Erik-Amara

We flew from Bangkok into Kuala Lumpur. We met our friend Sue Gee (an exchange student whom I befriended at WMU) and her family was kind enough to let us stay at their home. They drove us to the infamous Hindu Batu Caves, a limestone hill in the north of Kuala Lumpur which has a series of beautiful caves.

The next day we headed to Taman Negara, a 140 million year old rainforest in Peninsular Malaysia (older than any rainforest in the world, even South America and Africa. The forest has been always been a protected nature reserve. The jungle contains over 10,000 species of plants and 350 species of birds. Local mammals include mouse deer, barking deer, tapirs, wild boars, elephants, rhinos, leopards, tigers, and monkeys. We were able to stay with the Orang Asili tribe in the jungle, natives whom live off the land. They have no electricity and hunt with poison blow darts and live in man-made huts made of straw and wood. We were able to stay with them by presenting the chief with a gift. In return, he gave us a hut to sleep in and even took us hunting in the jungle during the dark of the night. Our guides pointed out many different plant and animal species to us, including deer, deer mouse, bird-eating tarantulas, inch-long ants, many different birds, and a really interesting glow in the dark mushroom. The rain forest is not a quiet place. In some respects it is as noisy as any big city with a cacophony of insect noises, bird calls, and animal cries that goes on night and day. We heard strange sounds during the night, and the chief told us the noises we heard were native tigers (only 200 remain in the entire 4,343 sq. km Jungle). We also went white-water rafting, which was very exciting.






After a few days in Taman Negara, we returned to KL, where we visited little India, Chinatown, and the infamous Petronas Towers. Of course, we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe on Valentines Day.

Amara here. Our trip to Cambodia became longer then we had originally planned. But we both enjoyed the country so much that we decided to stay and see more then just Ankor Wat. Our bus ride into Cambodia was very difficult. We were victims of the bus scam thats common between Bangkok to Siem Reap. Once across the border of Cambodia there was no bus waiting for us to continue onto Siem Reap and we spent around three hours of the afternoon just sitting around. They purposely make the trip long and difficult so that when you finally arrive in Siem Reap after nearly sixteen hours of travel, you'll stay at whatever guesthouse the bus brings you too. Erik and I, of course, left as soon as the bus stopped to the anger of the hotel employees and found a much nicer guesthouse right in town.

The temples of Ankor are just amazing. It's hard to believe they were built more then one thousand years ago. Here's some pictures.

After Siem Reap, we decided to visit the capitol, Phnom Pen. We were able to visit all the tourist sights that focus on the tragedy the Khmer Rouge brought to Cambodia. We visited the prison museum where the Khmer Rouge questioned, tortured, and eventually killed many Cambodian people. We also visited the famed Killing Fields where they disposed of the dead bodies. It was a very sad experience, but good to see.

What surprised me at the prison museum was the exhibit on the water boarding technique used to torture victims. It disgusted me that my country uses the same techniques.

Cambodia is still feeling the after effects of the destructive Khmer Rouge regime. It's impossible to not notice the poverty in the country. We became very aware when we were visiting a temple in Phnom Pen. Monkeys lived around the temple and Erik, of course, bought bananas to feed them. We noticed a little girl watching us as we were feeding the monkeys. She was a street kid, dirty and just wearing a little skirt, no shirt. It was such a sad moment because we realized she was probably hungry and we were just feeding the monkeys. So we gave her the rest of the bananas. It was a heart warming moment because as soon as we walked away, all her little friends came running up to here and she distrubuted the bananas so everyone had one. I would love to return to Cambodia to do some volunteer work at some point.

With a couple more days to kill before our flight left for Malaysia, we decided to go to Sihanoukville, a beach town in Southern Cambodia. It was highly recommended by other backpackers. It was a nice couple days laying on the beach, swimming in such warm water. I got really sunburned though.

Luckily, our trip back into Bangkok was not nearly so troublesome. We took a boat to the border, spent the night and then took a nice safe government bus back to Bangkok. We look forward to being in Kuala Lampur tomorrow!

Amara here. As you can tell from the pictures, we are enjoying our time in Thailand very much. Kotao Island was beautiful! The weather was great, sunny and about 70 or 80 degrees most days. We took scuba diving courses. Getting our certificate required taking some classes about diving safety as well as doing actual dives at various depths. Erik and I are now certified to dive to 18 meters. So we look forward to going diving again soon, possibly in Malaysia! The water was gorgeous, so clear and we saw lots of fish and coral reefs.

The bus ride back to Bangkok was long, but we finally made it. We've spent a couple of days here and have done much. We went shopping on the famed Ko Sahn Road (made famous from that movie The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio). It's a backpacker area. Today we went to the Grand Palace where the King of Thailand used to live and also Wat Phra Kaew, home to the emerald Buddha and Wat Pho, where the huge reclinging Buddha is located. Both beautiful.

Tonight Erik and I did a must do; we ate at Bangkok's Hard Rock Cafe. It was good, but of course outrageously expensive compared to everything else here. Mostly, things here are a little cheaper here then they are in Shanghai. While there's still that constant fear of being ripped off, we find shopping here better because the store people aren't constantly grabbing us or shouting at us as we walk by. Also, it's normal in Shanghai for a store person to quote us a price that's about five times higher than what its actually worth, but here you can only bargain down a little, which is nice because it makes us feel we are paying a fair price.

As always, Erik is constantly being mistaken for being Thai which has been humorous. Often I will start talking to a sales person and they will see Erik and immediately start talking to him in Thai. It seems to happen in every Asian country we visit.

Being here, we've started learning more about Thailand's history. Like the UK, Thailand is a democratic government, but they have a king. He has reigned for a very long time and is very respected here. Foreignors have been shot or assualted for disrespecting him. His face is on all the money and we see his picture constantly. Here, he is very well loved.

Our next plans are to visit Ankor Wat in Cambodia which I am very excited about. It will be a long 10 hour bus ride from Bangkok, but should be worth it. These temples are huge and are considered one of the seven wonders of the world. So we are looking forward to the rest of our trip and are sad that we are now halfway through our travels.

Erik here. Today we took a trip to Kanjanaburi to see the infamous "Bridge over the River Kwai." In addition to seeing the restored bridge, we saw a war museum about the Death Railway built from 1942 to 1943 by Allied POWs under the direction of the Japanese. The railway was erected to support its forces in the Burma campaign. The living and working conditions on the railway were horrific. The estimated total number of civilian labourers and POWs who died during construction is about 160,000. They had a skull and some bones of victims on display at the museum, which I thought was in bad taste.

The allies bombed the bridge at the end of the war (it has since been re-built). I still haven't read the book by author Pierre Boulle. I plan to.

On the way to Kanjanaburi we stopped at Bangkok's most famous "floating market." The original canals which now make up the Floating Market were built in 1866 on demand of His Majesty the King of Thailand to help ease communication in the province. Floating markets have become a symbol of Thailand, and major tourist attractions.

Erik drinking from a coconut

The last place we visited was a tiger temple. It was founded by monks who took in tiger cubs whose parents had been shot by poachers. The temple is now home to over a dozen tigers. We got a chance to play with and take pictures with these beautiful cats. They were quite gentle, having been raised by the monks since they were young. The baby tigers were the cutest. There were four of them, only 16 months old. One of the adult tigers thought Amara's skirt was a toy, and started batting it with his (huge) paw until the staff rushed her away. I was a little nervous after reading about what happened with the tiger in the zoo in California, but we ended up being fine.

I won't get into much detail, because Amara really wants to do this entry but has busy. She will do a detailed summary of these events in a latter entry. So, to sum it up:

Jan 20 - took a trip to Vietnam's magnificent Ha Long Bay

Jan 21st - flew into Bangkok to meet with friends Ryan and Meeyan
Jan 22nd - took an all day bus to Chumpton, where we hitched a ride on a cargo boat to beautiful Ko Tao Island
Jan 23rd - started our PADI scuba diving course, and relaxed on the beach between dives.
Jan 27th - finished our course, obtained our diving certificates

Some of the exotic marine life seen: blue-spotted manta rays, moray eel, harleyquinn fish, white-tip reef shark, just to name a few.

Today we woke up bright and early and headed to the Military History museum. It was fascinating. There were many weapons and vehicles on display from the conflicts with the Americans, Japanese, and the French. The museum was very biased, however - for example, the US-backed government is referred to as the "puppet government" in all the exhibits, and there are only exhibits showing the terrible things their enemies have done to them, and not vice versa.
Anyway, there was lots to see - including the infamous tank that crashed through the gates of the Presidential palace in April 30, 1975. Also on display were wreckages of downed US and French aircraft, as well as captured helicopters, tanks, and howitzers.

We also went to the Ethnology museum, which gave us a better understanding of the different types of groups that make up Vietnam. We got a chance to see ancient tools, musical instruments, and more. Amara liked this museum better than the military history museum.