Returning to South-East Asia

We touched down in Kuala Lumpur at 7 in the morning on a Monday. It was already hot outside, and the air held a familiar feeling of hot, humid air that seems you could almost touch. While I had done a little research, our only real objective was to explore the city a little, get some lunch and then find the Airbnb to ditch our bags.

We got a Bolt cab and had him take us to Chinatown which in KL is a real thing, like as in being a lot bigger and more authentic than the polished version we visited in London earlier this year. To be fair to London, KL is a lot closer to China.

Walking around, you are quickly swept up in the hustle and bustle of the streets. How ever, it never feels crowded. Coming from Norway, Malaysia drives on the "wrong side" of the road, which can make for a few surprises when traffic comes at you from your right, rather than your left. Walking around with two early teens you are reminded that even if you have told them once already, it is worth repeating once or twice, to lessen the number of "surprises" one walks into.

Airbnb'fication of Kuala Lumpur

As I came to realize, Airbnb's are everywhere in KL, and entire apartments buildings seems to be mostly run as hotels. There are receptions with check-in and check-outs, handling ID verification and keys etc. Checking in to our apartment on the 11th floor gave a nice view of the skyline, being in a building a little back from the extreme city centre. The best view though was from the pool on the 8th floor, from which all of KL opened up as you could see the Petronas Towers, the KL Tower (telecom/TV tower) and the brand new Merdeka 118 which is the second tallets building in the world at 678.9 metres tall.

As seen from the pool deck, the Merdeka 118 (it has 118 floors) seems almost alien. It could very well be a monolith from space, planted in the middle of the city. At night it is lit up with purple led ligths in geometrical shapes from top to bottom. Personally I found it cool and impressive, but not sure it would have worked as well in downtown Oslo.

KL Tower

Definitely the highpoint of the whole trip, excuse the pun, was walking out into the glass bottom box hanging off the top of KL Tower, some 300 meters off the ground. Walking out you get a queasy feeling in your stomach, something just isn't right as you look down and its 300 meters or more below your feet. Funny enough though, it passes and after a little while you are just hanging out taking in the view with no care in the world. With the tower itself built on a small hill in the middle of KL you get a crazy view across the city, here with the Petronas Twin Towers in the background.

In the evening that first day we headed to the Bukit Bintang district and the Jalan Alor street which is basically just a ton of open air restaurants all along the street. Well worth the trip, and the food we ended up having was delicious!

Practical Tips

To get around we used Bolt in from the airport, otherwise we found that Grab is super convenient, quick and mostly inexpensive. Just download the Grab app, connect a payment method and instantly you have access to an endless number of drivers.

We stayed in an apartment complex called Opus Residences that you can find on Airbnb here. There is a great outdoor pool on the 11th floor with an amazing view to Merdeka 118 (the worlds' second tallest building) and more of the city. Walking distance to Chinatown and a slightly longer walk to the Bukit Bintang district and the Jalan Alor street food area.

When we decided on going up KL Tower, the online ticketplace said it was closed due to bad weather. Seeing as the weather was great we decided to just go, and sure enough, it was open. We only went to the very top, and there you can walk around the entire building, looking all around the city. There was a lower Observation deck, but we skipped that and saved some money.

Chinatown was well worth the visit, both for food and shopping. The main shopping/market street is Petaling Street Market where there are a ton of smaller stall all laid out along one long covered street.

After two nights and three exciting days in Kuala Lumpur, we had an early afternoon flight to Borneo.

To me, Borneo has always held some mythical allure, being the home to headhunters, crocodiles, orangutangs and all manner of snakes and spiders. To be fair, I belive the last time a conflict led to actual heads rolling was decades ago, maybe in the sixties or seventies. Still, the same people and their descendants are very much the tribes inhabiting Borneo today.

Since that time though, and likely long before, the two Malaysian parts of Borneo, Sabah in the northeast and Sarawak in the southwest, have seen a lot of development. The Sarawak city of Kuching where we were based, certainly had both more and far nicer shopping malls than Oslo does.

If anything, Kuching and Borneo is a study in contrasts. Kuching is right on the Sarawak river, and a great riverine estuary both surrounds the city, and comes right into it. Those rivers and the greater mangrove estuary is home to the Irrawaddy dolphin found only there, great pythons and even greater and deadlier crocodiles.

In the forests surrounding Kuching you might even come across orangutangs, also found only in this region of the world. Possibly getting to see orangutangs, and experience some of the real wilds of Borneo was high on the list for the three nights we were to spend there. While we were there, we also did get to explore Kuching a little

In this modern Borneo, you can order an iced latte at a cool Zus coffee shop, then hail a Grab cab through their app and have it drive you to the edge of town, and before you finished your drink you could be on the outskirts of town, faced with mangroves and small rivers, home to all manner of deadly perils. The mangroves and rivers are also home to lots of people living on, and off the land and rivers. Catching crabs, shrimp and fish, they risk the possible threats of the muddy water that both sustains life as well as occassionally taking them. 

Gateway to Borneo

To most people Kuching is a gateway to exploring Sarawak, with the wild jungle and some remaining indigenous tribes living not far outside the city. For our trip we were planning on visiting the Semenggoh Wildlife Center to hopefully see Orangutangs, and then we were going to stay overnight in Bako nature reserve which is on a peninsula outside of the city.

Since we came in rather late on the first day, we enjoyed a meal at McDonalds at the airport as soon as we landed. I believe we visited McD's a couple of times on our trip and to my delight, they had some pretty tasty local rice and chicken dishes on the menu you don't find other places. We flew on AirAsia on the way there, and our flight was cancelled, or moved back a bit, so we ended up flying early in the evening. The Airbnb apt. we were staying in cost about $40 per night and was right downtown, and even if it was a step down from the awesome apartment in Kuala Lumpur, it was decent value for money and in a central location close to the river.

The first night in Kuching we did a little walk along the river, but since we were planning on getting up early we didn't do much exploring. The second evening, after having visited Semenggoh, we walked around a bit more, following the river, seeing a beautiful mosque right on the river, and a large pagode style building on the other side. I didn't know it at the time, but this is actually the Sarawak State Assembly Building where assemblymen from across Sarawak meet to govern the state. As far as government buildings goes, this one was pretty cool!

Going on a trip like this, with a couple of young teens you want to find a balance in what you do, and in between two trips to Semenggoh, and later after returning from Bako, we spent som quality time at two different shopping malls in Kuching. Much like in KL, they have some slick looking shopping malls in Kuching. Both of the ones we visited would easily be the nicest one in Oslo, and they have a great choice of places to eat as well, and all manner of stores. Coming in from the steaming hot and humid jungle for lunch in the AC bliss was pretty nice for everyone involved.

If you are in Kuching you would be missing out if you don't include a trip to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre. It's a large nature reserve where you might get to see semi wild orangutangs up close. Semenggoh is a center that rescues and rehabilitates orangutangs so all though they live freely in the large forest around the center, they are semi wild, as in they are quite used to having food provided for them when and if they choose to show up for a free lunch.

Weeks before leaving, my daughter Oda asked me if we would see any monkeys on the trip. Having missed seeing any on our trips to Morocco, she was really hoping we would see them in Malaysia.

Without going into detail about the distinction between monkeys and apes, I told her we would likely see a ton of monkeys, and possibley even orangutangs.

Right outside Kuching, about 24 km, is a wildlife center called Semenggoh where they have rescued, rehabilitated and released orangutangs into the wild for more than fifty years. The park is about 6.5 square km (6500 hectars), and is home to around thirty of the great apes. The park itself is mostly surrounded by more forest so the orangutangs freely roam a large area, but staying close to the park likely for the two free meals they are offered every day.

Will they or won't they?

The park has two feeding sessions every day, one in the morning at 8-9AM and one in the afternoon at 3-4PM. Living free in the forest though, it mens there are no guarantees you will actually see an orangutang. 

In the fruiting season the apes are often not seen for days, as they are happily living off the fruits and nuts of the forest. As we were there in June, the so-called dry season, odds were apparently on our side we would see them. 

Since the weather forecast was for heavy rain in the afternoon, we jumped in a Grab around 8AM and got to the park half an hour later. It's a 1.6km walk along a park road from the entrance to the actual feeding place which we walked. You could get a ride with a small buggy if you were less inclined to embrace the heat and humidity. 

We were far from alone, in total maybe 30-40 people were hanging around the place when we got there. A park guide gave a briefing, essentially urging people to do as he said, and stay calm unless told to run. Then you should run. 

Anaku

With people slowly milling about, all with an eye on the "stage" where a heap of bananas was on offer, all we could do was wait. The feeding station was partially fenced off, only as to keep visitors at a 10m distance. It was open to the forest behind, and a couple of thick ropes, as makeshift vines, led up into the trees from it. 

While we were waiting, a handful of park rangers actually walked the nearby jungle, calling out to any apes in the vicinity that breakfast was served. 

After about twenty minutes, there was some commotion from the way we had walked in, and quite suddenly we saw a large orangutang coming sauntering out of the bushes and crossing a small ridge we had used previously. 

This was a large alpha male named Anaku, with the nick name Daredevil. Twenty years old, he had few if any challengers among the other males. As it turned out, he was the only one of the giant apes that turned up for breakfast. He hung around for maybe twenty minutes eating bananas, then literally disappeared into the bushes and was gone.

Lunch and Karaoke

The Grab cab driver we took out to Semenggoh was ready to pick us up as we walked out of the gates and I asked him to take us to a shopping mall to get us some of that delicious cool AC climate they prefer there. After unwinding for a little while with coffee and some muffins, we walked around a bit. Oda found a place that did custom phone covers and she got to choose a color scheme and pick out different charms she wanted on it. Looking for a place to have lunch, we stumbled upon a karaoke place where they had a bunch of small rooms where you could sing your heart out while eating, so obviously this is where we ended up :-)

With full bellies and feeling cool and rested after our jungle trek in the morning, I convinced the kids it would be a good idea to go back for the afternoon feeding. There are often more orangutangs in the afternoons, and the forecasted heavy rain had all but blown away. I also compromised on using the e-buggy so that we didn't have to walk in and out.

Returning in the Afternoon

Heading back to Semenggoh we got a new Grab cab and right as we got out of the car at around 2:30PM a guy at the desk told us "We've got orangutangs!" and he hurried us along.

Coming back to the feeding area we approached unhurried, at least all of us did after I told the kids to slow down or possibly face the wrath of some startled ape. When we got back to the main area we were met with three or four orangutangs, one large male called Edwin sitting on the feeding platform, and a couple more high up in the trees.

It was very clear that cuddly as they seemed, no one was in any hurry to challenge the large male. Instead, the park ranger would toss bananas, or even a whole coconut, up to the apes in the trees. They would more often than not, deftly catch them, while hanging from a tree or a rope maybe with a foot and an arm. You very quickly realize they have four arms and no feet really :-)

This was a pair of orangutangs of similar size (and age?), and then there were a few slightly older ones that showev up one by one as well. Surprisingly, at least to me, orangutangs are mostly solitary animals, only meeting up for food like we saw, or obviosusly in mating season.

We were haning out for a little over an hour watching the orangutangs play around and eat. Two of them made off with a whole coconut each, and soon after we heard a solid "thump", "thump" from high up among the trees, as they were clearly smacking the coconut into a tree in order to break it open.

Both Oda and Brage were just as drawn in as I was myself, simply looking at these large fury distant cousins of ours living their lives.

For our last night on Borneo, I had booked a cabin inside Bako National Park. It's a small national park on a large peninsula outside of Kuching. It holds a wide range of biomes with high cliffs, dense jungle, mangroves and beaches making it an exciting place to explore. Seeing as there are signs anywhere you get close to the water that you need to beware of the crocodiles, it seemed it could get very exciting very fast. Unknown to me, staying over night had not been possible for a number of days because of low water reserves, but they started operations again the day before we arrived, ignorance is bliss!

Getting to Bako we caught a Grab cab to the jetty, then a small boat out around the peninsula. Because of the low tide, we had to make a beach landing rather than a dock. On that beach there are signs warning you about crocs in the water, much to Brage's excitement.

Walking up the beach we were met by a large main building, and behind it are 10-12 smaller cabins spread out. These are spartan accommodations, with no AC, but clean, spacious and with ok bathrooms. In essence I'd have loved to stay two or three nights, but we were there for just one. Being a popular tourist spot quite a few people were milling about, but that "crowd" disappeared around 2PM as the last boat back leaves at 3PM.

Photo from the view point at the end of Trail 1, you see the main beach at Bako, the admin building and the far hill with trail 4 and other longer trails going over that hill and into the forest behind.

The Trails

We got to Bako well before lunch so after eating, we were introduced to the trail system by a helpful guy at the reception/information desk. There were 8 or 9 marked trails (turned out to be well marked and easy to follow) that are mostly one way and back, starting and finishing at the main bld. Trails 1, 2 and 4 were clearly marked as having the largest chance of seeing proboscis monkeys so we focused on them as a proboscis sighting was high on the list.

Before venturing out into the jungle, you need to sign into a hike book, stating where you are going and how many you are in your group etc. as a precaution. Likely there will be some effort made to find you should you fail to sign back in within a reasonable time after leaving.

Trail 1

In the increasing heat we decided on the short and semi-easy trail no. 1, which would take us up onto a small peak overlooking the long beach where we landed, all the buildings and the large surrounding jungle nestles between the hill we were on and another hill at the end of the beach. While the hike up was only 4-500 meters, it was steep, over grown with roots and with some real steep stairs thrown in here and there for extra excitement :-) We did a few short stops on the way to drink water (you sweat like crazy in the humidity and heat) and to look for monkeys. Trail 1, along with trail 2 and 4 were the ones where you are most likely to come across the somewhat funny looking proboscis monkeys.

Alas, we saw no monkeys or much wildlife at all, except for some birds, one I believe was an Orange-bellied flowerpecker, and a squirrel. We did find a bench and a great view for the top of the trail though. We sat there for a good while taking in the scenery, trying to spot any crocodiles down on the beach or monkeys in the trees around us. After hiking back down, my son and I did a return trip as he had likley lost his sunglasses on the previous hike, luckily they were waiting for us at that same bench at the end of the trail.

Trail 4

After checking in to our cabins (I had booked two cabins that were joined) and digging into the lunch buffet, we headed out on one of the other trails most promising for proboscis monkeys, trail 4. It goes along the foot of that far hill you see in the photo above, and then going over that hill and eventually ending at a small beach on the other side. It was an equally "bumpy" hike with a lot of small ups and downs as the trail winds around trees, rocky outcroppings or climbs over the same. Even though you are on a well worn trail, it's a full on jungle expereince where you quickly feel you are deep in it, with possible wildlife behind, or under any rock or heap of leaves. Maybe about half way there we stumbled upon a 2 meter long green snake which was on the hunt for a large lizard of some kind.

At the time I thought it possibly was a highly venomous viper, but now I believe it was a lesser venomous vine snake. The lizard it was hunting was quite large, like 12-15cm maybe, so looked like a decent meal, but sadly the dinner survived and ran away. Getting to see the snake curl up and then strike out after its prey twice was still pretty cool. Wondering if it might also be a deadly snake elevated the whole experience several levels for me and the kids, seeing the snake curl up and settle in a long branch afterwards.

Having spent quite along time just browsing on our hike, and then spending maybe ten minutes on that snake alone the heat, humidity and the now very real "threat" of deadly snakes everywhere in the forest ;-) we decided to head back for a shower and clean cloths.

The next morning, after a great and quite inexpensive breakfast we decided on giving Trail 4 another go. It wasn't as steep as the no 1 we had tried, and trying to find a proboscis monkey was still a great pull. I do think that if I was there by myself, or with some other grown-up with an interest for more hiking I would have done all the trails there. How ever, going hiking with kids, and basically anyone with a more leisurely base pace, taking it easy is key. It's hot and humid, and the bumpy trails are more strenous than one might first think so take your time, look around for wildlife, and enjoy!

We headed out and after having done the trail the day before, and with the goal of actually making it to the end of it, we did it in maybe 45 minutes. Towards the end you are basically going up and over the end of a small hill, and the trail take you back to the ocean. As we were walking past a small shelter/hut, we couldn't help but notice the large sign warning us of the very real danger of crocodiles on, or near the beach.

Walking out onto the beach it turned out to be super nice, like a small beach with rock outcrops on both ends and thick bushes/vegetation right down to where the sand started. This also gave the extra exciting possibility of crocodiles potentially coming out of those bushes at any time. So as picturesque as it was, it was not a place you would wanna sit down, pop in the earbuds and listen to your fav music while looking out onto the ocean.

We were there just siltently taking it all in, looking into the canopy of trees high above us on the cliffs surrounding the beach as I noticed some destinct rustling in the bushes not far away. It was more than just the wind, or some squirrel, and it was only 15-20 meters away right down by the edge by the beach. With the very real possibility of a croc bursting out of there at any time I told the kids to be ready to make a run for it.

As it turned out, it was a proboscis monkey sitting in the bushed, enjoying a breakfast of some kind of berry or fruit. We watched it eat for a couple of minutes until it back a little more into the bushes and partially disappeared. Seeing as we were leaving Bako only a couple of hours later it was really cool to stumble across this guy early in the morning in such a beautiful spot, and we didn't get chased by a large crocodile either as a bonus.

After three nights and four days exploring on Borneo, we had a one night stop-over in KL.

We returned to KL from Borneo on a Saturday, coming into the city late in the evening, only to catch an 8AM bus to Mersing the next morning. We did Pizza Hut for supper, and walking around waiting for the pizza we came a cross a seafood restaurant where they had 20+ different species of fish and sealife in tanks swimming around. You basically point at the fish you want, and they prepare it for you, or possibly you can buy fresh fish and bring it home as well.

Next morning we made it to the bus station with half an hour to spare. The terminal was over two floors, with several check-in counters, printing of boarding passes and automatic gates to pass. It was probably larger then most smaller airports in Norway.

The trip was uneventful as we crossed the Malaysian peninsula from west to east, dipping down a little south to go around the highlands ( I assume, but maybe just jungle). The trip was supposed to take 4h20m, but ended up taking almost six hours. Thankfully Mersing is a small town where you can strawl from one end to the other in a few minutes.

We found the hotel, and as our room was on the third floor we got into the lift. To say it was slow would be a massive understatement. The thing moved at a pace suggesting it was being hoisted by hand, by some very old man in the basement. After that we took the stairs.

Next morning we got to the ferry terminal at around noon for our 1h20m trip out to Tioman.

Off the east coast of Malaysia there are a number of islands floating out there in the South China Sea. Typically half an hour to an hour out by high speed catamaran ferry. Some are really small with only one or two resorts, and some are more developed than others with multiple small villages around the islands.

Tioman is one of the largest of these islands, yet still not overly developed. There are six or maybe seven small villages around the island, and the interior is mostly untouched, with dense jungle.

The second week in Malaysia we were spending in the village Paya on Tioman. With plans to just relax, swim, snorkle, read and eat great food, it was the "slow" half of our vacation. Below is the view from the terrace of our bungalow.

Snorkling

I still have great memories from snorkling on Koh Tao and some other islands in Thailand in the 90s and I was really hoping we might find some of the same great experiences together on this trip.

Living on Paya Beach Resort our bungalow was literally right on the beach, with ten meters to get to the water. You could just walk out and snorkle right off the beach and this being the tropics there were numerous little fish just a few meters out.

Towards the end of the beach though, just twenty to thirty meters out from land there was a small island with great snorkling called Pulau Tumuk. Both on high and low tide you could wade out to the island and snorkle around in the small sound or along the rocky shore. Around the island there were great boulders and you found some of them underwater as well, and a lot more living large corals, with abundant sealife.

We went snorkling in that area three-four times and both Oda and Brage got to see lots of different corals, with myriad fish in all colors swimming around, eating or just going about with their life not playing us much attention. You can see Pulau Tumuk at low and high tide below, quite the difference, but still 20-30cm of water to wade through at low tide.

Baby Blacktip Reef Sharks

I think the absolutely most exciting for all of us was coming across baby sharks. One day, snorkling in the late afternoon Brage and I came across a baby shark slowly gliding through the water on the hunt for food.

The sharks we would see were all small, maybe 50-70cm, but there is something really cool about seeing the familiar shape of a shark. You know instantly what you are seeing, and No matter the size, you don't know if there are larger ones about.

The first one we saw seemed to cruise around a large school of thousands of small fish, then suddenly dart into the school to catch some poor unaware fish.

Just floating over, or next to this in the shallows, Brage and I watched how the large school of fish was like a living organism to itself as it contracted, stretched or parted in order to avoid these attacks.

We watched this for maybe five minutes before we lost sight of the shark. Then maybe twenty minutes later, Oda and I caught up with two or three baby sharks preying on the same large school of tiny fish. Seeing not just on, but two and three small sharks cruise along, sometimes as close as a meter away was quite something.

To me it seemed the sharks found us a little curious, and they would suddenly dart away if they got "too close" to us, but as we were just floating there, they were quite relaxed and more focused on their supper.

A day or two later, in the late afternoon again, I was wading out to do some snorkling by myself as I basically waded right up to what seemed to be the same large school of tiny fish. Swimming around in just half a meter of crystal clear water over the white sand it was like wading out into an aquarium. Standing there just looking at them, I suddenly saw one, then a second shark gliding through the water around the tiny fish.

I stood more or less in the same spot for maybe twenty minutes, the large school coming to swim all around me. Watching the sharks darting in and out, into and among their tiny prey on the hunt, all while I was at times less than a meter away from them. I went back to rustle up Oda and Brage and we returned to try find them, but by that time they were gone, maybe since the tide was going out and it was getting increasingly shallow in that area.

Pool Sharks

In the beach bar at the resort they had two pool tables and with no apparent age limits I got to teach Oda and Brage to play.

It was a Tuesday, our second day there, that we picked up the cue's and ended up playing around si hours that day. It wasn't quite as crazy as it sounds. This was also the day Norway was playing the Ivory Coast in soccer, and we had to stay up quite late to catch the game, we passed the time playing pool.

I hadn't played for years so to say I was a little rusty would be an understatement. How ever, we kept at it, playing a few games after dinner most nights, and I slowly shook off my initial "blindness" to angles.

Now the hunt is on for some place to play in Oslo.

Slow Paced Island Life

I normally prefer vacation to be a healthy mix of activities and slow periods than just chilling out at a resort for a week. How ever, with kids you do want to find a happy medium. After a pretty eventful first week with going back and forth to Borneo, and travelling across the country by bus, the week on Tioman was really nice.

The resort had a great pool, we were right on the beach, there was great snorkling close by, and the little village was large enough that we got a little walk now and then. Our stay at Paya Beach Resort included a great buffet breakfast which we did every morning. For lunch we typically walked to one of the other resorts or restaurant and had lunch there, usually with a game of cards, or trying out the pool table at the other large resort.

One day we did go on a 30 minute hike to the next beach through the jungle. It was kinda funny how fast you left everything behind as you stepped onto the path and went into the jungle. At that beach there was someone who cared for turtles, ensuring that most eggs laid there would end up hatching and surviving until they were released again so we got to see a bunch of small turtles, and a few larger ones. On the way there it started raining, or as Oda explained it later, it was like stepping into a shower, which is quite right. All though a brief down pour, it was intense and after only a couple of minutes we were all soaked.

If you are looking for a family friendly place for a week of the island life in Malaysia, Tioman was a great place, and quite inexpensive as well. A lot of people go to the Perenthian islands, or Langkawi on the west coast, closer to Thailand, but from my understanding they are more expensive, and possibly a lot more developed. Tioman feels unrushed, quite authentic, not exploited or over developed and it is an island big enough that you can experience some landbased wildlife as well, if the beach, the pool and snorkling isn't enough.