so, as you may have guessed (or not…), we are currently in malaysia! as we explained, this very unique country was not in our original plan, but it just goes to show that some of the best things in traveling (and life) are unexpected. yes, malaysia was unexpected, but ended up exceeding our expectations as a destination. it was our first stop in southeast asia, and we dove right in to the complex malaysian culture, food, history, and the ocean (literally!).
we landed in penang, malaysia. penang is an island-state off the west coast of malaysia, just south of thailand. it is a bustling financial center with influences from from china, india, and malaysia. one of the highlights for us was the cuisine. there is so much variety here to be had from night markets (basically about 20 street vendors lined up), to upscale swiss restaurants, to “hawker stands” (the real local food served on the street). all the meals are served with a variety of sauces and curries, and explosion of herbs and spices we’ve never even seen before, and served with a tropical flair, like coconut (ie. coconut milk rice or coconut curry), mango (mango salad or mango curry), or banana leaves (the functional banana leaf may encase rice/fillings to be steamed or substitute as a plate and your rice and toppings are served on top creating a work of food art!). needless to say, we have been enjoying everything and consuming large amounts of white rice, a staple of every meal…even breakfast!
east meets west in little india...a little veggie pizza, green curry, and of course, rice!
fletcher (aka ansel) getting creative with his camera on us
the popular bicycle taxis lined up outside the night market
in penang, we visited many of the sites in georgetown, which is really the historical center of the island. the british founded georgetown as a trading port for the british east india trading company and was the gateway into malaysia. as we walked around, it was like we were in a living museum, passing the old stone fort walls, old british colonial churches, indian mosques, and chinese buddhist temples. the town is even separated into neighborhoods like “china town” and “little india”, both of which boast some of the most amazing food. oh yeah, did i mention the food???
fletcher posing near the old british fort, fort cornwallis, at the port
chinese outnumber every other ethnic group in penang, and this is demonstrated by the numerous chinese temples
demure julie covers up in respect of the islam faith inside one of the many mosques
this is the view of that mosque from the street
fletcher, thinking "it's hot...not in colorado any more...."
chinese worshipers light incense in an offering
another temple...
soon, we made our way to the opposite coast to the remote perhentian islands. never heard of ‘em? neither had we, and that was the allure. the perhentian islands consist of two islands, and we decided to spend our time in coral bay on the “small island”. we thought we had landed in paradise full of lush rain forest and white sandy beaches. the island was very quiet and peaceful, runs off a generator, does not have any vehicles, and we found a private bungalow for only about $25/night!!! the highlight was definitely the scuba diving, with decent visibility and lots of marine life and 1/3rd the price of the US. julie clocked her first real dives (5 of them!) as a new scuba diver!
peaceful coral bay, the view from our bungalow
sunset on coral bay
ahhh, cooling down with a mid-day fresh banana-mango-papaya milk shake
taking the boat from the island back to the mainland
with a few more days to spare, we headed back towards the west coast to another island north of penang, called langkawi. this island was a lot more touristy than we expected, as it is a weekend destination for the local malays. in contrast to where we had just spent the last 5 days on a secluded beach, langkawi was a bit overwhelming for us, not to mention HOT HOT HOT, and humid. but it was still fun to see how the local malays vacation.
we refused to come out of our room until the sun started to go down
and that brings us to now, where we are anxiously waiting for our flight tomorrow out of penang to bangkok and then eventually to ho chi minh, vietnam. more to come soon!
Well, how hot is it there? I must prepare. That milkshake looks amazing!