Penang last stop - Malaysia

It’s interesting the perception you have of a place before you’ve actually been there. London, Paris, Vienna and Prague were very close to my visual and cultural awareness of these cities thanks to news, documentaries or more often that any of those media it was through movies. I cannot recall any movies based in Penang but have seen the occasional travelogue on television so it was quite limited although I knew it was a very popular travellers destination. I was thinking palm trees, tropical beaches and iconic curries.

That perception was completely destroyed as I approached the area on the interstate bus. Penang is not a city but a whole state located on the northwest coast of Malaysia composing the island city of Georgetown with nature reserves and the mainland city of Butterworth. Most of the small state is highly urbanised with a population just under 1.8m. As soon as we left the southern freeway for the island we passed through the toll station and on to a bridge. My goodness, there’s a bridge all the way to Georgetown? This bridge is known as the Second Penang bridge and I was impressed as we travelled for at least 18km across the strait before reaching the island. It’s the second of two bridges joining the cities and the longest in SE Asia. Built by the Chinese of course. As we’ve seen they don’t seem to shy away from any megalopolistic (this word probably doesn’t exit but sounds right anyway) infrastructure project.

Crossing the strait by ferry from Butterworth back to Georgetown

I based myself in the city of Georgetown in the old British colonial district as it was the best location for me with access to the Butterworth ferry and the street food districts. Today was a travelling day so I checked into the hotel and caught a local metro bus to the public library for some research. You can get plenty of information from the internet but there’s nothing like getting anecdotal input from the locals and seeing what’s around you. Apparently Penang is known as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Malaysia with an impressive output for intellectual property and information technology. This environment is nurtured by a high proportion of clever citizens that work here. In fact the school literacy rate is over 99 percent so they’re very serious about building an education culture that supports prosperity for the region and the country. Mmmmm...

After one of my regular pre-dinner granny naps I felt re-energised and headed for the northern beach area aof Georgetown via public bus where hundreds of folk converge for the weekend night eatfest. I was fortunate enough to get a wonderful view of the very red sun descending in the west which added nicely to the comfortable early evening temperatures and atmosphere.

Georgetown beach street food night market

After a long day’s hiking I went back for seconds of a different dish

Like most of Malaysia the ethnic makeup is mainly Chinese, Indian, Malay, Thai and others including a number of expat citizens. I really liked the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Penang and it’s been my favourite Malaysian location.

The island has many options for outdoor activities so I chose a day walk through the National Park to Monkey Beach. To get there I caught a bus to KOMTAR which is the massive multi story shopping hub in the ferry video above. Then I took the bus to the start of the walk in the hills to the west. After registering I walked the fairly rough jungle track for a few kms. Make sure you have good walking shoes and not sandals for this one - one woman sprained her ankle as she was only wearing sandals with two more kms to go. I liked the opportunity to see monkeys in their natural habitat not in cages.

Little workers carrying their load back home

Local Macaque monkey

Ahmed the Malaysian ‘tradie’

The Cameron Highlands and Ipoh - Malaysia

After four days in Kuala Lumpur I was ready for a smaller regional change of pace. I’d already researched the options to get to the Cameron Highlands and Ipoh by train/bus in northwest Malaysia which was on my list and conveniently on route to Penang further north on the coast. The four-hour journey to the Cameron Highlands was a great opportunity to observe local Malaysia on the way. This is as close a mode of transport I could use If I wanted to see the country as I’m normally on the bicycle being intimately involved with the surroundings.

The Cameron Highlands area is apparently the oldest tourist and most popular nature retreat destination in Malaysia. I love bicycle touring but also love what we term in Australia as ‘bushwalking’, NZ and UK call it ‘tramping’ and in Germany ‘valking in za natur’. I can vouch for the latter expression from my German friends. The altitude varies from about 800m to almost 2000m with plenty of trails to navigate. I found the climate to be quite moderate despite the high humidity but the high altitude meant the temperature is only around low 20’s which is OK for light trekking. Despite taking Malaria tablets for the journey I did not encounter any mosquitos but I would not recommend the absence of medication. Malaria has taken many lives during the colonial/development/war years. The low temperatures also allow many fruit and vegetable crops can be grown here. I enjoyed feasting on fresh locally-grown fruit while hiking through numerous trails alongside tea plantations.

Don’t come looking for clubing or nightlife activity here as it’s not Bali or Byron Bay. If you’re looking for a retreat then this is just the space. I loved the wholesomeness of the stay and even found a very tasty vegetarian crispy noodles dish with a divine mango smoothie.

After a good night’s sleep I travelled to Ipoh which is located in the north-west Malaysian state of Perak. Perak has been a source of tin for the people for may centuries long before the Portuguese, Dutch and British arrived. The British arrived in the late 19th century and due to their own superior industrial-strength methods of extraction underground instead of just the surface were able to turn it into a huge industry. It accounted for 1/3 of the world’s production at the time.

The British left their mark on the place with examples of quite distinctive

colonial architecture like the Ipoh train station and Town Hall across the road.

I didn’t have to walk far around the western district of the Old City to find more examples of this and smeander along back lanes to explore what people were up to.

After a typical day walking around and taking images I was ready for a pre-dinner sleep back at the hotel before heading off to my next street food indulgence. After my zzz’s and a quick shower my first choice was curry and thanks to the internet I found a genuine place near the Indian mosque. Funny how you crave something particular which in this case was a good hot chicken tikka with rice and roti bread to soak up the left over juice. The best Tikka I’ve ever tasted so I passed on the compliment with a tip but they kindly refused the tip and the lovely mature-in-age Muslim woman said it was a pleasure to cook for me as they could tell I loved my hot curries.

Indian mosque

Metro rail system and Petronas Towers - Kuala Lumpur

People know me as a passionate cycling commuter but I’m more than happy to use a well-planned city metro transit system that ensures everyday commuters or visitors get to those iconic spaces of interest with some degree of ease. I’m a strong advocate of these public systems for obvious benefits such as potentially reduced cost, reduced stress, hopefully less pollution and not wasting your life in the car.

Above ground light metro rail

Like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia has done this very well with its metro rail system using a combination of underground and light monorail above ground. I remember quite vividly travelling on the old ‘red hens’ in 60’s and 70’s Melbourne, Australia which would arrive at my inner northwest station of Ascot Vale with reasonable timeliness. I also remember the colours of the stiff little paper tickets that were collected by the ticket officers at the end of the journey. How things have changed in 50 years to accomodate more commuters and improve efficiency of the systems.

Petronas Towers views from another ‘Tower of Babel’

I’m a passionate follower of cycling sports like the Tour de France, Giro Italia and have attended several of our own Tour Down Under events in January in South Australia as a spectator including participating as a road cyclist in the public stage of 2008 and 2010. I’ve also long been a passionate follower of car racing sports such as Formula One and the World Rally Championships, especially when Subarus are competing in the rally events. I plan to attend some of these during my next bicycling trip to Europe 2019. I can’t stand our local bogun/redneck US dominated motor sport in Australia but prefer the more culturally refined European style events as mentioned.

I recall the Petronas Towers being used in a number of scenes for the film Entrapment starring Katherine Zeta Jones and Sean Connery. Some of the best scenes were shot at night. Not that long ago the Towers were the tallest man-made structures in the world but they’re still the tallest twin towers.

I have a strong science/technology background so it’s no surprise that I follow the European season. Well anyone that’s a follower of Formula One know how much one team can dominate the series for a number of seasons. The Mercedes Petronas team has been doing just that for the last four years breaking records such as having 12 1-2 finishes in one season. That takes driver and team talent and a lot of funds to keep the consistency and develop the technology. Petronas is a Kuala Lumpur-based Petro/gas company wholly owned by the Malaysian Government and is a major sponsor of the racing team. It’s quite interesting as I’m not aware of any other Government that essentially sponsors a car racing team.

View from my rich and shameless Hilton Hotel room

I remember my early childhood years living in one of Melbourne’s Italian/Greek communities, attending the local Catholic primary school and being invited to my Italian friend’s house for lunch on the weekend. This was my first introduction to good food and I can still remember her mother mama-Gina preparing home made pasta with home grown basil, oregano, garlic and tomatoes with the strong smell of olives in oil containers. I was in cuisine heaven as I hated and still dislike stoggy English food. Her warmth and generosity will always stay with me.
An interesting cultural practice I remember was after the passing of mama-Gina’s husband she only wore black clothes for about two years as part of her mourning respects. It must take some discipline not to wear something in fashion. I respect a Muslim women’s rights to protect her modesty as defined by her religion and did you know that hijab actually refers to a dress code or rules for men as well. Muslim women may dress according to their religion but at least they appear to have have some opportunities to express them in a fashion sense.

Who said Muslim women weren’t fashionistas - what colour would you like madam?

Batu Caves - Kuala Lumpur

Today the weather was perfect for a full day out and on my list of recommendations were the Batu Caves and no one should journey to Kuala Lumpur without a visit to them. So with morning, lunch and afternoon meals prepared I headed off for the metro station.

Macaque monkeys hunting for scraps from visitors

The Batu Caves are part of the important Tamil Hindu complex of temples including over 272 stairs leading to a main cave temple complex and you pass a very large statue of a Hindu god at the bottom. The limestone caves are filled with a number of Hindu legend scenes and form a very important place of pilgrimage for devotees during important festivals outside India. This may also be your first interaction with the local wildlife, in this case the Macaque monkey. Their reasonably well-behaved but I would suggest not feeding them as they will become a bit too friendly as I observed with one Chinese group of tourists attempting to take selfies with one monkey that tried to take the phones off them.

Recent painting of the steps from concrete neutral to rainbow colours has caused a bit of an annoyance for the heritage authority of the Malaysian Government. The temple at the top of the stairs was designated as an important heritage site in 2012 and any future renovation work etc would require approval. Every 12 years the Indian community conducts a clean up of the site and you guessed it they also decided this would be an ideal time to paint the steps in rainbow colours as a way of attracting younger generations to the site and including more tourists. It certainly has the intentioned visually dramatic effect but time will determine if this colour scheme remains. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one to reverse it but it would be a great community project for the graffiti terrorists as part of their rehabilitation therapy.

Kuala Lumpur - first impressions of big city Malaysia

In Australia you can be travelling for hours by plane or several days by road and still be surrounded by the same accents and culture. In Europe I could cross many countries within a day or so - in fact I cycled across Luxembourg’s narrowest distance between borders in a day - actually a Friday afternoon during the peak traffic period. Because I’m visiting several Asian countries in four months I have logistics to work with such as organising mobile access, local currency, accomodation, transport as well as language and cultural awareness. Broadly the Malaysian population consists of over 50 percent Malay, 22 percent Chinese,  12 percent Bumiputera (Indigenous),  6.8 percent Indian and the rest. Obviously I don’t speak Malay and don’t need to as many speak English anyway but It’s respectful to at least practice some daily greeting words and expressions. You generally receive courteous smiles but I never know if this is appreciation or simply due to my poor pronunciation.

Comfortable and clean room - extremely cheap for what you get

Fridge and safe included

In 1957 a few months before I was born the Malaysian Federal Comstitution proclaimed Islam as the official religion of Malaysia but of course other religious practices are allowed.
I entered my first Muslim country with an open mind ready to go with whatever was presented to me. You have to be flexible enough and prepared to leave some of your comfort thoughts behind you and accept you’re not in your own familiar space now. The run-of-the-mill guided tour mainstream travel is not for me as I like to mix with the real people not the rich and shameless places where you’re shielded from reality. So I get a double-bonus in budget and experiencing at least to some degree what it’s like being a real local. You don’t have to sleep amongst rats and cockroaches by the way as it’s important to protect your health/security and stay in clean and comfortable lodgings.

One of my favourite street food hangouts

A quiet place for morning tea

Even in Kuala Lumpur there are plenty of budget options but I will always pick somewhere that is close to public transport, street food markets and specific communities that represent the people of the nation, especially indigenous. After you look up the ever climbing structure of a first-world skyscraper and explore what is around you at street level the third-world contrast is quite thought-provoking. Certain communities in these metropolis spaces represent this and a hint is looking for places called Little India, Chinatown and enclaves that are very popular for backpackers.

My view of the regular afternoon storms seen from one of KL’s towers

While sites like TripAdvisor are good for research it tends to promote a lot of tour/sightseeing packages which is not for me as I like to plan my own itinerary and save $1000’s. But if that’s your preference then go for it. Yes, I do go on about budgets and how much I spend in life but I’m anti-capitalist by nature and why should I pay off someone’s second holiday house and fourth Audi. Travel agents happily take your money while sitting in their comfy offices or driving the latest SUVs. I have a healthy disdain for anyone that’s happy to exploit my good nature but I don’t haggle with street food vendors as the food is embarrassingly cheap and these hard working people are living on so little compared to me. Indian tailors are a different matter and will scam you for everything you’ve got so be prepared to negotiate tough. There are stories of victims going in for a zip repair and coming out with a A$2000 or A$3000 bill for clothes they did not want to be made. For my own travels I simply bought some comfortable cotton Thai long-sleeved shirts for A$10 each in Singapore at one of the Chinatown stalls run by some lovely senior women who thanked me in broken English.

To prepare journeys I actually download Lonely Planet guides and do a lot of internet forum research for accomodation, food, places of interest and ways to get around. As far as food is concerned I do like my weekly coffee and western daily breakfast because I don’t like exotic food first thing in the morning - the smell of it or even bacon/sausages makes me nautious and I need my ‘ruffage’ for obvious reasons - hence I’ll map out the western supermarkets where I know I can get my muesli/UHT Milk and English teabags/thermos for those out of the way occasions. You only have to ask an expat for directions. Yes I even found Vegemite. ‘Go Straya!’ - well it’s actually owned by the USA now.

The Bridge and entry to Malaysia

It’s quite easy to get to Malaysia from Singapore by train. You catch a Northern bound Singapore metro service (SRT) to Woodlands station and then take a short walk to the border checkpoint near the same complex then catch the old cattle train diesel KTM Malaysian service across the bridge into Malaysia. After going through the usual customs/immigration process I bordered something akin to my childhood days in the 60’s when I would travel via a diesel locomotive service to country Victoria to stay with my grandparents for holidays. It’s hilarious as it only takes 10 minutes to cross the river into the large city of Johor Bahru for around 15-20 Malaysian Ringits. To the left is Johor Bahru - Malaysia, Singapore on the right shore with Singapore’s coal power station in the distance.

Just some trivia for you - a number of my friends and I share a passion for Sandi drama or Nordic Noir (Scandinavian programs broadcast on Australian SBS television). One in particular is from Sweden called The Bridge and the story starts with two female victims presented as one victim on a bridge joining two different countries - in this case Sweden and Denmark. Yes you see where I’m going with this. The first series started in 2011 and there are now four seasons with 38 episodes. I’ve viewed the first season and totally addicted. And so is the world as there are now 100 different versions and yes you guessed it there is now one for the bridge joining Malaysia and Singapore. The official name for the structure is the Johor-Singapore causeway.

Crossing from Singapore Into Malaysia in some ways reminded me of crossing the Rhein river at Kehl in southwest Germany into Strasbourg, northeast France. I stayed at the local hostel in Kehl and commuted into Strasbourg for exploring only. I cycled across the bridge and immediately noticed a difference in architecture and atmosphere. I could tell this was the Muslim enclave of Strasbourg as soon as I saw hijab adorned women, halal and kebab takeaways - how convenient as I was looking forward to something vegetarian like a falafel for tea bu discovered this wonderful street food market and the flavour of the chicken and rice dish was amazing. So as expected for my first visit into a Muslim country I had no trouble finding many options for cheap and healthy middle eastern food in the central district of Johor Bahru where I stayed. The hotel was very comfortable with all the comforts of four-star accomodation at 1-2 star prices - I paid about A$100 for two nights as this was just a stopover to ‘climatise’ to things Malaysian.

Nasi Kukis - Spicy Middle-Eastern chicken

Buddhist temple in Singapore’s Chinatown

No visit to SE Asia should go without at least some exploration of a nation’s temples. As mentioned in an earlier post Singapore has a number of ethnicities having their own spaces of cultural significance inside and outside the city domain. Chinatown was on my list anyway and kindly provided me with one to see called the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum and a chance to enjoy a vegetarian lunch with monks on the upper floor. As you can see like all modern cities the original cultural structures have to share space with and sometimes dwarfed by the steel, glass and concrete syndrome.

It belongs to the Chinese Tang Dynasty 618-907 that superseded the Roman Empire to become the most powerful and prosperous country in the world - mmmm looks like history may be repeating itself here enter stage left The Dragon. The decorations in the temple are extraordinary and testimony to the patience a skilled artisan requires.

Chinese jam sessions and the war

After treating myself with a light Indian lunch I did what one should do which is wandering through markets and such where you never know what may be present it itself.  I found a spare seat at one end of the market to experience my first Irish pub jam session Chinese style.

There are plenty of hawker-style food stalls and markets in downtown Singapore such as Chinatown, Little India and Bugis Food street. I found my self negotiating for best price but unless you suspect a scam the prices are incredibly cheap anyway. Something special about mixing with the locals and eating something prepared in front of you.

Roti, Dahl and rice

Singapore has endured many changes of sovereignty, three-year occupation by the Japanese army,
liberated by allied forces in 1945 after Japan surrendered, part of the federation of the states of Malaysia from 63-65 and finally independence as a sovereign republic after being expelled due to fundamental political and economic differences became long running disputes with Malaysia.The
tragedy of war can include unspeakable acts by the occupiers which in this case the Japanese army’s approach was a kind of genocide where some 20-50,000 Chinese are rounded up and executed for suspected anti-Japanese sentiment. British, Australian, Malay, Indian, Eurasian and other nations lost their lives defending the Island of Singapore during the Japanese Malay campaign in 1942.

Singapore Memorial