Alaska

5 years ago in Alaska

See some pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/szaipandras/Alaska


or animated slide show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy9QlccNIhA

Trip To South Korea

See an earlier trip of mine on Youtube

In full screen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77zbSHlYGvs&noredirect=1

or here

13th day: Kuala Lumpur

We spent our last day in Kuala Lumpur, exploring its historic sites and modern buildings.

Wiki says about KL the following:

Kuala Lumpur is the federal capital and most populous city in Malaysia. The city covers an area of 243 km2 and has an estimated population of 1.6 million as of 2012. Kuala Lumpur has its origins in the 1850s, when the Malay Chief of Klang, Raja Abdullah,hired some Chinese labourers to open new and larger tin mines for tin prospectors. The miners landed at the confluence of Sungai Gombak (meaning "muddy river") to open mines. These mines developed into a trading post which became a frontier town. Tourism plays an important role in the city’s service-driven economy. Many large worldwide hotel chains have a presence in the city. Kuala Lumpur is the sixth most visited city in the world, with 8.9 million tourist per year.

The Petronas Towers are twin skyscrapers. According to the CTBUH's official definition and ranking, they were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 until surpassed by Taipei 101. Planning on the Petronas Towers started on 1 January 1992 and included rigorous tests and simulations of wind and structural loads on the design. Seven years of construction followed and was officialy opened in 1999, although it was functional already in 1997. The towers feature a double decker skybridge connecting the two towers on the 41st and 42nd floors, which is the highest 2-story bridge in the world. It is not attached to the main structure, but is instead designed to slide in and out of the towers to prevent it from breaking, as the towers sway several feet in towards and away from each other during high winds. It also provides some structural support to the towers in these occasions. The bridge is 170 m above the ground and 58 m long, weighing 750 tons.

You might remember the movie Entrapment with Catherine Zeta-Jones from 1999, which was casted here.

Since the Twin Towers were closed today we went up to the top of an even higher construction in the city, the KL Menara Tower.

I am going to write one more blog upon our arrival back home.


All pics of the trip as usual are linked on the right quick link column or simply click here

All pics / kepek

12 th day: Cameron Highlands

Yesterday late in the evening we arrived in the Highlands. Tanah Rata, the village we stayed is situated at 1600m height and has modest climate of 20C all year round. According to wiki:

The Cameron Highlands got its name from Sir William Cameron, a British surveyor who was commissioned by the then colonial government to map out the Pahang-Perak border area in 1885. In a statement concerning his mapping expedition, Sir Cameron mentioned he saw “a vortex in the mountains, while for a (reasonably) wide area we have gentle slopes and plateau land.”Situated at the northwestern tip of Pahang, the “Camerons” is about 200 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur.

Later Sir Hugh Low, the Resident of Perak, expressed the wish of developing the region into a "sanatorium, health resort and open farmland”. A narrow path to “Cameron’s Land” was then carved through the jungle. In 1925, an Agricultural Experiment Station was set up to confirm if cinchona, tea, coffee, fruits and vegetables could be grown at the district. In December, a superintendent was appointed to supervise the 200-acre (81-ha) plantation.

Today BOH Plantations Sdn Bhd is the leading tea grower in Malaysia with four tea gardens – Boh, Sungei Palas and Fairlie situated in Cameron Highlands; and Bukit Cheeding in Selangor – constituting a total land area of 1200 hectares. With a production capacity approaching 3000kgs per hectare, the Company produces 4 million kgs of tea annually which translates to about 5.5 million cups per day. This represents about 70% of all tea produced in Malaysia.

Judit had 1 cup of the 5 million...

We also visited some farms and a butterfly park along the road.

In the afternoon we left the region in order to return our car in Kuala Lumpur. At the northern rim of the city we stopped short to visit the Batu Caves. The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia. Wooden steps up to the Temple Cave were built in 1920 and have since been replaced by 272 concrete steps.

For the night we stayed really close to the famous Petronas Twin Towers and after the morning tea, we enjoyed our evening coffee paired with an other impressive view.

Judit was enjoying the view of the Twin Towers from our yacuzzi in the room.

Tomorrow on our last day, we going to explore Kuala Lumpur...

All pics of the trip as usual are linked on the right quick link column or simply click here

All pics / kepek

11th day: Taman Negara and its Aboriginals

After the night safari yesterday we had a good sleep and we started the day early. I ve hired a boat to be able to go deep in the forest and possibly visit some aboriginals hunting and eating monkeys. You can use the rivers and streams of Taman Negara very well to travel over greater distances within the forrest.

According to wiki Orang Asli is a generic Malaysian term used officially for the indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia. Officially, there are 18 Orang Asli tribes. Orang Asli kept to themselves until the first traders from India arrived in first millennium AD. Living in the interior they bartered inland products like resins, incense woods and feathers for salt, cloth and iron tools. The rise of the Malay sultanates, coinciding with trade in Orang Asli slaves, forced the group to retreat further inland to avoid contact with outsiders. The arrival of British colonists brought further inroads in the lives of Orang Asli. They were the target of Christian missionary and subjects of anthropological research.

Still these people are very friendly demonstrating you how to make and use the blow pipe they use for hunting. The most experienced of the tribe can shoot a monkey from 80m distance. They feel very comfortable in the forest and despite governamental "help", they do not want to leave.

I am allways very impressed, when coming to local communities or tribes in the world. This occasion was also very unique and I enjoyed it so much. See more pics here:

All pics / kepek

We continued the day with a refreshing splash in the river, although back home we were told not to risk to get some parasite on or under your skin. Anyway it was refreshing and we will see what is coming next.

In Taman Negara you can find some very exciting suspension bridges along your hikes. There is a system of bridges between the huge trees, some 40m above the ground.

Our last destination were the rapids of Lata Berkoh a 1 hour ride upstream of a smaller river. We had to pass several rapids and whirlpools to get up there, but our boat driver did it of course as his daily routine bringing tourist up there. The last stretch we had to walk to arrive at our own whirlpool for our own in the middle of the jungle.

We still need to drive today to Cameron Highlands, the destination for tomorrow. On the way back to our car, we just met by chance some Hungarian guys and they will enjoy my driving style on the way to CH on the next 250kms of curvy roads.

All pics of the trip as usual are linked on the right quick link column or simply click here

All pics / kepek

10th day: Arriving in Malaysia, Taman Negara

Last night we arrived at our hotel at 3 a.m. at night. After landing in Kuala Lumpur at midnight, we hired a car and drove all the way to Genting Highlands, where we spent a short night.

We started the day by visiting a quite unique Japanese Garden and thee house in the forest.

Just one hour drive from here you can find the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. According to wiki the Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Centre is an elephant sanctuary located in Temerloh in the state of Pahang, Malaysia.The Centre was established in 1989 by the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks, and forms a base for the Elephant Relocation Team, which since 1974 has been rescuing problem Asian elephants whose habitats are being lost to cultivation or development and relocating them to suitable habitats such as Taman Negara.

In the afternoon we drove on to Taman Negara, one of the oldest rain forests of the world. Because lacking time I refer again to wiki; Taman Negara was established at the Titiwangsa Mountains, Malaysia, in 1938/1939 as the King George V National Park. It was renamed to Taman Negara after independence, which literally means "national park" in Malay. Taman Negara has a total area of 4,343 km² and has a reputation as the world's oldest tropical rainforest. The park has been developed into a famous ecotourism destination in Malaysia. There are several geological and biological attractions in the park. Gunung Tahan is the highest point of the Malay Peninsula; climbers can use Kuala Tahan or Merapoh as their departure point. Taman Negara is the home of some rare mammals, such as the Malayan Tiger, Crab-eating macaque, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Great Argus, Red Junglefowl, Malayan Gaur and Asian elephant.

We had an amazing accommodation in the NP. We had to leave our car at the riverside and were brought over via a mini ferry to the resort. It was an ECO Lodge with all luxury just in the middle of the forest. Day and night you could see wild boars running around between the chalets.

In the evening we hired a guide and went for a night safari to see some wildlife.

All pics of the trip as usual are linked on the right quick link column or simply click here

All pics / kepek

9th day: Phang nga bay on a speedboat

Phang Nga Bay, RTGS: Ao Phang-nga, It is a 400 km² bay in the Andaman Sea between the island of Phuket and the mainland of the Malay peninsula of southern Thailand. Phang Nga is a shallow bay with 42 islands, comprising shallow marine waters and intertidal forested wetlands, with at least 28 species of mangrove; seagrass beds and coral reefs are also present.
We visited the park onboard of an 800HP, 40person capacity speed boat.

The most famous of the many islands in the bay is the so-called James Bond Island, a needle formed limestone rock in the sea, which featured in the movie The Man with the Golden Gun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHlssnzaJKA
Ko Tapu (original name) is a limestone rock about 20 metres (66 ft) tall with the diameter increasing from about 4 metres (13 ft) near the water level to about 8 metres (26 ft) at the top. It lies about 40 metres (130 ft) to the west from the northern part of Khao Phing Kan.

A local legend explains the formation of Ko Tapu island as follows. Once upon a time, there lived a fisherman who used to bring home much fish every time he went to the sea. However, one day he could not catch any fish despite tedious attempts and only picked up a nail with his net. He kept throwing the nail back to the sea and catching it again. Furious, he took his sword and cut the nail in halves, using all his power. Upon impact, one half of the nail jumped up and speared into the sea forming Ko Tapu.

We also went to see a Malay village, floating on the shallow water of the bay and went kayaking in some of the caves on the island.

We finished the day on a lonelly beach shooting modelling photos for fun....

The day is not finished yet. Tonight we take a late flight, flying to Kuala Lumpur and drive to the rain forrest.


All pics of the trip as usual are linked on the right quick link column or simply click here

All pics / kepek

8th day: Bye bye Phi Phi, hello Patong

We had a transfer day today, travelling from Phi Phi to Patong, the most commerce beach of Phuket island.
In the morning while Judit was still sleaping I left for a hike to the View point of Phi Phi. It is located on a hilltop, some 300m above the see. It is worth to get up there for the view of the famous twin bays of the island.

At the end it was not an easy hike, because I lost my way several times and was sweating like hell in the humid tropical forrest I crossed on the way.
Returning to the lodge I had a last drink on the beach,

while Judit just left to swim over to the island across.

The ferry bought us back to Phuket in less than 2 hours. Bye bye Phi Phi.

According to wiki Patong refers to the beach and town on Phuket's west coast. It is the main tourist resort in Phuket, and contains an important center of Phuket's nightlife and shopping. The beach became popular with Western tourists, especially Europeans. So we are right here. Patong Beach is famous for its nightlife and 3.5 kilometres beach that runs the entire length of Patong’s western side. Nightlife is centered on two main areas Bangla Road and 'Paradise Complex', with Bangla Road being predominantly straight and Paradise Complex gay. Both roads are lined with many bars, discotheques and go go bars. Prostitution in Thailand is illegal but tolerated as is the case with Patong Beach, especially on Bangla Road where there are many older Western men drinking with younger Thai women and ladyboys.
As we are timid, we just went go and saw a revue performed by the local boys.

All pics of the trip as usual are linked on the right quick link column or simply click here

All pics / kepek

7th day: Cast away-another day in Paradise

Today I won t write much. Actually we spent the whole day on a long tail boat trip around Phi Phi Lay, the one island which is actually inhabited and was background for the movie mentioned yesterday already.

The only way to spend a night on the island is the organised trip including a camp. We had some snorkeling and a lot of fun on "The Beach" and tried to make some funy photos.

All pics of the trip as usual are linked on the right quick link column or simply click here

All pics / kepek