Week 63 - Georgetown, Tanah Rata, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

After a chilled morning we headed out to explore Georgetown, Penang. Rhys had found a map showing a walking route to see some street art, mostly by the Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic, and we set out to follow the trail. The works are scattered over a relatively small area of the old town and gave a bit of structure to our wanderings, taking us to some of the more attractive corners of town including the floating village of the clan jetties (where we stopped in a food court for lunch). Georgetown is a bit of a dirty town but with a bit of a clean could be really cool, it already has lots of accommodation options in renovated old town houses, boutique shops and cafes and restaurants. We tried to visit the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion but it was outside of visiting hours so we headed back to the hostel. 

Street art, Georgetown, Penang

That afternoon I headed out again to visit the Khoo Kongsi and the Peranakan Mansion. The first is an elaborate Chinese clanhouse, the second, an old mansion house lived in by an aristocratic Nonya Baba family (a mixture of immigrant Chinese assimilated into Malay culture). The clanhouse is the biggest in Malaysia and comprises a group of buildings arranged around a paved square with an ornate temple at one edge. It was a peaceful oasis from the bustle of the town and despite the hordes of tour buses, it was really quite peaceful. The mansion house was equally ornate and very informative with display cases full of beaded shoes, gowns, glassware, jewellery and porcelain, offering a glimpse into the lifestyle of the Nonya Baba.

The temple at the Khoo Kongsi, Georgetown, Penang.

Singer sewing machine at Peranakan Mansion, Georgetown, Penang.

Back at the hostel I found Rhys and we wandered over to a food court to try some of the hawker stalls. The food courts get really busy and hectic, you order from any food cart that takes your fancy and grab a seat anywhere in the court. When it’s ready, they track you down and deliver the food to your table where you pay. The choice was incredible and we ended up getting lots of snacks from a number of stalls.

Food court, Georgetown, Penang.

We left Penang and Georgetown the following day on a minibus headed to the Cameron Highlands. It was a fairly comfortable 6 hour ride with some beautiful scenery as we neared the highlands and we arrived in the early afternoon to check into out hostel, Fathers Inn. I highly recommend it, great place near the centre of Tanah Rata with lots of couches and communal space. We grabbed a late lunch from a hawker stall, a selection of unidentifiable deep fried goodies along with a packet of salt and vinegar Walkers and a bottle of Ribena. That afternoon we explored the town which has a kind of a tired looking ski resort feel to it.

We were up early the next day for a jungle hike to see the Rafflesia flower in bloom. We had a small group with only us and another couple so we made good time and the return hike only took 3 hours, including a couple of stream crossings and some very slippery patches from all the rain in recent days. The weather held for us though and we were at the flower in no time. The plant has no stems or leaves and the ones we saw bloomed on the forest floor. They’re certainly not the prettiest flower with petals like slabs of rotting meat (and a smell to match for the first 30 mins of flowering so we’re told) but they are the worlds largest, with blooms growing up to a metre across. Each flower only lasts for about 7 days after taking 6-9 months to grow so we considered ourselves lucky to see one. After a short stop at a murky waterfall, we hiked back to the minivan stopping only briefly at the road side to have a go with a blow dart. Next stop was lunch. We had a super cheap Indian buffet and it was delicious. 

Rafflesia flower, Cameron Highlands.

After lunch we continued to the Boh Tea Plantations, founded by a British guy in 1929. By that point the weather was turning, it had started to drizzle and the clouds somewhat obscured the view but it was still pretty spectacular, rolling green hills covered in stripes of tea bushes as far as the eye could see (the plantation covers 8,000 acres and is only one of many plantations in the area). We pulled over to take some photos and our guide took us into a plantation to see how they harvest the tea leaves and to take photos of the smiley Bangladeshi workers. The tea centre itself was extremely touristy with a couple of information boards and a peek into the factory to see the production process before a stop at the cafe. It would have been really serene sitting on the veranda overlooking the plantation with our tea and cake but the place was full of screaming kids. On the way back into town we made two last stops, the first was at a strawberry farm for PYO - there are hundreds of strawberry farms littering the highlands. The second stop was at a butterfly and reptile farm which wasn’t really a farm but did have an amazing array of creatures for us to find and admire. All up it was a good day.

Harvesting the tea, Boh Tea Plantation, Cameron Highlands.

Rolling hills, Boh Tea Plantation, Cameron Highlands.

We had intended to spend the next day hiking around the highlands on some of the numbered trails around town. When we woke it was drizzling and it didn’t stop until late afternoon and by that time it was too late to head out. As there’s not a whole lot to do in the town itself and much of the activity involves tea plantations, various fruit, flower and honey farms and hiking, we ended up having a chill day.

Our bus to Kuala Lumpur left Tanah Rata the following morning. Again, it was a pretty painless journey and we were dropped off at the edge of China Town 4 hours later. We checked in to our miniature room at our hostel and wandered out to explore the markets of Chinatown and the surrounding streets. It’s a great area, very busy, lots of cheap places to eat and fake sunglasses, handbags and watch stalls everywhere you turn. Bargains of the week, Rhys haggled a pair of fake RayBans down from £26 to £3 and bought a Spurs shirt for £4 (£48 at home) and we picked up a fake Rolex watch and a G-shock for the princely sum of £10. We ate BBQ at a hawker stall that night and headed home to enjoy a few drinks in front of the TV.

After a lay in and a chilled morning we jumped on the train and headed out to the Batu Caves. On the outskirts of KL there is a range of limestone hills pitted with caves that have been turned into temples. The main attraction is the world's tallest (42.7m) murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Murugan Swami, a Hindu deity, that looms over the entrance stairs to the main cave. We spent an hour or so looking around before heading back into KL. More shopping in Chinatown and another BBQ feast and we headed to bed.

World's tallest Sri Murugan Swami statue, Batu Caves, KL.

Inside the Batu Caves, KL.

Our last day in KL we headed out to walk to the National Mosque but ended up in a huge office building and took a wrong turning and came out near Merdeka Square, a bizarre place, an old cricket pitch surrounded by a mix of British mock tudor and Arabic style buildings where the Malaysian flag was raised for the first time on independence in 1957. We walked back to the hostel through Chinatown. Later that afternoon I left Rhys watching movies and wandered out again to try to find the National Mosque. As soon as I got clear of any kind of cover a tropical thunder storm rolled in and within minutes I was completely drenched. I could see the mosque from the road but decided I was too wet to really go inside and enjoy it so turned back to wade through the rivers that the roads had become and wave off all the kindly people offering me lifts (I was wet through, I couldn’t get any wetter). Back at the hostel the roof was leaking. Our plans to see the Petronas Towers were out the window and we headed out only briefly to grab more BBQ for dinner.