After a sleepless night spent in a corner of Kuala Lumpur’s Low Cost Carrier Terminal we arrived in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap early on May 6^th.  Well it was sleepless for me, Lisa has the fantastic ability to be able to sleep anywhere!

Immediately we were taken with the humour and friendliness of the Cambodians, a pleasant change from the blandness we experienced with Malaysians.  We were picked up from the airport by a Tuk-Tuk driver from our guesthouse, Cambodian Tuk-Tuks are a glorified two wheel trailer towed behind a scooter – a fun experience straightaway!

Our guesthouse (Siem Reap Rooms) was great, a real step up in quality from that we had been used to in Malaysia, cheap, clean, and comfortable and run by a very helpful Canadian couple.  We liked the laid back vibe of Siem Reap straight away and spent the morning catching up on some sleep before enjoying one of the lovely salads at the nearby ‘Peace Cafe’.  Siem Reap is the ‘base camp’ for a visit to the nearby ancient temples of Angkor, the supposed eighth wonder of the world, which means that it is very tourist friendly.    We kicked off our Angkor visit that evening at the ‘Pre Rup’ temple, which we climbed to watch the sun setting over the surrounding jungle.

Later we went for our first ‘Khymer Curry’, a tasty coconut based curry – Cambodian food is similar to Thai but not so spicy.  Siem Reap comes alive at night as tourists descend on ‘Pub Street’ and the surrounding alleys to enjoy the social vibe – after conservative Malaysia this was very welcome!

This was my second visit here (first time in 2006, read more here) and I saw both the town and the temples from another perspective – I enjoyed them just as much if not more than last time, Siem Reap in particular has seen a lot of improvement.  The Angkor Temples cover a large area and you need more than a day to take it all in, we went for a three day pass (US$40) although many people spend a week or more here.  To cover the distances we hired a Tuk-Tuk driven by friendly driver Chamnan, with his big red ‘Lucky’ helmet, for our three day visit.

On our first full day we cruised around the Grand Circuit, which took us on a big loop of the outer lying temples.  We started at the furthest away Hindu temple of Banteay Srei, which sits 25km north-east of the main group of temples – a long and dusty ride from Siem Reap in the Tuk-Tuk!  All the temples have similar features but each  have their own charm, Banteay Srei is a kind of mini-temple compared to the others and is thus named the Jewel of the Angkor temples.

Near the Banteay Srey is the Cambodian Land Mine museum, a real eye opener, which details the terrific work done to rid the country of these horrible devices. Cambodia has been affected by several wars in recent decades and is the most densely land mined country in the world.  In 2011 alone 200 people were killed by land mines and many more maimed – we have seen a crazy amount of people, including children, with missing limbs.

Back to the temples, which were built around 1000 years ago and each was built in the honour of the serving king at the time.  It must have been an unbelievable effort to build these temples when you consider they had no modern tools to help move the massive stones used in their construction – some temples are over 50m high!  The Grand Circuit took us all day and we saw lots of temples (I won’t bore you with all the names), some more interesting than others. Having been to many before I was happy to just sit somewhere and take it in.

The level of detail put into the temples is incredible, which is particularly evident in the carefully chisled carvings that cover most of the walls.

Most of the temples have a theme such as water or animals, we particularly liked the Elephants at the Eastern Baray Temple.

At all of the temples there were lots of children (some as your as 6) waiting to sell us souvenirs with a shouts of “Lady you wanna buy scarf?” or “Sir, you buy postcard?”.  Whilst they can be quite pushy and persistent they are also amusingly entertaining and many were almost fluent in English.  Of course I don’t condone the use of ‘cute’ kids to make more money from the tourists, it is just a game to them, but hopefully at least the language skills will benefit them later in life.

As well as the kids there was always a throng of stalls around the entrance/exit of each temple selling souvenirs and cold drinks.  Of course there is a lot of competition so when they saw us a chorus of “Hey lady, you want cold drink?” or “Sir, you want scarf for your girlfriend?” would be chirped in our direction.  I didn’t mind the harassment, they just want to make some money and I enjoyed the banter with them!

On our second day we toured in the inner circuit, which arguably has the most interesting temples.  Where better to start than sunrise at Angkor Wat, the most famous temple.  It was a painful 4am wake up but as the first rays of light came up behind the temple we realised it was well worth it – nicely mirrored by the lake in the foreground.

We also had the benefit of being getting inside the temple before the throngs of tourists arrived meaning we could have a good look around in peace!  It is believed to be one of the longest continually used temples in the world having been a working temple for over 1000 years.  I suppose you can think of Angkor Wat as the Rolls Royce of the temples – it’s refined and the attention to detail is incredible.

That said nearby Angkor Thom is a close second and has many features not found at Angkor Wat, such as the smiling faces of the Bayon that seem to stare at you wherever you are.

Angkor Thom is a large area that was once a ‘city’ and includes many temples within its walls – it took us several hours to walk round it all.  I couldn’t resist the opportunity for a tacky tourist photo with some locals dressed in traditional costume!

For me the best styling was at the Ta Prohm temple, which has been ‘reclaimed’ by the jungle, I remember it from my last visit and it was no less impressive this time.  Astonishingly large trees have grown between cracks in the walls, you really have to see it too believe it.

This was the last temple on our tour and since my last visit I noticed they have been doing some fantastic reconstruction work, which must have taken a lot of painstaking work.

Considering the early start we were knackered and ‘templed out’ by the early afternoon, the heat and humidity in the midday sun is unbearable, so we went back to the guesthouse for a much needed rest.

Suitably refreshed the next day we felt ready to get back in the Tuk-Tuk for a journey out to the Beng Mealea temple and the nearby Kompong Khleang floating village, which is 70km out of Siem Reap.  It should be noted that whilst Tuk-Tuks are good fun they are not suited to long journeys on the dusty and bumpy Camodian roads.  Nevertheless the two hour journey took us through lots of villages and farmland with friendly waving locals, which gave us an insight into the way of life in rural Cambodia.

The Beng Mealea is picturesque temple that is mainly in ruins, which we found ourselves scrambling over as we were guided around by a friendly local ‘guide’.

We tried not to think about how safe the structure was and were glad that we noticed the sign saying that over 500 landmines have been cleared from in and around the temple on our way out!

From the temple it was then an hour or so drive out to the floating village, with the last few kilometers being down the bumpiest road imaginable. Of course to view the village properly we had to go on a boat, although our vessel could barely be given that title! Equipped with a big engine that constantly overheated and broke down, and an inefficient propeller on the end of a long pole that sprayed muddy water everywhere and picked up all the rubbish, fishing nets, and general crap from the bottom of the shallow muddy river – we were stopping every five minutes to make ‘repairs’.

Add to that our ‘captain’ couldn’t speak English nor did he seem like an able seaman and the deafening roar of the over-sized engine it made for am ’interesting’ trip. Nevertheless, when we finally got out to the floating village on the lake (we were thankful for it being very calm!) it was interesting to see. Not really sure why they live out there but there was a whole community with schools, shops, and houses.

The happy waving locals seemed happy to see us and generally content with life, despite living with basic amenities and in obvious poverty. We were thankfully to disembark the ‘Boat’ back at the jetty, but had to laugh at the Cambodian craziness of the trip!

We were sad to leave Siem Reap the next day, it is a nice town with some rally nice locals and a good nightlife, but after four days there we had to push on to Cambodia’s capital Phomn Phen. It was a four hour trip in a speedy mini-bus and we arrived in Phomn Phen at lunch time. First priority was to get a Visa for Vietnam, which we easily arranged in 24 hours with a travel agent in the backpacker area on the riverside – I love that in Asia it is always easy to get things sorted!

We spent three nights in Phomn Phen, which isn’t really a sight-seeing city but a good place to soak up the Cambodian way of life. To be honest in the heat of the day you don’t want to be out in the sun for too long! We did have a look at the golden roofed Royal Palace, which stands out from the crowded Phomn Phen skyline.

We also had a look at the city’s temple – Wat Phomn – and did some souvenir shopping at the central market. Like Angkor there were throngs of children keen to sell us their wares, such as this cheeky chappy who wanted to exchange flip-flops!

A lot of these street kids in Phomn Phen we wearing these “I could be your son/daughter” T-Shirts issued by the UK’s Save the Children charity – not sure if they are trying to encourage people to buy from them or not?

Our last day in Phomn Phen was a sombre one as we got in learnt about the horrors of the genocide committed in Cambodia by Pol Pots Khymer Rouge regime in the late 1970′s. Firstly we visited ‘the Killing Fields’ about 20 minutes out of the city, which is where thousands of Cambodians (and a few foreigners) were mass murdered for ‘crimes’ against the regime. I visited here before on my last visit, but they have improved it greatly with a good audio tour that details what happened here. Nevertheless it is hard to believe what happened here and I’ll spare you the gory details. The sites poignant monument is a large pagoda that is rammed full of skulls from some of the victims – men, women, and children.

Possibly even more moving was the S21 prison in the heart of the city where many people were interrogated and tortured until they confessed to their crimes, at which point they were subsequently trucked out to the Killing Fields. The torture was barbaric enough but sickly the Kyhmer Rouge documented each prisoner in detail including taking a photo of each one. These photos are on display in the cells of the prison, which was former primary school, ghosts of the past staring out at you.

I don’t want to dwell on this part of Cambodian history, I can’t get my head around the insanity of it. Regardless of the past the friendly and optimistic Cambodians are getting on with their lives and are rightly proud of their country.

We couldn’t end our Cambodia trip like this so after hearing good things (thanks Mik and Sarah!) we’ve spent the last couple of days in the sleepy town of Kampot on the south coast. With its riverside setting, laid-back cafes, and ageing French buildings it’s a nice place to while-away a few days. There’s not much see here but we did go into the Bakor National Park where a mountain peak (1080m) with a recently built Big Buddha statue on top offers fantastic views around the surrounding area.

At the top of the mountain are the ruins of former French colonial buildings including a grand hotel/casino and a catholic cathedral. The buildings have been unoccupied since the Khymer Rouge soldiers made their last stand here in the 1980′s, but now are being redeveloped to for the booming tourism industry – come back in a few years and I’m sure it will be looking good.

This evening we took a sunset cruise along the Teuk Chhou river before enjoying one last Khymer curry.

Tomorrow morning we are off to Vietnam, the border of which is not too far from here. We will spend a couple of days on the Mekong Delta before heading up to Ho Chi Minh City.

Cambodia has really got to us, we came thinking it was all about Angkor Wat but are leaving knowing there is much more to it than that. The Cambodians are lovely people whose infectious smiles and warm character have really inspired us – there’s no doubt about it, we are sad to leave…

You can find a load more photos from our trip in Cambodia here.

We’ve spent the last few days rounding off our Borneo trip in the southern city of Kuching capital of the Malyasian state of Sarawak. Whilst described by our guide book as a laid back sort of place we found it quite busy and unwelcoming. Nevertheless Kuching’s proximity to lots of surrounding wildlife makes it worth the ideal base for a trip into the surrounding national parks.

The Semenggoh Orang-utan Sanctuary is only 25km outside the town and is easy enough to get to by public bus. It was much less touristy than the other Sanctuary we visited in Sabah with only a handful of tourists around for the afternoon feeding session. This protected area of jungle is where orphaned and injured Orang-utans are rehabilitated and, hopefully, released into the wild.

It was a swelteringly hot day when we visited and the rangers were unsure whether any of the Orang-utans would venture down to the feeding platform where a bucketful of fruit was awaiting them. Indeed it took a while as the Orang-utans seemed wary of the watching tourists (some people can’t keep quiet!) but one-by-one they came down the ropes to the platforms and retreated with some fruit to a safe distance.

They are amazing animals to watch, so graceful and human like in their emotions and movements – except when holding onto the rope with their feet!

We could see the trees swaying as the Orang-utans swung their way through the jungle and eventually there were at least six of them within view, including some very young ones.

We could have stayed all day, but we had to catch the last bus back to the city where after an Indian evening meal we strolled by the river past the impressive state parliament building, which is probably the nicest area of the city.

We were planning to go out to the nearby Bako national park but decided not to as there wasn’t any overnight accommodation available – plan ahead on weekends! Never mind we have seen plenty of wildlife in Borneo and to be honest we have had our fill of jungle! Instead we visited the Sarawak museum where we learnt about the tribal cultures of the state, including the infamous head-hunting.

Carried out for over 500 years I am thankful this practice declined in 1841 when Sarawak became an independent state under governance of Sir James Brooke. Heads were ‘collected’, worshipped, and revered – much of the rituals are a mystery but it is known that women and children’s heads were favoured!

This evening we flew back to Kuala Lumpur and again we find ourselves spending a night in the airport as we have a very early (06:50) flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia, which is close to the famous Temples of Angkor.

So our Borneo adventure is over, it has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience with jungles, mountains (the pain was worth it!), cities (Brunei was the best), and some amazing wildlife. I guess I expected Borneo to be mainly about nature, but it has been a bit of an eye opener as to how developed it is there. I hope the remaining native forests and there amazing inhabitants can be saved from the spreading cities and palm plantations so they can be enjoyed by future generations. I’m going to try to avoid palm oil products from now on – easier said than done, but every little helps!

There are some Orang-utan centric photos from Kuching and around here.

Tiny oil rich Brunei, the only country that resides only on Borneo, is somewhere I never thought I would visit. However when we found out it was a simple ferry ride away we thought why not go and check it out? Thus yesterday we boarded a rather fast and loud ferry at the port in Kota Kinabula (capital of Malaysia’s Borneo state of Sabah) for a three hour journey to the Malaysian Island of Labuan, and from there changed to another ferry for the hour trip to Brunei.

We arrived at the port of Serasa about 25km north of Brunei’s main town of Bandar Seri Begawan (B.S.B). We picked up some subtle differences to Malaysia straightaway – things were well organised, the streets were very clean, and there was a stronger emphasis on religion (Islam). However it was still clearly Asia as the bus that took us from the port to the city took forever stopping at every little settlement on the way and we were soon crammed in like sardines!

A few people had told us that Brunei is boring, alcohol is prohibited here so the main entertainment is eating and shopping, but whilst it’s no Dubai we found that we quite liked it. The people were especially welcoming and friendly, patriotically pleased that we had visited their country and interested to hear where we were from. We also got to stay in a reasonably decent hotel as there are no hostels here, whilst a bit more than our normal budget a refreshing change!

We discovered the friendliness of the Bruneians when we tried to take a bus to some of the sights, instead a friendly guy, Haji, offered to give us a tour of the city – initially I was sceptical but he was a genuinely nice guy! Firstly we visited the fantastic Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. A spectacle of golden domes, shiny chandeliers, and landscaped gardens with gushing fountains built in 1992.

Later we went to the Gadong night market where we sampled some cheap local eats including a kind of warm sushi wrapped in banana leafs and beef and cucumber kebab – really nice.

The mix of colours and smells was great and we enjoyed browsing through the stalls and taking it all in.

On the way back to town we made a quick photo stop (it’s only open to visitors for three days a year immediately after Ramadan) at the enormous royal palace – Istana Nurul Iman – home to Brunei’s wealthy sultan. We were told that with 1788 rooms , including 257 bathrooms, it is the largest residential palace in the world.

This morning we had a walk through the quiet streets of the city and visited Kampung Ayer, which is the biggest water village in the world with 28’000 inhabitants. Quite a contrast to the organised streets of the city across the river it’s a jumble of wooden huts on stilts sitting above the water along the banks of the Sungai River. Firstly we took a water taxi tour around the village with a friendly tour guide who had us zipping between and sometimes under the houses!

With schools, restaurants, and even a petrol station all built above the water it is an impressive and interesting sight. We had a quick walk around a section of the village with a viewing tower that gave us a panoramic view over Kampang Ayer. Unfortunately a heavy thunderstorm kicked in and we retreated back to the city before we got to drenched.

This afternoon we took a bus south, crossing Brunei through swathes of jungle, back into Malaysia where we disembarked in the town of Miri in the state of Sarawak. There ended our 24 hours in Brunei, the self proclaimed Green Heart of Borneo, an interesting and rewarding experience – it’s nice when you go somewhere and it turns out to be better than you had anticipated!

This evening we took a short flight to the city of Kuching, at the southern end of Malaysian Borneo, from where we hope to get back into the jungle and see some of Borneo’s wildlife again.

There are a few photos from Brunei here.

We’ve spent the last week or so in the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah, a so called natural theme park. We flew into the small town of Sandakan near the Eastern edge of the state, and as we came into land we could only see jungle stretching as far as the eye could Borneo looked as I had imagined with dense jungle stretching as far as the eye could see. From the airport we took a taxi about 25km west to the small area of Sepilok, where we stayed overnight at the Uncle Tan’s hostel. We had booked onto a 3 day 2 night wildlife safari with Uncle Tan’s along the Kinabatangan River starting the next day and so having had a restless night at Kuala Lumpur airport we relaxed for the rest of the day.

Our tour started at the Sepilok Orang-utan Sanctuary, which rehabilitates orphaned babies back into the wild. The apes are not kept in cages but the sanctuary is setup in a protected area of jungle, of course the Orang-utans are very used to human contact so we were able to get very close to them.

The Orang-utans are very hard to spot as they gracefully swing through the jungle canopy, unlike monkeys which jump and screech their way through the jungle. However at feeding time three Orang-utans came out of the jungle to the platform where park rangers had laid of food for them.

The rangers stayed nearby to guard the food from the cheeky long-tailed Macaques that were looking for a free feed – as soon as the Orang-utans were finished the rangers moved away and the platform was invaded!

The sanctuary has an interesting information centre where we learnt about the work they undertake as well as the Orang-utans, which, as is easy to see from their mannerisms, share 96% of the genes of humans. Orang-utans are only found in Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, sadly their existence is threatened by the destruction of their habitats to make way for palm tree plantations to supply palm oil. On our travels through Borneo we were sad to see that there are many palm tree forests. It was a touristy experience at the sanctuary but nevertheless enjoyable and interesting, and we were happy to support the good work they are doing there.

During the wildlife tour we stayed in a jungle camp somewhere in the Borneo jungle on the banks of the muddy brown Kinabatangan River. To get to the camp it was an hour and a half bumpy minibus ride from Sandakan to the river and then an hour cruise upstream in an open motorboat – we were literally in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately during our journey to the camp the heavens opened and we got soaked, the only time in the three days!

We were glad to get into the shelter of the camp and were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as basic as we had expected, it was basic but they had electricity and running water which offered a few home comforts! The camp is staffed by 20-30 locals who are all really friendly and good fun – especially the affable chef Lan. Considering the facilities and difficulties of the jungle the food was varied and excellent – river crab curry anyone?!

The river is something of a sanctuary for the animals that as a result of the logging and palm-oil industries have been forced to seek refuge along the rivers flood plains. The camp was the perfect base from which to embark on river cruises to get close to some of Borneo’s wildlife, and there were three cruises a day to give us the maximum chance of seeing it – dawn, dusk, and night with a spot light – in the day the heat of the sun makes the animals quite docile.

All the cruises were different and we saw different animals each time. Our first tour was at night and we found Kingfishers sleeping on branches, a baby crocodile, and this owl staring down at us from the branches overhanging the river.

The misty dawn cruise was a good time to see the rivers birdlife, including kingfishers, egrets, hornbills, and sea eagles soaring over the river. We also saw a group of Gibbons, apes that are in the same family as Orang-utans, swinging through the trees. On all the cruises there were plenty of Macaques to entertain us with their monkey antics. The zoom lens came in handy

The best cruise though was in the late afternoon with the setting sun providing a lovely light over the jungle. Sadly, despite a through search, we didn’t see an Orang-utan but we did find a group of Proboscis Monkeys – big nosed monkeys that are unique to Borneo. The alpha male, the bigger nose the better apparently, sat high up in the tree on the lookout for predators whilst his group hung out in the branches below.

The sunset over the river and jungle was great!

As well as the cruises we did some jungle trekking, one in the day and another at night. The day trek just got us hot and sweaty and up close to lots of bugs – millipedes, centipedes, spiders, scorpions, and fire ants – Lisa liked to hold most of these, but I preferred not too! The night trek around the camp perimeter was better as we found frogs, bats, and sleeping birds that would let us get very close to them (they can’t see in the dark so were forced to sit still and ignore us).

We slept in basic wooden huts on mattresses covered with a mosquito net, sleeping wasn’t easy with the sounds of the jungle – we knew there were rats, snakes, spiders, etc crawling all around us!

After two nights and three days in the sweaty jungle (without a shower) we were ready for civilisation again! It was a really good tour, and we met a nice group of fellow travellers, and I would definitely recommend a trip on the Kinabatangan River if you come to Borneo.

After the tour, and a much needed shower, we took a bus from Sepilok about four hours west to the base of Mt. Kinabula, which at 4095m is South East Asias tallest mountain. We stayed in a nice hostel near the entrance to the national park that surrounds the mountain and were pleased that it was quite a bit cooler as we were at 1500m – we had a great night’s sleep.

Many people come to Borneo just to climb the mountain and the limited daily permits for the summit trail get booked up way in advance, therefore we expected that we would not be able to do the climb. However never trust the Lonely Planet as on enquiry at the park office we were soon booked in to do the climb the following day! We did a warm up trek on the 6km Liwagu trail through the jungle at the base of mountain, nice until some horsefly type things ravaged us and I lost of camera lens cap in a fast flowing stream!

Next morning we met up with our guide, Frederick (or maybe Patrick it seemed to change!), around 7:30am and a French guy, Boris, who asked if he could join our group to split the guide fees (no problem – climbing the mountain isn’t cheap!). We then drove up to the start of the summit trail and set off carrying as many warm clothes as we could find – we had to buy two second hand jackets for 5 quid each as we only have summer clothes with us! The trail is just over 8.5km to the summit but with over 2000m to ascend it is a steep climb, almost every step is uphill, on some of the biggest steps I have seen – not so bad on the way up but a killer on the way down.

Of course we hadn’t done any training for the climb so it was tough going but we slowly plodded our way up, stopping regularly for breaks at the shelters along the trail. The world record to climb and descend the mountain is 2 hours 37 mins (respect!) but it took us four sweaty hours to reach the climbers hostel, Laban Rata, which is 6km along the trail at 3273m.

This place was a real luxury (how we would of loved this during our ascent of Kilimanjaro!) with a restaurant, showers, and enough beds to sleep 150 people. Not cheap at nearly 100 quid a night, but then the only way to supply the hostel is a by the impressive porters who undertake the trail with some very heavy loads!

We arrived at the hostel around 1pm and were due to set off for the summit at 2:30am, so we spent the afternoon preparing for the climb ahead by eating and sleeping. We managed to get a good four hours of sleep and the adrenaline was pumping as we set off into the dark following Frederick on the trail to the summit. It wasn’t as cold as we expected (5-10 degrees) and it was a lovely clear night’s sky with giving us a great view of the stars and the long line of climbers head-torches on the trail ahead of us. As we got above the tree line we could see the lights of the settlements below, most notably the large city of Kota Kinabula 100km away on the coast.

The final kilometre was scramble up the granite dome of the summit using a rope as a route marker and support. We arrived at the summit at 4:45am about 30 minutes before the first rays of light of the day.

Now sitting still and open to a chilly breeze the cold kicked in, the five quid jackets were well worth the investment, and predictably worst affected were Lisa’s feet! It wasn’t too bad though and the rising sun distracted us as we witnessed a breathtaking sunrise over Borneo.

After about an hour at the top our feet were pretty numb and we started the descent.

Of course climbing the mountain is only half of the challenge and what goes up must come down. With the light we could now see how steep the trail was and it was arguably harder going down than coming up!

After negotiating the summit ropes we were back down at the hostel having breakfast (it felt more like lunch and noodles felt right for a change!) by 8am. Then came the nasty bit, 6km and a 2000m decent over those knee jarring steps. The first 3km were ok but the last 3km were a real chore and the going was slow!

It took us four hours to get to the bottom of the trail from the hostel, tired but nevertheless very happy to have completed the Mt. Kinabula challenge!

After a decent buffet lunch at the park gate we took a bus to Kota Kinabula (the main town in Sabah) and after a welcome shower literally crashed out – it had been a long long day of walking!
Next morning we found our legs had ceased up and we could barely walk! A couple of days of R&R was in order so on the advice of some fellow backpackers headed to the ‘tip of Borneo’ about 3 hours drive in a shared taxi north of Kota Kinabula, near the town of Kudat.

We stayed in a traditional Borneo longhouse owned by a British expat, Howard from Stratford-upon-Avon(!), near the beach. A basic hut, which is normally shared by many families but in this case is a backpacker retreat!

With little to do except relax on the beautiful beaches and take in the view (we could see the Philippines) it was the perfect place to rest our legs and enjoy the sunshine with a book and the sunsets were glorious.

Now we are back in Kota Kinabula feeling rested although still finding it hard to walk down steps, but ready for the next adventure – which is a ferry ride tomorrow to Brunei, the only country that exists only on Borneo. After that we’ll head into the southern state of Sarawak where we’ll head back into the jungle and hopefully find us an Orang-utan!

There are lots and lots of photos from our Borneo adventures here.

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia’s capital city late on April 10th, having flown in from Bali. The airport is an hour’s bus ride from the city, about 70km, but we could see its bright lights and skyscrapers well before we arrived at our hostel in the Chinatown district. It was a rather shabby hostel, the staff kept us (and others) waiting ages to check-in and, as we were to find out, they seem to prefer rooms without windows in Malaysia! But hey it’s cheap so you get on with it!

I have visited KL before in 2006 staying in the gleaming business district. Chinatown (and nearby Little India) are a contrast to this with chaotic markets and scruffy alleyways – so it was a different face of the city that I saw on this visit. Our first day didn’t start off to well as we went to the Vietnam embassy to get a visa only to find it shut, so instead spent the morning gazing up at the skyscrapers in the so called Golden Triangle district. Probably the most iconic building is the Petronas Towers, which serves as the headquarters of the national oil company and was at one time the world’s tallest building.

There are many shopping malls in this area, including a very posh KLCC under the Petrona’s Towers, which was way over our budget so we didn’t hand around too long opting instead for the cheapness of Chinatown. You can buy pretty much anything at the markets there, and they seemed to be doing a roaring trade in ‘authentic’ designer gear. There’s a nice colonial era Central Market building where the souvenirs are better quality, and I spent quite a while following Lisa around in there – including waiting while she had a fishy pedicure!

To understand the city a bit better we took a free ‘Heritage Walking Tour’ around some of the older parts of the city. Our guide, Victor, was a volunteer who wanted to improve his English, which was pretty good although as there were only four of us on the tour I found the portable microphone and speaker a little over the top!

Nevertheless he took us to some interesting places, including the Masjid Negara (National Mosque) which with its 18-point star symbolises the 13 states of Malaysia and five pillars of Islam, which is the country’s main religion. It was a bit hot wearing a fetching purple over gown in the baking heat!

Later we visited a Chinese Buddhist temple and also some back alley Indian tea stands where we sampled the local brew – ‘Teh Tarik’, which translates as three layer tea (black tea, condensed milk, and coconut sugar). It was fun to watch them mix the tea by pouring the boiling hot liquid between two cups to allow it to cool to drinking temperature.

At another stall we tried a popular fruit snack, Guava, which is served with sour plum powder to make it sweet and refreshing. We also took in a cultural dance performance with some brightly dressed dancers, and Lisa was ‘encouraged’ to join in.

After the tour we took a city train to the north-west of the city where we visited the Batu Caves, which are a sacred Hindu temple. The temple cave is accessed by scaling 272 steps, which are guarded by a 43m high golden Murga statue – very impressive.

To be honest the caves were a bit scruffy and uninspiring, however the views back over the city made the sweaty trek up the steps worth it. Even better was the vegetarian Indian meal we had after we came back down again. Malaysia has a large Indian and Chinese population, introduced by the British in colonial times, and the resulting mix of cuisines is fantastic – Roti Canai, Indian style flaky flat bread served with curry sauces, has become a daily favourite!

Later we returned to the city and browsed the cheap electronics on offer at the Low Yat Plaza before relaxing on the grass at Merdeka Square as the sun went down. This picturesque square is surrounded by colonial government buildings (Malaysia was taken over by the Portuguese in 1511, the Dutch in 1641, and then the British in 1795) and is the place where Malaysia’s independence (Merdeka) was proclaimed in 1957.

After three days in KL we took a four hour bus ride (buses are big and comfy in Malaysia) to the peaceful Cameron Highlands, which with its green rolling hills was a welcome change from the bustling streets of the city. Given the altitude it rarely rises over 21 degrees here and the temperature was much more pleasant than sweltering KL. We stayed at ‘Daniels Travellers Lodge’ in the town of Tanah Rata that whilst being very basic had a nice vibe, and we were surprised to find that the receptionist was a scouser!

The Cameron Highlands are one of Malaysia’s main agricultural areas with a range of fruits and veggies being grown here. The area is especially famous for its tea and strawberry plantations, which we spent a day touring. The green tea plantations in the misty valleys, which spanned as far as the eye could see, were particularly scenic.

We visited the Scottish owned BOH tea estate where we were learnt about the tea production process. We enjoyed a nice cup of their tea overlooking the plantation, although we didn’t go for the Scones and Jam which are popular here! Later we drove up to the highest point in the Highlands at Gunung Brinchang for a supposedly fantastic view, but sadly the valleys below were covered in cloud so we didn’t see anything. We also did a short trek through the ‘Mossy Forest’, as the name suggests a rainforest covered with moss, where we saw some rare orchids and got covered in mud!

In the afternoon we had a strawberry ice cream at a strawberry farm and visited a butterfly and reptile farm where we got to see lots of nasty looking creepy crawlies (spiders, beetles, scorpions, etc) and some large and very colourful butterflies.

After two nights in the Highlands we arranged a minibus to take us to the North East coast of the Malaysian peninsular to visit the Perhenthian Islands. It was an unpleasant five hour drive as our driver drove like a madman, despite repeated requests for him to slow down, and it was something of a relief when we finally arrived in the port town of Kuala Besut. It was a hair raising day as we then took a 30 min speed boat ride to Pulau Perhentian Kecil, the smaller of the two Perhentian islands, where we stayed in a simple beach hut at the tranquil Coral Bay.

Thankfully there are no cars on the islands and with little to do other than to sit back with a book and swim in the tranquil bay we spent a very relaxing four days there. The snorkelling was excellent; as the name suggest right off the beach there is a coral reef teeming with tropical marine life. Although the best snorkelling was on a boat trip we took around the islands during which we stopped off at five snorkelling places including Shark Point and Romantic beach. As well as the abundant colourful fish in the clear waters we saw Black Tip Reef Sharks, Turtles, Clown Fish (Nemo), and some Eagle Rays – a really enjoyable trip.

The islands aren’t that big and it was only a 10 minute walk from Coral Bay across the island to Long Beach, which is livelier but in our opinion not as nice. The advantage of Coral Bay is that it faces west and therefore the sunsets over the bay are great.

After four days we took a speed boat back to the mainland and then a short taxi ride to the town of Jertih where we caught an overnight bus south to the city of Melaka. We had to kill four hours in Jertih, not easy as there isn’t much there except a big Mosque and some basic shops, nevertheless the locals were friendly and seemed to enjoy talking to us

We slept well in the comfy reclining seats on the bus and the nine hours to reach Melaka, which is 150km south of KL, passed quickly. With its Portuguese and Dutch colonial architecture it felt, in places, quite European and we really liked Melaka. We stayed in the quirky ‘Tony’s Guesthouse’, where we met the affable owner, Tony, who is really friendly and helpful guy.

Melaka has world heritage status and it is easy to see why with some really impressive historical buildings, such as the Dutch built Christ Church and Stadthuys (town hall) standing in the bright red ‘Dutch Square’ (it was originally white, but the British painted it red – no one is sure why).

Melaka isn’t a very big city and it is easy to walk around, although the midday-sun was pretty fierce so we hired a cyclo to take us to the ruins of the A’Famosa Fort, which was built by the Dutch and destroyed by the British. From there we walked up to the St. Pauls church that stands on top of a hill overlooking the city and offers good views across it.

Melaka is great for food and yet again our favourite was the Indian cuisine, we thoroughly enjoyed a feast of vegetarian curries and biriyani served up on banana leaf.

After a quick visit to the Malaysia Independence Museum (a bit too much info!) we cooled down inthe air-con of a shopping mall. In the evening we went to the Jonker Street night market in Chinatown where we sampled the local delicacy of Pineapple Tart and did some trinket shopping. It was most amusing to watch the old Chinese people doing Karaoke on a big stage in front of a big audience at the end of the street – luckily for you this photo doesn’t capture the wailing!

This morning we visited a replica of an 15th century Portuguese Ship that is now the Malaysian maritime museum and then relaxed in a cafe along the cities canal – it almost felt like we were in Amsterdam.

This afternoon we took a bus to KL airport from where we will fly to Malaysian Borneo early tomorrow morning (yep I’m killing time at the airport by writing this!). Malaysia has been great so far, with its population being a mix of people from different backgrounds and religions it’s an interesting cultural mix – the food in particular is fantastic! Whilst I suspect Borneo is more about wildlife than culture we are glad that we are not leaving Malaysia yet.

There are some photos from the last week or so here.