SupandNic

After our short sweaty time in Kuala Lumper we made our way up north to be welcomed by the cool air of the Cameron Highlands. It turned out to be a great place to spend a few days. An area full of tea plantations, jungle and rolling green hills. We checked into an old army barrack style accommodation costing us just under £4 a night for a room. The architecture of the town gave it a rather English feel and it was like no place we had visited on our travels.

Many of the Malaysian tea plantations are based in the Cameron Highlands and we arranged a tour for the following day. Taking a drive to the tea fields we saw where the tea is grown, how it is picked and learnt about the different parts of the leaves that are used in different quality teas. The young leaves closest to the top of the plant are considered to be the best and therefore are the ones sold as the premium quality teas. It was interesting to learn that if the plants were not constantly maintained they would grow into full sized trees. Also all teas eg green, black etc all come from the same plant and it is the process the leaves go through which determine the type of tea.

Many of the original tea pickers were south Indians who were bought over to undertake the work that the Malays were not prepared to do. The Indians soon realised, however, that they could earn a far better income selling cuisine from their home country. This explained the many South Indian restaurants that lined the town along with the general Indian influence of the area.. It clearly took off very well (and I am very thankful the South Indians decided to look further afield as the tandoori chicken was immense... chicken cooked in a modern day tandoor oven = amazing!). Today the tea leaves are picked by mainly Nepalese and Indonesian workers.

Later in the day we stopped off at an area of forest known as Mossy Forest (for a pretty obvious reason). Our guide taught us about the plants around us and their medicinal purposes. Also present were some crazy flesh eating plants. I feel I can now give good old Bear Gyrylls a run for his money!

Moving on we made our way to Gunung Brinchang, the highest point in the area. When we arrived we were surprised to see that a statue of me had been erected! Climbing the tower we were rewarded with superb views that were surrounding us. We were able to see as far as the town of Ipoh in one direction, and in the other direction we could see as far as Taman Negara National Park.

Making our way back we stopped off at B'oh tea estate to see the processes of turning the picked leaves into drinking tea leaves – a process of withering, rolling, fermenting, drying and sorting the leaves. We also sampled a fine cupper overlooking the very impressive Sungei Palas plantation. The Sungei tea plantation is one of the smallest in Malaysia producing 600,000 kg a year. As Nic is now a huge fan of both tea AND coffee, she picked the Teacino - an interesting combo but apparently pretty damn good!

Our final stop of the day brought us to a butterfly farm (which also housed a number of reptiles and other animals). Nic enjoyed the number of colourful butterflies. I on the other hand think they are merely moths with

a splash of colour. They can't fool me! The health of the animals was questionable, there were quite a few dead butterflies on the floor that appear to have been squished and the other animals looked a bit too docile for my liking.

There are a number of hiking trails around the highlands and Nic and I decided to go and explore later that afternoon. We were treated yet again to beautiful scenery and at times it felt like we

were in our own little world. On our journey we passed a lush waterfall. The water did look very inviting but we had distance to cover so we just stopped for a quick photo. Nic was still recovering from Kinabalu...!!

On our final day I decided to tackle one of the other hiking trails. Nic's leg was playing up a little so she chilled at the hostel. I saw more of the lush surroundings. In some parts it got a little tricky and the trail became hard to follow. The end result = I got lost! I stumbled upon 3 kids who didn't speak 1 word of English but understood I was a little lost, and they walked me back to the trail. The kids were very 'jungle wise', snapping big branches downwards (but leaving them attached) every few hundred metres. They appeared to be leaving obvious markers – I assume so they could backtrack on their trail if thy got lost and/or so other people stumbling upon the branches would know that people have recently been along the route.

After enjoying a few days of cooling off we next made our way over to the Perhentian islands. We had heard promising things about the Pernhentians and we were looking forward to the trip. The island did indeed turn out to be beautiful, a little different to what we were expecting but beautiful nonetheless. Both Nic and I can't put our finger on it exactly but we both agree it didn't have 'the vibe'. We didn't get very lucky with the weather (except on the morning we were leaving!). Much of the day was overcast

and we did get a few big downpours. This was no big deal though as I came down with a 24hr bug so spent a bit of time in our bungalow recuperating. In the evenings we enjoyed candle lit meals inches from the sea for less than £2 each!. The evenings turned out to be our favourite time on the island.

Leaving the beach behind, we began our journey to Penang, the oldest British settlement in Malaysia. We were big fans of Penang by the end of our stay there. The majority of our time was spent in the bright, lively bustling area of Little India. Sari shops, temples, restaurants and Indian sweet sellers lined the streets, along with Bollywood movie shops attempting to out do each other by seeing who could play the loudest bhangra. It was here that I ate the best Tandoori chicken of my life! We were beginning to think that we should have included India in our itinerary... that will also have to wait for next time!

We checked out Fort Cornwallis and learnt some interesting information on how it came to be. Captain Light arrived on the island in 1786 and developed a free trade port hoping to lure trade from Britain's Dutch rivals. Surrounding the fort we passed a number of Penang's grand Colonial buildings.

The shopping malls of Penang also allowed us to stock up on our supplies. I also thought I should get another hair cut and see if anyone could save the carnage that had been done to it in Costa Rica, Hollywood AND Kuching (!) Nic convinced me to go to a proper salon. I agreed. The lady was able to sort it out a little although I think I am going to have to shave it all off and start again. Savage.

Our last place left to visit in Malaysia was the island of Pulau Langkawi. We decided that the best was to properly see the main island was to hire a moped. Although Nic was a little hesitant at first, she agreed it was the only thing that made sense. She turned out to be a quality little rider. With exception to the starting and stopping (when things got a bit wobbly) I felt safe on the back ;-) Nic really enjoyed the freedom of our ped and wasn't long before we were zooming along with confidence.

We did have to watch out for the locals who drive super crazy. We stopped off at various points along the way, including rice fields, coastline and harbours, taking photos as we went. Langkawi has an impressive cable car system so we decided to go and explore. The cash points were temporarily not working which was a little frustrating but no big thing as we decided to return th next morning. We took a detour to see one of the close by waterfalls where we were greeted by a number of cheeky Macaques.

The weather the following day was overcast but we decided to ride the cable car anyhow as we thought the experience would be cool even if the views from the top were going to be obscured. The incline of the cable car ascent was quite steep, 45 degrees in places! Our ride took us to the top of Gunung Machinchang, 708m above sea level. On the way out we saw this guy with a BIG sack trying to sell a photo with the beasty 14ft python and Nic stepped up with no fear while I kept my distance!

We decided that we would invest some time going back to Penang to save time overall with visa runs (as we were enetering Thailand via bus or boat we would only have been given a 15 day visa). We had tried to sort the visa beofe leaving for Langkawi but as it was the weekend we would have had to wait for the following week.

Plus we thought we would be able to arrange it in Langkawi. We were wrong. Back to Penang. It was no big thing, we enjoyed Penang. It was an easy place to be for a few more days and it meant I would be able to eat more tandoori chicken and stock up on more Indian sweets from Little India. It was definitely worth it. The visa cost us £8 each and gave us up to 2 months travel in Thailand... value! Visas sorted... onto Koh Lanta, our fist stop of our island hopping tour in Thailand!

The 9 hour coach journey up to Sabah was one we had underestimated in terms of ease. Due to the borders of Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah we were required to disembark the bus a total of 6 times! First the bus exited Sarawak and then we entered Brunei. Then we left Brunei and entered back into Sarawak. We couldn't get settled for long however, as we then left Sarawak to enter Brunei again. After a short time we were leaving Brunei to enter Sarawak for one last time. Finally we left Sarwak to reach our destination... Sabah (check the map borders and all will become clear).

The eventful journey to Sabah had been undertaken with one goal in mind... to secure us a place on the Mount Kinabalu climb. Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea standing at 4095m tall (half the size of Everest). This was something I had wanted to conquer since we first began thinking of travelling to Borneo. Nic originally was not so keen on the idea as she didn't think she would be able to climb it. She soon realised this was of course not true and she bravely stepped up to the challenge and decided to accompany me on our ascent to the summit.

Kota Kinabalu (Sabah's capital) was to be our first point of call, mainly because all bookings for the climb could be handled by the office in town. Whilst in Sarawak we had phoned to try and secure a a place only to be told that you have to book at least 6 months in advance to guarantee a spot. Staying 6 months in Borneo was clearly not an option so we decided to go down to the office in Kota Kinabalu to speak face to face. What a result that turned out to be... we secured 2 cancellation places for the following Monday! The lady asked us if we wanted to climb up the standard route or the newer, longer more challenging route... which of course it was to be! It seems things have changed in the last 6 years or so when Nic's sister visited. There is now no cheap way to climb to the summit. All of the limited accommodation on the mountain is owned by one private company and I think they have lately realised how much tourists will actually pay. It was something I really wanted to do so we had to part with the cash.

Later that evening we went out for a celebratory meal which turned out to be a little traumatic. We found a busy little chinese restuarant and both (not feeling too adventurous) ordered the beef noodles. When the food arrived on our table the bowls both appeared full of ingredients we had not seen before. (Now suddenly feeling adventurous) Nic dived straight in while I hesitantly gave mine a stir. Turns out Nic ate beef ball and beef lung... tasty! Fortunately the beef ball wasn't actually the ball (it was a processed beef made into a ball) but the lung clearly was lung. We both lost our appetite soon after finding out this key ingredient. Both feeling ill we made our way home and I had good fun winding Nic up about her bronchiole adventures!

On the Sunday we made our way up to the base of the mountain. We had an early start the following morning so it allowed us to get a good nights sleep. We stayed at a lodge just outside of the National Park giving us beautiful views of the mountain we were soon to climb. It's a good job the views were so good as it made up for the general shabbiness of the cockroach infested lodge and the rudeness of the staff. They soon realised they were no match for us when we fogged the room with an entire can of the bug spray they threw at us and deposited the giant dead cockroach in a glass on their reception desk for all to see the following day...!

Up early the next day we made our way to the start of the trail picking up our packed lunch, registering at the park office and meeting our guide Hani. Hani spoke little English and was more of a safety man than a guide. He was a good bloke. Time for a quick photo then we were off!

We turned the corner for what seemed like an endless set of steps (and as we were soon to find out there were over 2500 steps just on the way to our mountain hut alone). Nic's face said it all ;-) I did think we had bitten off more than we could chew. Nic was distressed and ready to turn back. This called for drastic measures, we needed to regroup, change tactics and flip this on the B side (should we have just climbed the standard route?!). Off came the clothes, out came the water and it was time to live life like a tortoise for a while as we slowed down the pace. Things improved immensely and we were soon making good progress.

Nic was snapping photos of me calling me a cocky little bugger as I raced up the mountain! Here is a selection of the best few...

Climbing the alternative trail definitely paid off as we very rarely saw any other climbers so the whole place was ours! Hani showed no sign of being out of breath at any point of the climb,

in fact he was smoking most of the way up. He guides people up and down the mountain every 2 days with only 4 days off per month. Hani was a hard worker. We also saw a number of porters carrying people's luggage and also supplies (food etc) up to the huts. Men and women of all ages, packed like donkeys, climbing up in flimsy shoes with makeshift carrying bags crippling their small frames. They looked like they were in severe pain at times and I honestly do not know how they made it. It was a little distressing to see at times to be honest.

It was unrelentingly steep in parts and I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my life. The muscles in the top of your thighs really begin to ache as a result of the repetitive motion. We had 8.2km to climb to reach our hut for the night. 8.2km doesn't sound that far but when it is uphill it is a different story. There were markers every 500m showing our progress. In some sections the markers did seem to take a long long time to come round. Our guide said we should be aiming for 1km per hour in order to make it before nightfall. We made it to the hut in 5 and a half hours so naturally we were pretty chuffed with our first day's effort. We ate some dinner and rested our aching muscles before getting an early night's sleep (our mountain hut pictured below). It rained solidily that evening and I was a little worried it wasn't going to stop - if it is raining in the morning you cannot climb to the summit :-(

1:30am the alarm went off. It felt like we had only literally just fallen asleep. We forced ourselves out of bed, got ready and went to get breakfast. The weather had cleared up just for me! We left at 3am in order to reach the summit by 6 in time for sunrise. This part of the climb differed greatly from the previous day. It was pitch black on the mountain and the only light available was from our head torches. The first section involved crossing the sheer Panar Laban rock face. There were ropes fixed in place to help haul us up the thick slippery steep granite sheets. It was nice to give the leg muscles a rest!

The last section of the ascent involved climbing from the Sayat-Sayat hut to the summit. It was again becoming steeper yet and our determination and stamina were keeping us going. 750m from the summit (so close yet so far!) Nic was finding it increasingly difficult, feeling breathless, nauseous and a little frustrated. Hani and I helped by propping Nic up (over each shoulder) and I took her bag. Sunlight was fast approaching and my motivational speak with Nic appeared to have worked as she had a new lease of life. Reaching the final section we scrambled up the last few boulders... we had done it!! The views from the summit were amazing - in every direction. The weather was very cold at the summit so all of the warm clothing we had packed and lugged up the mountain paid off (the temperature changed drastically throughout the climb which explains why we have more clothing changes in our photos than a Bollywood movie). It was such a great experience to be up that high and see the sun come up over all of Borneo and also to see exactly what we had been climbing up over the last 3 hours.

After enjoying our time at the top we were ready to head back down and I am happy to say that it took a lot less energy than on the way up. It did start to ache on the knee joints however, as a result of the constant jolting. Nic made light work of the downhill trek and set the pace for me and Hani.

Below are some of the photos taken on our trek back down the mountain. The ropes that we used for support on the climb...

The steepness of some areas we crossed. The photo below (left) is actually the same section that you can see Nic holding on to the rope in the photo above...

You can see the excitement on Nic's face when we reached the 1.5km to go marker!

Climbing Mount Kinabalu was a great achievement for us both and it was my favourite activity of travelling to date. The views were beautiful throughout and it was amazing to see such a diverse range of terrain on one hike. I recommend it to everyone. It has made me want to hike Machu Picchu even more now... but that will have to wait for another trip! Back to the city for us, next up is Kuala Lumpur....

Trips:

Shorthand link:

Ko Phi Phi Time!

Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

Ko Lanta The Diamond Island!

Ko Lanta, Thailand

Malaysia Peninsular... tea, snakes, mopeds & chicken!

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

High on Kinabalu!!

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

K L City sights

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sarawak Surprises!

Kuching, Malaysia

Singa-definitely not Poor!

Singapore, Singapore

Sup's Reflective South Island

Christchurch, New Zealand

Nic's Natural & Inspiring North Island!

Auckland, New Zealand

Fun Filled Friendly Fiji

Nadi, Solomon Islands

Heading South?