lately...

i've been dreaming of faraway lands..

le sigh

train part 2.

27 hours seems like a daunting experience, but I think it was one of my favorite things we did in Vietnam (besides awesome sandos). We had our own little “box” and a train worker who liked to check up on us. We actually got meals on the train... which is a good thing because all we brought was a tube of pringles.. we're not really train veterans so we didn't really know what to expect.. but we thought the food was awesome!

note: if you are traveling in East Asia. these meals are NOT provided. you best bring your own cup-o-noodles.

The train experience was amazing because 1. It was relaxing after 2 weeks of non-stop motion and 2. The scenery was breath taking. We did some research and set our alarms so we would awake in the morning to the most gorgeous part of the Vietnam countryside: miles and miles of green rice patties.

We passed people working in the fields, a ton of burial plots just plopped down in the middle of the patties, water buffalo hard at work, some kids covering their ears – waiting for the train to pass, and glimpses of the sea.

I spent most of the day a few cars over where the windows in the hallway opened to let the air in. At one point, I was just staring out the window when the train shook and the door behind me rolled open. After the family figured out I was just looking out the window and not being a creeper outside their door, the mother and her ~2 year old daughter joined me to watch the fields roll by. We stood there together for some time watching the trees and villages roll by.

also, another video to keep you coming back for more:

train.

I really like trains. I think that they are such fascinating modes of transportation. My dad lived near some train tracks at some point in his life and I was always fascinated with his collection of smashed pennies.. Lincoln’s smeared head barely visible in the copper. When I was younger, we would take trips to San Antonio with some family friends. Every time we went, we would visit the train museum. (Many weekends were spent traveling with our friends; visiting transportation museums… our favorite/the one we visited most often was the airplane museum in Galveston). Now, this train museum was great because it talked a lot about the history of trains and they even had 2 train cars complete with mannequins posed in the windows. The thing that sucked about this museum was that you weren’t allowed inside the cars! I remember being so disappointed the first time we visited and we couldn’t go inside the car and see what it was actually like.

Well, four years ago (at about this time) I was able to see the inside of my first train! My freshman year roommate and I took the train from Berkeley to Sacramento to visit her aunt and uncle in Placerville. I had a picture of my first trip in a train.. but it has been sadly lost.

Anyway, train is THE way to travel in East Asia. It is fairly cheap, convenient and always an experience. The first train I rode was the Dong Che… The fast train aka the really nice train. The second time, we rode the regular train with stiff wooden benches instead of the nice plush seats of the Dong Che, and the radio blaring over the loudspeaker. I was informed this was a “true East Asian experience.”

scenes from the EA train:

like this tiny sign is gonna stop anyone.

what?

the hot water heater for your cup o noodles dinner.
looks yummy right?

Now, after living in EA for a good 6 months, I have taken many a train ride and can push my way to the tracks, fight for my seat and say zou zou zou under my breath like the best of 'em. Each train ride is a new experience, and I love seeing what train riding is like in other countries.

So, when we were planning our trip to SE Asia, we naturally looked up all of the train lines we could find. Since we were no longer going to Cambodia, and would not be able to ride this awesome train, we had to get our train fix elsewhere. We looked to Vietnam to do the job for us. Our travels would take us to Ho Chi Minh City in the South of Vietnam, but we were forced to take a flight out of Hanoi in the North to come back ‘home.’ Of course the only reasonable thing to do was to take the 27-hour train the entire length of Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. YEAH!

to be continued...

stay tuned to read about the vietnam train sooonn

eng-lay ?

some of my favorite Malay words... can you translate them to english?

ais
teksi
restoran
teh
orenge
jus
kopi
ais krim
bas
sup
basikal <-- my favorite.
stim
polis
minit
epel
sais
feri
tiket
pletfom
kerot
kaunter
seksi
sirap
ekspres
misteri
taip
kad kredit
klinik

have fun!

does the rainforest have seasons?

The day after our firefly adventure, we left for the rainforest. We also had to join a tour for this one.. more cost efficient and it includes… everything. On the way to the jungle, we stopped at many animal attractions. A deer park, bear feeding, and elephant ride were among the stops, but I do not care to discuss these things. I do not really agree with the practice of housing animals outside of their natural habitat, and am determined to take these things more into consideration the next time I travel.

Anyway, we arrived at Taman Negara and took a boat taxi across the river to our hostel. As we walked past all of the nice bungalows, I thought we might get more than we paid for out of this trip, but I was sadly mistaken. We stayed in an 8-bed room in the hostel part of the hotel with a couple that had followed us from our hostel in KL. Even though our room was…interesting, the rainforest was amazing. We went on a night hike on our first evening, and I must say that we really lucked out with our guide. He was so well informed and made certain that everyone in the group heard/understood/saw whatever he was saying or pointing to. Throughout our time with him he showed us vines that you can drink water from, huge carnivorous flowers, wax that will burn for 3 days, snakes, scorpions, leeches, how to make fire, and the list goes on.

My favorite part of the trip was our canopy walk. They had built this 550m long bridge through the forest canopy.. about 40-50m above the floor. Walking on this 12-inch wide wooden board suspended in the trees was the most incredible experience. I don’t have the greatest balance, so I was stumbling a little – which was both terrifying and thrilling at the same time. It was so gorgeous, being in the trees with the river below. And because we had to be spaced about 10m apart, it was so peaceful..

just you and the forest.

i <3>

malaysian monkeys.

While in Malaysia, we had our share of encounters with these random monkeys.

first stop: Batu Caves.

Besides being one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India (we were 2 days away from one of the largest festivals ever…) Batu Caves is also home to a diversity of wildlife. I had almost forgotten about all of the warnings about monkeys I had read online until we got to the entrance of the cave and were greeted by a handful of crazed monkeys… wanting whatever food you had. Good thing I didn’t bring any… they were so aggressive.. sliding down the railings and hissing at you. Kathryn tried to touch one, but it hissed and bared its teeth at her.. so scary.. I watched as a gang of monkey bandits swarmed a woman carrying some flower garlands. The temple-goers constantly have to ward of the monkeys who try to steal the fruit left at the altars. Interestingly enough, the monkeys live at peace with the flock of hens and two cats that also inhabit the main cave.

There are 272 steps leading up to the main temple area, we learned later that for every step you take, one sin is forgiven…

Second stop: Firefly magical mystery tour.

I read online about this “INCREDIBLE” firefly tour. Apparently right outside of Kuala Lumpur is a river where thousands of fireflies congregate for no reason at all. We were advised to rent a taxi cab for 250 ringgit a day, but decided to just join a tour.. and I am so glad we did.
We were the only five on our tour, and our guide, Steven, was very informative on all subjects – the history of Malaysia, how to harvest the various plants of Malaysia, about the Hindu Temple we visited, etc. he talked non-stop for the entire 2-hour drive. Anyway, at one point he mumbled something about monkeys, but I thought he was joking. Until he pulled over to a street-side market to buy some beans “for the monkeys.” It was at this market that I spotted the most ginormous pile of durian I have ever seen..

Back to the monkeys… we are driving along, and we pull off of the highway onto this windy road and BAM monkeys everywhere. We are a little freaked out from our experience at Batu caves, but Steven assures us that these are Silver Leaf monkeys and they are docile. So we shove some green beans in our pocket, and set out to feed these strange animals. They are really eager to have our green beans, so sometimes they jump on you, or stick their hand in your pocket.. but no matter. Some of the locals gather around to play with them, and one of them has a rubber snake to wave at them just in case they get a little out of hand.

After feeding the monkeys, we went for our seafood dinner… we were a little wary after the random stop with the monkeys made this tour seem very similar to a trip we took in October which we deemed the original “Magical Mystery Tour” (more on that at a later date). We expected this ‘seafood dinner’ to be pretty gross, but we were pleasantly surprised to arrive at a Chinese restaurant on a river overlooking the sunset.. and the food was great and all you can eat!

The fireflies were a little disappointing – they mostly hung out in bushes on the bank. But it was nice to see a 5th generation family run business not yet commercialized. They had about a half-dozen little wooden rowboats and would take 4 people in each boat up and down the river. The fireflies weren’t really as advertised, but it was still very lovely, quiet, and you could watch both the fireflies and the stars twinkle. We all agreed this tour was more Magic than Mystery.

welcome to KL.

We were greeted in Kuala Lumpur by a torrential downpour.. our hostel owner (who we refer to as Lex) said it was "nothing." Apparently the monsoon season is in the middle of switching from the east coast to the west coast, so we would be in for more rainy days..

we didn't let that stop us though.. we headed out for some awesome indian/malay food and took a stroll to the towers..




So, the Petronas Towers are basically Kuala Lumpur's claim to fame. And aren't they gorgeous at night?

Designed by Cesar Pelli, they were the world's tallest buildings until 2004 when Taipei 101 was completed and became the tallest... But they are still the largest Twin Towers. The decoration and the floor plan of the towers is meant to reflect the Muslim state of Malaysia. Also noteworthy: The towers are made of reinforced concrete, not steel... making it ridiculously heavy on its foundation.



we went a couple of days later to go up and walk along the bridge that connects the towers... which is the highest double decker bridge in the world! The view wasn't as great as I thought it would be, and the lights on the inside of the elevator didn't even light up! But it was still cool to actually be inside the towers..