Random Photos from Colin's Camera

Photo from today in Cherating, taking a river kayak through the majestic mangrove cathedral.
Chinatown, Kuala Terrenganu. We were looking for food and booze but instead we found this.
The view from Penang hill (top right is the longest bridge in Malaysia)
Colin looking majestic in a sea kayak and scarf.
The moon gate, the entrance to the Penang Hill hike.
Lounging on the beach, something we like to do a lot.
All of Krabi looked like this. Colin didn't climb this cliff.
Muslim Amanda. (80% of Malaysians are Muslim)
Are we starting to look alike? Now that I see this photo I think maybe.
Hiking in Penang's national park to a very secluded beach (except for the people that took this photo of course)
Stalagtites hanging from a cave on our longtail boat tour in the Andaman Sea.
Underwater coral reminds Colin of Elise's paintings
Monkey sighting number 1 in Petchuburi, making faces. We see monkeys all over now.

East Coast Malaysia

Exploring Palau Penang further we climbed Penang Hill, the tallest peak on the island at 820 meters. We sweatily climbed up and shared coffee with energetic old Chinese men at the rest stops along the way. It was a nice climb and offered beautiful views of the cities below. We continued on to the Northwest Coast of the island and a national park and spent two days hiking around to different beaches, a metronomic lake (both sea and fresh water), and through the lush jungle.

Continuing on we took a long bus that wound through the jungle interior of the country to the east side of Malaysia to Kota Baru. There we prepared our trip to the Perhentian Islands, two islands that run off generators and only have running electricity at night. We spent four days there enjoying the beach and lazing about. Island life, as usual. We hiked around the southern tip of the island one day and rented a kayak another. Amanda finished her purse made out of batik fabric purchased in Thailand. In line with Amanda's philosophy on the bigger the better for accessories, it may be the largest bag ever constructed. From the islands we continued back to mainland Malaysia along with it's normal prices and culture (not just whities everywhere you look) and stopped in Kaula Terrenganu and Marang.

Kaula Terrenganu, apparently a cultural hot spot was a bit commercialized with it's oil money. We took a ferry over the river to a town that was supposed to be famous for traditional boat making. Instead we found fish sausage hot out of the boiling vat. Colin ate most of two, while Amanda puked in a bag.

Marang, the jumping off point for an island we weren't interested in, found us wandering the streets looking for affordable housing in the heat of the day. A town with nothing to do, we finally found a spot on top of a hill. It was the first squat toilet we had in a place, and the most we ever paid for a room as well. Sometimes you never know what you're going to get. We were about to set out for the Sunday market but fell asleep instead, a long awaited nap after all that searching. We started setting out as a storm came upon the town, we were soon in a thick cloud but we grabbed our raincoats (turns out Colin's doesn't work) and decided to set off. We were soon soaked and the storm went right over our heads. We walked the stalls, collected a bunch of different food and ate well. Upon returning to our bungalow it was dark and the light switches didn't work, further inspection found that the fan was blown from the wall and a fuze had blown out of the box. Our iPod charger was burnt up and as we turned to find out what was going on, the owner was quickly coming up to us with apologies. Lightning had struck our bungalow! The pavement in front of our steps was shattered and had blown the electricity in half of the huts. We moved to another, thankful that we weren't there, sitting on our porch when it happened. Talk about excitement!

We are now in Cherating, a very small village with a river running through it and a beach that reminds us of the Northwest (although it does have palm trees and is hot as balls). Things are quiet here and we have a nice place to stay and fresh laundry. Next we will head into Taman Negara, the largest national park in Malaysia with a jungle 130 million years old. Until then. . .

Malaysian Grub

We are in Malaysia now, Georgetown to be exact, and our bellies have not let us leave Penang Island (where Georgetown is of course). The city of Georgetown was colonized by the East India Trading Co. and attracted several different cultures to the island. It is a thriving melting pot of Malay, Chinese and Indian people (and several other sub-cultures). It has been recently named a World Heritage Site for it's colorful history and architecture. Walking down the street you will see a mosque, an Indian Temple, a Chinese clan house and a church all around the corner from another. It's rich culture also brings an amazing selection of delicious foods which we just can't get enough of.

After being teased by expensive Indian food in resort towns in Thailand we were finally able to indulge in curries, samosas, tandoori chicken and simple roti canai (roti served with curry for dipping). We have had several snacks consisting of roti canai and blackcurrant lassis for a grand total of $1.60. Food is amazingly cheap here, so there are a lot of second dinners and snacks.

The Chinese food is equally as good, some of the dishes we like are curry mee (a coconut broth soup with noodles, prawn, tofu, mussels and beansprouts garnished with mint) and Chee Choeng Fun (wide noodles stuffed with prawn and pork served in an oily dipping sauce with peanut sauce on top). Another delicious snack, Char Kuih Kar, is noodle chunks fried with garlic, chili paste and bean sprouts served in a banana leaf cone wrapped in newspaper. Stands up and down most streets serve up specialties from fresh squeezed juices to fried noodles and banana wrapped surprise (always a surprise to see what's in the banana leaf).

And of course there is dessert! Strange, but delicious, Cendol consists of pea flour noodles served in coconut juice, shaved ice and brown sugar with red beans. And sweeter ABC Special, shaved ice, fresh fruit, kidney beans, corn, ice cream, lychee pieces, and strange black noodle something-or-other. It sounds weird, but it's good. Malaysia so far has been a treat.

Island Photos

Amanda enjoying squid (one of many) at a BBQ buffet restaurant where you grill your own meat and make soup in the mote of the grill.

Colin and our adventure seeking Austrian friend on Hat Ton Sai.

Hat Ton Sai, Krabi, where all the hardcore rock climbers hang out.

Colin playing spiderman in Railay Beach, Krabi. Look at those calves!

Rainy yet beautiful Ao Nang, Krabi in the midst of a three day monsoon.

Famous James Bond Island, one of the many karst formations in the Andaman Sea.

After our propeller flew off, we were ferried into this amazing Muslim fishing village all on stilts over the open Adaman sea.

Our longtail boat trip for Phang Na through mangrove forests and caves with the elder Mr. Kean at the helm.

Just a sample of the bizzare statues at the Heaven and Hell cave, which also doubles as a Buddhist altar.

One of our Gibbon friends in Rehab. We visited to the Gibbon Rehabilitation Center on Phuket where they reintroduce Gibbons that have been kept in captivity to the rainforest there. We also hiked to a beautiful waterfall there.

Colin relaxing in the hammock of our beachside bungalow in the small fishing village of Chalaklum, Ko Phangan.

A trek up and over one of the highest peaks to secluded Bottle Beach rewarded us with beautiful views of the island.

A sweaty hike to our next destination, we opted out of the expensive taxi ride to Mae Haad, Ko Phangan. Thai people seriously think it's crazy to walk anywhere, but we're from the NW baby!

Poolside chairs in front of the beach, pretty swank, but we paid a bargain 200baht (6 bucks) to stay in one of the dingy bungalows, Ko Phangan.

One of the many beautiful sunsets we viewed during happy hour on the beach, Ko Tao.

A longtail boat in Black Diamond Bay, Ko Tao.

A madman on a motorbike about to take us on the worst dirt roads imaginable.

A typical Thai market with dried seafood by the kilo.

Easy Life, Easy Stay

Soooo, it has been a while since we were dropped out of the sky into Bangkok. We have mainly been hopping from island to island in Southern Thailand enjoying the sun when we can and dodging the rain when necessary. We started out with a train trip down the coast through the towns of Petchaburi, where we saw our first monkeys and Amanda made faces with one, and Hua Hin, where we had our first taste of the beach at the King's favorite resort town. From there we attempted a stay in the Khao Sok national park, which ended with a samlaw driver yelling and driving away and us on the side of the road hitchhiking back into town. Not discouraged in any way, well at least only slightly, we decided to shoot straight down to Chumpon for a night ferry to the islands.

Our first stop was Ko Tao, which means Turtle Island in Thai and is supposed to look like a turtle perched on top of a huge bed of coral. We moved from bay to bay there, staying in different bungalows on the beach, snorkeling, kayaking, and driving a motor bike around the deeply rutted dirt roads of the island. At some points Amanda had to get off of the bike and walk when the going got a little too rough or the hill too steep for two people on our little bike. In the end we coughed up 1,000 baht for a small scratch, Thai people know their hustle.

Next we zipped over to Ko Phangan to the SE and a much larger island. We chose to forgo the SW coast where the majority of young backpackery types go, drawn by the Full Moon parties that occur once monthly (they are so popular that now they also have Black Moon parties and Half Moon parties, pretty much any phase gets some sort of celebration). We went the the NW coast which is a lot less developed and spent our days climbing from one bay to the next, snorkeling, and lazing about on the beach. One day we decided to hike overland to Bottle Beach, which ended up being a grueling push over one of the higher peaks on the island in the heat of the day. We made it across for beautiful views and a longtail boat ride back to our bungalow.

After spending 6 days in Ko Phangan we finally said goodbye and took a night ferry to the mainland. Nicely tanned, we continued on to Phuket on a bus to reach Phuket town on the west coast of the peninsula. Fuzzy sweaters in full effect we finally rested our heads at On On Hotel, the Bangkok flophouse where they filmed part of "The Beach." The rooms looked earily the same, and we spent our night passing joints back and forth with our neighbors (kidding). We spent two days in Phuket Town which had interesting Sino-Portugese architechture and a killer night market. We found Chang beer for 40 baht, cheaper than conveniece stores! We continued to spend one night in Patong, where we found 4,000 American Navy sailors in port. We hadn't run into more than two Americans up to this point, and then bam! all over the place. It was rainy, but the vendors were out in full force.

On to Phang Na, a small town between Phuket and Krabi we stopped for one night and did a boat trip in the Andaman sea to see Mangroves, caves and famous James Bond Island. We took a longtail boat that lost it's propeler mid-trip, but were rescued and ferried into a Muslim fishing village. The village was incredible, a whole town clinging to one cliff on stilts sticking straight out of the sea. It was beautiful. The day we arrived we were told of the Heaven and Hell cave which we went to check out. It was weird, there were crazy statues all over the place of torture and monsters and you entered the cave through a dragon bridge (inside the mouth, out the butt). We can't describe the creepiness, you'll just have to see the photos.

Arriving in Krabi we spent one night in Krabi Town and ate some delicious fried mussels. Yum! Street food is really where it's at, restaurants don't stand a chance to tittilate your taste buds. On to Ao Nang, a beach in Krabi we found a great room where we have spent the last 5 nights. The owner was a hustler, she gave us the hard sell on the room, but warmed up to us by the time we left. She even gave us a bag of cocunut cream peanuts for bus snacks. Anyway, it was our first hot shower since Bangkok. Colin went climbing in Railay Beach, I watched and hid from the rain. Afterwards we tramped around Hat Ton Sai, a smaller beach with less development and a stunning view. The whole area is made up of karst cliffs reaching up into the sky, it is so beautiful. Yesterday we took a speed boat trip to the Phi Phi islands. It was a little frightening sitting in the front of the boat bobbing up and down on the open sea waves, but we made it. We did a lot of snorkeling and saw some beautiful sights. Our tour guide, like many women here, was a man, of course.

And that bring us to little Trang, Thailand. Our last stop before we cross into Malaysia. That's it for now kiddies. We will try to blog more, and of course add some photos.