George Town

Planes, trains, automobiles, oh and a ferry have been getting us around Malaysia. We took a 3 hour bullet train from KL to Butterworth before catching a 15 minute ferry across to George Town on the island of Penang. The train was quite a pleasant ride. We booked in business class and the seats were nice and roomy and comfortable. With this fare we were served a hot lunch and an additional snack closer to arrival. The connection to the ferry was easy and attached to the train station at Butterworth by a short covered walkway. We decided to split our time in George Town at two hotels located in different parts of the city. Our first hotel was a short walk from the ferry terminal and was well located in the older part of the city core. 

George Town is a colourful, multicultural city, known for its British colonial buildings, street art, Chinese shophouses, mosques, and has gained the reputation as the gastronomical centre of Malaysia. There is no shortage of places to eat with food hawkers, food markets, and restaurants. The city centre was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 and is where you find Fort Cornwallis, a bastion fort built by the British in the late 18th century. There isn’t much left to see at the site aside from some decommissioned cannons and some empty barracks. We did learn a bit of the fort and city’s history however which made the visit worth it. The Queen Victoria clock tower sits just outside the fort and was dedicated to three queen to commemorate her diamond jubilee. Just outside of the fort is Esplanade Padang Kota Lama, a large park great for gatherings and festivals. Impressive architectural buildings are found all around town including the city hall and town hall buildings. The Pinang Peranakan Mansion built in the late 1890s is a beautiful green mansion that was the former residence of the former residence of the Hai Sen secret society leader. Many buildings unfortunately have come under disrepair and appear to require significant investment to return them to their glory. The Sri Maha Mariamman Temple has the most vibrantly coloured sculptures of gods and goddesses adorning the main gate and facade. 

The large multicultural and religious influence is evident within the city. With Chinese, Indians, Siamese, Malays, Burmese, Arabs, and Europeans all represented in some fashion. The Little India quarter is the epicentre of Indian music, authentic clothing and jewellery shops, exotic spices, and savoury cuisine. We ended up having an Indian dinner one evening at a Michelin recommended restaurant called Sardaarji. The food here originates from the Punjab region in India and was such an explosion of flavours and amazing mixture of spices in every bite. A new food experience we tried was Burmese food. Our dishes were very flavourful and not too terribly spicy. This restaurant appeared to be run by a family and seemed to be more of a locals place, at least while we were there, there were no other tourists. Again no shortage of food options the biggest challenge being what to choose. We sampled as many traditional Malay dishes including Nasi Lemak, and curry dishes as possible. 

Aside from being a foodie’s haven, George Town is also famously known for its street art. Art pieces can be found everywhere and some even include physical objects you can interact with like man riding motorcycle which has an actual motorcycle built into the piece that you can sit on. The vast number of art pieces include murals, metal sculptures, and wall paintings on almost every street corner within the city core. The art pieces are intended to reflect the daily lives of the people of Penang often depicted  in a humorous and fun manner.  

The city is a fairly walkable city though does not have the best sidewalk infrastructure so you are often walking along side traffic. When on a sidewalk you have to be on the lookout for motorists who are trying to bypass traffic. The easiest way around if you are going further than a few blocks is by Grab. 

The Penang Botanic Gardens is a 30 hectare garden established in 1884. The garden today houses a rich variety of flora and fauna with some specific collections of plants like the fern collection, the herb garden, the cactus house and sun rockery. The most unusual and unique tree we saw was the cannonball tree. This tree looks like it is growing coconuts however these hard, woody round cannonball like shells contain a fruit which animals will consume. The tree also grows a beautiful flower. Watch out for wild monkeys, there are everywhere and for the most part leave you alone unless they feel you are threatening them some way which Z found out by taking one step too close to a baby. Mama hisses at him fiercely and probably would have lunged if he didn’t step back. They say never mess with wildlife!

The second part of our stay was in the Gurney area. This area is being converted into more of a commercial district filled with high rises, shopping malls and hotels surrounding some of the older traditional prewar houses and colonial bungalows that have not yet been redeveloped. Gurney Drive is a seafront promenade with large recreational park area, and ample walkways to stroll along the water. It’s famously known for the street cuisine and the seafront hawker’s centre. The area is still under development yet already provides the feel of an upscale area. Our stay here at the just opened (3 weeks in operation) Marriott was fantastic. We had a nicely appointed room with a lovely view of the promenade and waterfront below. 

Next up is the island of Langkawi, a short 20 minute flight away. 

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia is a melting pot of different ethnicities and religions influenced mainly by Chinese and Indian cultures along with some European and of course the native Malay people. While predominantly a Muslim country, it is a fairly liberal country and very tolerant of other religions all living in harmony together. Overall Malaysia is a fairly safe country and the people are friendly but not overly engaging. The official language of the country is Malay, however English is widely spoken and is taught in school as the government recognized the importance of English as an international language. The best way to get around KL we found is to grab a Grab. Grab is Malaysia’s version of Uber and is readily available everywhere and so convenient to use through their app. We were advised not to use random taxis because you can end up haggling over the price and Grab rides are tracked making them safer. Driving in the city is chaotic to say the least. First, driving is on the other side of what we’re accustomed to and then there are scooters and motorcycles weaving in, out, and around all the cars to get ahead. Trying to cross traffic as a pedestrian is fun too and if you’re not at a traffic light, you just have to launch yourself when a window of less to no traffic comes up.

KL is a big metropolitan city undergoing transformative change with many new skyscrapers lining the skyline. Each of these skyscrapers has unique architectural design and characteristics to them so they aren’t just boring straight up in the sky boring glass buildings. Some of the shapes of the buildings are fascinating as they bend into the sky. Most famously known are the Petronas twin towers, standing at 452 metres (88 floors) with a skybridge  connecting both towers at floor 41 and 42 making them the tallest twin towers in the world and know the second tallest in KL. Designed by an Argentine architect, the towers took only three years to build and are designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art. Tower one was built by the Japanese while tower two was built by the South Koreans and rumour has it they competed with one another to complete their tower first with the Koreans completing theirs one day before the Japanese. Both towers are office buildings with Petronas taking up one entire building. A shopping mall and the Petronas Philharmonic Hall sit below the towers. Just outside the mall on the back side of the towers is a promenade with water fountains that in the evening display a light and music show called Symphony Lake. The towers are impressive to see both in the day and at night when they are lite up. Just completed in November 2023 and now surpassing the twin towers in height is Merdeka 118 Tower standing at 678 metres with 118 storeys. At a cost of $1.5B USD, we learned this tower almost bankrupt the country with corruption, money laundering and embezzlement landing Malaysia’s former Prime Minister in jail. The tower is impressive with its geometric shape and is a mix of hotel, commercial office, and residential space. 

There is no shortage of shopping malls and markets in KL, and given the exchange rate of the ringgit, everything was very inexpensive. While the shopping malls with every brand name and luxury brand under the sun provided a nice respite from the heat and humidity, the street markets were much more interesting to walk through and shop. So many shops selling souvenirs items, clothing, “brand named” shoes, “brand named” purses and wallets. I ended up buying myself a “Coach” wristlet purse. We were here just after Chinese New Year and the malls and many other places were still decorated for the celebrations with red lanterns hanging everywhere and mini mandarin trees situated at entrances of hotels and other buildings. With this being the year of the dragon meant many displays of dragons to be found everywhere as well. 

Where we were staying in KL city centre, you can really see how the new is overtaking the old. KL is experiencing rapid development and gentrification though there are still some hold out landowners who have hung on while development surrounds them. We really got a good glimpse of this from our hotel room and during a walking food tour we took. We’ve discovered one great way to learn about the local culture and food scene is through a food tour. The Sambal Street food tour did not disappoint. Our guide Kiran is a foodie enthusiast (and Miss Malaysia finalist!)who took us through Sambal Street lined with an outdoor food market where mostly locals shop. We ventured into Kampung Baru which is a very authentic old Malaysian neighbourhood filled with old traditional style wooden houses, many on stilts to protect them in the rainy season from flooding. During our four hour food journey we sampled 15 different dishes influenced by a variety of ethnic groups now calling Malaysia home. True to her explanation, Malaysian cuisine is an adaptation of all the foreign cultures and while many dishes appear similar to their origins, they are typically a toned down spicy version that still maintain an explosive of flavour. Our tour started with a visit to a fruit stand where we were able to try some unique fruits that we probably would have otherwise skipped over, like the salak (snake fruit) that on initial appearance certainly would have been a pass. Salak has a scaly, hard outside and is kinda prickly, yet easy to peel and once you get to the inside it looks like garlic cloves. It has a sweet, slightly acidic and firm texture inside, yet is also juicy. We also tried longan which is similar to lychee, and mangosteen. All tasted so amazing and were a great precursor to all the other amazing dishes we were about to experience. One of the other extremely unique fruits we got to try was durian. This foul smelling fruit is actually banned in many of the hotels we stayed in. Durian is definitely unique in look - large, oval and spiky, texture and flavour. The flesh is soft, somewhat custard like and has an oniony flavour. Summed up, an extremely odd fruit but not as pungent tasting as it smells, at least not the Malaysian variety we were told. As part of the experience we got to try our hand in making roti, one of the very popular dishes in Malaysia, obviously influenced by the Indian culture. With 15 dishes, it’s too many to describe each in detail, but some of them were Mee Goreng Mamak, Teh Ais, Nasi Lemak, Satays, and Puiu Bambi. Needless to say we got an amazing sampling of the variety of foods and fabulous flavours Malaysia has to offer. Our tour ended at the Pintasan Saloma Link, a 69 metre long pedestrian and bicycle bridge across the Klang River that brings you back to KLCC just in front of the Petronas towers. The design of the bridge was inspired by an ornamental leaf called Sirih Junjung which is offered at Malay weddings to symbolize unity. The bridge is best visited at night when it comes alive with an ebb and flow of changing colours lighting up the bridge.

There are so many ornately decorated temples, shires and mosques everywhere. We decided not to purposefully visit any, but if we happened to walk by in our exploration, we stopped to admire the decorative building and many statues. We did make a point to visit one religious site called Batu Caves however. This cave complex houses one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India. The limestone forming these caves is said to be 400 million years old. There are 272 brightly coloured stairs leading up into the caves. At the base of the stairs sits the 43 metre tall golden Lord Murugan statue, a Hindu god. The temple within the caves was built in 1920. As you approach the caves and on the surrounding grounds you will encounter troops of monkeys, mostly leaving the tourists alone but are apparently known for stealing people’s phones and bags if not careful. 

Our two and a half days in KL were filled with a lot of sightseeing and a lot of walking. It was about the right amount of time to spend exploring what we wanted to see and do and get a taste of Malay life.