looking glass

Landing in Malaysian Borneo after a whirlwind tour of the peninsula left little time for me to speculate on what gems I wanted to see in Sabah. A brief visit to the tourism board, however, alleviated me of my speculation problems in about five minutes. After reading through the concise summaries of Sabah's natural wonders I was drooling at the thought of wandering through virgin rainforests with orangutans and proboscis monkeys eyeing me from above. But, as a budget traveler, the miser in my mind was thinking that a week in the magical valley could be eight anywhere else in SE Asia. Tough decisions.

My first stop heading east from the elongated strip-mall, otherwise known as Kota Kinabalu, was the Mt. Kinabalu National park. A single goal was upstairs upon arrival - summit the highest peak in Borneo. Gnarly, nasty, disgusting right? The sheer cost of the hike is enormous, roughly $70, but I was prepared to shell out ringgit to ascend into Sabah's clouds with a guide I didn't need or want. The park ranger turned me down for a day climb since I arrived too late, but he said the following day would be acceptable. Perhaps it was a fortuitous denial, because my exploration of the mountains' surrounds was a grand experience, and begged the question -> Why would I pay $70 for a view from a mountain? To most tourists I've met this is a pittance, the cost of fun here in Sabah, but after contemplating paying for nature, I realized that I would rather save the cash for something else. So, the avid hiker in me was disappointed, but the penny-pincher and rigid moralist in me were grinning with glee. My camera was still put to good use in my two days roaming the outer trails of the park.

Hiking with the kiddies

Saving a few bucks came in handy for my current activity, scuba diving. Semporna, the gateway to some world-class dives, has been my home for the last week or so. Its' dive shops offer extremely reasonable deals on courses, and I was glad I waited to begin my diving life in eastern Sabah.

The fish and coral certainly use every shade in the spectrum, and the sensation of breathing underwater is still so foreign to me that I get that gleeful childhood smile. It is lovely to know that there are activities and adventures that can make you feel like a kid again, especially with scary words like mortgages and marriages floating around. A water-proof camera could make the budget list for the next trip, but for now everything is above the saltwater. Our boat rides featured sublime islands and some locals fishing in the Celebes Sea.

Rainbow

Scuba spot

Zissou's creation station

a few weeks hitting the hotspots in the peninsula satisfied my palate for edible goodies as well as historical interests, but left me anticipating the other side of malaysia, the one without congested highways and kitsch town centers. i have arrived, but since the adventure in borneo is still ongoing, i'll focus on what happened just a few short weeks ago.

after basking in the sun of the gorgeous perhentian islands, i took a frigid overnight bus to penang. known in the states as the comfortable abode of fiery cuisine and in britain as a cultural melting pot created by the colonial forces, its' capital georgetown blends both details with a modern flair. the indian, chinese and malay food stalls were ubiquitous, cheap and served delicious meals. the mixture of mosques, buddhist and hindu temples and a few churches served as the architectural support for a culturally diverse city. after a few walks and countless conversations i found that the citizens still retain heritage from their native lands, and are even able to study chinese and tamil at government schools. the chinese restaurant menus offered me an opportunity to read a few characters i can recognize, and also learn a few new ones with the help of the gracious staff. the visual highlights were most certainly the religious buildings, as you can see below.

a few kilometers outside of town, a massive, chinese-built buddhist temple dominates the landscape. eschewing tradition, its' maze of gift shops, restaurants and lifts do not bode well for anyone attempting to achieve spiritual peace. undoubtedly a tourist trap, the kek lok si temple is visited by those from far and wide, and for a large donation they will even write your name on a roof shingle.

leaving georgetown, i was close to flipping a coin to determine my next destination. in the end, though, i took the next bus which departed to the cameron highlands. it turned out to be quite a fortunate event because the sweaty humidity from penang was leveled by a serious drop in temperature up in the highlands. the tea plantations spanning across rolling jungle proved to be wonderful scenery for my day walks. the locals were extremely friendly and a few rides were certainly hitched during my stay.

my 48 hours in kuala lumpur was unfortunately uneventful, although a bunch of people tried to convince me to go gambling with them. that is usually a tell-tale sign that someone is offering to steal your money. if i was completely bored out of my skull i may have ventured with them, but i like my moola in my pocket. ascending to the 41st floor of the 2nd tallest building in the world was certainly the highlight, and surprisingly, it was free.

i rounded out my tour of the peninsula with a grand stay in melaka. upon arrival at the hostel i was greeted by a lovely mother who saw my guitar and remarked that her son was a musician. within 6 hours i was sitting in his studio listening to his band jamming. my amateur guitar skills were displayed with much enthusiasm from the malays, and after smoking the shisha, everything sounded far-fucking out.

i also toured the portuguese and dutch settlements, which were well-preserved and thankfully free of vehicles. a night at the bowling alley finished my stay in melaka, but a return trip to the music casa may be in order.

after enduring india's tough love for a few months a return to the friendly, cleanly thailand should have been a welcome treat. it was for a few shorts days, but then i realized how much i actually enjoyed india for its unhygienic bathrooms, filthy streets and insane street characters. the summation of these attributes, as well as a few others, have kept the majority of india off the high-roller and trendy backpacker vacation list. this fact i knew well before travelling to either india or thailand, but upon my return to bangkok, things seemed a little too orderly, a little too clean and altogether a bit tame. or maybe i was just looking in the wrong places.

after negotiating a cheap price for a used guitar, i boarded a bus to kanchanaburi, a green spot on the kwai river. known mostly for its "death railway", which was built during WWII by a myriad of prisoners "working" for the Imperial Japanese army, kanchanaburi was a pleasant way to spend a weekend. i guess that statement contains the same hidden meaning that "she's nice" does. to continue with the history lesson, the railway never made it to its intended destination of yangon, but it still runs from bangkok through kanchanaburi.

after listening to floating river karaoke for a few nights, i realized that maybe kanchanaburi should be left to the tourists. not too much of a concession from the gritty backpacking contingent.

alas, i was off to an area more densely populated with wealthy scandinavian tourists than any other in SE asia. phuket. an infamous name since the tsunami, and a place that needs no introduction to anyone in thailand. the beaches are long, the waves are big and the views are awesome.

sharing it with a few thousand people is a downer, but atleast budget accommodation still exists, barely. a few vendors also roamed the highway running by the beach. this guy sold fish balls that smelled like fish and tasted like rubber.

i also spent a few nights on the "world-class" island of ko phi phi. to say i was unimpressed is an understatement. the beaches were covered with chairs and the water full of boats. maybe it was the wrong season to be there, but after 2 nights i was sick of being stuck on an island with too many people. the hike up to the viewpoint was perhaps its only highlight.

i continued my beach theme after entering malaysia on the east side and taking an extremely fast and dangerous boat to the perhentian islands. powered by generators and lacking roads, cars and for the most part alcohol, the islands offer something thai beaches lacked - peace and quiet. it also had heaps of rain, but swimming with rainbow color fish is a fantastic way to spend a rainy day. the snorkelling 30m from the shore was absolutely sublime. i think scuba diving will have to happen somewhere in indonesia.

wishing india farewell was the task today. i roamed a few bazaars, haggled over goods i had no interest in buying, and devoured my fill of samosas and chai. arriving in new delhi this morning, my mind was buzzing with the many adventures that took place in three short months.

my desert experience began in rajasthan, and continued himalayan style in
zanskar and ladakh, the northeastern most section of the country. riddled with buddhist gompas and neverending smiles, the town of leh and its surrounds gave me a bit of hope for humanity. kind, genuine people do exist. now the mission is preventing tourists from ruining their culture. i tried to do my part by yelling at bengalis who carelessly threw rubbish on pristine ground. i also showed a little ladakhi girl that bags of empty chips reside in rubbish bins, not next to streams. i wonder where she got her idea from?

LEH

AH, NICE MARMOT

through a great organization, i had the lovely opportunity to spend four days trekking through the ladakhi wilderness, while staying with ladakhi families in mud-and-wood homes. the food was hearty, and the families were so full of love the seams were cracking on the homes. the language barrier, once again, proved to be insignificant. it seems the linguistic differences between ladakhi and english washed away in the tide of warmth and kindness. a glance at a picture or a full-blown dance gesture - the means of communication are multiplying with every interaction.

LADHAKI MAN

DONNIE DARKO?

after 2 weeks soaking up the sun in the desert, i moved on to infamous kashimir. my experience there was distinctly different from leh, but the natural beauty never ceased to amaze. i spent a few days lounging around on a houseboat in srinagar. reading, jamming on guitar and finding lunch were the most pertinent tasks. a very similar situation also presented itself outside of dharamsala, the residence of the dalai lama in exile. an israeli village about 3km from the temple served as a wonderful place to relax, listen to drum circles and overhear yogaheads chatting about the day's positions.

SRINAGAR

KASHMIR VALLEY

DALAI LAMA'S PAD

HINDU BATHING SPOT

tomorrow ill be back in bangkok, ready for more SEAsian fun. a return trip to laos may be in order, but the southern swoop through thailand, malaysia and indonesia is certainly on the docket. nothing there, however, will compare to the absolute mayhem of new delhi streets; rocking with rickshaws, people, cars and cows, or the snow-capped himalayas; both the desert and green kind. india! a place that gets inside you and grows. hopefully the food finds its way out.