Alor Setar, Penang, the Cameron Highlands and Ipoh!

Time is flying, we are already for more than 3 weeks in Malaysia! This morning we arrived in Kuala Lumpur and we just checked-in at our Airbnb. Tomorrow night we will fly to our next destination: Perth in Australia. In the past week(s) we have been in Alor Satar, Penang, the Cameron Highlands and Ipoh. We really enjoy our time here and we love the country. Especially the many different cultures (Malay, Indian, Chinese) and the friendly people make our travel an unforgettable experience. We often stay in hostels or guesthouses, where we meet many other backpackers, resulting in nice conversations with a beer around the campfire, and making new friends. ;-) Everything here is very well organized, including public transportation, which makes it incredibly easy to travel around.

We aimed to publish a blog a couple of days ago (yes, we have already received quite some messages of friends and family saying: "When will you write your next blog?" and "we have been checking your blog every day the past days, why is there no new blog?") :-D However, the internet connection was not good enough to upload all the pictures we want to share with you and that's why we left you waiting for a while. ;-) 

We wrote our previous blog post at Langkawi (which feels ages ago)! The last night at Langkawi we visited the night market on our motorbike. It was such a nice experience, mostly local food and since we were quite hungry, we tried almost everything. We had so much fun. 

Most backpackers go from Langkawi directly to Penang, but we decided do things differently. ;-) Because we have the time, we visited also some places in Malaysia that are not so touristic. One of these places was Alor Setar (the capital of Kedah). In the morning we took the boat from Kuah to Kuala Kedah. From there, we took a taxi to Alor Setar. We stayed at a Chinese motel for one night and explored the city. The 'old town' had some nice colonial buildings, but there was a lot of maintenance to be done... ;-) However, we were surprised by a couple of very trendy Western-style cafes and restaurants as well! Here we enjoyed a delicious lunch, while the following nice text was written on the wall: "CARPE DIEM: Live in the present, for yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come. Seize the day, the future is not guaranteed. Look for rainbows when its rains, and when it is dark, look for the stars." When the sun was setting, we visited the 2nd largest building of Malaysia as well (the Alor Setar tower), which was 165.5 meter high. However, the most beautiful building in town was the classic mosque (Masjid Zahir), which was built in 1912. After all, it was a nice stop and we enjoyed walking around in this town. 

You can always make me happy with a good cappuccino! ;-)

Street art of Alor Setar

Main street of Alor Setar

Sightseeing in Alor Setar

Every day it rains heavily for a couple of minutes/hours... ;-)

Watching the sunset from the Menara Alor Star

View from Menara Alor Star 

Alor Star Tower

Masjid Zahir

The next morning we were brought by the owner of the motel to the bus station where we took the bus to Butterworth, where we took the ferry (10 minutes) to George Town, Penang. We had a very nice conversation at the ferry with a lady from Penang. In general, we find the people in Malaysia very open, they like to start a conversation and are very interested in who we are and what we do. We really like this and this way we learn a lot about the country and the culture(s)! 

Taking the bus from Alor Setar to Butterworth

Arriving at Butterworth bus station

Before we checked-in at our hostel in George Town, we had lunch at one of the local markets. Afterwards, we walked around in the town, which also referred to as the 'Pearl of the Orient' and became widely known because of its street art. We really enjoyed the atmosphere (as well as the food)! You can still clearly see the colonial influences. It was mainly the British, but even the Dutch shortly colonized this part of Malaysia.

Having lunch

Colonial buildings in George Town

Alley in George Town

Famous street art of George Town

Street art

Little India in George Town

Enjoying Indian food in George Town 

The next day we took the bus to the Botanical Gardens, 8 km out of George Town. The gardens are also known as Waterfall Gardens and was very beautiful. Since it was quite big (30 hectare), we decided to take a small tour with a golf cart. A kind old Malay grandpa told us everything about the flora and fauna in the country. 

Botanical Gardens in Penang

Penang (family) tree

We also spotted a lizard

Cannonball flower (yes, we have learned a lot!)

From the Botanical Gardens you can directly hike up the Penang Hill. This is a (very steep!!!) 5.1 km jeep track and we climbed to the top (821 meter). It was a good exercise (in 35 degrees and of course high humidity!) and took us 1.5 hour to reach the top. We were very lucky with the weather, because at the top we had a clear view over George Town! After we enjoyed a very cold iced coffee at the top of Penang Hill, we took the funicular (cliff railway) down. This train is usually very expensive, but free for people who are so crazy to hike up the hill. ;-)

Many hairpin turns! 

But the scenery was beautiful: real jungle!

Sometimes even 30 degrees!

Our gps shows how steep the climb was!

We made it! 

Enjoying the view 

Taking the funicular down

When we came down, dark clouds were coming and we quickly took the bus to our hostel. While taking a shower, it started raining really heavily which allowed us to check Tripadvisor for the best Chinese restaurant in town. ;-) After an hour the rain had stopped and we went to this Chinese place. It was packed, had to wait a while before we were seated. We ordered a ginger duck and double roasted pork and some veggies. It was delicious!

Shall we take duck or pork? Uhmm... both!!

Hmmmm, so nice!

During the night we enjoyed our beer and life music

The next day we decided to go to the Penang National Park (Taman Negara Pulau Pinang), which was situated north west of the island. We took an Uber taxi to go there (again very interesting conversation with the taxi driver about, among other things, the Chinese influence in Malaysia). We decided to make a hike from the entrance of the National Park to one of the beaches (Pantai Kerachut) and arranged that a small boat would pick us op there at a certain time. It was a beautiful short hike (2 hours) through the jungle. Indeed at the agreed time a small boat came to the beach and brought us to another beach to have lunch. No joke, this beach is called 'monkey beach' (see picture below why). ;-)

'monkey' beach... ;-)

Our boat!

Back at the jetty

After our hike, we took the bus back to our hostel and again it was raining heavily in the afternoon. This time it didn't stop and we decided to go to the nearest food court where you can eat all kinds of food: Malay, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, etc. We decided to take Chinese sea food!

Red Garden Food Paradise

All very fresh! We took a big shrimp and seabass 

Chinese sea food

Tiger beer (in a plastic bucket with ice)!! :-)

Enjoying the food

The next day we had breakfast in a very nice cafe, before we took the bus to the Cameron Highlands.

Having breakfast

Waiting for the bus to Tanah Rata

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

After two hours our bus arrived!

We arrived early evening in Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands and the road to this place was absolutely beautiful! The views were amazing and it felt a bit like a mix between the Belgian Ardennes and the Alps, although much more green! It was also much colder here (around 20-25 degrees during the day instead of 35), since the Cameron Highlands are around 1.500 meters high. In the bus, we met a guy from Canada and he stayed at the same guesthouse. The first night we had dinner together and we decided to go for the Chinese steamboat, also know as 'hot pot' (something like a fondue). 

Enjoying the Chinese steamboat

The Cameron Highlands are well known because of the many tea plantations and the mossy forest. We took a half day 4x4wd tour to visit a tea plantation and to explore the forest in this area. We had a very cool guide who told us so much about the environment, it was very interesting! We learned a lot about the mossy forest, the pitcher plant (Nepenthes) and also visited the highest peak of the area: Gunung Brinchang (2.031 meter). It was quite chilly at the top and it was the first time this trip that we had to wear our sweater! ;-) Although it was a bit cloudy, we still had a nice view. We really enjoyed this day.

Tea plantation close to Tanah Rata

Typically Cameron Highlands

Tea plantation!

Our guide tells us all about the tea culture in Malaysia

Our 4x4wd

View from Gunung Birchang

Brrr... quite cold here!

So happy with my sweater

Guide teaching us about the mossy forest

Jungle

Hiking in the jungle/mossy forest

Pitcher plant

Pitcher plant from the inside

Hiking the jungle!

The next day we decided to make a hike in the forest. We hiked trail no. 5 and no. 3 to Brinchang. Equipped with a picture of the map of the area and our gps we started the hike. It was again so beautiful and even spotted some monkeys on the way! 

Harvesting cabbage

Start of trail no. 5

A lot of farming in this area

Jungle walk no. 5: check!

Hello monkey!!

Erik spotting the monkeys

Real jungle 

We made it!

 After our hike, we had some real good Indian food, with the naan bread prepared in a very nice 'oven'. The taste was absolutely great (and we came back to this place several times the next days).

Naan bread in the 'oven'

Enjoying the Indian food

Hmm, it tasted so good!

We also wanted to visit the more southern part of the valley and we asked a taxi driver if we could 'hire' him for a couple of hours. His name was 'moni', but he preferred us to call him 'money'. ;-) He was a very nice guy and told us a lot about the places we visited. He told us that he was a tea picker since he was 13 and knew the area very well. He shared many nice stories with us. 

Our taxi (from 1983)

Nice viewpoint

View from viewpoint

BOH tea plantation

Enjoying a cup of tea: of course!  

Bharat tea plantation

Beautiful leafs

After three nights in the Cameron Highlands, we took the bus to Ipoh, where we stayed in a very nice Airbnb in the old town. When we arrived, we went for lunch at a very nice cafe with good coffee! Afterwards, we walked around and found out that there is also some street art in Ipoh (although not as nicely done as in George Town). Ipoh is relatively small, has nice colonial architecture, is less touristy, and really industrial, since there are a lot of tin mines in the area. We really enjoyed it, but compared to the other places we visited we had to do a bit more research to find the nice places to visit. However, after we did our homework, we found out that there are many things to see and to do and we ended up three nights in this town.    

Our Airbnb in the old town of Ipon

Trendy cafe in the old town

Old town

Visiting the barber shop

Travel beard gone again... ;-)

Babyface :-)

Old town of Ipoh

Colonial buildings in Ipoh

Street art 

Street art

Atmosphere in Ipoh

Entrance of our Airbnb

China town in Ipoh

Having dinner in China town

The second day in Ipoh we visited several cave temples, including Sam Poh Tong, Ling Sen Tong and Kek Look Tong. The temples were really impressive, but sometimes the architecture and items are over-the-top "kitch".

After we visited the cave temples, we headed up north to the Banjaran hot springs. Quite an exclusive resort, but we could access it just to visit the hot spring. Was such a nice experience, felt like a true paradise. The water in the hot spring was 43 degrees! 

The last day in Ipoh we booked a tour with David and his wife. They picked us up early morning and we drove to Gopeng. Here David took us for a hike in the jungle and he proved to be a very good guide. With his machete, he cleared the way and told us a lot about the flora and fauna of this area. We also saw on the way how they (Indonesian workers) harvested the fruits for the palm oil production. It is incredibly heavy work, but interesting to see since we were told that Malaysia is one of the biggest producers of palm oil.

Erik in his jungle outfit and our guide David

We spotted beautiful butterflies on the way

David explaining us how to survive in the jungle

Jungle course lesson 2 (of many)!

Oily substance which you can use to make fire in a wet forest

Hiking down the hill

Indonesian workers harvesting the palm oil fruits

Collecting the fruits

Fruits weigh between 20-100 kg

Protected butterfly

They are so big!

Natural hotspring (and yes, the leeches got me!)

Having lunch

In the afternoon, we went 'caving', and hiked through a cave in the area of Gopeng. This cave was not (yet) 'commercialized', which meant that we were there just with the four of us (okay, and 1.000 bats). ;-) It was quite slippery and not the most beautiful cave we have seen, but very special and nice experience. It felt a little bit like a canyoning trip we did in the Alps a couple of years ago. We like this kind of adventures a lot! 

  

So, that was it. This became a very long blog with very many pictures, but we like to share with you how much we have enjoyed Malaysia. Tomorrow we have one full day in KL and in the night we'll fly to Perth. We have already booked a nice Airbnb for three nights in the middle of the city and we look forward to two months of camping. We can pick up our van the 1st of December and we can't wait for this new adventure to start!

We keep you updated.

Big hugs and kisses, 

Erik & Annemarie