Kuala Lumpur and Malacca

After a very nice week in Sipadan-Kapalai, I went to Kuala Lumpur for the umpteenth time to visit my friend MH who has been living there. It was interesting to reflect between the first time that she went to Asia in 2003, to now in 2007, where she is really, a local living in Kuala Lumpur. Since her return home is planned this year (and will happen, I am sure!), I predict that she will miss the variety of Asian foods that she has grown accustomed to in Kuala Lumpur.

We went to Malacca on the West Coast, part of the Straights Colonies. It is a beautiful city full of history, where the Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, British, Malay and Indian cultures have all mingled. We visited the Baba-Nyonya house; the Peranakan (men= Baba, women=Nyonya) are the ethnic Chinese who mixed with the Malays back in teh 1500's and created their own culture. DK from work had referred me to her brother there but I didn't think of bothering him; it's too bad as it turned out he is the president of the Baba-Nyonya in Malacca!

Typical Baba-Nyonya architecture on Heeren Street:

melaka, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Then the following day we took a day trip to FRIM (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia), located in the rainforest adjoining Kuala Lumpur. We did a canopy walk amongst the greenery. I'd done a jungle walk in Borneo before and didn't meet the dreaded leeches. This time too, I was looking for them, and they were not around!

Canopy Walk

canopy walk, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

jungle girls, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

jungle, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

jungle bridge, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

rock jungle, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Return to Sipadan-Kapalai

Fourth time to Kapalai since my first visit in 2003. Obviously I can't get tired of the place. Located in Malaysian Borneo, Kapalai is the most beautiful diving resort that I've been to, on the most amazing dive site of the world that I've been so far. The island of Sipadan is this drop-off in the open sea, to about 900m deep. It is a marine turtle sanctuary, attracts large pelagics like hammerhead sharks and schools of barracudas, and has a resident school of huge bumphead parrotfish. More info here. Things have changed a bit, we cannot stay on Sipadan since 2005 hence the best shore diving and night dives in the world, right off the drop-off, are no longer available. But since it is because the Malaysian government wants to keep the island clean and the marine turtles nesting undisturbed, it's all in good faith.

This time, my dive buddies were ZL, an old high-school friendship rekindled in the strangest of conditions, and GF from Vancouver, met on a boat in the Big Island last year. As in January in the Similans, I was worried about strangers not getting along - but let's say that my fears evaporated quite quickly ;)

Sunset Blvd, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

We met really nice divers from the UK, Spain, Hong Kong and Belgium. P from the UK reported that the hammerheads were missing from Layang-Layang, probably because it was still too early in the season. Maybe I jumped the gun - the reports by one of the Layang-Layang divemasters can be found here. But P also happened to know South Siam and said that they had had the best season there. So it was an easy choice to extend my trip and return to... the Similans. With GF next week, April 6-9. We convinced IG from Spain to join us as well (like that was so hard!!!).

For some strange reason, even though there are no more resorts on the island, the marine life wasn't around much this year. Less than 5 turtles per dive, no bumphead parrotfish the size of me, absent school of jacks, no vortex, and no school of hammerheads. The seahorses have disappeared from Mabul. Is this cyclical or global warming or due to too many divers, I ask? But the large school of barracudas by the drop-off has returned after having gone missing for 2 years or so. So there is hope. I suppose I can only find out the answer to this by coming back next year with the ever-expanding dive club!!!

Home for a week

kapalai2, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Moonlight over Kapalai

moonlight over kapalai, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

The sunset mandarin fish dive at Kapalai - they're still there!

mandarinfish mating 2, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

diversun, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Ain't he so ugly he is cute???

scorpionfish, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Hmmm.... where's that boat again?

where's the boat?, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Divemaster training pledges safety first (can you see me?!?!?!?!)

malvsausage, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Usual Sipadan inhabitant

Sipadan turtle, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

More pictures here.

Malaysie encore

Sipadan-Kapalai, take 3

Juste des cabanes...

Hawkfish

Blue Ribbon Eel

Traffic jam of giant bumpheadparrotfish gathering before grazing in the blue

Turtle caught in the morning traffic jam of giant bumphead parrotfish

Mating Mandarinfish at Kapalai

Layang-Layang, take 2

Coucher de soleil en sortie de plongée de soir

John, le divemaster aux palmes géantes

Petite seiche qui nous a fait un show de camouflage

Coraux

Hammerhead Horny Nudibranchs

Montée du Mont Kinabalu

A l'attaque! Seulement 4000 mètres!

Habitants du parc du mont, à la base:

Chenille velue

Pitcher Plant ou Nepenthes

Chalet à 3300 m

Vues du sommet au lever du soleil

Donkey's Ears

Malaysie – Sabah

Vue des jardins équatoriaux de Sepilok.

Vue ennuagée du mont Kinabalu, que je ne gravis pas ce séjour-ci.

Bébé orang-outang de la réserve de Sepilok. Une semaine plus tard, un collègue de Puvurnituq (du Grand Nord Québécois) passe par Sepilok aussi avec sa femme d'origine Indonésienne et trouve mon nom dans le guestbook et m'écrit par courriel. Qu'est-ce que monde est petit!!!

Malaysie - Layang-Layang

Goodbye KL!

Cheers from KL where it is my last day here,

Boohoo! I don't want to leave! I had the time of my life here, broke in and bought a digital camera so will have tons of diving pictures to share with you and guess what? Work is quarantining me so that I don't work in the hospital for the 1st 10 days after I come back, because I'm stopping by Singapore for an hour. So far so good, no sign of SARS, and I'm definitely wearing a mask and being careful where I put my hands (I didn't bring gloves).

Hmm... as I am typing this, the crazy idea just came: since this is a forced vacation, if I shouldn't just extend my trip and buy another ticket (not through Singapore)... will think about that quickly today... Whoah, it's definitely impulsive but I'd be stuck in Montreal for 10 days not working anyways?!?!?!?

We'll see... hope things with you guys are well and that you're not working too hard!

First of many times in Kuala Lumpur

(A greeting to close friends, one hot morning wide-eyed in KL)

Hello from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where we arrived well. It is hot here, oh my God! Hotter than Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia... and that was very hot already! Very tropical and luxuriant, 100% humidity and 30+ degrees. MH, M's friend, who is hosting us, has this totally amazing apartment where each of us have our own bedroom (!), there is a pool attached to the resort, and the nearest metro station is... right in front. MH plays for the Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra which belongs to the Petronas corporation. The room where they play is right below the famous Petronas towers, which we are planning to visit tomorrow.

The flight was long. Thank God for the several movies available on Singapore airlines where each passenger can decide which movie or game to play on their own special screen - a first for me, never seen that even on Qantas or Air NZ. I even enjoyed playing Super Mario Bros because it's available on the screen! Whoah, technology, awesome. I flew Montreal-London with Air Canada (bad service and not great comfort compared to Singapore Airlines or British Airways!), met M at the gate for our Singapore Airliles flight, then we stopped by Singapore on the way to KL. For the Singapore stopover I had brought some duck masks from the hospital in fear of the SARS. However, we got there very early in the morning, our stopover was less than 45 min (thanks to our awesome travel agent, kudos to her!) and we didn't even have to change terminal. So we didn't wear them, and watched carefully for coughing people (there were none). I had some regrets disembarking in KL when the agents at the KL airport WERE wearing high-filtration masks and handing off warning papers about SARS. But it's done, and really, we weren't there for long at all.

From the first impression, KL is not like all the bustling busy Asian cities that I'd imagined; it's rather quiet, safe, and quite hot. We haven't been much in town yet, but I am very impressed with the brand new metro system (c/o Bombardier and SNC Lavalin) which is quiet, efficient and air conditioned. There are a lot of muslims here and we are careful not to dress too skimpily..as if I ever did. Our first meal was an Indian one, and the curry was very good. We went to the Sunday night market and had some jackfruit (but no durian for me, oh no!). Then we went to bed - for 14 hours in my case, after which I proceeded in spending the afternoon at the pool.

So that's that. I'll be in touch more with more details about KL - will be here for another 4 days, then I'm off to Sipadan on the Borneo Malaysia for some diving (one of the top world diving destination). I'll let you know if I come down with SARS, as I'm telling my parents who are thinking of heading off to China in 2 weeks. Thanks A for the mefloquine prescription (an afterthought), which I think I'll use for treatment because there isn't much malaria in Sipadan (it's an offshore island).

For now, health concerns are Sars and dengue fever. I'm covering myself with DEET for now...