Our first cab ride in Penang we lost our compass. Now, I know you’re thinking how obsolete a compass is with Google maps, the internet and I phones available, but unfortunately we don’t have those luxuries at our fingertips and have had to solely rely on our trusty compass and our past girl/boy scout skills to get us to our destinations. The rest of our three days in Penang we stopped by roadside hardware stores asking if they sold compasses and much to disbelief not a single stand sold compasses… Our hunt continues

We took a five hour bus from KL to Penang with two stops at rural gas stations with NO food service … bummer. The majority of the bus ride we were nervous, as we learned the bus drivers do not communicate to the passengers what is going to happen and when. Therefore, when they stop you never know how long you have, whether they are just stopping for gas or food, if you can get off the bus etc. We followed the Malay crowd and hoped for the best. However, when we did stop the bus driver exited the bus and immediately planted himself on a massage chair inside the gas station and looked right at home?! At least someone was enjoying himself.

Penang is an island connected to mainland Malaysia by the longest bridge in Malaysia. We went to Penang because it is well known for its well documented food culture (think Anthony Bordain’s No Reservations). In Penang we ate very well while exploring the city and once again the abundance of preserved colonial buildings. We also made it to the beach one day, but the beach had millions of small jelly fish so we opted for a pedicure and fish spa afternoon instead. This was Andy’s first time at a fish spa (aka Dr. Fish – a small pool of water where cat fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet) and it took him about 20 minutes to put his feet in, but once he did he loved it! Since the food of Penang is such a big part of the island we found a good guide map with locations of places to eat and foods to try. We tried nearly every type of the food on the list in our three day stay. Our favorites were kar teoy chow, a wok fried noodle dish; cendol, shaved ice with greed noodles, red beans and coconut milk, as well as mee curry which is a white curry noodle soup. If you can see the pattern, almost every dish has some sort of noodle or rice in it; therefore the Paleo diet that Adena was once on (seems like years ago) is no longer an option. The closest meal we had resembling Western food were hamburgers from a small street vendor. The burgers were topped with fresh veggies and a tangy, sweet sauce. They were delicious and are very popular with the locals in Northern Malaysia. Due to a lack of communication at the burger stand we ended up with three burgers instead of two, and one of them had a fried egg on it. We ate mostly at food courts or small roadside restaurants with the locals. We also visited a medicinal tea stall a few times to have bitter tea and chrysanthemum tea with honey. These are both Chinese teas that are good for the body in high temperatures. They tasted unlike any tea we had in the States but at the same time it was delicious! We also fell in love with carrot juice, most often bought from a roadside stall and served in a plastic take away bag. We have noticed that vegetables are kind of non-existent, therefore are substituting our veggies intake by drinking sugary carrot and fruit juices instead. In Penang we also experienced our first “lady/boy” prostitutes on the open streets with no shame.

After three days in Penang we took a ferry from Penang to Langkawi . We were extremely nervous for the ferry ride because the reviews we read said that everyone gets sick on the ferry, there are always rough waters and the ferry sways the entire time. Luckily, we accidentally bought tickets for the wrong ferry which made an additional stop and left earlier in the day, but it ended up being the faster ferry, had assigned seats and was a very smooth ride and no one puked! Yay!
Langkawi is known for its white beaches and what we thought was their clear, blue water. Yes, the beaches are white but the water is very murky, but bath water warm. We laid on the beaches and relaxed for three days and rented a motorbike another day to explore the island. On the bike we went to waterfalls, other deserted beaches with the locals, drove up a mountain to get 360 degree views and then back. The mountain ride was 13km long and ascended nearly 1000 meters, doing the ride in a car would have been much enjoyable than on a motor bike, however we did get to see a good share of local farm animals grazing on the side of the mountain, as well as “white outs” due to low elevation clouds. It only costs us $10 USD to rent the motorbike for 24 hours and was a great way to see the island and how the locals live. Apparently, December is the busy/high season in Langkawi, but we had the entire beach to ourselves for the most part and the majority of the restaurants were empty, not really sure what high season means here… Unfortunately, one of us caught what appears to be traveler’s diarrhea here and experienced some extreme pain and disgusting public rest rooms. But, considering all of the street food we have consumed so far it had to happen sooner than later. After an excruciating 48 hours of pain, this person is now on an antibiotics and feeling much better! On another note, Malaysia is a Muslim country and beer tends to be pricey and not served at most restaurants; however in Langkawi, beer is plentiful and very cheap. We found a great happy hour at a beach bar with $4 USD pitchers. On the topic of Islam, it was common to see women swimming in street clothes and the occasional female strolling the beach (or para sailing) dressed head to toe in full garb with only her eyes exposed. It was certainly an interesting site to see. All in all, our four days on Langkawi was plenty of time and taking a break from the cities to sit on white beaches was much appreciated! For the most part we don’t really know how we spend our days, but most often we get up around 8 or 9am and go to sleep around midnight. The in between part is always a mystery to us where the time goes. Its interesting how when you are not on a daily schedule how quickly the time passes each day.

Next stop Thailand!

We anticipate a long travel day tomorrow, filled with multiple ferry and bus rides to get from Malaysia to Thailand. As a whole travel days can at times be relaxing as we know we will have to sit most of the day, and can spend that time catching up on our sleep and/or reading.

Some things we noted:
Restaurants only serve forks and spoons, no knives
Napkins need to be asked for; they are not put out on the tables
“x” are replaced with “k” such as Teksi and Ekspo
The island has a sewage problem and often smells on the streets