Whatever you do, don't make eye contact with the naughty monkeys...

man, i really wanted to see what happened if one made eye contact with the monkeys...unfortunately, i didn't get my rabies shot before i left...and ash did, but i couldn't convince her to stare down a monkey.
monkeys were the main event at Bako National Park...proboscis (the kinds with long funny noses), and...some other type, who were equally cute. they were pretty used to tourists so they strayed pretty close (like, touchable distance if we tried...), and we were told to 1) not leave items unattended (read: keep passport close to body), and 2) not make intense eye contact with the monkeys...or they would chase you.
we did the Limtang path, which basically featured almost every type of plant seen in Borneo the first day, then crashed cause it was so hot and a pretty strenuous walk. A cute group of malaysian tourists were in the room beside us and were nice enough to bring us a mosquito coil (and light it for us, even though we really didn't have anywhere to put it and didn't really need it in the house) and kept knocking on our door to show us things (like the huge wild boar that roams around the grounds). they were very adorable...though they kept making some crazy sounds, kinda like they were moshing in their room...they didn't really seem like the moshing type though. ah yes, and they wanted to take their picture with us cause we're giants...kinda like people want to take their pictures with the bearded lady, or the sword swallower.
the next day we hiked to one of the waterfalls, which we had to ourselves (still very few tourists..) and got to play in cool, refreshing water...beautiful...a nice change from being covered in a film of sweat (don't worry, we regained our sweat layer as soon as we started walking again). so far i've been the mosquito magnet (as per usual)...so far i'm running at 70 mosquito bites versus ashleigh's 3. and i've even been wearing repellant, and she hasn't. life is so unfair. but, luckily we have Mister Potato chips, 100% imported potatoes for crispierness to make me happy :D gotta love the rando foods here...next stop: Bangkok in Thailand!


Bye Malaysia!

rice whiskey, cock fighting, blowpiping and more!

Going to a longhouse was one of those things that you have to do in Borneo if you really want to experience some culture...and get drunk. The longhouses are traditional houses that the "native" people live in that are basically as they sound...long wooden houses that house tons of families. when you enter it's a long hall that have an area for each family, and then each family also have rooms connected to hall. During they day they are often out in the fields, and then at night, they play and have fun, and entertain us tourists. some of the longhouses are pretty "modernized" now (running water, electricity, cable tv, etc), but the fact that they all live together in this long house is still pretty cool, and they still have some cool customs. they used to be head hunters, but luckily for us do not follow that custom anymore. we got to visit with a tour guide (just the two of us and paul, our guide)...
on the way there we stopped at an orangutan sanctuary...which i would love to have a whole different blog about, but the orangutans didn't show up...which really is a good thing cause that means that they are feeding on their own and don't need humans to help them.. but not all good things make for fun events (mmm...staring at a platform for an hour...not the most exciting thing in the world :)
when we arrived, two of the Iban people (one of the tribes) were waiting for us and we got to take an amazing longboat ride (also literally as it sounds) up the river, to the longhouse. we got there and took a quick tour with paul (who is also of one of the tribes), who explained some of the neater parts of the culture...we went into the chief's room and he was giving us a tour...and then we realized that chief was right in the room, sleeping, but that didn't seem to bother anyone, and the tour continued..!! the amazing part was that night, where we got to go to the longhouse and watch them perform some dances, and then we were invited to join in (which of course you can't refuse...), which is pretty awesome. there were some other older tourists with us there too, and they were somewhat stodgy and were clearly feeling awkward, but I had an awesome time. then, we played a game involving foot coordination and jumping and sticks and banging (my kind of game...suh-weet)...and then...the drinking began. "OOOOOOOOO...HUA...OOOOOOO...HUA.....OOOOOOO...HUA" (the way of saying "cheers", something i may continue doing), and back goes the rice wine (mmm...delicious). but then...the rice whiskey...leaving your glass in front of you is an invitation for more to be added to your glass. and (drunk) chief was particular fond of filling glasses with more whiskey (which of course you can't refuse)...and then he offered us cigarettes (which of course you can't refuse...ack!!!! kinda ironic since earlier i refused to buy cigarettes for the tribe as one of our gifts to them). we got to hang around the longhouse for a while and mix with the people. it was awesome. chief was definitely the coolest chief i've ever met... so, the night went on, merrymaking and putting on cool tribe hats, and taking pictures (chief really like taking pictures with you), and presenting them gifts and drinking whiskey. then, after we left the longhouse (stayed in a guesthouse next door), we drank 75cent Stellas with the group (turned out to be pretty cool people) and tour guides...
so, needless to say, woke up with a stellar hangover (still not as bad as the aussie fella, who was incapacitated) to the sounds of crowing...and we're not talking like, one cockaldoodledoo as you see in movies, but like, full-on crowing for HOURS..but, due to a great big breakfast, lots of amazing fresh air, and the happiness of being outside (and advil...) was still able to function. Saw a cockfight (they didn't tear each other to pieces, thank gosh...they are illegal now so they were just showing us a demonstration), got to try a blowpipe (so kickass, gotta get myself one of these for home...watch your back, squirrels..), tapped a tree for rubber, learnt about some useful trees (vines that have water, etc), and learnt how to set traps to catch ourselves ducks and pigs and humans and whatnot.
so, the longhouse trip was pretty amazing...off to Bako National Park!

"Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!"

sorry about the break in blogs...i'm going to post three now to make up for it...


Welcome to Kuching, little town in Malaysian Borneo...a fabulous little place that has few tourists, and seems to be unaffected by the tourist scene. In fact, we almost seem like novelties. Everywhere we go, we get bombarded by "hello"s and honking (polite, of course)...and an old man on the bus today who kept turning around to smile and stare at me on the long bus ride today...i would smile back...and he would keep smiling..and staring. sometimes i would open my eyes and catch him staring and he would quickly turn around... it was a fun game.
this town is really great, i'm staying in a little hostel that has running water (sometimes), lots of locks on the door, and pretty trusting owners (pay whenever!). The drivers are less crazy than Kuala Lumpur, but the lines on the roads are still simply guidelines, as are the pedestrian lights. People are extremely friendly, and (thank god) they don't hassle you when you go to the store). At lunch we stood dumbfoundedly in front of a food stall (there are no pictures here to accompany the menus on the wall...), and the nice lady who owns the stall chose a meal for us..and then some locals chatted with us for a while and let us try some local fruit they were eating (salty...weird). Hit up the weekend market and saw lots of crazy things...unrecognizable fruits, dogs for sale, pigeons going wholesale (i.e. 20 crammed into a cage). good times...then, off to a long house...

Kuala Lumpur...and beyond!

hahah, i just spent a good 15 minutes trying to figure out how to post cause this computer is set for some sort of asian language...good things this are SO CHEAP here, otherwise i'd be angry. except that it's pretty much impossible to be angry when you're backpacking...life is good.

so, ash, my dad, and i have spent the past 2 days here in kuala lampur, the capital of malaysia. It's a huge city, so there's a mix of old dilapidated buildings, and skyscrapers...and really, mostly all there is to do is shop and eat. both of which are so ridiculously cheap...eating 8 meals a day of delicious amazing food will only set you back like, 2 dollars a meal...and we're talking about fairly large meals here. freshly squeezed fruit drinks and smoothies are around a dollar...i'm in heaven. then, you hit up the shopping malls (there are like, 6 huge ones in a row right by where we are living), and there are seriously hundreds (maybe thousands?? i'm pretty bad at estimating..)of stores in one mall...ash and i hit up every floor of one of the malls and i'd guess we MAY have gone into like, 40% of the stores and it took us a whole day...anyways, i'm pretty sick of the city, but it was nice to stop off here for a couple days...just enough time to get used to the hawker stalls (the food stalls that are at every possible turn) and the people (they are really into "customer service", which equals following you around like a shadow as soon as you enter the store...going into a store is an artform...you have to make sure not to dwell too long on any particular item, or you will be pressured into trying it on...even if it's 9 sizes too small, as most of the cases are...but still, they are good intentioned and very kind, if not a bit aggressive...makes sense since they only make like, 4.5 ringgits per hour (approx 1.5 dollars), and probably live off commission??)

anyways, the wonderfulness of backpacking has meant that we have no plans, no schedules, and no worries...ash and i decided yesterday to go to Borneo...crazy eh? we leave this afternoon...will report back in when i can (hopefully with pics of orangutans and other crazy things!)

(pic: ash, my roomate in guelph and travel buddy in s.e. asia)

(pic 2: us eating in an open air hawker stall in fabulous warm kuala lampur)

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I love NY...cheesecake

so ash/dad/i got into kuala lampur, malaysia's capital today....however, i didn't get a chance to make a NY entry (due to really expensive by the minute internet), so that's first...malaysia later (not much to say now anyways).

so, my dad and i went to new york for essentially 48 hours...and i feel as though that was enough to see most of the important things...thanks lauren for the advice about gray line bus! did all the newyorky-type things via a hop-on, hop-off tour bus (and was in a hotel in times square)...first thing we saw when we got in was a new york towing, then i dragged my dad into victoria secret, saw Ground Zero...it was a bit shocking at first cause when we got to the site, there were people selling cheap knockoff goods all around it, and it was really dishearting cause i didn't see any type of memorial or anything...it seemed really disrepectful. then, we came around the corner and there were pictures and a memorial for those involved in or died in 9/11...some of the pics were really powerful. anyways, other new york stuff...saw MACYs (hit up all 9 floors just to say i had seen all of macys), saw rockefeller centre (tree is up!! but no lights :( and it was covered in construction so it wasn't so fun...going to miss snow for christmas), central park, manhattan bridge (ack...so high, especially when you're sitting on an open air top level of a bus), saw a taxi ram into another taxi and saw a real live taxi driver fight...and of course, the highlight...$8.95 new york cheesecake...so worth it.
also, saw the blue man group for free!! "volunteered" (i.e. told people to turn left or right) ....and got an amazing front seat..it was amazing...definitely recommended to anyone and everyone. then, went for sushi and sake with my dad...mmmmmm...raw fish and strong wine.
so far, pretty tame trip...new york was a pretty fun place to visit, but i think the real adventure starts today...

1st stop: the Big Apple

leaving in 2 minutes for NY, where my dad and i will be staying until monday, after which we will be catching our plane to Thailand...i would tell you the about my last few days, but i'll spare you the boring details of me packing (somewhat drunk: bad idea..asking laura to help: good idea), sending off applications (fingers crossed), SUBMITTING MY PAPER (Finally.), and frantically eating as much canadian food as i could shove into my body (thank you Tim Hortons)...

goodbye beavertails, goodbye Timmy's, goodbye freezing rain...snow...slush...hahahahahha....

(pic: me last night, packing)

and the journey begins again...

...Can you believe it? i sure can't...undergrad is over, all the important birthdays (10, 13, and 18-21) are over, insurance on my dad's plan is over, living in Guelph is over....

but, a new journey begins...

stay tuned folks, i think it's going to be a good one