Cameron Highlands

From Melaka my plan was to head back north going to the Cameron Highlands and stay in the town of Tanah Rata. I ask at the place I was staying about bus schedules to Tanah Rata and they did not seem to know but just said to go to the bus station and there should be a bus ever couple of hours. I also asked about catching the bus back to the station and they told me just catch it at the same place I got off. The bus stop where I got off was on a one way street so I could not just catch the bus going in the opposite direction on the other side of the steet. When I was paying for the ticket the guy on the bus said it was going to be a 45 minute trip to the station and it had only been 10 minutes when I had arrived. I did get to see parts of the town that I had not visited with the bus going making a big circle around the town before going to the station. The bus ended up passing really close to where I had stayed and only 10 minutes before getting to the station. I think I got some bad advice at the hotel but made it to the station with just a bit of tour of the city.

On arriving at the bus station I went to the information desk and asked about getting to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands they said I would need to go to Tapah and change busses and then a guy took me over to the window that had Tapah written on it. I asked for a ticket to Tapah and he said tomorrow. Just then I hear a guy saying Kuala Lumpur and it is on the way to where I wanted to go so I did not wait till the next day and was on a bus headed north to Kuala Lumpur in about 5 minutes. On arriving at the bus station in Kuala Lumpur I was guided to the window for a bus to Tanah Rata and had about 30 minutes to get something to eat and use the facilities before it departed. For a day that started out like nothing was going to work it worked out really well.

Cameron Highlands is higher so a little bit cooler but I guess that is obvious from the name. I spent my time there walking for the most part. The hotel that I stayed in had a jungle walk every day by a guy that was living there and just ask for a donation with a suggesting of 20 Malay Ringgit or about 4 Euros, $6 USD. I decided I would give this a try and it worked out really well for me. I ended up being the only one walking with him the day that I went and with the slow way that I walk what he said would be about a 3 hour walk turned into around a 5 and 1/2 hour walk. I really enjoyed the information that he told me about the country and the jungle on the way and he did not seem to be the least bit worried about me taking so much time. The walk was a bit harder than I would have taken on my own with crossing a stream back and forth a number of times and even though the start and end of the walk where on trails most of the time was spent walking through the thicker part of the jungle. I only ended up slipping and falling a couple of times and neither of these happened when crossing the stream. I figured when he told me this is the last time we have to cross the stream on rocks I would fall in for sure but made it over without a problem. The guide was Chinese and had been living in Kuala Lumpur and had decided he wanted a simpler life so had moved to the Cameron Highlands and spent his days walking in the jungle. He spoke 5 languages but English was the only one that is considered a foreign language in Malaysia. We talked about the jungle but also we talked about the normal salary in Malaysia the differences in culture of the people that make up Malaysia and also he had traveled some in Southeast Asia so talked about that. He was telling me about a scam in Kuala Lumpur where people approach tourist and say I have a family member going to your country and then end up trying to get them in a fixed gambling game. He found it really funny when I told him I had been approached 3 or 4 times in Kuala Lumpur by people that had sisters or cousins that where going to be nurses in America and wanted to talk to me about the country but luckily enough I turned them down. It was a really great walk but I was really happy to hit the shower at the hotel at the end of the walk.

I decided to take a walk on my own the following day and did the trail know as 9A which goes by Robinson Falls and then sort of follows the edge of a hill down the stream another 2 and 1/2 kilometers. The falls where pretty but the water is so pollulated that it stinks and takes some of the pleasure of seeing it away.

I really enjoyed this walk and my guidebook had recommended it as one of the simpler trails but if it was one of the simpler I would hate to take one of the harder trails. I don’t think it was as hard as the walk I had done the day before but it was still a good work out for me and I only seemed to walk a little bit faster than 1kilometer an hour. One of the things I really enjoyed about the walk was since it shirted the side of a hill the view into the trees was much better and I got to see a lot of birds on the walk. Nearer to the end of the trail it looked out over a number of farm fields and even though I am not sure what was being grown I thought it made for a good picture with the fields in front of the jungle.

The area is too high and cool for rice but they grow a lot of vegetable, tea, herbs and flowers in the area. The guide before told me his idea that they grow so much cabbage is because it weighs so much more than herbs so you make much more money that way. He also told me the biggest non-tea farm in the area is for tomatoes which are sold to Pizza Hut.

After the trail it was a 9K walk uphill back to the town along the road. The view from the road was really nice looking out over the jungle in some places and out over tea fields in others. This is a view of one of the tea fields.

I only walked a little over half way to the town when someone stop and gave me a much welcome ride the last 4K up to town. I still find it funny that it took me around 2 hours to walk down the 3K trail and just over an hour to walk the 5K up on the road.

I ended the day talking to a Dutch couple and getting some ideas of things to see in the Borneo part of Malaysia if I make it there at some point. This would have been a strange conversation for most people to listen to since I am not really good at speaking Dutch and the lady was not really comfortable speaking English but we could both understand the other speaking their native language.

Melaka

I caught a bus for the short ride to Melaka which was only a few hours south of Kuala Lumpur. Getting a local bus from the Melaka Bus Station was simple after asking at the information counter since the bus station is a few miles outside of the center of town. I managed to get off at the correct stop for China town where all the cheaper hotels seem to be located. The hotels that I have stayed at in Malaysia are not near as nice as the normal place that I stayed in Thailand but are about the same price. Malaysia is doing better than most of the countries in Southeast Asia and that is the reason for the higher prices for hotels and food. The prices are not that bad for most things except for the beer. I could get 3 beers in Thailand for the price of one in Malaysia and from what I have read there are some places in Malaysia where alcohol is completely forbidden since it is mainly a Muslin country.

Melaka has a lot of interesting history but most of it is based around the European countries that controlled it during the different time periods. It was a major trading port and was controlled by the Portuguese first then the Dutch and the English. The Japanese controlled Malaysia during World War II but since the port had lost its importance there does not seem to be any Japanese influence in the city. After the war the English were in control again until in 1963 when they granted Malaysia full independence. This is a picture of the English building that is now the Independence Memorial.

I just spent my time in the city walking around and seeing some of the old European buildings and visiting the history museum in the Stadhuys (City Hall in Dutch). This is a picture of the main square with the Stadhuys and Christ Church and both come from when the Dutch were in control and look very Dutch. The fountain in the middle is Victorian English.

I have not figured out how to say thank you in Malay but was able to say thank you in Chinese when getting something to drink in Chinatown. I heard it being said back and forth from others buying drinks and the person serving them. My thank you got a sort of surprised look and a little bit of a laugh which I got a kick out of.

Kuala Lumpur the capital of Malaysia

I had been taking my time reading the guidebook on Malaysia and figured I would be really prepared with what I wanted to do and see once I went there. The problem with this is that I thought I would have a few more weeks in Thailand and only made it through the sections of the guidebook on food, history and culture. I had not started the specifics on what there was to see and do so had not done any planning on where I wanted to go while in Malaysia. Well this is really the way I have been traveling since China so I am sort of use to this but I just thought Malaysia would be different. The flight to Kuala Lumpur went well and I was on a really cheap Air Asia flight that was not even half full. I don’t know how this airline can be making any money when I am use to flying on airlines like United or KLM that are jam packed and charge 3 times as much and seem to talk all the time about losing money. Immigration on arrival was simple and I received a 3 month visa on arrival. It is nice to have such a long visa even though I don’t intend to use it. I still hoped to return to Thailand so went to the Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur 3 times. The visa was really simple to get just took some time and one trip was just to read the sign outside the embassy of the times to apply for a visa. I also made 3 trips to the Petronas Towers which is the 2nd Tallest Building in the World and the largest twin buildings in the world. The first time I went there were no tickets to go up in the tower, the 2nd to receive a ticket and then I returned six hours later to go up in the tower at my ticket time. This is a picture of the towers.

The ticket allowed me to go up to the sky bridge between the 41st floors of the 2 buildings but I found it a bit disappointing. After being on the 91st floor of the world’s largest building in Taipei a couple of months ago the 41st floor just does not compare. This is a picture of the park behind the building from the sky bridge.

While in Kuala Lumpur I also did the 2 walking tours that my guidebook had and one of the things I found interesting in Kuala Lumpur is the different people. There are a lot of people descended from India, China and of course Malaysia so the city seems to have a real strange mix of different cultures. I was never sure if I was eating Indian, Chinese or Malay food. I did try lychees which I had been wanting to try so now know the difference between a Rambutan and a Lychee. This is my lychee picture.

The things that I enjoyed the most while in Kuala Lumpur were visiting the butterfly and bird parks. I did this on 2 different days and really enjoyed both of them. You can look on my webpage for all the pictures of birds and butterflies but here is a picture of 2 birds with a turkey in the middle.

The best made plans or something like that

I wanted to stay in Bangkok and recover till at least the end of June. I also did not want to change doctors at this point but the only problem was my visa for Thailand expired on the 19th of June. I planned on making a visa run which I had read about on the web and had seen signs for all over Thailand. By leaving and entering the country you get a new 30 day visa and I had already done this once to stay in Thailand for Songkran (Thai New Year).

I looked at flying somewhere but decided I would go by bus to the Cambodian border which I had crossed at to renew my visa for Songkran. This was the closest border to Bangkok and I figured my butt was doing good and could deal with a 5 hour bus trip at this point. I would go over the border and come back the same day and then spend the night in Thailand and if my butt was up to it would take the 5 hour bus trip back to Bangkok the following day if not I would stay longer.

On the 16th I got up early packed some clothes in my day bag and headed to the bus station. I caught a bus to reach the bus station and it worked out well except for Bangkok being a traffic nightmare at 8 in the morning. On arriving at the bus station I bought a ticket to Aranya Prathet the town on the Thai side of the border. The bus trip was not bad and my butt dealt with it really well but I was glad to reach Aranya Prathet and get my sore ass off the buss.

I haggled a bit with the tuk tuk driver and got a ride to the border. I had been reading about getting a Cambodia visa at this border and even though I dealt with the hustlers at the border I got a visa for $25 US instead of the 1000 Thai Bhat that they wanted. This is still over paying $5 US from what I have read but figured $5 is worth not having to go through the fight and it still saved me about 250 Thai Bhat.

I walked across the border with no problems other than the sky opening up and dropping as much water on me as possible. Once in Cambodia I thought maybe I would eat on this side of the border but on walking 10 meters or so in Poipet the Cambodian border town I figured I had enough of it. Poipet just has a dirt road and with all the rain I somehow managed to get covered in mud up my legs and covering the back of my shorts. I clear the Cambodia side of the border and on reaching the Thai arrival office I tried to clean up the mud as best as I could, filled out the Thai arrival form and was ready to be welcomed back into Thailand. This is where the plan sort of fell apart.

I had read somewhere that there was no limit to 30 day visa when arriving in Thailand. This may well be true but there is a limit on the number of days you can spend in Thailand with these types of visas in a 6 month period. I had been in Thailand for more than 90 days within the past 6 months and was told I needed to go back to Cambodia. I was told I could go to Phnom Penh and request a Thailand visa there. I knew it was long bus ride between Poipet and Siem Reap on some of the worse roads from talking to people. From Siem Reap it is another 6 hours on a bus to reach Phnom Penh. I was not sure how my butt could handle this and also I really dislike Poipet. I was also not sure I would be able to get a Thai visa on arriving in Phnom Penh and all my stuff was still in Bangkok. I was in a bit of a panic at this point.

I told the immigration officer I really did not want to go back to Cambodia and was there any way I get a visa for Thailand from here. I told him I had 3 days left on my visa from prior to going to Cambodia today. He consulted with one of the other officers and then said he could give me a one day visa but I would have to leave the country in one day. I said I don’t think I can not get back to Bangkok and fly out tonight. He answered me no that is not correct you have till tomorrow to leave and I just about kissed him. He stamped my passport, wrote something in it about being past 90 days and sent me on my way and after me saying thank you about 100 times.

I caught a tuk tuk back to the bus station, no haggling this time. I caught a bus to Bangkok and sat on my sore ass another 4 and ½ hours. I caught a taxi from the bus station back to my room where I got on the internet and booked a flight for the following day and started packing. At this point I breathed a big sigh of relive and was surprised I was so happy about having a day before being kicked out of a country.

Golden Mount and Wat Ratchanaddaram

I have been feeling much better but am going a bit stir crazy so decided to walk to a couple of temples that are close to where I am staying. I walked past the Mahakan Fort on the way so stopped, read the sign and walked around the small fort. I could see Wat Sraket or the Golden Mount from the street prior to reaching the fort but was unable to see it after looking around the fort so was walking in the direction that I thought it was when someone asked me where I was going. I told him I was looking for Wat Sraket and he pointed me the direction of the Wat but then told me it was closed today because of a Buddhist holiday and I should go with him to a different temple. This was the second time in Bangkok that I have been lied to and told something was closed that was not. Both times I figured I would just go see for myself and both times the temple was open. Even though the guy lied to me about the temple being closed at least the directions he gave me where good. I found the temple and made my way up what seemed like a never-ending staircase to the pagoda at the top of the hill. This is a picture from a distance of the pagoda that I visited.

There was a good view from the pagoda and even though the pagoda was nothing special compared to all the pagodas I have seen the view made it worth the climb.

After making my way down the hill I walked past the Mahakan Fort again and went inside the temple that I walked past of the way to the golden mount. This is a picture of Wat Ratchanaddaram.

I climbed up the stairs of the white pagoda in the right of the picture and it is where I took the 1st picture in this entry of the golden mount. This pagoda was only about 4 stories high so not that bad to climb but did not have the good view that the other one had.

I was not that impressed with either of the temples or the fort but it was nice to get out and do a little bit of sight seeing.

Bangkok, What a Pain in the Butt

The flight from Taipei to Bangkok was smooth and uneventful.

The rest of this entry may contain a lot more than you really want to know about me and my body. It made be better to just skip to the next entry after knowing I was sick in Bangkok and I am going to spend time in Bangkok recovering. If you want to read on do so at your own risk and to my embarrassment.

I was a bit constipated the last couple of days when I was in Taiwan and once back in Bangkok it just seemed to get worse and I developed a fever. I slept for a few days and did not seem to get better so went to a doctor. The doctor looked at me and put his finger in a place I don’t think it is suppose to go and after this he said I had an abscess in my butt. The abscess was causing both the constipation and the fever.

The doctor gave me some medicine and said if the abscess did not go away in about a week I would need to have it drained. After a few days it had not gone away and had in fact got much much worse. I headed back to the hospital to see the doctor again. On going through the process to see the doctor I decided that no one even looks at my paper work before talking to me. Everyone kept telling me to sit down. I had a really bad pain in my butt and the last thing I wanted to do was set down. I actually found it sort of funny by the time I got to the 4th or 5th person telling me to sit down and me refusing.

Once the doctor looked at me he said I would need to stay for an operation. I would need to spend at least 2 nights in the hospital. A few hours later I was in the operating room and as far as I know everything went well. I know for sure the pain was much better after the operation than before and this was the case even when the local wore off. I spent 2 nights in the hospital and then was able to leave. The doctor left the wound open to heal on its own and said it would take a couple of months. I decided I would just plan on taking it easy so once out of the hospital I book a room for a month and figured I would decide after the month if I was ready to travel again.

It has been some time since the operation and I am doing really good. I am still being lazy and watching a lot of the 2 English movie channels I have in my room. The only down side is I think I have now seen every movie they are going to show for the month.