We took a 7 hour train from Singapore here - actually had good seats on this train with
plenty of leg room. KL is the capitol of Malaysia & is a very modern city with historic sections, mountains & hills surrounding the landscape. Over the years Malaysia was occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, & the British acquiring it's independence in 1957. This used to be a tin mining town and currently has the tallest buildings in the world (the Petronas Towers). They are outstanding and look so futurist that any intergalactic visitors would be instantly impressed ! There are 88 floors, but you can only go to the 41st to walk the connecting bridge from one building to the other - they are 451.9m or 1,250 feet tall!
We are staying here through the Christmas & New Year's holidays. We have a great suite
on the 24th floor with spectacular views, outstanding evening appetizers (each night there is a different theme - Malay, Chinese, Italian, Indian) and, of course, complimentary breakfast. Bill said I am spoiled, but really he's not suggesting
we move!
KL is 70% Islamic, 10% Chinese, & 20% Indian Malay. The Indian Malay were the original people here & they are Hindu, more like the India Hindu. They do not believe in killing any animals & are vegetarians to the degree they will not eat any vegetables that grow under ground for fear the garlic/onion bulb/potato/beet or carrot could kill a worm in the growing process. The Indian Malays also feel they are discriminated against by the Islams.
The transit systems make it easy to get around, great city to walk in & there are parks with walking trails - many tropical plants - weather has been perfect, some rain, but nothing that deters one - still in the 80's! We've met some nice people from Australia, Qatar & locals. This really makes the trip - learning about the lives of people everywhere in
the world.
Again wishing everyone Happy Holidays !
Marge
As Bill said this is a modern, clean city full of shopping & eating - good for our budget Bill
has been under the weather, because who knows what damage he would have done! My husband loves to shop & this city has outdone him - there is every store known to man - from designer stores, like Stella McCarthy's to the Gap! Prices are comparable to US some deals, but it's not cheap here. Thank heavens for our Sheraton points - staying @ a Le Meridien & quite nice - complementary buffet breakfast & our favorite happy hour with snacks! Helps our budget tremendously, although eating here is very reasonable. You can get anything from pig's organ soup to Kentucky fried chicken - food courts everywhere & very nice ones!
Great time of year to be here - lots of Christmas lights - performers along the streets - last night heard an absolutely beautiful choir singing in Mandarin Christmas carols - they were
so good didn't matter the language barrier. Plus easy to recognize the Christmas songs. Reminded me of when our nephews Albert & Danny were in their school choir.
Great walking city & the architecture is astounding - not many older buildings, but lots of diverse styles, even the malls are interesting from a architectural aspect
We will be heading to country #3, Malaysia & can't believe it's only been 2 months since we left California, seems longer. Fortunately, we are still in good shape a little cold, but no major issues. My favorite part so far, like all the tri
ps we have ever taken spending all my time with my wonderful husband! That ought to get me a good Christmas gift!
See you from Malaysia,
Marge
We want to wish our family, old, & new friends very Happy Holidays & a joyous & peaceful New Year!
Love, Marge & Bill
also, added a new section to the right on the books we read while traveling - only the best, so enjoy...
'Warm smell of bakso rising up through the air' will be my lasting memory of Indonesia. You find these bakso vendors
everywhere, and the sweet/spicy smell of the broth permeates the air in any urban setting. We loved the diversity of Indonesia - I was disappointed we didn't make it out to see the komodo dragons, but couldn't work it into our schedule.
Last week we flew from Jakarta on Java to Singapore to spend a week. We'll be in this modern city for about a week before proceeding on train up to Kuala Lumpur. There's a bit of sightseeing to do in this city, but mostly it's eating and shopping - something we both
enjoy doing.
I can't get over how clean and modern and efficient this city is - it's very simple to hop on a bus or take the subway. Marge has picked up a 'throw away' phone with 6 hours of calling to the US for about $50, so she's thrilled to be able to call everyone again. Actually, they have a pretty cheap method of acquiring phone service - you buy an unblocked phone, then purchase these SIM cards that contain a fixed amount of dollar value - when your SIM card value is used up, you go to the nearest 7-11 store and buy another one - it looks like we'll be able to do this throughout Malaysia and
Thailand for the next 3-4 months.
Bill's been feeling under the weather despite this city being a shopper's paradise - even more so with the Xmas season and everyone is out shopping. There's a lot going on in this city and it's quite fun to be here now...
more later..
"And All the King's Men, couldn't put Prambanan Together Again" echoed through my mind as we toured this Hindu
temple outside Jogja. Despite the impressive surrounding, I couldn't help but wonder how the heck they're going to piece this thing together after the quake damage. Everywhere you turned there were fields of stone that needed to be put back together. Personally, I liked Prambanan better than Borobudur - just to see the ongoing efforts to reconstruct
this great temple is worth the price of admission.
The Buddhist temple Borobudur is ranked with that of Angkor Wat, but on a much smaller scale. We will get to review Angkor Wat later in our travels. Borobudur consists of 6 square bases topped by 3 circular ones. It was constructed in the early part of the 9th, century AD.
The US put together a $25 million restoration project to return it to it's former glory. There are nearly 1,500 narrative panels on the terraces illustrating Buddhist teachings & 432 Buddha images sit in chambers on the terraces.
is a Hindu temple complex also built in the 9th century AD, about 50 years after Borobudur. The Shiva Temple is the largest & most lavish. This temple was mysteriously abandoned soon after it's completion. The spires
make this temple very dramatic. Remember no motor was used to hold anything together.
There are repairs going on constantly to both of these sites, due to the many earthquakes in the area. Both areas surrounding these sites are just beautiful. Very glad we made
the effort to see these!
Marge
We spent 4 nights in Yogyakarta (Jogja). We have the best room karma & found I am sure the only boutique / coffee house hotel in this city. Can't say we were very impressed with Jogja - it is supposed to be the cultural center of Indonesia. Great cultural cites outside of the city, but didn't find much within.
We did learn to find our way on the public bus system. The buses are owned by private individuals & there is a variety of bus types. They hire drivers & toll collectors. No tickets are given out, nor is there any toll box. Having been in the ticket business, I could see opportunity for fraud! However, the driver & collector pay the bus owner a fixed amount per
day & anything they collect above that is theirs to keep.
There are no signed bus stops, just wave & the bus will pick you up. Same goes for when you want to get off, just let
the toll guy know & he yells to the driver & bangs on the handrail! You better be quick getting on & off the bus. Remember their objective is to get as many passengers as quickly as possible, so it is best to jump on & off. Earlier in one of my postings I gave Bill's description of riding in a taxi, "like being in a video game." The bus ride is pretty much the same way, but if you remember the movie about a bus that had to maintain a certain speed, since there was a bomb on board. Well in between stops & especially on long distances that's how these buses run & honk their horn at anything in their way! Cost for riding within the city 20 cents - long distance of 1.5 hours $1.55.
We also had our first rides on a becak, a man powered bicycle with a 2 seat carriage in front. For the equivalent of a 20 minute walk the cost was 50 cents. Most of the drivers are holder men & we felt guilty riding. Thought we weighed too much, but this is their livelihood.
We were surprised being a large city of 600m very few people spoke english. The visits to Borobudur & Prambanan are worth a stop in Jogja, but only for 2 days in our opinion.
Marge
the Indonesian bus system is one of resourcefulness and cunning - everyone is in competition for the 20 cent paying customer - the more you take you more you make - so, it's in the best interest of the driver and toll collector to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible with as full a bus as possible, many times racing to the next stop before the other guy to get the customers....really quite interesting to see the interaction between the money guy and the driver - quite a severe difference from the Singapore bus system we're currently employing (more on that later)
- bill
What am I doing on this bus as I watched the person across from me dig at his toenail with a broken match stick. All I could think of was how am I going to survive 15 hours on this executive bus ? We had signed up for the 15 hour night bus from Bali to the center of Java and were all set to leave at 3:00 in the afternoon. As I watched all the other buses pull away from the terminal ours remained unmoved but since no one spoke english, I could only imagine that we were waiting for other passengers to show.
Unfortunately, we were unaware that you get advance seat assignments on this bus, and our bad luck put us right behind the driver, which had the least amount of leg room than any of the other seats on the bus. And of course, Marge and I were easily the tallest people on the bus. Not to mention there was this large and annoying red digital clock mounted in front of the driver, counting down the minutes until would arrive at our final destination.
Now imagine the largest bus you've ever been on, then imagine this bus driving down a 2 lane highway in the dark with a driver intent on passing every vehicle in front of him. The rules of the road appear to be that someone passing has the right to use the other lane with the vehicles formerly occupying those lanes consigned to the shoulder or in some cases the ditch. And if you're a motorcycle, you have no rights at all, get out of the way as best you can. If you hear the bus horn and don't get out of the way, it will be the last sound you'll ever hear. And since we were right behind the driver, it continued to amaze me what he would attempt to do - curves, hills, villages, there were no obstacles that he couldn't pass.
I really don't understand how those 15 hours went by - I certainly was entertained much of the time by the driver and I'm sure I slept a little bit, but when we finally arrived, there was a sense of relief that somehow we had survived without killing someone on the road (at least no one I saw)....
-- bill
P.S. I took 2 Advill PM & slept most of the way! Thank God. Marge
Good New Books we Read
Wild Swans by Jung Chang - a three family history of China in the 20th century
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon - if you liked the movie 'little miss sunshine', along the same vein
We spent the last of our days in Bali at this seaside town in preparation for our 15 hour
bus ride across the island of Java (for a later posting). In the beginning of our trip, we had
come here on a day trip and noted that it would be nice to return and check it out.
Sanur has a curious mix of upscale restaurants and hotels, local merchants and warungs,
and residents sharing the coast of this town. There is a boardwalk that runs in front of this activity for approximately 8 miles, so as you walk you go from local family to fancy restaurant to fisherman village to local merchant to outdoor bar and so on. I tried walking the entire stretch of boardwalk
one day but never did get to the northern terminus.
I'm not sure why this area hasn't been fully developed into 5 star resorts, but we're glad it hasn't. Found a great little place to stay down this unmarked alley which turned into quite the nice place to spend 4 days. The last night here we ate at the local night market for about $4
We are back on the island of Bali on the far east coast. There is not a major village of Amed, only pockets of hotels &
services over about a 10 mile area. We found a great place to stay - brand new bungalows, a little more on the modern style rather than Balinese, owned by a Dutch family. This is a very peaceful coast line - black sand gravel beaches for snorkeling & diving. Great interior vistas of the lush tropics & volcanoes.
Right out in front of our place there was wonderful coral & a great variety of fish - calm fairly shallow water. About 20 minutes both north & south from us there are sunken war cargo ships. The US Liberty, sunk during WWII but was able to make it close to shore before sinking - no one died. This is a great diving spot, but you can also snorkel over it. Same with the Japanese cargo ship that also sank - this one is much closer to shore & you can easily see this when snorkeling. I enjoyed the Japanese ship more, not so deep water & easier to see. Of course the ruins are covered with coral & because the water is deeper the fish get bigger! Bill came eye to eye with a 3 foot barracuda
We met the nicest young couple from Germany, Torsten & Julia. They both did dives, but Julia joined us when we snorkeled over the ships. We enjoyed having dinners with them & hearing about their lives. Julia is a very kind, sincere, giving young women - she makes one feel so comfortable. They made our stay in Amed more special because of the time we spent together.
One more stop in Bali & then on to the largest island in Indonesia of Java!
Marge
Gili Trawangan is the largest of 3 small islands off the coast of Lombok. Gili means island & Trawangan means 3 caves. During WW II Japanese occupied this island & dug the 3 caves - I assume to hide in & store ammunition. We stayed here for 9 nights. The 20
minute boat ride over was interesting - as Bill put it - felt like we were on a refugee boat - next stop Miami!
Bill relived his youth. It's party central - 90 cent gin & tonics - party every other night at one of the many bars. White sand beaches with clear aqua & turquoise water. Lots of diving & snorkeling. Bill has become a swim suit critic. Can't tell how many times he said this is our nephew Ethan's kind of place!
It takes about 2 hours to walk around the island. There are no cars or motor bikes allowed. Only bicycles & pony buggies called Chidomo for transport if needed. Only about 1/3 of the island is developed with accommodations, although it is growing & will continue to be
a hot spot.
We met lots of people young & old from all over - Belgium, Washington, DC, England, France, Scotland, & Canada. We made friends with a nice group of young men & women. They are traveling anywhere from 3 months to a year or more. When they run out of money they will take work or head home. We so admire their spirit!
Here are some of our favorites - Tori & Hannah were friends from their university in England & they worked for 3 years & are now traveling together. They are heading to Sydney to find an apartment & some work. Very pretty young women - let's just say we always had plenty of men hanging around us! Mike from Canada our stock broker heading home in
December & ready to start his career again - he's got a good head on his shoulders & will be very successful in life. Rob & Curtis also from Canada both NFL fans will be traveling for @ least another 6 months. Curtis very concerned about leaving his mark in each country he visits. Wants to help in some way. He made some signs for the "save the turtles". Our favorite of all is Will our dear bloke from England. He took us under his wing & introduced us to the group. Such a charming & sincere man - lucky the girl that catches him some day!
We even managed to stayed out past midnight a few nights with the group. Not bad for us whose bedtime used to be 10:00! Plus we always made it to the beach well before the younger crowd. I know they were probably going to bed about the time we were getting up!
We had a great bungalow to stay in Pesona, just remodeled about 5 months ago. Kade, the manager was very helpful and a good person to get to know. The food was excellent and amazingly cheap - fresh fish, salad bar, potato for $5.00. Also, everywhere great music all in English & free movies outside or video rentals on cabanas! Saw some great films.
We have come to realize it is cheaper to live on the road than it is to live in California!
See you from next stop back on Bali.
Marge
Gili Trawangan was a very fun place to spend 9 days - it's kind of a strange place - no motorized vehicles, no ATM's, no dogs, no crime, a million cats, no geckos or birds for that manner - these cats are ruthless ! Now it's time to work our way back to mainland Bali for another week or so before we move to the island of Java and then fly to Singapore on 11-December. I would highly recommend this island - most fun so far !!
- bill
