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| Alfred Hitchcok "the Birds!" |
| 02.23.04 (7:02 am) [edit] |
We're in a small town n route to some Islands famous for snorking and swimming with sharks on the east coast of Malaysia near the Thai border. It's a holiday and most of the shops are closed. We're starved after traveling on the Jungle train for 8 hours only eating sugary snack food. we sit and have some Chinese food when we suddenly see some birds flocking to the telephone wires. A few becomes a few more... until there are thousands upon thousands swarming around and landing on the wires' leaving a trail of white splatter on the ground below like a Jackson Pollack painting. It's madness!! they do this everyday!!
A Chinese man at a table next to us notices us remarking about all the birds and tells us they're migrating up north, perhaps to China or Japan and they are resting and will leave when the sun rises at 7am in the morning. I've never seen so many birds all at once in my life. first bats, now 'Pretty little birds"? what's up?
interesting fact: if a bird shits on you in Asia, it's considered good luck. our friend Lincoln will have good luck! ;) remember that next time it happens.
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| Peanutbutter and JElly Birthday cake |
| 02.23.04 (6:50 am) [edit] |
Today was a travel day ~ kind of blank days in the tbog area, but yesterday, well yesterday was my fab b-daY 2/22/78! although I'm not to keen on getting older these days, I'm noticing more crows feet around my eye's as my baby faced Korean student's like to point out. poo on you!
I have to say to date yesterday will go down in history as being one of my most memorable birthdays. We took another hike into the rainforest jungle to a cave about an hour walk into the thick of the trees. The entrance reminded me of something from the Goonie's or Indiana jones. A faded jungle sign in another language warning you to move at our own risk... here we go...
Funny thing is, we've only got one torch, a small one I brought along. The cave is dark, and the stones are slippery, so you have to be careful where you step. I hear a family of Chinese screaming in front of us in the dark. Their voices are bouncing off the cave walls, and I can';t quite grasp where they are since the seem to have
no light with them. THe boys go ahead and I soon relize we are about to enter a low ceiling room covering with hanging bats! A quickly survey the ceiling with my flashlight (torch) and shreek when I see how close they will be to our heads when we have to crawl through! eeeeeeeeek! then I notice that the bats are flying overhead circling in flight, I can feel the breeze from their wings, and smell bat guano all around - in fact I'm crawling in it! bat shit, shit!!!!!! I'm not sure if I can do this. My friend Andrea just say's to me in a calm voice, "just pretend they're pretty birds flying over your head and sing because they're blind and they bounce of your soundwaves" So I hum and sing any stupid song that comes int my head. THe girl's begin to sing in a trio.
"killing me softly" "Sunny days" "reading rainbow" just to name a few!
We enter a cavern with a higher ceiling this time and there are even more bats hanging and flying over our heads! aughhhhh!
We've lent our torch to the chinese family ahead of us. It's dark but I can feel them all around me; wings flapping, chirping shreiking sounds... how would you describe a bat sound? and the smell, yuck! but I'm enjoying it cause I know it's something I won't forget, ...partying it up with the bats!
I'm happy when it's over and I can remember it though, I wasn't sure how much more I wanted to crawl on my hands and knees. I can smell they're sweet shit on my clothing as I exit into the steamy jungle heat. mmmmmm nice and ripe!
later the group seperates for some time in the water. 3 of us go tubing again and jump off cliffs into the river. I get caught in a current that send me flying into some rocks and I have to paddle my way out between them. One of the locals finds and Indian Ink rock and we paint our faces like the natives. it just stains my face red.
later we have dinner at one of the floating boat restaraunts we're Man (pronounce Mon like a rasta) promises me he will provice a birthday cake for me. He buys a bread cake and ices it up with peanutbutter and jelly, with a big white candle in the middle, perhaps the most original cake I've ever recieved! I'm laughing my head off! I cut the cake so there is enough to go around for everyone at the restaraunt, and Man joins us at our table. He's an interesting character with long hair and middle aged face. he tell's us that he's a Chinese Muslim who was born in Taman Negara, Malaysia. He believes in Jungle spririts more then his Muslim faith (I think) cause he didn't want to upset them by "making love in a cave" more on that later... He loves the Jungle, sea turtles, greenpeace and most of all... He loves women. no doubt! He also love Mary Jane, which I'm surprised being a Muslim... but he live's his crazy life according to is own ways.
He tells us crazy stories of taking people out into the Jungle for night treks/there are the American women from LA who trek Naked along with him, oh great those damn American women!
"ohhhh!' he says in his funny accent. "I've seen all kinds of bobbies!" (boobies) but he say's it as if it were a name. "Big one's, small ones, one's you can throw over your shoulder, ha ha ha ha haaaa! " He tells us about the fun he had with these two American girls and I feel myelf blush a little from embarrasment ( Korea will do that to you), or perhaps it's the thai rum I've been drinking! This guy is 48 and still kicking and say's he's slept with over 3000 women, yep that's right 3000! tells us that his "hot dog" is "not big, not long, but strong and friendly!' I'm laughing my head off! very friendly I think!
He doesn't want to get married and he spends all his money on women, that's pretty powerful. all your money on women?! THen he starts to mention the prostitute's he sleeps with who are 14 and 15, and we all look at each other from the corner of our eyes, how quicklyu our perception changes of him, no more laughter ignites around us. we try and change the subject and talk about stars in the sky , but it's been jaded by that comment. and he tries to redemn himself by saying he' not a womanizer ~ at that point we want to change the subject.
I look at the time... we have to wake up early the next morning and catch a bus at 7:30. Mister short and friendly surely won't be meeting any of these girls!!! hell no!
I'll be on a beach tomorrow, I've got a farmers' tan I gotta get rid of! Guten Nacht...
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| Crazy like monkey |
| 02.21.04 (4:59 am) [edit] |
LAst night we went for a night trek through the Rainforest Jungle. Crazy like Monkey was our guide, and we walked around with our torches looking for Jungle insects. we managed to see stick insects. grasshoppers, sleeping birds, a jungle rat, and even two scorpians gaurding their're lairs.
I was a bit bummed today cause I dropped my camera last night and the digital screen isnt't working, and so early in my trip! it'ts going to cost quite a chunk into the travel funds to get fixed, I also lost my "Lisa Loeb" (as people often refer them to) glasses in the river while inner tubing down. I'll just get another pair in Thailand. THank god I brought a second pair, otherwise I'd be blind.
Other then that... today was mellow. we walked along the treetops on the canopy walk. talked about Urban Legend from our hometowns. took a boat up a river and floated down with the current. It felt good to be in the water. later after dinner we watched the giant locust;s whiz around the lights bulbs at night.
tomorrow's my bday, yipee... I wanna make a toast... and i want to get toasted.
night night!
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| A private room with a tv. mmmmmm |
| 02.19.04 (8:30 am) [edit] |
When I'm traveling in countries where I don't look like the locals, as I said before, it becomes hard to blend in. Obviously I'm from out of town and I don't usually know my way around. I don't look as sheik and hip (;) as I usually do. I wear the same freak'n t-shirt and carry my travel bag around my wastes as some people call "the fanny pack" real cool! Traveler alert!!! I feel like I'm prey to some who are watching for us. Like a national geographic special on hunters and prey. I can see them now with binoculars saying "here comes one now! " She looks like a typical North AMerican female or perhaps her home is in Europe, cha ching$$$$$!!!!! so this is what I begins to happen...
My bag becomes my second limb. I'm constantly grasping it with the possibility it might run off on me. I look around me to see whose next to me when I open it making sure not to expose all my money. These are things I don't really bother to do when I'm in my own country. When your away, you carry your idenity and life funds in a bag. It becomes your most valuable possesion, that and your life.
We've been traveling with a girl for a few days now and her wallet was stolen today. She set herself up for it I have to say. She wasn't being to careful. She was
trying on a pair for shoes when I noticed a group of older men walk into the store, mind you it's a women's clothing store. An alarm went off in my head, and I thought, how strange that these men are here, what the hell are they doing here? It really irked me and I think I might have given one of them the evil eye without even knowing it. I got a bad vibe from these men. Well anyways... the next thing she knows is that her wallet is missing. stupid!!!
I was feeling good previously. I started the day on my own. I went up the Petronas towers ( You couldn't even go to the top!) It's interesting that these towers were built by an oil company. the previous night my friends and I had sat under 'the tallest buildings in the world" and talked about where we were when the NYC twin towers collapsed and the new "freedom tower" (hate the
name!)a bit eerie sitting under the Malaysian towers radiating at night. after the towers I wandered around an art gallery where there was a chinse water color artist who had documented his travels along the Mekong river. They were beautiful, lots of patterns and vibrant colors. Don't laugh but I nearly cried. "sigh"
Later on I went to go see some of the Asian X-games. I had gone to watch bmx, skateboarding and motorcross. It's amazing how much you can pack into one day sometimes! The Japanese ruled in the BMX ~ some guy namedTanaka with spikey hair (love that Japanese style ;) There were tons of school kids and girls wearing the white scarves around they're heads. It was a bit strange to see at this kind of event.
The music was good, of course AMerican shit, hip hop mostly! It was a good day until the turn of events. I feel the need for some quite country and a private room with a tv. ya know?
traveling is a bit like being Manic depressive, you get these Euphoric highs one day and then the next day could be super shitty. It's hard to get a balance sometimes. THat's why every once in awhile I like to sit in a room and watch TV and not say a word. turn my head off. that's when I love tv! ... I'm looking forward to the rainforest for my birthday... ohhhhh I'm getting older. boooo ho!
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| Where are all the Americans? |
| 02.17.04 (8:04 am) [edit] |
Just a quick observation... Since traveling for a short time in Asia I've noticed that I hardly come across an americans. there are tons of Europeans and Canadians who proudly display their giant Canadian Flags as not to be mistaken as a " Bush Loving" American. I can understand in a way. However, I ran into a Canadian couple who jokingly said, "Where are all the Americans? what did your president tell everyone to stay home?" kinda pissed me off, the stereotypes we get, but I've proved alot of these idiots wrong!
Anyways, just made it to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia where most of the women are wearing the tradional Muslim head scraves and the men stare at the western women's breast like we're going to give milk or something. Ahhhh sometimes I hate men when I'm traveling... And in Asian countries, if you look western it's hard to blend in with green Eyes and light brown hair. Although I'm really surprised at the number of people my parents age here! ROck on to you! I want to be like them when I get older!
Arriving in KL (as the locals call Kuala Lumpur) was quite awesome to see the two massive towers errupting from the skyline. It looked like the emerald city glistening in the tropic sun. The heat was on again, dusty, fumey, smogg again in the city. I haven't seen much but the Chinatown which seems to be in Every major city around the world, the Chinese are everywhere here! They're the biggest group of Asians who live in MAlaysia. I didn't relize what a strong Chinese influence there is here. I'v been eating so much Chinese food here as well as INdian. I had Chicken Kurma on Banana leaves last night. mmmmmm. Yeah I'm aware of the Avian Bird flu. But you can only get from breathing in their shit particles!
As for the events wround town... We just found out that the Asian X-Games will be here in Kl from feb 19- 22. I'm hoping to see some skateboarding, I met some pro's while in Korea. From Kl the finalist will head to the US for the big event in LA. cool stuff, they'll be Asian bands, punk, hip hop stuff... groovy, hope I don't get citied out before the event.
well it's passed bedtime. I can't seem to get away from technology yet, can't wait till I have no contact with this machine, but that's not likely nowadays!
peace out to my sista's and brotha's,
my I've been awake too long... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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| root climbing for tea... |
| 02.15.04 (6:15 am) [edit] |
Today the sky looked overcaste and we were a bit unsure of what the weather would do, as it gets unpredictable in the highlands of Malaysia. but I thought hey, some of my most memorable hikes have been the ones in the rain.
So we took off, 6 of us in all including a Belgian (Hugo) and the Canadian (Lincoln). We taxied it to the trail and began our accent up into the jungle. We had to use natural root handles to pull ourselves up in what I call root climbing (like rock climbing but with tree roots instead.) The path was a bit muddy and my shoes quickly carried an extra layer with them... but the scenary was breathtaking. the mountains were "Lord of the Rings" misty or "Gorilla's in the Mist". It wrapped around the mountains like rings on fingers. The sounds were how can I say Jungle-like, birds and trees rustling and people giddy with delight mixed. The smells were like woody perfume from the tree's and organic matter.mmmmmmmmm
I kept thinking I might see elfs popping out of the tree roots where there were spaces big enough for humans or "little people".
We summited where there was some sort of look out tower and a building that was off limits.
On the decent down I began to feel the shin splints. But hey! I didn't care in this kind of place!
There were paths cut out of the bushes for the tea pickers that formed patterns in the landscape.
We met some kind of lizard along the way, pitcher plants, people waving from their blue homes, bird watchers with giant camera lenses...
I felt like i was in Alice in Wonderland choosing a path to go through in the strange whimsical landscape looking for the other's ahead.
We made it to the tea plantation "Boh" just as it started to rain and crept inside to watch the tea production process. Aromatic tea smells wafted around our noses.
We were in a bit of a crunch getting back. It was raining and we were far from town. Luckly a woman was nice enough to give us a ride in here truck. It was a funny kind of truck. The back looked like a tent you might find in a refuge camp. I felt illegle immigrants being smuggled in somewhere if it wasn't for the opening in the back.
We befriended a dried frog, which Lincoln fashionably placed on his earring. I was happy to be dry inside the truck and feeling high from the turn of events. I enjoy hitching rides in the back of trucks. I often did this when I was in Alaska where it's actually legal.
We made it to the drop off point; a junction in the road, just in time as a bus came around the bend to take us into town. talk about luck, I love when things like that happen...
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| Jungle bumble |
| 02.14.04 (5:24 am) [edit] |
I'm in the Jungle highlands of Malaysia at the current moment. Two weeks ago i left from NYC, with a long stopover in Korea where didn't have to work this time.
THere are tea plantations and butterfly farms and Father's Guest house where we are staying is a pleasant sanctuary for travellers young and old. Our sleeping quarters are dorm style and remind me of WWII Bunkers or that Stupid British Teletubbies show.
I just wrote more but my eyes are sunburned and my allergies are making me groggy, but I'm happy to be here and traveling again...
till next time...
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| Giants in the Jungle! |
| 02.13.04 (6:51 am) [edit] |
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I'm in the Highlands of Malaysia and I've just seen the biggest Insect ever!
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