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Blogs from George Town, Penang, Malaysia, Asia
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May 21st 2013
Hello everyone! I am sincerely sorry but it has been quite a while since my last blog update.. Due to circumstances I wasn't able to update my blog as often as I wanted. The last time I told everyone about Wanda's arrival in Bangkok. That night we did explore the world renown Khao San Road. What can I say.. It was as great as it was horrible.. Everywhere people are trying to sell you their merchandise or services. You can't take two steps without someone pulling your arm if you want to have a hand-tailored suit or a tuk-tuk ride. That being said, it was a lot of fun walking around in his chaotic tourist heaven. From every club came loud music and the food all the stalls were selling looked mouth drippingly good! The next ... read more
Botanical Gardens and Afternoon High Tea
Published: May 11th 2013Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town
May 11th 2013
This morning we went to an Indian restaurant nearby for breakfast I had banana roti and Maher had nasi lemak. From there we booked afternoon high tea for 4pm and then headed out to the botanical gardens. Afternoon high tea was nice; a selection of sandwiches, cakes, cookies, fruit and lots of tea. A nice little ‘date’ We have booked the 6hr bus ride to Cameron Highlands for tomorrow at 7am, so an early start as we have to walk to Komtar again, at least it won’t be in the blazing sun this time. We both have a little sunburn, but are having a nice break away together. When the sun goes down we are going for a walk to the water front where he plans to do a little fishing J Love to all xx ... read more
May 10th 2013
So, finally the opportunity to travel again, only this time with my ‘husband’ We spent a few nights in KL at a different Guesthouse, Birds nest, a good place to say it was fan only. Also cheap at RM35 per nt for a double room. We then took the bus (5hrs) to Penang and he slept all the way here!! Lol, scrap that I think it was me; at least I had a good pillow J He passed the time watching his oh so loved animation. We finally arrived and then had to take another, long bus ride into Georgetown and then we walked from Komtar to Red Inn Heritage Guesthouse. He was not impressed, he carried most of the bags, and we had LOTS of them; all the way, see what a nice guy I ... read more
May 3rd 2013
Our final destination for Malaysia was another on the British colonial trail with Penang being the one more favoured by the Brits because of its strategic Northerly position. It’s an island but is firmly connected to the mainland by one of the longest bridges in the world with another under construction which will stretch to the South of the island and will be even longer still! KL to Penang is a 6 hour bus ride and as usual the bus fares are very reasonable at just 35RM (£7.64) each. Our ticket was due to drop us at the Sungai Nibong bus terminal, the main one for the island but the passenger behind us told us that he and a few others had paid extra to get dropped off right in the centre of Georgetown at the ... read more
April 24th 2013
Our exploration of Malaysia lasted about three weeks and was limited to Peninsular Malaysia. Due to weather conditions and a beach-overload in Thailand, we chose this to be a cultural exploration focused on cities. Where better to do this than a country where Malay, Chinese, Indians and many other ethnicities live together. Food adventures, people and history abound. We travelled overland by bus from Thailand to Georgetown on the island Penang, to Melaka and to Kuala Lumpur. The difference in prosperity between Thailand became immediately apparent when crossing the border and became greater with every place we visited. These were our last stops in six months of travel crossing the Eurasian continent, just before creating a temporary nest in Western Australia. This blog comes mainly in pictures and is bilingual. Enjoy Malaysia's multitude of faces!... read more
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March 31st 2013
The heat is oppressive, unrelenting, surreal. It takes your strength, appetite and will. You can’t fight it, there’s no reason, you can’t win. It’s a thick heat, the humidity is so high.The moisture peels the paint from the walls and then peels the stucco until the red brick shows. You tie a ribbon on your fan so you’re sure it’s still moving. You try to sleep, but the heat gives you strange dreams. Dreams of jungles and strange voices you can’t understand. Your clothes stick and you dread walking. You learn to survive in the morning before the sun comes or in the evening as it subsides. You learn to find relief in anything cool, a breeze, an umbrella, a cool drink. Anything to survive for a few more minutes. You curse the people who block ... read more
A fuzzy Full Moon Party and the journey to George Town.
Published: March 29th 2013Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town
March 29th 2013
The Koh Phangan Full Moon Party. Oh dear. Well, I went, but unfortunately didn't conquer. Quite the opposite, in fact. There were hundreds of thousands of party-goers on Haad Rin beach - quite a sight. I had two buckets and that's where things went a little fuzzy. I vaguely remember vomiting in a bucket, and taking a motorbike taxi back to the resort. Apparently, Sophie was knocking on the door for some time and getting verbal abuse from me in response before I finally opened it. Bad times. *Update: apparently, I had four buckets.* I spent most of the next day in bed, mainly because going outside would've entailed putting on suncream and I simply couldn't be bothered. Plus, I was a little hungover. And so brings me to our Thailand to Malaysia bus journey. We ... read more
March 29th 2013
This morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and headed out exploring. Since my arm got burnt through the window on the awful bus journey, I had to keep covered up. And the weather was so hot! We stumbled upon Fort Cornwallis, the largest fort in Malaysia, and decided to check it out. The fort was named after the late 18th century governor-general of Bengal, India, Charles Cornwallis. It was originally built from palm trunks in 1876 by Sir Francis Light, to protect Penang from pirates and the north-western peninsular state of Kedah. In 1804, however, it was rebuilt using bricks and stone, reaching completion in 1810. There was once a moat surrounding the structure, but due to a malarial outbreak in the 1920s, it was filled in. In its entire history, Fort Cornwallis never engaged in ... read more
March 26th 2013
Ah, the romance of the train. The clickety-clacking of the rails, being gently rocked side to side as you fall asleep like a newborn. The romance of waiters in white uniforms serving our wonderful meal on crisp linen tablecloths and sparkling china while we clink our wine glasses to the end of a perfect day. After a peaceful night’s sleep, going to the restaurant car for steaming cups of coffee and freshly-made croissants. That’s what we saw as our train passed the Singapore to Bangkok Orient Express going the other way. Now the reality of the 2nd-class sleeper. After leaving our beautiful apartment in Bangkok, we caught a cab. We had heard that the traffic could be miserable, so we didn’t want to take any chances. We got to the train station with two hours to ... read more
Our first taste of Malaysia - and it's delicious!
Published: March 24th 2013Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town
March 20th 2013
We were both excited to be entering a new country and experience a different culture, but first we had a long day of travel ahead of us before we got to Malaysia. We were picked up by mini van from our hotel in Koh Lanta at 7.30 am, along with a couple from Finland, and once it had made several stops to pick up the other 7 passengers and organised the luggage for the 3rd time, we made our way to the vehiecle ferry to cross over to the mainland. Then it was a 3 hour drive to Trang, where we had to swap to a different mini van, before continuing on to Had Yai. Once there we had a 2 hour wait until we got in the last mini van of the journey which would ... read more
