Welcome to the Jungle.

We left Singapore bound for Malaysia's national park, Taman Negara. After yet another pit stop in Kuala Lumpur, we boarded a bus for the center of peninsular Malaysia. Though the capital city has many opportunities to see the (captive) wildlife, flora, and fauna that can be found throughout the forests and jungles of Malaysia, we decided that after the Singapore Zoo we would try our luck at finding these animals in their natural habitat. Also, we heard there was great and affordable treks in the park. Taman Negara is massive. It was originally established during colonial times as a gaming preserve and is one of the oldest rainforests in the world. It is now protected from hunters and poachers. Though no Malays live in the park itself, there are nomadic people who still inhabit this land-- the "Orang Asli." Many packaged day trips through the park include a stop in a "traditional Orang Asli settlement," where activities include blow dart demonstrations and gawking and photographing "the natives." Against this type of voyeuristic tourism, we decided to trek on our own. We did come across an Orang Asli in the middle of the jungle as well as some abandoned bamboo platforms where we presume people used to live. Orang Asli have a separate migratory history than Malays and do not speak the national language. Like many indigenous communities that we have encountered on this trip, they are exploited as a tourist attraction and receive the short end of the profit earned from this tourism. We wonder how many Orang Asli chose to maintain their traditional way of life and how many are products of discriminatory government policies and conscious efforts to keep them in the jungle. Though the answer to this question is often complicated, our instinct tells us that this type of tourism is wrong, so we choose not to support it. We had a wonderful, hot, and exhausting couple of days of trekking in Taman Negara that proved to be exactly the type of tour that we wanted.

Waiting for the bus to take us from Jeruntut to Taman Negara National Park. Jeruntut is a sleepy transportation hub in the center of Malaysia.

From Jeruntut it takes about 3 hours on public bus to get inside the park. Across this tiny river lies the entrance to the park. On this side of the river, you can find very cheap guesthouses and dorms to base yourself from if you are just doing day treks in the park. There is one resort located at the entrance of the park which has the feeling of a Catskills summer camp. We saw many international students and families staying here. Those two shacks on the river are floating restaurants, the only place to eat here. Also, if you are going here, bring money. We forgot to do this, assuming there would be an ATM or money changer near the park. We ended up having to stretch a typical day's budget out for four days. Ooof. Good thing we had cliff bars and didn't mind eating plain rice.

There are three houses on stilts, called "hides" throughout the park. The idea is that you hike out to a quiet area in the jungle and hide from the animals with hopes of seeing one. The hide we decided to trek to was 11 km away and offered the best chance of seeing an animal. We started our two day journey with 4 liters of water, 4 packets of rice, and 4 cliff bars. It was a hardcore hike, and we were ill prepared as far as rations, however, we greatly enjoyed walking around this beautiful jungle forest. On the first day of the trip, we met this guy Andrew from Canada who wanted to join us.

We were happy to have a new friend for about the first hour of our 7 hour hiking day. He was such a bro and was more intent on finishing the hike then experiencing the forest. We had fun tuning him out and enjoying our day. He also kept us on pace so that we made it to the hide before dark. So that was good.
This jungle forest is CRAZY! It is a real live jungle with strange noises, huge insects, and exotic plants galore. It also has real live leeches. Max met his first dozen on this trip.

Giant trees. You can see a vine hitching a ride to the sunlight on its mammoth neighbor.

Really giant trees.

Here is the view from our "hide." We made it there feeling exhausted but accomplished. Animals are supposed to wander through this clearing attracted by the salt licks placed beneath the hide. We didn't see any animals, but we didn't mind. Apparently the inhabitants of this forest are smart enough not to come wandering through an unprotected clearing in the forest towards a group of loud humans. We enjoyed sleeping here-- though it wasn't camping, it was the closest we could get.

The next day we headed back. We lost Andrew along the way as we kept stopping to look at the amazing foliage while he was on a mission to get back to "town."

This spiky tree seemed to attack Kara a lot. She still believes it can move quickly. But seriously, these needles are sharp. Max found one embedded in his scalp in the shower after our trek.

A large root system lives us to our expectations of exotic jungle wildlife.

So many different fungi live here.

Almost home, the dirt path turns into a raised plastic walkway for day trekkers and school groups. We're not safe yet, we still get lost once more less than 1 km away from our destination.

We made it though. We had run out of water quite some time before seeing this sign and were delighted to be done for the day.

The next day we decided to take it easy and head to the main tourist attraction of the park, the Canopy Walk. This is a 400 meter man-made bridge, suspended 25 to 40 meters above the ground and is the "longest canopy walk of its kind." We're not really sure what that means, but it's very tall, man-made, and long.


The walk is made up of bridges suspended between trees like this one. It allows you to see the forest from the vantage point of the trees. Much like a coral reef, the life forms are very different at various levels of the forest. Being up so high allowed us to see these changes very easily. It was great to spend some time hiking back in nature after having been in cities for the last couple of weeks. Max wishes we had more pictures but we were too busy experiencing the scenery to record it. We highly recommend Taman Negara. It was a good place to get lost in the jungle.

We left Taman Negara for the hill station of Cameroon Highlands. Naturally we had to go through Kuala Lumpur, for the 5th time. A couple of dosas later, and we were on a bus headed to the mountains most famous for its tea production. The Cameroon Highlands, like many hill stations, was a retreat for the British colonists from the heat of the lowlands. Now it serves the same purpose for domestic tourists. We would compare it in some ways to Dalat, the hill station we visited in Vietnam. It is a mecca for agricultural tourism and kitchy souvenirs such as stuffed plush strawberries. The Cameroon Highlands also has some great treks and hikes that are easily accessed from the three main settlements here. Another added bonus of staying up here was hot water was standard in every guesthouse. Usually you have to pay around $1-2 extra for this luxury. We were psyched.

Fun trivia: the Cameroon Highlands is home to the most Land Rovers in the world other than the garrison of the British Army.

Looking out from the second highest peak in the area. You can see the towns of Brinchang and Ringlet nestled in the mountains below.

Hanging out above the greenhouses.

Inside the greenhouses.


We told you it was kitchy.


Growing lettuce draws a crowd in this town.


If anyone knows how much Kara loves salad, they will understand this photo. It's hard to find fresh clean lettuce in these parts, meaning SE Asia.

This area is also home to the "pitcher plant." The pitcher plant eats flies and other small insects, trapping them inside their cylindrical shaped appendage. Max was almost eaten alive that day. Kara documented before stepping in to save her love's finger from plant destruction. Kara really likes these plants because she feels its the plant world's strike-ing back towards its animal oppressors. "Go get 'em carnivorous plants!"


After checking out the greenhouses, we decided to go for a hike through the jungle. 0.72 km might not seem far, but it took us almost 2 hours to hike through this madness. It was straight up climbing, then straight down descending the entire time.


Kara doesn't remember smiling on this trek, but apparently she liked it.


After finishing our hike, we took the winding main road back down to our guesthouse in town. The three main cities of this area are connected by this well paved road. Each town has its own selection of strawberry farms, guesthouses, and restaurants.


We picked the budget choice, a small room in the attic of our guesthouse. We couldn't stand up without hitting our head but it was cheap and cozy. Besides who wants to stand around in a room..
...when there are sights like this? The main tourist draw in the Cameroon Highlands are the sprawling tea plantations that cover the hills like a deep green shag carpet.

You can hike through these plantations which are really huge. The cycle for cultivating tea is only three weeks.

Workers with huge tea clippers snip the top leaves and toss them into the baskets they carry on their backs before the tea can be brought to the factories. The work is incredibly labor intensive. Just walking up these hills alone is a challenge. Max tried to pick up a basket load without success.

The BOH Tea Plantation is the most famous in the area and is one of the most popular teas in Malaysia. They have clearly figured it out that people want to see their tea plantation. On top of the free guided tour that takes you through the tea making process, they have a lovely tea house and snack area that overlooks the plantation. You can try any of the many varieties of tea they produce here. We tried a "tea-chino" which was confusing but good. Our favorite is still the lychee rose green tea.

We met this guy while we were trekking earlier in the day and walked with him for many hours, first to the plantation, and then back to the town. He was cool.

View from the BOH Tea Factory.

Kara really liked this plant on the way home and wanted to take a picture with it. That's all. Max thinks its a century plant.

This is just funny. In a bathroom somewhere on Kara's walk one afternoon.

At first Max thought Kara was joking when she wanted to buy this hat for him. Now he wears it almost every day. Kara has it in white, but doesn't like to wear it at the same time.

Our stay in the Cameroon Highlands solidified our love for hill stations: we ate salad, we hiked, we slept under blankets, and we got cold... well kind of. Cold enough to appreciate warm showers. After a few days of chilling out we were ready to move on from the Cameroon Highlands and Malaysia itself. This was our last adventure in Malaysia. Once again, truly Asia.

See you on the beach....

Kara and Maximilian

We Can Drink the Water Here: Singapore.

Singapura, or Singapore as it is know to the rest of the world, has an solid reputation as the cleanest city on the planet. We went to see for ourselves. Singapore has also been described as a "police state" with the clean streets and ordered society coming from the barrel of a gun. Our friend Celeste, who used to live in Singapore said she appreciated the cleanliness but felt it was taken to the extreme. Along with other drawbacks of living in a strictly controlled society, her final decision to leave the City-State came after seeing the military shooting birds out the trees to prevent them from pooping on the sidewalks. That being said we were surprised to not see a single police officer in the four days we were there. Even with the governments firm grip on many aspects of life, Singapore is far more liberated than its neighbors with respect to sexual expression: You can wear whatever you want, and pre-marital dating is not frowned upon.

Singapore is a young and truly international city, having been founded only 200 years ago with the sole purpose of becoming an international trade center. The standard of living is equal to any European nation and the cost of living rivals that of a mid-Western American city. It is the only country in Asia where you can drink the tap water, (straight up.) Unlike its neighbors, Singapore's economy has been based on trade for its entire existence. We're still not sure why the British decided to abandon Malacca (see last post) for Singapore. Shortly after gaining the historically significant port they concentrated their efforts on building up Singapore and Penang (Malaysia,) abandoning Malacca. British colonialism brought a certain amount of forced immigrant labor to island, however after some time foreigners seeking a better life began to flock to Singapore on their own. The majority of the population is ethnically Southern Chinese, and just like Malaysia Singapore has a healthy Indian and Malay population. Other smaller ethnic enclaves make up this melting pot; for example, in the Arab district you can find schwarma and hookah bars on Baghdad Street.

Typical scene on the ultra modern subway. Many Westerners live and work here for international corporations.

Having grown up during the media frenzy surrounding a young American teenager who was caned for vandalizing cars, (we thought it was for graffiti but apparently the issue is more complicated than that-- we wikipedia'ed it... check it out,) we were apprehensive in our daily actions. How serious is jaywalking we thought as we crossed outside of the lines. What about Max? He gets phlem, is spitting really a crime? We were walking on eggshells the first couple of days. Like we said, we didn't see any cops and received no fines, but we did notice most people followed the rules. Singapore, so fresh and so clean clean.

...or is it? This disgusting and vile ice cream container spoon combo overflowing from the trash bin clearly tells a different tale. We were constantly on the look out for the frayed edges of this reportedly seamless tapestry. We're watching you, Singapore. More evidence later.

No but seriously folks. This is the subway. Can you see the reflection of the straphangers in the floor?

Kara would to open this caption with the following disclaimer. "Normally I do not support zoos. I think they are inherently cruel and 9 times out of 10 the animals are being mistreated." The very act of confinement is cruel and unusual punishment to our animal friends. Many of them have psychological disorders. That said, we heard from multiple sources that the Singapore Zoo is a notable exception; the zoo has a very open plan with animals given a lot of freedom of movement and adequate living space. The zoo has an activist minded mandate with lots of educational signs about the conditions of endangered species and what you can do to help. They also fund conservation projects. Basically, we were impressed. Beyond that it was a lot of fun. Here is Kara excited to see some animals.

Ooooh yeaaaah. This is a proboscis monkey. The bigger the nose, the more attractive he is to the females. The zoo posts feeding times of popular animals and gives a short talk about the species. At first we weren't sure why they did this but we think this picture says it all.

We told you the animals are free to roam as they please. This was one of two peacocks we encountered walking on the same path as us.

Orangutans! Not caged! Really! "Orang" means person in Malay and Indonesian. "Utang" means forest.

This couple was snuggling pretty hard right before this picture was taken. It got pretty hot. They didn't seem to mind that everyone was watching.

Huge tortoises. They were the size of Kara. Kara says no they were not. Max says "I know she's not that big, but for a turtle...." Anyways, this grouping of turtles are endangered in many parts of the world and now even extinct in Madagascar. The Singapore Zoo serves as a refugee camp for these lovely creatures. You might remember Kara's love of the sea turtle in previous Indonesia posts. It extends to their land bound cousins. "Love you turtles and tortoises!"

Komodo dragons. Yep, they eat people. But did you know that they also eat each other? The young komodo had to be separated from this older male komodo because of this. Once the younger komodo grows older they will be able to cohabitate. Most people don't die from blood loss like with most predators. The komodo tongue, seen here, is covered in such nasty bacteria that the victims die from the infections of their wounds. We were stoked to see them here as we missed visiting their Indonesian homeland of Rinca and Komodo.

Although there is a Chinatown, it is hard to tell where it ends...or begins. Kara was convinced we were living between Chinatown and Little India, however we were no where near Chinatown. Even though Singapore has 4 national languages: English, Chinese, Tamil, and Malay, the first two dominate most of the signs.

Hot pot restaurants are so popular in Asia. They are called steamboats, hot pots, and shabu shabu, but they are all the same thing. You cook your own mess of meat and veggies in a boiling pot of broth set into the center of the table. We love hot pots but its difficult to find vegetarian friendly venues. See the Xi'an, China post for information on that.

The Chinese community does support vegetarianism. Here is one of the many vegetarian food stalls. Chinese vegetarian food is into fake meat. Sometimes you can't even tell the difference between the two, at least by looks. Kara is not into the fake meat. "Its gross, y'all." Max likes it. Kara and Max are most different when it comes to food. At least we are both vegetarians.

Indian food, YEAH. Indian vegetarian food never uses fake meat. Indian vegetarian food uses good ole vegetables and grains to feed us herbivores. Max thinks this is a slanted caption but he loves Indian food too. This was a restaurant near our dorm in Little India. Our dorm room alone cost us more than our usual daily budget.

Walking along the streets of Little India.

One morning we woke up with a busy itinerary which included the newly renovated National Museum, seen above. We loved this place. We stayed here for 6 hours, a new museum record. Most of our time was spent in the history section. There are over 10 hours of free audio guide available. We thought about coming back after eating lunch but our brains were overwhelmed.

We did make it that day to the Armenian Church, St. Gregory's. The Armenian community was once small but influential, numbering about 100 families at its height in 1880. They have since assimilated into Singapore's population or moved elsewhere. St. Gregory Church was the first church built in Singapore in 1835.

Kara continues to stalk wedding parties taking cheesy photos in Asia. Here they can be seen on the Singapore river. We imagined that the buildings in the background were what Singapore's financial district used to look like.

Here's what it looks like now. Though very compact, these few blocks are home to key players in the Asian and global economy.

At night the waterfront is nicely lit. This is an old bridge from the 1800s with LED lights.

Oh man. So we walked over that bridge to find that Singapore was having a free outdoor music festival all week long. We were lucky enough to catch the last night of it. After sitting through a couple of bad bands from KL and Indonesia, the Japanese group The Condors blew our minds. They are the best live show we have seen in a long time. They don't speak English, we don't speak Japanese. It didn't matter. Despite the ultra high energy performance the crowd was about as responsive as an oil painting. They would only clap their hands when instructed and when the music was at the height of its frenzy, the most we saw were a few heads bobbing in a sea of quiet. It was bizarre. Anyways, check out the Condors.

Kara didn't realize it at the time but this is a shot of one of the singers from the band in front of the dazzling skyline.

The day before we left, we decided to take a journey out to the east side of the island to visit the Changi Museum and Prison. The Changi Prison was used by the Japanese during their occupation in WWII. It's a sad place and there was a well laid out presentation about the history of the occupation, but the site itself was unexceptional. The original prison is now only a museum but there is a modern Changi prison just next door that we would have liked to tour, but that is not possible. We kind of had a hard time locating the museum prison itself because directly in front of it sits a swanky restaurant and cafe that seems to be a favored lunch spot by local businessmen. That was odd.

Back in the city. This spiky looking thing is the Esplanade Theaters. It is more commonly called "The Durian," named after the fruit it resembles. We think it looks more like a jackfruit, but whatever. The Durian seems to be Singapore's newest defining landmark; we read that the city hopes that the Durian will become as emblematic as the Sydney opera house. We read that.

Singapore is still rapidly expanding. From the Durians we could see three large buildings in the works. These migrant workers were working at the site of outdoor soccer field that sits on a barge on the water. It is netted of course and has stadium seating on the shore with a beautiful view of the skyline.

We look well lit and cute here. There is a lion mermaid statue (Singapore's national animal?) spewing water behind us. Alright, so we looked it up and technically Singapore's national animals are the lion and the cresent sunbird. This statue is a MERLION and is a symbol for Singapore.

See? Trash. We told you. For shame, Singapore. For shame.

(We loved Singapore.)

We loved Singapore. Unlike many of our destinations whose most stunning features comes from their natural beauty or their cultural heritage, Singapore's appeal comes from its modern achievements. It was great to enjoy a city solely for what it is, right here and right now. We wanted to stay longer but its so fucking expensive.

We'll be in another country next time,
Kara and Max