Malaysia: Penang, Pulau Perhentian, and Kuala Lumpur

PENANG: I had low expectations for Malaysia only because I did not know much about it. I was blown away. I took a flight from Ko Samui, Thailand to Penang, Malaysia. Flying into the area, I saw that it was much more mountainous than I thought. The first thing I noticed when I landed was the friendliness of the people…every single person I met (the information desk, the SIM card man, the taxi drivers, the hotel staff, the hawker station locals, etc.). At the airport, I found the bus to go to my hotel. Unfortunately it was over an hour wait, and then 1.5 hour drive. A taxi driver named Ron kept making me laugh trying to convince me to take his taxi. I kept telling him I was “poor” and had to take the bus. After negotiation and me liking his general personality, I decided to take the taxi versus wait another 2.5 hours before arriving at my hotel. I made quick friends with Ron and found out about his life in Penang. I told him about my journey and how my husband was visiting soon. We talked about how I was trying to save money by staying in hostels and choosing cheap options. After awhile, he started saying “Oh no, now I feel really guilty for making you pay too much. Oh no. How about I take you back to the airport on your way out FOC (free of charge!) to help you save money since I charged you too much for this ride?” After explaining that I had to leave at 4:30 AM for my flight (so his offer was kind but unnecessary), he still insisted. It was SO NICE that it started to make me suspicious (thanks to the guy in Jamaica for those of you that know that story).

I enjoyed my short time in Penang, staying in the Four Points Sheraton utilizing more of my Starwood points. The hotel was on the beach and had a free shuttle. I enjoyed a walk through Georgetown and along the waterway. It was rather hot, so my lunch at Madras New Woodlands (vegetarian Indian restaurant) in the air conditioning felt so nice. I also stopped by Purrfect Cat Cafe (a tea shop with cats, a new trendy thing in bigger cities) because I wanted to check it out. It was a bit disappointed although some of the cats were rather odd looking (making it interesting). Most of the restaurants in town were closed because of Ramadan (a Muslim fasting period where Muslims are required to abstain from food, drink, cigarettes, and sex between sunrise and sunset). I took a taxi back to the hotel (and had yet another nice driver), although he agreed with me that the “free” ride was unlikely. That evening I took the shuttle to Batu Ferringhi and  walked along the beach and through a very long night market. I had food at Pushpa’s Indian Food, a small booth in the night market that had been recommended by my taxi driver. That evening, I gave Ron a call, and he said he’d be at my hotel in the morning, free of charge. I told him I’d pay him. He arrived on time and happy. Because I liked him so much I paid him the same price I had paid him earlier.

PULAU PERHENTIANS: I took a quick flight from the west side of Malaysia to Kora Bhurta (one hour flight), and then a one hour taxi ride to the Kuala Besut jetty. From there, I took an hour boat ride to the Perhentian Islands (Pulau Perhentian Kecil and Pulau Perhentian Besar), an absolutely beautiful small set of islands on the east coast that I had not heard about prior to the trip. The water was crystal clear and had so many shades of blue that it just made me smile. The boat pulled up to the shore outside of Panorama Divers, where I’d purchased an eight dive, four day, three night dormitory package. They kindly welcomed me, and I was able to get two dives in that day: a wreck dive and a coral garden. I was a bit disappointed in those dives because the water coming in had been perfect, but these dives had poor visibility and not a lot of things to see. I did all three dives the next morning, and I was blown away. Perhentian Diving: http://bit.ly/UCsj8F  Two of the three dives were significantly better than the day before. There were so many box fish http://bit.ly/1mRjUoN, puffer fish http://bit.ly/1roVyH9, many kinds of shark, hundreds of nemo fish http://bit.ly/1pqDr0Q, turtles, sting rays, nudibranchs (love them!) http://bit.ly/1pjFOWi, pipefish http://bit.ly/1utKT3z, many kinds of shrimp and crab, soft coral, grouper http://bit.ly/1AlfbGg, etc. Because of my fins in Thailand, the back of my heels had started to rub rather raw and only got worse. I now have giant holes on the back of my heels, but the great diving makes up for it. Since I arrived, the WiFi on both islands had been broken and the electricity was only on during certain hours of the day. It’s nice to be removed. The bathrooms were outside, and they had a wash hose instead of toilet paper. There were definitely island rats as well, but that’s when you know you’ve arrived for a great (and remote) adventure. I really liked all the people I met while there, and I had the best dive master I’ve every had while I was there. On one dive, I was the only one with him, so I had a great time just going anywhere that I wanted and pointing out cool things along the way. He showed me a lot of fascinating things. I had cleaner shrimp http://bit.ly/WIBvKH cleaning my hands (they cleaned his teeth!), and I was playing with a Nemo fish (except this one was a saddleback anemonefish http://bit.ly/1tOQ4ak) when he bit my middle finger (hard enough that I squealed underwater). What a feisty little thing! I guess he was just protecting his son Nemo, ha. I’ve fallen in love with this set of islands, and I was very sad to leave.

KUALA LUMPUR: I took a boat back to the mainlands and a cheap but long bus ride across the country to Kuala Lumpur. The bus ride was eight hours, but the views were beautiful. We curved along the road through the mountains, parks, plantations, and rainforests/jungles. When driving, it surprised me to turn the corner from the jungle and see a giant city on the other side. Kuala Lumpur is a mix of by different cultures, and it is evident in the buildings. You can see the Petronas Towers (formerly the world’s tallest skyscrapers until 2004) and the Menara Kuala Lumpur shape the skyline, mixed with mosques, temples, gardens, and traffic. There’s a Little India (where I had some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had at Gem Restaurant) as well as areas influenced by the Malays, the Chinese, and the British.

I liked Malaysia so much, I decided that my future journey will consist of a visit to East Malaysia (Borneo). Although I didn’t want to leave the country, I was very excited to be heading to Vietnam to see my dear Michael.