Malaysia

The last post about our summer trip to Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. 

We had booked the last few days of our trip at the Perhentian Islands because we were sure there would be nice weather. Our whole trip had been risky booking it during the rainy season. However we only got caught in the rain twice so it couldn't have gone better! 

The Perhentian Islands are like a mini Europe over in Southeast Asia. Left and right you hear Italian, French, German, and English. After visiting Krabi, Railay, and the surrounding islands the Perhentians didn't quite meet the expectations we had set. Also being an island, everything was much more expensive and you don't have very many options of things to do or for going out to eat. We had booked 4 nights and it was more than enough. After the third day we didn't know what to do. 

But even before arriving on the islands we had a stop over in George Town. We were on the West side of Thailand and we took a van down to the first point in Malaysia which is George Town. We only had just one evening and the afternoon of the following day. We enjoyed walking around trying to find something to eat but in the end opted for KFC. 

Freshly made pineapple juice 

George Town was a British Colony in the late 17th Century. It was very interesting seeing the mix of cultures. There are colonial style buildings right next to chinese temples. The town is very quaint and has lots of inviting restaurants and cafes. 

My stomach wasn't feeling very good after eating lunch. So we asked for the nearest pharmacy and they directed us to a an all-natural chinese pharmacy. The man gave me a foul smelling little packet and told me drink it with water. We quickly started looking for a modern pharmacy. 

 After our day wandering around George Town we were ready to get on an over night bus ride to get to the Perhentians. We arrived really early in the morning along with 30 other tourists and we were all boarded onto speed boats that dropped you off at the island where you booked your hotel. 

We stayed on the largest island. The days consisted of having the breakfast buffet, then going to one of the beaches and laying out, reading, relaxing, going to have lunch, then going back to the beach until about dinner time, showering, and then out for dinner. On the second day we rented kayaks and kayaked over to Turtle Bay. It was beautiful quiet cove. Another day we chose to hike to the other side of the island. We would have liked to visit other islands but the water taxis were terribly expensive. 

After four days on the island we took the speed boat back over to the mainland and it was a race to catch our bus over to Kuala Lampur. Our water taxi was terribly late and we knew we would miss our bus. When we arrived we tried asking around to several different tourists agencies. Finally someone, somewhere, somehow knew where we had to go so they told us to take a taxi to X. So we arrived at point X and the bus had just left. So we were chasing the bus in a taxi on the highway. We finally found it and it had pulled over and stopped to wait for us. Thank God! 

We only had a day in Kuala Lampur. It is similar to Singapore is incredibly Westernized. We got a cheap hotel right in the heart of China Town. We walked around to see the Petronas Towers, and wanted to go up to the top of Kuala Lumpur Tower but it was too expensive. And on our last day in Malaysia we went to some botanical gardens and a bird park.

 Then we were finally on our way to catch a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, Singapore to Istanbul, Istanbul to Bologna after a wonderful exciting 3 week trip in Southeast Asia!