Langkawi, Malaysia, 21-24 Sep

Langkawi consist of 99 islands about 3 hours north of Penang and with its lush rice paddies and tax free status a beautiful and cheap place to stay a few days.

I took the morning ferry to the port of Kuah and from there it is a 35 minutes taxi ride to Pentai Chenang (Chenang Beach) on the western coast. I reckon this is the first time that I choose the accommodation that was lonely planet’s pick.

Gecko Guesthouse - nice, shady place to hang out

George Town, Pulau Penang, Malaysia 18-21 Sep

I took the boat to the mainland after paying the usual 2RM rip-off and this time I got a seat further back. Unfortunately the minibus to Peneng was already fully booked and so I had to take a detour via Cameron Highlinds, which took about 2-3 hours.

After 12 hours on a boat, in a bus or waiting for either one I arrived in Chinatown of George Town. Peneng is an Island on the north western coast and easily accessible via a 4-lane-highway. The lonely planet claims there is the best food in Malaysia and it was in fact delicious. If you ever get your hands on Chicken with plum sauce you definitely wanna try it.

After my nice bungalow just off the beach I checked into a guesthouse this time. The rate was 40RM including air-conditioning which is a real bargain. Apparently I pushed the a/c too hard and so I have a cold now. Hope it will get better soon, I currently cant equaliz.

smallest room I ever had on my trip

Pulau Kecil, Perhentien Islands, Malaysia (13-18 Sep)

It was pouring cats and dogs when I bid KL good bye and got into my bus to the LCCT in order to fly to Kota Bharu on the north-eastern coast of Malaysia. As always the flight with Air Asia was delayed and I don’t know why I still bother to book their flights. Oh wait, I just paid €30 for the flight ;-) I didn’t get what the problem was but getting bored in the departure I talked to a Norwegian couple who happens to be on its way to the Perhentien Islands, too.

There was just one conveyer belt for the luggage in the arrival hall for domestic flights. Seems like Kota Bharu is not the most popular town in Malaysia. We shared a taxi to Kota Besut where our ferry departed. It was quite a bumpy ride although the sea was calm. I didn’t pay attention and so I took a seat near the bow. Of course it is going to be rough there, what a stupid mistake.

Pulau Kecil (which means small island) is about 35 minutes from the mainland by speed boat with 400 hp. You could walk around the entire island in a few hours but most of the beaches are separated and there are no paths to other beaches. Also there is no jetty, thus a small boat has to come from shore to pick up the passengers. Of course that service wasn’t free and so we were charged 2RM each for 8 minutes of work. Nice rip-off

Beach of Paulau Kecil

Kuala Lumpur 08-13 Sep

(Post for Singapore is now complete including Sentosa Island)

Early morning flight with Air Asia in an A320-200 from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately the aircraft had a puncture and apparently there was no spare tyre in all of Changi Airport. So we had to wait 4 hours for a tyre to be brought in from KL. We got a free lunch for compensation but that doesn’t really improve your mood.

Having arrived at the LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) in KL I took a bus to bustling chinatown. The streets are cramped with people, cars and scooters and so it took us ages to get there. In chinatown is a myriad of hawker stalls offing all kind of food for 1-2 Euros and the food is really delicious. Eating rice all day I really become a fan of it.

Being on a tight budget I took a room with no air-condition and just a fan which proved to be a big mistake. No a/c on the beach is fine but in a city the heat really gets to you. It was probably the smallest room I had so far with nothing else than a bunk bed, some shelves and a single chair. Being modest it was enough for me.

You see Malaysian flags on every building. In this case even all over the building