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Saz and Dave's travels
We were woken early today by Sarah's alarm clock, however Saz did not seem to mind too much as today was her birthday!! (Sarah thanks everyone so much for all the birthday messages!) So hoping to get to the Cameron Highlands early, we checked out of the Swiss Hotel (amazed not to have bed bugs or have died in the night in some sort of electrical fire) at 7am hoping to get a nice hearty birthday breakfast.
Unfortunately, as soon as we got back onto the hard streets of Penang, it was clear that nothing was open apart from a dodgy 24hr massage parlour. So on empty stomachs and the advice of the hotel manager, we decided to head for the ferry port to get a bus from Butterworth to Tanah Rata. (I don't think i mentioned that Penang is actually an Island off Peninsula Malaysia where loads of tourists go to renew their free 1 month Thai tourist visas)
As the free ferry arrived at Butterworth docks, we started to wonder whether it had been a mistake to leave the touristy region of Penang, as Butterworth is very industrial and the docks looked more like desolated waste ground, and at one point we even considered staying on the ferry until it made its return leg back to Penang! However thinking - nothing ventured nothing gained - we got off the ferry and wandered towards the nearby bus station.
As soon as we set foot in the bus station, a local tout (luckily) asked us where we were heading and ushured us to a lady selling tickets. 15 minutes later we were 2 of around 10 passengers on a big air conditioned coach heading out of Butterworth on the new Super Highway and onto Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, we couldn't believe our luck!
Shortly after turning off the motorway and getting onto the bendy mountain roads, the bus suddenly screeched to a halt and the driver got out and started jogging down the road. We then realised that one of the luggage bays on the bus had come open and Sarah's bag had fallen out and rolled down the road. It was lucky that the driver had noticed it in his mirror, otherwise Sarah may have spent her birthday trekking back down the mountain roads or filling out insurance claim forms.
After the bag incident, it was a bit hard to relax and we both had one eye on the road and one on the stunning mountain views for the rest of the journey, but at around 1pm we arrived at the small peaceful village of Tanah Rata.
With it being Saz's birthday, we decided to stay in the luxury Heritage Hotel, so complete with backpaks trekked down the road and up the hill to the mock-tudor style 4 star hotel. Having trekked in the sun, up the hill, we were both very tired, sweaty and hungry, and Sarah had the beginnings of a nightmare headache. It was no suprise then when 2 sweaty backpackers turn up among imaculately clothed chinese and japanese tourists that the receptionist wanted nothing to do with us. After a slightly awkward couple of minutes, the receptionist realised that we were not going to go away and lowered herself to address us in a rairly rude tone. Unpeturbed we eventually got a nice room and headed off for some lunch.
By the time we found a restaurant, Saz's headache had got really bad and she was certainly not having a great birthday in Malaysia and this was made even worse when our food came. The food looked nothing like the picture in the menu and to call it rank would be an understatement.
By this time, Sarah was feeling really homesick and on the verge of tears, while I was left to realise that no matter how many times I say happy birthday, it will not make up for the lack of a present,family and friends, or a cake!
When we got back to the hotel, in a vain attempt to redeem myslef, I ran Sarah a bath with a scented candle and let her have a soak to try to get rid of her headache, while I watched TV. This seemed to do the trick as after a chill, we both felt a lot better and worked up the energy to head out for dinner. Just as we stepped out of the room, the heavens opened, so Saz quickly spoke to her parents until the rain stopped and we then both enjoyed a lovely chinese.
After tea, Sarah decided that she wanted some sort of birthday treat, and as we could not find cake decided to buy a Crunchie, some Ferrero Roche and some Rolo immitations by Cadbury's. Unfortunately Malaysians can not make chocolate like at home and these weren't what Saz had anticipated, in fact the best part of the chocolate was how the honeycomb in the Crunchie was described as chocolate hokey pokey! Nevermind, I don't think this was one of Sarah's best birthdays, but at least tomorrow we can go for a walk in the outstanding jungle covered mountains near-by.
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