Kuala Lumpar > Kota Bahru > Perhentian Islands > Penang
5 October 2004 Malaysia... truly Asia. My first stop here was the capital city of Kuala Lumpar. I stayed at Le Village Guesthouse, a very laid back hostel with a great big victorian lounge. This is where I met alot of travellers including Dwayne, who was to become my best friend and travel partner. We been up to both the KL Tower and the famous Petronas Twin Towers (pictured in this background). We sampled the nightlife, food and shopping. KL is extremely busy and warm. Our guesthouse was only a ten minute walk away from the city's Chinatown where you can bargain hard for cheap fakes or pirated DVD. Note that the pirate DVDs now have grades on them and the number '9' means that there are of superior quality, just like the real thing. Just to point out that for legal reasons I never brought any nor do I promote it. Under the Petronas twin towers there's Malaysia's biggest and elite shopping centre. The Suria Centre houses everything from the local chains stores to international famous names which are quite literally unaffordable. The city, like Bangkok are alive at night with lots of things to see and do. We got friendly with the guesthouse people so we were taken to all night spots including Bangsar, streets filled with bars and discos. There were food stalls so we tried the local Chicken Satay (Malaysia's style) and it was tasty! It was funny to see people smoke pot in the tables beside us amongst others. It is perfectly legal here or atleast I thought so. After the fun and bustle of KL, we travelled way up north to the island of the Perhentians. Our boat trip there was quite an amazing one. It was early morning and the sun was rising while we (me, Dwayne and four English girls including new friend Louise) were on the speedboat across the quiet sea. It was a view to remember, everywhere around you was the sea, it left me all breathless. The island was exotic and beautiful. There was no McDonalds here, this place was commercial free, apart from the drinks they sell. There is no roads. We stayed in a hut for a few days before the island was closed for the monsoon season, so aswell as being sunny, there was also alot of rain. We sunbaved in the quiet island's 'Long Beach' where I got badly sun burnt. Now with the monsoon quickly heading our way, we moved to our next island of Penang. We strolled around the lovely streets of Georgetown, it was nice and quiet here with half of the city colonial. Our guesthouse was big and was just around the corner of a street called Love Street. We also visited small interesting towns during our travels including Kota Bahru, a small village town with markets. People here were quite laid back, you were free to look at the markets without being talked into buying. My memories of Malaysia will live with me forever from the many friends I've made, the stories I've heard, the places I've been to, the experience of Malaysia is warm and lovely. |