Mount Kinabalu beat us down

At 4096m Mount Kinabalu is considered to be the highest mountain in Southeast Asia (although there are higher mountains in Indonesia), and taking only 2 days to summit, is supposed to be a very do-able feat for the "average person".

First off I have to say that I'm glad we did the climb (Shameiz on the other hand won't let me say the "H" word -hiking). It was very challenging and the view from the top was blocked by clouds at sunrise, but the scenery was beautiful, and we really did have good luck with weather considering the time of year (it only poured like a biotch on the way down). We however are still confused at how we could have been so slow relative to all the average times given by our guide (who by the way was smoking like a chimney the entire way up), and being constantly by-passed by young-ins and hard-core older people. I guess we are just too out of shape. It took us 3 days for our leg muscles to heal enough to be able to not walk like retards and another few days to be able to walk up and down stairs without having to turn sideways .. although my right knee does still hurt (I know, I know, Jill, Julie and D.. wah wah wah my knee hurts).

Before the pics I'd just like to mention one more thing. It took us 5.5 hours on the first day to reach Laban Rata, 3.5 hours to summit and 7.5 hours (yes I said 7.5) to get all the way back down and with the help of a walking stick. The International Mount Kinabalu Climbathon in 2006 clocked the fastest male and female at 2 h 41 m and 3 h 14 m respectively to get all the way up AND down. Plus they started further down the mountain then we did! Amazing is all I can say.

Here's a pic of the mountain from the base:


Views on the trail:


Summit:



On the way down:

Palau Penang

Ok so we're alive off that damn mountain and in a place called the Cameron Highlands checking out Tea Estates..but I digress.

After Langkawi we took a "Ferry" to an island further south called Penang. Penang was once the focus of the British Empire in Malaysia and the architecture is very old an colonial. Unlike the seclusion of Langkawi Penang is BUSY! Traffic everywhere. We spent one night in the main old colonial city of Georgetown and then spent 2 days relaxing on the Beach at the resort area of Batu Ferengi.

Notice I used the "" around the word ferry...that's because the High Speed ferry was a ghetto tourist / diving boat co opted to run tourists between Langkawi and Penang, the 2.5 hour journey was ended with dropping us off at the ferry terminal, note the decrepit looking picture below. A tad creepy. Burly south Indian men then scammed us into taking cabs to our hotels while trying to sell us tours of the island..fun.



Also, that night we walked along the boardwalk in Georgetown and ate at the hawker stalls. Most of the food was great, however, Mel has forever been traumatized the furry stuff above the boiled lettuce. It tasted like a Spider meets Fiber Glass at a fish processing factory and got married and had a kid named Throwup...Mel can usually eat anything...She had nightmares about this stuff. We think it's a vegetable...Anyone know what it is? THe reason we don't is cause we got all brave and went to 4-5 different stalls and asked them to give us their best stuff...Tourist Mistake #1.

Going Dark

Hello All,

We're off to climb Mt Kinabalu day after tomorrow. Our flight to Kota Kinabalu leaves tomorrow. We'll try to post when we're done the climb, barring any unforseen toe injuries... :P

Peace

Langkawi

This Island is very similar to those you'll find just north in Thailand. Not much to report, we are staying at the Berjaya Resort which is a spalled out mass with little cabins spread across the hills.

Our Hut:



Dinner Last Night at the outdoor Chinese Restaurant:


A random sign at a hotel close by:

We're not sure why they have a no Durian sign, it's sold everywhere...Maybe the stinkiest fruit in the world attracts monkeys?

Diving Palau Payar Marine Reserve

The weather has been great except for the a few windy days which were coincidently on the day we went diving..We went diving on an a little island called Palau Payar 35miles from Langkawi on the way south to Penang. They have designated the island and surrounding waters a marine sanctuary. Mel and I have never dove with visibility that bad, this picture of Mel is one I took at around 10m below she was 1m away...couldn't see a thing past 2-3 meters. Still saw some clown fish (Nemo) and a Lion Fish see below. That being said both dives were cut short as the other 2 divers in our group could not keep watch over each other. The first time one of the guys couldn't keep bouyant and surfaced..after a minute or 2 of realizing he was gone and then trying to find him we all had to surface 30mins into the dive. Dive 2 had a similar ending with the same guy getting lost in the low visibility and then surfacing again 30mins into the dive..we secretly think he was an air hog and just ran out of air but was to embarrassed to admit it...

Here is a Nudibranch:


Clown Fishies and a Lion fish:

Found in Translation

Happy New Year!!!! + 3 days

going to rewind a little...before we got to Malaysia we were stuck in Shanghai 1 night, we didn't really do too much there as we are going to spend a few days on the way back...SHOPPING! But, from the brief glimpse of it I gotta say I love China...Not in the I love you cause you're soo hot kinda way but more in the I love you cause you're my quirky chaotic nerdy cousin kinda way...Let me demonstrate with pictures:















Yes...Yes it is..


And also the honesty:















And then the actual Hairy Crab Follow through:
















So the pure hilarity of the engrish translations are ripe for a coffee table book. I hope someone takes the time to truly capture how awesome some of the translations are..I'll do my best in the 2 days we have, but you really need more time..