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'Malaysia, Truly Asia'. This advertising slogan, its cheesy song and its associated imagery have been blasted at us repeatedly for months from hotel TV's all over Asia so it's got a lot to live up to. We were actually looking forward to our visit to Malaysia as although we've visited before we've not really visited peninsular Malaysia at all.
For our honeymoon six years previously we spent a few days in Kuala Lumpur at the Mandarin Oriental and then spent the rest of of the time in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo hanging with Orangutans. On our previous long term travels in 2007 we spent a couple of days in KL (sadly not the Mandarin Oriental that time though) but only so we could catch our onward flight to the Philippines, again missing out on what else the country had to offer. This time though we vowed to at least see a little more and making our way from the Thai border to KL promised that.
Although possible to carry straight on we decided to continue on with our slow travel theme and spent the night in Hat Yai in Thailand before catching a bus across the border and onward to
Penang the next day. There's not much of interest in Hat Yai which was evident by the complete lack of tourists in the town so we didn't really do a lot other than visit the supermarket for some snacks for the bus journey the next day. The journey was by minibus and we we the only western tourists on it as it was filled with students from Thailand studying in Malaysia. I love travelling with locals as they're always so generous sharing all their lovely food and snacks with both us and the boys. The border crossing was fairly straightforward but a little busy due to it being near a public holiday but within a few hours later we arrived in Georgetown in Penang.
As soon as we set foot off the bus we spoke to an english guy on a visa run from Thailand who was sitting outside a hostel who told us we'd have trouble finding somewhere to stay in the main backpacker area of Chulia street and Love Lane as they're all full. He did recommend a place a little further out near Komtar called 'The Small Inn' though so off we went in search of
it. Trying to remember his vague directions we eventually found it and it turned out to be a little gem of a place, also it wasn't too far away to be inconvenient at all as it was only about 500m. It was also really good value so we 'splurged' on a newly decorated room with A/C, two double beds and a TV all for 78 ringgit (£15.80), which considering how expensive everyone had told us it was in Malaysia (compared with the rest of SE Asia) we didn't think was too bad at all. They even provided us with a flask of boiling water whenever requested so we could make tea in our room (we're British, we always travel with tea).
We ended up spending five days in Georgetown as we really enjoyed it. At first glance it seems quite shabby with its faded colonial architecture and neglected look but it doesn't take long for it's colourful streets and bustling atmosphere to start showing their charm. Another thing which strikes you almost immediately is the cultural diversity on show which makes such a refreshing change after spending the last few months in Thailand and Vietnam which are very ethnically
homogenous.
Another thing that kept us smiling while in Georgetown was the food. We made sure to visit Restoran Kapitan which was recommended to us by a couple of people and as we later discovered, its also recommended in the Lying planet. It was a little rough around the edges with an Indian canteen feel to the restaurant itself but it was literally rammed with locals which is a much better indication of the food quality in our opinion. The first thing we did, which is the first thing we always do in any Indian restaurant on our travels is ask what on the menu isn't spicy as Nate will refuse to touch anything if he even suspects it may have some heat to it. The waiter promptly replied with "nothing!". I sat there stunned, not because there wasn't anything on the menu that wasn't spicy, that's to be expected, but that we weren't lied to. Normally the waiter points something out on the menu, tells us it's not spicy and then serves a plate of something that unleashes the fires of hell in our kid's mouths. Although it meant that Nate would have to wait till we'd finished
till he got fed, it was actually quite nice to have the pressure of ordering something and then wondering whether they'd eat it taken away, meaning we could have whatever we liked. We both ordered tandoori plates which consisted of a big serving of beautiful tandoori chicken (which actually wasn't too spicy), a buttered Naan bread and some dipping sauces. Nate actually enjoyed eating some naan bread so we ordered more for him to chew on while we ate and Gabe really got stuck into the tandoori chicken, eating loads, complaining that it's too 'spithy' then stuffing more in his mouth... One of the best parts of this meal came at the end when we were presented with the bill, it was soooo cheap. With full bellies and a wallet still fat with unused ringitt we headed out of the restaurant In search of something to fill Nate up before bedtime, what a great restaurant and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone staying in Georgetown.
We also took a day trip out of Georgetown to visit Kek Lok Si temple, a sprawling Buddhist temple complex an easy bus ride away in Air Itam. It was well worth a visit
as it was free and actually quite beautiful, although somewhat commercialised with shops selling all sorts of religious and non-religious crap both leading up to the temple and at every level within it. We had a really good day there though and even the boys really seemed to enjoy wandering amongst the colourful buildings and climbing the many tiered pagoda.
From Georgetown we caught a minibus all the way to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands and unlike the previous bus this one was filled entirely with Western tourists. Unusually though everyone on the bus was really friendly and chatty which meant the 4-5 hour journey went really quickly while we all shared our stories and backgrounds. When we arrived and jumped out of the minibus it was very apparent straight away that we were now at altitude, it wasn't cold as the sun was still blazing in the blue clear sky, but it was definitely cooler and the humidity was much lower making it feel much fresher. It actually felt like a warm summers day back home in the UK.
We checked into the hotel where we were dropped off as its where other people from the
bus had booked ahead and it seemed nice enough. It was nowhere near as good value as the place we found in Penang as we were in a tiny room with one double bed and shared bathroom, also the partition walls were literally paper thin as we later found out, being able to hear the entire Skype conversation of someone 2 rooms down. The first order of business was to head into the small town for some refreshments and it didn't take long for us to find what we were looking for, a cream tea. Scones with cream and jam coupled with a nice cup of tea, just perfect, especially for Brits!
The next day, we explored the town more finding a play park for the boys before grabbing a taxi to go to the Big Red Strawberry Farm. Due to the climate the Cameron Highlands are perfect for growing fruits and vegetables not normally available in tropics and strawberries are pretty big business around these parts with farms everywhere. As expected the farm had a ton of strawberries growing, but even more exciting was the cafe/restaurant on site, which served everything you can imagine with strawberries in it,
ice cream, milk shakes, muffins, waffles, pancakes, even salad with strawberries... All super yummy stuff! After we were suitable stuffed we made our way back to Tanah Rata so we could buy warm clothes for the boys, it was beautifully warm in the sunshine during the day, but by afternoon the temperature plummeted, all the warm stuff our size was a bit pricy so we were left to freeze, but as long as the boys were ok we could cope.
To make sure we had a taster of everything the Cameron Highlands offers we actually took a day tour organised by the hostel. First we visited a temple which was a bit naff and everyone on the tour promptly got bored, then on to the rose centre which was a little odd, as it wasn't predominately roses like you'd expect but pretty much every flower you can imagine. If you took the effort to climb all the way to the top of the hill sat behind it, it did give some fine views over the surrounding countryside so was worth the visit for that, even if Faye did bitch the whole way up... From the Rose Centre we went
to a strawberry farm which was quite small and far inferior to The Big Red Strawberry Farm we'd visited the Previous day, although we did share a delicious strawberry milkshake made with fresh strawberries and stock up more strawberries for Nate to eat for the rest of the day.
After the strawberry farm we went the butterfly and insect farm which was literally just across the road which was actually really good. There was a large selection of local butterflies flying around including some huge ones and a wide variety of insects and reptiles which the boys loved. From the insect farm we went to the highlight of the trip, the Boh tea plantation. Being Brits, tea is an integral part of our lifestyle and we literally drink gallons of the stuff, even carrying around our own kettle, mugs and tea so we can make a cuppa whenever we desire. Boh is the largest producer of black tea in Malaysia so we were really interested to see where it was made and nothing raised a smile quicker than seeing the rolling hills stretching into the distance all covered in tea bushes. We took a quick factory tour where the
process of producing the tea from the leaves was explained and then on to the tea rooms and shop. We had a lovely cappuccino style tea in the tea room which is built on a platform with spectacular views overlooking a valley all covered in tea bushes and then had a browse around the shop.
When we went to Darjeeling in India, we bought sacks of the stuff but surprisingly here we didn't buy a thing. I think the thought of lugging loose tea around for the next 5-6 months till we go home put us off, we're always carrying tea bags and they're more than adequate for the moment. After the tea plantation we headed to a honey farm for a short while which was ok before heading back to Tanah Rata, where we were just in time for dinner, which consisted of another amazing tandoori meal in an Indian restaurant in town, the Indian food in this country is incredible.
The time had come to leave the Cameron Highlands, we had a really good time there so would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Malaysia, the climate is a welcome change from the oppressive humidity you
normally feel in SE Asia, but we did find ourselves missing the heat, especially at night when we were shivering in the clear night air.
Onwards to Kuala Lumpur, the nation's capital.
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JohnKaarthik@TravelKlicks
Beautiful Photos
Thank you for visiting Malaysia.............more to discover in Malaysia.