Road Trip

This is a summary of our road trip to Penang and Cameron Highlands 2 weeks ago. We left KL on Monday at about 10am to Penang. We stopped at Tapah's rest area for some snacks and Choo had Baskin Robbins. That cost Choo a bomb. Hahaha.

Welcome to Penang Island

Anyway, we reached Penang island at about 3pm and went around the Georgetown area looking for a cheap hotel to stay for the night. After a asking around a few hotels, we settled for Hotel Malaysia on Penang Road. A quad sharing room with breakfast cost RM 110.40 so it was a reasonable price for us. Highlights of Penang Road are the numerous nasi kandar and a small shop which is near Komtar which has laksa, char kuey teow, and the best cendol i've tasted in Penang. However, the cendol is outside the shop and if you decide to sit inside the shop to enjoy your cendol, you have to pay the shop a "corkage" charge of 40 cents for each bowl of cendol. Damn shocking isn't it? So we just stood outside to enjoy our cendol. :)

In the 24 hours which we were in the Georgetown area, we visited Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (which is directly behind our hotel), Komtar, Prangin Mall, Khoo Kongsi, Kuan Yin Temple, Kek Lok Si Temple, Kapitan Kling Mosque, St. George's Church, Dharmikarama Burmese Temple, Wat Chayamankalaram, and the Ghee Hiang shop where we bought some biscuits to bring back home to Malacca. As you can see, it was a rather spiritual travelling experience for all of us. Hahaha.

The pig at Kek Lok Si Temple. All of us were born in the year of the pig. :)

On Monday night we also went for dinner with Jamie at a place near her condo which is directly opposite one of USM's gates. We had ikan bakar, sotong goreng with some vege and it's better than the ikan bakar we had a few weeks earlier in Malacca.

The very beautiful Miss Jamie Ong

On Tuesday evening, we went to stay at Batu Ferringhi for the night. The place we stayed in was Baba Guest House and it was about 15 metres from the beach. The room with 2 single beds with an attached bathroom and aircond cost RM 50 per night.

Our rooms at Baba Guest House

Every night along the Batu Ferringhi road, there'll be pasar malam selling a wide variety of imitation goods. The DVDs there cost RM 4 per piece and when you buy 10, you'll get one free. The cheapest DVDs i've seen in Malaysia and the foreigners were buying them in bulk. Hahaha.

The next day, we had dim sum for breakfast in Georgetown before we left Penang for Cameron Highlands. It was a slow drive up because it started raining on the way up to Kg. Raja. We took the Simpang Pulai way which led us to Kg. Raja then down to Brinchang then to Tanah Rata. We stayed in Chua Gin Hotel in Brinchang which cost RM 70 for a quad sharing room. If you guys want to see Mat Sallehs, stay in Tanah Rata because i didnt see any Mat Salleh in Brinchang during our 3 days there.

I read in Cameron Highlands Online's forum that steamboat dinner is a must at Cameron. So, based on that recommendation, we had steamboat dinner at You Hoo Restaurant, which is near to Chua Gin Hotel. The steamboat cost RM 13 per head but the lauk given was 75% vege. OMG! that's only 25% meat and being guys, we need our meat to keep our stomachs full. So, we ordered 5 extra liao, which were tau ki, fish balls, meat balls, mushrooms, and some sotong thingy. The cost of the extra liao was RM 30 and we thought that we got ripped off for that. Damn you You Hoo Restaurant.

Anyway, on with the story. The next day we went jungle trekking up Gunung Brinchang with some visitors from Switzerland, Denmark, and Holland. On the way up, we passed by the Boh tea plantation. The cuts that the tea plants make along the contour of the hills is just breath taking.

Tea plantation in Cameron

After the jungle trekking, the guide brought all of us to the Boh factory to see how Boh tea is made and visitors could buy a variety of tea home as souvenirs. The cafeteria area has the most beautiful view i've ever seen in any cafeteria. I ordered a Boh teh tarik and i have to say that it was the best teh tarik i've ever drank in my life. Well worth the Rm 2.50 i paid for it.

The stunning view from the cafeteria


The. Best. Teh. Tarik. Ever.

After that, we took the bus to Tanah Rata for some sight seeing and lunch. We didnt have enough to explore Tanah Rata more so we shall do it some other day. That night, we had our last supper of the road trip at Secret Recipe. I forgot what we had there but it sure was a great way to end a superb road trip.

Food glorious food


The mess at the end of the road trip


Tangkap basah

We took the Tapah way down from Cameron Highlands and on the way, we stopped at a waterfall to do some camwhoring and bladder relieving. Luckily we took this way down because we really wanted to see some waterfalls since it WAS a hill. Too bad the fella whom we asked to help take the photo had shaky hands or something because the photo below is not very clear.

Waterfall!

So, that's the end of the long postponed post on our road trip. For more photos, please proceed to this website.