Living Like A Turtle

Me Jane, you Tarzan!

• Posted by Caroline on June 10th, 2005 filed in Malaysia, South East Asia, Travel
• 1 Comment »

Hello folks, how are you all doing? Hope you’re all fine and dandy!!!

Since the last update, we’ve moved on from Koh Samui (Bangkok on a beach, and far too touristy personally!!!), and headed down to Malaysia, but not without the good ol’ Thai’s scamming us for one last time before we leave…oh well, you live and learn!

First impressions of Malaysia…very modern! Crossing over to Penang was quite surreal as there were lots of high rise buildings, BMWs and Mercedes cars everywhere…still the odd family of 4 on a bike here and there, but none in comparison to the previous countries!

Staying in georgetown was a bit confusing, as we were slumming it up in Chinatown, which seemed to have lots of Indians dotted around all over, and the odd mosque here and there! Talk about fusion of asians!! What made it more interesting was the location of our hostel…near a road called “Love Lane”…maybe something to do with the “ladies of the night” loitering around the place…think Jhon got a bit scared by them which I thought was hilarious!!!

Penang itself was alright, if not a bit dry…took a cable ride up to Penang Hill, which was amazing to see a view of the entire city, and got to see some more temple, but besides that wasn’t really too fussed about the place…so we quickly headed over to Cameron Highlands which was tons cooler than the sticky Penang…felt like I was at home with the rain which was a nice change, as well as the tea and scones!!! The highlands are known for the tea plantations, which is a pretty amazing sight to see, so yes…yours truly was most happy to be sitting down in a nice cafe having a proper cuppa at long last!!!!!

(View of the tea plantations)

As we’ve been scoffing our faces with the lovely Malaysian food, I took it upon myself to get active, and well…yes we opted to do ANOTHER trek this time on our own, much to the delight of the hotel owner who had spent a whole day wearing me down on the advantages of doing it, seeing wild animals, having an easy ride as a 65 yr old man had completed the trek in 2 hours, the amazing view from the top, etc etc.

No need to even ask whether things went smoothly, as they never do with us!!! The whole trek was so muddy that I got stuck several times, and my hands and clothing were covered in mud!!! Got stumpped so many times trying to figure out how to move to the next bit that it took us 2.5 hours…the 65yr old must have been lucky and had good weather that day! As for the view at the summit, was truly breathtaking, got to see so much FOG that I couldn’t contain myself with the joy of walking/climbing up for the amazing mistyness of it all!!! Honestly!!!!

(Amazing view from the summit!!!)

To make things more interesting, had to walk back 10km to the nearest town in a great downpour as well as avoid insects hanging off trees!!! If it hadn’t been for a lovely couple that offered a ride, we would have spent a good 4 hours walking back. Felt guilty that we were sitting in cream interior of their 4×4 while covered in mud, but did my best to not move, and like all the Malay people we’ve met so far, they were lovely and very sweet…was very grateful for their kindness, but was too embarrassed about the catapillars that had attached themselves to our clothes, and their seats that made a quick exit once we reached our stop! Oops!

After the highlands, did another journey (truly breathtaking with the sea of palm trees and hills) to Taman Negara park, which is the oldest rainforest in the world!!! Our first day was booked to see a local aboriginal tribe that lived in the rainforest, as well as shooting the rapids on the river. With regards to the river, the rapids weren’t very rapid…more like a pleasant trickle! As for the villagers…they were completely different to those in Thailand and Vietnam, in that they had no electrical appliances close at hand, so was interesting to learn and see how they produce hunting tools as well go about obtaining their food, cooking and general day to day chores.

Highlight of the park itself was doing the 30 minute walk along the canopy walkway which hangs at 25m above ground in the middle of the rainforest. Not one for being scared of heights, this one really tested me as the walkway itself was only wide enough for a foot at a time. The slight swayying of the route didn’t help matters, yet am very proud of myself (and of Jhon who was a star for overcoming his fear of heights) for my Indiana Jonesish ways!!! Was most happy about completing it that we embarked on ANOTHER jungle walk to a nearby hill…only to completely lose our way, walk past another trekking group and end up back at base…oh well, can’t blame us for trying!!! Unfortunately didn’t get to see any wild beings, and missed out on a night safari because of the rain so slightly gutted on that part.

(Me on the canopy walkway (don’t let the smile fool you!!!))

KL was our next stop, and its pretty much like all major cities…big, dirty in parts, and hot! Was worried that we’d get stuck in a hostel that had bedbugs (as heard most places in chinatown had them), but luckily settled for a room that was bug free!!! Amazingly I’ve restrained myself from shopping in the numerous malls just yet as we’re back here before Bali…so stuck to doing a few sights. Visited the Petronas Twin Towers, where they filmed ol’ Zeta Jones in Entrapment, but didn’t get a chance to do any prancing around like the old welsh dear as you only get a limit of 10minutes on the skybridge walkway, but got to see the whole city from above. Also got to watch a cultural dance show of all the different traditional dances they have in Malaysia, which was good fun, and kept us out of the heat for an hour too!!!

(View of the Petronas Twin Towers in KL)

So that was then, and this is now…where we’re in Mersing, a small town which has boats leaving for Pulau Tioman, a small island where we’ll be beaching it up and throwing in some water sports hopefully from tomorrow; after which we’ll be heading to Singapore for a few days of stupid expenses including Raffles and the sipping of a singapore sling!!! Hurrah…talk about easing me back into the western world slowly!!!

Hope to hear from you soon…not long till I’m home (which by the way, will be mid July!!!)

Love and kisses

Caroline
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