Juara, Tioman Island, Malaysia...then we are gone.

We ended our stay in SE Asia with a bang and a splash, and in one of our favourite places, as it turns out. Tioman Island. We met a fun couple on the bus to Tioman from Melacca, Karen and Peter Hall from the Isle of Wight in the UK. They joined us for a few days on ABC beach and then up and over the island to Juara beach. "I don't know if you will like Juara, it's pretty quiet" people said but it was exactly what we were looking for in a small town, friendly locals and two, one km long, wide and white sand beaches. At the beginning of our stay on Tioman with thought we would stay 5 days or so then move on to the Perhentian Islands, after all "What would we do with ourselves for a full 2 weeks?" As it turned out we did stay in Juara at The Bushman Guesthouse for the rest of our time in Malaysia (except for one last stop in Malacca to connect to KL to catch our flight to Germany) an there was plenty to do. We snorkeled and swam everyday, we saw a turtle, several cuttlefish, eels, rays, many colourful fish and a great variety of coral. We also took several hikes to a couple of waterfalls, once again the cool fresh water was very refreshing after trudging up the hills in the jungle in very high humidity.  Another thing we found very interesting was a turtle sanctuary, that gathers turtle eggs from the beach when the turtles come in during the night and lay their eggs.  Unfortunately, harvesting turtles eggs is still legal in Malaysia and unfortunately the turtle numbers have declined drastically and only a few are coming back to reproduce.

The Bushman Guesthouse was a great place to stay, at the very end of the beach it was secluded, they had a great restaurant, friendly staff (all family), and our little chalet had everything from hot water, two fans and a nice balcony to sit on and water the tide come and go. The only drawback being the sandflies that loved me but left Ken alone. Sweet blood!

With our trip drawing to a close, we took the boat back to Mersing on the mainland then a bus on to Malacca for a night. Dragging Katie (a nice girl from Canada who is working in Cambodia and was at The Bushman for a little R&R) with us we had a great time showing her some of the sights in Malacca we had enjoyed on previous trips. What fun and what a beautiful city.

Well, with all said and done it is time to move on. After a short bus ride from Malacca Ken and I spent our last hours in Malaysia in the KL airport, spending our last Ringets and looking forward to visiting with our friends in Germany again.

We couldn't believe it, there really is a thing called Kick-a-poo Joy  Juice. and we drank it on Tioman.  It's good.

Karen, Peter, Ken and I enjoyed a few happy hours at a small bar on ABC beach.  Because Malasyia is a mostly muslum country, you will not find much drinking but Tioman is a dutyfree island so we could indulge in a cocktail for a reasonable price.

Fruit bats hung from some of the trees and palms during the day, making quite a racket while they waited for dusk to fly away and feed.

The Bushman Guesthouse,  sitting on the edge of the beach nestled into the palms.

Cool surfer dudes!  Sieiji, Dale and Ken.

A large water monitor, it had to be close to three metres long from nose to tail.

Ever wonder where rubber comes from?  On one of hikes in the jungle we walked through a rubber plantation.  The sap runs down the trunk into a container where the liquid solidifies then is gathered and sent for processing.

Oh-So-Refreshing.

There are some very large, old trees on the island and vines hang from most.  We kept our eyes open for snakes, cobras and pythons to be exact, but didn't see any.

Can you see why it would be easy to stay and hard to leave?

We could sit on our deck and watch to waves when we weren't snorkeling.

Is it real or is it memorex?  Ken and Katie sit infront of a mural in Malacca.

I Don't Have An Umbrella, 傘がない

On Juara Beach, Tioman Island, Malasyia our friend Seiji Funaki for Japan sings an old love song    (I Don't Have An Umbrella).  Thunder and Lightning accompany him as we sit around a campfire.  I can't understand a word but I loved the song anyway.  Nice job Seiji!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuH8JimFxgE


Just click the link! and you can be there too!

Jets at LIMA

I just couldn't help it!  I had to show you a couple of the videos I made at LIMA.

                                       It was breathtaking watching them do their thing!

Langkawi, Malaysia

Now, seeing that we would have upwards of 7 weeks in Malaysia we felt an unleashed liberty to stay at Soluna Guesthouse at Pantai Cenang on Langkawi for, what was it, 18 days? Our arrival on Langkawi just happened to coincide with a week long school vacation and a week long air show, the Langkawi International Marine and Aerospace Expedition, better known as LIMA. The island and actually all of Malaysia was extremely busy so decided to stay and wait for the tide to ebb before setting out see more of the country. It was a great decision, as it turned out we really enjoyed our time on the island, the people (lots and lots of them) and the air show. We rented a scooter for two weeks and explored every nook and cranny on the island. We found a few very beautiful beaches with water upwards of 31 degrees C in temperature, and took a couple rides up into the mountains at Gunung Raya, where the cool air felt very refreshing (at times we were not sure our little scooter was going to make it up to the top but at last it did not fail us). Our favourite beach was Pasir Tengkorak Beach on the road to the Datai Resort, it was frequented by a lot of locals and the water was the clearest of all the beaches we saw. The LIMA jet-fighters started their display at 8:30 so their engine noise was our alarm clock (yes, we really are sleeping that late because the warm evenings keep us awake until long after midnight). It still would be a dream of mine to go for a ride in one of those jets...Kimberly maybe you could arrange something??? Anyway, jet-fighters from all over the world were doing maneuvers several times a day directly over our guesthouse. I had a great time taking loads of photos and trying my hand at a few videos, in the end I only kept a few shots so don't be too worried that I will make you sit through hours of home videos. With the air show and vacations over it is time for us to move on, tomorrow it is off the Kuala Lumpur on Malaysian Airlines (we can't believe it $24 for our flight!) then on to Mercing, by bus and the a short jump onto the Tioman Islands by boat. With any luck by tomorrow night we will be sitting in a guesthouse the other side of Malaysia, looking out over the South China Sea.

From the top of Gunung Raya we had a great view of some of the 99 islands of Langkawi.

Pantai Pasir Hiltam, just one of the many beautiful beaches on Langkawi.

We visited the local handcraft centre and watched a the glass blowers made a couple long neck flowers...remember the temperature is over 32 degrees outside, with this fire going it has to be a long hot day. 

We saw more of these cute monkeys  on the road out to the Datai Resort.

It's funny Ken doesn't look the slightest bit nervous with this guy shaveing him with a straight razor.  After the shave he got the best head massage all inclusive for less than $3.

Just behind our guest house the neighbour  lady had a little restuarant set up. Great fried rice and fried noodles, iced coffee and juices.  Ken even managed a little badmonton with the neighbour's husband.

Did  I mention we visited some beautiful beaches?  At Pantai Tanjung Rhu we were just about the only ones there.

Yes, we were just about the only ones there.

Our favourite beach, Pasir Tengkerak, the locals liked to spend the day arelaxing as much as we did.

 The Russian jetfighters preformed manuevers over the Langkawi airstrip.

The Eurofighter was very fast and load...it gave me goosebumps!

Canada's only performer was the Bombardier water bomber.

Which way's up and which way's down?

The view of Langkawi below from the cable car, 700 metres above sea level.

At the top of the cable car , on Gunung Machinchang there were two viewing stations and a skywalk that was unfortuanately closed for renovations.

We also found a great swimming hole that the locals use.  It was so nice and cool in the fresh water, something the water in the Sea of Thailand is not.

It's Raining Cats and Cows

Check us out on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAwGsLma4JY


It's not always sunny days here on the road!

Malacca

What did we do for six days? I have no idea. We had a pretty slick bus trip from Tanah Rata to Malacca (with just a little speed bump in Kuala Lumpur, but we won't go into that...o.k. the girl who sold us the bus ticket told us to stay on the bus until the last stop where we would change to a bus that would take us all the way to Malacca. At the last stop we found out we should have got off earlier but no big deal we would just have to navigate our way through the rapid transit system back to the central bus station. Oh well, just another day on the bus) Once in Malacca we went straight to a guesthouse that was recommended to us by the Polish couple on our tour in Tanah Rata. The Travellers Planet Hostel was clean, cheap (less that $20 w/aircon, including breakfast) and far enough away from town to be nice and quiet. But six days! they went fast. Really. We walked around town checking out China Town, went to a movie (Dead Man Down, we gave it a 9), we also went to the night market and walked the beautiful canal...twice...once at night and once during the day. We also tried a lot of the local foods...everything on the Lonely Planet's list of "don't leave without trying"...at least once!

The entrance to China Town is easy to find with this flying boat overhead and a steady stream of people heading down the street.

Obviously the seat on this guys bike is not comfortable enough for his long trip!

Malacca is known for its trishaws, a little out there!!!  They are all decorated to the max and usually have music blareing.  

We saw these weird looking fish that are just as comfortable out of the water as in the water at the zoo at Chang Mai.  In Malacca we saw them during low tide on the banks of the canal.

Another culinary experience at the 'Royal Satay' restuarant.  After picking your choice of  many different types of satays (food on a stick) you bring them back to your table and cook them in a hot pot filled with a spicy peanut sauce. 

It doesn't look that appetizing but it is actually really good.  Maybe a bit heavy on the sauce but it was an experience.

On the banks of the canal there is a whole strip of restuarants, guesthouses and private buildings that are painted with all kinds of art.  Graffiti art.  

We caught a glimpse of a monotor lizzard swimming in the canal, he was about 1 meter or 1 1/2 meters long.  They live right in the middle of the city.

More great food, in the back a banana leaf special and in the front a thosias, served with several dips and sauces, along with a couple fresh orange juices.

At night the trishaws light up the roads with their fancy lights, music and charismatic drivers.

Teatime

Boh Tea Plantation, views of the Giant Green Carpet of Malaysia