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Travels with George and Marta

Journeys in the Botanical World

Travels with George and Marta
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PhotoHunt: Space

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 7, 2009 by MartaMarch 7, 2009

High Sierra view from Mt Whitney

This week’s PhotoHunt is Space. My family have lived in the American West for three generations. Wide open spaces are in my blood. It is what I think of when I hear ‘space’. The large expanses of open space that still exist here in the West.

We climbed one of the mountains in the West that took us the closest one could walk to space in the continental US – Mt. Whitney. At 14,495ft, it is the highest peak in the continental US. The peak tops of the high Sierra mountains laid at our feet and deep valleys were seen in the distance. It was a tremendous effort to climb in one day (17 hours, 22 miles, 6000ft elevation gain). One of my life goals.


Trail Camp

Trail Camp at around 12,000ft – we reached this area by 9am

Trail Crest
Trail Crest – Joining up with the John Muir Trail

View across Sierra Peak tops
Distance Sierra Peak tops west of the crest trail

View from Mt. Whitney trail
Wide open spaces

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged Photohunt | 14 Replies

Home Again

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 1, 2009 by MartaMarch 1, 2009

The two weeks went by in a snap. It seems just like yesterday that we were navigating the airport in KK and finding out how to take a taxi. We really enjoyed Malaysia. We found the people very welcoming and charming. We loved the mixture of cultures – Muslim, native Malay, Chinese and Indian. It was very easy to get around and safe. We loved the food and the culture. The heat was a little hard to take at first. The nature is amazing. We highly recommend it to anyone who love nature.

We arrived home right on time. It seemed to take forever (1 hour) to get our bags and through customs. We arrived home to a cold cold house. We had turned everything down. Kitty wasn’t talking to us and sulked outside for a long while. I made it to about 6pm before I crashed and slept over 13 hours. I suspect it will be another early night tonight.

Right now the washer is going and I’m loading my pictures on the computer. We took lots so I’m not certain when I’ll have any to post but I’ll try to hurry.

Now to plan where to go next.

Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo | 13 Replies

Seoul

Travels with George and Marta Posted on February 28, 2009 by MartaFebruary 28, 2009

We are half way through our return travel marathon at the airport in Seoul. We started the day by sleeping in and having a relaxing breakfast at the Village House. We hung around playing cards until about 12 noon before taking a taxi to the airport. We were about 2 hours early so we stopped by to have a latte at Starbucks. Yep, there is even a Starbuck’s in Borneo with a picture of the original Pike Place store on the wall. It was a little freaky. I also picked up a few last minute food items like Laksa mix.

We arrived in KK and took a taxi back to the King Park Hotel for a couple of hours. We decided to get it for a night so we could relax and shower before the next leg. We had to make a few more last minute book purchases. George couldn’t stay away from the plant books at Borneo Books. We also decided to have pizza again for dinner.

The plane for Seoul left at midnight. I hate sitting in the back of Airbus planes. It feels weird like back of the plane is fishtailing. We might have slept a bit but it was pretty uncomfortable. I don’t remember the movie so I must have slept a bit. We arrived in Seoul at 6am.

We decided to take the City Tour. Asiana provides it for free. We could have gotten a free hotel room but this was so much more interesting. The airport (Incheon) is about 60km from downtown Seoul and it is on an island. The bridge that connects it is pretty amazing. There are 50 million in Korea and 10 million live in Seoul. You can definitely tell where they all live. The river is lined with 20 story high rise apartment buildings.

But what amazed us more is to go from the rich dense green jungle of Malaysia to the barren brown winter of Korea. Nothing is green at all but a few random evergreens. We are used to some green even in the winter on the west coast. This is very prairie brown stark and 34 degrees. Quite the contrast from 90 degrees with 80% humidity which we left 5 hours ago.

It takes about 1hour by bus to get to Seoul. The first stop was a Buddhist temple but on the way we went by the President’s house which is called the Blue House. We saw tons of security police for blocks around it and could not stop. The temple was beautiful. Inside are three large gold Buddhas. A worship was going on and the temple was filled with about 100 people changing and praying. It was very moving. We had 15 minutes to walk around and take pictures before moving on. Next stop was recovered stream through the financial district that has been renovated with cement steps and a waterfall.

Next was lunch which was a lot of fun. We sat at low tables and had beef Buglogi (spelling) and of course hot Kimchi. George had a vegetarian rice bowl.

Last stop was of course for souvenirs. We bought nothing but it was very interesting area with nightclubs and sport stores.

3 more hours and then our last 9 hour leg home.

Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo | 7 Replies

Santubong

Travels with George and Marta Posted on February 26, 2009 by MartaFebruary 26, 2009

Ah now this is the life. The Village House on Santubong Peninsula is so much better – perfect place for us to wind down after our adventures. The minibus took us through the suburbs of Kuching and on to the Peninsula. I’m a little surprised at the modern houses in the suburb. They are an upscale track home – most in stucco with overhanging metal roofs. They remind me a bit of houses around Auckland NZ. Soon we have entered a low growing palm jungle. There is also a resemblance to Kauai. The large jungle covered Mt. Santubong is in the distance over low houses and palm. There is even a bit of red dirt in the distance.

We were greeted with a cool drink and a cold cloth. The owner tells us a bit about the property. There are two rows of rooms build up like a Malay building on stilts. The face a wonderful long wading pool. Underneath is wonderful artwork and places to sit. We order dinner for 7 and make our choices – a fish in malaysian sauce and chicken curry for me. The food is served next to the pool. We are pretty tired from the hot day in Bako so we have an early night.

They encourage you to relax and enjoy the premises so we decide to do just that. It rained hard last night and started a bit again this morning so we let the rain tell us to slow down. It does stop and we go down to the beach. The tide is out so we can walk about 1km down the beach to the village. The tide goes out an amazing distance – it looks like almost 1/2 km out. George of course has to go out and investigate as far as he can. I stick around closer and take pictures. It has been hard to take pictures because of the overcast and UV light. I’m hoping some come out.

After meandering along the beach, we come to the village. It is a well kept brightly colored village. We get there just after noon and all the kids are getting out of school. They all greet us with Hello and a few giggles when we reply.

We stop in the store for a cool drink and they ask were we are from. They are always a little surprised that we are Americans. They always guess UK, or Australia, or Canada before US. They also almost always remark about the recession in US. We did have also have a conversation with a woman talking about the Bush administration’s actions in Iraq. They have some hope for Obama but wonder what he can really do to change.

The rest of this afternoon has been spent playing cards, swimming and relaxing by reading or doing sudoko. Dinner will be soon. I think I’ll follow Jerry’s lead and have a Lychee Martini tonight. I’ve checked my mail and we haven’t received any messages so I don’t think our flight back to KK has been cancelled. I’ve been a little worried after they cancelled Saturday’s flight. We are on the return portion of that same plane.

If all goes well, we will be home soon. I can’t decide if I am ready to leave or not. I was after Bako. George was not. But the more cushy accomodations have changed my view. I think I could just stay another day in paradise.

Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo | 4 Replies

Back from Bako

Travels with George and Marta Posted on February 25, 2009 by MartaFebruary 25, 2009

Just a quick post. We are back from Bako and waiting our shuttle to our next hotel. I am dying for a shower. Bako was very interesting. Transportation wise everything went well. We got to the bus stop at about 7am and the bus didn’t leave until 7:25. We met up with a great couple from Holland who is doing a 1 year Gap round the world trip. They are on their 6th month. Another woman from England was also waiting which made up 5 people to share the boat. The bus was a long bumpy ride on a very old bus. We got off and did out paper work. It turns out that we just made it in time to get a boat because the tide was out. Oh goodie, we get to walk in. Then the ranger gives us the lecture about stingrays and jelly fish. What have I gotten myself into??

The boat trip is quick – about 20 minutes. We had a little difficulty getting over a shoal and he had to stop a pretty far distance from the beach. George jumped off first and his feet sink into some shoe sucking mud so we all decide to go barefooted. The water came up to our knees. We just sloshed our feet a bit before putting them down to scar off the water critters. It wasn’t really that far to walk before we got out of the water area and on to low tide mud. Definitely made for an interesting arrival.

We arrived about 9am and it was too early to check in. So we reorganized our packs and stored one. But we heard that there were monkeys right near the checkin so we headed out. We got to see the proboscus monkey right off. A group of several – male, female and lots of teenagers were hanging out along with gray monkeys. We spent time watching before heading back for some basic lunch.

We reorganized our packs and headed off to the Lintang trail. It followed the boardwalk across the mangrove swamp. We saw more monkeys in the trees and scampering across the mud flats. We also saw big claw crabs and mudskippers.

The boardwalk ended and then the climbing started. Roots, rocks and more roots. I was grumbling big time. It was about 1/2 mile before we reached the plateau and the keranga, a limestone plateau with low shruby trees. Right away we saw the nepenthes we were looking for – two more species that we had been looking for. They were everywhere. It was also hot as hades. We continued across the open area and then entered jungle again. Roots, rocks and more roots. We continued for about 2 km before I got really cranky and we turned back. It was a good thing. It got really hot since the clouds moved off. It was like walking in a sunny sauna.

We got back and got checked into our room – if you can call it that. A half of a house with two single beds – no sheets and I had a stinky pillow. Yech. The shower and toilet were together = nothing but cold water and it took 15 minutes for the toilet to fill. No toilet paper – no soap but we did have a dusty fan mounted on the ceiling. Thank god it was only one night.

We opened a couple of windows and then the naughty monkeys appeared. They gathered in front of our house – about 15 little monkeys. They started crawling on the front and tried to get into the windows. We had to shoo them away. Next they laid down and started grooming each other on the sidewalk. You’d think they owned the place – they do!

We went and had a beer at the canteen and ran into the Dutch couple. She pulled out her cookies and offered us one. And in a flash a monkey jumped on the table and snatched the package away from her and ran off. You can’t fight them or they will bite. The staff comes out with a slingshot to keep them away during lunch.

We relaxed for a while and the had a basic cafeteria dinner. We gathered at 7:30 for a night walk. Saw a few insects.

Today, we tried another short hike. I couldn’t make it to the beach. I was sweating like crazy. We went back and walked along the beach instead since the tide was out.

The boat was able to make it closer and we waded just a bit. The ride was quick. The bus came shortly after that but the ride was still long hot and bumpy.

The trip is coming to a close. It has been great. I’ll write again if they have internet at the Village house – otherwise when we return.

Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo | 4 Replies

Bako

Travels with George and Marta Posted on February 24, 2009 by MartaFebruary 24, 2009

Long-nose monkey relaxes
Long-nose monkey relaxes
Originally uploaded by Erwin Bolwidt (El Rabbit)

Just outside of Kuching is Bako National Park. This park has trails and is a great place to see Long-nose monkeys like this one. We will stay one night in the park lodge. This will probably be the roughest place we will be staying.

It will also be an adventure to get to – We have to take a bumpy bus ride to the dock and the hire a private boat to take us up to the park. There is no dock at the park so we will have to wade ashore.

Posted in Borneo | 2 Replies

Orangutans

Travels with George and Marta Posted on February 23, 2009 by MartaFebruary 23, 2009

We had a good dinner last night. We opted for Western food again. We headed to Bla..bla..bla.. There are actually 3 restaurants close together that have the same owner; Junk which has a decor of antiques, Bla… which has a Bali decor and in between the two, The Living Room. This has a lot of nice couches and opens into a garden. They also have long house style sitting which is similar to the short tables and pillows you find in a japanese restaurant. I’ve been pretty stiff and sore so I decided not to sit at the low tables but a standard table that looked out onto the garden area. You could have anything on either menu from Junk or Bla.bla.bla. Junk is western and Bla is chinese. We opted for Pizza again. I had lamb and George a vegetarian. It hit the spot. Western food is pretty expensive. It was 109RM with beer.

We slept much better last night and woke up somewhat early. Sunrise and sunset does not vary when you are on the equator. It comes up at 6:30 and goes down at 6:30. We had the continental breakfast the hostel provides (toast, lime juice and coffee). At 8:00, we were picked up and taken to the Orangutan Wildlife Center at Semenggoh. It was a minivan and was 25rm. They feed the oranguatan on platforms at two different locations. They put a bunch of fruit and it is possible for the Orangutans to show up for the free food. They are free in the large center so there is no guarantee that any of the 18 Orangutans will show up.

But one just gave birth 9 days ago. She was there with her baby. The mother loved eating the small banannas. I don’t blame her – they are one of my favorites. She came down onto the lawn area also so we were able to get about 5 feet away. The caretakers are there at all times to keep the tourists in check. Two other young orangutans also showed up. They gave one a whole coconut which he took up into the trees to crack and drink. Did you know that Orangutan’s DNA is about 97% similar to humans?

You only get to stay about 1 hour. The center wants to minimize the exposure to humans. We were back in Kuching by 11. Lunch time. We headed to the chinese hawker center for some noodles. Prawn Mee for George and Kolo Mee for me. The noodles are very similar to ramen noodles. They plonge them into hot water/broth to cook and top with bean sprouts and meat of choice. George had prawns. I had ground pork, wonton dumplings, chicken, bbq pork and something that I didn’t know what it was. It was either a slice of tofu or fish cake. I think it was fish cake. I didn’t feel like eating it. You also get a little dish of soyu sauce and sliced hot hot fresh red chilis. We poured this over the noodles. Perfect.

Next we headed to the museum. It is part natural history. This part was a little sad. A bunch of old cases with stuffed animals. The lights were not working so it was difficult to see. There were collections of shells also. Upstairs was a really nice longhouse display. We will not be going to a real long house. We hope to go to the cultural museum but it would have been nice to do a longhouse. Next time. We also went to the Islamic Museum which was interesting.

We are resting again and repacking our gear for Bako. We head out in the morning. We’ll take a bus (hopefully) and then a boat to the peninsula. We will stay in a very basic one room chalet. I’ve heard it is very spartan and the bathrooms … well let’s just say not the best. It will only be for one night. We will do hiking to see more nepenthes and the proboscis monkey.

After that we will return and move to the sister hotel of where we are staying currently. It is out of Kuching. We want to relax a bit before heading back. Two weeks have gone so fast. I’ll write more when we return from Bako if I have internet connection.

Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo | 6 Replies

Kuching

Travels with George and Marta Posted on February 22, 2009 by MartaFebruary 22, 2009

Kuching View
Kuching View
Originally uploaded by YeeJen

Now we move on to the state of Sarawak and the town of Kuching. Kuching means Cat and the city has many cat statues. We will spend several days exploring the town and the surrounding areas. Of course we will look for orchid gardens. Other items to explore are the orangutan sanctuary and the Sarawak Cultural Center.

Posted in Borneo | Leave a reply

Malaysian transportaton

Travels with George and Marta Posted on February 22, 2009 by MartaFebruary 22, 2009

Last night wasn’t too bad. The hostel/Inn is at a busy intersection just a block from the waterfront and there is a large Chinese temple overlooking the intersection. There is a large urn burning incense most of the day – hopefully bringing us good fortune. As expected there is some street noise – brrrr of motorcycles and occasional sirens. The room has no windows other than one high up near the loft. The lighting isn’t the best either. We’ve resorted to reading by flashlight. But it is part of the adventure. Maybe my second childhood since I never got a chance to backpack the world when I was young.

We got up early and walked to the Laksa place. It was great. The kopi (coffee shop) had three booths in the front, one selling mee (noodles), one selling laksa (spicy soup) and I can’t remember what else was being sold. We sat down and ordered kopi and laksa. The kopi came hot, milky and caramel sweet. It was either from the gula (palm sugar) or condensed milk. We paid 3.6 RM or 1US. Next came our bowl of hot soup. She cooks the rice noodles in a pot of hot water and the covers them with a spicy broth. I could taste chile, cumin, coriander and a bit of anise. No turmeric. It was topped with slices of fried egg, boiled chicken and prawns and some bean sprouts. It was served with a half of a small lime similar to mexican limes and a dab of hot chile paste. Oh so good. It was better than what I made – less coconut milk and ginger.

That got us going. Then it was off to try to catch the bus. We got there 15 minutes early but didn’t see the bus. We finally noticed the ticket hut and went over and realized the schedule that we got from the tourist bureau might be wrong. We hung our for about 30 more minutes before I got real cranky. We walked back to the tourist office to check about getting a taxi because the schedule said we had just missed the bus and it wouldn’t come for another 2 hours.

The bus would have been about 3 RM. The taxi was 30RM, but the driver was very nice and talkative. We walked about Kuching and the economy. The Malaysians are being affected by the economy also. He said that there had not been as many visitors or locals going out because of the economy. Many malaysians have been encouraged and hopeful that Obama can bring change. They are as excited as Americans for a change.

We arrived at the orchid and pitcher plant garden in padawan just a small suburb of Kuching. It was very interesting with lots of pitcher plants and orchids in bloom but rather small. We finished in about an hour and thought we might take the bus back. We saw it pulling away just as we walked out of the garden. Rats. We went over to wait. It was probably going to be another 2 hours. grumble…. But we had luck and a minivan bus pulled up. These vans run routes between different locations. They are kinda like a taxi van that pickups people along they way. He was heading to Kuching and had room. It was only 3 RM. Perfect! He made a couple of stops along the way to drop off and pick up more people. It was a great different experience.

I’m back at the hostel and relaxing before we go out for dinner. We’re not certain but it may be a restaurant called Bla…Bla.. Bla. Funny name. They do fusion dishes. It will be expensive but sounds fun.

Tomorrow we have a pickup to go to see the Orangutan Refuge. They have a feeding at 9am and we can get picked up at the Hostel. Should be interesting.

Kuching has also been very interesting to visit. The town has an old colonial feel. There is also a big Chinese influence locally near our Inn. We have been seeing many Chinese temples and cemeteries. It is also along the river and there is a wonderful promenade – very western. Across from the promenade are a wide variety of shops which are fronted by covered sidewalks. These are the same type that I saw in Singapore. They provide nice shade from the equatorial sun. There are women selling a local coconut cake that is brightly colored in strips. I had a taste but it was too sweet. There are also other trinkets along the street. Lots of bright colors along with mildewy stucco that you see in the tropics. We’ve also seen a very cool Hindu temple close to where we had breakfast and the large gold domed Mosque. More evidence to the wide variety of different cultures which make up Malaysia today.

Posted in Borneo | 5 Replies

Cat City

Travels with George and Marta Posted on February 21, 2009 by MartaFebruary 21, 2009

We had our first travel snafu today. We got to the airport at 8am for our 9am flight to only find out that it had been canceled. Fortunately, the next flight was just a short wait (2hours). It was on a smaller plane and we got to see the port city of Binatulu.

We have booked a wide variety of different styles of accommodations. Business hotel in KK, Homestay/B&B in Mt. Kinabalu, 4 star resort in Danum and now a backpacker hostel. It is very spartan but very clean. We have a single room – not a dorm and it has hot water and air conditioning. Both extremely important! (And a fast internet connection).

But we don’t plan to stay much in the room. We headed right out after arriving 3 hours later than planned. We made the information center just before closing so we could get details on buses for our trips the next 3 days. Next we headed for the Sunday Market which actually starts Saturday Afternoon. What an amazing market. So much better than KK. I’m feeling very comfortable here. The market was about 6 blocks long. All the vendors set up Easy-ups and tables. It is much more open than the wet market in KK. And what a variety of food especially the vegetables and fruit.

After returning to the hotel for a quick shower, we headed out for dinner at the Top Spot Hawker food court. It is located on top of a cement 4 story parking lot. The fish is beautifully laid out for you along with the vegetables. You select your vendor and then select your fish, how you want it prepared and any other dishes. We had a BBQ fish steak. I didn’t quite catch what it was. Stir fried Noodles in tomato with fish (Tomato Mee) and midin – stir fried jungle fern. We both loved the fern. It was so tasty – like a good stir fried green. They stir fry it with chili and shrimp paste (anchovy) to give it a really great taste. All this for only 46RM or less that $15US.

Tomorrow we hope to get up and try the local Laksa. We found the restaurant where Anthony B. had his dish. It isn’t far from the place we are staying. After breakfast, we’ll head for the orchid and pitcher plant nursery. We’ll have to go by local bus. We checked them out today. This is going to be one interesting transportation adventure.

Oh yeah – Why cat city? Kuching is the local word for cat.

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Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo | 7 Replies

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