Road trip and Penang

I had planned to leave Kuala Selangor yesterday morning but ended up taking a tourist tram up the local hill. I was in a museum when it started raining really hard so was stuck there till it stopped raining a couple of hours later. I met a couple of more Pakistanis, one of which drove me to the bus station so that I could head to Cameron Highlands for a half-day trek. That is when things got interesting.

The dude manning the information desk told me to take a bus to Sebak Bernam (bus 1), then a connecting bus to Teluk Intan (bus 2) and then a third bus to Cameron Highlands (bus 3). But he didn't mention that I wouldn't make it in time to catch bus 3 from Teluk Intan. I was only informed when I got to Sebak Bernam at 6:30. I was stranded.

I asked around and found that there was a Penang bus from Sebak Bernam leaving at 11pm. So I walked around town looking for a cybercafe, when I bumped into another Pakistani (looks like many of the carpet stores in Malaysia are run by Pakistanis). He was a real pleasure to talk to and made a mean daal. We chatted for a few hours till I headed down to the bus stand at 10:30.

The bus ride itself was pretty awful. The driver drove like he was rehearsing a scene from the film Speed. Didn't get much sleep in the bumpy ride. Arrived in Butterworth at 4 and hung around until the first ferry for Georgetown left at 5:30. Once on Pulau Penang, I headed down the Masjid Negeri to get some sleep. Upon waking at 10, I got to witness a traditional adat nikah (Malay Muslim wedding).

Then Ginger drove by and drove us around town. Saw Fort Cornwallis and planning to go watch a film as well as head down to the Pasar Malam (night market) to buy souvenirs. Plans until Thursday include water sports and a hike up Penang hill.

Fireflies

Kuala Selangor is a little hamlet with nothing to do except to go and see the fireflies. The taxi drivers here were asking for RM30 to drive me to the mangrove swamp of Kampung Kuantan where the fireflies are so I asked around how I could get there cheaper. I chanced upon a couple of Pakistanis. One of them drove me there on his motorbike for free. We both went on a 30 minute boat ride to see the fireflies. The guy wasn't very impressed as apparently he sees fireflies all the time in the mountains in North-West Pakistan where he's from. I, on the other hand, found the flickering fireflies very cool. Plus the boat ride in pitched dark (except for the fireflies) added to the experience. My new friend was quite keen to show me around tomorrow evening but I don't want to hang around with nothing to do in the day. I'll flick through my guidebook to see where I can go tomorrow before I head out for Penang on Monday.

Batu Caves and Kuala Selangor

Went to see Masjid Negara and prayed Friday prayers there. Then headed off to Batu Caves, which were quite stunning. The temples themselves were nothing fantastic (I think my fascination with the architecture of places of worship is weakening) but the scenery was brilliant.

Came down to Kuala Selangor today to see some fireflies.

Real KL?

Got to see more of the human side to KL today. Jon borrowed his mum's car and drove us around. Went to see a couple of buddhist temples (one Chinese, one Indian). Went to see an Indian temple but it had been demolished (like the old one standing where Mid Valley Megamall now stands). No wonder the Indian community in Malaysia is agrieved (Indians rioted earlier this year against government policy prefering ethnic Malays). Wanted to see Batu Caves but traffic has been clogged up. To avoid the jam, I hope to take the LRT to Putra station and either walk to the temple area or take a taxi.

After the temples, we went and ate an Indian meal served on banana leaves instead of plates. Eight little courses. Had fried squid as one of them. Goood! Then we went to the Thursday night market with Jon's mum. Bought all sorts of tropical fruit (dragon fruit, jackfruit, tiny golden bananas, etc) but no durian! Tried camomile tea (I'm loving the Chinese herbal teas) and real soy milk. Also bought my two-year-old sister a couple of Disney DVDs. The DVDs are supposedly genuine but when you open the sliding paper cover, the disk holder is a tacky plain black one with no printing on it. Not sure what will happen if I get stopped at customs in London.

Jon's mum picked up some braised duck, which we had for lunch at Jon's grandparents' place. It was only the second time I've had duck (the first time, when I was a kid, had put me off) but it wasn't all that bad. Thicker meat than chicken. Then we went to listen to live music (disappointing) and played some pool. Plans tomorrow are to go to Batu Caves, come back to KL for Friday prayers in Masjid Negara (National Mosque) and meet up with with a couple of friends. I intend to drop by Kuala Selangor and Klang over the weekend before heading North to Penang on Monday.

KL

Went around the centre of KL to see all the sights. Jon and I went to a mall and played some arcade games. On the sixth floor there is the largest indoor theme park in Malaysia. It has its very own rollercoaster. But we decided against going there. We went to the 13th floor to take photos. Then we tailgated a guest into the guest floors (card access was required for the lift to work) in the Times Square hotel and peered out of the emergency stairs windows from the 32nd floor. Had lunch and then we went to look at laptop prices in an IT mall. They're a fair bit cheaper compared to England. I'll have a look in Singapore as well.

The really fun part of the day was after dinner. Jon's schoolmate, who we met for dinner, suggested that we sneak into their secondary school. We jumped the gate and sneaked around in the dark (avoiding the security guard's attention). As a Malaysian state school, there was a lot of propaganda as well as slogans about being good moral citizens everywhere. Came back, exhausted, showered, and crashed. Still have to work out today's plan.

Breakfast: toast with kaya (a spread made of coconut milk and caramel), Cameron Highlands tea followed by kuay teow
Lunch: chicken noodle
Dinner: (fake) shark's fin soup

Photos are up on facebook.

Melaka end and return to KL

Overslept. Bought a t-shirt because the dirty clothes were really pissing me off. Then bought another one when I realised that the first one was too touristy to wear (touristy clothes attract thieves and poor bargaining power). By the time I got up, picked up laundry, showered and finally got to wear clean clothes it was already noon. Had brunch in the Geographer Cafe in Jonker Street. It was a refreshing change from the roadside hawker food and dingier cafes I've been eating in.

Went into the museums in the Stadthuys complex. Took a fair few photos as the galleries were empty and there was no one to stop me snapping! Didn't have much time to see all the 5 museums that are housed in the Stadthuys complex (I missed out on the Literature Museum, Governor's House and Democratic Government Museum) as Wee Shen came by at 2:30. He drove me around most of the major tourist attractions and I jumped out to take photos and jumped back in. My very own hop-on-hop-off tour! Thanks Wee Shen! But there were a couple of major attractions we didn't get to see because we couldn't find a place to park. It might be worth returning to Melaka later in order to see them.

Wee Shen dropped me off at Melaka Sentral at 4:30 and I took the 5 o'clock transnasional coach to KL. As I arrived in China Town, I went back to Petaling street to actually have a look at the fake clothing and whatever else was on sale (not the messages). The stuff is really cheap. You can get fake Billabong, Quicksilver, Nike, FCUK clothing (you name it) for about two quid if you haggle. I think I've finally got the hang of haggling. What seemed to work was when I looked really disinterested, browsed casually asked the price, said "too much ah" and walked away. The inevitable reply was always "how much you want?" Then quote a third (yes a third!) of what you were quoted. The worst I found was a third lower than the original quote. The best was what I offered. Didn't buy anything though. It was more fun practicing haggling.

After Petaling Street, I had a road-side burger. It was a concoction of your standard beef burger with a fried egg and some brown pepper sauce that tasted great. Then I headed down to Pesar Seni station to take the Komuter to Taman Bahagia, where Jonathan was to pick me up. Just before I boarded my train, I noticed that my belt's buckle had come off but was still attached to the other side. I spent fifteen minutes repairing the damn thing in the train using my penknife.

In the meantime I managed to lose my ticket for my journey. So the fear of having lost my hidden money was replaced by the fear of being fined for not having a valid ticket for my journey. Great. Luckily, both fears were unfounded and I only had to pay face price of the ticket again (about 35p). But, it was close. I'm pretty sure that someone must have attempted to wrench off my belt in Petaling street. The buckle is strong enough to handle normal your orginally tug.

Couldn't upload pics... will try again later.

More Melaka

Ugh... today was one big mess. It took me an hour to find the local 'laundry.' It turned out to be a dry cleaners, which means another day without clean clothes (didn't have time to wash my clothes yesterday).

The nicer part of my day today was a 40 minute guided river cruise in the afternoon. Most of it involved showing delapidated houses that were due for demolishment or radical repair as part of the government's plans to build a long walk along the river. That won't be done until 2010 at the earliest. Disappointing. I took a video of most of the cruise and probably won't get to upload it till I get home.

Disappointment didn't stop there. I was quite tired so I bought a 'blue line' hop-on-hop-off tour bus ticket instead of renting a bicycle. Turns out that the locals use it as a communal taxi service. Which means the buses don't go where they're supposed to. Frustrated, I rented a bicycle as originally intended. So it was 6 before I got to do any other touristy stuff. That invovled getting lost again before I made my way to the Portugese settlement. There is a catholic festival on so there was a live show, though it was nothing special. The Portugese square is nothing great but it is next to the coast and serves decent food. I finally got to try the famous red devil curry, which was good but not quite up to expectations.

I cycled to a fort which is meant to have a good view of the city. The entire lane and the summit were empty, which made me wonder why, so I left without having a look around. Better return in the day. On the way back to the hostel, found some live music (Soldier of Fortune is a huge improvement on Santana, that seems to play everywhere in Melaka). Malay pop sounds just like Chinese pop to me. Same rhythms and sentimental vocals. But I guess that goes for pop everywhere. Will deconstruct it properly when I have time.

Plan tomorrow is as follows. Go to the eye of Melaka and Portugese ship replica in the morning. Then pick up laundry. Then meet up with Wee Shen, who will drive me around. Then back to KL in the evening, to meet up and stay at Jonathan's.


A catholic priest in the Portugese settlement bringing around a flame to light candles in each house


Two girls lit green candles, which in turn lit white candles in each house






Gluttonous blue and white rice with a yellow sweet wrapped in banana leaves. Yummy!




My rented bike




Red devil curry


These shells were alive and wiggling about. Cooked to your fancy (grilled, steamed, boiled, etc) in front of you.


Alive


Its alive!


View of the sea from Portugese square


Another view


Statues of Mary and Jesus as well as crosses and other catholic ornaments up for sale




My tour boat



Delapidated houses




The square where the Dutch governor used to reside