Had an interesting day today. We checked out from our hostel at the Cameron Highlands at 10:41 just in time for our first bus to Penang at 10:45am. I was kicking myself for missing breakfast this morning. We had the best Roti Canai yesterday from this corner shop. I really wanted to go back there again this morning. I guess we should have got up at 9:15 instead of 9:30.
The bus had no air-con and no toilet. It was bearable nonetheless as there were wind blowing through the ceiling window. We saw heaps of limestone mountains and some magnificent scenery of the Highlands coming down. It is a pity that the limestone is gradually being chipped away by heavy machines for commercial use.
The interchange bus station at Ipoh was very confusing. Apparently there were different bus stations going to different places from Ipoh and there were all far apart. The bus started to drive away from the bus stop that we supposed to get off and luckily a friendly local passenger on the bus asked us whether we were going to Penang and told us that was our stop. We picked up our bags and fully sprinted towards the driver (knocking a people out on the way) and told him that we needed to get off the bus here. It was so embarrassing that he had to stop the whole bus in the middle of the road for us to get off.
After we got off the bus at the interchange station, Naomi took the initiative in asking the local taxi driver and the information desk on where we can buy the ticket. It was such a small station, but we just couldn't find the stupid ticket counters!
It was pretty smooth ride on the second bus en route to Penang. Naomi was very excited when we saw a Pizza Hut restaurant when we were on the second bus to Penang. She made me promise that we will have to go there when we see the next Pizza Hut restaurant. I agreed.
We saw a lot of palm trees on the way. As Vrea told us, palm trees and rubber trees are the two money trees in Malaysia. He said Malaysia used to produce a lot of palm tree cooking oil and export it to Australia for consumption until the Howard government banned it due to the cholesterol content in it.
Because Penang is an island we had to catch a ferry there after we got off the bus. It was quite pretty to see the island from the Peninsula. Not many tall buildings and very green up in the Penang Hill. There were also a lot of boats around.
We were busy snapping shots on the ferry and on the way to our hostel. The buildings here are very diverse - from Chinese temples to Indian temples, Muslim mosques to century old colonial buildings. It was amazing seeing all the different types of people that lived in this one building – a colonial building with Chinese/Indian characters on it.
The food here is also AWESOME. There is so much variety here we didn't even know where to start. We had a very late lunch (3:45pm) at a noodle shop. We had rice noodle soup with chicken. At night we had the famous Char Kway Teow (stir-fried rice noodles with prawns, sausages and egg in them) that was invented here.
Had a tiring travelling day today, but otherwise enjoyable. - P.
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