The trip that we discovered mangosteens — the most delicious fruit ever!

January 2013

After receiving news of an extended holiday period for our winter vacation, Travelinds headed to Malaysia for our Christmas and New Year’s break for 14 days. This was only two weeks after we’d returned from our crazy busy South African wedding trip and a week after we’d had to move apartments unexpectedly (within 24 hours). We were ready to relax and unwind.

First stop: Penang

 

First impression of Penang:  Diverse community, skyscrapers juxtaposed with bamboo houses, centered around food, laid back, and puts “African time” to shame.

Penang is one of the most popular islands off the coast of Malaysia. It is known for its delicious (and cheap) local food, a rich cultural heritage and great holiday atmosphere for tourists.  It has many places to explore, including several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We visited a few of these, such as Chew Jetty (a Chinese fishing village with houses in narrow alleys built over the sea) and Fort Cornwallis, built by the ‘founder’ of the Penang British colony Captain Francis Light.

The country has a rich history and Malaysians are made up of several people groups, the majority of which are those of Malay, Indian and Chinese descent. This dynamic makes for a rich food culture, not to mChew Jetty, Penangention the very friendly, helpful people in general.

There was such a mixture of religions in Penang that it was hard to say which is the majority without looking at some statistics. There is a fascinating mixture of Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu (Tamil) and Christian places of worship (sometimes right next to each other!). There are little pockets of communities (China town, Indian Town etc.,) where you can see the traditional way of life still continues, even through this modern backdrop of Malaysian development.

Travelinds’ Highlights of Penang

The food!! Amazing Malay and Indian food, especially the “street” food. Noodles, rotis, soups, curries etc., and we ate to our heart’s delight!

The variety!! The beaches were fairly average compared to South Africa. Still, there were so many interesting markets (where bargaining is the favourite pastime), tourist sites (Georgetown and other areas, too) and other things to keep you busy that you can forget about a little bit of litter on the beaches.

The markets!! Our favourite pastime in the evenings was the Batu Ferringhi night market. You can bargain for cheap goods until you drop. Anything from clothing, cologne and curios to massages or food stuffs. And boy are the prices different from each stall to the next!

Memory Maker in Penang, Malaysia

We found a fish spa in one of the massage parlours. We paid the equivalent of around ZAR6.00 for 30 minutes for these tiny fish to nibble at our feet.

It’s great fun. It kind of feels like pins and needles at the time but your feet feel fantastic the next day. The doctor fish especially loved H’s dry heels over R’s softies!

R also loved his long ocean swim out to the small island nearby, despite jellyfish stings along the way. He got to catch his own big shellfish right off the rocks.

Travelling Companions for the Travelinds

In Penang, we met a couple from Shanghai, a couple from Canada and even one man (while we had our fish spa) from Sudan.  Also, there were a whole lot of others who we could talk to easily and for extended periods by being our usual friendly selves.

Next stop: Langkawi

First impression of Langkawi: Beach atmosphere, small tourist-centered island, simple living for locals, and beautiful natural sights, including animals and bird life far richer than in Penang.

Langkawi is known for its beaches, easy accessibility to and from the southern Thai islands in the Andaman sea and eagles.  We managed to do a scooter tour (H’s first time on any sort of motorbike!) in one day. This trip covered just about the whole island of Langkawi (for only about R90).

The long white beaches are absolutely beautiful, with soft sand and an abundance of interesting crabs. There is a great variety of restaurants to cater to the great variety of tourists (Russian, Italian, German, Spanish, American, British, Australian, Polish, Arabic, Chinese… the list goes one).

Travelinds’ Highlights of Langkawi

The nature.  Birds, monitor lizards, crabs, monkeys, eagles, trumpeter hornbills, and a large variety of other things could be seen almost on a daily basis. We really enjoyed watching the tiny sand bubbler crabs making extra tiny sand balls all the way around their holes. So interesting! There were thousands of them along the beach that you wouldn’t even notice if you didn’t look closely.

The beaches. All the beaches were beautiful here; busy, but still enjoyable. The ocean was much cleaner than in Penang.

The hotels. We really were privileged to stay at Holiday Villas Resort for our first four nights in Langkawi. This was SUCH an amazing resort to be at – reasonably priced rooms (for a resort). It was an awesome location and the facilities included a beautiful pool, jacuzzi, semi-private beach and sports facilities!

Memory Maker in Langkawi, Malaysia

A day on the scooter together exploring the whole island was bliss. We saw almost all that it has to offer and remains one of our fondest memories.

With soft rain every now and again, the trip also made for a very romantic day together. We saw lots more of island life and of nature this way and could stop where we wanted to explore more.

Travelling Companions

In Langkawi, we met so many people. “Uncle” was one who started his own restaurant or food stall (great local cuisine!).  He used to work in a 5-star resort but quit because he wanted to play paintball, his other passion. We enjoyed many chats with Uncle and his crew as we ate at their food stall most nights.

Another interesting couple were some British journalists based permanently in Kazakstan. We chatted to them for most of New Year’s Eve because they were our neighbours at the motel. We also met up again with the Canadians whom we had met in Penang. It was so lovely getting to know them a little more.

Last stop: Koh Lipe, Thailand

Our last two nights on this vacation, we decided to take a speedboat over to Koh Lipe. In Thai, this is literally “Island Lipe” so they all start with “Koh.”

Thailand is another country but only an hour away from Langkawi to the north.  Thankfully, R was keeping an eye on the weather forecasts. We chose two sunny days to spend in Koh Lipe when we did the trip there. However, it was pouring with rain on our trip over to Thailand.

The speedboat was not closed off, hence we were all soaking wet! It calmed for the evening, and the next two days were absolutely beautiful weather. That surely made up for the first afternoon’s downpours and very wet luggage.

Koh Lipe is also absolutely beautiful! It is a tiny island (walking distance to go all the way around it) and referred to as “The Maldives of Thailand”.  It is known, as is the rest of Thailand, for its beautiful beaches, turquoise-coloured clear water, great snorkelling and diving and cheap but quality massages!  We stayed in a small bamboo bungalow (with fans). There were mozzi nets over the bed and a little Asian-style bathroom.  The sign on the door said, “Beware of leaving shoes outside on the deck as the dogs love to steal them and bury them!!” Actually, this happened to the German couple staying in the bungalow next door!

Travelinds’ Highlights of Koh Lipe

We only had one full day, so we decided to do a snorkelling trip. It was very reasonably priced and included equipment and lunch for a full day trip.  Great decision!

We saw so many beautiful fish and sea creatures in the snorkelling spots and got to see a few little Thai islands along the way. The lunch spot (a deserted white beach) had amazing snorkelling right off the beach. We even saw a scary looking black spider sneaking past us on the beach to go back to the forest.

Travelling Companions

Again, we met up with the Canadians. They had taken our advice and ferried up to Thailand from Langkawi, stopping in at Koh Lipe for a couple of days first.  We had a meal or two with them and sunset drinks. We also taught them a few South Africanisms, like “Mozzi”, “Lekker”, “Slops” and “Mielies.”

It was great to make some new friends who are doing what we still dream of doing one day. They have backpacked through Nepal, India and Sri Lanka so far. Now, they’re heading through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and then Australia.

We also had a lovely chat on the “fast” boat back to Langkawi to Swedish, German and Australian couples, which we enjoyed!

Another Funny Travelinds’ Memory From Koh Lipe, Thailand

On the last evening at about 11pm, we went for a couples massage (one-hour full body). This was something we’d both looked forward to when visiting Thailand! It was amazing, as promised by all the tour guides.

Unexpectedly, the massage was also entertaining. We were bent, prodded, squeezed and stretched —like pretzels — by our tiny masseurs. At one stage, R even had the Thai lady jumping on him with her full body weight. As you can imagine, this was hilarious (and painful for him). It also did the trick to ease the sore muscles!

Final Reflections: Travelinds in Malaysia and Thailand

Tip: Ignore anything that says ‘rapid’, ‘speed’ or ‘fast’ in Malaysia and Thailand – there is nothing rapid about the local transport (or food service). The “rapid” bus that “takes 45 minutes” took us about three hours, and the speed boat of “only 55 minutes” took us 2.5 hours.

Reflecting on this trip reminded us once again, how amazing God’s provision for us has been. He promises to provide for His people. He continues to shower us with most undeserved blessings despite our sinful shortcomings and constant lack of gratitude. We are so very grateful that we have had this opportunity to enjoy a wonderful two-week summer holiday in the middle of the Korean winter with little fuss and a whole lot of fun together!