Lake Danau Toba, Sumatra

Next stop,  Lake Danau Toba, one of the largest crater lakes in the world, with an Island in the middle, formed from another Volcanic eruption many years later.  Samosir the island is super laid back, so much so that magic mushrooms are legal and sold everywhere.  

The Liberta's Guest House was one of my favorite places I have ever stayed.  It may have been that it was so cheap.  Under $1 for most meals, shakes and such great honest and friendly family who pampers you like royalty.  It could have been the intricately designed long houses amongst the beautiful gardens situated beside the peaceful lake.  This was a great change from the crazy traffic, and terrible roads of Sumatra.  An exciting motor bike ride around the whole island takes 10 hours, give or take, depending how many flat tires along the way.  Wow the worse the roads the more primitive the village.

Jungle Trek, Bukit Lawang, Sumatra, Indonesia

After 2 weeks of Malaysia, I decided for something a little bit more rustic and primitive.  Malaysia, is great is a great place to get your feet wet, as it is so clean, safe, good roads, comfortable buses, but now that's to easy.  I wanted to get slapped in the face with a culture shock, so I decided to go to the north of Sumatra Indonesia, a little bit more off the beaten path.  Tourists are much more rare.  Two days without seeing another tourists or anyone understanding english, feels much more like traveling.

So the first stop was the Jungle in Bukit Lawang.  This was a proper jungle, full of every type of monkey, big furry bug, and river creature imaginable.  We saw 6 different types of monkeys, including the Orangoutang's, a centipede as big as my hand, and had a 1-2 m lizard scare us all out of the river.

Sleeping in the jungle was nearly impossible as all the sounds of the animals are much louder at night, and we are sleeping in a shelter that is only enough to keep the rain out, with no closed in sides.  All of the girls were freaking out all night, because of bats, and monkeys coming inside for a look.  

Petronis Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I was in Malaysia, I guess I had to make it to the tallest twin towers in the world.  I was originally going to pass, but I forgot my typhoid pills in my Hostel in Kuala Lumpur, so I had to go back to get them anyway.  It gave me a chance to see another part of the city, which I really liked.  The towers were very impressive.  We made it up to the top.  86 Stories and 482m.

Maleka, Malaysia

The City, of Melaka, Malaysia is a world heritage site which still has most of it's buildings from the 1500's still standing.  The china town here is a step back in time.  I really should have spent more time here wondering the ancient streets.



















Here in Melaka I met an artist Cristjen Lai
who asked if he could use me as a model for his book of portraits that he is drawing and will publish upon completion.  Here is a picture of his work.  480 portraits of people from all over the world.  Funny enough, looking through the book, I saw around 6-8 other people I had met during my travels.

If you want to be in his book, he is a great artist.  Let him know you know me and he will be sure to draw something that is wonderful, just like you.

Malaysia, Northwest Coast 2012

Ok I am in SE Asia once again.  This time I decided that I should see Malaysia & Indonesia, and skip to typical tour of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.  I have been solo and unsure how this trip would be with Larisa so far away.  Last time she was with me and the time before I was single.  Each of the trips would surely be different.

I found my 1st stop to Kuala Lumpur very beautiful, but very hard to meet any travelers.  My experiences now matter how much I like or dislike a new location, are mainly enlightened by the people I meet and the interactions I have.  Feeling unsure, or maybe like I was to old to interact with the typical backpacker between 21-30 I immediately started searching for nature to escape.  It was an easy choice when one of my dorm mates asked if I would like to join him to the Cameron Highland's.  It didn't seem to bother either of us that it was monsoon season up in the mountains.  It would be a great way to escape the 35 degree heat and 100% humidity.

As soon as I got there the vibe was different.  The local people and other foreign travelers were much more friendly and chatty.  I met a 3 different couples that all seemed to be into the hiking and adventure as I was.  We would drink expensive beer, and chat about our past travel experiences at the hostel, as we watched the monsoon rain flood the country side.  It made the hike the next day to the top of the highest peak a challenging one.  The ankle high hiking boots would have come in handy, as the muddle puddles in most places were up to 6 inches deep.  I lost my shoe a few times when stepping in the wrong place.  The way down through the tea plantations, was still torrential downpour but the 25 degrees temps made it easily tolerable.

 We all had so much fun together that we ended up traveling together to the next two stops.  The Island of Penang, Malaysia, was such a great time.  Renting Motorbikes for $5 for 24 hours plus $2 gas, gives you the freedom to see everything on the island, if you don't get lost.  Waterfalls, the biggest temple in Malaysia, lots of monkeys and few stops to the beach to cool down from the heat.  The last spot together before we all went separate ways was the island of Langkawi in the far northwest.

It was so hard not to go visit my favorite spot in Thailand, Rai Lei Beach, only a 5 hour boat ride away.  I new however I would get stuck there, and had to stick to my original plan of heading south to Indonesia.

Here we finally found a cheap place to drink in Georgetown.  It was basically chairs and a table in a back alley, but it was 3 drinks for $3.  That's a price we can afford.  A renowned World Heritage Site.