Malaysia

20.06.2007 - 15.07.2007 35 °C

By the time we boarded our overnight train from Thailand to Malaysia We were so tired by the time we boarded at 1.45am that we were both certain of sleeping through. However, Mr Snorey-Head, in a bunk besides us had other ideas. There is nothing more frustrating than being kept awake by a snorer. It's the fact that he is getting a great night's sleep thank you whilst keeping everyone else awake. We both, somehow, resisted the urge to throw a shoe at him or smother him with his pillow.

In total we spent 24 hours travelling from Koh Samui to Penang, Malaysia. The journey went something like this:

Songthaew (pick-up style taxi) to Nathon - I hour
Ferry from Nathon to mainland Thailand - 1 1/2 hours
Bus journey to Surat Thani - 2 1/2 hours
Wait at train station - 8 hours (yes that's right, 8 hours)
Train to Butterworth, Malaysia - 10 hours
Ferry from Butterworth to Penang - 15 mins
Taxi to guesthouse - 5 mins

No more overnight trains, please!

Our guest house, 100 Cintra Street, was an interesting little building. It's a Peranakan house that dates back to 1881 and has been refurbished to include a museum, cafe and guesthouse. The rooms were basic - a mattress, mossie net and a fan, but the charm of the building made it a lovely place to stay. What did not add to the charm however was the nearby night club playing hardcore techno until 5am every single night.

Penang had so much to keep us occupied. It has a wealth of history and a really interesting mix of cultures. We had become a little lazy towards the end of our time in Thailand so it was great to have so many interesting things to see and do. Also, the food was brilliant and ridiculously cheap.

Komtar Tower - Penang's Tallest Building

We found it totally hassle free to get around Penang. Public transport is cheap and easy and there are taxis and trishaws everywhere as an alternative.

We spent Thursday 21st just having a general explore around Georgetown, the capital of Penang.

On Friday 22nd we jumped on a bus to Air Itam to board the Funicular to the top of Penang Hill which is 821 metres high. Somehow I managed to talk Gav into walking the 5.5km from the top of the hill, down to the Botanical gardens. I regretted it a little half an hour into the walk though as it was such a steep track and my old knees started to give me some gip I tell you. We met a really friendly chap on the way down. Mr Chi walks to the top of the hill and back down again every single day for excersise. He chatted to us about Penang's history, all the sights that we should see in Penang and mainland Malaysia and of course all the best places to eat.

The Funicular and views from Penang Hill

Mr Chi and the Botanical Gardens

On Saturday 23rd we went to visit snake temple which is home to a number of venomous snakes. Unfortunately the temple was closed due to a fire but we were able to visit the snake house next door. As part of the tour, we were given a snake show which consisted of snake handlers kissing King Cobras and the like. During this performace one of the handlers was bitten by a Mangrove Viper, twice! At one point the lad had this snake literally hanging from his hand by it's fangs. Through very nervous laughs the compere informed us that it was okay, the snake was not very poisonous and that the bite was just like a bee sting. It looked much worse than a bee sting to us. I know you shouldn't laugh at another's misfortune but when the compere then asked if anyone would like to come and touch the King Cobra whilst the snake handler had blood dripping from his bites it was just too much for us - we laughed a lot I'm afraid to say.

If you look closely at the second picture here you can see the blood on the handlers right arm!

On saturday evening we did a walking tour of the city taking in all of the sights in the less oppressive early evening heat.

China Town, Love Lane, The Cathedral of the Assumption, Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower, St Georges Church, WW1 Memorial, City Hall, Town Hall and the Betelnut Sculpture

Little India

Fort Cornwallis

Georgetown has a majority Chinese population and Sundays seems to be a real family day for the Chinese. Businesses are closed and local resturants are buzzing with families. We had a fabulous afternoon enjoying Dim Sum in a resturant near to our guesthouse. Ladies come past your table with trollies stocked with lots of delicious bite size goddies and you simply pick which ones you want. We finished our meal with a pot of Chinese tea and a very full bellies!

Dim Sum!

Whilst in Penang we just had to treat ourselves to lunch at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel. It's a beautiful hotel that was built by the Sarkie brothers who also built the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The maître d' did hide us away in a corner behind a large potted plant but that was okay, at least then no-one could see how many of those delicious little desserts from the buffet we actually managed to eat.

The E&O Hotel

Mmmmm!

We had planned to leave Penang on Wednesday 27th however neither of us had thought to check the times for ferries to Langkawi as we had both just assumed they ran all day. At around 11am we had managed to pack up all of our stuff ready to check out and casually asked what time the next ferry to Langkawi would be.....Oh, tomorrow? There are two ferries a day at 8.15am and 8.30am we were clearly running a little late for either. Luckily we were quite happy to spend another night in Penang although we made sure we set an alarm before going to sleep.

A hop, skip and a jump from Penang to Langkawi by ferry on Thursday 28th. We were unbelievebly sea sick during the 2 1/2 hour crossing although as we were turning odd shades of green and hanging our heads over the side of the ferry we were lucky enough to spot a whale and a number of sharks which more than made up for it.

We headed straight to Cenang Beach and checked into the Gecko Guesthouse. Our stay at the Gecko Guesthouse was cut short when we were awoken at 4am the following morning by next doors cockerels. As Langkawi is more of a mid-range to high end hotel kind of place so our choices for budget rooms was fairly limited. We therefore ended up at OP Motel and had the pleasure of sharing our room with a couple of very large cockroaches. We were unable to evict one of them as it managed to hide within the plywood of the bathroom door. The other Gavin successfully exterminated using mosquitio spray, it put up a good fight though. I suspect there were probably more of the horrible things in there with us (shudder).

Cenang Beach

There is no public transport as such in Langkawi and rather than reply on taxis to get around we decided to hire a car for a few days. Even with the air conditioned sanctury of our little Proton Myvi we hired we still had to resort to shopping malls on the odd day to escape from the midday heat (yep, any excuse to shop).

On Friday 29th we visited the Langkawi Lagoon, Gunung (Mount) Raya, Pantai Pasir Hitam (Black Sand Beach), Telaga Harbour Park and Pantai Kok (Kok Beach...childish giggles)

On Saturday 30th we had an excellent day visiting Gunung Machinchang and riding the cable car to it's 708 metre peak. I walked along the suspension bridge although Gav's fear of heights meant the bridge was just a step too far for him.

Langkawi Cable Car

The Suspension Bridge

Afterwards we headed to Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells waterfalls). The water has smoothed the rock so much that you can slide from one pool to another at the top of the waterfall. It was brilliant fun and just what we needed on such a hot day. Langkawi is a duty free island and was even cheaper than Penang so that evening we decided to treat ourselves to a bottle of wine and a tapas dinner at one of the resturants in Telaga Harbour Park. A lovely end to a great day.

Seven Wells Waterfalls

Dinner at Telaga Harbour

On Sunday 1st July after treating ourselves to a Starbucks coffee we headed to the Langkawi Bird Paradise and Tanjung Rhu Beach.

Langkawi Bird Paradise

Pantai Tanjung Rhu

On Tuesday 3rd we boked onto an organised 'Island Hopping' tour. I'm not a great fan of organised tours as they tend to feel so rushed but it was actually really good. The day started off with a boat trip to Dayang Bunting Island (The Island of the Pregnant Maiden). Legend has it that if you drink the water from the Lake of the Pegnant Maiden you will conceive (I taped my mouth up with duct tape before swimming). After the lake our tour guides threw a chicken pieces into the sea so that we could watch all of the sea eagles come down to feed.

Island Hopping

Lake of the Pregnant Maiden

To end our island hopping day we visited Beras Basah Island. Now here's a thing, there are no toilets on this island. When Gav enquired about restroom facilities he was told to "use the jungle". We were shocked and amused in equal measures when we turned to see a Chinese man doing exactly that. He was not, however, using the jungle as such, more the edge of the beach. A beach that more than a hundred people were on at the time. He was crouched down, swimming trunks around his ankles, therefore stark naked, with toilet tissue in his hand at the ready. We looked away immediately not wanting to see what was obviously going to happen next!

Beras Basah Island

On Wednesday 4th we had a trip out to Pulau Payar Marine Park. The water there is cyrstal clear and the coral reef makes it perfect for snorkelling. We swam with baby reef sharks, a huge very scary looking Barracuda and oodles of beautiful reef fish. It was so much fun. They threw food out for the sharks but the barracuda was so big it was scaring the sharks away and nicking all the food!

On Saturday 7th July we flew to our next stop in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Gavin has always wanted to vistit the Petronas Towers so this was one of the places he was most looking forward to visiting. We were not dissapointed, Kuala Lumpur is an amazing city. As with the rest of Malaysia there is just so much to see and do (and eat), we didn't have one day that wasn't jam-packed.

KL was really easy to get around and a lot of the main sights were walking distance from the hostel we were in. Unfortunately, our hostel was right next to an illegal karaoke club. I don't blame the hostel owner for not asking gang that ran the place to turn the music down. I very much doubt he would have made it back alive.

Monorail

Times Square Shopping Centre was right opposite our hostel. It had a fab indoor amusement park.

On Sunday 8th July we headed for Petronas Towers. The free Skybridge tickets that we had queued for 2 hours to get were for a 4pm visit so we spent the day wondering around the Suria KLCC shopping Centre, the lovely gardens and fountains attached, and of course in the food hall!

Petronas Towers, us on the Skybridge and the KLCC

Monday 9th was spent visiting Menara KL Tower which was the tallest building in Kuala Lumpur before Petronas Towers. We thought the 360 degree views from the KL Tower were far more impressive than those from the Petronas Skybridge.

Gav did a nature walk through the virgin rainforest that surrounds the tower. I started the walk but soon realised that shorts and no mossie repellent in a forest were not a good idea. I had to admit defeat and retreat, followed by a swarm of hungry mosquitos.

We had a go on the zip wire ride at the base of the KL Tower. "Xtreme!'' It didn't seem that high from the ground but felt pretty high when we were standing on the edge waiting to jump off.

The following day we headed to the KL Lake Gardens. As well as strolling around the lake we visited the Butterfly Park and the Bird Park. Enroute to the gardens we took in more of the sights of KL.

Jamek Mosque

Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Merdeka Square Flagpole, the Sculpture Gardens, The War Memorial and the National Monument

Wednesday 11th we jumped on a bus to the Batu Caves which are around 7 miles out of the city centre. A steep climb up 272 steps leads you to the three main caves which house several Hindu shrines. The Hindu Thaipusam festival is celebrated here every year in January or February. The festival is the celebration of good triumphing over evil and involves devotees practicing ''mortification of the flesh'' by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with skewers and hooks, fire walking and flagellation.

There are lots of cheeky monkeys at the caves. They are so used to tourists that they have very little fear and will snatch food out of your bag or your sunglasses off your face.

We spent a really interesting day at the Forestry Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) on Thursday 12th. Apart from walking around the 1528 hectares of forest (not all of it of course), the best parts of the day were spotting the wild Dusky Leaf Monkeys, which are too cute for words, and the 30 metre high canopy walk (the uphill 1/2km walk to the canopy was not much fun though!).

We of course had to sample the night life so on Friday 13th we headed to a club called Zouk where Norman Jay, a British DJ, was playing. It was a brilliant night - a beautiful club full of beautiful people (Gav and I excluded of course). The next day we were good for nothing, we had danced so much at Zouk that we were both actually aching and more than a little hungover - it was those frozen Margaritas!