4th April1992 Day 259

The Diary
We went to the Snake Temple, which turned out to be a very average temple with a handful of snakes. On the way back I chatted to an American girl - who had been in Tokyo when the games were on - and we saw two mopeds under the back of a bus.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly finding a curry house that could have been lifted straight out of England. It didn't have the flock wallpaper but it had everything else including naan bread and dips. The food was just like home and it was cheap. Shoestring didn't mention that one even though it was 100 times better than Dawoods in every way.

3rd April1992 Day 258

The Diary
Caught the bus to Penang Hill. It was so close to the bus stop we waited at the previous day that we could have walked it in a few minutes. Shoestring was a bit lax there. The Penang Hill funicular railway climbs 700m at a slow and mind-numbing rate and when you get to the top there's nothing to do but have a quick look at the town and return down. Unless, of course, it rains and you've got to sit in a cafe until it subsides. 

A backpacker in his room

Monk gunners

Newsagent

For the second evening in a row we had an excellent, cheap Chinese at the Hong Kong restaurant round the corner, only this time Oz managed to empty half the contents of his chicken curry kapitan down his shorts. He dashed back to change into his new jeans shorts a little Chinese tailor had tailored (well, what do tailors do?) for him (as well as fixing his rucksack and my two pairs of shorts). We also bumped into the German girl we shared with in the Cameron Highlands - the first "bumping into" for ages.


2012
Just in case you think I've been a bit negative about Penang Hill (and yesterday's temple), have a read of someone else's opinions.


It now looks like they have faster trains. 

2nd April1992 Day 257

The Diary
Oz went off to find out about trains and I went to post my rugby shirts and trainers home. PO boxes came in 2 sizes, too big and too small. It doubled the cost to send two small boxes so the man behind the counter suggested I send the shirts in a big envelope available from another counter. The other counter said they only had small envelopes but suggested I try a shop around the corner. I found a shop that packaged it all up and went back to the post office and queued up again. It was weighed and I was told to go to counter 19 to get the correct number of stamps. Counter 19 said go to counter 21. Eventually having affixed the stamps I had to work out 2 customs forms that were in French and Malaysian. I could have been in India already. 

That done, Oz and I went for food and then caught the bus to Tek Lok Si (or something like that) to see the temple. The temple turned out to be a bit disneyfied and artificial but there was an amazing turtle pool filled with thousands of tortoises, turtles and terrapins that were so crowded they had to walk and climb over each other. 

We waited for the bus to Penang Hill but it took so long to come we caught the bus back to town instead.


2012
I'm sure I was getting rid of the rugby shirts because they weren't going to be much use in the hot and humid conditions of the next few months. It was a bit of an effort getting rid of them though.

1st April1992 Day 256

The Diary
For the first time in years this day passed without me playing, been played on or being aware of an April fool's joke. Oh well, I still remember Lofty's memo last year.

The day raced by as we guzzled gallons of mineral water, walked round temples containing reclining buddhas and globes, visited Chinese clan houses, ignored Captain Klingon's mosque, trudged around a crap museum, scoffed our victuals in McDonalds, did an impromptu lap of Fort Cornwallis, developed some film, bought a lock and, finally, had a curry in Penang's answer to Indian Joe's transport caff.

2012
I remember Lofty's memo from my PW days in the London Docklands but I don't remember the contents. Maybe he does.


Australia's pretty berfet of April Tomfoolery compared to the UK. April 1st is usually a damp squib.

31st March 1992 Day 255

The Diary
As we set out back to the mainland it began to rain. When we reached the pier it was a storm but we had to dash through it to the bus station to catch the bus in 15mins. We were like drowned rats as we discovered the bus was full and the cats sat idly by ignoring the real rats that were escaping the rain.

After the rain...studying the timetable...

Oz booked us on a bus to Taiping which was in vaguely the right direction. Luckily when we got to Taiping there was a bus to Butterworth leaving in 10 mins. This time we got on. At Butterworth it was a simple matter and a measly 40cents to catch the ferry to Georgetown. We walked the km or so to the main accommodation street and and got in the Eng Aun Hotel straight away. After a bad start to the day everything had turned out well.


We had a dodgy curry at Penang's oldest restaurant and watched a poorly cut version of Cape Fear at the flicks. Good acting from Robert de Niro but I think the censor and the dolby surround man cost him an oscar.

30th March 1992 Day 254

The Diary
I went for a walk to the old Dutch Fort, the carved stone and the town and sent some cards and letters. Oz hired a bike and tried the Tour de Pangkor. I retired to the beach to be joined by Oz later on. It must be the low season - 3 people on several km of beach and not a seller in sight.

Another run, this time it was a bit hotter, and we had our evening meal at the same place as yesterday. It may be expensive but it's the only decent restaurant. Supply and demand rears it's ugly head.

29th March 1992 Day 253

The Diary
Checked out and went to the bus stop. The bus went straight past. We managed to hitch a lift with the owner to the bus station where we caught up with the bus. The Regal Bus Company was less than that. The bus was so old it probably outdated the Model T, the seats were so close together they would have cramped a small Indonesian, the conductor and driver had a running argument (about the standard of driving as far as I could tell) and the journey took 2 hours to cover the windy 60km to Tapah. "We survived" said a fellow squashed traveller as we arrived. I couldn't have agreed more.

We changed to our Express Bus to Lumut. A rather more luxurious affair with Predator on the video. As with Dances with Wolves it was cut off just before the climax. At Lumut we caught the ferry across to Pangkor Island and then a minibus to the far side. The Wheeler recommended accommodation was crap and over-priced. We hunted around but everything else was over-priced. We eventually discovered the "Standard" huts. A bit better than Pangkor Anchor and marginally more expensive. Then it was time for food - we hadn't eaten all day - but unfortunately the choice of restaurants was limited and surprise, surprise, over-priced.

Oz trying to look alluring  in out A frame  hut

I did some running before retiring to the A-frame hut and "Roots" for the night. I could do with some 'roots' at the moment but I don't think I could get too excited over Oz. That's Beth's territory!


2012
This is what I was listening to on my Sony Walkman. Bought it cheap on a whim in Malaysia, hadn't heard of the band. Thought it was brilliant and still do. Oz thought it was noisy. Shame it was the only decent album they did. 

Nevermind

28th March 1992 Day 252

The Diary
We did a jungle walk and ended up about 10km from Tanah Rata by the lake. Very hungry by this time, we spotted a place that could have been Ye Olde Smokehouse's twin brother - with prices to match. So we ordered a taxi back to town and we were surprised to find how much more direct it was through the jungle than along the road. We spotted a few people that could have been Jim Thompson but....no, he'd be 25 years older.

Back in town we had an Indian special lunch which turned out to be a great chicken biryani and at a fraction of the cost of the previous nights meal. We were just about to set out on another jungle walk when it began to rain so we headed back to Balas. We'd been joined in our dorm by a very pretty German miss, the first time we'd had to share since Katherine. Our evening meal was a very good, very cheap chinese.

2012
Jim Thompson - more of him in Bangkok.

27th March 1992 Day 251

The Diary
Caught the 8:30 bus to Tanah Rata and the Cameron Highlands. The rooms in Balas Holiday Chalets turned out to be pretty grotty but at least it was cheap, M$7 each. Malaysia is far more advanced than Indonesia but the standard of accommodation has been much lower so far. Nothing like the Ibunda Inn or the Metro in Yogya.


The Cameron Highlands felt like a warm summers day in Europe. None of the humidity of KL and almost a nip in the air. Some of the buildings could have been from England or continental Europe. We wandered to a Chinese Buddhist Monastery and went down past the golf course and waterfall to the town and back to Balas'.

In the evening we went to Ye Olde Smokehouse, a hotel in Tudor style. The decor, inside and out, was really well done and even before we were greeted at the door we felt a little under-dressed. We sat down in the bar and had a drink and ordered a meal. It was very expensive but we decided to go for it. Best meal for ages but also the biggest bill by miles. M$73 or 5 nights at Balas' or USD30. The most expensive accommodation was the Mata Hari at Kuta - USD22 for 3 people. A big hole in the budget.

26th March 1992 Day 250

The Diary
Discovered to our gloom that England had lost the Cricket World Cup Final but then decided it was all part of a grand scheme to get rid of the Tories. Had a trip to Batu Caves and saw all the Hindu statues and then returned by a very round-the-houses route in time for dinner. Shakey's revisited - I'll bet Bop misses it.

Batu Caves

Searched for a book exchange and managed to get rid of Leslie Thomas and Stephen Hawking in part-ex for a dictionary. We went in search of the park but only got as far as the national museum and it's exhibits about Borneo and skulls. I never knew there was so much head-hunting and cannibalism going on around the world - some of it fairly recently. Skulls was an exhibit fit for the Natural History Museum in London.

Skulls

There was a massive downpour in the evening but we braved it long enough to get to Kentucky Fried Chicken.


2012
The 92 Cricket World Cup Final - double disappointment as we'd left Australia and hadn't got to any games but especially because England had bowled Pakistan out for 74 earlier in the tournament and were cruising to a win when the weather caused the game to be abandoned. The point that Pakistan got kept them in the tournament and ultimately eliminated Australia. Without the rain Pakistan would have been out and England would have been world champions (obviously).


I don't recall reading a Leslie Thomas book, maybe it was Oz's. If you want to read A Brief History of Time then you can find it here in it's entirety. I bought the dictionary because I was trying to read some difficult books and struggling with some of the words. Honestly. No such trouble nowadays.


I tried to use to Apple Voice Recognition to see if I could transcribe my diary more quickly. This is what it came up with. Back to the drawing board.


Discover 12 blame the payment lost cricket welcome final but then decided to talk leprechauns came to get rid of the toys. have a trip to buy two kids and so all the Hindu statues I'm been returned by a very brown the house is great in time for dinner. Jackie's repositions I'll bet hope this is.


Searched for book Xchange manage to get rid of lesson Thomas I'm Steven hoping for exchange prediction. we went in search of the pole but only got this file as the national Museum and its exhibits about polio and schools. I Nevin you do so much headhunting, but wasn't going on around the world some of his failures. Schools was an exhibit fix the natural history Museum in London.


It was a message down pool in the evening but we granted long enough to get to Kentucky fried chicken.

25th March 1992 Day 249

The Diary
Caught the bus to KL and quickly found a room in Chinatown. Hunted out the GPO and came across South African Karen (from Uluru) and Angus, her latest beau, who was on leave from Waterloo BR. Last time we saw her she was heading south and we were heading north and this time she was still heading south and we were still heading north. She's done an odd route in the meantime as we're much further north than we were.


We then went to the mosque at the river junction, saw the world's tallest flagpole, a cricket pitch and the mosque-like railway station. In the evening we wandered through Chinatown and the central markets. 

Massid Jama Mosque

Federal Secretariat

Railway Station

2012
If we went now I'm sure we'd have been taking photos of this. And climbing it.

And the only movie I can think of that featured KL was this rubbish...

24th March 1992 Day 248

The Diary

Looked around the independence museum, the replica Sultan's Palace, failed to find the GPO and played three dreadful games of ten-pin bowling. The scores have been deliberately lost so posterity will have to wonder. It was cheap though.

Shopping

Replica Palace

We had a guess what's on the menu Chinese meal in the evening. Ever imaginative we came up with chicken soup and sweet and sour pork.

23rd March 1992 Day 247

The Diary
Another day, another country. This time a 5 hour bus journey to Melaka - or Malacca, take your pick. Malaysia seems like a slightly more civilised version of Indonesia. Cleaner, slower drivers and less hassle from the natives. Because of this it may turn out to be less interesting. It has an interesting mix of races though, with a large Chinese community.

We got a room near the old part of town but the European castle ruins and churches are not as interesting as similar things in Europe. I wasn't impressed. The tourist board did a good job selling it and keeping it clean though. We watched the sound and light show in the evening which was memorable for the many Pat Jennings/Richard Burton renditions of "Melaka" and "Merdaka" (independence).

2012
Pat Jennings - the deepest voice in football.