Shimla: The Hill Station

Delhi, India, 28 August 2008
Shimla, India, 29-30 August 2008

Our train from Jaipur got us into Delhi late (11pm) and our next train got us out of Delhi early (7am) just the way we wanted it! We had deliberated over whether to simply fly to Nepal, in the end we decided to give India the benefit of the doubt, & get off the major tourist route of the Golden Triangle and head north into the foothills of the Himalayas.

Our train took us first to Kalka (5 hours) where we then changed platform & boarded the "toy train" to Shimla (5.5 hours). It was called the toy train because of it's diminutive size and narrow gauge on which it runs. The train quickly started climbing into the hills. Hugging the mountainside it offered outstanding views of the valley below. The line was completed in 1903 and runs the 97km from Kalka to Shimla. The steepest gradient is 1:33, there are 107 tunnels covering 8kms and 969 bridges over 3kms. Ah, that's more like our romantic image of India. Sitting across from us on the train were a middle class Indian couple, they frustrated Claire because during the entire journey they would dispose of their crisp wrappers, empty bottles etc out of the window into the countryside. What chance does India have to stay green and keep clean?

Arriving in Shimla at 5:30pm after our new "personal best", three 5 hour train journeys completed in 24 hours. We should take some time out to complement the Indians on their rail network (or perhaps the British). Of the five journeys we had taken at this point they were punctual, comfortable and reasonably clean. We had travelled Air Con Chair Class, 2AC and 3AC. We had even inadvertently sat in a 1AC private cabin for about 30 mins before realising we were on the right carriage but the wrong section. We knew it was too good to be true. They also have an efficient online booking system airline style so you can do it all yourself and then print out your confirmation receipt. Bravo!

Shimla was a breath of fresh air both literally & metaphorically. For the first time we were in a town that had a coherent centre. We checked into a very nice hotel and went out in search of food. Claire was hopeful we could find somewhere serving safe western food. I didn't fancy our chances but then there was shining like a beacon on the main street Dominos Pizza! Had it just touched down in answer to our prayers or had it been there all along? Either was we didn't care it was the best pizza we'd had in a long long time.

In the main plaza there was an attractive Church (Christ Church) and statues of both Mahatama & Indira Ghandi & gringos can walk around reasonably unmolested by touts & Indian tourists wanting to take there picture. We walked the street until we felt a drop of rain & then another one. Next thing we were dashing for cover from a torrential downpour. Fortunately there was a nice coffee shop where we could sit in comfort and look out on the poor sods still dashing hither and tither. The rain didn't last long & after we had booked our tickets for the Dharmasala (for the next day) we walked the steep uphill climb to Jakoo Temple. Alas, we didn't heed the warning advising that one should hire a stick to ward off the aggressive red faced monkeys. As we got close to the entrance one frightened the life out of Claire as he appeared to make a real attempt to take a bite out of her ankle. He chased her, teeth exposed while she ran in a most animated fashion back down the hill. After that wild horses couldn't have dragged her back into the temple so we cut our losses and strolled, acutely aware of our surroundings, back downhill.

After a reconnaissance mission to the bus station we pottered through some local markets (disturbing experience) before ending up in an internet cafe where we enthusiastically booked our flights out of India. We would spend the following few days moving west before travelling 1AC (1st Class) taring for Amritsar to Delhi & then catching the flight to Kathmandu.

Luxury Coach "Indian Style"

The Pink City: Jaipur

Jaipur, India, 25- 27 August
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We checked into Atithi Guesthouse and almost immediately Claire started to feel unwell. Yep, the infamous Delhi belly had arrived. For the remainder of the evening and all the next day she did not leave the confines of the room. I popped downstairs from time to time to get some food (for me, not for her) and basically laid low for the day. The following morning she was felling much better so we decided to go out and explore the wonders of Jaipur also known as the Pink City and the gateway to Rajasthan.

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First stop, the City Palace. Our tuk-tuk driver "Smiley" tried to warn us that it was overpriced and that only a small number of areas are open to the public. Did we listen to him? No. Should we have listened to him? Yes. It was okay but certainly very miss able. The one highlight (or two really) was that it has the single largest pieces of silver in the world. Two by 390kg urns ratified by the Guinness Book of Records no less. As we were hungry Smiley brought us to an overpriced tourist restaurant where he would obviously get commission. Claire was still tender from the day before and was understandably suspicious of dining establishments so we decided to ask Smiley to take us to the "Four Seasons Hotel" restaurant....in reality it was an upmarket restaurant that played on the recognition of the hotel chain (it was not associated with it). It looked ok, there were Indian businessmen and the interior was spotlessly clean. We took the plunge. The hunger satisfied we hoped back in the tuk tuk and visited a few more minor sites before arriving at the Amber Fort.

You cannot help but be impressed by this huge defensive structure sitting atop a lofty hill. This was a proper fort. Some elephants were being washed in the waters of the foot of the hill while others transported paying guests the 15 or so minutes uphill to the main gate. Once inside there were great views in all directions - probably why it made a good site for a fort. While we didn't get to the Great Wall in China this place gave us an idea of what it must be like. A large defensive wall had been built from one hilltop to the next, everywhere you looked you could see it stretching for miles around the Amber Fort. Most impressive.

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On the way back to town we stopped to admire the Water Palace set out on the middle of a lake but at that stage high winds had picked up and blinding dust had been blown everywhere. It was a hurricane scene with branches being stripped off trees, tuk tuks and cars pulling in to find some shelter & even the cows were running for cover. Then Smiley ran out of petrol. Fortunately we had gotten to a sheltered area before rolling to final halt. A few phonecalls and 30 mins later his brother arrived to bail us out. It was actually a blessing in disguise as it gave us a chance to ask Smiley some of the more important questions....like....who owns the cows? Answer: they are left out in the morning by their owners & will wander back themselves in the evening or when it is time to be milked.

Back in the room Claire took unwell again. Doh.

Our final day in Jaipur we saw no need to head out into the chaotic streets & so stayed in the safety of the guesthouse where the staff were friendly & the food was good but more importantly hygienically prepared.

Having left Delhi & experienced Agra and Jaipur (the Golden Triangle) our impression of India had not improved at all. While the Taj Mahal and the Amber Fort were without question impressive it was everything else around them that had us scratching our heads wondering why people would choose to holiday here. Maybe things will be different up north.




Doorway at the City Palace

The Taj Mahal

Agra, India, 24 August 2008
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At the time of it's building the large gates at the front of the Taj Mahal were designed in such a way that anyone coming to see this global icon would only be able to see it in all it's glory once they had passed through the large arch to the other side. With that in mind we felt a little like cheats as we sat on the rooftop cafe and had a birds eye view of the Taj Mahal. We were some distance off though so still very much relished the prospect of getting up close and personal the next day.

As it was still only mid afternoon we decided to hire a couple of rickshaws (cyclos in SE Asia) to take us to Agra's other big draw: The Red Fort. Akbar's magnificent fort dominates the centre of the city - the fortifications tower above the 9 metre wide, 10 metre deep moat. There is an outer wall on the riverside and an imposing 22 metre high inner main wall giving a feeling of great defensive power. We enjoyed wandering the various courtyards and the view across the Yamuna River to the Taj. On our return the cyclo drivers asked us if they could take us to the market where we could see how Persian rugs are made and the crafting of silver jewellery. We had become used to this in SE Asia, needless to say they get commission from the vendors who are hoping for a sale after their demonstration. As the guys told us up front that they get 20 Rupees each (30 cent) for taking us to the carpet shop... we agreed and they were happy. What we hadn't realised was just how far they would have to cycle before arriving at the destination. Was all this effort really worth an extra 20 rupees? It's at times like that that you get an idea of just how low the average income in India is. We tipped them with a further 20 rupee. The carpets were nice.
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The Red Fort

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Before retiring for the night we deliberated long and hard over whether or not to "do sunrise" at the Taj. Given our track record for under performing sunrises we decided to get a good nights sleep and hit the Taj at 9am instead. We started teh day with cornflakes & milk at a local cafe - highly recommended by our guidebook might I add. After a few mouth fulls Claire pointed out what she suspected to be dirt particles floating in the cereal bowl the proprietor assured us this was not the case! Claire was believing none of it, I finished my breakfast and we headed to the Taj. If there was one thing in India we both felt we had to visit this was it.

Entering through the huge gates at the side of the Taj Mahal was truly breathtaking. Our recommendation would be to enjoy the views from the rooftop cafes after your visit and let your entry through the gates be your first view of this marbled wonder.

We spent the next couple of hours visiting the interior and wandering the gardens that surround the Taj, viewing it from every angle. The day was a real scorcher though so we needed to hop from one shady spot to the next. The grounds were busy with Indian Tourists who were more interested in asking us to pose with them for photos than they were of photographing the Taj. For some reason our guidebook stated that you should allow 1 hour for a visit, 5 hours later we walked back outside those imposing gates.
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It feels surreal now to look at the picture of me relaxing on a bench with the Taj Mahal reflected in my sunglasses. That's me! I was there!

And with that we commenced train journey # 2 from Agra to Jaipur.






Impossible to resist!

Dave in the rickshaw

Incredible India

Delhi, India, 22-23 August 2008

We successfully navigated our way through customs, collected our bags and proceeded to look for our airport pick up guy (from the hotel we had booked and paid for on the internet). Guess what, no sign anywhere. This was the last thing that we needed, 10pm at night entering the mayhem of India for the first time. All we wanted to do was get to our hotel and sleep. To cut a long story short, we took a prepaid taxi into the city where a tourist office official alias local conman found us a hotel. He did ring (not) our original hotel but told us a fabricated story about them not being able to accommodate us. We really didn't care too much because what was certain is that they had not been at the airport to collect us, all we wanted was to secure a clean hotel room for the night. Toursit man found us another place at equal price (where no doubt he obtained a nice amount of commission).

The following morning we both had "sore heads". Word of advice, not the best condition to head out onto the streets of Delhi for the first time. We had no sooner stepped outside the door of our hotel when the barrage of tuk-tuks, rickshaws, beggars, agency touts and "helpful locals" descended upon us. They were tenacious, unrelenting and omnipresent (quote of the day from Claire). One driver in particular was aggressive, jumping out of his rickshaw and preventing us from passing him on the street. This was coupled with the dirt, squalor, filth and smell of the streets. People were urinating on the street, we had to pass piles of excrement and the flies were everywhere (we could not speak for fear of one flying into our mouths). It was a nightmare.

We visited a few local tourist offices to discuss our onward passage from Delhi. Given our experience it didn't take us long to figure out they were trying to rip us off. Then we made our was via the super crammed metro system to the train station to book them ourselves. The guidebook states that there is a special office for "International Tourists" but a local "plain clothes official" tried to convince us that it was no longer there and directed us to the new office. We thanked him politely but made our way to the other end of the station ignoring his advice. We noticed that he was still following us at a distance though. It was here that we saw a sign "Beware of touts who tell you the International Ticket Office has moved". Our helpful friend arrived as we were reading the sign he still contended that he was genuine. He even proceeded to follow us as we approached a uniformed staff who confirmed the office was still indeed at the train station. Only then did he accept he was beaten. In the ticket office we booked 5 train journeys to take us on the Golden Triangle of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Delhi before taking us north to Shimla in the foothills of the Himalayas.

During every monetary transaction without exception the locals tried to shortchange us and it became clear we would need to be on our guard ALL THE TIME. With our rain tickets in hand we proceeded to visit the Backpacker Ghetto of Pahar Ganj. Our guidebook stated "Pahar Ganj offers an instant immersion into the chaos into which India is capable, as stray cows & cycle rickshaw's tangle with a throng of pedestrians, hotel touts and salesmen hawking knock off handbags books and cheap clothes.

All we can say is that you really need to see & smell it to believe it! Life is cheap here and unless you keep your wits about you a driver will have no qualms about hitting you and he swerves to avoid a "sacred cow". And what are cows doing in the middle of a mega city anyway? Mayhem, absolute mayhem. By the way, footpaths are non-existent. And talk about rubbish, the city is nothing less than one large municipal dump. We reckon all 14 million of Delhi's residents just chuck their garbage on the street. We knew it would be chaotic but this goes beyond anything we could ever have imagined. And to think we though Bolivia was dirty, Bolivia was positively 1st world compared to this. Having well and truly reached sensory overload we retired to the safety & sanctity of or hotel room. Thankfully there was a good supermarket next to the hotel selling Cadbury chocolate, digestive biscuits, crisps and all manner of other comfort foods. We watched some TV, binged on junk food and were asleep in our bed by 7pm. "Welcome to Incredible India".

The following morning we took a deep breath and dared to face the outside world again. This time however we were feeling much stronger, the hangover was gone and we had a good nights sleep under our belts. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the train station which was actually a mistake. We had to hang around with all the oddballs waiting for our train to arrive. We had decided to pay the extra to take a taxi rather than a rickshaw to shelter us somewhat from the dirt & smell however that turned into a circus........ the roads were crazy and our driver crashed as he made the turn into the train station. Both himself and the fellow driver got out the cars and brandished fisty cuffs. It was all a bit scary and I (Claire) recalled the guidebook advice suggesting one should leave the scene as quickly as possible if involved in a car crash because it can turn nasty. We were in the middle of a busy road & had to wrestle our backpacks out the front seat before legging it across to the train station. Aghhh, the hits just keep on coming.

We were shocked by the condition of some of the trains. People were crammed in like cattle. There were bars over the windows where those lucky enough to arrive early could at least get some fresh air, and believe me they would want it... because the smell emanating form the carriages were nothing short of revolting. For our first train journey in India we were travelling 3AC, this was nothing fancy and certainly nothing like that we described above but at least it guaranteed us a seat in an air-conditioned carriage. We were sitting with an American and his Chinese girlfriend. He had spent one year working in India and had decided he would like to become a Buddhist monk. All he needed to do was give up meat, drop the girlfriend and quit smoking. The first two he admitted he would have no problem with but the cigarettes would be a real sticking point! Needless to say this confession was made when his girlfriend was at the toilet. Once she returned the two were like a pair of newlyweds again. Even the most pious of monks have to start somewhere, right? Three hours later we arrived in Agra where we checked into the Shanti Lodge and then caught our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal from the rooftop cafe.

The Cameron Highlands

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 12-13 & 19-21 August 2008

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, 14 -18 August 2008

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Taking the long bus journey from LCC Airport into Kuala Lumpur (KL) we couldn't help but notice the huge improvement in infrastructure. Indonesia hadn't been that bad but KL was definitely 1st world. We might have considered travelling directly to India had it not been for one vital piece of paper.... a visa! The following morning we made our was to the Indian High Commission, we checked teh address on the internet and felt confident we had all the necessary documents. This was going to be a breeze. What we didn't count on was that for the past 18 month's the visa application office had been moved to a downtown location. Do you think that someone should have updated the website? Travelling has an ability to uncover societies incompetencies. With our visa application lodged, we walked a short distance to KL's most iconic landmark - The Petronas Towers. As it was now 10:30am we were too late to snag a couple of tickets to visit the sky bridge that links the two towers. No matter, we walked around viewing them from all angles before dipping inside to the extensive shopping mall. Having watched the construction of the towers on Discovery Channel it was great to finally see them for real. We then walked through Little India followed by Little China slowly making our way back to our hostel.

We were told the visa's would take a minimum of 5 working days......& that the day of submission didn't count and guess what....Friday was an Indian holiday so that didn't count either..... needless to say Saturday & Sunday didn't count so we had one week to occupy ourselves. We decided to leave KL and head for the Cameron Highlands. The following day we checked online and Claire's visa had been approved!!!

The bus we travelled on to the CH's had an advertisement on the front proclaiming that one should visit the highlands. On it was a picture of a Rafflesia. This is the largest flower in the world and while they are present in Borneo we didn't have the opportunity to see one. They only flower for a few days each year so it is a special experience to see one in full bloom. The following morning we were collected at 9am for our full day tour of the CH's. After taking our 4 wheel drive up the muddiest trail imaginable we commenced our 90 minute trek into the jungle in search of the elusive Rafflesia flower. We had two local Orang Asli (indigenous Malaysian) who apparently knew where there was one in bloom. After backtracking about three time sit became clear that they really didn't have a clue but credit where it is due - they persevered and eventually we came across the most beautiful of flowers. It was a great moment and made all the more special by the hardship of the jungle trek we had to endure to find it. On the was back we had to re-cross the rivers we encountered previously and Claire accidentaly plunged her boot into the rushing water. Doh. Then we stopped by a waterfall and we both got stung by a wasp! Double doh! On the way out our 4x4 got stuck in the mud, thankfully one 4x4 had got through just ahead of us so they were able to pull us out.

Later we visited a local village and the Orang Asli demonstrated how to use the blow pipe which they still use today. We then distributed some small gifts to the children. Claire decided against sweets and opted for copy books and pencils (we have visited several of villages on our travels where guides suggest we bring sweets and we find children with rotting teeth, they have no access to dental hygiene or care).

Picture Opposite: Orang Asli child with one of the notebooks and pencils

Next stop was the Boh tea plantation, founded by a Scotsman J.A. Russell. It was the first highland tea garden in Malaysia. It has a stunning setting nestled in the lush green hills of the CH's. We stopped for lunch, a factory tour and to sample some of their finest teas of course. Boh is one of only a few tea plantations in the world which plants, processes, packs and markets it's own premium brands.

Collecting the tea leaves

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As if we hadn't had enough excitement for one day we then made our way to the butterfly farm where let me tell you, butterflies are definitely not the main attraction. They have all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures for you to handle. Rhino horn beetles, stick insects, lizards, leaf insects, scorpions and oh yeh butterflies. I, Dave, had a rather large scorpion placed on my chest, and as he started to approach my groin I pleaded with the staff to remove it and it's intimidating stare.

The final stop of the day was at a Strawberry Farm. After about 5 minutes of hearing about the strawberry growing process we made our way to the shop to enjoy strawberry milkshakes, strawberry ice cream, strawberry jam. It was an excellent day out and made all the better by our witty and knowledgeable guide.

Nice views from the watch tower in Tanah Rata town.

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We stayed 5 nights in the Cameron Highlands and spent the majority of the time simply enjoying the cooler climate. For a relatively small town it was a surprise, a pleasant one, to find a Starbucks occupying pride of place on the main street. So, put simply our routine was one of coffee slurping, draughts playing, movie watching, internet surfing, scones with jam & cream scoffing nirvana.

We headed back to KL on the Tuesday, 3 working days post visa application, and on Wednesday morning it was approved. Hurray! (Little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for). We had met a nice couple Dan & Phi in CH's and we had travelled back to KL together. Early (7am) on the Wednesday morning we all made our way to the Petronas Towers in order to get tickets to visit the Sky Bridge on the 41st floor. The tickets are free but if you are not in the queue by 8am you can forget about your chances of getting one. We were in good time and while Dan & I waited in line the two ladies went and fetches some freshly brewed coffee. O'Briens no less! The Irish franchise is spreading it's wings. The coffee even came with a cinnamon shamrock on top. Because we had arrived early we were able to proceed directly to the Sky Bridge. Before ascending to the 41st floor however we were obliged to watch a movie extolling the virtues of the Petronas Petroleum Company. This reminded us a little of the advertisement they had played at Speights Brewery in Dunedin (NZ). But Speights had a catchier background tune. Without any further delay we made our way to the Sky Bridge and enjoyed the views it afforded over the city. One's gaze invariably came back to the majesty of the twin towers. When you hear a Malaysian referring to them as the "Twin Towers" it is impossible not to think of the tragedy in NYC. While the Petronas Towers are not the tallest buildings in the world they are the tallest twin towers. Once our 15 minute slot had expired we were escorted back to the elevator for our 40 second journey back to the ground. We bade adieu to Dan & Phi and the hopped on the Monorail to Times Square - a large shopping mall in the Golden Triangle area of town.

For our last day in KL, Claire's eagle eye had spotted that Le Meridian Hotel were doing a rather exquisite afternoon tea special. There were two options to choose from, aptly names "This" and "That". So we had "this and that". It was sheer indulgence. We each had about 12 hand crafted open sandwiches, pastries, tarts, miniature desserts, scones with jam & cream. We were full after 5 but persevered to polish off the lot. Tea and coffee were free flowing to wash it all down. And the bill, a mere 6 Euro each. Cheap at triple the price. And with that we said goodbye to South East Asia, we jumped on a bus to the very attractive and modern KLIA airport and boarded a Malaysia Airways flight bound for New Delhi India. To put into context what happened next one needs to remember that Malaysia is a Muslim state and consequently drinking alcohol is discouraged. One method to discourage is to make alcohol prohibitively expensive - even more pricey than Dublin establishments (that's when it is available on a menu). So, you can imagine our surprise when we discovered that all alcoholic drinks on the flight were included. Being so used to no frills airlines this concept was novel to us... so we proceeded to take full advantage. Needless to say by the time we arrived in Delhi we were both inebriated.

Bali

Kuta, Bali (Indonesia), 4 - 5 August 2008
Ubud, Bali (Indonesia), 6 -11 August 2008



Offerings to the Hindu Gods are placed out on the streets early morning











Having spoken to Kelly & Mark about their adventures in Indonesia we decided to catch a cheap Air Asia flight from KK to Bali. Bali, the name conjured up images of endless white pristine sandy beaches flanked by rolling surf.... or at least it did for us. Getting in late we were glad to see our hotel rep waiting for us in "arrivals", wonders will never cease. We were staying near Kuta Beach and so after a good nights sleep we went out to see what all the fuss was about. First impressions were not good. All street vendors were going for the hard sell "Come in, Come in", "Good price for you"..... What really annoyed Claire was when they would physically grab her arm and try to lead her into their shop. Even the beach offered no escape. "Surfboards, surf lessons" and so on. It felt very tacky for us. Yarg, get me out of here. We decided to leave the following morning. At first we considered moving to one of the Gili Islands but transport was an issue (for the fast boat) and then we met people who told us they were swamped with drug-taking, lager drinking backpackers. Lousy backpackers. So we decided to backpack our way inland to Ubud instead. With our remaining hours in Kuta we escaped into the familiarity of a Starbucks before venturing into one of the many stores to purchase the obligatory copied DVD's. This purchase helped to psychologically justify our time at Kuta Beach.

We arrived in Ubud early afternoon and were met with a number of touts. We went with one of them and incredibly he brought us to a beautiful second storey en-suite room with a very private balcony in a modern building (family run). The price 8.50 Euro with breakfast served to you on your balcony. Maybe Indonesia wasn't so bad after all. Next we stumbled upon Kafe - serving all the stuff Claire loves.... "organic-wholewheat this", "freshly squeezed that". Things were definitely starting to look up.

The following day we hired a driver to take us to all the local sights, the first thing we noticed was just how sprawling the town of Ubud was. We thought we had seen most of it the previous day when in fact we hadn't even seen the main street! Ubud is the art capital of Bali and has a bohemian character with quirky art galleries, wood carving stores, jewellery makers and colourful clothing boutiques. We passed the day stopping at lush green rice terraces, ancient Hindu temples, foreboding volcanoes and yes we even managed to squeeze in a little shopping when we passed a vendor that looked like they had something a little bit different. We also spent time at a coffee plantation. Our interest was peaked by their LUWAK coffee. Luwak coffee is produced from beans that have been eaten off the coffee bush by cheeky mongoose type animals. Because they can only digest the outer fleshy parts surrounding the bean they excrete the remainder. This "remainder" is then found by the workers when harvesting in the coffee plantation. These beans are then processed as normal to produce a coffee with a distinctive caramel taste. It was pricey but we couldn't resist buying a jar. We passed a few more pleasant days in Ubud (with Claire clocking up 3 massages in 6 days) before calling it quits with Indonesia and jumping on a flight to Kuala Lumpur back to peninsular Malaysia.

Rice Fields


Offerings at the Temple















Batur Volcano



Wooden Artefacts making their way from Bali for Dara, Megan, Ellie, Katie, Eilidh & Orla

Survivor Island

Pulau Tiga, Borneo, 1-2 August 2008

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, 29-31 July & 3 August 2008


Sunset on Survivor Island














Back in KK we decided to check out 1Borneo - a huge hyper mall 5km outside of town. We took the courtesy bus and it stopped at all the swanky hotels in the hope of luring some big spenders out to the suburban shoppers Mecca. It didn't happen so 1Borneo turned out to be a very nice, very modern, very large and unfortunately very empty hyper mall. Imagine Heathrow Airport with no tourists, that's what 1Borneo was all about. Claire was delighted though, the cinema was showing amongst other things the Sex and the City movie! She had been ranting on about seeing this movie since the day our travels began so she was doing cartwheels with excitement.

The following morning we were collected at 7:30am for a 2 hour bus ride and 30 minute speed boat to our final destination - Pulau Tiga... otherwise known as Survivor Island. This island was the location for the original survivor reality TV program filmed in 2000. The island had a real castaway feel about it. Beautiful sandy beaches backed by dense unexploited jungle.




After a buffet lunch we struck off in search of the mud volcano. We had first experienced this phenomenon in north Colombia and so considered ourselves old hands. While the setting of this volcano wasn't as spectacular we did have it all to ourselves! Having wallowed in the mud for 30 minutes we then had the 1km walk back to the beach completely covered from head to toe in thick gloopy mud. People seemed at first shocked and then amused as these two "Bigfoot" type characters emerged from the jungle and plunged themselves into the warm waters of the South China sea. Then it was time to get down to the real business of life on a Paradise Island - rest and relaxation. For the next 2 days we mingled jungle exploration with R&R beach time. Other than a few pieces of memorabilia back in our clubhouse there was little to belie the islands recent past on the global stage when the Pagong Pagong tribe battled it out against the ....... other tribe who I cannot remember the name of. It was stunningly beautiful with few tourists so it was a pleasant end to our time in Borneo.

We recommend Borneo as a holiday destination, it has so much to offer. Hopefully the Malay government won't mess it up by allowing the continued destruction of the rain forest to make way for ever more rows of palm trees. Palm oil has become a major export for Borneo. Only time will tell.