Liz and I planned this trip not too long ago because we scored some cheap flights. We flew into Singapore, then headed to Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Penang.
Singapore
– Sentosa Island, nice little getaway from Singapore city
– Sentosa Island, nice little getaway from Singapore city
– We shopped a substantial amount at Orchard Road and Bugis Markets.
– Eating the famous chili crab at Longbeach Restaurant – can’t get enough of it!! Eating other Singaporean dishes such as Hainese chicken, char kway teow and hokkien noodles.
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| Sentosa Island |
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| Sentosa |
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| One of the beaches on Sentosa Island |
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
– Met Allan who took us around on our first day. We went through China Town and to the Central Market and to Merdeka Square (Independence Square). We also ate
– We had lunch which was nasi lemak and chicken curry which were delicious and he also introduced us to some Malaysian desserts – cendol and ais batu campur (ABC); not sure if I dig them though.
– Visited shopping centres such as Pavilion and Bukit Bintang.
– At night, we had a quick dinner at KLCC and went to the Traders Sky Bar for the view of the KL and Petronas Twin Towers.
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| Allan & I at Merdeka Square |
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| Liz & I at Merdeka Square |
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| KLCC |
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| At KLCC |
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| Petronas Twin Towers at night |
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| With Liz & Allan inside KLCC |
Langkawi
– Langkawi (also known as the “Jewel of Kedah”) is a small island towards the north west of Malaysia and is an archipelago of 99 islands found in the Andaman Sea. We stayed in the Pantai Cenang area which was very centrally located with beaches, food and nightlife. The island predominately relies on tourism as their main source of revenue but when we visited, it was low season.
– The resort we stayed at Sunset Beach Resort, had a private beach and was a nice place to stay as it was close to shops, food and decent beaches (if you ever wanted to venture out of the private beach)
– We headed up to Pantai Kok to go on the cable cars but when we arrived, they said that there was maintenance until 12pm. So we walked up to Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells) Waterfalls and after we got back, they said they it was windy so they didn’t know if they would be running today. We decided to just leave and ended up relaxing on the beach and swimming for the rest of the afternoon.
– Alcohol is much cheaper here than the rest of Malaysia due to the island being tax free. We took advantage of this and went to a little bar up the road which had 5 ringgit vodkas (these were also pretty much double shots!). After we headed to Babylon Bar which was located right on the beach and met other travellers. After Babylon closed, we headed to Sun Bar where we partied to the wee hours of the morning.
– The next day was a massive struggle for me so just slept and lay on the beach and went for a swim. For lunch, we headed to Tomato (recommended for cheap, consistently good food, although the decor is basic) We had nasi goreng and mee goreng.
– At 2pm, we got picked up from our resort to do a half day island hopping tour. We visiting 3 different islands and the first stop was swimming in some bushland. To get to the swimming hole, you had to walk through bush. We went for a swim but had to be careful of our bags because of the monkeys. On the walk back to the pier, we were waiting for everyone else so just say on some steps.Out of no where, a monkey literally took Liz’s bag pack and was running away with it. Liz was just frantic and not even running after it, but luckily there was some tourist nearby that grabbed it off the monkey. Liz’s bag was literally mud as the monkey was dragging it along. We suspect that the monkey took Liz’s bag, not mine because she had a couple of bananas inside (that she stole from the resort haha) – karma! It was the funniest thing that happened on the trip thus far. We got back on the boat and headed to feed eagles. After, we headed to an island which was so pristine with clear blue water and soft, white sand and was literally deserted! It was so nice swimming and basking in the sun!
– We got back to the resort and chilled for a while then decided to go for a nice dinner so went to a seafood restaurant and had amazing prawns, fish and chicken. We bought some rambutans and sat by the beach which was bliss. Wasn’t up for a big night as we were both exhausted, so we relaxed for the rest of the night!
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| At the ferry pier – this is pretty famous |
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| Our private beach |
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| Seven Wells Waterfall |
Penang
– We arrived by catching a ferry from Langkawi to Penang which was only a 2.5 hour trip. We stayed in the city of Georgetown, the UNESCO World Heritage Site and it was a beautiful, old city but both Liz and I were expected more of a historial feel to the city, instead felt that some of the streets and alleys were extremely run down and just needed upgrades.
– We arrived by catching a ferry from Langkawi to Penang which was only a 2.5 hour trip. We stayed in the city of Georgetown, the UNESCO World Heritage Site and it was a beautiful, old city but both Liz and I were expected more of a historial feel to the city, instead felt that some of the streets and alleys were extremely run down and just needed upgrades.
– The days were spent exploring the back alleys, Little India, shopping and eating!
– Went up to Bukit Bendera (Penang Hill) but unfortunately it was too foggy to view the city. There was a nice hindu temple and a mosque as well.
– The nightlife is pretty non-existent here I thought, which was disappointing! However, the food here is amazing – a variety of good dishes including chicken satay, seafood, hot pot, Penang laksa and char kway teow.
– It was really easy to get around the city because of the free shuttles and accessible and cheap public transport. There was a vibrant atmosphere due to Chinese New Year festivities and PSY was also visiting in a couple of days time apparently so lots of people were excited for that.
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| At Penang Hill |
KL
– We came back to KL by catching a bus from Penang (approximately 4-5 hours) and got picked up by Athi! Went to Bangsar first and got a hair cut to fix my horrible Indian hair cut. Thank God that the hairdressers here understand Asian hair and I was able to get it fixed!
– We came back to KL by catching a bus from Penang (approximately 4-5 hours) and got picked up by Athi! Went to Bangsar first and got a hair cut to fix my horrible Indian hair cut. Thank God that the hairdressers here understand Asian hair and I was able to get it fixed!
– We were back in KL amidst the Chinese New Year celebrations
– Big night out at Rootz. We bought bottles of vodka and had table service and danced the night away. Got back to Athi’s by 5am, just before her dad was waking up for yoga haha
– The next day we went and got banana leaf but I was feeling way too sick to eat any of it! We went to Thean Hou Temple, a Buddhist temple. This was instead of Batu Caves – which is apparently pretty much just a tourist trap and doesn’t really have much there anyway except the huge steps. It was beautifully decorated and had a nice view of the skyline of Kuala Lumpur. We headed to KLCC and went up the Petronas Twin Towers. We were on the foot bridge first and then headed up to top to the 86th floor. The view of KL was stunning.
– Out of Africa restaurant at PJ Palms for our last dinner in Malaysia! We definitely didn’t have the energy to do another big night so relaxed at home.
– The next day we had the most delicious roti canai for breakfast. It is so cheap here (less than $1) whereas back in Sydney, you would pay $5.50 at Mamak!
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| Athi, Liz & I at Thean Hou Temple |
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| Thean Hou Temple |
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| Night out at Rootz |
The trip wasn’t very long but Liz and I really enjoyed ourselves in the short time here! Thanks to both Allan for taking us around and Athenais for also showing us around and letting us stay over! Look forward to coming back to explore other parts of Malaysia!
Day In, Day Out 