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Published: October 14th 2007
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Orangutan Island
An inquistive chap... So, we left Phuket and said goodbye to Thailand, hello to Malaysia! Our time on the beaches had been really enjoyable and it was certainly a life that we could get used to. We had all topped up our tans, swam in the sea and perfected Frisbee. As much as we had enjoyed Thailand, we were also looking forward to getting to Malaysia.
We set off early in the morning aboard a mini-bus which took us to the border via Hat Yai. As soon as we arrived in Malaysia we realised that we were going to really love the place. It had an extremely nice and friendly vibe from the border guard onwards and we were very impressed with the obvious standard of the infrastructure. After travelling for this long, the sight of a fully preserved tarmac motorway was a pleasant sight!
Our first port of call was Georgetown in Penang, a former British enclave off the west coast. We arrived quite late so went straight to the hostel we had pre-booked. It turned out to be an experience as the hostel was in what seemed like an antiques museum. We were the only ones checked into the hostel
Georgetown, Penang
Goward girls sporting fetching hats. Looking good? and on our floor were antique chairs, exposed lofts and strange writings on the wall. It reminded me of my room at University. We had booked into a double and a single room but as soon as Catherine entered her room we realised something wasn't right. There were odd markings on the wall, very thin mattress and an all round spooky atmosphere. Me been a genlteman, I offered to let Catherine sleep with Jenny in the double whilst I took the single. I'm embarrassed to report now that I also couldn't stay in the room on my own either. It's difficult to explain what was wrong with the room, I think someone may have been murdered in there, at the very least tortured. It had that kind of vibe. In the end, I decided to go back in the double and we all slept in there, mainly to protect each other!
Anyway, so that happened. In the morning we checked out at 8.30am and went to a hostel that hadn't been used in a horror novel and got on with exploring Georgetown. It really is a lovely city with an amazing balance between cultures; Indian, Chinese and colonial Britain.
Penang Hill
Local residents. We looked round the fort, did the usual walking tour and basically ticked off the sights. On the second day we went up Penang Hill on the funicular railway and had a walk around the parkland at the top. We saw a huge family of monkeys at the top, which caused (as you can imagine) much excitement in the group. They were very cute and very friendly, quite happy to watch us watching them from a safe distance. They had a couple of babies with them which was very special. We even saw them trying to make some more babies which is always a pleasure - Jenny thought they were giving each other piggy-backs!
Whilst we were in Malaysia we really wanted to see if we could locate some Orang-Utans. We were looking through some brochures and found that there was an Orang-Utan sanctuary only half an hours drive away from Georgetown so we changed all of the plans and boarded the bus to Orang-Utan island. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we made on the whole trip. Seeing the Orang-Utans was an amazing experience as you can hopefully see from the pictures. They really
Cameron Highlands
Boh Tea Plantation. are perfect creatures, so humanlike and friendly and we were incredibly lucky to be able to spend some close up time with them. Also at the resort was a waterpark, ecopark and hotel complex so we spent an enjoyable few days there.
After the obvious excitement of Orang-Utan island we made or way east towards the Cameron Highlands, a place founded by the British. The temperature here was a lot lower than in the cities so it provided a welcome break from the heat. There are several well marked jungle paths which we followed and we also managed to visit a tea plantation. It was a nice place to spend some time and we also managed to locate a really nice hotel which provided us with a very English-like base.
Onwards and southwards to the lovely capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (KL to you and me). We were impressed with KL in a similar way to we were in Georgetown as there are several cultures co-exisitng in a fascinating melting pot. Lots of Islamic, Chinese, Indian and British buildings can be seen around each corner and coupled with the excellent transport system we were able to get around
and see a lot of the city. The highlights were probably the Petronas Twin Towers (second tallest building in the world) and the KL Tower. We were able to go to the top of the KL Tower which afforded perfect views of the city below. We timed it to be there at dusk as well so it was interesting to see the city light up below us. The twin towers glowed above the city giving off a dramatic light and we enjoyed spending time staring at them, getting neck-ache and having dinner at a restaurant near the bottom.
We were getting near to Singapore now and the end of the trip but first we had a stop off at Melaka. The vibe here was similar to Georgetown and it seemed quite busy with visitors from Singapore as it was a Saturday when we arrived. Melaka is really about history and culture so a lot of time was spent in museums, walking tours and river cruises - Jenny and Catherine weren't as interested in the museums as I was and resorted to pulling silly faces to each other at the independence museum. I joked that if any locals saw them,
Melaka
A Islamic mosque and a Chinese temple down the same street in Melaka. We were staying opposite the mosque and so were nicely awaken by the call to prayer at dawn each morning. they would be grateful that Independence had already been secured!
So, that was Malaysia. We boarded a smart bus which would take us over the Causeway into Singapore and our final port of call before the freighter and Australia. It seemed strange to be heading to Singapore as this had been a destination on our minds since we left Canterbury on that rainy night in May.
Not many more blog entries now (who cheered?) - standby for the entry from Singapore readers...
Jay and Jenny xxx
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Al Shorey
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Memories!
Wow! Thank you for bringing back memories of Malaysia for me. We loved the monkeys on Penang Hill, especially when they started nicking food out of the bins, cheeky little monkeys! Ha ha! Carry on the fun, miss you xXx