Malaysia: Highlights at Pulau Pangkor, Ipoh and the Cameron Highlands

We stayed at Pulau Pangkor 5 days (until 4th May) in total and as we enjoyed the last days the most it is worth to write something more about it :)

When we arrived at our new guesthouse (the Fisherboat house) we met a very friendly and always happy man. He was so happy that it was almost getting on your nerves. Soon we figured out why...

The owner of the place, Mr. Tan, is super friendly as well and reminded us of the chinese in the movie "the hangover". I can still hear him laughing; hihihihihihi. He arranged everything for us and helped us getting a new scooter. We just handed in our old scooter, he made a phone call, disappeared and came back with a new scooter. Perfect.

We spent one day driving around on the now peaceful and empty island. There is not a lot to see but it is worth cruising around to see:

• the Dutch Fort

• the Historic stone (I really do not know why it is an attraction there)

• the floating mosque

• the hornbill birds

• big lizards

...and loads of monkeys in the forest. A restaurant owner told us that he had to fight the monkey king in order to keep control of his restaurants. You cannot walk away from a monkey king because that is a sign of weakness. If you do, they control the territory and you are screwed.

On the last day we went on a snorkling trip together with two travellers. We did not see any fish as the water was too smoggy but enjoyed our boattrip anyway (that is the good thing about travelling, you do not complain about things anymore).

Our last meal was at the Dinah Steamboat restaurants. Very yummy and interesting as the owner came to sit at our table and told us a lot about his life and his rich friend in Oezbekistan.

We really enjoyed that little kwerky island.

On the 4th May we continued our trip to Ipoh to visit our friends Amir and Joselito.

Ipoh

• Nice town with a lot of streetart and interesting buildings.

• We walked around a little as we had to wait that Amir would finish his work as we could sleep at this place.

• They took us out for dinner and for drinks (very nice indian restaurant). I have not seen so much hospitality before here in Asia. He invited us for everything and made us a super sandwich for breakfast.

• As it was sooo hot in Ipoh (and the other coach surfer was not really our type of people) we decided the go the Cameron Highlands a day earlier.

Cameron Highlands

• After 3 hours driving in a bus through the windy roads of the highlands we arrived at a place that reminds you of an old ski resort (well, with no snow and a lot of rainforest around).

• The first night was not really comfortable as the cheap hostel we stayed in was a bit grose. Rick even found a cockroach in the room (but luckily only told me the next day). I was so happy that we could stay at another guesthouse the next night where we booked a hike (Cameron Secret tours). We had some Tigers at the bar and met Willem (Amir told us about a crazy Dutch living in the Highlands..well, there he was).

• Jason (a local guide) took us for a great hike. 4 hours hiking through the jungle and 1 hours through the tea plantage. For your information: Hiking shoes are recommended but as we have send ours back from NZ we went hiking in sandals with socks. LOL

• The hike was pretty tiring. Up and down through the muddy rainforest. There was no track like we were used to in NZ but you really had to climb over and under trees. The most demanding thing though was not to fall. The ground was so slippery. I managed to fall into a mud river as I did not see the big trunk crossing the track. We learned a lot about the nature, tea and Malaysia. The cherry on the cake were the green tea plantages. Just breathtaking.

• In the evening we go to know "Mammie". An older scottish lady who is starting up schools all over the world. She only drinks tea, beer or whiskey and told us the craziest stories out of her life: Her years as the first female soldier in the middle east, the experiences she had in China and Russia (the cannibals in the seberian prison, the cold that made noses bleed and you loose your hair as it keeps sticking to hats due to the cold, riding on a black stallions in Cuba - 8 hours to the airport - her New Years Eve in the Cosovo in 2000 when the bombs almost hit her etc. etc.). Her stories were hilarious and hard to believe. But we all think she really experienced all of it. When Mammie 'got tired' she went to sleep.

• The next morning a taxi driver and guide took us on a small tour to see the tea factory, the strawberry farm and a chinese temple. Thanks Raju.

• Together with Gerben and Dorenda (two really nice and cool people from Den Haag.) as well as Amir and Joselito (who came by for the evening from Ipoh) we watched Feyenoord at Willems place. Loads of beers and pizza followed (ending in the Jungle Bar). We are so grateful to have met new wonderful friends!

We had a great time here in the Highlands at Fathers Guest house. It is very cold here with a lot of rain and fog. We will take the bus tomorrow to Penang to visit our lovely friends Judi and Johannes in Georg Town. We cannot wait to take a long shower at their place. :)