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I Heart Street Art

We have spent the last 4 days in George Town, the main city on the island of Penang. The Center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of beautiful old colonial buildings and mix of 3 different cultures.

First a shout out to our hotel. If you ever find yourself in Georgetown, do yourself a favour and stay at Ren i Tang. It’s an old Chinese medicine wholesaler building that has been converted into beautiful and inexpensive rooms. And it’s right in the heart of Little India. Yum.

It’s always a plus to know a local who can show off the city, and here was no exception. We’ve spent some time with Rocky’s yoga classmate Sarah, who showed us some Buddhist and Chinese temples, oriented us to the city, and took us to the beach. As an extra bonus we even got to go to one of her yoga classes.

One of the things that put George Town on my list is the amazing street art by a Lithouanian guy named Ernest Zacharevic. Feast your eyes…

Yes, you did just see Bruce Lee karate kicking a cat.

Other highlights have included a funicular up Penang Hill for city views and a visit to the grand Kek Lok Si Temple. We actually went there twice. The first was when we were heading to Penang Hill and accidentally got off of the bus too early because we were following the other whiteys on the bus, then the next day when we wanted more time to explore there.

Of course we’ve enjoyed some relax time, reflexology foot massages, and the famous street hawker food.
The final chapter of this Rock-Awn holiday will be spent in the tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands.

 

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Welcome to the Jungle

We’ve had 3 full on, hot and sweaty days in Malaysian Borneo. Our home base is a city called Kuching, which the guidebook says is a cosmopolitan Paris of Malaysia. I guess so, if you like Cats. Now I don’t mean the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, I mean cats, like the feline pets.

I guess the word ‘kucing’ means ‘cat’ in Malaysian, so they’ve taken this to a whole new level. Some of the main tourist attractions are these crazy weird, huge cat sculptures.

Kuching is also known for these elaborate (and delicious) layered cakes that can take up to 5 hours to make.

 

There’s interesting, interactive street art throughout the city, and a stunning waterfront with an S-shaped pedestrian bridge crossing the river to an elaborate state assembly building.

Yesterday we took a bus and boat along the South China Sea to Bako National Park.  Our jungle hike finished with views of probiscus monkeys.  We also saw some regular monkeys attacking tourists looting their backpacks. Monkeys are such jerks.

Today we were up early to catch the bus to Semenggoh Nature Reserve, which has an orangutan sanctuary. This was a bucket list checker for me. We were the first people there so had unobstructed views of a 10 year old orangutan feeding until Richie arrived (cue heavy base rap music).

Who’s Richie? He’s the alpha male who is basically the king of the place. When he eats, no one else can. Props to RockyB for some great shots of him.

This afternoon we used our guesthouse bikes to ride along the river. We caught a lot of attention of the locals (even though many of them ride bicycles). Maybe they were just amazed to see how sweaty a human can actually get. We came across an orchid garden on our way back.

 

We’ve been eating a variety of Malaysian, Thai, Indian, and Chinese food and every meal qualifies in the ‘plate licker’ category. Highlights have included a popular breakfast soup called ‘Laksa’ (coconut milk, lemon grass, tamarind, lime, rice noodles) and the unofficial national dish of ‘Nasi Lemak’ (coconut rice with peanuts, salted fish, sambal, hard boiled egg). 3 times in a row Rocky B has been finished her meal before mine even arrives. The pattern seems to point toward a strange type of whitey-treatment. We’re planning some experiments to test this theory, but regardless I’m willing to wait for this delicious food!

 

 

Tomorrow we’re flying to Penang, an island known for it’s street art and street food.
Rock-Awn!

 

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Killin’ KL

The votes have been tallied. It’s official. Our team name is Rock-Awn!

After more than 30 hours of travel Rocky B and I arrived in Kuala Lumpur. It was 6 am in Malaysia so we knew we had a long day ahead of us.

We headed to the Batu Caves, a complex of huge limestone caves that houses Hindu temples.

On a long walk to find the entrance of KL Forest Eco Park, a large park in the city, we stumbled upon our first taste of Malaysia: a super busy local lunch spot of different food stalls. Yum!

We explored the park’s canopy walkway, then made our way to our Air BnB accommodation to have a (much needed) soak in the rooftop infinity pool.

Yep, it’s as awesome as it sounds (and looks).

We managed to soldier through the first day until collapsing into bed just before 8pm.
We woke up feeling much fresher today and crushed the city sites on foot. We started in Little India, exploring fabrics and Chai, then headed to Chinatown. RobO had challenged me to taste durian, so I checked it off of the ‘food bucket list’.  (Un)fortunately it isn’t in season, so I found some (way too expensive) puréed durian, which I think made it much more palatable because there was less olfactory engagement.

We toured Masjid Jamek, a beautiful central mosque along the river. You’ll notice we’re wearing robes to cover our obviously sleazy attire.

We toured some street art and in a moment of exhaustion sat in a cool market area getting a fish pedicure. These fish were much more aggressive than those we had experienced before, which led to one of us nearly hyperventilating and the other flapping her hands rapidly like a child with autism. Any guesses on who’s who? My silky smooth feet are thanking me for calming down and persevering after the initial reaction.

After another soak in the infinity pool we fuelled up with Indian food and headed out for some shots of the Petronas towers at night. There are fountains outside similar to the Belaggio ones in Vegas. After all of today’s walking Rocky turned to me and said “my dawgs are barkin'”. Me too.

Tomorrow we’re flying again. Just a short hop over to the Eastern Island of Sarawak.

 

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Is this the real life, is this just fantasy…

We have finished our safari and took a plane to Zanzibar, a Tanzanian island.

We spent 4 nights in a guesthouse in the village of Jambiani where we spent most of our time relaxing, soaking up the sun, and watching the life on the beach unfold.
During our stay we became friends with the resident dog of our guesthouse.  We named her “Freddy” after her more famous island countryman.  She latched on to us after joining us for a 2 hour walk up the coast on the first morning.
On day 3, we got up before dawn and headed out on a boat tour.
We were supposed to snorkel with the Dolphins but there were a couple of things that made us wary.  First of all there was no guarantee that we were even going to see Dolphins, and secondly we were told that if there were too many boats like ours, that the Dolphins could feel harassed.  The idea was to get out earlier than anyone else, snorkel with some amazing animals and then return to shore.
After 2 hours of motoring around we still hadn’t seen hide nor blowhole of them.

We decided to head back to shore but wouldn’t you know it, along the way we finally ran into some Dolphins…  As did the other 20+ boats that were out that morning.

It was a sight to behold.  The Dolphins would surface, boats would rush in, sun burnt tourists would dive in and the Dolphins would disappear. And repeat.  I actually never did jump in.  I was kind of disgusted with the whole thing.  I’d like to think that the Dolphins were the ones in control. Maybe they enjoyed playing the cat and mouse game.  Regardless, we didn’t want to be part of the gross display of humans and headed for home.
On our final morning in Jambiani, we said goodbye to Freddy and headed to Stone Town, the birthplace of Freddy Mercury.
We enjoyed our time wandering the streets, admiring the amazing buildings, and browsing the shops.
Stone Town is known for its intricately carved doors.
On our final morning we took a spice tour and got to taste all the amazing flavours Zanzibar has to offer.
That’s the end of the 40th birthday holiday part 1.  Stay tuned for part 2, when I surprise DawnO with a trip to… Somewhere in the world!
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The Birds and the Bees and the Lions

We had the opportunity to visit a Maasai village, which turned out to be one giant family, 125 strong. The village leader, his 10 wives, and all of their children live in mud huts and subsist on only blood, milk, and meat, with occasional wheat and lentils. We were greeted by a welcome dance, which RobO got to participate in.

 

We then explored the inside of a mud hut, where the Maasai sleep on cow hides and cook on a campfire.

 

Our tour ended in the kindergarten, where the children ages 3-7 learn basic English and counting before they start walking 10 kilometres to school every day.

The Maasai rely on tourist dollars to be able to pay for essentials like water. It looks like they live a harsh life, but they were very proud of their culture.

After a night at the Rhino Lodge, we started today before sunrise to maximize our last day of safari. I had been most looking forward to the Ngorongo Crater, a volcanic crater that contains 4 different ecosystems. 

 

 

We were counting on seeing a rhino here to complete our ‘Big 5’ and though we saw one, it was very far away. I guess it’s good to leave us wanting more!

 

We continued to see many other animals and were lucky enough to see babies of almost every species.

 

In the Serengeti we had so many amazing lion sightings that I wasn’t sure we were going to top them. That is, until we happened upon the very rare mating time. We saw 3 different sets of lion couples, then witnessed the main event. Here’s how it went:
The lioness started walking with the male following.

 

The cue seemed to be that he would bite her tail.

 

Then… action.

It lasted about 30 seconds.

 

She would roll over and he would smoke a cigarette.

 

About 5-20 minutes later the whole thing would start again.
 
In the end I think we saw 5 or 6 encounters, which started to feel a bit pervy. Our excuse is that at the time Gerald was on the lookout for the elusive rhino.
 

Make no mistake about it, being on safari is not always glamorous. The large majority of our 5 days was spent sitting or standing in the jeep, driving over bone rattling gravel roads (Gerald called this an ‘African massage’). It’s hot, dusty, and tiring, and sometimes there are long breaks between wildlife sightings. But it is absolutely worth it!

 

Tomorrow we’re flying to Zanzibar for some recharge beach time.

 

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Serengeti

The latest chapter in my birthday safari took place in the Serengeti.  I think we were extremely lucky not only to see all the animals we did, but to get as close as we did to most of them.  I had a short list of animals I wanted to see, understanding that it wasn’t guaranteed.  The animals are all wild and could care less who had come to see them.

  As we entered the Serengeti I was pretty concerned that I wasn’t going to see much.  It reminded me of Southern Saskatchewan, a place where you could watch your dog run away for 3 days.  I might see a lion, but would it be worth it if we were half a mile away?  To top it off our guide, Gerald, said that the grass was very high this time of year so it would be tough to spot certain animals.  There went my hopes of seeing my favourite animal, the Cheetah.
  We saw a few of the standards along the way to camp like zebras, giraffes and gazelles, and even some “big 5” animals like buffaloes and elephants.  As I was preparing for disappointment we came upon 13 lions feeding on their latest kill.  This was foreshadowing of things to come.
  We reached camp which was what DawnO called “glamping” because it was quite glamorous to have a flush toilet in our tent.  We also had a hot shower which was quite lovely.  We were in the last tent which meant we were the closest to all the wild night traffic.  Last night a couple of hyenas woke me up because they were messing around outside our tent entrance.  Not to worry, like vampires, they vanish before the sunlight can get them.
Day two in the Serengeti was amazing.  We got up early in the morning to get a head start on the morning light and right away we saw so many beautiful animals within a few feet of our jeep.
  During our afternoon run we finally got to see a Leopard that was eluding us earlier in the day.  If you look closely at the next picture you can see a baby leopard climbing around the tree.  We also watched a lioness feed on a zebra.  Afterwards she walked right past us to get a drink from the nearby watering hole.
This morning we said goodbye to our camp and spent the rest of the morning getting some close-up shots of some exotic animals.  Within the hour we had come across two cheetahs.  They were chilling out under a tree beside the road.
Later, we captured a few more feline close-ups.
   I was recently asked where this trip ranks among all our trips to various places around the world.  Top 3.  And we haven’t even finished the safari.
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Jambo (‘Hello’)

On the highway leading to Tarangire National Park our safari guide, Gerald, was driving slower than most of the rest of the traffic. Safari jeeps filled with excited looking tourists kept passing us. When Gerald sauntered into the building to get our park permits, I could feel my toes impatiently wanting to start tapping. But I soon learned that Gerald’s calm and patience are ideal attributes in a safari guide. Several times we would be looking at animals amongst a group of safari jeeps. The others would drive off looking for the next animal sighting, while we would wait and keep watching. The majority of the time, this paid off, allowing us to see things that were likely missed by the others.

I guess it’s a lot like life. If we rushed through, checking off animal sightings like items on a grocery list, we would have seen lots of animals and birds, but missed the rich experiences: two impala males rutting, the 7 day old baby elephant hiding under the legs of it’s mom, the baby warthogs playing in the mud, and the 2 lionesses in the tall grass.

On a scale of ‘0 to Birthday’, RobO scored day one a solid 40/40. Tired and dusty, we settled into our impressive lodge for the night. We enjoyed a refreshing dip in the pool, an outdoor shower with views of the park, and Maasai men accompanying us to our room after dark to ensure we were not a lion’s next meal.

This morning we watched the sunrise from our patio in the company of 2 dik diks, which are very tiny deer that are a surprisingly strong contender for my fave animal. Next up: Serengeti!

 

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We need to talk about Kevin

DawnO and I turn 40 years old this year.  We decided to plan two week vacations around our birthdays.  We agreed that we would plan each other’s trip and keep the location a secret until a week before departure.  I turned forty last week and finally got the incredible news: Kenya and Tanzania.

We arrived in Nairobi after a long 24 hour journey and got to our accommodation late at night.  In the morning we got to take a look around our place which is one of several cottages in a huge compound.  

Day 1: Giraffe Center
First up was a visit to the Giraffe Center.  In order to do that we decided to try and master the local bus system.  We quickly learned that the Nairobi bus system works almost identically to the Guyanese one (see 2006-2007 blog entries).  There are numerous rickety old vans that blare music, fit as many people inside as possible, and have a “conductor” who takes everyone’s payment and somehow remembers where everyone is going.  The only difference I could see was that the Kenyans obeyed the rules of the road, for the most part.
Once at the Center we were immediately taken by the scene before us.  Ahead of us stood ten giraffes side by side being hand fed by tourists.  Everyone was given a handful of pellets to feed them with.
I will admit, at first we were on a feeding frenzy.  Giving out as many pellets as we could as fast as we could.  Once we settled down we put away our cameras and began to enjoy the experience.  After a while we learned how to hold the pellets so that you didn’t get slimed by their black tongues.  We even  got brave enough to put the pellets in our mouths for a giraffe “kiss”.
We learned that each giraffe had a name and a personality.  The staff would only allow people to turn their back to some of them, but not all of them.  Our favorites were Kelly and Daisy. They were quite gentle and calm.  
Then there was Kevin.  He suffered from short giraffe syndrome.  He was short in stature and on charm.  He enjoyed spitting water on people and head butting humans.  Kevin was a jerk.
Kevin:
Before we left, we took some more pictures and enjoyed the spectacle of it all.
Day 2: David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage
Today we made our way to an Elephant orphanage.  It’s a Center that rescues abandoned elephants and nurses them back to health (if needed).  The goal is to eventually release them back to their wild habitat.
Some elephants have lost their mothers to poachers, others were found trapped in a well after their moms gave up and left them.  Each is named after the region where they were found.  All of them are very lucky to have been rescued.  They said it could take up to 5 years before an elephant is released back into the wild.
In the middle of the presentation, a thirsty warthog barged through the crowd and took a drink from the elephants’ mud hole.  Afterwards he pushed right past DawnO and went about his business in the park.

Later this afternoon we went to a Center that put on traditional tribal dances.  On the way back to our bus we caught these two routing around in the grass.

Tomorrow we catch an early shuttle to Tanzania where we will start our 5 day Safari!  Stay tuned…
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Sin City

RobO’s surprise getaway for me was (drum roll) Vegas! He booked the Cirque de Soleil show ‘O’ which has been on the list for a while. It was excellent.
We spent the majority of our time enjoying good food, watching the Bellagio fountains, people watching, and walking for miles. A shout out to Wahlburgers – we went there twice because RobO loved the GF burger so much.

We visited downtown’s Fremont street and did the 1700 foot ‘superman’ zip line down the length of it. It was as cool as it sounds.

We enjoyed a performance by a ‘king’, and I was lucky enough to catch one of his cheap scarves!

Look who we managed to find! My parents also happened to be there following a drive down the Oregon coast!

On our last night we got tickets to the Michael Jackson Cirque de Soleil show ‘One’. When we arrived we got upgraded from the cheap bleeders to some lower bowl center seats! This was actually my fave Cirque of all the ones we’ve been to. I loved the dancing, effects, and I felt like I learned a lot about MJ.

Of course no trip to Vegas is complete without a few shenanigans…
All in all, we’re not really ‘Vegas people’, but it’s a pretty great place to spend a couple of days once in a while.
Next blog plan: RobO’s 40th birthday trip in Feb!

 

 

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Hasselcough

Our last few days in Berlin have been spent riding bikes around to various points of interest in the city and eating some pretty delicious food.  DawnO got to taste the famous currywurst and said it wasn’t the worst wurst.  She talked me into sampling the fries with curry seasoning, mayo and ketchup.  Yum!

Currywurst

Pomme frites

We spent some time walking along the section of the Berlin Wall that has murals painted along each section.  This walk is known as the East Side Gallery.  It was fascinating to see the artwork in person and realize how large and detailed each mural was.
I have to admit, I always thought this was a picture of Richard Nixon kissing Leonid Brezhnev (the leader of the USSR during the 1970s).  It turns out I was only partially correct.  The guy that looks like Nixon is actually Brezhnev, and the other fellow was Erich Honecker, the general secretary of the Socialist Unity Party (East Berlin).  Originally painted in 1990 and repainted in 2009, ‘The Fraternal Kiss’ is a recreation of a photograph taken of Leo and Richie in 1979.  The caption translates as “My God, help me to survive this deadly love”.

 

The Wall is just another example of how Berlin features the scars of its past as warnings for the future.
Later in the day we visited a relic of WWII that barely survived a Soviet air raid.  Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was almost completely destroyed in April of 1945.  What remains has been restored and new buildings on either side of the church now serve as a place of worship.

The ceiling of the original building.

Inside the newer octagon-shaped church.

We also made our way to the Templehof airport which is no longer in operation.  The city has turned this airport into a giant park where people can walk along the Tarmac, visit the food trucks, and stroll through the fields in between.  They have also designated a portion of the airport as housing for incoming refugees.
All-in-all I enjoyed my time in Berlin.  I will say that it is not the city for me.  I had high expectations after so many people recommended it.  However, the constant barrage of second hand smoke is making me quite nauseous.  I guess I prefer Berlin in smaller doses.
I will leave you with a few more pictures, and will blog again in October when I surprise DawnO with a trip to… stay tuned.