southeast asia, winter '08/'09 (part one) hiking and exploring in malaysia

Well, once again I'm back in the Tokushima winter with my piles of blankets, 'heaps' of tea, youtube evenings next to the space heater, and looming thoughts about future employment. For now I'm trying not to stress about the latter as I've recently returned to this comfortable life after three weeks of traveling in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Here's a bit about what happened during this time (and remember that you can click on any of the pictures to see an enlarged version):

The long-awaited winter vacation ('fuyu yasumi') is one where many teachers here get a chance to do some traveling either in Japan or in other parts of the world. Because it's close, warm, and cheap (and awesome), southeast Asia is a very popular destination as I found myself taking a trip to Thailand and Laos during my first winter holiday one year ago (see this post). Having learned from the experience, Caitlin and I didn't do much planning after we had decided to travel together again to a new part of southeast Asia because in this part of the world, you can just simply up and then take it from there.


After a seven hour flight from Osaka to Singapore, we stayed for a night in the city and had a chance have a meal and catch our breath before making our way to the Malaysian section of the island of Borneo- a place known for orangutans, biodiversity, and headhunting tribes. The city of Kota Kinabalu in the Sabah province was home for a short while as Caitlin and I met up with Ann (her sister) and Leah (her cousin) in at the now infamous Lucy's Backpacker Inn. Right away we had some bad luck when Caitlin came down with a severe stomach illness and had to stay in bed for multiple days so we soon moved from Lucy's to a room at the swanky but inexpensive Hyatt Inn close to the waterfront. We all quickly learned the number for room service and spent a lot of time ordering fresh juice while hanging around the hotel. This was my first clue of how amazing the selection and quality of fruits and vegetables would be in this part of the world. Though I am very lucky with what's available in Japan, things just have their own taste near the equator.




Anyway, while Caitlin's condition improved, Ann and Leah both caught her sickness and were now stuck in bed for a few days. I used this time to explore Kota Kinabalu (or 'KK' as everyone calls it) and discovered the amazing night market and gritty, gritty side streets and alleys.


Late night on Christmas Eve, I decided to buy a solo plane ticket to see some caves that were featured on BBC's Planet Earth series. The next day I was on my way to the town of Miri in the Sarawak province as I, in mid-flight, realized that I had confused the city names of 'Mulu' with 'Miri' and needed to catch another flight in order to reach Gunung Mulu National Park to see the caves. Thankfully, I stepped off of the plane in Miri and bought a ticket to Mulu with such ease that I was on a plane heading there 20 minutes later(you gotta love that Air Asia is so cheap that you can take flights on a whim as long as there's a seat for you...). My Christmas day was spent in transit between KK, Miri, and Mulu and I found myself at the park with no accommodation or tour bookings whatsoever (something that the guidebooks strongly recommend against) but I ended up staying in a large dorm room beside the park headquarters for about 15 ringgit (or about $4) a night. After some food and a shower, I went to bed early and listened to the never ending downpour of rain that would have had me convinced that the building was constructed under a waterfall. The next morning, I awoke to find three feet of water covering the steps to the building.


During the next two days I was out and about in the park, seeing the caves and getting to know some great people.




We had to take boat rides to and from the caves that crosses through small villages and schools that I hiked to later on that day. This was the Malaysia that I wanted to see.





Gunung Mulu Park was an amazing experience. It felt nice to travel alone for a short bit and I think that because of the remote location of the park, only very adventurous people ended up there. There is really no nearby town and all supplies must be flown periodically on the tiny airstrip beside the park's headquarters. Everyone that works in Mulu is from a tribe local to the area so the employees were pretty much all related in some way...and you'd quickly get to know this just by chatting with them. After a nice time in the jungle, it was back to KK and on to what would be the most challenging but rewarding part of the trip.

I had never heard of Mt. Kinabalu before buying my plane ticket Malaysia. Upon researching things to do in the Sabah province, I found that it was definitely the main reason for people travel there- the highest mountain in southeast Asia (higher than Mt. Fuji), within the diversity of Kinabalu National Park, and seemingly not an impossible task 'for people of all ages.' Caitlin was just well enough after her sickness to get back to the outdoors so it was fortunate that we had booked our hike on the days that we did. The day before starting out on the mountain, we caught a long distance cab ride from KK to the park and got a good rest the night before. The first day's hike was short but intense with most of the trail being large steps that were unrelenting but not impossible if you're taking your time.


We spent that night at Laban Rata, the sleeping quarters located a little over half way up the mountain. With some dinner and tea, we were in bed at 7:30pm so that we could wake up at 1:40am (the earliest I've ever got up for anything) to climb the most difficult part of the trail in pitch black so that we could see the sun rise at the summit. With our very memorable local guide Helmy (who was given the name 'Sir Helmsly' during the hike), I spent the day witnessing some of the most beautiful things that I've ever seen in my life.
















When all of the hiking was done (going both up and down) our time spent on the mountain was about 30 hours. A little bit of that time was spent sleeping, some of it eating, but a lot of it was climbing steps in the earth that seemed to never end. We experienced hours of heavy rean on the way down but it felt nice after we had already completed the difficult part of the climb. Our legs didn't work for a few days afterwards but the big event of the trip had been accomplished and we felt amazing after seeing what it's like to be 4,050m above the sea when the sun rises on a perfectly clear morning.



I must say that when I first stepped foot in the city of Kota Kinabalu I was hesitant to feel comfortable because I felt out of place as a westerner in a Muslim culture. After spending a week and a half there, I've now been able to get to know some one of the most humble and generous people that I've been exposed to. And I really mean that...no one was pushy or really even attempting to get money from me. In fact, I was usually offered a beer or a seat by the people I made small talk with. Everyone in Borneo had such a nice and relaxing vibe and that was apparent from the time we took our first unmarked van from the airport to the city to the final taxi ride on our way back to catch our flight to Indonesia.




The final significant event in Malaysia was the New Year's party. Myself, Caitlin, Ann, Leah, and her friend Jocelyn went out and made some new friends while celebrating the entrance of the final year of this decade. Pictures do best at telling the story of this particular evening.







So, on New Year's Day, we packed our things and were off to a new country.

(part two) dances, juices, and gamelan music in indonesia

At 10:00pm on New Year's Day, Caitlin and I landed in Denpasar on the island of Bali with no place to stay and little knowledge about the country we were in. We paid for our visas after exchanging a few Japanese bills for stacks of Indonesian rupiah and then wandered out into the hot night air looking for a place to stay. Upon a taxi's suggestion, we found a guesthouse in a shady part of the city of Kuta- a place known for surfing, white sand, and having more tourists than locals. Our place had no sheets or toilet paper and the owner tried to make us pay twice because we "didn't have proof that we paid the first time." Welcome to Bali, where surprises and interesting situations truly never end.




We both knew about Kuta from reading guidebooks and knew to stay away from it. On the first night we had our first taste of Bali cuisine which blew us both away. I was really hungry at the time but I thought that our first meal there was some of the best food that I've ever had. Upon reflection, though, I know for sure that Bali probably had the best variety of and quality of food that I've eaten anywhere in the world. And the fresh juice...honestly, it's good (and cheap) enough to make the trip to Bali just for that reason. But, other than that meal, Kuta was unimpressive as expected. Caitlin got creeped out at an internet cafe by a local, I was offered magic mushrooms countless times in the ally where we stayed, and I'm sure other things occurred that aren't worth mentioning but I don't remember. The next morning it was off to Ubud.



So, what we read about Ubud was that it is Bali's cultural and culinary center. All of this is totally true but when I first got there I had a hard time getting used to the spiritual/raw food/working vacation/zen power trippin'/yoga pants wearin'/just read Eat Pray Love type of tourists. (I'm allowed to make fun of this stuff because I'm into most of it, but I think that the chances of being annoyed around this crowd are very high.) But, honestly, the food and juices were so good that I would put up with any crowd to be around it...even in this otherworldly supercharged Asian Shadyside (a Pittsburgh reference, sorry if you don't know it). The place that we stayed at in Ubud was awesome and it was only 90,000 rupiah (about $9 a night) split between two people. A worker there named Made ('Mah-day') befriended us and then wanted us to send him Japanese textbooks so that could learn how to speak better with Japanese tourists. Obama was a topic that came up with him (as it did with many people there) and I explained why I was hopeful about his presidency. Made then told me about Indonesia's president and how he was also hopeful that he was going to bring clean drinking water to the village where he lives. This conversation really stuck with me.



Next, we wanted to get out to some weirder and crazier parts of the island so we got on a bus heading to a volcano north of Ubud. Our driver was cool and he took us the 'secret way' there so that we didn't have to pay an entrance fee. This town was great because there really were no other tourists besides a Swedish couple who we saw walking around the one street that exists there. We very quickly got to know the people that we were staying with which allowed them to repeatedly offer their volcano hike tour packages to us even when we assured them that we were completely not interested (we were probably even still sore from Mt. Kinabalu). By this time, though, I was attuned to the methods of disarming their persistence. We bought some paintings off of a guy named Zero who makes his living, like almost everyone else does, on the tourists that spend money there like it's nothing. In the evening, I heard gamelan percussion (indigenous to Bali) in the distance so Caitlin and I followed the sound and sat down with some guys who were drunk on wine, just enjoying the evening and their music. This might have been my favorite night in Indonesia.


The next morning we had arranged a ride from the volcano to Lovina, a quiet beach town located on the northwestern part of the island. It was a long, hot, and bumpy trip and I was not in a good mood when a woman ran up to me as I was stepping out of the van, trying to show me a hotel room. We ended up staying with her and by now I was realizing that it's pointless to bargain hunt because the hassle of getting people off of your back is not worth the small amount of money that you'd save. Lovina was a peaceful experience and our one day snorkeling adventure was one of most amazing things that I have done...and I really didn't expect it to be.

We ended up back in familiar territory as we were back in Ubud the night before we were leaving for Singapore. This time we knew the deal here and just took it easy with one day left in the country. I think we each ate about six meals each this day and then went to see Balinese dance with live gamelan drums. It was incredible and I felt really lucky to be witnessing it.







Earlier this day, we also got to check out the monkey park in central Ubud. People were letting these monkeys jump all over them and sometimes even scratch and bite them which I thought was crazy but no one else really seemed to mind. This was a really interesting place to observe and it was like no other park that I've ever been to. And as with a lot of Bali, there were large groups of Russians everywhere which made me excited to visit there in August.






Some other things that were prevalent around the island were makeshift gas stations which were usually just reused glass bottles with gasoline in them. Sometimes young children would be the ones who would fill up your vehicle by pouring the gas into a funnel that led to your gas tank (not the safest thing in the world!). Stone carvings were also EVERYWHERE and that's what gives Bali it's magic feeling- there is ancient stonework all around that provides the outline for streets and cities and, combined with the smell of incense and clove cigarettes, this stuff really makes Bali what it is. Finally, while walking on the streets it's impossible to pass up the banana leaves and flowers that are strewn everywhere as Hindu offerings (Bali, unlike the rest of Indonesia which is Muslim, is a Hindu culture). The are always everywhere you walk, almost like a parade has just rolled by.








And after a week, our time on the island was done. I think we both came away from Bali with an impression of an incredible place with such a unique creative energy for all aspects of life. I feel like I need to go back and see more of Bali and Indonesia because I can't imagine a place to be more interesting in a strange, magical kind of way. Next, it was off to Singapore for our last two days of traveling.