Mainland Malaysia and back to Singapore

After a fantastic wilderness adventure in Malaysian Borneo, I flew back to Kuala Lumpur (known as KL) for the second time, to meet my old friend Jodi. Both of us studied at McGill University together in Montreal, but it wasn't until New York that we became friends. Jodi is also traveling solo around the world and we figured it would be fun to meet up and see some of Southeast Asia together.

I wasn't that excited to be back in Kuala Lumpur. I had spent two nights in the Malaysian capital before flying to Borneo, and you can really do and see everything in only two days. On my first visit I stayed in Chinatown, and spent my time visiting the iconic Petronas twin towers, the KLCC shopping center which puts other high end malls to shame, the botanic gardens, and the famous night market on Petaling Street, where you can buy every fake designer shirt, watch, and handbag brand. For my second time in the city, we stayed in the Golden Triangle neighborhood, in a fantastic hostel called the Red Palm. The place felt like a family home that opened their doors to tired backpackers who needed a little TLC.

With another two days, we basically checked out the same sights as I did on my first trip, but added a visit to the Batu Caves, which blew my mind. These Hindu caves are about a forty five minute bus ride from downtown. From the entrance gate, you then need to walk up two hundred and seventy-two stairs, dodging frisky monkeys, to get to the start of the caves. There are two large caverns with huge ceilings and mini temples inside. I had my first puja (blessing) done since India in 2001. I hadn't really seen a good religious site since Bali, and although the temples inside aren't that special, the caves themselves are what really impressed me.

Another thing that impressed me, was the abundance of good food in KL. Jodi is a foodie, so it was nice to have some company while we explored all the hawker stalls and restaurants around town. We did fight a little on cuisine style since she could eat Chinese food all day, everyday, but we also ate fantastic Indian food, and a myriad of soups, dumplings, noodle and rice dishes. And this brings me to the city of Melaka.




Melaka is a foodies' heaven, located about two hours Southwest from KL on the coast. We headed to Melaka on the Diwali holiday long weekend, so it was extra crowded, but probably more fun than normal. The city was a famous trading port, with lots of Portuguese, British, and Chinese architecture, and there is a canal that reminded me a little of Venice. So you can imagine the cultural blend. For the first time in a while I was inspired to take more photos than normal.



We stayed in Chinatown, right in the heart of everything. The city was packed with Malay and Singaporean tourists and the night market on Jonkers street, was one of the best I had seen. I ate everything I could get my hands on. The city has a unique style of food called Baba-Nyonya, which is basically Chinese food with a Malay twist of spices. We ate some excellent spicy curry soups, and chicken rice balls, which are their specialties. The night market complimented this with stalls selling waffle hot dogs (no joke), and pancakes. Melaka was a nice break from all the moving about I had been doing, and we just rested and ate for about four days before heading back to Singapore.



My favorite day of the year is Halloween. I'm totally serious. For me, it's like New Years but everyone is in really fun costumes. I would even choose Halloween over my birthday. Being so far away from family and friends, and the fact that New York city has the best Halloween celebrations in the world, I had to find somewhere fun to spend the holiday. Last year I was in Banos, Ecuador, and we didn't even dress up. This year I was determined to go all out...as much as I could with a limited wardrobe and budget. So, we headed back to Singapore to see our friends.

It was also convenient that Halloween in Singapore coincided with the first Asian Youth Energy Summit, hosted by the National University. With a little help from friends, we arranged some passes for the two day conference all about renewable energy and sustainability. I had read a great Time magazine issue about their heroes of the environment, and they had profiled Joachim Luther, a leading scientist on Solar energy, who spoke at the summit. It was a really thought provoking two days for me, and we sat in on some amazing panels. It felt good to learn again after more than a year on the road. Thanks to the Garag3 crew of Justin and Bjorn who took us out to karaoke (with google), and let us crash on their office floor for our four days, and to Mohan who hooked us up with the conference passes, and showed us a crazy Halloween night.



As for the Halloween festivities, we partied for two nights, and realized that Singapore is an amazing spot to celebrate this holiday. On the night of the 30th, we met up with my friends Taylor and Lee and crashed an INSEAD party at a bar with the best live cover band I have ever seen. The lead singer looked like the actress Tia Carrere (from Wayne's World), and we danced all night to American rock anthems. For Halloween night, we went to the Butter Factory club at Robertson Quay. I had never seen so many clever and intricate costumes in one place. I felt a little inadequate in my basic cowboy costume, but I've got some good ideas for next year! I honestly can't do justice by describing the costumes at the party, so you'll just have to see the photos. They're awesome.

Here are my photos of Kuala Lumpur and Melaka, and Halloween in Singapore.

Sipadan, a divers dream come true

The island of Sipadan is located in the Celebes Sea, off the Southeastern side of Malaysian Borneo. For years, divers have been coming to the island for the pristine coral reefs and abundance of marine life. Formed on top of an extinct volcano, the walls drop down to 600 meters on all sides. In 2004, the government kicked out the island resorts and limited the daily divers. Two months ago the government limited the daily numbers again to one hundred and twenty people, so I was lucky, and thankful to get a permit.

After meeting tons of travelers who recommended Sea Ventures, I booked a three night, two day package on their live aboard oil rig, off the coast of Mabul island. The rig was set up as a housing station for oil drillers, but the project never took off, and so it became a live aboard for dive enthusiasts. The rig is located less than a kilometer off the shore from Mabul island, which is now the closest island with resorts to Sipadan. For about $350 USD, I had a private room with amazing meals, and unlimited diving of local reefs.

I was only able to get a one day permit for Sipadan, but I squeezed in three morning dives to the sites of Barracuda Point, Coral Gardens, and Hanging Gardens. The first dive we did to Barracuda Point literally blew my mind. This is what diving was made for. We dropped down between a school of jack fish, with hundreds of them swimming around us in a circle. Below us were four white tip reef sharks, and in the distance I saw 2 sea turtles. All this within the first thirty seconds of the dive. After descending we quickly made our way to see the famous barracuda that are found early in the morning. Before we knew it, we were looking up to see about a thousand barracuda circling around us. I was in heaven. Not since I learned to dive in the Red Sea did I feel so alive and privileged to witness this underwater world. I've been let down too many times by over hyped dive sites that claim to be world class. The blue hole in Belize, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, just to name a few. But this place lived up to the hype. I literally lost count of the number of sea turtles and sharks I saw on each dive. The coral was better than Fiji, so vibrant and alive, with tons of fish. More fish than I've ever seen in one area. This is what a healthy reef is supposed to look like. The difference is night and day when you dive Sipadan, then dive around Mabul with it's dead coral. I'm happy the government has limited the number of daily divers, it's the only way to protect the reefs.

Between each dive we relaxed on the shores of Sipadan. The island is tiny and the former resorts have been turned into army barracks, for the soldiers stationed there to protect it and the tourists. If I could live on an island, this is where I would go. Beautiful white sand, turquoise water, palm trees, and silence.

Seriously, if you can take a week off of work and don't mind a little jet lag. Fly to Kuala Lumpur, then catch a cheap flight on Air Asia to Tawau. From there it's a two hour drive to Semporna where the speed boats will take you to resorts on Mabul or Sea Ventures oil rig. Once you are here you can relax, dive, and repeat. After working on the live aboard in Australia, it was actually nice to be a customer for once.

Take my advice, and book well in advance to ensure more than a day of diving at Sipadan. I did several dives around Mabul Island and Kapalai on the days I couldn't get a permit, and it wasn't the same. I had Sipadan envy. These sites do have some cool artificial reefs with decent marine life, and wrecks, but the corals are mostly dead, and I felt like I was just killing time with these dives.

Here are my photos of diving Sipadan and Mabul. The underwater photos are courtesy of Susan an instructor at Sea Ventures.

Some other dive operators that visit Sipadan are Scuba Junkie, and Sipadan Scuba. If you want ultra luxurious, try staying at the Sipadan Water Village, or the Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART).

Reborn in Borneo

Borneo, where the hell is that? Unfortunately, geography taught in North American schools usually doesn't cover Borneo, or Southeast Asia for that matter. For some, the only recognition of Borneo comes from a season of the reality show Survivor, that used one of the outer islands as its location. Pretty sad isn't it? But to be honest, I wasn't too sure of where Borneo was located before getting to this side of the world. But I am really glad that I made the decision to visit.

The island of Borneo is shared between both Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysian Borneo is divided into the two states of Sarawak and Sabah. I decided to give myself two weeks to visit Sabah, the easternmost point in Borneo, and that was the perfect amount of time to explore the cities, mountains, and jungle.

I spent a couple days in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, and then took a cheap and easy flight on Air Asia to the city of Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. KK as it's known, isn't a destination in itself. It's a working city, the largest in Sabah, and a main point of entry for tourists visiting Borneo. I had only planned on staying a night, but due to a health scare, I spent an additional two days in the hospital. I was actually at the base camp of Mt. Kinabalu, celebrating one year on the road, when I decided to travel two hours back to KK to see a doctor. The first day was spent in the Queen Elizabeth public hospital, which was a sight in itself. The place was old, and cramped for space. I'd be a little scared to have surgery here. Later that same night I checked myself into the Sabah Medical Center (SMC), which was a private facility. Talk about night and day. The SMC reminded me of any western hospital back home. But the prices were about ten times the amount. To give you an example, I paid roughly $15 for an emergency room visit with a doctor at Queen Elizabeth. At the SMC, I paid $150. Still, it's much cheaper than back home, but it reminded me that health care is a business, and the wealthy can afford much better treatment. It's unfortunate.



After one night in the hospital, a clean bill of health, some antibiotics, and a ton of pain killers, I decided to go back to Kinabalu National Park and climb the 13,435 foot (4,095 m) peak of Mount Kinabalu, one of the highest peaks this side of the Himalayas. The climb was fantastic, and I did it in two days and one night, which is pretty standard. It's a challenging hike, but not technical.

Here is a rough timeline:
Day 1

• Leave base camp at around 10:00 am


• Hike straight up for 6 kilometers. The hike takes about 6 hours, and the last two kilometers are like climbing stairs, but a little harder.


• Sleep at summit lodge of Laban Rata. It's actually a pretty nice place with dorm beds, hot showers, and great food. So you're not really roughing it.

Day 2

• Wake up at 2 am


• Hike straight up for 2.5 kilometers using ropes at times for balance.


• Get to summit around 5:30 am, for sunrise at 5:50 am. Try to stay warm. Temperature is roughly 3 degrees Celsius. Damn cold for Borneo.


• Leave summit at 6:00 am to hike down. Can't feel fingers.


• Get to summit lodge around 7:00 am. Pack and eat second breakfast of morning.


• Leave at 9:00 am to hike back down to base camp. The return hike takes about 3 hours, and is all down hill. First two kilometers are brutal. After this you slowly can't feel your knees and legs.


• Get to base camp around noon, and collapse.

But the climb is completely worth it. It's been different and hard at times traveling on my own this past month, but being out in nature, and seeing the spectacular views from the summit put a huge smile on my face. I could see the city of KK on the coast, and beyond to the surrounding islands. There were some older couples climbing at the same time and we discussed that these types of activities are priceless and worth the short term pain for the long term memories. So many times on the trek I kept thinking to myself, wow, I'm climbing a mountain in Borneo! This is living. I should also mention that I met a great group of Malaysians, an Aussie, and two Belgians who welcomed me into their group at the base camp, and were great hiking partners up the mountain.



Another must in Borneo is a visit to the jungle. From Kinabalu National Park, I traveled to the coastal city of Sandakan to unwind after the hike, and to visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC). I think orangutans are my new favorite primate. They are so cool, and hairy. The center has two feeding times per day (10:00 am and 4:00 pm), and in the morning I saw about 6 orangutans swing in from the thick jungle to a platform about thirty feet away. There were also some long tailed monkeys, but they weren't as fun to watch. After a couple hours of walking along the center's trails, hoping to see more orangutans, I headed to Uncle Tan's jungle camp.



Uncle Tan's had come highly recommend by another traveler I met, and by Lonely Planet. They offer a three day/two night jungle safari, and although it wasn't as hard core as my previous trip to Ecuador's Cuyabeno reserve, It was a fantastic trip with tons of wildlife. The camp itself is basic but unpretentious. We slept in cabins that were raised off the ground, with mattresses on the floor, and mosquito nets to keep out the critters. Some common animals that were frequently seen running around the property were wild pigs, big monitor lizards, and mischievous monkeys who got into everything, and we even had to lock our cabins since the monkeys would steal anything they could get their little hands on. I now truly understand the expression "cheeky monkey."

The first day was mostly spent traveling to the camp. A two hour drive led to the river, where we traveled downstream for another hour, frequently stopping to see the rare proboscis monkeys with long noses, pig tailed monkeys, and more long tailed monkeys. We also saw tons of birds, and several salt water crocodiles, some up to two and a half meters long. Unlike Australia, there were no warning signs, but swimming was out of the question. That night we did a boat cruise in the dark and saw a python, more monkeys, and birds.



We woke early on the second day at camp. It was the perfect time for a morning boat cruise to see the active animals before the heat kicked in. I should mention that from about noon until 5:00 pm, you can't do much because of the humidity. We just laid in hammocks and slept. Tough life, right? Although there were no showers, so by day three I was the guy you didn't want to sit next to on the bus. We did two jungle treks, one mid morning, and the second at night. The highlight for me was seeing imperial scorpions, the largest of their kind in Southeast Asia, and a massive yellow ringed snake on the night walk.

It seems that most people who visit Sabah in Borneo, tend to have the same itinerary. You climb Mount Kinabalu, visit the orangutans, do a jungle trip, and head to Sipadan for some world class diving. I can't decide if it's good or bad, but it is nice to see the same people along the way. I met some great people on the mountain and in the jungle camp. Especially Scott from Australia and Lim from Malaysia (who lives in Singapore). I also ran into familiar faces diving at Sipadan, it seemed the whole crew from Mt. Kinabalu was there.

Sipadan is a divers dream, and that will take up a whole other post. In the meantime, here are my photos from Malaysian Borneo.