Georgetown, Penang

Here we are in the large city of Georgetown on the island of Penang, south of Thailand and west of Malaysia, and we love it. Many streets are narrow and lined with small shops while wider streets hold massive colonial buildings on larger properties. Tree covered hills are visible in the distant.

Our accommodation is the Chulia Heritage Hotel – a mansion that has been converted into a guesthouse. The entire place is white – white floors, bed linens, cupboard, tables, slipcovers on the chairs, you name it. The place is down a small lane off a busy street so it’s quiet except for the call to prayers from the many mosques in the area – but I don’t mind that.

A walk helped us get the lay of the land before settling on a place to eat. Off a street close to our hotel, we found a fantastic food court with Japanese, Thai, Indian, fish head curry, fresh fish, noodles, etc. I had Pad Thai and Ian had some sort of noodle dish and they were yummy (and very cheap). We will definitely be back.

On our way to the hotel we were surprised to find the streets booming with business. Things come to life when the sun falls because of Ramadan.  

Day 2

We started our day with a visit to the Chocolate Boutique. I had come across the place in my travel book and it promised to be an interesting experience with its 60 varieties of chocolate. We were met by a ‘guide’ who rushed us into the ‘healthy chocolate’ room, opened a Tupperware container of chocolate pieces, and gave us each a taste of dark chocolate. She didn’t introduce herself or offer any information other than the flavour of the chocolate we were sampling. Then she hurried us to the next room which was the fruit room where we received orange chocolate pieces and strawberry ones – the next was coconut, and so on. After this attack on our taste buds, a basket was thrust into my hands and we were encouraged to make our purchases. At this point, I felt a bit ill from the speed at which we sampled all that chocolate and neither one of us was interested in buying any to eat but we felt obligated so we got a bar.  It was all very odd.

We continued down a busy street with a decent sidewalk but no shade. It’s a rarity to find a sidewalk here; it’s almost as if they were an afterthought. The stores that line the side streets have covered fronts that butt up against the streets but all are different heights so you have to watch where you are going because you never know when there is a step. You’ll come to a restaurant or café which are typically open to the street with its tables and chairs out on the front. If you are walking here, you end up weaving among diners. Walking on the street is worse; you risk getting hit by a car or motorbike.

St George’s Church, the oldest working church in Malaysia came up on our right so we decided to stop for a visit. It was very simple inside, everything was white. We met a gentleman from Reno, Nevada who has been living in Penang for 15years with his wife who teaches at an international school. We had a nice little chat and then made our way to the esplanade and the waterfront, hoping to find a breeze. No such luck. We continued on, past Fort Cornwallis to the Clock Tower, a gift to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – it’s 60 feet high, each foot representing each year of the Queen’s reign. It was somewhat anti-climactic after such a long hot walk! We ventured on through the traffic and discovered a food court packed with Malay office workers, a good sign, so we stopped here for lunch.

We both had nasi lemak, a Malaysian dish of coconut rice wrapped in a banana leaf – you can get nasi lemak with an egg, chicken, pork, fish, etc. We had chicken. They are quite small so we also had a stuffed bun – I had chicken curry and Ian had fish. Two lemon ice teas and the entire meal in total came to about 9RM – 3 dollars. Incredible.

We kept walking along the streets towards our hotel and came across Hainan Temple. We were drawn to it by chanting monks and couldn’t help but venture tentatively into the courtyard to listen. When the ceremony was finished, a man motioned for us to enter. After first removing our shoes, the gentleman gave us a bit of history and tour. The temple was small but well appointed with an open air courtyard. It is a Taoist temple, founded in 1866. While we were wandering around, the rain started and poured down. We were stuck. No one minded us being there, so I planted myself on a stool and we waited out the rain. It was very peaceful.

Following this, we made our way to Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, or the ‘Blue Mansion’ as it’s been named due the fact that it is dark blue. We signed up for the English tour and had a wonderfully funny guide who made the hour long tour fascinating.

Cheong Fat Tze was a Chinese business tycoon who owned houses all over Southeast Asia. The one in Penang housed his favourite 7^th wife (50 years younger than Tze) and combined both Chinese traditional and Western architecture. It has 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, 7 staircases, and 220 windows. The house is designed with Feng Shui traditions in mind. The symmetry of the house ensures that the Feng Shui heart, or chi, is located in the middle of the house, in its open air courtyard. Here you find air, water from rain, earth from the plants and metal in the posts.

According to Feng Shui traditions, the best location to build a house is on the ‘dragon’s back’ with a slope behind and water in front. Since Penang hill is so far away, Cheong Fatt Tze built the back half of his house eleven inches higher than the front. I wish I could show you the beauty of the interior but we were not allowed to take photos.

Despite coming across many rats on our evening stroll – we had a super day.

Day 3

Today we ventured out on the city bus to the Kek Lok Si Temple, a traditional Chinese temple situated on a small hill on the edge of the city. ‘Temple of Supreme Bliss’ is a Buddhist temple with construction beginning in 1890 and in 1930, the 7 story main pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas was completed.  

We climbed a pagoda – 198 steps in all - with an incredible view of the city. The temple complex is huge and takes a few hours to appreciate all the details – wooden ceilings, carved pillars, mosaic tiled dragons, fish and turtle ponds, gardens, etc.

I found the turtle pond a bit disturbing, the poor things seemed a bit overcrowded…

In 2002, a 30.2m bronze statue was completed and this sits higher than the rest of the temple – we took a funicular to this level and were not disappointed with what we found.

Not only was there the statue, but another temple, a fish pond with waterfall, a small park, and statues representing the Chinese horoscope – here are photos of Ian and I with our Chinese symbols.

At this point it started to rain – seems we get caught in the rain at the same time each day here – so we made our way down the hill through the stores and into the first restaurant we could find. Ian had assam laksa, a Penang signature dish of noodles in a fish broth garnered with a variety of different vegetables. It is a spicy hot and sour dish. I had Fried Koay Teow, a dish of flat rice noodles fried in an iron cast wok over very high heat.  Shrimp, garlic, egg, soy, bean sprouts and chives are added and it was delicious; the noodles neither too wet nor too dry.

We returned from our visit to the temple tired and hot (our usual state) but happy.

Day 4

Having discovered Komtar where the city buses originate, we decided to board bus 101 and head to the National Park with no plans whatsoever.  The bus cost us 3.40 RM (about a dollar and change) and was an hour long. On the drive we could see the beach and we both noted a very large lizard-like creature on one of the empty stretches of beach – to us it looked like a small crocodile.

The bus let us out at the last stop and we moseyed over to the park office where we signed in and took a look at the map. There’s a canopy walk but it was closed (darn it!) so we opted to do a trail to Monkey Beach, that ran along the water.

Before setting off we figured we should load up on fuel so we headed to the closest food stand and asked what they served and were introduced to Pepper Roti – a roti loaded with peppers and onions. It was perfect for our lunch.

The trail was fairly easy, starting off with a concrete path then turning into a trail where we crawled over roots, rocks, and fallen trees. Some areas had wooden stairs, others had concrete ones, and others had none.  It was hot and muggy and we watched in both awe and worry as rain clouds approached over the water.  We unfortunately didn’t see any wildlife and despite sweating profusely, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We came across a University Marine Studies centre with a long dock out to the water and asked about a boat ride back.

Now that was fun. First of all trying to get into the boat from off the dock was interesting – I thought for sure I’d end up breaking something getting into that rocky thing.  The dock was very high and there were some stairs that went down to the water but the boat couldn’t come close enough so you had to jump from the side with not much to hang onto.

We were joined by several women who work at the centre and take a boat out there every day.  It certainly wasn’t a luxury ride, we were all sprayed with water but it felt great after that hot trek.  As we approached our drop off point, instead of heading to the dock, the driver moved close to shore.  The women stood, rolled up their pants and began climbing down a ladder attached to the front of the boat. Off went my socks and shoes, up went my pants, and over I went.

All good fun.

                                                                                                                                     

Pulau Langkor

We have travelled from Cameron Highlands to our next destination – Pulau Langkor. It’s a tiny island, 3km by 9km off the west coast of Malaysia, surrounded by beaches and covered in jungle. To get to PL, we took a bus to Ipoh and then spent a couple hours in a dingy bus station waiting for our transfer to Lumut where we would then catch a ferry.  The bus ride, although not as spectacular as our arrival to Tanah Rata, was still pretty splendid as the road curved through ancient mountains covered in jungle and tea plantations. Every once in awhile you could see huge patches of red soil cascading down the mountains where a mudslide had ripped its way through the trees. Many of our fellow passengers slept or stared straight ahead as we travelled out of the highlands down to the highway below while I couldn’t close my eyes, afraid I’d miss something. Even the highway offered us a view of limestone hills.

Ipoh, a largish city, didn’t appeal to us at all and we decided not to return there for a visit. The wait at the bus station was fairly uneventful. When we entered the station, salespeople began shouting at us in Malay, trying to get our business. Stations around the waiting area house several different companies each offering different routes, buses, and prices, which means competition and usually a decent price to be found. Unfortunately for us, there was only one company offering a route to Lumut so our bus wasn’t as nice as the others, but it did have air conditioning and in this heat, you definitely want that. Lunch at the station consisted of apples, strawberries and a cup of corn purchased from a vendor (yes, they had fresh corn sold in a cup for about 65 cents).

I should tell you about the bathrooms. Luckily, I’m accustomed to them from my Korea days and visiting China and Thailand so they didn’t catch me off guard.  First of all, you have to pay to use the public facilities - 10 cents CAD so it isn’t much – extra for toilet paper so I’ve learned to always go into washrooms with my own paper.  Typically you can find a Western style toilet in one of the stalls but the rest are usually squat toilets. You would think that using a Western toilet would be the way to go but when there is a seat (because there isn’t always), it is always wet.  As you may already know, toilet paper isn’t something that everyone uses in Asia – every stall has a hose with running water or a water filled bucket with ladle so instead of paper, one cleans with water, and I guess, drip dries???  Washrooms here are not a nice place – there are sinks to wash your hands and sometimes soap but it’s a rare washroom that provides something to dry your hands with.  It pays to have short hair – I’ve used my hair a lot to dry my hands on.

Our bus ride to Lumut was okay, not a lot to see.  The ferry was a mere 3 minute walk from the bus station and we didn’t have long to wait – maybe 10 minutes. 20 minutes later, we were at the town of Pangkor on our little island. We took a cab to our little resort and voila, here we are.

Our room is on the third floor, the one with the towels on the railing.

This is a treat for us – swimming pool, balcony, open air lobby with free wifi, and a nice clean dry bathroom. It isn’t on the beach exactly, but the beach is across the road, so it isn’t far. Unlike resorts in the Caribbean, the ones in Malaysia do not include food or drinks.

On arrival, we went for a swim in the pool and were astonished at how warm the water was from the hot sun, it felt like bath water.  We dried ourselves on the lounge chairs and watched small blue birds skim the water of the pool for a drink. Later, we went for a walk to a restaurant on the beach for a meal of fish.  Our view for dinner was a bay of sparkling blue water, setting sun, tiny Giam Island, and not a soul on the beach.

Across the water I noticed a wooden building with tables and chairs along the water so I asked the server if it was a resort or a restaurant. He laughed, telling us a story of a couple who walked over to the building, planted themselves at a table and asked the first person who walked by for 2 Tigers (the local beer here in Malaysia); embarrassing because the building was actually a Buddhist temple.

On the walk back, we stood and watched 20 to 30 monkeys (macaques) make their way along some wires across the road – little babies would play and fall off the wire landing safely on a branch of leaves. Two monkeys stopped midway and began grooming each other forcing all the other monkeys to jump or climb over them. Some stopped and stared at us, a bit disconcerting because monkeys can suddenly turn vicious as I discovered the following day…

Day 2 and 3

Our morning started slow and lazy. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and lounged about surfing and reading. We had a nice chat with the manager of the property who told us of his own visit to Canada and Niagara Falls and how in a few weeks, he was on his way to Mongolia and Russia for a vacation.  He is originally from Taiping, Malaysia and when he retired the owners of the resort asked him to manage it. He lives on the property with his family.

Back in our room, we were excited to discover a monkey sitting on our balcony and of course, had to take a photo of it. Shortly after, it disappeared over the side.

 I went out and peered over the edge to find the monkey one floor below staring up at me. As soon as we made eye contact, it hissed and moved quickly, and I mean quickly, towards me. Believe me, I bee-lined it back into the room and watched it safely through the glass. It sat on the balcony railing, just a few feet away, hissing at me; quite territorial. I kept worrying it would steal our clothing that was drying on the railing but it was disinterested.  Later in the pool, a fellow tourist told us about seeing a woman just down the street, run out of her shop screaming as a monkey chased her, apparently after the teabag she had in her hand. Yes, they are cute but one must be wary around them.

I did some reading on monkeys and how to avoid confrontations with them. For one thing, you should not smile at them or show your teeth as they see this as a form of aggression. Do not play tug-‘o-war with them – if they pull on something, give it to them. They will probably lose interest and drop it soon anyways. Monkeys have a keen sense of smell and can smell food even if in an unopened package so be careful when carrying snacks around monkeys.

The place around here is fairly deserted because it’s low season – many villas and guesthouses and restaurants are sitting empty. We picked a good time to come; the beach is deserted and I honestly can’t imagine being here when it’s busy. However, this does mean limited eating spots – there is the resort kitchen that’s open for breakfast and lunch and then a restaurant down the street for dinner, and two on the beach for lunch and dinner.  The prices are not the cheapest compared to the rest of Malaysia but are still cheaper than eating out in Canada.

Ian found there were too many choices for dinner and couldn’t decide what to eat.

Usually it’s me who can’t decide and Ian has to wait while I try to make up my mind. This time, I knew exactly what I wanted: grilled fish and iced lemon tea, similar to the lemon tea I had in the Cameron Highlands only with lots of ice. Malays drink water out of the tap, but we’ve been buying bottled water. We have however been brushing our teeth with tap water and have had ice – which we won’t be doing when we leave Malaysia. I was surprised to hear it was local barracuda that I was eating, a first for me.

There are lots of interesting noises here: during the day the Hornbills make loud calls to each other, monkeys scream at each other when angry, and insects can be deafening.  Hornbills often travel in pairs, and this particular Hornbill was sitting on the railing of the lobby hoping for some fruit.

For dinner day 3, I decided to try the crab, here is a photo of me before I received my meal – I was pretty content.

Then I got my crab and what a mistake I made ordering that! It arrived covered in some sort of red chile sauce. Imagine the mess when you have to grab onto the crab, in your hands, in order to crack the shell to get at the meat! I had sauce everywhere including my shirt and couldn’t pick up my drink or a fork because my hands were covered in this hot red sauce. I was not impressed and quite miserable when I was done. In retrospect, I should have gotten Ian to take a photo of me AFTER eating that thing.

Day 4

Today we decided to be a little more motivated and rented motorbikes to tour the island. We started off at 10:30am on our tiny automatic 90 cc bikes – Ian looked huge on his, considering at home he drives a 750. It took me awhile to get my confidence back – it’s been awhile, but it got easier as we went. The roads are something else and I wish I could have stopped to take a photo of them. They are very steep with sharp curves, some almost at 90 degrees and at times, narrow down to a bike lane width so vans coming the other way are forced into your lane. It’s impossible to go fast. I think we got up to, maybe 65km on a short stretch of straight road. While driving, you have to keep an eye out for pedestrians, other motorbikes passing you in your lane, monkeys, dogs, and goats.

The photos below are from the tip of the island. One reveals a village built out on the water.

On the east coast, we drove through the fishing village of Sungei Pinang Kecil making a brief stop at an Indian temple built around a tree. I got this photo of the village from there -

In the Indian temple were two white horses that one would find on a carousel. I haven’t quite figured out the scoop on these temples, can’t find it in my research. Remember that temple I asked the server about? Well, Ian and I paid it a visit and found statues of Donald Duck, a rat, a mermaid and a turtle – very cartoon-like – displayed around the property of temple…see for yourself.

I am at a loss as to the significance.   

We continued around the island, with frequent stops, in about an hour. Ian wanted to tackle the challenging roads again so we did that, making our way around half the island and then back again over the same roads but in the opposite direction. Gotta say, it was a blast.

Day 5

Last day looks like rain, rain, and more rain, but we don’t care. We’re quite happy to sit here in the open lobby chilling. Perhaps we’d feel different if this was one day in only a few that we had for a vacation, but when you have a full year ahead of you, who cares?

Tomorrow is travel day – taxi, ferry, bus, ferry, taxi – all to get to Georgetown, Malaysia’s second largest city found on Pulau Penang, an island off the west coast and just south of Thailand.

Cameron Highlands

We started our day in Kuala Lumpur with a traditional Malaysian breakfast.  The restaurant was one we had often walked by and always had customers in it so we figured it was a safe bet.  It had a buffet where you pointed to what you wanted to eat and the server would dish up the food for you.  Ian chose noodles and a cold potato masala (yummy) and I chose veggie rice, a fried egg and some cucumber. We ordered coffees which come with milk and sugar unless you specify otherwise, and I ordered an orange juice which turned out to be an orange lassi –  probably the best OJ I’ve ever had. Halfway through our meal, the server brought over a tray of egg roti, very thin square pieces of roti with egg and a dipping sauce – it was delicious. I could not finish my meal – I was so full. The bill came to 24 RM – about 8 dollars in total. In the future, I think an egg roti and some potato masala would be a perfect way to start the day.

After breakfast, we soon left the hot city of Kuala Lumpur with our heavy packs and sweat dripping down our backs for the cooler hills of the Cameron Highlands. The journey was approximately 5 hours on the nicest bus I have ever been on. We had assigned seats on an air conditioned bus that only had two seats on one side and one on the other – the seats themselves were large and comfortable and could be adjusted to an almost prone position (they even had a footstool attached). The road to Tanah Rata was interesting – steep with very sharp curves and stunning views. Along this route, locals had simple wooden stands set up with various fruits, juices, and baskets for sale. The bus dropped us off at the Tourist Information Centre which was convenient for us – because they could point us in the direction of our guesthouse, 8 Mentigi.

The guesthouse is down a side road off the beaten path – which hopefully would mean some peace and quiet. Mr Smith, the owner, greeted us with a smile and immediately showed us to our room – directly off the reception area – so close in fact that the chair in front of the desk is also in front of our door. Ian and I don’t care as long as it’s quiet by 10pm, which signs promise it will be.

The room upon first appearance is clean but small, on closer examination, the bathroom was not so clean. There is a great deal of mold accumulating on the door and tiles but there is hot water and that’s always a plus. . The bathroom is the shower so the floors will always be wet – but we are used to that from our Korea days. The windows don’t have screens on them so we closed the shutters promptly to ward off mosquitoes. We booked a full day tour for tomorrow and bought a map of the walking trails for Monday. The room is 90 RM (about 30 dollars), doesn’t include breakfast but does have free wifi. There is a large porch area in front with tables and chairs with one currently occupied by locals drinking beer, talking and laughing loudly. It is quite funny listening to them.

The big thing here are the tea plantations so the first thing I wanted to do was go for tea and scones which every place offers – so off we went.  We had a large pot of some mildly spiced tea with scones and Ian had apple pie.  We were quite bemused to discover that this tiny place has its very own STARBUCKS so those of you who know me well know how happy that made me.

 Dinner was later and for that we had the Tandoori chicken set at Sri Brinchang restaurant. For about 3 dollars each, we had chicken tandoori, dahl, dipping sauces, a rice and veggie dish, and a large piece of naan. It was very tasty.

 There are a lot of foreigners here – Chinese, Indian, European and Aussies- and many are dressed as if for winter. Having come from Kuala Lumpur with weather that felt like 40+ degrees, I am quite happy to sit outside in a sleeveless top despite seeing my breath and shivering. Currently it’s raining, more like pouring, but that’s typical here these days – pours later in the day but is pleasant in the morning.

Day 2

We got up early for our tour. There were two jeeps and two guides: Bob and Spencer (wonder what their real names are…). We sat in the back with a Belgium family that spoke French. My French is rusty but I could understand a little of what they were saying – but the dad spoke English fairly well, the mom a little so we communicated fine.

Our first stop was the Boh Tea Plantation, Malaysia’s number one producer of black tea. This place was stunning! Rolling hills of tea plants made for many photo ops as you can see.

This plantation has 8000 acres, but the site we were visiting was a mere 600 acres. Malaysians drink more tea than can be produced here so that’s the reason they do not export tea (which is why we don’t associate Malaysia with tea). We were currently at an elevation of 1700 m, the higher the elevation, the better the tea. Harvesting tea is a time consuming process – at one point in time, picking was done by women at about 30 kilos a day – not a lot of tea. Eventually men began to do it with shears and could get up to about 150 kg, but now a special machine pulled by two along the top of the tea plants can cut up to 600 kg a day.  All tea comes from the same leaf: green tea, black tea, English, etc. From start to finish, it takes about 6 months to get a cup of tea. 

We had a tour of a tea factory and then stopped for some tea. Ian had black tea and I had Earl Grey with tangerine – yummy.

Our next stop was Mount Brinchang at an elevation of 2131m. We drove up there on a road that was not well maintained, bumpy, narrow and curvy – but fun. There was a tower you could climb up but there was too much fog to get a great view – but you could see rolling hills in the distance.  Spencer then to us on a nature walk along the side of the road. He pointed out a pitcher plant, wild ginger, citronella, cinnamon, and a plant that is used as an anticoagulant (so if you pull off a leach and begin bleeding, you can crush up the leaves of this plant and apply it to your wound – good to know!).

Next we followed him into the mossy forest – yikes! The trees and moss was quite brilliant but it was very muddy and needless to say, I got my new Tevas very dirty and received quite a soaker. Ian, the only one of our group wearing sandals, managed to get away unscathed. Amazing.

Next stop was the Tama Rama Butterfly farm which was somewhat disappointing. It was neat to see the different insects – scarabs, leaf insects, etc.

The place wasn’t spectacular and the butterfly area was a let-down (especially compared to the ones we have in Ontario). After this, we were exhausted and wished we had only signed up for a half-day rather than the full day but alas, we had not. We dropped off in the town of Brinchang for lunch which turned out to be our least favourite lunch yet – most places were closed due to Ramadan so there wasn’t a lot to choose from. After lunch, we headed to the Time Tunnel, a museum on the Cameron Highlands – this was the strangest museum I have ever been to. It was a seemingly random collection of stuff – old coke bottles, beer signs, toothbrushes and toothpaste, dishes, gum, cigarettes, etc. – all out for anyone to touch, pick up, or drop. Our guide gave us some information on the indigenous peoples the Orang Asli which made us cringe at times…sounded eerily similar to what we did to our own indigenous peoples.

At this point, it was pouring rain but we continued on to a Buddhist temple and a strawberry farm. They grow their strawberries using hydroponics under plastic sheets. Here we ate strawberries with cream that was to die for!!!

Finally we headed for home – and a run in the pouring rain for dinner which despite being wet and chilly was delicious. I wish I had taken a photo of the meal – we had the banana leaf set. They place a banana leaf down in front of you and then proceed to dish up 4 different veggies, 2 types of rice, a small dish of dahl, an egg, and some type of potato samosa only very thin. This was 7RM, about 2.25 dollars. I also a lemon tea which was the best lemon tea I’ve ever had (complete with a tiny green lemon sitting on the bottom).

Oh, I also managed to have my first fall. I wasn’t paying attention so I didn’t notice a small step – down I went landing on my knee (not the bad one thank goodness) and twisting my ankle. I’m sure this will be the first of many! I’m fine but will take it easy tomorrow.

Day 3

First thing we did today was drop off our laundry which will be done at 5pm for 6RM – about 2 dollars. We also bought our bus ticket for Ipoh which leaves tomorrow at 8am. Then yes, I admit it, we sat at Starbucks for awhile reading and sipping Americanos. This is after all our life now so I think it’s okay to take things slow once in awhile. After this, Ian went walking about and I sat at the guesthouse researching our trip and working on the blog. Lunch was Chinese – chicken soup with mushrooms for me and noodles for Ian.

Currently it is sunny and warm but not too hot. Both pairs of shoes have dried so I am a happy camper.

Kuala Lumpur

Walking around Kuala Lumpur

Day 1

Chinatown: we took the monorail to Masjid Jamek stop and wandered along the ‘river’ (more like a sewage canal) to the Central Market. This was a large air conditioned building housing various stalls with items for sale such as purses, baskets, pewter, wooden bowls, Buddhas, soaps, calligraphy, rugs, saris, etc. Lunch was at a food court – I had spicy chicken with rice served on a hot plate and Ian had chicken and veggies from a buffet (you help yourself and are charged with regards to what and how much you picked). Both meals were about 3 dollars each.

Our walk to the Old Train Station was pretty anti-climactic and we continued to Lake Gardens. Lake Gardens has a variety of things to do and see and it would be difficult to do them all in one day. The Masjid Negara, the National Mosque was the first we came upon. It is an impressive building covering 7 hectares and can hold 30,000 worshippers, but unfortunately for us, it was closed to tourists at the time we arrived. Most of the day, it’s open and they will lend you purple robes so that you are appropriately covered for walking around inside. 

We moved on to the Museum of Islamic Arts, RM10 (approx. 3 dollars) – a beautiful building with large foyers of glass walls and domes that houses a collection of miniature replicas of important religious buildings of Islam including the Taj Mahal and the Masjid al-Haram. The Masjid al-Haram is a mosque built around the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that can hold 1 million worshippers. The museum also showcases textiles, robes, metal works, swords, jewels, china, and ancient Korans.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get to or from the Lake Garden area via transit. While trying to find a transit station we learned fairly quickly that Kuala Lumpur, in many areas,  is not a pedestrian friendly city. Sidewalks, when they exist, are often broken, grates missing, and tiles slippery in the rain. You have to watch where you are walking at all times. Roads are very busy and sometimes you have to walk a distance to find a pedestrian crossing which forces you to jay walk even though this is illegal in Malaysia (but not always enforced).

Day 2

We returned to Lake Gardens and the Bird Park, a large free flight aviary with several different varieties of birds including peacocks, hornbills, eagles, parrots, etc. We spent hours wandering around, feeding the fish and getting right up to the birds.  

Next on our list were the Petronas Twin Towers. Towering over 490m high, they house several floors of stores and offices and at the back, is a park-like setting complete with gardens, lake, fountains, and convention centre.

Inside the centre is an aquarium with a 90m tunnel where you can walk as sharks, stingrays, turtles, and fish swim around you. We timed our arrival perfectly with feeding time, and watched as divers fed the fish by hand. The aquarium houses 4 sharks, two of which were lying next to each other on the ground right up against the glass. The aquarium centre doesn’t just have fish, we also saw water rats, spiders, snakes, gecko, crabs, etc. and we spent some time enraptured by 4 baby otters.

Day 3

We ventured out of the city to the famous Batu Caves. It was easy to get to – their komutar train travels directly there stopping right at the caves. You can see the great limestone cliffs as you approach but the thing that really caught our eye was the Homer Simpson-like statue greeting us on arrival (I’m including a photo and you tell me if it doesn’t look like Homer). 

Inside the complex there is a temple, a small pond, several stores and restaurants, and a very large Buddha. The main attraction is the large staircase leading up to the Subramaniam Swamy Temple set deep inside the cave.

 All along the staircase are monkeys – babies included. They were wonderful to watch but one had to be very careful around them. I watched many grab bottles of juice and food right out of tourists’ hands – some monkeys would hiss and scratch if they were not pleased with what you were doing or should I say, not doing i.e. sharing your food with them. Some would grab women’s dresses and shoes; one even used a woman as a spring board, jumping on and off her back. They could be a bit scary.  Ian and I sat and watched them forever as they do put on quite a show.

We managed the staircase quite easily and were in awe with what was inside.  A large cavern with more stairs, a small temple, and some stores – it was truly astounding how big it was. A trail at this entrance led us to the dark caves where you could take a 45 minute educational tour – so of course, we signed up.

It was a small group and each of us received a flashlight. There was a sturdy cement path that we followed and the guide was quite informative – he immediately reminded us not to shine the light any higher than our heads or we would disturb the bats (none of us were eager to do that as we could hear them clearly, and there were many!).  Guano or bat poo was our first lesson, and the guide explained that that was the odour we had been smelling – and here I had thought it was bad B.O.!  Guano is high in nutrients and feeds a fair bit of insects. We saw many cockroaches, both large and small, and a long legged centipede that eats cockroaches. The cave was pitch- black and I would not want to get stuck without a torch! Along the way we saw the power of water on rock – stippling and holes carved into the stone from the river that once ran through there. We followed the path till it led us to a large cavern where the roof opened to the sky and you could finally see bats flying around. A section of the cave was closed off to us to preserve the endangered trapdoor spider – apparently they like this particular cave.

There is a 3 hour tour you can take that the guide says ‘tests your mental strength’ because you have to crawl to squeeze through some particularly tight spots, but alas, you have to book it in advance – maybe next time!

Arrival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Our flight arrived in Hong Kong around 4:45am for a three hour layover. For long flights, Cathay Pacific is a great company to fly with – we had our own screens with a wide range of TV, movies, documentaries, art films, etc. to choose from – as well as blankets, pillows, refreshments, etc. without additional charge.  Ian and I were lucky to get three seats to ourselves which was great for curling up to sleep. However, it was freezing the entire flight and my two blankets hardly kept me warm. The food was decent – we received two full meals and then snacks in between (Ramen like noodles and sandwiches).

The HK airport was deserted when we arrived but quickly filled up. There were lots of stores, clean bathrooms, and plenty of places to get refreshments, including a STARBUCKS! We passed the time easily. The flight from HK to KL wasn’t as pleasant as our first – it was cramped, the lady beside me was sound asleep and kept leaning on me, and it was very hot!! But we arrived here in KL safe and sound. Getting through the KL airport was relatively smooth – immigration didn’t ask us any questions and we got a 90 day visa stamp without saying a word. They did request a fingerprint scan from me – probably because my passport photo looks nothing like me. We took the KLIA Express train which was about 25 minutes, 35 RM, and stops at Sentral Station (their spelling). It was a bit of a maze at SS and we had to do some slugging outside to get to the monorail – maybe a 15 minute walk. I had sweat dripping down my neck and back. We took the monorail to Raja Chulan station which turned out to be directly across from Hotel Istana which was booked in advance.

The hotel is nice and we are very glad we splurged. There’s a tub and separate shower, nice big bed, and a TV with English shows. We unpacked, crashed for hours over the afternoon (having arrived at Istana around 2:30pm) and then went out for dinner. We ate just around the corner at Estana Garden Café: aloo gobi, butter chicken and rice. We were stuffed!  We explored the neighbourhood easily locating the huge Bukit Bintang mall with its many levels, and stores that you would find in Toronto (when we leave KL in June, I’ll definitely put aside a few days to shop!) Outside the mall was a lovely three tiered fountain that changes colours – it represents the three main cultures of Malaysia: Chinese, Indian, and Malay.      

There are several 7-11 stores in the neighbourhood so we visited one to stock up on water and a refreshing cold green tea. Off to bed!

We're Off!

In one and a half hours, we leave for the airport. It's a 15 hour 20 minute flight to Hong Kong where we have a 2 hour layover, then another 3 hours and 40 minutes to Kuala Lumpur. We land Tuesday around noon. We've been checking the weather and it's about 42 degrees with high humidity! They are calling for rain everyday but only 1 or 2 mm. I'm not too worried about any of this because next Saturday we head for Cameron Highlands where the temperature is a much cooler 19 - 20 degrees. Besides, the hotel we're checked into in KL has a pool and a/c - a bit of a splurge I know, but I figured we'd need it to help us get over jet lag...

We did a test pack and got everything in with room to spare - so of course, I'll probably take more clothes. They say the heat, humidity and the laundry services wreck clothes pretty fast in SE Asia so a few more shirts might come in handy. Speaking of packing we should get going on that.

Take care everyone, stay in touch!