Saturday, January 06, 2007

ADVENTURE & PLEASURE VACANT

BOATING






STEEP MOUNTAIN






mOUnTAIN cLIMbING
Enjoyable Stay & Memorable Journey


Chicwear.com.my







FriENDLY & cHARmInG

Posted by Travel Smart at 3:34 AM

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Australia from three weeks :

Thread Title: Just returned from Malaysia
Date Posted: Mon January 22, 2007 1:27 PM
Posted By: neilm
I've just returned to Australia from three weeks in Malaysia, so I thought I'd share some quick thoughts.

My itineraray was KL - Ipoh - KL - Cameron Highlands - Taiping - Penang - Pangkor - KL. (The reason I returned to KL after Ipoh was to meet my son who was arriving to join me.

Please note that I am in my 50s, travelling with my wife and offspring aged in their 20s. We're not really into drinking/clubbing so no comments on those!

Booked 3 nights at Swiss Inn prior to arrival through Asia Travel. It's right in the thick of Chinatown, a really great location. Rooms perfectly adequate, breakfast also adequate, but there's plenty of local cheap eating spots if you don't like the food there. (There's no point in paying extra for breakfast anywhere in Malaysia as you can get roti canai + coffee for AUD1 per head!).

Actually the hotel had a problem with plumbing the first night so we got a free upgrade to Swiss Garden, where the buffet breakfast is quite something.

We had planned to spend three nights in Ipoh, staying at the Majestic Station Hotel, but it was the last three days of school holidays coupled with a Muslim holiday, so we had trouble getting buses. So the comments in the guidebook that you need to book transport days in advance if travelling on a holiday are absolutely spot-on. (In normal circumstances you don't need to book buses in advance).

As for Ipoh, it's not really much of a place for the traveller, but the Majestic Station Hotel is really great! Faded glory and still quite comfortable and cheap. The Perak Tong cave temple outside the town was interesting.

Actually getting back to KL a day earlier than originally planned proved a blessing in disguise as we were thus in town for the last day of the January sales! I now have a new wardrobe! Borders is recommended for books, as the range is better than Oz and the prices much cheaper. Those wanting to purchase "The Return" by KS Maniam as recommended in the Rough Guide are advised that it is a school textbook and so available through school suppliers for RM6! (I can only assume this is subsidised by the Govt).

So off to the Cameron Highlands to escape the heat! The guesthouse touts met our bus and we stayed in Father's Guesthouse, which is reasonably comfortable and very friendly. It even has Wifi internet. Forget the food, though.

We did a half-day minibus tour to various sights (including a tea plantation) for RM25. This was excellent value.

Originally we had intended to travel to Pangkor next and had booked accom through Wotif.com. However on reading the morning's Straits Times there was a red alert for boating and so we decided to ask our accom to change our dates (to which they readily agreed). We ended up going to Taiping, staying in the Lagenda Hotel, which was excellent, cheap and friendly. The night safari at the zoo was great, as was the trip up Bukit Larut (Maxwell's Hill). In fact the latter is worth a whole day. We also did a daytrip to Kuala Kangsar, and went to take a look at its famous mosque. We were allowed to peek inside (despite guidebooks saying this is not possible) and it is truly amazing.

The boating warnings were still out so we postponed our Pangkor accommodation again and went to Penang, which on previous trips has been one of my favourite spots. However the Westerners' attitude to the locals is really off- putting, in particular the old guys with young local girls, but also the general rudeness towards shopkeepers. The pace of life is much faster now and traffic is a real problem. We stayed in the Oriental Hotel, which is in a great location but otherwise rather ordinary. The Malaysia Hotel up the road looked a better choice in retrospect. The tour around the Cheong Fat Tze mansion is worth every sen that is charged. The Penang Museum is also worth a look.

Then to Pangkor. We stayed in Havana Beach Resort at Teluk Nipah. It probably is a bit overpriced, but is right on the beach road, so less than 20 metres to the beach. The water is clean and warm, so great for an early morning dip. The local food stalls are right on the beach.

Then back to KL for some more shopping for a suitcase to put all our new clothes in! Mydin Emporia are worth a look for all kinds of things: watches, wallets, Bollywood DVDs, batik shirts, sandals... Local department stores are great for small sizes of clothes, but the tourist-oriented places in Jalan Petaling have a better selection of larger sizes.

Tailors seem to have largely disappeared from the scene.

Now to the two chief attributes of the trip, which will stick in the memory for a long time:

(1) The food. How I managed not to put on weight I will never know. There is simply no point in eating at up-market restaurants - it's simply a waste of money when the food courts and "local" eating places are so good. You can choose Malay, Indian or Chinese and they're all really cheap and good. Try the Popiah at Tang Foodcourt for a taste sensation (only there for Breakfast or Lunch). The foodcourt at KLCC has a good selection in air-conditioning! The kopis (local version of coffee) are always a good bet, but particularly at Old Town Cafes. Fruit juices are also good, particularly watermelon and soursop.

(2) The friendliness of the people is just extraordinary. To start with I was embarrassed by the attention, with everyone just saying hello and welcome to Malaysia, but they really meant it! Anytime I looked lost there was always someone who volunteered to help, and even passengers on the back of motorscooters would stop their mobile phone converstions to wave and give a greeting. On our last night in Pangkor some Chinese Malays from KL invited us to join them for dinner at a beachside place, with fresh stingray, prawns etc washed down by Tiger beer and then would not take any money from us to share expenses. (So now I will be sending them something with kangaroos on it in the mail!).

Favourite places were Taiping and Pangkor. It is probably no accident that these are the smaller and least foreign tourist-oriented places we visited. I am just overwhelmed with how welcoming everyone was.

One practical bit of advice: forget travellers' cheques outsied KL and Penang, as they are difficult to cash. ATMs are fine. (If you do want to take travellers' cheques, take American Express in USD).

Wow, what a great time we had. Thank you Malaysia.

7:42 PM

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