The First Surprise!
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| Journey was difficult in this uncomfortable bus |
“Penang!
Penang! Penang!”, the bus driver started screaming at the same moment when I
could see the board reading “Ferry to Butterworth”. It was 1:00 or 2:00 in the
morning when we were at the highway, were supposed to get off on the same highway
and catch a ferry to Butterworth, a famous town in Penang.
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| Bus stop in Surat Thani. Buses to Thailand and Malaysia |
Our
decision, after a meaningful suggestion by Wasim, to get off at Kuala Lumpur
instead of Penang as it was too late and we’d find it a little difficult to
find an accommodation and waste a day before we could move to Cameron Highland,
our ultimate destination and reason to come visit Malaysia, made the bus driver
expectedly very angry. All he meant to say that we should have informed him
earlier about getting off at Kuala Lumpur as we booked the tickets for Penang
and he had to take a long turn on highway just for three of us. We had no
choice but to unwillingly listen to his bitter words as we were out of nowhere
on a highway, at least for us, in a new country.
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| Having streetfood on the way |
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| Several travel agencies on the bus stop |
The Initial Plan
It all
started when we finally decided to cross the Thailand-Malaysia border by road
and after a lot of combined efforts and brainstorming, we found a bus at Surat
Thani bus station. After arriving at the Surat Thani station at 4 in the
evening, the time when the last bus to Malaysia leaves, we were lucky to find a
very comfortable bus from the station and booked the tickets for Penang. It was
my plan to go to Penang and after resting for a night move to Cameron highland
first and then to Taman Negara after spending a couple of days in Cameron
Highlands.
The
Itinerary
Penang
Penang to
Cameron Highlands – 2 days
Cameron
Highlands to Taman Negara – 2 days
Taman
Negara – Kuala Lumpur – 1 day
Kuala
Lumpur to Home
Somewhere in Kuala Lumpur
So the
above itinerary couldn’t be followed as the plan was suddenly changed in the
bus. It was 4:00 in the morning when we were ordered to get off the bus
somewhere in Kuala Lumpur.
Again, a
situation to go with the flow! We asked a couple of people about the hostels
and were told about the China town which was close with lots to options of
accommodation. Instead, we decided to fill our long time empty stomach as there
was a total freedom to eat whatever we wanted. There was a hotel and after we
saw the menu, there was not a chance of sleeping without eating.
It was too
much of an appetite! We ate a lot, especially me, after 25 days of surviving on
unusual food in China and Thailand. Then we decided to think about the upcoming
adventures. The luck favored us as we were informed that the bus station was
just adjacent to the hotel and we could catch the bus to Cameron Highland
exactly from the same bus station. It was 6 in the morning but the city woke up
and activities started on, a quite unusual fact for us in Pakistan.
It took me
less than half an hour to grab the tickets to Cameron highlands costing MYR 30.
The bus was expectedly very comfortable as they are in Malaysia and took almost
4 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Cameron Highlands.
In Cameron Highlands
As we didn’t
book the accommodation in advance and, as usual, I was worried a little about
the accommodation which turned out to be a piece of cake at the end. As soon as
we got off the bus we were approached by different guys offering us to visit
and see their hotels on the condition to drive us back if we didn’t like the
place. It didn’t take much time to reach the first place, Dew Drop Inn, and
book a room costing RM 70/night for 3 persons. Again, it was an awesome deal for
us, as we expected an expensive accommodation in Malaysia.
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| Tea plantation in Cameron Highland |
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| Cameron Highland |
The guest
house/hotel was on a small hill and provided very beautiful atmosphere and
scenery all the time. There’s a main road in Cameron Highlands with Indian and
local restaurants, famous fast food and offering much to the tourists
interested in shopping.
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| The guest house, Dew Drop Inn |
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| View from the guest house |
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| Weather was mostly that much beautiful |
Day tours in Cameron Highlands
After
adventurous day tours on the islands we expected too much from the day tours
offered by hotel management and we didn’t think twice before booking a half way
tour. What we wanted was something adventurous but contrary to that it was a
kind of family stuff. The tour included jungle trekking for 20 minutes, tea
plantations and factories, strawberry farms and bee farms which we were definitely
not interested in. Indian and Malaysian food is generally cheap and easily
affordable on a place like Cameron highland.
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| Jungle trekking |
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| Beautiful scenery of tea plantations |
Things to see
What we
liked in Cameron Highland was just its calm weather, relaxing environment and our hotel which was located up on a hill providing
us the quite nights to let us sit, chat and exchange gossips outside for hours
till morning. However, tea plantations and the beautiful scenery was another reason for us to stay for unintended duration.
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| Street market for cheap shopping |
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| Main road and market |
Leaving
Cameron Highland
Bus tickets to different places are easily available from the bus station on
the main road. We were supposed to get back to Kuala Lumpur and catch the
flight back to our final destinations the same night. We left Cameron Highlands
at 12 in the noon and were dropped off at KL central, sort of a station to
catch buses to airport and other location, metro and airport link, in Kuala
Lumpur after 4 hours.
A little
bit of shopping was still remaining and we had to get a locker for half day
till mid night to put our bags safely.
To the Airport
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