Jungle trekking and more
Trip Start
Feb 01, 2004
1
15
44
Trip End
Jun 01, 2004
Pulau Pangkor,
Malaysia
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
We've already recounted the story of the young man who paid our bus fare in Melaka and would take nothing in return, and the cook in KL who gave us a great short cut. We have had several other happy happenings since, from the little Korean girl in Cameron who gave us the present of a banana and a country pin, to the young girl there who did our laundry! You saw the photo of Paul on laundry day...well, we hung our clothes to dry and went to dinner only to return and find them gone. We were gobsmacked that someone would want our underwear...we discovered she had known a storm was coming, brought them in, dried them and even pressed them and would take nothing in return
CH1
.The highlight in Cameron was the jungle trekking...our feet are taking a beating but we are are loving walking for 10 or so kms a day. Jungle trak number 9 was not too demanding, but scary at times. All I could think of was that if I tripped on a root, I would be so long gone. It is hard to explain how close to the cliffs the trails are.
Another nice thing...when we asked our tea plantation guide how to get to the start of # 9, he didn't think he could explain, so he drove us there. When we told him we weren't setting out just then, he drove us back to our breakfast spot...which was a great little place run by a hearing impaired family with the best chinese pancakes with pineapple ever!
After the trek, Paul coerced me into trekking another 8 or so kms to see the Cameron Highlands golf course. It wasn't too spectacular but we had a blast watching naked little Malay boys swimming in scum covered ponds looking for balls. (see photo) Hey Larry and Joe...it seems like ball shagging is the same world wide!
Since that time, we have gone through Tapah and Ipoh enroute to Pulau Pangkor. The drive was an interesting one to say the least...slated to leave at 8 am..it wasn't until 7:45 that anyone noticed the bus had a flat. So we waited as they changed the tire, once in Tanah Rata and again in Tapah. Ipoh was beautiful architecturally with temples, chinese graveyards and open cast mines. The ride took us to Lumut, the jump off point for the ferry to Pangkor, where we got a great little chalet and spent a few days sunning and trekking
CH2
. It was awesome! We have experienced our first close up encounter with hornbills and monkeys. (photos)We had some awesome food on Pangkor as well...malay and indonesian beyond belief! And better yet...a full meal of rice, vegetables in coconut milk and spices, with beef rendang and chili squid costs about $5.00 CAD!
We spent some time exploring the fishing village near Pangkor town and got our tickets to Lumut to take the bus to Butterworth for the ferry to Penang. The bus was late again (another flat) but the ride itself was fine. We'll hope to update from Penang.
