I stayed in Brinchang, the less popular of the two Highland towns and as it transpires, by far the more expensive of the two. So much for me trying for once to deviate from where the Lonely Planet tells me to go! Still, I found a cheap(ish) tour of the local area, including the local tea plantations (if you ever see 'BOH' tea, this is where it comes from) which was not only visually stunning (see the photos), but pretty interesting too.
From there, I got an air-conditioned 'VIP' coach to Penang, where I'd be staying in the capital, Georgetown for 3 nights. The coach trip was really very comfortable and easily made up for the 7am start. There were two other British couples on board and though we didn't speak much on the journey (mostly due to my being fast asleep), we stuck together at the other end, and for good reason too. You see, we'd all been expecting to arrive in Georgetown, as advertised, but when we shooed off the bus, we were in a remote bus stops in, as far as we could see, the middle of nowhere. We managed to shirk off the taxi touts and found the stop outside for the local bus. Turns out we had been dropped in Relau, in the south of the island. After two busses had gone past, one came in and the lady on board told us that 'yes, bus go Georgetown, yes.' So we hopped on, paid our RM1.50 and it only took us 45 minutes to get to the central bus station in Georgetown. Just a shame that the backpacker district is about half an hour's walk from the centre. Unperturbed, we headed forth and found some locals to ask for directions, one of whom produced a map and showed us exactly where to go, what roads to take and how long it would be til we got there. Thanks to him, we only got lost about three times, rather than the usual dozen. The lonely planet map didn't help, having mislabeled one of the guesthouses and caused us to look (for quite an embarrassingly long time) for a back street that didn't even exist. Still we found our bearings eventually and one couple headed off in search of some friends with whom they'd be staying, the other couple went to somewhere I couldn't afford (although their place had air-con rooms, which in this heat and humidity is well worth forking out for) and I found New Banana. Smitten with the name, I booked the cheapest room they had and while it's a small and quite stuffy affair, it's clean and quiet. I've since discovered that I'm sharing the room with two baby geckos, the smallest of which is less than an inch long, and according to old Mr Gede in Bali, they're a sign of protection and they keep the mosquitoes away.
That night I headed to Little India to quell my craving for a good curry. And boy did I find one (okay, two)! In a fairly large, very loud and very popular restaurant, I sat down, was thoroughly misunderstood by the waiter, inadvertently ordered two main meals and came, I'm quite proud to say, within two or three mouthfuls of polishing them both off. I could barely stand afterwards, but the pull (push?) of my bowels was enough to get me back to Banana. Once thoroughly relieved, I spent the rest of the evening in the rather nice bar downstairs reading my new book (a Tom Clancey one) in the company of a tiger beer.
Today. Today has been erm... interesting, to say the least. As promised I found somewhere that didn't seem to mind renting me a motorbike for the day (Banana refused on account of me never having ridden before... the other place didn't even ask. I gave them the money, they gave me the keys). Now I'd always been of the opinion that if girls can do it and if Indonesian children as young as about 5 can do it, it can't be that hard to ride one, right? Erm... I was very slightly wrong. Thankfully the guy who lent me the bike turned a blind eye as I lurched away from the parking spot, narrowly avoiding the hurtling traffic and kangarooed my way down the road. In my defence, it's a manual with no clutch and until you've got the knack, gear changes are extremely violent and both 1st gear and the brakes are incredibly sensitive! I gained control enough to pull into a little side road and spent a good ten minutes just riding up and down this one empty road, getting a feel for it. To get back to the hostel though, thanks to a phenomenally complicated one way system, I had to make quite a big loop, involving some rather large roads. So I just gritted my teeth and went for it. Scary though it certainly was, I made my way back in one piece and went and collapsed on my bed, never wanting to set foot in that sort of traffic again! It's just plain dangerous!
But I'd paid good money (okay, 4 quid) for that bike and I'd be damned if I wasn't at least gonna use up some of their petrol before giving it back. I psyched myself up for a proper ride, which I'd been planning to do all along and thought I'd go to the next town along the coast, hoping that it'd be less crowded there and the roads between the two would be nice and empty. Not a chance! At no point did it get any less built-up, any less crowded or indeed any different from the centre of Georgetown and it was only at the point that I'd gone much further than planned (without realising... every single road is identical to every other road in this place!) that I stopped, tried to work out where I was, worked out that I had left the map completely and panicked. In the distance I could see a tower that I recognised as being in the middle of Georgetown and I decided I'd head towards that. But even here, the one way systems were a nightmare, pushing me further and further away and every time I could see where I wanted to go, I wasn't allowed down that particular turning or I was forced by other cars round a bend I didn't want to take (lane discipline doesn't really exist in south east Asia). So in the end I resorted, and being a man this was difficult, to asking someone for directions. A local shopkeeper told me (wrongly) where I was on the map and where to go, so ignoring him, I headed again towards the familiar building and this time found a road name that I recognised. Shot down that road and, just to be sure, stopped again and asked another local where I was. This one didn't lie and confirmed where I was on the map and even told me the best way to get round the one way system in chinatown to get back to Banana. And thankfully his advice was sound and I arrived back, shaken and vowing never ever to do that again, collapsed on my bed decided that I'd go and hand the motorbike back that evening. No way will I be exploring the whole island like that. I'll stick to public transport. Motorbikes can be saved til I get home... don't get me wrong, I still want one! It was great fun for those rare moments where there was little traffic and it didn't take long to get the hang of the controls.
The bike safely back with its rightful owner, I went back to Little India for dinner. And usually I wouldn't go to the same place twice, but those curries yesterday were pretty special, so I found the same restaurant again and this time didn't order two mains.
Two girls were sitting at the table next to me and invited me over (I guess I looked lonely). So I sat with them and it turns out they're from America, but have been living in Sumatra, Indonesia for the last year. Another German guy joined us and it turned out to be a nice sociable dinner, which was more than I'd had planned. Unfortunately they didn't hang around afterwards, so me and the German guy quickly paid and parted company.
From there, it was back to here where I started this blog about an hour ago. I'm gonna go to bed soon; it's been a long day! No plans as yet for tomorrow. I'll see where the day takes me.
I shall leave you with photos from the Cameron Highlands, my lovely left foot and the Petronus Towers in KL. With the exception on those two towers, the less said about KL the better!
No doubt this is only gonna get worse...
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