Week 18: Malaysia

We have been making our way around Malaysia this past week, enjoying a few different areas with very different landscape!

At the beginning of the week, we left Kuala Lumpur and headed for Cameron Highlands. We thoroughly enjoyed the smooth, comfortable bus ride to this area!  Our arrival was met with rain- the first we’ve had in a very long time. We took refuge from the rain, enjoying a lovely, leisurely lunch, and chatting with a couple from England. Later that evening, we walked around and watched a stunning lightning show light up the sky. We had been told this area was worth visiting for their tea plantations, so we booked ourselves in on a tour with Eco Cameron Tours. The guide for our tour, Satya, was very knowledgeable and was an incredible photographer. He took us through the Best Of Highlands tea plantation, which looked like it was taken straight from a magazine. He also took us on a hike through the Mossy Forest, an area that is being conserved by keeping traffic down to 16 visitors each day. We hadn’t had any expectations for this hike, so we were totally blown away by the spongy forest floor, the moss covering every surface, and the silence of this 230 million year old cloud forest. We had never experienced anything like that before. Energized by this hike and somewhat clear skies, we spent our afternoon hiking a mountain trail just outside of town. This jungle trail included some sections that were steep, slippery, and narrow, and gave us a pretty good view from the top. We returned to town and hung out with Josie and Jord, the couple we met the day before. They have some of the same travel plans as we do, so we hope to cross paths again!

lightning show

BOH tea plantation

enjoying the Mossy Forest

hiking the steep, narrow trails around Cameron Highlands

We then took a bus to Butterworth, and transferred to a short ferry that would take us to Georgetown. This town is filled with interesting history, amazing street art, and delicious food. Our hostel here had once been a museum and was still filled with photos and artifacts. With our maps for food and street art in hand, we took to the hot, humid streets for three days. We experienced some serious heat and some rain each day, but this just gave us an excuse to duck in someplace to enjoy some cold treats and play cards! We visited many food carts and tried a lot of new Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian dishes. We were also told to have breakfast at Toh Soon Café, this little Malaysian restaurant, and the steady line of locals outside was the perfect indicator of how good it was. We especially enjoyed trying kopi (local coffee), kaya (spread for toast made of brown sugar, coconut and butter), roti canai (a flatbread served with various sauces for dipping), mee goreng (fried noodles), popiah (spring roll made with thin tortilla wrap), and murtabak (flatbread stuffed with meat and egg). Georgetown also had a place that served liquid nitrogen ice cream- how does a couple like us pass on that?! Everywhere we turned, we found really cool graffiti, paintings, and steel rod structures. Over the course of our stay, we found all of the art listed on the street art map, and much more! We couldn’t possibly include all of the art we photographed, so we just selected some of our favourites.

heading to Georgetown by ferry

exploring the streets and jetties of Georgetown

liquid nitrogen ice cream!

Steel rod structures explain Georgetown's history in such a fun way

our favourite street art

After a few days in Georgetown, we took a quick forty-minute flight to the island of Langkawi. We quickly explored the main street lined with restaurants and duty free shops, and then took to the beach. We took a long walk along the sandy beach, splashing our feet in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. On our first full day on Langkawi, we got very lucky and had fairly clear skies all day! We rented a scooter and headed for the SkyCar, a steep cable car that takes you to the top of a mountain. We were able to see quite a bit as we rode up and as we explored the viewing platforms at the top. We also ventured out on the SkyBridge, which is suspended over the trees far below. Included in our ticket for the SkyCar was admission to SkyRex, a 3D ride that we regretted waiting in line for. Because of that, we skipped the 3D dome that was also included in our admission. We did, however, go into the 3D Art Gallery included in our ticket, and we ended up having so much fun! The scenes painted on the walls and floors didn’t look like much until you looked at them through a camera lens, and then the pictures really came to life. We had a lot of laughs taking pictures with all of the other tourists. After leaving the gallery, Will drove us around to explore the western side of the island. We stopped at Seven Wells and hiked up to the top of the waterfall, where there was a natural waterslide and several pools to soak in. We also stopped at Temurun Waterfalls, which was stunning and quiet. We saw a number of little beaches as we drove along as well. We drove back towards town while the sun was setting, which was so beautiful. Just a few minutes before we got back to our place, we were hit with a torrential downpour! We were so lucky to go most of the day without rain, but were absolutely soaked through after this.

We spent the next day chatting with friends, reading, and hanging out on the beach. On our last full day on the island, we went on an island hopper tour, where we took a boat to three different islands. We visited a fresh water lake on one island, saw many eagles at another island, and swam from the beach of the third island. We especially loved seeing all of the islands that were popping up out of the water around us. Each day on the island, we spent quite a bit of time walking to different restaurants for lunch and dinner, which allowed us to see more of the town and try out different dishes.

SkyCar and SkyBridge

channeling our inner child at the 3D Art Gallery

Seven Wells Waterfall

Temurun Waterfall

beach day

island hopping to a fresh water lake and visiting the eagles

Lesson learned this week: going into something with low or no expectations sets you up to be pleasantly surprised!

We have experienced a lot of rain this past week. Upon arrival in Langkawi, we checked the forecast and saw that our days were likely to be filled with rain and thunderstorms. This made us think about the people who book a vacation for one week somewhere, and end up with rain almost every day. We know rain can really put a damper on things, so we thought we’d share 10 things we did in the rain this week:

• Buy a ridiculous umbrella. We’ve been travelling with rain jackets, but with how hot and humid it’s been, we couldn’t imagine wearing our rain jackets. Yes, there were plain umbrellas available, but who can pass up an umbrella covered with bunnies wearing glasses? With our clever umbrella in hand, we were able to walk around pretty comfortably.
• Sit on the beach. As much as I love sitting on the beach in the sun, I have discovered that I also love sitting under an umbrella on the beach in the rain. Watching the rain, smelling the rain, listening as the waves crash… all with the added benefit of having the beach almost to ourselves.
• Catch up with friends. We had the huge benefit of having great wifi most of this week, so we were able to catch up on emails and make a few phone calls.
• Swim! The water was so warm that it often felt better to be in the water than walking on the beach. Plus, once you’re already wet on purpose, it doesn’t really bother you to get wetter.
• Watch shows. We have been without TV for most of our time travelling. Although I don’t normally watch much TV to begin with, it has been fun to watch an episode of a show we like during a couple rainy evenings.
• Read. I was a voracious reader as a child, and I still love any opportunity to get lost in a good book.
• Do yoga. I have been a fan of Yoga with Adriene for a few years now, and love any opportunity I get to try out a new video.
• Travel dream. We chatted with others about places we’re going to visit soon, and gave recommendations about places we’ve already been. This world is SO full of amazing things to see and do!
• Play games. We love gin rummy!
• Ride a scooter. Ok, we don’t actually recommend this because we were totally drenched within a few seconds, but we did it and we survived.

Random act of kindness: We met a girl on the bus to Cameron Highlands who gave us a ton of great travel advice for Myanmar, and even gave us her leftover Burmese Kyat to use when we first arrive in the country!