18th Feb, 2016

We had a superb dinner the night before at the hotel, (after our fireside episode – a few photos to remind you),

but unfortunately Nick volunteered to be the first casualty of the tour with a bad case of the Malaysian malaise. He has been followed by yours truly (mild), Tristan, Georgie and Shivonne (interestingly none of the ‘Malaysian’ Benns!), though the odd funny tummy has been around the whole trip.

This left Chris, Shivonne, Claire, Tristan, Georgie and Nick to sign up for a jungle trek with their guide, Bob. By all accounts it was an excellent walk and not too muddy – indeed there were few mossies and no leeches (unlike the last time I went for a jungle walk in the 1970s). And best of all, everyone returned. I say this as the Cameron Highlands was where Jim Thompson, the founder of the Thai silk industry went for a stroll on Easter Sunday, 1967 and was never seen again.

Val and I decided to reenact something my dad and I did way back in August, 1979 and play a round of golf. It was HARD work! The hotel kindly lent us some clubs and we paid and went round to the caddy shack to see about some balls and gloves only to be told that the pro shop was closed. Oh dear, tricky to play golf without balls, as we pointed out. However someone produced 10 used balls for 10 Ringgit and off we went. There are a LOT of water hazards, effectively storm drains about 15 feet deep and it soon became a question as to whether we would make it back to the clubhouse after 9 holes without running out of balls. We did manage with about one or two to spare and bought a further 10. It was tough going as at nearly 5000 feet the air was a lot thinner and it was a very hilly course. Still, we made it, but I will not be publishing the scores! We did have 11 balls spare at the end!

That evening we decided to have steamboat, which was fantastic, the high point possibly being the photo of Chris surrounded by vegetables. The restaurant did not do pudding, so we sauntered over to the hotel opposite where we were much entertained by the waiter Siva – and by the size of the puddings!!

19th Feb, 2016

We were sad to leave the CH, but it was time to set off for Penang. Claire, Tristan & Georgie got up early for one more jungle trek and we stopped off at the BOH Tea Plantation en route which was both beautiful (I do love tea plantations, they cater to my need for order!) and interesting about the development of the industry in Malaysia. We even had time for a cuppa before driving back down the mountains to the motorway and the bridge that you now cross to get to the island of Penang – unlike in my day when you took a ferry. On one occasion I managed to lock my keys in my Toyota Corolla and had to break in to prevent me spending my short holiday going back and forth on the ferry to Penang.

Our new home is the Bayview Beach Resort on Batu Ferringhi in the north of the island and, guess what, where I stayed with my mum and dad in August, 1979! This is a coincidence, I would add, as the rates were really good. The hotel though, like much of Penang, is unrecognisable from those days with a huge amount of development. It still has a certain seaside charm though and a feeling of separation from the mainland. More on that soon – I know how keen you are to see another hotel room!