Trip Pics

Here are some photos from our trip to Malaysia!

Langkawi Island- northwest Malaysia- 1-31-09

Cable Car on Langkawi Island: 1-31-09.

7 wells waterfall: where we lost and found both our camera and wallet!!

We took a 3 hour boat tour around Langkawi: we saw bats, eagles, fish, and lots of cool formations. 2-1-09.

Crocodile cave, full of bats.

Driving the boat through a cave!

Coral Island-Snorkeling day trip from Langkawi 2-2-09.

Feeding the sharks on Coral Island.

Naan, an Indian bread, so delicious!! 

H trekking throuth the jungle. Cameron Highlands, 2-4-09.

Halfway there!

We hiked up a steep trail for 20 minutes expecting to reach the lookout: when we got there, we found this sign :(

We finally finished our jungle hike (took 3 hours)

Jungle Trek- Cameron Highlands- Our 4X4 got stuck! 2-5-09.

Waterfall on the way to the flower.

Rafflesia-the world's largest flower. We trekked for over an hour to find it!

Tea Plantations.

Cameron Highlands: More tea plantations 2-6-09.

A lone tea picker in the fields.

Kuala Lumpur: the Hindu Thai Pusam Festival 2-8-09. (thousands of people)

Many of the believers will shave their heads before the festival as a testament of their faith.

The purpose is to make a march up to this cave temple. Some of them carried their babies on this bamboo stick all the way up.

Some of them had hooks in their backs and rods through thier cheeks.

Some of them carried heavy alters up the 300 stairs.

View from the top looking down on the crowds.

Old buildings in the historic town of Melaka, UNESCO World Heritage Site) 2-9-09.

Dutch church in Melaka 2-9-09.

Hand made shoes in Melaka.

The Tour de Langkawi passed right by our hostel.

Birthday dinner: H, Chantal, John, B and Mark. 2-10-09.

2-11-09 Mersing: Coast town where we were supposed to board the ferry for our island. Low tide= stranded in Mersing for the day.

Tioman Island: 2-12-09.

Monitor Lizard Crossing.

Monkey on the beach.

Mark & Chantal; our new Dutch friends. We saw each other in almost every city that we traveled to! We spent 3 days together on the deserted island.

Tioman Island: Paradise!! 2-14-09

Singapore city Scape  2-16-09.

Fountain of Wealth (Largest fountain in the world) Laser Show.

Singapore: 1000 Lights Buddha (15 meters, 300 tons)

Back in Wonju

Yesterday at 11:30am we left Singapore via bus, and, having to stop at border patrol in Singapore, were asked if we could take a quick survey. That survey lasted 10 minutes so we missed our bus that would take us into Malaysia. 15 minutes later another one arrived so we hopped on that one with no problem. Once in JB, Malaysia (border town) we caught a bus to the historic town of Melaka, since it was on our way to KL and we hadn't gotten any souvenirs from there. H and all the bags stayed at the bus terminal there while B went into the town and got a magnet and keychain. Next we caught a bus to KL, thinking that we'd be able to catch a bus from that station to the airport...wrong. We ended up taking a cab there but it wasn't too pricey. We got to the airport 3 hours early so we just hung out there; we did notice that a few flights were delayed due to snow but our Beijing flight was fine. We did end up boarding 15 minutes late, but we were up in the air and napping in no time (our flight was from mindnight to 6am). 

Upon arriving in Beijing, we noticed snow covering the runway and planes; it had snowed about an inch. Our flight was due to board at 8:15am, with an 8:45 take off. We sat, and sat, and sat. Twice they made announcements, but only in Chinese and Korean so finally we asked what the holdup was. They informed us that due to the snow, we would be delayed a bit. (Although other planes were still taking off). 2 and a half hours later, at 11:30am we took off from Beijing. Due to the time difference, we arrived at Incheon at 1:40 (but it was only a 1hr 20min flight). We flew through customs and at the baggage claim, our bags were one of the 1st to come out! Hoping to catch a 3pm bus directly to Wonju, we went to the ticket counter and were told that the next direct bus wasn't until 2 hours later...Instead of waiting we caught a bus to Seoul's bus terminal and from there took a bus to Wonju. In total, we spent 29 hours in transit! We're glad to be home, and Chomps is also glad we're home. 

Our friends are going back home to their country tomorrow so there's a going away party tonight. Tomorrow we hope to take it easy at home all day!!

Last Day

Today is our final day of vacation: in a few hours we'll leave Singapore by bus and head to Johor, a Malaysian border town. Then we'll get on a bus bound for Melaka, the historical town that we stayed at over H's b-day (we didn't get a chance to get any souvenirs so we'll swing in for a few keychains and such). In the early evening we'll catch a bus to KL central, and immediately switch buses and go the airport. Our flight flies out of KL at 12:20 midnight on the 18th. We'll arrive in Beijing at about 8am, our flight to Seoul leaves at 10am and we'll be in korea by noon the 18th. Lots of traveling for our final day of vacay! Will post pics when we're back in Wonju. Thanks to all who have been checking our blog!!

Tioman Island

On the 12th we caught a ferry to Pulau Tioman, an island off the east coast of Malaysia. We arrived at Air Batang Beach at 12:30pm, found a small chalet for about $10 a night, and we hit the beach along with our Dutch friends. The island is fairly deserted now since it's still technically typhoon season, but in our 3 days on the island we only encountered rain once (at 7am!) The 13th we walked to Tekek, the only town on the island, to get some snacks and such. Then we all took a walking trail in hopes of reaching Monkey Bay, a spot supposedly great for snorkeling and swimming. We only had flip-flops on, and the trail was more like a hiking trail so we just stopped when we saw the 1st signs of beach. Although it wasn't Monkey Bay, it was still a nice beach and we had it all to ourselves! Unfortunately, our underwater camera somehow got water into the battery, so the screen is now not functioning...we're hoping that once back in Korea we'll be able to get it fixed. Our friends convinced us that Friday the 13th was to blame for our bad luck. That night after dinner we stayed up playing Dutch and American cards all night.
The 14th we stayed at our own beach all day and did some swimming and snorkeling. When we went to grab lunch, we accidentally left our snorkel gear on the beach and when we finally remembered a few hours later, both sets were gone. I guess it was still the 13th somewhere...
Today at 9:30 we caught the only ferry back to the mainland but had to say goodbye to our Dutch friends, who are staying in paradise for one more day. We arrived at 11:55am, so we missed the noon bus to Singapore. The next time open is 3pm, and that only takes us to the border of Malaysia/Singapore, where we'll have to get a new bus to take us into Singapore. We've read that traffic going into SP is really bad on sunday evenings (which is when we'll get there since our bus leaves at 3 and takes 4 hours...) so we'll see what time we reach our hostel. We'll see SP all day tomorrow (the 16th) and some of the 17th but we'll have to leave around 2pm in order to get to Kuala Lumpur to catch our flight, which leaves at 12:30am the 18th.

Day of Transit

We woke up at 6am today so that we could be at the bus terminal by 7:30 to see if we could get seats on the bus headed toward the island. We were lucky in that we got on the same bus as our friends. The bus ride was supposed to take 4 hours, but ended up taking 5 due to a flat tire on the bus. We arrived at Mersing, the port city, at 1:15pm only to be told that the only ferry going was at 10am (due to a low tide). So, the four of us checked into a cheap hostel and walked around the town a bit trying to kill time. Now it's dinner time so we'll get a bite to eat and then relax in the hostel until bedtime. Our boat doesn't leave until 10am tomorrow, so we're hoping to get to Tioman and get checked into a hotel by 1pm. We're not sure if we'll stay on the island 2 or 3 nights yet, since we still want to get down to Singapore to explore there a bit.

B-day in Malacca

Today is H's 25th birthday! We started the day a bit later than usual, waking up at 8:15 without an alarm clock. By 10 am we were wandering around the old town again, taking in the Dutch architecture that is everywhere. We grabbed lunch at a cool food stall mall filled with traditional foods. After lunch we saw signs saying "Tour de Langkawi" and found out that there was a big bicycle race coming thru town at about 1:30. We were able to catch the racers from the balcony of our hostel; they were so fast!!  Later we walked through China Town looking for a place to exchange books- we finally found one a few hours later and were happy to trade in our old books for a new one. 

For dinner H was in the mood for cream sauce spaghetti, so we found a restaurant that we had passed by earlier with a bit spendy prices. We thought, meh, it's a b-day dinner so what the heck. Hwent with chicken alfredo while B had a local Malay-style pizza. Both dishes were tasty. After dinner we were letting our food digest when a Brit entered the bar area and was talking to the server. He mentioned that it was his b-day soon so he would like a drink. H said (rather quietly to B) "it's MY b-day TODAY"  The man over heard and came over to enquire whose bday it was. He insisted on buying us a round of drinks (not cheap since Malaysia is a Muslim country and alcohol is forbidden in that religion). After two drinks and a nice chat, we saw our new Dutch friends walking by. We knew that they were arriving in Malacca but hadn't seen them around town. They joined us for another drink and we discovered that they're going to Tioman Island in the morning. Our plan was to go to Singapore in the morn for a few days, and then end our trip on that same island. However, since there is a low monsoon season on the island now, we've heard that tourists can be "stranded" on the island for up to 4 days (not good since we have a plane to catch on the 18th). So it makes more sense to go there now and, if we do get stuck, we'll simply pass up SIngapore and head straight to the airport. Plus, now we'll get to travel with our new pals!!  Since we didn't buy our tix in advance, we're hoping there are 2 seats available for the 8am bus tomorrow. We're not sure if we'll have internet on the island or not, but we'll try our best!! 

Back to KL & Mallacca

Friday we walked around the highlands again, we walked 5km downhill to a tea plantation where we drank some nice tea and had a snack. After realizing that our trek back would be straight uphill, we inquired about any local buses. We were told that one would be by at 1:15, but by 1:30 we were getting skeptical. Suddenly this man in his car stopped alongside us and asked if we wanted a lift. The steep climb was so much better in his car!! What a friendly guy, too!

Saturday we left the Highlands at 8am and arrived in KL about 12:30 (with the sun beating down on us). We made our way to our old hostel where we checked in and headed to find some AC (our hostel didn't have any). The best place we've found to go to beat the heat are the giant malls that are around town. We kept cool inside while browsing around the shops. 

Sunday morning we got up around 6am so as not to be late for the Hindu festival, Thai Pusam. Our roommate from Shanghai also joined us. We took a local bus outside of the city about 30 minutes and then we walked to this cave that houses a ?Hindu temple. Some of the more fervant believers want to show respect for a god's birthday, so they climb up 300 steps and rest in the temple. They don't just walk, though, they 1)carry small pots 2) carry big float-type things, or 3) pierce needles through their body.  It was so crowded that we waited over 45 minutes just to start climbing the stairs! Some of the people were a bit scary....

(So many people!)

(This man carried this tower up the flight of stairs).

(His friend was pulling on his hooks the whole way up the stairs).

After we finished our climb to the temple, we came back down and ran into our new Dutch friends (the ones from the ferry and the day trip). We had told them about the festival and they wanted to check it out. We were so tired that we went back to our hostel and had a nap. When we woke, we grabbed dinner and then headed to the Petronas Towers again, to see them from another angle. Who did we run into??? Our Dutch friends! We laughed about them following us and then went to an outdoor cafe for some drinks. It was a good day!

(The towers in the background).

Monday we took the 2 hour bus ride to Mallacca, an old town that has been given UNESCO World Heritage status. We ate lunch down by the river at a cheap cafe, and then began our city walking tour. There's so much to see in this old town that we had a hard time trying to take it all in!  

(Mallaca Town Square).

(Lanterns in China Town).

We had heard that there would be a festival in the evening celebrating the last day of the Chinese New Year, so after dinner we headed

 back to China Town and we lucky enough to find the Lion Dance just starting! There were dozens of the costume dragons, so it made for a great show!!

(Dozens of dancing lions!)

Cameron Highlands Trek

Today we joined an 11 person day tour around Cameron Highlands. We started at 8:45 when we loaded into a Land Rover 4x4 truck with 6 others. One couple looked familiar; they had been on our ferry from the island 2 days prior. We got to chatting, and it turns out that they entered and will be leaving Malaysia on the same dates as us. They have pretty much the same itinerary as well! They're from Holland, and about our same age. We were also joined by a single Dutch woman, German man, and an Iranian father-son combo. The Iranian man was 20 years old, and it was really nice to chat with him throughout the day.

We drove about 45 minutes out of town, and then went off-roading. At one point we got stuck, and the tour guide told everyone to get out since we would just walk the rest of the way. B was in front of the truck and H and the Dutch woman were behind, when all of a sudden the guide gunned it and covered the girls with mud. Oops! 

(Stuck in the mud)

We started into the jungle and hiked for an hour until we reached a remote spot where the world's largest flower, the "rafflesia" was in full bloom! Our tour company was literally the only in town that was able to find one today, so we were really lucky! We posed with the flower, and then we headed back down the trail. Halfway down there was a fast moving waterfall so we stopped off for a quick dip. 

(Posing with the world's largest flower!)

After heading back to the truck, we drove to an aborigine tribe's village where we were given a blow dart demo. After the demo we all tried our hand at hitting the target; we both hit the main target!! Next we headed toward town, where we stopped at a tea plantation. We ate a light lunch (at 3pm!!) and walked around the grounds a bit b4 it started raining. We waited it out under an awning and in the truck. Next was the butterfly/insect farm, and lastly we stopped at a strawberry farm where we enjoyed fresh strawberry shakes. We got back to our hotel at 6:30pm. 

Now we're hanging out at a restaurant with free wi-fi, so I'm able to upload a few photos from our day. We're not exactly sure where we'll go tomorrow, but need to be in KL on the 7th for sure, since the big Hindu festival is on the 8th. 

Langkawi Island & Back to the Mainland

Monday morning we took a day tour to Coral Island, a deserted Eco-Park designated for snorkeling and diving. We had a nice picnic lunch, did a bit of snorkeling, and then it was time for the shark feeding. Between 5 and 10 sharks, ranging in size from 3 feet to 6 feet long, came to the shores to be fed by our tour guides. The crowd went wild when the sharks splashed water at them with their tales. About 30 minutes later and they were gone again, and we continued snorkeling. The coral reef was quite thick so we saw all sorts of colors below the water! We got back in time for dinner and then it was off to bed.
Tuesday morning we packed our stuff and headed for the ferry terminal. Here was our schedule that day:
8:30am- depart for the mainland.
The sea was so rough and our boat kept swaying to the right so it was not a pleasant ride.
10am - arrived at Kuala Kedah, on the mainland
We hooked up with 2 Swedish folks and shared a 30 min. cab ride to the bus terminal.
11am- our bus departed for Ipoh (we were told it was a 3 hour ride)
4:10pm- FINALLY arrived in Ipoh, to learn that we were an hour late for our next bus.
6pm- our bus for the Cameron Highlands departed.
The road to the highlands was so windy that, to go 45 kilometers, took 2.5 hours!!!
8:30pm- arrived in the highlands, walked to our hostel, and crashed for the night.

Our hostel was very cheap, about $8 total, but the rooms were musty and cold. We awoke early, had a quick breakfast, and ran into a Korean man there. When asked where he was from, we were shocked when he said Wonju (our city!!) He even knows some teachers at H's school! Small world! We then headed to the jungle for some independent trekking. We started on an easy trail, and ran into a guide who wanted us to hire his services. When we refused, he followed us anyway giving helpful tips. After an hour, the easy trail ended and we decided to try the next in line (of course our guide friend was not in sight). We ended up on a 3 hour intense trek through the jungle, complete with mountains and streams, monkeys and bugs! H did manage a few knee scuffs when a tree "grabbed" her leg, but otherwise we came out in one piece! We didn't get back into town until after 2pm, where we found a tasty Indian restaurant to dine at.

After lunch we checked out of our hostel and into a small hotel that charges about $10, and it started to downpour! It poured for over an hour, and we were so thankful to have been in our room and not in the jungle! Tomorrow we plan on doing an extensive tour complete with a bit of jungle trekking, visits to a tea plantation, honey farm, strawberry farm, and the viewing of the world's largest flower (in bloom this week only!!!). As soon as we find wireless again, we'll have pics up!!