Surfing at sunset- Tip of Borneo

Tanjung Simpang Mengayau- where the sea meets the sea.

After trying to wrap your mouth around Tanjung Simpang Mengayau a few times it becomes clear why everyone refers to this part of the world as the Tip of Borneo. 

 

If you look at a map of Borneo you can see exactly where we are- that little sticky-uppy bit on the north-east coast which just peeks up over the 7th parallel; where the South China Sea meets the Sulu Sea. Both of those seas are ridiculously clear, blue and gorgeous. 

 

We came here on a bit of a whim after a recommendation from an English woman we met and loved it so much we ended up staying fourteen nights, instead of the planned four. 

  

 

We spent the first four nights at Tampat Do Aman Jungle Camp, about a 20 minute walk from the beach, before moving down to a longhouse located right on the beach and next door to Tampat Do Aman's awesome little restaurant. Longhouses are built by indigenous people all over Borneo and although they are pretty simple (bamboo partitions between rooms, mattress with mosquito net and a fan), they are also solidly built and quite lovely to look at!

Plus you can't really fault the view from our verandah....we wake up to this:

And we enjoy a sundowner with this: 

All of which is going to make it rather hard to leave...but we have a flight back to Kuching on 10 July so I guess we're going to have to!!!

Beijing: a long overdue nod to China's ancient capital

We've met a lot of people along the way who have followed a similar route to us, and come down through China to enter South-East Asia. Since most of those people hated Beijing and the soup-like blanket of air pollution that hangs over the city most days of the year, we've started to realise just how lucky we were with the five days of glorious sunshine and clear blue skies that we had in November.

It took us a while to crack the Chinese government censors to be able to access the blog, so I never got around to posting anything from northern China. That's a shame, because we loved Bejing, Pingyao and Xian...but better late than never I suppose.

Neither of us had very high expectations for Beijing. After all, most of the press you read about China's capital is negative and the reports about the city's air pollution are nothing short of grim. But contrary to all of our preconceptions, Beijing turned out to be extremely well ordered, very easy to negotiate with excellent public transport, clean (at least superficially), friendly and, in short, awesome. With a population of around 23 million, you'd expect Beijing to seem ultra crowded, noisy and hectic. This could not be further from the truth. Compared to Bangkok (7 million), Beijing seems almost serene.

We stayed in a hutong north of the Forbidden City, a district of interconnected laneways and picturesque pedestrian streets lined with traditional houses, temples and chic boutiques and cafes. After nearly walking the soles of our shoes off the first day, we rented bicycles for the remaining days and cruised through tiny backstreets and down Beijing's remarkably relaxed thoroughfares, with many a dumpling break between sightseeing stops. 

 

Like everyone else who comes to Beijing, we made the obligatory trip out to see the Great Wall of China (or rather, the small section between Jinshanling and Simatai), which has the distinction of being every bit as spectacular as it's cracked up to be. 

The wall is an amazing feat of human engineering and the scale of it is difficult to appreciate, even when you're standing on top of it. Perhaps even more amazing is that you get to experience it all in relative tranquility...we saw just one t-shirt tout over the whole 6km stretch. 

And then of course there's the food. It was in Beijing that we realised extra meals would have to be scheduled to accommodate the vast quantity of awesome things we wanted to try. The Inverse Law of Asian Restaurants applies here as much as anywhere...the best food we ate was always in the shabbiest places. 

The owner would take our order with a fag hanging out of his mouth while large tables of Chinese men (Ladies Who Lunch has definitely not taken off in China just yet) were slamming down beers and screaming ganbei (cheers) at anyone who happened to make eye contact. There would be bins next to all the tables for patrons to hawk into (which is better than them doing it on the floor. Just.) and the air would be thick with cigerette smoke. But the food was always sensational. 

So thanks Beijing. We loved you and I hope we'll see you again someday. Maybe next time around we'll even duck in and visit the super-creepy embalmed body of Chairman Mao (and while we're at it, we can zip over to Moscow and check out Lenin, who we also missed). 

Gunung Mulu National Park

To be fair we probably should have done a bit more research before traveling to Gunung Mulu National Park. If we were a bit disappointed, we've only got ourselves to blame. Our expectations had been based on a very out-of-date guidebook and since we are coming towards the end of our trip, our budget simply couldn't cope with the kind of expenses needed to get the most out of the park. 

Although the park is virtually inaccessible by any other route than by air, Mulu really doesn't feel all that remote. The forestry department has constructed kilometres of elevated boardwalks, so that walking through the forest feels more like a stroll through a municipal park than a trek through the Borneo jungle. 

Although our guidebook had touted several self-guided hikes, strict regulations now mean that there are very few activities that can be done independently. A trek to the Pinnacles, probably the most impressive and famous feature of the park, was too expensive to contemplate. 

Having said that, we did enjoy the tours we could afford. The caves inside the park are spectacular; one of the cave systems contains the world's largest chamber, which could house a couple of football pitches and a Boeing 747 or two. 

Deer Cave is similarly massive and home to millions and millions of bats. Our tour took us right through the cave; we clambered over mountains of guano and waded through chest deep water to reach the stunning hidden valley and waterfall on the other side. 

 

Every evening at dusk, the bats leave the cave by the thousands to feed. Apparently they consume some 15 tons of insects every night, which is reason enough to love them. They fly in a weird, twisting corkscrew pattern to evade hungry hawks. 

Inside Clearwater, Wind and Lang Caves, calcite deposits create beautiful stalactites, stalagmites and helictites. 

 

As we are learning fast in Borneo, a little bit of forward planning and a big wad of cash make travel in this part of the world much more enjoyable. After leaving Mulu we flew to Kota Kinabalu, capital of the Sabah province, and tried to work out where to go next. The Semporna Archipelago is out, since any bookings for June should have been made months ago (not to mention the high price attached to visiting the marine park); permits to hike Kota Kinabalu are sold out until the end of August and trips along the Kinabatangan River will set us back around $150 a day. 

So yesterday we bought snorkels and are heading to the Tip of Borneo...where hopefully we can make our own fun. 

What is it with Asia and....???

I know, I know...Asia is a big place. Depending on your definition it comprises up to 49 countries and 60% of the world's population. However for the purposes of this blog post 'Asia' refers to China, Japan, Korea and all of South-East Asia.  

Despite the huge cultural, historical, religious and ethnic differences that exist between China and Japan, Korea and Malaysia or Thailand and Vietnam, there are some striking commonalities. Here are a few uniquely Asian idiosyncrasies. 

1. Couples outfits: 

It is ridiculous just how common this phenomenon is among young, Asian couples. From colour-coordinated outfits and matching t-shirts to full-blown Ken & Barbie haute-couture, they just can't get enough of the matchy-matchy. 

2. Hello Kitty:

I always used to think that it was only 10 year old girls who loved the ultra-saccharine Hello Kitty, but across Asia you'll find her in business hotels (see below if you think I"m joking), clothing for adult females and males, home decoration, appliances and basically anything you can stick a cutesy logo on. 

 

3. Durian:

Although Durian is only native to Indonesia and Malaysia, it appears all across East and South East Asia in all its various stinky guises: durian puffs, durian pastry, durian ice-cream and even durian flavoured coffee. 

While the taste of durian is somewhat bland and benign, the smell has variously been associated with vomit, used surgical swabs, dead animals and countless other pejorative comparisons.  In fact, while Asia loves to eat durian, doing so in public is guaranteed to make you a social leper and perhaps even result in a hefty fine. 

4. Whitening cream:

It's kind of ironic that while white people are constantly trying to get browner, brown people are always trying to look whiter. Just goes to show that we're never fucking happy really. In the western world tanning salons, spray-on tan and sunbeds are the norm. In Asia, it is almost impossible to find cosmetic products (including soap, moisturizer or suncream) that doesn't also contain whitening agents. 

Hiking in the Cameron Highlands

I never thought I'd say this but after four months of temperatures in the mid-30's and upwards, it feels damn good to break out the jeans and feel chilly again. 

The Cameron Highlands is one of Malaysia's old hill station districts, with towns scattered throughout the region situated at a pleasant 1400m above sea level and year round average temperatures of around 20 degrees. The highlands are covered by mossy forests, tea plantations and increasingly, some fairly hideous mock-Tudor style resorts. 

We arrived in Tanah Rata a few days ago from the rather disappointing town of Ipoh (apparently infamous for a sleazy prostitution scene) and bought a map of the surrounding walking trails, all ready to shake off the muscle atrophy that comes from 5 weeks of beach-bumming.

Despite much bitching and moaning online about the lack of signage, difficulty in finding trails and poor maintenance, we found Trails 1 and 10 easily (and this from the people who couldn't find the defining feature of the Penang Botanical Gardens!). 

Both hikes took us through pretty forest to the peaks of Gunung Jasar (Trail 10) at 1670m and Gunung Brinchang (Trail 1) at 2000m. Trail 1 was definitely the better of the two, with stunning, resort-free views on the way up and an observation tower at the top with awesome 360's of the surrounding valleys. 

Although there isn't a lot of wildlife to be seen, the forest is very atmospheric and feels like it could well be home to faeries, pixies and goblins (in addition to the less exotic but far more commonly sighted mosquitoes). 

 

Coming down the other side of Gunung Brinchang we were treated to lovely vistas of tea plantations, stretching far off into the distance. 

Although it is bright and sunny in the morning, by mid afternoon the rain clouds roll in and it begins to pour down. We were lucky both days of our hikes- about half an hour after reaching the top of Gunung Brinchang we looked back to see that the peak had been consumed by clouds and the view we had enjoyed so recently had been completely obliterated. Good thing I have Martijn to make sure we are always early birds!

Penang- Pearl of the Orient (and darling of the Malaysian hipster-verse)

The island of Penang sits just north of the Malacca Straits and, like any strategically important place, has seen more than its fair share of foreign invaders, settlers, traders and travelers. The English claimed formal possession of the island in 1786 and promptly went about creating a trading centre to rival that of Dutch Batavia (present day Jakarta). And while Penang's importance declined with the foundation of Singapore, the island has remained one of the most economically important states of Malaysia today.

Georgetown, the island's capital, reflects the various foreign influences in its inhabitants, architecture and (most appealingly) its food. In Little India you can find Bollywood flicks at Lakshmi Video, browse saris in a bewildering range of colours and munch on dahl, paneer and Galun Jamun to your hearts content.

 

Chinese temples and beautiful old shop-houses in varying states of decay are a constant reminder of Chinese dominance in trade and the local economy. 

This dominance (Chinese are estimated to control 90% of the Malaysian economy) combined with poverty among rural ethnic Malay and an unsuccessful policy of government positive discrimination has been the source of inter-ethnic tensions for decades. Not that you'd ever know it- the steamy streets of Georgetown seem remarkably harmonious.

While there are lots of reasons to love Georgetown, it was the appearance of dozens of tragically hip cafes serving Illy and Lavazza that sealed the deal for us. After spending more than half a year in the caffeine wilderness of Russia, China and South-East Asia we were overjoyed to find proper coffee...even if it did mean blowing large percentages of our daily budget on the luxury. 

After hitting the Sang Som we'd brought from Thailand one night we woke with raging hangovers and decided to go out for breakfast. We had two coffees each (macchiato- oh joy!!), juice and some kick-ass, fancy pants egg-based brekkies....the bill came to a jaw-dropping AUD$30, almost half our daily budget, but it was worth it. A rough comparison would be dropping AUD$120 on eggs and bacon back home. Where are young Malays are getting the money to fund their forays into the hipster-verse??? 

 

After spending a few days wandering the backstreets of Georgetown we rented a moped and drove to the Kek Lok Si Buddhist Temple just outside the city. 

Kek Lok Si is supposedly the biggest temple in SE Asia and won points from us for the liberal planting of grass, trees and flowering shrubs (instead of the concrete-fest that usually dominates temples in Asia). We also visited the Botanic Gardens where we somehow failed to find the waterfall that forms the centre piece of the park. It seems that even after successfully navigating our way around foreign cities for the last two years, a well planned out and thoughtfully signposted garden can still defeat us.