A trip to remember

In KK we’ve been staying in a great backpackers called POD. We love it because it’s well located for buses, food courts, bars, shops, ATMs, etc etc. but mainly because the people that run it are amazing!

They made us feel welcome the first time we stayed there, but when we came back again, they made us feel like we were coming home! It’s a funny thing when you’re travelling, but little things like becoming familiar with somewhere, knowing your way around somewhere, or just seeing a familiar friendly face is a huge comfort, so we did feel a little like we were home. The £7 per night for a double room is also a massive bonus.

So we’ve adopted POD as our base whenever we’re in KK, and as we’ve had 6 days to kill between Claire leaving and Atmika and Robert arriving, we’ve started to get to know the place. When planning what to do for the week, the wonderful manager Maria, surprised us both by saying that she and her boyfriend Ryan (who’s an incredible jungle specialist tour guide) could take us to a nearby village community and give us a taste for rural life. For free. Where in the world would you find people as welcoming and willing to give up their time?

So we happily agreed, and set off around lunch time on Thursday and we didn’t arrive back until about 3pm the following day. It was amazing.

We went to a local market where Maria and Ryan showed us local delicacies (and bought it for us to try).

We arrived at the village which is set in an incredibly beautiful location on a stretch of river, and reached via a swing bridge that looked like something from a film.

We had a fish massage…I’m talking huge fish, about a foot long swimming around your legs, under your feet and between your toes…a tickly, slippery, splashy little adventure throughout which Brodie squealed like a baby!

We swam in the river (3 times)

We drank rice wine

We went on a 4 hour night walk, in which we saw giant spiders, giant snakes, incredible frogs, a flying lemur (!!!), ignuanas, and more.

We cooked traditional Malay food in the traditional Malay way-in bamboo on an open fire!

We slept in a traditional longhouse.

We went on a daylight forest walk, in which we stalked rare birds.

We joined in traditional Malay dancing (much to our embarrassment…) and were serenaded with traditional drumming.

We tried rubber tapping (Brodie is apparently a pro at this)

We were fed like Kings…

It was a wonderful wonderful couple of days and we were blown over by the warmth, friendliness and welcoming nature of the wonderful community we visited, and couldn't believe Maria and Ryan were generous enough to give up so much of their time, energy and expertise to give us such a wonderful experience. Absolutely WOW.