Cameron Highlands

It is interesting to see how much easier it is to plan travel in advance these days, in fact it is almost required because things sell out ahead of time so many times. When I first started traveling internationally I had a plane ticket and a guide book. When I arrived somewhere I would find whatever housing was available (hostel or whatnot) and plan all my day tours last minute. There is so much FOMO now (fear of missing out) and international travel is popular (mostly due to influencers) that popular things get sold out. I don’t plan things months in advance unless I am traveling with someone with limited time but I do usually have a good idea how things are going to go before I arrive in a country.

Planning for Cameron Highlands coming up is throwing me for a loop. There is very little information available about booking things in advance online. I know all the major attractions, I just don’t know how I am going to get to them. I talk to a couple on a tour group a couple days ago that just visited the highlands and they told me they hired a motorbike (something I’ve never done before, mostly due to fear) and a day tour. I wish I would have asked them how they booked the tour because the only tours I find online are the day tours from kuala lumpor and nearby cities. Those will not work for me because I plan to stay a couple nights in the region. I have also read many people rent cars and drive there themselves but I am not signing up for a 4 hour car ride in a country I have never driven in before, especially for what I read are very curvy roads.

So I have my bus ticket and hotel booked at Cameron Highlands but I have no idea how I am getting around or even how I am leaving at this point. Should be a interesting adventure like the old days of traveling.

The next morning my grab driver drops me off where the long distance buses are. I am correct that is not the same place as I walked by last night but it is close by. I still don’t know which one is my bus because the buses have no signs posted to wear they are going but after going down the travel offices I finally find the waiting point for my bus.

It is over a four hour ride. I didn’t make time for breakfast before so I am pretty hungry. Luckily i have some dried mango and the orange I got the other night to get me through the ride. We stop to pick up other passengers in other towns but we really only make one official bathroom stop. I should have gotten snacks then.

I arrive in Tanah Rata, the town in the Cameron Highlands that I booked my guesthouse. It is a ten minute walk from the bus station so I grab my heavy bags and walk in the same direction as other backpackers. They are heading to hostels with shared rooms. If I was twenty or even maybe ten years younger I might be doing that too. But I need a private room now. Without privacy and good rest I am not a nice person while I travel. It really stinks though because I miss the camaraderie of shared housing. I will occasionally stay in a hostel if they have private rooms or I share with a friend, just to have a place to speak to others during my down time.

As I walk there is a misty drizzle and it is noticeably cooler than where I’ve come from. I am very pleased. I need the break from the heat. I question why I keep traveling in hot places when it is way out of my comfort zone.

My guesthouse has a charming garden. My room is simple but clean. There is no AC but I find I don’t need it, in fact at times it gets chilly for my taste. I wear long pants to bed instead shorts as normal. My only complaint is the shower. It is one of those bathrooms that when you take a shower the whole entire bathroom gets wet, and remains wet for hours. It is more of an annoyance than anything.

After check-in I grab tea and scones at a cute place called The Lord’s Cafe.

For dinner I just grab something simple and easy around the corner. I decide to have a margarita as well. As I am finishing my drink the entire town loses power. I saw this frequently in Cambodia but this is the first time I’ve seen this in Malaysia. It is still daylight when the power goes out but the outage ends up lasting over an hour so it grows dark, Some dogs rest behind me. I thinking about paying my tab in cash and walking back to my hotel but the power is out there too probably. I ask for a beer and wait it out. At some point I lose cell service too but luckily that does not last long. Not long after the power is restored I see fireworks over the hill a little ways away. Still celebrating the new year I see?

The next morning I have a tour booked. Not many attractions are in walking distance so you need to either rent a car or scooter or book group tours. I still haven’t decided if I am renting a motorbike for my second day but I pre-booked a tour for my first full day. I could only find one acceptable tour and it had a two person minimum. I ended up paying for two people just to make sure I could be on a tour. The total for two people is still only 30USD and I feel I got more than my money’s worth on the tour. If I knew better I would have discovered I could have just waited until I arrived in town to book my tour. Fortunately my choice was wonderful so not sure i could have chosen better. The only thing I wanted to see that is not covered by the tour is the Lavender farm. I read recent reviews and it doesn’t seem like it is worth the trouble to visit. I might just do a local hike instead.

The Cameron Highlands Tour

I get a WhatsApp message the night before telling me Mr. Ahmad will be picking me up in the morning. When he arrives I am a party of one but he doesn’t seem to care. I am the first pickup of about three stops. Soon we are on our way. Our first stop is to look at tea plantation. One of the large reasons this area is famous is for its tea production. The tea from this region is called BOH. I’ve seen that term for many days but had no idea what it meant; I thought it was an abbreviation of some dude’s name, probably British (side note: the region is actually named after a British dude William Cameron in the 1885. It was later surveyed and developed into farmlands and such and also a tourist area). As you know the old British had their hands in just about everywhere and Malaysia included since it had a great location in the spice trade route. What BOH stands for is Best of Highland. At some point it was realized that tea grows really well here so what you see today is large areas growing plants for teas. What I did not know before today is the actually plants grown are a type of camellia that is grown in a shrub form and harvested and pruned to stay a shrub (for taste and ease of harvesting). My tour guide is a wealth of knowledge from everything on how its produced here and elsewhere and the types of workers that work on the plantation. We are given beautiful views of the plants. We can see harvesters in the background.

We stop to try the teas at the tasting room. I try a local favorite on ice BOH Teh Tarik, the national drink of Malaysia. It is made from pulling the drink during preparation and adding a sweet milk like condensed milk. I also tried a local strawberry tart and tried for the first time half-boiled eggs. I thought I would be disgusted by it but I was surprisingly not. The only fear now if it I get a food borne illness from undercooked eggs. My toast also came with a topping to make kaya toast but I saved the container for later . Hopefully I’ll remember to bring it up again but it ended up being pandan flavored….still one of my favs from south East Asia.

After tea we head to the mossy forest. We have gotten lucky. The forest has been closed for almost a year dude to dangerous road conditions and destruction due to overtourism. It had just reopened a couple weeks prior. Long story short but because all this mountain region had at one time existed under the sea there is the right conditions for moss to thrive here. So what you see is a romantic moss all over the place. There is a boardwalk to help protect the area somewhat but not sure it’s enough. What I saw today is one of the oldest forests in existence. At one time Malaysia contemplating getting UNESCO status on the area. It decide to forgo that quest when the government realized how much environmental damage has happened to the region already, without all the publicity. Making it a designated area will draw unnecessary attention. I am glad I got to visit and I will tell my friends to visit but I feel bad contributing to the environmental decline of the area. It is beautiful though.

Our driver gives us more history and even some science lessons. He has us walk down the hill where he will pick us up. A family of dogs happily follow us down, maybe thinking we have some treats.

We next head to the butterfly farm, everything at this point starts to feel rushed because one guy on the tour has a bus leaving town at 2:30 that we have to get back for. I feel for him but it is a shame we can’t take our time because of his planning. I’m not too upset about rushing the butterfly farm though. The butterfly portion is cool but the rest of the attraction is a zoo like facility. I am not a fan of animals that are confined in small cages for paid entertainment. This might be a rehab facility which I am ok with but I would not knowingly visit a zoo in this format.

Strawberry farm

We visit a strawberry farm. Strawberries are not native to the region. I cannot recall how or why but strawberries were brought to the region. They are grown differently here with white overhangs protecting them from the UV rays and elements. Drip irrigation is used to water the crops. The introduction of strawberry farming is changing the climate of the region due to the way they reflect the UV rays. I walk along some crops but I do no harvesting on my own. I do buy my own supply to snack on later.

We head back to town. The tour is money well spent.

For dinner I try the highly recommended Indian restaurant since it was closed last night. I have been craving paneer and it seems to be popular on the menu. I order butter paneer, mango lassi and some naan. Service is very slow and the wait for a table gets long if you don’t arrive early. I wouldn’t say it was a life changing meal but it is satisfying.

The hike that wasn’t

Woke up at 7 am this morning and it is wonderful. I want to do a hike this morning but the cool temps in the region means I don’t have to schedule that hike at the crack of dawn. I am getting myself a hardy breakfast – something I haven’t had in a while.

I head out to the hike which is supposed to start 15 minutes from my hotel but when I get to where the trailhead is there is a monstrosity of a construction site in its place. I stand there for a few minutes then walk up a very steep hill thinking there is another way around. I am about to give up and go get tea when a nice gentlemen tells me that yes in fact the entrance is closed but sometimes the construction workers will let you pass through or I can try through some carnation named place. I stand around looking stupid for a minute or two and then I see a worker waving. I walk over to him and he shows me on a map where to catch the trail, 2 km away. So I head toward the new trail head. I do my good deed and warn a couple walking my way like I wish the couple I saw earlier would have done for me (I caught them later). This is already taking longer to start than anticipated so I stop to get a snack for the hike because I already feel hunger coming on. I walk by a pretty nice residential area. The houses seem large and newer and right across the street from an apartment complex where the trailhead exists behind. I follow along the edge of the brush and there is no visible area to start the trail. The only thing I see is what looks like a private garden like area. After about three people instruct me I hop over a gutter and shimmy behind a fence post and follow a trail that looks worn along the edge of the garden. I eventually get to some stairs and then what looks like some makeshift steep stairs that go up. I see the couple from earlier. They tell me there are two ways to start the trail: the steep stairs and a not so stable road. They aren’t a fan of either option and are probably calling it quits. I came here to do a hike so darn-gone-it I am going to do a hike … except two steps into my ascent I feel a sharp pain in my right calf. NOT ANOTHER NEW PROBLEM! Last time I tried to do a double hike in Sedona it was my knee giving me issues, another new injury. This time my calf is angry in pain. I try a couple more steps without success of being pain free. I decide to sit down and stretch and see if a little rest will help. Nothing helps. I feel defeated and take the 20 minute walk back to town. I get some afternoon tea and now I am sitting in bed hoping this is a temporary setback. Getting old sucks.

More afternoon tea. I guess I am British now.

I am partly to blame for this injury since I have not done my stretches in two days because the floor is hard and cold. But to be fair I’ve never had this kind of injury before so I didn’t know to expect it.

I spend the rest of the afternoon and evening resting my calf and doing trip planning. Have to make good use of the down time. Dinner is unremarkable. There are steamboat restaurants everywhere but they are a minimum of two people and I have not made any friends in this part of my trip.

Tomorrow I leave for Melaka.

Chew Jetties and more Chinese New Year

I woke up early today, not on purpose but because that is what I do. I used the opportunity to chat with a friend back home about future travel (13 hours difference).

I read somewhere to go watch sunrise at the Clan jetties of Penang is a thing to do and since I am already awake I head down there. The Clan Jetties are this 19th century Chinese immigrant community that build their homes on stilts over the water. It is pretty unique. They open their community to visitors during the day (and sometimes nights since there is supposed to be a large Chinese New Year Party there Sunday night).

The jetty area does not open until 9 am to visitors so I am still too early. Luckily the char koay teow place that my tour guide recommended is open (Xen Teck) so seems like a good time to get breakfast and some of that extra strong coffee. There is a whole way to order coffee in Malaysia, kopi or kopi O or ??. I can’t remember the correct way. The default way comes with sweetened condensed milk that I was happy to try the first time (Do like the locals). But now I want it my way with unsweetened with just milk over ice. I thought I ordered it correctly but I got the sweetened one again. Good thing I do lots of walking to walk off all this sugar. The char koay teow is good; it is different from the one I had before since this has thinly sliced pork sausage in it (you don’t see it in pork in the other tourists areas out of respect of the Muslim community). It also had these little button like things that were slimy. I first thought they were mushrooms but they could be oysters? Sometimes it is better to not know. Anyway, the dish is good and satisfying, It is the breakfast I never knew I wanted.

It is still too early for the jetty so I do a tour of the street art nearby. One I believe is a Dutch artist and the others are local artists. The famous ones are from the Dutch artist.

Clan jetty

It is 9 am so I head over to the Jetties. I am glad I am there early before the crowds. Not everything is open yet but it is pretty in the morning light. It feels a little weird walking close to people’s houses. It feels intrusive seeing laundry hanging and watching people inside their houses (many doors were wide open to the outside). This is open to tourists so they expect this I guess, still feels weird. There seems to be a boat tour at the end of the pier but is not running. Not sure if it no longer runs or if I’m just too early. It is a small pier so not sure how there will be a big party here tomorrow.

Mansion

I tour the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, the 19th century mansion that is a good example of the Peranakan lifestyle. Peranakan are a distinct type of Malay. When Chinese immigrants, mostly rich, arrived in Penang they were often offered a bride of native Malay heritage, often very young. The resulting offspring are the Nyonyas (women) and Babas that you still see to referred to in the culture today. The marriages were almost always arranged and the groom could not see the bride (and vice versa) until they are to be married. The brides often wore this very heavy metal thing on their head that masked their appearance. I am glad I made it time for the tour because the guide was very descriptive on how life was back then. He even commented that polygamy was common a while ago because often the groom would not be happy with the bride chosen for him. Many native Malays are of this heritage.

One very interesting piece from this museum is a piece of blue jewelry. It is actually created from someone painstakingly attaching blue bird feathers. Birds were not killed for it but I am sure it was painful for them. It is not allowed anymore.

Thought about visiting another mansion, blue mansion, but I was tired and hot – big surprise. Besides I think it is pretty similar to the mansion I just visited. I go back to rest and cleanup for the night celebration.

Street party

They are still celebrating the Chinese New Year and there is a large street party in Chinatown. There are dragons, dancing, music, crafts and food. I brave it out for a little bit. I get some snacks and watch some entertainment. Eventually the crowd is too much for me so I search out a bar.

Speak Easy

I don’t like to drink much lately but for some reason I decide I want to visit all the speak easies I can in town due to my recently discovered sweet tooth. The tour guide from the other day suggests two in town. One he suggests never seems to be open when I try (or I don’t know the secret password). The other speakeasy he suggests is further away so it takes me a while to get up the motivation to go visit. Backdoor Bodega, hidden behind a store, requires reservations but I arrived around opening so they took me as a walk in. They have very inventive drinks and the staff at the bar took the time to converse with me.

Another night I happen upon a newer speak easy when I was trying to the other place suggested by my tour. Birds Nest is in a residential neighborhood. In fact you would never know it is a bar. The only reason I found it is because I followed some people who appeared to be going into someone’s house. Come to find out it sort of is. The owners, a couple, live upstairs. They’ve converted, and are still converting, the downstairs into a craft cocktail bar. They were very nice and offered me an orange and some new years crackers.

Nasi Kandar

I finally try Nasi Kandar at the very popular Hameediyah Restaurant. It has an odd setup where you order your food from one store front but then you go a couple store fronts over to eat. I had a nice gentleman help me with the process except I almost walked out of the first building without paying. This Malay/Indian fusion cuisine is a a signature dish of Penang: a plate of hot rice, some fried chicken, beef curry, some turmeric-laced cabbage, or what you choose. There is a short line but I went shortly after opening time in the mid-morning.

It wouldn’t be Chinese New Year without fireworks. I skip the evening celebrations at the the jetty but I get to participate anyway via the fireworks that are going most of the night. Good thing I have a long bus ride tomorrow because no sleep is happening tonight.

At some point I ended up by this McDonald’s that looked very interesting. I didn’t go inside but I caught a grab around here.

Penang Heritage food tour

As usual I started my visit of Penang with a food tour. This particular tour is given by a Boston native that moved to Penang and married a local. He used to be a chef and loves sharing his knowledge of food with others. We meet in little India at 10:30 am in the UNESCO heritage zone – George Town. This part of Penang, an island, is named after King George III. You guessed it, it was part of the British empire at one point of time. Penang was strategically important for spice trade. It is culturally diverse here now; you will see Chinese, Indians, Malay, and others. As expected there are parts of town with concentrated restaurants and businesses that represent different ethnic groups such as Chinatown and little India.

We start with a dish eaten by locals all hours of the day (but mostly breakfast) Char Kway Teow (also spelled different ways). This style is Hokkien dish of stir fried rice noodles with sausage, prawns, egg, chili paste, fish cake, chives, and bean sprouts. I can see how this is a comfort food for locals. I crave it now. At the hawker cart (Hock Poh Lye Kopitiam) we sampled this and I also tried the local iced coffee – Kopi coffee with condensed milk. It is sweet so something I probably would only occasionally drink.

Next stop is at stall for Indian-Malaysian Chicken Curry Samosas, at Penang Special Samosa . I am not usually a fan of Samosas but this one was good. Not too spicy and you don’t get the heavy feeling like most fried foods.

It is a Friday and we end up at a Muslim restaurant. Luckily we arrived early enough because it will be closing in an hour for prayers. We sample Muslim-Indian Malaysian food at Tajuddin Hussain: nasi biryani (spiced rice) with ayam rose (“rose” chicken), kambing kurma (lamb kurma), dalca (veg curry with meat stock). I love curry so much. We also try some teh halia ais (iced ginger tea) which reminds me of a chai.

We stop next at Moh Teng Pheow kueh factory, we tried some of Penang’s signature assam laksa—mackerel based broth with noodles, lemongrass, tamarind, chili, polygonum leaf, and torch ginger flower, topped with cucumber, chili, pineapple, and mint—and a spoonful of heh koh (prawn molasses). I really wanted to try the pandan tea on the menu but they were out for the day .We also tried some sweets here.

We tried some classic Penang Peranakan dishes, prepared by Girlie and Joey Chua @Bibik’s Kitchen: her signature fried chicken (inche kabin), the rose apple kerabu (refreshing rose apple salad with mint, torch flower ginger, chili, and shallots), as well as her telur belanda (sweet and sour “Dutch egg”), and sambal kacang botol (wing bean sambal) in a spicy sambal, over a portion of 4-colored rice (pandan, blue pea flower, turmeric, and white). I got to try another nice refreshing tea – I am starting to love sweetened teas; you would never catch me ordering cold tea in the USA. This tea is partially colored with a blue flower, I think I’ve seen it before in Thailand – Butterfly Pea.

A couple things I learned today….

Gula melaka or Palm sugar in Malaysia is popular. You will find a myriad of things made of this. Stores will sell the sugar in chunks for tourists to buy and take home. Palm sugar is supposed to have a lower glycemic index and has all these health benefits. I am not convinced it is healthy but I am trying a large amount of it in Malaysia.

I learned there is a three day holiday starting today. I guess at some point i need to check out the street action here and down by the Chinese Jetties (more about them later).

Next week there is a Hindu holiday that I need to read up on for my visit to Kuala Lumpur.

I learned what a torch flower is and that it is a staple in many southeast Asian dishes.

My tour guide mentions nutmeg genocide but doesn’t go into specifics so I have to google it. Side note, I am obsessed with anything flavored with nutmeg lately. The history is that nutmeg originated from this island called Banda. The Dutch got ahold of the island in the 1600’s. Apparently the local people wanted free trade agreements but the Dutch were not having it so they basically massacred a great number of the local people. There is more to it but read up on it yourself. It is sad to hear of the origins of some of your favorite things.

I am full and I read somewhere that you go watch the sunrise at the Jetties so back to my room for the day to relax for tomorrow.

Arrived in Penang

I end up calling the airline in the morning to make sure I am on today’s flight to Penang. They confirm I am. I am still charged double for the internet mishap. She can only see one transaction but my credit card shows two. I’ll wait a couple days to see if the problem resolves itself (At time of posting the transaction has been refunded with no intervention from me). Fun fact – even though I am using my USA phone in Malaysia with a daily international plan I need to call the Malaysian number not the international number when I make calls in Malaysia. I am confused but I’ve learned something new.

Now that I have the flight thing settled I let myself leave an hour later to the airport. The airport is crowded but I could have probably left even later because I spend time sitting around and reading waiting for my flight. I guess downtime reading is good since I don’t do it much lately. When I have downtime I either nap or do research for upcoming travels.

Walking around town yesterday I saw signs for ferries to Penang. I don’t bother to stop because I had already purchased a flight. I ask my grab driver to the airport about it. He says what I read is correct, that they no longer run ferries to Penang from Langkawi. The ferries are a casualty of covid. The effects from this illness stretch far and wide. I believe there are still ferries to Thailand running.

When I arrive in Penang my grab driver there tells me more about how hard covid has hit the city, It seems like tourism is ramping up again, hopefully enough to give locals some sort of normalcy since their livelihoods are so dependent on the tourism industry.

I am staying in Georgetown Penang, the historic district. I check into my hotel that is basically a room in an old Mughal mansion. The name of the hotel Jawi Peranakan Mansion is named after a specific type of Malay. I’ll talk about Peranakans in more detail later but Jawi Peranakan represents a Muslim of mixed Indian and Malay. They were prominent in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.

It’s a little musty inside but that comes with the territory. There is always some trade offs when staying at a place with a little character.

Soon its time to eat dinner. I get the impression that things close early and open early around here, a stark contrast from where I just came from. I need to make sure I plan my meals accordingly. Or perhaps things stay open later on the weekend? The sidewalk situation is mostly non-existent as well as crossroads. I spend a good deal of time walking the side of the road in Penang avoiding falling into the sewage drain.

I find a covered outdoor area that looks like a large food court. There are so many different foods to try that I have decision indecision. I find a cart with different types of proteins that are fried. I pick some and that is my meal for the evening; probably not the healthiest food so far. I also order ice kacang with cendol (pandan noodles). It has beans. The whole dish is semi-sweet. It is probably much healthier than my dinner choice.

Penang is where I really can tell I am in a Muslim country. I hear call to prayer multiple times a day, women typically dress conservatively and cover their hair and you will rarely find pork anywhere (beef is sometimes scarce to due to the large Hindu population).

Tomorrow I have a food tour scheduled so I can start my eating adventure of Malaysia.

Langkawi, Malaysia

While planning my travels I intended to finally visit some islands in Thailand. When it came down to deciding which ones to visit the island of Langkawi kept appearing even though it is in Malaysia. It seemed like a relaxing laid back place to visit that isn’t too far from some of the other destinations I wanted to visit In Malaysia. I decide that I will save visiting the islands in Thailand for when I have a companion (because it is more popular with people in general) and stop in Langkawi instead.

One big thing I sort of missed in Singapore is the famous water fountain at Changi airport. The start and end times of the waterfall did not coincide with either one of my flights. I contemplated going out there separately to see it but I couldn’t get excited about the extra trip out there. I sneak over to Jewel (mall at Changi airport) after I check my bag to see where it happens and I witness small little drips of water coming down. Everything there is closed for at least another hour. Maybe someday I’ll have a long layover here.

Flight is fine. Malaysia air sprayed aerosol into the cabin at the end of the flight though. Is that safer than breathing the air? Fortunately I had my mask on.

I have arrived and only a couple hours in I already wish I would have booked more nights here (like every other place I visit). I am exhausted still from jet lag and Singapore sightseeing (why have I not recovered yet?). All I want to do is eat and nap.

The airport is small. I find an ATM. I did no research on how much spending money I will need in Malaysia. I figure I will take out a little bit of cash to hold me over. My trick when I do no conversion research is to usually choose the button that corresponds to the second to the smallest amount on the ATM screen. This ATM had no such screen and I had to generate the amount myself. I had no idea what to take out. I just take out 50 Malaysian Ringgits. I don’t need funds for the ride to the hotel since I am using the Grab app so I assume that is enough to start. Turns out it isn’t. The hotel needs cash payment for the taxes and a refundable deposit. I end up giving them all I have and a 20 USD to be returned. I need to do another trip to the ATM soon.

One of the big things about this island is it a great place to do some duty free shopping. I am not a big shopper but I can’t resist walking through the duty free shops when I arrive. I end up buying some candy and dried fruit to snack on. I end up being too lazy to go out for breakfast lately so it’s nice to have something to eat on hand.

I stop for pad Thai *way spicer than I’m used to* and a cocktail or two at a restaurant that overlooks the water. I watch all the water sports below. The parasailing looks particularly fun. I am almost tempted to do it. I also want to jump off this restaurant deck into the inviting water with my clothes on and all. Tomorrow I will have to carve out some beach time. Today I am still recovering. I go back to my room and nap. The music out by the water gets increasingly louder as the night gets darker and I get more and more tired. Another thing on my list for tomorrow – to enjoy the nightlife. My hotel room has a water view and it is lovely but I am thinking earplugs will be in order.

Before going to sleep I decide to figure out the ferry service for departing the island. I usually decide how I am going to leave a place before I arrive but I didn’t this time. I’ve been places with ferry services before and it is usually pretty easy to book last minute tickets so I didn’t think it was a big deal. But we are living post covid and things are not normal. Upon researching ferries to book I discover that none I could find are running anymore, at least as of now. I guess my only option is to fly off the island again. I pick Malaysia airlines since they seem to be cheap and decent. The terrible internet keeps timing out, and eventually erroring out. Somewhere in there though I actually successfully purchases a ticket because a ticket ends up in my email. I am surprised I didn’t accidentally book myself multiple seats on this flight. As of now only one ticket appears in my email. The joys of traveling abroad when not every detail is worked out in advance.

The following morning I once again wake up way too early…eventually I’ll be on the correct time zone. I empty out my backpack for use today and I find those pair of pants I thought I left back home. I don’t really need those pants until March but when I need them I’ll really need them. I must think of ways to make more space in my bag. I may have already made a couple of small purchases.

Some days I need breakfast and others I don’t. Today I really need breakfast, besides the kettle in my room is not working so I can’t make my coffee. Not that I think I need coffee anymore but I want it today. The only thing open this early is Mc Donalds down the street so I walk on down. I get a very sugary kopi (Malaysian for coffee) and a sausage biscuit that doesn’t really taste like what we get in the USA. It is good enough so I won’t get hangry while I am off sightseeing this morning.

Sky bridge

Today I am heading to the skybridge that overlooks Langkawi. There is a huge nature preserve here. Arriving early at the skybridge gives me a couple advantages. One of which was absolutely no lines which is nice. Also it’s not that hot yet. Furthermore they did not do a bag check on me so I was able to bring my water on the cable car. On my way out I see people disposing all their liquids from their bags. You are at the mercy of what you can purchase up top. Come to think of it I don’t really remember a place to purchase drinks. I would die of dehydration.

I am enjoying the cool breeze. I enjoy the nature and the sounds of nature. There is peacefulness viewing it all from above. It’s beautiful.

After my visit to the skybridge I wander around the village which is probably seen better days, but you can tell since tourism is ramping up that they’re making improvements.

After my skybridge visit I take a grab back to town (Pentai Cenang). I plan to eat lunch and do a little shopping. I can’t buy too much but I do have a couple things I wouldn’t mind adding to my wardrobe and I wouldn’t mind making room for them by getting rid of other things in my backpack. I eventually settle on a shirt I know I will wear at a music festival in March and a soccer jersey that is hard to resist at 9 USD.

For lunch I stop at the local Bella restaurant which seems to be a popular lunch spot. I try the chicken and rice here which is served in a different style than I had in Singapore. It is a satisfying lunch that is good for a stomach that has been a little unsettled this morning (The water is supposed to be safe for consumption here. I haven’t been drinking it but I haven’t been as careful with it as I could be when I am traveling. My digestive system might be reacting to the local bacteria. I’ll be back to normal in another day or so. This is not my first travel rodeo).

While shopping my feet start bothering me. To be honest everything has been bothering me since I’ve started traveling but this is my normal life now and I just deal with discomfort most of the time or treat parts with biofreeze or topical pain cream. I’ve been meaning to pop in for a massage. This is the perfect time since my only other plan is to go to the beach and I don’t really have to go to the water (growing up around beaches most of my life make hanging on the beach not a high priority activity). I missed this about traveling around south East Asia. Massages are so affordable here. I decide on a foot reflexology plus leg, neck and shoulders combo. The neck and shoulders combo is relaxing. The foot and leg massage is very painful and this is coming from someone who views massages that aren’t painful as a waste of time. I deal with the pain because my body needs a good massage. This is no relaxing massage. Imagine stubbing a toe. Then imagine stubbing all your toes. Then imagine this happening multiple times. This is how my foot massage feels. Hopefully at $24 USD this fixes me though.

I realize tonight that the late night music and dj is actual the fire show. It is long and goes late. Thank goodness for earplugs. I walk by and watch it for a little while. I then decide to get a drink and an appetizer and watch the sunset. A guitar guy plays covers and I watch a kitten wander around the front of the restaurant like she owns the place. Today has certainly been full of kittens. Must be kitten season here.

Later on I attempt to shop again and end up at the night food market. It is busy and everything looks interesting and/or good. Unfortunately I am too full from my appetizer and cocktail so I pass. There will be more street food later, this is just my start to Malaysia.

I do take back a pandan roll to my room to eat later since not finding the pandan dessert earlier in my travels was an itch I never did scratch. Now I am satisfied. And overly full. No travel planning is happening tonight. I can’t stay awake and the internet is terrible here….you think I would be used to the terrible internet episodes from my past travels but it always takes me by surprise. For instance I am going to have to call the airport in the morning to make sure I am actually on the flight I think I am on today. I have a confirmation email and can see the reservation when I look online but I am unable to check into the flight and I never actually got a confirmation screen when I booked it (But I am also charged twice for it). The joys of traveling. I am arriving three hours early for a domestic flight to figure all this out.