Island Time, Ready or Not

Everyone says the monsoon isn't over until a couple of weeks after Chinese New Year. But Kapas Island was mostly open and we were itching to get out there. We also have a new 'Fellow' to show around.

We got up way too early, and arrived in Marang with plenty of time to spare. Wandering around the market, I picked up a few snacks to try.

 I love the way they do them up in plastic bags with plenty of air to stop them being crushed. (I just hope they don't blow in the bags to fill them with air!) What is it? Well, the green things are little cakey things, sort of moist and jellyish, with coconut. The yellow things are corn kernels - sort of bigger and softer than you'd expect - with coconut (didn't really like them much!). The pink things are jelly, pink colour but no real flavour and hardly sweet at all, rather too firm ... with coconut.

While we were waiting on the jetty for the boat across to the island, we saw an unusual disturbance in the shallow estuary at low tide.

The local people told us it was 'memerang' - which is Malay for 'otter'. We watched him chewing away on a fish he caught. We were a bit surprised, thinking otters were cold weather animals.

We had chosen to travel in one of the bigger ferries - not being sure how Linda would feel about smashing along in a speed-boat. We were glad of it with the waves being a bit bigger than they usually are later in the season.

We had also chosen to stay in the resort we always used to stay in - called 'Pak Ya' (Uncle Ya). Unfortunately, with the departure from the island last year of our old friend Zai, the place has become fairly run down.

So we ended up walking down to the next bay to the resort known as "KBC" (Kapas Beach Chalets) for our meals.

This resort restaurant has a polished wooden floor, and varnished wooden tables!

AND it is a lovely place to relax and read a book. Quite civilised and pleasantly western! (That's Linda on the sofa. I'm sitting at one of the tables further back.)

We'll go back out in a couple of weeks. (Next weekend we have to present at a conference down in Kuantan, four hours drive from here.) And we are planning to stay at KBC this time.

The weather was cloudy, and pleasantly cool, and as soon as we got back the wind and the rain started up again - the monsoon isn't quite over. Hopefully it will be by next time.

CNY - back to the Island, and a local Wedding

It's Chinese New Year - time for a few days off work. If we were in China there would be brilliant fireworks exploding all around ... but here they are mostly illegal so it is just the young chap in the house behind our building throwing crackers out of his window periodically (all through the night).

We were waiting for Chinese New Year because that's when it is normally expected that the Monsoon will end and after CNY is when the Kapas Island Resorts usually open. We phoned and found that some were still closed, but at least one was open already!

So we went to Qimi Resort - the most expensive on the island. They sent a boat for us - the usual boat services were running but on a fairly minimal schedule. The tide was exceptionally low, which made boarding the boat from the jetty on the mainland a little tricky ... but reaching the beach on the island was impossible. They had to tie the speed-boat to a buoy out past the reef in the deeper water, and we clambered across into a small dinghy, and then we scraped our way across the coral to the beach. (Later in the day, even that was impossible.)

At Qimi resort the huts are mostly built up in the trees. A couple of the huts built at ground level recently showed signs of white ant activity and had to be torn down - the workers were 'frantically' rebuilding them (take that word in a Malaysian island context ...!) because they had booked some people into them in a couple of days.

 (Evidence of frantic activity ... chuckle!)

Anyway, we were up in the trees in a charming villa called "Orchid".

This is one of the older villas, with all sorts of little artistic quirks - such as these beautifully varnished rough-bark railings, on which you can still see where there used to be a jungle vine twisted around the wood. Of course, you wouldn't be wanting to take a toddler up to the balcony with those spaced-out bars. Unfortunately when they were building the cement steps up to the villa they started off generous (large, shallow steps) and gradually realising their mistake so that by the time you get to the top the steps are barely big enough to get a foot onto and so tall they were up to my knees! Us oldies had a bit of a struggle getting up and down - going up on all fours and coming down backwards!!

Our experience on the island previously has taught us that there is usually a brief period every evening and morning when the mosquitoes are merciless - but (whether because of the trees or just different this year) here the mozzies kept it up all night. Our villa was equipped with a mozzie-net - unusual around here, I've never seen them in the shops. It seemed like a nice idea, except once inside, even with the pedestal fan blowing full force, it was like being inside a plastic bag with no movement of air whatsoever.

We did manage to clamber down the steps for a nice long dip in the briny.

Each of the villas in Qimi resort is different and full of quirky little artistic touches, all from the mind of Jackie.

This chap loves to show people around and explain how he has used local bits and pieces in the creation of these masterpieces. He was telling us how the remains of a carcass of a large ocean mammal had washed up on the island during the monsoon -  very smelly, but legally he couldn't touch it. When we mentioned about the very valuable ambergris (from inside whales) which people have found on the beach and made their fortunes ... he got a funny look on his face, like he knew he had seen some but couldn't remember where he threw it away.

Time for a Wedding

 We had to get back to the mainland because we had a wedding to go to. Two boatloads of people had just arrived from the mainland and had to be ferried across the reef in the tiny dinghy, and then there were food supplies to be ferried, and then they ferried us out to the waiting speed-boat. The ocean was glassy-smooth and the trip across was sheer pleasure, but when we got back to the jetty we were so far below the bottom step I had to clamber up on my knees with helping hands all around. We dropped into the local public loo and slipped into some better clothes and headed off to the wedding of the only daughter of one of our friends at work.

 Peter with Dzaki, our colleague whose daughter was getting married.

 The pavillion where the wedding took place.

 Excitement mounts as the groom arrives in traditional garb - including a kris (ceremonial sword).

 The bride and her entourage come out to meet him.

The lovely couple - they match!

 Some meeting and greeting going on, general shuffling around (me not looking like part of the crowd!)

 The procession up the red carpet to the dais where they will sit.

Bringing up the rear, our rhythm group from the IPG.

Yep, Malaysian style wedding - bit different from Australian!

Malaysian Food - Yum (?)

It's often a little embarrassing when people here ask us what we think of Malaysian food (a subject very close to their hearts!) because:

• firstly we can't handle anything with chili (and Malaysians loooove to use lots of chili) 
• and secondly every meal comes with a lot of rice which, frankly, is bad for us diabetics.

However, there are lots of wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables available in this delightful climate! And we like that very much.

And then we have discovered catfish!

They are really not much to look at, are they? And so it is not at all obvious how totally delicious they are!

At first they appear to be ugly and very bony. But the way that they fry them up in the IPG canteen, all but the biggest main bones and the rock-hard skull are totally munchable.

Word has got around that we not only won't eat them when they are cooked with chili, but we are also very weird because we like to eat "just fish" without rice.

It has become a bright spot in the middle of our work day!

Kathmandu? Kathman-DONE it!

The first step to get out of Kuala Terengganu is always flying to Kuala Lumpur - so we are getting used to that. We took an evening flight, intending to stay over in KL and catch the morning flight to Kathmandu.

There is always the choice of two airlines: - Malaysian Airlines (full price, full service airline, landing at KL International Airport with miles of corridors) or Air Asia (low cost airline, landing at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal 'LCCT'). As we often do, we chose Air Asia ... paid extra for luggage (but still cheaper then MAS) and happy to land at LCCT - it's a very compact airport with International and Domestic all in the one building and generally (as airports go) nice and efficient. But we didn't allow for the other cost-cutting measure - Air Asia always uses mobile stairs instead of the tunnel into the airport.

Worried passengers stuck on the misty plane

We landed in KL in the middle of a massive thunderstorm, and the ground staff refused to bring out the stairs because of the lightning, leaving us stranded on the plane for nearly an hour with frustrated passengers, crying children, and the cabin filling with mist from the air-con. They finally let us off at the back of the plane, handing each passenger a huge, opened, red umbrella for the last few metres from the bottom of the steps to the undercover walkway. Just managed to catch a taxi to our hotel before 12 midnight (when the price rises by 50%!).

Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu

As we came down the stairs from the plane in Kathmandu, we were all required to climb aboard a bus (the kind you stand up in) and then they drove us about 50 metres to the entrance hall. Everyone was still chuckling about that as we joined the huge queues for visas ... that's a few hours of my life I won't get back! Slooooooow process, and apparently no way around it.

Tour Guide
As we finally emerged a chap with a beaten-up van grabbed our luggage and assured us he knew where the Shanker Hotel (pronounced 'Sanker') was. To our surprise a young man jumped into the front of our taxi and rode with us, explaining that he works for a crowd called "Mosaic Adventures".

A good place to get a tour guide

We were actually quite pleased to meet him because we had been planning to find out about some tours.

Hotel Shanker
And so our new guide mentioned to us that as the traffic was bad near the airport, we would be taking a back-streets route for the 7 kilometres to Hotel Shanker. Immediately the van dived off the side of the road and we were immediately bouncing across rocks and through muddy potholes amongst dogs, cows and people scurrying about their business beside a slimy-grey rubbish-strewn river, and then following a twisting route through narrow, sometimes all or partly-paved streets full of cars, trucks, motorbikes and pedestrians.

Here are some of the sights (we didn't take any pics in the really rough parts!).

Vege stalls

Family business selling all sorts of things

Pedestrians, motorbikes, rough road

A road divider made of wire between cement bollards - effective enough.

Lots of little shops, and lots of steps

women and children

A cake shop maybe

Bright colours to attract attention

Hand woven materials. Bicycles carrying odd loads.

Electrical system. Advertising. English classes.

Face masks because of the dust.

(Yesss ... reminds us of China in some parts!)

So many times it seemed impossible for vehicles to squeeze past without scraping or bumping - and yet they did, and none of the pedestrians or livestock were damaged.  It's amazing how far 7 km can be at those speeds, and while we were fascinated by the sights and smells, it was a pleasure to reach our hotel after about half an hour.

Shanker Hotel

This magnificent old Hotel (beautifully kept, though) was once a palace.

Our room ...

Room 719

 The courtyard ...

Hotel courtyard

Hotel corridors

The eyes are everywhere ...

Decorations all along hallways etc.

First Day Wander
So on our first day, Mosaic sent a car for us and took us to their office to discuss what we wanted to do. We told Raj that we didn't want to see any temples (yes, really!), and he insisted that we should see maybe just one, so we agreed to that (but obviously this information wasn't passed on to the tour guide). We asked for three days of tours, and he advised us that five places around Kathmandu were worth seeing in those three trips. We paid for a nice car, driver, and a tour guide.

Then we went for a wander by ourselves.

Seller of plasticware. Kids ready for school.

 We saw people selling all sorts of interesting (and brightly coloured) things.

Some sort of large fried food.

 There were foods we had never seen before.

My purple yak wool scarf. (No, not from a purple yak.)

 It was a little bit chilly, so I bought a yak-wool scarf.

Trinkets for the tourists

We came to a square where they insisted that we pay to enter. A young chap attached himself to us, informing us that today was very special because we could actually get to see the 6-year-old girl they call "the Living Goddess". He would not take no for an answer, but finally moved away in dismay when I impressed upon him that I didn't want to see his goddess.
 As always, there were lots of trinkets for the tourist to buy.

Taj bakery!

And then we saw something to remind us of home and family! (grandson Taj)

New Hand Bags!

Back at the hotel, I rummaged through the several little shops that are attached to the hotel.

Every time I had nearly decided he would present something new!

There were so many nice little bags and stuff!

THIS is my bag.

Yeah, this one has an 'Apple' motif on it (unlike the others with Buddhist symbols) and has a pocket that fits my iPad perfectly.

Trips around Kathmandu

First, a sumptuous breakfast in the hotel's "Kailash" dining room. (It used to be a palace, remember?)

White and gold designs in the dining room

Raj, the Mosaic Tours chappie, suggested that we should get up at 4am and head off up int the foothills to catch the sunrise over the distant Himalayas ... we declined, and probably just as well because the murk over and through Kathmandu was as bad as it gets. So we went to some cultural centre first, a chance to see how people live ...

Our guide, Neermul, a keen Hindu, was keen to explain about all of the temples.

Neermul showing us temples

We paused briefly in the explanations for a posed piccie.

Tourists

 There were people going about their daily business, and constuction/destruction causing dust. This area was unusual with consistent paving underfoot.

People going about their daily business

 In a sunny courtyard they were making ... well like piggy-banks except they weren't piggies. Each one had a neat little slot for inserting coins.

Money boxes

 The little old lady was trying to mend one of the black ones (not yet fired, I guess) with tiny daubs of black clay

Creating the money-pots

 which she was grabbing from the guy with the spinning wheel.

Hand-driven pottery wheel

It's always fascinating to see the children at play in a place like this.

Children in the market place

 We watched this chap using a long stick to get his wheel spinning (just weren't quick enough with the camera) and realised these are not electrically powered.

Making the pots

 Kids on the way to school ... our guide on his phone ...

School kids

 These weird vehicles always fascinated us in China.

pushe-pullyou tractor thingy

It's better than one of those Dutch paintings with people doing all sorts of things.

Everyone doing something

Tiny streets interspersed with sunny courtyards, and everywhere busy busy people.

Narrow streets

And then of course there were (several) temples.

Another temple

And then our guide led us into the "Peacock" paper-making factory.

The Peacock:

The peacock

 There were some workers creating various hand-made papers.

Hand-made paper

 This is the gooey stuff they start with.

Paper goo

But the interesting part was when we had wound right through the building and up a series of tiny staircases, until we found ourselves on the sunny roof-tops.

Rooftop world

There's a whole new city up here on the roof - all over the place there are people involved in all sorts of activities ... enjoying the weak sunshine!

Rooftop balcony

Out on her balcony drying the clothes.
Gardening in pots, drying vegetables.

Rooftop gardening and drying food

Chatting in the sun, drying rice

 You can see the lady laying out her rice to dry.

And further back, these two having a chat in the sunshine.

Staring man

 This chappie didn't move a muscle the whole time we were there.

Still staring

He just kept on staring ... I guess he's seen a tourist or two in his time.

And can you see the tiny person on the horizon?

 We first noticed her because she was dancing, having a great time out there in the sun on the roof!

Dancing girl

 And then we came down from the roof-tops and walked back through the narrow streets.

Vegies to sell

There was a family selling their produce.

School

 Some kids in school.

Craft for the ederly

A gathering of the elderly making crafts to sell.

 Head for the Hills

So then we got back into our big black car with the 'Tourist Only' sign in the back to head into the foothills and look for some distant mountains.

Just driving up the winding narrow road was an adventure, and there were so many people and vehicles to see on the way.

Terraced fields

The hillsides, of course, are terraced for farming. The rice straw is carefully stacked to use as animal fodder.

Stacks of rice straw

There were various types of homes.

Farm House

 Many of them appear unfinished.

House and shanty

 Very commonly they were several storeys tall (with the all-important roof-top!) on a small base.

Tall house with rooftop garden

Everywhere there are road-works in one form or another, largely with manual labour - such as this chap carrying a basket on his back, we saw them shovelling sand or cement into these baskets to carry it. In some places the road workers looked very young, or very old.

Road construction

We had to stop because this country bus was loading passengers (some of them onto the roof of the bus!) in the middle of the steep windy road.

Bus pick-up

 At one stage we crawled past a bus (we were going up and the bus was coming down), and I could see a curious goat's head peering around the back of the bus. I thought it must be tied onto the back of the bus where we (used to) hang prams and pushers ... But as the bus went past I realised the goat's head was sticking out of where the tail-lights should have been. I guess the rest of the goat was in the boot of the bus - these buses seem to have the engine at the front.

So finally we reached the hilltop and stopped for tea and sandwiches.

Tea with a view

The air was too murky (dusty) to actually see the distant mountains, but it was a nice view.

Hillside villas

Another Trip

We had seen Buddhist temples, now we had to see Hindu temples - despite our tour manager's promise that there would only be one temple!

Our clearly Buddhist guide, Neermul, seemed just as keen to go to the Hindu temple and explain everything.

Hindu Temple

 We couldn't actually go right into the actual temple part because we weren't dressed properly.

Warning sign

 There were lots of images - this one, if I remember, is Garuda.

Garuda

 But I was busy turning around looking at these men carrying chickens in baskets.

Chicken transport

 We saw a number of these watering places, and they were all dry. This was the only one that had water

Queuing for water

 and queues of people with pots to fill.
It is an arty district, with lots of budding artist selling their wares.

Art for sale

 Doorways in these parts seem to be exceptionally small.

Lots of little doors

 Lots more statues of ugly 'gods'.

 Oh, and the water queue is growing.

Still queuing for water

See the Mountains
Finally we left and drove up into the foothills again.
This time the air was a little clearer, and we could see the distant mountains!

A view of the mountains

It was a nice place to sit and drink some Nepalese spiced tea. With the chill in the air, the tea instantly forms a skin!

Spiced tea

Peaceful spot for tea with a view

Nice tea. Great view . So peaceful sitting there listening to the sounds of the hillside villages - someone somewhere was playing some music, and there were cows mooing and goats bleating ...

The Monkey Temple

Another temple - that's right! But you have to see the Monkey Temple!

We were very glad of our big black "Tourist Only" car, rather than climbing the endless stairs - both of us were experiencing some knee soreness after a few days in Nepal! Well, monkeys sounded like fun - although in Malaysia monkeys are generally feared and avoided because they are vicious and mean.

Get a coin in the pot for good luck

 There is a pool that people like to throw coins into - if you can get it into the little pot there then of course you get extra good luck.
But Nepalese rupees are generally counted in hundred and thousands - 1000 rupees is roughly $10 - so there is not much call for coins in normal life. The little lady was selling coins for people to throw.

Buy your coins here (and candy floss)

 And there were monkeys everywhere.

Monkey temple

 The little ones, of course, were quite cute!

Baby monkey

 Mostly monkeys and people ignore each other - although some people occasionally feed them, and we did see one lady have something snatched by a mean monkey.

Family of monkeys

 This monkey was playing in the electrical tangle, while a dog on the ground barked at it and a man teased them both.

Monkey mischief

 The Monkey Temple is on top of a hill.

Murky view of Kathmandu

 Great views of Kathmandu when the murk clears!

All kinds of 'prayers'

 At this temple and the other 'stupa' we went to (yes, they dragged us to yet another!) there are always lots of people praying. Lighting candles, turning prayer wheels, ringing bells, and hoisting strings of coloured prayer flags with written prayers on them.

 A really big prayer wheel like this one gets many thousands of prayers said ore quickly.

 And of course there are bigger and bigger bells too.

And cute babies and kids everywhere.

Flag sellers are everywhere too, wanting people to buy sets of prayer flags and string them up to flutter in the breeze.








Riverside Cremation

Neermul was keen for us to see where the dead are cremated. (I think this is Hindu, can't remember for sure.)

Preparing the body

Down by the greasy grey river which scarcely flows it's so chocked up with garbage. The deceased relative's body is being cleansed and prepared (you can see it under the sheet on the bank).

Many little temples

 On the other side of the river people are meditating and meeting with priests to commemorate a year since their relative was cremated here. There are lots of little buildings which are all temples - Neermul couldn't explain it, he said they just kept building them and didn't now when to stop.

The gathered mourners

The body is taken down to the water's edge. Neermul said they have to put food and water in the mouth. Relatives nearby and on the balcony above are weeping loudly.

Cremation site

The river that takes it all away

Finally the body is taken further down the riverside where there are special platforms and a priest will built a fire. The ashes, of course are then put in the greasy grey river ...







Out on our own
After 3 days of Neermul and his temples, we were glad to have a couple of days to wander around by ourselves!

About a kilometre from our hotel is the district of Thamel, the main tourist zone.

Street in Thamel

 Here you can buy all the touristy stuff - shawls, hand-woven clothes, camping and trekking gear (for climbing Mount Everest), trinkets ...

Fresh produce in Thamel

 You can also get good stuff - like really fresh veges ... although anything outside for too long quickly gets covered in that grey dust.

Two shops we don't have in Australia!

There are some unusual and interesting shops ... and people!

People

The streets are narrow and congested with a mix of pedestrians, cars, motorbikes and tri-shaws ... and sometimes even buses grinding past each other and honking (politely).

Thamel traffic

There was a tri-shaw permanently  parked in our hotel driveway, and the driver was very persistent about wanting to give us a ride to a restaurant - oh, why not, it might be fun! He refused to give us a price, just whatever is fair he suggested, complaining that he hadn't had a fare all day.

Well, these things are not built for two people - especially large Westerners! - and the guy was 67 years old, small and wiry. As we headed out into the dusty, speeding, honking traffic on the main road, the hotel guard had to give him a bit of a push - and then we were out there amongst the trucks and buses with our little man grunting and puffing. It was amusing! And ... all slightly downhill.

He stopped in Thamel, and when we offered us a reasonable 200rupees he insisted on 500. Rather than fussing, we paid. He then really wanted to show us a restaurant, and also insisted that he would wait for us and take us back to the hotel at 7pm - we kept saying 'no', but he wouldn't leave us alone until we said 'maybe'.

Candle ready - for when the power goes off

 We walked away from the restaurant he suggested, and went up to one of the many rooftop ones.

Restaurants always light a candle at the table - not because it's romantic, but because the power will go out at least once during the meal.

Killroy restaurant

 There are all sorts of interesting restaurants tucked away in the back streets and on the rooftops.

Lady with dyeing to do

 This lady right next-door to the back street restaurant seemed to be dyeing wool for some craft work.

More spiced tea

We had some spiced Nepalese tea, and looking down the menu felt that a croissant with cheese and ham might be a same lunch to order...

Ham and cheese croissant??

Well ... A croissant isn't always a croissant as we know it! The little decoration on the side is sliced apple - quite nice, but didn't really help with the dryness. Even after another cup of tea I had to leave most of it.








And THEN we found La Dolce Vita - great little Italian restaurant! Upstairs, indoors, and real Italian food (or close to).

La Dolce Vita - great little Italian restaurant in Thamel

 A little oasis in the craziness of Kathmandu streets, with interesting views of the street below.

View from La Dolce Vita

Time to go home to Malaysia!

Well that was the longest week I can remember!

We booked a taxi at our hotel, and were a little nonplussed when one of the tiny street taxis showed up ... the driver calmly popped our one big suitcase onto the roof-rack and climbed in. We asked him about tying it down, and he just shrugged. With those bumpy roads we were a little concerned but ... off we went. At one stage the driver did put his arm out and feel to make sure it was still there! I caught sight of our shadow, and was most relieved to see our luggage-bump still up there!

back at the airport

 At the airport we had, once again, to queue for a very long time to get our passports stamped. And the security check queues were massive - I got patted down three times in the course of the process.

But finally we were on the plane, and in the air. Raj at Mosaic had been very keen for us to take a plane trip over Everest and we said we may as well watch the movie.

But now we could see the mountains from our plane. Magnificent!

View of Himalayas from the plane

So that was that! Been to Nepal, Kathman-DONE it!