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Published: November 4th 2011
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Malaysia has been unique for us, in that it's the only country we visited twice so far! We spent 10 days the first time around and then a further 5 days the second time. It has been a country which is so different to most of those we have
visited here in South East Asia. It's almost like the chilled out, organised neighbour of the other manic ones. It's multi-cultural, organised and easy to get around.
The old city of Penang was our first stop, home of white colonial buildings and dubbed to be the 'culinary capital' of Malaysia. The old town is small, manageable and very interesting. With refurbished old mansions, boutique hotels and
hundreds of tiny eateries - it's definately the place to wander and get lost...then eat. Each of the laneways has a sign explaining the meaning of the name in some of the many languages belonging to this nation. Chinese, Malay, Indian, English ...Armenian and Sinahalese? Penang is proud of its heritage and displays its past with pride, this UNESCO World Heritage town is hard to beat. (Well except the fact that a beer is crazy expensive thanks to the high tax put on it by
the Muslim Government!) On a side note we had the best food here - taste bud tantilising Baba Nonya cuisine (Baba Nonya fyi is the Malay name given to the Malaysia born Chinese) made up of Double Cooked Roast Pork Belly and Deep Fried Chicken in Sour Plum Sauce and some of the best Tandoori Chicken I have ever had. We had a great time visiting Penang for a second time
and ate even more great food, complete with hand eaten banana leaf curries. Bad for the waistline but great for the soul! Diet starts tomorrow right?
We did manage to stop eating at some point and worked our way across the country to the east coast with our sights set on the Perhentian Islands. I had always seen photos of these islands in other peoples blogs - crystal clear waters, white
sands, beautiful corals...what a nice way to spend my birthday! The drive was long and arduous but when we jumped on the adrenaline pumped speed boats which took us to the islands all was forgotten. When we got to the beach it was beautiful! It was exactly like all the photos I saw, the water was so
clear you could count the sand on the bottom. And after a quick debacle with accommodation (note to self: don't stay at Watercolours Resort, it's a dive) and a quick upgrade to another place we were as happy as Larry, well we were also subdued at the fact that a can, yes can, of beer cost nearly $4. Gotta love
a Muslim government huh? We spent our days being true beach bums, swimming, eating and snorkeling. The Perhentian Islands proved to be the most active in terms of wildlife, we were greeted everyday by cute kittens, curious monkeys and these strange flying possums?, but the cherry on the cake was spotting sharks and giant turtles whilst snorkeling. It was bliss and I welcomed my 29th year with many a fond memory...thank guys, love you!
Sadly we had to say goodbye to our island paradise and made the long drive (again!) to Kuala Lumpur. Now, KL, it's a strange place. It's such a mish mash of cultures and ideals that I don't know where to start? It's not really that old, it's not really that cultural and if you don't like/can't shop then there's not really that much to do.
There's lots of good food, but not really anyone to tell you where to go. KL confused me, I liked it, it was organised and very friendly but, I still just don't get you. It just didn't have the same atmosphere as all the other major South East Asian cities - strange.
Melaka was next, and we were back to the old colonial feel that we found in Penang. It's a fascinating place, with white tall thin buildings and roaming canals. The Dutch feel is everywhere here, in fact one guy described it as Little Amsterdam - I can see the resemblance but sans weed and prostitutes, and pommes frites, and shops, and...well it's not really the same
at all! The only thing that it had going was the canals. But nonetheless it was still interesting, most people here also had some Portuguese influenced and they spoke a mixture of Malay/Portuguese, and half of them seemed to be called De Silva and ate Peri peri chicken.
As I mentioned we did do two trips to Malaysia, after we left Melaka we finished the rest of our overland trip in Singapore and then went on to Bali, but we
came back to meet up with a dear friend in KL for a day before heading back to Penang (yes to eat again) and then onto Langkawi. Langkawi now is the island resort of Malaysia, it is duty free (so yes beer was cheaper!) and had the beaches that locals and tourists flock to. Unfortunately we couldn't swim as we were stung by jellyfish before being warned by locals that plagues of the things arrive each year and kill tourists with scarily high regularity - maybe I'm used to Australian beaches which have people who actually warn you? So thanks to the lack of swimming opportunities, we instead did the usual, lounged around, ate, drank, talked rubbish and got ourselves ready for
the next adventure of Sri Lanka.
So Malaysia, you're an interesting place. By far one of the friendliest in SE Asia, you still have some of that grubby feel but then you are so organised. Everyone has a smile for you and about 80% of the population speaks English. It's a very Muslim place but noone is made to feel out of place or not welcome. I know you're putting on a big tourist drive, I don't
know
anyone in Australia who hasn't heard the slogan - 'Malaysia, Truly Asia' (especially Carlton fans!) but somehow I think if you want to become the big spending tourist destination you want to be you may have to a) get a bit cheaper b) not
shut down by 9pm and open until 9am and lastly, and most importantly, c) make you're booze cheaper! When we come on holiday some of us like a beer or glass of wine! But overall, you're pretty cool!
Next stop Sri Lanka...what have we got ourselves in for?
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Mumbo
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This has to be the jump to beat all jumps!! Well done Susan!! Your impression of Malaysia is about the same as mine - organised fun but you don't have to scratch the surface too much to remove all the glitz ans glamour of K.L. See you soon xx