Kuching (April 27-29)

Actually we wanted to head directly to Gunung Mulu National Park but some bad reviews we read online made us doubt whether it’s really worth it spending so much money for it. Some of the park's highlights are only accessible by a multiday trekking you have to spend even more money for. You are not allowed to go on your own and need a guide for everything. That’s understandable from an ecological point of view but annoying for travellers who take care of the environment and don’t litter like others do. We somewhat postponed our decision and booked a flight to Miri, a town we will have to pass anyway on our way to or back from Mulu. Around Miri there is loads of other stuff to do so we won’t get bored.

Originally we wanted to continue yesterday but we found a very cheap flight for today (Monday), so we stayed one day longer in Kuching. On Saturday we didn’t do anything special, we just wanted to relax a bit after coming back from Bako National Park. Yesterday we took the bus to a famous beach near Kuching. It wasn’t bad but I have seen nicer beaches. As we arrived at around 11am, it was terribly hot and I got sunburned although I was staying in the shade almost all the time. I guess 15 minutes swimming were enough to get burned under the equator sun. Surprisingly there were only few Westerners and a lot of locals. It was really strange for us to see them swimming with clothes.

Bako National Park (April 25-26)

Wednesday morning we went to the Bako National Park, which is the main tourist attraction around Kuching. It was quite a hassle to get there because the bus timetable they gave us at the guest house was incorrect. When we arrived at the place where the bus was supposed to leave, it had just left and we had to wait for another 2 hours, really annoying! In the bus we met a girl from Australia who was travelling together with a guy from Sabah (that’s the easternmost province of Malaysian Borneo).

You can only access the National Park by boat and we had some trouble at the boat ticket counter because they wanted to make us pay the round trip price although one-way was also on offer. We didn’t know at that time if we will go back with the other two or not and didn’t want to pay double for the way back even if we go together. After some time arguing they promised to refund the money if we decide to go back together.

When we arrived at the park and the boat dropped us off at the beach, we knew that Bako is an amazing place. We moved into our room in the “forest hostel” (cheapest option on offer) which we had booked in Kuching and the scenery was really like in the Jungle Book. We saw the long tail macaque monkeys walking and jumping around in big families. The first day we liked that and took loads of pictures but you soon change the attitude when you notice how naughty and annoying they can become. They constantly mob the accommodations and park facilities, searching for food. It happened twice that they suddenly grabbed food from our plates when we were eating! A guide we met told us that they are very smart. He told us that he once gave a cracker to a monkey but putting a very spicy chilli paste on it. Obviously the monkey didn’t enjoy the cracker. The next day, the guide gave him another chilli cracker and the monkey washed the chilli away before eating it, really unbelievable how they learn! Normally you should never give food to the monkey because they will come back with more monkeys and the situation gets worse.

The first day in the afternoon we did a short trekking to a view point which was quite close to the headquarters. It was really one of the most beautiful jungle areas I have seen and the view was amazing. After that we went to a mangrove area and saw another fantastic sunset with burning sky and sea. The second day we did a trek to a waterfall but the trail wasn’t as spectacular as the one we did the previous day. Sometimes there was no shade because of lower vegetation. Walking in the sun for a longer time is the most infernal thing you can do here! The waterfall itself wasn’t overwhelming but at least we took a refreshing bath there.

Today we went back to Kuching with the Australian-Malaysian couple. We asked the boat driver if he could take us first to the famous sea stacks (Bako’s emblem) which are located in the opposite direction of the tourist jetty. Normally the small trip from the park headquarters to the sea stacks is around 17 euro but he did it for free (we gave good tip later)! The beaches we saw from off the shore were absolutely stunning and I regretted that I hadn’t trekked to there. On the other hand it’s impossible to go everywhere because some treks even take several hours. I don’t have to mention the climate again and what that means here. The only disappointing thing of our trip to Bako National Park was that we haven’t seen the famous Proboscis long-nosed monkey who lives only in Borneo and nowhere else on earth. It seemed as if everybody else in the park saw it except us. We followed all the advices in terms of location and timing but we didn’t see it. There are things which cannot be planned so we have to live with it! Maybe next time J

We are now back to Kuching city in order to plan how to continue. We would like to go to the famous Gunung Mulu National Park but it’s a very long way with different options (bus, boat, plane) so we have to check carefully.

Kuching (April 22-24)

The first five days in Borneo were absolutely amazing. I arrived in Kuching on Sunday afternoon and it was pouring heavily, not a very good first impression! At the guest house I joined Krystyna from Vancouver. We met in Thailand three months ago and were both planning to travel in Borneo at the same time. It’s pretty cool that we are coinciding and that we can travel together!

Kuching is the biggest city in Borneo. Of course, being a big city it doesn’t look like the Borneo you imagine after watching wildlife documentaries but it’s really a place you could hang out for longer. It’s not spectacular but it has a nice riverfront, the obligatory Chinatown and some green areas. We haven’t seen loads of tourists yet (at least not many backpackers) but there must definitely be some foreigners here because otherwise they wouldn’t have an international airport and a Hilton. The people in Kuching are amazingly friendly. Everywhere they are waving, smiling and greeting us, especially the school kids. We have seen so many schools here that one might think that the city mainly consists of schools. In any case it’s a very good sign. I forgot to mention the food which is amazing, maybe even better than in West-Malaysia (although this is already hard to achieve).

On Monday we went to the Semenggoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. It’s kind of a zoo outside the city but without cages and fences. The apes can move freely inside the jungle but the area is too small for them to survive without being fed. We have witnessed one of the feedings in the morning and it was really impressive to see these majestic animals in their natural environment and not in a zoo. In the afternoon and evening we walked around the city. At the waterfront we saw a spectacular sunset, which for me was the most beautiful I had ever seen before.

The following day we went to the Kubah National Park (it consists of a vast jungle area), which is 40 minutes outside the city. To our surprise we were the only tourists that day (in a National Park!) and the whole park headquarters area seemed quite abandoned. I had the impression that the park rangers were really happy to see someone. At the end we had all the trails for ourselves and walked around for around 5 hours. It was up and down all the time, so you get pretty exhausted in the jungle climate. The highlights there were a 10-m waterfall and a fantastic viewpoint from which you can see the coastal area and the South China Sea in the background, really gorgeous! Unfortunately we didn’t see large animals but that couldn’t be expected anyway. The park rangers told us that they had to close one of the trails because there would be a wild Orang Utan family with babies and that they’d be really aggressive when they have babies. We didn’t believe that story and thought that the trail was closed for another reason. In any case there were other interesting things to see in the jungle.

Melaka (April 19-21)

I spent my last days on Malaysia Peninsula in Melaka, my favourite city in Malaysia till now. I was lucky to catch a bus on Wednesday afternoon from Mersing to Melaka after I had returned by ferry from Tioman Island. In Melaka I went directly to the same guest house as the first time, for me one of the best places I have stayed during the whole trip in Southeast Asia. I arrived there late in the evening at around 10pm. A Spanish couple opened the door for me because the owner wasn’t there. The couple told me that he had gone for a bike tour and would return soon. I saw that the room I stayed in the first time was free so I didn’t have to worry that they were full. I waited for around two hours but the owner didn’t show up. I had a shower and when I finished he still hadn’t returned. I was so tired and it was almost 1am so I took they room key from the reception and confiscated my old room. I left him a message to explain the circumstances and wrote my details into the guest book. I would call that “self check-in”. I mean it’s so cool, these things only happen in backpacker hostels and they make your trip more interesting. By the way, when I met the owner in the morning he didn’t seem really surprised about my nightly action, maybe he wondered why I waited so long to enter the free room.

There were very interesting people in the guest house, from China, Korea, Japan, UK, Spain, Denmark and the US. Friday and Saturday we went to the famous weekend night market in Melaka and I took advantage and stuffed myself with loads of food. It was so good! Apart from eating I didn’t do much. I found a very good German book in the shelf of the guest house and I even finished it within two days. That means I didn’t have to exchange it for one of my books. In the evenings we watched movies from the guest house owner’s huge library. It was almost like spending the time in a real home, not in a hostel. I almost forgot to mention that yesterday evening we also went to a pub –drinking real beer! Doesn’t really sound extraordinary but in Malaysia it is because alcohol is so expensive. The guest house owner knew a place with a good happy hour until 8pm. That meant paying around 2,50 Euro for a pint instead of 5, not too bad!

I’m now sitting in the airport terminal (with free Wi-Fi!) waiting for my flight to Kuching (Borneo). I’m pretty excited!

Pulau Tioman (April 13-18)

Tioman Island is completely different to Perhentian Islands. It’s a lot bigger and even has mountains more than 1000m high. When I arrived at the jetty in Mersing (that’s the town where ferries leave for Tioman), I was shocked by the huge number of people waiting there to get to the island. As a big surprise, the number of Westerners was very small. Someone told me that many locals and also people from Singapore go to Tioman for the weekend. Then I realized that it was Friday afternoon, a fact I haven’t paid any attention to before. I was really worried to arrive on the island and not finding any accommodation, all other Westerners had a reservation. Tioman is 40km off the shore and there is no boat returning in the evening.

I decided to go to the northernmost beach Salang, which is supposed to be most backpacker-friendly. At the end it was no problem finding a nice accommodation because the island is very big and has many different beaches with guest houses and resorts but seeing such a large number of people at the jetty made me feel a bit nervous.

As I hadn’t eaten anything during the whole trip from Kuantan to Tioman, I was very hungry on Friday evening. I went to a restaurant and ordered two different dishes. As I figured out later in the night the second of these two dishes was bad and I had to empty my whole stomach. Actually I didn’t like the food while eating but it wasn’t so bad at that moment that I felt like having to stop eating. On Saturday I felt really sick as you can imagine and I had to postpone the diving trip I already registered for on Friday afternoon. In the evening I still felt so weak that I told the dive master that I had to postpone it even until Monday. Yesterday I finally went diving but it wasn’t comparable to the underwater paradise of Perhentian Islands. It was still very nice but I didn’t see as much spectacular sea life.

I spent most of the time here relaxing, reading and swimming. The beaches are not as clean as on the Perhentians and there are a lot of rocks underwater, which make swimming more of a challenge. Life on this island is very relaxed (like on every island) and it isn’t very crowded. Actually it was hard to find any people to hang out with. I met some Westerners, mostly Scandinavians who were attracted by the duty-free alcohol, but I didn’t really have much in common with them so preferred to stay on my own. The locals and Singaporeans are normally travelling in large groups and families, so it’s hard to get in touch with them as a foreign traveller.

Yes, you won’t believe it, but a paradise can also be boring. That’s why I leave tomorrow. I will spend some few days in Melaka and maybe also in Kuala Lumpur before taking a flight to the Malaysian part of Borneo on Sunday.

Kuantan (April 12)

This is one of these situations you normally want to avoid as a solo traveller. But let’s start from the beginning: I took the 10am local bus from Taman Negara to the next bigger town Jerantut. Unfortunately when I arrived there I had missed the 11am bus to Kuantan, a large city at the east coast which I have to pass on my way to Mersing (this is the town from where ferries leave to Tioman Island). I had to wait in Jerantut for 3 hours for the next bus and I used the time for Internet and lunch. The bus to Kuantan didn’t take the fastest route. Instead we had a stopover in Temerloh where we had to change bus (I guess because our bus was almost empty and they wanted us to be united with other passengers to make the trip more profitable). I arrived in Kuantan at 6pm and headed directly to a guest house recommended by Lonely Planet which is very close to the bus station. From the description I already knew it wasn’t really nice but I thought that for one night it doesn’t matter. Unlike what’s written in LP, the staff was not friendly but the rooms were ok so I accepted.

I started to explore the city (which has half million inhabitants) but found out quickly that there is nothing to see. Unlike other places in Malaysia, it’s quite dirty and the buildings are ramshackle. The missing sidewalks are an additional challenge for pedestrians, who are already busy watching out not to fall into the stinky drains. I arrived at the riverfront from where you can already see the mangroves on the opposite side which indicate proximity to the sea. I sat down in one of the restaurants and ordered some food. Actually I thought that it was impossible to get bad tasting food in Malaysia but in Kuantan it’s possible. After this experience I was looking for a McDonald’s, Burger King or Pizza Hut which can normally be found at every corner in Malaysia but obviously not in Kuantan. There were only KFCs which I hate. Finally in one of the shopping malls I found a Pizza Hut where I filled my stomach.

As I had nothing to do in this horrible city I was looking for an Internet café (of course in my guest house there was no Internet). I went to the bus station where according to Lonely Planet there is a cybercafé. It was still there but seemed abandoned. The door was open but the stairways were not lit and garbage was lying on the floor. I thought that it was better not to proceed because who knows which surprise would have waited for me in the darkness! Back in the guest house I asked for a cybercafé and the guy at the reception pointed towards a shopping mall around 500m away. He said “maybe” there is one. I asked if “maybe” or “sure”. Then he changed to “sure”. I arrived at the shopping mall sweating (because thanks to the missing sidewalks I had to jump several times in order not to hit a vehicle). Of course there was no cybercafé. Can you believe that in a city with 500.000 inhabitants there is no cybercafé? In addition to all this the people here are strange and staring at me all the time. It’s needless to say that I haven’t seen any other tourists in Kuantan. I know why! I hate this place!

I am now sitting in my hotel room and writing all this offline. I cannot wait taking the bus tomorrow morning and leave Kuantan. When you read this it’s already over for me and I will hopefully be in a much better mood somewhere else!

One day later: Yes I am definitely in a better mood now! I arrived on the paradise island Tioman and I will go diving here :-) By the way, there was another cybercafé inside the bus station of Kuantan but I hadn’t seen it yesterday...

Taman Negara National Park (April 10-11)

The Taman Negara National Park is the only remaining primary rainforest in Peninsula Malaysia. You can enter the park from a small town called Kuala Tahan which has some guest houses and hotels. Being a National Park, the touristic infrastructure of Taman Negara is quite developed. It's possible to trek without guide as the paths are very well marked. I was quite irritated because the park authorities are building pedestrian bridges, so you can walk through the jungle avoiding to touch the muddy ground. They are building a sort of "jungle-light" and I think the place will definitely lose some of its charm.

Yesterday I did a 6 hours walk with plenty of stops and I have to say it was really sweaty! I think I haven't been exhausted like this on my whole trip. It was unbelievably humid and hot. Furthermore the ground was very muddy because it has been raining the whole previous night. At one place, there is a 500m canopy walk up in the trees and it was really fun walking 10-15 meters above the ground. As it could be expected I didn't see any big animals. The people told me that you cannot see them not even if you go deep into the jungle. Nevertheless Taman Negara is really a nice place and absolutely worth visiting. For one day it was ok but I wouldn't have stayed longer.

After the walk and back to the guest house I put off my shoes and one sock was full of blood. I had no idea where it came from. On my right foot, there was only a very small wound which didn't bleed anymore. The only explanation I have is that maybe an insect bit me while I was resting because I put off my shoes. I any case I will have to further observe the wound.

In the afternoon I met Mareike from Belgium who has also been on the bus to Taman Negara so I had some companionship. In general there were not many people in the park (which is good!).

This morning I took the local bus back to Jerantut which is the next bigger town and I am now waiting for a connecting bus to Kuantan where I will have to stay overnight before heading to Pulau Tioman.

Kuala Besut (April 9)

No big deal, just a stopover at the tiny and spotless coastal town Kuala Besut, opposite to the Perhentian Islands. I missed the minibus service to Taman Negara National Park, so had to stay there for one night. I used the time for eating (a lot cheaper than on the island) and sleeping, what else! Just a note in the margin: I finished reading the "Magic Mountain", it took me 7 weeks! I can definitely recommend it! Thanks Vero for the tip!

I have finally arrived at the entrance gate to Taman Negara National Park after a long bus ride. They say it's the oldest rainforest in the world. I am really confused about this information as I think all primary rainforests should have more or less the same age. On the other hand it doesn't surprise me that a country where 95% of the rainforest (referring to Peninsula Malaysia) has been replaced by settlements or palm oil plantations must do some marketing for the remaining spots.

Also I booked my flights to Japan, it's now official!

Pulau Perhentian (April 4-8)

The ride from Cameron Highlands to the east cost of Malaysia was really scenic and it was a pity that we couldn’t stop to take some pictures of the jungle-covered mountains. We didn’t even dare to ask the driver of the minivan because he seemed to want to beat his own record. We actually made it in four hours, which isn’t bad taking into account the long distance.

We arrived in Kuala Besut at around noon time and were able to take the speed boat not even an hour later. I travelled with 4 other Germans: Dominik and Steffi, brother and sister from Bavaria and Dominic and Justina from Essen (the same couple I went trekking with in Cameron Highlands). The Perhentian Islands consist of a small and a big island. I decided to stay on the small island because it is supposed to be more backpacker-friendly. I found a nice bungalow uphill with a great sea view (you can see pics on Facebook) and started to compare prices and services of the different diving centres. Doing a diving course was actually my main reason for going to Perhentians. I decided to book with a centre called Turtle Bay Divers as they made the most professional impression. The choice was perfect! Our instructor Sun was very strict and we had to scrupulously fulfil all the theoretical and practical exercises. At the end of the course this was a bit annoying because we wanted to have more time for fun-diving but it’s for your own safety. The dives were really amazing, we saw huge turtles, stingrays, snappers, triggerfish, barracudas, coral cat sharks, huge unicorn fish and a lot more I don’t remember. The Perhentians are well known for its great diving spots and I think I made the right decision to do the course in Malaysia, and not in Thailand. It’s only a little bit more expensive but the quality is much better. We were only 3 people in the group. People told me that in Thailand there are up to eight people in a group. Furthermore the diving centre had all the equipment in my size, including the suit and shoes! My diving buddies were Steffi from the bus ride (her brother already had a diving license) and a 13-year old girl from the UK. I think we did pretty well!

Besides the diving, my activities on the island were quite limited. The course started at 9am and finished at 7pm and lasted for 4 days, so there was not much “leisure time”. The last day it finished at noon after we passed the exam but I decided to go for another fun-dive in the afternoon (without safety exercises!) One night I took a beer with Nuria from Spain (I met her before in Cameron Highlands) but that was pretty much it. The other days the only activity after the course was having dinner.

The weather was very good the first three days with sunshine during the day and some rainfalls in the night. The last two days were more cloudy and rainy but underwater the weather doesn’t really matter. Nevertheless, Sunday afternoon and night was quite tough. The rainfalls were so heavy that I really thought it was the end of the world. Due to strong winds, there was even water in my bungalow entering from under the door!

I didn’t really sleep well on the islands. I had no mosquito net and there was no way of avoiding bites from these small devils which turned my first night into a nightmare. The next day I got the tip from my bungalow neighbours to buy incense sticks which ban mosquitoes. It really helped! The flipside of the coin was having the stench inside the room but it was definitely better than being bit all the time.

The Perhentian Islands are definitely paradisiacal, especially for divers and snorkelers. I hope that the increasing tourism will be sustainable and not destroy this beautiful spot of earth.

Cameron Highlands (April 1-3)

The Cameron Highlands are really a relief in terms of climate. The temperatures are very moderate during the day and cool in the night. The main town Tanah Rata is located around 1500m above sea level and the highest mountains reach 2200m. In this part of the country, large areas are still covered with rain forest although settlements and agriculture are spreading rapidly (like everywhere in Malaysia). There are also a lot of tea plantations.

I arrived Sunday afternoon in beaming sunshine but few hours later I got to know the regular rainfalls here which tend to be quite heavy. At the guest house I met Marion from France and Dominic and Justina from Germany and we agreed to go trekking the next day. You can do that on your own here as the paths are pretty well signed. Everyone told us to go in the morning and thus avoid the regular afternoon-rainfalls. We started when it was clouded and ended up being showered because it started raining at 11am, not in the afternoon like usually! Although we got soaked to the skin, it was a really nice trek and the forest seemed even more mystic under these weather conditions.

Today I decided to sleep late because I always got up early within the last week. After my wake-up at 9:30am, I saw that there was sunshine and so I decided that I had to do something. This “something” ended up being a motor bike rental because I was too lazy to walk. I got an old bike with manual gear but I said to myself that someday I had to learn it. The rental station didn’t have an automatic bike anyway. I knew from a person in Pai how to drive such a bike but I hadn’t practised yet. To be honest I didn’t feel very comfortable with it, not because of the gear but rather because it was trembling in a strange way. I cruised through the tea plantations and there were some really nice views! I even entered a road which according to the lady from the bike rental was forbidden for their clients. I couldn’t resist driving uphill because of the views but at some point of the road I returned because it became too steep. I feared that the rain started early and I wanted to avoid driving downhill on a slippery road, it would have been kamikaze. I returned the bike after two hours (I really had enough) and spent the rest of the day hanging out in the guest house. It has a lovely terrace and is perfect for relaxing and meeting other travellers.

Tomorrow I will go to the Perhentian Islands, the first time at the beach on my whole trip!