Taiwan

Apart from my sojourn in Western Australia, the balance of my 3 ^1/2 month winter trip to Asia was spent largely in Malaysia, book-ended by a cruise from Taiwan to Singapore and a final week in Bali, all of which gave me some opportunity for walking and hiking in an environment quite alien to my desert home. This blog post is presented in chronological order, which is roughly geographically north to south. To keep this blog post to a manageable size, I have intentionally restricted it (with one or two exceptions) to only those photos I took on my various walks and hikes.

The Cruise: Taipei to Singapore

Twenty years since my last cruise, I thought it finally time for another. A one way 14-day cruise in early December fit the bill, stopping in several countries I had not yet visited. In addition to the Taiwan and Singapore ports of embarkation and debarkation, these included: Hong Kong, the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysian Borneo, the last of which I would return to 3 months later. Unfortunately, a major drawback on any large ship cruise is that, apart from snorkeling, the port itineraries are not designed for an active traveler. Hence, I headed out on my own more than once.

View of Taipei with **Taipei 101** far left, taken on a traverse of Elephant Mountain

Another view of Taipei from the Elephant Mountain Traverse. I chose my hotel, the **Grand Hyatt**, as it was within easy walking distance of this popular mountain (hill, actually).

Bucolic trail on Elephant Mountain. There were MANY stairs to gain 200m of elevation on this short loop hike.

Muara & Tanjung Batu beaches loop, Brunei Darussalam. Not being particularly interested in the cultural tour options this day, I chose to walk a lovely 10km loop from the bus stop.

My other walking excursions, in Hong Kong and Pattaya, Thailand, while enjoyable, yielded no interesting photos. So here I fast forward to the port of debarkation, Singapore, where I subsequently stayed five nights.

Botanic Garden view, Singapore. I spent an enjoyable morning wandering here during my visit to this city-state. Like most of coastal SE Asia, the combination of high temps and humidity made afternoons outside limited to the hotel swimming pool.

A banana flower, Singapore Botanic Garden (SBG)

The Evolution Path in SBG. The park was actually quite hilly: 200m elevation gain over only 7km.

Marina Bay view, Singapore. Despite appearances here, my 12km walk around the bay included significant elevation gain.

Another view of Marina Bay, including the **Gardens by the Bay** and the iconic Marina Sands hotel on the left here. I regret not returning another morning to visit the popular **Gardens**.

Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo

Skipping ahead almost 2 months, in February I flew from Western Australia to Kuala Lumpur (KL) to begin a 3-week visit to both peninsular Malaysia and Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. Apart from a couple of extra days in KL at the start, this trip comprised 2 group nature/cultural excursions with the Australian company, Intrepid.

Perdana Botanic Garden vista, Kuala Lumpur. For decades the botanic garden had been a park, and still contained numerous vestiges from that operation.

Orchid menagerie, Perdana Botanic Garden. By design, my hotel was a convenient 7 minute walk to the botanic garden. My 7km walk had over 260m elevation gain, quite impressive for a city!

Leaving KL, our group made a several hour drive to Penang Island where we started our peninsular Malaysia adventure.

Beginning the ascent of Penang Hill before dawn, Penang Island

Dawn over George Town, Penang, from the Penang Hill Heritage Trail.

Funicular tracks, Penang Hill Heritage Trail. Most tourists took this mode up the hill. I, instead, climbed more than 700m (over only 3km) for the resulting views. . .

View from the top, Penang Hill. Needless to see, no other **Intrepid** clients joined me for this early morning workout. And yes, I chose the funicular to descend!

With giant cassava leaves in the Ulu Muda rainforest in Kedah. We spent two nights at a The Earth Lodge, a rustic ecolodge, certainly the highlight of this trip.

A Lanternfly in the Ulu Muda forest. I’m not sure if this is the same species devastating vineyards in the Eastern US.

The Vagabond Hiker posing with a giant ficus in Ulu Muda

Bukit Labu cave, Ulu Muda forest. Our guide (and ecolodge owner) had discovered this cave some years prior and has been monitoring the species calling it home.

Lunch stop along a stream in the Ulu Muda forest

Leaving the Earth Lodge, Ulu Muda forest. Boats are the only way to access this remote area.

Boardwalk path in the **Cameron Highlands Montane Park**. Several of us took the Parit Falls loop nature walk here. At an elevation of more than 1400m, this area, known for its tea plantations and formerly a British Hill Station, was much cooler (and wetter) than the rest of Peninsular Malaysia we visited.

Another species of pitcher plant, Cameron Highlands

After returning to KL, a couple of us flew to Borneo the following day for another Intrepid group trip.

Pygmy Elephant, Kinabatangan River, Borneo. As one can see, “pygmy” is a relative term. Three river cruises from this jungle lodge gave us an opportunity to see lots of wildlife, including orangutans.

Sunset Point, Manukan Island, Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. We stayed one night at a resort here. Thankfully, outside of day-tripper hours, the island was quiet. An hour walk in the early morning was a great way to appreciate it.

For what was by far the most interesting hike I did in Borneo, climbing Mount Kinabalu, see my recent post.

Bali, Indonesia

Wrapping up my 3^1/2 month winter trip to southeast Asia and Australia, I spent a week relaxing and sightseeing in Bali, where I had only ever changed planes before.

Jungle near Leke Leke Waterfall, on a short hike I took as part of a private day trip organized by the Ubud resort where I stayed.

Leke Leke waterfall. Mid-morning I had it all to myself.

Small bract Sanchezia near Leke Leke waterfall

Ulun Danu Beratan Temple, Bali. This wildly popular spot among the Instragram crowd was beautiful nonetheless. Nor was it crowded at the end of the rainy season when I was there. (Australians generally visit during the dry season that coincides with the Austral winter).

View of the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces, another short walk I took during this day trip from Ubud, the cultural center of Bali.

Jatiluwih Rice Terraces from the restaurant where I had lunch. Absolutely gorgeous!

Boats along Sanur Beach. After a few days I relocated from Ubud to a posh resort at the south end of Sanur Beach.

Temple along the Sanur Beach promenade. It was possible to walk more than 4km one way along the beach promenade.

Sanur Beach view. Particularly in the mornings it was not very crowded and the chill vibe provided a great way to end my winter trip.

A note on vertical photo widths: I noticed while perusing an old blog post of mine, that an update to the WordPress Block Editor changed its default settings so that all vertical photos appear full width. This has retroactively affected every blog post of mine, making them difficult to see on a PC or tablet as well as enlarging many to the point of pixilation due to the compressed resolution I intentionally use on my blog site. This WordPress update to my knowledge has had no adverse impact for viewing on phones (though on phones the landscape photos appear small - I do recommend using a tablet or PC). The only solution I could find is to manually force the width of the vertical photos to what I originally intended. With 127 blog posts this laborious task will take a while...

I have returned to Italy for the remainder of the spring and early summer before heading to Madagascar for two weeks. Although currently staying in Trentino near Lago di Garda, I do promise two blog posts from the regions of Tuscany and Abruzzo, a major change of scene from my usual northern Italian adventures! Stay tuned,

The Vagabond Hiker