18th September 2006

Hi Guys,

Its about time I sent this as I have been putting it off as I am having too much fun to sit and type for an hour, but I have just travelled by taxi, plane, bus, express bus and another bus to Melaka in the west island and so I am having a rest for a bit before I go out to a hawker for tea and then wander around the city for a while.

So I hope you have all seen the abridged version which was easy as it took minutes to conjure up. I have been through some stuff out here and I am having simply the most amazing time and I can say that this place whilst more expensive than Thailand has more to offer and is easier to get round.

I left the UK 2 weeks ago and the flight with Malaysian air was great. 18 films to choose from including latest releases, 50 cds to listen to, games, maps and puzzles. The flight was on time and I could have wine or beer but no spirit. The only draw back was the food as if you never had the fish for the evening meal you had it for breakfast, funny lot but hey it was ok.
I got to KL and then to China Town. I was staying at Wheelers Guest house, 4.5 quid a room with fan, shared toilets and that was good. They had a roof top bar, tv, internet and a fridge full of beer. I stayed there for 5 nights and every night was different.
I had trouble adjusting to the time zone on the first night and I was up from 5am , considering I arrived 6pm the night before I had no idea where I was or what the day was but that is something that happens more and more !!!
I visited the lake and the bird gardens the first full day I was there. The covered bird gardens are apparently the biggest in the world and it was ok, I was there for about 2 hours, sweating and dying of heat as it was very hot and humid in KL. I saw monkeys in the trees in the gardens around the lakes and it was a good way to spend my first day there. It was a long walk but worth it. I ate in a hawker stall where I have spicey fish and dried smoked fish with rice and it was ok and I was hungry. The walk was about 30 mins from the guest house.
China town in KL (Kuala Lumpur) is amazing, lots of little streets, hindu temples and markets selling watches, wallets, t-shirts and there are huge malls with star bucks on every floor, mcd every where and so so so many buses. Crossing roads involves walking out into the traffic and playing frogger with it and hopefully getting to the other side.
I went for a siesta about 6pm that evening and woke up at 1am then sat on the internet for a few hours then went back to sleep til 10am. Breakfast in the guest house was also truly great - egg and chips........ scrambled eggs, the best coffee and good chat with everyone else. I hooked up with another english guy and a swiss girl and we went to the batu caves. This is a sacred hindu temple in caves and you need to climb 272 steps to go in and aviod carrying plastic bags as the monkeys there steal them and run away, always fun to watch it happen to other people.
Inside the caves are shrines and statues and the most amazing heat it was like being broiled. But for 80p bus fare only it was a good way to spend the day. The evening was spent drinking cheap malaysian whiskey and then going clubbing at the beach club where I fell in love with tequilla and me and Klaudia the swiss girl managed to get very drunk. At 3am the place shuts and we get a taxi driver to take us else where. We end up ina drum and bass club where if you sat still you vibrated across the floor in time with the drum and bass. It was so loud. It hurt.
We left at 4 and go back about 5am after staggering through the city.
The next day it rained alot and so I ended up not doing much, sleeping and drinking before going clubbing again with Klaudia. She had a novel way to make money and that was by taking a polaroid camera with her and getting people to pay for photos of themselves out with girfriends and wives etc. She made about 100 quid that night and still we got very drunk and we ended up sitting in the enterance to the guest house drinking chang lager til 9am.
Sunday pretty much never happened as well we were asleep.
On Monday I left to go to Sandakan and to go jungle trekking which seemed like a good idea the time. I flew air asia to Sandakan and then taxi to Uncle Tans dorm in the village of gum gum. Borneo is a great place. The dorm was empty except some aussies and an english girl who also was going into the jungle.
The next day we went to Sepikot Orang Utan research centre and watch the primates eat food and swing through the jungle it was an amazing thing to do. Oh they also did live sex show for us as well, how nice and wild. Big Boy I have photos of that one. I am working on the rest!!!!!!!!11
The feeding lasts about 45 mins and then I went through a trail to the bird tower, except I never got there, the heat and humidity got to me and I must of lost 4lb in sweat just walking through the jungle there so I was dead excited about the 3 day trek which was coming.
Our journey to the jungle involved a 2 hour bus ride, then a 45 minute fast boat up the river kinabatangan where we stopped to see birds and lizards and crocodiles and many different sorts of monkeys on the way to the huts.
Huts. Thats all they were. Uncle Tans jungle trek was a simple and basic affair. 3 days trekking and living in filth and 2 nights fighting mosis and smelling the toilets.
There was no electricity except 7- 11pm. No fresh water, you showered from water pumped from the river. The washrooms were dark and smelly. I mean the worst smell ever. The french toilets had to be avoided at all costs and you left dirtier than going there. The huts slept 5 people. Each of us were given a blanket, materess and a mosi net. The food was noodles or rice and fish and chicken and water melon
The jungle was muddy and I mean upto your knees in mud. It was truly a wild adventure.
Still the night trek to see a 6ft long wild python, owls and lizards and kingfishers was amazing, probocis monkeys (which are the most amazing looking monkey ever) looped tail macaque monkeys and others.
The day treks we saw monkeys, hornbills, mud, trees, crocodiles, flying lizards, 5 m long monitor lizards. I did not do the night trek as my hiking shoes were almost damp instead of wet and I had alreay ruined my flip flops wading into a mud flat to take photos of monitor lizards which I never go any decent shots of anyway.
I also got a stomach bug. So french toilets, bad food, no showers, sweat, heat, mud really added up to a great experience. I urge you all to do it.
We got back to gum gum by the friday and then I took the express bus, the shits and all to Kota Kinabalu Sabahs capital (Sabah is part of malaysian borneo, confused good)
Look borneo up on a map
That had to be the worst journey ever. Bubbling guts, od on immodium, rain, fog, ice cold air con bumpy journey I was so ill. getting to KK I ran off the bus got by rucksack and got a hotel where I stayed for the night to well recover, wash and empty........ It was nice as the karakoe bar sang my ship will go on as I well anyway......

The next feeling better and able to jump tall buildings I went to a lodge in KK called backpackers or Lucys. There was a Burger King there so that was ace, to replace lost fats and the like. I met the danish people who cared for me on the bus and had a chat so that was good.
I spend the afternoon asleep as I had walked around the city in 40 mins.
In the evening I drank with an english girl called Monica and we got very drunk as normal and a good time was had by all. no I did not.

Sunbathing the next day and snorkelling just off KK on the island on Manukan and it was an spectacular island and the snorkelling was great except the jellyfish stings and then the sand flies. The rain was coming up the South China Sea and we watched the rain drift into KK from the island and that was a cool thing to do.
Last night was spent saying goodbye to the Danish guys and Monica.
And that is pretty much it really, shorter and sweeter and concise.

My next adventues still await and I am still planning whats next all I know is that by this time tomorrow I am in KL.

Keep smiling and be safe. Dont eat spicey squid curry in the jungle.

Luke