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Published: November 2nd 2006
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Joanna at Fort Cornwallis
Entrance to the famous fort which founded the city of Georgetown Right, well we've been on the road again and we're now in our fourth country on our route, Malaysia. We left Krabi on Tuesday, where we were shoved into a minivan and made a run for the boarder. The journey was a typical Thai affair - there were too many passangers for the van, but rather than get another vechical it was three-to-a-seat and a Thai boy sleeping on the luggage. Actually, while we're on the subject of transport in southern Thailand, the minivan was actually a step up for us - our last journey involved James hanging onto the back step of a pick up truck with a guy from Sweden (he was a climber so I think he had an advantage over me!), oh, sorry mum if you're reading this!
Anyway, the boarder was actually a friendlier place than the Thai-Cambodia one (there were no thieves or touts basically) and the van was pretty comfortable after a few people got dropped off too, although I'm sure I saw a cockroach or two on the backseat. After crossing through everything seemed a bit different, there were posh housing estates and motorbike riders wore helmets! Could it be that we'd
James and Captain Light
Two photos for all our friends from the Royal Armouries - enjoy! crossed over into civilisation?
Well our first destination in Malaysia was Georgetown, we decided to skip the island of Langkawi - we've had enough of beaches (well that's what we told ourselves). First impressions were, well, impressive. We crossed the largest bridge in South East Asia and were greeted by steel and glass towers and a giant Tesco (the definiting charecteristic of any civilized country - no?). While we're talking about foreign invasions, you may be interested to know that Georgetown was founded in 1786 by a chap called Francais Light who ceeded the island from the Sultan on behalf of the hounarble (hmmm...) East India Company, in return for military protection. The joke was on the Sultan though, as military protection wasn't part of the EIC's reading of the deal - so the British got Penang for nothing. We leant all this in the excellent Penang Museum and the historical site Fort Cornwallis, the latter you can see in the photos and featured the oppertunity for James and Joanna to make fools of themselves in front of Captain Light with a provided hat and gun!
Our next port of call (excuse the pun) was Penang Hill, which
Joanna and Captain Light
Yes, those are horses in the background, they were wild and very curious. Shortly after this photo they got a little too close for comfort, always our luck with animals! was a welcome relief on a hot and humid day - 700 metres above sea-level and therefore 5 degrees cooler than ground level. Access to this hill station built by the Brits to grow strawberries and 'take tea' in the 1920s was via a scary funicular railway system which acsended the 700 metres in about 25 mins. At the top was a hotel built for visiting Brits where we stopped for a coke, it was quite a weird and eerie place, there had been no obvious attempt at renovating the place since the departure of the British, but they did have a pet python, which we didn't see, but we were warned about by the kindly lamenated labels 'Beware: Pet Python Above'! It didn't deter us, but we kept glancing upwards from time to time.
After some cheap noodles and rice we managed to convince a taxi driver that we were too poor to pay the full fair and got dropped of at our next destination the beautiful Botanical Gardens - which was incredibly well looked after and reminded us of being in Japan (it may be worth noting that the 'botanical gardens' is a term which has probably
The Town Hall
Georgetown's colonial heritage never been coined in Thailand). It may also be worth noting for regular readers that Joanna ran into another monkey here and was very shy until it was well out of sight. Good girl.
That night came the excitment of excitments - a power cut! A real one! The heavens had opened above Georgetown, (thunder and lightning and everything) and we as we ran for cover in a local restaurant (actually our second attempt, the first restaurant we tried had 'no food') we were plunged into darkness, not before being served our food though - phew! So we drank Tiger beer by candle light which was really nice. Once steeled by the Tiger beer we ventured back into the darkness and found our hostel - which oddly enough had power, where we played travel scrabble and ate ice cream (Seven Eleven doesn't 'do' powercuts!).
Today we've been exploring more of this great city, taking in the culture at... the local mall, 'Komtar'! It's a very exciting place, with a Starbucks, a Pizza Hut and a Cineplex! We are shamed to admitt that we nearly had tea at Starbucks - but we resisted - why? Because tomorrow we are
The Top of Penang Hill
Cool as a cucumber at the Bellevue Hotel (no snakes in sight!) off to the Cameron Highlands, where they pick and brew REAL tea! Also, our chicken and rice lunch was cheaper than one cup of tea at Starbucks - that had some bearing on the decision! Shame on you Starbucks! Oh, and Joanna was dancing with glee when we found a supermarket which had... apples!!! Yes, believe it or not we haven't seen an apple for months!!
So, that's Georgetown and our first impressions of Malaysia, stay tuned to see us drinking tea and eating cake in the highlands!
PS. Joanna wishes it to be noted that she is the sole protector of James and Joanna, as she has turned into a master mossie killer and trapper - Mosquitos killed or trapped to date: Joanna - 6, James - 1 (Flailing attempts to hurl himself accross the room at mossie - James - 20).
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andrew
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woe are we
As ever, it sounds like you're having a wonderful time out there as we approach sub zero temperatures back in Blighty. Out of interest can you tell me how much a Starbucks over there is in sterling? Tomorrow Mum, James and I set of to see the rest of the clan at Lindsay and John's new home. Wendy found a monkey doormat whilst she was down with me last weekend. Not sure if it will go with period Victorian features but it will just have to be a nod to tastes and Lindsay's bizzare (note correct spelling) tastes. Wish you could be there with us as it's been an age since we were all together, sure you're happier where you are though. I will endevour to take some suitable pictures to forward to you assuming your e-mail account is working. I predict scenes of the Mums eating, drinking, talking and never both looking at the camera simultaneously. A debauched night somewhere in Portsmouth. And if you're really lucky, a picture of Lindsay with a plaster on her forehead, do you remember that? Hello to James, I realise we've never met but I'm sure on your return we will. Andrew xxx