Phitsanulok

Phitsanulok was a stop that had a couple things to offer. Pig heads for example.

The following photos are from two temples in the town.

Walking home we were invited to have a drink by some guys who had been sitting there having a drink since 11 am.

Pancake vendor.

Kho Phi Phi

Koh Phi Phi was a place I wanted to go to because I was in southern Thailand and if you're in Thailand you should at least go to one island. The best part of this island was Witold, a giant of a man in heart, soul and size. He's the reason we're heading to China and the reason I liked Phi Phi even though it rained all day.

Basically the only time I bothered with my camera was on the hike to the hill. There you have it in all it's glory.

Karbi

One way of getting to Koh Phi Phi was via Karbi where there was bugs to eat, clothes to buy and fishermen fishing.

The top left I tried, as well as another one... skipped the cockroaches that are the width of your palm though.

Regular meats or so you think.

Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands are in the center of peninsular Malaysia and due to their altitude enjoy a temperate climate. We took advantage of this to go for a three hour hike and ended up near the village below.

After the hike we decided to take the local bus a few kilometers to get to the "Mossy Forest". When the bus drop us off we asked, "when does the bus come back?" the answer was, "never". This kid in the picture below was in full muslim garb (head scarf, etc) and got off at the same stop we did. We don't know where she went but we were able to watch her for a while and there was nothing in sight. I imagine that each day she walks a few miles to get a bus for school and then has to walk the same distance later to get home. Her backpack must have weighed as much as she did.

Due to the climate here tea is a big crop. These are tea plantations many hill sides.

For some perspective here we passed the cluster of buildings in the lower right after an hour of walking once the bus let us off. All up hill, I'm pretty sure we covered 10 km just to get to the forest. Later we counted out what we actually hiked and the total was close to 30 km in about 10 hours.

Harvesting of the tea. They fill bags and then throw them down the hill. They bounce off the tops of the tea trees as they fall and hopefully no one is below.

This sign post gave us both a sense of accomplishment and despair. "T. Rata" was where we were staying, the bus took us 5 km so we had by this point, not including the morning hike, walked 10 km uphill and we still hadn't reached our goal.

Basically the mossy forrest.

Once we actually went in it was a little less than expected. But we did see monkey cups. These flowers collect water and monkeys are known to drink from them. Everything was covered with moss but the path was well tread from all the tours. Yes, you can take a tour there but what's the fun in that. As for the moss... well it was like at home but thicker.

Ipoh

From Melaka to the Cameron Highlands a necessary stop was Ipoh. We spent one night and half a day there on our way to the Highlands a full day on the return. There are a few sights to see, and more if you get a local guide. We didn't have a guide on our first visit and we didn't have much time anyway so what you see here is the result of a bus ride to the outskirts of town to see the largest cave temple complex in Malaysia. The Batu complex which I read was a Buddhist temple but like most Chinese temples here it seems to be a mix.

Candles and offerings are burnt, all of which give off a dark acidic smoke. The colour of the roof is a result of this.

You can actually see the soot peeling from the ceiling of the cave.

There were a number of little figurines lining a wall, here are two.

The one below had a face coming out of his stomach... first thing to my mind was Total Recall's Kuato.

A woman at payer.

On our return we ended up getting full tour of the town by a guide who just wanted to. He refused to let us even cover the cost of gas or buy him food, in fact he bought us food and drinks. The only thing we had to do as it turns out is to listen to his attempt to convert us to Christ. I wish a monk would try the same.