arewethereyet

(Sept. 24th – 26th)

We had mixed feelings driving into Malaysia. Neither of us had enjoyed visiting Malaysia in previous years due to the pollution and rampant destruction of the environment that was so obvious in many parts of Malaysia. I had also been quite sick here 10 years ago with food poisoning whilst pregnant with Lulu.

Johor Bahru seemed to have expanded in size with a new expressway that made our exit from town fast and easy. The E2 stretches up through the middle of Malaysia – the roads are clean and well maintained with roadside assistance on hand every km of the way. There are rest stops on both sides – some of these were only a few kms apart. The rest stops always had clean toilets (with caretakers) and more often than not food halls, prayer rooms, playground, fresh fruit stalls and waffles. As with Sumatra, we seemed to be a curiosity on the road. We wondered how Malaysia supported such brilliant roads until we hit the first toll booth. All up we must have paid about AUD$40 to drive through the country. This was offset by very cheap diesel.

Lulu and Kaia were pretty exhausted but refused to close their eyes. The sun was setting as we drove through to Melaka. 14 years ago, my memory was a dusty town with an interesting fort near the waterfront. It has changed dramatically with megamalls, fun parks on the water and new developments left, right and centre. Even the beautiful beaches on the way into the city are being reclaimed for a big tourist theme park. At the other end of the city the huge new development reclaiming more seafront is the ‘Arab City’ – a big pull for tourists from Arab nations. We stayed at Harbour Inn for one night and the next morning tried to find the right road out of the city.

On the way to Penang clear felling for palm plantations and the removal of entire large tree covered rock formations were happening at the roadside. We couldn’t imagine what lay beyond the public eye.

We reached Butterworth by late afternoon and drove across the bridge into Penang. We stayed for 2 nights at the Cathay Hotel which featured in the movie Beyond Rangoon (1995). Gorgeous old colonial hotel which was very cheap considering the size of the room. The girls enjoyed the big deep bath and t.v. Downside was that the airconditioner remote had to be kept at the front desk – there was no adjusting function on the unit at 2am.

We met Pravin and family who were travelling in Malaysia for 3 months. Lulu and Kaia were pretty excited to find 2 other kids in the hotel. Pravin and his youngest daughter had been held up a few weeks earlier in Kuala Lumpur at machete point outside his grandmothers gate in an inner city suburb. His story reminded us to stay alert in our travels.

Lulu, Kaia and I took a 2 hr tri-shaw ride around Georgetown taking in a few sights. It was a hot day but the girls lasted the distance. We visited a Chinese Mansion and Chew Jetty – the biggest of the waterfront settlements in Georgetown created in the middle of the 19th Century. I read later that it’s existence is being threatened by development. Probably the most obvious sign was the sludgy, rubbish strangled water that wraps around the island. The rubbish litters the sea for kms – very sad for the environment. Georgetown is full of UNESCO protected sites. It has a lot of character and a fascinating history. Well worth a visit.

We left Penang on Sunday and headed north again for the Thai border. Again the crossing was particularly easy on both Malaysian and Thai sides.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Trip Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.