We knew Singapore's sophistication was lulling us into a false sense of security as to what the rest of Asia would be like (although think we had a fairly good idea!) but don't think we were quite prepared for the madness of Malaysia! We are on the last day of our stint here - fitting in a whirlwind visit to both Kuala Lumpur and Penang Island. Managed to see the Petronus Towers in Kuala Lumpur and enjoyed escaping from the heat of the day into the air conditioned Pavillion Mall (several floors tall - half of which containing expensive designer stores with nobody in them except bored shop assistants!) We gravitated naturally to the busy food court in the basement, along with everyone else, locals and tourists alike, where you could get every kind of Asian & Western food imaginable at very cheap prices and, more importantly in a clean and hygenic setting! Yes, I know everyone says to try out the local hawker stalls in the streets but when you see them setting out and preparing their food right next to stinking open drains it does tend to put you off a little! Call me unadventurous if you like but my stomach is very thankful I can tell you - and so far so good!! We are staying at a lovely little hotel at the moment in Georgetown on Penang Island, recommended by our favourite website tripadvisor.com! It's a family
run hotel and, although basic, is very clean and breakfast is included every morning on the roof terrace which sets us up for the day so we don't need to eat until the middle of the afternoon! We booked on a tour of the main sights here in Penang and soon realised that we were the only ones
on the tour and in fact had booked a private taxi plus driver (Stuart!) who drove us round for a few hours and took us on a tour of some of the historic buildings and temples (and there are a lot of temples believe me!!!) and filled us in on the points of interest etc without getting us too "templed out" (at least until later in the day!) He was so interesting to listen to (apparently!) that a small boy tagged along behind us at one particular temple everywhere we went, listening intently to every
thing he was saying! You can see him standing just behind CK on the photo of the Dragon doorway! I decided to have a photo taken beside one of the many Drago
ns, being as, as far as the Chinese calendar goes, I was born in the year of the Dragon! Kek Lok Sei Temple, where CK is waving in the foreground, was one of the more impressive ones and we climbed up to the top of the Pagoda to get a great view of Penang Island. We spent our last day today at the Tropical Spice Gardens which is an oasis in the midst of all the heat and humidity! You can smell the spices as you wander along
and it's an assault on your senses in the best possible way! Every now and again we came across pools, waterfalls, a giant wooden swing big enough for two where you could swing through the trees, and cool off at the same time in the breeze! Great fun - at least until 2 small children came along and stood by impatiently waiting for us to get off so they could have a turn! Then we followed a bit of a jungle trail and ende
d up at a cafe run by a group of Indian ladies who served us up some speciality spiced tea as we relaxed on the deck and looked out over the ocean! You just had to remember to say "no sugar" before they served the tea, as if you don't, then all tea over here seems to have an extremely heavy handed helping of sugar! Not to mentioned the condensed milk that's often poured in as well for
good measure! Probably a good bit of work over here for anyone in the dental trade I should think! But being as neither of us fancy having anyone work done on our teeth in this part of the world we are trying to keep the condensed milk and sugar factor to an absolute minimum! We've been eating our evening meals most nights at a little cafe across the road from our hotel called the "Nice" Cafe. It has great food, friendly staff and cheap prices and the owner Kelv
in informed us last night that he also has another business which is a plastic surgery clinic! We didn't see that one coming! Seems a strange combination of businesses to us but he assured us that he keeps both businesses entirely separate! Glad to hear it Kelvin! I was going to get a photo tonight of Kelvin and the guys but we have just noticed that the cafe seems to be closed today so looks like we will have to find somewhere else to eat tonight! Anyway, think that's all from Malaysia. We fly to Bangkok tomorrow, just for a couple of days, and then we go on to Cambodia so more news from there ... !
We knew Singapore's sophistication was lulling us into a false sense of security as to what the rest of Asia would be like (although think we had a fairly good idea!) but don't think we were quite prepared for the madness of Malaysia! We are on the last day of our stint here - fitting in a whirlwind visit to both Kuala Lumpur and Penang Island. Managed to see the Petronus Towers in Kuala Lumpur and enjoyed escaping from the heat of the day into the air conditioned Pavillion Mall (several floors tall - half of which containing expensive designer stores with nobody in them except bored shop assistants!) We gravitated naturally to the busy food court in the basement, along with everyone else, locals and tourists alike, where you could get every kind of Asian & Western food imaginable at very cheap prices and, more importantly in a clean and hygenic setting! Yes, I know everyone says to try out the local hawker stalls in the streets but when you see them setting out and preparing their food right next to stinking open drains it does tend to put you off a little! Call me unadventurous if you like but my stomach is very thankful I can tell you - and so far so good!! We are staying at a lovely little hotel at the moment in Georgetown on Penang Island, recommended by our favourite website tripadvisor.com! It's a family
run hotel and, although basic, is very clean and breakfast is included every morning on the roof terrace which sets us up for the day so we don't need to eat until the middle of the afternoon! We booked on a tour of the main sights here in Penang and soon realised that we were the only ones
on the tour and in fact had booked a private taxi plus driver (Stuart!) who drove us round for a few hours and took us on a tour of some of the historic buildings and temples (and there are a lot of temples believe me!!!) and filled us in on the points of interest etc without getting us too "templed out" (at least until later in the day!) He was so interesting to listen to (apparently!) that a small boy tagged along behind us at one particular temple everywhere we went, listening intently to every
thing he was saying! You can see him standing just behind CK on the photo of the Dragon doorway! I decided to have a photo taken beside one of the many Drago
ns, being as, as far as the Chinese calendar goes, I was born in the year of the Dragon! Kek Lok Sei Temple, where CK is waving in the foreground, was one of the more impressive ones and we climbed up to the top of the Pagoda to get a great view of Penang Island. We spent our last day today at the Tropical Spice Gardens which is an oasis in the midst of all the heat and humidity! You can smell the spices as you wander along
and it's an assault on your senses in the best possible way! Every now and again we came across pools, waterfalls, a giant wooden swing big enough for two where you could swing through the trees, and cool off at the same time in the breeze! Great fun - at least until 2 small children came along and stood by impatiently waiting for us to get off so they could have a turn! Then we followed a bit of a jungle trail and ende
d up at a cafe run by a group of Indian ladies who served us up some speciality spiced tea as we relaxed on the deck and looked out over the ocean! You just had to remember to say "no sugar" before they served the tea, as if you don't, then all tea over here seems to have an extremely heavy handed helping of sugar! Not to mentioned the condensed milk that's often poured in as well for
good measure! Probably a good bit of work over here for anyone in the dental trade I should think! But being as neither of us fancy having anyone work done on our teeth in this part of the world we are trying to keep the condensed milk and sugar factor to an absolute minimum! We've been eating our evening meals most nights at a little cafe across the road from our hotel called the "Nice" Cafe. It has great food, friendly staff and cheap prices and the owner Kelv
in informed us last night that he also has another business which is a plastic surgery clinic! We didn't see that one coming! Seems a strange combination of businesses to us but he assured us that he keeps both businesses entirely separate! Glad to hear it Kelvin! I was going to get a photo tonight of Kelvin and the guys but we have just noticed that the cafe seems to be closed today so looks like we will have to find somewhere else to eat tonight! Anyway, think that's all from Malaysia. We fly to Bangkok tomorrow, just for a couple of days, and then we go on to Cambodia so more news from there ... !
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