Our flight from tourist-centric Buddhist Thailand to Muslim Malaysia was less than an hour long, but soon after arriving the stark differences between the two countries became pretty evident.
Malaysia gets a lot less tourists than it's northern neighbor, and the tourists that do come are certainly not greeted with ping pong shows, lady boys and cheap alcohol they can drink on the street. Instead, they find a conservative society where most woman wear head coverings, politicians are prosecuted for gay sex and visitors are expected to conform to modesty standards not seen on Thai beaches. Sharia law forbids Muslims from drinking, while thirsty non-Muslims are forced to pay heft alcohol taxes.
After landing on the island of Penang we headed straight to Georgetown, which has built a reputation as the food capital of South East Asia. Over the course of three days we enjoyed some great food from small restaurants and various hawker stalls, but it certainly wasn't the best food we had in the region. We were also a little disappointed with Georgetown's other main draw cards, the historic buildings of its colonial downtown (scorching heat didn't help). Unfortunately, Penang's northern overdeveloped beaches were also a bit of a let down. Even though Penang didn't prove to be the highlight we hoped it would be, we found enough good food, historic streets and friendly people to make us glad we visited the island.
Malaysia gets a lot less tourists than it's northern neighbor, and the tourists that do come are certainly not greeted with ping pong shows, lady boys and cheap alcohol they can drink on the street. Instead, they find a conservative society where most woman wear head coverings, politicians are prosecuted for gay sex and visitors are expected to conform to modesty standards not seen on Thai beaches. Sharia law forbids Muslims from drinking, while thirsty non-Muslims are forced to pay heft alcohol taxes.
After landing on the island of Penang we headed straight to Georgetown, which has built a reputation as the food capital of South East Asia. Over the course of three days we enjoyed some great food from small restaurants and various hawker stalls, but it certainly wasn't the best food we had in the region. We were also a little disappointed with Georgetown's other main draw cards, the historic buildings of its colonial downtown (scorching heat didn't help). Unfortunately, Penang's northern overdeveloped beaches were also a bit of a let down. Even though Penang didn't prove to be the highlight we hoped it would be, we found enough good food, historic streets and friendly people to make us glad we visited the island.
Next stop was Langkawi, a large tax-free (so affordable alcohol) resort island in north-west Malaysia. We stayed at Pantai Cenang, which is the most lively beach on the island but still offers a nice relaxed atmosphere. We spent a day and a half at the beach and a nearby small island, where Napo launched a scenic parasailing flight. While not the most spectacular beach we'd visited, it was certainly pretty and enjoyable enough, at least that is until we started spotting jelly fish in the water.
We had set aside a full day on our Langkawi schedule for an island day trip. The island all the locals raved about, Ko Lipe, happened to be in Thailand, so we packed our passports and took a high speed ferry there first thing in the morning. After arriving and speeding through a relaxed immigration process, we set about enjoying what turned out to be the most beautiful island we'd seen on this trip, and the second most beautiful we've ever seen (after Bora Bora). Ko Lipe offered three beautiful beaches, all which amazingly clear turquoise waters but a slightly different charm, and we were careful to split our time between the three. We would've loved to have stayed for a few days on the island but after five hours had to catch the ferry back to Langkawi.
From Langkawi, we flew to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. On our first afternoon we took a train to the iconic Petronas towers, marveling at them under the sun, wandering through the luxurious adjoining mall during sunset and enjoying seeing them all lit up at night.
The following day we visited the Batu caves, which were unique and impressive enough for them to be worth doing, even though we'd already seen dozens of Hindu temples in the preceding few months. Unfortunately the oppressive heat and pesky monkeys we'd encountered at most other Hindu temples also somewhat limited our enjoyment of Batu caves.
Our last night in KL was Napo's last night with us in Asia, and we celebrated accordingly at the rooftop of our party hostel, which is known as one of the city's liveliest night spots. The next day we said goodbye to Napo and took a short bus ride to our last stop in Malaysia, Melaka.
Melaka is a pretty coastal town with over 600 years of multicultural heritage, and has become popular with both weekending locals and international tourists. We only had 24 hours there, but that allowed us plenty of time to wander through the old town, focussing on the pretty riverside and vibrant Chinatown. We were also able to enjoy a couple of final typical Malaysian meals before catching a bus back to KL to fly out to Vietnam.
Melaka is a pretty coastal town with over 600 years of multicultural heritage, and has become popular with both weekending locals and international tourists. We only had 24 hours there, but that allowed us plenty of time to wander through the old town, focussing on the pretty riverside and vibrant Chinatown. We were also able to enjoy a couple of final typical Malaysian meals before catching a bus back to KL to fly out to Vietnam.