Jessica Wandering

Photos and thoughts on my travels

  • Taman Negara part 2

    Sorry for too much motion with the camera. It’s mostly for the sound of the birds.
    Monkeys!!! Long tailed macaques to be more precise.
    1…2…3-35! We literally watched the ones on the left of the trail for at least five minutes before noticing all the many up the tree on the right.
    They are amazingly agile.
    There is always a male watching and standing guard while everyone else is playing and eating.
    Monster!
    Ok, actually a cocoa tussock moth’s caterpillar phase. I love the way it moves.
    Not the easiest part of the trail that day…we were also a little concerned it might storm and make the mud all slippery.
    We made it ok though
    And we stayed to watch the clouds move in the valleys
    Lovely view from the elevated blind where you can sit and watch and listen for the wildlife. We saw several birds but mid day that is all.
    Downward dog stretch.
    They are very fun to watch, especially when they are close enough to see their relationship to humans.
    Let your friends know you care.
    More monkeys. They are all fine in the trees, not long after this we left because they were getting a bit too close.
    Food is so good here. I love this plastic plate too.
    Our last full day we took a guided boat ride up the smaller river.
    Only 4-6 people per boat because it is shallow and the guy at the front needs to use the pole to help you over the shallow parts
    We met a beautiful 500 year old tualang tree. Despite the posing the guide had us do, it was such a moment to share with a wise old grandmother.
    We fed the fish at the sanctuary
    Someone had spilled something sweet in the sand before we landed and the butterflies were all so taken with it they didn’t mind us watching.
    One was taken with Zarah’s colorful dress.
    And the swimming hole just below these rapids. It was fun to let the current take you from the spot bottom right out into the pool.
    The trees along the river are just beautiful.
    And the vines hanging over the water.
    A little more about cicadas. They are just a constant in the jungle. And at the guests house when you go to get water in the evening…
    I like the green ones more than the black ones.
    And I don’t like any flying around the light at night !
    And just like that, time to go. Boat ride to Jerantut had water buffalo to see. On to Kuala Lumpur next.

  • Taman Negara – day one

    So you stay up on the bluff and come down the stairs to the river for most of the restaurants. And to catch a longtail across the river for 1 ringet (about 20 cents) to get to the park.
    From the bottom of the stairs. They have flooding every December so the signs are still very visible on the banks in February. They had a flood that was nearly to the top on the bluff 15 years ago or so.
    It’s pretty pleasant to eat in the floating restaurants and watch people fishing. This was our favorite restaurant, “Family Restaurant”, they were very sweet, and they were the only one that took credit cards, even with us paying the mark up. We had read an a while ago, that you NEED cash here, but then we forgot when we needed to remember. Not our first traveler mistake, but our biggest so far. We thought we might have to leave a few days early. But it worked out, partially from this family being willing to rely on technology in a place when it is spotty still.
    The Park had a BUNCH of boardwalk trails.
    The vines and the density of foliage are hard to capture
    World’s longest canopy walk: over 1/2 kilometer and up to 40 meters off the ground.
    It’s pretty cool to be up in the branches of it all.
    For those afraid of heights, I promise it is very sturdy.
    And also a very long way down
    But also quite narrow to stand on and the 10 M sign is because they want you to space apart from other walkers to make less bounce.
    This was the scary part, it’s basically a ladder
    Here it is from below after we are safe on the ground.
    Little blue butterflies/moths just fluttering by.
    Or bright red dragon fly… it seems so magical the breadth of life that is here, and that’s mostly just plants and insects!
    View from our guest house in the evening
    “Night safari” the largest animal we saw.
    Truly gigantic ants. Timber ants.
    Scorpion under black light
    And not under black light. It surprised me how different it was.
    Stick bug. I like that he looks like he has Mickey mouse ears. And back home to rest with the noises.

  • Train to Malaysia, Kota Bharu, Train to Taman Negara

    6:45 am at the train station. At first we weren’t sure how to get to the right platform because a train was blocking the opening in the fence you walk through. We’ve seen so many hyper modern stations we were looking how you go below or above to get by. I guess I was also quite sleepy.
    The view from the train…the water lilies were blooming for a couple miles.
    I kept trying to capture the birds, but I did capture the green… The train was noisy and windows rattling, there was the smell from the engine and visible smoke at times that made my snot a bit black later on.
    But Tong Tong made it interesting, talking to me most of the way. She is a 25 yo nurse who worked in surgery, then did private nursing in Bangkok for a year and now just started two months ago in a 1-bed psych ward in a small regional hospital. She is working to learn more about her specialty and getting tutoring in English and trying to learn more about Islam so she isn’t just believing what she was trained to. All this while working six days a week and traveling home by train 2 hours 1 time per month to see her big family who run a restaurant in the border town of Sungai Kolok. She was so friendly and she asked her father to drive us a mile or so to the border so we didn’t have to bother with a taxi. So so kind, I appreciate her so much.
    After the border crossing and dropping our bags, we went straight to lunch. But, not ready language wise and Google translate was helping only a little.
    But such a cute love bug. And a very kind owner who actually phoned a friend who spoke better English to help us order.
    I was proud of myself. Lots of things at the restaurant were eel as the protein, so I got spicy soup with ramen-type noodles with eel. It was quite good, and a mix of familiar and unfamiliar.
    Zarah got a fish in a lime sauce that was delicious. And some veggies
    Kota Bharu had some great street art
    And a very cool museum Istana Jahar, displays of wedding ceremony elements
    All the things preparing for and ceremonial welcoming of a new baby
    I was struck by this: the prince or princess is not allowed to touch or walk on the ground until they are about three years old or “when they are deemed ready”. Then they have a whole “earth stepping ceremony” to be sure they will be ok once they do.
    Royal boat
    They had a whole huge area that was a weapons museum. This is the chief among them: the keris. It is used for ceremonies and people with status and sometimes said to have mystical powers. Like if the owner stabs the footprint of their enemy, the enemy will die. It certainly looks like a very painful and effective weapon no matter what you believe.
    Also Istana Battu a former palace with many royal items displayed. It stopped being used in the 1960’s. But had a good history of the Sultans of Kalantan. The current one had photos visiting the poor and the disabled and doing good things to better the people of the state. I may be wrong, but I think he is currently serving as the head monarch of Malaysian government. Rule (head of military and signs off on prime minister etc) passes every four or so years to a different head of a state elected by all the state rulers.
    Two days in Kota Bharu was to rest up so we could ride the “jungle train” or east coast rail line that is through some more remote land and stops often to serve small towns. It will be decommissioned in a couple years, so we wanted to see what we would see. The train leaves at 4:10am.
    Pretty cool to watch the jungle wake up and be all misty.
    Lush and beautiful , and impossible to get without my reflection…
    It was pretty neat in my sleepy state.
    Very very small towns along here.
    And then the palm plantations start as you go farther south.
    Palm is very complicated, very efficient to grow. But often done exploitatively and without regard to maintaining habitat for Orangutans. Look for the RSPO approval on packaging.

    Who we are

    Kuala Lipis from the train station.
    Some nice old buildings. And lights still up from New Years
    Really cute if you don’t have to carry your backpack wherever you go.
    And then a very bumpy taxi ride to Taman Negara. And a jungle much more immersive than the train. Be sure to turn your sound on…

  • Ao Nang the land of jellyfish

    On the boat from Phuket to Ao Nang there were really cool jellyfish!
    A LOT of them! They ranged from 12-18 in and they just kept coming
    And I swear there were swaths of the 2 hour boat ride where they were averaging 4 feet apart, if that.
    And we are headed to another beautiful place for diving and snorkeling. A conundrum, because the jellyfish didn’t really stop as we came close to Railay Beach.
    As we kept moving toward Ao Nang it seemed somewhat better, which was relieving.
    There was a night market where we walked to get dinner but didn’t expect entertainment too.
    Or quite so much attention from the locals.
    Or a fire show
    They were by quite impressive
    They even use some sort of stuff like in sparklers for some acts
    I would be quite Leary of audience participation, but this woman was a great sport
    How they catch something on a chain I’m not really sure at all
    Big finish
    There was an amazing breakfast place about 200 feet from our lodging.
    I could barely finish my avocado toast, I think there was a whole avocado under that egg.
    It is so hot, you just HAVE to get in the water, or stay in air conditioning which mostly meant our room. The jellyfish weren’t near shore at the swimming area and we had a nice swim the first day, but the second day, a broken piece of one found Zarah’s arm. It really really hurt, but slightly better with advil and hydrocortisone cream. Thankfully no blisters and felt better by 18 hours after.
    We took a boat tour. Do you still call them stalactites if there isn’t an actual cave?
    There were swimming opportunities, but we didn’t take the first one because there were visible jellyfish. A couple people did swim and were fine. Apparently they can’t sting through any fabric, even nylon stocking is enough according to the internet.
    We both have full suits for sun protection, so we did swim the second place where we didn’t see any. and snorkeled a place with lots of nice fish and more giant clams than I’ve ever seen all together. But my underwater phone bag is leaking so lucky for you, no more pictures of them.
    Then they take you a lovely place to watch the sunset and feed you dinner.
    The almost full moon was lovely on the ride home
    And some impressive lighting. What was not impressive was the phosphorescent plankton. You could see little dots if it was totally dark, but nothing picture-worthy.
    For a budget lodging, we were pretty impressed with our view at the Seaworld Guesthouse.
    Did I mention how cute the breakfast place was?
    Or how delicious a smoothie bowl can be?
    Then we moved south to Hat Yai and we got a good welcome sign.
    Another evening street fair with young dancers. In this very Muslim part of Thailand, there was not the icky hypersexualization that we had a dose of in Phuket. This was an early night because we caught a fairly early train to the Malaysian border tomorrow.

  • Cooking class! The best thing we did in Phuket.

    This is Judy. She is wonderful and has a cooking school that is on her farm on some land seeming somewhat in the middle of town.
    She is passionate about explaining plants and herbs and how they are used in the food of Thailand
    We got hats and baskets. And we saw the grasses used to make them.
    Morning glory is one of our favorite side dishes, or water spinach. it is cooked with garlic and soy sauce and is just right when you haven’t been getting enough veggies.
    Looking at the rice.
    Butterfly pea flower.
    She got an older water buffalo during Covid to help her grow rice since she wasn’t getting business in her hotel, her restaurant or her cooking school. Now she calls the buffalo the thai word for “diva” because she can rest all the time.
    Banana blossom is often used as a spoon to eat pad thai. Which was tasty. It is also given to new mothers to help the milk come in. Also, look at the tiny pre-bananas!
    How to open a coconut: look for the eyes and notice the line vertically between them. Hold the nut in one hand and hit hard crosswise to that line with the bunt side of a cleaver. It breaks in half pretty well that way! I remember getting one as a kid and I think it was so hard to figure out, we never did it again.
    We took turns using the traditional device for getting the meat out of the nut.
    Ok, now wash your hands and we will get ready to cook.
    We actually made green curry paste FROM SCRATCH! In the mortar and pestle: Dry roasted cumin and coriander seeds, green chili peppers, kefir lime zest, lemongrass, turmeric, ginger, coriander roots, garlic, shallot (last because they are more wet- I got some in my eye) you just keep pounding it all until it is a paste. Then you add shrimp paste (soy sauce if vegetarian) it was so so good!

    We also made Tom Yum soup and phad thai that we ate with the banana leaves. Judy mentioned some classes where you show up and they have already cut up the ingredients and you literally just cook it. This was a much more educational experience! Oh and we had butterfly pea flower tea with lemon to make it change color. Anyone who wants me to cook for them when we get home or when we visit you, let me know.

    Star fruit tree! I didn’t think it would look like that.
    This is her hotel name. If I went back to Phuket I would want to stay there. Mostly for the food.

    It was a little disappointing that our grab somehow got lost or something and we sat and waiter FOR-EVER like an hour? Did I mention it is 95F and humid? That sucked.

  • Phuket: night markets and new years

    So, we had planned through Koh Tao before we left, then we planned Khao Sok. But then we were so busy on boats and staring at the scenery that we didn’t really stay ahead of things. We had thought we would to go to Khao Lak, but the lodging choices got pretty grim and we just took it as a sign from the universe to go somewhere else. A couple travelers in Khao Sok liked Phuket so we tried there. Bigger city, more options. We still got a place with no sidewalks so we couldn’t really walk unless we took a Grab to another part of town. We really like wandering in a new place, so it felt a bit constricting. But there was a pool for when you get home.

    Phuket has some cool architecture.
    Some shops really go all out for decorating
    Sometimes you just want a western breakfast.
    And we didn’t know it, but their New Years weekend festival was while we were there.
    A museum of the Chinese migration, but they kicked us out early for the festival.
    There is a fairly large Chinese immigrant population that came during the opium difficulties in China and the tin mining boom in Phuket.
    I got a new dress… but didn’t like my backpack straps on my bare skin. Silk and billowing is the way to go when is is 93F and humid -“feels like 103”
    You really can find almost everything at a night market…
    There was some dance as well
    Some traditional
    And some cute kids. Competitive dance schools are clearly everywhere.
    It was a good day overall.

  • 36 hours in Khao Sok part 2

    Sunrise for morning boat safari
    Sleepy but happy to be here.
    Toucan! This is the great hornbill. They were high up, so this is the best I got I love the pattern on them.
    Two granite hornbills. smaller and all black body.
    Then back to the hotel for breakfast and a pretty cicada on our table.
    And a boat ride back to the dam. Yes the water is really that color!
    Sad to leave, it is a wondrously beautiful place.
    Limestone does some very cool stuff.
    This is the name of the tour company if you ever need it. There are lots and lots of different floating hotels. This one seemed great because it had a good view and not a lot around it to be noisy or anything.
    The shapes are mesmerizing when they are big in real life. I truly fell in love with this place. It is so stunning.

  • 36 hours in Khao Sok part 1

    On the boat again but with ten instead of twenty people.
    Just incredible vertical walls and crazy shapes
    And the water is such a deep aqua color
    I wish pictures captured the grandeur better.
    Then we took a 2km hike with a giant spider. PM me if you want the underside, edge on shows his relative size better, he is in the top 1/4 of the web.
    To this ranger station where rangers switch out every week to measure lake levels etc.
    To take a cane raft to a different cave. If you look closely it looks like many elephants holding up each layer.
    Not much relief from the heat here either, but this is maybe the biggest “bacon strip” formation I’ve seen.
    Then the raft back
    Hiking back
    Lemurs up the trees, too far away to see well in pictures. But one had a reddish baby tagging along on her stomach.
    Such great cliffs everywhere!
    Evening “safari” in the boat
    Wild elephants!!!!
    Big male, grazing on the vines.
    A female and there is a baby in there too.
    And two females and a baby bathing around the corner!
    Off they go back into the jungle.
    She really flaps her ears a lot. There must be bugs.
    I really can’t believe we saw wild elephants! We are so lucky!
    And then to our floating bungalow. Beautiful view but hard bed and no AC for the first sleep since we got here. Not great sleep. and up early next day for morning safari!

  • Hello Khao Sok

    Baan Suan Phutarn lodging…
    A little out of town but the jungle is so vibrant with sound and you just barely hear anything else
    Great food and sweet, if pushy, cats
    Pretty lights at night
    So many beautiful butterflies
    This guy looked like it weighed more than a hummingbird, it was definitely bigger!
    Day trip in to the National Park. Just gorgeous! I found myself wondering if it was really real. Just such grandeur with the turquoise water and soaring limestone cliffs in amazing shapes.
    Of course pictures don’t capture it, so we have to make faces. 🙂
    I kinda looks like Zion grew a jungle in it to me.
    Banyan tree silliness captured by our guide.
    Almost caves
    Actual caves, with spiders.
    Near the exit.
    We decided it was definitely worth going back for longer.
    Did I mention how cute breakfast was?
    And the butterflies?
    And the gardens?
    Stairs down to the river
    Kinda sad to leave here
    But more to see…

  • Valentines Day, with elephants

    Ethics of elephant experiences explained by a zookeeper from Australia who is volunteering here made good sense to me.
    Because elephants are often born into working in logging camps and can’t survive in the wild, and they eat 10% of their large body weight daily, they need to do something to earn their keep unless there are massive donations for them.
    This is Bun Song (sp?). She is 71 years old and started in logging. She doesn’t like the protein balls because she had to take medicine in them for a while 7 years ago so she throws them on the ground sometimes.
    They have a routine where twice a day they get treats from strangers, a mud bath and bath in the river. They sleep in the jungle at night.
    The mud is an insect repellent. They have horseflies that will bite and lay eggs under their skin which will then hatch and eat and make a big wound.
    At times she closed her eyes like she was cat napping during this process
    Then a nice rinse
    And trot on down to the river
    More rinse and scrub to take off dead skin and notice any fly bites early
    More photos with the people who fed her treats. Yes, silly, but each elephant sticks with the same 4-5 people to keep it from being overwhelming. And again, it keeps them fed and cared for.
    She is a special being. She does what she wants in there too. She actually had a stroke 7 years ago a “laid down for three months”. She still has some spasticity in her left front leg and circumducts a little to walk. but she’s still living her life.
    I truly value my time and chance to connect with her that day.