Mersing. November 30, 2013

It is good to be back in Malaysia.  Even better it is good to see that Sterlin is right where we left him.  We packed up our stuff and headed North in heavy traffic.  Our destination was Mersing on the east coast.

Sterlin, safe and sound.

Once at Mersing we went for a little walk around town.  Where we found a soccer match between Mersing and JB.  The competition was intense and the home crowd very vocal.  Play had to be suspended for 10 minutes at one point to allow the crowd to settle down.  Unfortunately as the game extended into extra time and the light started to fade.  Ultimately the game was suspended until the next morning. I don't think we will be up at 8:00am

Local Soccer.

We had a nice little dinner at a hawker stand to end a good day.

Caroline's dinner. Fresh Cuttlefish and noodles.

Singapore. November 26-30, 2013.

November 26

Singapore is wonderful. We are really going to like this place. After checking in we headed to the famous Botanical Gardens; amazing. We spent a few hours wandering around, just soaking up the park. Hugely impressed with how well maintained the gardens are.

Stephen in the Botanical Gardens.

Snake captured some prey and was not letting go.

Beautiful Flowers everywhere.

November 27

Up late after enjoying too many glasses of wine the night before. Today we walked into the Colonial district, mainly to revisit the Merlion and Raffles Hotel. We were both in Singapore a little over 20 years ago, and the skyline has certainly changed. Nothing like when we were here last. Some of the buildings here are just down-right insane. Someone had a good idea of building a ship on-top of three sky-scappers. Why not I guess.

Stranded Skyship?

November 28. Thanksgiving Day.


This is me, Caroline, continuing this post.

Yesterday Stephen discovered that the Thai Consulate is literally just across the (Orchard) road from our hotel. So this morning we were in line at 8:50 for a 9:15 opening time to apply for visas. The whole process took about 45 mins (incl waiting in line). Yes you can get visas at the border, but only for 15 days. Doing it this way we were promised visas for 60 days. We'll find out tomorrow when we pick them up.

After that little exercise we took public transport to the Marina Bay area, and that 'stranded skyship'. Our destination: 'Gardens by the Bay'. Totally loved the whole concept and felt like I'd stepped into one of the worlds of MYST :) (Yes, I've played all of them). We spent quite some time there walking and enjoying.

Afterwards we snaked our way towards the city center and took public transport back towards our hotel. It doesn't sound like much but we had a good day. And not all day have to be long and jam-packed.

Super Tree Grove - Gardens by the Bay.

November 29

Spent the morning walking around Little India.  It was good to see another side of Singapore.  In afternoon we picked up our Thai visa and did a little window shopping in the Orchard Road malls.  We spent a wonderful evening in the executive Lounge where we discovered some new friends from Detroit.  Over a few drinks we committed to dinner at the Slanted Door once back in San Francisco.

Little India.

Making friends in the Executive lounge.
Bill and Bonnie from Detroit.

November 30

Time to leave Singapore. We had a great time here. We decided to take the fixed price taxi back to JB. But apparently in Saturday everyone goes to JB for shopping, so the taxi line was probably an hour (or more) long. A very kind Malaysian man offered to jump the line for only $15. Ok, it is not the right thing to do to jump the line, but we did anyway. The traffic on the causeway was terrible, so it took 90 minutes to cross back into Malaysia.

Johor Bahru. November 24-25, 2013.

November 23

Arrived in Johor Bahru, or JB as the locals seem to call it. We stayed in unusual Bliss Boutique Hotel where each room is decorated differently and named in a funky way. We stayed in "Violet Dream" which meant 70's purple swirly wallpaper. It also was our first experience with the 'shower-over-toilet' bathroom. Took a bit of getting used too. Went for a drive into town and a short walk before dinner. We found a lovely Italian restaurant just around the corner from our hotel.

Sterlin at the Bliss Hotel, JB.

November 24

Spent the day in town and did all the tourist things on our tourist map. All 12 of them. There's not that much going on in JB, but we had a good time. While walking around the Chinese markets we enquired about a strange looking fruit.  Turns out the fruit is called "Jack fruit" and2 ladies who had just bought some let us try the fruit. Very nice - both the attitude of the ladies and the fruit. During the afternoon rain we headed for the cinemas and saw 'Hunger Games 2 - Catching Fire', which was actually pretty good.

Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim

Funky Container Cafe

Mixing with the locals and tasting Jack Fruit (behind Stephen).

November 25

Time to head to Singapore. Dropped Sterlin off at a hotel in downtown where we could apparently store our car. It was all a bit dubious, but we agreed a price with the security guard who happily took our money and car keys and dropped us off at the taxi station where taxis depart to Singapore. Hopefully Sterlin will be there when we return. If this part of the adventure ends well I'll be most impressed.
Had to negotiate the taxi fare, which ended up at around $50 USD. Think we may have overpaid a little, but it is so hard to tell. So goodbye to Malaysia for 4 days and hello Singapore.

En Route to Johor Bahru. November 23-24, 2013.

November 23.

While driving out of Melaka we realized that we hadn't even seen the half of it... we managed to miss the Portuguese Quarter all together. In our defense: we are still struggling with the very humid heat and, because of that we end up walking around places less than we normally would.

We headed north out of Melaka to Ayer Keroh, where our first port of call was 'Taman Mini Malaysia/Asean', a kind of a theme park that has a traditional house from each of the 13 states of the country. Visitors are allowed in all of them, which makes it worth the visit. Afterwards we went for a walk on some paved trails in the 'secondary' jungle in 'Hutan Rekreasi Ayer Keroh', the highlight being a 250m canopy walk on very narrow swing bridges.

Stephen promoting tourism Malaysia 2014 Video

Visit to Mini Malaysia tourist park.

Caroline on the Canopy Walk

Our destination for the day was Gunung Ledang Nat'l Park, where we stayed at the Gunung Ledang Resort. Suffice it to say I was not impressed with either. Don't get me wrong: the scenery was good, but the management of the 'Nat'l Park' has some work to do. The path to the waterfall (just under a kilometer) was littered with trash, and so was the water. And people were in the water, amongst the trash. The Resort... well... I will only say that 'resort' was a tad far fetched. Yes, I know, I like my creature comforts, but still...

November 24.

We'd also read that the resort could at least point us in the right direction of how to get to the top of the mountain. Some sources suggested it was possible to drive to the top by 4WD (organized or self drive), but we found staff there and a the park's entrance office less than helpful. I guess I'm used to Nat'l parks in the US, NZ, Australia,.... Oh well. It's all about expectations, isn't it?
As a trek up to the summit would have involved guides and at least 2 days in tropical heat, we gave the whole thing a miss and headed for Johor Bahru. So far we've stayed off the main highways so our route takes us through villages and townships. Our new Garmin navigation unit is proving to be a priceless investment. On arrival in Johor Bahru it directed us straight to Stephen's funky hotel choice :)

Waterfall in Gunung Ledang NP.

Melaka, Malaysia. 21st - 23rd November, 2013

November 21

Headed South to the historically important town of Melaka or Malacca. Along the way we saw a couple cycling in the opposite direction. Of course we stopped to chat to them, and turns out they are cycling "around the world" and she is from San Francisco.

Around the world Cyclists; Rory and Nikki

The afternoon was spent taking in the main tourist attractions. First stop was an excellent museum on Malaysia's Indepence in 1956. Great way to get a short history of how the Portuguese, Dutch and ultimately the English came and departed. Melaka is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and we visited several churches and state houses (Porta de Santiago, Dutch Graveyard, St Paul's Church, The Stadhuys and Christ Church). Also stepped into Chinatown and the 'Jonker Walk' district.

Proclamation of Independence Memorial.
Very good introduction to Malaysia's
independence.

Tricked out Trishaws

November 22

Another day of being a tourist.
Melaka is halfway between China and India with access to the spice islands of Indonesia, so a pretty good place for a port. We wandered down to the Straits of Melaka, but alas, did not find any port activities. I guess Melaka is no longer a port city. Then headed to see more of the old Dutch quarter and on towards the Sultanate Palace for a little bit more history.
In the evening we strolled the night markets, again in the 'Jonker Walk' neighborhood.

Cool street art in the old Dutch quarter.

Dutch style buildings.

Seremban. November 17-20, 2013.

November 17.

Once we did get on the right road and made it out of KL, driving was easy.

Our friend Patti put us in touch with Chris Bell (her boss way back when in Brunei) who lives in Seremban, about 70km south of KL. Chris was very keen to meet us and, being a member of the Royal Sungei Ujong Club, he could get us accommodation at the club. We gladly took him up on his offer and decided to spend 4 nights here.

Upon our arrival in Sermeban we were immediately invited to a 'family clan meeting/bbq' of Chris' wife's family. Very nice - and yummy.
After settling in at the club we headed to the bar on the premises where we met Nicola Tan, the President. We started talking about our adventure so she calls another member, Lai, who promptly comes over to meet us. Turns out Lai is a 4x4 aficionado and member of the Royal Perak Motor Club and he was very interested in our plans. We got a lot of information and some possible good contacts from him. And after talking extensively about routes and things everyone (read: Stephen) was convinced we needed a proper navigation system. iPhones are good but they are internet/wifi dependent. We ended up having dinner with Lai and his lovely wife. Interesting detail: they are about to move to New Zealand; as in: the container is packed.


November 18.

We took Sterlin for a spin east of Seremban to see the Old Royal Palace at Seri Menanti, which is open to the public and free of charge. Photography inside is not permitted. In 1931 The Roayl Family moved to more modern accommodation close by; today the Old Palace is a museum. We continued driving towards Kuala Pilah, and then back to Seremban.

OLd Palace at Seri Menanti.

Upon getting back to the Club we met with Lai again who had secured us our newest gadget: a proper Garmin navigation system.


November 19.

Another day trip, this time to Port Dickson (which has a brand-spanking new Starbucks with a fantastic view over the Malacca Strait from the open lounge on the 1st floor - and no, I don't think there's anything wrong with going to Starbucks while traveling). After our caffeine fix we continued south along the coast road towards the Cape Rachado Lighthouse. The lighthouse is reached after a 15-20minute walk from the gate on a sealed road (now car free) through the jungle. Unfortunately the lighthouse is not open to the public.

Cape Rachado Lighthouse.

Walking in the jungle surrounding the lighthouse.

November 20.

Wanna look like Elvis?

Today we set out to explore Seremban itself. The Lonely Planet doesn't think much of it but better to see for ourselves. The place had us turned around a bit; it took us a while to get our bearings, even with our new navigation toy set to 'pedestrian'. Which is why we didn't find some of the temples, but we got a good sense of the place. It's not what we'd call a pretty town but we found some interesting areas and corners: Chinatown, markets, Hindu temple, ....

Markets with lots of fresh and dried foods.

Fresh coconut drink.

KL, Selangor. November 15-17, 2013.

KL is amazing.  Only spent a few days here but very much enjoyed it.  We will be back.

November 15

Petronas Twin Towers

KLCC Park

November 16

Lovely day walking around the part of the city where the Petronas Twin Towers are. Busy streets, towering buildings, construction sites and the occasional vacant lot. And of course amazing shopping malls, which are air conditioned. 

Couldn't resist that one :)

Wonderful Shopping Malls

The late afternoon rains forced us back to the hotel where we sheltered for the evening. 

November 17

Packed up Sterlin, put the jerry cans and cargo box back on the roof rack and headed south. As the roads are so confusing, we scoped out the route the day before. Unfortunately our plan did not work, as the main road out of town had a height restriction which was too low for Sterlin. Grrrrrr. I think we need to get a real car navigation system. Caroline's been suggesting this for a while now..

Port Klang, Selangor. November 13-14, 2013.

November 13

'Whatever do you want to stay in Klang for?', the driver picking us up at the airport said, 'Our capital KL is much nicer!'

Whatever for indeed. Well, Klang is the seaport 40-50km southwest of KL and where Sterlin was supposed to have arrived at during the night. Turns out that the container ship is hovering just outside of the port; we're hoping that it will dock tonight. And being here will make it much easier for us to sort out all formalities getting Sterlin through customs and released to us.

Arriving in Malaysia was very easy: from landing to meeting our driver was less than 30 minutes, and we even managed to buy a local sim card during that time. We checked into the Première Hotel. We don't know Klang (it's got a TESCO where we got dinner for tonight), and hopefully we won't have to hang out here for more than 1 or 2 days, otherwise we might get to know it quite well.

November 14

Sterlin has been off-loaded from the ship, but is still being processed.  So, while this was happening we spent the day at the mall. And I mean, we spent the day at the mall.  A little browsing, coffee, a movie ('Thor 2: The Dark World'), a little early evening dinner followed by another movie ('Ender's Game').

Laksa!

November 15

Busy day today. Arrived at the port just before noon to assist with the entry of Sterlin into Malaysia. Opening the containing and getting Sterlin cleared through customs was a complete breeze. In fact, maybe a little too easy and informal. There was no customs check, nothing.

Later in the afternoon we picked up our luggage from our hotel and headed to the Automobile Association of Malaysia in Shah Alam (on the way to KL) to get our road tax permit (aka International Circulation Permit) and mandatory Third Party Insurance. Although we feared the worst, it turned out the required paperwork was very easy to obtain.

Driving to our hotel in KL, on the other hand, was tortuous. It is extremely difficult to drive in KL, and we got lost a number of times on the way. But we eventually made it.

Breaking the Seals of our container.

Stephen with Rani who assisted
with the import of Sterlin

Customs official (I think).  We just drove out
without an inspection

The family reunited.

Indonesia. September 23 - November 12, 2013.

Three weeks in Indonesia. A nation of countless islands, hundreds of languages, different people with different cultures and religions,.... To say that we didn't even begin to scratch the surface would be an understatement. We only visited Bali and Java.

I love Bali.
I went there for about 6 days, 18 years ago, and stayed in Legian and Ubud.
Legian probably didn't change that much apart from getting even busier. Kuta wasn't my scene then and never will be. This time I (we) stayed in Seminyak and I liked it, but 2 days is more than enough. If I ever make it back there (and I do hope so) it will be to raid the clothing stores.
Ubud I did not recognize at all. I remembered it as a smaller township, with artisan shops, some in smaller villages a ways out of town. The place has grown immensely. The smaller villages now seem to be absorbed by or joined to Ubud. But I still liked the place.
I imagine that this will be the fate of Amed (the 10 villages making up that region) in about 10-15 years. Which will be a pity in a way. Amed had that real sleepy, relaxed feeling about it.

I guess it's safe to say that I am no fan of Java's big cities (I guess that is quite something coming from 'a city girl at heart'; I preferred the smaller, less busy places like Malang (still pretty big but with a more provincial feel to it) and Borobudur.
But. I also realize that I didn't even begin to scratch the surface of the places we visited. After the doing the 'obligatory' tourist thing we weren't left with enough time to go and explore further 'in' (except in Malang, where we did go for a wander away from the big streets).
Here, more so than in Bali, I got the impression that every house, building or stall that we passed sold the same: prepared food (nasi/bakmi/mie goreng, water, coke,coffee,...) of all kinds, some items of clothing or small things, or more specialized things like carvings (wood, stone) in certain clustered areas, and a lot of junk. It became 'more of the same' a lot of the time. Now, I do realize that had we gotten off the main roads a bit more, we would have seen a different Java: more fields and less built up. Malang and surrounds gave me a different glimpse of Java. So for that we did miss Sterlin sorely: with our car we can easily get off the beaten path, take alternative roads and routes and stay where it feels right to stop for the night.

There is so much more to see and experience in and of Indonesia and hopefully some day I will be able to come and see more of it, and re-visit a few favorite places.

Favorite places each for their own merits to me:
- Seminyak and Ubud.
- Malang: a very pleasant surprise with few tourists.
- Mt Bromo and surrounds: spectacular.
- Borobudur: both the township and temple.

Disappointments (to put it strongly):
- Yogyakarta.
- Bogor: it was nice to get a glimpse of a different style of residential area (around our hotel), but   the city wasn't much. The 'famed' botanical gardens'... well.... maybe it was the wrong season,       but suffice it to say I have seen much nicer ones.

This maybe updated as I think and mull over things more....

Bogor, Java. November 10-12, 2013.

Everything we heard or read about Jakarta was leaning heavily towards the negative - to say the least. Gridlocked traffic, not that many interesting sites, ... so we decided to give the place a miss and went to Bogor for a few days instead.

What to say about Bogor. It's about 1.5 hours south of Jakarta.
We visited the Kebun Raya Botanical Gardens and enjoyed walking around there instead of on the busy streets, but, truth be known, I've seen nicer, more impressive botanical gardens. It is of course totally possible that in a different season and with more colors present I would change my mind.
The traffic (and afternoon rain storm) discouraged us from exploring more of the city.
The area where our hotel (Novotel) was located was totally different: gated and well kept communities with equally gated and well kept streets and almost no traffic. We walked into town and at least that part of it was pleasant enough.

Having coffee overlooking the
Kebun Raya Botanical Gardens

We ended up spending one night in Jakarta in a hotel close to the airport, for obvious practical reasons: our flight to KL the next day. We only experienced 3kms of Jakarta traffic (not on the relatively well flowing toll road) and that took 20mins. Given we didn't get there till around 2pm we didn't feel like braving that again (in a rental) to go see some of the city. Maybe on a future visit.

The next morning, November 13, we got on the hotel shuttle, did the same 3 kms in 20-25 mins, and got to the airport to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Borobudur, Java. November 8-9, 2013.

November 8.

Borobudur is about a 1 hour drive from Yogyakarta, and we arrived here around noon. Checked into Rumah Boedi Private Residences. The hotel and grounds were nice, but here, as in some other places (accommodation, restaurants,..) I again was very aware of the fact that certain of the male staff absolutely did not want to talk to me. This was the reception and management staff, not housekeeping. Yes, I'm aware that that is a cultural/religious thing, but... if you're going to have a hotel and are happy to take my money, maybe you could at least be nice to me...

Borobudur in the rain.

Early afternoon we rented bicycles from our hotel to get to the Buddhist Temple of Borobudur. Ominous clouds were threatening overhead and what do you know, it started raining shortly after we got to the temple.
Our plan to stay there for the sunset viewing didn't work out because of the continuing rain. It was slowly getting darker without the nice colors in the sky. But yes, even with the rain it was well worth the visit, the temple is simply impressive.

Does traveling a lot and seeing and experiencing new things all the time along the way, ever become commonplace? Do I ever feel like 'enough already' or 'it's just another thing to see'? I thought about that some years ago and thought: as long as I can still have those profound 'wow' moments (whether related to man-made structures, nature, people, performances, anything really; whether they happen once a week or once a year) it will always be worth exploring new corners and places on this globe of ours.
And today, seeing the Borobudur Temple and then ascending the steps to the main dome, which is surrounded by 72 buddha statues inside perforated stupa, was one of those 'wow' moments. One of those moments that makes me feel very privileged and awed by where I am and what I am able to see and experience, one of those moments that says: yep, I can keep doing this traveling thing for quite a bit longer :)
(musings by Caroline)

Stephen was in high demand with
other tourists who wanted their
picture taken with him.

We cycled back to our hotel before dark. And got totally drenched. But in these temperatures that wasn't half bad, it was in fact nice and refreshing.

I am writing this while sitting in the outside (covered of course) lounge area of our hotel, a few hours after getting back from the temple, and the rain still hasn't let up. We are hoping to do a sunrise visit, and another attempt at sunset, tomorrow. Fingers crossed.



November 9.

Sunrise over Borobudur.

The alarm went off at 3:45am, the sky was full of stars, so off went, by tuk-tuk, for a sunrise viewing. The main gate opens at 6am, with sunrise at 5:10 this morning. However, the Manohara Hotel, which is on the grounds surrounding the temple, offers sunrise access from 4:30 am. You pay twice as much for your ticket, but this does allow for the sunrise access (plus small breakfast and gift) without the crowds, and a second visit during the day. And it was so worth it: the 'wow' moment continued.

Later that afternoon I went back for a third visit. This time I concentrated on the museum and the temple grounds. The Temple itself was swarming with visitors so I decided to stay clear of it. The memories of the late afternoon rain and sunrise visits will stay with me for a long time.

At our hotel I chatted with one of the other guests, Esther Von Plehwe-Leisen, who is, with her husband Hans Leisen, part of a team from the Cologne University of Applied Sciences working on the conservation of the stonework of Borobudur (and Angkor Wat amongst others). They are doing so in  cooperation with the Borobudur Conservation Office and UNESCO.

Yogyakarta, Java. November 5-7, 2013

November 5.

As mentioned we arrived in the evening after a long drive from Malang.
By 9pm we were checked-in to The Phoenix Hotel (our drivers pronounced the hotel as fo-nik), where, after freshening up, we enjoyed a drink in the bar.


November 6.

We headed out in the morning, along Jl. Malioboro, towards the Kraton, the palace of the sultans of Yogya. After catching part of a puppet performance and seeing some of the royal hang-outs, we wandered around the narrow streets of the Kampung, the area around the palace. Among others we visited the Water Castle and a puppet making place. The Kraton and Kampung effectively are a 1km square walled city home to around 25,000 people (according to The Lonely Planet Indonesia). As for the warnings about touts and scams... do your research and use common sense.

Water Palace.

Narrow streets of the Kampung surrounding the Kraton.

November 7.

Idle 'becak' everywhere.

We had plans this morning... honest we did! But after going out for coffee and a subsequent wander in the Sosrowijayan neighborhood, we decided to go back to our hotel and take it easy. The intermittent downpours and feeling a bit tired helped us to decide to give today's temple visit a miss.





Yogyakarta (and Malang) impressions:

Not too sure about this city; I guess after reading and hearing all the time how Yogya is Java's 'soul' I'd expected more..., not too sure what, but different... But I do realize that it is virtually impossible to do more than scratch the surface of a place this size in 2,5 days. Walking around the Kampung and Sosrowijayan area's (ie.: away from the main drag) gave us a bit of a glimpse of what the city is in all likelihood really about. In Malang we didn't expect anything and the place grew on us pretty quickly after walking around it's more residential backstreets and alleys. And this is by no means meant as 'lesser' streets, on the contrary, that's where life happens.
In Yogya the touts and especially the becak drivers can be quite pushy: just about each one you pass will try to get a fare out of you and some of them will follow you around for a bit. To say that there is an over supply of becak (see above photo) would be an understatement. But then again: common sense and simply ignoring all the calls usually does the trick. In Malang we didn't experience any of this; sure a driver would ask if you wanted a ride, but it was done with a smile and a wave and in a different 'tone'. Simply smiling back while indicating 'no' was ok. Maybe I'm not explaining this very well, but for me (C) the difference is in the perceived 'aggression'. Sure, ask me if I want a ride, or batik piece, or anything for that matter, but take my 'no, thank you' for what it is: 'no'. But that's one of the 'hardships' of traveling :), so no real complaints! Can't like all places the same! I've experienced this numerous times before and will do so countless more times. You get used to it. Just every now and then it does manage to take away a little of what one hoped to experience (in this instance) in a place that was described as being 'the soul' of Java.

Ok, enough 'traveler's rant'... let's go get a drink in the bar :)