Here are all the posts for Malaysia. I visited Malaysia as part of my southeast Asia trip. Other countries include: Singapore and Thailand.
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Patrick Dowd has returned from Peru. Read the Peru travelogue from the beginning.
Malaysia
Malaysia Photos
Here are some of my favorite photos from my trip to Malaysia. Click any photo to see the slideshow.
Malaysia history
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo joined the Federation. The first several years of the country’s history were marred by a Communist insurgency, Indonesian confrontation with Malaysia, Philippine claims to Sabah, and Singapore’s secession from the Federation in 1965. During the 22-year term of Prime Minister MAHATHIR bin Mohamad (1981-2003), Malaysia was successful in diversifying its economy from dependence on exports of raw materials to expansion in manufacturing, services, and tourism.
Penang
Penang is a fun place to visit and a great place to eat. Five centuries of colonialism plus Chinese, Indian and Muslim influence on traditional Malay culture have created a diverse multi-cultural society–and good food.
Char kway teow–big rice noodles fried with egg, vegetables, shrimp and sausage in soy sauce.
Curry mee–egg noodles in spicy curry coconut soup with sprouts, prawns, cuttlefish, cockles, tofu and mint.
Hokkien mee–port soup with noodles, prawn, sprouts and egg.
Laksa asam–fish-broth soup with tamarind and mint with white rice noodles.
Steamboat–Chinese fondue with many thinly sliced meats, fish, tofu, vegetables.
Tom yam soup–spicy seafood soup with noodles, tomatoes, fish, prawns and crab.
At food courts, hawker stalls typically sell a plate of these dishes for about $1US.
Lodging–Cathay Hotel does “ooze with character” as the Lonely Planet says, but the music from the food court across the street inhibits sleep until 3 a.m. The noisy night hotel staff in the lobby doesn’t help.
Oriental Hotel–please, clean, firendly hotel with central air and views.
Petronis Tower
Petronis Tower taken and sent from KL Tower.
Cameron Highlands
A cool, mountainous resort, a welcome relief from the heat. Tana Rata, a tourist town is the center. It’s fun hiking, visiting tea plantations and observing high-tech strawberry horticulture.
Travel–took mini-van from Georgetown directly to hotel in Tana Rata.
Lodging–The Cameronian had good home made scones, but otherwise nothing special.
Pulau Pangkor
Malaysia is famous for its islands on the east coast, but it is northeast monsoon season now. Pangkor is on the west coast, so it is unaffected. It is a small, sleepy place where fishing is more important than tourism. I spent several days at Nipah Beach swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and hiking. The place was empty and quiet. Aside from a limited choice of restaurants, it was a wonderful place to relax.
Unfortunately, a monkey took my camera. It was in a bag on the beach and no one was around. At first, I thought it was a human being, but why would he chew on my sunblock and leave my money? Other tourists reported trouble with monkeys taking things. Maybe worse, one tourist saw several monkeys fighting off a python snake.
Travel–took a bus from Tana Rata to Ipoh and from Ipoh to Lumut. Then took a ferry to Pangkor town and a taxi to Teluk Nipah.
Lodging–Pangkor Bay View Beach Resort is a nice hotel with a swimming pool and spacious rooms. Good value for less than $20 US.
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur, commonly referred to as “K.L.,” has the old and new. The colonial area, Meredeka Square and Chinatown are interesting. The new includes Petronas Towers (once the tallest buildings in the world), and KL Tower (still in the top three tallest towers). We visited the National Museum, National Mosque, Islamic Arts Museum, Bukit Benang and KL Sentral neighborhoods, and rode the monorail.
A couple of annoyances. KL is not really a walking city. Although the sights are close geographically, the major new roads were built without considering pedestrian traffic. Also, it was very hot, 35C/95F and the afternoon tropical sun absolutely burned.
Travel–took a mini-van across the island to pier at Pangkor Town, took ferry to Lamut and express bus to KL, about seven hours total.
Lodging. The Replica is nice enough. Located in Bukit Banang. Lots of hotels in the neighborhood have very small rooms.
Melaka
Melaka is a quaint town with lots of history and tourists. Somehow it manages to keep its authenticity despite the large number of tour buses. Town square, Chinatown, the shopping mall, night bazaar and neighborhoods are all interesting. Visited the Maritime Museum, People’s Museum and fort.
Travel–took a bus from KL (Puduraya station) to Melaka; it took 2.5 hours.
Lodging–Baba’s Hotel in Chinatown. Very nice, well-located. Interesting architecture and antique lobby furniture. Baba Nonya are descendants of Chines and Malay unions. Baba are the men; Nonya are the women.
Mersing
The only reason to go to Mersing is to catch the ferry to Pulau Tioman. We traveled from Melaka by bus for four-and-a-half hours and arrived at twelve-thirty. The last ferry left at twelve noon; the schedule is dependent on the tides. We caught the two hour ferry to Tioman the next morning.
Lodging–Accommodations in Mersing are relatively expensive and low-quality. Our room at the Country Hotel was above the dried fish store.
Pulau Tioman
Penumba Bay is so nice, I forget that I am a traveler and slip into a relaxed vacation mode. My days are spent snorkeling, hiking, walking the beach, collecting shells, watching the tides of the South China Sea and wondering about the weather.
There’s a lot of hype about Tioman–one of the ten best island and location for movie, South Pacific. It’s well-deserved. We avoided the eastern coast of Malaysia until the end of our trip because of the northeastern monsoon season. It typically ends February or March. During our visit, the wind sometimes blew full-force and the rain poured. Most of the time, clouds hang on the upper mountains of the island.
The coral, marine life and visibility are the best I’ve seen this trip and probably the best I’ve ever seen. I saw all manner, color and size of coral and fish. Highlights included a sea turtle, large bump-head parrot fish, and yellow and purple skates. A half-hour jungle work north takes you to Monkey Beach which has good snorkeling and and black-tipped reef sharks.
Lodging–the first night, we spent in a bungalow at Nazri’s II. The view was great, but at night, the bar in front of our hut attracted a loud, partying crowd that smoked, drank, and howled until four. We moved to the Penuba Bay Inn Resort. It had a great view and a coral reef along its beach. It’s relatively pricey and the food at the only restaurant become monotonous; but the location is superb.
Malaysia summary
Malaysia appropriately celebrates its multiethnic character. It’s a lively melting pot of Malay, Chinese, Indian and European cultures. Georgetown and Malaka were particularly interesting in this respect, especially their food dishes. Both have recently been recognized as World Heritage Sites to reflect their history and uniqueness.
Tioman Island was a special treat. The Cameron Highlands were refreshingly cool and picturesque with the tea plantations.
swimming with the sharks
Not being content with snorkeling the coral immediately in front of our Tioman Island resort, we hiked about 45 minutes north to Monkey Beach. It was deserted. We snorkeled the north side of the bay. This area is used for beginner diver training and I could see why. The water dropped off from 20-30 feet to what appeared to be 70-100. I had a sense of vertigo and falling as I snorkeled above the precipice.
After warming up, we snorkeled the south side. It was high tide. I enjoyed the environment. Large boulders had tumbled down into the water from the steep cliffs above. Coral grew among the boulders. Deep blue water was nearby. I saw large angel fish, a cuttlefish and was generally enjoying myself. As I went farther out, I peered into the deeper water. From my left on the shallow side, I saw a six-foot shark make its way into the deeper water. My adrenalin went ski high. I froze. It seemed to be gone. I swam over to Dawn and warned her there were sharks. Shortly thereafter, we both saw a smaller, five-foot shark. We waited about ten minutes and decided it was best to get out of the water; we were spooked.
Several hours later, I said the sharks were probably only there during high tide and now it was low tide, so therefore…. We swam back out there, but immediately saw another shark and got out of the water for good. Two Canadians were swimming on the beach and asked how the snorkeling was. I responded it was great, if you don’t mind sharks. It took some doing to convince them I was serious.
Back at the dive shop, the dive-master told us we were lucky to have seen the sharks. They were reef sharks focused on small fish and harmless to humans. It was the black tip reef shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus, a shark of tropical and warm temperate seas. One of the most common sharks found in shallow (sometimes as shallow as 30 cm) water around coral reefs of Indo-Pacific waters. The water they swim in is usually between 20 and 27° C (70 to 80º F).