The One Where I Didn't Climb A Hill

If there's one thing I wanted to do in Penang, it was go to the top of Penang Hill. It's a hill. I like being at the top of hills. So. I Googled it. I Googled the walk path ("there is a fork in the path. The left path goes to a hut guarded by fierce dogs. Take the right path"), I Googled where it started from (the moongate), I Googled how to get there (number 10 bus), I Googled where the bus stops were. I had everything. I even found a bus stop that was closer to where I lived than the start of the route.

So I started to walk. It was a nice day, and I was enjoying wandering through new parts of Penang (turns out Penang is like really nice when you get out of the tourist bits). I saw a number 10 bus heading in the opposite direction - a good start! About 143 steps later, I realised that I was walking down a one way road. The bus would only be heading in the opposite direction. I'd walked too far for the bus stop I was aiming for... Not to be deterred, I had a quick look at my phone (I didn't have Internet access but I'd left everything open so I could still see it - I was organised.) which showed me that if I kept walking a little bit, I'd get to a bus stop, so I kept walking. And I found the bus stop! It even said number 10 on it, which was pretty impressive considering most of the ones I'd seen before had no signs at all. The Internet had said they came every half an hour. The sign said every 45 mins. No drama. So I sat and waited.

And I waited.

Another woman turned up.

And we waited.

She asked me how long I'd been waiting for. I said 30 mins  - it felt longer. It probably was longer. She told me Malaysian buses are lousy and I should go to Singapore. I'd get a bus in 5 minutes in Singapore. (I can only assume she was from Singapore, hence the bias). She asked me where I was going. I told her. She said this bus doesn't go that way from this stop. I was pretty sure she was wrong - it was a one way street (again!) and I was pretty convinced the bus went down it whichever destination it was heading to.

A bus turned up!

She asked the driver about the botanic gardens for me (the start of the route). He said it was this way (I knew she was wrong), but the next bus. Another 30 minutes. By this point I had been at the bus stop for over an hour. I was hungry and it had got to early afternoon and getting hot. I didn't wait for the next bus.

Instead I wandered round the centre, I found a cafe, I ate, I cooled down, I found a hostel for tomorrow night. I chatted to my friends (yknow, on the Internet because the hostel I'm staying in at the minute is not conducive to making friends). I went for a wander along the seafront at dusk (the sun sets in the wrong direction...), and I headed to the Danish Indian restaurant I've been eyeing up. Mostly because it claims to be Danish and Indian which confuses me. I've just finished eating (more food than I've eaten all week) and I still don't understand. It's a great spot for people watching though :-)

It's been a good day despite the lack of hill. Perhaps I will try tomorrow. It is a public holiday tomorrow though so I don't hold out much hope for the buses. Perhaps I should go to Singapore. I'd get a bus in no time there!

On a separate note - Mum, I used the words deterred AND conducive in this blog! Check me out!

Cameron Highlands

I'll be honest, my first night in the Cameron Highlands was not my best. When I went to book the bus in KL, I had planned on getting the 1130 bus. Turns out this one was full, as was the next. So I had to get a bus at 345pm, and I'd arrived at the bus station at 10.15am. Now in hindsight, I really should have gone back into the city, had a wander, found somewhere to sit and watch the crowds. But in my head, my day was to be spent travelling, so I spent a long and dull 6 hours at the bus station. I did a little people watching, I read my book, I bought that meal I was talking about before, I bought new flip flops, and some shampoo. It was ok. As was the shorter than expected bus journey. And then I found my hostel without a map - something that I am apparently getting good at. But it wasn't the day I had planned in my head, and it threw me off and left me feeling very out of sorts, for want of a better description. I lay in my bed hating it. The people weren't friendly (in truth I hadn't given them a chance) and the bed had bed bugs (it definitely didn't, and the rational part of my brain knew that!) and I was never going to sleep. I had two nights here and then I was getting out as soon as I could because I was definitely going to hate it here.

I woke up at 6.15am (having slept) to a street light in my eyes and the sound of roadworks. Not the best wake up, but regardless I was feeling a little more positive than the night before. After a chat with the hostel staff, I picked a route through the forest trails and headed off for a short hike. Unsurprisingly this made me feel much better and I found I actually really liked the Cameron Highlands. Its cool climate, nice trails and noisy insects make for some good walking. My route ended up at a local market which I also wandered through, before relaxing in a cafe and watching the world go by.

That evening was much more fun, uno and cooking with the people in my hostel (almost all Germans!) and eating yummy food! I also booked onto a tour of the local area for the next morning, which was great! The guide was so good, pointing out flowers that we never would have seen, or even if we had, we'd never have known the details - that if you crush this leaf, it smells like tiger balm, but it's not what they use to make tiger balm, and this berry comes before the flower, not after, and it's good for sore throat (but tastes like my herbal toothpaste!). We went to a tea plantation, and a strawberry farm, and generally had a very informative and educational morning!

I'm glad I got over my determination to dislike the Cameron Highlands, because it's a beautiful place! On to Penang next...

Conversations

I wonder when I'm going to get bored of having the same conversations all the time - how long have you been travelling, where are you going, where have you been - followed inevitably by another top tip on a place you simply have to go to, or sight you absolutely must see. Tips I listen to, and often discard, mostly because I've already forgotten them by the end of the conversation (except the guy who suggested I hired a motorbike in Vietnam - that one I'm still laughing about!)

The conversation I have already had enough of however is this:
"oh you're from England?"
"the UK, yeah England" (#bettertogether!)
"whereabouts?"
"Leicester"

From here, I get one of two responses
1. "hey, they won the league!" - yes yes they did. No I don't support them. I would probably care more if Notts Forest won the league. (on a side note, I did find a City shirt on one of the market stalls in KL - next to Barcelona, Man Utd, Chelsea... It was a little bizarre!)

2. Alternatively, this happens: "so, what do you think about Brexit?"*
This is the answer I would like to give...
"dear fellow traveller, I can't begin to describe how I feel about Brexit. I haven't yet been back in my country since the vote, and I am very much attempting to live in ignorant bliss until I live there again. The same ignorant bliss that you live in. You didn't get the texts from your friends describing how much they didn't want to go to the staffroom at work, how they were scared of what was happening, how many racial incidents occurred in their schools and work places in the days and weeks after. The texts describing how horrible the atmosphere was in the country as a whole. Perhaps it's not on the same scale as the Iraqi war, or the Egyptian riots, but this word, Brexit, is ripping my country apart. Please stop discussing politics when we only met less than an hour ago."

Instead I shrug my shoulders and explain politely - I'm British afterall - that no one quite knows what is going to happen, or when it might happen, so for now, we will all just wait for the politicians to make some decisions.

*I feel I should mention that not a single European has had this conversation with me - they get it.

Kuala Lumpur

The past few days in Kuala Lumpur have been great. In my three days here, I have had dinner with Gwen (a Malaysian friend who I met in India), watched a fountain, watched people, been to several markets, a football match, a temple and a cave and had a few meals with Sophie, a friend who I used to work with, and her sister and sister's boyfriend. It's been great to catch up with friends, gossip, trade travel stories and explore in the comfort of familiar faces.

It's hard to describe Kuala Lumpur, but I think Gwen put it best. It's the melting pot of Asia. It's everything in one place. Chinese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian - you want it, it's here. I couldn't tell you what is traditional Malaysian from my time here, but I can tell you that KL was the best place to start my journey, even if I didn't have friends here. I would have stayed longer, but the public holidays in Malaysia this week (Monday AND Friday!) meant hostels were booking up quickly in the places I wanted to go to, so I made a decision and I'm off.

And I'm ready to go it alone now. I've had some local food (top tip from Gwen - in Malaysia, the more red it is, the more spicy it is!), I've been on a train, I bought a bus ticket (being British, I enjoyed standing in the queue for almost an hour!) and I'm off to the Cameron Highlands today ready for the next adventure :-)

What Am I Doing?

If I had a Ringgit for every time I'd asked myself that question today - What Am I Doing? - Well, I'd still not be very rich, because 1 Ringgit is only about 20p, but I'd have more money than I did at the start of the day anyway. I reckon I've spent roughly one minute of every 10 wondering what on earth possessed me to push myself so far out of my comfort zone, and whether I could just go to India right now and forget the next four weeks of vague travel plans.

But one minute out of every 10 means there's 9 minutes of a different kind of wonder. The kind where I stare in awe at the skyscrapers and almost bump into someone. The kind where I realise how much I've missed being hot (there is a limit though Asia!). The kind where I am amazed that my brain has remembered how to, and is still not phased by crossing roads full of motorbikes, buses, cars, that just do whatever they like. Or where I realise that I made my way from the airport to the hostel looking at a map once, and just vaguely aiming in that direction. 9 minutes of knowing that I'll be ok in the end.

That one out of 10 has meant that I bailed on my plan to "only eat local food" and I'm in Starbucks. I did justify this by ordering a croissant which is something I would never normally order - it might not be Asian, but it's still not my regular - that's something right?! I'm going out for dinner with Gwen, my Malaysian friend, tonight, and hanging out with Sophie, who's been living over here for a month or so now tomorrow and Saturday, so I'll be braver when I'm with them, and hopefully that will set me up for the rest of the trip!

I'm sure today isn't the last time I ask myself that question, but I'm also sure I'll ask it less as the month goes on. Perhaps after 30 days, I'll be down to just once a day?!

Packing for Hand Luggage

So I'm back in Australia after an incredible few weeks in NZ. As I was about to get on the plane in Auckland, I bought my next ticket. Malaysia on Wednesday night. This was Friday. It's now Tuesday. Not long to go!

Due to having no idea what my plan actually is beyond landing in kuala lumpur, but knowing that I want to do land transport rather than flying (once I get there, obviously!), I've made the potentially insane decision to go hand luggage only. Most of my friends have laughed at this, mostly because they know how much I love to overpack, and honestly, it's been one of the hardest packs ever, even with the fact that I am limited by what I brought to Australia in the first place. The rest of my stuff is being collected today to be sent straight home, meaning I don't have to drag it round Asia with me.

I have packed and repacked my hand luggage bag a few times. Things keep getting added, and things keep getting removed. I have now narrowed it down to:
- 2 pairs of shorts
- A pair of trousers
- Two tshirts (including guide shirt for sangam, and my necker!)
- Underwear/socks (max 4 pairs!)
- Swim wear
- flip flops
- Trainers (super light weight ones which cost nothing if they have to get ditched!)
- My toiletries (under 100ml per item, in a clear plastic bag already)
- A pack of cards
- My kindle, ipad, camera, phone and charger (all in one!)
- towel
- Passport!

I'll also be wearing a pair of trousers, a shirt, a jumper, a scarf (head wear in temples), a rain jacket and my walking boots - the heavy stuff ;-)

It still seems like too much, and also definitely not enough...

Only one way to find out!

GlowMaggots and Other Adventures...

"Lights out!" shouts the guide, as we glide down a river in a plastic tube through a cave. Suddenly, above us appears our own personal night sky, but instead of stars, the dots of lights above us are actually the bioluminescence of the thousands of glowworms living on the roof of the rock tunnel.

Just to give some context, we'll backtrack a little. Chris had found an advert for some black water rafting in a magazine while we were still down on South Island. We'd chatted about it a few times, and eventually decided we weren't going to do it - the combination of potentially tiny holes, cold water and money put us off. Until. We were sat in a lovely (albeit slightly bizarre) oversized barn, masquerading as a restaurant with beef casserole or beef casserole on the menu. A few fellow guests from our holiday park had joined us, and we were chatting about our trips so far when black water rafting came up. Two of them had done it that day, and said it was great. They also mentioned a website called bookme, which we hadn't heard of before, but has lots of discounts for stuff around NZ, and happened to have 54% off black water rafting the next day. With the reassurance that caving was a minimum, the water wasn't that cold and some rare free wifi, we were soon booked to go.

Due to another guest having what can only be described as a crisis of confidence part way through our first adventure, we ended up going twice, so the rest of this description is a bit of a blur of both trips!

After arriving at the office (yes, I do have my swimwear, towel and a spare pair of socks!), we were off to the changing rooms to be given probably the most attractive (note the sarcasm) clothing I have ever worn. A wet suit, jacket, wellies and some fantastic "cave pants", followed shortly by a full body harness and helmet, just to complete the look. I was less than comfortable, but ready for the first step - learning how to abseil (nailed it :P), then on to the abseil itself, 27m down into the cave - I was too excited and went first both times!

Once in the cave, we headed upstream for a while - the first time we did the ultimate trust test - holding hands, torches off, trusting Hannah, our guide to lead the way by the light of the glowworms. This was one of my favourite bits of the whole experience, and I normally hate not being able to see, but there was something pretty magical about it. The second time, the current was noticeably faster as it had rained all night, so we walked upstream with torches on, but stopped for a lovely chat from Rachel (our second guide) about glowworms (which are actual glow-maggots, they eventually turn into flies that can't eat, only survive for 3-4 days, and spend most of that time having sex.) followed by actually finding some glowworms, which was awesome, because we've seen the glow a few times, but never managed to find the creature itself. They look a lot like maggots really :P

After this, the rafting started. One at a time, we sat down into our inflated tyres that we'd carried upstream with us, and floated down the river, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, sometimes bouncing off the rocks like a water based bumper cars. At times we rafted in the dark watching the glowworms, at times with our torches on making sure we didn't hit too many rapids/rocks. Sometimes we went alone, and sometimes as a whole group together, laughing at each other bumping into rocks, bumping into each other, or falling out as the case may be. I was much better at staying in my tyre the second time, although the only time I actually fell out was on the first trip, when Hannah was just trying to help me stand up - luckily it was shallow enough that even when I was kneeling the water didn't come to my hips, and the whole thing just ended up in both of us in a fit of giggles.

On both trips we did a little bit of caving, although in slightly different parts of the cave. And by we, I mean Chris did. I have squeezed myself through small spaces before, and I know I can do it, and I know I don't enjoy it, so I decided I didn't need to have a go this time. Chris seemed to enjoy himself though, despite his previous reservations, and it was good fun watching his feet disappear through holes, particularly the one where he went downhill head first.

After all of the rafting excitement, we then had the less than appealing task of walking back upstream again, as we had rafted back past our exit point. With the strong current and a giant floating tyre that wanted very much to go downstream, it was hard going at times, and I was glad when we got to bits of rock and beach that we could walk along - even if it was just for a few metres. We also stopped for a hot squash and bit of chocolate to give us a sugar boost part way back, which gave us one last chance for torches off glowworm time!

Once back to our exit point, we then had the minor detail of climbing out of the 27m hole we had originally abseiled down into. Thankfully, there is a reasonably nice section of rock, which mostly slopes, and has plenty of foot and hand holes at good distances for climbing in wet suits and wellies (If a kid tried to climb like that at work, I'd laugh and send them back to change - not ideal!). After everyone has climbed out, we headed back to the glamorous changing rooms for a hot shower (Rachel gets top points for putting the showers on while we were getting our wet suits off so they were already warm when we got in!) and dressed before heading back to the office to have a hot soup, bread roll and a slideshow of pictures from the day.

Both days were fantastic and had different highlights, both our guides were brilliant, and we're so grateful to Kiwi Cave Rafting for giving us a second chance to finish the adventure - so glad we had a flexible plan with a spare day!!