Apr 12, 2013 - Penang, Malaysia

Penang is known as the northern gateway to Malaysia and also the country’s oldest British settlement. The word “Penang” in Malay refers to the areca nut palm which produces the beetle nut, an essential delicacy chewed by millions in the Far East. This island became famous for its many unique and abundance of spices and its perfect location on the spice route between the west and China. So what did we do…of course we went to a spice farm and cooking school utilizing the many local spices grown on the farm. We went to the largest spice farm...

Jul 16, 2012 - Malaysia

Hey mom, Thank you for paying those school fees for me. Yes I figured my MasterCard would be around that amount because my debit card didn't work once in Bangkok for some weird reason so I had to use my credit card. That's alright tho, I put 1000 dollars onto my credit card 2 days ago to be safe so it should have a positive balance now. Presidents choice has been doing well for me so far. Glad I got my limit bumped up to 1000 before I left. Everyone else on the trip has had to pull money from the machines twice as much as me. I haven't had...

Jun 16, 2012 - Malaysia - Days 9 - 10 - Hornbills by the dozens, it's feeding time!

We spent the next two days on Pandang relaxing on the beach, catching some more rays and swimming in the ocean. We went snorkeling but the water was too rough and from what we could see it's pretty devoid of life here close to shore. There is a small island you can go to for snorkeling but we opted out as the reviews are not that great. We did have another "run-in" with the gang of monkeys on the beach, one managed to pick away at Jason's camera bag for a while before we realized he was in it. He had reached his hand in, fiddled with the...

Jun 14, 2012 - Malaysia - Day 8 - My 39th Birthday packed full of fun!

We discovered a private cove with a beach, We wandered down the beach and found a stupendous tree swing, which Jason helped me onto and I proceeded to swing like a mad hatter. Jason hopped on, we took turns pushing one another which in turn provided us with some sweet photos capturing the moment. We continued walking the beach, ended up meandering our way through rocky boulders and a forest path that lead us down to the beach. This was obviously the place they bring tourists in the busy season, a small outside picnic area was setup but it...

Jun 13, 2012 - Malaysia - Day 7 - Pandang Island

After checking out of the Star Dust guest house we had a bite to eat before taking the ferry back across to Butterworth. We boarded a bus at 3:30pm bound for the island of Pandang. A five hour bus journey took us through some very nice scenery of west Malaysia. We arrived in the town of, at the boat pier where we boarded a small ferry bound for the island of Pandang. The ride took approximately half an hour and it offered us beautiful views of the sunset where we watched the sun set its time over the ocean waters. Once on Pandang we took a...

Jun 12, 2012 - Malaysia - Days 2 - 6 - Glorious Penang

Back to our ole’ stomping grounds, wonderful Penang, where the streets are full of food vendors, smelly streets, rats and wondering cats. We stayed at the ‘New Banana Guest House’ for two nights, enduring a small room on the very top floor which only offered a small fan as refuge from the intense heat of the day. I couldn’t move around at all without breaking out into a massive sweat fest, my clothes soaked in a matter of minutes. Finally deciding we needed to move, we found a room at the Star Dust hotel. Only a fan room was available, but...

Jan 7, 2012 - Malaysia - Day 33 - 35 - Penang Island

Jan 5th: Today we decided to go to the Thai Embassy and apply for a 60 day visa. Took a taxi and arrived just shortly after 11:30pm. Soon enough we were grabbed by a security guard who provided each of us with the entry applications and he helped us fill them out. Once done he provided Jason with a shirt to put over his tank top - men's shoulders cannot be bare in certain Thai institutions. (good to know for when we arrive in Thailand in less than a weeks time) Stood in line for half an hour, passed over $220 ringgit for our applications...

Dec 12, 2011 - Cameron Highlands and Penang

Friday 9th Amazing route up here yesterday along the windiest road ever past a huge waterfall and lots of people selling Durian (they are really smelly fruit that people here really love), handicrafts and honey. We are staying in Fathers guest house which is full of backpacking young people and is very friendly. We had a 'Steamboat' for dinner last night which is a bit like a Chinese fondue. You start with a soup base and then add chicken, fish, veges, tofu etc it was really delicious. Had a chat with a couple from Singapore about the...

Nov 23, 2011 - Our Journey to Malaysia

You better grab a bowl of popcorn & a drink because I have lots to write about! I’ve been going through writing withdrawals over the last week. It’s funny how a place so utterly foreign just 3 weeks ago can seem like home already. We are so glad to be back in Thailand. Malaysia was a beautiful country but the people were not. They were rude, arrogant & disrespectful. The men smelled like curry, old tobacco & body odour & undress every woman that walked by with their eyes. It was not a culture I would ever care to live in. We did however;...

Nov 18, 2011 - A Big Hello from Malaysia!!

Hello Everyone! Sorry we haven't written in awhile, it's been quite a busy few days! Before I left I tried to upload more pictures, pictures of the elephants didn't upload as we lost our signal. SO we have to wait until we get back to our laptop to put up those pictures. So where to start...the mini bus ride from Hua Hin was BUMPY & scary. It was about 2.5 hours and really should have taken 3.5! We sat in the back over the wheel so good thing we wore our seat belts to stop us from hitting the roof! haha They pack it full as well, there's...

Jun 10, 2011 - Penang

Monday 6th to Monday 13th June So the overnight train was interesting after fixed menu dinner of chicken and cashew nut, sou p, pork red curry and pineapple (I ate most of it kids picked and ate potatoe chips) I thought it was nice for train food and the curry very tast and fragrant - kids didnt think the same as me obviously. They made the beds which Nathan was very excited about - they put this capsule like thing down from the room and pulled the chairs out and abracadabra there are two beds the bottom one almost huge in size and...

Jun 7, 2011 - Chaing Mai to Bangkok to Penang

saturday 28th - tuesday 30th So we trundled of to the Tiger Kingdom, got a taxi 500 baht return, open air no windows so the breeze was nice, every bump and the vinal stick to your skin seats were not. Took about 30 or so minutes or so. So we finally arrived and discovered that Nathan can only go in to the smallest tigers as hes to small, and Bill and I can onlly go in the smallest and the small. Nathan was not happy as he really wanted to go into the really big ones - of course he did. Trying to explain to him that the might think he is...