Malaysian Peninsula: Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Cameron Highlands

After my 60 days in Indonesia, a two and a half hour flight took me to the capital of Malaysia. After just a few hours, I felt very comfortable in this country. I was incredibly surprised by the helpfulness and good English skills of the local population. And surely the good organization of the transportation system contributed to my well-being. The friendly service at the currency exchange counter even pointed out to me on their own initiative that instead of taking the expensive Airport Express train, I could take a regular bus. Without having to haggle for an overpriced fare or communicate with hands and feet, I bought a cheap bus ticket at the official counter, which took me directly from the airport to the hostel. It's just so easy in Malaysia.

The next day, when I explored the city and discovered the incredible variety of good food, I fell in love with Malaysia for good. The diverse cuisine and good English language skills are due to the fact that Malaysia is a mix of different ethnic groups. The largest groups are the Malays, the Chinese, and the Indians. Although most residents of Chinatown and Little India are actually Malaysians and their ancestors immigrated several generations ago, they have preserved their own traditions and culture. Hence, the still authentic cuisine and communication among themselves in Bahasa Malaysia and partly in English.

During the two days I spent in Kuala Lumpur, I visited the different neighborhoods and their attractions on foot. If a distance was too far for me, I treated myself to a ride on the KL Rapid train or a free ride on the over-air-conditioned GOKL Bus. Even so, my automatic iPhone step counter counted over 20,000 steps in the evening :-)

The highlights for me were visiting Chinatown, walking on the air-conditioned pedestrian highway to the Petronas Towers, of course, the Petronas Towers themselves, visiting the Batu Caves, and visiting a swimming pool on the 37th floor with a view of the city. At the Batu Caves, I particularly liked the informative tour in the Dark Cave, where the guide explained the cave's ecosystem to us. Since then, I know that it is only thanks to the bats in the caves that a unique ecosystem with food chains is possible. This is because the bats are the ones that fly out of the cave and fetch fresh food (fruits and insects). I owe the opportunity to cool off in the 37th-floor pool to Deniz, another traveler who treated himself to a night in a studio at the Regalia Residences on his birthday. We met a few days earlier in the hostel and then he spontaneously invited me to visit his new abode. In general, the travelers are all very social with each other, only the unfortunately all too often available wifi isolates us from each other because then everyone dives into their virtual world.

All in all, I found Kuala Lumpur to be a great city. The metropolis tries to emulate Western habits and organization in many areas, but in my opinion, it has not lost its Asian charm.

My next destination was Georgetown on the island of Penang in northern Malaysia. Once again, I easily bought a bus ticket at the official counter and got chauffeured to Penang. Easy!

Georgetown is another Malaysian metropolis, and the Colonial District near the harbor is the part of the city that most tourists visit. I also found a hostel on Love Lane, so to speak, the Zurich Langstrasse of Georgetown, but without the red-light district. With the two Dutch girls from my hostel, we wanted to find a good dinner, as the city was mainly known for that. However, we were stopped by bars with ladies' night along the way. Apparently, the party scene here is quite pronounced. After that, we found an Indian restaurant to satisfy our hunger. Since there was no menu, we simply ordered a bit of everything. In different courses, various flatbreads (Thosai and Chapati) and breads (Roti and Naan) were served with curries and dhal for dipping. Delicious!

I spent most of my time in Georgetown wandering through the picturesque old town and sampling various delicacies. One day, I took a trip to the mountain (about 800 meters above sea level) with its own cable car, similar to Gurten. Since I wanted to be a little active after all the feasting, I decided to hike up. Unfortunately, I got lost with the directions and ended up taking the alternative route. Which means that the path is longer, narrower, steeper, and stops just before the end. In addition, there were 30 degrees Celsius and humidity of about 80-90%. After 3.5 hours, I finally managed to reach the summit and could enjoy the view. On the way back to the city, I took the official route along the road (just 1.5 hours).

After Georgetown, I headed to the Cameron Highlands, known for its picturesque tea plantations and the Mossy Forest in the clouds. So, I had imagined a very pretty village somewhere in the highlands of Malaysia. Wrong: Tanah Rata, the main town in the highlands, is once again a too big concrete village with billboards along the main road, bordered at the ends by some hideous 6-7-story resorts. Well. The nice travelers I met in the town, the trek (or rather hike) to Gunung Berembun, and the visit to the tea plantations and moss forest still made the stay a pleasant experience. From now on, I know that black tea and green tea are made from the same tea bushes and that it actually depends only on the processing. Since there wasn't much to do in Tanah Rata and it was a bit cold (about 20 degrees), one late afternoon, for the first time in two and a half months, I watched TV. A nice change of pace.