Langkawi and George Town, Malaysia

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December 7, 2019 and we are leaving Thailand and moving onto Malaysia. It is a bit of a long travel day with a 2.5 hr ferry ride to the island of Ko Lipe where we will clear Thai immigration and then a second slow ferry to Telaga Harbour on the Malaysian Island of Langkawi. The strong ENE wind that kept temperatures tolerable on Ko Lanta, has resulted in somewhat heavy seas, so the first part of the trip which was in open waters, was not exactly smooth sailing. The ferry was actually a large 60 passenger speedboat, and those people unfortunate enough to be sitting on the port side took the brunt of the waves and got soaked. The boat captains kept up a decent speed of 40 mph!

Arriving in Ko Lipe, the water was amazingly turquoise and the sand was brilliantly white. And it was so hot!! A quick formality to clear immigration and enough time to down an iced coffee and then it was onto a dunga slow ferry for a couple of hours to Langkawi which is actually is archipelago of 99 islands in the Andaman Sea some 30 km off the mainland coast of northwestern Malaysia. For the next three nights we are staying in Pantai Cenang, which is the busiest of the beach towns and which was about 20 minutes from the harbour. We had only Thai money on us, but the taxi driver assured us that he would take it, but give us back Malaysian ringgit in change. Between the exchange and us not really knowing what the trip to town should cost, I am pretty sure we were we didn’t come out ahead. Our original plan was to rent a moped and blat around the island like we had on Ko Lanta but it did not take long to realise that here the roads were narrow, there was a lot of vehicular traffic and very few bikes. Obviously we would be reliant on taxis, so one of the first things we did was get a Malaysian SIM card for Kelly’s phone and then we could use GRAB ( Malaysian ride sharing service that uses an online app to connect between passengers and local drivers using their personal vehicles) - significantly cheaper than taxis and the fare was posted online as soon as you booked a ride, so no surprises!

One of the big attractions here is going to the top of Mt Machingchan in what is touted as the worlds steepest cable car ride. It took us 30 minutes to get to the base of the cable car (in the totally touristic Oriental Village) only to find it was not running due to high winds. So it was back into town for a wander around the many duty free stores (in 1987, the Malaysian govt made Langkawi a “duty free” island) but things like chocolate were still darn expensive! Later in the day I went on an afternoon/evening jungle walk with Devs Adventures - and fell in love with the cute Dusky Leaf (or white spectacled) monkey. We also encountered a territorial long tailed macaque as well as spotting a pair of hornbills (the national bird of Malaysia) and 3 actual flying lemurs as well as a few other miscellaneous creatures.

Day 2 saw us back at the cable car but although it was running, the skybridge at the top was closed due to high winds. As the winds were expected to drop around noon, we headed off to the Seven Wells waterfall - a reasonably short but uphill walk from Oriental Village. There were some great pools for lazing around in, being careful not to slip on the rocks and become a “stupid tourist” statistic. There was also a zip line in the area and we both commented on the lack of a safety line on any of the participants. Then it was back to the cable car, only to find there was a three hour wait! Unless we wanted to pay 50 ringgits each (about $17 each) on top of the 80 ringgits base ticket price, to get an Express pass and instant access - which we did. Apparently the maximum wind speed for the cable car (called a SkyCab) is 10 m/s but I am pretty sure it was blowing harder than that - and as we were buffeted going up the near vertical portion, I was just hoping that they had better safety equipment than the ziplines! Spectacular views from the top and then it was a steep staircase down to the Skybridge - “Completed in 2004, this suspended bridge is built on top of the Machinchang mountain. Accessible from the Top Station, the bridge is suspended from a 82m high single pylon, hangs at about 100m above ground and it can accommodate up to 250 people at the same time, but no ones counting. It swings out over the landscape to give visitors a unique spatial experience, and to bring them into otherwise unattainable locations, above virgin jungle with spectacular views“. Although suspended, it was very stable and not at all scary (unlike Whistler Mountains Sky Walk).

Our eating experience in Langkawi was quite varied - we found an excellent buffet restaurant where we ate lunch twice - take a plate, add some rice and then select whatever curries or vegetables strikes your fancy and you pay according to your selection - we found the pricing to be quite subjective (the second lunch was a lot more ringgits although we had less food). But it was still cheap and very tasty. Food trucks set up near the beach each evening where we had spicy bbq chicken and rice wrapped in a banana leaf, satays, mango juice and deep fried ice cream. Most of the beach area is taken up by resorts, restaurants and general craziness - our end is a lot quieter and we found this newly opened restaurant right on the beach with a spectacular view over the ocean from the deck.

Moving onward to the island of Penang - the choice was a 3 hr ferry ride to George Town, the capital of Penang for $20 each or a 20 minute flight for $40 each. Having had our fill of ferries, we opted for the Air Asia flight - which still took a significant chunk of the day by the time you add in killing time between hotel check out and going to the airport, hanging out at the airport and then waiting for bags and getting to the hotel at other end. Actual travel time was 4 hrs hotel to hotel. But even something as mundane as flying took on an “experience” label due to the somewhat unusual boarding procedure (by my standards anyway). Exiting from our boarding gate onto the tarmac, we were faced with 5 different planes lined up - with passengers approaching them from 5 different gates. Add to that, there were passengers getting off some of the planes - so a lot of people mingling and hopefully heading to the correct plane. The really intelligent thing they do though, is allowing passengers to board by both front and back doors according to row numbers. So actually, an efficient system.

George Town which is the capital of Penang was was designated a UNESCO historical site in 2008 - and it certainly was not quite what I expected - while some of the Chinese shop fronts and mansions had been renovated/restored or at least had a fresh coat of paint, most of them were fairly grotty and run down. Add in a mix of high rises and shopping malls. mosques, Hindu and Chinese temples, churches and markets along with some colonial buildings dating back to when George Town was the first British Colony in SE Asia - it was all quite eclectic. And the traffic was crazy! As a pedestrian you were the lowest of the road users and had to take extra care because a one way street didn’t seem to apply to motor bikes!

The big advantage of the UNESCO designation meant that not every old building could be demolished and replaced by a high rise. We visited the beautiful Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion aka Blue Mansion which is a 19th century Chinese house built according to Feng Shui principles and which had indigo added to the lime wash used on the walls - hence the blue. It was the first mansion to be restored using equivalent materials and traditional construction techniques - except for improving the electrical wiring and adding inside plumbing. The mansion is now a boutique hotel so we were not able to visit many of the 38 rooms and 5 courtyards. There are also 7 staircases and 220 windows. However, the tour and the history of Cheong Fatt Tze and “his rise from a mere ‘bearer of river water’ to his legendary status as the Rockefeller of the East, J.P. Morgan of China and the Last Mandarin & First Capitalist of China” was definitely worth it.

There is some great street art that is worthwhile hunting down - the easiest way was just to look for the biggest groups of tourists! Most were done by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic - some of the paintings are interactive, having real life props (eg swing, motorbike) for perfect “posing tourist” pics. Our meandering also took us to the Clan Jetties which are villages built over the water - each jetty belongs to a particular clan of Chinese Hokkien immigrants who came here to escape poverty in China in the 19th century. The Chew Jetty seems to be the dominant one and the walk out along the central pier through the village is lined with small tourist stands.

The Kek Sok Li temple is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia - monasteries, prayer halls, temples and gardens, all meticulously maintained. While we were there, workers were in the process of stringing tiny lights everywhere in preparation for Chinese New Year. I am sure that will be an amazing sight as the whole complex was spectacular even without the lights.

And of course, there is the food - something that George. town is known for. To start with, breakfast was included with our hotel (the Museum Hotel in a restored historic building). While the Nasi Lemak (rice served with spicy sambal, roasted peanuts, dried fishies, cucumber slices, hard boiled egg and crispy fried chicken) was delicious, the favourite had to be French toast with mint ice cream - for breakfast!!!! Then there were the various street foods of Satay, Wan Tan Mee (noodles with bbq pork and won tons) and Rojak (a mix of fruit and vegetables). We also had Assam Laksa (a spicy noodle soup) and Nasi Kandar (steamed rich served with curries and side dishes) as well as samosas and cheesy naan (lots of Indians here too). And great coffee! And...we did have a rather expensive Starbucks Frappuccino on a very hot day as we were exploring the colonial waterfront.

Whenever we got a GRAB or went into a hotel, someone always carried Kelly’s bag while I fended for myself! I started to suspect that women are lower on the totem pole here and that was proved during breakfast when Kelly was always served first!

We could have seen everything in 2 days instead of the 3 that we scheduled - it is all part of “no rush” travel. The weather continued to be great except some evening downpours. You know you are in a foreign country when warm rain is pounding down, the muezzin is calling from the local mosque, there is a prayer rug in the hotel and an arrow on the ceiling pointing to mecca.

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