Galeri Pengangkutan Air, Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia

Traditional Malaysian watercraft are displayed in this very interesting open-air boat museum in Pekan, the royal capital of Pahang, south of Kuantan across the Pahang River about 30 km from our house. Admission is free and what better way to spend a lazy afternoon out of the sun by wandering around looking at the old boats with their colourful trim and carved bows!














































Jen checks out
the woven enclosures
on top of a boat

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Island of Borneo March 15-18, 2007

Our first trip to East Malaysia (two states, Sabah and Sarawak are located on the northern half of the island of Borneo) was in mid-March when we left KL after a Felda Board Meeting and flew to Kota Kinabalu. Since Sabah is semi-autonomous, it has its own immigration controls and a passport is needed to enter, even though we were still technically in Malaysia. We had obtained a voucher to stay at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort after successfully bidding on it at the Canadian Association of Malaysia’s Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Dance and Silent Auction back in October 2006. You can check out the resort on their website: http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/kotakinabalu/tanjungaruresort


Pat lucked in to a sale at the Jim Thompson silk shop there-linen shirts were discounted to RM99 (about $33CAD) and cotton ones to RM75 (about $24CAD)! As it turned out, they were all XL size and too big for most Malaysians, but his tailor altered them all for him at no charge! What a deal!

The resort is located on the South China Sea, with several islands in the distance, good for snorkeling and diving. It was bigger than most we have enjoyed and quite crowded, but service was attentive and meals were good. On one evening (the only one it didn’t pour with rain) we took a taxi into Kota Kinabalu to check out the night market and have a wonderful seafood dinner downtown, Port View Seafood Restaurant. Pat picked out our dinner right from the tanks! At the market we bought some long sticks of cinnamon, very long sticks, in fact…about 2-3 feet long! We had to break off long sections in order to bring them back in our suitcase! We also bought a typical woven basket tray as used by the tradesmen at the market to hold veggies and fruit. It's probably two feet in diameter!

On our first morning there, we awoke to the sun rising from behind Mt. Kinabalu, the highest point in SE Asia at 4095m. It was short-lived , however, as clouds covered the mountain for the rest of the weekend, thus no pictures, sorry! Jen’s boyfriend, Ben, and his brother, Luke, climbed the mountain in early May before returning to Canada! They said sunrise from the summit was pretty awesome!

Check out this cool

table in our room-

it has a pull-out drawer

underneath the top

which can hold a place

setting!

Tasik Chini, Pahang, Malaysia February 10, 2007

When out-of-town visitors come to stay long enough, my Kuantan friends usually take them on a day-trip to Tasik (Lake) Chini, located southwest of Kuantan about two hours’ drive. The lake is actually a series of about 12 lakes linked together by various channels, full of vegetation. We hired a boat for about RM50 ($15.00CAD) which took us on a leisurely trip across the lake, through the jungle (note the huge vines and the rope bridge across the channel) and over to visit the native people (Orang Asli) in their settlement. They are the Jakun people, a tribe of the Melayu Asli origin, and believe that the lake is home to a Loch Ness-type monster called Naga Seri Gumum.

















The lake was covered in little tiny pink flowers, notice how colourful it looks! We found out that the best time to visit in during the months of June to September, when the water is covered in lotus blooms!


















































One of the tribe members showed us how to use a blowgun, still traditionally used in hunting today, complete with poison dart tip! Notice the fine carving on the handcrafted pipes they had for sale (about RM100 or $31CAD).

Orang Asli mother and child