We left Udi and Lyndal in Danau Toba and caught a bus to the mega city of Medan. We caught up with 2 friends, Wendy and Jacqui which was cool and made us happy to have met so many awesome people on this trip! The travel agent who sold us our tickets for the boat to Penang in Malaysia told us it would take3 hours. It took 4 hours before the boat even left, then another 7!!!! We were not thrilled to say the least.. but as soon as we stepped foot back in our beloved Penang all was good and we made our way back to lovely Mr Lows guesthouse. He even remembered us and our names even though it had been nearly 3 months since we were there! Feeling totally at home again, we headed straight out to our favourite (but slightly expensive) Indian restaurant and gorged ourselves on naans... yummm...
Being the end of Ramadan, our friend Leah who was working in Penang aswell, had a couple of days off, so the 3 of us decided to head to the “island paradise”of Langkawi.
No offense to the Malaysians, but it wasn't that idyllic. The Perhentian islands on the east coast were sooo much nicer. Langkawi was nice and all, and the beach was okay, but it was kind of Bali meets the Gold Coast meets Hawaii. SOOOO many people, sooo much rubbish, extremely overpriced, duty-free and brand-name shops everywhere and did I mention the number of people? Leah and I felt like pieces of meat (even with roh there!) everytime we stepped foot on the beach. Also, with it being the end of Ramadan celebrations, literally EVERY shop was closed for 2 whole days and nights except 1 Chinese run corner store (beers, water, snacks and instant noodles) and 1 Indian run pizza shop. So with our choice of food being really really expensive pizzas or instant noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we decided it was cheaper to get really drunk instead! So we did! It's amazing how much nicer the beach looked through beer (roh), vodka (Leah) and wine (me) glasses!!
After a couple of days of drunken boredom we decided to head back to Penang where atleast the naans were cheap. Several days and several dozen naans later, it was time to leave Leah in Penang (hope to see you again soon hun!!!) and head to KL. Again, we headed straight to our usual haunt, where again they welcomed us back. The first couple of KL days were occupied with running errands, ie, getting computer fixed, getting new visa, going to the post office, buying new books, buying new clothes, eating more naans... etc.. things that we just cant do as easily in Indonesia.
I (rob) headed to Melaka for a day and had a great time!! I'd heard lots of good things, and some not so good things about Melaka but personally I loved it!! the shopping was, honestly the most amazing I have probably ever experienced! Believe it or not, until I went to Melaka, I had not bought ANYTHING at all during this trip. But after a full day by myself to shop and sightsee without roh cramping my spending style (^0^) I came back with 2 pairs of pants, 2 tops and a new bag. Will definitely have to go and spend some more time there next Malaysia trip.
On our last day in KL, an Indian friend of ours suggested that we visit the Batu caves, a Hindu temple built into a set of caves just outside the city. The caves were stunning! So serene and peaceful! Until one of the monkeys decided that roh looked too much like a monkey he didn't like and started chasing him down the 190 odd stairs! The monkey caught him, grabbed him from behind and bit him on the arse while 2 other homeboy monkeys looked on for support in case roh tried to bite him back. A lot of kicking and throwing of water later and roh escaped but with a bite in his bum and a new understanding of the term “cheeky monkey.” Both a little shaken up, roh with anger that the monkey bit him and me from laughter at the whole incident, we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at the hospital!
As much as we love Malaysia, after nearly 3 more weeks there, we were more than ready to get back to Sumatra.
Being the end of Ramadan, our friend Leah who was working in Penang aswell, had a couple of days off, so the 3 of us decided to head to the “island paradise”of Langkawi.
No offense to the Malaysians, but it wasn't that idyllic. The Perhentian islands on the east coast were sooo much nicer. Langkawi was nice and all, and the beach was okay, but it was kind of Bali meets the Gold Coast meets Hawaii. SOOOO many people, sooo much rubbish, extremely overpriced, duty-free and brand-name shops everywhere and did I mention the number of people? Leah and I felt like pieces of meat (even with roh there!) everytime we stepped foot on the beach. Also, with it being the end of Ramadan celebrations, literally EVERY shop was closed for 2 whole days and nights except 1 Chinese run corner store (beers, water, snacks and instant noodles) and 1 Indian run pizza shop. So with our choice of food being really really expensive pizzas or instant noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we decided it was cheaper to get really drunk instead! So we did! It's amazing how much nicer the beach looked through beer (roh), vodka (Leah) and wine (me) glasses!!
After a couple of days of drunken boredom we decided to head back to Penang where atleast the naans were cheap. Several days and several dozen naans later, it was time to leave Leah in Penang (hope to see you again soon hun!!!) and head to KL. Again, we headed straight to our usual haunt, where again they welcomed us back. The first couple of KL days were occupied with running errands, ie, getting computer fixed, getting new visa, going to the post office, buying new books, buying new clothes, eating more naans... etc.. things that we just cant do as easily in Indonesia.
I (rob) headed to Melaka for a day and had a great time!! I'd heard lots of good things, and some not so good things about Melaka but personally I loved it!! the shopping was, honestly the most amazing I have probably ever experienced! Believe it or not, until I went to Melaka, I had not bought ANYTHING at all during this trip. But after a full day by myself to shop and sightsee without roh cramping my spending style (^0^) I came back with 2 pairs of pants, 2 tops and a new bag. Will definitely have to go and spend some more time there next Malaysia trip.
On our last day in KL, an Indian friend of ours suggested that we visit the Batu caves, a Hindu temple built into a set of caves just outside the city. The caves were stunning! So serene and peaceful! Until one of the monkeys decided that roh looked too much like a monkey he didn't like and started chasing him down the 190 odd stairs! The monkey caught him, grabbed him from behind and bit him on the arse while 2 other homeboy monkeys looked on for support in case roh tried to bite him back. A lot of kicking and throwing of water later and roh escaped but with a bite in his bum and a new understanding of the term “cheeky monkey.” Both a little shaken up, roh with anger that the monkey bit him and me from laughter at the whole incident, we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at the hospital!
As much as we love Malaysia, after nearly 3 more weeks there, we were more than ready to get back to Sumatra.