Postcards From Malaysia III: The mushroom crew and “cheeky monkeys”.

After a long flight it’s hard to do much else but take it easy. The Dukes of Hazard, the one with Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke, was on HBO in my hotel room when I got to Malaysia. Every time I’m traveling down some twisted Malaysian highway I hear Willie Nelson singing that goofy theme song, “...Straight'nin' the curve... Flat'nin' the hills.”.

Those lyrics followed me all the way up to Fraser’s hill.

Fraser’s hill is named after some British recluse who lived in the mountains bordering Selangor and Pahang provinces. He had a mule and traded in tin. The local Bishop made a point of keeping track of him and when he failed to make his regular visit, he put out to search. Finding this area where Frazer apparently lived. It looked like like a good place to set up a regular outpost.Fraser never turned up... so the area was named after him.

The forest in the mountains around Fraser's Hill is thick with steep, sometimes plummeting, slopes. People have gone missing recently after wandering off marked trails. The forest around Fraser’s hill is nothing to trifle with. Just ask Fraser.

But sometimes one must veer from the trail a little to find what one seeks. (Why am I speaking in 3rd person?) Calostoma sarasinii was collected just off Pine Tree Trail by Dennis Desjaridin a few year back. In January 2006 I followed him to collect it again. It was my best collection of Calostoma in 2006, complete with gorgeous fruiting bodies and beautiful ectomycorrhizae. This trip I made an equally beautiful collection of C. berkleyiii from Ulu Bendul (at right). As a result I suspected C. sarasinii would be fruiting in Fraser’s Hill too. It was... but just 5 immature fruiting bodies. And much like Ulu Bendul’s soil cores for the past two collection, Fraser's Hill soil cores turned up a bust for Calostoma sarasinii root tips. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I don’t consider Fraser’s hill a loss. I found bunches of Scleroderma, and an interesting bright yellow, fruity smelling, spongy, gasteroid thing. It has orange rhizomorphs. Could be some kind of truffle? I wasn't confident about any kind of determination I was making. In my recent meeting with Dr Lee Su See, she pointed me in the direction of Gautieria. Whatever it is, it's a pretty neat fungus.

One afternoon in Fraser's Hill, everyone was napping and I was awoken by some banging and bustling followed by Agnes’ giggles. I decided to check on the commotion. I entered the living room and Agnes just giggled and exclaimed, “monkey!” A little groggy, I was not sure what she was talking about, but then I looked out on the patio of the 3rd floor apartment to see this monkey sitting on the railing. Poor Agnes just wanted to photograph her boletes. Poor monkey was thinking he was going to get a snack. Apparently he had jumped onto the patio, startling Agnes and causing her to jump inside and close the sliding glass door. Thoughtlessly tearing the stalk from the cap, the monkey took a quick sniff of one of Agnes' specimens and we could tell he was expecting something more. “Sorry pal, that’s the best you’re going to get here.”

My trips into Western Malaysia’s forests have involved great company. Agnes has been an excellent host making all the arrangements and taking care of the logistics. Two other UM students have also accompanied. First there is Sumaiyah (simply referred to as “Sue”) who is studying Lentinus, and Hasnul who is studying and culturing polypores. Both are great, and I’m not just saying that because they laugh at my jokes... though that helps put me at ease when they do. Our driver is Kamarudin. He’s our Bo Duke. (Or is it Luke who drives the car?) We call him Encik Din (pronounced in-check din) which means “Mr. Din”. He’s great! Not just an excellent driver, but also takes an interest in the collecting and the safety of the UM students. He generally likes to accompany the students into the forest with his parang (Malaysian machete) and helps collect the challenging fungi (polypores on hardwood, mushrooms hidden behind prickly rataan). You can see him and Agnes in the rope bridge picture from the first postcard.

Life here in Malaysia is not all fungi fondling and fruitless root tip searching. After sampling a few hotels, I decided to try finding a more budget friendly guesthouse in downtown KL. The neighborhood called Bukit Bintang is also known as the Golden Triangle in KL. It is a little more upscale than the neighboring Chinatown, but maintains the color and cultural diversity of urban Kuala Lumpur. It’s also next to some crazy malls. The mall scene in Malaysia is way out of hand. Some of the malls here would make a casino in Las Vegas blush. Seriously, the Sunway Pyramid Mall has a pyramid with a giant sphinx overlooking the freeway! Another is big enough that a portion of the upper levels is an amusement park complete with a roller coaster. And that’s not even the largest mall in KL!

But I digress. In Bukit Bintang, I stumbled upon a swell place called Anjung KL Guesthouse. The place has nice private rooms with aircon, shared baths, email access, (very) simple breakfast and a nice communal area. Here I’ve met several other
mat sallehs from Great Brittan traveling through. I’ve spent the most time with Sarah and George. Sarah is on her way home from several months in Australia and George, I believe, is in the middle of his travels that have included Thailand and China... I think. Anyway, we ganged up one day to check out the Batu Caves, which is a religious site for Hindus. You can tell that the postcards they sell the Batu Caves in downtown KL are out of date because they don’t have the latest decoration... a towering golden statue of Krishna! There are also several monkeys hanging around there. The flyer at the guesthouse said "beware of the cheeky monkeys". What does 'cheeky' mean anyway? It's too funny of a word to take seriously. The cave is actually this cavernous opening in this limestone outcropping just 20 min outside of KL. I found out later that there is a much more extensive cave system that is open on the weekends. However we visited on a holiday weekend (the king’s birthday) so that part of the cave was closed. Apparently you also want to wear grungy clothes cause there is a good bit of crawling involved.

As for other interesting encounters at the guesthouse, I can't forget Mark: the well traveled gentleman from Sabah who introduced us to our first taste of durian, educated me on travel in Canada, and fed us delicious beef noodles from the chinese vendor down the street. I hope I get to meet up with him again the next time I get to KK.

That’s my latest summary. Next issue... Beautiful Borneo!


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