Category: Asia

For reasons I cannot really explain, Malaysia has never been on my travel radar.  Don’t really know why, there is no rhyme or reason, but I was ready to shout “It should have been!!!” at the top of my lungs right after clearing immigration in Kuala Lumpur’s super-modern and super-efficient International Airport.  Clearing immigration with a Russian passport is never a fun thing – you need invitations, visas, proofs of return flights, proofs of accommodation booked, and all other petty and snub nuisances that make one want to wish for a more travel-friendly passport.  Well, you guess what?…  Not in Malaysia!  They don’t give a shit!!!!  The immigration officers are not interested in anything, neither do they speak English, which makes the immigration clearing process super-efficient, but makes it also super-silent as well, to the special delight of the specifically a-social tourists like myself.  The stern lady in a headscarf quickly determined that the photo in my passport matched the tired mug in front of her, pointed towards the fingerprint scanner and the camera, and waved me off into the welcoming depths of the country in no time.  Yay – long live Malaysian immigration authorities!!!!

Our flight to this oasis of technology and efficiency was not without surprises, though.  Not only was our flight from Labuanbajo to Bali delayed for the totally uncontrollable 4.5 (!!!!) hours, which made us miss our connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur, but the Wings Air flight that we finally boarded after waiting for what felt like forever in the Komodo Airport on site, boasted the most original in-flight magazine I have ever seen!  Strictly speaking, it was not even a magazine – there were no shopping ads, or photos of fancy places to visit, instead, the leaflet was basically a collection of prayers for safe flying (in Indonesian, English and Arabic) aimed at every known denomination, and even some obscure ones…  Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and the followers of Khonghucu (which upon closer inspection turned out to be the Indonesian version of Confucianism) could feel perfectly safe on board, while reciting the short directions from the leaflet…

I studied them carefully, and could not help but wonder whether the differences in text represented the more universal differences between the religions:

• Catholics and Protestants were expected to pray for the safe flight and landing of the aircraft and for their families to be safe on the ground. The Confucians added to this the hope that the airline crew knew what they were doing.
• The followers of Islam were expected to praise Allah for the ability to use the aircraft, and ask for protection from hardship or danger. Judging by the fact that the airline pilots and crew were omitted from the text of the prayer, they either put more trust in the crew’s abilities or left everything in the Allah’s hands.
• The Hindu and Buddhist prayers merely wished for happiness and purity of mind of the passengers while in flight (with the Hindu one, also wishing for good manners on the part of those praying).

If the in-flight prayer abstracts were to be any indication of the world religions they represented, the wild generalizations to be made would depict the Catholics, Protestants and Confucians as a pretty skeptical lot, the Muslims as very grateful and trusty souls, and cement the reputation of the Hindus and Buddhists as an overly happy-go-lucky bunch.  There, here are my 5 cents on the religions of the world!

The sole presence of the in-flight prayer leaflets on board was mildly disturbing, but apart from the inexcusable delay, the flight was quick and smooth.  The delay obviously made us miss our already booked and paid for flight to Kuala Lumpur, but the impeccably polite and friendly staff of AirAsia counter in Bali Danpassar airport quickly re-booked us to the next available one.  The running around the airport in search of said counter did nothing to improve our already cemented impressions of Bali, and even got us thinking that just like the proverbial broccoli maybe Bali did not like us either…

3 hours later we were in Malaysia.

The already described fantastic first impressions from the fast-speed immigration were seconded by the super-fast, efficient and relatively inexpensive (€20 for two) train from the airport to the city.  The Majestic hotel, far-sightedly booked by us from Le Pirat under the influence of home-made palm rum cocktails turned out to be the best surprise of all!  We had no idea we were going to stay in a palace!!!  The hotel shuttle picked up all guests from downtown train station, and when we entered the foyer, we were immediately swept by a confusing emotional mix of feeling immediately at home, and out of place in our sweaty T-shirts and flip-flops.  The overdressed staff at Reception did not blink an eye, issued us our room key and helpfully pointed out that the bar on the ground floor was still open – an exceptionally useful piece of information, for with all the hassle of delays, re-bookings and figuring out local transportation it was close to midnight when we finally checked in!

We threw the bags in the room, gushed over the regal grandeur of our new digs (there was even a stand-alone bath-tub with what looked like silver glass holders for champagne flutes!), changed the sweaty T-shirts (to be annihilated or disinfected later) to something slightly more appropriate and moved to the bar.  Two glasses of wine (each), served by a royal-looking barman in a white tuxedo (I kid you not!) were a welcome balm to our tied souls, and definitely helped erase all memories of Bali already after the 2^nd sip.  I did double-check our booking confirmation – after seeing the hotel in all its glory, I was worried palm rum influence might have been a bit too strong at the time, and we would have to sell a minimum of 2 kidneys to afford the 2 nights we booked.  To my relief it was nothing of the kind!  Even having prolonged our stay in the hotel for 1 more night to celebrate my birthday in style we ended up paying an equivalent of €150 for 3 nights for an absolutely luxurious room with the breathtaking view of the city.  We were officially in love with Kuala Lumpur!

The two full days we spent in the city did not spoil the first impression one bit.  It was a mad mix of super-modern and shabby, technological and outdated, posh and down-to-earth, while at the same time not allowing for contrasts to get too sharp or overflow your senses.

Kuala Lumpur’s public transport is efficient, well-developed and affordable with LRT/MRT & Monorail train lines covering the whole city in a far-reaching grid.  The LRT/MRT trains are also fully-automated, rushing through the city without any visible human support.  Only the older monorail ones, running on a well-elevated line around the Golden Triangle district, are still man-operated.  The old downtown of Kuala Lumpur is fairly compact and is easily explorable on foot.  We walked from the hotel to Chinatown, passing by the majestic-looking, but seemingly deserted Kuala Lumpur Old Train Station, observed the semi-organized chaos of the shopping streets of Chinatown near Petailing street, had some yummy but unpronounceable food in a tiny street cafe, and jumped on the MRT to get to the Golden Triangle.

Our plan for the day was pretty simple – relax from the stress of plane- and island-hopping of the past several days, walk aimlessly around, and take in the city.  The only definite item on our list of things to see was Petronas Twin Towers, still remaining the tallest twin buildings in the world (even after the general height was beaten by the taller, but single-standing Taipei 101 in 2004).  The towers were seriously cool – not only do they look VERY sleek and high-tech and boast a sky bridge connecting them in the middle, there is also a huge shopping mall in the several underground floors!  We again, showed admirable planning skills and bought the tickets online the night before, as the sky bridge only accommodates 1,000 visitors a day.  Visitor tickets can give you admission only to sky bridge, connecting the towers on the 41^st and 42^nd floor, or combine it with the visit to the top of one of the towers on 86^th floor.  Of course, we did both – we traveled this far, we might as well see it all!  The sky bridge was especially cool, once you learn that it does not actually connect to the two towers, but rather slides in and out of them, allowing for the swaying of the towers in high winds.  The view from the top was mesmerizing – we could see the whole city, and the square and park by the entrance underneath the buildings looked especially microscopic.

We did find the party area in Kuala Lumpur (of course!) – Bukit Bintang, where we spent two wonderful evenings walking the streets and looking at the variety of nightlife the city had to offer.  All bright, clean, and very safe – what more can a visitor ask for?  Our venue of choice for the first night was Healy Mac’s, and Irish pub with an 80-ies marathon on TV screens above the bar.  It was too hot for Guinness, so I took the bartender’s word and tried their day’s special – a Lychee martini.  After that – there was no stopping me.  Lychee martinis – here I come!!!  I actually had a reason for celebration (not that I ever needed one…), as in a couple of hours it was going to be my very own personal birthday. 

Nothing would ever top the celebration we had in the biker “Mushroom Bar” in a shady alley of Aonang in Thailand several years earlier (those who missed, or forgot this epic occasion, can refresh their memories here), but Healy Mac’s came very fucking close.  We struck a conversation with a huge and scary-looking guy who looked very much at home in the place.  Selim turned out to be the sweetest and funniest person, and also the bar manager.  Having learned from my loose-tongued husband about my birthday, not only did he stop the bartender from changing the channel and allowed me to sing along with Rick Astley and Madonna all night long (amazing, what a bunch of Lychee martinis do to one’s vocal talents and self-esteem!), but at midnight personally brought me the most wonderful mini-birthday cake with a sparkler and a “Happy birthday, Victoria!” written in chocolate on the plate!  He also gave us a tip of a next-door steak restaurant for the next day, and shared that Healy Mac’s had a branch on the Penang Peninsular, our next destination.  The evening lasted well into the early hours of the morning, we don’t remember how we got back to our palatial hotel, and it was only around midday when we woke up, that I saw another birthday cake decorated with fresh fruits and flowers, waiting for me on a coffee table.  What can I say?…  Kuala Lumpur knew how to make a girl feel at home!

Our remaining half a day in the city was spent in a quiet and relaxing fashion.  We had a walk around the Orchid Garden, conveniently located within the walking distance from the hotel, stopped at the Bird Park nearby – definitely an hour well-spent looking at various brightly-colored birds in a huge aviary park, and finished the day with a birthday dinner in The Steakhouse, next door to Healy Mac’s and recommended by Selim.  Much as we enjoyed the last night in Healy Mac’s, we both knew better than going there again.  At our age, celebrations definitely turned from marathons to sprints, and we needed some time to recover before we were ready to go again.  With the forthcoming New Year Celebrations, and the presence of a Healy Mac’s branch in our next destination, we definitely needed a couple of days to regroup.

The last scene from Kuala Lumpur’s life, observed on the KTM train back to the hotel, was memorable as well.  A completely round guy was sitting on a huge suitcase in the middle of a packed train, looking obviously chuffed.  When we smiled and complimented him on his far-sightedness of having brought his own seat with him, the guy beamed, his wife rolled her eyes, and we were immediately told the story of the suitcase.  The guy proudly shared that the suitcase was a fresh purchase, and was great not only for packing clothes, and using as a chair in crowded public transport, but had many other uses.  The guy went on reciting a long list of said uses, ending with “And I can swim on it as well!!!!”  Throughout his 10- or so minute speech, the wife continued rolling her eyes, which by the time of the final remark must have made a full orbit around her brain, and put her 5 cents in: “We don’t even need a new suitcase!  He only bought it because the salesman stood on it, to show how sturdy it was.  And that guy weighed a good 200 pounds!…”  Only in Kuala Lumpur…

We had one reason and one reason only to fly to Labuanbajo – Komodo dragons!  Being so near the largest living lizards on Earth (rumors and the Internet sources quote specimens up to 3 meters (10 feet) long and weighing up to 70 kg (150 lb)!), we were not going to pass on the opportunity to see them up close and personal.

Strictly speaking, dragons do not live in Labuanbajo, but it is the closest starting point to the areas favored by the famous reptiles.  As many tourists coming to the area, we mistakenly thought that Komodo dragons live only on Komodo Island (which seemed logical, judging by the name).  Turned out, they actually inhabit 3 big and about 26 smaller islands in the area that comprise the Komodo National Park.  Komodo itself, while being the largest and most well-known of them, is by far not the closest, or the best to visit.  Having spent our first evening in Labuanbajo going up and down the main street and talking to every single travel agency and tour operator organizing lizard trips, we got all the information we needed to make a plan.

Most travel shops offered package 2-day trips to Komodo on a big boat in the company of 15 to 20 other fellow travelers, with several stops for snorkeling and/or diving, and a night sleeping on the boat deck.  Our days of roughing it up long gone, sleeping on boat deck seriously did not fall under our idea of fun.  To quote a good friend of mine, who used to be a roadie for a number of big rock bands of this and last century and had his share of sleeping in weird places in varied stages of intoxication, “At my age, “roughing it’ for me means staying at a place, where room service shuts at midnight”…  We could not agree more!  Besides, to me personally snorkeling (let alone diving) has never seemed like a fun pastime – excited as I get about everything up in the air and above ground, going underwater has never held any thrill for me.

Package day trips to Komodo could also be had, but would take about 4 hours getting there and another 4 hours back, which would mean waking up pretty fucking early, not having much time for lizard-spotting at destination and wasting said time on completely pointless snorkeling with random strangers.

We decided to skip on both – package tours and Komodo island proper.  In addition to being relatively remote, the island’s size of 390 km² (150 sq. mi) worked against it – as several main street tour operators admitted, it was not really easy to see the dragons on Komodo – they had way too many places to hide.  In contrast, a mid-sized Rinca island presented a better opportunity for personal acquaintance, and pretty much everybody we spoke with absolutely guaranteed we would not leave the island without seeing at least a dozen much sought-after reptiles.  Another strong advantage of Rinca was its proximity to Labuanbajo – only about 2 hours by boat.  A small private one could be had at an affordable price for the day, and in this scenario we would be the ones calling the shots, and deciding whether or not to waste time snorkeling.

The choice was made – we will start at 8 the following morning, have a boat take us to Rinca island, see the lizards, stop on one or two smaller islands on the way, return back to Labuanbajo at a decent time of around 6 or 7 in the evening, and the next day get the fuck out of there.  The final touches to the plan were made at Le Pirate – a relaxed bar with an open terrace overlooking the bay, and our center of operations for 2 nights in Labuanbajo.  There we used the free Wi-Fi and the power of our mobile phones and credit cards to secure 2 tickets from Labuanbajo to Kuala Lumpur with a lay-over in (guess where???) – Bali.  Looks like Bali was inescapable for love nor fucking money, but to our relief the lay-over was supposed to be short – only 3 hours or so.

The next day we woke up giddy with excitement about the soon-to-be-encountered lizards.  The guy from the travel shop was true to his word – he showed up on time, took us to a boat, which was only in a mild state of decay, and went as far as to accompany us during the whole trip.  We did not really mind, as the guy was friendly, spoke the lingo, and kept pretty much to himself most of the time.  The 2-hour boat trip was sublime – the white clouds and blue skies reflected in the turquoise waters of the Flores Sea provided tranquil, if only slightly noisy atmosphere.  The boat’s engine, that in its previous life must have served a couple decades on a farm tractor, would not have passed any noise-pollution tests, but steadily powered our dingy, pushing it direction Rinca.

In the Komodo National Park you cannot walk about on your own, but have to have a local trained ranger to show you around.  The rangers were sitting at the pier, waiting for the arriving boats, and the matches between the tourists and the rangers were made in seemingly random, but mutually consensual order.  I don’t remember how we got paired with ours – I guess the tour shop guy must have chatted him up, or something, but the whole process did not take more than 3 min.  Before we knew it, our 3-people group was teamed up with a family of 4 from Canada, and was led by a tiny local guy with a huge stick that all rangers carried.  Not sure how the stick, no matter how long, could stop a 70-kg dragon from eating a particular juicy tourist of their choice, but the rangers obviously knew more than us, and we have not seen one of them without this weapon.

The first dragons were spotted right after the National Park sign, lazing en mass around the rangers’ kitchen.  They were lying in the shade of the building built on stilts, and even though they were obviously relaxed and sated, you could see the little yellow reptilian eyes following everybody around with purely gastronomical interest.  Even in repose the dragons were impressive – big ones easily reaching 2 meters in length, claws bigger than a brickie’s hand, and satisfied smirks on their otherwise expressionless faces.  Our travel shop guy from Labuanbajo looked positively chuffed – he guaranteed that we would see a bunch of dragons, and now we could see his word was as good as gold.

We were also lucky to spot several giant lizards walking around in the surrounding jungle, while trekking through the area with the ranger, and listening to Komodo dragon stories he was telling non-stop in an English that could easily beat in fluency and range of vocabulary quite a few of my colleagues with a bunch of PhDs…

All rangers (and we chatted with a couple while observing the lazy dragons by the kitchen), treated the lizards with reverence and respect.  “The dragons were the first here”, they explained, “and will be here long after we are gone”.  This deserves respect.  Besides, the lizards may look slow and stupid, but they can be very quick and cunning when they want to be, so underestimate them at your own risk.  They routinely kill deer and water buffalo, so dealing with a couple of pokey tourists would not present the least bit of a problem for them.  Komodo dragons have long been claimed to have a venomous bite, but the toxins in their jaws would not be strong enough to immediately kill a large prey.  However, together with coagulants contained in their saliva, the Komodo bite, if not treated, will eventually lead to death.  After the dragon bites its prey, it follows it with purely reptilian determination and indifference for days until the animal dies, and allows for a peaceful and uninterrupted feast.

Komodo dragon in action (not hunting, but just walking purposefully through the jungle) is definitely a sight worthy of reverence.  We saw one just minutes away from the rangers station – full of stately demeanor of a pure-bred, if only grossly over-sized English bulldog, he walked through the grass quietly with royal indifference in his gaze, yet still a cold-blooded “I’ll eat you and the horse you rode in on” reptilian attitude.  The rangers and tourists parted respectfully, admiring the giant prehistoric lizard, and acknowledging it as a force to be reckoned with.

The Rinca island itself (or at least what we saw of it during our 2-hour trekking), came straight out of the Jurassic Park films.  The jungle was cool and quiet (although full of blood-thirsty mosquitoes), and the fields with tall and skinny palm-trees in the background, called for dinosaurs to be running through them, and pterodactyls gracefully gliding through the skies above.  They would fit right in!

True to our word, on the way back to Labuanbajo we skipped the snorkeling part altogether.  We did, however, stop at a paradise island of Kanawa for a quick swim in the clear turquoise waters, and a stroll on a beautiful and empty white sandy beach.  Yes, this is the life we ordered – bring it on!  The island had a pier and we could see a couple of bungalows scattered around under the trees, but beautiful as the island was, I would not want to stay on it longer than we did.  A quick dip, walk and a look of admiration, and we’d rather return back to even relative civilization, where we could talk to people, drink home-made palm rum drinks at Le Pirate, (which we should have declined!) and pack our bags for the continuation of the trip.

Next stop – Malaysia!