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Published: January 14th 2010
Steamboat!
Rob and our steamnoat feast! I'm now sitting sipping a tiger beer in Penang waiting for tomorrow morning's ferry to Sumatra I've been going a little stir-crazy here as I've been stuck here trying to get a 60 day Indonesian visa and the ferry over has broken down. Anyway, more on that later. So, where did I leave off? Ah yes, Cameron highlands. I had a great time there. There's lots of good eating and plenty of hikes to waterfalls, visits to temples and tea plantations to see. That first evening I ran into a cool American guy named Rob(Rob if you're reading this don't get a big head...I'm embellishing for effect!). Rob is 47 and decided to leave the rat-race 5yrs ago and has been travelling ever since. Nice one buddy! Within our first 10sec. of conversation he pegged me as Canadian(the "eh's" give us away everytime). Anyway, despite him being a yank and me a canuck-we hit it off-lol! The next morning I just bummed around checking out the town a bit and sampling the food and ran into Rob again. He had wanted to rent a moped and tour around a bit which I was definitely up for. We asked around a
Anyone for tea?
Rob,Nienke,Flor, and I enjoying a cuppa! bit and got shuffled to a couple different places until we hit Junira guesthouse which did rent them but only had two and they were out for the day. We decided to book for the following day and hike to a waterfall instead this day. The hike to the waterfall was nice enough and quite leisurely. Rob had a map and some info. on his ipod and we decided to extend the hike onward to come out at a temple and we'd hitch, or find a bus or whatever to go the 9km or so back to town. There was a fork in the trail and the guide that he had said that the right fork was rather treacherous and not recommended. Being as neither of us were wearing decent hiking footwear we opted for the left fork which was supposed to be pretty easy. The first part was but it eventually de-graded into a slick, red mud challenge not to end up downslope! We couldn't help but wonder what the "hard trail" would have been like! It was getting pretty muggy and just as we both had had quite enough of the slip-fest we emerged out into a picturesque
Leaf Bug!
This is an insect not a leaf! little river valley with a nice little temple to explore! After checking out the temple we started weighing our "getting back into town options" and it was looking like walking and maybe getting a bus if one went by was going to win out when Rob noticed an empty taxi and went over to the adjacent dwelling to see if he could rustle up the driver. It looked like we woke him up from his afternoon nap but he seemed quite happy to make probably a few extra bucks more than the norm to take a couple of tourists into town. Boy were we glad to have taken the cab! When we hit the main rd. we recognized where we were and it was 8km of uphill back to town which by necessity we would have walked-but not by choice-lol! We got the taxi to pull over to pick up a couple of girls. Nienke and Flor were a couple of Dutch backpackers who had finished the same hike and were extremely grateful for the ride as they had found it quite a slippery slog too! Rob and I met up later on that evening for dinner and tried a
Beautiful
Gorgeous horses at the beach steamboat! It's like a fondue and they give you every seafood and meat under the sun to use along with two kinds of noodles and vegetables. and two kinds of hot broth to cook in: one spicy and the other a chicken broth. We were hungry and the two of us couldn't finish it! The girls happened by and we ended up drinking quite a few quarts of beer late into the night! The next a.m before meeting up with Rob I walked around a bit and noticed a sort of medical clinic with a farmasi(pharmacy in English-there are all kinds of words that are sort of phonetic versions of English words: Polis(police), Teksi(Taxi). Teknologi(you've got this one!)). Anyway, I had wanted some dimenhydrate(motion sickness pills) for my eventual boat ride to Sumatra as well as the inevitable series of ferry rides that is travelling in the Phillipines so I strolled on in. After queuing up and getting shy looks and giggles from the girls on staff I got to the counter and made my request. The girl politely explained that they didn't have any because it was a pregnancy clinic! Whoops! After thanking them and taking a bow and
Stick bug!
A bug that camouflages as a branch! having a laugh at myself with the girls I made a quick escape! The day of riding mopeds with Rob was awesome! The tea plantations are fantastic and the narrow little roads that wind through the hilly estates are gorgeous and a blast to ride! We took a little tour of one of the plantations and ran into the Nienke and Flor again and had some tea and snacks with them on a cool balcony canti-levered out over the plantation with a great view. Off we went again to climb the highest road around! It got pretty steep and rough and Rob had a challenging initiation into bike-riding. If he could ride these roads he'd be all right almost anywhere! It was a blast and we found a great little hike near the top! Rob gave me the green light to have a little fun on the way down and let's just say that I, ahem "put my moped through it's paces". Anybody who knows me well and had seen the road would know that there was no way I could help mysellf! On our way back to Tanah Rata we stopped for a snack to get out of the
Hike
Nice view on hike in Cameron Highlands rain as it had started to come down a little hard. We were served by quite a made-up lady boy. I think that Rob was quite taken with him/her--c'mon Rob, just a little? Lol! We didn't wait it out long enough I guess because it starting raining harder after we got going again and was starting to sting a little. Not to worry, Rob had a buddhist temple he'd seen a couple of days earlier that he wanted to show me that wasn't far away. Anyway, we eventually made it back home a little(ok a lot) wetter than we'd started but pretty stoked on a great day had! We met up with the girls again and went to a little bar after some Indian food but drank less than the night before, said our farewells and exchanged emails etc. before parting ways! The next a.m I got on my way to Ipoh. I saw Rob and the girls at the bus station on the way. The day started off with some good climbing but eventually was mostly downhill to flat and by the time I found a hotel in Ipoh was definitely one of the easiest 100km days I've had!
Tie dye
This shirt used to be all blue...had a washing incident at the laundromat! It only took me a little over four hrs of riding time(and I didn't need many breaks) to get there so, as I had started early, I found myself with plenty of day left to wander around and explore the old colonial buildings that Ipoh is known for. I had also previously been in touch with a girl in Ipoh named May Leong via couchsurfing.org(check it out of you haven't yet-it's awesome!) so I called her(I've got a Malaysian sim card as cell phone service is very inexpensive in asia) and she picked me up at the hotel after work and took me to several different places around town to try all the local eats that Ipoh is known for! We had a great time and was I ever full! I had another 95km day the next that went relatively quickly as well, as it was flat. That got me into Taiping. I didn't do much in Taiping but wander around a bit. I did eat at a fantastic Indian place though! I'm really getting into the tea tarik(tea with gobs of sweetened, condensed milk in it!). The next day was another 95km or so of flat riding to Georgetown
on the island of Penang, where I still find myself now nearly a week later! I had a great ride but found it really hot! I'm doing a better job now of hydrating and eating. It's easy in the heat when you're riding along quickly to not drink enough because you don't notice that you're sweating until you stop. The wind carries it away and keeps you dry. Until you stop and you're absolutely dripping! With maybe 30 or 40km to go a chubby middle-aged Indian guy stopped on a bicycle was excitedly flagging me down. It took me a bit to get slowed down as I was motoring along pretty good. Anyway, he was a really nice guy and it turns out that he retired a couple of years ago and started bicycle touring quite a bit! He had been to Europe and other parts of asia. He was actually on the road looking for a couple of touring Korrean cyclists that were supposed to stay with him that night. He kindly offered me a stay at his place up the road but I graciously declined as I was on a bit of a roll and really wanted to
make it to Georgetown. With about 13km to go I flatted. Normally, this isn't a big deal other than having to remove your baggage. This time though, I had complications. My rear wheel was the culprit and it's bolted on rather than a quick-release. For the life of me with my short adjustable wrench I could not get the nut off! Luckily I was in a town and asking around found that there was a bike mechanic a few hundred metres down the road. I put my bags back on the bike but didn't want all that weight on the flat rear wheel so had to sort of walk the bike along holding the rear wheel up. It probably took me 20 mins to walk the 300m metres because I had to take breaks every ten metres or so! I finally got there absolutely drenched and the guy lent me a wrench and I replaced my tube while he patched the old tube for me for future use. I chatted with the neighbouring shop owner and his young son the whole time I repaired my flat and ended up giving the boy a little Canadian flag sew-on patch. A couple
Nasi Lemak
The famous brekkie of champions! mins later I turned around and he was shyly holding out a 100plus drink for me(the sort of Malay version of gatorade that I've been drinking at least three a day of!)-it was pretty cute! After saying our goodbyes with plenty of me tooting my always popular bike horn I was on my way again. I made it into Georgetown without further incident and saved a little time thanks to that Indian biker I'd met as he let me know that I couldn't take the bridge from Butterworth to Georgetown but that I had to take the ferry. Penang is a nice island and Georgetown is a super-fun place to hang out and try all the different foods on offer and wander down all the little allleys and side streets. Part of the old chinese quarter has been designated a unesco world heritage site and the little India area is awesome! Almost nary a Chinese or Malay to be found, really feels a bit like you've stepped into India! Through a series of difficulties getting a 60 day visa for Indonesia and ferry breakowns I'm still here and hoping to leave for Sumatra tomorrow a.m. It was right down to
Spotted
This cutie saw me taking the pic and waved! wire on my last day trying to get my visa! I got to the embassy at 11:30 a.m and they closed at 12 noon. I now believed that I had everything they wanted(after two prevuous trips) including an out-bound ticket from Indonesia(I ended up just buying a return ferry ticket to Malaysia and won't use the return portion) as WELL as the passport photo with the red backround! That's right, no white backround in the photo-must be red! So, I get up to the counter and the guys says that he needs photocopies of two of the passport pages and the out-bound ferry ticket. After waiting a couple of seconds I finally clued in that he wasn't going to do it! Uh oh, "are there any photo-copy places around here?" Yes, he says...just down the street at the mall. So I run out the door into the heat with my long-sleeve shirt and pants on(they recommend it for applying for a visa for Indonesia), make it to the mall, get my copies and am back, sweaty, and out of breath by 11:45p.m. Seeing as I was supposed to leave on the ferry the next a.m I had begun to let
Hindu Festival
A pre-festival before the biggie Jan.30! my Malaysian funds dwindle down. I didn't have enough to pay for the visa in Malaysian Ringits. I had previously thought about it and assumed they would take Indonesian Rupiah(their currency!) but the answer was "No, no. Malaysian Ringit only". Uh oh..."atm machine?" Yes, he says... just down the street at the mall! Off I went like a mad men dodging cars and people, got my dough and was back at 11:57p.m just as the guard was going to start closing the gate! I now have quite an attractive page in my passport that says that I can stay 60 days in Indonesia! There are plenty of other stories to tell from my time here in Georgetown like biking out to the beach and having a lady-boy bartender aggressively try to pick me up, nights of dancing and drinking til 4:30a.m(not with the aforementioned lady-boy, not that ther would be any thing wrong with that-lol!), witnessing a really cool Hindu festival, meeting up with Rob again, staying up late over beers excitedly talking music with Chris the super-cool Swede, biking to a temple and up a crazy steep hill etc., but it's late, and the beers have made me a
Locals Only
Eatin' with the locals! bit sleepy and I have dreams of Sumatra in my head. Good night folks
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