From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Bali, Indonesia

June 25, 2005

From KL to Bali

Natalya

Ah! We finally have a computer. No, our laptop is still being repaired, but after about 4 hours of heated negotiations with Toshiba, David managed to get us a temporary replacement - a compact and light brand new Toshiba notebook.

I am now on an Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Bali, Indonesia. It took us a long time to decide to go to Bali. The government warnings have not changed since 2002 and since we visited New York a year after September 11 we think Bali will be the same - hightened security and so far it is.

First I would like to write about our impression of Malaysia. Ever since arriving at the airport we got the impression of a well off modern Asian country. The infrastructure is highly developed with multi lane highways, monorail and suburban districts with cookie-cutter houses. Really, we have not seen anything like this in Thailand or Vietnam. The streets of Kuala Lumpur (KL) were clean, well lit, busy and bustling with life.

A visit to Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur offered a rewarding shopping experience. All those bargaining skills we have acquired throughout the trip were soon put to good use. The quality of knock-offs was far superior to those in Vietnam and prices were better than in Thailand. Four t-shirs, 2 pens, 1 watch, 1 bottle of cologne and 2 computer games could all be had foe around $30. Later we grabbed a delicious coconut pancake and a 100Plus (a local version of Gatorade) and were on our way back to the hotel.

KL also offers also more high end shopping - from Versace to Jager to Coach to Hugo Boss - if you have the money to spend, KL is the place to do it. Everything is generally 30% less expensive than in Canada.

Right after a couple of days in KL we headed to Redang - a stunningly beautiful island off the east coast of Malaysia. The water there was so clear that you could see tropical fish from above the surface. We spent many hours snorkeling in Redand, our daily schedule there was as follows:

8am - wake up and get ready for breakfast

8:45am- breakfast

9:30am - snorkeling

12pm - shower and get dressed for lunch

1pm - rest and get ready for snorkeling

2pm - snorkeling

6pm - shower and change

6:30pm - watch monkeys from our balcony

7pm - dinner

8pm - check e-mail

10pm - watch TV and get ready for bed

We did this every day for 5 days. It was great! Snorkeling was unbelievable. The best spot in the world by far. Water is crystal clear, there are thousands of fish and if you are patient enough you can spot rare types of tropical creatures. For the first time ever I have seen squid, turtles, black tip reef sharks, stingrays, porcupine fish and two types of eel.

Watching the monkeys was surprisingly very captivating. They are quite shy, although would not hesitate to hiss at you if you get too close or use the camera flash (it really seems to bother them). Usually monkeys would come in clans and would move across the tree tops with a few shortcuts along the thick electrical wire. They would take their time to hang out in each tree for a few minutes before making their way across to the next one. We saw a few baby monkeys, some toddler monkeys and some teenage monkeys. Baby monkeys were always with their mothers, tightly latched on with a father monkey very close by. Older monkeys would swing and play in the tree branches, but mostly stay up high where their camouflage works best. When sitting still monkeys are very hard to spot, they blend in so well with the tree trunks and heavy foliage of the tropical jungle conceals them.

For our 5 night stay in Regang we purchased an all-inclusive package (alcoholic drinks extra, of course, this is a mostly Muslim country) at a nice resort. It was at 100% occupancy every day we were there. Mostly Asian tourist with the majority from Singapore. This clientele certainly influenced the choice of dishes for the buffet meals and I have to admit, some meals were a real challenge for us. The hard decision was whether to have the fish head soup or the super spicy oxtail curry or some congee with strange condiments. Desert was "goo" or more "goo". (Something sort of halfway between a dense rice pudding and a jell-o cut up in squares)We did manage to try many local dishes and satay and lamb on a bun were definitely favorites. Every meal Dave was on the hunt to find a good tasting goo desert and the coconut version of goo ended up being quite nice. Once you get over the fact that it is goo you are eating you start to enjoy it. Drinks were also risky. Every meal the drinks were different and unless it was super sweet iced tea we stayed away from them. Redang is also where we discovered Shandy - half beer, half lemonade and of course, our favorite 100Plus ( a gatorade type drink).

A few days later we flew back to KL and made our way to Sunway Resort, home to a great waterpark and an amusement park. We decided to go to the "dry" part first and after the second ride were wet from head to toe. The rides were fun, we went on 2 roller coaters, a rapids ride and a Malaysian equivalent of the Splash Mountain. This is where we got soaked. After a quick change into bathing suits we continued with exploring the park and this time headed for the waterpark. The water slides were fun and with a tropical rain now in full force the waterpark was definitely a blast.

After Sunway Resort we went to Langkawi - an island off the south-west coast of Malaysia. We stayed at a beautiful Sheraton on a beach and spent some time relaxing. This coast of Malaysia experiences quite a dramatic difference between high and low tides. In the mornings the water was so high that there was hardly a strip of beach left and in the evening the tide was so low that you had to walk for 50 meters before hitting the water. We saw many neat tropical birds and a very large lizard. Langkawi is famous for its duty free shopping, although other than giant chocolate bars nothing was a better deal than shopping in KL.

Jun 25, 2005

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