04.04.-06.04.2013 Penang

After a loooooong day of travel in three different minibuses, we arrived in Penang late in the evening. In 2007, I spent an amazing university term here… We were welcomed by rain and by the apparently impossible task of finding available accommodation that was at least half-decent in terms of price and cleanliness. In the end, we just checked into the Love Lane Inn – which I really can’t recommend!! It was one of the worst places I’ve stayed during my travels, the staff was immensely unfriendly and apparently things get stolen from the lockers all the time… The next morning we took refuge in a better guesthouse, and then went to visit my old university – USM.
Unfortunately we got there during lunch break, so the International Office was closed, but I did take the opportunity to enjoy a Roti Canai in the canteen – yummy! In the afternoon, we strolled through Georgetown – Chinese temples, colonial buildings… I still like it very much! 🙂

In the evening, we went to the Soho Bar, a regular student party location in my time. The following day we planned to rent a motorbike to explore the island. Unfortunately, however, we were awoken at night by a crazy storm and the rain went on right into the afternoon. This meant that we could not do much but walk around the streets a bit and book our night bus. It was nice being here again, but it was also weird…

07.04.2013 Kota Bahru

Nearing 5 a.m., we arrived bleary-eyed and with the sole ambition of sleeping. The hostel was again less than clean… Around lunchtime we were awoken by our hungry bellies and went on our quest for a late breakfast or lunch. Well… we couldn’t really count on Kota Bahru for that! We didn’t find a single restaurant that served Western breakfast, nor did we find a single restaurant that even looked remotely acceptable. So that day, we ate at KFC, McDonald’s and at Pizza Hut. Sometimes fast food chains really can save lives!
Kota Bahru itself was highly unspectacular. Searching for actual sights, we remained unsuccessful… The acclaimed night market was the smallest and worst I have ever seen. The only interesting bit was to see what a strictly Muslim town is like…

08.04.-10.04.2013 Perhentian Kecil

I had been wanting to come here for ages! Well, this only goes to show that you should never approach a place with too high expectations. The beach was all right, but definitely not among the best ones I’ve ever seen. Rife with plastic chairs, sun lounges and so much garbage. In Coral Bay, the water is very uninviting for swimming; Long Beach is a little better.
The weather also didn’t play along – much, much rain and storms. We still had a good time on Kecil, especially on our two dives at the spots Sugar Wreck and Temple. Nurse sharks, bamboo sharks, pufferfish, moray eels, porcupine fish etc. I liked it a lot! 🙂

11.04.-12.04.2013 Taman Negara

After two days, we fled the rain and continued to Kuala Tahan, a small village in the Taman Negara. The Taman Negara is (apparently) the oldest rainforest in the world, and in 2007 I hadn’t had the time to explore it… To spare ourselves the usual woes of a minibus trip, we first went back to our “beloved” Kota Bahru (dinner at Pizza Hut!) and in the early morning we went to the nearby train station and boarded a Jungle Train bound for Jerantut. The train ride was comfortable, the passing scenery underwhelming. I had hoped to see more of Malay life along the way, and to get a first impression of the jungle, but this didn’t really happen.

From Jerantut we continued to Kuala Tahan on a local bus. And again it took us ages to find acceptable accommodation for an acceptable price! Somehow standards don’t seem to be very high here in West Malaysia… There was also a wild storm, during which we saw some wild boars sprinting through the rain – a mere 2-3m away from us, which was cool! 🙂 The following day brought an early start for our trek. First, we walked the Canopy Walk, but unfortunately large parts of that are currently being renovated.
We then went to a viewpoint. Signposts were scarce and the map largely useless, so that we had little choice but return to the information point to look up the trail to a few waterfalls (Lata Berkoh?).We never actually made it to the waterfalls, but did enjoy the wonderful jungle scenery and fought a silent battle against an army of leeches 😉

13.04.-17.04.2013 Kuala Lumpur

A bus brought us to the capital of Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur. My friend Andi currently lives here with her husband Tom, and we had an invitation to stay with them. So for a few days we lived in the luxury of a large clean room, with our own bathroom including a functioning shower we could use without wearing flip-flops (oh yes, a traveller learns to appreciate the little things). Nice! Hang on, did I mention the awesome swimming pool?We had a very relaxed time in KL. We strolled through the nearby KLCC and its Petronas Towers twice – once by day and once by night when it was nicely illuminated…
We explored Chinatown, enjoyed the food in the food courts and did a little bit of shopping.

We even discovered a shopping mall that had a roller-coaster!
We walked through Kampung Bahru and paid a visit to the totally recommendable Chow Kit Market…
…we saw that there was little to see in Little India……we visited several more Chinese temples and a splendid Buddhist temple……

…and roamed the streets in the colonial quarter where we were impressed by the great buildings.
In-between activities, we relaxed at the pool, and one evening we had a barbecue on the balcony, on the 23th floor right among the skyscrapers!
A good time… Too sad that it had to end with the hardest goodbye of my journey: While Mathijs boarded a plane to Sydney, I went on to Borneo the next day… All good things come to an end! 😦