Adventuring in Beng Melea

On our last day in the Angkor area, we took a two hour tuk-tuk ride to a temple called Beng Melea.  Although we had already been to a few temples fighting a losing battle with the forest, Beng Melea promised to be the least restored and most adventurous ruin we would visit.  There's a wood walkway that allows tourists to easily walk over the rubble, but our guide from the first day told us there was an "easy way, and an adventure way."  Adventure way sounded good.

As we walked up to the temple, the gate looked just like a mound of stones.  To the right, we saw the wood walkway, and we weren't sure where to start the "adventure way".  "I guess we could just start climbing over that pile," I offered.  One of the locals who was hanging around sensed our desire for danger, and started pointing us towards a way into the main structure.  We would normally shrug the help off, because it usually isn't all that helpful and leads to being asked for money, but we figured it could be worth it this time.  We were right.  The man lead us over collapsed walls, through windows, under bridges and across dark halls into areas of the complex where we didn't see a singe other tourist.  I don't know how far we would have made it on our own without getting stuck, only to be found by archaeologists restoring Beng Melea in twenty years.  By the time we disappointingly linked back up to the main tourist walkway an hour later, I had made up my mind - other Angkor temples may be more impressive for their size and artistry, but Beng Melea is the coolest.

More pictures in the full post.

More Angkor

After two days exploring the main Angkor Archaeological Park, yesterday we went a little further afield to visit two more sites.  The first was Banteay Srei, a small but beautifully restored temple.  The scale compared to giants like Angkor Wat and Preah Khan might be subdued, but the attention to detail is not, and the temple is often referred to as the jewel of Khmer art.

The second site we visited was Kbal Spean, a riverbed that has many Hindu carvings from the 11th to the 13th century.  The carvings are divided into three categories: lingas (phallic representations of the deity Shiva), yonis (female counterpart to the linga, representing Shakti and Devi), and more complex Hindu motifs.  As you can guess from the English translation of the site's name, River of a Thousand Lingas, the phallic carvings are the most prevalent.  The lingas and yonis were believed to have fertilized the water as it made its way to the fields.  We're here at the end of dry season, so the river was nearly dry.  It would have been neat to see the sculptures through running water, but at least we got a clear view of them.

We made a quick stop on our way back to town at the Landmine Museum.  This country continues to be plagued by mines laid during the Vietnam War and the subsequent thirty years of civil war involving the Khmer Rouge.  Cambodia is still one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with an estimated 5 million or more active landmines, in addition to a myriad of other unexploded ordnance.  The museum was founded by a former Khmer Rouge child soldier that laid down many mines, but has since defused an estimated 50,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance.  It was fairly small, but still worth the time to see what many Cambodians still have to deal with.

More pictures in the full post.

Amazing Angkor

Like Borneo, Cambodia wasn't on our original itinerary.  However, Magge became enamored with the idea of visiting when a couple we met in Ecuador told us that the country had very cheap spa treatments.  We weren't sure we could work it into the schedule until we had to cancel our time in Thailand due to its domestic issues.  So now we're here in Cambodia, a country I knew very little about a year ago.  After two days exploring Angkor,  we can say that it's the most impressive man-made attraction we have seen so far on this trip.

Quick, to the Batu Caves!

On our last day in Kuala Lumpur, we took the short trip north of the city to the Batu Caves, a set of caves located in a large limestone outcropping.  The caves themselves are impressive for their size, but the real draw for most is that there are a number of Hindu shrines and temples built in and around the caves. In fact, the caves are one of the most popular Hindu sites in the world outside of India.  We arrived at the caves not knowing what to expect, and left not knowing what to think.

Singapore and Malaysia Wrap-Up

Facts and Figures
Length of Stay:  Nineteen days
Miles Traveled to Enter:  3,800 by plane from Brisbane, Australia
Miles Traveled:  2,050 by plane + 360 by bus  = 2,410 total (27,630) since landing in Quito)
Places Visited:  Singapore, Kota Kinabalu, Kinabalu National Park, Semporna, Sipadan Island, Kinabatangan River camp, Sandakan, Kuala Lumpur
Intercity Buses Taken:  2
Flights Taken:  2
Times we had no idea what we ordered to eat:  3

Rankings in the full post.

Failure is the Word of the Day in Kuala Lumpur

The Petronas Towers are Kuala Lumpur's most iconic landmark, usually the first (and maybe only) thing that enters people's minds when they think of the city.  They were the tallest buildings in the world for six years, depending on the methodology (i.e., highest occupied floor, including antennae, not including antennae, etc.), and are still the tallest twin buildings.  Going to the top of the towers was the thing I wanted to do most during our time here.  We disappointingly found out that tourists can only visit the skybridge that connects the two towers, less than halfway to the top, but I wanted to do it anyway.  We arrived this morning just as the skybridge opened, but thirty minutes after the ticket office opened, and all of the day's allotment of tickets were already given out.

Plan B was to visit the observation deck of Menara Kuala Lumpur, one of the world's tallest communications towers.  We walked in very hot, very humid weather, arriving soaked in sweat just to find out it costs thirty-eight ringgit each.  We thought it was a ripoff and didn't want to pay that much just to ride a long elevator.  Besides, we didn't have that much cash on us anyway.

Plan C: go to KL's version of Central Park, the Lake Gardens, and pay a side visit to its orchid garden (did you know Magge loves flowers?  I had no clue).  Most of the orchids were not in bloom, and the only entrance we could find to the park was locked.  You've got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them.  I returned to the hostel to do some research on our next destination while Magge paid to have fish eat the dead skin off her feet.

This picture combines all three of our botched plans today: view of the Petronas Towers and Menara Kuala Lumpur from the orchid garden.

Wild Things

We had the opportunity to visit the Amazon Basin while we were in Peru, but passed because of the cost and logistics. While it was the right decision, we were both disappointed that we would miss out on spending a few days in the rainforest. It turns out that it wasn't our last chance to get into the jungle, as Borneo offers multiple areas with interesting flora and fauna. After quickly researching our options, we settled on a three day, two night stay at a jungle camp on the muddy Kinabatangan River. The camp warned us in advance that accommodations were spartan, but with the chance to see animals that are rarely or never seen in the wild anywhere else in the world, we were more than willing to accept that.

Will We Ever Enjoy Diving Again?

As Jeff wrote in another entry, one of our two major objectives in going to Borneo was to dive Sipadan.  Having been told that one can only really appreciate Sipadan if you go to depths past those permitted with an Open Water certification (the the first level of SCUBA certification given by PADI and the one Jeff and I earned in Florida last summer), we decided we would also get our Advanced Open Water certification while we were there. Taking classes made it easier to get permits to dive Sipadan as well. It is generally necessary to book arrangements at least a month in advance because the Malaysian government only issues 120 dive permits per day, which it evenly distributes amongst all the dive agencies in the area.

A "Day Off"

With an extra day to kill in Kota Kinabalu, Jeff and I decided to spend our time on one of the nearby islands snorkeling and getting a little R&R - despite what many of you may think, there is a difference between traveling and being on vacation. Jeff and I are traveling, which can get really tiring. Though we keep trying to work them into our schedule, we very rarely take quiet days because there is just too much we want to experience. (I know I'm not going to get any sympathy here, but what we're doing isn't exactly a picnic.) - Though the brochures I perused touted the island of Mamutik as being great for snorkeling, both Jeff and I made sure not to get our hopes up since the island is situated only twenty minutes by boat from the city, whose harbor reeks from pollution.

Last Minute Trip to Borneo

Borneo was not on our itinerary when we set out on our trip over six months ago.  Our interest was piqued when a couple on Easter Island highly recommended a visit to see its wildlife, and we were sold on the idea when a fellow scuba diver in Australia gushed over the diving off of the island of Sipadan.  Thankfully, we built a good bit of flexibility into our trip and were able to book a relatively cheap last-minute flight out of Singapore.  Borneo is a huge island (third largest in the world after Greenland and New Guinea) and divided between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, but we decided to focus on the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah since we only had a week and a half to spend.  It's a good thing we didn't try to tackle more, because we left Sabah exhausted and ready to relax in an air conditioned room.

A Peak at Sipadan

We haven't posted in a few days due to a busy schedule in Borneo and lack of reliable internet.  We'll be totally off the grid for a few days while we hopefully see orangutans and proboscis monkeys in the jungle, but we'll catch you up once we get to Kuala Lumpur on the 20th.  In the meantime, here's a glimpse of what we saw while diving off of Sipadan Island.

Green turtle swimming in front of a school of barracudas

Singapore, True or False?

My perception of Singapore was largely shaped by the Michael Fay incident (linked for those who are too young to remember it) and the resulting media frenzy, and I suspect that's the case for many other Americans and Canadians.  I remember hearing about some of the city-state's strict laws and envisioning a place where no one (except rowdy ex-teens) broke the rules.  After spending four days in Singapore, how do my previous ideas about it stack up to reality?  Answers below.

Jeff and Magge's Fave Honeymoon Crashers: Jucy and Lorena

Hello all,
Lorena here. Magge confessed while we were traveling that she was nervous to have me guest blog because she didn't want to be compared to a "professional writer" (her words not mine, I write about celebrities for a living, not exactly pro-stuff .. keep your expectations low). Truth is, posting something on Hostel Honeymoon is pretty daunting. I mean this site has multiple comments per posts, tons of views, and I'm jealous of the witty URL name. There are few things more daunting than posting on HH. The one thing more terrifying than writing a sub-par post? Joining J & M on their honeymoon as the Official Third Wheel.

Australia Wrap-Up

Facts and Figures
Length of Stay:  Twenty-four days
Miles Traveled to Enter:  1,200 by plane from Queenstown, New Zealand
Miles Traveled:  2,200 by Jucy Choppa + 450 by plane  = 2,650 total (21,420 since landing in Quito)
Places Visited:  Sydney, Brisbane, Mooloolaba, Paluma National Park, Wallaman Falls, Airlie Beach, Eungella National Park, Whitsunday Islands, Hervey Bay, Fraser Island
Intercity Buses Taken:  0
Flights Taken:  1
Kangaroos Seen:  2 alive, at least 10 dead

Rankings in the full post.

Snails

"Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail; but a man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly." Ivan Turgenev

Footprints

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."Kahlil Gibran

For Liam

"Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled."
- Muhammed

Jucing in Australia, Part III: Islands

The plan for our roadtrip was to make it to Cairns and back, but we did not make it that far.  After leaving Wallaman Falls, we called both Cairns and Airlie Beach to get their respective weather forecasts to decide from which city to take a boat trip, and Cairns' weather did not look appealing.  So we turned around, 250 kms short of the planned endpoint, and made our way back south.  Cairns itself is not supposed to be overly exciting or beautiful, but it is the most common jumping point to the Great Barrier Reef, which I was disappointed to miss.  However, the three day/two night boat trip from Airlie Beach visits fringe reefs around the Whitsunday Islands that are part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), so I was somewhat appeased.

Designs

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."
- St. Augustine, City of God 

Tree Frogs and Travel Quotes

"We live in a world full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." --Jawaharial Nehru*