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Emma's Travels
28/7/06 - Got up, had a nice breakfast, we sat outside looking across the beach to the sea, lovely! After breakfast we walked to Underwater World. It was great, saw lots of marine life, the penguins were the best, sooo funny!
On the way back to the resort we stopped at Lucky restaurant, which is actually next door to the resort, for lunch. Nikki was not impressed at all! She ordered vegetable fried rice (she does not eat meat or fish) and she found chicken and squid in it! The man said we should say when ordering that it is for a vegetarian! - it seems to be a bit of a problem here in Malaysia, everything is meat based, it was easier in Thailand. We've since been told that in Malaysia you will only find vegetarian food in Indian or Chinese restaurants.
After lunch we relaxed all afternoon, read, dozed. We had dinner at a different restaurant on the beachfront. Just as we had finished it started to rain. It had been raining all day on and off, so it was a bit miserable!
29/7/06 - Absolutely fab day!! We hired a car, so cheap about 8 pounds and petrol was about 4 quid for three quarters of a tank!!! I drove and Nikki was navigator. It was a first for me, I'd never driven abroad before!! fortunately they drive on same side of road as us, so it made it easier! The map turned out to be pretty useless in the end, so it was more luck then judgment and a bit of common sense that got us around! Most of the time children on bikes and cows tried to throw themselves on the bonnet!!, so I had to have my wits about me!!
We visited the Batik Art Village first, a lovely lady showed us how the batik's are made on both cotton and silk. We had a look around their lovely shop. I thought Nikki might buy a lovely batik of 2 cats (she has 2 cats back at home!) but she decided not to.
Next we tried to find an ancient tomb, but ended up at the Makam Mahsuri Mausoleum. This was very interesting - it's the story of Makam Mahsuri, a beautiful lady, who's sister in law was so jealous of her beauty that she spread malicious gossip about her having an affair, which wasn't true. She was tortured for her supposed sins, but even though people tried they couldn't kill her. She finally told them that only her own family sword would kill her. They found it and used it and her blood ran milky white and she then vanished into thin air! A very mythical place, with replicas of ancient houses and her tomb is now there in it's final resting place.
After this we eventually stumbled upon the ancient tomb we were originally looking for. We drove up a dirt track and really didn't think we were going the right way, just about to turn round and go back to main road, when Nikki shouted 'there it is!'. Well it was just to bits of stone sticking out the ground surrounded by residential shacks, so it looked part of someone's garden!! Hilarious!
After taking photos to prove this tomb exists!, we went to the cable car and oriental village.
We had lunch before going up the cable car and I was very disappointed to find that the Anna and the King Gallery was in fact about the Jodie Foster film and not an exhibition of the real people!! The film had been shot in the surrounding areas. The cable car had great views, it went very high and is among one of the steepest in the world! Got some good piccies!
After that we walked up to Seven Wells Waterfall (Telaga Tujuh), which was lovely. Legend says that fairies play at the bottom of it - this I liked! I tried to take a photo but a lady in a blue top just would not move out of shot. She eventually sat down, but I had to take the photo with her in it! never mind!
We then drove a little further and found Black Sand Beach. It's black because of mineral/deposit reactions, but I prefer the legend that a mermaid who was angry with a fisherman turned it black!!
As we were driving along one road, we turned the bend and the side of the road was covered in monkeys, with some trying to cross the road. I pulled over and we very slowly, so as not to scare them, moved out of the car and took some piccies, they were sooo cute!
Next was the Durian Waterfall which wasn't very nice, it was strewn with litter - very disppointing!
As well as children and cows throwing themselves at the car, nobody indicates either - so I became a bit of a mind reader!!
We never found the snake sanctuary or the crocodile farm. Signs would just mysteriously disappear just as you thought you were getting close, I thought there was a bit of mischief going on and someone was deliberately moving them and have a good giggle about it!
We ended up driving the whole way round the island. We stopped off at 2 shopping malls on the way, Billion and Langkawi Parade (I kept singing this to the Prince song 'Raspberry Beret'!) We had dinner at a lovely restaurant called 'Sunday'. The food was fab and the place was nicely decorated.
On the way back got stuck behind a very very slow driver!! But because I didn't know the road ahead and by now it was pitch black, I didn't overtake, so it was a tedious journey back! Dropped car off at hire place, as it was still open, better than having to get up and hand back in the morning and Nikki found a place to book a day trip the next day out to the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden.
Slept very well, a very tiring but great day out - girls on tour!!
30/7/06 - Relaxing, lazy morning, looking forward to trip at 2.30pm. Oh My Buddha! It rained and rained and rained - then turned into thunderstorms - so subsequently did not go on our trip!! Boo Hoo! We ended up wandering around some shops, Nikki bought a lovely bracelet in a crystal shop, the lady made them all herself and she custom made Nikki's so it fit perfectly, it was great to watch. I nearly bought a bracelet too, but decided not to. Weather just RUBBISH! went back to room and read and dozed.
31/7/06 - We decided to leave a day early and go to Penang, the weather was still awful and there was just nothing left to do on the island. Fortunately, we had done our girls on tour bit on the right day! We got a taxi to the pier and caught the 2.30pm boat to Penang.
Got to Penang about 5pm. For the first time in ages, we got off the boat and there weren't any people jumping on us to get us to stay at their places, so we wandered out to the main road a bit lost! A nice English man showed us where we were on a map and suggested a hotel not far away. So we jumped in a cab and went to the Continental Hotel on Jahal Penang. Hurrah, they had a superior room available for 98 Ringgits (around 15 quid) so we took it for 4 nights.
After checking in and resting a while we wandered down the main street and had dinner at a superb restaurant called Passage Thru' India. The proprietor was fab, he explained the different dishes and advised what to have for our different palates. The food tasted gorgeous! The place is decorated lovely, very authentic, nothing tacky! It seemed that he and his staff were very proud of the place!
We then wandered around to see what was where and we stumbled into a little tea shop in a side street. It wasn't a tea shop as in cakes and tea, but a traditional shop which sold different loose tea and traditional china tea sets. The owner Philip Ooi was very welcoming and he sat us down and made us green tea and we sat and chatted for quite a while and he kept topping up our cups with lovely green tea. He took some photos, which he has since emailed through and they are lovely, he gave us lots of info. about the health benefits of drinking green tea and a few other kinds. He showed us the back of the shop which he is renovating for an official opening launch, as the shop has only been open 2 weeks. He is planning on setting up an area to educate people on the different tea. A very nice man, who I'm sure I will keep in touch with.
1/8/06 - Taxi's on strike as of today they have to use meters and they are all up in arms that the meters mean they are going to have their income slashed in half! Therefore, it has been a struggle over last few days to get around the island. Only about 10% of taxi drivers are still out working. We managed to get one though and he took us up to the Botanical Gardens. It was a very peaceful place and there were lots of cheeky monkeys! Two kinds, macaques and grey leafs, got some good piccies! Met a nice man who took photos as his hobby, he had recently won a competition and had gone to see the final of the World Cup in Germany as his prize. His photo had been of the flowers on the Cannon Ball tree. He showed us in the Gardens and we took some photos of our own. The flowers look like underwater coral and he told us that they are only found on Penang, no where else in Malaysia or in the World! That is probably why he won the competition, as people marvelled at something they hadn't seen before. He gave us his business card incase we ever come back to Penang. He is a doctor and he definitely has a sense of humour as we noticed afterwards that in one corner of the card it say 'Chairman of Scrabble Players'!
We tried to get a taxi back into town, but no joy, so we walked down to find a bus stop. We thumbed for a lift a few times whilst sat there, but no-one stopped. Then all of a sudden 3 men went past in a 4x4, they turned around a bit down the street and came back to us. Nikki and I thought no way, 3 men and us, no way! They gestured did we need help, so Nikki said 'Yeah, do you know what time the bus comes?' they said about half an hour, so we said 'Thanks'. They said get in, where you want to go, but we politely declined, you just don't know, do you! Anyway, they had literally just left and a lady pulled up and said did we need a lift, so we said yes please!! Another guardian angel intervention maybe? It turned out she is a chauffeur and drives privately for people. She took us to a Pewter Shop first (on the pretense she needed the toilet - I think she probably gets commission if she brings people there?) we had a look around, but didn't buy anything, then she dropped us off at the Prangin Mall.
Nikki had been looking around and checking prices for a new camera for James. Ended up buying one in the mall at a bargain price!! - result!!
Went over the road from the hotel to Slippery Senorita's for dinner, but they didn't do any vegetarian food, one of the staff recommended a restaurant down the street called Jaya. So, we went and ate there. We then decided to look for the night markets, we started walking, but it soon became apparent it was quite a way away, so we ended up getting a trishaw. The lad dropped us off at the night market and said he would wait then take us back to our hotel. We said it was a very long way for him to pedal, but he said he had very strong legs and would do it for 20 RM, bargain! We walked round the market in all of 3 minutes (it was crap!), but we could hear music in the distance and wandered across the field towards it. Turned out we had a bit of a free concert courtesy of a cross between Sonia and Shakira!! Walked back across and our friendly trishaw peddlar with very strong legs was waiting. He was true to his word and took us all the way back to our hotel, dodging a few cars on the way! We then went back to Slippery Senorita's for drinkies. Turned out there was a live band playing, 'After Six', three singers, Nathan, Jane and Jen. They were really good. Nikki got chatting to a bloke, who ended up being a bit of a pain, he showed her his pictures of his grand children, etc., and then his leary mates turned up! Nikki had to end up ignoring him big time for him to get the message! In the end a large tour group came in and their attentions were averted, poor French girls!! Was a good night, lots of Pimm's!
2/8/06 - Set out after breakfast for a self guided walk around the town. Had only got a few streets past the hotel when a little old man on a trishaw stopped us and said he would pedal us around the sights, again for 20 RM, bargain! Saved our legs! Turned out to be a good shout, he was soooooo nice and gave us a running commentary and local knowledge, we wouldn't have got that if we had wandered around on our own. He stopped at a few temples for us, so we could go in and have a look, including the beautiful Khoo Kongsi temple, which is hidden off the street, he also showed us some buildings which had been used in the film 'Anna and the King'. The highlight and coup was he took us to the floating village, which none of the guide books mention!!! This was great as we got to see how some local people really live. I took a photo of the village open air temple/altar, which has been built around a very old tree, it looks very mythical and bizarrely not far from the main road! After about 1.5 hours he dropped us off at Fort Cornwallis and we said a fond farewell and ended up giving him a tip, his face lit up, he was very grateful. We spent quite a bit of time at the fort, looking around the exhibits. Basically the fort was built by us Brits after we had taken possession of the island of Penang in 1786. It was built specifically by Francis Light and was the first military and administrative base of the East India Company. It's a star shaped fort with cannons mounted along the perimeter. It used to have a moat, but it was filled in about a century ago, due to malaria! I found it very interesting. Got some great photos, including me behind bars in one of the cells!
After this, we wandered looking for another temple and ended up going into a tour agency, Lucky Tours, and booking our next excursion to Taman Negara!! After that we found a lovely restaurant/cafe called Edelweiss, it is tucked away in a side street. The staff were lovely and the manageress let us go upstairs where there is alot of antiques, including pictures of her family, it was sooooo interesting. In the bar area downstairs she has signed photos of old film stars including Bob Hope, I got excited thinking she would have met them, but when I asked her it turned out that she had bought them!! Doh! They are from when one of the film studios did a tour in Penang.
On the way back to the hotel we stumbled across 75 Travellers Lodge and met Jimmy Hi and Middle!! Basically, we had such a laugh, as Jimmy Hi introduced himself and said that Jimmy Lo worked in the evenings, so I asked the other chap what his name was and he said Jimmy Middle, or Middle for short! Funny thing is though his real name turned out to be Lo!! We decided to stay on in Penang a bit longer, so made a reservation to stay there from the 4th, save a few pennies rather than pay hotel rates.
Went back to the Indian restaurant tonight for dinner, yum yum!
3/8/06 - Had a rest day today, didn't do alot, went and paid up the Taman Negara trip and booked our bus to Ipoh. Watched 2 films, one with Robin Wright, Aidan Quinn and Albert Finnet set in Ireland and later on Peter's Friends with Stephen Fry.
4/8/06 - Checked out of hotel today and moved into 75 Travellers Lodge. It is hostel type accommodation, but clean. We then got a taxi to a Wat, where I ended up getting some small buddhas (I had been looking everywhere for them since Thailand and had been cursing not having bought some earlier!), they were obviously waiting for me to buy them, as the exact amount I wanted were looking up at me through the glass casing!! It was all meant to be!! The lady in the temple said they had been in there for ages!! I bought them excitedly and then the icing on the cake was when I plucked up the courage to wander over to a buddhist monk in the temple and asked him to bless them, which he did with great care and attention, he took alot of time and blessed each one individually. Afterwards, he kindly offered me a book on Buddhism for free, which I accepted with great pleasure! I really appreciated his time and obvious sincerity.
We then went across the road to another temple which housed a reclining buddha, but it was not as grand as the one in Bangkok.
We managed to find another taxi and went further out of town to the Lok Si temple. In order to get to this temple you have to walk through a market, which has a very narrow walkway, it's like going into a labyrinth, it snaked around for quite a while and goes uphill. We were shattered by the time we reached the top and the end of the market, but managed to look around the temple for a while.
After this we took another taxi to Penang Hill, where we went up in a slow train (quite steep) to the top of the hill. It was a bit disappointing, crowded train, which was slow, annoying child and when we got out at the top there wasn't much to see, never mind! Then had to wait around 45 minutes for the next train back down! As we were waiting some monkeys came nearby and I was lip smacking to one of them. He had a funny look on his face, looking straight at me and then all of a sudden he started lip smacking back!! It was hilarious, god knows what I said to him and vice versa!!!
Met some girls on the way back down who were travelling too and they told me about the voluntary work they had recently done with turtles, etc.
Got back to hostel and had dinner at restaurant next door, as very tired. All of a sudden we could hear lots of talking and laughing and then loads of children walked past in the street. Turns out it was a charity walk, it seemed to go on for ages, great atmosphere, we all stood at side of street and watched and they were all waving and smiling. Met Dave from Leicester and had a good chinwag.
5/8/06 - OH MY BUDDHA! Got no sleep whatsoever last night, TOO HOT, NO AIR CON, my body just can't cope with the heat without air con!
Had a lazy day on the internet and got some laundry done by nice laundry man on the corner. We went to Gurney Drive later on to have a mooch round the shopping mall, we ended up walking out of a cafe called Secret Recipe without paying. It was justified, the place was crawling with staff, but we managed to eat our cakes and our drinks still hadn't arrived, despite chasing for them, so that was it!!! It's not as if we legged it either, we got up very normally, collected our bags and just leisurely walked out, no one batted an eyelid!!!!
Ended up in Batu Ferringhi later on for the night markets and we had a ball bargaining and I basically did most of my Christmas shopping! We got a taxi back and the driver was a really old little man. I think he must have been suffering from the heat too and/or ill, as he drove back with his window fully down, shielding one side of his face with a piece of cardboard and coughing/spluttering a few times. The car swerved a few times to the rhythm of his coughing, it was quite an entertaining ride home, especially when he put on a great radio station which played all the oldies, great!! Sinatra, Davis Jr, Streisand, fab!
After last night, I paid a bit extra to have an air-con room, bliss, Nikki stayed put.
6/8/06 - Checked out and nearly had a heart attack when we were told that bus station was quite a car journey away, we had only given 15 minutes, Oh my buddha, were we gonna miss the bus? Turns out he was wrong and we did make it in plenty of time! Even better we were just running out the door to find a taxi, when one turned up for us, it was the lovely taxi man we had had the previous day and he had remembered we were leaving (we had been chatting about it, times, etc. and he had given us his number), so had driven past on the off chance - result!! Malay people are sooooooo nice!
So we got the bus to Ipoh, which is inland. It is called the city that tin built, it was a tin mining village in the 1870's, Chinese miners. It's the 3rd largest city in Malaysia and Ipoh derives from epu or epus tree, whoch once grew wild here. The Kinta River separates the old and the new town.
When we got in to the bus station at Ipoh we asked a taxi driver to take us to a nice but cheap hotel. He came up trumps, we ended up staying at the Sun Golden Inn and there was a lovely vegetarian restaurant next door.
Later that afternoon we got a taxi to the Sam Poh Tong temple. It is a cave temple which was discovered by a passing monk in the 1820's. He made it his home where he meditated for 20 years until his death. We climbed up a number of stairs to an opening which bizarrely locals seemed to be using as an exercise area! They would climb up the steps and then walk around in a anti - clockwise circle a few times before heading back down!! There were a few monkeys hanging around too, they would come quite close and then run off at the last minute - very amusing!
7/8/06 - Woke up tired today, did not want to get up at all! We headed for the Post Office to send all our bargains home, the lady behind the counter said she did not have sellotape, I really needed it to ensure my box's edges were all taped up, otherwise it was going to get damaged. I was starting to get quite annoyed, as she was appearing to be unhelpful, as she hadn't responded greatly on the initial request for a box! How can a Post Office not have sellotape?! A nice man at the next counter said he thought the little shop at the end would sell me some tape, so I trundled off there. This lady was very helpful and I bought a roll of tape. Once I had wrapped up my parcel, the lady became more helpful and actually smiled, I think she had realised why I had been asking. I ended up giving her the roll of sellotape so that in the future she can help people who need it, Karma!
After this we headed next door to the train station to find out about trains to Kuala Lumpur. We were told that the only train was daily at 2am and would take 7 hours!!!!! I'm still not sure if we were being made fools of or not?! So we declined!! We'll get the bus instead thanks! The station is known locally as the Taj Mahal, because of it's grand architecture.
Then we set off looking for the Tourist Info. Office, we eventually found it, but it was closed with a notice of relocation on the door - aaagggh! what a morning! We ended up having a nice coffee and toast at the Old Town Cafe opposite!
We then got a taxi to the Perak Tong Buddhist temple, which is found in the Gunung Tasik Cavern, high limestone caves. Discovered in 1926, it houses over 40 buddha statues including a 13 metre high sitting buddha. A passage behind the altar leads to the cave interior and we climbed over 500 steps up to the top, where we saw spectacular views of the surrounding area. We were absolutely knackered, it was sooooo hot!!! Bizarrely, there was a strange young man about half way up, encouraging us to climb further and he ended up taking photos of us on his mobile phone - weird!! The walk back down was easier!
Had dinner at the lovely vegetarian restaurant next door to the hotel, then headed out to the night markets a few streets away, which ended up being rubbish!!!
8/8/06 - Checked out, as going by bus to KL at 12.45pm. Walked along the roadside with our backpacks on trying to get a taxi, when we finally flagged one down. We were making our way across the road to him, when all of a sudden Nikki yelled out. Turned out 2 men on a motorbike had whizzed past and the passanger had grabbed one of her boobs!!! She was in shock and it had really hurt her, so that wasn't a nice note to leave Ipoh on!
The taxi man turned out to be nice, he agreed to take us to the Old Town Cafe so we could have some breakfast and then come back for us to go to the bus station.
Got to Kuala Lumpur and we had a naughty taxi man, who ripped us off. We didn't know how far away the accommodation was and he said 20 RM so we agreed. Turned out it was only 2 minutes away, we hadn't been sat in the car long when all of a sudden we were there. I told him I didn't appreciate his dishonesty, as the journey was definitely only worthy of 6 RM, but he just kept saying, well you agreed! Cheeky *******!
Comfort Inn turned out OK, had an indian dinner, spent time on internet and booked a nicer hotel for our return visit to KL after our trip to Taman Negara. Nice to treat ourselves before Nikki goes home and I move on to Oz.
9/8/06 - After a nice breakfast we walked to the Petronas Twin Towers and had a nice day wandering around the shops. We then had a lovely evening meal at a local Lebanese restaurant, the food was superb and the surroundings very tasteful.
10/8/06 - How very disappointing! We got up extra early so we could have a nice breakfast at the lovely restaurant we had found the previous day, it advertised from 7am, so off we trotted, to find they don't start serving until 8am!!! We had to end up getting something to eat from the 7Eleven, not very healthy or yummy! and eating it in our room. Checked out and got a taxi to the Crowne Plaza where we were to meet our bus for our tour to Taman Negara. Got there and we wandered into the lower lobby, which is what it said on our details, looking for the registration desk, but couldn't find it. A very snooty man came up to us and said 'What do you want? we are having a conference here!' I replied, 'Yes - I can see that!, how dare he look down at me just because I've got a backpack on my back!!!!!!! I wandered around a bit more (just to piss him off!) then went back outside and found a lady with a clipboard, hurrah!
It was a very very nice comfy bus, big comfy seats, the journey took about 3 hours to the Tembling Jetty. We had lunch at the jetty, got our Park Entry Permits and Camera Permits (1 and 5 RM), then we got into a wooden motor longboat, which took 3 hours up river to our resort. Taman Negara is THE oldest rainforest in the WORLD! Beautiful, spectacular scenery! Resort was a very nice place, we had to walk up quite a few steps though from the riverside with our luggage. We had chalet 31.
Lovely dinner (all our food was included - it was yum yum eat all you like buffet - 3 meals a day!) and welcome drink then we met our guide Abdullah at 8.30pm. Ended up he was our own personal guide, we weren't in groups!! We decided to go for a night trek there and then. We saw lots of spiders, crickets, leaf insects, bats, trees and from the night hideout we saw some deer, all courtesy of Abdullah's super duper torch, mine was crap!! The rainforest is 130 million years old, it is definitely the oldest, even beating the Amazon! So there! Abdullah was brilliant, so knowledgeable and had a good sense of humour! It felt amazing to be walking through the rainforest in the pitch dark with just torch light, I made sure I didn't lag behind Abdullah!!
11/8/06 - This morning we went on a trek through the rainforest to do the canopy walk, which is the longest one in the world with 9 viewing platforms and 45 metres above ground. It was very hot indeed!! On the way into the forest we saw some wild boar and squirrels and Abdullah showed us the wild ginger and ginseng plants. There were lots of bamboo and palms and it was so different looking at everything in the daylight. The Orang Asli tribes people use all of the palm tree, leaves for roofs, long shoots for making darts and the roots for medicine, especially for childbirth and menstrual issues!
Abdullah told us that last November he had seen a tiger on this walk with another group of people. He said they froze and it looked straight at them from behind a fallen tree trunk and it just turned and walked away very slowly - he heaved a sigh of relief - there wouldn't have been much they could have done, but of course it wouldn't attack unless provoked - you hope!! I couldn't help but think that it would be so great to be able to see one with my own eyes in it's own natural environment, but there is always a risk! He also told us that some people had gone camping in the forest and unfortunately one man got trodden on whilst asleep in his tent by a baby elephant - he had broken ribs and he was lucky that it was a baby one and not a fully grown adult elephant!!!
We finally got to the canopy walk, I was knackered and soooooo hot!! We had to sit and wait our turn, so I got my breath back!
No more than 4 to 5 people can walk on the canopy sections at one time and you have to have 5-10 metres between each person and you can't stop to take photos, that's what the viewing platforms at intervals are for.
Basically the canopy walk is planks of wood suspended in roping, just think of 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!' all the way along I was expecting Ant and Dec to pop out and give me a Bushtucker Trial! It was very enjoyable, but once you got to the middle of a section it did get a bit bouncy with people getting on and off at each end! We trekked back the way we came and after peeling my soaking wet clothes off me, having a quick cold shower and getting re-dressed, we went and had a lovely lunch!
After lunch we went on a boat ride through the cascades! It was fab - got a bit wet every now and then! We travelled further up river deeper into the rainforest, then we walked 700 metres then stopped at a lovely swimming area.
I can now say that I have swam in the beautiful waters deep inside the oldest rainforest in the world!! Amazing!
In one section the water flowed so fast over some boulders that it was like a waterfall, you could sit at the bottom of it and it was like a jacuzzi! The currents were quite strong, so we followed Abdullah when swimming, especially to avoid the underwater rocks! I sat on one rock which was submerged and Nikki said I looked like a little fairy! I didn't follow Abdullah on the way back and I swam right into an underwater rock, fortunately it was very funny! It was like swimming up to an invisible wall!! Quite tired on boat journey back down river, it was soooo relaxing just sitting there with my fingers dangling over the edge of the boat into the water. We saw lots of lizards and monkeys on the way back on the waters edge.
Great Day!
12/8/06 - Decided to have a less strenuous day today, so Abdullah took us up river where we visited the Orang Asli tribe. We took them some treats, biscuits and sweets. The children were sooooooo cute, there was one little boy in particular wearing red shorts, he was Mr Personality! He was playing with a little baby and they were all clapping and waving. They are a very shy people and the adults were a little more wary! They are nomadic, so move around alot and the chief of the tribe always decides when and where they move. If someone dies in one place, then they move and do not return to that spot for 5 years. They wrap the dead in tree bark and put them high up in the trees, so they are closer to heaven. If the body has gone when they go back to check a few months later, then that's a sign they were a good person, as they have been taken, if not and the body has dropped down, especially the skull, then they would be seen to have been a bad person. They are a very spiritual people.
The Malaysian Government has offered them housing and education, but they don't want it - don't want to be told what to do! I thought Quite Right! Very arrogant of the 'western' world to think that their modern way of living is better!!
A boat doctor/dentist checks on them monthly, but they all recognise the boat now so run and hide - they don't like the metal points (injections!) They believe nature's way is best. Just leave them alone!
If someone is ill and it looks like they may die, then if where they are is one of their favourite places, they will move on, so that person doesn't die in their favourite spot, otherwise they wouldn't be able to go back there for 5 years - very astute!
I got some good photos, but missed a great opportunity when the liottle boy in red shorts came from behind one of the huts with a massive spliff in his hand!!! Apparently it is not uncommon for even young children to smoke marajuana in the tribe, it isn't considered anything wrong, indeed some of the adults looked a bit red eyed!!
One of the older adults then showed us how to blow through a blow pipe, we had a great time darting a fluffy rabbit (a soft toy!), I thought I did quite well, apart from breathing in at one point and nearly swallowing the dart!!! Didn't make that mistake again, drew my breath in before putting my mouth around the pipe - doh!!
Abdullah also showed us what they use to make darts and to make fire, then one of them started a fire for us, he made it look sooooo easy, apparently it takes lots and lots of practice - they start as children!
I didn't really want to leave, but we had to eventually go and Abdullah gave us a present of a dart in it's own casing, great souvenir!
We did some rapid shooting on the river, got quite wet and we saw the camopy walkway in the distance from the river! The rest of the day we slept, read and relaxed and ended with a lovely dinner.
13/8/06 - Checked out in plenty of time for the 9am boat back down the river to Tembling Jetty. We had asked for someone to wheel our heavy luggage to the riverside at 8.30am, but no-one turned up, so we walked from our chalet. We enquired as to why no one had arrived and we were just told 'Oh we are very busy this morning with check outs'. Great, so leave us out, who are quite a way from the river side, thanks!! There were no apologies at all! Anyway, we eventually got on one of the longboats and we had a nice journey back down river, arriving at the jetty at 11.30am. I was busting to go to the toilet, so I ran up the hill and straight to the toilet (which had to be quite a way away! and you had to pay 20 cents entry! - subsequently I just ran straight past the bloke on the door and paid up afterwards! Decided to cool down with an ice lolly whilst waiting for the bus back to Kuala Lumpur.
We finally set off at 12.40pm, again on the comfy bus and got into KL around 4pmish, got a taxi to our nice hotel and checked in. Lovely room and we had a TV, yippee - movies!!
Went wandering later on and bumped into Dave from Leicester whom we had met in Penang, he was staying at a guesthouse just down the street, so we ended up having dinner with him in a street side restaurant.
14/8/06 - Got up looking forward to a lovely breakfast, but unfortunately everything was cold. I noticed their chaffing dish burners were out, but it took an eternity for someone to do anything about it! There was a rude family sitting next to us and the father kept clicking his fingers at the staff, HOW RUDE!
We then made our way to a shopping mall called Times Square so Nikki could post the blowpipe home which she had bought as a souvenir from the Orang Asli tribe. This turned out to be more difficult than it needed to be. Te post office didn't have any suitable containers, etc. to put it in, so we ended up finding a stationery shop and buying a poster holder to put it in together with some bubble wrap and brown paper. Ended up finding a quiet corner in the mall, by a fire exit, to wrap it all up. A lady from a neighbouring shop kept coming out and standing over us watching what we were doing, she obviously didn't have anything better to do, she was pleasant but annoying!! Finally got it posted!
On the outside of the building was a big sign for Debenhams (I remembered seeing it from the highway on the bus), so we traipsed all around this mall looking for it, to discover that it had closed down!!!! By now I was shattered and just wanted to go back to the hotel and rest, so we did, but first we saw the indoor fun fair which houses a roller coaster, carousel and all sorts of fun rides up on the 4th floor!! Bizarre!
4pm walked to Petaling Street Market, bumped into Dave again and a chap called Daniel, he is from the Phillipines, but lives in Melbourne and is a fashion designer, he ended up giving me his email, so I could contact him when I got to Melbourne. We had a right laugh buying up all the bargains, he is as gay as it comes and lovely! The boys left us a bit later, as they had individual plans for the night and we wandered further on to another indoor market area and we found a lovely antique shop, where Nikki ended up buying a lovely wooden carving.
When we got back to the hotel we were absolutely knackered!
15/8/06 - Breakfast was semi warm again!! Popped into the local market, then went to the Petronas Towers where I posted my bargains home from the post office there. I had a gorgeous waffle and vanilla ice-cream at the Haagen Daz cafe, yum yum!
Found some really nice Nike flip flops (or thongs as they are referred to over here!) but they only had my size left and it was the display pair - I asked if they would discount, as put against the boxed one they were 2 different colours, had obviously faded in the shop, but the manageress would only give me 10%, she wouldn't budge, so I left them - very short sighted of her I thought!
In the afternoon we rested and packed in readiness for moving on tomorrow.
16/8/06 - Cold breakfast again and we were first in at 7am!!!!!!!, left at 7,30am in the hotel car to the Airport. Nikki checked in and went through to departures about 11am, my flight wasn't until 5pm, so I hung around, reading, found a nice peaceful secluded corner and had a doze, ate and read some more. Some Japanese girls came up to me and I thought they were asking me to take their photo, but it turned out they wanted a photo with me, bizarre! There was lots of giggling and then another girl wanted one, so I obliged again, God knows who they thought I was!!!
Finally my check in opened at 2.45pm, yippee!! However, Boo Hiss, as no upgrade again!!!! Dinner at Ivy is looking further and further away!! Bought a bar of Milka chocolate with my last 7RM!!!
Flight was only 40 minutes to Singapore where I had to change flights. As I was walking through the airport to the gate I noticed a poster advertising that INXS were going to be in the airport at 6pm. It was now 6.10pm, I then noticed I was actually walking past the stage they were obviously due to appear on, but they hadn't arrived yet, as the stools on the stage were all empty.
It felt a bit strange to see INXS advertised when Michael Hutchence is no longer with us, but I was curious to see the new front man. My curiosity wasn't quenched, as unfortunately they still hadn't turned up by the time I needed to get a move on, never mind!
Flight was 20 minutes late taking off, but it was a godd flight, great food and drink, Singapore Airlines never disappoint me with their food. I had 3 glasses of wine, then switched to water, as I was starting to feel really drunk!! Watched Mission Impossible 3 and got really engrossed, it is a fab film, highly recommend it. At one point I obviously shouted out as the guy opposite me looked across and laughed! After that watched another good film, a cartoon one called Over The Fence, also very good.
Flight got into Perth and by the time I had come through passport control and collect luggage it was 1.20am!!!! Colin was there to pick me up and he was using his bosses car whilst he was away, so I was chauffeured in style!!! Considering the time, went straight to bed when got in, after I met Fudge of course, their gorgeous doggy!
I was now in Australia!!!!!!
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