Indonesia – Indocredible
June 26, 2009
Since we had 3 days before we were supposed to meet up with Joey, we figured we’d try to get someplace relaxing rather than in the hustle and bustle of KL. So, From KL, Jenn and I took a quick side trip up to the island of Pangkor Pulau. It was a 5 hour busride, and then a 1 hour boat ride, and we arrived a a sleepy little beach village and checked into our hotel. For the next day and a half, all we did was sleep, eat, and walk on the beach. It was perfect! The ride back to KL however took forever, and we didn’t get to our hotel until around midnight, just barely enough time to get to sleep before waking up at 4:45am to catch our taxi to the airport.
The airport, holy cow, talk about a long freaking journey! The taxi ride costs as much as our hotel! It’s just over a 1 hour journey there, with no traffic. It’s like 60km outside the city. I have no idea why it’s so far away, but you’d think they would have a metro rail there or something, as many trains as there are around the city. We made it with just enough time to spare, and boarded the 1 hour flight to Medan via Air Asia. When we landed, they had us exit the plane and walk through some chemical decontamination machine, just like something out of the movies. It was a bit strange I must say, but they are taking the new flu outbreak pretty seriously here. We met up with Joey while still waiting to go through customs, then zipped through, got a taxi to the bus station and were on our way to Lake Toba before 9am.
Funny story about getting money though! We stopped in at the ATM machine, and I went to take out cash. I had no idea how much to get, but I chose one of the middle options… it was $500,000. It seemed like so much, I thought it would be plenty. Only then did I realize that it was less than $50 US! So, I went back into the machine and withdrew the maximum amount the ATM would give me… a whopping $2,500,000.00 The machine spit out all these 100,000 bills… I felt so rich… yet it was only $250 US. I like this country… I should save my ATM receipt, we are super rich on local currency!
The minibus ride to the lake was terrible. There were 7 people crammed into the minibus, and the air conditioning didn’t work all that well. It was stupid hot, and the driver thought he was a rally racer. He was passing cars into oncoming traffic like no tomorrow, halfway off the road, passing on blind corners, I thought we were going to die at least a hundred times. Even some of the locals on the bus started asking him to slow down… this only fueled his desire to scare us more. About the time we got into the mountains, the 2 lane road turned into a 1.5 lane road, and it was so windy, that the tires were squealing each direction we would turn. Thank god we made it alive. We walked onto the boat, but it had about 15 minutes before it left, so Joey and I decided to look through the market. The boat ride was 7,000 rupiahs each. I thought that was $7, not too bad. At the fruit market I picked up half a kilo of mangos, and half a kilo of another fruit I have no idea what is called, and it came up to 10,000 rupiahs. Damn, fruit here is expensive! Only once back on the boat did I realize that the fruit was about $1US, and the boat ride was only 70 cents! ahahahahah!! I love this country already!
We checked out two guesthouses, and ended up staying in a place called Tabo Cottages. It was off season, so everything was on discount. Joey and I were the ones going to pick the room while Jenn waited in the lobby with our gear. We looked at four rooms, and then out of curiosity went to see the biggest suite. It was huge, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, top floor with a waterfront view. It was ridiculous actually, so of course we had to have it! Since there was only 3 of us, and the suite slept 6-8, we negotiated the rate down to a grand total of $40 per night, including breakfast. We were all pretty tired from traveling and lack of sleep, so we had a mellow dinner and crashed pretty early. (our dinner was a feast, and cost about $3 per person, and we each had two dishes)
The next day, we rented motorcycles to tour the island. This place is absolutely stunning. Jenn is in love with the place, and I admit, I didn’t mind it one bit. It was much cooler, at a higher altitude than the rest of the countryside. Everything was green and lush, and the lake water was super clear. The lake itself was formed by a volcanic explosion, and is the largest lake in Southeast Asia. (if Lonely Planet doesn’t lie). The island itself is the size of Singapore, so pretty large.
Commuter and tourist ferry across Lake Toba. The low hanging fogs were typical of our view of the lake.
Our first lunch at Carolina’s. Unbeatable view and $2 meals!!
Reflections off the Koi pond at Tabo Cottages, our Lake Toba palatial home.
This is one of the SMALL villas – ours was three times as large (but not as easy to photograph).
Driving along along the countryside we passed plot after plot of traditional farming with these ornate local homes. In a way they look like a medieval ship. The floors are raised high off the ground and the bottom portion is used for storage and livestock.
Can you believe that’s freshwater! The hot springs run into the 450m lake in front of this resort and makes the water this gorgeous turquoise milky color. The boys went swimming – hot springs aside, it was still cold!
One of the pools at Lake Toba’s hot springs. Now it’s Jenn’s turn to go swimming – the boys thought it was too hot! The minerals added splashes of green to the otherwise chalk white hillside and the springs really came out of the ground as a torrent. We’d never seen such a vast amount of hot water pouring out of the ground.
Joey’s new friend, Mr. Water Buffalo! When we first saw him, he was almost completely submerged underwater, escaping the heat. Only his back and big nostrils were peaking out of the lake!
Typical roadside treat – above ground cemeteries being used to dry laundry!
After 60 kms on rocky roads, Joey developed a flat tire. Three unsuccessful roadside stops later, we found a Mr. Fix-it who worked out of his “house”. Dirt floors, antique equipment but big smiles! He spent 45 minutes on fixing Joey’s tire with a grand total bill of 50 Cents. Shocker! We felt a bit like rich Americans, and then gave him a whopping $1 for his trouble.
KL, Malaysia
June 20, 2009
KL = Kuala Lumpur, Kinda Loud, Kinda Lousy…
Lonely Planet failed us in KL. Three night ‘sleeping’ above a nightclub did not make us the happiest campers, hence fewer photos than were taken than one might anticipate. Well, except for in the orchid garden. You know how Lucas gets around orchids! Chuckle.
Kuala Lumpur’s National Orchid Garden (Free on Saturday’s!) was a wonderful pastoral retreat in the middle of the city. Surprisingly the best variety of flowers was to be found in the orchid gift shop, rather than the grounds.
These are the same orchids as we had at our wedding!
Jenn’s favorite orchid
Kind of a cliché photograph, but it was the first time I’d ever seen a burgundy dragonfly.
Lucas chillin’ at one of the fountains in the Orchid Garden. Well not chillin’ exactly as it was near 90 degrees.
Ha! Have you ever seen a palm tree this short!!
We stayed in the Bukit Bintang neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur – home to all night dance clubs (much to our dismay) and some of the best street food around (much to our delight!).
This neighborhood hot spot pumps a gentle mist of water into the air to keep their diners cool. Lucas had a local noodle dish, and I had squid… I think it was squid anyway 
Lychees, Mangosteens and Rambutans… Lucas’ three loves!
272 steps to the top of the Batu Caves, a Hindu shrine to this gilded prince with a very, very ridiculously long name. The spear he holds is magical and allows him to vanquish those of impure hearts. It was given to him by his mother, quite the present, eh? Once a year a festival is held here that attracts the faithful from around the world. They come walking on shoes of nails, or covered with piercings dangling coconuts. The video we watched about the festival didn’t quite explain how pain worked into the symbolism. But, I had to close my eyes so often at the displays that maybe I just missed it. I wouldn’t be a very good Hindi.
I love all of the pastel colored statues that adorned this, and all Hindi, temples. The cows with big charcoal outlined, dewy eyes. The women with huge nipples, legs of a lions and tail of a peacock. The gods with four heads, or several extra sets of arms. They are so much more imaginative then any sculptures in the Western world.
This monkey is blind in his left eye!
Probably the most photographed building in KL… but we tried to find an interesting perspective!
How’s this for an interesting perspective?
Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
June 15, 2009
We decided it was time to explore mainland Malaysia. So, we consulted our lonely planet guidebook and came up with a rough sketch of how we’d navigate this beautiful country. After meditating on it for a few hours, we decided there was no easy way to do it! There didn’t seem to be any good bus routes to all of the places we wanted to go. Our list included: Cameron Highlands, Taman Negara jungle, Kuala Lumpur and some diving/beach bumming on some islands in the northeast. We’d heard some recommendations for the highlands, so we decided to make that our first stop… convenient since it was also the closest.
It was only 200 km away, but the bus ride was a six hour trek along murderously windy roads, sprinkled with waterfalls and seaward vistas. Cameron Highlands must be the breadbasket of Malaysia – I’d never seen such huge industrialesque gardens. The strawberry fields went for kms, then the spice plantations, then the sugar cane, then strange fruit that looked like eggplant but grew from trees. And the temperature – wonderful! It was somewhere in the low 60s with a gentle breeze and little variation in between the heat of the day and the cool of the night.
We checked into a place called Father’s guesthouse, which was up on a hilltop, just a 2 minute walk from the city. It was already dark by the time we got settled, but we were both starving, so we ventured down into the city. Actually, it’s more a small town than a city, but the buildings were rather large, multi-hundred room buildings/condos. The style was somewhat Bavarian as well, which gave the place an odd feel. To Jenn’s delight, there was even a Starbucks! We had heard about something called a “steamboat dinner” reading some of the tourist flyers on the way up… but we hadn’t seen a river big enough to float a bathtub anywhere along the way. Turns out the steamboat dinner is actually a cross between fondue and Chinese hot pot. For 30RM (about $9 USD) you get a big pot filled with two types of soup, and a large plate of seafood and vegetables to fill it. We ordered it, and then needed to waiter to explain to us the proper method of eating it! (I don’t think we got it right, but it was yummy).
We spent one day in the Highlands trekking along paths in various states of upkeep. At one point I was slightly worried our path would just disappear in the middle of the jungle. We can out ok in the end though (despite running out of steam and taking a taxi home from the trailhead) and were able to see a ton of the countryside.
Robinson’s waterfall – supposedly just a 15 minute hike from the town, but it turned into a 2 hour adventure, almost brush cutting through the jungle and ending up 6km out of town!
This was a very small plantation, at least compared to some of the massive ones we saw, that went for acres and acres.
Taking a breather on a quaint footbridge
Scooting around Penang
June 13, 2009
For $7USD we rented an adorable green little scooter from Mr. Lee and vacated the city in favor of a trip around Penang Island. It took a good thirty minutes to figure out how to actually get out of downtown Georgetown with all of their one ways and tiny side streets. Our maneuvers involved a lot of me reading a big foldout map, with it flapping in the wind and flying in my face, while Lucas frantically changed lanes and remembered to ride on the wrong side of the street. Once we left the city we were rewarded with tight S-curves alongside gorgeous turquoise beaches.
First stop: The Spice Gardens where we learned that nutmeg is poisonous in large quantities and that having over 10 grams will get you committed to the ‘big house’, that lemongrass and citronella look identical, and that a leafy house plant we had back in Kirkland is deadly if ingested.
Second stop: The Butterfly Gardens, which were really much more than just butterflies. Their collection included snout nosed turtles, scorpions and a whole room of crazy lizard and toads among many others. They had a giant three horned beetle sculpture there that I couldn’t convince Lucas’ to hug.
Third stop: The Exotic Fruit Orchards with over 170 species of tropical fruits. Sounds like a fabulous photo op right? But once there we realized that fruit is mostly green, and roundish and isn’t super photogenic unless it’s being eaten. And when we were eating them all, we were having too much fun to stop for photos. We love mangosteen! We hate durian! Smells like rotting flesh, yuck, but somehow locals call it the ‘King of the Jungle’.
Two more stops before we called it a day: the fishing village and Batu Ferringhi. Lucas’ smirked every time we saw the Batu Ferringhi sign – apparently that’s the name of a alien species on Star Trek (?). I just thought it looked hard to spell… We took sunset photos, enjoyed a great dinner then decided to sleep on the coast rather than head back to the city.
It’s a bird! it’s a plane! Oh no, it’s a giant stick bug, which looks nothing like a bird… or a plane. (Seriously, this thing was like 6 inches long)
Pig snouted turtles… pucker up!
Awesome looking leaf toad… he was expertly camouflaged, and from the back, identical to a brown leaf. He looks kind of pissy doesn’t he?
Say Cheese!
Picture perfect postcard sunset.
Georgetown, Penang
June 12, 2009
None of the Lonely Planet reading I did prepared me for the architectural ‘wow’ that is Georgetown. A huge China town, vibrant India town and British Colonial architecture all mixes together so that you feel like you walking through a Pirates of the Caribbean movie set. We stayed at Star Guesthouse under the hospitality of the animated Mr. Lee. Boy could this man smile – his whole face would get a twinkling and he had a huge splash of a grin. Mr. Lee had most of his teeth, but his just as friendly co-host Robert, made the most of the single tooth he had left.
For two days we sweated through the streets, drinking freshly squeezed (though Lucas would say squozen) fruit juice out of plastic bags and munching on all forms of satay. We made a trip to the top of the Komtar – a 62ish story hexagon building with views all around. As a reminder that we truly were in Asia with all of its lax insurance claims, you can push the windows open on the very top floor so you can take a better photo. Can you imagine that in the States? Throw in a couple of mosques and a trip to the Khoo Clan House and that’s about all we accomplished in our two days there.
Star Fruit juice on the streets of Chinatown. Jenn says, “It tastes just like star fruit.” Lucas says, “What else would it taste like?”
A few of the treats at the Red Garden Food Court. This place was awesome! You find a numbered table, then walk around all the different food stalls and order whatever you want. They then bring it out to you when it’s ready. You can order from as many stalls as you want. While Jenn waited at our table, I ordered from at least 6 different stalls. We had: spicy Cuttlefish (top picture, OMG- best meal ever), spicy BBQ chicken wings, 8 different types of satay, and some mystery soup that was so hot I started hiccupping.
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The Khoo Clan House was 19th century’s answer to lax police control during the peak of the spice trade. All 100 or so Khoo families built a compound in the center of town with their own stores, houses, religious facilities, opera stage and surrounded by strong walls to keep the rest of Georgetown out of their domain. The original architecture mostly remains and if anyone is looking for a historical real estate opportunity, one of the buildings including a 6-unit apartment right inside is for sale
