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I moved this from my previous website.....it belongs here more than there.
This trip took place around September/October 2006.....but has been posted in July 2008. It was originally posted as separate blogs, but i've put them all together for your viewing pleasure.
Malaysia 2006
Bangsar Besar (city big)
Day of Arrival
Salamat Pagi from Malaysia!!!
Well, we have arrived!
Yesterday morning was interesting, I woke up at 5am and just knew there would be no point in actually attempting to go to sleep again....I woke up thinking 'I'm going to be in Malaysia tonight' - and that was a brilliant thought to start the day.
I packed as little as i have ever packed before and yet i still managed to have a suitcase that weighs 12 kilos. A girl's gotta be prepared ya? And speaking of being prepared, thankyou Li-anne for that essay you sent me about places to see, food to try, shops to go to, etc etc etc... :P
Merv picked me up around 1, but i was ready at 11am and didn't much like the waiting. Toni (his gf) and her younger sister (Amilie: 2yo) were with him,
My long hair
on the flight overand the little one snubbed me the whole way to the airport (she warmed to me a little bit, though that might be because i gave her some candy)....where we met Danilo and his mum Guida and had coffee and nibbles after we checked in.
Once we were through the departure gate we had some fun (not) waiting in line for immigration, and then wandered around the duty-free areas, ending up huddled next to a stereo to hear the outcome of the Eagles vs Crows game (Go Eagles!). It was touch and go there i believe (i say this not because i was paying any attention, but because the man behind the counter of the cafe looked as though he was either going to pass out or chew his fingers off). We were finally called to board, and had some nice seats in the window, our own tv screens in the chairbacks and a few manga-style comics i got from work. The flight was pretty uneventful (except for the-Danilos gonna kill me-......you know how when you drive over a hill and get that lifting feeling in your stomach? He gets it in his - nah i won't say it
- during take-off and landing teehee funny.)
We disembarked, and then changed some money!! (very exciting you know.......it was my first time!) and then got lost in the airport trying to figure out where to go from there. There were so many people around and it was 10 pm! It really looks like a beautiful airport, i look forward to actually being able to explore it properly either when we fly to Penang or before we fly home. In the end i asked for directions, and we took a snazzy train to immigration. The airport (from what i could see in the pitch dark) looks very extensive.
We went through immigration, got our baggage and went through customs with no problems, and took our pre-purchased 'KLIA ekspres' tickets (70 MYR for 2) and went to wait for the train...avoiding the men who would quietly sidle up to us and say: 'teksi' as though it was something secret...and the others who would just yell it at you hehe. Then came the dodgy elevator. We had our pick of 4, and of course we choose the one which decides to pass us on the way up, on the way
down.....i felt like waving at all of the people inside. 15 minutes of this and we moved to another elevator which, thankfully, took us down (with a slight detour up to the fifth floor of course) to level 1. 28 minutes later we were at KLIA Sentral station where we got ourselves a teksi voucher to get to the Dorset.
(AUTHORS NOTE: I had been tentatively trying my Malay, but it was worse than i thought it would be, my feeble 'Terimah Kasih' (thankyou) was about the best i could do)
We got into a cab, and were driving along in silence, i don't think the driver spoke english, and i was too shy to say good evening (Salamat Malam) to him. After about 15 minutes i thought 'enough is enough' and i got out my little phrase book, wanting to show that i was trying, and that i thought it was a nice city.
I thumbed through the pages, wanting to find something that would say 'hello, i like your city and no i'm not one of those travelers who thinks if i speak slowly and loudly enough in my own language that you will understand
me' so i settled for : Bangsar Besar...literally, City Big.
There was a glass wall between us with a little hole in it for the fare. and he leant his ear to it i imagine saying 'What?' so i repeated myself 3 or 4 times with no avail, wildly gesturing and almost yelling the words. I was waving my arm in the air like a rodeo cowboy, saying 'Besar' *wave* 'Bangsar Besar' *wave* 'Bangsar' *double wave and a bit of a point*....finally just apologetically saying 'sorry' and clamping my mouth shut.
We checked in, and went up to our room, got inside, put the key in the power slot in the wall, put our suitcases down and then the power went out. We went in and out of the room a few times, fiddling with the door and then it came back on again (whether or not it had anything to do with us i have no idea, but it happened twice, and has been fine since). We had planned on going to the night markets in Little india, but by the time we got to the hotel it was midnight, and we were knackered so Danilo got
Fried Kwai Teao and i had the spiciest Nasi Lemak Chicken Rendang i have ever eaten in my life. The second language barrier occurred right about then, when, after calling room service and mentioning that i wanted to order some food, the woman said to me 'One moment sir' and paged me through to someone else who i had trouble understanding at first, perhaps because i don't know whether i'm going to hear Malay or English and i ordered our meals.
We couldn't figure out how to dial home though, all the 001161 business was confusing, but we managed to get through to our mums this morning after a FABULOUS breakfast! I don't even know what some of the things i ate were...but they were tasty! After breakfast i got in contact with Claire, and we're meeting up tonight to go to the markets in her neighbourhood and have some tasty food after our day of tourism.
We are planning on going to the lake gardens and museums today.
more from me later!
xxx
knickers
Shopping
Day One
Ok...here comes the update... i haven't done it before now because we haven't had the time! Seriously,
all we do at the hotel is sleep, change clothes, and drop off our shopping bags!
So where was i.....fabulous breakfast and possible sightseeing....
24.9
Well we had originally planned on going to do all the touristy stuff, but we had breakfast and then went for a bit of a wander (avoiding those 'taxi' men) to Bukit Bintang (the main strip). It's amazing! Just looking around, you see Gucci, Louis Vuitton etc, and SO many others. Claire had planned on easing me into the shopping thing by going to KLCC shopping centre but Danilo and I, being the naive tourists that we are, decided to visit Sungei Wang (excuse the spelling, i'm winging it here) by ourselves. On a Sunday. Bedlam. You will not believe how many people were there!!! and the shops and stalls! Phones, clothes, jewlery, accessories, you name it, they've got it!
We ended up in this cd stall thingo, and i have so many Dvd's just from my first shop! We wandered around, looking and spending, and then i ran out of money and the fun stopped. So i changed some more and it was fun again yaay! We walked, we shopped,
we ate, we shopped, we ate again.....and the time just passes so quickly. Danilo's doing VERY well here. It's not that he likes shopping...he actually really doesn't like it-because he's so good at it. He just looks at a few t-shirts and says' yeah, i'll take those please, but for me it's trying on countless things and walking away with one that i like. It's a little bit hard not to feel self-conscious here, with all the teensy-weensy fit in your pocket women....but that's fine. I'm in South-East Asia right?
We had some more spicy food (i think it's the only kind they have here :P) and then wandered off to go to our hotel, passing Planet Hollywood on the way and getting a photo taken with a SNAKE! A real big one. Mum you may not want to see the photo of that, just forget that it happened hehehe. I don't think it was venomous, i'll have to look it up. It was really pretty though, all yellow and white and smooth. I have more respect for snakes now, (a) because it didn't bite me and (b) when it ws on my arm you could just feel the
power in it's neck and body...it's brilliant. After that we went back to the hotel for a little bit of a nap, before meeting Claire and Sam in Bangsar!
(*NOTE: Turns out that it was a Burmese Python...they're not venomous but they do like to hide in trees and ambush people...)
___More on markets, food and scamming taxi drivers next___
Bangsar
Day One Continued...
After our nap, we set out to catch a taxi...This may sound simple, but there are some ground rules we know now, that we learnt the hard way.
1. Do not get into a cab where the guy comes up and asks you if you want one. You will get ripped off.
2. BEFORE you get into a cab, either agree on a price, or make sure it's by meter.
3. DO NOT admit that it is your first time in the city/country because then you're stuffed. (Sorry Maria, i know you warned me about that one) :P
4. Check the meter before you go to make sure it has been reset.
5. Do not get a 'premier' cab because they cost double.
I think they're
the main ones....
Anyways, we hailed acab which took forever as they kept turning off before they got to us, and we just jumped in without agreeing on anything. I asked about the meter as we set off and he said 'No meter...only in the city, Bangsar is out of the city' and we kept going, seeing a LOT more of KL than i think we really should have. We finally got to the Telawi Mcdonalds - our arranged meeting point - and turned down a street, waving at Claire and Sam as we went by. It was a busy street, traffic was moving slowly but there wasn't anywhere to pull over. The driver kept going and said 'Can't stop here. Big fine, $600 Ringgit' and of course we nodded our heads...Claire and Sam were following just telling us to get out of the cab, so we did that after a while and ended up paying about $20 Ringgit - when it probably should have been 10. It was an experience though, and we've gotten better and better at it as we've gone along.
It was so great meeting up with Claire and Sam! I think from the
walk from the taxi to the markets (which weren't far) i spoke to Sam more than i ever have before. We had a wander through the stalls, i bought some tops, Danilo got some (more) dvd's. He's going nuts over the Anime stuff here, becouse you just can't get it in Perth and when you do it's about 5 times the price we're paying here so he's a happy boy. Claire got lots of food for us to sample...i don't even know what some of it was, i just open my mouth and say aaaah. We went to Devi's! (Li-anne it was FAB!) and had some Roti Canai with mung-bean sauces and tandoori chicken with mint sauce and biryani, spicy pumpkin, more food i don't know the names of....very nice. It's South Indian food and it's v. tasty.
After eating, we walked up and hung out at "La Bodega', a tapas place run by brits. It was 10pm when we left the markets and we just sat chatting away until Claire looked at her phone and said 'It's 1 o'clock!' It felt like about half an hour but as they say, time flies.... We left them for that day
and headed back to the hotel....
Next: SHOP SHOPS SHOPPING SHOPPERS SHOPPED OUT!
xxx
More Shopping
Day Two
We got off to a slower start in the morning and went to Times Square for a bit, it's so big! There are so many shops.....Retail central here in KL. Danilo says it's like Melbourne on steroids (Lauren you'll LOVE it!). We went back to Bangsar again for a wander, and met up with Claire, Sam, Nilam, and two other people that they live with (i've forgotten names, but there's a brit and a brazilian). We were at Devis (again) and had roti canai (again - it's my favourite) and also....marsala dosa (at least i think that's what it's called), these bread/pastry pockets filled with spicy potato, served with coconut chutney. mmm...
From Bangsar, Danilo and I went to the MEGAMALL. This place is crazy. I don't know how many floors there are, but we walked the length of all of them, we went into what felt like HUNDEDS of stores, and eventually we just had to stop. I have photos of me just sitting on a bench will all the bags. I felt shopped out.
We were going to see a movie 'The Banquet' there but dropped our bags off at the hotel (The staff there must think we're mental, every time we walk in we have bags and bags of shopping, it's mad) and then went to watch the movie in Times Square because it's nearer to the Dorsett. I don't remember much about the movie because i fell asleep. All the walking and browsing just takes it out of you!
And that was the end of Day 2.
Day of Tourism
Day Three
Well today we decided to be proper tourists. In a way it's a lot easier than being a tourist in say Canada or Brazil. When i'm there, i try to fit in and not look like a tourist. It feels different walking around knowing that everyone knows you're not from around there because you look so different. It's liberating in a way because you can be as touristy as you like, getting out your cameras, ooing and aaahing and pointing (we did all of those things).
We missed breakfast because we went to the Petronas towers to get tickets and had to line up with lots
of other touristy people. There are a lot of aussies and Germans in Malaysia i've noticed....just an observation. Anyways we got tickets for 10.30 am so we went and walked around KLCC shopping centre and had some food downstairs at the BEST PLACE EVER!!!! It's called "Bread Talk" and it's all about pastry and bread and mini pizzas and tarts and ooh it's delicious! All of the food had funny little descriptions on it, and cute lttle names like "Puffy Sweet Ball" with a tagline that says "The chef is nervous as his nonya takes a bite , and he waits for the soft sweetness to melt her sour mouth into a smile" or something like that, i had a nice little chuckle. I also went to a little cafe and got some hot sweet tea (i'm addicted because of you Rina :P) everywhere we went i had tea with sweetened condensed milk, and when they pour it they hold the cup a long way down from the pouring bit so it gets all frothy mmm. I haven't tried that yet because i'm afraid i'll dribble it all over the kitchen floor and have to mop it up.
After
breakfast we went back to the skybridge visit thing, where they have a lot of information about the towers and how tall they are, how they were made etc... All i remember is that it's 271 times taller than me and 274 times taller than Danilo. They have a machine that scans your height and you can see how you measure up against some buildings and towers across the globe. Then we watched a video on how it was built, how long it took, the amount of concrete etc (Mum you'd love to sell it,great location, huge floorplan hehehe) and were given these yellow tags to wear before being called to go through the security check and up the high-speed double-decker elevator (it moves about 1 floor per second, we were on level 46? i think). While standing on the edge of the skybridge you can feel it swaying and everything...and then we were allowed about 10 minutes to walk on it, take photos and all of that business. It was really awesome. We have photos looking down and out and across....and also from the outside as we went and tried to get the scope of the towers from ground
level.
We couldn't decide between the Lake Gardens or the zoo, but Danilo let me choose and i picked the zoo because i knew he wanted to go see the animals (aww i know, i'm so sweet :P) so we were ripped off by another taxi driver (we're so naive!) and went along and took photos while sweating profusely. The zoo was pretty empty, but we had a great walk. It was nice being by ourselves out of the hustle and bustle of the city. There was a 'companionable atmosphere' hehehe basically we got along. On the way back to the hotel we had a nice taxi driver who charged us less than the last one and got all excited when i said 'Terima Kaseh' adn started jabbering away, teaching me a few words and was just really amiable.
After a bit of a shower and a rest at the hotel we met Claire and Sam (again, i know, but we like them :P) at KLCC for a while, i bought some funky little fruit-pens and a chilli-shaped pen for mum and a happy frog mousepad (There was a chicken one, but i felt bad about buying that
because the tagline said 'I miss my eggs') and afterwards when Claire left to get all glammed up for a watch show Danilo and I headed to Chinatown. What an experience. I'll write about that next.
xxx
Chinatown
Day Three Continued
Ok Chinatown needs its own section because it is an EXPERIENCE with a capital EVERYTHING! It's just so full on. We caught a cab to Petaling street, and it was PACKED with people. We took one step off the open road into the markets, and i had barely glanced at a bag when this man yells out "195! i'll give it to you for 195! You like?" I mean, i'd just glanced at the thing. I told him i didn't want to buy the first thing i'd seen because i wanted to have a look around and he shoves this calculator at me going "Put there what you will pay, put there!" I was being honest, i wanted to have a look around (but i probably should have bought that one because the bag i ended up buying is falling to bits, more on that later). So as we walked off the bag is getting
cheaper and cheaper and ended up coming down to 110 and then "hey lady I give you for 105!".
By now we were a few stalls down, just looking, drinking in the atmosphere. Everyone bargains, but it's not an agressive thing just social, if you don't want something for their price you can usually find it at another stall. Danilo bought himself some asian style pyjamas, though he'll use then for Karate do's i'm sure. I'm kicking myself for not buying a kimono-style robe. They were beautiful but by the time i realised i wanted one i had run out of money (also more on that later). There were red lanterns strung across the street, food vendors, and again, masses of people. We really liked chinatown, but for a first-timer it can be a bit overwhelming. Danilo and I ended up buying some killer shoes there, i got Puma sneakers and he got Diesel dress shoes.
After chinatown we made a quick change at the hotel before walking literally around the corner to "QBar" a latino place where they have live entertainment after 10pm (and the lead singer is Maria's Clone!, well they don't look exactly the same
but there's something about her that just screams MARIA!). We had a bit of a dance here and Danilo got a bit annoyed coz i made fun of his dancing (sorry babe, i think you dance fine)...and then we left and set off for "Lecka Lecka" for ice cream and desserts.
But first....a detour to "Star Hill"....
Star Hill
Day Three Continued...
Star Hill.
The name says it all. This is where you find Fendi, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and many others all clustered together. You could probably feed all of the people in a small country with the proceeds from some of the window displays. Nice eye candy...but DEFINITELY window shopping only. We took a detour here because Claire wanted to show me a toilet. A very special toilet, and some nice restaurants too. The bottom floor of Star Hill has a collection of restaurants which each have a different theme. One of them is made of bamboo furniture, another has stacked glass bottles all over the place (An interior architects dream Maria). Anyways the toilet we went to has this HUGE wheel in the middle of it and you spin it to make the water
come out of the faucet. We went in and had some fun with the wheel and then we made Danilo go to the loo too so he could see. On our way up the escalator to get to Lecka Lecka, CLaire and I were having a dance because there was this cool latin band playing, and then we looked down and some of the diners and even the band members were watching us hahaha but hey we're crayz chicas!
Lecka Lecka is cool. It's decked out like a bedouin camp, with low seats, cushions, small black tables and gauzy curtains all over the place. They offer Shisha as well, which is pretty cool, but Danilo isn't into it so we passed on that. At night they have candles around the place as well. and it was a great way to end our last night in KL. The four of us pigged out on some nice gelatos and sizzling chocolate brownies. I had a banana something or other that was delicious! After saying our goodbyes, it was off to the hotel for some last minute packing and a well earned rest.
Dramas en route to Penang
Day Four
Not such a good start to the Penang trip i must say. As we set off for the airport (in style...we took the hotel car) it dawned on us that it was a bit strange heading to an International airport (KLIA) for a domestic trip. I took out the itinerary and sure enough it said 'Subang' which is an airport our driver said wasn't used much anymore. We were on our way there, and had been driving for at least 15 minutes when i pulled out the itinerary again. I had a bad feeling about heading to an underused airport, and the itinerary also said that we had arrived in Subang from Perth. All of our trips were listed as departing and arriving from Subang. I borrowed the drivers mobile to call Malaysia Airlines and they said we were leaving from KLIA so we had to get the driver to make a detour. Talk about unneccessary drama. I'm not too pleased with my travel agent about that little mishap.
Anyways we FINALLY made it to KLIA (with me sleeping in the car and Danilo taking unflattering photos -you probably wont get to see those ones on here, we'll have
to see about that). We checked in, each of our bags weighing about 23 kilos each, and then walked around, had some Macdonalds just to see what it was like (it tasted the same, only better prepared and with better ingredients) and then waited for our flight. Upon arrival in Penang we were a little bit disappointed. We both expected there to be less development. It was a 45 minute drive to our hotel which was midway between Batu Ferringi (the popular beach and market area) and Georgetown. Paradise Sandy Beach Resort according to my booking info, only it's actually Paradise Sandy Bay Resort. Go figure. Anyways we went up to our room in a hot lift and we were pleasantly surprised i've got to say. We somehow managed to get a free upgrade to a Deluxe studio suite with ocean views! I was even on the vip welcome board in the lobby......as Mr N Barrett! The water isn't clear as it's a bit polluted which added to our initial disappointment. We lazed around the hotel room for a while, reading up on what was available. There are some great packages for dental surgery, eye surgery and even breast augmentation!
I kept the leaflet....it made me laugh so much. 'Your eyes are important to you!' Prices are fabulous by the way. Call me if you want any info! hehehe.
We went to the night markets after our rest, and it really made our holiday. The stalls are so great, they have everything, and it's crazily bargainable! We walked from one end of the markets to the other, and it's about a 2km stretch at least! They have trishaws going up and down carting everyone around. Beware of the dragon lady selling reflexology sandals though. She was really pushing for us to buy them. On the way back past her i ducked around the outside of the stall so she wouldn't see me (she scared me almost as much as that mean lady at dim sum during chinese new year who just glared at us until we left). They have swords, tablerunners, clothes, shoes, more clothes, batik sarongs & kaftans (i bought one of these), jewelery, perfume, cds, dvds, you name it. We were there every night. We also went past a reflexology man at these markets: Mr Yiap. He grabbed Danilos hand and basically described every physical problem he
has had, and did the same for me too. We went to see him another day but his clinic was closed. It was really impressive though.
We ate at the Wizard of Food, a restaurant at the end of the markets. It was alright, but not the best that Penang had to offer us. We did have a GREAT australian wine that night though. It was the first time we'd had anything alcoholic on the trip almost. It was a Sacred Hill Cabernet Merlot. Very smooth, and not all that expensive, really reasonable. We paid 75 MYR which works out to about $25 AUD...that's the usual price for a decent bottle back home.
(*NOTE: Found that wine in Perth...at the low low price of $5.50....and it tasted absolutely SHOCKING. Home Stock vs. Export?)
This was our first day in Penang. It had a shaky stressful start, a melancholy middle and an elemental evening (cmon, it's the only word i could think of!).
Street of Harmony
Day Five
Today was Amazing!
After breakfast we decided to get a ride into Georgetown to go to the Khoo Kongshi Clanhouse, which is really brilliant, i'll put the
puctures up soon). When were cruising down the strett the driver told us he called that street the 'street of harmony' because we passed a church, a mosque, a buddhist temple, and a hindu temple on one stretch of road. I think it's amazing and wonderful that there is such a cluster of religious monuments and temples in one place, yet there is acceptance of others as well. I don't live there so i know it's hard for me to judge, but i felt like it was really a street of harmony and a country of harmony, where everyone just co-existed, praying to their own gods and not bothering to make other people convert or conform to another viewpoint. It was really refreshing.
Anyways we went to the clanhouse, saw all of the displays of the ancestor tablets, the opera stage, walked through the museum but, then went up into the actual clanhouse and saw all of the carvings and paintings and pillars and displays of ancestors and gods. It was really fantastic to be allowed to see all of that, and not have it closed off. There were names of descendats of the Khoo clan, and what they
did and where they were, there were a fair few doctors and lawyers, mainly in Adelaide...
After this we went and walked down the street past the hindu temple, the mosque and then we came to the Goddess of Mercy (Kuan Yin) buddhist temple. They have these great big purple incense sticks out the front and we were just going to take a photo in front of them, but then this man came up to us and said 'you can come inside, have a look' so we went in, and then we bought incense and paper money and actually were allowed to pray there! We went outside and prayed, to the lion statues guarding the entrance, and we left 3 incense sticks with each of them and then inside to all of the different buddhas, and warriors, for happiness, strength, wealth and everything. Our guide was so nice, showing us what to do, where to go, and even taking photos of us! After we fiinished he said we could go in and look around slowly and take more pictures and that he was asking for some money to eat so we gave him some because it was such an
amazing experience for us and not something we thought that we would be allowed to do so it was a real treat!
We went on, past the church - we thought about going in but they were in the middle of a sermon so we went by- to the museum (just a quick note...the church is 188 years old and the Kuan Yin temple is 204 i think). It was nice and cool in the museum which was refreshing, and we walked around looking at the displays of life in early penang...and then we set of for Komtar Shopping - on foot! It was SOOO hot and we kept seeing trishaws go by, but we could kind of see Komtar in the distance so we kept going (with me complaining the whole time i think) and we FINALLY made it and i think i bought lots and lots of stuff there! We walked around the shopping centre for a long while (you would think we'd had enough of shopping in KL!) and then went past a reflexology place and decided to get some work done on our feet. Danilo got an old man, and i had a younger one,
and they sat us down in these really comfy seats and got to work.
OK just have to put in here that my feet are EXTREMELY sensitive. Even when i touch them i get tickles. I got the young guy to teach me how to say ticklish and it's 'gelee' -this came in handy later on-. Danilo's guy didn't speak much english i don't think, and the young guy was translating for him. Apparently Danilo has a really healthy liver and is very handsome! hahaha i laughed at that. The guy doing my feet turned my tickes into pain (good pain mind you, afterwards it felt like my feet were floating) and also gave us his phone number for when Danilo's sister comes over hehehe we had been talking about passports and immigration and i think he wanted to go to Australia so he asked Danilo if he had a sister and that's how we got his number (just let me know if you want me to pass it on to you Lisa). We went back to the hotel, had a bit of a rest by the pool and went for a swim before getting changed and heading out
to Batu Ferringhi AGAIN where we found this food court place (Golden Sands maybe) where we could order anything from south indian to korean food and dim-sum yummy...
Monkeys Buddhas and Rain
Day Six
We decided to do a proper tour today, instead of meandering around by ourselves. The hotel has a travel agency downstairs that organises tours around penang and trips to langkawi as well as watersports and other activities. We decided on a 4 hour trip to take us to the Botanical Gardens, Kek Lok Si Temple and Penang Hill. We were going to fo to the Snake temple if we had time as it's on the other side of the island, but we had already seen the big snake in KL (albino burmese python) so we didn't end up going...
Botanical Gardens
Our driver (Steven) dropped us off and we took the left fork and had a walk around looking for monkeys (they wander freely around the gardens and chase you if you give them food -apparently). We took the video camera with us this time so we kept ourselves entertained with that seeing as the only monkey i had seen so far was
the one i had been travelling with. We passed a Japanese garden section when we were there and had a look around, took some photos near a waterfal. It was nice and peaceful to get the exercise in the sun and just be walking through a garden together. We walked for at least half an hour and as we got close to the entrance Danilo saw some monkeys on the grass. We went closer and saw trees shaking and saw maybe about 10-15 monkeys hanging in trees, on the grass, jumping from trees. It was really cool. They're quite small, the largest being the size of a medium-size dog (like spot/diesel) and there was a little cute one munching away in the trees half-hidden behind some leaves. We took some photos and some video, and i had just switched the camera off when this little tourist girl ran screaming across the grass because a monkey had jumped out of a tree towards her! I know, i'm so mean...but i really do wish i'd gotten it on camera. They also have orchid sections in the gardens, though they are not just anywhere in the garden but closed away as people used
to pick them. Our driver had a lot to say about each place we went....perhaps the most memorable one is that the gardens used to be open at night but now close fairly early as young lovers used to have a wander around on Saturday night and then on Sunday morning when families were picnic-ing in the gardens, a young boiy might run up to his parents and say 'Look mum....i found a balloon!'
Kek Lok Si
This is a beautiful place to see, i very much reccomend making a visit. It took 30 years to build and it's HUGE! We walked up stairs, saw a big pagoda, and there are inscriptions on the walls of people who made donations to the temple with the amounts they donated, as well as carvings all around the place, of buddhas and gods. It's brilliant, and you get a view of Penang while you're up there. There is also a very large statue of Kuan Yin (Goddess of mercy) although it's not as large as it once was, according to our driver Steven. The reason for this is as follows: There is a mosque on the other side of Penang, and as worshippers there would kneel and pray, as they raised their heads they would seeKuan Yin, and it's as though they were bowing and praying to her instead! Anyways there was a big fuss so now her statue is only 120 feet tall instead of 180. We crossed over to go to the pagoda and went inside this HUGE room with 5 great big buddha statues inside it. Four of them represent North East South and West but i can't remember what the middle one was. The statues always have the buddhas on lotus flowers as well, so as they don't touch the corrupted earth i believe. Steven also told us the story of why the Cat is not included in the Chinese Zodiac. I'll have to watch our touring video to get it right, but i do know that the rat (ME!) was FIRST!!! And i think the rat may have tricked the cat and that's why cats chase rats and mice now...
Penang Hill
This was a nice part of the trip too....but the trip up and down was BORING! (There is a funicular railway to take you to the top of the hill, two 15 minute train rides up and the same down) I mean it's more exciting going up buyt after the first 15 minutes you tend not to pay too much attention to the scenery as the trees look pretty much the same the whole way up. We were suprised to see that it looked like some people lived on penang hill too. There was a girl in our carriage who got out at the first stop and then walked up some stairs to a little house. We went all the way up, noticing signs along the way marking how high above sea level we were (When you get to the top you're about 700m up). There had been a fair bit of rain while we were on our way up, but, knowing our luck, when we finally arrived the heavens opened. Instead of heading out to the cafe, the bird park, or the flower garden, we waited in the transit section for the next train down. Maybe that's why I was so impatient on the trip down, or maybe it's because i was hungry, i'm not sure.
We asked Steven to drop us off in Batu Ferringhi and we went to one of the food courts on the strip. We ordered some juices with a fruit i've never heard of: "Ambla" i learnt later that it was some kind of plum. It was different though, it was tangy to drink and left this strange aftertaste. I can't decide whether i liked it or not. AFter eating we walked for a ehile, and ended up getting full-body massages! They were really good, but i was sore afterwards. I felt like dough, kneaded by a really forceful baker. Our masseurs climbed on the tables and everything!
After these we walked along the market stalls again, looking for this spring roll guy Steven had told us about. We didn't find him but we had spring rolls somewhere else (at the FAR END of the markets-my poor feet!) and then we walked back to the other food court midway down the market strip (Long Beach food court, wee took a photo of the signage so we could refer people there) and Danilo ordered some fried Oyster and had sting ray while i hunted for this 4-sided bean i had seen the other night, but they didn't have it. After eating, we shopped some more and i ended up with 1 ringgit left in my wallet, and no more money to change- with a day and a half to go! We headed back to the hotel to re-pack our suitcases.
Let's End This Bloody Thing
Day 'Can't Remember, as it was so long ago!'
Ok well here we are, on November the 15th, and i got back from the trip on the 1st of October so I figure i should probably finish the travel narrative so i can update you on my life...
It was Saturday...and this Saturday we had deemed a day of rest, after all of the hectic goings on of the trip, we were determined to do as near to nothing as we possibly could. We went down to breakfast at about 10am (see...already being lazy) then we stuffed ourselves before heading up to the room and watching cartoons until our stomachs had settled (I'm not that used to having bee-hoon for brekky but it dind't stop me from filling up my plate with it). We went downstairs and relaxed on the beach before deciding to get pay a visit to the GOD of Traditional Medicinal Malay Massage: "Aman" (Claire was supposed to bring him back from Penang with me on her way home but she didn't, naughty girl). He used oil with "Herbies" in it to take out the "air pocket" in our veins. It is absolutely magic, and we suffered afterwards. AT one point it tickled, and i said 'saya gelee' (i'm ticklish)and he laughed and said 'oh you know malay word' and later on when the pressure had really built up on my leg or something i must have moved because he chuckled and said 'now you no feel gelee, you feel sakit' (pain)!!! Well worth a visit, and Danilo and I had a history lesson while we were there, having a chat about the displacement of so many indigenous cultures as a result of colonisation. Anyways, if you like to feel good, pay a visit to Aman at the Paradise Sandy Bay Resort in Penang, Malaysia.
After all of this we managed to catch the last few minutes of the Grand Final (go Eagles!) and had some lunch and cocktails before relaxing poolside this time and then watching Malay cartoons and having a nap. We went to Batu Ferringhi for the last time that night for a small shop and a trickhaw ride. Man, those guys have amazing stamina. I had a strange feeling though when we were having a ride. The man looked so frail, and had to lift up the bike for us to get on, and then he pedaled us down beside the markets, and i just kept thinking about how that's what he does ALL DAY. Nothing made me feel more like a tourist than that.
Sunday began with a 5am wake up call, and then my baggage cracked open when it was pulled out of the cab, so we had our bags shrink wrapped before check-in, and then had to pay 1016 Ringgit for extra kilos. Ouch!!! We each had 29 kilos instead of 20.
We had a decent flight back to Perth, and then went to our respective homes. It was strange to be separated after spending 8 days in one another's company, but we're used to it now. It was a fantastic trip i have to say. So many experiences and memories now immortalised on the web.
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bernard nair
non-member comment
Marvellous Malaysia
hi nikki, i know i'm a bit late, but just came across this post. i live in malaysia and am really glad you had a fab time here. so many more places to check out here. maybe when u come by next. pls do mail me if u do. would be glad to show u guys around. btw - i also have a home in sydney, so i'm there pretty much too.