Catching up part 2 - Borneo

Another amazing trip of the last months was to the imperium of orang-utans - a mysterious island of Borneo.
There is much more to see and do in Borneo but visit orang-utans: climb one of the highest in South East Asia mountains - Kinabalu (4,095 metres), go snorkling, diving or jungle tracking, visit turtle island or just mingle with the aborigenes :)

So, my French and Canadian girlfriends and I flew to Kota Kinabalu (or KK, as locals call it), capital of the state Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, and next day headed off to Sepilok, rehabilitation center for orang-utans, located close to another city of Sabah state - Sandakan.  It was started in the 60-ies to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned baby orangutans. Tourists are aloud to visit one of the feeding platforms close to the entrance of the whole area, where orang-utans are feeded twice per day. What can I say? They are truly amazing - intelligent species, whose genes to over 90 % replicate genes of human beings...

After visiting our fellow species, we decided to do bit of a jungle tracking - brave girls dressed in a manner not very appropriate for the purpose... After being attacked by aggresive Bornean leeches, we decided to turn back... Finally we returned to KK, to do some snorkeling and just enjoy sun and the beach during next day on the islands close to Borneo...

Oh yes, in Borneo I tried durian - an awfully smelling fruit, beloved by many in this part of the world... It was also an experience, but I made it. So now I am durian-approved :)

 Island Manukan - perfect snorkeling next to Borneo

Island Tioman in Malaysia

After sightseeing weekend in KL, we decided to have some rest and pump up some energy into our souls, minds and bodies - in beautiful Tioman island on South East part of Malay peninsula.

It took us just a bit over 6 hours to get there - by bus to the sea city of Mersing in Malaysia, and then by shaky boat to Tekek, capital of Tioman island - and here we are, my roommate Paula and I, in Berjaya resort & spa, in a little paradise close to equator.

What did we do during the weekend? We relaxed by the pool, watched the sea by low tide and went snorkeling, where we saw incredibly beautiful colorful fishes, a huge turtle, some unrecognizable sea creatures and all in all had lots of fun under tropical sun (and even managed not to get sunburn;)!

Sea at low tide

Pool joy

Trying out snorkeling

Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

This post is about weekend in KL - September 3-6 2009

I just returned from the extended weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. What can I say? It's definitely worth it - to visit, to see, to taste and to smell :) Once. And I don't feel coming back there again. At least not in the nearest future. Although the trip was great.

Petronas tower is indeed impressive, and it was worth it to wake up at 6 in the morning to secure the ticket to the sky bridge on the 41st floor of the tower, with a nice view to the city and to the gardens around the tower. And than again, just in less than 2 km from the masterpiece of modern architecture - shabby old houses, chickens in the dusty streets and rubbish on the pavements...
For someone it will be a charming combination of the ancient and raw with new and aspiring, maybe it is... But I didn't feel it this way - it's just disturbing.

Sky bar in the Traders' hotel with a swimming pool in the middle and a fantastic view to the lights of Petronas twins is a must: house music, delicious cocktails, international crowd and just a nice place to spend couple of hours on the weekend eve.

Batu caves, located a bit more than 10 km away from the city, is one of the tourist attractions...But also this place feels like man-made, with claimed to be world tallest goldish statue of Murugan, a Hindu deity (42 smth meters), lots of wild monkeys and smaller Hindu temples. This caves become epicenter of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia.

Over 60% of population of this country is Muslim, and as white western woman I definitely didn't feel myself comfortable over there. After all, I was happy to come back to Singapore - and I am sure that culture shock would have been much greater (since I am still waiting for it to come here in Singapore), have I decided to go for exchange to Malaysia...

Petronas twin towers - view from our hotel room

Watch out for moose in Finland, and monkey - in Malaysia