20 Feb - 22 Feb 2013 Mersing

Southeast Asia
Flawed-Democratic Federation of Malaysia
Johor Darul Ta’Zim
Mersing

Jalan Ismail 2

Embassy Hotel +6077982864

Clean and spacious twin room with air-con and homeopathic wifi for MYR 55.- or US$ 17.80 per night. Friendly Chinese staff; reasonable English.

Beer: 600-ml bottles of cold Legend Premium Lager (5 % alc./vol.) for a costly MYR 12.- or US$ 3.90 in the attached Golden Dragon Restaurant.

Click below for an interactive road map of the Embassy Hotel in Mersing, which we would recommend, and for directions:

N 02° 25.83' E 103° 50.15'

Enjoying our second stay (first stay in 2011) at this pleasant fishing harbour with its fast disappearing small-town feel that once pervaded all of Malaysia, and "provisioning" for our upcoming trip to Tioman Island aka Pulau Tioman (DEET for prevention, Dettol as antiseptic and Bactroban as antibiotic), a beautiful tropical island, situated in the South China Sea, c. 30 nm northeast of Mersing, which offers excellent snorkelling and diving and where biting midges, commonly called sand flies, are endemic (comparing sand flies with ordinary mosquitoes is equivalent to comparing fuming nitric acid with lukewarm holy water - don’t say nobody warned you).

“The mortal enemies of man are not his fellows of another continent or race; they are the aspects of the physical world which limit or challenge his control, the disease germs that attack him and his domesticated plants and animals, and the insects that carry many of these germs as well as working notable direct injury. This is not the age of man, however great his superiority in size and intelligence; it is literally the age of insects...”

(Warder C. Allee)

Embarking on speed ferry “Bistari 2” (Bluewater Express, +6077994811) for ATM-free Kampung Salang on the tropical duty-free paradise of Pulau Tioman (MYR 45.- or US$ 14.50 per person, one way) and beating for more than three hours without mercy straight into the steep waves of the still howling northeast monsoon, until the ship’s crew was running out of unused seasickness bags and the skipper skilfully managed to berth his ship in dangerous swell at the kampung’s concrete jetty, right in front of Azmi Dive Centre, owned and run by our friend Azmi, a passionate Malaysian u/w photographer and experienced PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, with whom DM Konni has already dived off Sumatra in 2012.

Click below for more blog posts about West Malaysia's underrated east coast

25 Jul - 29 Jul 2011 Chukai

23 Jul - 25 Jul 2011 Kuantan

22 Jul - 23 Jul 2011 Kuala Rompin
21 Apr -25 Apr 2009 Pulau Kapas
22 Mar - 25 Mar 2009 Pulau Perhentian Kecil

Click below for a summary of this year's travels

2013 Map Konni & Matt

Facing Malaysia
© Konni & Matt

Recommended gear – click below for your Amazon order from Canada:

 
For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here 
For Amazon bargains from the United States, please click here 
For Amazon bargains from the United Kingdom, please click here 


From the 2013 Moral Travel Compass for our Grand Children's Journey of Life:

It’s bad to believe in any gods;

It’s good to have faith in yourself.

Keep your bearings!

17 Feb - 20 Feb 2013 Georgetown

Southeast Asia
Flawed-Democratic Federation of Malaysia
Straits of Malacca
Penang Island aka Betelnut Island

Georgetown

Burmah Road 100

Tune Hotel +6042275807 enquiry@tunehotels.com

Small but perfectly adequate and clean standard double room (no. 528) with private bathroom for MYR 65.- or US$ 21.20 per night.

Free wifi from Starbucks next door. Indifferent hotel staff.

Beer: Non-halal 330-ml cans of cold and genuine Thai Chang Classic (c. 6.4 % alc./vol.) and Thai Skol (5.0 % alc./vol.) for a fair MYR 4.00 or US$ 1.30 per can from the well-connected perniagaan Teng Bee, the cheapest grocery store on Lebuh Chuliah (Georgetown’s humble answer to Bangkok’s Khao San Road).

Click below for an interactive road map of the Tune Hotel in Georgetown, which we would recommend, and for directions:

N 05° 25.16' E 100° 19.63'

Exploring fascinating Georgetown, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and “…a real Chinatown, with more traditional Chinese flavour than Singapore or Hong Kong…” (at least according to the Lonely Planet), wandering around its winding streets and old temples and spending hour after hour in (i) secretive clan houses (our favourite: the 1906 CE Khoo Kongsi with its colourful mix of dragons, lamps and carvings), (ii) smoke-filled temples (our favourite: the 1728 CE Goddess of Mercy Temple aka Kuan Yin Teng with its resident beggars, healers and fortune tellers) and (iii) old shop houses (our favourites: the many Chinese pharmacies packed to the brim, stacked high in jars and bags, with interesting essentials of traditional Chinese medicine such as dried herbs, dried animal substances and dried human body parts).

Discovering Ernest Zacharevic’s amazing street art in Georgetown, his beautiful and evocative hand-painted murals mimicking life in the city.

Spying into the secrets of Chinese (albeit perfectly vegan) mock meat, made from soy-bean curd or wheat gluten, and testing this delicious junk food at three different Penangite vegetarian restaurants (Bahasa Melayu: restoran sayur-sayuran): (i) Ee Beng +6042629161, the people’s canteen, a huge self-service buffet with at least 30 vegan options, (ii) Luk Yea Yan +6042294766, rather up-market, its special dishes include vegetarian bah kut teh, tom yam laksa and nasi lemak, and (iii)  Tien Zin +6048263544 a hole-in-the-wall with a diversity of Chinese and Malay noodles, e.g. Hokkien Mee, Curry Mee, Loh Mee, Java Mee, Penang Assam Laksa minus the fish-based broth, always served with the chef’s own mock-meat creations, for the steal of MYR 3.50 or c. US$ 1.10 per bowl.

Walking the back lanes of Georgetown and discovering numerous quaint old workshops and ateliers such as (i) a joss-stick maker, (ii) a flower-garland maker, (iii) a signboard engraver, (iv) a beaded shoe maker and (v) a songkok maker, and, afterwards, listening to the peculiar sound of a taishogoto aka Nagoya harp (the name derives from the Taisho period, 1912 - 1926 CE, when the instrument first appeared) which consists of a long, hollow box with strings running its lengths and numbered typewriter-like keys which when depressed fret or shorten the strings to raise their pitch.

Taking Penang Rapid bus 401 (MYR 2.70 or US$ 0.90 per person), avoiding pickpockets and tendering the exact fare, from the Bus Terminal Komtar to Penang’s modern Bayan Lepas International Airport, flying hereafter uneventfully with Firefly (“Your Community Airline”) +60378454543 in an ATR 72-500 from Penang to Kuala Lumpur’s convenient and recently upgraded city airport at Subang aka Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, for MYR 55.- or US$ 17.70 per person, all inclusive, catching a Rapid KL bus U81 (MYR 2.50 per person, no change) to Pasar Seni, thereafter a Rapid KL shuttlebus (MYR 2.00 per person, no change) from the Puduraya Bus Terminal to the state-of-the-art “TBS” (South Integrated Terminal aka Terminal Bersepadu Selatan) and, eventually, the arctic a/c (forewarned is forearmed) Transnasional express coach from Kuala Lumpur over a vast sea of oil-palm plantations, which stretches on to the horizon, to Mersing on West Malaysia's east coast (350 km, 6 hours, MYR 22.40 or US$ 7.20 per senior citizen), the departure point for ferries travelling between the mainland and Pulau Tioman.

Click below for more blog posts about Penang Island

01 Feb - 17 Feb 2013 Batu Ferringhi
28 Jan - 04 Feb 2010 Georgetown

09 May - 12 May 2009 Georgetown

Click below for a summary of this year's travels

2013 Map Konni & Matt

Recommended books – click below for your Amazon order from the United Kingdom:
For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United States, please click here
For Amazon bargains from Canada, please click here


From the 2013 Moral Travel Compass for Our Grand Children's Journey of Life:

It’s bad to buy new;

It’s good to swop pre-loved.

Keep your bearings!

01 Feb - 17 Feb 2013 Batu Ferringhi

Southeast Asia
Flawed-Democratic Federation of Malaysia

Straits of Malacca

Penang Island aka Betelnut Island

Batu Ferringhi aka Foreigner's Rock

Baba Guesthouse +6048811686 babaguesthouse2000@yahoo.com
Airy and spacious budget double room (no. 15) with sea view, shared bathroom, fan and agricultural wifi for MYR 52.- or US$ 16.70 per night.

Helpful staff, good English. Family-run by a friendly and relaxed Baba-Nyonya clan (Straits-born Chinese).

Some regular noise from the loudspeakers of the village mosque next door, but no jihad.

Beer: Non-halal 500-ml cans of just cold enough Chang Draft (5 % alc./vol.) from Buddhist Thailand for a pricey and heavily taxed MYR 7.- or US$ 2.25 per can, not negotiable, from any of the Chinese neighbourhood joints along the main drag.

Click below for an interactive road map of the Baba Guesthouse in Batu Ferringhi, which we would recommend, and for directions:

N 05° 28.27' E 100° 14.66'

 




Surviving a classical beach holiday on Batu Ferringhi’s picturesque and lively playground for both day-trippers from Penang and honey-moaners from the Middle East, a strip of reasonably clean sand which welcomes the gently rolling, but fairly turbid wavelets of the Strait of Malacca, thus having close encounters with beach-life’s four bitchy elements: (i) burning our skin in the sun’s fire, (ii) poisoning our bodies with polluted sea water, (iii) straining our ligaments in loose sand and (iv) parasailing into dizzy heights (Batu Ferringhi Watersport +6048993032, MYR 50.- or US$ 16.- per 15-min ride).

“The beach is not a place to work; to read, write or to think.” 

(Anne Morrow Lindbergh)

Hugging dipterocarps on the north-western tip of Penang, the Penang National Park aka Taman Negara Pulau Pinang (+6048813530, gazetted as a park in 1980 CE, free entrance), hiking via the clean and reasonably idyllic Monkey Beach to Muka Head Lighthouse (Fl.W10s242m25M) and thereafter hitching a boat ride back to kampung Teluk Bahang with relaxed newly-weds from Saudi Arabia.

Counting the vast number of red lanterns (which illuminate the temple during the festive season since red represents life) and yellow candles (which are lit in order to honour the ancestors since gold symbolises prosperity) at Kek Lok Si Temple +6048283317 in Air Itam, the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia.

Preparing for the upcoming Chinese New Year, the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays, and learning that flowers and plants with auspicious names are important decorative items during the spring festival: (i) lime aka kum quat for good fortune, (ii) ornamental pineapples for abundance, (iii) pussy willow for prosperity and wealth, (iv) chrysanthemums for cheerfulness and (v) lucky bamboo aka kun yan bamboo for simplicity and humility.

Joining Penang’s boisterous multi-racial crowds and celebrating with gusto the Chinese New Year of the snake by (i) detonating heavy-calibered firecrackers to breaking point, (ii) burning josspaper until we got red watery eyes as if we had smoked weed, (iii) watching (single to octuple) lion-dance performances till the cow comes home, (iv) enduring the booming bangs from at least 888 prosperity drums and (v) eventually practising calligraphy in red and gold - 恭禧發財, which means "respectfully wishing joy" (gong xi: 恭禧) and "becoming rich" or "making money" (fa cai: 發財).

Matt: Applying (with two identical photos and one copy of my passport) for a single-entry tourist visa for Thailand (valid for a stay up to 60 days, “employment prohibited”) at Penang’s pragmatical Royal Thai Consulate-general +6042268029 and getting it issued, uneventfully and within 6 hours, for a rather steep MYR 110.- or US$ 35.50 in cash.

Dragging ourselves away from this lazy two-week beach holiday at Foreigner's Rock, bidding adieu to Jan, our Aussie friend, practical philosopher and successful book author from Create Life Changes, and taking Penang Rapid bus 101 via the Floating Mosque back to metropolitan Georgetown (MYR 2.70 or US$ 0.90) in order to metamorphose back from vagabondish beach bums into civilised city dwellers, lah.

Click below for more blog posts about interesting lighthouses
07 Jun - 10 Jun 2013 Sokcho: Fl.(4)W45s28m17M
05 Sep - 15 Sep 2011 Tanjung Karang: GpFl.(4)W25s
06 Dec - 31 Dec 2010 Madiha (Dondra Head): Fl.W15s50m28M
14 Oct - 25 Oct 2010 Galle: Fl.(2)W12s
08 Aug - 10 Aug 2007 Difnein Island: Fl.(2)10s44m
20 Jul - 21 Jul 2007 Sanganeb Reef: Fl.W5s50m

Click below for more blog posts about Penang
17 Feb - 20 Feb 2013 Georgetown
28 Jan - 04 Feb 2010 Georgetown
09 May - 12 May 2009 Georgetown

Click below for a summary of this year's travels

2013 Map Konni & Matt 

Recommended books - click below for your Amazon order from the United States:

 
For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon bargains from Canada, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United Kingdom, please click here


From the 2013 Moral Travel Compass for Our Grand Children's Journey of Life:

It’s bad to purchase global food brands;

It’s good to buy from the local farmers market.

Keep your bearings!