Even Mary and Joseph Got A Stable (23-25/01)

FRIDAY 23RD JANUARY

Louise has an irrational fear of going up big hills, or across high bridges but doesn't mind flying. I'm the opposite. What a pair of freaks! At least we aren't going up a big hill today, eh! Today we went up Penang hill. To get there however you have to get the bus. It would be quite an easy thing to do if you got told to wait at the right bus stop. We waited for around 90mins before being told by a bus driver that our bus doesn't even come along this route at all; you have to go to the main station, which is only five minutes away, and the buses come every 10 minutes. On arriving at Air Itam you then have to wait for the train to take you up a massive incline for 1 mile 435 yds (2 007m) to Western Hill that is 2 450ft (735m) above sea level. There is only one line that goes up and down, except for about 40 yrds of track where the line splits and you have a passing loop, and then the trains carry on as before, either up or down hill. I understand that both trains have to leave within about 10 seconds of each other to arrive at the right time and avoid a collision.
When you get to the top (It takes about half an hour.) you get to see some pretty good views of Penang island. You can also see Butterworth, which is a fair distance away.There are also some more monkeys to stand and point at. Most of them sit in or around the bins scavenging for Nestle Milo packets. It must be all that chocolatey goodness mixed with sugar.
The return journey down the hill was a bit like the upward one but backwards. We did manage to see someone get on at one of the working train stops, which seems strange to people like me when you're not expecting someone to just be stood there on a platform 1 200ft up waiting for a train. We also saw the driver of the other trainmunching away on what looked suspiciously like fish 'n' chips in newspaper. It can't be that hard a job then.

SATURDAY 24TH JANUARY

Today we left Penang another early start 6:00a.m, to get to the Cameron Highlands. This is one of the greenest and most pleasant places to visit in Malaysia, it’s a little like Da Lat. This is only conjecture on my part as we didn’t get to see any of it. This was because it was Chinese new year and the whole town was full ,as all the city folk had gone back to there hometowns and filled up most of the guesthouses. There weren’t even any dorm beds available. The only room we could find was RM120 which is 24 quid a night and was absolutely disgusting.
We got on the next bus to KL which was at 13;00p.m, two hours away! We pottered about for a bit looking at the pictures of the Tea plantations that we wanted to visit but now couldn’t. Just in case we had the same trouble we went to an interweb place and booked a hostel, a bargain at 8 quid a night.
At the bus station we arrived early and then had to wait until 14:00p.m for the bus to arrive. Already one hour late the journey took us another six hours, this was mainly due to the driver stopping every time he could for what seemed no apparent reason. I didn’t really notice as I spent most of the journey catching up on my sleep.
We arrived in KL and were practically thrown of the bus on a main road. Arriving at our hostel pretty pissed off with everything that had happened, we were greeted by a very hospitable man who helped us with what we needed, and even gave us a better room.

SUNDAY 25TH JANUARY

Most of today was spent looking around Low Yat Plaza for a laptop. We thought it would be a good investment as most places that cater for backpackers have free wi-fi and we can also get some cheap films and spend a few more nights in, instead of going out and pissing money up the wall, for no benefit other than a massive hangover.
In the evening we went around Chinatown we were staying, expecting to see some parades and maybe a few fireworks or even some street dancers. This wasn’t too much to expect I don’t think, as Malaysia has quite a large Chinese population (as well as Indian), and it was Chinese New Year. It didn’t really materialise though, there was the odd little thing, but nothing to suggest that it was a major holiday. I think this might have something to do with most of them stopping in guesthouses in the Cameron Highlands.