6/27/10 (bangkok)

Bangkok 

We had two important things to do today…lunch with Chef McDang’s mom and aunt and dinner with his friend, Raymond. We were excited to meet his mom since we had heard so much about her. We arrived for lunch at the Peninsula Hotel in downtown Bangkok where we were greeted by the head executive chef of the hotel and the executive chef for Chinese cuisine. They were good friends of Chef McDang and came by constantly to see how we were enjoying our meal. I think it’s common in the Asian culture for moms to think that the boys are never eating enough. Chef McDang’s mom and aunt were constantly giving Jon more food to a point where his plate was always full. It was quite endearing and funny to witness. 

After lunch we went back to the compound to rest and relax before our next big meal. Over the last few days we spent some downtime with Chef McDang and got to know him beyond being a celebrity chef. He has a fascinating family story with him growing up in the palace to moving to the UK when he was twelve to study and later making his mark in the culinary world. Someone needs to write a book about his life. He shared with his dreams of what he hopes to accomplish over the next few years. Even though he has traveled all over the world and been in the culinary industry for a number of years, he continues to educate people everywhere about Thai cuisine, which is synonymous to its history and culture. His first English cookbook, Principles of Thai Cookery, is one of his biggest accomplishments in sharing in detail what Thai cuisine is all about with the world.

With all this talk about Thai food it was time for dinner with Raymond and his family. At dinner we also met Chef McDang’s nephew, Pai, and his friend, Hector, both works for the chef. Raymond owns several successful restaurants in Hong Kong and is a connoisseur on durian, the king of fruit. Every time he comes to Bangkok he gets together with Chef McDang who hooks him up with the best durians. After dinner two large plates of durian were brought out. Raymond was like a kid in a candy store. Both Jon and I had never tried one since durian has a very foul smell though the really good ones don’t stink as bad. We decided to give it a try. It was very very heavy and rich, so much that to me it was like drinking straight cream. I’m glad we got to try it though I don’t think we’ll be having any more, which is a good thing since they are the most expensive fruit in the world.

After dinner as we were heading home we found out that Pai was going to shoot a short clip of Chef McDang’s TV show tomorrow. He invited us to come along and since we didn’t have any solid plans for the next few days before we left for Cambodia we decided to take him up on his offer. We were going to Hua Hin, which is a beach town three to four hours away so we would spend the night there. For not doing much planning we always seem to have stuff lined up.

6/24/10 – 6/26/10 (bangkok)

Bangkok – Koh Chang – Bangkok

At 6am we were on our way to Koh Chang. Chef McDang made all the arrangements and even had the hotel limo pick us up at his house. The limos in Thailand are stylish Volkswagen vans that can seat five people very comfortably in the back with two reclining leather seats, a TV with a DVD player, and even a window that can be rolled up to give you some privacy between you and the driver. Since we left so early in the morning Chef McDang also prepared a basket of breakfast goodies and hot coffee. We were rolling in style.

He told us the ride to Koh Chang would be take about three hours when in actuality it was more like five hours, including a short twenty minute ferry ride, but we really couldn’t complain since we had plenty of DVDs to entertain us. We later found that limo driver stayed at the hotel while we were there so he could drive us back to Bangkok. Talk about VIP service though there’s really no other way to roll when you are with Chef McDang. Did I also mention that as we were leaving Chef McDang’s house he surprised us by informing us that he had taken care of the hotel and we just had to pay for our meals?!

When we arrived at Gaja Puri Hotel in Koh Chang we were greeted with welcome drinks and cool refreshing towels. We were then whisked away to our room where there was a cold bottle of champagne compliments of the hotel awaiting us. It was by far the most luxurious hotel we had stayed at during our travels. We felt very pampered. What was also really cool was a towel made into a 3D elephant on the bed. It was the coolest towel decoration we had ever seen. Chang means elephant so Koh Chang is referred to as the elephant island. 

After we got settled we grabbed lunch by the pool and found out from the staff that we were the only ones staying at the hotel. We had the entire resort to ourselves. We just couldn’t believe it! We had to tell someone so we called Jon’s mom and step dad to share our last 48-hour adventure. We don’t know what we had done to deserve all this but we certainly weren’t going to question it. All the excitement had worn us out so we took a nap till late in the evening. We then booked a private tour of the island for the following day with the hotel’s travel guide. We were only here for two nights, three days so we wanted to make the most of our time on the island.

The next day during breakfast we were surprised to see three other guests and found out that they saw the hotel in a magazine and just walked in for a booking. We met our tour guide, Nook, who had a full day planned for us. We went elephant trekking in the morning where we met Sunshine, a 23-year old rambunctious elephant. We went on a 45-minute ride around the forest and made many pit stops since it seemed that there was always some food that caught Sunshine’s attention. However, the elephant driver from Burma did a pretty good job keeping her on track. There were some pretty steep parts of the path where we thought we would fall off but Sunshine held her cool while we pretended we were a bit scared. Towards the end of the ride the driver let me sit on Sunshine’s neck where I was supposed to direct her on where to go. In reality it was more like me holding onto her for dear life and she went wherever she wanted. After our ride we feed her some bananas, which was the best part of the day for her. At the elephant farm they only have female elephants since they are easier to train. There were about twelve in total and one of them was a 13-year old named Naughty. I guess she was the wild and crazy teenager.

We stopped briefly at a Chinese Buddhist temple, where Nook and I offered a prayer. We shook a can filled with bamboo sticks each with a number on it. You shake the can till one stick falls on the ground but if more than one falls then you have to do it again. You only get to shake the can three times and if each time more than one sticks falls then your prayer won’t be answered. Once a stick falls on the ground there’s a number on the stick, which corresponds to a response to your prayer. If you like the response then you make a small donation to the temple and keep the response. If you don’t like the response then you put it back. Both Nook and I didn’t like our response. 

Our next destination was a local fishing village. On our way there we passed by a shrimp farm. We were hoping to go in but no visitors are allowed since the farm has a very delicate ecosystem. There must be the right balance of salt and fresh water at all time in order for the shrimp to thrive so the farmers monitor the tanks at all times. We also bought some tasty local fruits along the way. Some of our favorites were the rambutan and a sweet and sour fruit, which we don’t know the English name for it. Jon said it tasted like candy. The fishing village consisted of wooden houses built on stilts along a river. The local fishermen were all out to sea while the women were at home taking care of the children and repairing broken fishing nets. Some of the houses didn’t have doors so when you walked by you could look into someone’s entire house. It was very rustic living except for the satellite dishes on top of the houses.

We had lunch at the best seafood restaurant on the island where there was a picture of Chef McDang, among other celebrities, on the wall. After lunch we took a small speedboat to a remote island. There was a hotel on the island but since it was the slow season there were no guests except for a few staff. We had the entire island to ourselves with an entourage of four staff of our own. We tried snorkeling but the water was too murky so we just played in the water and relaxed on the beach before heading back to the hotel. By the time got back the sun was about to set so we enjoyed the sunset on a swing right on the beach. It was a nice way to end our day.

During the night a huge rainstorm came through and continued on till the morning. We were really lucky that the day before was clear blue skies. After breakfast we were once again whisked into our limo for the drive back to Bangkok. We arrived at Chef McDang’s house late in the afternoon. Chef McDang had a reunion to attend that evening so we went out with Nun, his assistant, to the night market for dinner. We saw a Dairy Queen and couldn’t resist getting some ice cream. We were even able to convince Nun in having some who claims he must watch his figure even though he is very slim.

6/23/10 (bangkok)

Bangkok

This day turned out to be a pretty epic day. We had taken an overnight bus from Krabi the prior night after having expected a more luxurious train ride. We arrived at a downtown Bangkok drop off point and unloaded from the bus at roughly 5:45am. The local cabbies engulfed us like hungry seagulls. While I was rounding up our luggage, Annie appeared with a driver she had been negotiating a fare with. They settled on 300 Baht (roughly $10 US) for transport to Chef McDang’s home. We had made it a policy to ask before getting in the cab after having been burned in Malaysia. The driver spoke limited English and we needed to provide him with our destination. We reluctantly called Chef McDang for an early wake up call and he spoke to the driver for five minutes before informing us that we should ask the driver to use a meter for the trip.  Before getting in the cab, we instructed the driver about the meter and he quickly grew agitated. We were insistent on the meter and he abruptly assigned a younger driver to take us instead. The new driver spent a moment with the original driver detailing our destination and then we were on our way. I have to admit everything happened pretty fast and both of us were disoriented due to the overnight transport. 

Bangkok was much larger than I originally anticipated. The skyline was lined with giant high rise towers. At street level we saw pockets of poverty being forcibly dragged along into modern Asian society. The cab driver was very chatty and quickly developed some rapport with us. We drove for about ten minutes through Bangkok and arrived at a one way intersection. The cabbie told us down the the one way road was the condominium complex that Chef McDang resided in. It would be easier for us to walk down the one way then have the cabbie loop around and drop us off. He then told us the fee would be $302 Baht. I was busy collecting the luggage from the trunk while Annie handled the fare. Both of us were feeling a little wary about this situation and a little off our game due to lack of sleep. We crossed the busy intersection and realized this was unlikely our planned final destination. We had been taken!

With a little humility, we called Chef McDang who had confirmed our suspicions. I rounded up a second driver and the Chef went through his directions another time. The new driver took us to the outskirts of Bangkok to a large high rise condominium complex along the Nonthaburi river. The ride took twenty minutes and cost 150 Baht. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Nun. Nun is from northern Thailand from the Chang Rai region and was Chef McDang’s assistant. Nun guided us to the third floor of the building. We greeted the Chef briefly who gave us a warm welcome and then were escorted to our room. The room turned out to be roughly as large as our apartment in San Francisco with a beautiful view of the river leading to downtown on the horizon from our balcony. It was cool and comfortable and we quickly agreed we were never going to leave. We got some rest before our lunch date with Chef McDang. 

Chef McDang owned the entire third floor of the complex and had knocked down a wall to create an adjoining production kitchen that is utilized for his weekly Thai cooking show. It is by far the nicest place we have stayed at in our travels and began to give us a sense of our adventures over the next few days. After settling in, we met the Chef and were escorted to his private limo. We went to a local restaurant along the river. The walls were lined with photos of the Princess of Thailand who had eaten here a few years ago as well as many with Chef McDang. The staff was excited to see him and swiftly brought out a large procession of Thai platters. I am very particular about my food and this meal began what would be a common theme of our time with the Chef. “Shut up and eat it,” was the affectionate phrase the Chef consistently used with me. This led to me stepping way out of my culinary comfort zone and also a few midnight runs to the toilet. The meal proved to be an adventure and allowed us to spend some time with the gregarious and chatty Chef. After the meal we visited the local markets and Chef McDang was causing quite a stir amongst the locals. We were starting to get a sense of just how popular he was in Thailand. I knew he was quite popular but didn’t realize he came from royal blood and his father was one of Thailand’s most famous figures. Chef McDang didn’t fall far from the tree and had become a Thai celebrity of his own right.

After lunch we headed back to what affectionately became know as “the compound.” Annie and I rested a bit as the Chef went about his daily business. Since I was a little hesitant about the food we had for lunch, Chef McDang had suggested we go to the Landmark Hotel for a good steak dinner. He assured me it was one of the top three steak restaurants in Thailand. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. 

Over the past several months I have been in contact with an American that is a friend of the family who grew up in my hometown of Alpena, Michigan. His name is Paul and he currently splits his time between Bangkok, Vancouver, Aspen, and Phnom Penh. He is very familiar with Southeast Asia and was watching over our travels from a distance, pointing us in the right direction. It was my intention to meet up with him in Cambodia, our next stop after Thailand. Paul is a very successful restauranteur in the states and owned several restaurants in the Key West area. He has since sold them and opened a high end place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Through emails I discovered that Paul was in Bangkok this very evening and decided to give him a call to see if we could coordinate a meal. It was beginning to look more and more unlikely that we would be able to catch him in Cambodia because he was heading out to the Vancouver sooner than anticipated. Paul and I had never spoken to one another, let alone meet. We had just communicated via email. I called Paul and he wanted to meet up tonight for dinner, it was the only night he was available. This put me in a tough position because we had made plans with Chef McDang who was incredibly generous and offered to take us to the Landmark. I didn’t want to insult him and flake out. On the other hand, Paul had been very helpful for the last several months and was a family friend. It looked like this was the only night we could meet him. I briefly explained the situation to Paul and he suggested we all meet up. I hesitantly agreed to ask Chef McDang if he was open to this and I would call Paul back to let him know the plan. At this point I had only known Chef McDang for a few hours and wasn’t feeling comfortable asking if we could change our plans to meet up with a family friend I had never actually met. 

I asked the Chef if he would be willing to meet up with my friend for dinner. He looked at me a little skeptically and inquired a little more. I began to describe what I knew about Paul. “He is an American that splits his time between Bangkok and Phnom Pen, he is in the restaurant business, and he owned several restaurants in the Key West Area. Instantly the light bulb went off with Chef McDang and he asked, “Is it Paul Tripp?” The question blew my mind because it was in fact Paul Tripp. Turns out Chef McDang had been Paul’s executive chef in the US for several of his Key West restaurants and they were good friends. They actually had dinner together a few nights ago in Bangkok. This was a very crazy revaluation, the two people we knew in the area were good friends and we had no idea. Chef McDang quickly called Paul and told him he had two “annoying” Americans staying with him and they wanted all of us to get together for dinner. Small world!

We spent the next few hours contemplating the crazy connection we encountered and prepped for dinner at the Landmark. Later that evening we were whisked to downtown Bangkok while enjoying a multitude of stories from Chef McDang. After a few quick martini’s we were off to the 34th floor of the Landmark to enjoy by far the best meal of our travels and a wonderful serendipitous evening of new friends. Paul and Chef McDang enjoyed some playful banter only years of friendship could bring. Annie and I enjoyed a night of feeling like royalty offering some significant contrast from our prior traveling lifestyle. Oh, and we also met the governor of Bangkok who was the Chef’s cousin. Just another day for Chef McDang, but a day Annie and I won’t soon forget.

6/22/10 (ao nang)

Ao Nang – Bangkok 

We originally planned on heading to Koh Tao, an island on the east side of southern Thailand. We were just about to book our overnight ferry when our friend, Chef McDang phoned us to see when we were going up to Bangkok. Chef McDang and I met while I was at the California Culinary Academy (CCA). He visited CCA several times over the last two years to conduct demos on Thai cuisine and we had become good friends. He is a descendant of the royal family and is a very famous chef in Thailand. He has a weekly TV show and restaurant review column. Most notably, he just published his first Thai cookbook in English called Principles of Thai Cookery. He graciously offered us to stay with him once we got to Bangkok and we were very excited to see him.

He suggested that instead of going to Koh Tao that we head straight up to Bangkok and he would arrange for us to stay at Koh Chang, an island close to Cambodia, for a few days where his friend owns a very nice resort. We decided to take his advice and handed the phone over to the travel agent so he could make the changes. Within a few minutes he arranged for us to take the overnight train to Bangkok, where his driver would come pick us up in the morning. He also called a friend who was going to meet us at the bus stop in Surat Thani since we had a few hours before we were supposed to board the train. We were excited to take the train since it was something we hadn’t experienced.

After all the arrangements were made we grabbed lunch at a café. The wind started to pick up and within minutes there was a huge downpour. We had to take a tuk tuk back to our hotel to grab our luggage since it was raining so hard. We hopped on a van which took us to the bus stop where we were to board for a 3 hour ride to Surat Thani. 

It was like no other bus station we had ever been in. It was a concrete hut with one bus company running the operation. When we went to the counter to get our train tickets we were informed that a train had derailed earlier in the day and we wouldn’t be able to take the overnight train. Our option was to take the overnight bus or wait till tomorrow for the train. It really put a damper on our plans since it meant that we would be getting into Bangkok at 6am rather than 10am and wouldn’t be as comfortable as a sleeper train. We didn’t want to spend an extra night in Ao Nang since Chef McDang was making arrangements for us to stay at Koh Chang so we opted for the bus. Then came a heated argument on how much money we would get back since the bus was much cheaper than the train. The bus company was only going to refund us the actual price of the train tickets, not including the commission the travel agent made, since they were different companies. It didn’t help matters that the bus company got into an argument with another traveler on a different matter. It made us skeptical about what was going on. We couldn’t confirm if there was a problem with the train system and suspected that they created the story about the derailment so we had to take the bus because they didn’t get enough travelers to get on the overnight bus. I called the travel agent I had been working with and demanded that we be refunded the entire amount. After about twenty minutes of going back and forth we were refunded the entire amount for the train tickets. What an experience!

We got on our overnight bus and hoped our earlier experience wasn’t going to be an indication of our journey to Bangkok. We stopped in Surat Thani for a break and grabbed a quick bite to eat. After dinner, Jon took an Ambien and we reclined our seats to get some sleep.

6/20/10 – 6/21/10 (koh ngai)

Koh Ngai – Trang – Ao Nang

After a very relaxing time in Koh Ngai we decided to head north to Ao Nang in Krabi. For 500 baht/night ($16 USD) we stayed at probably what was one of the nicest and largest rooms during our travels. Every restaurant was trying to get customers with their drink specials and many even offered twenty percent discount off the entire bill. Granted it was the rainy season and the demonstrations in Bangkok have certainly hurt the tourism all over Thailand. The only downside to our hotel was that it was directly above a very busy shopping block and there were live music till the wee hours of the night. We thought we would have trouble sleeping but surprisingly we actually got a good night’s rest.

We weren’t planning on staying in Ao Nang for very long and decided to book an island hopping tour for the next day. During the night the winds were howling and there was a torrential downpour. We were concerned that it might be too rocky on the sea but the tour crew seemed not to be too concerned. We decided to sit at the front of the boat and it turned out to be the worst mistake we could’ve made. The first ten minutes we were laughing with the other passengers about the crazy boat ride but then it wasn’t so funny. The waves did get pretty high and every time we hit a wave we were airborne and came crashing down on the seats. There were many times when we felt our vertebrae smashing against each other and felt as if we someone punched our stomachs. We were ecstatic every time the boat stopped at an island so we could catch our breath.

We visited the island where a portion of the film, The Beach, was made. Twice the boat just stopped in the middle of the sea where there was good snorkeling. There were so many fish around the boat that one of the staff was able to grab a fish with his bare hands! There must have been hundreds of fish circling around us. It was very different from our other snorkeling adventures. We then stopped at Ko Phi Phi for a buffet lunch.

After that we visited our last island but then it started to rain. The rain wasn’t coming down very hard but the waves were getting really big. At one point we hit a really big wave and all us of cried out in pain. Jon finally put his foot down and said we had to move to the back of the boat or one of us was going to getting hurt. There were no room for us to sit so the eight of us sat on the floor. It was still a little bumpy but nothing like it was in the front. We were all grateful when we landed back on the shore. We didn’t realize till later all the bruises we had gotten from the boat ride. It will be one that we will remember for a long time.

6/16/10 – 6/19/10 (langkawi)

Langkawi – Satun, Thailand – Trang – Koh Ngai (Hai)

Whenever someone has given us a recommendation to visit a place we have usually taken their advice and we have always enjoyed it. Mark from Pondok Keladi visits Thailand on a regular basis and suggested we check out Koh Ngai (known and pronounced as Koh Hai). He said it’s a very small and remote island so it’s not touristy like Phuket. We took a taxi to the port in Kedah, an hour ferry to Satun, Thailand, and then a 20-minute songthaew (open-air truck) ride to a bus station, and finally a 2-3 hour bus ride to Trang. Of course when we got to Trang we didn’t know how to get to Koh Ngai and didn’t have any reservations.

Jon was instrumental in lining up a hotel in Trang for the night at $20/night (with a/c, hot water, and internet) and booking two nights at Koh Ngai Resort for the following days. The lady warned us it was very quiet at the resort since it was low season but we said we enjoyed the peace and quiet. A van from the resort came to pick us the next day to take us to the port where we took an hour boat ride to the island. It was indeed very quiet on the island since most of the hotels were closed during the low season. The resort was also secluded from the other ones since it had its own private docking pier and you had to climb over a hill to reach the other hotels. There were only two other couples staying at the resort so it felt as if we had the whole place to ourselves.

When we arrived at the resort the most massive lizard greeted us as it crawled along the rooftop of the reception building and it was a sign of more of them to come. We saw geckos with really big heads all over the place and I named the small gecko staying with us in our room Bobby. Bobby was very quiet and stayed in his corner of the room near the door.

Since there were so few people there we were upgraded to the beachfront cottage when we paid only $50 for the most basic room. I guess it was a very slow and low season on the island. The downside of a low season is that they turn off the electricity during the day since the resort is run on generators so normally there is no power from 10am to 4pm.

I can’t write much about what we did over the next three days since we didn’t leave the resort and it mainly consisted of three things: snorkeling, Scrabble, and naps. It was great.

6/12/10 - 6/15/10 (langkawi)

Langkawi

Langkawi was the final stop in Malaysia. It is an island similar in size to Penang but with a population that is much smaller at 80,000. Langkawi is a popular tourist destination with local Malaysian’s visiting from Kuala Lumpur. We prearranged our accommodations in Penang, quite unusual for us to be ahead of the game. We took a three hour ferry ride to this final island. Upon arrival we were instructed to bypass all the private taxi’s and head to the taxi stand next to the KFC. We were quickly escorted to a car and off to our home stay. The ride was 30 minutes through winding rural country side that ended on the island’s western beach. The home stay was similar to our Ubud experience in Bali as we ventured down a small local road lined with rice fields and stray chickens. The taxi dropped us off at Pondock Keladi. PK opened a few years back by D, a reporter from Kuala Lumpur who has many years abroad and his partner Mark. The home stay consisted of 6 rooms for guests, a kitchen, dining, and lounge area. It was very peaceful while D and Mark proved to be very accommodating. 

Annie and I quickly fell into our normal routine and rented a motor bike to get us around the island. The area we were staying was very Western oriented and the main street was lined with restaurants, tour companies, and souvenir stands. Our original plan was to stay two nights and then take the boat up to Thailand. Two days turned into four days as we were sucked into this island’s laid back, relaxed culture. We spent the next few days lounging around the Pondock Keladi interacting with our fellow guest mates. Steven and Berit, wrapping up their five week vacation from Belgium. Tasha and Carly, the 18-year old world travelers from England. Hector and his quirky personal trainer traveling back to Shanghai. Alex, the most easy going 18-year old British mate. Pippa, Australian born working in London who got assigned to work in China for four months. We enjoyed many laughs and a few meals with this unique group of characters. 

After a few days of lounging, Annie and I decided to get out and explore the island. Our first stop was the biggest attraction, the cable car. The cable car is located in the Oriental Village on the northwestern side of the island and offers spectacular panoramic views of the main and surrounding islands. Our next stop was Julan Tanjung Rhu, a beautiful beach that overlooks Thailand and some of the surrounding islands. It is said to have the best sunset in Langkawi and we were there to confirm it. I was able to shoot a nice time lapse video as the sun was setting. We were also able to briefly explore the local Four Seasons located on the beach for a quick restroom break and were enticed by the doorman offering a private villa, with pool and butler for $6000 a night. Maybe next time. 

Since we watched the sunset, our drive home would be in the dark and it was going to take roughly an hour. It is very different driving a motor bike in the evening and this was the longest night drive for us to date. Night driving is a bit stressful for me and this tends to be a time when the bugs come out. The drive proved to be uneventful but I did spent a good amount of time washing the bug remnants from my face upon arrival. 

On our final day we had booked an island hopping tour with a few people from our home stay. It turned out to live up to the rainy season reputation and poured buckets all morning. When it finally let up and the boats were dried out, we were off to explore three local islands. The first stop was a remote island with a fresh water lake in the middle. The rain had picked up upon arrival and Annie and I spent the majority of the time under the canopy watching the native monkeys steal all the tourist foods and retreat to the trees. We got some good laughs. The next stop was for the eagle feeding but the eagles didn’t like the rain and only a few were visible. The final destination was on a small remote island with white sand beaches for all the visitors to swim. The rain eased a bit and we all got a chance to cool down with a swim. We then headed back to the home stay to dry out and pack for our trip to Thailand.

6/09/10 – 6/11/10 (cameron highlands)

Cameron Highlands – Penang

When we woke up on Wednesday it started to rain, which to us is always a sign to leave a place. We took a 4-hour bus ride to Butterworth and then a 15-minute ferry to Georgetown, the capital of Penang. The owner of the guesthouse in Cameron Highlands recommended a guesthouse for us to stay in Penang called Hutton Lodge. It turned out to be a really clean and convenient place to stay. It had one of the cleanest shared bathrooms that I had ever seen and they even had air-conditioning in the room! Such luxury.

When we finally got settled into our room it was around 3pm and we were pretty hungry since we hadn’t had lunch. We walked around looking for a restaurant and soon learned of siesta time in Penang. It seemed almost every restaurant is closed between 3-5pm. It was extremely humid that day and by the time we had lunch we had just enough energy to go back to our air-conditioned room for a nap. Since we had such a late lunch we weren’t hungry till about 9pm and I was afraid that everything would be closed. A staff at Hutton Lodge recommended a vegetarian restaurant around the corner of the hotel. I had spicy noodle soup and Jon had fried shrimp bento box but of course the shrimp was made from soybeans. We were happy to get some good food since our lunch was very mediocre.

The next day we explored the city on foot rather than our usual mode of transportation…on a motorbike. We visited Chinatown and it was as if we were in China around the 60’s. Penang is a World Heritage Site and they have done a great job in preserving the old architecture. I felt like we had walked back in time. We also had to stop by the chocolate factory for a sampling. Jon was a bit surprised that they had coffee but not hot chocolate. For dinner we checked out Gurney Drive night market, which is supposed to have a great selection of food. The market was divided into two sections, one part Malayan food and the other Indian food. We got there just as it was starting so it wasn’t as busy but as the night went on it became very crowded. Since we arrived in Penang we have been on a search for boba tea, also known as tapioca or pearl tea. It’s one of Jon’s favorite Asian drinks. We saw people at the night market with them but couldn’t figure out where they got them. As we were leaving we finally spotted the stall selling them.

One of the main attractions was Penang Hill but the train was under construction so the only way to get there was to hire a jeep. We decided to skip it since it was pretty expensive and part of the attraction for us was taking the train up to the hill. Instead we went back to our routine of renting a motorbike to drive around. Jon was in desperate need of more shirts since he was only left with four after a laundry services didn’t return his fifth shirt. We decided to go to the mall to buy him some clothes. It was a pretty big mall and we ended up spending a few hours there. As we were leaving the mall it started to rain really hard and we didn’t want to drive in the rain. We waited a little bit but then the rain hadn’t lightened up so we decided to go back into the mall to catch a movie. The only movie playing at that time was A-Team. We didn’t realize how cheap it was to see a movie…only $10 for two tickets, one box of caramel popcorn (they don’t sell butter popcorn…strange), and two drinks. What a bargain!! We felt a little bad spending our last day in Penang at the mall but sometimes that’s what happens.

6/06/10 – 6/08/10 (kuala lumpur)

Kuala Lumpur – Cameron Highlands

We arrived at the bus depot ready for the madness again. But the madness happened while we were waiting for the bus. To be fair I will give two accounts of the story…mine and Jon’s. Our bus was a bit late so I decided to go use the restroom since it was going to be a long bus ride and I have a tendency to need to go at inconvenient times. There was a really long line since there were only two stalls. After ten minutes I was still waiting in line but by this time I figured I would continue to wait. I figured if I left the line Jon would have wondered why I waited all that time for nothing. I kept checking my phone to see what time it was and figured since the bus was already late it probably wouldn’t leave immediately after arriving. Plus Jon would’ve told them I was in the restroom and would return momentarily. Once I was done I ran to the waiting area to a very angry Jon who spewed many bad words that I won’t repeat. We grabbed our luggage and ran to our bus.

Now Jon’s version…I told him I needed to use the restroom for about ten minutes before actually getting up and heading towards the restroom. Right after I left the bus driver came to get everyone to board the bus but he couldn’t leave since I hadn’t come back. There were rows of buses so he didn’t know where the bus was. He didn’t want to leave the waiting area since I wouldn’t have known where to board the bus. Of course, it always seems longer than it really was when you are the one waiting. He waited there for what seemed like ages and was afraid that the bus would leave without us. I don’t know what we would’ve done if we missed our bus. While he was waiting he was thinking how upset he would’ve been if he saw me strolling toward him rather than running. If I had gone when I initially thought about going none of this would have happened.

The best part of it all was that we waited for another forty-five minutes on the bus before we hit the road. It’s something we laugh about now and I like to give Jon a hard time by imitating him in the waiting area.

Cameron Highlands reminded me of a Bavarian ski town with chalets lining up the main street. The place we were staying, Father’s Guesthouse, came to pick us up and we realized that there was also another couple staying at the same place. They lived in the Cayman Islands and had been traveling for a few months through southeast Asia. When we arrived at the guesthouse we were shown to our room. There were only shared shower rooms available, which we were fine with, but the room was extremely small and had no outlet plugs. And they were in these tin roof buildings, which they called historical Nissen huts though it looked more like run down garden houses converted into three rooms. We were both a bit shocked when we were shown to our room and immediately asked them if they had a room in the main building where it was a lot nicer and also had a fan. The room attracted a lot of bug and the walls were so thin that we both took an Ambien to help us sleep. We also realized that there was only cold water left in the shower, probably because all the hot water had been used up. It was the most bare bones place we had stayed.  The only consolation was that it only cost forty rupiahs per night. To give the place some credit it offered a range of very affordable accommodations. It also had a small restaurant that served pretty good and inexpensive food. It was an ideal backpacker destination.

Luckily the next day we were moved into a room in the main building, which was more spacious and had a plug! We had to pay twice as much but certainly worth it. We decided to stay two more nights there. On our first full day in Cameron Highlands we walked into town to have breakfast at an Indian restaurant. We had Indian style crepes, which were really good. We were still a bit worn out from our long bus ride and interesting sleeping arrangement so we decided to just chill around the guesthouse for the day. We booked a full day jungle trekking for the next day.

We woke up the following day a little more refreshed and ready for an exciting day. We were supposed to take a Land Rover but we had more people than expected so we had to take a van. With the van we had to start trekking into the jungle at the bottom and had very muddy paths. We saw some Land Rovers driving through and one of them almost got stuck in the mud. There were no roads, it was all mud. Our guide told us to be extremely careful since the path was slippery and you also didn’t know if the mud was mushy or solid enough to step on. Needless to say there were times when my foot was covered in mud up to my ankle. It was a pretty hardcore workout. The whole point of the jungle trekking was to see the world’s largest flower called rafflesia. It is red and about the size of a car tire. There were only two of them in the entire jungle and took about two hours to reach one of them. The flower was pretty amazing though we were told that the center of the flower smelled like shit. We all had our photo taken with the flower and then it was another two-hour trek back to the van. It was a really good exercise and something Jon and I hadn’t done in a long time. Our shoes and pants were caked in mud and I have never been dirtier!

Next we visited a village where we got a chance to try our blow dart skills. Our darts weren’t poisonous like the ones they use to kill animals but I was afraid that if I inhaled I would choke on the dart. Luckily it didn’t happen since there is a piece of fine cotton between the mouthpiece and the dart to keep that from happening. One of the guys we were with almost hit a bulls-eye and I was just happy that my dart even landed on the board.

We were then on our way to visit a tea plantation called BOH. Cameron Highlands is well known for its tea (and strawberries) and there are huge rolling tea valleys all around. We learned about the tea making process but what I found more fascinating was the people working at the plant. There was a section of the tea process where only women were allowed to work but I can’t remember the reason. Also, a lot of the tea pickers are Burmese and Bengalines since they are willing to work for lower wages. Who would’ve thought that even the Malays outsource their labor.

After the tea plantation we visited a mossy forest, which was a refreshing change since it was much cooler there. The ground was made up of compost so it was soft and squishy. There were a lot of different types of plants and flowers and our guide showed us something that smelled like cinnamon. It was really cool to see the moss growing all around and wrapping itself around tree limbs.

We ended our tour at the strawberry plantation and enjoyed a delicious strawberry sundae as the sun was about to set. The plantation reminded me of when I was a little girl and went strawberry picking with my family in Taiwan. The difference was that the strawberries in Cameron Highlands were grown in bags on an elevated platform so bugs didn’t eat them.

After a super long day we were ready to relax our legs and enjoyed at nice meal at the guesthouse.

6/03/10 – 6/05/10 (sanur)

Sanur – Kuala Lumpur

We keep telling ourselves not to book 6am flights since they can be a bit brutal to wake up so early in the morning and usually our travel days takes up the whole day. But sometimes they are the cheapest flights so it is a hard choice. Our driver picked us up at 4:30am for our flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL). It was our first flight on Air Asia, which is the budget airline most people use to travel around southeast Asia. For such an early morning flight the plane was pretty packed. There were quite a few Muslim females in Bali and Lombok wearing headdresses but none in complete headdress covered from head to toe with only their eyes showing. There was a woman on our flight who had on the black headdress from head to toe with only her eyes showing. Because every part of her body was covered you really took notice to her eyes, which were hazel. I felt bad staring at her but it was more out of curiosity about her faith and culture. For example, I wondered if the airport security would ask her take off her headdress when she pass through the security gates and at what age do they start wearing one. It made me realize how little I knew about their society and wished I could ask her some questions.

After a short flight we were in KL and headed to our hotel. When we arrived at our hotel we were informed that our reservation had not been confirmed and they were fully booked since it was the school holiday season. After a frustrated battle we were able to get a room at the discounted internet rate. Later we found out that we had entered the wrong dates for our reservation and they sent us an email asking us to correct our dates. Oops. We felt bad that we caused such a scene in the lobby and smiled warmly at reception every time we passed by.

We stayed in Bukit Bintang, a pretty busy part of town with people offering massages all along the road and at night the food market was bustling. One night we had dinner at one of the night markets. The restaurant tables spilled out onto the road and the police had to ask some restaurants to put away some of their tables because it was blocking the traffic. Every place tried to entice you with their menu and since the cooking was done outside the aroma from the food permeated the streets. There were also fruit stalls and I was very excited to see my favorite fruit called the wax apple. I loved eating the wax apple as a kid in Taiwan and before leaving KL we bought some for our bus trip.

We visited the Petronas Towers, which is a major icon in KL and at one time was the tallest building in the world. We went at dusk and saw the lights come on around the building. There was also a mall with about five floors dedicated to any kind of electronics you could ever want. Jon was a kid in a candy store and I’m sure he would’ve been quite content staying there all day and night.

One of the craziest experiences we had was booking our bus to Cameron Highlands. The bus depot was under construction so it was temporarily moved to the outskirt of the city. We had to take several trains to get there and the depot wasn’t like anything we had ever seen. There were about fifty bus companies each with their own booth crammed into a small building. When you walked in all of them started yelling at you to come visit their booth. All the companies offered similar routes and prices so it was really hard to decide which one to pick. We finally picked one based on the departure time that suited our schedule.

Another interesting observation is the huge Chinese population in Malaysia and many of them speak a dialect called Fu Kinese (don’t know the correct spelling) which sounds a lot like Taiwanese. Most people I encountered spoke Malay Chinese, a slightly different dialect of Mandarin, but we were still able to converse quite comfortably.