Kill the Malaysia Prime Minister

Sorry for the gratuitous Zoolander reference...
So I've been in Malaysia for the past week or so - it's been great.
Here are some of the highlights. I hope the pics look better than they do on this computer... they look fine on my camera but they look really dark loaded here.

- arrived in Kuala Lumpur and found some budget ($3 cdn/night) accommodation in the middle of china town. The place was pretty grim looking, but it was right in the middle of the china town market and close to all the hawker food stalls


- went and checked out the petrona towers (2nd tallest in the world i think)

- visited the Batu Caves, a huge cave just outside KL that has a hindu temple inside of it. There was also lots of baby monkeys!

-went shopping at 'the reject shop' - an no it's not just a clever name, it is pretty reject


After KL, I took a couple buses and a three hour longboat trip to get to Taman Negara (means 'national park') to do some jungling.
- did a couple of night time treks into the jungle to find wildlife/snakes/spiders/bugs
- walked across a rickety wood and rope canopy suspension bridge over the rain forest

- went caving and saw a few thousand bats (super cool!) that were literally centimeters from my face


- managed to remain leech-free (unlike some of my hiking partners), although i did get a few bites from jungle-ants (really big ones)
ON the bus/boat ride to taman negara, the whole group of us bonded, which was great since we had a good crew for exploring and trekking. there was a guy from belgium, an chinese-american couple, myself, two girls from holland, two from ireland and two from france, and then an english dude.

Most of us went our separate ways after leaving there, but the two Dutch girls were heading to Cameron highlands as well so i've spent the past couple days with them here.
Cameron Highlands has been my favorite part of Malaysia, and not just because of the name. It's a beautiful farming valley in the mountains with tea plantations, stawberry farms and some seriously friendly laid back people. for once people are nice and it doesn't seem like they're trying to get something out of you. Highlights from the last couple days
- climbed the tallest mountain in the local area which had awesome views all around
- toured a tea plantation, and sat out on the balcony overlooking the hills full of tea leaves and tasted the fine 'cameronian gold blend' tea

- hitch hiked between the local villages (don't worry mom it's very safe here and i'm not alone)

- hiked to a local waterfall
- ate some really good food and stayed in a guesthouse the made rooms out of old army barracks
- saw some locals playing a malaysia game like volleyball but where you only use your feet (it was sweet)

Tonight i think I will be taking bus to a nearby town and then taking a night train to thailand.

I should be in ko phi phi (where they shot 'the beach') or Phuket in the next couple days.

I think that's all from me for now! Internet in the interior of Malaysia has been a little patchy so i haven't been able to keep in contact as well.

Brooke's stay in Japan

So I haven't updated at all about Brooke's visit in Japan. And I probably won't since she summed it up so well on her blog (click the link on the side panel to check it out).
I will however post a picture of the two of us just to prove that she really was here!


Ohh that seems like so long ago now!
I'm getting organized to leave Singapore tomorrow. My initial plan was to leave today but I hadn't quite finished the revisions I wanted to do on my thesis, so I decided I ought to stick it out until they were done.

Singapore has been really nice. I've managed to meet lots of colourful Aussies and Brits in my few nights at the hostel. I wouldn't be surprised at all if I ran into some of them again since many seem to be headed in the same direction as me.
I also managed to fit in some sightseeing around all my thesis work.


I went on a night safari two days ago that was pretty cool. Basically you sneak around on all these jungle trails and watch the nocturnal animals as they are waking up for the night. The animals aren't 'wild' but their pens are really big and often there is only a moat between you and them. Pretty intimate really.
Lots of big cats, rhinos, snakes, bats and flying squirrels.

The other sightseeing highlight was the Bird Park. Actually, my official opinion on the bird park was mixed. What I had read about it before I got there led me to believe it was more of a bird sanctuary that was devoted to conservation etc etc. But it was still a zoo-like facility that has a 'collection' of bird prisoners. The 'collection' was very impressive, but I much prefer to see birds in the wild. They also had a large aviary with the largest man-made waterfall in the world. That was cool.

Ohh yah, I also went to Sentosa Island which is just outside the city. The self-proclaimed southern most point in mainland Asia..



So tomorrow I make for Malaysia and the Highlands.... the Cameron Highlands to be exact! Whenever I've had to tell anyone my name here they inevitably say ' Cameron?... like the Highlands?'. Yes - like the Highlands.
I may actually stay in Kuala Lumpur for the night and try and arrange a guide of some sort for some jungle trekking. There is also a National Park area called Taman Negara that is good for treks so I don't know where I'll go first.
But if you don't here from me for a few days - that'll be why!

I've got my loincloth all ready to go.

From winter to summer in 7 hours

So I made it safely to Singapore.
After freezing my hiney off in Japan for the past couple weeks, the 30 degree weather is a welcomed relief.
I showed up here wearing two long sleeve shirts and a puffy vest, but now I'm sitting comfortably in shorts and a sleeveless shirt.
Singapore seems amazing (although I haven't seen much yet!). There are gardens and little waterfalls all over the place and the weather today is clear and not too humid.
My flight arrived last night just after midnight (and thus just after all the public transport shuts down). Rather than spend the price of two nights accommodation on taxi fare I found some ridiculously uncomfortable benches and attempted to sleep for a few hours. You can tell these are designed to be uncomfortable so bums like me don't try and get a free night's stay, but I showed them. Ohh yes. Who's laughing now?! I don't know if I was woken up more by the discomfort of the chairs or by the paranoia of having my bags ripped off.
Being the deep sleeper that I am, I rigged up an intricate configuration of bag straps such that the only way someone could take my bags was if I came with them. But of course this added to the discomfort since once I was strapped in I couldn't move around at all, and my hips are still bruised from all my futon sleeping in Japan.
I managed to sleep in periodic intervals for about 6 hours and then I made my way to the tourist info station at the airport. They called ahead to a backpacker's hostel which I was able to check into and lock my gear up this morning.
Wow, Japan seems like an incredible rip off now. I'm paying about $9-10 Canadian a night at this place and it includes breakfast! Nice and comfy too.
I still haven't seen much of the town, but I'm about to head in search of food so I'm sure that will lead me to some interesting places.
I've decided to make my travels an culinary tour. I will sample food from all areas of town and compare region to region. Hopefully my bachelor years of eating food beyond its expiry will prepare my stomach for an onslaught the unfamiliar. If not, there's always the anti-diarrhea's.
Alright, I've got to peace out. I didn't come to SE Asia to sit at a computer.
I'm alive, I'm safe and I'm happy - hope you can say the same for yourselves!
TTFN.