Blogs from Malaysia, Asia - page 751

Getting to Penang was a bit of a mission. It was only one boat and yet between the delays, the overcrowding (including bags against emergency exits) and the total failure of the air conditioning it was grim. Nevertheless onwards to the old colonial madness of Penang. Its a strange but interesting place, with Little India, Chinatown and the colonial areas. The place seems frozen in time around fifty years ago, filled with little garages sporting tin 'Shell' signs from yesteryear and dilapidated Bitish buildings everywhere. There are some backpackers and also a few older expat dropouts playing draughts with the locals in the stifling heat. We had lovely food at a Chinese restaurant called Opera on the first night on one of the renovated streets in the centre. You start to get a feel for just ... read more

Wednesday 23rd August Paul - Leaving the Highlands this morning was sad as we were all getting used to the lovely weather. Not that I'm complaining that it's hot all the time here (honestly) it was nice to have a little bit of cool weather for a change. After a couple of Roti's for breakfast we got on the bus that didn't start for an hour... no surprises there. Read for a bit before going to the toilet as the bus still hadn't moved yet and as soon as I got back we were off. The road down the mountains was ridiculously windy so trying to read "Great Expectations" wasn't going to well so I nestled my head on Laura for a couple of hours. We pulled into a place called Ipoh for a brief stop ... read more

Saturday 19th August Paul - Couldn't find where our bus was leaving from this morning (it's a tiny village with a bus stop...SURELY the bus stop!?) so had a mad scramble about to find it parked in a car park set back from the main road. Bizarre. Typical long bus journey (7 hours) involving hilarious westerners boasting about their travels and telling me how amazing the Playstation 3 will be "cuz it'll have the best graphics like....like...like.......ever!" Delightful and informed that's what I like! Also a random Irish guy proclaimed to the bus "this place is nothing like Ireland". Where do these people get such intelligent and witty comments from? Arrived in the highlands after a beautiful drive up a winding road past lots of tea plantations and rose gardens. The highlands is at an altitude ... read more

What an amazing place the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo is! 2 weeks just wasn't enough to take in the amazing scenery, flora, fauna and marine life. We started off in the capital of Kota Kinabalu and used it as a base to explore South East Asia's highest mountain (coming in at almost 14000 ft), Mount Kinabalu. Unfortunately we didn't have the right equipment with us to make the ascent to the top, so instead we ventured around the national park at the bottom of the mountain. Martin also put his vertigo to the test again, by doing yet another tree top walk. This time it was just a rickety rope bridge suspended 41m above the ground! We spent one evening cruising down the Klias wetlands in search of the illusive big nosed Proboscis monkeys ... read more

Day one: 10 August: Thursday Ingo and Conny picked me up from outside the Puncak Inn and we drove down to the Gap where we birded for an hour or so, netting me seven new species. Then we headed for Taman Negara. We were going to just drive all the way there but a wrong turn at Jerantut saw us ending up at the ferry terminal at Kuala Tembeling instead. In terms of wildlife the boat trip is very poor (mainly Pacific swallows and water monitors), but for sheer style there's no better way of entering a national park. It may cost a bit more (but not much) and take a bit longer than the bus but it beats it hands down. The boat is a long low-sided affair with wooden plank seating, like a big ... read more