More about Malaysia

I have been banished from Mr C’s side as he is desperately trying to revise his Arabic before he starts his online class with his tutor from Egypt. Unfortunately, the tutor is the same one he had three years ago, and so knows exactly how much he has forgotten. Naturally, I am not allowed to listen in on the ensuing debacle (if that’s the word I want, I still remember the ‘erstwhile husband’ post) for fear that some of the deep wifely respect I feel might be diminished.  So instead, I’m using the time to blog.

Malaysia’s a whole week away now, but I’ll recap the trip with some photos and notes:

Redang beach

Redang Island – on our last day, we missed out on the Marine Park snorkelling trip as we overslept (which we will blame on S waking up about 5 times in the night). So instead, we hired three life jackets (including a sweet teeny one!) and snorkels and just waded out to the house reef. We took turns, with one of us laying in the conveniently placed hammocks on the beachfront with the baby and a good book ( which he wouldn’t let us read). I wasn’t expecting to see much from so close to the beach, but to my surprise the sea was teeming with colourful fish within 5 minutes’ swim, including bannerfish, a huge Napoleon, gorgeous technicolour lunar wrasses and parrotfish. There’s an identification chart here if you’re interested.

Redang beach at sunset

Later that day, I went out again, and this time was lucky enough to see a group of baby blacktip reef sharks, directly underneath me! It was the most amazing sight. There was no-one else nearby either, which made it quite special. I was in the water for about an hour and a half altogether that time, and had practically turned into a prune, but it was very worthwhile.

Boats at dawn

The next morning, we had to be up at 5am, our second ridiculously early start of the holiday. We had to walk 15 minutes up the beach before sunrise. It was a very peaceful moment, walking in line with the other holiday makers, picking our way across the sand in the dim light. As we boarded the boat, dawn broke, and the sky changed from blue to a streaky pink. After the short boatride past several other islands, we changed to a ferry, and then arrived back on the mainland in Kuala Terengganu to await our guide. We had booked a day tour around the city to try and make the most of our time, before we had to board our night coach at 9pm.

Boats in Terengganu

Our first stop was a fishing village, on a small island close to the mainland. We went into a tin roofed building, similar to those I’ve seen in Bangladesh, and were hit with the overpowering smell of raw, fermenting fish.

fishing village

We smiled politely, and put up with the stench, hoping for a quick exit, but were then offered a sort of fish sausage to taste! It wasn’t as bad as we were expecting though (but only in tiny quantities). This was followed by the fish-collecting room and the fish-drying room, where they make ikin bilis, a kind of anchovy. We declined their offer to buy some of their fishy wares.

Batik shop girl with S

We soon returned to Terengganu for a visit to the beautiful state museum, the Islamic Civilisation Park (with replicas of all major world mosques!) and a batik warehouse, where S was promptly claimed and passed around by the female staff. We rested up at the Ping Anchorage Backpackers’ Hostel for a few hours and then got on the coach. Mr C has declared he will never do another trip like that as he didn’t get a wink of sleep, but S slept, so I didn’t find it too terrible.

Temple doorway in Penang

Penang was a short trip of only two days,We had arrived very early on the coach (6am) and had to wander the streets for a while before our room was ready, and that was all the touristing we felt up to. we idled away  few hours by going to yet another mall and eating at Chili’s.  We first ate Chili’s in Egypt and it has since been the one wish of our lives to eat there again. We tried once in KL, on a public holiday, but the queue was horrendous, so this was our chance, and we certainly stuffed ourselves . We lived a bit dangerously and ate street food from hawker stalls and roadside Indian restaurants – and the food was delicious. Excellent rich indian tea for 10p, delicious chicken satay, fish balls, lime juice, chicken curry..and fortunately we survived it all unscathed.

Trishaws at Cheong Fatt Tze mansion

We spent part of the second day at Cheong Fatt Tze mansion, belonging to ‘the Rockefeller of the East’, who built his dream home in the 19th century. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but it was full of beautiful antiques. We then visited a huge Buddhist temple, the Botanical Gardens and Penang Hill. The view from the hill was stunning, especially as we went up there at sunset.

Monkey at the hotel resort

The next day, up again at 6am, to get the ferry to Langkawi. Three hours later, we were in the beauteous grounds of the Sheraton Langkawi. The resort was built into the rainforest, and the trees literally buzz with wildlife. We didn’t see any until the last day, when a whole circusload of monkeys decided to play outside our hotel room, sliding down trees and jumping from one tree to the other. We didn’t get to see  a monitor lizard though, although I have a strong suspicion I wouldn’t have liked it much if I did.  The beach was horrible after Redang, full of little spidery crabs, with browny water near the coast – we didn’t spend much time there. We did hit the buffet though, the breakfasts were amazing!

Back in KL, we managed to fit in the Islamic Arts Museum, which was full of treasures from the Islamic world, not just Turkey and the Middle East, but also China and South East Asia. The building was also spectacular – very modern, yet retaining Islamic features such as beautiful coloured mosaic tiles. After the Central Market, we went back to Chinatown, where incidentally, most of the sellers were Bangladeshi! We got the soaking of our lives in a huge downpour at the end – a river of water was running down Petaling St at one point – and we set off back to our hotel damp, but satisfied that we had done everything we wanted.