So far I have been impressed with the wireless situation in Malaysia. In Kuala Lumpur I paid 10 MYR ($2.75 USD) for the privilege of gaining the wireless code at the guesthouse I was staying. You can use that code for the length of your stay.
In Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands the rate was 5 MYR ($1.37 USD) for unlimited access for the length of your stay.
My final stop in George Town Penang has been even better – Free! was looking online to find which place offered free wireless but it is not prominently advertised as a feature. My first night here I stayed in one of those classic backpacker flophouses and I was surprised to find when I opened my laptop that I had access to free wireless.
In George Town even the flophouses have wireless
I upgraded myself to a nicer guesthouse on my second and third night also had free wireless.
It is good living for a nomad in George Town. There is so much great food, accommodation is cheap and good access to wireless.
Prominent on cars all around the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia are these CH stickers.
Confoederatio Helvetica? No, Cameron Highlands.
CH is also painted on the sides of the old 4WD’s in the area. I spent six months of my life in the original CH, the Confoederatio Helvetica that is Switzerland, so I couldn’t help but think I was seeing Swiss cars all the time.
The Cameron Highlands are certainly mountainous enough to stand in as Switzerland, just not as clean.
Guesthouse accommodation is a cheap and popular way to stay in Southeast Asia. I like staying in guesthouses because of the price and they are also more homely than a hotel.
It would be unusual to stay in a guesthouse in Southeast asia that had matching bedsheets. Two of the three guesthouses I’ve stayed at in Malaysia on this trip has had a cartoon bear motif. Japanese Manga superstar Doraemon is also popular on guesthouse bedsheets.
I visited KL in 2006 and had what I believed to be one of the best iced coffees ever. I say what I believed because I don’t know if it was good as I remembered, or if it became a legend in my own mind.
Time has a way of making things seem better than they were. Sometimes on a hot day I would dream of having an iced coffee as good as the one from KL.
The iced coffee is from King of Tea in Chinatown.
King of Tea
Don’t let the name put you off, my fellow coffee fiends. Dont worry about Nescafe on the sign either. You’ll only get Nescafe if you ask for it.
The coffee is filtered though a Chinese coffee sock and mixed with sweetened condensed milk.
Chinese Coffee Sock
The coffee is then poured into a bag of ice.
Iced coffee in a bag
It’s a strong and sweet brew and every bit as good as I remembered it to be, all for 1.60 MYR (40c US).
As a wayfarer my feet take a beating so I should probably get my feet pedicured more often. When I saw a fish foot massage in KL, I had to try it.
Cute Fish Spa
With a fish foot massage you put your feet in a fish tank and the toothless fish nibble at your feet (micro-massaging) eating only dead skin cells.
I was wearing shoes so I was wondering what my tropical feet would do to the fish. I imagined putting my feet in and all these fish floating dead on the water. Lucky for the fish you get to wash your feet first.
Cute Fish Spa
I had a look at the fish before I put my feet in the tank. A woman next to me only had a few fish on her feet. Will they come to me? Well, as soon as I placed my feet in they were swarming all over me. Are they mad! Don’t they know how disgusting my feet are? I had visions of them going home that night and wrapping their little fins around a fish toilet bowl throwing up after what they have just eaten.
Meanwhile the woman next to me was hardly getting a nibble. She must have her feet pedicured daily as the fish weren’t biting.
Cute Fish Spa
I found it tickly in a creepy way at the start, but you soon get used to it. I just had to stop thinking about that movie Piranha and remember these are toothless.
Seeing that my AirAsia flight was already rescheduled twice I got to the airport early to make sure I had a seat. I needn’t have worried as the flight was 1/3 full.
AirAsiaX Seats
I ended up sort of lying down in the middle rows so all in all it was a good flight. They do exactly what say say they will, that is offer a no frills budget long haul service. I just hope they fill more seats as the service becomes more known.
I just got round to changing my accommodation details after my flight was moved two days forward then I got another text from AirAsiaX saying my flight is moved to a different day!
AirAsiaX Text Message
They have sent me a new e-ticket, but I wont be confident about actually flying until I am onboard.
I am due to fly to Kuala Lumpur next week with AirAsiaX. I am looking forward to trying out this airline that started flights to Melbourne in 2008. Actually I’m just looking forward to going away, so my heart sank briefly when I got this text message from the airline:
AirAsiaX Text Message
There is no explanation why this flight is cancelled, but fortunately I’m on the next flight 2 days after.
