The Gates to Paradise

Our short 2.5 hour flight to Bali was over before we knew it. The airport reminded us a lot of the Kona airport in Hawaii - it was outdoors with palm trees everywhere. We made it off the plane just in time to escape the rain that was starting to fall. As we jumped into our cab for the short ride into town, the rain began to fall harder and we were starting to regret not having made a hotel reservation in advance. We ended up taking the first place we came to that had rooms available in order to escape the heavy rain storm. By the time all this had occured, it was now about 11pm and everything was closed except for McDonalds, so that is where we ate before returning to our room to pass out.

View from our balcony





Although the people that ran our hotel were very nice, we decided we needed to find somewhe else that was just a bit nicer. As we walked around looking at rooms, we noticed that no matter how much they were chargng, they all had one constant... The bathrooms sucked. It's not that hard to clean every now and then, people! We ended up finding a little place that wasn't much nicer, but it had a great pool, so that made up for it!

Our guide book boasted that the beach in Kuta was the best one on the island of Bali. We loved the way they framed the entrance onto the beach


However, the 'best beach' label must only apply for half of the year, because the other half, the one that's happening now, the beach is absolutely covered in rubbish. This isn't exactly what we were imagining when we pictured Bali in our minds, but according to the locals, when the wind changes towards shore, instead of away from it, it brings with it all the trash in the ocean. They say that it goes back out in about a month.

On our second day in town, we decided to try out the surfing and got ourselves an instructor. As we entered the water, we were appalled by all of the trash, not only on the shore, but also in the water! It was EVERYWHERE! It felt like we were wading through a land fill so we were even more happy when we were on top of our boards so we could get out of it. Besides the garbage in the water, we had a great time surfing. We both got up and caught some nice waves. We even got to ride one in side by side... wish we had a picture!


Since we knew we would be back in Kuta to fly back home, we decided to continue on to Lembongan Island. The island is about an hour by boat to the east of Bali. Here's Julian on the boat with his little man-bag.


Arrival into port


We had heard that it was a really small island and accommodation was scarce, so we booked a night at a place that was recommended to us by a fellow traveler. Throughout our whole trip, we haven't received much in the way of good advice. Despite this, we keep on taking it because it is our only source of information. This was no exception. The girl that told us about the place said it was "paradise"! How can you pass up paradise? Well it wasn't paradise, and it wasn't cheap either. We were the only people staying there and there was no beach in front, but there was a nice empty beach about 5 minutes walk away. Here is a picture of our place from a nearby cliff.


We hung out in that area for the day and checked out Mushroom Bay, but there really wasn't much going on over there. So, the next morning, we walked back into the main town on the island, looking for a different place to stay. We went back to where the boats come and go and found a whole string of affordable hotels. We were able to snag a nice room, feet from the swimming pool, for a great discount because the a/c was broken...


Except we found that it wasn't really broken. Bonus!


The weather wasn't the best while we were there, so we ended up staying a little longer than originally planned because we didn't want to ride on a dingy boat for an hour in the rain and wind.

The up side to being stuck on a small island was that we got to see most of it...








Their primary source of income besides tourism is seaweed farming. They leave it out to dry all over the island. If you like the smell of rotting fish, you would love this!


And we got to go snorkeling!

















It was a very casual few days of eating, walking, laying in the sun and listening to the rain. When there was a morning without rain, we made reservations to go back on the local boat to Padang Bai. This was our boat


Even with three months in Asia under our belts, we still figured we must be the only passengers going on this boat, along with the captain, because it was so small. Silly us. When boarding time came, about a dozen people showed up and the captain smiled a weird smile and made a gesture for us to get in, so we all piled aboard.


The ride was interesting, with girls getting sea sick, and turning around to go fetch a plastic barrel out of the sea. Nonetheless, we made it back to land, headed for the town of Padang Bai!


- Mattie and Julian

Location:Bali, Indonesia

Meet Me at the Longbar

Traveling in Malaysia is a bit different than in Thailand. The bus we took down out of the highlands had large seats and was very clean and comfortable, as opposed to the cramped and dirty buses we rode in Thailand. Even the rest stops were nice!


When we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, we jumped in a cab and headed towards the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. David and Kendall reserved a room for us there for a couple of nights as a wedding gift! Thanks guys!!

It was rush hour so we had some extra time to visit with our cab driver, who was really informative. He let us know where all the cool bars and restaurants were near our hotel.

Arriving at the Mandarin Oriental felt much like when we arrived at the Ritz in Paris(courtesy of Kadrian) and the Peninsula in Bangkok(courtesy of Mr. Talley). We walked in all goofy-looking with our backpacks and tank tops amongst all of the suits, but the staff still treats us like were professional business people. We even got a complimentary upgrade on our room!





Along with being super nice on the inside, we had great views of the park and our hotel pool!





Our hotel was located right next to the iconic Petronas Towers, formerly the worlds tallest buildings, which are really an impressive sight!






At night, they light up the entire complex, which, although it looks really cool, must be one of the poorest uses of energy in the world. You can see them from miles away.


Being in the business area of town, there were lots of bars and restaurants geared towards that crowd, so we walked around, explored and ate/drank.

Our hotel was also directly next door to the massive KLCC mall - this place was huge! It, too, provided plenty of entertainment and dining options. There is also a subway stop here, which was convenient for us to jump on and quickly get all around the city.


In the morning, we set out to explore the city! We took the subway to Chinatown and did what people do in Chinatown all over the world - shopped! Julian got a new pair of sunglasses (surprise surprise) and Mattie just looked around. After we were all Chinatowned out, we headed over to the Central Market.


It was kind of similar to markets we came across all over Asia, in that it had little stalls selling everything you can imagine. However, it was also indoor, air-conditioned, and relatively clean, which cannot be said for most markets around here. We came close to buying a chess set made of white and black marble, but decided against it. Once we felt we had walked around enough, we stuffed ourselves with a nice lunch at a popular restaurant in the market. Like after all big meals, it was time for a nap. The rest of the day was spent lounging and walking through the park near our hotel.

The following day we continued our exploration of the city to include Little India and around. We saw Merdeka Square and tried to go to the Jamek Mosque, but it was only open at specific intervals during the day, which we missed. After that, we ate an early lunch and dinner at the same Indian restaurant - we can't get enough South Indian cuisine!


Before catching our night train down to Singapore, we stopped back in Chinatown for massages. They were by far the most expensive massages we have had here, and the ladies were talking and cackling the whole time.

This was our first and only night-train experience in SE Asia and it wasn't bad if you ignored the stinky feet and the cigarette smoke drifting through the train car from outside. We each had our own little bed and curtain, and it was relatively inexpensive. The upgrade from a seat to a bed was only about $3, so that was a no-brainer.





We arrived in Singapore in the morning, semi-refreshed from the decent nights sleep on the train. The border was no problem and soon we were wondering through Little India in search of cheap accommodation. We found 2 beds at the Prince of Wales Hostel. When we say cheap, Singapore is really expensive, so it still cost $40 for the night.

First things first... they still have Roti Canai, but its called something completely different, which we can't remember - but it's just as tasty!

After breakfast, we went around the city. We went to the Raffles Hotel and had a Singpore Sling at the Long Bar - this is the 'must-do' thing in Singapore. Apparently this Raffles character was quite popular in his day, as there are multiple sites in the city named after him.








The hotel is old-colonial style architecture and has all kinds of shops throughout it's bottom floor. It was really nice, but the cheapest rooms are around $500 per night, so we probably(definitely) won't be staying there.

We were treated to a couple of shows from Mother Nature that day, the first being a perfect double rainbow across the sky(it didn't come out so well in the picture)


And the second was a wonderful sunset we saw from Raffles Terrace, a park in the middle of the city. The colors were striking.


The next morning was our flight to Bali, Indonesia. We were itching to get back to an island, but in our haste to leave, we forgot a shopping bag full of tea that Mattie had purchased in Malaysia. We called the hotel and they said they would try to hold it until we return(on our way home a couple of weeks from then), so here's hoping we get lucky!

We had heard great things about the Singapore airport, but weren't all that impressed. Maybe we were in an old terminal. One really cool thing they did have was metal detectors at each gate, which alleviated the usual hassle of waiting in long lines to get into the terminal. Anyhow, we boarded our plane to set off for the final stop of our trip - Bali!

Mattie and Julian

Location:Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore

Insect Soup

When we arrived back on the mainland(after a little boat ride)


in Kuala Besut, we weren't totally sure of our next destination, so we decided to go to Kota Bharu for the night since it is a bigger city and was more likely to have better travel options. As we were leaving the pier area, we were bombarded by taxi drivers offering to take us to Kota Bharu for 50 Malaysian ringgit. That is a huge rip off so we kept walking and found a van offering the ride for 20 per person. So we were going to go with option B when a third option presented itself. We overheard some other travelers asking about the bus station. We followed them and ended up taking the local bus - which is pretty nice in Malaysia - for only 6 ringgit each! Yay us!

When we arrived in Kota Bharu, we had a recommendation for a place to stay, so we went straight there and then directly to Pizza Hut because we hadn't had any decent food in awhile. Pizza Hut has become our fall back restaurant when we get tired of noodles and rice. Our dining experience started out great until some "special" person let their child push his high chair around the restaurant, sending out a piercing screech very similar to the sound of fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard. This lasted at least 20 minutes. It was so annoying and the staff didn't say or do anything. We have found this to be the norm here is Malaysia. Everybody lets their kids run wild.

Once we had full bellies, we had to decide where our next destination would be. Since we had more time than we thought to spend in Malaysia, we decided to go to Kuala Lampur(KL), the capitol, and then on to Singapore from there. The drive to KL is pretty long so we decided to stop somewhere on the way. Julian wanted to go the Taman Negara, the national rainforest park, while Mattie wanted to go to the Cameron Highlands to see the tea plantations and strawberry farms. They are both right in the middle, but Julian, being the wonderful husband that he is, let Mattie choose. Julian wasn't too excited, but the next day we left for the Highlands.

We were excited to drive through the heart of Malaysia, as it is prime rain forest land. Unfortunately, vast patches of land alongside the road had been cleared for rubber and palm oil plantations.





Of course, there were still quite a few nice views


The Cameron Highlands, if you can't guess from the name, is at about 1500 meters elevation. At this elevation and latitude, the weather is perfect for growing things like tea and strawberries, as well as developing the world's oldest rainforest, which is habitat to myriad insects and animals. The rainforest part made Julian a bit happier, as well as the discovery of a golf course in town. The area is also known for it's excellent south Indian food. We found a good restaurant and ate every single meal there!

The highlands include an interesting mixture of people. Of course there are the local Malays, but there are also people of European, Indian, and Japanese descent. The British colonized the area and developed many of the tea plantations. This brought experienced workers from tea plantations in India. Over time, the area also became a popular retirement spot for Japanese due to it's year-round cool climate, low prices, and laid-back atmosphere. It really is a sort of Xanadu. Pretty trees, cool temperatures, Indian food, golf and even bird watching - sounds like a place my dad needs to check out!

The best way to see a lot of the tourist attractions is to just go on a tour. Ours started with a visit to the tea plantations to take in the views.














And we even did some farming ourselves!


We then went up to the top of the highest point in the area to have a look around. No more tea, just dense, mossy rainforest.


It was at this point that Julian fell in love with our 1958 Land Rover we were cruising around in.





There were lots of cool off-road vehicles around here


On the way back down the mountain we stopped and went for a trek in the mossy forest. It was really muddy and there was moss everywhere. Our guide was extremely informative and it was a great experience. He would just pluck leaves off of plants along the road, grind them up, and we would smell them and recognize them as household items such as citronella, cinnamon and tiger balm. We came out all dirty but we got to see some fun things. Deep in the forest it was like a Hobbits Den or something straight out of Avatar. Either way, a biologists dream.














This next plant deserves an explanation. It's a carnivore.


The cup part is partially filled with rain water mixed with a couple of drops of acid provided by the plant The leaf on top serves a couple of different functions. The first is that it prevents the cup from overflowing with rain water. The second, more interesting feature, is that the underside of the leaf has a scent that attracts insects. As they nibble away at it, it contains a sort of hallucinogenic that causes the insects to pass out. They fall into the cup of water and the acid kills and dissolves them until they are eventually consumed by the plant. These plants are all over the place, and they are all filled with a delicious insect soup!


After the mossy forest, we stopped at the BOH tea plantation to see how they make tea, have a cup, and do some shopping of course! All of the teas they make are only sold in Malaysia. They must drink lots and lots of tea over here, because it is a massive operation and just one of many!

Closer to town we went to visit the Butterfly and Insect Farm.


Snake, anyone?


This butterfly was Huge!


Leaf insect. The whole thing is part of it's body.


Can anyone find the Stick Insect?


It's the whole lower portion, hanging upside-down with bent arms and legs. They were well over a foot long.

And here's some not-so-smart person holding a scorpion.


And, of course, my husband decides to wear it!


The next morning we went to go golf! They wouldn't let Mattie go with Julian unless she rented clubs, and since that would be a total waste of money, she just sat on the balcony at the club house and enjoyed the views. In the meantime, Julian was learning Japanese and making many friends on the golf course!











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Lots of the architecture is from the colonial times when the British were here. This next place is a popular hotel just off the golf course called The Smokehouse - it was a charming place complete with English breakfasts in the morning and tea throughout the day!


More golf course





After golf, we jumped on a bus that took us away to Kuala Lumpur, the Capitol of Malaysia.

- Mattie and Julian

Location:Kota Bahru and The Cameron Highlands, Malaysia