Malaysia

After our godawful dinner last night, we were pleased this morning to find a shack down by the bus station which had some unpromising looking trays of curried fish heads and the like which, when you lifted the lid, smelled delicious. And proved so to be: a nice plate of rice, chicken and veg, enough […]

Last night in George Town and we decided on an Indian, but so many to choose from! One looked a little different from the rest, and seemed to be well-frequented by the locals, so we went in and sat down. We couldn’t make much sense of the menu, but everything everyone was eating looked delicious,

After a couple of weeks I have to admit I was beginning to feel a bit underwhelmed by Malaysia, photographically speaking. Compared to Vietnam, this time last year. Now George Town, and it’s a bit like the old saw about buses – you wait ages, then they all come in a rush. First off, yesterday

First day in George Town, there was really only one thing to do: go up Penang Hill, and get a view of the whole board.  V sorted the bus, and two RM apiece took us on the half hour drive out through the increasingly scrappy suburbs to within a few minutes walk of the funicular

Returned to the Indian restaurant where we got a lovely meal a few nights ago in Tanah Rata and had another lovely meal.  The French couple from the bus turned up, and immediately turned tail, and we hoped it was at least in part because they’d spotted us. And would end up having a vastly

After yesterday’s exhaustions we returned – brave little troopers we – for a nightwalk in the jungle. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, lots of other people had the same idea. With the jovial conversations and kids’ squalling echoing through the trees, any self-respecting beasties had not surprisingly vacated the area, leaving us with a motley

After yesterday’s exertions we decided to take it easy today. Hah! Well, you can’t do nothing, and there’s nothing to do in town, so we’d already decided we’d take the ferry (1 RM) over the river to the national park, and do a bit of freelance wandering around. There’s quite a bit that’s off limits

I was promised monkeys! *sniff* Oh well, there was lots more to like. First, the cleaners’ carts at the resort in the Taman Negara National Park. (Itself something of a tautology, or whatever it’s called, given that ‘taman negara’ means national park in Malaysian.)  Apparently the monkeys like to come down and fling everything everywhere;

Up early again, ready for the pickup to take us down, down, down out of the Cameron Highlands on a four hour ride to the three hour boat trip to Taman Negara national park, ready for our trek into the jungle tomorrow. Not a great deal to report in truth. Other than my first ever

That was tough!  I mean, we weren’t anticipating a gentle stroll, but the track up into the hills above Tanah Rata proved to be a steep, ragged, slippery, root-strewn struggle that didn’t let up for the better part of an hour, before easing into a more or less level ragged, slippery, root-strewn struggle. Which continued