Day 11: Penang to Phuket

-Had breakfast at the hotel before taking a taxi to the airport.

-Once we were through security we wandered around looking for food, unfortunately most of it was pre-security.

-Had an hour-long plane ride to Phuket where we took a mini-bus to our hotel. Of course they stopped half-way to 'find out which hotel we were going to' (aka shameless ploy to try and make us by day trips around the island with them).

Flight over Phuket:

-We stayed at the Amari Coral Beach resort which was gorgeous. It was so nice and beautiful. We used a discount hotel website and managed to get a deluxe room overlooking the water. After settling in, and drinking some delicious lemongrass tea, we went to the pool to relax. Had a pina colada in a coconut and then a couple more drinks during happy hour. It was paradise.

Marco at the restaurant with our pina coladas:

The beautiful pool (my camera was a little humid):

-We watched the sun go down from our balcony and then ate a delicious Italian meal.

View from the balcony:

Me on the beach:

-Walked into town after dinner, but it was pretty deserted and touristy so we went back up to the hotel.

Day 10: Cameron Highlands to Penang

-We had the worst night sleep ever as someone was trying to fix the door across the hall at 1am in the morning. It was the loudest, squeakiest thing ever. Luckily another girl came out to complain and they stopped.

-We woke up early to get ready for our 4 hour jungle trek. We met the guide outside the store and walked off to the jungle! It was pretty cool. We climbed to the top of a mountain, saw a turtle in the path, and generally just examined the vegetation and trees around us. The tour guide- a Malaysian Indian- had two main conversation topics: 1. food, 2. money. The money part was a little awkward as he kept talking about his budget and that. The food part just made me hungry as he was pretty much naming every single food he knew. We also walked along to a little waterfall across town. It was pretty average.

Huge lemons:

In the banana leaves:

King of the jungle with a crown of ferns (made by our guide):

 At the top of the mountain:

The turtle we saw:

Trying to swing Tarazan style and failing:

The mini waterfall:

-After the tour we walked into town and had some more lunch at the Indian cafe.

-Our minibus to Penang picked us up from the hostel at 2pm and we prepared  for our long (5 hours) journey back to Penang.

-We finally got back to the hostel in Penang and had dinner at another hostel on Love Lane. We learnt it was called Love Lane since the rich men in the area used to meet their mistresses there.

-Once done with dinner I skyped with my family finally! I saw our new goldendoodle puppy Hagrid Phinneas Liddell!

Hagrid sleeping:

Day 9: Penang to Cameron Highlands

-We woke up early for a mini-bus ride to the Cameron Highlands. It took about 4 hours but we got some reading in.

-Arrived around 12pm and checked into the KLS Pines. Booked an afternoon tour and went into the town for some Indian food before we set off.

-Our tour picked us up around 1:45pm and we drove off into the mountains! Driving there was probably one of the scariest things ever. The road was pretty much one-lane and we were turning around very sharp corners. However, because this is Malaysia, there were no mirrors around the corners and the driver just had to honk continuously to warn anyone oncoming. There were a few close calls. Plus the driver kept stalling the car, at one point we were just rolling down a hill with no engine.

First view of Teletubbie land (aka tea fields):

-We finally made it to our first destination: Gunung Brinchang, a mountain at 6, 666 feet. Unfortunately it was pretty hazy (we later learnt this was from all the burning of the jungles in Indonesia to make space for one crop harvesting).

Panoramic 1: Created with panoramic setting on my camera, which I just discovered, and a great website: http://www.dermandar.com/create/

Panoramic 2 from the top of the mountain:

Marco climbing the viewing tower:

-We then headed off for a little jungle trekking, or what Marco and I thought was going to be jungle trekking. We were all ready to go with our bug spray, walking shoes, etc. It turned out to be a 10-minute trek through the "Mossy Forest," which my tour brochure here says is the oldest forest. Hmmm.

Marco in the "Mossy Forest:"

Hiking with the guide:

Unfortunately a little blurry, but some of the vegetation in the forest:

-From there we took another treacherous journey to the tea plantation and factory. The Cameron Highlands is a big producer of BOC tea. Marco and I headed right in to have a cup of tea, but apparently we weren't supposed to do that and our tour guide came running after us- we had to do the factory tour first where they told us about how the tea was made. After that we finally had some tea and pastries. The tea fields were just gorgeous. It felt like we were in Telletubbie land.

A panorama of the fields:

Marco the tea farmer:

Another view of the fields:

-We then went to the Butterfly Farm, Strawberry Farm, and Rose Garden. In the butterfly farm it seemed like half the butterflies were dead and just sitting in the leaves. None of them were moving. They had some creepy snakes though and the ugliest creature I have ever seen. It was literally a hairless rat. Disgusting. The Rose Garden was huge. I love things like that but Marco hates them. And the Strawberry Garden was pretty boring. Marco bought a sour strawberry milkshake.

Dead butterfly?

View from the rose gardens:

A strawberry at the farm:

-We headed back but hit this huge traffic jam. What should have taken 30 minutes took about 90 minutes. There was a big night market in the town before Tanah Rata which was the hold up. Once we got back we ate some more Indian food then headed back to the hostel.

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):

Day 6: Melaka

-Today we woke up after basically no sleep. We spent most of the morning searching for a breakfast place. Most of the restaurants are closed on Tuesdays in Melaka but we finally found one.

-We walked along Jonkers Street to buy some postcards and look around a little more. We then went back to the hotel to rest a little. Walking around in the heat is pretty exhausting.

- We headed back out and walked along the river before heading to the Porta De Santiago (A'Famosa Fort). It was just a few ruins with only the gatehouse remaining. It was built by the Portuguese in 1511. We then walked on to the replica of Melaka Sultanate Palace. It is a replica of Sultan Mansur Shah's palace who ruled Melaka from 1456 to 1477.

Porta De Santiago:

Sultanate Palace Replica:

Some fake people in the palace:

-After exploring we went to have some lunch and drinks. Then went to rest (we saw almost everything already). We played spit, I skyped with the family, then we went to dinner. We found this cheap little place by the water the day before where you can get a meal for $1USD. 


Marco at lunch:

Marco at the river cafe:

The river (our hostel was up on the left):

-After eating we walked to St. Paul's Church to watch the sunset. It was built in 1521 and has had affiliations with Dutch Reform, Catholicism, and Christianity.

Marco at the church:

Sunset on the church (it was too cloudy to see the sun):