Alor Star. December 15, 2013.

Today's drive was only about 95kms, so no need to rush out in the morning.
We stayed off the motorway again and took a more roundabout route towards Alor Star (aka Alor Setar; the first is an abbreviation... not sure why it needs abbreviating though...).

The only reason we are in Alor Star is its proximity to the Malaysian / Thai border. The idea is to go be there around 9am tomorrow morning, when the Zurich insurance office opens. That is where we need to buy 'third party insurance' for Thailand. Hopefully things won't take too long as we want to make it to Krabi, Thailand before tomorrow evening.

We treated Sterlin to a proper cleaning so he is all ready for the border crossing tomorrow.

Which, sadly, means that this is our last evening in Malaysia! Hard to believe we've been in the country one month - minus 4 days in Singapore.

George Town and Penang Island. December 12-15, 2013

December 12

We took the scenic route to George Town. As we head North there should be less and less monsoon rains, which btw is a good thing. We got to George Town, on Penang, by way of the rather impressive bridge connecting the island to the mainland (as opposed to the ferry). We'd pre-booked our accommodation, The Armenian Heritage Hotel, so navigating into town was easy enough; there was just a lot of traffic. I really wanted to like the hotel but they were experiencing some teething problems (they'd been open since Oct 1st, so I'll forgive them).

Chez Nous Interior

By then it was 3pm and we ended up relaxing in our room before going out for a drink and early dinner.
We found a nice little cafe owned by a Belgian, Philippe, and his Malay-Chinese wife Liz. They were extremely welcoming and made us feel right at home "Chez Nous". We enjoyed several Blanche de Buxelles, a Grimbergen Blonde and a cheese platter. Very nice, so we stayed for dinner.

Belgian Cafe and Restaurant

December 13

Brother and Sister on a Swing

Last night while at 'Chez Nous', Philippe pointed out another of his customers, none other than Ernest Zacharevic, the artist who did lots of George Town's fabulous murals. I didn't want to bother him and his wife while having dinner, but as they walked out I did briefly tell him that I was looking forward to seeing his work in town. He seemed like a very nice young man, which Philippe confirmed; they'd been in the restaurant a few times.

So today we walked around George Town's World Heritage Historic District following a map with the locations of Zacharevic's work. that way we also got an excellent feel for the place. We absolutely love his work.

Children playing Basketball

Kids on Bicycle

Double Role - Police and Firefighters

We left early this morning so we were able to go and relax, out of the heat, in our room for a while before catching up with Coen and Marijke - yes they were also in town - at 'Chez Nous'. After that back to the hotel and out again for a walk and dinner.

Philippe

With Coen and Marijke

December 14.

George Town is on Pulau Penang, which is about 70km in circumference.
This morning we got up very early and were in our car at 6:30am. First stop was Penang National Park for a 1.5 hour hike to Monkey Beach. When we left our hotel it was already 27C, so all the more reason to do this early. We came back from the beach to the car park by ore-booked little boat, very pleasant.
After that we drove around the island but to be honest there wasn't that much to see.

Parked a little too long in the same spot...

Temperatures crept up to 34C so a few hours in our AC'd room were much appreciated before an evening meal and last evening walk around George Town's old district.

Ipoh and Cameron Highlands. December 9-12, 2013

December 9

The everest presentation finished around 4pm, so we had to make tracks on the Expressway to Ipoh, which is about 180 kms or 115 miles away. Halfway we stopped for fuel and starbucks and the strangest thing happened. The service station did not want to sell us fuel. Apparently there is a law in Malaysia that service stations can only sell RON95 fuel to Malaysian citizens or Malaysian registered vehicles. Research later on the Internet confirmed that this restriction is actually law and has to do with the government subsidizing fuel prices and not wanting Thailand and Singapore "border jumpers" getting the subsidy. As the service station only sold RON95, we left empty handed and proceeded to the next station which presumably chooses to ignore this law and provided us with RON95 fuel. Technically we are permitted under law to purchase RON97 fuel, but Sterlin prefers RON95.

No RON95 for you.

Arrived late into Ipoh and had a little trouble finding the right hotel.  First one was full, second did not have secured parking, third was a construction site, could not find the fourth one so ended staying at our fifth choice. But once checked in we promptly headed into town in search of food and found a nice little Irish bar.

That Guinness tasted good!

December 10

A morning of temples. Ipoh is set among limestone cliffs which make ideal places to establish a temple.  We visited (in order):-

• Perak Tong. Huge cave with some very nice buddhas and an outside staircase leading up the mountain side. But quite a commercial cave.
• Caves of Happiness. Very small cave currently being extended as part of a 10 year plan. Caroline liked this cave the best. As an extra bonus one of the local workers took 20 minutes out of his day to help explain the various buddhas to us.
• Ling Sen Tong. Very Chinese in style, lots of colour and execrated features. But lots of people offering josh-sticks so the place felt quite alive.
• Sam Poh Tong. A little sad. Main attraction is an over-crowded pen of turtles.
• Kek Lok Tong. Set in a beautiful valley but quite austere inside and only a few buddhas.

Josh-Sticks. Time to make an offering.

Perak Tong Temple.

So, enough of temples already. We made a last minute decision to head to the mountains, or more precisely Cameron Highlands. And quite a good decision it was. The 2-hour drive up windy roads was very pleasant. Stopped for tea in one of the many tea plantations. The temperature up here is a very comfortable 21C. The real treat of the Cameron Highlands is however the Land Rover Defenders, they are everywhere. Rumour has that over 4,000 Defenders are present in the Highlands. Clearly this is where Defenders come to die.

Tea Time served in the english style.
Very nice.

Sterlin among friends 

Stephen in a tea plantation

Tea Plantation without Stephen

December 11

Great day in the Cameron Highlands. Started the day with a visit to Mossy Forest which is the local high point. The single lane 8km road to the summit was probably more fun than the actual summit. Lots of horn tooting was required on the bind corners. On the way down we stopped at the Boh Tea Company for a quick brew. We drove through the lush, green and wet forest back to Ipoh. This time we knew where to go to find M Boutique Hotel, so no repeat of our first night in town. And we loved M! As Caroline knew we would :)

From the summit of Mount Brinchang.

Tea Bags

Kuala Lumpur. December 6-9, 2013.

December 6

Back in KL for 3 nights. Still love the place :)

Sterlin in good company with Range Rovers front and back.

December 7

Last time while driving in we kinda got 'lost' for a while... one wrong highway exit was all it took to get turned around in KL's one-way system for a while.

But, I (Caroline) did remember driving in an area that I wouldn't have minded seeing some more of, and today that's exactly where we went. Bangsar Village. That is also the name of the dual shopping malls there (which are always nice for some A/C and toilets), but it was the streets around it that I wanted to stroll on for a bit. Lots of little boutique style shops and eateries and almost 'Balmain' (1) style houses. No high rises for a few blocks in each direction; rather quaint looking - at least to me and in comparison.

They also had a car dealer selling Minis. So we popped in for a brief chat.

Driverless underground trains.

Graffiti Art in the Streets

Mini advertising

(1) Balmain is the suburb we lived in in Sydney, Australia.

December 8

Today being Sunday was a good day to be a tourist. And it was not raining which helped. First stop was the Butterfly Park, which surprisingly was quite good. Not only were there live butteries flying around but there were fixed displays of all manner of bugs and insects. After the butterflies we headed for the Bird Park. Apparently the largest open air aviary in the World! The Bird Park had more of a zoo-like feel to it with many more cages than hoped. But still a very good visit.

Caroline found a friend

We also inspected the tent for signs of mold. We were worried all the rain and humidity would have caused some damage to our tent. In the loading bay of the hotel we opened the tent to a small audience.Good news, no signs of mold.

No signs of mold on the tent.

December 9

Stephen was invited to present about Everest to a group of kids learning english.

Everest Presentation

Bentong. December 5, 2013.

December 5

After breakfast with Marijke en Coen, we decided to go and check the access roads to Taman Negeri National Park again. But instead of getting better, the water had risen even more. Little dinghies were still ferrying people and supplies across the road/turned river.
So unfortunately a visit to the NP doesn't seem to be on the books for us this time around.

We then decided to stop by the National Elephant Conservation Centre, Kuala Gandah, Pahang. The centre relocates 'problem' elephants, driven out of their habitats by ever more encroaching plantations. They also look after orphaned animals. More info on the above link. Just our luck that we just missed the bathing and interpretative sessions. We did see the baby elephants.

Afterwards we drove to Bentong for the night. Depending on the weather forecast for the next few days we'll may go back to KL for a few days, before heading north, where the weather should be better (ie. rain normal for this time of year).

December 6

Weather looks good in KL, so heading back there.  But first breakfast. Ordered tea with milk and no sugar, got coffee with milk and sugar - oh well. The Roti and Curry was excellent.

Breakfast

Jerantut and Kuala Lipis. December 3-4, 2013.

Malaysian Courtesy Flag.

December 3

We departed Cherating via flooded roads and headed inland away from the East Coast. The plan was to head to the high ground around Taman Negara National Park. The forecast called for more rain and there was a flood warning in effect. The newspaper stated that 5,000 people had been evacuated from their homes.

The roads were flooded in places with water around 40 cms (or 15 inches) deep in places. All quite passable by Sterlin. We spent most of the day driving ending up in Jerantut. There is not a lot going on in Jerantut. To quote our guide book; "Jerantut is the small, slightly dreary gateway to Taman Negara. There are no attractions in this town".

December 4

Slept in. We figured it was raining and the National Park would wait for us. Turns out our plans were once again thwarted, with the road to the National Park being flooded. The general consensus was that the road would re-open in 3 to 4 days. We tried to get to the jetty where boats depart for Taman Negara, but the road here was also closed. This is a real pity, as we were quite keen to visit this jungle area. Oh well, flexibility is the key and there will be other jungles. So after a quick consultation with our GPS we rerouted ourselves to Kuala Lipis.

The scenery and drive to Kuala Lipis were nice and the rain was easing up. On arrival we found a hotel and also found our first "other" foreign overland vehicle. Later that afternoon we found the owners, Coen and Marijke, and spent a delightful late afternoon, dinner and evening chatting to them. They had lots of good information about getting a vehicle into China, so we picked their brains a little.

A quick check of the news before bed has 20,000 people now displaced and the flood warning still in place. But as we look out of our balcony window, we can see stars, so the weather is definitively improving for us.

The road we weren't going to make it through.

Boat rides available for $1 USD per person.

Consulting with local experts on road conditions.

Two overland vehicles. Different yet the same.

Cherating. December 2, 2013

In true monsoon fashion it rained today.  And rained and rained.  In fact, it did not stop all day.

So we made a short journey from Kuantan to Cherating and had fun driving on the flooded roads.

** Caroline **
Yep, it poured all day long. These are not the normal rains for this time of year, this is an actual storm front passing through.
Cherating is supposed to be this part bohemian, part surfers, with a bit of artists mixed in, hang-out, but the torrential downpour did keep us confined to our hotel. The street outside our hotel and quite a few of other properties were slowly flooding.

One of the other lodgings in Cherating. And that was just the beginning.

Meanwhile in Kuantan, where we were yesterday, the town center flooded and people have been evacuated in certain areas. The 2 photos below are from the newspaper we saw at the frontdesk when checking out of our hotel in Cherating.

This is in Kuantan, just outside the MS Garden Hotel we stayed at. 

We were in Johor State until 2 days ago, we are currently in Pahang.
Kuantan and Cherating are in Pahang.

Yesterday we caught the second half of a movie which end generics rolled to the tune of my favorite Florence + the Machine song (ok, yes, the movie was 'Snowhite and the Huntsman' and the song 'Breath of Life'). So today we drove mostly to their music. Till now we haven't been listening to music all that much. It was nice to be getting back into music with one my favorite bands of late.
**Caroline out**

Kuantan. December 1, 2013

Off the coast of Mersing is a resort Island called Pulau Tioman and where a friend of a friend owns a hotel. It was very tempting to board a boat to the Island and chill for a few days. But the rainy weather and the forecast of torrential rain put us off this idea. So instead we headed North along the coast; our final destination was Kuantan.

Along the way we stopped into Endau-Rompin National Park. Expectation were not high as our guide book stated the park would be closed in the wet season. We drove the 25kms to the Park which was most enjoyable. Ok, it was raining the entire time, but occasionally was saw lovely mist covered mountains. And the jungle was quite impressive. The Park was open but it was too wet to do any hiking, so we turned ourselves around and headed back to the coast.

Malaysia is covered in Palm tress.  Here are
some baby Palm trees.

An unnamed lake in Endau-Rompin National Park

There is much less development of this eastern side of Malaysia and the coastal towns are not as impressive as towns on the west coast. So we didn't stop much and made for our destination. With just enough time for Stephen to complete a work-out in the fitness center and Caroline to get the top button of her iPhone replaced.  Dinner was New Zealand Sirloin steak and Singapore Tiger beer.

Dinner

Mersing. November 30, 2013

It is good to be back in Malaysia.  Even better it is good to see that Sterlin is right where we left him.  We packed up our stuff and headed North in heavy traffic.  Our destination was Mersing on the east coast.

Sterlin, safe and sound.

Once at Mersing we went for a little walk around town.  Where we found a soccer match between Mersing and JB.  The competition was intense and the home crowd very vocal.  Play had to be suspended for 10 minutes at one point to allow the crowd to settle down.  Unfortunately as the game extended into extra time and the light started to fade.  Ultimately the game was suspended until the next morning. I don't think we will be up at 8:00am

Local Soccer.

We had a nice little dinner at a hawker stand to end a good day.

Caroline's dinner. Fresh Cuttlefish and noodles.