Malaysia Part 2 - December 2024

 We decided on a spot of island hopping so the next destination was Pangkor Island.  This turned out to be a little more touristy ergo a bit more organised.

The taxi stand at the port

Our first walk down the beachfront was fairly enlightening.  There were these huge masses of rubbish washed up everywhere.  We commented to each other that it was a shame that no-one was cleaning them up.  Then further down the beach ..... voila!

We were accompanied by this cheeky guy for part of our walk.

We hired a scooter for a day/night and rode around the whole island stopping off at a couple of places for a spot of fishing.

Caught a couple of these piper type fish
but with much sharper teeth!

This cheeky guy settled in to watch us for quite some time, then when Clare's back was turned releasing a fish, he swooped in to try and steal our bag.  They ended up having quite a stand off with James having to put his rod down to assist.  It is such a shame when wild animals become accustomed to humans and used to being fed by them.

Moving on to the next spot we had no bites whatsoever but were joined by a cute cat and a lovely young family from Portugal.  We had a really nice time chatting with them and the boys happily got involved in the fishing adventure.

Not at all concerned by our arrival, she appeared
to be with child

Feeding the cat our bait

We took a trip out the next day, before taking the bike back, to the floating temple.

At first I thought I wouldn't be allowed
in as I didn't have a head covering but fortunately
they were equipped with robes for tourists

The view from out back

Large monitor lizard

James had to robe up cos he had shorts on

We stopped at the ruins of a Dutch fort on the way back.

Then found this fabulous restaurant, smorkasboard style, where a guy was frying bread out front.  On the way out we told him how good his bread was and he asked to do a wee promo video with us.  We were happy to oblige.  The then proceeded to gift us with free bread which we ended up sharing with the receptionist at our hotel as we had already eaten too much of it!

Time to leave the island and head for Georgetown, Penang Island.  It was really easy to get a bus pass that allowed us to travel anywhere, anytime around the island for a fixed weekly cost.

There are lots of these green spaces springing out 
of concrete high rises

Over priced coconut drink!

The beach across the road from our accomms

Fellow inhabitant

So happy to see that someone is caring for the stray cats that are endemic in these places.

Kitty love

We discovered this wonderful pasta street vendor which became a welcome change from rice.

Roast duck with salted egg sauce
Cheap and delicious!

Unfortunately, it was Clare's turn to come down with a horrible bug spending the second half of the week bedridden.  That's travel for ya!  She dragged herself from bed to take a night bus to Singapore for the start of our next housesit.

Malaysia Part 1 - December 2023

 

Malacca, Malaysia

We flew into Singapore and decided not to stop.  Not only is it an expensive place to stay but we would be returning for a two week Christmas/NY housesit.  Instead, we bussed across the boarder to Malaysia.

Someone looks tired

We had read online that the boarder crossing can be time consuming and that occasionally people have been left behind for taking too long at customs.  Slightly nervewracking but everything turned out fine.  The thing about online information is that your really do have to take it with a grain on salt!  Possibly that happened to someone once and no one bothers to post all the times it goes according to plan.

First stop Malacca.  We needed a bit of rest and it was a good opportunity to start learning some basic Malay words and menu options.

Roti with curry soup

We learned that the Portuguese were somehow involved by discovery our favour Portuguese custard tarts on a random local bakery.

We took photos of menus at restaurants
we wanted to return to so we could
research what it all meant

An outstanding meal including a 
whole baked fish ikan (fish)

Next was a bus trip to Jerantut.  Not somewhere we particularly wanted to be but it was impossible to find out how to take get to Taman Negara online.  We just knew we needed to go from Jerantut.

We were pretty saddened to see the extent of 
the palm plantations.

Some plonker hit their head on a set of
concrete steps and bled all over the bus
station floor!  Moral of the story ... you
are much taller than the average Malaysian

Our favourite thing about Jerantut was the local eatery.  Their specialty being Roti canai, the local flatbread made on site with a huge choice of additions.

We enjoyed watching them make it nearly as much as we enjoyed eating it!

Roti canai tellur (egg)

We discovered we were in the land of the cat.  Being a muslim country there are hardly any dogs.  Cats rule.

We finally found a mini bus to take us on the next leg of our journey ... to Taman Negara National Park.

Dukuh fruit - sweetly sour

A large aquarium in the park

James enjoyed a spot of fishing before he came down with a bug that had him laid up for the rest of our stay here.  Travelling doesn't always go according to plan.

Most of the restaurants were on the water

Nasi Ayam (Rice and Chicken) takeout

Back to Jerantut for a night then on the bus to Klang, on the outskirts of KL.

Every dried fish shop must have a resident cat

Street art of Klang

We then took a train to the end of the line where we found a ferry to the Chinese fishing village island of Pulau Ketam.  This was recommended by a friend and it did not disappoint.  

On the ferry

It was not very touristy at all, which is what we prefer, with no English spoken and it was a bit of a trick once again to figure out what to eat!

Ikan porridge

Cockle omlete

Deep fried Ice Cream Pie

Whole fish

There was nowhere to go from the village.  All the locals ride electric motorbikes so it is quite quiet.  You just have to watch where you are walking as you can't hear them from behind.

The ferry terminal

Some pics from our walks around the village ... lots of Chinese temples

Terapins outside a temple

One night, walking home from dinner, we got roped into the town hall for what appeared to be the children's Christmas Party.  We had no idea what was going on but it was a lovely and welcoming experience.

Of course, James found an opportunity to get his rod out and attract some cute wee fishing buddies.

Pulau Ketam by night

Soon enough we were back on the mainland making the return journey to Klang which has become a part of KL that we really enjoy with it's mix of chinese and indian culture and cuisine.

Chinese claypot restaurant

Malaysian restaurant, a bit more upmarket

Indian cuisine on our street corner

We took a Grab (private car taxi, like Uber but super cheap in Malaysia) to a fish farm.  We got the impression that they don't get tourists and hadn't even had a customer for a while.  The owner was happily dragged from his midday nap to give us some bait and advice.

Plec - suckermouth catfish, very pretty

Tilapia

Also spotted this huge monitor lizard on the oppisite bank.  It fortunately sloped off into the bushes away from us.

Last, but by no means least, James decided to put his arm to good use to display support for something close to his heart - FREEDOM FOR PALISTINE!