Malaysia - Pankgor Island, Tana Ratah (Cameron Highlands) and Georgetown (Penang Island)

First, it's been a while and I know I've been pretty lazy about blogging the various stops along the route through Malaysia, so . . .

After Kuala Lampur, I headed to Pangkor island, a small island just off the coast about 4 hrs. north of KL. It was nice and fairly deserted:



The seafood in Malaysia has been phenomenal (and phenomenally cheap):



The weather on the coast is extremely hot and humid, so I decided to head for the Cameron Highlands, a hill station founded by the British during the colonial era, for a few days to cool off. Needless to say, given it's history, everywhere you go you can drink tea and eat scones -- kind-of bizarre:




I did a little hiking in the area -- this one is me almost falling into the river trying to get ready for the self-timer shot with the camera (yeah, climbing on wet rocks while hiking alone in the jungle - brilliant):



Another waterfall (this time no dangerous wet rocks):



Chinese temple in the country:



Once I had sufficiently cooled off, I headed back down to the coast to Penang, another island just off Malaysia's west coast. I spent most of my time in Georgetown, a fairly large city:



Malaysia has a great ethnic mix, with about 61% indigenous Malay people, about 27% Chinese, 7% Indian and 5% other (roughly). The Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures are all very visible. For example, in Georgetown, a very much Chinese city, this Chinese temple:

is a half block from this Indian temple

which is a half block from this mosque:

Of course it's not all just great culture in Penang - there is plenty of shopping and beach time to be had as well:

Now that I've met back up with JeeHeon here in Phuket, Thailand, I'll turn creative control of the blog back over to her, so it will soon be back to the normal enjoyable read it once was.