Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Weirdness...
is... logging on to a computer at a cheap internet joint somewhere in the middle of Cameron Highlands and having auto-complete complete my own blog's URL for me.
What chance someone from Cameron High... nevermind.
So anyway, I forgot in my mad rush to leave the country to mention that I was heading out of town for four days in the Malaysian wilderness, to face certain death by rabid tiger, hungry native, dengue-infected mosquito, malaria, terrifying terrorist and islamic militant. (as promised by my parents, an hour before I was due to leave when I finally told them where my port of call was to be)
So I've been to many places now including Kota Bharu, Taman Negara, Cameron Highlands and tomorrow, Penang. Oh yeah, and road. Many, many, many road. Much much road. They don't call it a road-trip for nothing.
If I never see a mini-bus again this lifetime that will be too soon.
There's far too much to write about right now (RM 2.80 is a lot of money you know...) but in a nutshell :
Things I wish I had seen
Leeches. Hearing two English girls rhapsodise about little leechy thingies standing on their tails waving dreamily about before hopping towards them... sigh. so lomantic.
Tiger. I wanted to see a tiger dammit.
Civet cat / slow loris. Apparently I saw a lot of their eyes last night during the night safari... but I couldn't actually make out the rest of them. After a while I was beginning to have a sneaky feeling the guides had put some marbles on sticks at strategic points of the journey...
Terrorist
Things I wish I hadn't seen
Tonight's plush English victorian room for two...
... with a single queen-sized four-postered bed.
urg. Two blokes, one bed.
Hmm.
Things I saw
to be covered in another entry sometime
Things I wish you could have seen
I have no idea if you've seen or been to any of these before...
... but these were the things I wished I could have shared with you :
The sheer adulterated decadence of the Pan Pacific Hotel, KLIA where we stayed for a grand total of five hours. Jacuzzi, gym, swimming pool, sauna... sigh.
The canopy walk at Taman Negara, 500m of sheer fantasy, walking through the dizzyingly high treetops to the sounds of malaysian wildlife (conspicuously hidden from sight -- probably just tape recordings, in retrospect. hmm...)
The roiling morning mists rising lazily from the midsts of the highland jungles to join low-flying coulds skimming the treetops...
The stark beauty of the wilderness as seen from our long boat, tall trees towering on both sides above us. S, sitting by my side commented "It's like Lord of the Rings" and I thought yes, it really was - grandesque. Magnicificent.
And then the boatman steered us into the rapids and we screamed in delight / shock as water struck us full in the faces ("A little bit wet, you want? Yes? Please??" - never trust a malaysian boatman when he says a little...)
Later, drip-drying in the nearby kopi shop over our teh tariks... I thought yes, you would have liked that.
The insane opulence of the Old Smokehouse hotel at which we decided (for some crazy reason) to make our stop for the day; unabashedly Old English in every way, and very, very expensive. Four postered beds, tea and scones, a red telephone box in the garden (next to a sign reading Devonshire Apple Pie, and London Underground), silver sabres overhanging an open log-fire...
... perhaps one day. Perhaps. 'twould be an honour.
What chance someone from Cameron High... nevermind.
So anyway, I forgot in my mad rush to leave the country to mention that I was heading out of town for four days in the Malaysian wilderness, to face certain death by rabid tiger, hungry native, dengue-infected mosquito, malaria, terrifying terrorist and islamic militant. (as promised by my parents, an hour before I was due to leave when I finally told them where my port of call was to be)
So I've been to many places now including Kota Bharu, Taman Negara, Cameron Highlands and tomorrow, Penang. Oh yeah, and road. Many, many, many road. Much much road. They don't call it a road-trip for nothing.
If I never see a mini-bus again this lifetime that will be too soon.
There's far too much to write about right now (RM 2.80 is a lot of money you know...) but in a nutshell :
Things I wish I had seen
Leeches. Hearing two English girls rhapsodise about little leechy thingies standing on their tails waving dreamily about before hopping towards them... sigh. so lomantic.
Tiger. I wanted to see a tiger dammit.
Civet cat / slow loris. Apparently I saw a lot of their eyes last night during the night safari... but I couldn't actually make out the rest of them. After a while I was beginning to have a sneaky feeling the guides had put some marbles on sticks at strategic points of the journey...
Things I wish I hadn't seen
Tonight's plush English victorian room for two...
... with a single queen-sized four-postered bed.
urg. Two blokes, one bed.
Hmm.
Things I saw
to be covered in another entry sometime
Things I wish you could have seen
I have no idea if you've seen or been to any of these before...
... but these were the things I wished I could have shared with you :
The sheer adulterated decadence of the Pan Pacific Hotel, KLIA where we stayed for a grand total of five hours. Jacuzzi, gym, swimming pool, sauna... sigh.
The canopy walk at Taman Negara, 500m of sheer fantasy, walking through the dizzyingly high treetops to the sounds of malaysian wildlife (conspicuously hidden from sight -- probably just tape recordings, in retrospect. hmm...)
The roiling morning mists rising lazily from the midsts of the highland jungles to join low-flying coulds skimming the treetops...
The stark beauty of the wilderness as seen from our long boat, tall trees towering on both sides above us. S, sitting by my side commented "It's like Lord of the Rings" and I thought yes, it really was - grandesque. Magnicificent.
And then the boatman steered us into the rapids and we screamed in delight / shock as water struck us full in the faces ("A little bit wet, you want? Yes? Please??" - never trust a malaysian boatman when he says a little...)
Later, drip-drying in the nearby kopi shop over our teh tariks... I thought yes, you would have liked that.
The insane opulence of the Old Smokehouse hotel at which we decided (for some crazy reason) to make our stop for the day; unabashedly Old English in every way, and very, very expensive. Four postered beds, tea and scones, a red telephone box in the garden (next to a sign reading Devonshire Apple Pie, and London Underground), silver sabres overhanging an open log-fire...
... perhaps one day. Perhaps. 'twould be an honour.
