"The boss" is shouting Thai ... at some immigration people over the phone, it turns out that as we were crossing the border from Laos, the Thai officials had stamped Veronika's passport wrong. Anyway, it took the next hour to sort out but it wasn't too long before we were back on the train and on the way to Butterworth. We didn't hang around long in Butterworth, it is really just the mainland port town feeding Penang, and within the hour we'd jumped on the ferry, got a public bus to china town and were checking into our home for the next few weeks, Banana Guesthouse.
"Hlavni sef na imigracnim" pouziva thajskou rec, z ktere se absolutne neda nic vycist, mluvi s lidma na druhe strane telefonu, aby zjistili, ze jak jsme prochazeli hranicemi Laos/Thajsko, vlepili mi do pasu razitko se spatnym datem vystupu ze zeme. Trvalo jim to asi hodinu, obvolat vsechny ruzne mista. Takze ze snidane seslo a uz jsme byli zase zpet ve vlaku. Dorazili jsme do Butterworthu, kde jsme primo naskocili na trajekt, ktery nas prevezl na ostrov Penang. Odtama jsme se poprve zkusili svezt mistnim transportem a neutracet zbytecne za taxi, coz bylo vyborne rozhodni. Autobus nas odvazel do Cinske ctrvrti, kde jsme se ubytovali na par dni do Bananoveho Guesthousu.
We spent a few days exploring the capital, George Town, and working out our route around Malaysia. We took a trip to the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens, and came across a few monkeys, lizards and the largest centipede we'd ever seen! But the heat was draining, made walking around was pretty hard, Penang really needed some rain to clear the air. The next day we jumped on the brilliant public buses and had a really scenic journey along the coast to the Tropical Spice Garden, a really interesting place 45mins outside Georgetown. They grow all sorts of really interesting plants and spices in a really stunning garden, after a little walk deep into the garden we stopped off for an ice tea break, and walked around the spice museum. After a few minutes in the museum, our previous day’s wishes were granted . . . in style! The heavens opened and poured all over us. We took shelter for a little while and then decided to make a break to reception and onto the bus stop. It was getting a little late but still with plenty of time we were shocked to turn up at an empty reception with lights off and all the exit gates (pretty large ones) locked. We were locked in, but not only that the storm had started getting worse. We eventually realised no-one was going to let us out and were beginning to worry we'd miss the last bus back so we climbed a fence and took shelter under a shop by the bus stop like a pair of drowned rats.
Par dnu jsme stravili procchazenim se po "hlavnim meste" George Town a taky premysleli, co chceme vlastne v Malaysii videt a odkud kam povede nase cesta. Jeden den jsme navstivili botanickou zahradu, bylo to tam moc pekne, videli jsme par opic, jesterek a zatim nejvetsi stonozku na nasi ceste. Prochazky byli docela narocne kvuli horkemu pocasi. Bylo by dobre kdyby trosku zaprselo, aby se procistil vzduch. Dalsi den jsme naskocili na autobus a nechali se vysadit v Zahrade tropickeho koreni, byla to velice zajimava prochazka pres maly lesik s ruznymi korenim posazenych podel stezky. Jak nas sipky dovedli k male restauraci na kopci zahrady, rozhodli jsme se udelat si prestavku. Po lehkem obede jsme zavitali do muzea koreni, ktery bylo hned vedle. Uz pri vstupu do muzea se vitr zacal zvedat rychleji a rychleji, nez jsme se nadali mracna se protrhli a zaclo prset a jak. Takze jsme neotaleli a sebehli jsme dolu k recepci. K nasemu uzasu recepce byla prazdna, svetla vsude pozhasinane a velka zelezna brana zamknuta velkou kladou. co ted? Rikali jsme si. Protoze jsme si nebyli jisti, kdy jedou posledni autobusy a uz bylo pozdejsi odpoledne, rozhodli jsme se prelest branu opodal zatimco na nas valily kyble vody. Pak jsme mokri jak mysi dorazili na zastavku az jsme se zanedlouho dockali autobusu s klimatizaci uvnitr, ktera opravdu nebyla zapotrebi na nasi jedno hodinove ceste zpet. Zmrli jak rampousi jsme dorazili zpet do hostelu.
Another day and another public bus journey around the island to the Tropical Fruit Farm. We both had a great day shown around and told stories about each of the fruits by our charismatic guide. Then at the end filling our bellies with all the fruits we'd just seen. One thing we will take away with us was all the stories of mental and physical achievements, according to our guide; all with one thing in common . . . they all eat bananas everyday.
Den pote jsme opet naskocili na autobus a tentokrat se nechali odvest to Zahrady tropickeho ovoce. Nas pruvodce byl velice cili postarsi muz, ktery nam vypravel prihody, jak ovoce psychicky a fyzicky ovlivni cloveka. Co pomaha nejvice je. Snez alespon 1 banan denne, cimz se ridil i on a vypadalo, ze to fakt fungovalo. Pote, co jsme prosli zahradou, mohli jsme vyzkouset vsechno ovoce, ktere jsme vydeli na stromech a kericich. Nektere chutnali hodne zvlastne.
Then it was time to move on and begin the journey to Taiping. We spent a couple of nights in the strange town of Taiping; one day explored the very lovely Lake Gardens and our favourite zoo. Walking around the place you hardly see any animal keepers, in fact the animals are so free they are in each others compounds, and monkeys and lizards walking around with you. At one point whilst trying to get a close up, Veronika was given a bit of a scare by a particularly aggressive monkey. But apart from that Taiping had a weird atmosphere, not for one minute did it feel welcoming and comfortable, so we decided to move on pretty quick to the Cameron Highlands.
Nase dalsi zastavka bylo mesto Taiping, kde jsme stravili 2 noci. Mesto melo velice zvlastni atmosferu. Jako by se tam zastavil cas nebo co. Navstivili jsme Jezirkovou zahradu, coz byla pekna podivana a pak se vydali do ZOO. Byla to moje prvni zkusenost byt v Zoo jako byla tahle. Zvirata byla spolecne ve vybezich a opice a obrovske jesterky se tam prochazeli jako ve volne prirode. Jednou na me dokonce zautocila opice, ktera si myslela, ze se mi snad zachtelo snist jeji cerstve nasekanou travu. Po tehte 2 dnech bylo nacese se opet posunout. Mame namireno do Cameronovych vysocin.When we stepped off the bus I marched in the direction the Lonely Planet suggested*, ignoring all the guys offering good deals on accommodation straight to Papillion Guest House. The price seemed good, double room with bathroom and the couple running it were very pleasant. However after a walk around and then a couple of hours before bed it became apparent this place was cheap for a reason. Mould and rot became more and more noticeable and each breath the stale rotten air felt like it was infecting you. One night was enough in that place, and whilst I was negotiating the terms of our refund, Veronika found a place round the corner much more to our liking. The Indian guy running it was really nice and I think he had a soft spot for Czech's as he was learning the language and showed us the guestbook with all his Czech guests from the past (I knew there was a good reason to bring Veronika with me!).
* after Malaysia I would come to hate the Lonely Planet after it seemed to write pretty much the opposite of everything we needed!
Kdyz jsme vystoupili z autobusu v Cameronovych Vysocinach Pete ignoruje vsechny nabidky na ubytovani a zaslepene nasleduje jeho cestovatelskou prirucku, ktera uz nas nekolikrat zklamala. Ale co, nasli jsme misto, ktere bylo v prirucce a ubytovali se tam. Zdalo se, ze nabidka je lacina a bude to stat za to. I majitele byli velice prijemni. Coz ale to, kdyz jsme pozdeji zjistili, ze jsme ubytovani v plesnivem pokoji bez ventilace a okna. Jedna noc plna vdechovani plisne ale byla az az a tak zatimco Pete rano vycouvaval z naseho 3 denniho pobytu, ja jsem nasla pekny cisty a utulny pokoj s velice milym provoznim, ktery jak se zda mel slabost pro Cechy. Ukazoval mi, jeho poznamky v cestine, knihu hostu, kde bylo spousta Ceskych prispevku a taky pohledy z ceske republiky, ktere mu hoste poslali nazpet. Taky jsem mu jeden slibila, ale musi si jeste par mesicu pockat.
The Cameron highlands are famous for their beautiful walks and the fact that being so much higher above sea level the temperature is much cooler. We really loved our time there, during the day it was much more bearable conditions for hiking, so we done a couple of the many trails in the area. We also did a really good half day guided trip around the area, taking us to the spectacular tea plantations, strawberry farm, butterfly farm, markets, Chinese temple and rose garden. One of the most enjoyable days of our travels so far! Then Veronika and I celebrated our 3 years since meeting, by taking a trip back to the tea plantations and then rather than the driven tour before, walking through them and making our way to have cake and local tea at the cafe at the top with some of the most gorgeous views around. Then it was off to pick some strawberries and head back for dinner at a really good Chinese place we'd found. Words don't do this place justice; take a look at some of the pictures to see yourself how great it is.
Cameronske Vysociny jsou zname prevazne krasnymi prochazkami v prirode. Diky nizsi teplote vzduchu bylo mnohem jednodussi zdolat par mini vyslapu. Jeden den jsme si zakoupili pul denni vylet. Navstivili jsme Cajove plantaze, Jahodovou farmu, Motyli farmu, trznici, Cinsky chram a Ruzovou zahradu. Byl to opravdu super den! Behem casu straveneho ve Vysocinach jsme s Petem oslavili 3 lete vyroci od seznameni. Ten den jsme vyrazili na dlouhou prochazku do cajovych plantazi, kde jsme na konci okusili Cameronsky caj a k tomu prikusovali zakusek. Pak nas cekalo sbirani jahod a pozdeji super Cinska vecere. Je tezke popsat jaka je kolem nadherna krajina. Nicmene, podivejte se na fotky a posudte sami.Next stop, the worlds oldest Rainforest, a place that has been around since the dinosaurs, and the freakiest insects we'd come up against so far...
Dalsi zastavka, Svetove nejstarsi destny prales, misto, ktere je tady od dob dinosauru, a nejvic nejohavnejsi hmyz, ktery jsme na nasich cestach mohli potkat...
...To be continued
...Pokracovani priste
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