Week 1: Kuala Lumpur, Perhentian Islands, and Kuching

Hi!

I hope this finds you well. I can’t believe it’s almost November! We have just returned from a 2 week vacation in Malaysia . . . . pretty nice deal; since I’ve only been here a month and a half!

I will give you a quick recap of my time away . . . hopefully the pictures will offer more explanation and detail!

On Friday, October 13th, the four of us (me, Jill, Kristen, and Lisa) left Bangkok from the new airport, which is unbelievably huge! In the cab I realized that I forgot to pack my bathing suits . . . good for me – as I HATE shopping for them. (Leah knows all about this!!!!) We arrived in Kuala Lumpur late that night and went straight to our hostel. We stayed in a 4-bed dorm room, which was nice.
On Saturday, October 14th, we walked around the city of Kuala Lumpur. We visited the Petronas Twin Towers, but were unable to go up, as only a certain number of tickets are sold each day for a tour. We ate in Chinatown, which was fun – we ordered from a photo album!
On Sunday, October 15th, we left KL for Kota Bharu. We then had to take a 1 hour taxi ride and a 1 hour boat ride to the Perhentian Island: Kecil. It was AMAZING! The water was turquoise – the bluest and clearest that I have ever seen. I stood in water up to my chest, and could still see my toes! We stayed in 2-person bungalows and ate our meals on the beach. Right now, it is considered the low season (in fact, everything shuts down Nov. 1st), so the island was quite quiet, which was really nice.
Monday, October 16th was definitely the highlight of the first week. We went snorkelling for 6 hours, and it only cost us $12cdn. It was a phenomenal day. We saw black tipped sharks, a sting ray, a gigantic turtle, and the most amazing fish and coral. I think it’s fascinating to see such wild and bright colours occur in nature. I even held a 1-day-old turtle – so cute!
On Tuesday, October 17th, we had to leave the island at noon because there were no other boats leaving at a later time. I was a bit disappointed because our flight back to KL wasn’t scheduled until 9pm, and it would have been great to soak up more sun! We spent time in a small town, Kota Bharu, as we awaited our flight. Kota Bharu is a Muslim town and it was extremely conservative. I saw many women covered from head to toe. We stayed in a 6-bed dorm room at a different hostel in KL. Kristen stayed at the airport as she had booked the wrong flight, and was leaving for Kuching 1 day earlier than the rest of us.
On Wednesday, October 18th; Lisa, Jill, and I went to Batu Cave. We had to walk up 272 stairs to enter the cave. There were a bunch of monkeys – quite mean . . . . maybe because of all the garbage they eat! That night, the 3 of us went to see fireflies. There are only 3 places in the world where you can see these fireflies. They synchronize their flashing . . . . the trees reminded me of Christmas lights! And apparently, the fireflies stay in the same tree all of their lives. We were in a rickety old boat that was rowed by quite an old man.
On Thursday, October 19th, the 3 of us flew to Kuching and we met up with Kristen. We went to a Malaysian Cultural Centre; it reminded me of Lower Fort Garry. Here, we learned how the early inhabitants of Malaysia lived. We each tried out a “blowpipe”, and Jill tried a traditional dance. We met a girl from Germany and she joined us for dinner on the waterfront of Kuching. The city of Kuching is the ‘City of Cats’ . . . . we saw the weirdest cat sculptures all over the place!
On Friday, October 20th, we hopped on a bus and headed to Bako National Park. We also had to take a boat ride and I got completely drenched! We stayed in a 4-bed dorm within the park. We went for a 2 hour hike which was nice. We saw the proboscis monkey (the ones with funny noses) high up in the trees. We also saw regular monkeys that were definitely NOT shy . . . . they actually leapt onto the table and stole Lisa’s yogurt and Kristen’s frosted flakes! There were giant bearded pigs wandering around the grounds – kinda weird looking! We went for a really neat hike at night. It was awesome because my other senses totally took over. The sounds and smells of the forest were really cool. We saw a viper snake (poisonous), a flying lemur, tree frogs, huge spiders, an owl, a stick insect, and glow in the dark mushrooms.