March30
Things didn’t start well in Malaysia. A thirteen hour journey involving three ferries and the same number of minibusses PLUS the fact that it began to rain, violently, just as we crossed the border into Malaysia. We didn’t know much about the country – party due to the nonchalant attitude we now have for travelling (research and preperation not being high on our list of priorities). But we did know it would rain. Welcome to the equatorial zone.
British remains in Georgetown, Panang
First stop – Georgetown on Pulau Penang. Founded (or stolen?) by good ole Francis Light of Woodbridge, Suffolk, of all places, Georgetown was a charming mix of Chinese shop houses, English colonial architecture and an accompanying blend of Malay, Chinese and Indian. Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu. Remarkably, if our experience is anything to go by, it seems to work.
Monkeeee!
Go Karting, Penang
The surreal but humerous Umbrella Girl 2010
The food is as diverse as the population so we had high hopes. Unfortunately, we ate cold curry most of the time. Or cold chinese. They tend to prefer to cook everything up canteen style early in the day – still, who can argue when it cost $1.50 for dinner?!
Highlights included the botanical gardens – monkeys and plants, the National Museum – very interesting in a geeky way, and a karting championship with an accompanying “Miss Umbrella Girl 2010″ beauty pageant. After laughing at the misfortune of the prettier but less intelligent models, we head inland to the highlands.
Did I mention it was hot here? Well the highlands were blissfully cool, if not calm. The holidays had started and the Cameron Highlands were full of tourists from the coast and neigbouring Singapore. (imagine the number of digi-SLR cameras…) Still, it’s easy to have full days here without breaking a sweat – tea plantations, rainforest walks, strawberry farm, insects, butterflys,strawberries, ice cream, strawberrys. Oh, and some strawberries.
Nige in BOH tea fields!
Kuala Lumpur was surprisingly civilised and interesting. A good bus tour, some interesting sights, a great museum, good food and we were beginning to realise the Malaysia really has it all. So far, island life, highland life, rainforests, cultural diversity without a sign of tension and a pleasant capital city were all positive.
Old British cricket clubhouse in Kuala Lumpur's city centre
We head to Malaka on the coast – once the main town of the peninsula, dominated by Portugese, Dutch and then English was a nice and tranquil place. (once the tourists had left on Sunday night). Predominantly Chinese, the food specialities included chicken rice balls (at A Fomosa) and satay fondue (at Capitol Satay). The latter was a messy mix of skewered raw meat, fish and veg, with a boiling vat of rich satay in the centre of the table. Mmmmm. So good. Mind you, eat so much that you never want to see a peanut again…
Satay mess
Fran and trippy trishaw
With some time on our hands, we managed a little last minute chillout time on Pulau Tioman on the east coast. We spent three days in paradise. Cooler weather (but still hot and sunny), a small mountain island covered with monkey and monitor lizard inhabited rainforest, a handful of small bars and restaurants, a few dive shops and a row of accomodations, and that was the town. We spent the time snorkelling from the beach, where there were world class corals and fish – simply breathtaking. This certainly ranks as one of the nicest places we’ve been on our travels. Infact just to polish it off, the island was duty free so the beer was cheap too!
Pulau Tioman (ours is the hut in the bottom right!)
Tropical accomodation - Tioman
Having said that, Malaysia itself is one of the best countries we’ve visited on our trip. It was such an unkown entity at the start, but the mix of modern transport options, diverse cultures (indigenous plus the three dominant local populations) and amazing scenery makes it a traveller’s favourite. But there’s hardly any travellers here! OK, Thailand does offer beer a LOT cheaper (Malaysia is primarily a Musliim country so beer though not hard to come by, is expensive.) But I feel that Malaysia has a lot more to offer than Thailand. And Malaysians of all background are a friendly and English speaking bunch. The only person I met that wasn’t friendly was an ex-pat. Man, I should work for the Malaysian tourism board.
P.S. Malaysia does, however, have a reputation of ecological blunders such as deforestation and exploitation, so it’s not all good. Just don’t dig too deep.
P.P.S. We only visited peninsular Malaysia. There’s another half on Borneo which would be fantastic to visit sometime.
