After Pulau Tioman, we thought that it would be nice to have a little break from the islands and try something different. Originally, we had planned to go to Taman Negara national park, but we heard some mixed reviews, so we decided to try something a that would be off the beaten path. One of the divemasters at Eco divers on Tioman suggested that we check out Tasik Chini, or lake Chini, so we decided to go for it.
Lake Chini is not exactly the easiest place to reach. You have to take a taxi from the city of Kuantan, or you can take a public bus from Kuantan and then take a taxi. We decided to chance the bus, which turned out to be a mistake because by the time we got to our stop, the taxis had stopped running. With the help of a gas station attendant, we managed to flag down a trustworthy-looking local who agreed to give us a lift to our final destination.
At Tasik Chini, we stayed at Rajan Jones' guest house. Rajan has been living in the jungle around Lake Chini for 20 years and is an expert on the Orang Asli people (the local indigenous population) that live in the area surrounding the lake. Rajan is a character, imagine horn rimmed glasses on Ghandi with a 70's haircut and a long-sleeve flowery button-up shirt. He has a lot of fascinating stories about living in the jungle among the Orang Asli people.
We explored the lake in a canoe and went jungle trekking. During the jungle trek, Julia discovered that she has a new fear: leeches. That's right, leeches. Laugh if you must, but let us just say that those creepy, crawly blood-suckers are pretty terrifying, especially when they are all over your shoes trying to find a way in so they can attack your feet. We managed to escape the hike without being attacked, but there were several close calls, and our local Orang Asli guide (who spoke no English) found it highly amusing that Julia was so freaked out by the leeches.
Aside from the oppressive heat and our introduction to leeches, we had a wonderful time at the lake. The combination of Rajan's hospitality and price of accommodation has been unequaled on our trip thus far. We would recommend a visit to Rajan's Lake Chini Guesthouse to anyone planning a visit to Malaysia and wanting a genuine jungle experience.
-Billy and Julia

Lake Chini

Rajan Jones' Guesthouse

The dock that Rajan built for the local kids

Billy, paddling around the lake

Our jungle trek started in one of the many palm oil plantations, where cobras are frequently spotted waiting for the rodents that eat the palm fruit

Our guide, showing us how they cut up the palm plant to eat the "hearts of palm" (maca neeboom)

Billy, sampling the water extracted from a tree branch

Water has never tasted so good as after a 3 hour hike in 95 degree heat with 80% humidity

Lake Chini

Enjoying the breeze during the ride home from our trek
Our next stop after Singapore was Tioman Island, a small island off the Southeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia. This is the same island where Billy had a summer internship and got his divemaster certification 2 years ago.
While on the island, we went on four dives together with Billy's old dive shop, Eco Divers. The dives were really fun and beautiful. They were the first time that we dived together, and of course, we managed to stay entertained at all times by goofing around in the water, as we had done all the time growing up. Billy showed Julia his skills of blowing rings in the water and Julia proceeded to pop the bubbles. Billy went on two more morning dives, which required waking up at the butt-crack of dawn to dive before 6am as the sun was rising.
The island itself was beautiful. Although the reef is pretty, it used to be much more lush and live. El Nino, divers, and boats have killed much of the reef, and sadly, there are plans to put in an airport that will run across the ocean and kill even more of the reef. There has been some new development and construction on the island, but other than that, not too much has changed since Billy was here last.
We met Billy's old friends, Anita and Norita who work at Nazri's a local hotel/restaurant. Anita actually now owns her own Pizzeria/bar called Sunset Corner. They remembered Billy and it was fun introducing Julia to his old friends. Norita has two new baby boys and her oldest son Akmal is a real handful, as Billy had recalled.
One drawback to the island were the mosquitoes that made it hard to sleep at night, even with mosquito nets. Julia's ankle swelled up to the size of a tennis ball from a probable spider bite. The bugs won on this trip as even our DEET couldn't stave them off.
-Julia and Billy

Sunset on Tioman

Billy, pre-breakfast

Instant nice person, just add coffee

Divemaster Billy

Tioman, a little piece of paradise

Trying our hand at Batik painting

Norita and her son, Hazik

Akmal, the handful

Anita, Billy and Norita

Julia, after kayaking to Monkey beach
BTW, Kayaking is the best test of any relationship
After we got over our jet lag, we were able to enjoy a little bit more of Singapore. The main activities in Singapore seem to be 1) Eating and 2) Shopping. Since whatever we buy will just add weight to our backpacks for the next few months, we decided to check out the food instead. Singapore has a little bit of everything. Malay, Chinese, Indian, Western food...you name it, Singapore's got it. We especially enjoyed the hawker centers, which are food courts with tons of stall selling cheap, tasty treats.
After stuffing ourselves with chicken satay, we decided to visit the zoo. We'd heard good things, and they were true. The Singapore zoo is impressive. They have tons of different kinds of animals and many live in large, sectioned off areas of jungle habitat instead of cages (they do, however, have some fences between you and the more aggressive animals). Julia thought that the Komodo dragons were pretty cool, and Billy was particularly taken with the cougars.
We also had a chance to sample some of Singapore's night life. We met up with one of Julia's friends from college, Ahmar, who was our own personal guide to Singapore's party scene. We had a great time, but it did make the bus ride the next morning a little rough...
Ahmar called Singapore "Asia for beginners". We found this to be true minus the fact that Dengue fever had reached epidemic levels as we arrived. Thank goodness for Deet!
-Billy and Julia

Singapore's Little India

Billy, hanging out with some of the zoo's big cats

Julia and Ahmar

Billy and Julia
We have arrived in Singapore. Our journey began on Monday morning in Eugene, and ended on Wednesday morning when we landed in Singapore at 5 am. We used Julia's airline miles to buy the tickets, so we got to fly business class on Singapore Airlines. This was a total treat; the seats were comfy, the food was delicious, and there were 80 movies to pick from (very important if you are on a 17-hour flight). We were welcomed onto the plane with a glass of champagne..Billy was stoked.
No Martin family journey is without it's hiccups, but fortunately ours were minor. Dad managed to delete the music off of Billy's Ipod before leaving home. We found this out when Julia went to check out exactly how many songs a 30 GB Ipod can hold, and found out that it was zero. Billy was devastated when he learned of this, 17 hours on an airplane is a long time to go with no Johnny Cash. Fear not dad, we are confident that we can download some more music along the way.
We also had an interesting time getting a room with 2 beds. Since we have the same last name and don't really look all that much alike, people seem to assume that we are a couple, which is a pain and slightly awkward. They also seem perplexed that two siblings would be traveling together without their parents. We anticipate that this isn't the last time we'll encounter this misunderstanding.
So far, we've only had one (very jet lagged) day in Singapore. We attempted to keep ourselves awake for the entire day, but Billy took a nap in the morning and then tapped out for the day at 7 pm...only to wake up again at 3:30 am. Jet lag sucks.
-Billy and Julia

Shhh! You woke the bears! Billy, napping at the airport.

The weary travelers land in Singapore at 5 am. Billy's quote of the day: "traveling in business class isn't too difficult."