Out of Asia

Well, that's just about it for Southeast Asia. I've been to all of the places I planned to see, with a couple of exceptions, (always best to leave some things for "next time"). I did have a pretty good suntan at one point, but have since returned to my usual paleness. My next stop will be Australia, and a return to the working world. I'll keep putting up pictures here as often as possible, although I imagine the pace of travelling will slow considerably once I've settled somewhere for a bit. Bye for now!

Hat Yai

On arriving back in the south of Thailand by bus, we spent the night in the unremarkable town of Hat Yai before heading on to spend a rainy few days at Ao Nang, a beach resort near the west coast town of Krabi. By this time we were pretty travelled-out, so passed the days either driving round the coastal limestone cliffs by scooter or sleeping off whisky-induced hangovers.

Footnote 20/09/2006:

During our stay in Hat Yai we noted the relatively heavy military presence on the town's streets, presumably in light of the ongoing insurgency activities of local Islamist rebels in the province. We'd had minor reservations about spending the night in one of the three "danger zone" provinces in the very south of Thailand, but all seemed calm and our stay passed without incident. We were lucky. The peace was shattered on 16th September when three bombs were detonated in the town's shopping district, killing at least two people and injuring many more.

Cameron Highlands

The high altitude Cameron Highlands are home to vast tea plantations that stretch across the hillsides, such as the Boh tea estate pictured above. Boh tea is the most popular brand in Malaysia, and is owned by a Scottish family.

We also visited an ethnic Malay (Orang Asli) village, nestled in among the tea plantations. The land is protected by the government, who also subsidise housing for the villagers. Unfortunately some of the villagers aren't keen on the concrete buildings the government have provided, believing them to be haunted, and prefer to live in tiny corrugated shacks constructed in their back gardens instead.

Return to Kuala Lumpur

Back in the capital, and this time a close-up view of the Petronas towers. Like many of the skyscrapers in KL, their design conforms to Islamic architecture principles, which among other things lend a many-faceted shape to the buildings.

The view from the top of the KL telecommunications tower. Both this and the Petronas towers are among the highest buildings in the world.

Langkawi

From Penang we caught the ferry to another island, Langkawi, further north. The main attraction here is that it's a duty free island, so the hefty taxes levied on alcohol in the rest of Malaysia thankfully don't apply here. The rainy weather precluded much activity, but we did while away some time at the local aquarium.

This is a leafy sea dragon, and I've never seen anything quite like it. It's like a cross between a seahorse and a strand of seaweed.

Penang

Our first stop in Malaysia was the island of Penang, and its capital Georgetown. There's not a lot going on there, but there are some lovely beaches (see above). There's also a funicular railway to the summit of Penang Hill, which gives a good view of Georgetown and the coast (see below).

Make a proper photo face, dammit!

Better.

Medan

Our visas were running out fast, so after Jakarta we had to skip straight to Medan on the north coast of Sumatra in order to hop across to peninsular Malaysia. Medan is nothing spectacular, but the 56-hour bus trip we had to endure to get there was an experience in itself. Even by Southeast Asian standards our driver seemed a touch unhinged, a general impression he conveyed increasingly over the 18 hour shift he drove, seemingly without sleeping (unless he had a power-nap at the wheel with a brick on the accelerator). Tailgating and overtaking on blind corners are the hallmark of the Asian road user, but our driver really knew how to cut it fine. His favourite pastime was to overtake other vehicles as gradually as possible by driving ever so slightly faster than them, while playing chicken with the frequent oncoming articulated lorries. The sight of a truck-driver's cab looming ever larger until it practically filled the coach's front window, only for one or both vehicles to swerve violently with ten metres or less to go before head-on collision, drew soft cries of "ooh" and "aah" from the Indonesian passengers, the kind of noises you normally feel compelled to make at a low-budget firework display. There was one woman sat at the front who seemed genuinely distressed, although this only served to egg the driver on.