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The slow boat from Koh Tao got us into Surat Thani at about 4.30 am, after taking 10hours to go almost nowhere down the coast. We waited for a minibus to take us to the tourist office to pick up another minibus that would take us part of the way down the coast, to a town I believe was called Hat Yai. However, it could have been any town along that coast as we were told nothing and expected to wait around for 3 hours for the next minibus. We finally arrived in Penang in early evening, just in time to get some Malaysian ringgit, get ripped off my a taxi driver and arrive at our hostel, the old Penang guesthouse. This hostel was in the perfect location to access chinatown or little India, both places having the best food available anywhere. We went for an Indian the first night and the banana lassi served was the best I ever tasted! Finally, a country that served normal sized portions , as the tandoori chicken was basically half of the bird in its size, with naan, Dahl and pilau rice coming as the sides. I was stuffed and very contented, all for
less than £5. The only downside was the beer was more like England prices, something I hadn't experienced since 2014. 2 weeks of sobriety it seemed, a very unhappy discovery. Penang as a town was a bit of a disappointment. The food spoke for itself, with chickenrice eclipsing any simple Asian rice dish so far, but the town itself offered nothing of real substance. There was a street art tour that you could follow, though they were pretty hard to find and unimpressive . All the rest of the attractions had been covered in other parts of Asian (temples, Buddhas etc) or were British colonial monuments that were common to England (tiny forts), run down and expensive to visit. so we spent our time in Penang planning the rest of Malaysia and eating at the various restaurants recommended to us, which did not disappoint! Just a 2day stop in Penang and then off to the Cameron highlands, to experience English towns set into the luscious mountains and to trek amongst the tea plantations.
The minibus to the Cameron highlands took no time at all, a small 4 hours in the bus with an hour changeover at lunchtime. We took
the morning bus so arrived with acres of time to get to know the town, not that that was needed! The word quaint is a modest word to describe the capital town, as it consisted of one long street and 2 blocks of houses and hostels. It took a leisurely 20 minutes to walk around its entirety. Packed into this small space were a number of excellent Indian restaurants, recommended highly by Tripadvisor. so the next couple of days was filled with toast and jam as the complimentary breakfast from the hostel and then Indian for lunch and dinner. My first experience of mutton curry, complete with some hooves to suck on, was memorable and very enjoyable surprisingly! Saag Paneer and lentil Dahl seems to be their usual accompaniments and trounced any I have tried outside of Nepal. We booked ourselves on a secrets experience trek for the next day and spent the rest of the time wandering and being generally unproductive. The trek was definitely the highlight of Malaysia so far (not that the activities side had the bar set very high) and our weird, hippy guide was a bonus. It was not particularly strenuous but when your group
contains fat, middle aged, German women then the walking pace tends to be excruciatingly slow uphill. The view was spectacular at the top and the guide, Jason, was knowledgable and willing to share all the way up. Things took a very interesting turn on the way down the mountain when he stopped us by a small lily that looked like a bee and preceded to give a half hour lecture on Ying and yang, Chi and the spirits of the plants . The basis seemed to be about whether or not plants 'feel emotion' as we humans do and is it right to chop them down or is it murder. All very far fetched (my grandma-safe word for bullshit) but was entertaining how involved the rest of the group got whilst Dec and I stood at the back, rolling our eyes like naughty schoolchildren. The rest of the trek after descending the mountain was taken up with a visit to the tea plantation and learning the difference between black tea, white tea and the processes involved in making them. All interesting stuff, even if the cup of tea at the end wasn't quite a Twinings! This trek and tea signalled
the end of our time in Northern Malaysia as after an Indian and a nights sleep, we departed west the next morning for the Perhentian Islands. This is where we would go to the beach and dust up on our newly qualified skills at scuba diving.
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