Advertisement
Hello all,
Well its another lazy day for me so I thought I'd do another blog 😊 Nik got home fine and she has sent me some photos from the highlands. They look really dark on my screen but they looked fine on the camera so hopefully they will be for you too. Also I think my blogs are getting more detailed and becoming a bit like a history lesson. Sorry about that but its for my benefit to look back on as well as some people that actually want to read all this stuff 😊
On saturday I found some accomdation that was less than perfect. The thick paint and some damp was holding the walls together but it had a shower ( cold only ) and a fan and only cost 19RM ( AU$6 ) a night. However after a night of very little sleep, sweating, being attacked by mozzies and bitten by other, unknown, bugs I decided that I didn't need to do the hardcore backpacker thing any more and that I would upgrade to something more comfortable. A conversation with another backpacker showed that for 80RM ( AU$27 ) per night I could get
a room in a hotel with western toilet, a hot and cold shower, tv, aircon and breakfast. The gods must have been smiling on me because I even got put on the 9th floor with a balcony overlooking the bay. I signed up for 5 nights which means I will leaving on Friday.
On Sunday I decided to go to Penang Hill. This is about 800m above sea level and one of the more interesting ways to get there is via the swiss built funicular railway. Its like a cross between a railway and a cable car as the carridges get pulled up a 50 degree plus railway track via a thick cable. The railway is incredibly slow and when it was built in the 1920's it wasn't meant to take as many people as there are now. So once I got my ticket I had to wait 2 hours for my alloted time slot to catch the train. Once onboard it takes another 30 minuts or so to reach the top because it only moves at walking pace. But bear in mind that the slope is so huge that there is no way you would be walking up
it. The original usage of the top of this hill was for the British back in the 1800's. They built a hotel and a tea house at the top. Before the railway was built the British ( another other wealthy locals ) would get carried to the top in a sedan chair carried by the locals. The temperature is a few degrees cooler at the top so it was a good spot to spend the day. Whilst you could wander around the many walking paths and take pictures of the views over Penang and the mainland the tea rooms had a 5RM entry fee which would be taken off your bill if you purchased anything from the tea room. As I've always liked the idea of sampling the British empire life I decided to take a visit. I was the only person there and its no surprise given that the devonshire tea was 20RM ( the locals wouldn't dream of paying that ). So there I sat on the lawn of a 100 year old tea room surrounded by local and English flowers looking at the view and people below. It was so quiet and peaceful and I felt like
the Lord of Penang! There were monkeys jumping around me from tree to tree so of course I ordered the staff to have them shot by sundown otherwise, BY GOD, they would feel the lash of my cane 😊 Leaving the hill was almost a painful as getting there but I only had to wait 45 minutes to get onto the train.
On Monday I decided to have a lazy day. I went to the cinema and lulled around the big shopping complex. In the evening I wandered down to the esplanade and had some seafood from the hawkers centre and watched the fisherman on the beach.
On Tuesday I decided to pay a visit to the war museum. Its right down on the south side of the island and is a bit fiddly to get to. Consiquently I, again, was the only person there. History lesson coming up - it isn't really a museum. Theres no big aircon building with things to look at in cabinets. Its a fortified gun installation that was built at the top of hill among thick jungle by, you guessed it, the British in the 1930's. You know those war movies where
big guns are built in the side of hills to shoot at ships far out at sea ? well thats what this is. The story goes that it was manned by British, Indian and Malay soldiers during the second world war but at the fall of Singapore the troops were ordered to dismantle and destroy all the weapons and retreat. When the Japanese invaded Penang and few months later they took control the fort and used it to house POWs and local civillians. From the information given, the Japs were real bastards and would routinley torture, rape and murder. Once the war was over the fort was abandoned and the jungle grew back over it. The locals wouldn't go up there because they said it housed many bad ghosts. In the 1970's someone got past the legends and campaigned to have the area turned into a 'museum'. It only opened a couple of years ago and what you see now is the concrete structures, tunnels and undergroud bunkers. I happily wandered around the ( sometimes dark ) tunnels on my own all day and it wasn't until I was back in my room that I wondered how it hadn't freaked
me out.
So there you go, lesson over. As mentioned I leave on Friday for Krabi in Thailand. From there I plan go over to the island of Kho Phi Phi as apparently its very close to paradise with clear water, fine sand and palm trees hanging over the beach. As yet I haven't done the beach thing and it will make a change from damp jungle and noisy cities.
By the way, so far I've been approached by 3 prostitutes and 1 drug dealer. What should I do ? SMS your vote to ............. 😊
later all......
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0457s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Tezza
non-member comment
Affirmative Captain
I thought seeing you get to be Hodgie, I could be Tezza :) I vote for affimative action in all items. Keep the journal going, I enjoy reading them. Can you put Denice on your blog list, her email is denice69@bigpond.com Well sounds like you're having fun, adios muchachos.