... home again, home again, jiggety jig!

We did our normal city trick in KL. Namely, begin with an outline plan, start walking, change plans a couple of times and by the end of the day we have covered a lot of ground and seen most of what we wanted to see. Of course finding street side snacks and cafes en route is par for the course. We decided not to join the hordes in going up the Petronas Towers, once the tallest building in the world but rather the Menara KL Tower, the 5th largest communications tower in the world, figuring that at least we'd have something impressive to look at from 300m up in the sky. It gave us a good idea of the layout of the city too. At the bottom of the tower they have set up a zip line (about 30 m up and 70 m long) which Becca wanted to go on, so she did...not once but twice! She was very brave and loved it. After the tower the hunt was on for coffee to have with our doughnuts we'd bought from a street vendor. Moving into the business district that wasn't too hard to find. We then headed off to Chinatown with a little, well more than little, detour into Little India as we got a bit lost for a while. In Chinatown we also walked through the Central Market which was nicely done even for us non-shoppers. We then wasted some time trying to find a bus to the Butterfly Park. The public transport system in KL is very disjointed with bits belonging to different companies and no real co-ordination at all. Needless to say, we gave up and just walked there. It was a toss up between the limestone caves on the outskirts of the city or the butterflies in the Lake Gardens precinct: the butterflies prevailed.

Another longish walk back to catch the monorail back to Bukit Bintang where we were staying. We ended up in the Pavilion, a massive shopping centre that makes Hyde Park and Sandton shopping centres look a bit "provincial", on the hunt for supper. Its food court was extensive and we were spoilt for choice. All types of Asian and western cuisines were catered for.

The next morning we again bought our joghurt and juices from Carrefours to supplement the fruit and toast provided by our guesthouse. Packed our bags and started our long homeward trek. This consisted of: monorail to KL Sentral, catch airport bus to KLIA, fly to Hong Kong, transfer to HK departures and then wait 6 hrs for our late night flight to JNB.

Our flights both arrived at their destinations early so we landed at OR Tambo just after 6 o clock yesterday morning. By the time we'd fetched bags, cleared immigration and customs and had a nice cup of coffee, our friend Jane had arrived through the chilly morning mist to pick us up. Hooray!

Now it is just the jet lag to deal with and re-acclimatising to winter...brrrrrr!
Oh yes ...and also hopefully start planning another trip! Who knows when and who knows where to? But what we do know is that there is loads more to see and experience in this beautiful world of ours.

For now, the bushcats rest!

Pulau Perhentian

Can't believe it's the 5th July already! Two more sleeps in Malaysia, one on the plane and we are home.
To business: The Perhentian islands were magic. We caught our Air Asia flights, first to KL and then on to Kota Bahru, just south of the Thai border in a pretty strongly Muslim area of Malaysia. We spent the night at Crystal Lodge, nothing much to write home about, and got some food around the corner. We tried murtabak, a griddle bread, from a street vendor which was quite tasty. While we were eating teriyaki chicken and chips elsewhere, the heavens opened and there was an almighty storm. Luckily we didn't get too soaked running back to the hotel. Next morning we caught a taxi (yep, splashing out as the public transport to our next port of call is a bit convoluted) to Kuala Besut where we were to catch the 10 am ferry to Bubbles Dive Resort on Perhentian Besar. A 35 min or so ride in a motorboat found us deposited on the beach in front of Bubbles, our home for the next 3 nights. It was great, a real desert island getaway. The snorkelling off the beach in front was good. We saw a couple of black tipped reef sharks and lots of colourful fish and many clams. They run a turtle conservation NGO (ecoteer) from Bubbles so we went to talks by the resident marine biologist on coral and turtles. We met some of the "turtle girls", volunteers who do turtle watch during the night, research and beach clean-ups. Nice! Rebecca was also able to do some crafty stuff with Lucy (the house keeping supervisor from England) and some of the other staff members. She painted, modelled clay turtles and they made a board game. While she was occupied doing that we got some snorkelling in. We also did a half day snorkelling tour around the island where we got to swim with turtles and snorkel the Coral Garden which was beautiful. We also snorkelled at Shark Point where Kaz and BW saw a shark which was apt! Weather was mostly overcast (but hot) which saved us from getting too baked by the sun while snorkelling. Bubbles was also home to flying lemurs (Cynocephelus variegates) which we watched from the dining area at night. It flies from tree to tree with a batman-like cape. Quite amazing.

We retraced our steps this morning and arrived in KL at about 4:30 pm. We caught the Skybus to KL Sentral and then the monorail to Birkut Bintang where our guest house is. We walked around the corner to a road lined with Chinese foodstalls where we had a delicious meal of satay, sesame honey chicken, kai lan (greens in garlic) and pork. Tomorrow a day exploring KL.

Borneo and Birthday

Firstly, thanks to everyone who has commented on blog and sent birthday greetings! I really appreciate it. Sorry I won't have time to reply to blog comments individually (actually, I don't know how!)

Anyway let's talk Malaysia.

Well, Kansai Airport, the nearest one to Kyoto and Osaka, is amazing. Recipe for a new airport: Take one island, flatten all the mountains on it, build an incredibly long bridge for cars and trains, and start building. Mix and stir for 20 years and keep adding billions of dollars. Our Malaysian Airline flight was uneventful albeit a bit bumpy, and on arrival in KL we caught a bus to the LCC terminal (domestic one) where we were leaving from early the next morning. Of course I knew where we were staying (Tune Hotel - 500 m from the terminal) but hadn't booked it. Sod's law: they were full! Anyway there is always a plan B and we found a less convenient place about a 20 min taxi ride away on the other side of the Sepang F1 circuit. Booked a 5:30am taxi, had dinner and crashed. Nice to eat fruit again after Japan where 1 apple costs R15 and a peach about R20. They were huge export quality but still.

Our Air Asia flights to Sandakan, east Sabah were fine for a low cost airline. We shared a taxi with some Kiwis to Uncle Tan's and then waited for our trip to the river. It is really hot and humid here. We had a tasty lunch and then off in a minibus to the Kinabatangan river, about an hour in the bus and the same again by boat to Uncle Tan's jungle retreat. We are with a nice bunch of people and the staff here are something else. They are a 24 hr cabaret act. There is always someone singing or playing the guitar. (Mike Hall would love it!!) Place is basic with huts sleeping up to 6 on mattresses with overhanging mozzie nets. Yep, them bitey things are here too but supposedly not malarial.
Even though we did see the detrimental affect of commercial plantations, for the most part the riverine areas look great. We saw loads of animals and birds in the 3 days we were there. I think a separate birding trip somewhere in Borneo would be fantastic looking at their bird books.

For my birthday, at dinner time they had organised a cake and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" (the English and Malay versions) accompanied by the "Uncle Tan's singers" complete with guitar and tambourine. Quite amazing to spend my 50th out in deepest darkest Borneo. Even though it was my birthday and "they" should have known, it was only on our last morning that the elusive orangutans showed themselves. They are solitary and we were lucky enough to see two of these "Men of the Forest" sitting in trees eating. That was the treat to top all others.

We are now back at Uncle Tan's ops base in Sepilok, outside Sandakan. We visited the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary this afternoon and are back on a plane (2 actually) tomorrow. First back to KL and then on to Kota Bahru where we will spend the night en route for the Perhentian Islands (Perhentian Besar to be precise: check them out on Google Earth - if they are only half as good as they look...!). Hopefully we find somewhere to stay!!

Japan - The End

My last blog from Japan. Amazing how time flies. No more free internet at the moment so chasing the clock too. From Hakone we caught a Tozan bus all the way to Odawara for us to pick up the shinkansen once again. This time Odawara - Shin-Osaka (50 min stop) - Hiroshima. The train's top speed on this leg was 285 km/h so definitely not pedestrian. We had time once we got to Hiroshima to walk to the A-Dome site as well as the Peace Park Memorial, very well done and very sobering too. It is quite incredible to see the devastation caused by the bomb. An area of 2 km around the epicentre was absolutely flattened. Interestingly we saw no visible signs of Starbucks nor McDonald's on our walks around the city? Found 7-Eleven though where we stocked up on our breakfast stuff.
The next day we were back on a train bound for Miyajima-guchi, the stepping off point for Miyajima Island. The JR rail passes working overtime for us luckily. By pure chance the tide was still high enough for us to enjoy the classic sight of the floating tori rising out of the sea. Very impressive and unusual too. We walked through the Itsukishima shrine and then on towards the Daisho-in Temple which was set away from the ferry terminal higher up the hill... it was such a peaceful spot we could have stayed wandering around there for hours. Mindful of the fact that we had a train to catch we headed back to catch the ferry. One of the so-called "wild" deer took a shine to us and tried to eat my shirt, Rebecca's ice-cream and drink Kaz's coffee! Anyway, back to Hiroshima where we had sushi for lunch at K's guest house and then wiled away the time reading until we set off to catch the Shinkansen Rail Star to Kyoto, this time a 5 min stop at Shin-Osaka to change trains. Using trains that hit 285 km/h is certainly the way to travel. We are staying at Tour Club in Kyoto, a bit of a disappointment after our K's experiences. It is looking a bit tired and very busy. Anyway we have hardly spent any time here as we have been out and about. There are around 1600 temples in Kyoto so you have to be quite choosy or have a lot of time! We hit some of the more famous one's and also some that have impressive zen gardens so we have seen a nice mix. I am not going to bore you with all the details here (anyway my clock ticks on!)
We also managed to see a geisha or meiko on our way through the Gion district which was quite special. There aren't too many of them still knocking about. We also went to the famous Nishiki Market especially to see the food and the kitchen utensil section but at 6pm they were practically all closing which was a pain.
Today we went to Nara, a 40 min train ride away, which was the capital for about 74 years. On the way, we first stopped at Inari station to visit the Fushimi Shrine. This one was brilliant. It has avenues of thousands of the red toris (gates) winding up and down the mountainside. This is definitely a must-see! In Nara we visited Toda-ji Temple. It is the largest wooden building in the world and houses the largest budha in the world too. It is a world heritage sight as well I think. It is not too surprising that in a country with 120 million people, the majority of the tourists are locals. We came across this in China too. So everywhere is pretty busy.
Anyway, hope all is well and will try to blog again from Borneo!!

Hakone - day two

Well, the next day couldn't have been more different. After our dip in the inside onsen we caught a bus back towards Gora. First to check out the Open-air museum as recommended by David and Lolly (good plan as not only was it an excellent venue to see top notch sculptures - they also did good coffee, the best so far). After a good 3 hours at the museum, BW also got to play on some amazing exhibits, we retraced our steps of the previous day, train, cable car, ropeway etc. The weather was very kind, no low lying cloud, just great views of Mt. Fuji again. As a friendly Japanese man said to us on the ropeway: " You very rucky, not normal to see this time of year!" After the ropeway we headed back to retrieve our bags and catch the ship to cross Lake Ashinoko down to our next guest house, Moto-Hakone GH, sister to Fuji-Hakone GH. We had a brilliant crossing, weather and visibility perfect. No sooner had we dropped our bags off and headed back to the lake shore to find supper, the mist had rolled in and we couldn't see a thing. Talk about divine timing! We walked part of the Old Tokkaido Highway (parts still in the shade of old Cedar trees planted to shade travellers of old) and then caught a bus back to our digs where we headed for bed.

Fuji-san shows himself

We left K's Tokyo Oasis hoping that all our future accommodation would be as good. We had to go, we had an appointment with the Shinkansen, the bullet train! We first took the Tskuba Express to Akihabara, the electronics district, where, as we had a couple of minutes to spare, we had a quick look around. Luckily most of the shops weren't open yet - it being only 9am - so the temptation to check out all the new electronic stuff shop to shop was quelled and we moved on to Tokyo station pronto. Got there on the JR Yamonote line which gave us our first chance to flash our Japan Rail Passes, yippee!
The shinkansen was unlike any train we'd ever seen, sleek, streamlined and the front looked flying swan-like. I suppose what was more amazing was how the train was treated by its staff... with respect. The cleaning staff moved through the cabins before we boarded, taking real care in what they did. The white-gloved station staff went through the motions of checking doors, checking the time and waving their flags with a diligence we are just not used to. The conductor and the "trolley-dolly"on board the train would bow as they entered and exited each carriage. Can you imagine if the Blue Train staff took even half as much interest/care in the way they carried out their respective roles? Wow!
The trip to Odara - gateway to the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park - was a short 35 minute hop on the bullet. The Hakone area is the closest resort to Tokyo and certainly gets its fair share of domestic tourists - it was busy. Luckily on the way there we had the most amazing views of Mt Fuji from the train. It just popped its head out above the clouds, it looked fantastic. Just like on all the calendars. We decided to head directly to the Fuji-Hakone Guest House, dump our bags and then sight-see after that. Of course to do that we first had to catch the switchback Hakone Tozan train to Gora via a change at Hakone- Yumote, then catch the Tozan cable car to Sounzan (more like a funicular tram than our cable cars), then the Tozan Ropeway (like our cable cars) to Togendai and then a boring old Tozan bus to Senkyoro-Mae where we were staying. The weather had closed in as we caught the last ropeway and as such the view of Mt Fuji was non-existent. (So lucky that we'd already glimpsed the peak from the train). Our guest house was great. It had two onsen (hot spring baths), one inside and one outside. We walked around the vicinity of the guest house and chanced upon a beautiful shrine stretching up the mountainside. Full of mossy stone statues and a gorgeous pond full of massive koi and budha statues. It was beautiful and deserted. As the cloud was right down it looked so peaceful and mystical. Luckily it wasn't mentioned in any guide book otherwise it would probably be overrun. Found a tiny place to eat before going back to enjoy our half an hour private slot in the outside onsen...pure bliss and the end of a magic day.

A dream realised

We caught an early train for Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan. We wanted to attend a church service in Christ Church on the Bluff. More by luck than design we caught two express trains and were at Yokohama Station in no time at all. We then changed to the Yokohama subway and travelled a couple of stops to Motomachi. A short uphill walk from the station and the America-Yama Park, past the Yokohama Foreign Cemetery and we were there, at least 15 minutes before the service was to begin. I recognised the church from a card my mum had kept all these years. It was 43 years ago that my eldest brother Chris, an officer with Safmarine had taken ill and died in these waters. It was in this church 43 years ago they had conducted a memorial service for him and it was here that we too were to attend a service. I know that my mum would have loved to come herself but that wasn't to be. As it is Father's Day I can indulge myself and say how immensely grateful I am that I have a family that is so supportive to allow me to realise my dream of coming here too.