Malaysia and Borneo

Malaysia is a country I had never considered visiting, but it turned out to be one of the best surprises. As the motorbike culture is the most visible wonderment of Saigon, the diversity of Malaysia is what makes the country so spectacular – seeing cultural garb and contemporary clothes; listening to Malaysians, Chinese, Indian and Arabs speaking multiple languages; visiting traditional villages or passing by private monstrous mansions, and the variety of food is heavenly.

I can see myself living in the ultra modern city of Kuala Lumpur (KL) and spending my weekends on a getaway jungle trek. When I was a kid, I always wanted to see Madagascar, what I had considered the pinnacle of wild and exotic. So, you can only imagine that Malaysia's Borneo, home of Mt. Kinabalu and the rafflesia, the world’s largest flower, was right up my alley. Sadly, I wasn’t able to climb (you must plan in advance) nor see the flower (wasn’t in bloom) but, I did plenty to get a taste of adventure. I will come back to Malaysia to trek Taman Negara, the 130-year-old rainforest outside of KL and tread deeper in Borneo’s jungle – if not in a couple of months, most definitely in the future.

Some highlights a las photografias below. For more photos of Malaysia and Borneo in my Picasa album, click here.

MALAYSIA - KUALA LUMPUR AND PENANG
Fish spa where hundreds of fish ate the dead skin off my feet for 20 ticklish minutes!























A popular street-vendor set up where you cook your own fish balls/meat.


















A comfortable $17USD bus ride from Kuala Lumpur to Penang -- the lush scenery was so stunning, I took photos for hours.


















A sign inside the restroom of the bus. HAHA!


















Another great sign - damn those snatch thiefs!























World's tallest statue of Hindu deity Murugan -- in the palm of my hand.


















I honestly can't tell you the name of this temple even though I spent as least a good hour here.


















Inside the super cool Suria Mall next to Petronas Twin Towers.


















Petronas Twin Towers - World's tallest building for five years (until 1998) at 1482.6 ft.























The most beautiful foot next to an equally beautiful butterfly. A tragic tale as I found many of these large butterflies are scattered dead around Petronas and stuck on the side of the buildings.


















Blueberry and hazelnut -- utterly brilliant or confusing?























A scene from my forest hike within Penang Hill.
























BORNEO

"Artwork" in the city of Kota Kinabalu, the jumping off point for those headed to the mountain and beaches.


















The northern most tip of Borneo.























The incredibly gorgeous drive through palm tree paradise to get to the deserted, but beautiful beaches of Pantai Kalampunian and Kalambu.


















And the beaches...































A view from the island forest trek on Manukan. Jim, a local life guard took us to the best snorkel spots at Manukan, where we swam among and held little Nemos, a blowfish, blue starfish, tigerfish, giant clams, and other beautiful fish. Snorkeling was also spectacular in Thailand.




































A rainbow on the last day we spent on Manukan and Mamutik islands.




















Last, but certainly not least -- the highlight of our Malaysia trip -- three-layer tea/Teh Special. Ceylon tea, evaporated milk, and the elusive liquefied palm sugar equals the best milk tea I ever had. We made friends with a local who sells delicious herbal soup and this tea. He sold us two bottles of the palm sugar, which we are bringing back to the States for some overindulgence reminiscent of of Malaysia travels.