Malaysia could be described as a country of exceptional life forms. It has the world's tallest tropical tree (tualang), largest snake (reticulated python), largest flower (Rafflesia), and largest bat. The name of the bat escapes me but it was most impressive, with a head as large as a Yorki and a wingspan of about 4 feet.

The gesneriads are exceptional, too, ranging from shrubby Cyrtandra to diminutive Epithema. Jeanne and I travelled from the lowland rainforest to the montane rainforest and saw wonderful gesneriads in a variety of habitats. We saw limestone walls with huge colonies of hundreds of plants of boea (several leaf colors) growing in the sun. Shadier niches in the limestone harbored monophyllaea, epithema, and chirita. Rocks and moist roadcuts had colonies of Didissandra and Didymocarpus in bloom, with purple, violet, white, lavender, and blue flowers. I always thought of Aeschynanthus as an epiphytic plant but many plants in flower were seen growing on moist rocks. And for the Largest Leaf Category, there was chest-high Cyrtandra with 2-inch white flowers. It was thrilling to see so many Asian gesneriads in bloom, many of them not in cultivation and not well known.

We were able to travel to a variety of habitats and see all these lovely plants because of the generous and kind nature of Leong Tuck Lock of Ipoh, Perak. I have been corresponding with him for eleven years and it was wonderful to meet him at last. He picked us up at the airport in Ipoh and acted as
guide/guardian/host/friend/advisor to us for our entire stay. He drove us everywhere for over a week, from Ipoh in the lowlands to the hill stations in the highlands, all the while booking hotels, translating menus, loading and unloading luggage, identifying plants, dispensing travel advice and leech remedies, and giving us a crash course in Malaysian history and culture. His presence and expertise enhanced our travel tremendously and we would not have had such a wonderful experience without his help and caring.

We also had the opportunity to meet Cheaw Hon Ming, a gesneriphiles list member who has posted several gesneriad images for us. He is a avid birder and Chairman of the Perak Branch of the Malaysian Nature Society. If you're thinking of going to Malaysia for the weekend, there are considerations. From the east coast of the US, we flew 13 hours non-stop to Tokyo, had a 4-hour layover, flew 6 hours to Singapore, took a one-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and continued on to Ipoh. Because of the 13-hour time difference and the international dateline, it took almost two days to go there but only eleven hours to come home!

It was a memorable trip but there is still a lot of Malaysia we haven't seen. We travelled to Peninsular Malaysia; we didn't get to Sabah or Sarawak or Mt. Kinabalu or up the west coast to Langkawi or...

Maryjane Evans, home from Malaysia/leaving for Arizona tomorrow