Kuala Lumper - The Green City

10th to 15th October - Kuala Lumper

For one of the first times we arrived at a location during day time, this gave us an advantage we’d normally never have on finding our accommodation. A good mile walk or so and we arrived at Oscar Guest House, its a decent little place with incredibly friendly staff which is usually all a place needs. Our evening was spent at Reggae Mansion, a cool bar that other travellers had previously told us about, costing about £3 per drink was the most expensive we’ve had but it was worth the rooftop bar looking over part of the city.   Only a few of us rose early the next morning and eager to see what the city had for us we set off and wondered the local China Town markets arguing prices with vendors and laughing at some of the bizarre designs printed on the fake t-shirts. Upside down Nike ticks etc. We rushed back to our hotel just in time for the arrival of Paul and Jenny, they’d decided to come and visit us out here for two weeks which was a breath of fresh air in the group, even if we were now eight! We set sail after some long needed reunions back into the depths of the city and ended up in the largest, most confusing mall in what i imagine, the world. Think of Ikea and the difficulty of leaving the store, multiply it by a rather large number and you’ve got this place. Adding to the confusing just after some brilliant food in the mall we stumbled upon this huge opening where you could see down several floors, looking up at first i believed to be seeing an orange, metal structure most likely for holding the building together, turns out it was a full sized roller coaster! It came with an entire loop and several massive drops. How is that even possible? None the less like kids we ran to the entrance to the ride where a security guy met us and shared the bad news. It was nearly £5 a ride, which in England i’d of laughed at and thrown my money to him, however out here thats a full days food budget! We found several other things to do in the mall and decided we’d come back for them another day as it was well into the evening. 

The next morning after far too much free toast and jam at the hotel we had arrived nice and early at Lagoon Theme Park which had a variety of different areas like water and theme parks along with what appeared to be a small but well looked after zoo. The whole day was really good with a few little roller coasters, a zip line and some decent water slides, especially this one where you would shoot down on a three man dingy into this huge, half-pipe shaped tube and with decent momentum you could fly up and down the sides reaching a good twenty or so feet. The day ended with a torrential downpour and the group got split up for some reason, luckily we found shelter and waited it out before leaving, i guess it is expected in rainy season, Paul and Jenny stood there amazed at the sheer amount the sky opened up, i guess me and the others have become desensitised to it now! 
     The day after delivered more fun, not just because we had a well earned lay in but we headed to the mall for a more relaxed day of clothes shopping where i finally bought a new top and shorts, bowling, which is always a good laugh with sliding shoes and we had also booked for something we had considered previously, The Escape Room. Its an elaborate series of rooms that you must solve puzzles to move forward. Each game has a theme and after reading the different synopsises we chose ‘The Art Gallery Heist”, armed with a simple torch, eight young, intelligent minds and 45 minutes to complete the challenge we entered the first room which was reasonably simple, finding clues behind paintings to open a padlocked, hidden door. Our second room took longer after going under and over a set of motion detectors and solving two more combination locks through finding hidden numbers both in paintings and on the walls. Robin at some point went through one of the motion detectors setting off a loud alarm, we’re all in panic thinking we’ve failed, but instead it was just a constant noise putting us off and making it a struggle to hear people! We finally got somewhere using the torches UV light which illuminated a secret code on the wall and we entered our final room. The clock was ticking and with quite a while left we settled our eyes on 12 different colour framed prints across the walls. They were different in many ways and at first we struggled to connect the dots. With our final five minutes we began struggling to decide what the final code for escape could be. Only moments were left and we threw several combinations in and crossed fingers. Boom. The alarm sounds and we’re busted. Turns out the correct code was much easier to find than we thought. With all of us thinking we’re masterminds we had over complicated the situation! Gutted but it was a great laugh and definitely something different. 

That evening we took Paul and Jenny to Reggae Mansion for a few drinks which ended in me having a good amount of gin, several games of pool later i ended up in Mc Donalds with everyone, but for some reason i was sat separately, across from what seemed to be a more drunk local who i think really wanted to have a staring match, harmless of course but none the less i tried to hold in the laughter awkwardly, ate my food and we set off back home. Obviously without my new and interesting friend. Our final day was quite relaxed, the main temple in Kuala Lumpur is Batu Caves which i really wanted to visit so we got there after a short drive in the afternoon, in all honesty we had fun just walking up the stairs due to the monkeys wondering around, nicking things from tourists, bottles of water, plastic bags, literally anything they took a fancy to. The caves themselves were quite impressive, huge colosseums of rock descended from the roof whilst the temple was a short walk inside. I’m glad i got to visit the temple and see the huge golden Buddha standing outside, the photographs don’t do it justice. Our time in the city had come to an end and i’d go as far as saying it was the most interesting city yet. It was surprisingly green in terms of trees and parks along with the people being very friendly and warming. Our next stop is Indonesia, one of the countries i’ve looked forward to the most for photographic opportunities. The landscapes are scattered with Volcanos and rice fields, hopefully i’ll at least capture a few!

Walking down near our hotel

 Off to the mall

 Some fruit please sir

 Rob and urm.. Ingham

 China Town during the day

 And at night

 Batu Caves statue

 Mother and baby monkey on our way up the stairs

 Group shot V1

 Group shot V2

Batu Cave temple

Food Critiques of Penang

4th to 9th October - Penang & Cameron Highlands

Our next stop off in Malaysia was Penang, a place i’d almost dropped from visiting as i knew very little about it, all i’d read online was the sheer quality of food and that, no surprise, interested me. Another boat and a good five hour minivan ride and we landed at our hotel where bags were dropped and we headed straight to a close by mall. After several months out here i’ve fairly mastered the whole ‘traveller’ appearance of sandals and no interest in shaving however within minutes i felt as out of place as i did when we first arrived in New Delhi! We walking around the mall looking for bits and bats and everyone was dressed up in jeans and shirts, not a sandal in sight! None the less it didn’t stop us from exploring the whole place and having an evening of normality. Our first full day was hilarious, hands down one of the funniest things we’ve done out here. We planned to walk around the streets of George Town to spot all the street art created by Ernest Zacharevic along with seeing some local temples. We walked past this side street that was renting out these colourful, six seater buggy type carts and we instantly got one for an hour. Driving around beeping these comical horns and peddling to the fastest the thing would go. Almost everyone we saw burst into laughter and started photographing us, six British guys on this thing causing mayhem of the busy roads. For further comical value i even filmed us pulling up to a petrol station and attempting to fill the buggy, the staff saw the funny side thankfully. We managed to see a lot more of the town which was great, until i jumped off for a quick photograph to find the guys had began peddling off and i ended up chasing them down Little India, one of the close by districts. 
     During the evening we managed to visit a Burmese temple, Dharmikarama. Fairly interesting as far as temples go with loads of interactive things to do. As mentioned earlier the food was incredible in Penang, there was two meals that stood out, firstly a lemon chicken dish served with rice and accompanied by a three layered ice tea. It was absolutely jaw dropping, i love the Chinese dish and it had blown any others out of the water by a mile. Secondly we read of trip advisor about a place down town that did the best roasted duck, they weren’t lying. Apart from the fact it was served quite cold (thats normal out here) it was brilliant. I think half a duck cost something silly like £4. On another day we got another few places we wanted to see out of the way, starting with The Snake Temple which Ingham had been to a few years back on a family holiday. Unfortunately there wasn’t as many snakes as expected and the place seemed very quiet, but none the less i’m glad we went. If we didn’t, i’d of been kicking myself thinking about how it could of been. Kek Lok Si was next on our agenda and after being dropped off by our taxi in the wrong place we walked through this market for a good 10 minutes before reaching the place, however we saw much more doing it this way including this pool with gigantic terrapins, never seen anything like it. I use to own a few when i was younger and they didn’t get to a 10th of the size. It was a huge temple with loads of complex architecture but absolutely no information that i could find, so because of that it wasn’t the best. 

     I’d been looking forward to Cameron Highlands quite a lot ever since planning this trip to Asia, unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations, this could of been due to the weather, constantly throwing it down during mid-day or simply we struggled to find where the hikes began as there was no wifi at all! None the less we had several days of relaxing instead but still managed to go and see the most famous strawberry farm in the area. A waffle, cheese cake and milkshake later (of course everything was strawberry flavoured) definitely helped make my decision that the strawberries grown here were superb. We were happy to leave the area but also felt quite underwhelmed, i'm sure the areas great but unfortunately we didn't get the best of it! Onwards to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia where we couldn't wait to meet two more friends from home, Paul and Jenny.

 Lanterns going into a local temple in George Town

 One of my favourite street art pieces

Two more that can be seen around George Town

 Interesting architecture was everywhere

The guys in our six man speedster

 Rival speed squad...

One of the street vendors clocking me while i photograph him

 The best lemon chicken i've ever had!

 Dharmikarama temple. You had to throw coins into cups that read 'prosperity, health' etc.

 Ingham, Rob and Dan

 Taken from the bell tower at the temple

 One of the only snakes at snake temple!

 A farther and daughter feeding the terrapins

 I said there was quite a few of them!

 Kek Lok Si Temple

 Street vendor just across from our hostel at night

The view from our apartment in the Cameron Highlands

The Relaxing Continues

10th to 14th August - Arugam Bay

For several days now we've had a simple mixture of relaxing on bean bags, swimming in clear blue open sea, eating amazing food and socialising with the huge amount of people in our dorm. There's always a party every night here which keeps Ben and Dan happy, i've been attending the odd one but i'm normally happy to head out photographing or grab an early night. We rented mopeds again the other day and heading much further inland than we had done previously, four bikes with five people, it was actually incredibly fun! We got to see some views we'd never actually see, a beautiful backdrop of hills and mountains whilst every local we drive past waves and smiles, its a great feeling to speak and sit around with locals and nobody is after anything from you, people actually just want to chat. I felt like we rarely got that in India so i'm so happy to have decided that Sri Lanka would be a good destination to travel across. Once again, somehow, Dan got a puncture on the moped and we came to a stop in the middle of nowhere just before sunset, after a good 15 minutes we were in luck as a armed guard pulled over to check what was going on, one call and he had organised someone to come and collect the bike. With a quick warning that elephants kill people in the area we had broken down, he jumped back on his bike and left us to it.. Great to know, thanks. Not long after a jeep with several people arrived and picked the moped up and straight into the back, we followed to a small shack at the side of the road where a guy was attempting to fix the puncture, after a long wait and genuine effort put in by this guy he had bodge jobbed the inner tube enough that it worked! For over an hours work including pick up he charged a total of 200 Sri Lankan Rupees, exactly £1! Can't complain at competitive prices over here. Driving in the dark was interested, with me leading it was a further 30km back home and only my main beam lights worked, so every time i went past another car i was driving blind! I'm simply glad there was no elephants on the road this time.
     Swimming has been great here, we've been hit by some huge waves over the last few days so its been fun to tackle the sea. I'm slowly but surely getting over my fear of deep water, then again, its not necessarily the water i'm bothered about, more whats in the deep water.. Sharks etc. Our friend here Nik has shown us some burns on his forearm was jelly fish stings, thats another thing i'm eagerly trying to dodge! Last night was one of the best for getting out and photographing the stars, i took along Lenard who is keen to learn photography so sharing a single tripod we walked across the beach towards the end of town where there was very little light. When looking up it was absolutely amazing, no amount of photographs can show what we could see, the milky way arched across the sky from left to right and filled the sky, i'm sure it was one of the best views i've had. Set up and we start photographing anything and everything when some time in, one of the new arrivals Steve walked over, god knows how he found us, apparently he'd been walking for ages just taking in the stars. With it being the meteor shower the sky was lit up with them. He showed us that when walking on the wet sand it lit up blue! It was the phosphorus! I've honestly always wanted to see that with my own eyes, it looks as it we were surrounded by stars above and below us. With Lenard all taught up about astrophotography that was our line into learning surfing, hopefully we will finally get out there on a board in the next few days. Today, once more i've planned to do absolutely nothing but relax and swim but i'm going to get organising a trip to Yala national park to see both leopards and elephants naturally, in a few more days we will be heading into the mountain ranges of Sri Lanka, i'm really excited to get hiking and shooting some landscape photography!
     As an added note, i've come back to the laptop to get this posted and just a few hours ago when me, Steve and Dan were swimming we heard some guy from behind us start screaming help and splashing around in the water. Turns out this poor guy went under water and got caught by seaweed, when he finally got back up he panicked and started basically drowning! I swam over and grabbed this Sri Lankan guy, double the size of me and started dragging him back to shore, nobody seemed to help, i think most thought he was joking or something similar. As he's almost back to shore Steve comes and gives a hand as i'm struggling keeping this guy over the water line. The guy was glad to be back on land and really thankful but jesus christ, i don't even like open water as mentioned above, least i'm further over my fear now!

Going for a quick swim in the warmest water ever 

 This is how happy i'm actually in a photograph for once ^

 Ben looking smug on his moped

 The gang having a five minute breather, did a total of 220km that day!

 I never look impressed in photographs...

 One of the mountains on our travels

 On the road

 Little houses scattered across the country side

 My off road, speed machine

 Dans second flat tyre

 The cheapest mechanic i've ever known

 Drinking games at the YMCA hostel

 Milky way tail over the sand dunes

Silhouetted tree with the milky way

Arugam Bay - An Unexpected Paradise

5th to 9th August - Arugam Bay

With a bus booked from West coast to East we arrived at the station for 6:30PM and jumped on our 10hr, none air conditioned, horribly uncomfortable bus to Aragum Bay. I tried to sleep through most of the journey as our driver rocketed around mountainous corners in the middle of Sri Lanka, people fell off chairs it was that hectic. Dan and Ben happily sat in the row in front drinking and generally getting merry, i was in no fit state for that, my stomach was still killing and all i wanted to do was rest! We've had Lukeyta join us for our stay at the bay, we met her at the previous hostel and she was up for an adventure so why not. She seems fairly cool and knows her stuff about travelling so it's always nice to have a second opinion on things. After the hours flew by we were awoken by someone shouting Aragam Bay and we grabbed our things and stumbled off this bus, its was 3:30AM in the pitch black and no room booked, things were about to get interesting. We headed down the strip looking for some sort of 'open all hours' bar where we could secretly sleep but with no prevail. 10 minutes walking though and we heard some faint music above us at a place called YMCA, we decided to check it out and whilst walking in we bumped into this guy, long hair and very hippyish. He instantly goes "oh shit, if you're looking for the YMCA, you're looking for me" and then cracks this big smile, we explain our situation and he invites us in to meet a group of others staying at this hostel. Instantly we felt welcomed and we sat around with this drunk group for an hour until we were allowed to just put our heads down on some cushions and sleep until morning.
    As we left to our one night hostel back at the other side of the strip we all agreed that the YMCA was a damn good place and thats where we were going to spend the duration of our time here. Our new place was seriously not great, ants all over the walls and our room was literally just a bed and a shared toilet outside. The best thing that came out of this place was we met Kale, a 20 year old Australian guy who tagged along with us after we invited him for food somewhere, the great thing about moving around so much is dragging people with you, we keep saying we're travelling as three but in reality its rare its just us guys. After checking into the YMCA we realised its just so damn cheap and its got air conditioning, two things i've desperately been wanting! New people have arrived here and everyone is great, mostly Europeans and Canadians. So far we've mainly been relaxing and swimming in the sea, this place is an absolute paradise, palm trees and colourful blue water. One day we've hired mopeds and travelled over 120km across the coast finding little secluded beach spots and stopping in little villages, the locals everywhere are so friendly and just run over to say hello and can't help enough. On my way back with the moped after Dan's got a puncture so i had to leave him behind i stumbled across a large herd of wild elephants, possible 10 to 12 of these majestic animals walking nearby the town i'm staying in. I felt so privilege to see them in their natural environment but also it was such a shame it was so dark and that the others didn't get to see it!
     Over the last few days we've also got chatting a lot to Lenard, a damn cool German guy, we started with a huge chat about Sebastian Salgado who's one of my favourite photographers and then we decided on a great deal, he teaches us guys how to surf and i'll teach him some photography. Can't wait to conquer one of my fears of open water and get out there surfing, hopefully it'll go as smoothly as i'm imagining. With my stomach finally feeling up to it we starting bringing the draft beers in and headed to a beach party five minutes away from us, a full night on progressive house music and dancing in the sand, i don't think i've ever done anything quite like it, especially bare foot. Felt odd, but none the less great. The party was a good vibe with loads of people there and we finished with a tight rope that was hidden around the back, loads of people trying the balancing act with no prevail, i tried several times and it went the same way, straight back down to the sand. A final note - The stars here are beautiful, with there being very little light pollution the milky way is visible most nights whilst just looking out into the sea.

Aragum Bay main strip

 Water buffalo we saw whilst out on the mopeds

 Ben taking moody photographs of me...

 Fisherman nearing sunset

 Dan & Lukeyta at Whisky Point, a good surfing area

 One of many unspoilt beaches

Recovering after the beach party

Aragum Bay at night