Dabong (Gurung Stong National Park) (by daz)

"So this bus goes to Dabong?" I asked the nice chap behind the counter of the bus company. "Yes" he nodded in agreement, so I asked him again to confirm. "Yes" he said looking surprised we wanted to go to such a backwater place which was off the tourist trail. Well the way I saw it we had 2 options, a slow train from the station 4 miles away or a fast bus from the end of the road. Well, the bus was an easier option so we plumped for that. Again I confirmed with the bus driver that he was going to stop en route to drop us off at this place Dabong. "You want to go Dabong?" he replied with raised eyebrows. "Yes, I do!" I replied and he confirmed my request but I had an uneasy feeling about this. Well after leaving Kota Bharu at 1pm, we were basically kicked off the bus 2 hrs later in the blazing sun at the side of a main road no where near Dabong (it was 43km away!). While we were considering our options whether to be stranded on the side of the road in the blazing sun with no transport 43km from Dabong or to stay on the bus and ride into Gua Musang with the rest of the passengers where there were good transport links, the bus driver lost patience, boarded the bus and made a quick departure.
  Now we were in the shit! Looking for shade we crossed the road and found what looked like a abandoned tin shack which at some time could have been a restaurant and a passing women on a scooter stopped who luckily spoke a bit of English. We explained our dilemma and she said there were no buses to Dabong and no taxi in this area of jungle (in fact Dabong was the nearest town!) but she knew 'a friend' who could help. We waited in the blazing heat for half an hour and what I can only describe as 'Jessie' from the dukes of hazard rolled up in a car that a gypsy in England would be appalled to own and offered his services to us for a ride into town for a vastly over-inflated priced which was bartered by our English speaking go between. I tried to haggle in vain as he hissed and cursed in the background as our thoughts were portrayed to him by our go between. We eventually agreed a price as our backs were against the wall in this situation but by now Kathy's patience had grown a bit thin in the heat and she insisted that she was not going to sit in 'that death trap with that dodgy looking hillbilly' as she was worried that we would end up robbed and dumped somewhere out in the jungle. She did have a point but I looked on the positive side and said at least we would make the front page of the newspapers in England if we did get killed. This comment did not help and the mood worsened after the non English speaking driver said he was off to get fuel without confirming if he was coming back for us or not or even if he had accepted our offer. Half an hour passed and Kathy was becoming more than anxious and even my happy go lucky nature was being consumed by doubt as I was trying to recall all the Bear Grylls programmes I had watched just before we had left England to figure out a way we could survive a night sleeping in the jungle.
   Luckily Mr Jungle Hillbilly showed up 5 minutes later in his clapped out car which had optional windows and sparse internal fixings and an engine that sounded like a bear being castrated. Next stop was a local hang out point where he paraded his 'prey' with the other hoodlums all laughing and jeering with him as he took a flurry of phone calls suddenly from his willing accomplices further down the road where the deed was going to be executed. I gulped hard as the tension rose as I just wanted to get going so we could get nearer to the safety of civilisation. Thoughts flashed through my mind like how quickly could I get to the rucksack to retrieve the penknife within it in case things got ugly. I glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed Kathy with a face that would kill a man at 20 paces so I knew I could use that to buy time so I could get to the rucksack for the weaponry.

The General Lee was between paint jobs.

  We set off eventually and Mr Hillbilly tried to make conversation with me in a Malay dialect which I had no comprehension of so I just nodded in agreement to pacify him while he tried to explain how dangerous the road was ahead of us and how people just skidded off it and disappeared into the jungle with no trace! I gulped hard and just looked out the non-existent window into the dense jungle ahead. We didn't see another soul along the 43km but good to his word he got us there and even took us to our guesthouse when we buggered him around about the directions and he took it all in good humour and turned out to be a very nice man just doing us a favour for a few bob in his pocket.
 The room (which was the only place to stay in the whole of town) turned out better than we expected so we unpacked and explored town which was tiny and limited in resources. It really was like a final frontier town and we expected even Captain Kirk had not been here on his 5 year mission to seek out new civilisations yet. Food was an extremely basic nasi goreng and there was no such thing as breakfast although we did manage to score a stale bag of coco pops which we later found a rat had chewed a whole in the side of the bag so they were inedible. Our guesthouse owner offered us breakfast for a surcharge (pictured below) but when we opened it our early morning western stomachs could not handle the overwhelming stale fish smell than emanated from it so it was binned and substituted for a cake type thing from a local shop.

Grandma's blue rinse on the rice did not make it anymore appealing.

  The main reason for coming here was to view the highest waterfall in Malaysia at Mount Stong and explore the National Park jungle around it. But with no buses and no Taxis this was proving a problem as the falls were 7km away and the only way we were informed of visiting the area was by an official guide who wanted an unbelievable amount of money from us which basically just turned out to be for transport only to the falls and back. Our Rough Guide to Malaysia said otherwise. It turned out our guesthouse owner who styled himself on Snoop Dog as in the Starsky and Hutch movie, was in cahoots with this guide to strong arm tourist out of their hard earned dollars by insisting it was too dangerous without a guide. Undeterred, Kath and I struck out to the village to rustle up some transport. We hunted high and low, interviewing many a local with hand signals and repeating words they could not comprehend until we exhausted all avenues and retreated in vain back to base. 

Snoop dog 'in da hood' with our Mr Hillbilly looking well 'ard.

   Later I spied Snoop Dog in front of our room and quickly persuaded him to help us with our plight which surprisingly he did and next moment a van resembling something that had just won a demolition derby rolled up to whisk us away to our destiny. Kath refused the offer as by now she had enough of all this adventure and just wanted to chill so I decided to go it alone. Surprisingly the van made it to the National Park entrance and I paid my foreigner rip off fee on the gate and told the driver I would call him when I was ready. He said he would wait. I said I can't afford you too wait but he insisted. I was the only person in the park that day so had the place to myself.  I clambered and scrambled my way through the jungle for the next 3 hours to see the waterfall and took a refreshing bathe in the pools at the top underneath the upper cascade. The water was chilled but I was as hot as hell and it soothed the collection of mosquito bites I had acquired and the leech that had attached itself to me merrily sucking away my boiling blood.

One vicious blood sucker leech

   I rolled, slid,and tumbled my way back down to the park gate, passing my would be guide on the way with his over-paying posse of tourists and then the heavens opened and torrential rain started bucketing down. I was drenched in seconds but in the heat it was most welcomed to keep me cool. Leeches were everywhere and I was in a constant mode of alertness everytime plant life touched me as they have a canny habit of borrowing through your clothes to get to your blood. They have to be removed before they manage to get their teeth in to you. Kathy had acquired one last week while we were in Taman Negera on her finger and the wound would not stop bleeding afterwards due to the  anti-coagulant  they pump into you. When I eventually got back to the park gate my ride was still there waiting for me after 4hrs. I jumped in and he drove me back to the guesthouse while I braced myself for the cost of this ride and wondered if I had enough money on me to pay the chap. I needn't have worried as it came to £1.90 for the whole day so I merrily tipped him 50% and he was most grateful for my custom.
   When I got back to the room ,Kath and I decided that maybe it was time to push on since as nice as this village was, it was not a place that was easy to hang out in. After a few enquiries on line and with Snoop Dog we soon realised it was not going to be that easy to get out but that's another story. Next stop Penang.

The waterfall was worth the effort.

Kota Bharu

Our apartment/Kath going hijab style to blend in (not!)

We got the 9am bus from Cherating which didn't turn up till after 9.30 plus it wasn't going to stop except for us frantically waving at the driver to do so! The journey to Kota Bharu was 7hrs with not a lot of stops (hence some crossed leg moments) so we arrived at 4.30pm busting for a loo and to find our accommodation. Luckily this was only around the corner from the bus station - Daz booked an apartment which was nicely kitted out with a double & single bed, tv with cable, kitchenette with fridge & microwave and a decent sized bathroom with hot water. This was luxury compared to some of the other places we had stayed so far plus we had a fridge!

Central market - check out the decor! Don't smell the fish market next door though.....phew!

Dried fish anyone? This is everywhere, fish all stinky and not very appetising

Well in a nutshell, Kota Bharu is a very big city which is very muslim (you can only buy property here if you were born within the state) and it's not really cut out for tourists (especially those who like booze!) as not a lot to do or see here.  We stayed 6 nights in the end because our onward travel plans changed and it was easy due to the comfort of the apartment but getting food we liked (vegetarian) and beer (cheapest was over £3 for a large bottle!) was extremely challenging most days.
We visited the tourist info office and met some old camp local guy who kept saying 'lemon squeezy' and 'lovely jubbly' which was irritating after 5 minutes. We went on to visit a cultural show he organised (which was free) to watch a traditional Malaysian big drum display (Daz even had a go - just like Animal off the muppet show) as well as some sort of martial arts display like a cross between wrestling and tai chi - called Silat. The weird thing was they had a 1/2 hr break for prayer time so we decided to bugger off as we'd seen plenty at that point.

Big drum display at the cultural show - oh my ears!

Apart from that, we looked around some museums (ceremonial, old palace, traditional craft village) and cruised around some shopping malls (air conditioned!).  We visited Central Market, avoiding the fish market!, and bought some salad and fruit. There was a massive Tesco store on the edge of town so we also had a trolley dash around it to stock up on food at the apartment (sorry no booze aisle here!).
We bought bus tickets to our next stop - Dabong and hoped it would be a good place for walks and things to do/see. Packing our rucksacks up again, we headed off on the bus in the afternoon not really knowing how this would turn out..............

Cherating

After our 2 night pit stop in Jerantut which was uneventful, we boarded a bus to Kauntan and then changed to another bus which stopped enroute to drop us off on the side of the expressway as there was no bus service to Cherating as it was such a small village. Using our Maps Me app we walked to our accommodation as there was no taxi's, watching the local macaque monkeys raiding the bins on the way.  We were pleased with our chalet at Eastana Chalets (although it seemed like we were the only occupants in the whole site) which had a kettle and tv with Fox Movies/National Geographic channels - everything else was Malaysian tv.
  Cherating is a faded old beach resort now gone out of fashion so has been gradually decaying over the last 2 decades and is spread out and ramshackle with minimal facilities but has a killer beach with warm shallow sea water to swim in with no coral or rocks and the softest sand you could ever wish for with amazingly no rubbish on it.

                  Trying to avoid the extensive crowds by standing in the sea on Cherating beach.

  We basically had no plan so after we got bored of the beach we looked for action which was limited but found a place that was teaching foreigners how to make tie-dyed clothes so we opted for a t-shirt and after some instructions from a nice Malayan lady set to work on our creation with vigour. The Malayan woman raised her eyebrows at our 'artistic licence' on the design, as I think she found it amusing that we stepped outside the box on her instructions but told us to leave it with her to 'fix the colour' and return in 24hrs when it was dry.



 
       Purple was always going to be a key ingredient in the fashion stakes when Kathy got involved.



  We then went on a wander around and bumped into a troupe of monkeys who Kathy fed fruit to them that we picked off a tree previuosly which they particularly liked and when it had run out, they started getting aggressive towards her so we scarpered off to then find monitor lizards crossing the road and horn bills squabbling up in the trees. We saw more wildlife here than we had seen in the jungle on our previous stop of Taman Negara.
  Next was a guided firefly tour we took at night on the river in a boat which was better than I expected as we saw hundreds of them floating around us as the guide had a technique to 'call them' over to us. It was like something out of a Disney cartoon as they floated above our heads.
  Next day we rented a 2 person canoe to go on a river safari and were rewarded with sights of a massive jellyfish, monkeys,otters, swimming monitor lizards in the mangroves and strange fish that could propel themselves out of the water and skim above the water of the river for a long distance scooping up bugs before diving back down. Also we saw a kingfisher in action diving off branches and catching fish.

              Even the younger monkeys were surprised to see such an amazing t-shirt design team                                                                             walking down their street.


  There was a lack of places to eat here so we just frequented the local side of the road style places which is the same old rice and noodle combos that we had become accustomed to but now bored of. They lack any imagination on the dishes. So far we have been really disappointed with the Malay food. It's a cross between Chinese and Indonesian centered around rice and tends to be bland in flavour and far too greasy and their idea of flavour is just to give you a pot of tomato chili sauce and you are expected to get on with it. Still, the food is amazingly cheap and we could most evenings get by using local places (that looked like botulism as a side dish) and manage to get a good belly full with drinks for around £3 between us. I guess by now our stomachs have adapted to the various bacteria that accompanies each meal in each country and after 3 months so far have had no ill effects. (touch wood!)
  One highlight was finding a cafe that served up unbelievably an American breakfast that I ordered for lunch one day and I could not believe how good it tasted to have western food again after eating rice and noodles for the last 3 month. In England I would have baulked at it for being poor! Oh how attitudes change when you're on the road.
  We went back to pick our t-shirt up which in the honour of Asian time keeping was not ready for us to collect so we had to go back later in the day after another afternoon on the beach. You get used to these diversions on time keeping here and as long as you keep things flexible and relaxed it actually enriches the day but in the end was worth it as we were thrilled with the results.

   It was only fair to hire a top model to display this amazingly designed catwalk garment to do it                                                                                     full justice.


  We then booked bus tickets with a travel agent who we got talking to for an hour about life and travelling adventures as the bus does not stop here so we will have to walk back to the highway and wait on the road for a passing express bus to stop. Next stop Kota Bharu.

Taman Negara

We booked a minibus to take us from the Cameron Highlands to the steamy jungle of Taman Negara which was a 2 stage journey with the final stretch being by long boat into the jungle. The minibus journey was uneventful at 3 hours as luckily Kathy and I managed to secure the whole front row between us to spread out while everyone else got squashed in the back. The minibus dropped us at the jetty where we had to buy permits to enter the jungle and a camera permit to take photos which altogether come to just over £1. Then, after the usual mayhem and lack of communication by the boat company, we were eventually levered into these long boats with all our luggage to speed off into the jungle. It was an amazing experience as the jungle was thick on both banks and we saw monkeys, water buffalo and wild pigs all going about their business as we dodged massive logs, spontaneous boulders and sand banks on the river course.

On board the long boat speeding up river.

After 2.5 hours we arrived at Kuala Tahan, a tiny settlement on the bank of the river set up as entry point to the protected region of the jungle with it's floating restaurants and ramshackle accommodation. Our room was most interesting painted in a sickly green psychodelic flooring and bed linen but had a/c which we were pleased about as it was so hot as the humidity was over 90% which produced a constant haze which would later turn to rain in the evenings which made it just about cool enough to sleep.
To enter the virgin jungle you have to catch a boat from the river bank which will take you across for a princely sum of 18p each and drop you on a jetty where you hike up the bank and into the rangers office for info on the tracks and events offered.  We decided the best chance of seeing any wildlife would be to go it alone as if we went on a tour there would be no chance of seeing animals as large groups tend to be noisy and scare the animals away. In the jungle there was supposed to be tigers, elephants, tapir, monkeys, squirrels, flying fox and other critters which I can't remember the names of. We set off early and were the first people at the jungle canopy walkway which was a 2km walk. The walk is about 40 metres up in the canopy of the trees and goes on for about 1km along a walkway which sways as you walk on it and is suspended by ropes and netting so you can see below as you walk. Not for those afraid of heights!



Kathy contemplates life as 'Jane' with Tarzan in the tree tops.

Next stop was a hike to the top of a local mountain for a good viewpoint to possibly spot wildlife. By now the jungle had became intolerably hot and the climb long and laboured as it was steep. The heat sapped our energy but we eventually made it to the top pouring in sweat and celebrated with some snacks we brought along. The view was OK but soon other tourists started appearing and it became less likely to see anything interesting wildlife wise. The walk down was just as tiring so I broke it up by swinging on vines like in the Tarzan movies while shouting "AAARRRGGGHHARRGHHHH" and beating my chest and doing grunts like a monkey which kept Kathy amused. By the time we got back to base we were exhausted and just flopped out all afternoon not to rise again until darkness fell. Then it was off to dinner on the floating restaurant which used to bob about as the wake of a passing boat sped by. We did not see any wildlife as the paths are well trodden by tourist so you do not expect to see any animals hanging out near these points although there are plenty of long distance hikes into the jungle where you can sleep overnight for up to a week if you want but you have to take a guide as there is no phone signal so easy to get lost. We did see a bush squirrel and also a naughty bunch of monkeys who used to hang around outside the local shop up in the trees and when unwary travellers used to come out with their goodies in their plastic bags the monkeys used to dart down and mug the tourist of their booty and quickly dive back into the canopy above. The monkeys are so curious as well. They spotted some locals picking 'fruit' from a dense bush on the side of a path and spent ages circling them trying to get a piece of the action but the women waved them away when they came too close. This went on for about 10 minutes until the local women had picked their fill and wandered off down the path. Straight away a large male sauntered over to the bush and started to help himself of the tempting fruit. About 30 seconds later the monkey was acting in a very bizarre fashion as it pulled faces and started hacking like a 40 a day smoker. Kath and I went over to investigate and found that the bush was actually green chillies so we just turned around mocked the monkey in his discomfort for being so greedy.

 

 
Naughty monkeys in action.

Next morning after 3 nights in the jungle we boarded a local bus to Jerantut where we were going to hole up for a couple of nights to catch up on stuff as I needed a haircut before we head onto our next destination Cherating.

Cameron highlands

We boarded the coach at Kuala Lumper for the 4.5hrs journey to Tanah Rata which is in the mountains and founded by the British in the 19th century as a hill station so the colonialist could escape the insufferable heat of the humid lowlands where the British used to plunder the Malaysian tin deposits. The bus driver who we affectionately labelled 'Lurch' on the account of his huge stature and deep sunken eyes was another trainee grand prix driver who had to settle for driving buses instead. We never get travel sick but the road up to the highlands is extremely twisty and fast so he decided it would be amusing to throw the bus around every bend at break neck speed causing our stomachs to somersault inside us making us feel sick. Anyway we crossed ourselves and again asked God to deliver us from this endeavour safely and in return we would be good people from now on.

The view from our hotel balcony at Brinchang

From Tanah Rata we jumped in a taxi who took us to our hotel in the next town which was better than we expected and was on the top floor with a balcony and a view of the highlands. It rains alot in the highlands which is why the British probably liked it so much and this was the case on the first day. So we walked to a nearby strawberry farm as strawberries are considered an exotic fruit here and only grow in these cool mountain areas. It was really surreal there as it was packed with Malaysians (being their holiday season) and the whole farm was made up like some tacky amusement park in homage to the good old strawberry. We purchased the obligatory punnet of the delicious red fruit which we later gorged on and went on to explore Brinchang which was a compact tourist service town with no particular charm but turned out to be a great base for us to start our excursions from.


 


Next day the weather was perfect, cool and crisp with wispy clouds and bright sun. We hiked across the jungle to Tanah Rata which took about an hour passing a nice waterfall and then stopped for lunch in town. Then we walked down to another waterfall which was bigger called Robinsons Falls which was in the middle of nowhere and we did not meet another person there or back. By now it was getting really hot so we hiked back to town and then back to the hotel exhausted.
Next day was another perfect day weather wise but Kathy was still rubber legged from the day before so I decided to venture out alone to go and climb a local mountain point in the jungle. I hired a taxi to take me to the start point but he got totally lost which was unbelievable as it is such a small place, this ensued into an argument about payment and me departing the taxi miles from my desired destination and one very upset taxi driver. Anyway I made the best of it and climbed another mountain nearby which was a 2 hour extreme scramble to the top in the jungle and surprisingly at the top met 2 Spanish girls who had worked in Northern Ireland and Scotland. I stopped and chatted to them for about an hour as they were very entertaining with their stories about their time in the UK.  I then pushed on to the next mountain through the jungle. I did not meet anyone else on this stretch as it was very remote up in the cloud line and eventually found my way  back to the hotel


A typical Cameron jungle path


Next day Kathy was back in the saddle so we rented a motorbike as we wanted to go to the highest point in Malaysia 'Gurung Brinchang' and to an intriguing place called the Mossy Forest. We had loads of hassle to get an agency to rent us a bike as they said it was dangerous up there as the road surface was poor. Undeterred we did eventually find someone stupid enough to rent us a bike if we left a deposit. This bike was undoubtedly the worst bike we have ever hired. An old Honda which was so underpowered it barely took us up the steep incline to the top of the mountain and at stages I thought we would have to get off and push it! But it did eventually make it to the top but the engine was unusually hot when we arrived and I feared it would not make it back to base. So we left it to cool down and walked to the Mossy Forest which is a top tourist attraction as it is 2000 meters up in the cloud forest so very atmospherically wet. Unique to Malaysians maybe but to us it was the same as walking through Epping Forest on a damp autumn morning. But we enjoyed the walk and when the cloud broke it exposed great views of the jungle valleys below. We then went to the mountain top viewpoint which was uneventful as it was in the clouds but we did have the place to ourselves and it was like a scene out of sleepy hollow with the jungle backdrop and the fog swirling around us.
The road was in bad shape but no worse than some of the 'good' roads' in Indonesia so we scrambled down the mountainside, poor Kathy bouncing around on the back seat as she tried to stay on. Just then and unexpectedly the heavens opened up and the rain come down, so we unpacked our fashionable rain ponchos (much to the amusement of passing drivers!) and descended to a tea plantation which turned out to be closed on Mondays!

The latest motorcycle fashion apparel.

When we got back to the hotel, Kathy disembarked and I went to return the bike to the agent but decided to see how fast it would go on the open road and ended up at another tea plantation which had amazing panoramas and a nice tea shop. Just when I arrived the rain came down in biblical proportions so I was trapped for half an hour in the tea rooms until it subsided for half an hour so I returned the knackered bike back to the agency and luckily they did not check it over so I got my deposit back. Overall it was nice to have the cool air of the highlands but the rain soon dampens its appeal for sightseeing so after 5 days we got minibus tickets to take us to a patch of primary untouched jungle called Taman Negara which is our next stop.

Tea for two?

Kuala Lumpur - Hot Hot HOT!

Well after the initial hassle upon arrival, having to make do with the stuff in just my rucksack (no, Daz didn't wear my underwear!) and spending a day or so hunting around for a guide book (Kuala Lumpur has an abundance of large, air conditioned shopping malls), we were finally able to start doing touristy things.  Out we went to explore what K/L had to offer!
It boasts an efficient and easy to navigate transport system in the form of various overhead mono rail trains, an underground and overground train system so we took full advantage of this plus because Malaysia is celebrating it's 60th year of independence the fares were half price - wonderful! We visited Bukit Bintang which is full of malls, a large Sports Direct, McDonalds etc. as well as many restaurants and bars.  Here we went to a night club which had 'Rock Night' on a Sunday - with a live band playing who were really good and did covers of Deep Purple. The Scorpions, Bryan Adams... but the place was pretty empty so maybe Sunday isn't rocking for most people!
We discovered a good local restaurant around the corner from the hotel which consisted of a large metal food bar with various 'help yourself'' containers of food.  The meat dishes looked suspiciously dodgy so we stuck to vegetarian and it was delicious plus cheap. The first visit came to 11 ringgit (about 2 quid!) but the subsequent visits kept increasing in cost so we got the impression they were cashing in on our custom and decided to look elsewhere in the end. The woman running it was very tall and wore jeans with a hijab (head covering scarf worn by Muslim women) and reminded me of Cruella De Ville the way she loomed over us every visit. No messing with her!
We also had fun with the hotel and the breakfast. Seems the done thing is to boil an egg for a minimum time resulting in a white, gooey explosion and even though we asked for them 'full' cooked we still got the same thing. Breakfast was basically a coffee (yukky and with sugar/condensed milk if you weren't careful), 2 slices of toast with butter/jam and a 'boiled' egg (sometimes 2 each!). If you dared to ask for more (never a problem elsewhere) then you were told you had to pay! We decided to buy some cereal and use our plastic bowls bought in Bali to boost the paltry hotel breakfast.
We joined a free walking tour one day which should have been for 20 people but ended up with double this. Our guide took us around a tourist museum explaining about the history of Kuala Lumpur and the tin mining boom in the 1800's involving the Chinese and British. We were shown around the main English settlement area (Merdeka Square) and told about it's history with the tour finishing at the club house used by the Brits to sink their gin & tonic's whilst watching cricket on the field in front of it - the long bar inside has a ban on women/children so I (K) was tempted to run around inside so as not to be discriminated against but I was too chicken! We did another free walking tour and highly recommend them as something cheap & interesting to do here.

Batu Caves

'No officer, it wasn't me who stole the bananas, honest'

We took the overground train one day to Batu Caves and were amazed by the tacky Hindu sculptures inside with lot's of bright LED rope lighting in red and gold illuminating the large cave.

Technicolor Hindu Cave - so much for natural beauty!

In addition to this, the sculptures of animals included horses and elephants with brightly painted male genitalia - err yes ok! Weird but each to their own. We carried on to the main caves (one is called the cathedral) which had an entrance with so many steps up to it we thought we would collapse! We made our way up, closely watching the macaque monkeys jumping on people trying to steal their bags/food.  Inside it was more natural than the above cave but with building works in the first area and a Hindu shrine/temple in the second where you could get blessed and receive some sticky rice dished out by some fat Indian guy who looked like he ate all the leftovers! When we left, we treated ourselves to an ice cream only to be confronted by hooligan monkeys looking for free food - I legged it the other way fast whilst Daz played dodge the macaque trying to scoff his quickly at the same time. Some Asian couple with a big bunch of bananas got mugged - a monkey jumped up grabbing her bags then scarpered with the bananas (enough to feed him for a week!). We retreated to the safety of the train making sure no monkey had stowed away in our rucksack.
  Other highlights were the jungle canopy walk under the KL tower, the butterfly farm which was amazing and claims to be the largest in the world as it had 15000 specimens with butterflies in your whole field of vision, landing on you if you wore bright clothes and some were bigger than my hand, the orchid gardens, and the lake side gardens and the temples in chinatown. We actually found the hotel we stayed in 12 years ago when we come here last and went inside to find it had been turned into a cheapo backpacker hostel. We even pretended we wanted a room so we could look inside for a shot of nostalgia.

                                    Monster butterfly consumes hat for an afternoon snack.


   Good stuff that we found was we booked the hotel in a seedy area called Chow Kit which was the red light area (it never said that on booking.com!) and our local supermarket was hooker central. Also there was a booze shop for the local hobos which done a good line in extra strong beer for knock down prices. We ended up in there every night buying our 16.2% Belgian lager and the odd export strength Chang. The area had loads of character and we used to cruise the streets at night taking in the pavement action while prospecting for food/booze and it had excellent transport links to the rest of KL with a monorail station, a train station and a light railway station all within 5 minutes walk also Petalaling bus station around the corner that took us to our next destination the Cameron Highlands.
   

Men only!

So Long Indonesia, Welcome To Malaysia!

Well after nearly 2 months in Indonesia it was time to move on to our next destination, Malaysia. We packed up our things - takes no time now we are used to where everything goes and got a taxi to Flores Airport. The airport is only small with one hall for check in, a small security gate and a large waiting hall for departures with 3 gates! Our flight was with Nam Air and we arrived in plenty of time so sat around waiting for our plane for ages.  As Daz had lost his transit bag, he treated himself to a large bag in Labuan Bajo (normally used by locals for carrying things like rice) which he customized with holes/string to close the top.  This was to be the bag's first outing and hopefully would protect his rucksack from the baggage handler's fury!
The plane was late and with only 3 gates it was a bit of a scuffle but we made it on board ok, although slightly worried as we were due to catch another flight from Denpasar, Bali to get to Kuala Lumpur. All went ok and we arrived in Bali at 5pm but we needed to be at the departure gate at 6.30pm so made a dash to the check in counter.  Here it was relatively quiet except for 1 couple trying to convince the airline steward they had paid for their luggage and the other a European family with too many kids & baggage! Typical, rushing around to be held up by these people!! We were a bit concerned when our turn came and Daz's bag was put to one side as 'Fragile' due to also having our luggage trolley held in it. We said nothing but we both had reservations about whether this was a good thing. We boarded our Air Asia flight more or less on time although after (once again!) some confusion over which gate it was going from - this is typical in Indonesia. The flight was about 3 hrs and our meal turned out to be a chicken pasty thing (we have been eating vegetarian all this time so this was different but quite tasty).
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur just before 11pm and headed to the baggage reclaim. My bag (K) came out on the conveyor so we waited for Daz's to surface. After waiting some time, only a handful of bags remained - we started to panic, where was his bag?!! We walked around looking but nothing. Time to head to the missing/lost luggage office. We spent well over an hour here whilst they investigated where our bag was, after filling out a report form and description of the bag, our guy handling it (really helpful with good English thankfully) said it had been left in Bali with someone else's bag as there was a problem with the conveyor belt (yeh right, we took that as meaning 'we forgot to put it on board your plane as it was separated from everyone else's luggage'!). There was nothing we could do but hope it would be found, flown over and returned to us soon. We left the airport at 12.30am, managed to get on a coach to the city centre (took about 1hr), arrived at our hotel after negotiating a taxi from the bus station and were greeted by a large Malaysian woman with a bulldog face on the reception!
We were given a temporary room which was a twin on the 2nd floor not far from the lift which stunk of fags but was comfortable enough with a kettle. We had bought a bottle of Vodka at duty free so we poured ourselves a painkilling drink before bed, consoling ourselves after our lost baggage ordeal.
The next morning we woke to a new country which was very developed in comparison and exceptionally humid in temperature. We moved rooms - making sure to take glasses, loo roll and hangers with us (we are pro's at this travelling thing!).  We then spent the next day or so hunting around for a Malaysia guide book, trying not to get too frazzled by the heat - so humid in K/L and poor Daz having to endure wearing the same clothes.  Anyway, we did eventually find a book in one of the many air conditioned shopping malls and Air Asia came through with Daz's bag - delivering it to our hotel 2 days later with a ripped cover bag but luckily the rucksack was in one piece. Now Daz could finally change his T shirt (and pants!). Also, our mobile had died in Lombok (wouldn't charge) so after buying a new charger (3 pin plugs in Malaysia) and sim card, we were over the moon when we plugged it in and it came back to life - things were looking up again!!