09/11/08

Spent the morning finishing off blogs on the internet and waiting to get a taxi-ferry to Gerogetown in Penang. Left at about midday, and got tickets for the 2:30 ferry. Wandered around the jetty for a bit and found a giant Eagle statue and a bakery that did some nice pizza bread. Found a place to stay called the SD guest house, 5 bed doorm, only 11rm each for the night and really good facilities, air con and good showers. Went to ChinaTown in the evening for food and found a place called Mac Waffle for dessert, had the most awesome waffle with ice cream on top which I turned into a sandwich. Coops had fried ice-cream, still not quite sure how the guy managed it, I thought it would just end up as a puddle of cream in a pan. The bloke that did it had the best beard though! Went into a pub and played a few games of pool and cards. When we got back to the room we realised that the aircon was left on and it was freezing inside. Burns had the only top bunk and he moves about s*** loads during the night so me and Pat spent 10 minutes teaching him how to turn over silently so he wouldn't wake everyone up.

10/11/08

I woke up freezing my nuts off, so left straight away for the HSBC to see if I could sort out my ATM problem. The bank staff in this country are about a million times more helpful than at home. I walked in and within 1 minute had 3 people approach me and ask if I needed help. Got led into the managers office and used the phone straight away and sorted it all out. Turns out the lazy staff in the UK hadn't bothered putting though that I would be using my card in Malaysia. When I left the woman said here help yourself to some food, and I got a massive bag of noodles with squid, prawn, chicken and veg in, they also had loads of cakes. So I scoffed that on the way home. Spent the day wandering around a massive shopping mall just looking at loads of tat. Found a cinema at the top of the mall and decided to watch Quantum of Solace, bit of a let down. Explored little India in the afternoon and went back there in the evening to eat. A real bargain for like 4rm a curry. We went back to Mac Waffle in ChinaTown and everyone got a waffle and icecream. Saw some really discusting looking hookers that started winking at me and Burns on the way home, Burns managed to convince me that one of them was following me because I didn't dare turn round.

11/11/08

Woke up at like 3:30 to use the phone card that I'd bought. Turns out the guy that owns the hostel sleeps where the phone is, so he woke up and coughed his guts up when I started talking. Got the bus to Tanah Rata in the Camaron Highlands at 6 am. Arrived at Daniels Lodge at 10am. It's so much cooler up here than on the coast. Spent the afternoon wandering around town. We all put on trousers and hoodies in the evening for the first time since we entered Asia, I think its the first time I've worn underwear in over two weeks now. We ate very cheaply in another curry house, they do the best Naan bread in this country, its awesome, especially if you get them stuffed with cheese. Went to the Jungle Bar at the lodge for the evening and played cards and pool while drinking bottles of Tiger. Later they started a bonfire outside so we all sat around there chatting to other travelers all night.

12/11/08

Another fairly early start. Got a bus at 8:45 to go for a tour around the local area. The first stop was the Buddhist temple, not the most interesting thing in the world, just loads of giant statues of buddhas in different positions. We did find a pond full of fish that nibbled our fingers though, that was good. Then we were taken to the Rose Garden where we climbed loads of steps for a view of all the tea plantations. They also had statues of snow white and all the dwarfs although grumpy was spelt gruupy. Went to see a strawberry farm, not really anything special. Then we went to the Butterfly place where the guide showed us around loads of insects, the first was a beetle called the Rhino Beetle, it was massive and weighed loads when you picked it up by its horns. By far the best beetle of them was the one called the face beetle, which had a face on its back, you'll have to wait for the pictures, its amazing. There were massive stick insects and leaf insects, and thousands of butterflies. The final stop was the tea factory, when we got off the bus I was bursting for a wee and we had to listen to the guide decribing the process of drying out tea leaves before he explained where the toilets were. As everyone started looking around the tea factory I ran/walked to the toilets, which were free for a change and smelt of lemons. We got a change to try some of the local tea, Helen and Coops were in their element, just sitting around sipping tea and eating scones. I had my first full cup of tea and still came to the conclusion that tea tastes rank and is a completely pointless drink. While the others were sitting around I decided to get a massive piece of chocolate cake. Chilled out in the Jungle bar again in the evening. As I was getting in to bed a cat jumped out the window and slid down the tin roof freaking me out. Attempted sleeping in a hoody to prevent mozzie bites but it wasn't 10 minutes before it had to be ripped off due to the heat.