Days 30-38

The Captain: First stop after Thailand brings us to the state of Penang in northern Malaysia. We've booked a hostel in George Town, the state capital and the journey from Krabi is approximately 11 hours drive. We were picked up at around 6am by a 16 seater mini bus, and the journey started. We made a few other stops picking up other travellers, and as it happens the bus was full. We were all crammed in, and without any boot space - the bags were balanced wherever they could fit. Space was an issue for my 6'3" frame. This was the most uncomfortable journey so far, but we arrived safely and couldn't wait to see what Penang was all about. 

That first night we went out for an Indian meal. Malaysia, we're told, is a very multicultural country much like home. We learned that the population roughly consists of one third Malaysian, Chinese and Indian people, and that Malaysia is a former commonwealth country so the culture is quite a mishmash of all different influences. Some of the architecture is very colonial and reminds me slightly of Key West (USA), and most of the street names are English too. We stayed on Jalan Queens. 

The next day we got on a free bus over to the nearest mall and had a browse before paying £4.80 for a double seat at the cinema to watch the latest Hobbit film. The cinema was freezing and we were sat there in shorts and vests shivering throughout! After the film we went for one of the nicest meals we've had so far on our travels at a great restaurant called Jawi not too far from our hostel. We found it on trip advisor and it didn't disappoint. The cost of drinking in Malaysia is a lot more like home than Thailand. Perhaps due to Islam being the main religion here.

We planned a few sights to see the following day, so left the hostel into the sunshine to explore the streets of George Town. We visited the main pier and harbour area, a memorial to Queen Victoria and Fort Cornwallis - the original fort built on the island back in the early 1800s. We strolled past a few small gallery's and saw some of the governmental buildings stopping off to refresh every once in a while. The heat was almost unbearable and we were both dripping with sweat after half an hour but it was a nice relaxing yet cultural way to spend the day. After a couple of days spending big on evening meals, and as we weren't really that hungry we opted for some Asian pot noodles for tea. They were snide, but another early night was on the cards as we were shattered from the days sight seeing. First mate Joey will report on our final few days in Penang.

First mate: So after a few days in Penang we love it. So many different cultures, different foods and traditions. On our third day we tested our puzzle solving and logic skills at the escape room in First Avenue Mall. Basically you get locked in a themed room for 45 mins with different clues and codes to crack in order to open the door and 'escape'. We chose The Mummy theme, which also happened to be the hardest level (which I didn't realise when picking the theme)! It was solid. We got quite close to the end but unfortunately ran out of time and were labelled 'losers'. We really enjoyed the experience though, and have heard there's a similar thing in Kuala Lumpur so we're hoping next time we will be able to break free in time!

As there isn't many bars or nightlife in Georgetown we've begun taking it easy and giving our livers a rest after the crazy month we had in Thailand! As SK said, beer is a lot more expensive here so our budget won't stretch to beer everyday/night anymore! So thankfully we're lucky enough to have an incredibly comfortable and modern, ikea furnished hostel that we can relax and watch TV in. Our hostel has also been very quiet whilst we've been here too, some nights being just SK and I in the whole place!

Thankfully one of the only bars (called B@92) recommended by Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor was at the end of our road, so we did pop in there a couple of nights where we met some fellow travellers and also got quite friendly with the owner and staff, who were extremely welcoming and fun! We spent Friday night in there, and ended up being extremely drunk - maybe not drinking much for a week lowered our tolerance, that or the huge measures they use! Good times though.

Day 4 we took the bus to Ferrenghi beach, which is the main/only beach area in Georgetown and on Google it looked like a beautiful holiday destination however on the cloudy and quiet Friday we visited, there wasn't much going on, and after seeing so many amazing beaches in Thailand we couldn't help comparing it to them. It's not a patch on some of the places we've been to, however was definitely worth a visit - especially because it had a maccies and we both devoured a cheeseburger each!

On our final day in Penang we'd seen and done all we really wanted to, so just got on the bus to Tesco. The Tesco's here are like department stores, selling everything you can imagine, and providing hours of entertainment for us, aisle by aisle browsing all the weird food they have here! We returned to the amazing restaurant we went to on our second night in Penang, Jawi. Unfortunately for some reason the food was no where near as nice as it had been earlier in the week, but still tasty and nice to try different Malaysian dishes. We then got an early night before our departure to Cameron Highlands. God knows what it's like there! I guess we're about to find out...

Cameron Highlands

Ok so this place is weird! Shaun's described it as the arsehole of Malaysia, however, ironically it is 1800m above sea level. Basically the area consists of a few towns all spread out over around 25km in the Malaysian highlands. The place was founded in the 1920s and has become more and more tourist orientated ever since, resulting in it appearing rather in down and dated in the present day.

When we first arrived we didn't know what to expect, we knew we probably weren't gonna be doing much during our time there, but the thought of just relaxing and saving our pennies before Kuala Lumpur was fine by us. Sadly when we arrived at our hotel in Tanah Ranta (the largest of the Highland towns) which smelt like mould and felt damp because of the cooler and moist air in the Highlands, we found that our laptop screen had broken during transit! Dreams of watching back to back episodes of Broadchurch were shattered.

Things just kept getting worse for us on our first evening in CH - we went for a pizza which tasted like metal, so had to complain and leave the restaurant still starving. Went elsewhere for a curry thinking 'you can't go wrong with a curry in Asia', however it was made with roast chicken and a jar of snide sauce. Bad food day. We had an early night in the hope that the next day would turn out better.

It did. Seeing as we had no expectations from our day and no plans, we just sat in Starbucks for 3 hours playing cards, drinking coffee and eating cake. Food that night was a lot better - Trip Advisor recommended an excellent little Japanese place where I had one of the best meals I've had since I came away.

The next day we had a day trip organised to see the most popular local attractions. We went to a Buddhist temple, then to a butterfly farm where they also had other critters that the guide kindly got out of their cages and placed them on our heads etc.

We then drove up to the highest peak in CH which is over 2000m above sea level where we got some amazing pictures, and went for a walk in the Mossy Forest.

After, we went to see where they grow strawberries, then to a market and to a museum about the history of CH! We had a great day and felt satisfied that we'd gotten to see all that CH has to offer and is famous for. We probably wouldn't go back there, but are glad that we can tick one more place off our list of places we've visited. KL next! BUZZIN.