Katie's Travel Adventures: Peninsular Malaysia

It was goodbye to awesome Thailand and hello to beautiful Malaysia. First stop was more diving (surprise, surprise) on the Perhentian Islands. This little group of islands off the east coast is still developing, no huge resorts like Khao Lak and Phuket, it was huts on the beach and seaside restaurants. I was lucky enough to meet up with a friend, Jen, who I met on the Similan islands Liveaboard. Divers are awesome people, and Jen was great to spend a few days with. We stuck to our diving mantra of diving, eating, sleeping and repeating. Sleeping was done on the beach (under umbrellas for me). Thanks to Jen for some of her spectacular underwater pictures.

Beautiful Long Beach

Shy bamboo shark

Cuttlefish. Love these guys!

An Indian Walking Man Scorpion fish....hehe

Time to stop diving...well, for a few days and see some culture in Malaysia. I headed across to the west coast to the island of Penang, and city of Georgetown. The city is s UNESCO heritage city, full of colonial architecture and a mix of Chinese, English, Malay and Indonesian cultural, architectural and FOOD influences. I had a great two days wandering the streets, taking in the beautiful buildings, street art and stopping for lots of food. I tried both fancy restaurants and hawker stalls and made sure to read reviews to find the best places.

Street art in Penang, made wandering the streets a whole lot more fun


Colonial Georgetown

More street art

Chinese Mansion in Georgetown

Beautiful views around every corner


Food smorgasbord in Penang

Hiking near the townsite

I decided to spend a day in the Cameron Highlands on my way to Kuala Lumpur. After the hot, hot, hot weather of Penang, it was a much needed cool break. This is a tea growing region in the mountains and is significantly cooler than the coast. The evenings were even slightly chilly and a sweater was needed. I hiked near the townsite and went on a tour of the area including a nature walk through the moss forest.

Reminding me how much further I needed to go

Beautiful hike in the forest. So peaceful as it was just me.

Tea Plantation

Beautiful butterflies were everywhere!

Finally I made my way to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with my friend, Jen.I wasn't sure what to expect from the city as I know Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh city and Phnom Penh in SE Asia, but I didn't think KL was much like any of them. It felt very modern with the Petronas towers and huge state of the art shopping malls. I did see some older areas while shopping in Chinatown along Petaling Street and I checked out some of the colonial buildings near the river. KL was definitely about relaxing though! After the day wandering about town, it was back to the hotel AC and pool!