While on Penang we rented a car (from Hertz) and drove our way through the heart of Malaysia.  It added a lot to our travel costs but it made for an exciting few days of travel.

A map of mainland Malaysia.

Penang and Langkawi are on the north west side and Kuala Lumpur is on the west side about half way down.  Between the two you can see Ipoh and the Cameron Highlands.  (the route of our journey).

We left Penang on a ferry and quickly got turned around and stuck going to the wrong direction.  Thanks to some quick navigating of the spotty map we had and some blasting of bad travel music we found our way out of Butterworth and on to the highway.   Our first stop was a Tree Top forest walk.  More on that in another post… We got lost on the way to it and on the way from it but finally made it to Ipoh in a terrible rain storm and found our hotel for the evening.

The Sunset before the storms…

The menu at a restaurant in the middle of Malaysia… No one there spoke english so all we had to go on were these pictures. 

Didn’t really work out that well… (we went to the 7/11 down the road afterward and got some other snacks.)  (That curry had lots of slimy 8 legged friends in it.. I’ll spare you the pictures.)

The next day we traveled on from Ipoh to the Cameron Highlands.  Originally our plan was to stay in the Cameron Highlands the night before and do some hiking in the area, but we found out a bit too late that EVERYONE in Malaysia goes to the Cameron Highlands during the Chinese New Year – (which started that day ).  So we stayed in Ipoh and made a quick trip to the Highlands the next day.  Turned out to be a lot quicker than we thought.  We arrived to rain and fog (pretty in the rolling hills but not to practical for hiking or touring around the strawberry farms and tea plantations – it’s a very colonial region).   We also arrived to bumper to bumper traffic.  So we stopped a tea plantation had a scone and some tea, drove through the rest of the Highlands and decided to head on South for the evening.

Tribes of the Orang Asli still live around this area and remnants of their nomadic lifestyle were everywhere along side the road.  Or this is just a place where people sell vegetables… who knows

Dave taking a picture of the view.

After a few hours of driving we arrived in Kuala Lumpur!!    Excited to get there and not sure exactly where we were going, we got lost a lot and ended up downtown in the heart of the city. We found a hotel for the night (the condo we had rented wasn’t available until the next night) and headed out for a nice relaxing dinner.  Kuala Lumpur was a pretty cool city – surrounded by mountains and jungle it had an interesting feel.  It was the Chinese New Year so everything was closed and most of the people had gone to visit family elsewhere – so it felt like we had the city to ourselves… like a ghost town almost.   But it made driving a lot less scary in the rental car and taxi’s really easy to catch. :)  We used the time in Kuala Lumpur to decompress from the traveling – relaxing in the pool at the condo, eating lots of western food, watching a movie, looking out the view from our 30th floor, and visiting the major tourist spots.

Here is a view of the Petronas Twin Towers (formerly the worlds tallest buildings) from the KL Tower.  The KL Tower is a space needle type structure that is a lot easier to go up in than the petronas towers (and they have a revolving restaurant!).  We went up for Eve’s Birthday!

Views from the revolving restaurant

This kid was climbing up on the windows… !  So Scary!

What a lovely lady

That’s our trip to Kuala Lumpur in a nutshell.  We also visited Chinatown (a busy streetmarket with cheap fake stuff) and the Hard Rock Cafe.  Somehow we only ended up with a handful of photos from this leg of the trip, but hopefully I’ll get some more from Dave and Eve soon and post them.  For now check out this gallery for more pictures and enjoy!

-Chad

Here is Chad approaching our next amazing encounter. i just thought the little peep holes were cool.
Another Chinese temple! We were really tied at this pint and were kind of ready to get back to the hotel to freshen up. Despite our effort to get home we were distracted by this temple and the little man inside.

A little old man met us outside and insisted to us (without English) that we take his tour. We couldn’t really say no.

This was my favorite part of the tour. He offered to take a picture of us together THEN he proceeded to get a picture with each of us. It was pretty amazing.

After we had the photo shoot he took us downstairs to see a picture of him and Tony Blair. He then handed us a handmade business card with his address and asked that we send him copies of the pictures. we need to get on that.

Kids playing on the street.

Among the ruins. Okay, yes I like taking pictures of dilapidated buildings but I do think this take it a bit too far.

Watermelon juice in a bag! Pink liquid in a bag?! Does life get better?

I had hard time handling it. I ended up just carting it around like a wet bag of sugar.
Incense constantly lit for Chinese New Year.

Another eating break! Okay, in all fairness, it has been more than an hour. We went back to the hotel and toured the Indian section of Penang. Hence the samosa.

I just like this, we didn’t go in.

Ah, but after more India Town touring we found a bakery/cafe owned by a man from Penang who had lived in NYC. While there he owned a similar cafe. He was great to talk to. We went back the next day for lunch and brought Dave and Eve. Eve and I had a veggie burgers!!

Do you see my orange mid-air? Chad wanted to take a picture of a temple at night. Quite beautiful, I think. This temple we cam across on our way to get foot massages. At the foot massage we got to be in the same room and the gave us fresh fruit and fresh juice. It was lovely.

Okay, after all of our nibbles we went for a real dinner at the Hawker’s Market. Basically there were a bunch of vendors every where and you just order and give them your table number. We took some risks and ordered random things with which we were unfamiliar. It wasn’t bad but not thrilling, neither of us ate much. Maybe we were just full. .

Lots of different ladies sang to us while we ate. Lots of Celine Dion like music. Woot.

It Asia it is traditional to give gifts in the form of oranges. By the end of the day I had quite a collection in my bag.

Shaved ice covered in ice cream and sauce! Yummy.

Newly engaged bliss.

Okay, so far no one has participated in my challenge so no high-fives from Korea. Last chance, don’t scroll down. What is in these little packages?

1. . .

2. . . .

3. . . .

Spicy coconut rice topped with a boiled egg wrapped in banana leaf!

And now, the Kate tradition continues. When else am I going to have a hot dog in Penang?

Whoa Nellie, this one was intense! More goup than dog.

I couldn’t do it.

Chad enjoyed his midnight snack. :)In with naan, out with naan.

So, that is Penang in a nutshell or two.

On another note, I hope you are all doing very well. We miss you all terribly. Please send us a note to let us know how we are doing. Thanks for keeping up with us, it means a lot to have the support!

Take Care!

Love,

kate & Chad

Ironically, the day we left for Penang which was the day after our engagement, I got sick. Go figure.  After a day of traveling between Langkawi and Penang my body needed a break. Consequently, after lots of Gatorade and toast (I told Chad I was testing his ability to take care of me by getting sick, he passed.) we set off around 4 PM to see a little bit of the city.

Our first stop was nourishment beyond Gatorade. I found chicken soup! The next step, right Momma? It was amazing. I basically ate the broth and spices. It came with a huge slab of bread. Perfect.

Chad was a little more adventurous than I was. He had this lovely platter of naan and tandori chicken.

This is where we ordered. There are tons of street vendors all over just like this. Most of them seemed to be wearing the purple shirts. .

More about these guys later. Any guesses about what is inside? A high-five from Korea if you are right!

Residence of Ku Din Ku Meh

After our large nibble we began our wandering. This little house is one of the very first places we saw. I was attracted to the green building. When we walked up the sign said closed but a man say us and let us in. The house was owned by the former High Commissioner who if I remember correctly kind of lost power when the British came in. Don’t quote me. Anyways, the house was charming and had a little museum. It fed my curiosity.

Pretty Town Hall 

City Hall  

Both “Halls” were next to the ocean. Quite nice.  

 

Random interesting building that I liked. For some reason I am very attracted to facades that are in shambles.

Okay, we are on to Day 2 now. Costume change. This day we actually managed to set out fairly early in the morning (like 11:00). Prepare for more buildings with Chad’s head.

Malay Mosque  

Have I mentioned how religiously diverse Penang is? It is incredible. There is a huge mosque (seen above), tons of Buddhist temples, churches, Hindu temples. I am sure I am missing quite a bit but you get the picture. The people in Penang are proud of the fact that they have lived in harmony with so many different cultures in one place. I would be too. It’s amazing. A place from which we all could learn.  

 

McDonald’s VIP Drive-through  

 

 

I think this is part of a Chinese temple. I can’t bring myself to look at the map right now. Isn’t it beautiful?

 

Chad at the same temple!

Okay, quick story then I need to go to sleep. This day was the day before Chinese New Year. Chad is standing in front of Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s Penang base. Dr. Sun Yat Sen is basically the man responsible for Democracy in China. Anyways, the woman saw us and kind of dragged us in, we are very glad she did. She gave us a tour of the base and told us the story of the man and his group. Dr. Sun Yat Sen and his comrades staged a revolution. The majority of them were killed. Photographs were taken of their bodies and distributed all over China. The photographs outraged the Chinese – democracy.

There is even a movie about it that Chad and I bought. The woman who gave us a tour asked us if we wanted her to sign it because she is the producer.

Also, a man took our picture while we were there and then interviewed us and took our names, occupations, etc. Three days later we were in the largest Chinese newspaper in Malaysia!

After that we decided to EAT! We went to a nice little Chinese restaurant where we were surrounded by reunion dinners for the New Year! A fabulous morning. More to come soon!

Thanks for reading!

K