Fraser Hill 6th & 7th + Taiping 8th
Good journey up into the hills, even though the last 10 miles were on a single carriage way with mega switchbacks. It's a lot cooler up here, about 20C instead of the 30C plus we have had. Fraser Hill is an old British hill station so the buildings all look a bit British and the restaurants serve afternoon tea. Hired bikes for a couple of hours on the first afternoon, Mark tried out a “fat” bike which was ok on the downhill but hard work on the hour long up hill return – it must have been hard because I kept pace with him all the way up and that never happens!! Early the next day we went birding with a guide, saw about 20 different species including really colourful birds. Also saw some squirrels and really cute chipmunks. In the afternoon we hiked up to the communication towers and saw lots more birds. We also saw our first Malaysian snake which was a fantastic wildlife spot as it was hanging from the rafters of a building trying to catch the swifts flying in and out. It was a couple of metres long and we watched it for a few minutes until it dropped to the floor and I did a Ussain Bolt up the hill!! Great couple of days in the hills.
Left the hills for our journey north to Penang. Had a night stopover at Taiping on the way. Really nice area and the hotel overlooked the lake gardens. Walked the large gardens and then chilled in the fantastic roof top pool overlooking the hills.
