Malaysia
From Singapore I moved into Malaysia to meet my old friend Adrian. His family has recently bought a holiday house in Langkawi, and he generously offered it for me to stay in. So I bought a cheap flight up there and spent a few days relaxing in the most gorgeous penthouse apartment. He also organised for a hire car there, which I must admit I was a little nervous about. I hadn't actually driven a manual since I went for my P plates over 2 years ago, and I don't even have a full license yet. I think the car gods could feel my fear, when I entered the car it was empty, so I tentatively pulled up to a petrol station. Trying to look like I was some gas guzzling pro, I whipped off the cap and started pumping oil. The machine hummed away happily for a minute or so, when I thought perhaps it's not coming out. I pulled out the nozzle a little and touched the trigger squirting petrol all over my shirt, pants and leg. Mmm, well at least it's working. I put it back in and it clicked as if it was finished, so I went up to pay. R2.50 he says. Wow, so cheap here! I hand him over a 100 note anyway, just in case I'd misheard him. I can't really judge his expression through the glass. And off I drive chuffed that I managed to fill the car successfully (I'm not an experienced driver ...) I pull out of the station and the petrol light flashes on again .. looks like the only petrol I paid for was that which I was now wearing and breathing. I was too embarrassed to return to the station so I drove on, trying to be extremely economical, paranoid that I was going to end up stuck on the side of some road in the middle of the night. Fortunately I managed to get to Chenang beach for some food and return without conking out.
The next day I drove to "The Seven Wells". I was stopped by a random police roadblock on the way and asked for my license, which had me a little worried. Thankfully I don't think he understood the word 'probationary'. Arriving, it was a bit of a hike up stairs, the wells are all above a rather powerful waterfall. I'd only eaten a couple of pieces of toast for breakfast so I was pretty hungry and thirsty by the time I reached the wells, when I spotted this "Jungle Trail". It said 2500M, so I thought I'd just go for a little bit and see what it was like. I got lost after about 500M and bush bashed for ages, before I back tracked and ended up finding the trail again, where one of the markers had fallen down. After another hour of serious sweating, river crossings and the path getting steeper and steeper, the path began to get so steep a rope was provided to aid the climb.
After another hour or so of seriously hard work, I think I was nearly hallucinating, having to stop every few hundred metres. I was at the stage of drinking water off the leaves and sucking rocks that had a bit of moisture dribbling down them. Eventually I got into the clouds and realised I'd gone way too far to turn back now. It was a massive effort, but I loved it, maybe because I'm a masochist, but the view from the top was pretty cool. There's a huge cable car that goes up to one of the mountains, but this trail actually took you up to an even higher mountain where you could look over everything. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy on one side of the mountain, ie it was completely covered in cloud and you couldn't see shit, but on the other side it was clear, so it was a cool view looking along the side, where one side was cloud, with the cloud billowing over the top, while the other side was clear. Interesting also that while I had thought the island was completely overcast and raining, the Northern half appeared to be quite clear.
I ended the day driving the car through the service roads of a 5 star hotel and ending up at this amazing beach house restaurant. I managed to purchase a beer and sit in a little hut on the beach while the sun set, before having a swim in the nearly bath temperature water - fairly decent waves too, body surfable. A delicious dinner at a roti house on the way home of roti stuffed with ham, egg, peas, corn and cheese with 4 separate curries to dip it in cost only $2, and beer is cheaper than coke as Langkawi is a duty free island. I spent the rest of the night listening to jazz and drinking wine while I watched the lights of Kuah town dance off the water. I kinda wished I had someone to share it all with. I'd had an interesting chat with a Saudi Arabian man by the river, he was quite against travelling alone. In the end we agreed there's pros and cons. There were a lot of Saudis around Langkawi and KL for that matter, frequently a man with two wives, both covered head to toe in long black flowing burkas with amazingly beautiful black eyes piercing out.
Returning to Kuala Lumpur, I have to make mention of this bar called Luna. It's on the rooftop, open air with a huge pool in the middle, comfy cushions and alcoves all around the outside with private little views out over KL.
The next day I drove to "The Seven Wells". I was stopped by a random police roadblock on the way and asked for my license, which had me a little worried. Thankfully I don't think he understood the word 'probationary'. Arriving, it was a bit of a hike up stairs, the wells are all above a rather powerful waterfall. I'd only eaten a couple of pieces of toast for breakfast so I was pretty hungry and thirsty by the time I reached the wells, when I spotted this "Jungle Trail". It said 2500M, so I thought I'd just go for a little bit and see what it was like. I got lost after about 500M and bush bashed for ages, before I back tracked and ended up finding the trail again, where one of the markers had fallen down. After another hour of serious sweating, river crossings and the path getting steeper and steeper, the path began to get so steep a rope was provided to aid the climb.
After another hour or so of seriously hard work, I think I was nearly hallucinating, having to stop every few hundred metres. I was at the stage of drinking water off the leaves and sucking rocks that had a bit of moisture dribbling down them. Eventually I got into the clouds and realised I'd gone way too far to turn back now. It was a massive effort, but I loved it, maybe because I'm a masochist, but the view from the top was pretty cool. There's a huge cable car that goes up to one of the mountains, but this trail actually took you up to an even higher mountain where you could look over everything. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy on one side of the mountain, ie it was completely covered in cloud and you couldn't see shit, but on the other side it was clear, so it was a cool view looking along the side, where one side was cloud, with the cloud billowing over the top, while the other side was clear. Interesting also that while I had thought the island was completely overcast and raining, the Northern half appeared to be quite clear.
I ended the day driving the car through the service roads of a 5 star hotel and ending up at this amazing beach house restaurant. I managed to purchase a beer and sit in a little hut on the beach while the sun set, before having a swim in the nearly bath temperature water - fairly decent waves too, body surfable. A delicious dinner at a roti house on the way home of roti stuffed with ham, egg, peas, corn and cheese with 4 separate curries to dip it in cost only $2, and beer is cheaper than coke as Langkawi is a duty free island. I spent the rest of the night listening to jazz and drinking wine while I watched the lights of Kuah town dance off the water. I kinda wished I had someone to share it all with. I'd had an interesting chat with a Saudi Arabian man by the river, he was quite against travelling alone. In the end we agreed there's pros and cons. There were a lot of Saudis around Langkawi and KL for that matter, frequently a man with two wives, both covered head to toe in long black flowing burkas with amazingly beautiful black eyes piercing out.
Returning to Kuala Lumpur, I have to make mention of this bar called Luna. It's on the rooftop, open air with a huge pool in the middle, comfy cushions and alcoves all around the outside with private little views out over KL.
posted by Flex at 12:13 am
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