Monday, 10 January 2011
Thailand - bangkok
Thailand – Bangkok (4th jan)
My first impression of Bangkok is that it is like a much more developed version of India, shops open out onto the street and there are piled up boxes and junk spilling out onto the road, there streets are very busy with motorbikes and buses creating a wall of urban sound. Yet it is not a patch on India. Here people seem to have a notion of road laws, the buildings are made of solid materials not disintegrating wood and the noise level is nothing on Delhi. Bangkok is a bit like Mumbai – a prosperous and westernised city in a chaotic and developing country, however that doesn’t mean there is no character. Look beyond the shinning plazas and shopping malls down the narrow back streets and you soon see some more interesting things.
We start off being miss-directed by a railway employee and end up waiting for an hour for a bus that apparently doesn’t exist, not a good start in the 36 degree midday heat hen you just got off a 24 hour train journey. Eventually we manage to get a tuk-tuk for 100 baht (£2) and head to the tourist hotspot Kho-San Rd. It takes a while to find a viable guesthouse option as many want 20£+ per night, but eventually we book into the swasdee hotel for 550B. It is a nice clean hotel but still a bit pricey, tomorrow we switch to a dirty dingy place but get down to 250 per night.
First impressions of this area are not good; the 24/hour burger king (that amazingly I didn’t visit once!) gives you an idea of what kind of place you’re dealing with. Pissed up white people roam the street which is littered with merchants selling cheap knock off clothes and, among other things, the preferred memento of the drunken prick – a dirty infected body piercing or tattoo. For the first time so far I can only see white people and no locals and I feel a deep rooted dislike for all of them, bypassing the culture and amazing temples to see the inside of a bar, I don’t plan to spend much time on Kho-San rd.
By the time we check in its nearly 5 and we arrived at 12, so I’m grumpy and hot and starving, we get away from the main streets with over priced poor quality foods and head out towards less touristy areas, we find a basic food place with the usual Spartan interior and big bubbling pots. We enjoy some gorgeous soup with strange bread balls and sausages, it is just 30B (40p) so I get 2 bowls. Afterwards we wander around a while ending up in the square across from city hall. Groups of 100s of young Thais work out to banging music played through shitty speakers, they don’t move in time to the instructor and as we drink a beer from the shop watching them cracks me up.
We wander around having a few beers on the way and realise were soon getting smashed, this is because the best tasting and cheapest beer is also the strongest at 6.4%. Chang is definitely the way to go but it must be drunk slowly – this is a lesson that I am sure to learn soon enough. However, tonight by about 9 o’clock were feeling very worse for wear so decide to stop drinking and get some scran.
We head to the area where we were before (near the tourist information and bus depot) and find a place that is really busy, this is always a good sign. You couldn’t call it a resteraunt by any stretch of the imagination, tables and chairs are placed on the street and everything is cooked from a mobile unit about the size of a large book case which contains 2 wells filled with different stock and 1 big wok in which everything is fried. Next to this there is a barbeque pit where a man tends to some interesting fish covered in rock salt, it appears he does the grilling and a lady does all the rest, while another man, using a hose, washes up in big bowls which are also right on the pavement.
While we wait we get chatting to a nice Thai couple called Ak and Patty – given the shortage of tables they offer to share and we take them up on the offer. Having locals to help we enjoy an amazing range of foods, usually we just point and hope it comes out good but this time we find out what it is we’re eating. We share a big hot pot, a plate of BBQ pork, chicken and a very fresh spicy salad called som tum. The couple are very funny and interesting to chat with and we learn things about Thailand and explain things about politics and English culture. Being very generous they pay for our meal and won’t accept a contribution, so I insist we stop for a beer and get a round in. It is really refreshing and nice to spend time getting to know so locals and is a highlight of Thailand for me.
Jan 5th
We switch to a pretty scruffy guesthouse down the back alley across from subway at the side of kho-san rd, it isn’t great but is cheap at £5. We feel a bit tired after yesterdays travelling and drinking so we decide to take it easy and not go crazy on the sight-seeing as it can be pretty knackering. I find this free tram which goes from city hall, when we get on we get given a brilliant guide book with all the sights and guidelines etc, it is refreshing to find something free, Bangkok is very tourist friendly. We go on a route past a lot of cool temples and palaces so when we get off the tram I follow the route on foot and try to stop at some of the places. The city is actually very beautiful when you get away from the bars and clubs, a highlight being the modern Buddhist temple built recently by the king for the monks to live in. The colours are so vibrant and the design so grand that it puts many other temples to shame. Peaceful looking monks clad in vibrant orange wistfully sweep leaves from the temple grounds, I wonder what kind of life they have and am impressed by their discipline and dedication.
We pass the grand palace which is very impressive, however we learn it is closed for some kind of concert. Therefore, we head through many diverse stalls and eateries to the pier to catch a boat. Reminiscent of India, someone tries to sell us a tour for 1400B each, instead we join the locals for 20B and ride the transport boat down the river which is amazingly wide and shines like liquid gold in the sunset. Interestingly monks have the best seats reserved for them and line the edge of the boat in their distinctive day-glow robes.
We head back to our end of town and go back to the same place for dinner – once again it is absolutely bang on. We haven’t partied enough so far so we decide to get on the changs and have a mad one tonight! This isn’t too hard to do as Bangkok resembles blackpool on a Friday night. We start by having a few on our own until we acquire some companions in the form of 2 Irish blokes, one of whom is very very pissed. The pissed guy is a shambles, although funny to watch, he soon becomes embarrassing – ordering his drinks in a racist Asian accent doesn’t go down well. Eventually we lose this prick but the other guy (James) is well sound and we carry on drinking for a while stopping for some street side buckets filled with toxic (and I think illegal) red bull and vodka. Pretty drunk at about 2am I run out of cash but instead of heading home we go back and pick some more up and carry on going, finding a dodgey club with strobe lights and a dance floor – playing your usual r and b and pop crap. Things take a turn for the worse after my 8th or 9th chang and everything after that is a bit blurry. I don’t know what happened to James but I remember some aussie blokes who called me the big red machine carrying on drinking with us. I also remember a quick sly vom in the street on the way there! One sketchy moment came when I swapped caps with some bloke, only to find he had done one with my hat and the one I had on belonged to some random dude. I argued I wouldn’t return the hat and some shoving ensued, but in the end I accepted a conciliation chang (probably a bad idea). After that I dunno what happened, I do remember smashing a bottle of chang and having to pay for it and the next thing I woke up in the morning – obviously we navigated our way home but only just.
IMPRTANT NOTE – This is what happens when beer is less than a quid a pint! Don’t lower the tax on alcohol otherwise the country will descend (further) into chaos!
Jan 6th
Too hung over to have an eventful day, didn’t get up to very much. Bought some cool (debatable) specs at the market for a quid a pair and also avoided being conned into some shit boat trip by a tuk—tuk man. The palace was 700B and they want you to wear a frickin suit to get in (no shorts allowed) so I decided to pass on going in and we just chilled and ate food and drunk soft drinks all day, definitely no beers. I realised why we haven’t been partying before, it totally wrecks the day after! So we just take it easy and try to get an early night, partly due to the hang over, and also due to the fact we have 1000B to last the whole day and most of it has gone, luckily we save just enough for a taxi back and to pay for the room.
Jan 7th
We wake early (4am) for our flight to Hanoi at 6.50, despite being knackered I don’t sleep all night due to the heat and noise from all the local clubs and bars. Oh well next stop Hanoi Vietnam
My first impression of Bangkok is that it is like a much more developed version of India, shops open out onto the street and there are piled up boxes and junk spilling out onto the road, there streets are very busy with motorbikes and buses creating a wall of urban sound. Yet it is not a patch on India. Here people seem to have a notion of road laws, the buildings are made of solid materials not disintegrating wood and the noise level is nothing on Delhi. Bangkok is a bit like Mumbai – a prosperous and westernised city in a chaotic and developing country, however that doesn’t mean there is no character. Look beyond the shinning plazas and shopping malls down the narrow back streets and you soon see some more interesting things.
We start off being miss-directed by a railway employee and end up waiting for an hour for a bus that apparently doesn’t exist, not a good start in the 36 degree midday heat hen you just got off a 24 hour train journey. Eventually we manage to get a tuk-tuk for 100 baht (£2) and head to the tourist hotspot Kho-San Rd. It takes a while to find a viable guesthouse option as many want 20£+ per night, but eventually we book into the swasdee hotel for 550B. It is a nice clean hotel but still a bit pricey, tomorrow we switch to a dirty dingy place but get down to 250 per night.
First impressions of this area are not good; the 24/hour burger king (that amazingly I didn’t visit once!) gives you an idea of what kind of place you’re dealing with. Pissed up white people roam the street which is littered with merchants selling cheap knock off clothes and, among other things, the preferred memento of the drunken prick – a dirty infected body piercing or tattoo. For the first time so far I can only see white people and no locals and I feel a deep rooted dislike for all of them, bypassing the culture and amazing temples to see the inside of a bar, I don’t plan to spend much time on Kho-San rd.
By the time we check in its nearly 5 and we arrived at 12, so I’m grumpy and hot and starving, we get away from the main streets with over priced poor quality foods and head out towards less touristy areas, we find a basic food place with the usual Spartan interior and big bubbling pots. We enjoy some gorgeous soup with strange bread balls and sausages, it is just 30B (40p) so I get 2 bowls. Afterwards we wander around a while ending up in the square across from city hall. Groups of 100s of young Thais work out to banging music played through shitty speakers, they don’t move in time to the instructor and as we drink a beer from the shop watching them cracks me up.
We wander around having a few beers on the way and realise were soon getting smashed, this is because the best tasting and cheapest beer is also the strongest at 6.4%. Chang is definitely the way to go but it must be drunk slowly – this is a lesson that I am sure to learn soon enough. However, tonight by about 9 o’clock were feeling very worse for wear so decide to stop drinking and get some scran.
We head to the area where we were before (near the tourist information and bus depot) and find a place that is really busy, this is always a good sign. You couldn’t call it a resteraunt by any stretch of the imagination, tables and chairs are placed on the street and everything is cooked from a mobile unit about the size of a large book case which contains 2 wells filled with different stock and 1 big wok in which everything is fried. Next to this there is a barbeque pit where a man tends to some interesting fish covered in rock salt, it appears he does the grilling and a lady does all the rest, while another man, using a hose, washes up in big bowls which are also right on the pavement.
While we wait we get chatting to a nice Thai couple called Ak and Patty – given the shortage of tables they offer to share and we take them up on the offer. Having locals to help we enjoy an amazing range of foods, usually we just point and hope it comes out good but this time we find out what it is we’re eating. We share a big hot pot, a plate of BBQ pork, chicken and a very fresh spicy salad called som tum. The couple are very funny and interesting to chat with and we learn things about Thailand and explain things about politics and English culture. Being very generous they pay for our meal and won’t accept a contribution, so I insist we stop for a beer and get a round in. It is really refreshing and nice to spend time getting to know so locals and is a highlight of Thailand for me.
Jan 5th
We switch to a pretty scruffy guesthouse down the back alley across from subway at the side of kho-san rd, it isn’t great but is cheap at £5. We feel a bit tired after yesterdays travelling and drinking so we decide to take it easy and not go crazy on the sight-seeing as it can be pretty knackering. I find this free tram which goes from city hall, when we get on we get given a brilliant guide book with all the sights and guidelines etc, it is refreshing to find something free, Bangkok is very tourist friendly. We go on a route past a lot of cool temples and palaces so when we get off the tram I follow the route on foot and try to stop at some of the places. The city is actually very beautiful when you get away from the bars and clubs, a highlight being the modern Buddhist temple built recently by the king for the monks to live in. The colours are so vibrant and the design so grand that it puts many other temples to shame. Peaceful looking monks clad in vibrant orange wistfully sweep leaves from the temple grounds, I wonder what kind of life they have and am impressed by their discipline and dedication.
We pass the grand palace which is very impressive, however we learn it is closed for some kind of concert. Therefore, we head through many diverse stalls and eateries to the pier to catch a boat. Reminiscent of India, someone tries to sell us a tour for 1400B each, instead we join the locals for 20B and ride the transport boat down the river which is amazingly wide and shines like liquid gold in the sunset. Interestingly monks have the best seats reserved for them and line the edge of the boat in their distinctive day-glow robes.
We head back to our end of town and go back to the same place for dinner – once again it is absolutely bang on. We haven’t partied enough so far so we decide to get on the changs and have a mad one tonight! This isn’t too hard to do as Bangkok resembles blackpool on a Friday night. We start by having a few on our own until we acquire some companions in the form of 2 Irish blokes, one of whom is very very pissed. The pissed guy is a shambles, although funny to watch, he soon becomes embarrassing – ordering his drinks in a racist Asian accent doesn’t go down well. Eventually we lose this prick but the other guy (James) is well sound and we carry on drinking for a while stopping for some street side buckets filled with toxic (and I think illegal) red bull and vodka. Pretty drunk at about 2am I run out of cash but instead of heading home we go back and pick some more up and carry on going, finding a dodgey club with strobe lights and a dance floor – playing your usual r and b and pop crap. Things take a turn for the worse after my 8th or 9th chang and everything after that is a bit blurry. I don’t know what happened to James but I remember some aussie blokes who called me the big red machine carrying on drinking with us. I also remember a quick sly vom in the street on the way there! One sketchy moment came when I swapped caps with some bloke, only to find he had done one with my hat and the one I had on belonged to some random dude. I argued I wouldn’t return the hat and some shoving ensued, but in the end I accepted a conciliation chang (probably a bad idea). After that I dunno what happened, I do remember smashing a bottle of chang and having to pay for it and the next thing I woke up in the morning – obviously we navigated our way home but only just.
IMPRTANT NOTE – This is what happens when beer is less than a quid a pint! Don’t lower the tax on alcohol otherwise the country will descend (further) into chaos!
Jan 6th
Too hung over to have an eventful day, didn’t get up to very much. Bought some cool (debatable) specs at the market for a quid a pair and also avoided being conned into some shit boat trip by a tuk—tuk man. The palace was 700B and they want you to wear a frickin suit to get in (no shorts allowed) so I decided to pass on going in and we just chilled and ate food and drunk soft drinks all day, definitely no beers. I realised why we haven’t been partying before, it totally wrecks the day after! So we just take it easy and try to get an early night, partly due to the hang over, and also due to the fact we have 1000B to last the whole day and most of it has gone, luckily we save just enough for a taxi back and to pay for the room.
Jan 7th
We wake early (4am) for our flight to Hanoi at 6.50, despite being knackered I don’t sleep all night due to the heat and noise from all the local clubs and bars. Oh well next stop Hanoi Vietnam
Saturday, 8 January 2011
sorry for lack of updates (new year and beyond)
Thought I had made some blog updates recently but obviously not. Here comes the last few days!
New Years Eve
We hold out little in the way of hope for a party here in the highlands, it is very sleepy and relaxed, anyway that is for the evening so for the day we decide to hire a scooter and check out the area – we realise that you can save a lot of money by looking where the organised tours go and doing it yourself instead. The bike is a classic ancient Honda with clutchless manual gear box. Gear changes are facilitated by stamping down on a plate with your left foot, this takes some getting used to and for a while I’m gingerly going about in 2nd gear, however eventually I get up some confidence and hit 3rd and 4th gear.
We progress through steep winding roads in and out of the local towns, all with a similar strange European feel, until our first stop at cactus point which is a massive cactus farm on the hill and a decent photo-spot. Further, we progress to Kea where there are various things to see, we go first to a strawberry farm up a steep track to the left. Perhaps due to the British weather there are lots of strawberry farms here in the Cameron highlands, the farm itself isn’t very interesting just row after row of vines and greenhouses, however we do enjoy some very fresh strawberries and an excellent view over the valley.
Next we head to the rose garden through the vegetable market and down a narrow steep track. When we reach the bottom where the rose garden is we see a mob of local people with crates of beer and bonfires sat drinking and eating out in the street. They seem very merry and laugh and joke as I ride past tentatively at slow speed. As we walk past them to get to the tourists spot they beckon us over and demand we join them for a free beer, I try to protest but soon have a can of tiger thrusts into my hand and we are offered the seat of a local. We chat for a while although we speak no Malay and the men have broken English – with the gist of the conversation often eluding us. Unfortunately we have just eaten so can’t take advantage of an offer of free food but we do eat a plate of tasty pork and chilli sauce. The men laugh and joke, hopefully not at our expense and it is a funny experience. When we try to leave to carry on our sightseeing they insist we stay for another beer, I explain I’m driving the bike and can’t have another (this idea is scoffed by the locals who obviously drink drive everywhere). I don’t get why the man is saying “O’tel O’tel – take” and start telling him which guesthouse I’m at, eventually I realise he’s giving us a can to take with us and drink later. Although embarrassed I can’t understand much, it is really unexpected and fun to spend some time with real people, Malaysians are friendly and genuine, very different to the Indians.
We proceed to the rose garden which has a wide variety of bright and sweet-smelling flowers on display- many birds and insects fly among them enjoying the nectar and pollen. The gardens stretched high up on to the hills and from the top the view is nothing short of spectacular, which is more than I can say for the walk back down the hill!
We now ride off through the steep mountain passes in search of a tea plantation, I stat to enjoy the bike – it has much better handling than the scooter and a safer solid foot break which is stable when going downhill. I start to get up some speed and keep tight behind the local traffic. The tea plantation itself is a beautiful sight, a sea of vibrant green tips covering the hillside. Lean young men head up and down the fields – I assume picking the tea which is sold throughout the local area. It is interesting to see where the stuff we love (so much so drinking it is a national pastime) comes from and it is even better to sample a nice hot cup of tea on this cool and moist afternoon.
We head back to town and return the bike enjoying on the way amazing views once again, the landscape here is very dramatic with lush valleys and dense jungle vegetation the likes of which I didn’t expect to see until maybe Cambodia or Vietnam, the Cameron highlands has been a great destination and a real surprise.
In the evening I am determined to get drunk given that it is New Years Eve, but the locals don’t seem to realise that this is obligatory given the occasion. We walk from bar to bar but they are just as dead as yesterday – apart from one terrible karaoke bar, but I’ rather put pins in my eyes than drink there! We eat dinner and hope it picks up after – opting for a strange tandoori chicken egg roti thing, which is sort of like a kebab and omelette mixed together; it is the most filling thing I have ever eaten. I buy beers from the shop and Kath has a lychee spirit (which is proper cheap) with lemonade. We stick to having these ‘til about 10.30 to save money. Eventually the bars start to get busier and we bump into a Swiss couple who we saw at the coach station in KL. We learn they are called Jasmine and Luca and enjoy an evening chatting about our retrospective experiences in India. In the end we get pretty smashed and enjoy the party poppers and whistles given out by the wasted barkeep, but it isn’t a patch on a party back home. I wake up in the morning at 7.15 without even having a hangover, so it can’t possible have been much of a session. Still, I think of all you guys suffering back home and it makes me realise I’m glad I don’t feel too rough!
JAN 1st 2011 To George town Pennang.
We rise early and head to the unititi express again, this time fortunately it is on time and we get moving. We are absolutely knackered but it is hard to sleep with the coach winding and bumping its way through the mountain passes. It is a long 5 hour journey and we are glad when we finally arrive. Pennang is Malaysia’s smallest state and consists mainly of an island connected to the mainland by a bridge. There is a lot of confusion on the coach as the driver tells us to get off and catch a ferry, a lot of people thus head out but we are told the coach should go across the bridge to the island by another couple. Eventually, in a mad dash, we put our bags back on the coach and head back off not sure what is going on. Luckily we do get taken into the town but for a while we don’t have clue what is going on, this is one of the worst things about travelling in foreign lands, unless you’re going to a major city it is almost impossible to know when to get off the train or bus.
We arrive dressed for the highlands – me with full waterproof gear and Kath with her jogging bottoms and coat – only to find that it is scorching and humid here in Pennang. It is an unpleasant trek with our bags all the way to the hostel (called banana), and by the time we get there the sweat is dripping off the inside of my legs. Thankfully we find the place with little difficulty and find it to be clean and spacious with excellent wi-fi: a bargain with the double room costing just 25R (£5).
We don’t get up to much this evening as we only have half the day, I want to watch the united west brom match and set about a mission to find a food court to watch the game. There are mazing food courts all over Malaysia and Singapore where street stalls cumulate to offer many types of food under one roof: this is where the local men drink beer, eat and watch the sports. However, on this evening when I really want to watch the game we can’t find a single place with a screen. Stressed we traipse around town looking for an hour, eventually the only place we find being outside KFC of all places. We don’t want to eat KFC but have no option but to watch it here so end up getting a take out of laksa and chicken rice (which turns out to be pretty shit) and a few cans of chang from the shop and watchi it sat on a concrete building support across from KFC. It isn’t a great atmosphere but at least it is cheap and I finally get to catch a united game, it seems all the kick offs have been 8pm which is 4am here so I haven’t seen a game for ages. Importantly we win the game ( after they miss a pen, pretty lucky) and it puts me in a good mood. We also catch the Liverpool game and get some free food near the hostel as the local people celebrate New Year.
Jan 2nd
Today we spend In the blazing sun of pennang, exploring the island on a scooter. There are things like museums and temples in George town itself but we prefer to check out the scenery, as we have seen many museums and structures before. We head out towards the coastal road, eventually finding the right one after some troubles, the crappy map we has doesn’t provide much use once again but luckily the locals are very helpful and get us on our way. We stop on the outskirts of George town for breakfast and get a spicy mixed meat noodle soup called curry mee, it is excellent and just 3 ringgit, the food in Malaysia is awesome.
We enjoy amazing views along the winding roads and I enjoy all the long curves and hills, getting up some decent speeds. Taking the scenic route to the back side of the island, we make many stops to see the sights, a highlight of which was the tropical fruit farm where we got amazing fresh honey-dew melon juice. Our aim is to reach a very authentic small town called Baku Pilau – it is very quaint with traditional Malay houses bordering the rivers, the place is sleepy and rural and a refreshing chn age from anything else before. It is annoying though when we try to find a beer stop but everywhere is shut, although eventually we manage to find a small cafe. Strangely when we ask to use the toilet he leads us to a room with some lobsters in a water pit and no hole in the ground, I figure you’re supposed to pee on them but unsure I don’t risk it! We also get some more noodles in the centre of town at a very rustic eating place.
Pennag islands itself is a beautiful place with diverse environments like the bustling Georgetown and quiet little villages. There are some spectacular beaches along the coastal road and beautiful tree covered hills in the centre of the island make for wonderful views. As usual there are many temples and pagodas round every corner and you are seldom short of things to see. Given this we often just set off without any plan and see what we find, always managing to see some good stuff on the way; this was proven as on the way back to Georgetown we stumble across an awesome Chinese style temple on the hill which housed a statue that was surely 20 metres high. The red and golden pagoda and massive oriental gate were spectacularly set into the trees above a small town, we don’t know the name of the place but it was absolutely stunning.
In the evening as it goes dark I find it difficult to manage driving through the busy roads and get stressed out, eventually making it home to return the bike. Malaysia is much more organised and less chaotic than India, but still it seems a bit mad on the roads, especially at night time. Although it is very westernised and clearly quite rich it still has some authentic Asian feel t it unlike Singapore, conveniently also everyone speaks English which makes life very easy. I think Malaysia would be a good destination for anyone worried about travelling in Asia alone as it is so easy to get around and people are so friendly.
For the evening entertainment we find one of the amazing food courts I was talking about and catch Chelsea vs Villa. It is a wicked game to watch especially as Villa pulled of a miracle to snatch the draw at the end of the match, I’m so glad the cockney rent boy’s season is falling apart. We enjoy lots of food from all different stalls, and there is a really good atmosphere for the footy, gutted I didin;t find it yesterday, these places are the best!
Jan 3rd
Not much to report – we have a 24 hour train from Butterworth to Bangkok. We play silly games like hang man and 20 questions to try and pass the time and Kath gets mad when we play squares because it baffles her head. We worry that they will let us starve as no drinks or food are offered, and we start talking about what Bear Gryls would do in the situation, I said he’d already be drinking his own piss and catching flies to munch on!
Eventually after a sketchy border crossing they come round with food and beer, and in the evening we have a laugh chatting to a sound fella from London called Miles. He is on a shorter trip but gives us some tips about Vietnam and Thailand. We end up getting pretty merry and the time starts to pass a lot quicker.
Everything passes without much incident and we sleep pretty well in the spacious bunks. On to Thailand!
New Years Eve
We hold out little in the way of hope for a party here in the highlands, it is very sleepy and relaxed, anyway that is for the evening so for the day we decide to hire a scooter and check out the area – we realise that you can save a lot of money by looking where the organised tours go and doing it yourself instead. The bike is a classic ancient Honda with clutchless manual gear box. Gear changes are facilitated by stamping down on a plate with your left foot, this takes some getting used to and for a while I’m gingerly going about in 2nd gear, however eventually I get up some confidence and hit 3rd and 4th gear.
We progress through steep winding roads in and out of the local towns, all with a similar strange European feel, until our first stop at cactus point which is a massive cactus farm on the hill and a decent photo-spot. Further, we progress to Kea where there are various things to see, we go first to a strawberry farm up a steep track to the left. Perhaps due to the British weather there are lots of strawberry farms here in the Cameron highlands, the farm itself isn’t very interesting just row after row of vines and greenhouses, however we do enjoy some very fresh strawberries and an excellent view over the valley.
Next we head to the rose garden through the vegetable market and down a narrow steep track. When we reach the bottom where the rose garden is we see a mob of local people with crates of beer and bonfires sat drinking and eating out in the street. They seem very merry and laugh and joke as I ride past tentatively at slow speed. As we walk past them to get to the tourists spot they beckon us over and demand we join them for a free beer, I try to protest but soon have a can of tiger thrusts into my hand and we are offered the seat of a local. We chat for a while although we speak no Malay and the men have broken English – with the gist of the conversation often eluding us. Unfortunately we have just eaten so can’t take advantage of an offer of free food but we do eat a plate of tasty pork and chilli sauce. The men laugh and joke, hopefully not at our expense and it is a funny experience. When we try to leave to carry on our sightseeing they insist we stay for another beer, I explain I’m driving the bike and can’t have another (this idea is scoffed by the locals who obviously drink drive everywhere). I don’t get why the man is saying “O’tel O’tel – take” and start telling him which guesthouse I’m at, eventually I realise he’s giving us a can to take with us and drink later. Although embarrassed I can’t understand much, it is really unexpected and fun to spend some time with real people, Malaysians are friendly and genuine, very different to the Indians.
We proceed to the rose garden which has a wide variety of bright and sweet-smelling flowers on display- many birds and insects fly among them enjoying the nectar and pollen. The gardens stretched high up on to the hills and from the top the view is nothing short of spectacular, which is more than I can say for the walk back down the hill!
We now ride off through the steep mountain passes in search of a tea plantation, I stat to enjoy the bike – it has much better handling than the scooter and a safer solid foot break which is stable when going downhill. I start to get up some speed and keep tight behind the local traffic. The tea plantation itself is a beautiful sight, a sea of vibrant green tips covering the hillside. Lean young men head up and down the fields – I assume picking the tea which is sold throughout the local area. It is interesting to see where the stuff we love (so much so drinking it is a national pastime) comes from and it is even better to sample a nice hot cup of tea on this cool and moist afternoon.
We head back to town and return the bike enjoying on the way amazing views once again, the landscape here is very dramatic with lush valleys and dense jungle vegetation the likes of which I didn’t expect to see until maybe Cambodia or Vietnam, the Cameron highlands has been a great destination and a real surprise.
In the evening I am determined to get drunk given that it is New Years Eve, but the locals don’t seem to realise that this is obligatory given the occasion. We walk from bar to bar but they are just as dead as yesterday – apart from one terrible karaoke bar, but I’ rather put pins in my eyes than drink there! We eat dinner and hope it picks up after – opting for a strange tandoori chicken egg roti thing, which is sort of like a kebab and omelette mixed together; it is the most filling thing I have ever eaten. I buy beers from the shop and Kath has a lychee spirit (which is proper cheap) with lemonade. We stick to having these ‘til about 10.30 to save money. Eventually the bars start to get busier and we bump into a Swiss couple who we saw at the coach station in KL. We learn they are called Jasmine and Luca and enjoy an evening chatting about our retrospective experiences in India. In the end we get pretty smashed and enjoy the party poppers and whistles given out by the wasted barkeep, but it isn’t a patch on a party back home. I wake up in the morning at 7.15 without even having a hangover, so it can’t possible have been much of a session. Still, I think of all you guys suffering back home and it makes me realise I’m glad I don’t feel too rough!
JAN 1st 2011 To George town Pennang.
We rise early and head to the unititi express again, this time fortunately it is on time and we get moving. We are absolutely knackered but it is hard to sleep with the coach winding and bumping its way through the mountain passes. It is a long 5 hour journey and we are glad when we finally arrive. Pennang is Malaysia’s smallest state and consists mainly of an island connected to the mainland by a bridge. There is a lot of confusion on the coach as the driver tells us to get off and catch a ferry, a lot of people thus head out but we are told the coach should go across the bridge to the island by another couple. Eventually, in a mad dash, we put our bags back on the coach and head back off not sure what is going on. Luckily we do get taken into the town but for a while we don’t have clue what is going on, this is one of the worst things about travelling in foreign lands, unless you’re going to a major city it is almost impossible to know when to get off the train or bus.
We arrive dressed for the highlands – me with full waterproof gear and Kath with her jogging bottoms and coat – only to find that it is scorching and humid here in Pennang. It is an unpleasant trek with our bags all the way to the hostel (called banana), and by the time we get there the sweat is dripping off the inside of my legs. Thankfully we find the place with little difficulty and find it to be clean and spacious with excellent wi-fi: a bargain with the double room costing just 25R (£5).
We don’t get up to much this evening as we only have half the day, I want to watch the united west brom match and set about a mission to find a food court to watch the game. There are mazing food courts all over Malaysia and Singapore where street stalls cumulate to offer many types of food under one roof: this is where the local men drink beer, eat and watch the sports. However, on this evening when I really want to watch the game we can’t find a single place with a screen. Stressed we traipse around town looking for an hour, eventually the only place we find being outside KFC of all places. We don’t want to eat KFC but have no option but to watch it here so end up getting a take out of laksa and chicken rice (which turns out to be pretty shit) and a few cans of chang from the shop and watchi it sat on a concrete building support across from KFC. It isn’t a great atmosphere but at least it is cheap and I finally get to catch a united game, it seems all the kick offs have been 8pm which is 4am here so I haven’t seen a game for ages. Importantly we win the game ( after they miss a pen, pretty lucky) and it puts me in a good mood. We also catch the Liverpool game and get some free food near the hostel as the local people celebrate New Year.
Jan 2nd
Today we spend In the blazing sun of pennang, exploring the island on a scooter. There are things like museums and temples in George town itself but we prefer to check out the scenery, as we have seen many museums and structures before. We head out towards the coastal road, eventually finding the right one after some troubles, the crappy map we has doesn’t provide much use once again but luckily the locals are very helpful and get us on our way. We stop on the outskirts of George town for breakfast and get a spicy mixed meat noodle soup called curry mee, it is excellent and just 3 ringgit, the food in Malaysia is awesome.
We enjoy amazing views along the winding roads and I enjoy all the long curves and hills, getting up some decent speeds. Taking the scenic route to the back side of the island, we make many stops to see the sights, a highlight of which was the tropical fruit farm where we got amazing fresh honey-dew melon juice. Our aim is to reach a very authentic small town called Baku Pilau – it is very quaint with traditional Malay houses bordering the rivers, the place is sleepy and rural and a refreshing chn age from anything else before. It is annoying though when we try to find a beer stop but everywhere is shut, although eventually we manage to find a small cafe. Strangely when we ask to use the toilet he leads us to a room with some lobsters in a water pit and no hole in the ground, I figure you’re supposed to pee on them but unsure I don’t risk it! We also get some more noodles in the centre of town at a very rustic eating place.
Pennag islands itself is a beautiful place with diverse environments like the bustling Georgetown and quiet little villages. There are some spectacular beaches along the coastal road and beautiful tree covered hills in the centre of the island make for wonderful views. As usual there are many temples and pagodas round every corner and you are seldom short of things to see. Given this we often just set off without any plan and see what we find, always managing to see some good stuff on the way; this was proven as on the way back to Georgetown we stumble across an awesome Chinese style temple on the hill which housed a statue that was surely 20 metres high. The red and golden pagoda and massive oriental gate were spectacularly set into the trees above a small town, we don’t know the name of the place but it was absolutely stunning.
In the evening as it goes dark I find it difficult to manage driving through the busy roads and get stressed out, eventually making it home to return the bike. Malaysia is much more organised and less chaotic than India, but still it seems a bit mad on the roads, especially at night time. Although it is very westernised and clearly quite rich it still has some authentic Asian feel t it unlike Singapore, conveniently also everyone speaks English which makes life very easy. I think Malaysia would be a good destination for anyone worried about travelling in Asia alone as it is so easy to get around and people are so friendly.
For the evening entertainment we find one of the amazing food courts I was talking about and catch Chelsea vs Villa. It is a wicked game to watch especially as Villa pulled of a miracle to snatch the draw at the end of the match, I’m so glad the cockney rent boy’s season is falling apart. We enjoy lots of food from all different stalls, and there is a really good atmosphere for the footy, gutted I didin;t find it yesterday, these places are the best!
Jan 3rd
Not much to report – we have a 24 hour train from Butterworth to Bangkok. We play silly games like hang man and 20 questions to try and pass the time and Kath gets mad when we play squares because it baffles her head. We worry that they will let us starve as no drinks or food are offered, and we start talking about what Bear Gryls would do in the situation, I said he’d already be drinking his own piss and catching flies to munch on!
Eventually after a sketchy border crossing they come round with food and beer, and in the evening we have a laugh chatting to a sound fella from London called Miles. He is on a shorter trip but gives us some tips about Vietnam and Thailand. We end up getting pretty merry and the time starts to pass a lot quicker.
Everything passes without much incident and we sleep pretty well in the spacious bunks. On to Thailand!
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Cameron Highlands
Dec 29th To the Highlands!
We intend to wake early to see the Petronas towers given yesterdays debacle, but wake a little late at around 10am! Still we quickly head off by taxi and get there before 10.30; we head inside with our suitcases, eager to see the amazing skyline form the skybridge. Alas, it appears it was not meant to be, despite only being open for an hour the bloody tickets are sold out, it turns out you need to be puff daddy or something to blag your way up the towers. Obviously, unlike in India, the Malaysians don’t care about making money.
Disappointed, we head across town via monorail and train to get our bus, worst thing being we miss out on Krispy Kreme doughnuts as were too short on time. We are left waiting for an hour for our bus, it is pretty blagging; noon e seems to be able to give us any info as to where on when our coach will arrive, however eventually I spot the right one (unititi express) and we head to the hills. The coach is a big deluxe job with reclining seats and air con, but it still gives a pretty bumpy ride as we wind through crazy mountain roads and valleys. When we eventually arrive the scene is not what I expected (one of the bonuses of poor planning is you are always surprised by what you see), Tanah Rata is like a bizarre faux French or Swiss ski resort with black and white challets perched among luscious jungle. Mist rises out of the hills and clouds roll in across the valleys causing a beautiful but overcast skyscape. For the first time in a long while we are chilly and have to don our jumpers and pants – I’m pretty glad I wasn’t stubborn enough to stick to my initial idea of bringing just two sets of clothes.
We arrive in the evening and check into the cameronian inn (advertising home-made tea and scones) It is extremely clean and tidy and very very quiet. We head for dinner and a few beers but don’t get up to much this evening, we do get some funny looks though as we drink 12% strength larger called BISON (mixed with lemonade) the locals all drink super strength here and it is much cheaper, so we take to drinking it watered down to save cash. The tourists here though are all tea drinkers and eco warriors I think, not much night life to speak of, a fact proven by the hotel’s “Silence after 10pm” demands.
Dec 30th – Junglist massive
The mornings in the highlands are cold and it appears often wet, with a relatively persistent drizzle common-place. Other people we meet complain about the poor weather, but for us it’s like the best of British summer, damp but warm and humid – so we decide to head into the hills. We purchase a map from a local store, on first appearance it seems useful but we soon realise none of it is to scale and the jungle paths are represented by a mere dotted line which isn’t a lot of help – still, fearlessly we head out equipped with a rucksack full of waterproofs, crisps, a pen knife and an assortment of various random fruits including a small melon (essential for all intrepid adventurers).
Finding the bloody path is nearly as hard as actually trekking through the thing and we spend a lot of time wandering around the back end of town looking for it; eventually a local guides us to the right place which is an unmarked dirt track leading off into the thick forest. Thankfully we are being lead away from what sounds like a very hungry rabid dogwolf hybrid and I’m very glad, although once in the jungle scrub everything seems to creak and crack, which when mixed with exotic bird calls, leads to an authentically scary experience.
Our hiking sandals get a lot of good use as we stride up steep steps made from worn away earth and gnarly tree roots. Getting into the spirit of becoming fully experienced rambling hikers I break branches from a dead tree to create rustic walking sticks – later these save our skin on more than one occasion. We head left at a fork in the road to what we hope is path 10 on our crappy map; this seems to take us up and fast, with an unrelenting slope leading to the clouds. It is pretty knackering as we keep up a good pace but worth it in the end when we reach the summit and look across the emerald valleys. Grey mist rolls from above the hills and along the tree canopy: it’s as if a great fire was burning in some far off land and the smoke was flowing like a river in the cool air. Small white and black chalets look quaint among the trees and I can’t believe were trekking in the jungle of Malaysia, the environment is so diverse and I never expected anything like this.
We stop for lunch and I hack up the cumbersome melon (more to get rid of the weight than to allay my hunger) and munch some crisps and chocolates. We then are faced with a dilemma – the trail either goes up further to the peak of the mountain or what looks like back down the hill. We consult the map but it provides little insight, so we think down is probably the best option. We soon realise that this assumption was wrong as the trail gets more and more rugged and we have to scoot down on are arses to avoid falling over. Still, despite my best efforts to help her Kath falls on her arse (sometimes you cannot prevent the inevitable) we realise that the path has now turned into a strange drainage channel which appears to be something to do with a nearby pylon: bollocks! We head back up the steep rugged terrain back to where we were before; I start to worry that we could get lost in the jungle as the paths are not very well maintained. However, we have set off with plenty of time to spare and at 1.30 we have 5 hours of sunlight, also we aren’t exactly in the Amazon basin – we can hear the distant rumble of vehicles on the road below, but still it’s fun to get a taste of the authentic trekking experience without the massive danger and the vicious biting insects.
We reach the peak and enjoy even better vistas, then we head back down the mountain through muddy paths in much denser vegetation, here our sticks prove invaluable as we can lean into the mud and progress down the steep slopes. We go on trekking for another 90 minutes maybe eventually coming out at a strange settlement surrounded by quarries where a procession of earth movers dredge red soil and deposit it at the foot of the hills. We consult the map but surprise surprise we don’t have a clue where we are. Eventually we reach a golf course which is on the map and get our bearings, walking back to Tanah Rata, all in all it has been a serious mission – over 4 hours trekking in total.
We get hot showers to get rid of the cold and damp and ditch our filthy clothes, I’m glad were staying in a good hotel as for the first time ever we have properly hot showers and we really need them. Starving we head out for dinner and as we did yesterday we have the local speciality, the aptly named “steam boat”. This consists of a pot of bubbling broth on a gas stove in front of you which has 2 sides – one spicy tom yam soup and the other a tasty chicken stock concoction. You then get plates of raw stuff to chuck in your soup to cook, the highlights were beef, chicken, squid, fish, oyster mushrooms, whole eggs (which you crack into the broth) and also a lot of different noodles and vegetables. There were some other inclusions like jelly fish that didn’t go down quite as well (imagine chewing on fishy boot soles) but generally it is all awesome. The best thing about it is the fun of fishing out the stuff with your chop sticks and getting covered in sauce, it adds a new dimension to eating making it more of an activity than just eating. We sit and eat for 90 minutes, and all that for just 14R each (£3), we have the same thing at Red & Hot in Chinatown and it costs £16 each!
We finish up back at the hotel, again its dead, so we watch the T.V in a cute little tv room, we manage to catch Coralanne (?) on HBO and it has no adverts which is ace, and its a pretty good animated film.
We intend to wake early to see the Petronas towers given yesterdays debacle, but wake a little late at around 10am! Still we quickly head off by taxi and get there before 10.30; we head inside with our suitcases, eager to see the amazing skyline form the skybridge. Alas, it appears it was not meant to be, despite only being open for an hour the bloody tickets are sold out, it turns out you need to be puff daddy or something to blag your way up the towers. Obviously, unlike in India, the Malaysians don’t care about making money.
Disappointed, we head across town via monorail and train to get our bus, worst thing being we miss out on Krispy Kreme doughnuts as were too short on time. We are left waiting for an hour for our bus, it is pretty blagging; noon e seems to be able to give us any info as to where on when our coach will arrive, however eventually I spot the right one (unititi express) and we head to the hills. The coach is a big deluxe job with reclining seats and air con, but it still gives a pretty bumpy ride as we wind through crazy mountain roads and valleys. When we eventually arrive the scene is not what I expected (one of the bonuses of poor planning is you are always surprised by what you see), Tanah Rata is like a bizarre faux French or Swiss ski resort with black and white challets perched among luscious jungle. Mist rises out of the hills and clouds roll in across the valleys causing a beautiful but overcast skyscape. For the first time in a long while we are chilly and have to don our jumpers and pants – I’m pretty glad I wasn’t stubborn enough to stick to my initial idea of bringing just two sets of clothes.
We arrive in the evening and check into the cameronian inn (advertising home-made tea and scones) It is extremely clean and tidy and very very quiet. We head for dinner and a few beers but don’t get up to much this evening, we do get some funny looks though as we drink 12% strength larger called BISON (mixed with lemonade) the locals all drink super strength here and it is much cheaper, so we take to drinking it watered down to save cash. The tourists here though are all tea drinkers and eco warriors I think, not much night life to speak of, a fact proven by the hotel’s “Silence after 10pm” demands.
Dec 30th – Junglist massive
The mornings in the highlands are cold and it appears often wet, with a relatively persistent drizzle common-place. Other people we meet complain about the poor weather, but for us it’s like the best of British summer, damp but warm and humid – so we decide to head into the hills. We purchase a map from a local store, on first appearance it seems useful but we soon realise none of it is to scale and the jungle paths are represented by a mere dotted line which isn’t a lot of help – still, fearlessly we head out equipped with a rucksack full of waterproofs, crisps, a pen knife and an assortment of various random fruits including a small melon (essential for all intrepid adventurers).
Finding the bloody path is nearly as hard as actually trekking through the thing and we spend a lot of time wandering around the back end of town looking for it; eventually a local guides us to the right place which is an unmarked dirt track leading off into the thick forest. Thankfully we are being lead away from what sounds like a very hungry rabid dogwolf hybrid and I’m very glad, although once in the jungle scrub everything seems to creak and crack, which when mixed with exotic bird calls, leads to an authentically scary experience.
Our hiking sandals get a lot of good use as we stride up steep steps made from worn away earth and gnarly tree roots. Getting into the spirit of becoming fully experienced rambling hikers I break branches from a dead tree to create rustic walking sticks – later these save our skin on more than one occasion. We head left at a fork in the road to what we hope is path 10 on our crappy map; this seems to take us up and fast, with an unrelenting slope leading to the clouds. It is pretty knackering as we keep up a good pace but worth it in the end when we reach the summit and look across the emerald valleys. Grey mist rolls from above the hills and along the tree canopy: it’s as if a great fire was burning in some far off land and the smoke was flowing like a river in the cool air. Small white and black chalets look quaint among the trees and I can’t believe were trekking in the jungle of Malaysia, the environment is so diverse and I never expected anything like this.
We stop for lunch and I hack up the cumbersome melon (more to get rid of the weight than to allay my hunger) and munch some crisps and chocolates. We then are faced with a dilemma – the trail either goes up further to the peak of the mountain or what looks like back down the hill. We consult the map but it provides little insight, so we think down is probably the best option. We soon realise that this assumption was wrong as the trail gets more and more rugged and we have to scoot down on are arses to avoid falling over. Still, despite my best efforts to help her Kath falls on her arse (sometimes you cannot prevent the inevitable) we realise that the path has now turned into a strange drainage channel which appears to be something to do with a nearby pylon: bollocks! We head back up the steep rugged terrain back to where we were before; I start to worry that we could get lost in the jungle as the paths are not very well maintained. However, we have set off with plenty of time to spare and at 1.30 we have 5 hours of sunlight, also we aren’t exactly in the Amazon basin – we can hear the distant rumble of vehicles on the road below, but still it’s fun to get a taste of the authentic trekking experience without the massive danger and the vicious biting insects.
We reach the peak and enjoy even better vistas, then we head back down the mountain through muddy paths in much denser vegetation, here our sticks prove invaluable as we can lean into the mud and progress down the steep slopes. We go on trekking for another 90 minutes maybe eventually coming out at a strange settlement surrounded by quarries where a procession of earth movers dredge red soil and deposit it at the foot of the hills. We consult the map but surprise surprise we don’t have a clue where we are. Eventually we reach a golf course which is on the map and get our bearings, walking back to Tanah Rata, all in all it has been a serious mission – over 4 hours trekking in total.
We get hot showers to get rid of the cold and damp and ditch our filthy clothes, I’m glad were staying in a good hotel as for the first time ever we have properly hot showers and we really need them. Starving we head out for dinner and as we did yesterday we have the local speciality, the aptly named “steam boat”. This consists of a pot of bubbling broth on a gas stove in front of you which has 2 sides – one spicy tom yam soup and the other a tasty chicken stock concoction. You then get plates of raw stuff to chuck in your soup to cook, the highlights were beef, chicken, squid, fish, oyster mushrooms, whole eggs (which you crack into the broth) and also a lot of different noodles and vegetables. There were some other inclusions like jelly fish that didn’t go down quite as well (imagine chewing on fishy boot soles) but generally it is all awesome. The best thing about it is the fun of fishing out the stuff with your chop sticks and getting covered in sauce, it adds a new dimension to eating making it more of an activity than just eating. We sit and eat for 90 minutes, and all that for just 14R each (£3), we have the same thing at Red & Hot in Chinatown and it costs £16 each!
We finish up back at the hotel, again its dead, so we watch the T.V in a cute little tv room, we manage to catch Coralanne (?) on HBO and it has no adverts which is ace, and its a pretty good animated film.
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Happy New Year too all my family and mates.
We had new years eve in the sleepy town on Tanah Rata, safe to say you probably had a better time back home, i'm sure plenty of people are nursing hangovers this morning but we're just frsh from a 5 hour bus ride and not feeling to bad. Just wanted to wish you all the best for 2011. If anyone wants to get in touch - you know i'm not doing facebook so send me a message on my personal e-mail. Tim.black@hotmail.co.uk Peace! Tim!
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