Day 8: Kuala Lumpur to Penang (George Town)

-Had breakfast at the hotel before a 9am bus to Penang. It didn't end up leaving until 9:40am since they wanted to fill every seat. The journey took about 4.5 hours. We spent most of the time sleeping and reading.

-Arrived in Penang and took a cab to our hostel, the Red Court Inn. We could already tell Penang wasn't going to be one of our favourite spots. The whole town is a little dirty and we did the whole temple tour in Melaka and KL. Instead we decided to head to the Cameron Highlands. We have to back track 3-4 hours but feel like we might enjoy it more. We're only there for one night so still have plenty of time to explore Penang.

-We spent most of our time figuring out our plans for the rest of our time in Malaysia, bur did venture out to Little India for some mediocre lunch. There was a bit of miscommunication with reception. We thought they recommended to visit the Kek Lok Si Temple at 6pm to watch the sunset, but it turns out the temple closed at 6. Oh well. Instead we went over to Penang Hill where we took a tram to the top. We watched the sunset, grabbed a drink, and chatted with an Australian. There wasn't that much to do.

The closed Kek Lok Si Temple:

Sunset from Penang Hill:

The temple on top of the hill:

The tram tracks on the hill (you don't really get the sense of how steep they are in this pic):

-We took the bus back to the hostel which turned out to be quite the adventure as we had no idea where we were going. Somehow we managed to end up back in old George Town. We grabbed dinner at some of the food stalls on the road. There were lots of foreigners there and the food was cheap and quick.

Marco at the market:

Dishwashing in the market:

-We spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching How I Met Your Mother. We have to be ready to go at 7am tomorrow!

Day 7: Kuala Lumpur

-Woke up late and missed our free breakfast, went to Burger King instead (we needed some Western food).

-Walked over to the Islamic Art Museum. Walked past KL Station and the KTMB headquarters. Had a look at the National Mosque, but it wasn't viewing hours for non-Muslims so we didn't go in. Interestingly the Islamic Art Museum had a whole exhibit on Ann Dunham, Barack Obama's mum. It was all about the Indonesian Batik's she collected when they lived there.

The old train station:

The mosque:

Model of Mecca in the Islamic Art Museum:

 A qur'an:

-Then walked up to grab a snack and drink at the Hornbill Restaurant which is just inside the Bird Park. It's sneaky because you get a glimpse of the bird park but don't have to pay the entrance fee. This annoying ugly bird kept coming up to us for food and was not scared at all! Eventually the staff just left us with a spray bottle of water so we could spray the bird. That got rid of him for about 2 minutes and then he would fly back. Marco and I also discovered cool photo settings on our cameras so we ended up taking tons of pictures.

One of the male hornbills in the park:

Marco at the restaurant. Turns out my camera has a fisheye setting:

-We then took went and took a look at the Orchid and Hibiscus Garden. Turns out the hibiscus is Malaysia's national flower. The orchids were beautiful and there were so many different colours. We did see one of those huge gross lizards again.

Marco in the garden:

Some of the beautiful orchids:

-Took a cab back to the hostel and relaxed some. Spent some time updating the blog.

-Walked into Chinatown to take a look at Petaling Street. It's full of market stalls and people hollering at you to buy things. It was quite overwhelming actually. We were going to get dinner there but it really was just shops. We ended up going to a little cafe in the Central Market. I had the weirdest chicken cordon bleu. There was no cheese! Isn't that the whole point?

-We went back to the hostel and played cards on the rooftop bar. It actually has a gorgeous view of the KL Tower and Petronas Towers. We were going to head up to the Petronas Towers and walk across the walkway but it's a little cloudy here so there wasn't much point.

Day 7: Melaka to Kuala Lumpur

-Woke up early and had a very chatty taxi driver on the way to the bus station. He was pretty funny, saying he also lived in the states, Melaka state.

-We took a 2 hour bus ride up to Kuala Lumpur. Spent most of the time sleeping. The bus was freezing and kept playing weird music.

-Took the train to the hostel- Reggae Mansion- which is located in Chinatown... again. Nothing wrong with that, just seems to keep happening.

-We checked in and relaxed before heading out for some lunch. The hostel is nice, our room is freezing though and we don't have any windows. Could be worse!

-We went to the Central Market for lunch. It has a bunch of little stalls selling stuff and has a food court on the second floor. After eating we walked over to Merdeka Square, where Malaysia's independence was declared in 1957. However, we first stopped in the very boring Kuala Lumpur City Gallery. They were playing the Euro Cup on a huge screen on the square but only a couple of people were there watching it.

Central Market:

Merdeka Square flagpole:

-We then walked on over to Masjid Jamek, a mosque by the river. I had to get all dressed up for it. It was cool to see but not very big.

Marco being culturally sensitive and pretending to be a wizard (Expecto petronas! like the towers- Marco's joke:

Me in my new robes:

- We went back to the hostel fast and then took a train to the central city to meet up with David (our German friend from Melaka). He was staying at the Impiana, right by the Petronas Towers so we went swimming in the pool there.

At the pool with the Petronas Towers in the background:

- After swimming we went over to the ridiculous mall in the Petronas Towers to grab some dinner. I had some naan and Indian food. After eating we walked around the KLCC Park which was beautiful. There was another light/fountain show, this time to Titanic. The towers definitely look cooler at night.

The light/fountain show:

The towers at night:

-We then walked to the Rum Jungle, a bar close by, to get some drinks for Marco's birthday. There was a shark aquarium above the physical bar which was really cool. Marco took this ridiculous flaming shot.

Marco and his shot:

-We continued our night out in Bukit Bintang, an area that seemed frequented by expats. We stopped by a couple of bars there and made some friends before heading back to the hostel.

Us and our new random friends (David is the one in the blue shirt on the right):