Week 19 and 20: Malaysia. Our family holiday!

Malaysia

It’s incredible how quick a two-week holiday can go!! It feels like only a few days ago Mum and Dad were arriving and now they’ve left already which is a real shame as we had such a great time with them. However, let’s rewind 15 days and give you an update on what we’ve been up to!

We arrive in Kuala Lumpur (KL) at 10.30pm at night and are immediately struck by how different it is to Thailand. KL is far more modern, cleaner and has a really nice vibe. We are starving having not eaten since breakfast and with the temperature around 25 degrees, even at this time of night we are chuffed to see hawker stalls just outside our hotel selling freshly cooked fried rice and noodles despite the late hour. So at 11pm we pick up a couple of tiger beers from the local shop and sit down on a roadside stall to enjoy some local, freshly cooked food and soak in the atmosphere. I’m not sure things can get much better than this.


We spend the first day in KL trying to get the lay of the land and preparing for Mum and Dad’s arrival and by day two, we’re there waiting at the airport for their first trip to Asia. It’s so nice to see Mum and Dad. Apart from Lou’s parents – three weeks into our trip – this is the first sight of people from home since we left in Jan and it’s great. We’re staying in KL city centre, a stones-throw from the Petronas towers, which we are lucky enough to visit; a fab location to explore the best KL has to offer. After a quick freshen up we head out to the lively China Town for noodles, satay, fried rice and spring rolls – and of course a few bottles of Tiger Beer. We have a great evening, although I’m not sure the rest of the food - toads and crabs in the tanks behind us – was exactly the backdrop Mum and Dad were expecting!!

Frogs anyone?

Cooling our feet after a hard day of sightseeing.

The best three birds in the park.

After a good night’s sleep (probably better for us than Mum and Dad who are still adjusting) we head off to the city’s bird park which houses an 8-acre aviary (the biggest in Asia if not the world) to ease ourselves into the local environment. A trip around the nearby orchid garden, butterfly park and a tropical down-pour make up the rest of the day, all washed down with a fabulous Thai-meal so spicy that sent my Mum into hiccups. No more spicy green curry for you young lady!

The taxi was a little slow. 

The next day we head out to Kuala Ganda towards towards far east coast which is home to an elephant sanctuary. The natural forest of Malaysia is rapidly being pulled down and destroyed to make way for Palm oil plantations and other crops. This is having a serious impact on the wild elephants which are seeing their habitat eroded. The elephant sanctuary is run by a whole team of volunteers who are responsible for the relocation of many wild elephants from their dwindling habitat to Tamara Negara, a massive natural Park in the middle of the country. It’s not easy work and can be very dangerous for both the elephants and the volunteers but the other alternative is to leave the elephants to be shot by local farmers or landowners, so they don’t really have much choice. The sanctuary houses a small number of elephants that have been rescued from captivity or maimed or injured in some way. The recent downpour means that washing the elephants in the river is out of the question but we get to see them washed, feed them and of course there’s time for a quick ride around!

On the way back from the park we stop of at the Batu Caves, and impressive cave formation that houses a number of Hindu Shrines…and monkeys, before ending the evening roaming the local markets and munching far too much food back in China Town.

After KL we fly of to the Island of Penang, an old colonial town which was the first base of the British out in Malaysia. Georgetown is the ‘old town’ and it is crammed full of reminders of this time, as well as Chinese temples, Islamic mosques and all sorts of other buildings and monuments crammed in its higgledy piggledy streets. This is supposed to be one of the highlights of Malaysia but it’s clear that there is very little conservation going on around here and the former glory of this area is fading fast. Penang is all about looking forward, developing in 21^st century industries and these tiny streets do not fill those ambitions.

Scaring Mum and Dad half to death with lunch at a 'local' eatery.

The next day we head up Penang Hill to take a stroll around the botanical gardens and breath a sigh of relief as the temperature drops from a humid 34 degrees to a refreshing low of approximately 24 degrees. The light rain shower only adds to our enjoyment. The botanical gardens are great and we get to see monkeys at play as well as heading off on a excellent forest trail that leads to a secluded lily pond full of terrapins. Our timing is perfect as this week the gardens are host to a flower sale and we are absolutely stunned by the number of exotic flowers and incredible orchids that are on display stall after stall. The day is topped off perfectly by an afternoon tea at 510 meters up on Penang hill where the Fitzgerald’s and FitzMorris’ seem to have hired out our own private English garden, lilly pond and all!  Scone anyone?    

Getting away from the crowds.

Our local 'restaurant'.

From Penang we take a boat across to Langkawi, which is our holiday spot for the next week. We are picked up from the jetty and taken to our apartment, which is spotlessly clean and new, but nicely remote – and we are the only people there for the whole week. We didn’t realise we were going to be quite so secluded but the apartments in the heart of village life seems significantly better than the resorts that are exempt from any integrations with the locals. We love it. After a little trial and error we find the beach – which is almost empty, restaurants, a shop that sells beer and other essentials (we have already stocked up on Martini!), we rent a well-used car and set about enjoying 7 days exploring.

Being holiday makers rather than travellers is fun and we relax on boat cruises around the harbour, mangrove swamps tours, seeing more sea eagles in 20 minutes here than a whole lifetime, feeding the Archer fish and generally doing what tourists do. Lovely. 

Her name isn't 'Rio'...

After a week on Langkawi Island it’s time to head back to KL for a night so we fly to KL, stay near the Petronas towers again and enjoy a lovely last meal with Pat and Nay before they fly home the next morning. Great two weeks but we’re more than a little sad that it’s over already.

We get up early to say our goodbyes and once Pat and Nay are safely in a taxi to the airport start to think what next for us. The planning had never got past this point, other than vaguely, and we have a world of options!

Do we stay in Malaysia, go to Indonesia or somewhere else new or ………

We jump on the internet and look for flights – we have already booked a flight to Singapore, but know that staying long in Singapore is not an option for many reasons when we find Tiger Airways have flights from Singapore to Perth for £200. That’s a decision made, we fly straight through Singapore and land in Perth that evening. It’s all about being flexible.