Is Thaipusam piercing really painless?

The Thaipusam is not for the fainthearted but I decided to watch this ritual. As I preferred non-tourist spots I went to the temple near Times Square in Penang. People there suggested me to go to Lorong Kulit because the piercing ritual was over. This was not really true as on my way back home, I saw some people carrying Kavatis(offerings pierced into someone's body) leaving the temple. Obviously they do prefer more privacy which is totally understandable for me. Since there were many tourists and visitors hungry for a sensational experience, I could imagine this would disturb the real purpose of the ceremonies.

As I said before in my previous article, the breaking of the coconuts and fruit baskets were one of the offerings. On the next day, the families would present larger offerings in the form of several fruits, flowers and milk. The "carrier" is chosen by the family and mostly a fairly young man(devotee) within the family. The Kavati or huge offering will be then pierced into the body of the devotee.

Piercing ritual
The family allowed me to approach very closely in front of the adventure-hungry tourists. However, I still believe that most families were spiritual believers where donations are welcomed but not mandatory. The devotee or chosen man by the family would stand praying along with the other family members chanting and dancing. This is accompanied by intriguing meditative drumming. The drumming and chanting became more intense as though they were firing the devotee. This became extremely strong as the priest placed the huge mouth and tongue piercing.I saw the western tourists dancing along the rhythms as though it was a Brazilian drumming concert. Apparently some of them had no idea of the content of the rituals.

The devotee is given some time to prepare himself and pray. After this he lays down on the mat. The chanting and drumming becomes very intense to probably encourage him or put him into deeper trance. The holy priests will place the small and large hooks into a intercuteneous area(within the layers of the skin). There was no blood flooding and I assume they placed the hooks into areas without blood vessels and spare nerves as much as possible.

Nothing for the faint-hearted, the small hooks seem to enter the skin(it could be even intercutaneous or into the upper part of the skin) while the large hooks were inserted in with more force(ouch) probably into a subcutaneous part or underneath the upper part of the skin. These hooks will later be attached to the Kavati or the offering burden and the man will carry the offering(flowers) with hooks pierced into his body. The scariest part was the mouth and tongue piercing where even someone like me who is used to medical procedures will start to gasp.

What would be a more rational reason for this ritual? Is it really as painless as people say?
I observed a few devotees and they closed their eyes as the hooks were placed into their skin. Obviously it was when not painful at least very unpleasant for them. Along with the family chanting, some men didn't show any expression, some closed their eyes during mouth piercing and their facial expression became tense, some of them were quite in pain and the priests needed to put a lime into their mouth. Part of the family and priests patted their shoulders to give them more courage. Sometimes a lime was inserted into their mouth during more invasive procedures and afterwards they spitted out the lime they had chewed. It seemed that it could relieve stress and pain too.

I smiled for an hour as one young man kept showed his pokerface throughout the procedure. After it was all over he kept on joking with his family and asked us to take as many photos as we wanted. He was the most good-looking man too and it seemed that he loved to be in the limelight. Overall, the pierced young men were keen on tourists and smiled into the camera.

As I was in Singapore, these men had to go through an 8-days fasting period and given religious instruction. I think after this fasting, they had lost a bit of their sanity which makes it easier for them to endure the procedure. Interviews with other families in Penang revealed that some of them didn't fast or received any religious instruction.

It does make sense that they believe so strongly that they could master the pain, exactly like self-hypnosis in chronic pain therapy. But if they had lost their sanity, how could they still deliberately stand in a certain pose in front of the camera, give instructions to the family and answer questions in English.

The Chinese community also played a large role in this ritual. I was very impressed by their generosity and courage. The piercing techniques were about the same but the mouth and tonge piercing was a lot heavier and longer than most of the Indians. I have also noticed that the Kavatis differ in size so did the amount of piercings, especially the mouth and tonge piercing.

Some men were given a waistbelt to help to carry the burden, so the kavati was not carried by the piercings only. But I saw quite a few men, especially the Chinese men, who administered it in the traditional way. The Kavati was held by the skin piercings only.

We can ponder and discuss for hours but I still think it is amazing how these people could go through this procedure. As I could observe it up close, I saw the differences how each of them individually could deal with the physical martyrium. Some braver than others because it may not be a pleasant procedure even for the chosen ones.

The men had to walk around 5 km in nailed shoes in the sun and the alleged weight of the Kavati is supposed to be around 30 kg. And I already complain doing a bushwalk in the sun in a trackless area? Now I can understand the fanatism of the Malaysian Hash House Harriers. Who would like to go through this penance and make offerings to the God Murugan?

Breaking coconuts for Thaipusam Penang

One of the most spectacular festivals is probably the Thaipusam Festival. The breaking of 1001(?) coconuts was one unique way to offer gifts to receive blessings. Although I thought it would be such a waste to break all those coconuts which provide a healthy nutrition and useful otherwise.

Well, the more serious people pray through their coconut while lighting a fire on top of it, for the tourists, local and international alike, it was more like a sensation.

After being 1 1/2 hour too late, finally the ceremony started. I was positively surprised that the Chinese were as dedicated as the Indians. Even groups from Singapore presented their offerings along with a huge sign with the word:"Singapore" written on top of their offerings. Quite a few Chinese Malaysian businessmen showed their devotion to ghe Gods.

Nothing more spectacular than the sound of the breaking of the 1000 coconuts. I made quite a few photos and videos, so I could only break three coconuts and got hit by one too:-) A must-see in Penang despite the crowds and pushing.

Rural Penang and Perak, Malaysia

She sells one meter atap for RM 4,-
Woman making "atap", roof made from palm leaves
After the fishers came from the ocean, the brokers need to clean the fish they bought
Sunset by a secluded beach
Pulling the fishing net

Food in Hat Yai, Thailand

My CS host Nuch eating a delicious Thai vegetarian dish. I was very lucky to find a host who spoke English fluently. She was quite fluent in German as well. After completing her studies in Australia she pursued her career as senior medical librarian. She owns an apartment in Germany and goes there on a regular basis. A globalized Thai could introduce her culture better while still somehow understanding a Western viewpoint. Thanks to her guidance, I experienced less culture shocks and made less mistakes.
Making deutsche Wurst is very popular in Thailand. Nuch took me to the market at Hat Yai campus

University campus life in Hat Yai, Thailand

Morning pole exercises at the uni campus
Taiji at the university campus
Nuch and me by the campus lake
Children's Day organised by the Faculty of medicine
Children's Day at the university campus Hat Yai

Hat Yai, Thailand

Me hitting the gong at the pagoda in Hat Yai
My CS host Nuch from Hat Yai, Thailand
Me in a Taijiquan posture in front of a warrior statue

Temple in Hat Yai
Climbing up the hill to the pagoda near Hat yai

My involuntary Marcumar(blood-thinner) therapy

Going to a Hash House Harriers chapter in a different country definitely makes you to experience the culture in another country. I'm used to HHH in many countries where the majority of the hashers are expats who would like to meet like-minded people who love to exercise. Hashers that I met before were crazy expats who loved to be a drinking club with a running problem.

Not so in Malaysia. Apart from the beautiful Lake Gardens in Kuala Lumpur, the HHH that I experienced were more an extreme bush-bashing club. At least in the more rural areas, the clubs are a bush-bashing club with a drinking problem and not a usual drinking club with a running problem.In this part of the world you are forced to do the whole run in trackless bush area unless you would prefer to sit on ice. The fastest runner will get a reward unlike in the countries I have been hashing so far.

The HHH chapter Taiping Lake HHH was a nice club with charming people. I thought their runs were really easy and on a running track. When I knew it was through trackless muddy area, I would have gone for a small run.

There was a doctor there who didn't like to run and now I know why. They told me jokingly that their run was very short and easy. Short maybe and easy depends on the runner and the weather. Trackless bushland after heavy rainfall will make you sink into the mud about half of your body.

Despite my protectors Hassan and...(what's your name?) I had a fairly hard time. My jogging shoes were worn out after 1 1/2 years and there was virtually no profile left on the sole. So imagine driving a car with tyres who lost their grip in slippery muddy area. But I think even if I did have shoes with spikes I wouldn't like to run in the rain, scramble through the mud, tripping over thorns and get dirty.

The track was signposted by paper and this was washed away by the weather. So apart from the slippery mud hills and the rain, we had the battle with the bush. Our paper track was totally washed away and we got lost. I got nearly hysterical after scrambling up and down through the sliding mud hills and all of us unable to find the paper signs.

It was getting darker and darker until it became completely dark. There was nothing worse than bush-bashing in the dark through unknown jungle terrain. After searching for the right path I suggested my two companions to rest and scream:" on on." We may as well have yodeled but in Malaysia the "on on" scream would be more effective.

The rescue team was about to come and we waited for some time until we heard the horn and saw their torch.Even more charming sexy guys whose job was to rescue the lost runners, but they lost the track too. All the paper was washed out and gone.The whole up- and downhill through thorns, roots, mud started again. Something tweaked my feet and I thought already I was bitten by a leech.

Finally we could find our way out and after stripping off my socks I found around 10 leeches on my feet with only the fat ones visible. I decided to let them enjoy their dinner and stay on my body before I stepped on them to give them their final treat. I felt so sorry that I didn't have salt to make them suffer more.

In this part of Malaysia I also noticed that the extreme competitive sport is the primary goal while in expatriate HHHH communities that I know the social part was more prevalent than the competitive sports part.

As I reached home I found one last leech between my fingers. Since I wasn't patient enough to wait until he or she finished her supper, I just removed it lege artis(according to the rule of the art). The best way to remove a leech is to strip off the thinner tail with your finger and than strip it off. It was still alive as I hit him with my slipper....

My clother were so dirty and I didn't want to wash off the last leech from my socks. The next day I had a hard time to wash my favourite green Hash T-shirt and just threw away the socks with the leech.It was an experience where I would laugh after the fact was over. Just washing extremely dirty clothes before a big travel was not really pleasant.

And when I may say something, I was also not particularly impressed by the abruptness of the Lady Hash Cash. All the people in the club were helpful and friendly but this lady made me feel very uncomfortable. Remarks like:" You are not experienced in hashing." or "This is our club" were different from what I experienced in the HHH chapters all over the world so far.

On the contrary, as an international guest your first run would be on them and free of charge. As I had an operation in Istanbul, the HHH Istanbul who were primarily Americans and Englishmen suggested to just take a walk and join the social part.

Chinese Wedding Proposal tradition

Finally he drags her away in this car:-)
Bridegroom begging the bride to do whatever she wants when she just accepts his marriage proposal. Haha...wait until they're married;-P
The bride received the ang pau(lucky money in red packet) but she plays games and gave the future husband riddles to solve before he finally could get in and take her to his house
I could witness a Chinese wedding proposal ceremony in the house I was staying. This is one of the offerings they made, roast suckling pig(yummy) and fruit

Malaysian culture off the beaten track

David's friends the hashers
Kate and Rowan from Australia and me
This is REAL Malaysian way of life, not that flowery stuff shown to the tourist;-P

Laketown Bukit Merah

Was my own baby that small?
Eating home-made nasi lemak and chicken at David's brother's place. They were so hospitable that they would shout when I tried to help them cleaning up. Meaning: a plate fell on the ground and broke because I insisted on cleaning up and they told me to sit down and enjoy their hospitality

David is both a CS and warmshowers host. I have met around 4 people from warmshowers including David. Armin stayed only for one night, Kate and Rowan stayed for 2 nights as they find staying for one night rude. Rather they would stay in hostels or camping in a tent if they have only have one night time



Laketown Bukit Merah. My CS host David fishing while visiting his family.

A mixture between running, bushwalking and trekking

Must we show the V after such a hard steep track where we couldn't hold on to any branches?

With Kate and Rowan, exhausted after an extremely hard and steep off the beaten track mixture of running and bushwalking

Kate and Rowan are from Australia, doing their trip on a tandem bike through Malaysia. Their stories are different from the others, being nature lovers they had a lot of observation of the typical flora and fauna in the area.

It is worth to host bikers from warmshowers some times because they see the world they are traveling from a different viewpoint

Who can forget to fill the petrol tank of a 4DW?

Don't try to climb a rock that has no indentations. It's even difficult on a small rock:-)



Unlike Penang Hill, you need a government-owned 4WD vehicle to go up to Bukit Larut or Maxwell Hill. How do you feel when the 4WD is "mogok"(get stuck) in the middle of a steep hill with winding serpentine roads? "The petrol tank is empty." said the driver. As I asked them why they didn't fill it beforehand, their only answer was:" Lupa(We forgot)." Next time I'll do a trip to SE Asia and will forget to fill the tank;-P

And remember, we are not allowed to bring our own 4WD unless we go through a 1-year-bureaucracy. So if ever you come to visit this beautiful hill resort from the British colonial era, you better get on one of these 4WDs for RM 6,- and remind them to fill the tank.

Bukit Larut, Perak, Malaysia

My friend Alvin invited me to a place named Bukit Larut or Maxwell Hill as it was called during the British colonial days. He was very enthusiastic about the place and for sure he still had the memories of the times as it was still under the British Empire. The British officials used to have their holiday mansions and bungalows in this area, very similar to Penang Hills.

Bukit Larut is about 1100 above sea level, a beautiful lush green mountainous area. Most of the houses nowadays belong to the Malaysian government officials. So if you are lucky to know and be invited by these "Datuks(special award from the government), you will spend an unforgettable time in this rather cool and calm hills.

But how if you are a local or even international traveler? This place has not been marketed to international tourists yet and even those adventurous backpackers haven't found their way to this hidden gem. For sure this may be one of the reasons as to why I was curious to visit this place.

Most commercial guest houses belonged to the government and they charge a relatively high rate for a building that is totally run down. The food is not great and needs to be brought up by a 4WD which increases the price. The road up to the hill is a very narrow winding road but the street well-maintained.

In my opinion a good car or small 4WD will easily make it to the top. But for private cars you need to obtain a permit from the government which may take months. Too much hassle for a commercial tour company. So those who would like to go up, mostly quite well-to-do Malaysian citizens, will choose to use the vehicles run by the government.

The first vehicle started at 8 am. A smelly vehicle which history may have gone back to the middle ages. It had a hole next to the dashboard, where the exhaust coming from this ill-maintained car could get into the passengers area.

Oh my God....the catastrophe was still to come. Suddenly the car was stuck in the middle of the extremely steep winding road. The driver told us just in a very liad-back manner that he forgot to fill the tank with petrol.

Shall I get angry? Well, it was no use to complain and claim our money back. It would have taken another couple of months to fill in those various forms within the bureaucracy mill.

So we waited for the next 4DW which belonged to one of the hotels. They were so friendly to give us a lift and the car was by far better maintained than the one before.

We enjoyed the beautiful view from up high which goes far beyond Taiping to the ocean. The diverse flora and fauna were just waiting there to invite us to join into this peaceful untouched nature. Obviously the vehicle service was embarrassed and for our ride back they took us in a brandnew Nissan.

Asian women don't do this, Asian men do that etc etc

Me eating vegetarian food using my hands at an Indian temple



It surprises me that some long-term travelers obviously haven't learnt anything from their journey. I don't want to mention any names in order not to name and shame anybody. For sure I will not bother to give negative references to those people although they bore me to death. There was that person A with prejudiced nearly racist opinions about the Thais. This sounded strange to me because this person was a professional and he should have more sense for logic and reasoning. We may not have differed too much in opinion because I have some discomfort in the hierarchy of the Thai culture too. Without my Thai host and her internationally orientated friends I would have been lost in this culture.

"I will never marry a Thai woman, the Thais think they are better than the others, I don't surf with a Thai, the Thais are only friendly when they can receive some bahts, the Thais are always right, foreigners are always wrong......etc......etc" said Mr. A. For my taste this is simply too much generalisation and heavy prejudice for an intellectual person like A. The Thai culture feels like inaccessible and impossible to put my arms around but there is always an acception to the rule.

I found that in most cases it was easier for me to connect with Malaysians than Thais but language barriers can make things hard in cross cultural communication. The very rigid structure of the Thai society makes it way more difficult for me to immerse in their culture. Anyway, as I asked where his opinion or prejudice came from he said that he read many articles on "The Thais". I need first-hand experience where I do take writings or opinions into consideration.

And there was that person B who had lived in Asia for long enough to gain more knowledge of the local people. She lived in Thailand for nearly one year. And yet her view on these cultures was still the view of the superficial spectator or visitor. She got a culture shock after coming to Perth but did not understand a tiny little bit of the Asian culture. Apparently she was disrooted in her own culture and not able yet to immerse into the new culture.

And my favourite sentence of her was:" Asian(!!!) girls don't hike." just because she couldn't find hiking shoes for women. Running off the beaten track with some Chinese Malaysian girls taught me better about the hiking Asian girls. I was impressed by their strength and stamina. Ah well....this woman was so stubborn that she wouldn't even understand what was being talked about."

And these people are supposed to be Couchsurfers or travelers. Well, maybe I need to learn that in a facility like Couchsurfing people are as diverse as anywhere in the world.

I am thinking

Yes, when you are on travels you start thinking more about who you are, why you are traveling and sometimes the journey becomes a journey to your inside rather than the outside.

I have to see that I fulfill my research assignments. Daily phone calls, downloading my work on USB and spending my time offline also gives me a better purpose in life, Inbetween I have enough opportunity to meet interesting and not so interesting people.

So why am I on Couchsurfing then? The reasons are very simple: When you scroll down and read about my hosts David and Woranuch( I'll write an article about her on the next page), my guests Vitalii, Anthony or Molote, you will understand that CS gave me the opportunity to meet people that I wouldn't meet otherwise.

When I come to a less familiar place, it helps a lot to meet wonderful people like Ang Huah and Kim Gan who help you to understand the culture better. Cultures already differ within Europe or even within one and the same country. Here I'm exposed to city and rural life in Malaysia and crossing the border to Thailand everything will change into a totally new world.

Yes, Couchsurfing makes it a lot easier to meet and talk to people from the country you visit. Inspiring as I learn new aspects of life. There are also less interesting people that didn't particularly annoy me but I wouldn't have missed anything if I didn't meet them. Oh yes, they can be educational in the sense of not to be but I can meet them anywhere and there is no need of hosting them.

In the next articles I would like to find out the motivation of the people I met online and offline on couchsurfing. Can I still be the ambassador of some people I don't have the slightest things in common with? Let's discuss this in a new article

Laketown Bukit Merah, the hidden gem near Taiping

We started off our day with a beautiful Dim Sum breakfast. I expected already a good meal while the place was full of Chinese. Beside the green tea we enjoyed several dumplings, steam rolls and other sumptuous small dishes for just 16 RM(3 EUR) for 2 persons.Today Dave expected a lovely cyclist couple from Australia, Rowan and Kate. As fellow Aussies we had much to talk about and they came on an impressive tandem. Rowan loves spicy food and seems to immerse very quickly in the Malaysian culture. Kate has been to numerous countries in Europe and SE Asia; she is even raised in Hong KOng.

Beer games a la Malaysia
Dave's friend invited us to join them for a beer competition. His nickname was the "Mafia boss" and naughty David bragged to him that I would drink him under the table:-). The Malaysian beer is very similar to American or Australian canned beer, low alcohol level but contains large bubbles. I can drink German or Irish beer very well despite of their higher alcohol percentage but the gas bubbles are really fine. So after just drinking half of the pint my stomach was so bloated that I couldn't finish most of the drinks.

The locals must have considered me crazy because it is still considered not normal for a lady to drink in this culture. So I was standing in front of the restaurant offering free beer to every male who passed by:-))). They were so generous, invited us to braised pork leg and ocra vegies. I tried nearly forcefully to put money into their pocket but apparently they were not drunk enough to put it back on the table.
Being still a bit bloated and dead-tired we visited Dave's friend who owns a bike shop and he showed us his huge collection of classical old bikes.


Visiting Dave's family in beautiful Laketown in the Taiping area
This was probably the highlight of the day and Dave invited us three to his family to join the Thaiponggol celebrations. We felt a little bit like intruders because we didn't find time to bring anything nice for them as a token of appreciation. Dave was very good at making us more comfortable and told us they would look forward to meeting international travelers. Indeed we hoped that the best present we could bring would be our presence and stories.

We drove into the more mountainous area of Bukit Merah into a small town called Laketown. It is a beautiful place by the Lake, quite expensive and the recreation area for local Malay people. I think it wouldn't take too long until tourist managers will market this place to a more international target audience. Dave's family rented a beautiful townhouse directly by the lake.

What a lovely family and so welcoming! Dave's brother is very well-read and therefore a fountain of information about what happened in the Malaysian history. He told us interesting facts about how the Indians came to Malaysia in the early 19th century. We shifted to the more current affairs in Malaysia but at the same time he was very curious about what happened in other countries.

Of course they prepared delicious food for us and just name it: homemade nasi lemak with pandan leaves, chicken curry, egg curry which was basically just the entree. While they were preparing chicken for the BBQ, Dave took us to Laketown which would not be half as interesting if I came with a tour group. Coming home the BBQ chicken was ready and they served a hot Tom Yam soup. Yummy and thank you for your hospitality and lovely company. The memories are unforgettable!!!

Exploring the fishing villages

The fishers gave us one fish as a present. The restaurant cooked it for us for RM 8,-(EUR 1,60).
Fish broker who just bought fish from the fisher coming back from the ocean
PUlling the net with freshly caught fishes

The next day David took me in his car to go to the fishing village. On the way I saw different kinds of flora and fauna, whereas the fauna usually consisted of some unknown big insects or the more usual cows and goats. We passed a chocolate and kapuk(used to fill matresses and pillows) tree, numerous palm oil and pineapple plantations. It was also very interesting to watch a Malay woman who makes atap(roof made of palm leaves), something which is currently replaced by tin roofs. Nowadays we don't see as many ataps as we saw before in Indonesia or Malaysia.

We stopped by a man-made lake to watch the fishers throwing out their net. There were not many fishes but it really made me cry inside how to watch the fishes jumping, struggling and gasping for their last breath. Anyhow they do die naturally unlike the lobsters who die in pain by being boiled alive which takes about half an hour. We chose one red carp which we could bring to the restaurant to cook. So we had a fresh fish dinner for around RM 10,- for 2 including drinks. For the first time I tried the kopi cham which is a mixture of coffee, tea and chocolate.

I was amazed and taken aback at the same time. In a rural fishing village, life is not too different from the tough corporate life in the city. The mostly Malay fishers came from the ocean while the Chinese brokers were already waiting for them. They bargain and buy the fish from the fishers at a fairly cheap price. These brokers do all the marketing and sales work and sell the fish to the restaurant at a comparably high price.

We went home for a rest, then took a walk along the sea. On our way back we had drinks and watched the sunset while listening to the dangdut. It made me smile internally because a Muslim girl with covered hair sang a pretty sexy song. She just didn't move her body in a sexy way like most Dangdut singers but the text was pretty cheeky.

Our day finished off at the night market where they sold heaps of clothes, shoes and food. Busy but we finally got to eat our food in a cozy dark place where I didn't realise that I was being eaten by our partners the mosquitoes

David, my host in Penang state

I was dwelling around Georgetown for some time, food hunting as always and exploring Penang hills. David sent me a message to invite me to visit him in the more rural area in Penang. he was a cyclist and given my poor cycling skills I thought:" Would he ever except me?" But I'm so interested in rural life and not an all that bad hiker.

I decided to take the plunge and David rang me on my mobile phone. It was noisy in the Penang Hill funiculaire and I could hardly hear his voice. The next day I took the ferry to Butterworth and the bus to Parit Buntar. It was a small town and at first not very spectacular compared with touristy areas. But my reason to travel was not the end but the journey into another lifestyle and culture.

Arrived at the bus station I nearly followed a taxi driver because he looked like him. Finally a jovial man who looked exactly like on the picture and approached me with "Soraya" came towards my direction. I felt comfortable with him straight away and we drove to his cozy house in the village.

David is the type of host you can only find in my old traveling days or in rural areas. He went out of his way and gave me the most comfortable room with own bathroom. And guess what:" He is a hasher." Of course a member of the Hash House Harriers is like a family to me and he was not less surprised as I introduced myself with my Hash name Miss Carriage.
http://www.hashhouseharriers.com


Hash House Harriers off the beaten track in the Malaysian bush
David drove me around the village a bit and we went to visit an Indian temple. It was the Thai Ponggol festival and people were doing the rice cooking ceremony everywhere. It was cooking sweet rice in a huge clay pot on charcoal fire. While the women were stirring, the drums were playing faster and faster. The children rang the bell and it also went faster. The kids were not shy and as I came with my camera they already put themselves in a pose.

I never expect to find Hashers in such a rural area. The on on(Hash party venue) and trail was at the foot of the mountain amidst beautiful palm oil and coconut trees. This club didn't have the usual cheeky ritual that I knew from any HHH(Hash House Harrier) club but we started the run straight away. The run was quite off-track, bashing through thorny muddy bushland.

From bush walking I know about wading in the water and jumping over little creeks. It was just that I was not prepared for this kind of off the beaten track running or walking. In fact it wasn't even possible to run because in order to climb up and down we had to hold on to certain tree stems. I was happy that I didn't bring my camera but it was too much a pity that I was not able to shoot a picture of this memorable experience.

After the run I had totally dirty shoes and was not used to the humid weather either. We had coconut wine which the Malaysian government didn't allow to be traded in the shops and restaurants because it was hard to control tax-wise. So only certain plantation owners received a license and had to pay the tax. It was interesting but it did have a taste which I really must admit that my palate needed to get used to it.

The final on on was in a Chinese restaurant where we had heaps of beer and great food, as always.