A.S.I.A: A few hours doesn't mean 8

May 1, 2010

Kuala Lumpur-->Kuala Perlis, Malaysia

Petronas Towers

We woke up early the next day and headed downstairs for a filling breakfast before making our way to the famed Petronas Towers. When we got to the Towers we were all set to get our tickets to head up to the observation deck only to find that the rest of KL and its tourists had had the same early morning idea. After standing for a bit-and Soup being hit on by an overly friendly Iranian man-we decided instead to walk through the city to the KL Tower. Walking around KL you realize that it is an overall very nice city with clean streets and well manicured landscaping, however, it seemed to me more empty and less lively than BKK. Anyway, we finally reached our destination and took a free shuttle up to its base. Basically, the KL Tower is a giant communications tower that also has a revolving restaurant and loads of cultural activities, all while being surrounded by a nature preserve.

KL Tower

At the top we did a 360 degree walk around with a headset and handheld video guide that pointed out the various landmarks around the city. I'm actually glad we went here, because we were able to see the Petronas Towers in the distance and got some great shots looking down on the city. Included with our ticket was a walk through the cultural village so we spent some time taking a look at traditional houses, food and dances of the various Malaysian subcultures from throughout the country before we got a cab back to the hotel and then to the bus station.  As the main bus station was under construction we were driven to a massive tent in a parking lot outside the city. It was one of the most chaotic and insane places we'd ever been. You step foot in the tent and within milliseconds you're hounded by about 33098 people all trying to direct you to their bus and their destination. We finally found a bus that would take us to Kuala Perlis which they said was just a few hour bus ride that would get us to the pier in time to get the ferry to our actual destination, Langkawi.

Sue and Mom are happy listeners

Getting on the bus we were in fairly high spirits with spacious seats, loads of leg room and plenty of Dots for eating (think we ate about 25 boxes of Dots during the 2 week trip.)  We made a stop on our way out of the city where we were uprooted from our seats by some unhappy women, even though we were told that we could sit where we wanted.  Needless to say those women were not offered any Dots (although a bit later, after the steam had stopped pumping from our ears we realized they were actually really nice and helpful...still, no Dots.)  The bus ride was pretty smooth and I was so impressed at Mom and Sue being up for a cross country trek through Malaysia.  The scenery was really beautiful as we went from the city to some flat lands and suddenly up amongst the greenest highlands you could think of.



A view from KL Tower



We made a pit stop a little while into the trip and the 3 of us indulged with a bit of corn-in-a-cup.  I know, I know it sounds like a really exotic treat but it's pretty much exactly as its name states: corn with butter, sugar and coconut milk served in a cup with a small spoon.  It's one of my favorites and I'm pretty sure Mom and Soup are converts as well as we couldn't stop raving about it (and it's kind of an unwritten rule that you have to refer to it by its full name which lends to a bit more fun when discussing this relatively simple dessert.)  Anyway, I digress.  The ladies went off for a touch of rest stop shopping while I headed back to the bus and I'm really glad I did.  About 30 seconds after I got on the bus started to pull away and I jumped up to say they were still shopping, but the seat-stealing ladies were already on it (you remember the really rude and nasty ones from before :) )  The bus honked it's horn for about 2 straight minutes until we were able to see Mom and Sue sprinting through the parking lot in the rain and fog until they reached the bus and we could continue on our journey.

It started to feel like this was taking longer than it should as we realized that everyone else seemed to be getting off the bus except for us.  Then it dusk came, then sunset, then darkness.  We kind of figured that we probably weren't making the 6pm ferry when our bus pulled in after 9pm to a seemingly abandoned bus station in a seemingly abandoned Kuala Perlis.  Not seeing much other choice we made our way to the nearest hotel, the KL Seaview, which, according to its brochure, was at one point very high class--something had changed.  We were immediately greeted by the overwhelming odor of Durian fruit which can at times literally smell like a mixture of onion, puke and sewage.  I went out to help Soup with her bags and was met with an excessively overwaxed and sllippery ramp on which my feet slid right out from under me and I landed completely flat on my back on the hard ground (thankfully I'd kept my back pack on or I think I would have cracked my skull!)  In tears from laughing so hard we went back in to meet Mom and see our rooms, which weren't terrible; I mean what more can you ask for than aircon, enough clean beds to sleep on and arrows on the ceiling pointing us in the direction of Mecca...oh yea, this part of Malaysia is very Muslim.

Starving from our endless bus journey we ate at a pretty lively restaurant, Azira, which was serving local and very tasty Muslim dishes next door.  They clearly didn't get many foreigners in there, but we tried to blend in as much as we could, bobbing along as the locals stepped up to karaoke one after the other.  Our facade was shattered however, when Mom decided it would be a good idea to launch her chocolate milk across the table and spill it over everything.  Embarrassed we continued to bob along and speedily ate up before sneaking away to the luxurious Seaview for the night.

A.S.I.A.: From Krabi to the Muddy Estuary

April 30, 2010

Krabi, Thailand-->Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Our time in Krabi had come to an end and after a bite to eat and some packing we were ready to head back to the airport.  Ming was there waiting to see us off in the van and as we waved goodbye we couldn't help but laugh at the hilarity that had taken place on our short visit.



Petaling Street, KL, Malaysia



The flight was uneventful, as was customs, and we made our way outside of the Kuala Lumpur airport to search for a taxi.  The service is run pretty well at the airport, with everyone paying a set fare to get into the the actual city without having to worry about bartering/getting duped.  Our driver was a Chinese Malaysian and provided us with literally non-stop talking for the entire drive (which turned out to be about 2 hours.)  The airports are about an hour outside of KL itself and, with rush hour traffic, we were kind of at the mercy of our driver's endless stories about the palm trees, his Chinese heritage and his very obvious racism towards the Malay government.  He kept ranting about how when he was growing up kids learned 'real' English, but that the new implementation of Bahasa Malay as the national language had all but butchered the language with awkward phonetic spellings and pronunciations.  We weren't really sure how to react so we kind of nervously laughed along as he described the differences in how we say and spell cucumber and how his kids were being taught to say it.  I guess it was nice though that he taught us that Kuala Lumpur means Muddy Estuary... We were very relieved to reach our hotel.

Sizzling Chinese dinner

The Swiss Hotel definitely seemed nicer online, but as we had just gotten to the city we decided it would do for the night and made our way to Petaling Street.  This street is probably the more famous in KL and is known for it's endless shopping and hawkers.  Seriously anything fake or knock off you can imagine is available on this street.  After looking around and feeling a bit suffocated by the crowds we eked our way out to a less packed side street for some dinner.  We ended up at a delicious Chinese restaurant with streetside seating giving us prime real estate for people watching and giving us our fill before we headed back to the hotel for bed. 

A.S.I.A. No being crabby in Krabi IV

April 29th, 2010
Krabi, Thailand

'Orange sticker deees wayy'  'Pink sa-ticka deees boooattt' 'Brue satickahhhr come wis meeeee'  We were amidst a throng of foreign and Thai tourists all waiting around like livestock to get organized into our respective tours and when our stickers were finally called we sheepishly (catch the pun?!) made our way forward and grabbed our snorkel gear.  It was a beautiful morning and the sun was just coming out and the 3 of us were excited to get started on our 4-Island speedboat tour. 

First stop:



The Phallic Statues

Phra Nang Cave beach.  It was explained to us that this cave was very important to local fishermen and folklore.  The story goes that the spirit of a beautiful princess resides in the cave and it is her blessing that keeps the fishermen safe on their journeys and as a result, locals come to the cave to make offerings to her spirit as well as to the goddess Shiva.  The cave is really beautiful as you look up and are overpowered by ornate stalactites and stalagmites set against the backdrop of Rai Leh island and the surrounding sea.  However, it's when you look down that you are in for the real eye-opener; the mouth of the cave is literally filled to the brim with phallic statues of all shapes, sizes and colors.  We're talking 10 feet to 10mm scattered all over the walls, floors and spilling over onto the beach.  It was hard not to laugh, but you have to remain respectful, so we just followed what the other tourists were doing and posed with some of the statues.  They are supposed to be symbols of protection and fertility for the spirits in the cave, but to those who aren't aware of the cave's history it looks a bit Red Light.



Beach Monks



Postcard

Second Stop:

Next we headed to Poda Island for a swim and snorkel.  Although the fish were beautiful and there were some nice coral formations and sea cucumbers, the best part of stop #2 was probably Sue.  Mom and I were able to convince her to try snorkeling for the first time-such a trooper- and there she was along side us with the whole kit and caboodle: from snorkel to mask to jacket to flippers.  Mom was trying to explain to her that to snorkel best you sort of just float on top of the water and let the waves and current move you around.  Sue was trying her hardest to listen, but she kept rolling over.  I don't mean once or twice, but it was as though someone had put her on a rotisserie and she just lost control.  I swam over from my snorkel post to see how they were doing and there's poor Sue trying her hardest as Mom has completely lost it and has tears rolling down her face as she is 'helping' her friend.  It was one of those hilarious moments where no one can stop laughing--even as Sue would say 'stop it,' she'd burst out laughing as around she went again which just got Mom going and then me.  Soup wouldn't give up though and she found a happy medium; she held onto the anchor rope for one of the boats and used that as a stabilizer for the rest of our time in the water. 

Third Stop:

Chicken Island

Next we found ourselves dining on our lunch next to Chicken Island, so named for it's chicken shape (I think it looked more Turtle-like.)  We made our way around it's neck and beak and were brought to an open water snorkelling spot.  We were warned before we hopped in that it was the time of year when jellyfish are abundant, and we were definitely aware as we'd seen many of their little pink bodies jetting around since we'd been in Krabi.  I couldn't pass up another snorkelling opporunity in water where you can literally see to the sandy bottom below; however, I was quickly out of the water after playing an impromptu game of 'Tag' with a massive smack of my jelly friends (and yes, I looked it up, it is called a 'smack' of jellyfish!)  They are beautiful and mesmerizing to watch in the water, but it's pretty terrifying to be watching one group of them and feel a smooth jellied-head move against your back or your foot.  Somehow I escaped unstung, but my adrenaline was definitely pumping. 

4th stop:

Sand bar starting to emerge at Tap Island

After I'd made sure I was sting free we were already at our final destination for the day: Tap Island.  Mom and I decided to do some more snorkelling while Sue set up camp on the beach.  The sand was unreal--pristine white cut out perfectly by the crystalline blue waters slapping against it.  We spent our longest time at this beach, because as the tide went out, a sand bar emerged connecting the three surrounding islands and you could literally walk all the way between them.  Amazing.  Soaking up some sun in the water we happened to befriend a group of local kids who were enjoying the beach on their day off school.  They were so curious about us and it was hilarious watching them show off and then swim away and then huddle together en masse until the designated leader came up to us with the question they had just debated about asking. 

One of our jellyfish friends

We found ourselves back on Ao Nang beach and more than satisified with our perfect sunny afternoon.  It was back to Ming and some final afternoon rays by the sun before we ran some errands and headed off to dinner.  We opted for our new favorite joing, Jeseao, where we continued to be chatted up by the staff.  After our meal we all exchanged emails and took some group pictures together to remember our time.  It's so easy sometimes to just connect with people--one of the many perks of travelling I guess!

Even if you're surrounded by phallic statues, groups of kids or smacks of jellyfish: No Being Crabby in Krabi!