One thing that has alluded us during our travel across Malaysia was trying to explain/reconcile the presence of so many high-end luxury brand stores (e.g. Dior, Louis Vuitton, etc) in different shopping malls we visited. Many of the same shopping malls were also home to expensive restaurants that were well beyond our travel budget. We continually saw luxury cars on the streets. How was that possible when we understood the average monthly salary in Malaysia was around $2,000 cdn. It seems we are navigation between two very different worlds. The first world which we tended to shy away was joining the locals at their sidewalk eateries. And yet we could not (or were unwilling) to join the locals in their expensive shopping mall restaurants.
2023.02.13 – Kuala Lumpur – George Town (Malaysia)
Although we had originally planned a 2-3 day side trip to the Taman Negara National Park – some 250 kms from Kuala Lumpur, we opted to skip it as we had recently experienced the Mulu Natioanal Park. After an early breakfast, we took the monorail to the train station where we took the 11am train to Penang. Four hours later we arrived in Butterworth from where we took a 15 mins passenger ferry to the island of Penang. The city of GeorgeTown on the island was an UNESCO World Heritage site. We managed to order our Grab ride as soon as we got off the ferry. Our prompt Grab ordering skill allowed us to avoid a long wait time as all ferry passengers exited to the street. After checking into our hotel room, we were satisfied with our reservation choice. We had struggled, a few days earlier in KL, to find hotels in Georgetown with room availability while still being within our price range. The big draw back from our hotel location was the lack of restaurants in the area. Further, the hotel did not offer breakfast. In the evening, as we set out in search of a restaurant for dinner, we were confronted to some very hectic walking conditions as we literally had to walk on the streets. With some luck, we tracked down a nice cafe for dinner which was appropriately named the “Unknown Cafe And Bistro”.
2023.02.14 – George Town – George Town (Malaysia)
We had a lazy morning start which caused us to miss the nearby McDonald’s breakfast hours. We had to order from their lunch menu. Back at the hotel, given the absence of sidewalks in most of GeorgeTown , we opted to take a Grab to the town center to start our self-guided walk. As our visit progressed, we started to think that Penang was an overly hyped destination as we were not impressed with most of its sights. After visiting the various Clan jetties (floating villages), we took a Grab back to our hotel. In the evening, failing to identify any prospective nearby restaurants, we returned to yesterday’s Unknown Cafe And Bistro for our dinner.
2023.02.15 – George Town – George Town (Malaysia)
The previous night we discovered our blog’s website had become unreachable on the internet. Thanks to the dedicated effort of our good neighbor and friends, Gang and Sharon, they were able to help us resolve the technical issues. With Jenny’s ongoing search for restaurants in our neighborhood, she identified a potentially suitable breakfast place. As we arrived on the corner of the street where we expected to find the restaurant, we were distraught the place was occupied by a local hole-in-the-wall eatery. We were dumb found until we noticed a hidden staircase which led to the upper floor of the building. We were able to enjoy a nice breakfast in a comfortable environment. Back at the hotel, we took a Grab to a shopping mall in order to exchange some Canadian currency into Thai baht. From the shopping mall we took another Grab to the base of Penang Hill, located only 6 kilometers from the George Town City Center. We purchased a one-way ticket on the funicular train up to the 800m summit. We learned later that this funicular was the longest in Asia, at 1996 meters. The funicular tunnel, at 79 meters long, not far from the top station, holds the world record as the steepest Funicular Tunnel in operation. After a short visit of the summit, we embarked on a 5kms (very) steep descend walking on a narrow paved road. The goal was to visit the Botanical Garden located at different side of the hill. By the time we reached the bottom of the hill, our legs were so tired that we skipped the Botanical Garden visit and simply took a Grab back to our hotel for a well deserved rest. In the early evening, we had our mind set in having our last dinner in Malaysia at a very popular restaurant in the city center. Hence, we took a Grab at 5:30pm in order to show up and queue early at the restaurant. To our utter (and continued) disappointment with our visit of Penang/GeorgeTown, we arrived at the restaurant to read on the door that they were closed for the next two days. We found a bit of comforting seeing plenty of other guests arriving in taxis and being confronted to the same sign on the door. After wandering aimlessly on the streets for 30 mins, we finally resigned ourselves to eat our first pizza of the trip. After dinner we took a Grab back to our hotel.
2023.02.16 – George Town – Bangkok (Thailand)
I purchased some take away McDonald’s for breakfast which we ate in our room. At 9:30am, we took a Grab to the airport for our flight back to Kuala Lumpur in order to catch an international connection to Bangkok. We were pleased the check-in counter agent accepted our proof of onward ticket as simply an indication that we would be taking a bus to Cambodia on Feb 23rd . We spent (rather Jenny did) all of our remaining Malaysian currency (renggit) to purchase snacks at the airport boutique. Although we only had a short layover of 1 hour in KL, we managed to reach our connection gate with plenty of time and we even saw our luggage being loaded onboard while we were seated on the plane. In Bangkok, the immigration line was long but relatively efficient. After recovering our checked backpacks, we decided to use the public transportation to reach our hotel as we were staying in the newer east-side of Bangkok. Hence, we took the Airport train link and then the Bangkok Skytrain (BTS) to reach the station closest to our hotel. As we arrived near our hotel location, I realized I had made a terrible mistake as I brought us to a hotel we had initially booked (and bookmarked on Organic Maps) and later decided to cancel in lieu of another Ibis hotel. We tried to get a Grab to our correct hotel but the wait time was 17+ minutes. Hence, we took the BTS in the opposite direction and made our way to our correct hotel within 20 minutes. Later we enjoyed a good Thai dinner to help us recover from our exhausting day of commute.
2023.02.17 – Bangkok – Bangkok (Thailand)
It was pleasant to enjoy once again breakfast at our hotel. Later, we ventured out on a couple of errands. We first stopped at a money exchange office to get more Thai currency. We took the BTS to reach the city’s east-side bus terminal to buy our tickets for tomorrow’s Trat destination. With both of our errands completed in a timely manner, we took a MRT line to visit Lumphini Park – Bangkok’s largest and most popular park. Although the park was nice, it provided few photo opportunities other than those of monitor lizards. We returned to our hotel room in the mid-afternoon for a rest. Later in the afternoon, we savored our complimentary beverages in the hotel lounge. In the evening, we visited a popular Thai food court for our dinner. Although vehicle traffic was very dense everywhere, it was refreshing to be able to walk on wide sidewalks throughout the day. Our hotel’s immediate neighborhood had countless bars serving as a meeting place for many. We’ve also found the weather less humid and more comfortable in Bangkok than in Malaysia – even though the temperature was comparable
2023.02.18 – Bangkok – Trat (Thailand)
After our hotel breakfast, we walked 500m from our hotel to the BTS station and then we got off a few stations further – right beside our bus station. Our 10:30am bus took slightly more than 5.5 hrs to reach the Trat bus station. We then took a “sõrngtãaou”(passenger pick-up truck) to our hotel area. The owner of our small hotel, Mr Tuu, was the friendliest and most helpful person we have ever encountered on our travels. He reminded us how lucky we were to show up on Saturday as the street in front of the hotel transformed itself into a lively night market once a week – on Saturdays. Mr Tuu spent a considerable amount of time with us to explain our dinner and breakfast restaurant options. He went on to explain to us the different transport options to reach the island of Koh Kood. He actually booked the ferry tickets on our behalf and reserved our transport from the hotel to the ferry pier for tomorrow morning. With Mr Tuu’s help, we managed to secure our transport to Koh Kood for half the price of other ferry/fast boat services. Later, we had great and affordable dinner at Mr Tuu’s recommended restaurant. Upon our return from the restaurant, we strolled along the lively street food market. Along the way we sampled a number of desserts before returning to our room for the night. Earlier, we also shared with Mr Tuu our travel itinerary intention to cross the Cambodian border after we return from our Koh Kood stay. Although he recommended a few transport options to us which mostly involved with a private car. We opted to pursue our own transport option.
2023.02.19 – Trat – Koh Kood (Thailand)
It seemed we were eager to try fish wonton soup at the breakfast restaurant that Mr Tuu recommended yesterday as we showed up 15 minutes before its 9am opening. Back at the hotel, Mr Tuu treated us to a latte and cappuccino while we waited for the pickup truck that would bring us to the ferry pier. At 11am, we bid farewell to Mr Tuu in a hectic way while we climbed on the sõrngtãaou to join five other passengers. We were dropped off a few kms from the pier at a transit area for the boat/ferry company. Fifteen minutes before our ferry departure, all waiting passengers were whisked by transport truck up to the pier for boarding on the ferry. The crossing was smooth and took 1.5 hrs. The convenient aspect of our ferry ticket prices (same for all companies) was that it included the land transport from the pier in Koh Kood to our accommodation on the island – some 10kms away. A half dozen sõrngtãaou took on different passengers depending on the location of their accommodation. We were a bit disappointed that our bungalow was not ready by the time we arrived at 3pm. Nonetheless, the wait was worth it as the view from our bungalow – named Bali was very soothing after spending some time the hectic streets of Bangkok. In the evening, we visited a nearby resort for our dinner.
Some stats from our Malaysia segment – our longest stay in a single country for this trip.
| Malaysia Summary | Unit |
|---|---|
| Number of accommodation nights | 24 |
| Number of locations stayed at | 7 |
| Number of domestic flights taken | 8 |
| Number of Grab rides | 26 $3.70 (avg ride cost) $2.00 (avg ride tip) |
| Average daily cost | $177.58 |
