KL, Malaysia

We managed to navigate our way out of the airport to catch the train to Pasir Seni (there seems to be 101 different types of trains/transport options – PUTRA, Sky train, Train etc.) Luckily we only have to travel a couple of stops away. Assuming it would be fairly straightforward to find our hotel, we set off out the train station in what we thought was the right direction (I’m not sure why we thought this...there were no road signs to reassure us) Needless to say, we were soon very hot and bothered and unsure which way to go next. We approached a bus attendant who suggested we should catch a bus. Good – we have direction! We try to board the appropriate bus but are somewhat bamboozled, when the driver says not to get on...the hotel is nearby, we should walk. Well, by this point we are not happy bunnies. It is 30c, we are weighed down with all our luggage and it would seem, on a wild goose chase. We decide to walk in the hope someone else can offer some vaguely helpful directions. Eventually, our saving grace is a hotel tout who firstly tries to recruit us to stay somewhere else, but thankfully isn’t persistent and offers good directions to our required destination!

Once we are all checked in we head out in search of food – we are starving! The infamous ‘Petaling Street Market’ is just a few minutes away – we’re sure we’ll find something yummy here.

Yep – we found yummy food! In a shabby, nothing-to-rave-about little hawker type centre just off the market street, we have 2 delicious dishes of roast pork and duck with rice AND 2 drinks...all for less than £5. We’re loving it!

The next day we headed out to see some of the famous sights of KL. Firstly, Merdeka Square. It was here that the Malaysian flag was raised for the first time on the 31st August, 1957, replacing the union jack. This action signified the end of British rule in Malaysia. On the eve of the 31st August each year, thousands of residents of Malaysia head to the square, to celebrate another year of independence! Situated within the square is a 95 metre tall flag pole, one of the tallest in the world. The buildings surrounding the square are particularly striking, looking as if they were fresh out of Shakespearean times! Next on the agenda was the National Mosque of Malaysia, which is absolutely huge! The central courtyard covers 153 square feet and the tower climbs 245 steps – unsurprisingly it can house 15,000 people during prayer time. We didn’t do a great deal else with our day as it was particularly humid and we had already walked a fair way! One detail worth a mention though – an unexpected, delicious dinner! Struggling to decide what we wanted to eat, we walked a few blocks from our hotel and came across a small Indian cafe/restaurant. A little unsure whether to trust the buffet type variety of curries we decided to order a few small dishes to try. Well, we had the most amazing ‘roti’ (traditional Indian type bread, like a cross between a naan and a pancake), ‘dhaal’ (a sauce dip) and curry sauces! Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best. Needless to say, Andy made quite a few repeat orders for more roti! Yummy!

The next morning we headed to the Petronas Towers nice and early to join the queue for tickets to travel up on a visit to the sky bridge connecting the two towers, on the 41st level. Although these tickets are free, they are issued on a first come first served basis (1300 each day)! Thinking we had arrived fairly early, we were disappointed to see a massive queue had already formed! After eventually finding the end of the line, we shuffled along for a good 40 minutes or so....thankfully managing to get two tickets for 2.30pm! Now we just had a matter of 4 hours or so to kill....Not a problem, considering the towers are built above a huuuuge shopping centre – "Suria KLCC"!

On arriving back at the towers half an hour before our trip, we had a look around the information centre, containing lots of displays about the construction of the towers. The best bit was a short video documentary which showed the construction process – impressive stuff! Even more entertaining than this....Andy was confused to discover a large group of Indian men encircling him...grinning. After a few moments, we realised they were POSING with him, and their friends were taking photographs. It would seem Andy was as much of a tourist attraction as the towers themselves! Beginning to feel a little uncomfortable at the unwanted attention, we slowly edged away. How very strange! (And somewhat creepy...). Luckily our tour was called soon after! Firstly we were ushered into the small cinema-like room to watch a 3d movie about the construction, we then passed through a security check and finally into the lifts, for our super fast ride up to the 41st floor! Well, it is definitely worth the queuing and hanging around, the views are phenomenal. Until 2004, when the Taipei 101 building was completed, the Petronas Towers were the tallest building in the world. Largely based on Islamic elements, the building really is stunning. (Although it is a little nerve wracking when stood on the sky bridge, knowing it weighs 750 tons and can move as much as 30 centimetres, in response to wind conditions!) We’d recommend anyone heading to KL to pop in for a visit!

We don’t manage to do a great deal else during our time in KL as we are only here for a short period! We had hoped to visit the Batu Caves, 13km north of KL, comprised of a series of caves (they believe these limestone caves were formed 400 million years ago) and cave temples; however we had 2 powers working against us. I still seemed to be battling a persistent travellers tummy (I shan’t go into anymore details) and also it is the time of Thaipusam, a huge Hindu festival lasting 3 days, whereupon approximately 1.6 million people will be descending on the cave area – so, we decide to give it a miss!

We have absolutely loved our brief stop in KL – it is a mix between Singapore and Bangkok. We’ve had great food, enjoyed looking around the sights and had fun haggling at the local Petaling market. (A particular success to mention...Andy attempts to purchase a leather wallet, to which we are told 140 ringgits – YEAH RIGHT! That’s like £27! We make it clear to the stallholder that this is clearly ridiculous. Within minutes, we are grinning, walking away with a 25 ringgits wallet and the stallholder is cursing us (As told to us by the girls from Beijing on our trip to Halong Bay (they’ve perfected their skills in the harsh Beijing conditions)....if the stallholder is smiling when you walk away, you haven’t done very well....but if they look annoyed – you’ve succeeded!)

Our next journey involves a trip on an “Aeroline Luxury Bus” to the island of Penang...we’re interested to see how it compares to our other recent bus trips.....

“WOW!” would be the best description. It is absolutely the best bus we have ever been on, and all for £11 each... We are soon comfortable in business class-like airline style seats! There is on board entertainment with a variety of music channels, for which we are given headphones. We manage to watch 3 movies on our journey, 2 good (I have FINALLY seen the “Twilight” movie...and yes I am still hooked on the series) and 1 Hillary Duff film - NOT so good. There is even an on board ‘flight’ attendant to meet any requests you have, a lounge downstairs and refreshments provided.

The only glitch on our journey is a 1 hour delay due to an accident on the highway where a log-carrying truck has tipped over and shed its load, never mind – no one can be blamed, and we don’t really mind as we are so comfortable! Eventually we reach Sengai Bus Terminal in Penang at 9.30pm.

We are relieved to find a taxi office allocating taxis and arranging the fares. We have heard lots of terrible stories about taxi drivers here in Penang ripping off tourists. By the time we reach our hotel, all we can think of are shower and bed!

The next day – we ended staying local around the hotel, endeavouring to plan some of Thailand as in a couple of days we will be flying to Phuket (we had planned to take a train from Penang up into south Thailand...however, entering over land like this would only grant us a 15 days visa...we plan to be there for over a month! We don’t have the time or patience to try and do a visa run to extend it, i.e. Cross out and back into Thailand AGAIN to get another visa, so we ended up booking a cheap flight from penang to phuket so we can get our 30 day visa!) Also, our hotel, although located in Georgetown which is the centre of Penang, is away from all the main areas of interest, and the staff at the hotel are unhelpful to say the least. At least we manage to get some planning and admin out of the way! (Which takes longer than expected – trying to find accommodation in Phuket proves difficult thanks to it being high season!)

We venture over to a hawker centre across the road for our dinner, constantly wondering if we have something stuck to our faces/are actually wearing clown outfits. It is a little uncomfortable as we are stared at throughout our meal, at least the food is good though – the delicious duck makes up for it!

Eventually managing to prize some vaguely useful information from the reception staff, we work out how to get into the heritage city of Georgetown (which has UNESCO heritage city status). It sounds straightforward...however, we haven’t accounted for the fact that Thaipusam is now in full swing, and it seems the whole population of Penang is on the move and all buses have been commandeered for this purpose, with every bus stating “Thaipusam" or "Temple” as its destination. We eventually give in and hop in a taxi! (The taxi driver immediately asks where we are from...on answering "England", he ithen questions me about my ancestors - staring at me in the rear view mirror and stating that i look Hong Kong-ese. I am both scared and impressed!)

We then embark on a walking tour of Penang, with the first stop being Fort Cornwallis, the largest standing fort within Malaysia and the lighthouse within the grounds –“Penang Harbour Lighthouse”, the oldest in Malaysia, erected during the British Administration. It’s hard to believe it has a visual distance of 16 nautical miles. We also pass by St. Georges Church, the oldest Anglican Church in Southeast Asia – it is such a stark contrast to all the temples we have been seeing recently!

Next we visited the Penang state museum, housed in what was previously Penang Free School. Portrayed within the museum is information regarding the establishment of Penang, the early residents, the cultural and racial makeup of the area and consequently, the customs that have evolved. Of particular interest are the rooms depicting weddings through the ages! The costumes are all so beautiful! We then walked along Love Lane – an unusual name, there is a great deal of controversy about how this name came about! Some believe it was named after a British officer named Love, whereas others propose it was the location of early 19th century brothels for the sailors at the time! Walking along through Little India, we marvelled at the King Street Temples, in particular all the decorations for the soon to be, Chinese New Year!

Our final sight to see for the day is Pinang Peranakan Mansion. The Peranakans, also known as the “Babas and Nyonyas”, comprised a prominent portion of the Penang community. They were made up of descendents of the late 15th and 16th Century Chinese immigrants who moved to the area, during the colonial era. Adopting the ways of the local Malays and also the colonial British, they created a unique lifestyle. The mansion is a typical example of a home of a rich “baba” – it’s absolutely stunning!

We have thoroughly enjoyed our tour of historic Georgetown, which has definitely been manageable to do on foot – and in fact, we think this is the best way to really absorb the atmosphere, as it allows you to catch glimpses of real everyday life here and the massive variety of cultures that co-exist side by side!

For our final dinner in Penang, we headed to a small restaurant a few doors along from our hotel. Specialising in “Penang dishes” we decide to try some traditional dishes. Both opting for a fish based broth, I go for the more sensible option of meat balls...whereas Andy decides to have crab. This wouldn’t have been an issue, except we hadn’t banked on a whole crab floating in the soup. Armed with a nutcracker, we got to work trying to make it somewhat more edible....as delicious as crab is, the hard work required really does squash your appetite somewhat! Overall, we both had delicious dishes. A highlight of the whole experience is the young waitress who serves us. Keen to practice her English, she chats to us at the end of our meal, making recommendations of places to visit. On asking what we work as, I explain my past job at Miss Selfridge...., to which she squeals, on realisation it is part of the same company as Top Shop! Fashion really does reach out internationally!

Penang has been great to see, it’s just been a bit of a difficult time to visit with the Hindu festival dominating the area! If we had another day we would definitely have liked to visit the beach at Batu Ferringhi! Never mind...that will have to be another future trip.
Time for another flight, number 17 to be precise (well, 17 AND 18...annoyingly, our flight will be to KL first, then onward to Phuket!)

Time to hit those Thai beaches...