October 2018 – Free as the Ocean

Langkawi – paradise island of Malaysia

Langkawi is a small island paradise on the northwest coast of Malaysia. With beautiful beaches, a large jungle area and incredible hikes, it offers a large range of activities that can probably satisfy any traveler. But, while possibilities were many, time wasn’t enough for us to explore everything that the island had to offer.

It was the last week of our time in Malaysia, which we dedicated to exploring some of the smaller islands of the country. It was still Ramadan time and tourists in the area were few, which allowed us to enjoy more space for ourselves on the beach and in the beautiful jungle that was covering the high hills of the island.

Despite being off-season, local entertainers were available at all times to offer their services to visitors. Water sports seemed to be the most popular and, apart from the well-known ones, one the best was the tour around the smaller islands near the coast, home to a rich mangrove forest.

But we had different plans and skipped the water sports and decided to visit the waterfalls in the jungle. The closest to our location was the Seven Wells Waterfall that had plenty of water eyes resembling natural Jacuzzis, which were perfect spots to cool down after a walk under the hot sun.

The waterfall was just the first stop on a hiking route that was leading to the top of the mountain. We did not plan to go hiking and neither were we properly equipped for it but still spontaneously decided to walk to the top. And if you ever find yourself in the same place unprepared, trying to make a decision, we can only advise you not to go for the hike. We found out only one hour later how difficult the path is, perhaps very dangerous in bad weather conditions. The first part of the two hours hike is beautiful and easy, but the rest requires climbing rocks and holding yourself on ropes and tree branches. The closer you get to the peak the more difficult it feels.

The view from the top was indeed beautiful, but we enjoyed it less seeing how our water reserve reached the bottom of the bottle and feeling the sun above us burning like crazy. So we didn’t lose much time up there and climbed down the mountain, stopping in between for a second time at the waterfall to freshen up.

Sun, beach and Indian food

The beach felt nice and we imagined it much more crowded during the season, so we enjoyed being there during the Ramadan. The sea was calm, there were plenty of bars at the beachfront offering good coffee with a beautiful view and restaurants where we went for candlelight dinner during our two evenings on the island. There was a large offering of Asian food. Our favorites were the Indian restaurants, where we always knew that we can find something we like.

We also went for one of the infinity pools at one of the resorts in the area, which was open also for outside guests and where it was only required to consume something from the bar in order to use the facilities. It felt like a perfect place to enjoy a refreshing drink under the warm sun at the pool.

At the end of the three days, we found ourselves again at the airport for the flight to the island of Penang, where we were planning to explore Georgetown.

Bako National Park in Borneo

The island of Borneo is home to some of the most fascinating and diverse faunas in the world. The biggest island in Asia is covered by thousands of square kilometers of beautiful green jungle and is divided between Indonesia and Malaysia, the latter owning the north part of the island.

Borneo offers a range of unique activities to its visitors, but probably the best experience of all is a jungle walk, which we had in mind when visiting the Bako National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia’s largest state.

A good place to start an adventure in Borneo is Kuching, which has a well-connected airport to the rest of the country and Bako National Park is just one of the places that the city offers easy access to.

Getting to Bako National Park

What makes Bako National Park special is the fact that it is isolated in the north part of the Muara Tebas peninsula and the only access to it for tourists is possible by boat. There are accommodation options in the park, but few and conform standards are low, which leaves room for a more authentic experience for those searching for wilder places to get lost in.

We took a bus from Kuching for 3 RM, which dropped us at the boat terminal, where we had to pay 40 ringgit for a half an hour round boat trip to the start of the trekking routes. Bako’s trail system is made up of 16 color-coded jungle trails, offering a range of walking and hiking options. Visitors are required to register themselves at the reception in the park and mention which route they plan to walk on, as well as the departure and arrival time. Some of the routes have a high difficulty level and the visits in the park need to be monitored for safety reasons.

We chose one of the more difficult routes that led us for longer than five hours through rich vegetation and offered us the chance to see multiple animals and plants. The park offers access also to some very beautiful beaches, but we’ve been advised to not get close to the waters as crocodiles have been spotted on the beach.

Seven distinct ecosystems and the superb wildlife viewing opportunities make Bako a truly beautiful and unique place. The park is very well maintained, with marked trails and several maps along the way. At the reception in the park visitors are being already welcomed by proboscis monkeys, known also as long-nosed monkeys, and lots of long-tailed macaques, monitor lizards, bearded pigs and a variety of birds. The dipper you go into the forest the more diverse the experience feels.

We met with several marching giant ant colonies, large spiders, two types of snakes, including the famous pit viper and, of course, a lot of mosquitoes.

At the end of the day, a boat picked us up from the beach at the reception of the park and brought us back to the point where we started in the morning. Since we had to wait a while for the following bus to take us back to Kuching, we agreed to pay a bit more than for the standard bus ticket to a passing minivan driver that offered us and to a few others a ride.

Read more about our adventures in Malaysia here.

For more pictures from Bako National Park and Kuching click here.

October 27, 2018/by Ndu

Malaysia

Kutching and the island of Borneo

The island of Borneo is one of the biggest in the world, home to diverse fauna and flora and beautiful beaches. It is divided between Indonesia and Malaysia. After a week in Kuala Lumpur, we took the flight to Kuching, one of the main access gates to the Malaysian part of the island.

While we found it to be more of a quiet place, the city is actually very big. Its many accommodation options, varying from simple hostels to five stars hotel chains, an abundance of touristic resorts and commercial centers are proofs of intense touristic activity… although this wasn’t the reality when we were there.

Most public buses didn’t offer rides anymore due to the low number of requests. Transportation from the airport towards the city had to be organized by car. We paid 30 ringgit for a ride to our hostel, which has been the last taxi ride that we took in this country. We found out that other transportation methods were available and way cheaper.

We started moving around by using Grab, a convenient alternative for Uber but much more used in Southeast Asia. And with so many drivers making a living from offering a ride on Grab, we never had to wait more than five minutes to have a car waiting to pick us up.

Le Nomade Backpacker Hostel has been our “home” for two weeks, a small hostel with simple accommodation options, basic breakfast and extraordinary people. We found plenty of restaurants in the area around the hostel, a big supermarket, from where we always bought our groceries whenever we felt like cooking some of the foods we usually enjoy at home and cute coffee places to hide and chill during the rainy and hot afternoons. It has been a wonderful place to relax after long travel times, to work and get up to date with our projects and to enjoy the simple daily Malaysian life.

While many touristic activities were available to choose from inside the city, we spent only one day outside of it, when we visited the Bako National Park. The city is hosting some of the famous Malaysian street art, which we went to discover one day. Colorful paintings contribute to the charm of the animated streets and definitely add flavor to the Malaysian experience of every tourist.

In the end, our time in Kuching felt rich in memories but, despite the two weeks that we spent there, still short in time. The following days we would go to explore some of the smaller islands of Malaysia. Read more about it here.