Malaysia

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I actually went to Malaysia on three separate occasions, but will treat them here as if it was just one trip. The first time was a trip to Penang for 5 days over a weekend for a visa run just before Christmas so I could stay in Thailand over the holiday period without interruption. The second time was for a couple of weeks together with Elliott on our way down to Singapore. The third time was for another 5 days in Melaka before I went back to Singapore again for the Chinese New Year and to catch my flight to Australia.

Penang

Georgetown, Penang, is probably the most multicultural city I have ever been to. It’s a mix of colonial buildings and new high rise office buildings shimmering in the heat of the beating equatorial sun. It is a melee of different religions, temples and mosques, smells of Indian curries and Chinese noodle dishes, Bollywood music blasting through tinny speakers in Little India, and incense burning in front of the temples in Chinatown. The people all seem to be proudly Malaysian while retaining their individual cultural heritage meaning that you see people of every colour skin in the streets clad in anything from Hello Kitty t-shirts to colourful saris.
The most amazing thing about Georgetown for me (and Malaysia in general) was the food. I love curries! And here you could get curries anywhere freshly prepared with delicious naan breads or chapattis and chai tea to wash it all down with. Marc and Clem, a lovely, boisterous couple of dive instructors I met on the ferry to Penang took me under their wings and showed me the ins and outs of Georgetown with special focus on cheap but good places to eat and drink. They introduced me to the best vegetarian curry place in town, as well as the Esplanade where we went for big yet very cheap fruit platters with a lovely dip (see photos) and then a few beers to wash it down :-)

I really enjoyed just walking around soaking up the different atmospheres in the different parts of town, and when things got too hot to take shelter in the massive shopping mall, Prangin Mall, looking for cheap electronics and a few Christmas presents… To see some of the rest of the little island, I also visited the Botanical Gardens which are 10 minutes outside town through some very interesting suburbs.

To read some facts about Penang click here

The Cameron Highlands

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I was quite excited about going to the Cameron Highlands. I’d never seen a tea plantation and had very romantic ideas of what it was going to be like to be sleeping in fields of tea… More accurately, we ended up staying at Daniel's Lodge, somewhere near fields of tea... And strawberries as it turns out. Who knew they had similar growth needs??

After 5 months in about 30 degrees heat non-stop, it was a bit of a shock to the system having to dress up in jeans, cardigans and my jacket! And I was still cold! But it was beautiful. The air felt crispy clean after the heat of Penang, and I was looking forward to going trekking there, thinking that the cold would make it a more enjoyable and less sweaty experience. But as it turns out, I sweat during exercise no matter the external conditions :-) It WAS a very nice walk, though, and we ended up by a very nice view of the valley.

Then we went to a tea plantation, which was every bit as exciting as I’d hoped - basically it was a bunch of bushes on the ground on hills dotted with buildings…. We got there towards the end of the day, so all the workers had already stopped working, and we missed out on the ‘Tea and Scones’ experience with a view over the valley. I did manage to have scones, but in town in a much warmer environment albeit without the spectacular view…

To read some facts about the Cameron Highlands click here

Kuala Lumpur

Like Penang, KL is a funny mix of dusty old streets with colonial buildings and super modern sky risers like the iconic Petronas Twin Towers. It’s an interesting city to walk around in, and somehow it doesn’t feel as big as it is… We spent a day walking around some of the historic sites and buildings, such as the Independence Square and the old Masjid Jamek mosque which romantically sits on a little islet where the two rivers meet surrounded by palm trees. The next day was all about modernity going to see the Twin Towers, browsing the shops in the ultra posh shopping centre underneath them and considering a trip up the Telecom Tower (to read about the Twin Towers click here ). My guidebook said it was free up to a certain platform, but when we got there they wanted an extortionate amount for it, and thought they could entice us by throwing in access to their Christmas Wonderland… I didn’t think so.
The last night there we went to the Indian Night Market, which was a really fun experience. Along one street in Little India, sellers of all kinds set up booths and try to hawker wares from all over the world from trinkets and tools, to clothes and snacks of any kind. Even though it’s in Little India, I think every cultural minority in Malaysia were represented here.

To read some facts about Kuala Lumpur click here

Melaka

After a quick stop in Singapore I went back to Malaysia and spent almost a week hanging out in hot, hot Melaka. Here it was very real that I was as close to the Equator as I’ve ever been!
This is where I stayed: Ringo’s Foyer . It had free wifi, a roof top terrace, and a lovely guy working there called Howard who took all the guests out to cheap restaurants for dinner and some socialising. All for the price of just 2.5 pounds!!!!!!!

Melaka is one of the oldest cities in Malaysia and there are loads of interesting historical places to check out. Most interesting the week I was there, though, were the preparations for and the lead up celebrations of the Chinese New Year. Lots of shops were dedicated entirely to selling red and pink ornaments, lamps and flowers and every day there were more lanterns hung in the streets. A couple of nights there was a market in one of the streets in Chinatown, and on my last night we went down to the river to see a parade and fireworks show. I’ve always loved the Chinese Dragons (or unicorns?) with the two or more guys inside dancing down the street and there were loads of them. All of a sudden Howard said: “That’s the Chief Minister of Melaka over there, let’s go and see”. I didn’t know who he meant until suddenly he stretched his hand out to say hello and ask me where I was from! News paper photographers were blitzing away - but as I was leaving the next morning I don’t know if my encounter actually made the front page ;-)

To read some facts about Melaka click here



Until next time...

Love,
Kristine

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Photos

Marc and Clement
A couple of crazy dive instructors from Koh Tao

A dark syrup-like fruit puree that the Malaysians enjoy with their fresh fruit.
Very good - especially with chopped peanuts on top!

Christmas is close...
Prangin mall