… no, not that Black Forest – this one was only black because it was dark, very dark. It was a night walk held at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, and our volunteer guide was a self-confessed snake addict. Here he is holding his special snake stick – – I thought it was for…
Author: Louisewp2016
A quandary …
What do you do when your guide on a walking tour turns out to be an obsessive nose-picker – – and then, when you get to a steep step down onto a narrow path between two rice paddies – – he offers you his hand? Do you … a) say breezily, ‘no thank you, I’m…
Bali Highs and Bali Lows
After a 3-day weekend with a jaunt to Java last week, I had a 4-day weekend this week … gotta love the Malaysian public holidays! I decided to make the most of my time off with a trip to Bali, as it’s just a hop and a skip from KL on Air Asia, and a…
Me and you and a cat named Lou
If there’s one thing you have to do in Java, it’s indulge in a cup of coffee – And I decided to try coffee luwak, or civet coffee as it’s called in English. Civet coffee is the foie gras of Asia … some people are willing to pay up to £60 for a cup, while…
The Triangle of Life
I’ve seen The Lion King, so I’m up to speed on the Circle of Life but, never having lived in an earthquake zone, the Triangle of Life was new to me. Luckily my hotel room in Yogyakarta, Java last weekend had a very helpful guide – Unfortunately there was no large chair or sofa in…
Being Intrepid – some successes and a failure
A perfect night to head off into the jungle to see fireflies – “In a minute, you will see like Christmas tree,” our guide said. And she wasn’t wrong – all the mangrove trees lining the river were filled with tiny twinkling lights. I tried to photograph them, but just got a completely black picture.…
When my heart nearly stopped in Borneo
I’ve been on a jungle trekking expedition in Sabah – the furthest outpost of Malaysia, way out on the eastern edge of Borneo. We spent our time either cruising down the river looking for wildlife, or manfully hacking our way through the jungle on what were euphemistically termed ‘jungle walks’. I managed to rip two…
East is East …
Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet … … Well, Rudyard Kipling had obviously never been to Malaysia, is all I can say. One of the things I shall miss most – OK, the one thing that I will miss the most – when I leave KL is…
On a journey to enlightenment, also involving chicken feet
One astonishing fact about Malaysia is that there’s only one place in the whole country where it’s legal to gamble. It’s astonishing because this is a country with 6.6 million Chinese inhabitants, and the Chinese love to gamble. So why the government isn’t cashing in on this and setting up casinos in every town, I…
A week of firsts …
After a while, once you get used to your new surroundings, even somewhere as different as Malaysia can seem a bit same-old, same-old. So it was very exciting last week to do a whole host of new things. For starters, I went into Chinatown and had my first ever frog porridge – I have to…
Updates from the chalkface
And another riveting English lesson gets under way … I was rather disappointed that my new pupil, Gladys, didn’t turn up for class on Saturday. I pictured her with her hair in rollers and a mop in her hand, looking rather out of place amongst the eight-year-olds in the class. And then she didn’t even…
A handbag?
Mahathir, Malaysia’s new prime minister, turned 93 this week, while his wife is a sprightly 92. But his impending century has not lessened his determination to expose the corruption of his predecessor, Najib, and Najib’s extremely unpopular wife, Rosmah. The whole country has been agog at the details emerging during the search of their home.…
Shopping … Malaysian-style
Shopping in Malaysia can be a frustrating experience; customer service is an unknown concept, and it’s not unusual to be ignored in a shop while the many, many assistants all stand around glued to their phones. I’m afraid that this attitude brings out the Mem Sahib in me, and I march up to one of…
Katy Perry warmed the seat for me
It’s a wonderful thing when your children become independent, start to lead more interesting lives than yours ever was, and then invite you to tag along from time to time. That’s how Anthony and I got ourselves invited to a wine-tasting at Berry Brothers and Rudd last Friday – to be tutored by Olivia –…
You know you’re in England when …
… a story about criminal damage to an artichoke patch – – is not from a Wallace and Gromit film, but is actually on the BBC – I popped home to England for a brief visit last week for the first time in a year, and revelled in the things that are so different to…
On the trail of the headhunters in Sarawak
How about this for the entrance to a national park? We arrived by boat, and waded from the shallows up to the beach in gloriously warm water I couldn’t understand why nobody was swimming, until our guide explained that the waters here are home to crocodiles – and the saltwater crocodile is the largest living…
Sarawak: the David Beckham monkey
I’ve always seen myself as an urban creature; like the town mouse I prefer a life of feasting and uncertainty to dull simplicity. Whilst a brisk walk in the countryside is lovely on a sunny day, I’ve never been one for nature-spotting – I’m quite happy to leave that to twitchers, whale watchers and David…
It’s that time of year again… Ramadan
Ramadan is here again. If you hadn’t realised, you’d soon find out when you tried to get anywhere on the roads from 5 – 7 pm and found them all jammed solid, as people dash home to get ready to break their fast at the appointed time – 7.21 pm today in KL, after an…
Happy Birthday to me …
I had a jolly spiffing birthday yesterday – Although there was one rather strange moment at work where we all sang Happy Birthday and had cake. What’s so strange about that? Well, it wasn’t for me, it was for some other people at work … whose birthdays were four weeks ago – So I found…
Showers of Owls
Yesterday was an extraordinary day in Malaysia; the ruling party was finally toppled after running the country for 61 years, ever since it became an independent country. The corrupt Prime Minister, who recently rejigged all the electoral boundaries to try to ensure another victory, has been ousted. I woke to a text from our head…