malaysia

By Jen Hawse on Asia tagged Animals, asia, australia, beaches, indonesia, malaysia, plans, singapore, vietnam

Up, Up, and An Update!

Friends! Concubines! Fellow travellers on this long road called Life! Lend me your ears, but only for a brief moment because we’ve got to get out and explore Saigon some more! It’s been too long since I’ve posted an update. Apologies for that. Reason being, I’ve lacked reliable internet and uninterrupted computer time that hasn’t been dedicated to making future travel plans.

Pitcher plants in Bako, Borneo, Malaysia. Pitcher plants are my favorite and they were everywhere in this jungle paradise. Truly one of the best places I’ve ever been.

To date, we’ve been away from home for 156 days. Our target number of total days on the road is 330, so we’re a mere 9 days from our 1/2 way point. Time flies, as the cliche goes, but really it’s hard to believe we’ve already been to 5 countries since the start of 2017 (considering we started off in Malaysia and we’re now in Vietnam). Our budget is really fairly on track too, which is exciting! We’ve spent about 1/2 of our money and we still have two more months in Southeast Asia to “make up” for some of the more expensive things we’ve done.

All of the “rent” for our Ubud hotel room

A few days after 2017 began we headed to Australia! This was a dream of mine, but not initially of Jason’s, so it took some convincing (and discovering cheap flights) to get there. We headed to Western Australia because it was basically due south of Singapore and about $150 each way to fly there. Not bad to get another continent marked off the list! We stayed for three weeks, mostly doing a work exchange in Bullsbrook. While there we met several new friends, including Diane and Andrea. With these two we travelled south to Margaret River, renowned wine country with some of the most beautiful ocean waters I’ve ever seen. It was really difficult saying goodbye to our friends, but we do hope we’ll meet them again someday soon.

After Australia, we stayed in the Southern Hemisphere for 10 more days in Indonesia. While in Malaysia we were nearly in Indonesia, just a few miles from the border at one point during a waterfall excursion, but this time we got stamped into Denpasar, where famed Bali is located. Did you know Indonesia has the 4th largest country population in the world, right under the USA, and it’s a 17,000 island archipelago? On the small island of Bali alone there are 5 million residents and they see millions more tourists come through each year. Bali has no “industry”, but they export art and culture to the world and it’s clear why when you’re there.

While we didn’t have as much time as we expected in Bali it was still eye opening and culturally stimulating. We went to an art museum that featured both modern and historical pieces, watched Balinese dancers do a traditional performance, and went to an ancient temple in the Sacred Monkey Forest. Our hotel was nice and a little bit luxurious for our standards. They brought us breakfast every day! Prices on Bali are higher than the rest of Southeast Asia, something we didn’t know/expect going in. Didn’t break our budget, but put a dent in it. Especially since after that we went to Singapore!

The sculptures in Sacred Monkey Forest, and all over Bali, were the highlight of our trip.

I think the world’s nicest city is probably Singapore. Modern, clean, great food at reasonable prices, diverse people, and high end culture make this a top choice. Singapore is only 52 years old, making this city state one of the world’s newest countries, although it holds a rich heritage and has been a highly important seaport for centuries.

Our time was short in Singapore because it’s an expensive place. While food is priced really well, accommodations and alcohol are insanely high. Our hotel room was higher than we’d normally spend, due to the fact that we were celebrating our four year anniversary during our stay. It was worth $60 per night because, while small, it had an insanely comfy bed and a real coffee maker downstairs! No instant coffee required!

Our hotel was also in the heart of it all and we tried to walk as often as possible while there. It had been quite some time since we had an epic 12 hour adventure day, but you just needed that to fit it all in. On our adventure we went to Gardens by the Bay to explore their cloud forest, flower dome, and supertrees! These massive structures host a lights and music show after sunset for free. Glorious! We also ate at our first Michelin Star restaurant, a special anniversary lunch, for $8 for the two of us. It’s a former hawker stall turned restaurant so while the stall itself actually won the award and not the location we were at the food was still great and well worth eight bucks!

Singapore flew by and before we knew it we were in Vietnam, a country so many of my friends have fallen deeply in love with. Before arriving I couldn’t understand this love affair. Having been to a few parts of SE Asia before I figured there would be some of the same here, but Saigon thus far has been different. The prevalent art here reminds you of the 70’s, and it’s captivating to say the least. Never have I been to a place and wanted to buy so many souvenirs. I’m not a “stuff” person and sometimes finding one small token takeaway from a country is difficult (but I persevere) but being here only a few days and I want to buy it all!

Saigon is cheap. America may have lost the war, but at least they still like us here (thankfully). It’s bustling, beeping, bursting with people and banh mi. We’ve even found two craft breweries! One is named Heart of Darkness (look it up, kids) and the other features a brewer from Colorado. Regular beer is really cheap here — dangerously cheap. English isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, at least not yet. We’ll be in Vietnam for a month in total most likely. Saturday we fly up to coast to Hanoi, the Northern capital. Then, we’ll skip over to Halong bay, train down to Hoi An and Da Lat and perhaps a few other spots, then eventually make it back to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to head to Cambodia for a few weeks. We’ll see Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh before going back to Thailand to make our way to a Thai beach or two.

Beaches! This is also from Bako, like the first picture.

April 5th we leave Southeast Asia and head to India! We’re going to spend two weeks there, flying into Kochi and flying out of Mumbai. Details for that are still flushing out. India is a world of it’s own, so we’ve heard, so we’re not sure what exactly to expect except to be overwhelmed.

After two weeks in India we’re meeting up with Jason’s sister and her boyfriend in Athens, Greece! We’ve made our ticket purchase on Turkish Airlines yesterday, so we have a direct flight path into Europe now! We’re heading there April 19th, a little later than originally expected, but this way we’ll be better able to make our budget happen.

Not India, but might have some similarities? This is in Malaysia at Bau.

After spending two weeks or so in Greece we’ll head over to eastern Europe for some time in Croatia, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, most likely. We’re going to spend at least a month in Eastern Europe, I imagine, as there’s so much to see and it’s so much more affordable than Western Europe. It is a dream of mine to farm in Southern France, so in June that’s what I’d like to focus on achieving, along with seeing Rome, Amsterdam (again), and a few other major cities.

Australia, very European. This is Fremantal with our friends.

In July, we meet up with my mom and Aunt Monica for a two week Ireland excursion that I am completely stoked about! We’re going to do the touristy tour stuff, which is going to be a big break from what I’ve been used to doing throughout the trip. After the touring Jason and I head to Scotland for about a month, then we fill up two more weeks of travel somewhere in Europe (or maybe Iceland 🙂 and then we head home!

That’s that! There’s the last two and a half and the next 5 months of our trip laid out in all of it’s lived and tentative glory.

Sending love to home!

By Jen Hawse on Asia, City Review, Travel Philosophy tagged asia, beaches, beer, guesthouse, holidays, malaysia, religion, travel

Paradise Muddled — Losing and Finding My Place in the World

If there’s one thing life is exceedingly good at it’s being in flux. Change is constant. When on the road, change is more omnipresent than going through the routine of life at home. True, holidays, birthday, weekends, all of these break up the mundane, but when you’re existing in a new city, country, and timezone on a rotating basis you’re faced with change in a new sort of way. While often positive, change can throw you into sadness when you were happy with the ways things were or refresh you when you’re so f’ing done.

It’s been just under three months of straight traveling and, I’ve got to say, I’m tired. It’s not from the constant motion, that is something that I strangly embrace better than sitting idly. I’m a mover, not a sitter. I’m simply tired of being away from home. The holidays are hard for everyone, whether you’re a fan of your family or trying to find the first ticket out of town. For me, I’m missing the normalcy this time of year brings. Cookies, christmas trees, holiday parties, wrapping presents, silly sweaters, they’re all reasons to love December. Being without them this year means Jason and I will be most likely losing weight during December instead of gaining it. There’s a plus!

This is my first year away from home during the holidays and second year without my dad, ever. His birthday is New Year’s Eve, so the holidays were even more special to me because of this. I loved having Lauer’s cake with him before heading out for a night with my friends. I can’t describe the guilt I feel for being away from my mom right now. The importance of family is even more greatly magnified in it’s absence. Being away feels unnatural. No matter where in the world I am I’d feel this way, so Malaysia or otherwise, I should be home for the holidays.

The irony in all this is, the last place we stayed was emphatically our favorite thus far in terms of feeling homey. Langkawi, Malaysia, had so much to offer that extended beyond the food and beaches. In Langkawi, we met people that we really connected with. We made six(!!) new friends at our guesthouse! More than anywhere else we’ve been, for certain. These are folks that we are looking forward to keeping in touch with and who are sharing journeys much like ours. The guesthouse itself was really conducive to people meeting and spending time in the commons area. Beers from the vending machine were $.50 (best price on the island!) and there was coffee, tea, and food on demand 24/7. So, you could basically stay up all night drinking and making friends, which we did on three separate occasions, and had an amazing time doing it.

One of the couples we met are world travelers from Britain who are going from Southeast Asia to Asia to South America on a year long journey. They’re our age, which was pretty refreshing when most of the folks we’d met thus far were in their early twenties. Nothing wrong with early twenties people! I have made plenty of friends 10 years younger than me and love the general positivity and freshness of that age, but meeting people our age on their “gap year” was a welcome surprise. We are so grateful that we met you all Hannah, Paul, Charlie, Aggy, Kate, and Mike Willy Holder! I’m sorry we didn’t get a few pictures together! <3 <3 <3

Beyond the people, although it’s quite difficult to go beyond people, Langkawi was small enough for us to feel comfortable renting our first motorscooter while big enough to give us a variety of activities. Going to the beach everyday is enough, but there was far more than available. I can tell you immediately from getting to the guesthouse I thought, “I wish we had booked another week.” Malaysia has very high vice taxes, because it’s a muslim country and muslims don’t drink, so while the true price of alcohol is rather cheap here the tax is exorbitantly high. Langkawi is a duty free city, meaning it’s tax exempt. If tax wasn’t included our beers would cost $.50. Today, at the store, the beers priced at about 2.00 each, or $12 for a 6 pack of crappy beer. This was the same thing we found all over Malaysia. Even if a bar or store wants to charge less they can’t due to tax regulations.

Prior to Langkawi we spent one week in Penang, or colonially known as Georgetown, another tropical island in Malaysia, but without the remote and extensive beaches. It was more of a city with resorts dotting the coastline that weren’t easy to get to, so we mostly stuck with the city center. Penang is hip. The street art is rich and abundant. You can tell they encourage creativity here. Another huge plus, this place had the best Indian food I’ve ever had! Truth be told, I wish I had just eaten Indian food the whole time I was there because I foolishly thought I’d find more Indian food in Kuching and Langkawi and have yet to find the right stuff. Nothing beats fresh, properly cooked naan bread. Nothing! And this stuff was cheap. I’m taking under $2 per meal. We had Indian food for Thanksgiving, because I’m not a huge fan of turkey anyway and, as they say, when in Malaysia!

Before Penang we were in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, or KL locally. KL was a true melting pot of the poorer, former Malaysia and the rich capitalism that’s coming to take hold. The Petronas Towers were the world’s tallest building for a few years and are still a symbol of progress in Malaysia. There is no qualm here in their embrace of fossil fuels. They love dinosaurs and have erected statues of oil molecules and have dino parks throughout the city. Corporate sponsorship is not hidden nor frowned upon like it is in the US. Petronas actually means Petroleum in Malaysian, so their state capital’s symbol to the world is the Petroleum Towers. To each their own.

Perhaps this embrace of petroleum is the reason why walking was fairly dreadful in KL. The city is not intentionally built for pedestrians. We were at the central transit station trying to get to the closely located major tourist destination, the botanical gardens, and it took us over 30 minutes to walk what should have taken us under 10. That’s because there is no proper civil engineering in KL and roads are basically thrown on a map wherever they’ll fit, which forces you to take taxi’s. We are not great taxi takers, we would rather slug through a stupidly difficult walk instead of succumbing to the several dollar charge that is an unnecessary taxi ride in our minds. So, we slugged and dangerously dodged cars and were pretty unhappy with the structure of KL.

On the bright side, the Batu Caves, just outside of KL, were the first place either of us had encountered wild monkeys and provided a great get away from the city. After about an hour on their subway we arrived to find history, beauty, and some interesting creatures surrounding us. The caves are 400 million years old and the Hindu temples here were originally built up in 1891. The main golden Murugan statue that greets you at the base of the 300ish steps is 140 ft tall. During our visit Murugan was under construction, but c’est la vie. Upon summiting the cave entrance we were handed a bucket of rocks, each, as our way of “paying” for entry. This wasn’t necessarily required, but the construction worker at the base of the caves said, “You been here before? No? You take this”. So, we walked up 300 steps with a bucket of rocks! Builds character!

Today, in Kuching, we’re laying low. This would seem like a great thing for me right now and my weary traveling bones, but in fact it’s making me a little crazy. We planned it this way, but I don’t sit idly well. Jason, on the other hand, is a fantastic sleeper and sitter. He doesn’t mind days in front of the computer, coding or watching movies. I panged with guilt and frustration over this, whether at home or away, but especially during the most delicate time of year that is the holidays. So, since we arrived, I’ve read one short book and am about 1/3rd of the way through a 2nd along with beginning French lessons via an app again. I might pick up on German too, what the hell! While the guesthouse isn’t perfect it’s great for the price ($16.50 per night in total) and the staff are immensely kind to us.

Since I was a child I learned about Borneo and filed it in the, “I’ll never get to go there” category. Well, I’m here, Kuching is on Borneo, the oldest rainforest in the world and one of the most biologically diverse places that exists. Granted, we’ve seen zero biodiversity as of yet, being in the little city of Kuching, but it’s our goal to go out and explore the rainforest very soon. We hope to see some hornbills and proboscis monkeys in person, while avoiding alligators and vipers, oh my! But, while we’re not jungle trekking, we’ll be laying the lowest we’ll have been this entire trip and having lazy days walking around the quaint waterfront, talking to the guesthouse staff, and generally relaxing. Maybe it’s a good time to adjust some habits, pick up some new ones, or let go of old ones that don’t serve us any longer. Resolution time is coming!

Miss you all! I am thinking of you during the holidays. The holidays don’t mean a thing if it’s not for your friends and family that make them special. I love you and thank you for making my life special and meaningful.