Georgetown, Malaysia – 9/2/14 – 14/2/14

Love Lane

Got off the bus to Georgetown at a bus station on the outskirts. We deliberated getting the bus, but after chatting with a local old lady, we discovered it may be quicker, but it takes a bloody age to get to town, so we “shared” a taxi with a young Australian couple who were on holiday. I have put shared in quotes because we really sort of hijacked them. They were getting a cab, and we didn’t really give them a choice; we were getting in that cab with them whether they liked it or not. So in a battered Toyota Corolla, with our backpacks on our laps because the boot was so small, and all 25 stone of a driver, we set off. If the suspension wasn’t already knackered when we got in, it sure as hell was now.

Love Lane

Laksa and Kickapoo

Jo and I hopped out at Love Lane, which is a backpacker area of the city. We did our normal walking around and around asking about accom and looking at rooms. Quite a gulf in quality if not price in Georgetown, and we looked at some absolute holes, some huge dorms, and finally we found 80’s Guesthouse. Newly opened, and absolutely amazing. Clean, spacious, and done to a high standard, in a lovely old building. We had a bed in the double dorm, which is a dorm with 4 double beds in it, but as the only people in there, it was effectively a private room. Enough praise now, but it was so good, Jo felt the need to send them an email saying exactly how good it was, and how nice the staff were.

We dumped our stuff, then went out wandering to get a feel for the area and get some food. Didn’t do much in the evening, just relaxed around the hostel sorting ourselves out.

Bit of street grub

Thai Buddhist temple

Something's wrong, but what?

In the morning we met up with Brooke as it turned out she was in Georgetown too, so we had a little wander, then got motorbikes and went for a ride along the coast. Stopped at a couple of beaches and a Chinese cemetery. We stopped at one beach, with three little huts serving food and selling drinks, and that was it. I had the local speciality, Laksa, which is a noodle soup with fish. I put on a brave face, but in all honesty, it was rank. Had a can of Kickapoo, which I bought purely for the name (obviously) and chatted for ages, sitting looking out over the beach.

We got back on the bikes and went up to a pier that services boats to and from a national park. By now it was getting late, so we headed back, stopping where my eagle eyes saw a load of monkeys. Pulled over for a look, and suddenly there were dozens of them, including one with only one hand, but it didn’t seem to slow him down.

View over Tek Lok Si and the city

Perfectly natural shot...

Headed back to town, cooled down, headed out for street food, then met Brooke and went to an Indian veggie place for (my second) dinner.

Our bikes needed to be dropped back off by 11am, so we got up at a reasonable hour, and headed with our bikes to Tek Lok Si, a massive Buddhist temple with a huge Buddha statue. I had loads of fun and games navigating one way streets, but soon enough we escaped the labyrinthine city streets and were on our way. We continued up the hill to look out over the city in the mid-morning haze.

Monkey

Pretty much deserted

Returned to the city via Buddhist Burmese and Thai temples, and dropped off the bikes quickly so we could find somewhere with aircon quickly, as the heat was getting intense. Went to a café for a little sit down and cool off, then Jo and I went off in search of a mall for some clothes shopping. That was pretty unsuccessful, so we just headed back to freshen up, then got some noodles on the street. Whittled away the evening playing cards.

Monkey stop

Following day we had a lie-in, then didn’t venture from the hostel until gone 2pm. It was just too hot, and we met Aina and Johnatan, a Swedish couple who had exactly the same idea as us; fully exploit the breakfast, tea and coffee, and chill out in the comfortable and cool hostel until it cooled down a bit. Scarily, they seemed incredibly like us; beach bums, Aina thought 45 mins hiking was plenty, Johnatan had a sketchbook full of designs, and both normally healthy, but fully submerged in eating and drinking what they like whilst away!

Beach at sundown

Tek Lok Si

We went out wandering to get our boat ticket to take us to Langkawi on the 14^th, then just mooched about all afternoon, eating and drinking whenever our stomachs got below 90% full. That night after dinner, we sat in a bar having a couple of beers, and the doubt over whether flying to Oz on 23^rd Feb was just too soon was starting to creep up on us both.

Next morning, the doubt had obviously germinated in our minds in our sleep, as first thing we did was go to the Air Asia office to enquire about moving our flight. Came back to deliberate what to do, said our goodbyes to Aina and Johnatan (I’m just going to call them “the Swedes” now as it’s easier to type!) as they were off to Kuching in Borneo. As this was our planned destination if we extended, we made them promise to give us a full report on what it’s like.

Chinese temple

Fort Cornwallis

That afternoon, we went out to look for any sights we may have missed (or foods we hadn’t tried yet), and ended up in a place called Mugshots which had an attached bakery doing lovely bagels. We then went to the Air Asia office and moved the flight to Oz forward to 19 March. We’d only regret it if we didn’t, I just knew it. How often are you going to be a £13 flight from bloody Borneo?!

Spent the evening watching the Hobbit while Jo booked our flights to and from Borneo. Then met up with Brooke for dinner in a very busy, but very tasty Chinese place. So busy we shared a table with a British couple from Bristol who live in Perth, and are taking a year out drive from Perth back to the UK. That was the last thing I needed, more cool adventure ideas to sit and stew at the back of my mind for later on in life!

Church by the waterfront

Jo and Brooke at the popular Chinese

Up early the next morning to catch the boat to Langkawi. During the night, Jo woke up the couple who were snoring. Bloody typical, the one night we have anyone else in the room with us, and they snore! Didn’t hear a peep after Jo shook them awake at 4am to tell them to shut up though!