Malaysia

Truth be told, I was not happy to be leaving Thailand. Unfortunately our visa had run out so we kind of had to go or get kicked out. The closest Malaysian land to Thailand was Langkawi so that was our first stop, and only a quick 1.5 hour boat journey to get there. Unlike the other parts of our trip we hadn’t done much planning so the plan was to just go with the flow, we also had quite a bit of time before our flight to Australia so we weren’t in any rush. Kyle had still been feeling unwell so wasn’t up to doing too much. The town was pretty nice and we spent our first night eating the most amazing Nachos at a Mexican Restaurant before having an early night. By now, driving a scooter is like second nature to Kyle and is 100% the most cost effective way to travel. So we rented a scooter and drove, quite far, in the roasting heat to the Langkawi cable car which takes you 708m above sea level and onto the longest free span and curved bridge in the world.

It was pretty expensive but the views were amazing. You could see Thailand in the distance – wishing we could go back we walked across the bridge and then took the cable car, by ourselves back down to land. Stupidly, we had parked our scooter right in the sun so the seat was like a metal stove to sit on, so we had to wait a while for it to cool down before we could sit on it. We saw a recommendation on Instagram to visit the 3D Art Museum and it was relatively close to where we were so we decided to give it a go. It was fun, and we got to take some cool photos. Langkawi has some lovely beaches but I think we were a bit ‘beached out’ so decided we had seen enough and booked our travel to our next destination – Penang.

Penang

We had read lots about Penang, George Town and it’s rich history. We were staying in the heart of George Town which has a very historical feel about it. It’s buildings full of history and street art on every corner.

I think all the travelling had taken it’s tole on our bodies, as Kyle still wasn’t feeling great so we decided on a day by the pool, sleeping and chilling. We spent a day just walking and exploring the town, finding new street art on every corner, beautiful houses and delicious food markets. I think the heat hit us harder in the city as we didn’t have the luxury of jumping into the sea to cool off. The wifi in George Town was diabolical, you couldn’t even load a photo on your phone so we were pretty much off social media for a good few days. We visited Penang Hill, travelling to the top in the sky train, which was really cool, and the view at the top spectacular, being able to see the whole of Penang, sitting watching huge ships dock with a beer and some live music.

We did rent a moped but the street in Penang were crazy, and navigating was a little harder. A few nasty words were exchanged during our scooter trips in Penang…. We are friends again now so all is good. The food in George Town was out of this world, with the best local food available just at our feet. We discovered juice in a bag – which was the most refreshing drink in the 30 degree heat and humidity.

 JUICE IN A BAG!!

Kyle was finally feeling better and we decided on a quick over night stop in a place called Ipoh before heading to Kuala Lumpur. There wasn’t much to do there apart from drinking its famous coffee, which we were lucky enough to get a space in a famous cafe spot and tried some local foods and drinks. Our hostel was like something from a horror film and we checked out after our first night (well we snuck out) as it was so bad and checked into somehwere else. The shower was a bowl filled with a hose-pipe. We had stayed in some bad places, but this just topped it! Our bed was snapped in half and the bed bugs haunted us for weeks after. EUCH. We found an irish bar and watched Wales V Scotland over a couple of pints and some natchos.

Kuala Lumpur

Once we had arrived in Kuala Lumpur you were really thrown back into a cosmopolitan busy experience with buildings towering around you and stand still traffic on every corner. The weather-  a tropical thunderstorm. One minute you were greeted with a downpour and the next sweltering sunshine.   I had been bitten by a mysterious insect a few days ago and hadn’t noticed how bad the bit had become on my leg until we ventured out to explore the city and I could barely walk – with a swollen leg and tremendous pain I hopped into the nearest pharmacy and was dossed up on 5 different things. We booked ourselves into a private apartment where I was able to recover and it had cleared within around 3 days. Ready to explore again we ventured into the city and saw the hugely popular Petronas Towers – the tallest twin towers in the world.

They are pretty spectacular at day time and even more amazing at night! We watched the fountain show at night sitting underneath the towers. The city feels very modern and busy but has the tranquility of a huge park right in the middle of the city which gives you that time to not feel so stressed from the city life.  Our apartment had the most amazing infinity pool with views for days over the city. We spent a few days relaxing here whilst admiring the views.

China town hosted us for a night of delicious food and market shopping. We visited the Batu Caves a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu, which flows past the hill. While you climbed the hundreds of steps in 30 degree heat, monkeys would climb and run around looking for the next water bottle of packet of crisps to steal. Once inside the cave, the colours and history dripped all around you.

We finished our time in KL watching Wales win the 6 Nations at an Irish bar with many other welsh – we celebrated a bit too much I think….. We could not but help miss home a little watching the celebrations unfold in the capital and at home.

Love to all back home x