You can’t talk very much about Asia without saying something about the monks there.  There are many temples and all are mostly ran by the monks of the Buddhist religion.  To become a monk is considered very noble and is a way for a local to gain a higher level in society.  Not all of them are monks for life, as some do 6-7 years to gain wisdom and stature while serving their religion and giving back to society.  I have seen monks smoke, smile, look you in the eye, ask for money  (all of which they are not suppose to do) but to be fair in general I think these people are some of the most loyal to their religion then any other (I know I’m setting myself up by saying that but it’s what I believe).

Monks to me are fair, polite, helpful and peaceful, all of which makes them seem so majestic in a way.  There are female monks as well, called nuns.  They have their heads shaven as well and wear a white robe instead of the orange.  Below are some pictures I got while in Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand of monks from different areas.

Malaysia was a fun country to visit.  I had no set plans for it when I arrived and just went with the flow of what people said to see and do.  I wish I would have gave myself more time for Malaysia as it’s not a big country, but it is spread out and there are many things to see.  I never made it to the east side of the country that is connected to Indonesia but will have to save that for another trip sometime.  In 7 days I was able to see it’s capital and all its highlights, one of their most beautiful islands and drink tea in the highlands.  Not bad for a weeks worth of traveling but if your going to go to Malaysia I would recommend a couple weeks at least.

In some ways I think its a better option for a backpacker then Thailand.  Yeah Thailand has the night life, crazy beach parties and cheap food but I found Malaysia to be better in a lot of aspects.  Over all I thought it was a little cheaper, people were friendlier (Go-go girls in Thailand don’t count as friendly…as that’s their job) and everyone speaks English.  If I come back to Asia again I think I will make KL, Malaysia my hub next time.  With Air Asia’s headquarters there you can get a flight to about any country in Asia, direct, for less then $80 USD.  Countries include: Bali, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manchu, Taiwan, China, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Sir Lanka, Philippines, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos… plus cities like Perth, Melbourne, London exc make it a great option.

Below are some streets shots of people I got while there.  Just random pictures captured here and there and found people were more then willing to let me photograph them here in Malaysia.

After leaving the Perhentian Islands I went back south towards central Malaysia.  Again it was another random place that someone told us to check out.  The Cameron Highlands are 5,000 ft above sea level and coming from the beach, which was hot and humid, it was like night and day.  We took a bus ride that cost 60RM ($17 USD) and about 5hrs to get there.  Since being in Asia I have not used a sweater, let alone a jacket but after being here for 5min I knew I was going to need to pick something up to wear as it was cool.  Felt great and there would be no need to ask if the room had a fan… felt like a Missouri fall day.  I woke up about 30min before we got to the hostel and my first thought was “Are we in Germany?”  All the buildings have a European design to it, the hills are steep and heavily covered with forest and it was as far from Asia as one could imagine.

We got to the hostel (again we just showed up without any planning) that the driver was dropping some guest off at.  We went in and asked if they had rooms for us as well and after a short mini-tour of the place we decided it was as good as any.  For a bed in the dorm rooms it was 10RM ($2.85 USD) and couldn’t pass that up.  I just can’t say enough how great it is to travel in Asia.  Rooms are so cheap and when you find a place that wants more then $10 USD you start to freak out thinking they are scamming you or something but in reality in America you couldn’t get a room for less then $50 anymore hardly

The hostel we stayed at was called Father’s Guest House.  It had military style looking sea-huts and were located on a hill just to the edge of town.  The people seemed friendly enough and there was a ton of backpackers there.  There isn’t much to do in Cameron Highlands other then see the sites.  Almost no night life there but its famous for its tea plantation’s and cool weather.  A bunch of us from the hostel decided to to visit the famous tea plantation the next day and caught a bus to the main road there for about 2.50 RM ($0.70 USD).  The buses can’t take you all the way to the BOH Tea farm so you have to walk it from there, which was about 2 miles.  Wasn’t a bad walk going deep into the valley and it had great views.

We finally made it, after stopping several times to get pictures of the valley, and took a small mini tour of the factory.  I’m no tea buff but it was nice to see how they actually grow it, pick it, process it and the final product.  We decided at the end to all have a cup of tea (sounds so British I know) on the terrace overlooking the valley.  I can’t remember what everyone had but I think it was this:

• Me: Strawberry Raspberry Tea (I loved it!)
• Alice (from Holland): Some green tea
• Paul (aka Frenchy from France): He got the gold standard tea and have to admit it was super good
• Aleksei (from Estonia): something weird but had a good taste to it that wasn’t over bearing

After the tour we all knew there wasn’t going to be a bus to take us out of the valley and the thought of having to walk up hill for 2 miles just didn’t seem that appealing.  Aleksei said we should hitchhike and that he does it all the time in Malaysia.  Sounded like fun to me but everyone’s first question is “Is it safe and will they actually pick you up?”  Aleksei said he had done it all the time since traveling in Malaysia and what was the worse thing that could have happened…no one picked us up.  So we started walking and when we would see an empty truck or car we’d throw out our happy little Western thumbs, big smiles and put Alice at the front of the line showing some leg!  Well she didn’t really work the leg that much but after about 15-20min of trying I got a car to stop for us.  Come to find out it was a Malaysian cop, off-duty for the day, with his wife doing a little tour of the tea plantation.  They were real friendly and we talked the whole way out of the valley, as we passed sharp curves and beautiful views once again.

At the end of the ride I gave him my travel card and told him to check out my blog on it.  I wish I would have been able to take a picture of these fine Malaysian people but if your reading this “Thank you so MUCH for the ride!”  Once we made it out of the valley we were all hungry, so had lunch at a little cafe outside.  The guys all got fried noodles and Alice got some fruit and veggies.  Aleksei wanted to see the Butterfly Museum but to be honest I really didn’t want to walk another 2 miles just to look at bugs.  Then Alice said it wasn’t far and that it was just around the corner, so we all went and checked it out.  Nothing over the top but the best thing was seeing grasshoppers that were 6″ long, insects that looked like 7″ leafs and the famous mouth from the movie Siclince of the Lambs.

After that we knew we would have to get a ride back to town to the hostel but found out the buses only run every hour or so.  So not wanting to just sit around we tried our luck again at hitchhiking.  Took a little longer and while we waited Aleksei kept us entertained about his travels in India, floating down a river there for a month in a make shift raft with two buddies.  It was some of the best travel stories I have ever heard and the tales of him staying at temples in India along the way smoking hash with priests had us all rolling with laughter and envy.  Now I must go to India and try my luck!  Finally someone with a truck empty in the back pulled over at the bus stop and let us jump in.

We got to town and I tired to offer the guy some money but he refused and said “No Thank you.” and drove off.  I can honestly say that people in Malaysia are as warm and welcoming as any I have met while traveling.  When people of less extend a hand out to Western’s who more then likely have more (ie; we could afford a taxi but we were to cheap to do it! lol) really sums up a culture.  Nothing but good things I have to say about Malaysian people and look foward to going again some day.

After I left KL I went north to the Perhentian Islands by a night bus.  The island I stayed on was Perhentian Kecil (also called small island).  There are two main beaches on this island: One called Small Beach (or Coral Bay) and the second Long Beach.

• Food-for-Thought: Why is it when you wear jeans on a bus it’s hot as hell but when you wear shorts they have the AC on meat-locker level???

The overnight night bus was hell but at only 60RM ($17 USD) is I guess I shouldn’t complain.  It was a freezing ride up there that lasted 9hrs with me trying to make a blanket out of a curtain, just when I was about to fall asleep we’d stop and just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore we made it…Thank God!  From there we had to take a speedboat to the island.  We were told in KL that there was no need to book accommodation before getting there as it was a small island and would get a better rate if we  just showed up.  On the speedboat ride to the island I lost my hat because I didn’t turn it around and made a donation to the sea.  I could have kicked myself for that, as it was my favorite hat and only one.  Hard for a man to replace a good hat these days and with my hippie hair now it would mean I would actually have to do some work to keep it from looking like crap all the time.

The boat captain asked where we wanted to be dropped off at and I had no clue, so just said “Small Island” as the hostel people said it was the nicer of the two.  When we got there we weren’t the only ones without a place to stay.  We met some Swedish guys who didn’t have a place booked either, so we decided to partner up and find a place together.  We basically walked the whole Small Beach and the only thing we could find were bungalow rooms with one queen size bed for two people.  Not cool for dudes sharing!  I even went as far as going to the nicest place on the beach, the big daddy 5-star resort, and talking them down on their price for the penthouse room.  Would have cost us each $15 USD and would of had the nicest room on the beach…but the Sweds didn’t want to go over their budget (can’t blame them).

So we were kind of stuck in a rock and a hard place until someone said something about Long Beach on the other side of the island.  So I suggested we go now and see what they had after I asked about directions.  A lady said it was a 20min hike through the jungle to the other side.  Carrying bags, tired from an over night bus ride and needing a shower bad…I didn’t care where we had to go, I just wanted a room at this point.  So off into the jungle we went and the only thing that about got us was a 4ft lizard.  Scared the crap out of me as it ran right in front of us and looked like one of those Komodo Dragons you see on National Geographic.  We finally got a place to stay at The Rock Garden.  Everyone left it up to me to negotiate and after 20min of going back and forth I was able to score us two private bungalows with two beds and fan in each one for 30RM ($8.50 USD) each.  He wanted 40RM but for some reason 30 just sounded better and I prevailed in the end.  After spending 2hrs walking to every place on the island, including a jungle walk…why was i arguing over $2.75???  Ahh thats the life of a backpacker and budget traveler.  The bungalow wasn’t much to brag about.  The power was on only from 7pm-7am, the bathroom was as basic as one could get and it was a heck of a hike up a hill to get to them.  But you know what, I can safely say we got one of the best deals on our place compared to anyone else on the island.

I only had two days on the island so I wanted to make the most of it.  I went that day and booked 3 dives for the next day with Spicy Divers.  For 3 dives, gear and guide it cost 320RM ($90 USD).  That is super cheap diving when most dives cost about $50 each.  The dive sites I went to were: Temple of the Sea, Curtain Rock and Sugar Wreck.  All 3 were good dives and glad I went.  Didn’t see anything to exciting on them but the ocean life was good.

Other then laying on the white sandy beaches all day, swimming in the clear water that you can walk 30m out in at waist level and diving, thats about all there is to do during the day.  At night there is Monkey Juice!  I didn’t know but me and Sweds quickly found out that the whole island is dry.  They are not allowed to sell booze there for some reason.  Kind of shocked me as the island is a tourists place full of 20-30 year-old backpackers.  Everyone said that you had to wait till night to drink because thats when the “shipments” come in.  As soon as the sun sets, the beach fires start and you can find pint size bottles of Monkey Juice everywhere.  Other then that all you can get is Tiger Beer and some cheap vodka.  Monkey Juice taste like a vanilla rum in a way and mixes great with coke.  For about $7 USD per bottle it was great stuff and loved it.  The last night I was there I drank probably 3 bottles myself and stayed out till 5am.  It seems to me that the locals are worse drunks then the backpackers.  One night I went into the little shop that was still open at 1am to get some snack food before going to bed.  The guy running the shop was so drunk that he just asked me how much total I had without looking up.  When I can give exact change he handed me his cup full of booze with his head still hanging down and said “I so drunk…take and drink this.”  So I did!  Cracked me up because I could have robbed the place and he would have never of known.  I can only imagine living on an island that is only a 1/2 long with no roads and limited facilities would make one drink every night.

Over all my trip there was great!  I did get a bad bug bite that swelled my arm up from the elbow down.  Don’t know what it was but once I got back to BKK I went and seen a doctor about it.  She gave me a shot, some pills and its fine now.  I had no clue about the Perhentian Islands when I left KL but was glad the ladies at the hostel recommended them.  Cheap place in paradise!

The Sweds...and yes they like to fish too!

The next day after the Reggae Bar night a few of us from the hostel decided to just walk KL and see what we could.  Someone had a map, we had a girl from Hong Kong with us that spoke Chinese (Kit) in case needed back-up and I had a camera…what else does one need for a successful day out, right?  It was one of the hardest walking days I did in Malaysia and my feet were killing me but it was worth it as we covered a lot of ground in one day.  We went to the Islamic Art Museum, tried to find the National Museum, saw the National Mosque (we weren’t allowed inside), stumbled into the National Museum of Textiles which wasn’t even opened yet (don’t ask me how as we got ran out of the place) and a few other places but the highlight I think was going back to China town with someone who speaks Chinese.

There was a nice Hindu and Chinese Temple there and while at the Chinese Buddhist temple Alice (from Holland) decided to get her fortune read.  Was great having Kit there as she was able to translate everything and walk Alice through the steps.  I just walked around, took pictures and laughed at Alice’s dismay.  Basically the whole set is this:

1. In front of the Chinese statue thingy you get on your knees and make a prayer while shaking a wooden tube full of sticks, that has a number on each stick.  You keep praying/shaking until one of the sticks falls out.  Whatever number is on it is your fortune card number.
2. Then you go to a wall that has the fortune cards all lined up and grab the card with your number.
3. You take the card to the Chinese fortune card reader guy who explains it to you
4. Then pay a little money to him as an offering and your good to go

Easy enough said and was funny watching a Western do it for the first time but Kit was great at explaining it all.  When Alice grabbed the fortune card Kit took it and read it over real quick (it was in all Chinese letters) and then frowned.  She raced back real quick to the wall and started looking through them again.  Dumbfound Alice and I both looked at each other, as to say “What gives?”  Kit came back shaking her head and said that it wasn’t going to be a good fortune.  That she tried to see if all the cards were the same for that number, which they were.

I asked if Alice drew the death card or something but it wasn’t that bad.  Alice just got told that whatever job comes her way (which she is jobless at the moment) to take it.  That the job will suck and nothing will be better until January.  Wasn’t as bad as the death card but sounded kind of bleak.  I told Alice thats a great sign to keep traveling because what’s he point of going home to a crappy job, with no hope of it getting better until January.  Needless to say after Alice’s bad fortune read I didn’t need to put a hex’s on myself either, so opted out on having my fortune read.  Personally I’m a Karma man myself!

The gynecologist from Holland...well doctors at least!

I don’t know what it is about Malaysia but I have met more gynecologist doctor’s here then anywhere else in the world.  Wait, in fact I don’t think I have ever met a gynecologist before.  You know it’s every mans dream to but in reality it’s like going to a nude beach.  You have this big idea of hot Playboy Bunny’s running up and down the beach naked chasing frisbees but in reality its nothing more then senior citizens living out their hippie days.  Totally wrecks a fantasy and my thoughts on meeting my first gynecologist would be some John Wayne Gacy looking guy and not some beautiful girls.  In total I met 3: two from Holland (although they weren’t technically gynecologist, but still doctors, they were doing that kind of work for a few months in KL) and 1 girl from Bosnia that was working in Germany.  All in their 20′s, cool and the last people you would have thought would be doing that line of work.  Traveling can be so cool and times and you meet some of the most random people at that.

The two from Holland was introduced to some of us from the hostel by a Dutch girl that was staying at our hostel.  We met up in China Town and went to a reggae bar for dinner and drinks.  Was a great night and had some good Western food there.  No matter where you go in the world there is always a reggae bar in most cities with a Bob Marley flag hanging and the music of Rasta playing loud.  We played some pool after dinner and I messed around with my flash getting some pictures inside the bar.  I haven’t been using my flash much but will start doing so more often.  It brings to life more opportunities in your pictures and was happy with what I shot at the bar.

Quote from that night:

Me: “Is Jack leaving with us?”

Dutch girl: with a serious face…“Jack lives at the Reggae Bar…he doesn’t leave it!”

Finally a picture of Troy Floyd...everyone ask why I never post any put I'm always the one shooting remember???

Good luck finding drugs in Malaysia and God help ya if you get caught with them. Death penalty applies!

Kuala Lumpur has been good.  I spent only two days here but was able to get some good shots that I was happy with.  After my little debacle with my camera I was real anxious to get it out and start shooting again.  I only knew of one thing that I wanted to get a shot of while in KL and that was the Petronas Twin Towers.  You might have seen them before in the movie with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones called “Entrapment.”  I didn’t think it would be all that great but still wanted to get some night shots up close of it.  I was totally surprised though when I seen it…its one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.  It’s modern, stylish, sleek, unique and it had me in awe when I seen it.  Whoever designed it thought about it long and hard as every angle of the building was perfect.  Had real fun getting night shots of the towers and the next day came back to take some day shots as well.

First thing on my plan today was to get my camera fixed.  When I was in Singapore I found a large dust spot on the sensor and thought maybe I could clean it off myself.  I knew better and in the end I just made it worse.  So much that I could see 20 large spots every time I looked through the view finder on my camera.  I wanted to get it cleaned in Singapore but it was the weekend.

So today after I got up and showered I found a service center online and asked the hostel worker what was the best way to get there.  He said I would have to use a taxi and that I should go across the street to get one at the mall.  Here in Malaysia you don’t flag taxi’s like you would think.  You must first get a coupon, pay, then they will take you.  Is kind of weird but sometimes I could see it way better then say BKK where they try and screw you over at the end.

I did as Rudy (hostel worker said) and got my coupon and paid, ticket was 30RM ($8.55 USD).  When the taxi pulled up the cab driver didn’t know where the address was so he called the phone# I had for the place.  The guy said there was a closer place and so the taxi driver asked if I wanted to go to that one instead.  Didn’t make a difference to me and said “Sure.”  The taxi driver drove about 5min (I was told that it was going to be like 45min to get to this place originally) but the driver did walk us into the building until we found the place.  Come to find out that the Canon place didn’t service equipment and that I would have to go to the headquarters to get the sensor cleaned.

I walked out of the building now with a new plan and had a legit address confirmation.  I’m standing there trying to figure out where I am and all of a sudden it hit me…the bastard taxi driver drove me to the other side of the street and I paid for a full fare that should have lasted 30-45min long!!  I was pissed but what ya going to do?  He basically drove around the block and dropped me off the opposite side of the street a little further down from where he had picked me up.

That being said, I still had to get another taxi from the same stand and told the lady what happened.  She just kind of looked at me with this dumb expression and said “30RM please for another fare.”  So I paid without choice again.  At least the Canon people at the service center were helpful and quick.  They had my camera and lens cleaned in about 20min and even called me a cab to take me back, all free of charge.

Below is a picture of Mohammed, my taxi driver.  Nice guy and he really took care of me.  I was wanting to get a new lens and the Canon people found a shop that carried it.  On the way back Mohammed let me go inside and check it out while waiting for me.  I ended up not getting the lens because they couldn’t get my credit card to go through (both of them).  Not sure why as I have never had problems with them before but they weren’t much helpful with calling the Credit Card Company and said screw it and left.  There loss on a $1,500 USD sale, not mine.

Going to go shoot some night shots of the twin towers here and plan my trip from KL to the ocean.

Made it Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!  My flight didn’t leave Singapore until 10:22pm so I had a whole day after I checked out of the hostel to mess around.  Didn’t do much, as Desmond and I went and checked out the club seen last night in Singapore.  Was the worse club I have been to in Asia, Zouk!  There was like 7-1 dudes in the place, I seen more people passed out and trowing up (I swear it was like 7 people.  One girl was throwing up in a bag that a bouncer was holding for her), the music was as lame as it could it be and whoever was working the fog machine must have been on speed because it was so smoked out you couldn’t even see the dance floor (not that it mattered).  So I slept in and loafed around the hostel all day until I had to fly.

We did go watch a movie, The Taking of Pelham 123, that afternoon.  It was ok but the ending could have been better.  I give it a 5 on a scale of 1-10 (and thats because I’m a huge Travolta fan).  After that Cheryl (hostel owner), Desmond and I went to the grocery store and got some stuff to make a dinner.  We had BBQ, butter grilled veggies and baked potatoes.  Was a great meal and missed being able to grill.  I used to grill every week in my old job and miss it, as I haven’t done any grilling since being in BKK.

Not sure what my plans are for Malaysia are yet.  I’ll play it by ear like I did in Singapore and will keep ya posted.  Below are a few pictures of Desmond, my Dutch hook-up in Amsterdam now!  Good luck in Australia man.