Perhentian Island

February, March, and April are bringing an endless stream of visitors through our home.  This of course means I have more than enough reasons to take off with them and explore Malaysia.  My friend Kelly came in from NYC last week.  She requested a few days at the beach.  Fresh off the water in Penang dying of my bathing suit incident, I suggested that we try an island off the east coast.  I asked around for recommendations, made sure to ask about water quality this time, and we finally settled on Perhentian Island.  It's not far from the Thai border and it can be a bit of a pain to get to from KL as you need to fly to Khota Baru and take an hour long cab ride to the ferry followed by a half hour boat ride.

I should have known something was amiss when the boat driver insisted we put on life jackets.  Let's just say he wasn't the most talented of boat drivers I've ever had the privilege of riding with.  We went at the very end of monsoon season so the water was a bit choppy in the afternoon when we headed out to the island and the driver did not slow down to account for the chop in the slightest.  I'm surprised he didn't bust the hull in two.  Once we got to the island, however, the ride was immediately forgotten.

Just look.  That's not water that is going to dye a swimsuit.  The sand on the beach had the same soft brown sugar consistency as in Penang.  As far as beaches alone go Perhentian wins hands down.  That being said, there is a lot more to do in Penang than in Perhentian, so if you're looking for a cultural, busy, or food based trip Penang is the better choice.  

There are two islands that make up the Perhentians.  The smaller one is mainly filled with backpacker's type places.  We stayed at Tuna Bay Resort on the larger and quieter of the islands.  The rooms were spartan but the resort made up for it.  They have a bar, which is a lot to ask for since not a lot of places on either island serve alcohol.  They also have one of the best restaurants on the island, actual beach chairs with umbrellas, a reef just offshore that you can easily wade to and snorkel, and will set up a variety of snorkeling and diving trips for you.

We went snorkeling while we were there.  I'm glad we did because I had almost forgotten that I don't like being in open water and was in need of a reminder.  Within five minutes of getting in to snorkel the first site I was stung by a jelly fish on the back of my arm and back into the boat I went.  I sat out the next site but ignored the stinging to swim with the leatherback turtles.  That was amazing and I wish I had an underwater camera so that I could have taken some pictures.  I still can't believe how big and how completely uninterested in us they were.  

The last site was to see black tip sharks.  I'm not my sister and swimming with sea creatures that look menacing but are safe around humans is not my idea of a good time.  I was back in the boat the second I saw a six footer.   

Chez nous

I think what amazes me the most is that the rent for this place is slightly less than what we were paying for our two bedroom in Geneva.  I'm not sure I'll ever get over that.  I also don't want to leave.

Living space

Kitchen--This is the reason we took this place.  I love it.

Master bedroom--please ignore the disheveled state of the bed.  At least I made it, right?  Ask my mother, that is a big deal for me.

My closet

Master bathroom

Guest bedroom #1

Guest bedroom #2

Guest bedroom #3 turned office

Josh's bar and A/V room

Resort style living

I promised my mother ages ago that I'd post pictures of our home here in KL.  It only took me about seven months to get around to it, so without further ado here it is.  

I thought I'd start with the grounds around our building.  One of the reasons we preferred a condo to a house here is because of all of the amenities that come with living in a larger building.  It definitely saved us from having to join a gym or finding a pool long enough in which to swim laps.  There are also tennis courts, a sauna, and steam room (which I just found last week after living here for several months--oops).

It has a resort feel to it and sometimes makes me feel as if I'm living on vacation in Florida.

Penang

Overall, we had a really good time in Penang.  It was a nice place to relax for a few days by the beach without being completely bored.  There were loads of good restaurants along the beach and there was an expansive night market just next to our hotel.  George Town was a quick drive from the beach where we were staying and there was plenty to see and do there to fill a day.  

We hired a boat to take us to a place called Monkey Beach and spent a day there.  It wasn't exactly what we had been picturing when it was described to us, but we had brought a cooler and had a good time.  We stayed longer than originally intended and had a bit of a mix up when it came to getting back to the hotel.  The boat driver had disappeared and the people on the beach who were supposed to be helping us suddenly forgot who we were and we were offered a ride on another boat for slightly less than we had already paid for the first boat.  Josh called the guy we booked with and after a lot of yelling the boat driver magically reappeared.  The crisis was narrowly averted and we got back to our hotel.

Penang is a really nice area, and yet I can't help but feel as if the reason we had such a good time there is because of the company we were keeping.  The sand on the beach was the consistency of soft brown sugar, which you'd think would make for a great beach vacation.  However, the water killed it.  The water looked like this:

Not terrible, right?  I made the mistake of going in wearing a white based swim suit with a green leaf pattern.  I came out in a yellow based swimsuit with a green leaf pattern.  Before we went everyone with whom we spoke talked about how nice Penang was and how great of a time we'd have.  After returning, when I tell these same people about the free dye job my suit got I get replies along the lines of, "Oh dear God, why'd you go in the water?" and, "Oh yeah, the water up there is crap".  I'm not quite sure why no one thought this was pertinent information when we were first planning our trip.  It's not like water is not a vital part of a getaway to the beach or anything.  

I've heard various reasons for the poor water quality since getting back.  Some people have said that the water is still churned up from the tsunami in 2004 and won't settle for a few more years.  I think it's probably likely that the fact a major shipping channel lies just off the west coast might have something to do with it.  Whatever the reason, since this is information that's good to have prior to planning a beach vacation I thought I'd put it here.  Penang is really nice for exploring, eating, and experiencing Malaysia, but if you want to actually get in the water while at the beach (crazy concept, I know) go to the east coast.

Driving and Chinese New Year

Some friends came down from Beijing over Chinese New Year and we took advantage of the multiple public holidays to drive up to Penang.

Big mistake.  

Conventional wisdom from random people around town was that most people leave KL on Friday night or really early on Saturday, so it's better lo leave later Saturday morning in order to miss the traffic.  Either people were lying about what time traffic is at its worst or traffic at its worst must drive people to suicide.  As it was, what should have been a four hour drive took seven and a half.  We spent a solid three hours just sitting on the highway.  For three solid hours we barely moved and the highway looked like this:

You can't see break lights because everyone has their car in park.  Park.  This would be completely normal in eco-conscious Switzerland, but this was on roadways where someone will merge into your lane if you leave two inches of space between yourself and the car in front of you.  Putting your car in park is in no way conducive to maintaining your lane position and it's just not done.  

The best part of the entire experience was discovering what caused the backup.  It wasn't because there was a massive highway interchange and people were entering and exiting the highway.  It wasn't because there had been a terrible accident or a car had broken down in the middle of the road.  Oh no, those things would have actually made sense.  

Every single driver and their brother was lining up to get off at a rest stop.  I kid you not.  A rest stop.  We sat on the highway for hours because the entire world just had to pull over and use toilets and picnic tables.  As soon as we got by the rest stop the highway opened up completely and we were able to  get up to speed.  Insanity, thy name is a rest stop on a Malaysian highway over a holiday.  Surprise of all surprises, there was another rest stop not twenty kilometers up the road and almost no one was there.  

The whole thing has left us with the resolve to never drive over a holiday weekend in Malaysia again.

Driving along the Cape

It's with mixed emotions that I finish up with my entries on South Africa.  I really enjoyed the trip and it's been nice to go through all of the pictures and decompress, but at the same time this has been going on for more than a month now and it's past time to wrap it up. 

We rented a car for the time we were in Cape Town.  We could have seen everything we really wanted to without one.  It would have been a pain to arrange transportation everywhere, but it would have been doable.  That being said, I'm really glad we got the car because the area around Cape Town is gorgeous. There is a road right along the coast with amazing views and one of the nicest parts of the trip was just driving along the Cape and stopping wherever and whenever we liked.

One such stop was at Boulders Beach to see the penguins.  As I stated before, I didn't do any research before the trip and therefore didn't realize that there were penguin colonies along the Cape.  Had I known ahead of time I'd have planned a trip out there to see them, but it ended up not mattering.  It worked fortuitously we drove past a penguin crossing sign and decided to go find them.

That's all for this trip.  There will be plenty more adventures to come.  March is an exciting month for me travel wise and if all goes according to plan I'll be seeing several places I never dreamed I'd get to see given their distance from the US and Europe.  All I'm going to say is that one of the places is somewhere in Oceania.  

Cape Point

I remember being a sophomore in high school and sitting in Mrs. Metzger's AP Western European History class talking about what a big deal it was for Bartolomeu Dias to have rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 after being blown way southward in a storm.  While sitting in that classroom the Cape was just a distant point on a map. It seemed wild and exotic and never in a million years did I think that one day I'd be where Dias came to land.  Standing at the foot of the marking cross that replaced the original erected by Dias was surreal in much the same way as walking around the battlefield at Blia Hora.  The history nerd within me has trouble explaining it to others, but there is something about being somewhere that changed the course of world history that sends shivers up my spine.

Today Cape Point is part of a national park.  It's an hour or so drive from Cape Town and is a great way to spend a day, even if you're not that into history.  

I would get there early and go up to the lighthouse at the Point first.  There were quite a few people there already when we got there and by eleven o'clock as we were walking down the hill people were everywhere and the parking lot was overflowing.  

The rough currents and nasty rock formations have seen to it that there is plenty to do in the park in addition to seeing Cape Point itself.  There are several gorgeous walks and along a few of them there are still a few shipwrecks easily seen from land.