Family fun in Malaysia

The past couple of weeks in Malaysia have been great. Jenny was very happy to see her family again and with her parents we travelled through Malaysia for ten days. Not too much, because they’re not quite used to (or want to be involved in) ‘chicken bus’ transportation, or sitting in a bus for hours on end. So our first stop from Kuala Lumpur was the Cameron Highlands, supposedly ‘only’ 3,5 hours away from KL.

Unfortunately David had, unknowingly, purchased a ticket for the old, normal bus (as supposed to a VIP bus). This bus was an old piece of crap and not very comfortable, but at least it moved, albeit very slowly. All the other buses passed us along the freeway. Since the Cameron Highlands were quite high up (hence the name), about 1800 meters above sea level, the bus started climbing up with a lot of effort. Eventually, after five hours and only twenty kilometers more to go (which could have taken another hour), the bus gave up and started smoking badly. Black smoke entered the bus very quickly and we were sitting right at the back, and all these Malay people got off the bus very slowly. We got off and the bus was declared dead. Luckily, another one passed not too long after, and squeezed all of us in, it had way too many people on board! After a long trip that should have been comfortable and taken only about half as long, we arrived at our guest house. Now this is how we normally travel, mum and dad, sorry to drag you into it! We really tried to arrange some comfortable transport! At least the rooms were nice.

We stayed a couple of nights in the Cameron Highlands, where we visited tea plantations, the main attraction of the Cameron Highlands. We had our own taxi driver for a few hours. We felt so rich! It was a great way to get around. Up in the mountains the weather was wonderfully cool, a nice change for us, since we’ve spent the last five months in hot weather. The nights were spent playing ‘Kolonisten’ (Settlers of Catan – board game) and eating lots of stroopwafels, pepernoten and rookworst!

Penang was our next stop. We spent a few days in our own apartment with swimming pool where we entertained ourselves with more Kolonisten games! The beach was a three minute walk away and local busses brought us to Georgetown and Penang National Park, where we saw big monitor lizards and something that looks like a salty (small one) in the water, but it could have been a lizard. Penang has great food and we introduced the parents to the spicy Indian food. We love the roti and curries they sell at the Indian shops and we’ve had it basically for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past three weeks. All the kilos we lost in Indonesia have come back in Malaysia. The food there was wonderful in comparison!

Langkawi island was our last stop and we spent most of our time there. We stayed not far from the beach, although the water wasn’t as nice as what our travel guidebook had promised. We rented a scooter and explored the island for three days, which was a lot of fun. Langkawi was a very relaxing holiday with a bit of swimming and lots and lots of Kolonisten! It was a good opportunity for David to learn Dutch, and he’s done very well these last couple of weeks.

It was such a great opportunity to meet each other in Malaysia and it was a lot of fun! After ten days we had to say goodbye at Langkawi airport. Jenny’s parents left for Kuala Lumpur and we were going to Thailand the next day.

We are in Thailand now and it has a good vibe! We thought we might find it a little too touristy here (which it is, actually), but it’s nice! We’re staying on one of Krabi’s beaches and it’s just so full of people, food stalls, restaurants, cafés, shops, touts, lady boys, etc. It’s very vibrant and we like it! The beaches are nice and the water is very clear. Tomorrow we’re going to be the ultimate tourists by day tripping to Ko Phi Phi, where the movie The Beach was filmed. Last night we choose three suits and five shirts to be tailor-made for us, so we have to go through a few fittings today and tomorrow. We’ll have to work again soon (we’ve already been away for over six months!), so we may as well look good for the interviews!