Category — Malaysia

I have mentioned it a few times on this blog, but I really love the island of Penang in Malaysia. Ok, the beaches aren’t the best in Asia, but this is made up for the fantastic food Penang has to offer.

I have been going to Red Garden Food Paradise the past few days and I can’t get enough of the place. It’s an outdoor food court with food vendors selling Thai, Penang specialities, Japanese, sate and of course Malaysian food.

There’s even live music and older Chinese folk enjoy a bit of dancing. It’s located on Penang Road close to Penang’s biggest hotels.

I am in Penang right now and one of the things I love about the place and Malaysia in general is the food. You have the choice between Indonesian, Malay, Chinese and Indian. It is a real melting pot of cultures with Muslims, Indians and Chinese all seemingly living together in harmony. People seem to mix languages between English/Chinese/Malay. I even read that some young Malaysians now only speak English.

I love Indian food and you can get a tandoori chicken set with nan bread and some curry and a softdrink all for US$2. Hainanese chicken and rice, another one of my favorite dishes is also about the same or cheaper.

The people also some genuinely friendly and many people speak English well. They call Thailand the “Land of Smiles”, but it is hard to know if people are genuine or they just want you to spend money in their business.

I am catching the ferry to Medan on Friday. I thought it would be a good chance to visit Sumatra, particularly Lake Toba. I always like traveling overland or by boat rather than flying, but now with the discount airlines, flying is usually only a little more expensive. The plane and ferry were actually the same price, it just the extra charges you need to pay that makes it more expensive.

Long bus/ferry trips can sometimes be tough, but sometimes I believe the fun and most memorable experiences are in the journey rather than the destination.

Anyway it should be a bit of an adventure.

Moving on today from beautiful Langkawi, I took the ferry to Penang. We made a brief stop at Pulau Tuba island, which is a popular place for diving. Next time I think I will stop off for a couple of days because it looks like a beautiful spot.

Thailand’s Prime Minister has been found guilty of vote buying at the last election and has been banned from politics. This is basically what the protest at the Bangkok airport and government house was all about. Flights like they are now slowly resuming.

But is it over?

I doubt it very much. Thailand’s politics are still in a mess and there is a good chance that the current government will still be able to come back in some form, possibly leading to more protests and mayhem for the country.

I caught a bus to Satun today in southern Thailand and a ferry to Langkawi Malaysia. Apparently all of the resorts are full here because of people leaving Thailand.

Even if the airport gets going again, this years high season for Thailand is going to pretty dead. At least 1 million jobs in tourism will be lost.

I stayed here last year and really enjoyed the place. Much more low key than the island resorts in Thailand and the food is great, with lots of variety.

I am about to get on a plane to Shenzhen. It is about a four hour flight. I am flying on Air Asia and they fly from a smaller airport away from the main airport in Kuala Lumpur. The facilities are still ok, and they have free wifi throughout the airport.

From Shenzhen it is a twenty hour plus train ride to Shanghai. Beijing is further north, but takes about the same time. My plan is to visit each of the event cities for the Olympics. I like traveling on Chinese trains. They are slow, but fairly comfortable. I picked a few new books to read on the way. My bag was even over the 15kg limit.

I didn’t see enough of Malaysia, but I hope to get back some time soon.

Took the bus from Penang to Kuala Lumpur. The bus had only three seats to a row, and were more like sofa chairs. It also wasn’t busy which is also a plus.

Hotels are more expensive in the capital and budget places are mostly dorm rooms. I wanted to have a good night sleep, so I got a nice room for at least tonight. When I get to China, I will probably only stay in dorms so I might just have a bit of luxury here in KL.

Walking around the streets to night, the atmosphere was pretty lively and looks as though there are some great places to eat. Tomorrow’s mission is finding the Chinese embassy and then I want to check out the twin towers, which aren’t too far away from where I am staying – the golden triangle as it is called here.

I caught the ferry back to Penang today, about a two and a half hour trip. I have been in Malaysia for around 10 days and I really like the place. I always thought that it was more expensive than other South East Asian countries, but it is comparable to Thailand and since the baht has been so strong lately, I think in could be even cheaper than Thailand.

I had a huge bowl of noodles tonight from a street vendor for just 3 ringit (US$0.80). I had heard beer was more expensive, but I went to a reggae bar last night and they were selling Tiger beers for just 4 ringit. The bar had a live band who play every night. They are a great band and the Malay singer is unbelievable. He looks more Samoan and plays percussion when he sings.

It was a little bit sad to leave Langkawi. I had some fun nights going out and it is just a beautiful layed back kind of place. Malaysia is mostly muslim but they don’t seem too strict. Not all restaurants sell alcohol, but there are still plenty of bars in the tourist destinations. For South East Asia it seems to have more order about the place. People actually wear helmets when riding motor bikes.

I know now it is low season and there aren’t too many tourists around, but you just don’t hear about Malaysia as much as say Thailand, Bali or Vietnam. Perhaps it is better to keep it a secret from the rest of the world.

I am still in Langkawi. It has rained fairly constantly the last few days, but I have decided to stay a little longer.

Even if it rains, I can get quite a bit of work done with the free wifi available here. Another guy staying here from Sweden makes his money working remotely, doing programming.

Langkawi has some very beautiful beaches and it is a great place to get away from it all. The whole island is a duty free zone which is great if you like shopping. I don’t like shopping but I do like the cheap imported beers.

I took the ferry from Georgetown to Langkawi this morning. There are only two ferries operating now at 8:15 am and 8:30 am. The later one stops off at another island. It is only a 2.5 hour trip.

I took a look at the beach and the water looks beautiful. The place I am staying is pretty simple and a little walk from the beach, but the owner is friendly and they have free wifi, which is pretty amazing for a cheap bungalow.

I booked for four nights and I think I will enjoy just staying here for the next four days.

If you would like to stay there, you need to book through the internet. The place is called Zachry’s in Langkawi. There are cheaper places to stay, but I have heard of thefts from places on the beach. Zachry also has plenty of DVDs to watch if you just want to chill out watching a movie.