Ipoh

Made it to Ipoh in Malaysia without too much trouble. Flight was fine, the usual no frills budget airline. Once in Kuala Lumpur we got an express bus from the airport to the central train station located in the city, from there we easily found a train straight to Ipoh, we got a first class seat for a reasonable £6 each, the train took 2 and a half hours and was very comfortable, it even had a film on for us to watch.

The first thing that has struck us about Malaysia, Ipoh in particular, is the lack of western travellers (or to put it more crudely the lack of white faces), unlike Bali, Thailand etc. Malaysia is not one of the go to countries for backpackers, I think it is due to Malaysia being Muslim and therefore it has strict alcohol laws, basically alcohol can be found but is very expensive. We actually haven’t seen any other backpackers yet but I expect this to change when we get onto the tourist track, i.e. Cameron Highlands.

The lack of other westerners in Ipoh has its benefits, Helen and I have found we have some kind of celebrity status, we often get beeps from people driving by accompanied by a smile and wave, I even had someone in a car shout at me “Hello, welcome to Malaysia”.

It looks to me like Malaysia is wealthier than the other countries of south-east Asia, or the ones we have seen anyway. The shops and homes look similar, somewhat tired and run-down, however the scooters and tuk-tuks of Bali and Thailand are replaced by cars. I have to say the average quality of car here in Malaysia is better than that in Australia!

Now onto Ipoh; we have found out Ipoh is not really a tourist destination, people pass through here on their way to the Cameron Highlands but not many actually stop. There are a few nice buildings of ‘neo-classical’ architecture such as the train station which were built by us (the British) when we ruled the place. Apart from that there isn’t much else in the city, a drive away are the cave temples and Kellie’s Castle but we have no easy way to get there.

Our hotel is nice enough, own bathroom and air-con, and for £10 a night I can’t complain. Opposite the hotel though is a mosque, in fact the largest mosque in the country, so at 5am each morning we have been woken up by the call to prayer which is blasted over the loud speakers, we don’t mind so much as it only lasts 10 minutes and gives the place an atmosphere.

So we have mainly spent our time walking around or eating and drinking. We have been eating with the locals, their food is a mix of Indian, Indonesian and Chinese. We sat in an Indian place the first night, we were sat at the front and were like special guests, the waiters tripping over to serve us, the curry was awesome, very spicy but nice. Last night we ate in a fast food type place, they didn’t really speak English (apart from one Indian who shouted ‘cricket’ and named a load of English cricketers), we ordered some food but had no idea what we would get – it ended up being OK, we had mutton in some spicy sauce, two eggs, some bananas, rice and salad – all for £6 for both of us.

I’ve found my new drink of choice, it’s called ‘white coffee’, which is made from coffee beans that have been roasted in palm-oil and margarine, the result is a white coffee that is really sweet, you can almost feel your teeth rotting as you drink it, but it is sooooo good. Also if you have a tea (called the tarik) it is served hot, with milk and very, very sweet.

We are going to have a lazy day today; tomorrow we are getting the 11am bus to Tanah Rata which is the main town in the Cameron Highlands.