This is the blog/travel journal for Chris & Joanne Reilly from Glasgow, Scotland. After quitting our jobs and selling our house, we plan to travel around the globe for the next year.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Malaysian Return

When we arrived back in Georgetown we headed straight to 75 Travellers Lodge only to be told that there was no room at the inn, so we spent the next twenty minutes plodding round Chinatown with our full rucksacks trying to find a room for the night. Luckily we got one which wasn’t too bad, it was massive with the only problem being that it overlooked a busy junction and there wasn’t much sound proofing. It was quite late but we managed to get some food in a busy restaurant which was showing the Manchester derby. As you would expect most of the locals were supporting Man United but there was a sizable crowd of backpackers in and they seemed to be supporting Man City. The game finished 3-1 to City and to make matters worse for the United fans, the last minute goal was scored by Robbie Fowler.

Next morning we moved back into Travellers 75 lodge and set out to explore the rest of the town as it was a glorious day. As usually happens when we’re out wandering aimlessly we managed to stumble on to something strange or bizarre. As we turned one corner we came upon a crowd milling about a non-descript building, but as we got closer we noticed that quite a few of the crowd were dressed in elaborate Chinese costumes and masks. When they saw us coming down the street they ushered us over and posed for our photographs and they couldn’t have been any more friendly. We didn’t really find out why they were dressed up but we think it might have been a dress rehearsal for some Chinese New Year celebration.














We then went to the large shopping centre to pick up some supplies and to have a look about, being a Sunday the place was mobbed so after a short while we escaped back out to the sunshine. We then headed back up through Chinatown to the esplanade hoping to take some photos of the old buildings that dot the town. As we cut across Padang Park, we could hear a band and what looked like from a distance a game where instead of a ball they used a large pole. On closer inspection it turned out to be some sort of display team who would flick a 20 ft pole up with their feet which had a massive trailing flag and the next guy tried to catch the base of the pole on his forehead and then try to balance it there. Once it was balanced he then tossed the pole up by his head for the next guy to catch on his head which was an extremely difficult feat and during the time we were there we only saw this happen once. This was all done to the accompaniment of a small band who tapped out a steady rhythm with drums and bells.


The promenade was mobbed with families taking in the late afternoon sun and the cool breeze from the sea, and where there’s a crowd you find the hawkers and food stalls. The best sellers seemed to be the bubble blowing guns for kids and the dried squids which seemed to be selling faster than the proverbial hit cakes. We made our way through the streets taking loads of photos of the Mosques, Churches and all the great buildings that are dotted about this part of town.

Monday morning we were up early to try and find some sun cream so that we could head back to the beach at Batu Ferringhi. When we left the shopping centre we noticed that half the street in the area had been closed off, and being the nosey types we wandered over to where a small crowd of photographers and onlookers had gathered. We could see a chalk outline of a body on the opposite kerb, and a forensic team gathering evidence. I asked one of the photographers what happened and he said that there was an electrical accident the previous night in the café bar across the road. A few days later the newspapers were reporting that it was a small bomb loaded with nails that had killed the customer and was not an accident.

The last time we went to the beach it was mobbed as it was a national holiday, so we were quite surprised when we got there to find only a handful of people on the miles of sand. It must have been quite a bit rougher out at sea as the beach was covered in debris and wasn’t that nice to swim in. It was a shame because the previous week the beach was spotless and the water although not crystal clear was not as murky as it was now. Nevertheless we had a nice afternoon reading our books and listening to some music on the quiet beach.

That evening Laura & Louise who we met the previous week in the hostel were also back for a night on their route back south after a few days on Langkawi. We chatted to the girls for awhile and arranged to meet up with Laura in Kuala Lumpur. We had booked the same bus company we used on the way up from the capital so we had no problems as the luxurious bus glided the five hours back to Kuala Lumpur.

We had booked a room at the Green Hut hostel this time in Kuala Lumpur and after a bit of a mix up with the rooms we eventually got our bags unpacked. The room had a small balcony but once again the walls were nothing more than Gyproc and we could hear everybody shuffling along the wooden floors in the corridor. We had a late lunch in a small Indian restaurant we visited the previous week for some mutton curry and rice and again we ate too much and didn’t bother having dinner that night.

We headed to the Petronas towers so that we could get some night photographs of the twin towers. We mistimed the sunset slightly so we had a wander around the manicured lawns and ponds of the small park at the foot of the towers and headed in for another look around the shopping centre. There was an interesting photographic exhibition about a Petronas sponsored Trans Himalayas mission in 23 four wheeled jeeps. The route of their journey passed through quite a few towns and cites we had visited in the last few months and it was interesting to see the photographs from Laos and the Chinese city of Kunming. Once it got dark outside we went out and watched the choreographed fountains dance in the ponds, and took some photos of the towers lit at night.


Next morning we had the unfortunate experience of being drawn into a conversation with an aggressive lowlife from Scarborough, who reminded me of the character Begbie from Irvine Welsh’s “Trainspotting” and “Porno” novels. I had just finished reading “Porno” on the bus down from Penang so that might be the other reason why I readily associated this character with the antagonistic thug portrayed with great menace by Robert Carlyle in the film “Trainspotting”. The guy from Scarborough didn’t say anything that was offensive or even antagonistic, but you could sense that just below the surface he was about to explode and I didn’t really want to be around when it happened.

We once again followed our familiar path to the Petronas Towers but this time we hoped to get tickets to the 44th floor and walk across the sky bridge that links the towers. The tickets were free but only so many are allocated per day, but luckily we managed to get two and after a short film we were hurtling up to the 44th floor. The lift took 43 seconds to reach the 44th floor and we then had about 10 minutes to wander about taking photos. Members of the public don’t have access to the higher parts of the impressive building, which at the moment are the second & third tallest buildings in the world 452 meters.


On the way back to the hostel we decided again to go for an early dinner and ended up in the Banana Leaf restaurant which always looked busy when we passed. No plates in this restaurant as the food is served onto a large banana leaf, we had this before in Hong Kong a few years back. Joanne went for a veg rice combo along with tandoori chicken which she managed to cancel when she realised how big her veg order was. I stuck to my new favourite, Lamb Biryani and once again I wasn’t disappointed and we both left the place suitably sated.

We had arranged to meet Laura at the hostel at seven and whilst waiting I observed a small incident with the character from Scarborough. A few young guys were watching a DVD of Benny Hill which was put on by guess who, after a few sketches I heard some of the young Scandinavian guys laugh at how dated and unfunny it was. After a few more comments, Scarborough man jumped up and snarled into one of the young guy’s faces, “Do you know what’s no funny?? Eh Do you know what’s no funny?? You saying this is no Funny….. now shut it or beat it”. Luckily Laura turned up shortly after this and we didn’t see much more of our new friend over the next few days, he is by far the most aggressive person we have met on this whole trip away.

Laura had brought along her friend Jenny (from the borders) and since we were all hungry we headed round to the next street which had hundreds of Chinese restaurants with tables on the street. After a quite a bland meal we headed down to Chinatown for a quick look about and ended up in another crap reggae bar which once again was playing awfully stuff like Maxi Priest and my bête-noir UB40, they had also ran out of Vodka which limited the girls choices of drinks. After wandering about trying to find a better bar we decided to cut our losses and head back to the Green Hut and have a few beers on the front terrace.

Friday morning and after a lengthy search for the bus stop, we found ourselves heading 15 Km out of the city to the Batu Caves. A Hindu shrine was built in a vast open space known as Temple Cave which can only be reached by climbing 272 steps. Once inside we wandered about looking at the small temples, trying to imagine how the place would look with the million or so pilgrims who flock here during the Hindu festival Thaipusam. During this festival some devotees take part in spectacularly masochistic acts like piercing themselves with swords and knives. At the temple I got talking to a Greek guy called Manos from Kos who wanted to have his photograph taken with me as he has so many Scottish friends, strange guy. After a while we jumped back on the bus and returned slightly disappointedly back into the city.


For our last night we headed back to the Banana Leaf restaurant with Laura and Jenny and the pressure was on as we'd been raving about it the previous night. Luckily they didn’t let us down and we all left very full, for what was an extraordinary cheap meal. After a short de-tour so that the girls could pick up bus tickets for their trip to Singapore the next day, we headed to the Ceylon bar back in the Golden Triangle near our hostels. Beers and cocktails all round for the next few hours before we called it a night as we were all on the move early the next morning.


We had a taxi booked to take us to the airport at 5:45am and when it arrived he told us there would be a 35 Ringgit (about £5) surcharge as it was before 6am, if only we'd checked the small print we could have saved a bit of cash. We'd booked the taxi extra early as I wasn’t sure how bad the traffic would be in the morning, but we sailed up the motorway and arrived well before we had to. We were also ready for Air Asia’s 15 kg baggage allowance as we had transferred most of the heavy stuff to our hand luggage and jettisoned all non-essentials. Both our bags were under the 15 Kg and we'd a hassle free trip to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

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