Is it Malacca or Melaka? I wasn’t sure about this even as my bus got there from KL. You’ll find them used interchangeably all over the place. Apparently one version is the English version and the other is Malay. In order to provide some sort of clarity the state government decried last year that official correspondence would use Melaka¹. So Melaka it is. Maybe this is why there are aggressive looking Don’t Mess with Melaka signs all over the place? It’s not, it is part of an anti-littering campaign.
Where is everyone?
Arriving at the hostel I had booked, I could swear that I was stepping into the scene of some postapocalyptic movie. For several blocks spreading from where I was staying to the edge of the old-city there were brand new buildings that were essentially empty. It was all a bit eery, but at least the place I was staying at was really nice and I got told that I looked like Matt Damon. That’s a complement, right?
Having learned a bit about the region while at the National Museum in KL, I was looking forward to exploring the old city and its history. Melaka was initially a fishing village, but it became an important trading and refueling port for Chinese traders navigating the straits. By the 15th century it was ruled by the Sultanate of Melaka. After years of holding them off the region fell to the Portuguese in the 16th century and then was taken over by the Dutch in the 18th century, and finally the British in the 19th century. The British governed it as part of the Straits settlements, along with Penang and Singapore, until it fell to the Japanese in WWII. After the war it became part of the British run Malaysia and it was here where in 1956 it was announced that Malaysia would become an independent country in 1957. The mixture of cultures and its storied history, led the region to be declared a UNESCO site in 2008².
I entered Chinatown and walked down Jonker street, which is where there are a lot of cool shops and restaurants only to find at the other end an H&M on one side of the street and a Hard Rock Cafe on the other. Never did find a Rolex store though.
H&M in the Old City
Crossing the river you find a number of bright red buildings, which were apparently the influence of the Dutch and a central square which has a fountain that was commemorated in honour of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. There were also buskiers singing western music near the square. So in addition to Thai Elvis (Bangkok), and Malaysian Johnny Cash (KL), I’ve now seen Malaysian Bono and Hank Williams.
Dodging a number of crazily decorated tuk-tuks playing really loud music I made way to the centre of the city and climbed the hill to the old church ruins, which gives a pretty spectacular view of the city. From here I meandered back along the river and to the hostel, which was as equally empty as when I left.
Melaka also has a really interesting food scene owing to its mixture of cultures. I had a pretty delicious Portuguese noodle dish and curry the day before I left.
I really don’t think I did Melaka justice and probably should have spent another day exploring the nearby areas and some more of the museums, but I had promised I’d be in Singapore by the 23rd and it was time to move on.
Having found a bus that would take me to a mall downtown Singapore, the same mall which apparently houses the North Korean Embassy on one of its upper floors, I set off to the bus station. Little did I know that this 4 h bus trip would end up being closer to 8 h.
I think its inevitable that at some point travelling you reach a point where you just aren’t feeling it anymore and end up asking the questions – Why am I doing this? Maybe it’s time to go home? Kuala Lumpur was the place where I reached this point. I think for me there were three reasons that lead to this:
1) I wasn’t liking the group dynamics I was with. When we got to KL we rented an airBnB which was lovely and had a sweet infinity pool with a view of the city, but there were 6 of us.
While these were all great people on their own, the size and fussiness of some individuals meant that no one could decide on anything. This meant that we ate in a crappy food court three days in a row. I did not come to SE Asia to eat subway and would have gone off on my own but we only had one key and only one other person had a SIM Card. This made it a logistical nightmare and made me decide that I would never travel with a big group again. Luckily this was only for a few days and was much better when we moved to a hostel and I regained my freedom to come and go as I pleased. In hindsight I should have just taken the loss of money and left sooner.
2) Christmas was coming. Christmas is a hard time for me. My dad died on Christmas eve and it was coming up on the 5th anniversary of it and with lots of time to think about it this had been weighing heavily on my mind. It also didn’t help that Christmas decorations were everywhere.
3) I had no plan for where to go past Singapore. I had originally planned on going from Thailand to Laos, Cambodia then Vietnam before flying elsewhere. However, my plans changed within the first week when I decided to go from Chiang Mai to a full moon party with Camille and Liam. From there I had decided that I would work south thru Malaysia to Singapore and then fly somewhere. But as I reached KL I found myself overwhelmed by the infinite options. After deliberating for way too long and making a short list of the Philippines, Indonesia or Vietnam I finally decided that, in light of Vietnam just recently making it so Canadians could use their e-Visa program, that I would spend Christmas in Singapore and then fly to Vietnam. If I didn’t feel better about travelling by the time I got thru Vietnam I would go home. But with Christmas still a couple of weeks away and not wanting to spend a lot of time in Singapore, and only one place I wanted to see between KL and Singapore, it meant that I would spend almost 2 weeks in KL.
It was somewhat nice to have a routine for a bit. I’d get up have a mediocre breakfast at the hostel and then go out grab a good coffee at this tiny coffee stand nearby and explore the city for a while. Usually in the afternoon I’d meet up with Vince and we’d check out some of the other things that KL had to offer before hitting up the street market or food trucks for dinner. Here are some of the other things I saw during my time in KL.
The Twin Towers:
Let’s face it the major landmark in KL is the Petronas twin towers. Although there is a flurry of new construction occurring near it these buildings still dominate the landscape and they are pretty cool to see. We went to the base of them multiple times, taking in the view from multiple angles and multiple times of day (there is a light show in the lake near it at night!) One day Elly, Aliona and I took the plunge and did the most touristy thing, we took the elevator trip up to the bridge and observation deck! The view was pretty cool and we managed to sneak in a few extra minutes of sightseeing and get to see the sun starting to set by pretending we didn’t hear the guides calling our group colour to return to the elevator.
View from the top
Sunset view
On the Bridge
View from the Bridge
Batu Caves:
The Batu caves are easily accessible by the train system in KL and another one of those things that a tourist visiting KL should see. You climb a couple hundred steps reaching a plateau that gives you a view of the city before entering the cave and climbing another set of steps at the back of the cave to the temple.
Batu caves
It’s still being built and so visitors are asked to bring a brick and/or bucket of sand up the steps. I brought a brick up the first part and then a bucket of sand to the second arm, so I guess I can add that I helped build a temple to the old CV. Yay transferable skills, haha.
There are also a number of monkeys inside and around the caves. As usual you have to be careful around them as they will try to steal your food and other items. However, luckily for Vince he managed to make friends with one when he gave it a coconut that was leftover from one of our drinks.
Taking in KL’s Cultural Scene
KL is much more than just infinity pools and the twin towers. One of its best aspects are the museums. They were reasonably priced and I learned a lot at them. Two particular ones of interest were the Museum of Islamic Arts and the National Museum. There were also a number of free walking activities and exploring Chinatown and little India were pretty cool too!
Inside the Museum of Islamic Arts
The Museum of Islamic Arts is a beautiful building containing a number of interesting domes and courtyards. Inside it has exhibits a wide variety of artefacts from throughout the islamic world and dating back centuries. This included clothing, tapestries, weapons, maps, coins and pottery. It also had an exhibit on Islamic book binding, and one that explained the different types of mosques found throughout the world. I learned a lot here!
Near the Islamic Arts Museum is the National Mosque which, although we did not enter due to us arriving at non visitor hours, was a pretty impressive building.
The main hall of the Muzium Negara
The Malaysian National Museum (Muzium Negara) is also a really interesting visit. It depicts the history of Malaysia going from ancient times, through its colonization by various European powers, to its occupation by the Japanese during WWII and finally the push to independence and the period thereafter. It also has some information about the departure of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965.
The River of Life
Some of us took a free walking tour through little India and Chinatown which exposed us to a number of the interesting foods and items available. Vince and I would go back to Chinatown a few days later where I would get my second pair of “Raybans.” I was assured these were “top quality” from “my friend” who sold it to me as the lenses were glass. In his defense I still have them almost two months later. Near Chinatown is a number of large parks and a region that is being redeveloped and called the River of Life.Finally because I didn’t want to get rusty in my science skills Elly and I visited the planetarium. Unfortunately we did not realize that the show we were going to see was a children’s one featuring a trouble causing coyote. But at least he was a truthful one and debunked some common misconceptions about the universe.
Sunway Lagoon:
On the suspended bridge at Sunway Lagoon
Elly, Vince and I decided to take one of the days in KL and head to the amusement park at Sunway Lagoon. Here we stuck mostly to the water part, making a friend to round out our numbers. There are a number of tubing and slides which are pretty fun. There is also one where you get in this coffin like tube and then the bottom falls out launching you down the slide. Apparently the look on my face as the floor fell out was pretty amusing.
We also took in some go-carting and roller coasters, neither of which were exactly fast. But all-and-all it was a fun day and helped me to get a bit out my funk.
MALLasia
Mall Christmas Decorations
Malaysians LOVE their malls. Vince met someone who could see 11 of them from her apartment. There are also speciality malls including Low Yat Plaza which specializes in electronics. With my Asus tablet’s screen cracking while in my bag somewhere along my travels I hit up Low Yat to see if I could get it fixed. It turns out the warranty is not so great and it would have cost the same as the tablet. I ended up leaving Low Yat with a 11″ macbook air, which is no longer available in Canada but was much cheaper than when it was available. I was happy to have a functional computer again, makes this whole travel blogging much easier 😉
But there are so many other malls in KL and it was inevitable
Coke around the world
that we’d be in at least one thru out the day and with Christmas coming up these malls were decked with Christmas decorations. It all seemed a bit out-of-place for me considering that the weather was pretty drastically different from what I was used to at Christmas.
It was here that Vince and I fine tuned our spot the Rollex store or H+M. I really don’t understand the number of Rollex stores. There can’t be that many people buying Rollex’s. FYI my “friends” in Chinatown will give you a “good deal” on “good quality” fakes. Haha.
During my time in KL I had said good-bye to Elly, who was off to Sri Lanka, and Aliona had left to explore other parts of Malaysia (I’d later meet up with her and Alex in Vietnam). Vince was going to fly to Singapore and I was planning on meeting him there in a few days, and so having run down the clock I got ready to finally leave KL and head off to Melaka on my own.
In some sort of physiological response to my mood at the time, or more likely the not so great chicken tacos I had the day before, I boarded a bus to Melaka having just thrown up on the train to the bus station – luckily I had a plastic bag handy. I guess it was my body’s way of saying I was done with KL!
From Penang we caught a bus to the Cameron Highlands. The bus looked like it was straight out of 70’s but was at least comfortable. Crossing a 24 km bridge we left behind Island life and for the first time in weeks I was back on the mainland. Leaving the oceans and palm trees behind the bus weaved thru rolling hills rising to 1100 m above sea level by the time we reached the hostel in Brinchang. This area was initially colonized by British settlers looking for an escape from the nearby heat.
70’s disco bus – where’s the strobe light?
The first thing I noticed as I stepped off the bus was how right those settlers were – it was cold! By cold it was maybe 18C, but it was still an adjustment after the heat that I had become used to over the past few weeks.
After retrieving some pants and a jacket from the very bottom of my bag we discovered that the Mossy Forest, the major reason I came to the Cameron Highlands , had just closed for repairs/construction and wouldn’t be opening again until at least January.
Rather than get roped into a 80 ringgit tourist package which had its key attraction missing we decided, much to the dismay of our hostel, to make our own Cameron Highlands adventure.
With two Parisians joining our francophone group (well sans moi), we hired a taxi for 6 ringgit each and made our way to one of other things the highlands was known for – tea plantations!
Following a two ringgit entrance fee we spent the next hour or two wandering amongst the beauty of the plantation before topping it off with tea and a strawberry cheesecake at the cafe that over looks the area (strawberries being one of the other things the area is known for).
For reasons that no one could understand an inspection of the gift shop revealed that some (most?) of the Cameron Highlands tea was actually a product of China. Seemed a bit weird…
Visiting a Tea Plantation in the Cameron Highlands
Anyways after the plantation our DIY tour decided to take in yet another of the things the area is known for- hiking!
The area has a number of “marked” paths and we decided to hike number 10, which takes one back to town. The paths were muddy and not something that I’d recommend if it had been raining, it was steep in a few places. But we were rewarded with some pretty incredible views along the way, and no one came back covered in mud. Furthermore we did the tour for a tenth of what the group tour would have cost! Yay!
Hiking the Highlands
Arriving back in town tired but pumped from a great day, we made arrangements to head to Kuala Lumpur the next day, a place that I would spend way too much time in, and where I would seriously contemplate going home.
I have friends that took the ferry from Georgetown on the island of Penang, to Langkawi in July and described it as one of the worst experiences of their trip. It was hot, chaotic and the seas were rough. Fortunately for us it was now the dry season and the seas were calm and the trip uneventful. We’d spend the next few days exploring the island of Penang – here are some of the highlights:
The old town of Georgetown:
Georgetown is a UNESCO world heritage site which has a rich mixture of Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures. In the late 18th century the British settled the region building a fort at the north end of the island, hoping to make it a major trading port. It, along with Singapore and Melaka, was governed as a colony until it was occupied by the Japanese during WWII. After the war it returned to British rule before ultimately becoming part of Malaysia following independence in 1963.
Milk Tea!
Exploring Georgetown
This fusion of numerous cultures makes the old part of the city an amazing mixture of foods, buildings and art work. We were honoured to have met Richard in Langkawi. He was from Penang, and he was kind enough to take a day to show us around some of the more interesting, and local hidden gems, of the old city. He took us to a cool coffee shop, a great Chinese place for milk tea, and we had an afternoon snack at a Indian restaurant which served us on banana leaves. We also saw numerous buildings and cool art work . Local artists have decorated many of the buildings with colourful murals and I would spend another day wandering around more of the streets of the old city checking out this art work. He was also kind enough to let Elly and Vince cool off in the pool of his apartment building. Thanks for your hospitality Richard!
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Some of the Artwork in Georgetown
There was a Chinese festival occuring while we were in Georgetown and our hostel was near to one of the sites where music was being played until wee hours of the night. While it was interesting and Vince and I got to see inside one of the temples where worship was going on at 1:30AM (complete with gongs), this loudness made it impossible to sleep and did definitely dampen our experience in what was otherwise a really cool hostel that had been built in an old warehouse.
Late night festivals and Temple worship
Exploring the rest of Penang:
Penang is a big island (about the size of Langkawi) and having tired of the loudness of the area we were staying in we rented an AirBnB (Mickey Mouse themed) and moved outside of the old city. From here we explored some of the rest of the island by car taking in a hike to the top of a dam, a visit to a fruit plantation where we feasted on numerous delicious fruits and had some interesting fermented fruit drinks. We also escaped the frequent rain storms by visiting some of the many malls. Thus began Vince’s and my game of spot the H+M or Rollex store, and our belief that Malaysia’s unofficial name be MALLasia.
Vince and the other member of our group – Le Drone
Feasted
Fruit Feast
Fruit Plantation Tour
Adventures around the rest of the island included visiting a fruit plantation and climbing up to the top of a dam
Having spent enough time in Penang we boarded a bus and headed back to the mainland and the surprisingly cold, yet beautiful, Cameron Highlands.
For a Quebecois take on Georgetown and some pretty sweet drone photos check out my friend Vince’s blog post at:
The feeling of taking that first step in a new country is unlike anything else. It’s a sense of exhilaration about what possibilities lie beyond. While I get this feeling when flying it’s much more satisfying when entering by a different means (favorite border crossing Kenya-Tanzania), and so having never entered a country by sea I was particularly excited about entering Malaysia.
Of course that feeling is almost instantly shattered by the logistics of entering a new country. Which customs line do I choose? Where do I get money? Why the F*#k are there taxi drivers wandering the terminal harassing people? Seriously wait outside!
Langkawi’s symbol is the Eagle and this giant one is found near the main pier
I had met two other Canadians in Koh Lipe and although they had left Koh Lipe the day before me I decided to meet up with them, and their friend, at a hostel in Langkawi (Which took me a lot longer to find then it should have). Meeting them definitely made the experience of Langkawi much richer. Here are some of the key things we did:
Exploring the Island by Scooter
Langkawi is big and by far the most economical and fun way to get around is by scooter! I had wanted to rent a scooter on Koh Phanagan but had been talked out of it in favor of renting a Jeep (you can read more about that here: Koh Phanagan – A Tale of Two Full Moons). But here seemed like a much more sane place to learn the ins-and-outs of motorbike life. Of course safety in numbers helps and since the others were from Quebec I wanted to call our bike “gang” the Hells Angels. Vince later told me that the Hell’s Kittens were a more accurate name and I couldn’t argue with it.
“The Hell’s Kittens”
The roads were mostly good and the traffic much more reasonable and mindful of laws than Thailand and so our fierce gang took to the roads. We made our way around the island taking in breakfast in a rice field, visiting waterfalls, temples, beaches, and avoiding rainstorms (some of us with better success than others).
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Exploring Langkawi by scooter
It was a lot of fun and definitely made the Langkawi experience. O, and I only forgot which side of the road to drive on once. Luckily, I immediately remembered.
Exploring the Kilim GeoPark by boat
Langkawi is home to the Kilim GeoPark, which was designated a UNESCO site in 2015. The rocks making up the area are thought to have originated from Pangea making them some of the oldest in the world. Their stability has been added by the mangrove forests that help to protect them from erosion¹. All of this combines to make a beautiful area that is widely only accessible by boat.
We chartered a boat and although our day started off to a rocky start (forgotten wallets, tour misinformation and overpriced fish) ended up being pretty fun.
After visiting a bat cave our boat zipped us thru the mangroves taking us to a fish farm, showing us eagles being feed (there were probably over 100) and letting our boat be swarmed by monkeys. But by far the best part was darting around the coast of the island and being left on our own private beach for a while.
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The Kilim GeoPark
If you find yourself on Langkawi visit the Geo Park – you won’t regret it! But remember the fish prices are per the 100g.
Langkawi – a duty free island
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Langkawi is a duty free island. Which means it has cheap alcohol and electronics, or so I’m told. I didn’t drink here and when I looked at getting a GoPro it was more expensive than at home. My big purchase? A new beard trimmer for 45 ringgit ( ~$15 CDN). So at least when I left Langkawi I looked like less of a hobo. Win-Win.
Leaving Langkawi was pretty straightforward, especially compared to Koh Lipe, and following a Starbucks visit and some gravel we boarded a ferry and began the 2.5 h trip to Georgetown on what I was told could be rough seas.
Is it Malacca or Melaka? I wasn’t sure about this even as my bus got there from KL. You’ll find them used interchangeably all over the place. Apparently one version is the English version and the other is Malay. In order to provide some sort of clarity the state government decried last year that official correspondence would use Melaka¹. So Melaka it is. Maybe this is why there are aggressive looking Don’t Mess with Melaka signs all over the place? It’s not, it is part of an anti-littering campaign.
The Travelling Scientist 