The next morning, with our departure from Georgetown and Penang imminent, we decided to do one last sightseeing stop, being Penang Hill. Now, there are two ways to the peak, some 850m tall – the easy way, by a funicular train, or the hard way, with a 5km hike that’s a popular exercise spot. We chose the hard way, and endured a steep and sweaty 2.5 hours in the heat and humidity – although the heat eased as we gained altitude. Macaques frolicked in the roadway, unfazed by the people walking past.
Once at the top we joined throngs of tourists who had taken the easy way, and had to use our elbows to make room for photos – sadly being a hazy day the view wasn’t as spectacular as promised.
There were some other interesting sights on the way back down.
Told you it was steep!
Hitting the road again, we decided to double back to the south to see the Cameron Highlands. It’s funny how many other overlanders you encounter – this couple, Javier and Diana, from Spain, pulled into a highway rest stop after us, and we later had dinner with them in Tanah Rata.
The mountain road up to the Highlands was a free-flowing, sinuous piece of tarmac, marred by the occasional roadwork, rough section and a fair amount of traffic – sadly, we were arriving on a Saturday, along with the weekend crowd escaping the heat of Kuala Lumpur.
Settling in overnight, we went exploring the next morning, starting with the world famous tea fields.
We detoured off the main drag to see one of the local villages and get a sense of the ‘real’ highlands – including tiny rows of vegetables on steep (but not too steep) slopes, and some quality road maintenance.
Back on the main tourist trail, we stopped in at a butterfly farm, and the macro lens got a workout.
Next stop was to climb the local mountain (by bike this time, instead of sweating it out again) for the viewpoint at the top – which involved a steep, muddy jungle track for a few hundred metres.
The next stop was the “Mossy Forest”, a rather creepy boardwalk through trees shrouded by mist and moss.
At this point it began to rain, so we descended back through the rolling fields of tea, stopping for scones and a hot beverage – of course we had to sample the local produce!
It’s easy to understand why the area first became popular with the colonial British, and has continued as a tourist destination in modern Malaysia.
The next day was solely in transit, winding our way back down the mountains, then onto the expressway for a long blast to a small town just shy of the border with Thailand.
Good to read all going well. A few more photos of each of you please!! Love to you both.
Dear David,
My name is Jordyn Fowler and my friend Jessica Walker and I are collecting information about camera devices for a school project. We go to Sydney Secondary Collage Leichhardt Campus, and Sunny South is our teacher (she suggested we have a chat to you). If you have any spare time on your journey, would you mind answering a couple of questions to help us with our project? Our topic sentence is ‘Which camera device is better for different travelling situations.’ The questions are:
• Which camera device/devices do you prefer to use? –Why?
• Which camera would you prefer to use in these situations?
o Physical Activity eg. Hiking
o Scenic eg. Landscapes, famous icons
o Casual eg. Shops, dinner
• Do you believe it is worth paying more for a device which has better features?
• Do you think smart devices (eg. iPhones) are good for taking photos?
Your help would be greatly appreciated,
Good luck with your trip,
Kind Regards,
Jordyn
David,
Enjoying looking in on your journey.
Great photos!
Travel safe,
Cheers,
David Chandler
Hi David,
I have been dreaming about doing a trip identical to yours. Could you please answer a few question? How did you arrange your bike shipment from Darwin to Dili? What were the costs involved?, time from departure to picking up in Dili, etc,etc.
Fantastic trip report you have been putting together by the way.
Cheers,
Daryl
Hi Daryl, shipping from Darwin to Dili was through ANL – on the ground it’s handled by Toll at the Dili end, and PJs Brokers at the Darwin end . I paid a shade over $900 to ship the bike (LCL, not crated) from Aus to TL, measured at 222kg. Talk to Jason Lasya at ANL Logistics to get a quote, [email protected]; the ship schedules are available on the ANL website (although they’re not 100% reliable – sometimes ships are cancelled or diverted depending on load: I was lucky, but a few other people I’m in contact with had to change their plans). Basically hand the bike over to PJ’s about a week before the ship is due to leave, then 3 days in transit on the ship, then a day or two in Dili for them to unload.
Cheers,
Dave
Thanks for the information. I am trying to plan the trip leaving Victoria late September and have until mid January to travel along similar lines to your trip so far.
Cheers,
Daryl.