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Published: November 23rd 2008
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MAYLASIA - KL 001
Ferry boat from Koh Phangan After sort of recovering from the long days of partying we headed off early morning around 6am to catch the early ferry. Thinking we were on the fast catamaran we ended up on possibly the slowest boat in SE Asia, a car ferry no less.
Anyhow a few hours later arrived in Surathani and jumped on a link bus to the town centre which we would then exchange to go on our main ‘VIP’ bus to Malaysia…or so we thought…!!
Got into town we waited for an hour so then got picked up by a little minibus and off we went….or so we thought…!!
300 metres later we stopped, got asked to get out to change busses…. Then asked to walk to a different travel agent which was a further couple of hundred metres around the block, bit of a pain but what could we do.
So we waited at the new travel agent (which remember is very close to the first place we were at, and even closer to the second place) for our new bus to pick us all up… 20 minutes later the original bus pulls up ready to take us. “What the hell
MAYLASIA - KL 004
Batu Feringghi Beach on Penang was the point in that!?” was our joint thought… Idiots!!!
So...4 hours later we stop to exchange busses again to head across in to Malaysia.
MALAYSIA
Crossing the border was like jumping back in to Britain. New laid motorway, English signs, left hand drive. Bit weird compared to all of Thailand and especially Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Very nice smooth trip ahead.
Later that night around 9pm we arrived in Butterworth which is in North West Malaysia. Very modern but still quite conservative for what we could see of it. Dropped a few travellers off who were heading down to KL and Singapore and then caught the late night ferry across too Palau Penang and George Town.
PENANG ISLAND & GEORGE TOWN
Checked in to a nice little guest house but due too some annual marathon all places were full so we got hammered with the prices, Tenner per night but compared to what we had been paying elsewhere was very expensive, Cheapskates we know!!!!!!
George Town itself is great. First thing we noticed was the massive change in culture. No longer did it feel like Asia as we had seen it so far. Huge
MAYLASIA - KL 006
Batu Feringghi Beach on Penang mix of Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese and Western cultures. So as you can imagine the food choice was huge. So first stop… SHISH KEBAB. Nice big portion with a drink - for two of us cost around £3, not bad!
Spent a few days exploring the island, beaches and town. Loads and loads of history here especially with the British and the Dutch VOC company! (Dad you will probably of read about this or already know!!). Quite interesting seeing some of the old sites and loads of old buldings. Typically the day we went to go and see the old forts and museums is the day every thing is closed. Bloody typical.
After a couple of days headed on down to the Capital Kuala Lumpur...
KUALA LUMPUR
HUGE….!!! Arrived early morning... very tired after taking a few to many Velium (like valium but not as strong) on the bus... Luckily though some local so called ‘taxi driver’ took a couple of us to a nice proper backpacker hostel. Basic place small rooms, nothing like what we had been to as it had a common room, kitchen, and lounge etc, very cosy type of place. Slept most of
the day and then headed out in the night for some grub.
In the streets around the hostel was very similar to Khao San Road in Thailand but a bit posher. Plus the stalls where more like Del Boy knock off items rather than the typical t-shirts, tops and DVDs. Basically every one sold the same crap like watches, hand bags and stuff like that. Splott market comes to mind!!
Found a few nice stalls, had a huge meal of half a duck, chicken and pork with Peking sauce and rice for 3 of us (a guy we met on the bus from Cardiff no less!) for around £3 each. Well nice!!!
Following day headed off in to the City Centre to try and find Liane’s old house or what remained of it. One of her neighbours house from back then (an Ambassador) was still there but we think Liane’s pad was now either the big whole in the ground of the whopping huge tower block overlooking us. She wasn’t sure but was glad she had sort of found it.
Then headed over to Liane’s first ever McDonalds for a McD! As you would! Then
on down to the “Golden Triangle”
The KLCC is pretty impressive. Loads of high rise sky scrapers and all of which were built in the past 20 years. Very modern indeed and best and most impressive site are the twin PETRONAS towers now second highest in the world. However they are still the highest tallest building in the world that is made out of nothing but concrete! Plus they have the highest sky bridge. Learnt this through the discovery channel!! And who said TV rots your brain!!??
Had a good look though the malls at the base of the tower but unlike the malls of Bangkok and HCMC these were the real deal. NO fakes here. Nothing but designer names - Gucci, Prada, and Tiffany (Liane had to go in to gawk at all the sparkly rings!) very, very, very pricey goods. Quick exit!
Then headed over to the telecom tower in the heart of the city. At 275m its one of the highest in the world and just shy off the height of the twin towers themselves. So as you can imagine offered a great view of the city and the PETRONAS towers. Stayed of a
few hours for the sunset which barley happened due to smog/fog and rain but then seen the better image of the towers lit up like two giant crystals. Very nice.
KL was ace but as a back packer it was far, far too pricey so the following day we headed off on down to Melaka to catch the ferry from there to Indonesia.
Arriving in what we thought would be a small fishing town turned out to be a place around the size of Cardiff and yet again was very surprised to find more malls with all the usual high street names you would find in Cardiff or any other major capital. Stayed for the night in a shack of hostel and then caught the early morning boat over to Indonesia with our first taste of Indonesian transport and schedules…!
Keep watching!
Malaysia Conclusion For what we seen of it was great but as a traveller and speaking to others it is just simply too expensive to stay any long periods of time which sort of make it impossible to see some of the sights that this place has to offer. However on the plus
MAYLASIA - KL 016
Old British Memorial Clock Tower Malaysia has great food though, by far the best selection so far, better than Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos all rolled in to one but as said prices are too high or should I also say the food is so nice you tend to have seconds!!!
If you are after Asia but with the standards of Europe this is the place for you.
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