Tag: Asia

Malaysian Wonders

This blog reflects on the wonders of Malaysia, sleeping giant, Muslim mecca with thick jungles, temples and 20% of the world’s species. It details our adventures exploring these wonders and getting to know the creatures.

After about 52 hours in Taiwan, we caught a midnight five hour Air Asia flight across the South China Sea to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Like Taiwan, Malaysia is an energy, resource-rich hotbed for wildlife that is affordable and another expat favorite for so many reasons.

AirAsia is on the economy side, but it was comfortable enough and who’s site and app were notably easy to use, even with flight changes. Uber isn’t currently in Malaysia, but there’s a few others that are similar, Grab being one I latched onto for rides for this trip. I learned the hard way from a driver that you have to match baggages with ride option and once I upgraded, it was a long hour+ drive to the central commercial zone of KL.

We got to our “hotel” and were greeting by armed guards in stand out front that gruffly let us through when we showed authorization of staying at The Manor KLCC. We went up a floor to a small hotel check-in place, realizing this place was more like executive residences than a true hotel. We paid a fee to check-in early and luckily could collapse in our unit, which felt like a luxury 1B condo overlooking the expansively growing skyline of KL, including Merkeda Tower (2nd tallest building in the world) and Petronas Towers (largest dual-connected towers in the world).

After a few hours of sleep, I set out to get a few essentials including an outlet converter as Malaysia has a different plug than ours unlike Taiwan. Malaysia is a highly Muslim country, which is evident by all the birkas on the flight, middle-eastern / conservatives appearances walking around, and the dichotomy of old world and all this new, modern construction and high fashion was fascinating.

Downtown KL has a ton of shopping and malls and the nearest grocery store was about a 25 minute hike away, past other executive residences.
I hit a food court in the mall and was lost trying to figure out breakfast options, went with what looked like the most similar and found myself trying to figure out what I got handed a hot water heater for boiling eggs with my toast and sandwich. I was able to finally figure out how to get a few staples, electric plug converter included to save the day. We learned that Malaysian food is like an Indian / Thai / Middle-Eastern collaboration, often quite spicy and there are markets dispersed for it around town. We tiptoed around it with some Thai and shwarma-like middle-eastern options.

The WOW moment downtown came at our rooftop pool – a stunning, relaxing experience to take in the sights all around.

After a day of adjusting, where we ordered in, our tour adventures continued starting with a visit to the legendary Batu Caves. We met our first Asian monkeys, who were very socialized and used to the many tourists, often opportunistically stealing bags for food jackpots and waters. We walked past the golden Lord Murugan Statue and up the stairs, where Alli was shift-grabbed by a monkey while trying to take a selfie. At the bottom and into the caves were these picturesque, colorful holy temples. Breathtaking to take it in and we had to grab a few souvenir gifts.

We stopped at a hand-painted shirt factory en route up north an hour and a half into the dense jungle for an epic elephant sanctuary visit. When offered the chance to bathe and feed young elephants as part of a private tour, we took it and didn’t regret getting soaked for the experience. Gandah, the only sanctuary-born elephant of the 40 in residence was a sweetheart. All of the gentle giants were there for injury or infringement on town areas and relocated for protection. We got to pet, feed and get to know about 8 elephants, who were eager for treats.

Off we left to fly out from there from the western peninsula to the island of Borneo, home to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysian territory. At the KL airport, we had to pay to upgrade bag coverage past the tiny allowance. The domestic flight terminal was tight and cramped and I felt bad for the quiet, unassuming line of 15 short Muslim girls who got jumped by many others to get through the gate. Between there and the pool, where they could dip feet in only, the gender disparity gap seemed pretty wide and unfair, but not my place to judge.

We arrived in Sandakan in the state of Sabah on the northeast corner of Malaysian Borneo, caught some quick winks and were picked up for our all-included tour to experience the heart of where 20% of the world’s species reside. First stop nearby was the Orangutan Conservation & Rehabilitation Center. Orangutans are down in numbers to just over 100k and live on two islands, here and Sumatra. In this swampy, sticky jungle, organutans are fed and the sick cared for. They are free to go and the food is not what they’d consider top shelf, and they often have to fight off the local macaque clans to get it, which was fascinating to watch, along with the mom with baby and other cute, flexible, swinging relatives.

Nextdoor was a Sun Bear Conservatory, another fascinating animal nearing endangerment, who are secretive without much known about them. These guys are the smallest and most vulnerable of the bear species. We saw these little around 8 of these brown-faced critters munching on vegetation shared happily, including sitting up knawing on carrots. We saw a resource fight between two, which featured high-pitched squeals and screams and some chasing that felt more akin to badgers than bears.

From there, we drove to Sim Sim Jetty, a Chinese coastal neighborhood in the community, which featured some large Amazon pet fish and all kinds of beautiful potted plants lining this dock. Off we went staring at the mountains that fed into this coastal community with a scenic mountain island and speedboat ride sending us ripping our way an hour and a half into rivers with thick mangroves and trees lining the shore. En route, we spotted a large ~13 foot saltwater croc sunning on shore (the first I have seen!).

Our first river lodge (Kinabitu ?) had a lot of character, cozy cabins with AC and a fan, which helped in the sticky humidity. I appreciated getting to walk the labeled boardwalks trying to spot creatures, including at night with a headlamp, seeing tree frogs, spiders a lantern bug and more. At dawn and near dusk, we set out on our skiff to seek out wildlife near the shore at peak times to catch there. Our guide Lat knew so much about the species and both he and the driver were able to spot animals while moving fast, while also coordinating with other tour guides. The government protects the area with the help of tourist taxes, and it shows as the animals show little worry about nearby gawkers.

We quickly spotted Borneo-specific harems of Proboscis Monkeys, featuring an alpha and the mates and offspring. The pot-belied males feature the giant, long floppy noses and despite their figure, can launch themselves from tree to tree. The females have smaller, pointy noses. Reading Ancestor’s Tale, it details the divergence of humans down the line of primates and the Probiscus are a nearer relative not far off from the split from orangutans ~13 million years ago. Easy to see the resemblance, really started at you and sat there picking and eating leaves and you could confuse with people without too much imagination. We enjoyed watching babies doing acrobatics and bachelor groups as well.

Easy to enjoy the beauty of the river and sunsets, river inlets and quiet lakes off the main river and at dusk, the fireflies lighting up around a few trees and calls of the wild all around.

The lodge offered great fresh-cooked delicious meals featuring steamed veggies, rice, noodles, fish, shrimp, fried wontons, and delicious local fruits and tasty deserts. There was a special night that we all wore the native Sarongs and enjoyed a meal with local women old and young playing soothing music with their instruments.

At this point, we were seeing a number of sub-species of Horned Bills, one of the few species that picks and stays with a partner for life. We saw a pair of grey langurs, one grooming the other. In a palm tree at the second lodge, a staffer pointed to a flying lemur that was probably nearly 4 feet long, waiting for the chance to soar when night fell. We were seeing so many macaques that they were becoming pedestrian. At the second lodge, they gave us sticks to beat them off as they are known to go after bags for food. Alli stayed in the pool when everyone else went to lunch and the pack jumped right in, partying like it was spring break – hilarious!

On the reptile front, there was an emerald green pit viper sitting in the same spot daily near the kitchen with a lump of a catch from recently, fascinating to see it sitting in the bush like a stick a few feet away. We saw numerous skinks and geckos and were lucky enough to watch another nearly 10 foot croc from close before he spooked, snapped and leapt in the water.

What really made this incredible experience all the more special was that on the way back, the 1st lodge reported an orgunutan visiting, and we were able to zip back and watch him in the canopy near our breakfast spot the previous day. Part of the group instead followed a pygmy elephant, who came to the riverbank. As we waived at the staff sending us off and zipped past the floating bottles with fish flying off the wake, looking at the islands of the coast, we just smiled having experienced a truly incredible part of the world. I hope gets the protection it needs to stay that way.

Taiwan – Hidden Lion & Gem

Taiwan is not what you may think. This place is an incredible infusion of old ways and progressive living, lined with national parks, vibrant night markets and more.

Delta’s flights, which we connected in Seattle with a manageable layover with 3 separate Skyclub visits en route. I was lucky enough to be sitting behind a Michigan grad from Ann Arbor flying to China with his folks and we split the $40 internet fee to watch UM / OU (even though they announced that internet wasn’t available for the flight, this feed came through with regular manual refreshes).

Once we finally figured out our Arrival Cards and how to get out of the airport, we were eager to get to our hotel, the Miramar Gardens Taipei for some rest and adjustment to the 13 hour time difference. Luckily, Uber served Taiwan and we had about an hour ride to get to the Zhongshang District in the heart of the city. We found this to be a very nice, comfortable, convenient choice and cool neighborhood to explore. Highlight was the “Japanese Style” spa (read: had to sign-off on being naked to utilize the hot and cold tubs, steam & sauna rooms, etc. It was a very relaxing and soothing experience. The outdoor pool area with lounges was also very relaxing and appreciated, as was the bidet with all kinds of settings (we got quite used to having these regularly).

Taiwan is known for having a leading amount of convenience stores and the trip to my nearby 7-11 turned out interestingly. We brought a lot of snacks but I wanted to supplement a few meal with finds from there and what I got was not what I expected upon picking. Instead of cheese, I got an egg product another weird protein product that was like tofu, beef gizzards, sparkling wine in a can with bobas (they also invented Boba/Bubble Tea), crab flavored corn nut like and other chip-like things.

Another local staple is beef noodles and I tried it nearby and enjoyed the pho-like dish (although wasn’t willing to wait outside this famous noodle house and found another I could get served quickly). The Liaoning Street Market was a short walk away and fun to walk the streets seeing what the locals were dishing out and feeding folks. Visiting the night markets is a must in Taipei as they’re buzzing with energy and interesting vendor finds. We also checked out Raoshe, which was much bigger and more action-packed. Nextdoor was a fabulous 300 year old temple with a ton of intricate special details in the design.

We opted for a few photos out front and not the ride up what was the world’s tallest building in Taipei 101. Notably, Taipei despite being a top population dense city also felt green and sustainable with lots of parks.

The biggest highlights came via our private Viator custom tour, of which we had the best, most engaging guide in “Nicolas” (after Cage, who along with other Hollywood movie stars taught him his great English)., who left a career in business for the flexibility and change of pace in providing special tours. Despite his Lakers hat (sensitive subject with me historically), Nicolas connected well with both of us – he loved his baseball (following Taiwanese stars especially), the NBA and playing badminton regularly.

He taught us a lot about the culture while taking us to the Houtong “Cat Village”, an old coal mining town turned tourist attraction with community cats and related local ties. He also took us to Yangmingshan National Park, a mountainous volcanic forest with geysers and hot springs that fed right down into the north side of Taipei. One hot spring pool had a small temple to honor the ghosts of residents with no families. Volcano Island appeared off the rocky north shores of the island. We saw a big Formosan Rock (or Taiwanese) Macaque on a fence near the road, several skinks and an egret. For $34, we had an upscale 90 minute private spa soak room with a hot and cold tub piping mineral water.

Taiwan has a number of other national parks including Turtle Island, named after it’s appearance of a partially submerged turtle. It’s temperate semi-tropical climate make it a very comfortable place and its easy to see how why it’s a surging place for expats.

Lions are a key symbol for Taiwan, known for warding off spirits, being brave and courageous and lucky. We had good luck exploring this special place and think you would too.

First Asia Trip: Holistic Reflections

Travel adventures across Southeast Asia: introduction to our journeys.

Not too long ago, I set a goal of visiting a new country yearly and other new places along with it if going abroad isn’t in the cards. When I caught a flash deal via SLC’s newest international direct flight to Seoul for around $700-something, I jumped on it…that is until another flash deal for 36k Skymiles (Delta “Main”) popped up and I made the switch. I can’t even get to Chicago for that, no brainer! The timing was off-peak in September once school and fall slate begins (would prefer summer but I follow the deal!).

I talked to my world traveling friends about potential itineraries and reached out to the family travel agent that helped us with a Viking cruise for tour options and prices. I realized that we had to whittle down our list significantly and that the tours were a whole lot more for an area that I thought was supposed to be more on the affordable side.

We opted to visit countries that Alli, my wife, hadn’t yet and to save the China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam and opted for southeast Asia. I took the top recommendations and tours and started reverse engineering, looking for as many direct flights as possible, adding tours via Viator, tracking and booking flights and hotels in centralized, accessible areas via Expedia (which had the highest Rakuten rebate %). We did choose to keep one tour that had a lot of components in Borneo, having to pre-pay to hold it as spots and date availability was limited and we planned around that in the middle of the two book-end flights. Doing so allowed savings of ~50% from the tour packages.

I’m going to reflect on each stop separately, but what resulted was an amazing trek of adventures prioritizing visiting exotic animals in their mostly native locales while still possible. It was designed to be a combination of cities, cultures, tours and downtime for personal activity choices.

We purposely didn’t try to come off as Americans, yet didn’t hide it when it came up in conversation and had a lot to dispel in a tense global political situation to say the least. In fact, there was a shooting involving a political zealot in Utah while we were there, which put us on the map in the wrong way. Hard to ignore the flare-ups happening despite our wishes of international immersion…

Not surprisingly, we ran into a ton of Brits as we visited many former British colonies. They always seems have a nearly unlimited amount of “holiday” time for vacations and a dry sense of humor about things. Often, there was just enough English and signs able to be picked up to get around and some accents were tough to work with.

All-in-all, it turned out to be 10 flights, 4 separate islands, 1 peninsula and ~ 3 days between places. The airports were cleaner, more efficient and effective to navigate through. Each new country required an Arrival Card submitted beforehand in place of needing visas. Weight more often than number of bags was the limitation (usually ~25 kilos per international flight). Once for a domestic flight we had to pay for more baggage. We tightly rolled and bagged clothes and should have opted for doing laundry vs. bringing enough to last as we had some bags breaking down and it always took awhile to re-pack.

It helped to convert cash into native currencies at my bank before going. We found that bigger businesses took credit cards but “mom and pops” shops were cash only. This happens to be the low point for the $ in a long time, but most places were still affordable at ranges.

Unforgettable memories resulted from a trip of a lifetime celebrating an anniversary and birthdays – stay tuned for the individual location breakdowns!