their hospitality has a been a pleasant change from the weeks I’ve spent in backpacker’s. So far I’ve roamed around the city, went to the Aquarium and Zoo – although I was much more impressed with the latter.  At the zoo I was priveldged to see the Asian elephants mating, yes, like in a video on the Discovery channel, the male was mounted on a female – an impressive feat for creatures of such massive weight. Another feat was the live bird show – somehow the birds are trained well enough not to fly away. Most of the birds swooped over the audience as they flew to the showman, like so:

Also impressive was the tiger exhibit, where the vreature lurked around just in front of the glass, and the komodo dragon, whose tounge flicked so menacingly.

Yesterday, I was privlidged to attend a concert and the Sydney Opera House, comprised of music from the movie scores of John Williams. My second proper concert (w/an orchestra), it was an incredible show. Listening to music from E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman and Star Wars, among others - the power of the scores live was in another league of their recorded counterparts. The opening note of Star Wars was cued, in the dark, with a stroke of a light sabre! I am now a true fan of classical music concerts, and hope to continue attending them upon my return home.Thats all for now, my next post should be from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!