black shirt

No black shirt
  in Temple
No shoes on feet
No soles forward

No smoking
No spitting
No cameras

Light incense
Make donation
Gain merit

No black shirt

Melaka

Melaka is a quaint town with lots of history and tourists. Somehow it manages to keep its authenticity despite the large number of tour buses. Town square, Chinatown, the shopping mall, night bazaar and neighborhoods are all interesting. Visited the Maritime Museum, People's Museum and fort.

Travel--took a bus from KL (Puduraya station) to Melaka;

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur, commonly referred to as "K.L.," has the old and new. The colonial area, Meredeka Square and Chinatown are interesting. The new includes Petronas Towers (once the tallest buildings in the world), and KL Tower (still in the top three tallest towers). We visited the National Museum, National Mosque, Islamic Arts Museum, Bukit Benang and KL Sentral neighborhoods, and rode the monorail.

A couple of annoyances.

Pulau Pangkor

Malaysia is famous for its islands on the east coast, but it is northeast monsoon  season now. Pangkor is on the west coast, so it is unaffected. It is a small, sleepy place where fishing is more important than tourism. I spent several days at Nipah Beach swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and hiking. The place was empty and quiet. Aside from a limited choice of restaurants, it was a wonderful place to relax.

Unfortunately, a monkey took my camera. It was in a

Cameron Highlands

A cool, mountainous resort, a welcome relief from the heat. Tana Rata, a tourist town is the center. It's fun hiking, visiting tea plantations and observing high-tech strawberry horticulture.

Travel--took mini-van from Georgetown directly to hotel in Tana Rata.

Lodging--The Cameronian had good home made scones, but otherwise nothing special.

Petronis Tower

 



Petronis Tower taken and sent from KL Tower.

Penang

Penang is a fun place to visit and a great place to eat. Five centuries of colonialism plus Chinese, Indian and Muslim influence on traditional Malay culture have created a diverse multi-cultural society--and good food.

Char kway teow--big rice noodles

Women sweep

Women sweep
   leaves from road
White sun rises
Misty hills
Pink lanterns
   red and blue.

Island Hopping

Took a speedboat with five big Honda 225 outboards to Ko Lipe. Took a longtail to get on the island. Then took a long tail to get off the island to another speedboat to Pulau Langkawi where I went through immigration into Malaysia. The following day, I took a "Super Fast" Ferry to Georgetown, Pulau Penang

Ko Lipe

Spent an afternoon at Ko Lipe. It is more laid-back and hip than Ko Samui--no tailors asking if you want a new suit (the kind with a tie and shirt, not a bathing suit). If you like the scene, there are plenty of restaurants, bars, dive shops and cute places to stay and hang out. Me, I really liked Ko Tarutao.

on leaving Tarutao National Park

On the way to Ko Tarutao National Park, I met a German who said he went to Ko Lipe, one of the islands, five years ago. He planned to stay five days, but stayed five weeks. He has visited every year since, but now stays two months. We stayed in a duplex bungalow on Ko Tarutao and met a young Swedish woman. She said she had been "here" for five weeks. I asked if she meant in Thailand; she responded "here" as in that bungalow. It was her second year spending five weeks. I met a senior Belgian man with an inflatable kayak; he said he has been visiting these islands for twenty years.

By the end of six nights, I understood

Tarutao National Park

A marine park with multiple islands, the largest being Ko Tarutao, this is a great place to relax and kick back. We first stayed at Au Phante Malaca, where the ferry stops at the pier. Then we moved four kilometers to Ao Moelae. Both bungalows were spacious and comfortable. The one at Moelae was right on the beach. One day we took a longtail taxi boat to a coral site on the northestern side of the island; it was top-notch. Another day, we took kayaks along the sea cliffs and snorkeled among the rocks. Another day we hiked through the jungle to a beach and snorkeled there. The food isn't fancy, but the overall experience is wonderful. A tropical paradise with few people and lots of fish, crabs, monkeys, birds and a few wild pigs.

to Ko Tarutao

 Getting there. Left Ko Samui using the tourist highway, which is well-organized and convenient in Thailand. Destination: Tarutao National Park on the Andaman Sea, southwest Thailand. We bought tickets to Trang and assumed we could get from there to Pak Bara Pier where we could catch a ferry to the park.

A mini-van picked us up at out hotel at 6 a.m. and drove us to the other side of Ko Samui where we transferred to a large bus. The bus drove to the ferry pier and into the ferry. We disembarked at Don Sak, took the same bus to Surat Thani, took a tuk-tuk to the bus station and traveled by air-conditioned mini-van, arriving at Trang at 2:30 p.m., right on time.

Resting after kayak, snorkel, sun

Resting after kayak, snorkel, sun. No Internet access here on Ko Tarutao.

video update

Here's my video update after three weeks of travel. I hope your bandwidth is better than mine at the Bunpa Internet Cafe.

[flickr video=3243749322]

Bangkok to Ko Samui

Visited the Grand Palace built in 1782. The Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha is very impressive in its architecture, craftsmanship and artistry. The golden chedi is also remarkable. Ate dinner in Chinatown for Chinese New Year. Had a good-bye seafood dinner beside the Chao Phraya River. It was sad to be leaving Brian and Siripan after spending so many fun days traveling together.

We took the Thai Railway Southern Line to Surat Thani. It took eight hours,