Ipoh-Taiping-George Town (Penang Island) 170 km ± 3.5 hours
This time we decided not use the north south highway and use some smaller roads. We drove up looking for some hotsprings on the way, but apparently sept 11 had taken some victims in this area too. The springs were closed and the unfinished buildings were waiting for better times. We then proceeded to Taiping. Like Ipoh this place had also been a tin miners place. Many Chinese had become wealthy and built huge villa's. The mining pits had become lakes and wellkept gardens. We picknicked on one of those and then drove on to our end destination George Town.

The local road was rather empty. Malaysia is rather sparsely inhabited. The villages were often empty, everybody must be off to work. The smaller cities were mostly occupied with stores. Once we were held up by a police control. Interested if they would inspect my drivers license, I was disappointed. One good look at our car and us and the officer beckoned us to go on. Were we so foreign or was the car obviously hired? About 80% of the cars we saw in Malaysia was the Proton we drove. The price difference between a Proton and an imported Nissan is huge. The imported Nissan Sentra which is just a subcompact costs more than twice the Malaysian produced Proton. (±RM50.000). This is a matter of taxes (protection).

Driving into Penang on the Penang bridge is an experience, the bridge is one of the longest in South East Asia. It costs RM 7.00. Then we came in Penang which in the centre is quite an ordeal with all those one way streets (jalan sehala) . There is a "needle" in the centre, a multistory building called KOMTAR and it was our guide. The KOMTAR is a complex of offices and big shopping plaza's and a central busstation. We took a convenient and cheap hotel near KOMTAR and experienced that "Suzy Wong" feeling.

The next morning when we checked out, the bell boy appeared only he was much older than myself, so I helped him, and gave him a big tip. I have a very good impression of Malaysian drivers, quiet (they almost never honk) and they (almost) never get angry. We then checked in our internet reserved hotel in Batu Ferringhi and drove around Penang Island. We visited all the small villages and drove around fruitfarms full with durian, stopped at one and took some Durian.

After the island roundtrip I returned the car to the carhire office in the arrival hall of the airport. When the attendant checked the spare tire it reminded me that I should have done the same at the beginning of the journey. The journey hadn't been "trouble free" but I was satisfied having made the journey and enjoyed the good roads and most of all the freedom organizing our own tours. When the gas leaked it was an advantage that we were less than an hour from a Pacific office. Sitting in a bus would be more convenient but driving yourself gives you a better feeling even if it was a wellworn Malaysian Proton - Wira. So now we checked in our final destination hotel with a nice sea view and all the amenities, the swimming pool being the most important besides the aircon.

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