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Published: February 11th 2013
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Pengang mural
from Muntri street, just down the road from our hotel The night train from Bangkok to Butterworth was on the Malaysian trains, which were not entirely as nice and a bit older, but still clean and the staff was friendlier. We got into Buttwerworth on time after passing through immigration at the border, which was painless, and took the ferry into Georgetown where we were to spend the night on non-rolling land. We booked a simple guesthouse room at Muntri House (Penang accomodation is quite expensive, which we didn't know when we decided to stop over there, so our room was just a box with a door and two beds, a fan and no ceiling (so no sound privacy per se), but it was clean and superfriendly and cheap so we were happy.
Malaysia marked the beginning of our overeating, the food courts dotted all over offer incredible delicious food from all over SouthEast Asia at incredible prices, cheap beer and many have outdoor seating. We loved Red Garden Food Paradise, their Char Kway Teow was delicious (and we noticed later it was endorsed by Anthony Bourdain!) and their fried pork pelly was amazing. We were also so happy to be in a country where we could order things without
Komtar tower
Even high buildings can look good given the right light rice and vegetables instead and be listened to and not treated like aliens. Even if they think we are weird, Malaysian people are so nice they would never show it 😊
In Georgetown, we wandered around Chinatown and Little India, abandoned our plans to cycle to Batu Ferringhi in the blistering heat, and just had a relaxing day strolling around and enjoying the pace of Penang. However, it did strike us that there were shops and hotels everywhere in the Old Town, though most of them were closed. Many places seemed abandoned and the whole town (even when we walked to the newer downtown area and visited a huge new mall for lunch) was empty and felt a bit confused about being so peaceful. It seemed many people were on standby, like the whole town was waiting for soemthing to happen (and it wasn't Chinese New year). We haven't really done our research, but considering Malaysia's growing GDP and general standard of living, Penang seems like an island of stunted growth, even failed development. If anyone has some insight we would love to hear about what the truth about it is.
We boarded the night train to Kuala
Petrona towers
standing at the ground looking up at the Petrona towers Lumpur, and had a few hours to explore the city when we got there. We were lucky to book the last spaces on the Petronas Towers tour (which now forces you to purchase the full tour, for 80 ringgits per person) at the 12:15 slot, so we would just make it back to cath our train to Singapore. We spent the time before our tour, yes, eating, and being culture-shocked at the height and magnitude of the buildings, the luxurious shops lining every street, and the sheer magnitude and variety of things for sale. We had ben nowhere like it for months.
The tour of the Towers was worth it, and the views from up top were amazing. The tour takes you first up to the bridge on the 41st floor and then up to the 83rd floor, a staggering 430 m above sea level. We took a million pictures and were delighted to be real tourists for a day. We rushed back to get our train to Singapore, and felt satisfied with our visit to KL. Like many people admit, one day really was enough for us...
Malaysia in points:
- much higher general standard of
Looking good
The rickshaws was looking great with all kind of flowers and decorations living (we saw hardly any slums or apparent poverty)
- the people who say Malaysia has a trash problem have clearly not been to anywhere else.
- super nice people
- amazing street food!
- muslim country with a high Indian population, so modesty in dress is appreciated
- wonderful to see mosques next to hindu temples next to churches next to buddhist temples, and their people coexisting so well and creating a wonderful patchwork of cultures, food and architecture
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mom
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KL and Sing...those cities ... i see it but i still don\'t believe it! so many of us ants living there...everywhere...you are giving us all a real dose! thanks to both of you.