off to Malaysia

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Why Malaysia?

Melody & I had fond memories from about a week there in 2006, most of it on Pangkor Island off of the west coast. We remembered it as a safe, uncrowded, inexpensive place, with a good bus system, enough tourist infrastructure without being touristy. Thanks to its history as an English colony, and its present popularity with Aussie and Kiwi tourists, English is widely spoken. The culture seemed family-friendly and conservative, without being reactionary.

Also, we could fly from LAX for about $700 each round-trip on EVA Airlines, changing planes in Taipei, Taiwan. For awhile we seriously considered a few days in Taiwan, to return to Hualein and gorgeous Taroko Gorge. But we decided trying to front-load the trip with a Chinese country would cause overload.

Getting from RDU to LAX would bring the total airfare for four to $3200. We wanted to stay as long as feasible to leverage that airfare. We planned almost three weeks, plus a couple of days in LA on the way back to visit Melody's brother. We hoped to spend roughly $100 per day on the ground, ). So even on a 3-week trip the airfare cost considerably more than half the total.

We would land in Kuala Lumpur then start our adventure in the old trading port of Melaka, the birthplace of Malaysian culture in the 15th century.

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Photos

EVA Air and me
It's raining in Taipei but we're excited anyway.

airport games
In a Taipei airport restaurant, Benjamin promptly finds a computer set up for travelers to use.