Penang-na-nag-nag-nang

After the craziness of the Cameron Highlands, we were looking forward to Georgetown, Penang because we had heard good things and the food was supposed to be sublime.

The town is very quaint and has some European architecture due to the English colony in the 1700s. We wandered around and took in some sights at a relatively slow pace. The Little India part of town seemed the most lively and definitely had our favourite food!

Hindu man lighting pots of ghee and incense.

Mosque tower (not European)

Famous building used in lots of films (apparently)

We went into an old fort and it was a bit naff; not much to see except some old walls and canons.

In the evening we went to a Thai Buddhist temple to see the second largest leaning Buddha in the world.

As we approached the temple, it was clear there had been some kind of massive party as there was a lot of litter and drunk people. Then someone poured water all over Katie.

It was Thai New Year and to celebrate, they had a massive water fight! Apparently it brings good luck for the new year. Katie was soaked from head to toe (on several occasions) but the real victim was me. I had suffered at the hands of the same Thai and had been left with what can only be described as a slightly damp lower back – the horror!

Aforementioned leaning Buddha

We then walked along the seafront and saw some really bizarre animals. First was the one claw crab – very cool and surprisingly big. There were thousands of these lining the beach/mudflat.

The next animal we saw was an amphibian. It had a tail, flippers/arms, a big fin on its back, was very fast and quite big. We have no idea what it is. This was the best photo I could get:

Anyway, it was weird.

The next day we went to a different area of Penang and got a train up to Penang Hill. It was a slightly rainy day so the photos aren’t spectacular but we enjoyed the view at the time.

We walked around the top, which was quite touristy, but we did see a couple of interesting things.

English looking cottage

Huge spiders

The last thing we visited was Kek Lok Si – the largest Buddhist temple complex in SE Asia. I was particularly excited about this as I am a huge fan of temples. The walk to the entrance was through a 500m long market and by the time we arrived, the harassment of shop owners had ruined any spiritualistic experience we could have been having.

Once inside, the temple was quite pretty but really didn’t feel that large. Plus it was also a big tourist trap with shops crammed into every available space. We were not impressed. Anyway, here is my attempt at making this temple complex seem calm and peaceful:

This was enormous!

...and there were loads of turtles (obviously)

Penang didn’t grab either of us particularly strongly and we were perhaps growing a little bored of exploring cities and towns. From Penang we would be taking an overnight bus and heading to Melaka – a historic town (yippee...) which, like Georgetown (Penang), is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

See you soon.

Costs (per person)
Cameron Highlands to Penang Bus = 35 MYR (£7, $12)
Penang hotel with AC per room = 50 MYR (£10, $17)
Penang to Melaka Overnight Bus = 47 MYR (£9.50, $16)

Cameron Highlands - A Place to Forget

Where do we start with the Cameron Highlands? It was an interesting experience to say the least and one that we will probably never forget (Alzheimer’s notwithstanding). We stayed in a town called Tanah Rata and we found a great place to stay (Cameronian Inn), then set about organising the tours and treks we would be doing around the highlands.

The Cameron Highlands is famous in Malaysia for trekking, tea plantations, and the recent discovery of the Rafflesia flower – the world’s largest flower. We decided to pay 60 MYR (£12) each to go on a half day tour to see this flower, which involved a two hour trek, as well as a few other things that can only be described as filler activities. The day of the tour we awoke bright and early, boarded the jeep, and set off at around 9. The jeep was very old, had no seatbelts, and was supposed to be taking us off road. And we were sharing it with Germans. Gulp.

We arrived at a random police checkpoint and our driver stopped the vehicle and called for his boss. We waited for over an hour until another man showed up to drive us through the checkpoint. It became clear that the reason for the delay was that our driver had no license and could not cross the checkpoint legally. At this point, the Germans in the jeep became very angry at the driver and started “what iffing..?” about accidents and insurance etc. We shrugged this negative energy off, as did the driver, and eventually we continued on our cliff side road climb.

A few minutes later, while driving on a flat, straight piece of road, the jeep jumped up in the air and then came crashing down with an almighty screeching noise. We stopped very quickly, thus avoiding going off the cliff, or into a wall, or an oncoming vehicle. When we got out of the jeep, this is what we saw:

Kang Tours Old Jeeps

Scrape on tarmac

The wheel had flown off, with no bump in the road, no reason at all except for bad maintenance, and we had come to a screeching standstill. The driver was fairly apologetic, especially considering the screaming German girls in his ears. We were both pretty shaken up by this but through gritted teeth, and perhaps foolish judgement, we decided to continue. The Germans did not.

We waited for another hour until another old, unreliable, badly maintained jeep turned up. We asked the driver to go slowly and he assured us he would...up to the point where he realised that we were now two hours behind schedule and needed to drive like lightning in order to catch up. Overtaking 4 cars on a blind corner and having to cut back in when an oncoming car approached, he seemed oblivious to the fact we had just been in a fairly scary accident.

We arrived safely though, and were immediately hurried up a hill. The 2 hour trek to the flower seemed very rushed and we really didn’t have the time to enjoy the surrounding jungle.

The bit which was most interesting involved crossing a river where a bridge had recently collapsed. It involved a climb down, a skip across the river, and a slippery climb up.

The collapsed bridge

A dirty waterfall on the way

We arrived at the flower a little worn out from mental anguish... however the flower was fairly spectacular... and LARGE!

Flower bud that looks like a face

Rafflesia - world's largest single bud

It is supposed to smell like rotting flesh to attract flies and although there were many flies, we didn’t notice the odour (probably due to our own bad BO.)

The hike back down the same trail was of little interest and Katie was stung by a bee which didn’t help. We had to really rush as a thunderstorm was approaching, and we had to pass that river crossing because it would become impossible once the banks got wet.

After the hike e went to an aboriginal village where we practiced blow pipe hunting and saw the tradition huts they lived in (cough).

Aboriginal huts... I theorise they ran out of time
and took us somewhere else.

We ended up being driven back by the guy in charge of maintaining the vehicles. He offered no apology and instead only had this to say; “Accidents happen.” This angered both of us, as a wheel flying off a car is not an accident if there is no cause – it is surely bad maintenance. We ended up going to the tour organiser, complaining and getting a full refund.

But the story is not over. Later that evening, one of the tour guides came to our hotel room, banged on the door and demanded to know why we wanted a refund. He was very angry and looked like he might punch me at any moment. He didn’t, but he did storm off. Our hotel owner then drove to the tour company to complain about the guide’s attitude – she had seen the photos and heard our side of the story and fully understood our reason for a refund, as did the tour manager. What a night! The first full day in the Cameron Highlands was finally over... we were alive and just about able to relax.

We had planned a more eventful second day but decided against another organised tour and instead were going to get a taxi to the tea plantations. We went to the best spot to get a taxi and I decided that I would try to hitchhike, as I heard it is very common and easy in this area. I stuck out my thumb and the first car that drove past, stopped. We jumped in and were taken to the tea plantation – bargain!

We sat at the top and enjoyed the rolling hills of the plantation with a cup of local tea. Delightful.

Not quite as spectacular as Batad rice terraces

We managed to hitchhike down with the same couple that gave us a lift up. Such a fantastically nice couple from KL (one was a lawyer, one a banker) who gave us so many tips about Malaysia and even bought us lunch. It really made up for the slightly overwhelming first day and reminded us of one of the reasons we travel – to meet locals and make new friends.

We ended the day in our guesthouse with a big plate of scones and some more delicious tea. We were slowly beginning to get back to normal... and maybe, just maybe, we will laugh about all this soon.

Nom nom nom

Costs (per person)

KL to Cameron Highlands Bus - 30 MYR (£6, $10)

Cameron Highlands to Penang Bus - 35 MYR (£7, $12)

Cameronian Inn per room - 40 MYR (£8, $13)

Rafflesia Tour - Normally 60 MYR (£12, $20) but for free.

KL by KP & DS

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur airport in the middle of the night, all set to get a few hours kip on a bench before heading to our guest house. However, there really wasn’t anywhere to sleep apart from the filthy floor, and for some reason the air was making us sneeze and cough uncontrollably. Weird. After a while of umming and ahhing we decided to head to our guest house in the hope of checking in a few hours earlier.

In the afternoon we left the hostel feeling refreshed and excited to explore a new country. China Town was our first port of call and we had a look around the famous Central Market. This was posher than any other market we had been to; it reminded me of the Camden stables market. We headed up to the food court and were overwhelmed by choice. I had a feeling Malaysian food was well going to make up for the naffness we tasted in the ‘Ppines.

Bellies full, we decided to check out another market that was much more our style. It was quite big and full of the usual: clothes, bags, watches, tat. This is when I finally understood the meaning of the frequently used traveller phrase “Same same, but different”. All markets in Asia seem to basically sell the same things, which tend to be pretty much identical (same same) in all countries. That said, there is always something that you haven’t quite seen before (hence, but different) and this reignites your curiosity and interest, meaning you never quite get bored. 

Next stop: Petronas Towers. I was very curious to see what form these towers would take when I saw them. Perhaps a monkey, since they are my favourite animals. Or maybe a dragon, seeing as though that’s the year I was born in. As we got off the subway I had a sudden panic because I had left my wand back at the hostel. Dismayed, I explained this to Dave, who promptly pointed out my mistake, and explained the real reason behind their name (petrol, not Potter). Upset though I was, I must admit the towers were pretty to look at and Dave got some good pictures. At one point we returned to see them at night, so I’ll put those pictures here too.

These are the tallest twin towers ever built.

The gardens around the towers.

Day two in KL and we had a plan. We would go out in the morning, and then return to the gloriously air conditioned hostel before the midday heat became unbearable. So bright and early we headed to Batu Caves. This is a short train ride out of the city to a big rock formation. In this formation is a huge cave that houses a Hindu temple. It was really quite touristy but the first Hindu temple either of us had been to and so it was pretty interesting. I especially loved seeing the monkeys, who were stealing food off passing tourists.

Guarding the entrance.

Taking multiple personalities to the extreme!

This statue is huuuuuuuuuge!

Very touristy.

After a siesta, we headed out into the slightly cooler evening air, in search of a Mosque and its neighbouring market. The mosque itself, called Masjid Jamek, was slight disappointing, but being the oldest in Kuala Lumpur, we thought we should see it... 

The market, however, was awesome. It went on for miles and was ram-packed with all of the same same, plus some different and LOTS of food. This is definitely worth checking out if you’re in the city on a Friday. 

We got a glimpse of KL Tower from the market.

On our final day in KL we wanted to see this big park everyone was going on about. It contains the world’s largest free-flying aviary, a butterfly farm, deer park and loads of different gardens. For some reason we cannot fathom, it took us absolutely ages to find, despite being right next to where we were staying. Taxi drivers, locals, maps – we kept getting different information as to how to get there. Anyway, once we finally arrived we had a walk around the gardens, which were lovely, but decided against paying to see any of the aforementioned sections.

Crazy lizard we spotted in the park.

By the afternoon, we had seen everything we had wanted to see in KL, and more, so decided to treat ourselves to some shameless entertainment; we went to the cinema. As soon as Dave mentioned the idea, I was on the case because in the whole time we have been together, I’ve only managed to get him to go to the cinema twice! It may not have been in the spirit of travelling but we both felt we deserved the guilty pleasure of a big bucket of popcorn and 2 hours of air con. We saw Hunger Games, which is basically a kiddy version of “Battle Royale” crossed with “The Running Man”; Dave was disappointed by the lack of violence and once again, left the cinema with a feeling of regret. I had a great time though!

One thing we did agree on, though, was that Malaysians reacted really weirdly during the film. There aren’t really any funny moments in the film, yet there were at least five occasions on which the whole audience (bar us) erupted in laughter – it was very bizarre. We later met a Manchester couple who saw the film there too and had the same unusual experience.

Costs
Crappy private double fan room - 60 MYR (£12, $20)
KL to Cameron Highlands Bus - 30 MYR (£6, $10)