Malaysia - Penang Island

Kuala Lumpur airport, 8.1.2015

Happy new year!

Christmas went by quickly and Harrison Ford was our Santa Claus. It was raining every day in Penang / Georgetown so we relaxed indoor watching Cinemax. Our hotel had a sauna and as Finnish tradition we used it on Christmas Eve. It brought a little christmas feeling. A group of disabled people were singing Christmas carrols with full heart for charity was touching. Of course we had skype contact to home too.

Penang was quite a big city, but the main thing there seemed to be tourism and shopping. Because of the weather we probably missed the best sides. Penang is also famous by its streetfood. Nearby the hotel there was a food court where we ate mostly. The food was cheap and tasty. Just a bit too spicy sometimes, note to self: always remember to mention that no hot/no spicy/no chili with every meal you order. Even foods that are not usually spicy can be it in Malaysia.

We went also to check Georgetown and some shopping malls. Town center was pretty crowded and because of the rain walking around was not a thing to do. The Unesco heritage buildings looked nice but were not maintained well and were spread around with no signalations. So you just have to walk around and find them which is cool in a good weather. In malls the products were usually bad quality or expensive, and sizes of the clothes asian standards. We shopped instant coffee and a pack of socks. They were cheaper than in Langkawi which was widely adverted to be duty free for textiles and best for shopping.

A big plus was easy and working transportation. Buses were cheap and easy to use. Taxis expensive, those we didn't use.

We spent few sunny moments at the hotel pool which was big and really nice. Sometimes it just felt too intimidating to be there in bikinis and swimming shorts, when almost everyone else were wearing full body swimming suit for religious reasons.

Still, a week with clean sheets, big bed, warm shower and breakfast buffet was refreshing. With new energy we decided to return to Thailand for about a week and not straight to Kuala Lumpur where our next flight was about to leave the 8th of Jan.

We booked a minivan to Krabi, about 17 euros each and 10 hours. (Was said only 8 hours.) After that we decided that no more minivans.