September 18, 2004

On The Road Again

Loads of new pics up from

Penang

Highlight for Album: Penang

Cameron Highlands

Highlight for Album: Cameron Highlands

and Perhentian Islands

Highlight for Album: Perhentian Islands


I had a wicked time in the Cameron Highlands and especially the Perhentian Islands. Did some great diving on the island and just general beach bumming. Many thanks to my Dutch friends Bart and Linda for sharing their underwater pictures with me. Their pictures put mine to shame, partly because they have a nifty color correction filter for their camera that helps capture the actual colors of the objects underwater. But they also seemed to have a real knack for capturing exquisite shots. You can check out some of their pictures (as well as some of mine) in the Perhentians album.

I got two sets of news while I was there that on the surface seem to be not the most welcomed but actually helped me to clarify my plans. One is that my subtenants will be leaving in February. We had agreed that they would be there at least a year and then it would go month to month after that so I always knew there was the possibility, if not even probability that they would leave before I finished my travels. The other is that we kind of agreed mutually with the client whose job I had been waiting on that it would be best for someone else to handle the job. The job still seems to be coming through but very slowly and it doesn't really seem practical to try and plan my travels around a small job that still could fall through altogether.

So I've decided that instead of trying to find work as a divemaster in Thailand, I am going to go to Sulawesi in Indonesia and just enjoy diving there as a regular paying client. From all accounts the diving there is supposed to be some of the best in the world and I really wanted to be able to check out Indonesia while I'm in Asia. Afterwards, I will return to Thailand and travel around Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia until early next year. I'll then come back to the States to sort out a new tenant for my apartment and possibly even pick up some work while I'm there. After that, I plan on continuing my travels, probably starting in Nepal or India.

So at the very least I now have some clarity in my travel plans. Although they'll probably change again before I complete it feels good to have a game plan. Also, while I haven't really felt homesick at all, it will be nice to come back to the States for a bit, see my friends, reconfigure my luggage a bit and then head off into the blue yonder again.

So I'm heading back to Thailand now to catch up with a few friends and then I plan on flying from there to Manado in Indonesia, where I'll be travelling for a month or so before returning to Thailand. Despite the recent terrorism in Jakarta, I'm confident that I'll be quite safe in the areas I'll be heading to but will keep my ears open for any change in the situation. I'm really looking forward to it.

Posted by Pedro at 09:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 06, 2004

New Photos from Kuala Lumpur and Thailand

Kuala Lumpur

Highlight for Album: Kuala Lumpur

Thailand

Highlight for Album: Thailand Pt. 1

Posted by Pedro at 10:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Penang

I'm on the island of Penang on the northwestern coast of Malaysia. While very happy to be in Asia at last, the past couple of weeks have been somewhat frustrating. I've been trying to line up some work to replenish my savings a bit after the battering it took in Australia. I had several different projects in the pipeline and it was looking pretty good that they would come through.

I stayed for a week in Kuala Lumpur waiting for one project in particular to come through. Finally, I got sick of the grime and noise and traffic of KL so I decided to take the flight that I had booked up to Thailand and try my luck at finding a comparable net connection there. I flew to Hat Yai, just across the border from Malaysia, spent one night there and then took a minibus up to Krabi.

There's not much to the town of Krabi, but right away I could tell I liked it. It's a small town but still has its share of bars and shops and nightlife, plus it's right on the coast. Unfortunately, the net connections there are horribly slow.

Figuring I'd make work my first priority and worry about fun and sun later, I decided to head up to Phuket, which I had heard had better net connections. I spent about 6 hours in a minibus driving up there. When we got there, I had planned to stay in Phuket Town but the minibus driver took us to a travel agency where they put on the hard-sell to try and book me into a hotel in Patong Beach, the major tourist area on the island. I didn't buy into it, but there were some British girls on the bus that seemed to know what they were doing, knew the hotel they were staying at in Patong and had been told not to stay in Phuket Town. So I decided to tag along with them.

Patong Beach is one of the biggest shitholes I've ever stayed at. It's full of gaudy neon and T-Shirt shops and everything touristy and disgusting. It also seems to be a major center for sex tourism. There are plenty of farangs with lanky Thai girls in tow, and this being the low season, every bar you pass is full of Thai girls trying very persistently to grab your attention and then god knows what else. I never took it that far. The net connections there were just passable for the work that I needed to do, but I decided I treally didn't want to stay there.

So I grabbed a tuk-tuk into Phuket Town, stopping at the obligatory duty-free shops on the way so my esteemed driver could make his 100 baht commission at each one. Since he was up front about it and gave me a good deal on the ride, I went along with it. And it's true, we still got into town way faster than if I would have taken the local bus.

Anyways, Phuket town was a much more authentic Thai city that has not been overrun by farangs and the Thais that are attracted to them and their disposable income. I had some great meals there and while it's not on the beach and doesn't really have much notable in the way of attractions, I enjoyed wandering around for a while. Alas, the net connections there weren't as good as the ones in Patong and would not be suitable for my work.

Screw it, I said, I'm gonna take a nice boat cruise around Kho Phi Phi and some of the surrounding islands and head back to Malaysia, where I know the net connections are good. It was a great trip on a speedboat to some really idyllic tropical island spots, including "The Beach" from the movie. The water was a bit rough, but I enjoyed even that. Overally, I was very glad to be back to the paradise spots which I love so much. Pictures to come.

After that, I flew back to Hat Yai and took a minbus down to Penang, where I hooked up again with my good travelling mate from Australia, Elton. He's travelled around Asia quite a bit and so is quite knowledgable about the different places to go and the ins and outs of each, so it was good to hook up with him.

We've both been here about a week now, though, him waiting for his ATM card to be sent from home and me still waiting for work to come through. Now it looks like the main job that I've been waiting for might fall through completely and it leaves me very frustrated to say the least. I've been running around trying to find the best spot where I can work from, which is definitely not where I'd wanna be if it weren't for the work. And now it looks like everything is gonna fall through. Oh well, such is life.

Fortunately, there was another project that I've been working on and is close to being done and the clients have actually come through with a bit more money than originally negotiated - not nearly as much as the other project - but it'll go pretty far here in Asia where spending $10 a night on accomodations and $5 on a meal is splurging.

So I'm hoping to head to a place called Cameron Highlands tomorrow, which, as the name implies, is up in higher elevations in the center of Malaysia, which should make things a bit cooler. It is also a major tea-growing region so that should be cool to check out. If the other job has indeed fallen through, it's on to the Perentian Islands for me, another tropical island diving and snorkelling paradise off the east coast of Malaysia. Everyone that's been there says how beautiful it is. Electricity over there is solely from generators, though, so I will be off the grid for a while, which frankly should be a bit of a welcome change.

More later...

Posted by Pedro at 02:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Penang

I'm on the island of Penang on the northwestern coast of Malaysia. While very happy to be in Asia at last, the past couple of weeks have been somewhat frustrating. I've been trying to line up some work to replenish my savings a bit after the battering it took in Australia. I had several different projects in the pipeline and it was looking pretty good that they would come through.

I stayed for a week in Kuala Lumpur waiting for one project in particular to come through. Finally, I got sick of the grime and noise and traffic of KL so I decided to take the flight that I had booked up to Thailand and try my luck at finding a comparable net connection there. I flew to Hat Yai, just across the border from Malaysia, spent one night there and then took a minibus up to Krabi.

There's not much to the town of Krabi, but right away I could tell I liked it. It's a small town but still has its share of bars and shops and nightlife, plus it's right on the coast. Unfortunately, the net connections there are horribly slow.

Figuring I'd make work my first priority and worry about fun and sun later, I decided to head up to Phuket, which I had heard had better net connections. I spent about 6 hours in a minibus driving up there. When we got there, I had planned to stay in Phuket Town but the minibus driver took us to a travel agency where they put on the hard-sell to try and book me into a hotel in Patong Beach, the major tourist area on the island. I didn't buy into it, but there were some British girls on the bus that seemed to know what they were doing, knew the hotel they were staying at in Patong and had been told not to stay in Phuket Town. So I decided to tag along with them.

Patong Beach is one of the biggest shitholes I've ever stayed at. It's full of gaudy neon and T-Shirt shops and everything touristy and disgusting. It also seems to be a major center for sex tourism. There are plenty of farangs with lanky Thai girls in tow, and this being the low season, every bar you pass is full of Thai girls trying very persistently to grab your attention and then god knows what else. I never took it that far. The net connections there were just passable for the work that I needed to do, but I decided I treally didn't want to stay there.

So I grabbed a tuk-tuk into Phuket Town, stopping at the obligatory duty-free shops on the way so my esteemed driver could make his 100 baht commission at each one. Since he was up front about it and gave me a good deal on the ride, I went along with it. And it's true, we still got into town way faster than if I would have taken the local bus.

Anyways, Phuket town was a much more authentic Thai city that has not been overrun by farangs and the Thais that are attracted to them and their disposable income. I had some great meals there and while it's not on the beach and doesn't really have much notable in the way of attractions, I enjoyed wandering around for a while. Alas, the net connections there weren't as good as the ones in Patong and would not be suitable for my work.

Screw it, I said, I'm gonna take a nice boat cruise around Kho Phi Phi and some of the surrounding islands and head back to Malaysia, where I know the net connections are good. It was a great trip on a speedboat to some really idyllic tropical island spots, including "The Beach" from the movie. The water was a bit rough, but I enjoyed even that. Overally, I was very glad to be back to the paradise spots which I love so much.

Posted by Pedro at 02:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack