Chiapas 2016

Visitamos chiapas en abril 2016. El clima dejó algo que desear pero tampoco estuvo tan mal.

Llegamos cerca de la media noche a  el aeropuerto de Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Estaba lloviendo y el viaje a nuestro hotel nos pareció eterno. Cuando por fin llegamos yo tenía mucha hambre y ganas de descansar. El chingado hotel tenía una discrepancia en su sistema, así que tras haber reservado en línea con anticipación y con el comprobante impreso en la mano no pudieron  o quisieron hallarnos solución y nos mandaron a volar. Maldita sea su estampa. Como a la una de la mañana caminamos hacia la esquina cargando nuestras cosas en el clima nada agradable del momento y afortunadamente encontramos habitación en otro hotel como a cien metros. En este todo muy bien, especialmente el desayuno que era un buffet con especialidades regionales.

Plaza en Chiapa de Corzo.

Lagos de Montebello. Hermoso lugar.

Momentos antes de arruinar la Gopro al sumergirla sin la protección necesaria.

No recuerdo si aquí es la cascada Velo de novia o si estamos en Agua Azul...

Palenque. Escojan bien su tour si no van por cuenta propia. el nuestro nos llevó tardísimo a Palenque y por poco me abandonan en el baño de un restaurante. Nuestro desayuno buffet hubo que pagarlo a pesar de que se suponía estaba incluido.

Deliciosos huevos motuleños del hotel Villas del Paraíso en San Cristóbal. Muy bien atendidos ahí.

Escaleras en San Cristóbal

BALI 2015: Ubud, Ulun Danu, Tanah Lot, Taman Negara, Rice terraces, Mount batur

Ok, so, on day two of our stay in the impressive city of Ubud, we took a cycling tour we had booked online some two months before our trip. We were really looking forward to it as it the tour provider, "Bali Eco tours" had rave reviews on tripadvisor. It was cheaper than all other tours too (USD $40 per person.)

Here is the itinerary they sent us with annotations based on our experience (in italics.)

Pick up from your accommodation according to time confirmed by our office. - Very punctual and polite. Nice comfortable van.

- Quick photo stop at the famous Ceking rice terraces view.  - We got there soon after picking up the last couple in our party. Beautiful spot. Pictures don't really show how beautiful it is, at least our don't. Sorry.

- Mt. Batur / Lake View Restaurant (Penelokan) to enjoy the amazing view over crater lake Batur &
breakfast buffet.  - Breathtaking view from the balcony. It's a very nice restaurant with international style breakfast buffet. Everything was pretty good.

- Stop at a Balinese herb, spices, fruit, coffee & tea plantation to learn and taste about some tropical
delights. -This was cool, great free sampling of  many delicious types of teas and herbal infusions.

And we saw this guy when we were having our tea:

It was great to see a fruit bat from like three feet away. It looked at us with curiosity and seemed pretty relaxed. But... As we walked into the place they showed us a luwak in a tiny cage. Poor critter didn't look very happy. They feed them only coffee beans so they can harvest item back from their droppings to make that famous luwak coffee which is supposed to be amazingly good. That fucking sucks for the little luwaks. So we didn't try the special coffee despite my being very curious about it. Super expensive in Europe and the US, apparently. Luwaks are like giant ferrets. Here I am carrying one the day after this cycling tour, just outside Taman Negara.

Now, before you go ballistic on me, I did not pay to have these photos taken. We had just parked outside Taman Negara and were getting some satays from a street vendor when this guy walks by with the luwak on a lead. I asked him what it was and he told me it was a luwak and asked me if I wanted to carry it. I did for about a minute, my girl took some pictures and we thanked the guy who kept on walking and didn't ask for anything.

- Bicycle instruction, start of the 25km, mostly downhill ride. Estimated 3hrs. Including educational & cultural stops where the guide will explain about Balinese life, traditions & culture.  - This was freaking amazing. It was mostly downhill as described and the back roads we cycled on were nearly empty. The whole thing was very safe and we were expertly guided by a dude called Edi. We stopped first at a traditional balinese house with its rooms, kitchen and temple, and heard a fascinating description of some of the local customs. Edi's accent was quite strong and my girl had some difficulty understanding him but I pretty much got all he said.Plus he was polite, professional and extremely knowledgeable.

We then stopped at a point in the road with loads of big spiders in the trees above us. The Aussie kid who was cycling next to me was telling me he was a bit "spiderphobic" and next thing you know Edi carefully picks one up from a nearby tree and asks who wants to hold it. I did and after marveling at it for a wee bit i handed it to the spiderphobe's younger brother.

Edi then returned the massive arachnid to his home in the trees and we carried on. 
Not mentioned in the itinerary were a visit to a gigantic banyan tree.

 and a cool stop at a beautiful rice field. This photo I got there reminded me of the cover for Depeche Mode's  "A broken frame."

- “Finish” point for those who had enough & want to go straight to restaurant by car, others can continue.  - The trip on the van at the end of the cycling tour was about twenty minutes I guess. Everything cool. This is the guy who rode a tandem with my nervous girlfriend in the back. This is an option for people who don't cycle very well. They can also travel in the van right behind the bikes. He was awesome just like everybody else in the tour.

for the uphill (more intense) part, about 40 min. -  We skipped this bit and went straight to the restaurant. We were starving!

- Balinese lunch buffet at Pejeng Restaurant.  - This was delicious, traditional buffet in a very nice restaurant.

- After lunch we can either drop you at your accommodation OR at Monkey forrest in Ubud. (If you
choose to be dropped at Monkey Forest Ubud you make your own way back to your accommodation.)  - They dropped us off back at "Sania's house" in Ubud. It was absolutely awesome and I can't recommend these guys enough. The link below is their website.

Awesome cycling and other types of tours

TRIP II: MALAYSIA 2015

KUALA LUMPUR       KL!

Once años pasaron antes de poder volver a  Malasia. Esta vez me acompañó mi pareja y planeamos todo muy bien, así que fue mucho mejor que mi primera vez.

Llegamos a Singapur como a la una de la tarde y tomamos del aeropuerto un camión a Johor Bahru, frontera con Malasia. Barato y cómodo. El recorrido es más o menos de una hora, tal vez 40 minutos. Allí dejas tus cosas en el camión, subes unas escaleras para pasar por migración (cinco minutos y eso que había mucha gente) y bajando te espera el chofer del camión y te deja del lado Malayo, en una estación pequeña en Johor Bahru. De ahí compramos boleto en un camión menos lujoso pero cómodo directo a Kuala Lumpur. El recorrido es más o menos de nueve horas.

El paisaje es increíble y difícil de describir. Muy diferente a lo que he visto en carreteras mexicanas, la tierra es de otro color.

Mas o menos a la mitad del camino paramos para ir al baño y comer algo en el mismo lugar que en mi visita anterior. Ahora tienen una tienda de cosas chinas de distintas calidades y locales con artículos para celular, que al parecer son el nuevo opio de Asia. También puedes comprar frituras y otras golosinas, chicles (prohibidos en Singapur) , dulces chinos y de la India, cigarros, etc. Nosotros comimos un glorioso nasi lemak (arroz con pollo y salsa agridulce con cacahuates, huevo, anchoas fritas y pepino en una hoja de plátano.) debe haber costado 3 o 4 ringgit. Te lo dan en un paquete de hoja de plátano como de la forma y tamaño de un boing de los piramidales.

Regresamos al camión y en unas horas más despertamos entrando a KL. Eran como las dos de la mañana y el camión nos dejó afuera de una estación que ya estaba cerrada. Afortunadamente la esquina estaba a la vuelta de Jalan Petaling, en el corazón de Chinatown, en donde estaba nuestro hotel.

Así se ve de noche. Más temprano hay un gran mercado de comida, piratería y chucherías.

Dejamos las cosas en el hotel y salimos a comer algo. Encontramos un puesto de hamburguesas cerrado pero más adelante un local donde vendían té y banderillas.

Habían banderillas de pescado, pollo, carne, verduras y yo qué sé. No recuerdo lo que comimos pero tomamos agua de coco, creo. Aún a esa hora de la madrugada hacía bastante calor. En la tele veían una película como de Wu xia doblada al malayo.

Esa fue nuestra primera noche en KL. El hotel era éste, el Hotel China Town Inn:

Hotel_China_Town_Inn-Kuala_Lumpur_Wilayah_Persekutuan

Cómodo, limpio y barato. Para mayor detalle ver el link de arriba es mi review en Tripadvisor.com

DÍA 1

SRI MAHAMARIAMMAM

Temprano el primer día salimos a buscar un templo hinduísta que sabíamos estaba a dos cuadras del hotel.  Dejamos los zapatos en el guarda ropa y paseamos dentro por un rato. 

Está muy chingón por dentro y por fuera. Ésta página te dice todo lo que hay que saber.

Sri-Mahamariamman-temple

Saliendo del templo desayunamos en un restaurante que estaba casi enfrente. Fue un baratísimo desayuno buffet con varios curries, idlis, naan, café y té. Estuvo delicioso y todos nos atendieron muy bien.

Después del desayuno paseamos por un mercado cerca de ahí y caminando llegamos a un área que mi mujer llamó"El paraíso de las telas." Por ahí platicamos con dos amables malayos que estaban recolectando firmas para salvar a los últimos tigres de Malasia, que han de ser como 10 o 12. Cuando dijimos que éramos de México nos preguntaron por Chicharito. Es raro que les interese el soccer a la gente por acá ya que en la tele y en los bares ven más que nada carreras fórmula 1.

Nos cayeron muy bien estos muchachos.

Había mucho de comer en el mercado pero acabábamos de desayunar.

De ahí caminamos a Menara Kuala Lumpur, una torre de observación que, como está en una lomita, es más alta que las petronas. Habremos caminado algo más de media hora.

Nuestras cámaras gachas y pobres técnicas fotográficas no hacen justicia a la espectacular vista de Menara KL. Antes de subir vimos un pequeño acuario abajo de la torre por unos ringgits más. El calor estaba muy fuerte.

Al bajar probamos el famoso durian, "rey de la fruta" según los malayos. Sí, le dicen el rey de la fruta y ponen esto afuera de lugares públicos:

En fin. En la tienda había todo de durian, té, café, pan, helado, dulces, chicles, durian seco, congelado... Nosotros le entramos y el de la tienda nos tomó una foto para su FB. Sabe más o menos a basura o a fruta echada a perder con algo de cebolla.

Aquí un par de fotos más de Menara KL. La primera nos la tomaron arriba y me exigieron sonreir. Obviamente me molesté muchísimo.

Las petronas vistas desde el restaurante giratorio de la torre KL. Se ven mejor de noche la verdad.

Saliendo de ahí caminamos hasta que se nos hizo de noche, paramos en un lugar hindú por un lassi (bebida refrescante de yogurt.) Había casi puros chinos en el restaurante, muchos chavos con sus e-cigarretes y chicas en micro shorts y micro tops tomando algo frío.

Al lado del restaurante me compré una gran Tiger (cerveza de Singapur) y me la tomé caminando de regreso al hotel. Pasamos por un rumbo medio gacho y ya era más de medianoche. Pregunté a un transeúnte y nos recomendó tomar taxi pues era un área insegura.

Pero ya estábamos cerca y reconocí el camino así que decidimos continuar y tomar un atajo. Casi llegando al hotel encontré abierto el puesto de hamburguesas de la noche anterior y pedí una. Estuvo buenísima y costó sólo 5.70 ringgit (menos de MXN 25.00.)

De allí directo al hotel para conectar los teléfonos y descansar. Así acabó día uno en KL.

Sandakan trips 2004 and 2017

TRIP I: Sepilok June 2004

I first visited Sepilok in 2004. I've been fascinated with Bornean wildlife since I was 7 or 8, so if I was visiting Malaysia I had to go to Borneo.

I arrived at the small airport in Sandakan at about three in the afternoon and took a van that left me at a bus stop next to a lonely, unappealing area by a dock. There was a small market there. I looked around in it and  locals were actually  pointing their fingers at me and laughing. I wasn't wearing anything weird so I don't know what was going on. Anyway... After a while I got on a van that would get me to Sepilok jungle resort. People were getting off at several different points and after the last person was dropped off I was suddenly alone in the back of the van. It was pitch dark now and we were deep in the jungle.  I wasn't following the conversation the driver and his co-pilot were having because they spoke the local language but I did notice them suspiciously looking at me through the rear-view mirror. I was beginning to get a little nervous. A few minutes later they dropped me off in what seemed to be a random spot in the jungle and I stood looking at the van disappear back into the darkness. I was paralyzed with fear for a moment when I turned around and saw nothing but jungle all around. 

Then at  the last second I saw the lights of the resort some 20 meters away. There were people having dinner outside. I was there! Beautiful place. Easy, friendly check-in and a clean comfortable room. The orangutan rehabilitation center is maybe 100 meters away.

From the resort rehabilitation center next door, go on a tour to Gomantong cave, or head to the apparently amazing Danum valley, or to the Kinabatangan river to catch a glimpse of wild elephants, orangutans, proboscis monkeys, long and pig-tailed macaques, silver and red langurs, tarsiers, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Most tours are quite cheap, and food is reasonable as always in Malaysia. Staff is really nice. 

I saw some kind of small flying squirrel the size of a small hamster maybe. It landed on my room's window and held on to the mosquito net for a bit. It startled me because I thought it was a huge bug at first, but safe behind the net, I had a closer look and noticed it was furry and cute and a lot like a sugar glider, though  I'm not sure they got those there. A baby colugo maybe?

Watch out for tiger leeches. They are pretty to look at in a way but damn! their bite stings. There's brown leeches too but their bite is painless. None of them transmit diseases to humans.

After seeing a young orangutan and some macaques at the center's breakfast platform I got a 10 ringgit extra ticket to see the last red Sumatran rhinos, all two of them, which were kept at a special isolated pen a short distance away from the main feeding platform. I was carrying ridiculous, super heavy WWII-style binoculars but an Australian who was going the same way lent me hers for a minute, to have a better look at a bug that had flown from one tree to another. Her tiny binoculars were way better than mine and I could see very clearly it wasn't a bug. It seemed to be just a beautiful little lizard but then it opened its tiny "wings."

It's really a remarkable little guy. Beautiful, vivid colors.

After failing to see any rhinos ("they're shy" we were told) The Aussie proposed a walk to the birdwatching tower somewhere in the area. We walked for ten minutes or so and she was picking up spiders and stuff and showing them to me before carefully returning them to where they were.  We got to the bird-watching tower and were admiring the area when I realised we were in a sort of clearing in the forest and the floor was covered in tiger leeches. I mean 5 per square foot, easy. We got away from there and the Aussie went her own way. I came back to the resort and sat next to some brits on a bridge. We were chatting when I felt a bite in my ankle. I though it had been a mosquito or a small spider but when I opened my boot and removed my sock there was a big fat tiger leech feasting on my blood.I tried to flick it off with my finger but it hardly noticed my feeble attack. I didn't know that they are totally disease free so I wanted it gone ASAP. I borrowed a lighter and went medieval...

It let go of me soon after I put the flame to it. When it fell to the ground I squashed it with my mighty boot.

The creature rolled away spurting a tiny bit of my blood, unharmed, and jumped into the river. Indestructible, nasty little thing. The pain went away quickly and there was no itchiness but it did take a while to heal, considering what a tiny bite it was. This is of course because of the leech's anticoagulants which it injects when biting.

I spent two more nights there and left Borneo with a good taste in my mouth. The thickness of the jungle, the amount of wildlife and exotic plants and the cacophony of sounds coming from the forest were amazing. Sadly,  when I  came back in april 2017 the jungle was mostly gone, along with so much wildlife.

TRIP II: Kinabatangan and Sepilok April 2017

This time I stayed at the slightly more adventurous Nature lodge Kinabatangan, a few hours away from Sandakan. It is by far the cheapest option for wildlife tours in the area. Clean, with helpful staff and comfortable rooms. Food wasn't that great but never bad.

There was a scorpion with me in the shower on day two. I respect arachnids as much as I can but a scorpion near my feet in the shower is a big no no. The bottom of the shampoo bottle took care of it. Later that day, a huge beautiful beetle lounged on the oversized toilet roll.

 There were loads of different colorful lizards in the garden outside the rooms and lots of tupayas in the trees. I nearly cried when I saw the little bastards as I really wanted to see them in 2004 and had no luck. I saw one in Sarawak at Semenggoh with my girl in 2014 but it avoided our cameras. At least the lizard below is actually my photo.

 On the early morning boat rides we saw macaques, proboscis monkeys, langurs, a couple monitor lizards, a saltwater crocodile, an oriental darter bird, a couple of different Rhinoceros bills and a pretty big eagle. No luck with orangutans nor elephants this time around.

From here on it's all my actual crappy photos.

 In the jungle walk we did we saw an orangutan nest, evidence of elephants and bears and lots of interesting bugs too. Mud was knee-deep in some areas. Our guide kept rushing us and when we asked him to take it easy he told us we were just too slow. We weren't, I have a feeling he had a schedule to keep and started late or something. He was fine apart from that.

The sad part of all of this was the way back to Sandakan. It was about two hours of fucking palm oil plantations as far as the eye could see, on both sides of the road. This was all jungle when I first visited in 2004. Sabah has killed its own unique rainforest for money. It is truly heartbreaking to see the extent of the devastation. I left Borneo feeling a little sad and vowing never to come back to Sabah. Except maybe to see the famous Danum valley before it disappears.

I'm hoping to get back to the much better kept Sarawak sometime.