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Batu Feringgi Beach
Walking along the beach after a great lunch. Hi everyone,
Larry and I here...we wanted to share our latest travels with you...our trip to Malaysia! We left on April 15th and were gone for 2 weeks! During this time, we had the opportunity to see a lot of different parts of the beautiful country - including Penang, Perhentian Kecil Island, Taman Negara (central rain forest), and of course, Kuala Lumpur! Here are some pictures and stories from our trip...
When we first arrived in Kuala Lumpur, we took another flight up to Penang, where we spent about 4 days and 4 nights. Penang was a nice place - a rather large island off the northwestern coast of Malaysia - known for its variety of cultures and diverse food! Needless to say, we enjoyed it! My favorite? The roti canai that was available EVERYWHERE and was oh-so-cheap! Roti canai is a type of flatbread popular in Malaysia and is best dipped in curry sauce. There are many kinds you can try as well - including garlic, butter, cheese, and even snickers for dessert!! My mouth is watering just writing about it... Although, I'd have to say the most memorable dinner we had in Penang was in Georgetown's famous
E & O (Eastern & Oriental) Hotel - called "1885." The atmosphere, service and food were all wonderful!
While in Penang we stayed at the Flamingo Hotel - a nice hotel right in between Batu Feringgi (the beach resort area) and Georgetown (the big city). This worked out quite well for us because we kind of got "The best of both worlds..." There was a local bus stop right in front of our hotel, and so for less than $0.75 / person we could get to both places quite easily. Our last night in Penang, our hotel gave us a free shuttle to the Batu Feringgi Night Market - where we had a really nice Arabic dinner and then did a little bargain shopping.
Some other things we did in Penang included a tour of Cheong Fatt Tze's Mansion, let little birds free at a temple, went up to Penang Hill with a nice couple from Sudan, visited the old clan jetty, saw the Khoo Kongsi clan house (where the movie "Anna and the King" was filmed), and visited the Penang Butterfly Farm, among many other fun things. The weather was always SO hot and humid each and
every day, that usually by early afternoon we retreated either to an air-conditioned mall, restaurant, or our large and lovely hotel pool. The 'Beach Bar' - a water bar in our pool - was especially refreshing as they did a "Happy Hour" everyday.
After Penang, we got on a flight back to Kuala Lumpur (only 1 hour), and then another flight to the Terengganu region of Malaysia (also only about 1 hour) - where we soon hopped on a fast boat to get to the gorgeous Perhentian Island of Kecil. The Perhentian Islands are made up of two islands - Besar (being the larger of the two) and Kecil. We stayed on Kecil, and were so happy that we did! Not only was it totally remote - there were no roads on the island at all, only paths through the jungle - but it was also very cheap and GORGEOUS! We were actually told that this is what Thailand looked like about 20 years ago...before all of the tourism took over!!
We stayed in the Shari-La Resort on Coral Bay Beach (the smaller of the two beaches - the larger being Long Beach), and were in the only
Local Boy
He was playing with a live shrimp for fun. hotel on this side of the island with air-conditioning! (And frankly, I don't know how the hell anyone could possibly sleep there without it!) Anyhow, our resort was lovely, we had our own private little chalet, and it was only steps away from the BEAUTIFUL Romantic Beach! Paradise!
On Perhentian Island Kecil we finally were able to relax a bit...for those who know us, especially when in a new place, we don't really know how to sit still! We did, however, get to go on an AMAZING snorkeling trip to about 5 different points around the islands with another really nice couple from England - Lisa and Raeph. It was so much fun and the things we saw were, without a doubt, the best we'd ever seen snorkeling...we even saw some sharks, sting rays, and giant sea turtles!! I wanted to go back another day to see the turtles again, but unfortunately my butt was so burnt from our first trip - the one place you don't think to put suntan lotion - that we had to avoid the sun a bit on our last day! Some other great memories of this island are delicious & cheap meals at
Amelia's and Mama's Cafe everyday, drinking Monkey Juice at night with our $6 fresh seafood buffet dinners, and catching glimpses of monitor lizards on the beach!
Well, we have two more Malaysian destinations to write about - Taman Negara and Kuala Lumpur - so hopefully you'll check back soon!
Lots of love,
Melanie & Larry
>>>WE ARE SO EXCITED THIS BLOG HAS BEEN NOMINATED<<<
This blog has been nominated for a Tourism Travel Blog by the innaugural Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards 2012 (MITBCA 2012). The awards are hosted by the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism and they are trying to encourage bloggers from around the world. Currently we are in the top three of our category and truly hope to be selected as the winner of the Tourism Travel Blogs.
Malaysia was, with out a doubt, one of our favorite and memorable trips. My wife and I had such an amazing experience and loved the diversity we experienced while in Malaysia, from the jungles of Taman Negara to the secluded Perhentian Islands to the exquisite cuisines of Penang, and ending with the shopping mecca which is Kuala Lumpur. That trip was
Flamingo Hotel
The view from our rooftop. truly one of our favorites. Ever since we saw the "Malaysia Truly Asia" commercials here in Seoul, we vowed to visit. Now we've vowed to return.
If you want to look at all of the amazing blogs, you can visit there website:
http://mitbca.com/index.php If you like our blog, you can vote for it under the section. Hopefully, we'll be blogging about our return trip to Malaysia in a couple of weeks.
THANKS FOR THE VOTES
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Megan
non-member comment
I'm so Jealous!
WOW! I can't believe the amazing things you two have done. I wish I had your life. Not that mine is not great but I haven't left Edmonton in a year. Boo hoo. Anyways, I hope you two are well! Take care! Megan