Koh Mook

Days 63-66

Tomorrow morning (Mon 29^th) we will head back to the mainland from our island paradise of Koh Mook bound for Bangkok. Before reaching here I imagined that the only islands in southern Thailand that were not over run by tourists were deserted but Koh Mook has refreshingly proven that the perfect Thai islands are still alive and well. Although there are a couple of small resorts on the island they appear to be relatively empty so the island's perfect beaches are empty and island life appears to go on as normal. We intended to do a bit of island hopping but this place has proved to be so nice that we scraped that plan and spent four nights here.

Our ferry from Langkawi played a movie which must have had at least a 15 certificate, full of swear words and violence although the parents of the children on board didn’t seem concerned in the slightest and to be honest we were glad they weren't blaring Bollywood music videos. We went through Thai immigration and thus another country to our list or least to my wife's on account of my previous visit here. As a result she is now officially more travelled than I am, this is her 32nd country while I linger behind on 31. We booked our onward travel through a travel agency which we would not have dreamt of doing in India but they seemed efficient and fairly reasonable so we went with them. From the ferry port town of Satun we were herded on to a minibus with other backpackers to the town of Trang. The journey was made interesting by a driver who used the journey as an opportunity to resonance test the chassis of the vehicle with bass vibrations via his ridiculously oversized sound system and Thai rock music. With bones quivering and ears throbbing he got us to our destination before another minibus took us through the latex tree plantations to the jetty and the final part of the journey in a Longtail boat. The Longtails are long wooden boats with a 2 litre diesel outboard engine driving a propeller via an approximately 3metre (10ft) shaft. It seems an extraordinary contraption to have sitting on the end of a boat but even more so by the fact it is mounted on a pivot and controlled and steered by hand. They are used for fishing and transport in Southern Thailand and with its unorthodox drive system our longtail powered over the calm waters to Koh Mook very quickly.

We landed on the jetty of Koh Mook (pronounced "co muck") and after a few minutes wandering we came to Coco Lodge, which consists of a restaurant with simple bamboo huts. It’s a lovely relaxed place and without a doubt the best place we have stayed yet in our travels. The owners and staff are friendly and genuine, helping us with our queries about the island and running tours around the island and most importantly everyone does so with a great smile.

The following day we went to explore the sandbar beach on the east of the island, a few minutes walk away. The beach has squeaky white sand and at low tide forms a pointed sand bar as picture perfect as you can get. It was stiflingly hot though and I needed shade fast. The resort on the beach although sparsely occupied still wanted us to pay 400bhat (£8/$13) just to sit at one of their tables, and that was before we had even bought a drink! We found a palm tree further down the beach and let the late morning merge into afternoon before heading back for lunch and our arranged snorkeling trip with the Coco Lodge’s owner.

The hotel owner took us on the trip and it turns out he had lived in LA back in the 90’s before setting up Coco Lodge on Koh Mook. He reckons that the money isn’t great but he has a great lifestyle. It was difficult to argue as the long tail took us along the limestone cliffs on the north side of stunning Koh Mook, a truly magnificent place to go to work every day. Our first stop was snorkeling on a coral reef under the cliffs, which was just ok in comparison to our trip to Belize last year. The snorkeling was only a taster though for the main course on our boat trip to Koh Mook’s famous Emerald Cave.

The Emerald Cave is a cave that is completely surrounded by sheer cliffs but open to the sky with a tidal pool and beach at its base. It was only discovered about 20 years ago and is accessible only by swimming the 80metres or so from the sea. It’s a popular place and can get quite crowded but our guide took us in the evening after the day trippers had passed. It was a short but pitch black swim until the sunlight from the cave came peering around a corner to reveal the beach ahead. Upon reaching the cave it has the feel of being artificial, almost like some kind of fantasty walled garden of some Italian eccentric. It is hard to imagine that something like this can even exist but exist it does and it’s a beautiful peaceful place. That was until an Australian couple came paddling out of their darkness and into our little Eden. They were on their own sail boat and spending a few years drifting the high seas and gradually working their way around the world. Alright for some eh? And here we were thinking that that we were having a good trip. Soon enough it was time to go and after a star fish grabbing snorkel later we were back at our beach hut.

 

Yesterday (Sat 27^th) we took a leisurely cycle across the island to sunset beach. The road around the island is little more than a footpath at best and actually peters out into a dirt track on the west side of the island. Thankfully it is only wide enough to accomdate scooter and push bikes so there are no cars on the island. Tsunami evacuation signs are everywhere, a positive legacy of the tragedy in 2004. The Trang islands were relatively unaffected in the Boxing Day Tsunami, but much of coastal Southwest Thailand was, with many people losing their lives and property.

Sunset beach is a secluded beach with a cliff face framing its specular setting. Once again it was all but deserted with the resort on the beach appearing to be completely empty. We lazed the day away here, and soon enough all those hard days travelling are but a fading scar on our memory.  We had lunch at a friendly Thai woman’s restaurant, she was expecting her sixth child in about a week but it didn’t stop here from running the restaurant or holding a virtually one way conversation with us in her broken English. The Thai’s on a whole seem a friendly bunch, always smiling in comparison to Malaysian’s who are quite a reserved lot. 

We had a great lazy day on Saturday and we decided that we would repeat the day on today (Sun 28^th)! Calling at the same lady’s restaurant for lunch and lazing on sunset beach for the actual sunset, which was spectacular. The beaches here I should add, have totally thrashed anything we have seen before well and truly into second place, they are perfect! What’s more the genuine peaceful island lifestyle here makes any of the other resorts we have stayed at feel like Las Vegas. In fact it doesn’t feel like a resort at all, but an island. The sunset was the perfect end to the beach leg of our trip, the next beach we see could well be in California.

Tomorrow morning we take off for the mainland and will make straight for Bangkok avoiding the undoubted hordes of revellers for the famous full moon party in Koh Pha-ngan. It will be Halloween when we are in Bangkok and as it is a festival that is celebrated in both Ireland and America we intend to take it to Thailand as much as we can.

Langkawi

Days 60-63

Our twin hulled ferry speeds us away once again from the pier, this time from Langawki Island towards the Thai mainland.  We have been sleeping late and exploring Langkawi at our own pace, which although quite developed and frequented by tourists is absolutely stunning and of course being Malaysia, the food is second to none.

The main resort in Langkawi is at Pantai Cenang, which is a 25km taxi ride away from the ferry dock. We shared the taxi ride with an Australian couple who like many of the tourists here appear to be on short term holidays. In one sense this leaves us jealous as these guys seem to spend money willy nilly, but on the other we can smile smugly safe in the knowledge that they will be returning to work in a week or two while we are exploring a new destination. Interestingly, most if not a healthy percentage of the tourists here are Muslim from various countries judging from the women's headdress. The Saudi women in particular are a comical (sorry but it is!) sight parading down the beach completely shrouded in black beside their husbands donned in swim trunks. I couldn’t imagine how hot it would be under all that black, but I guess if they are used to 50°C (122°F) heat in their home country 32°C (90°F) should be no problem.

Langkawi is our first stop on our last bout of beach hopping as we make our north up the Malay Peninsula towards Bangkok. Cenang Beach is a fairly well developed strip of restaurants, hotels, and souvenir shops not dissimilar to Belmont Shore in Long Beach, California (without the horrendous traffic to get there). And being a Southern California belle my wife's favourite place is the beach, so that's the first place we headed. Being deathly pale who's annual trip to the beach in Rosnowlagh involved a freezing Donegal Bay coupled with sunburn, the beach isn't quite my scene, but I don't mind it as long as I have a good umbrella or an overcast day. Cenang was indulging me this time though with overcast skies, which didn't help the beach aesthetics but it was stunning none the less, immediately triggering the debate about the best beach so far; the current title holder being Goa's Palolem. Judging purely on beach looks alone Palolem's sweeping crescent probably shades it but Cenang wins this one over all with its tropical island setting and lack of gawking locals.

South of Langkawi lies a series of small uninhabited islands. They are shaped in the limestone karst cliffs that are stereotypical a South East Asian island paradise and we took a day trip out to them on Tuesday (23rd). One of the islands has a freshwater lake that is actually below sea level enclosed by the cliffs, apparently inhabited by a white crocodile, but this didn’t deter my wife from instigating a bout of cannonballing (waterbombing) among the bathers. Another island had a beautiful beach inhabited by thieving monkeys, one of which wasted no time in having a look in my wife's momentarily unattended bag and he was remarkably unwavering in his inquisitiveness as I ran towards him shouting. Eventually though I was close enough for him to judge a getaway was the best option and he prowled off empty handed. 

One thing that Langkawi does not lack is quality food and it is just as cheap here as on the mainland. On Tuesday night we rode our rented scooter the few miles away to the weekly night market. The night market has a weekly rotation around different locations on the island, selling mainly food and drink. At least that is what we were there for and we wandered the stalls sampling the different foods which mainly involves barbequed meat on a stick in different guises, including traditional Malay satay sauce. All super delicious and cheap, we left with our stomachs full as well as our pockets. On top of the hawker stands and curry houses, the night markets are an additional star on the already amazing repertoire of Malaysian cuisine.

Much to my dismay the small backpack that I had purchased at a Kuala Lumpur market started to tear apart after only a week of use, so another one had to be purchased (yes I know there's a lesson to be learned there somewhere!).  I bought another this time from a proper shop, as you may know I am not the biggest fan of golf, but an Arnold Palmer branded bag got the nod. It looks the sturdiest and the best value and I am fairly confident that this one should last out the trip.

Yesterday (24th) with our scooter, we visited the area around the limestone craig Gunung Mat ChinChang that overhangs everything in Langkawi. It has a wonderful waterfall and pot holes called the Seven Wells on its slopes. But to top it all off, there is a cable car going right to the top of the mountain, an impressive bit of Engineering, but it is an incredibly steep incline over the jungle canopy that left my wife white with fear. On reaching the top of the island you are rewarded with incredible views of the island and the surrounding sea. 

Having cleared immigration we have now officially left Malaysia and it safe to say we have enjoyed our time here. Food is the main attraction in Malaysia along with KL's skyscrapers, Penang's history and Langkawi's natural beauty. Also let’s not forget in our case the return to relative civilisation after travelling in India.

But it wouldn’t be fair to leave Malaysia without mentioning the famous Durian. There are many tropical fruits in Malaysia but the lingering stench from these brutes is everywhere in this country and the taste is renowned as a great divider. Pictured in the front left to the photo below the Durian looks like a medival mace that has been bent out of shape, the outer shell is cracked open to reveal a yellow flesh surrounding the inner stone and the flesh is the creamy goodness (?) that Malaysians crave. I remembered them from my last trip to Malaysia and my memory told me that I liked them so I was keen to get another taste and for my wife to try one. We bought some from a market stand in KL and we both absolutely hated it. I was telling myself that it was an acquired taste and that I liked it before so I persisted until it was all gone. Once finished I started jogging my memory to my last encounter with a Durian and I remembered that I had actually hated it on that occasion as well! Oh well, only had 24 hours of burps and repeating from the stink to live with. So although Malaysia has amazing street food I will have to refrain from naming it the culinary capital of the world based on the existence of these dreadful things.

We are now headed to southern Thailand, famous for its glorious beaches and islands. Although plentiful, many of the islands are now high end resorts or crawling with rowdy "gap year" students, so deciding on one was our biggest problem. We settled on the Trang islands in the south as they are relatively undeveloped islands and don't require a torturous journey for island hopping, so our next stop is Koh Mook.

Penang

Days 58 –60

The Straits of Melacca is our present location as we speed to the paradise island of Langawki of the very North West coast of peninsular Malaysia from Georgetown’s Swettenham jetty  in Penang.  Our stay in Penang has been interesting; an altercation with our bus driver was followed by gorging down the famous sea food in uncomfortably hot and humid conditions. 

Although we are still spending more than in India, the spending spree that we undertook in KL is now well reigned in. In hindsight it is easy to see why it happened. It is something that could never have happened in India, mainly due to their sales techniques. Securing the sale is not the primary objective of Indian retailers no; they are more interested in extracting as much money as possible from you simply because you are white and therefore very rich. A week in India teaches you this lesson very quickly and leaves you on edge when purchasing anything for fear you are being overcharged. The result is a stressful experience that you try to avoid so you end up buying only the necessities. Malaysia on the other hand has similar marketing techniques to the West, which involve trying to inform you (biasedly admittedly) into making your own decision. The sales assistants are just an extension of this and are purely there to help. The result is that you are more relaxed and will make a reasoned decision as to the purchase of the product, they will simply guide you towards the sale even if it involves giving the customer a better deal.  As an example the sales assistant for our netbook was only too happy to throw in a good sturdy case of our choice to secure the deal. My wife commented “Imagine trying to do that in India!” I laughed because in India it would have been a haggling and bartering session that would not have been worth the hassle, end result? Disgruntled customer, and no sale for the retailer. 

Our bus journey on Thursday (20^th) afternoon through the Palm tree oil plantations of the West Coast of Malaysia was punctuated by bus changes. I thought this irregular since our bus was supposed to be going directly to Georgetown, Penang and even more so since when on our third bus we eventually crossed the 8km long bridge onto Penang island, we turned left, instead of right for Georgetown, the main city. After a few kilometers travelling in the opposite direction from Georgetown, the bus stopped and the driver announced this was the final stop and all the other passengers proceeded to get off the bus. I knew that this was wrong so I started to question the driver about Georgetown. He told me that this was Georgetown and I rebuked that we were at least 10kms away. “Final Stop! Final Stop! Get out! Get out!” he retorted. This of course was like a red rag to a bull for me and I dug my heels in and told him I wasn’t moving until he took us to Georgetown. In the confusion my wife wisely got off the bus to check on our backpacks as she saw a man unloading all the luggage. Another tourist had caught on to my gripe as well and started arguing with the driver but she stepped off and immediately the driver closed the door and sped off with me still in the bus. My first reaction was “Great I won, he’s going to Georgetown” but then I quickly realised that I was minus a wife with luggage. Then the driver said, “When I stop you get out.” He stopped a few hundred meters up the road and after exchanging a few suitable words with the driver I got off the bus and made my way back to my wife with my tail firmly between my legs. She was wisely still standing there with two Australian ladies who were advising her about calling the police. My ego, temper, and pride were all the cause of my predicament when really I should have realised, “You’re not in your own country, it’s not just you here, cut your losses and get a taxi or bus into Georgetown.” The other problem of course was the driver who was a . . . . ( well you can see from my story yourself what he was!), and the bus that we caught. We didn’t catch it from the bus station itself rather from outside the station, so it was a private company and obviously a bunch of chancers at that. So my advice for travelling the buses in Malaysia is to take the bus from the designated bus stations.

Standing on the side of the road beside the obscure bus station on the outskirts of Georgetown my ever resourceful and calm wife found a bus that was going into the city. We were soon on our way into town for 2Ringitt (£ 0.40/$0.50) each, problem solved. The only long term damage was to my ego after the bus driver had quite easily, if harshly, dealt with my protest.

Despite being on an island and only connected by one bride to the mainland, Penang is a one of the most densely populated and economically successful states in Malaysia. It has a total population of 1.5 million of mostly ethnic Chinese with the Malays and Indian making up significant minorities. Georgetown was discovered by the British East India Company in 1592 using it initally as what was effectively a pirate base to plunder local comerical vessels. In 1786 they decided to establish a trading and naval base there and despite its role in the opium trade and being taken over by the Japanese during WWII it remained British until Malaysian independence in 1957. 

Our bus dropped us off in the city centre and we picked up a fellow backpacker on our quest for a cheap room for the night in Chinatown. The lady was from Curaco in the Caribbean and had been travelling in SE Asia for over a year and financed herself by selling products with designs inspired from her travels.  Pretty cool to actually turn travelling into a business and not a bad old lifestyle if you want it. You can see her website here: http://www.valerieparisius.com/

It seems strange for a Chinatown to exist in what is an essentially Chinese city, but exist it does and once again the enterprising Chinese help out the budget traveller. Our room was cheap, but didn’t have its own bathroom and you should hear a pin drop in the guesthouse making prolonged sleep difficult.

We had been starving all day from our exertions with buses and drivers, but Penang is a great place to quell your hunger and we headed straight for a food court. A food court is a covered seated area surrounded by food stands that serve up different types of food to the patrons. There are usually a few TVs and flashing neon light around and this one in particular also had a stage in the middle were a few singers were treating us to their talents.

Malaysian street food is unreal and Penang in particular is renowned the world over, combining unorthodox recipes with even weirder aesthetics to make delicious food. Our top picks are as follows:

Roti Canai: A type of Malay Indian breakfast bread cooked on a hot plate. Somewhere between a crepe pancake and chapatti, served with curry/dal dips. Greasy but delicious, keeps you going until lunch.

Fish Head Soup: Expensive and scary looking but this is seriously tasty. Served with eyes and all this has a surprising amount of meat in what looks like a snapper head. Cooked up with Veg in a tomato puree curry soup this will leave your taste buds and tummy totally satisfied.

Cendol: A crushed ice desert that at first sight and taste gives the impression this isn’t quite right. A few more bites though and the sugar cane flavoured ice and miscellaneous sweet green thingys that shouldn’t go with the beans left us ravenous for more

On Sunday we went sightseeing through Georgetown, first stop; the Peranakan Mansion. The Peranakan Chinese were the initial population of Chinese who lived on the island, they adopted elements of both Malay and British culture. Their heyday was the adjoining halves of the 19^th and 20^th centuries and they had an aristocratic outlook and appearance; the mansion is really a museum to their lifestyles. Set about a central courtyard with balconies it is adorned with intricate trimmings and furniture inlayed with gold and marble decorations. These days the Pernakan lifestyle is all but extinct after merging into mainstream Chinese society.

The humidity combined with the heat was totally insufferable; I was sweating profusely from energetically sitting in the shade of the mansion. A brief meander of the colonial district and its imposing buildings was followed by a walk around the octagonal sea garrison of Fort Cornwallis. We declined to tour the inside because I had visited 10 years ago and deemed it average enough and the cannons and stone walls were unlikely to interest my wife. Relief from stickiness started to break out as the ominous thunderheads rose from the mainland port of Butterworth.

Our saunter brought us around to the jetty before the downpour broke and we bought our tickets to Langkawi, a famed tropical island north from Penang. More street food followed and we were off to bed for a fitful night’s sleep followed for our early start Monday morning. Now as the twin hulled ferry glides us to Langkawi my wife catches 40 (or maybe 50!) winks and I have the chance to write my post on the net book instead of rushing this afternoon to do it at an internet café.

Kuala Lumpur

Days 56-58

We have arrived safe and well in Malaysia, where the weather is sticky and wet, the prices more expensive but the food fantastic. We have spent the last two days sightseeing the old and new of KL and unleashing ourselves on a relief fuelled spending spree.

Kuala Lumpur or KL as it is more popularly known is a modern city with high rises, freeways, monorails and shopping malls and an ever expanding population in the surrounding area of over 7 million. Amazingly enough except for a small mining village there was no one here only just over a hundred years ago. But cue a tin mining boom that along with its central position in Malaysia and the city was soon expanding into the international commercial power house that it is today.

The gleaming towers and economic success story aside, Malaysia has underlying social problems involving tension between the three main ethnic groups of indigenous Malays, Chinese, and Indians. The latter two were colonial migrants to the country brought for their skills in various industries. These skills fuelled the economy of British Malaya at the time and after Malaysian independence their skills allowed them to reap the rewards of this success for themselves. The traditional Malay industries were not as profitable and they soon felt they were being left behind in their own country. In 1969 this erupted into racial riots that resulted in the death of 196 people, although the real number is believed to be as high as 2000, mostly ethnic Chinese. As a result the government introduced laws that would favour the ethnic Malays allowing them to gain an equal footing in society. In effect the laws are a form of ethnic discrimination, in other countries it was called apartheid, but they look set to continue here in Malaysia. The government frequently uses the "relieving ethnic tension" card to justify their existence.  The Malays are almost all Muslim and it is a very conservative society, which has also spilled over into Islamic laws being introduced and enforced on the minorities whose faiths include Tao, Buddist and Hindu. Despite 40 years of this open discrimination the Chinese and Indian minorities continue to be highly successful in the business world in Malaysia.

Our flight from Kochi was only four hours long, which along with the time change meant that we touched down at 6 o’clock on Thursday (18^th) morning. The coach ride into the city took an hour, compared to the two hours it took to Kochi airport and was considerably smoother, things were looking better. This is my fourth visit to KL and I had previously mentioned to my wife about the efficient public transport system here and now we had the opportunity to ride it to get to our destination in Chinatown from the bus stop. We hit the LRT at 8:30am and the queues and delays were catastrophic due to technical difficulties. As I gruffed and moaned about our situation, my wife kindly reminded me about my earlier praise for this system, which we were suffering at the hands off.  It was 9:45am before we reached Chinatown which was actually only one stop away, we clearly should have walked! The hotels here aren't great value in comparison to India, but still not bad compared to European standards we told ourselves as we nestled into our tight cuboid.

After a nap to add some hours sleep to the two we eked out the plane we set about getting some nourishing food. As well as the KL transport system, I had often praised the street food in Malaysia, it is without a doubt the best street food in the world, so our first meal here of course would have to be a McDonalds! Our craving for something familiar overcame everything else and we gorged down our Big Macs. After two months without beef (or any other meat for that matter), the burgers (which of course are made from 100% beef!) tasted divine; never had I felt like a deserved a Big Mac more!

Malaysia is awash with Western Brands and as we were crossing the street my wife let out a shriek, I turned around to see what the matter was and she was exclaiming “Kenny Rogers Roasters”. I had never heard of this establishment before but it turns out it was a long since extinguished food outlet in America and in its heyday my wife’s favourite haunt. In her younger days she was always dragging her family there to an infinitely empty restaurant for an average and overpriced meal. Perhaps it was the name that was the real attraction though.

We waited until Friday before we sampled Kenny’s wares and we went off to the old centre of KL, Merdekh Square, where a cricket pitch lies amongst the colonial buildings making it look like a strange combination of Sion Mills, LA and Mumbai. We then headed to Little India (yes, you would have thought we had enough!) for one of my favourite snacks in Malaysia: Roti Canai and Iced Lemon (which is actually lime) Tea. It was delicious, but I will talk more about food at our next destination, Penang.

On Friday our spending spree began in earnest. It started with a trip to a market in Little India for a much needed new small backpack. We then took the LRT, which redeemed its reputation by swiftly transporting us to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). A shiny commercial area and home to the Petronas twin towers, former holders of the title of world’s tallest building. Beneath the towers is a glittering shopping mall, 6 stories of every brand name you would expect plus a few more. 

Malaysia is a manufacturer of electronic equipment and to increase demand, does not charge tax on these products. Throughout our trip and even beforehand we have debated the pros and cons of buying a netbook or tablet. India prices were higher than at home, but now we were in Malaysia and most likely the cheapest place we could buy one so it was decision time. Since we had managed this far without one it was always looking like we would make do. But the writing of the blog consumes nearly all of my time in internet cafes. Plus our pending move and job hunt is going to consume even more time on computer. So with numerous establishments offering free wifi, a computer would mean this could all be done free of charge and in our own time. Long term need and cost were the main cons, but the computer marketers won in the end and we went for it! I am now writing this post from a brand new Toshiba NB520. Hopefully for you it will mean that my posts are better without the pressure of an imaginary stop watch constantly ticking behind me.

Rain and a movie meant that we spent five hours wandering the mall before making our way to KL tower. This tower sits atop a hill meaning that you can actually view the Petronas towers from above. After forking out 47 Ringgit (£9.60/$15.40) each to ascend, we were treated to a dazzling night view of the city and the towers. Realities of travelling beckoned though and we had laundry to do so we headed back to Chinatown. But this didn’t involve our usual slog in a bucket with soap and subsequent peeling hands and chaffed knuckles. No! Malaysia has washing machines and dryers! This means proper dry clean clothes, Alleluia!

This morning (Saturday 20^th) we have taken off in an executive style bus (which is the standard here) for the island of Penang, and its bustling capital Georgetown, the widely regarded King of the Hawker Stand