Kuala Lumpur - Heading for home

Our last few days in Asia were spent in KL - a chance to stock up on cheap products and souvenirs before our flight back with Qatar Airways (aside - Qatar Airways rocks, they have the best entertainment system we've yet experienced and excellent food).

We also performed the obligatory tourist task seeing the Petronas Towers, which do look very stunning lit up at night, and also popped by the Museum of Islamic art, which not only has some excellent displays but is also based in a fabulous building worth seeing in itself.


[to add picture of petronas towers]

Sabah - Sepilok and Kinabatangan river

After the turtles, we were ready to see some jungle life. First on the trip was the Sepilok Orangutan sanctury. This place has been established to take young and orphaned orangutans from the jungles and raise them to puberty before releasing them back to the wild. Orangutans are amazingly human like, especially as babies and infants and want nothing more than a few bananas and a good cuddle.

Gradually they wean the infants away from reliance on the handlers and move them further out into the park to fend for themselves.

We got to see them at feeding time, swinging along rope walkways and generally monkeying about. They are very animated and you get to see them fairly close up.


Finally on our whirlwind tour of Sabah we managed to squeeze in a trip to Kinabatangan river. It would have been very amiss of us if we had not made time to see the real jungles of Borneo.

The river is the longest in Borneo and runs some 500km through many unspoilt jungle areas, and also some 'spoilt' jungle areas where palm oil plantations have plagued the landscape and habitats. We spent 3 nights in a fabulous riverside hut and went on daily river 'cruises' (aka rickety row boat with outboard motor) where we saw an abundance of wildlife (probably more than we saw in the Amazon). Top favourites were a brief sighting of an aligator and also the famous long nosed probiscous monkeys.

We also went on a night walk to see the local creepy crawlies (spider, scorpion, bat etc..).

As a special treat on our final evenings we were treated with some stunning sunsets over the river.

Sabah - Turtle Island

Next stop on the tour of Sabah was a trip to see some of the famous aquatic wildlife around the island. We booked in to stay overnight at a Turtle sanctury just off the coast of Sandakan. The island itself is beautiful and makes for a nice day relaxing on the beach and a bit of snorkelling before the big evening watching the turtles. You can see various quad bike type tracks in the sand from the previous night where the turtles have flippered their way up to higher ground.

When the sun falls we all gather in the restaurant area after dinner and wait for the signal from the rangers that it is time to go - A turtle has been spotted tracking its way up the beach and is about to lay its eggs. We race off in silence to the beach where there is a very large turtle who has dug out a big hole in the sand and is busy popping out her eggs - this amazing lady pops out nearly 100 in the space of a few minutes. Whilst doing so, she is in a trance-like state and seems oblivious to the group of tourists quietly gathered around her. The rangers gather the eggs to put into the hatchery. Once the eggs have hatched, the rangers release the teeny tiny turtles to the sea, which we got to watch. This was probably the best part watching these miniscule creatures waddle their way down the beach to the ocean (although some immediately headed up the beach and needed a little re-direction)

Sabah - Mount Kinabalu

It was with an unusual lack of preparation and research that we booked to walk up Mt Kinabalu. Perhaps we have become somewhat accustomed to every small hill in the US being titled with "Mount", but we had not really expected this to be anything more than a mere stroll.

We were very mistaken and became increasingly nervous as we realized that we would be going from sea level to just over 4,000 meters in one day, half of which would be by foot.

The mountain is a two day jaunt. The first day is a ceaseless climb from the base up to the cabins at 3,200m - this is the easy day! We were rained on heavily for the last hour and were very happy to collapse at the hut and fork out on expensive but welcomed hot chocolates.

At this point we want to make mention of what we referred to as the "evil monopoly" that runs many of the state parks in Borneo and charges extremely high rates and lies about hiking and accommodation options, forcing you to opt for more expensive all-in packages. This however was a minor budgetary irritation and should not put anyone off doing the hike - just be persistent with the booking people.



That evening we wondered if the rain would stop and allow us to make the ascent the next day at 2.00am - we were not entirely in favour of the rain ceasing !. However the rain did end and we were treated to an excellent sunset before bed.

The second day required a 2.00am start and a trudge in the dark by torchlight to arrive at the summit for dawn at around 5.30am. It was a wonderful experience and we were happy to return to the huts for breakfast at 9.00. However the worst was to come - the ceaseless decent of 2,000m on weary legs. There were many curses before we finally made it back down to the main entrance, and it took us many days of hobbling with sore ankles and shins before we could walk again like someone under 90.

Cameron Higlands - cup of tea ?

Up in the highlands between the East and West coast of peninsula mayalsia lies a nice retreat from the heat - the Cameron highlands. This is an area with lots of agriculture, fruit farming and tea plantations. We spent a couple of relaxing days getting back to our english roots having tea and scones and touring the Boh Tea Estate.





We arranged for a local guide to take us on a day hike through the highlands and had a rather spooky experience - at one point he stopped nervously and had us huddle together with Caroline in the middle, he sniffed the air and would not say the name of what he thought was stalking us... we could only guess that it was a tiger or too much fruit wine - at another point he asked if we new of anyone in our family that had recently passed away, he seemed convinced that a small ghost was following us on the path. Clearly the altitude and cool weather affects people in different ways !

On another day we visited the local butterfly and insects farm - we saw a lot of bugs that made us feel itchy and nervous, and some of the largest butterflies we have ever seen.

Perhentian Paradise

Our original plan to enter Malaysia was overland through Hat Yai and the south east border - however this area is currently under a high state of alert for terrorist activity according to the State department travel advisory service and so we wisely decided to fly to Kuala Lumpur ("KL") instead and make our way across to the Perhentian Islands from a different route.

The first thing we noted about Malaysia is how different it is to other areas in south east asia that we had visited so far. It appears a far more developed country with multiple train and transit systems in the city, wide sweeping motorways and, unfortunately, around KL many housing estates reminiscent of english suburbs with rows of identical houses.

However we soon passed this by and headed off for a spot of beach relaxation at the Perhentian Islands. These are two gorgeous little islands off the east coast of Malaysia with the most clear and clean water we have yet seen. The snorkelling here is fantastic - we also had an excellent powerpoint presentation given somewhat nervously by a resident diving instructor on all the local coral and fish types that helped us identify the multitide of fishes that had been inspecting us during the day.

The highlight was snorkelling with turtles, although keeping up with them was impossible - they can move alot faster than you might expect! Apparently you can also swim with many sharks around these islands, but we were thankful not to have a close run in with them on this trip.

Something also unexpected were the large monitor lizards on the islands. We first saw one curving crocodile like through the shallows near where we were snorkelling - it would have been easy to have believed this was some sort of saltwater alligator.

Gary had visited these islands over 10 years ago and is pleased to report that aside from a few more budget and some mid range resorts added, the islands remain largely unspoilt and unchanged.

Khao Sok - Bugs and Lake splendor

Khao Sok national park is in the south west of Thailand. We were uncertain about going there as the cyclone that hit Burma was also impacting weather in this area. However we decided to chance it because some friends we met in Vietnam had mentioned that this was one of the best places they had been on their travels. We were not disappointed.

The park is covered by the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world (even older than the Amazon), huge limestone mountains or Karsts shooting straight up in the air, and a large breathtaking lake.

We stayed in a jungle lodge where the mosquitoes outnumber the people by several billion to one, each one of which took a sample of blood from Caroline but declined to nibble on Gary. Hence we normally settled down to dinner in full head to toe body armour, enveloped in a concoction of deet and natural insect repellents (that Channel will not be advertising any time soon). Despite the bugs, the setting was very atmospheric and quite the experience. After a heavy rain one day, the frogs were out in joyous chorus throughout the evening and night - its quite difficult to describe just how loud they were, but we imagined that there must have been a full plague on our doorstep.

The national park itself is stunning. The drive to the park itself through many limestone karsts (cliffs) is worth the visit, but the real gem is the Cheow Larn Lake. The lake is over 100m deep with clear blue water and sheer cliff faces reminiscent of Halong Bay - in fact we would say that this far more beautiful than Halong bay as it does not have many tourist boats, the water is very clean, there are lots of animals (monkeys, gibbons etc), caves to explore and there are floating villages and chilled out accommodation that also provided a fantastic lunch. Best of all Lonely Planet barely gives the park a mention so it will hopefully continue be unspoilt and remain good value.

Ko Pha Nang

After Cambodia we flew back to Bangkok and arranged a sleeper bus to take us down into southern Thailand (Don Sak), the ferry drop off point for the Ko Samui, Ko Pha Nang and Ko Tao islands off the east coast. Our initial plan was to spend a week at Ko Tao learning to dive - but as we had not even built up any confidence in the water snorkelling, we bottled it and went for the slightly less challenging option of Ko Pha Nang where we could snorkel and generally bum around on the beach for a few days.

We avoided the busier party places of the island (being too old now to join the teenager full moon parties!) and split our time between Thong Nai Pan and Koh Ma

We do not often mention specific accommodation in our blog, but we make an exception here to praise "Dreamland" at Thong Nai Pan on its fabulous setting and swimming pool. This was the perfect place to unwind, read several books, and laze about in the pool - being fairly new to the whole swimming thing, Gary was able to perform his first dive, albeit not very gracefully !

This was also Caroline's first experience at snorkelling and we loved it - we now can't wait for the crystal clear waters of the Perhentians in Malaysia to do some more, where apparently you can swim with Turtles and Sharks (or at least away from sharks).

At Koh Ma we splashed out on our first extravagant accommodation - a whopping $60 a night for an ocean bungalow with all mod cons including a DVD player (Gary's treat) and a bathtub with a seaview - sheer decadence watching the sunset from the tub and settling down to a bit of Jason Bourne.

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the main town to be based in for trips to Angkor Wat. It had a more welcoming and slightly safer feel than we experienced in Phnom Penh - although unfortunately we did not get to see very much of the town, other than at night, as we spent most of our time at the temples.

Siem Reap gets a special mention though because of the fabulous Khmer food that we had there (and some fairly excellent cocktails). Highly recommended are the Khmer fish dishes and curries. Eating in the old town area provides a rest from the usual hassles as they kindly cordon off a 3 block area where all the main restaurants and bars are and very few touts and sungthaew drivers can bother you there - so you can choose your dining location at your leisure and eat your meal in peace (if somewhat artificially created!)

One of the most saddest but impassioned and moving evenings we have spent on our travels was to attend an evening concert in Siem Reap by "Dr. Beat", a hosptial doctor from Switzerland who also plays cello as a fund and awareness-raiser for the Children's hospitals that he has established. It is heart-breaking to hear about the challenges of delivering quality health care for severly sick children in Cambodia. Dr. Beat talked about there being 3 main reasons why so many Cambodian children die from treatable diseases: 1) "Tuberculosis" - over 60% of the population suffers tuberculosis at some point in their lives which severly weakens their immune systems to other diseases; 2) "Attitude" - The developed world and aid community believes that poor countries should have healthcare, facilities and medical equipment that matches their economic status i.e. poor and not the expensive diagnostic medical equipment that we have in the rich world and 3)"Corruption" - present at many levels, corruption is a way of life even at schools and hospitals.
Dr. Beat's hospitals have attempted to eradicate the corruption that is so endemic in Cambodia - by paying proper wages to its staff, and making treatment entirely free to Children, and as a result they are able to save 90,000 children per year, entirely on donations. Here is the website if anyone is interested in learning more: http://www.beat-richner.ch

Angkor Wat

It is very difficult to describe Angkor Wat and give it true justice - it is truly an amazing glimpse of ancient and remarkable civilizations and craftmanship, ultimately you really have to go there yourselves to see why you can spend three days walking around temples and still feel as though there is more to see.



We had really been looking forward to our trip here and it did not disappoint. The Angkors were an amazing people - they occupied large tracts of South East Asia a thousand years ago, and built these quite awesome temples. Whilst the population of London was under 50,000 people, the City of Angkor contained over 1 million people.
(Many scenes from Tomb Raider were filmed amongst the temples)


Angkor was not just a cultural and architectural experience for us. Although the area was less devastated by the Khmer Rouge than some other parts of Cambodia, there are still many remanants from the war, including unexploded ordnance (UXO) - We visited the Landmine museum run by a former Khmer Rouge explosives expert who has now devoted his life to defusing the many dangerous items littering the fields, farmlands etc... It was very informative and has some excellent displays about landmines and some personal stories about victims of landmines and their lives.

Phnom Penh - Hello Cambodia

Crossing the land border from Vietnam into Cambodia is an unforgettable experience. Almost as soon as we crossed the border, there is a signficant change in the landscape and level of development. Whereas on the vietnamese side, although poor, there are many signs of commerce and development with motos, concrete buildings etc. whereas on the Cambodia side, the road is more rutted and the houses are fewer and traditional bamboo or wood - much less concrete and electricity and running water here.



We had been prepared by many other travellers to expect to be greatly saddened by Cambodia, but I'm not sure we were really ready. It truly has been a heart-wrenching place for us. Despite having been in Asia for nearly 3 months now and very used to seeing poverty, beggars etc. (as much as you ever can be used to such things). Cambodia really is another level of tragedy. Having lost a quarter of its population (approx 2 million people) due to either starvation, dysentry and other diseases or murdered during the Khmer Rouge regime, this country faces such a challenge in picking itself up and moving on. To compound history, the sheer volume of landmines littering the country (estimated at 3 to 6 million) continues to cause misery and makes it difficult for families to farm the land, as each new rainy season shifts the soil and potentially unearthes yet more landmines.






Yet, gladly we did see signs of hope. Putting aside the many begging children being exploited by adults who should know better, we saw numerous schools filled with happy school children, and the tourist industry is booming which brings much needed dollars to the Cambodian people.

In Phnom Penh, the capital, we visited some harrowing places of historical importance. S21 is a former prison from the Khmer Rouge regime where thousands of civilians, teachers, doctors etc. were held in inhumane conditions suffering torture and worse prior to being sent to one of the many so-called Killing Fields. A visit to the Killing fields is a disarming experience - it is in a beautiful location amongst rice fields, and there are is covered with flowers at this time of year and you can smell the fragipani from the trees and hear children playing in the school less than 100 metres away. But this is where Pol Pot's men killed and dumped into mass graves over 20,000 people. Unfortunately, not all of the remains have been recovered due to lack of funds which means that the site is still littered with human bones.

It was with heavy hearts that we made the journey back into the city after visiting the Killing Fields, however, it was with great joy that we visited the national museum to find beatufilly preserved ancient Khmer sculpture, mainly Buddhist statues and the like.