SE Asia Part III: Malaysia!

Reader beware: this post is going to be long.  We only spent 96 hours in Malaysia but what an amazing time it was!

After a great visit to our G-Lab host company in Vietnam, I decided that my new goal for the trip was to thoroughly confuse the passport authorities at the Hong Kong Airport, as I arrived back there for the third of five times in ten days.  Luckily my sporadic travel tendencies were no match for their extreme efficiency and I was back to Xiaodi's place less than 34 hours after I had left for Vietnam.  After a restful night, I spent the next day catching up on homework and recharging for the next stage of our journey: Malaysia!

The next stage almost didn't happen, all because of a delicious dinner and a mad scramble through the airport.

Wednesday

After a bit of a laundry debacle, we got a bit of a late start to the airport but still had plenty of time to make our flight.  This was the first time either of us had flown out of Terminal 2 at Hong Kong, but it seemed pretty similar to Terminal 1 that operates so efficiently so we weren't too worried.  Because we had some time before boarding, we decided to grab dinner at one of the restaurants outside of security.  The food was fantastic, and when it came to be an hour before the flight we decided that it would be be good to head towards the gate.  However, as we went down the escalators, we realized that there weren't actually any gates in Terminal 2 (red flag #1).  Instead, you go through security and customs before boarding a train to an unknown destination (red flag #2).  It turns out that Terminal 2 is just used as an overflow check-in area and in the end you end up back in Terminal 1.  Luckily we still made it to the gate in plenty of time...or so we thought.  As I went off in search of a place to buy water (which is surprisingly hard to find in the airport), I glanced at the departures board and in a quick flash of English translation saw the words "Gate Change" next to our flight number (red flag #3).  Instead of Gate 24, we were now at Gate 513 (no joke!).  This is where the mad dash part comes in.  Once we finally made it to Gate 513, we were met by a sign saying "Last Call" and a boarding agent who seemed very concerned about our tardiness.  To make matters worse, the plane wasn't actually at the gate but at an off-terminal parking spot only accessible by bus.  Since we missed the intended bus, we were whisked across the tarmac in a separate van.  It wasn't until we where buckled in and on our way a couple minutes later that I realized how close we had come to missing the flight.  Phew!

But our travel issues didn't end there.  After a smooth flight down to Penang, we discovered a unique quirk about the Malysian banking system: none of the ATMs work after midnight.  Having not had time to exchange money in Hong Kong, we found ourselves penniless and about 20km away from our hotel.  Luckily the taxi stand took Visa so we were able to get up to the Tunes Hotel.  The only setback was that we couldn't buy any food or even a water bottle due to our lack of Malaysian Ringgit.  Oh well, the trip got off to a rocky start...but it would soon be back on solid footing.

Thursday

Enter Weng Hong Teh.  As the mastermind of this whole operation, Weng Hong had arranged a full series of adventures, hosted by his childhood friends and family members and highlighting some of the best parts of his home country.  He and his friend Kheng Meng picked us up on Thursday morning and from there we were off to the races.  First stop: Intel.

Of course, it wouldn't be an LGO trip without somehow ending up in a factory.  This trip was no exception and we spent time visiting with one of Weng Hong's college classmates at the Intel facility in Penang.  It was really interesting to hear about how the island has become a high-tech cluster and how they are doing quite a bit of R&D in the area.

From there, we crossed the Penang Bridge (site of the half-marathon we would run three days later) and pulled over for a quick photo-op.

Our destination for the day was Weng Hong's hometown of Ipoh.  After stopping for our first taste of the local cuisine, we headed to the Perak Tong Cave Temple, which is an elaborate Buddhist temple literally built inside a limestone cave.

  

From there we heading into the main city of Ipoh to see the old train station, which definitely shows how British colonialism influenced the country.

Besides producing brilliant people like Weng Hong, Ipoh is also known for its Old Town Graffiti (though not the kind of graffiti you might image).  The paintings are spread throughout the town and many incorporate 3-D elements and optical illusions that make them perfect for photo ops.

That night we were in for a delicious treat: dinner at Weng Hong's house!  His parents hosted us for an amazing evening and cooked a fantastic spread of food.  On a trip that was primarily spent eating wonderful food, this definitely topped the list!

After dinner, we headed back to Old Town for a local delicacy: crystal beer.  It turns out that when you chill a glass to be below the freezing point of beer and you pour into it beer that has been cooled to just above the freezing point, the result is a glass full of frozen foam that tastes remarkably refreshing.  The only trick is that it's a race against time because it soon starts melting back into a liquid!

Friday

On Friday we headed up to the tropical paradise of Langkawi.  Getting there involved a 2.5 hour drive north from Ipoh to the port city of Kuala Kedah, followed by a high-speed ferry crossing to the island.  Along the way, we witnesses Weng Hong's impeccable negotiation skills to get us not only a parking space in Kuala Kedah (which was harder than you might think) but also a car rental in Langkawi from a guy named Stanley.  Albert and I were skeptical when we heard about the arrangement, but true to his word, Stanley showed up at the ferry terminal as soon as we arrived.  The car wasn't anything to write home about, but it got us to our destination: Meritus Pelangi Resort.

Along the way we stopped for some refreshing coconuts...

The resort turned out to be a fabulous retreat, and the more we looked around, the more we realized that we should have gone there AFTER the half marathon, not before!  It also seemed very much a place for foreigners to honeymoon / vacation, so the three of us guys stood out from the crowd for sure!  Oh well, it was a nice place to spend an afternoon / night.

 Our only miscue on Langkawi was a trek that we made to the northern side of the island to the "famous" Black Sand Beach, which turned out to be dirty and unimpressive.  After a few pics, we turned around and headed back to the resort for a wonderful Thai-themed dinner and restful night.

Saturday

The next morning, we headed back to the mainland and were relieved to find the car right where we left it!  We drove from Kuala Kedah back to Penang just in time to meet up with more of Weng Hong's college classmates and start out on our food tour of the island.  It was delicious...

And we made a quick stop at the botanical gardens to check out the resident monkeys!

Weng Hong and his classmates doing their trademark "Eyoooooooo".  This is where it all began!

On the way back to town, we stopped at an amazing Hindu temple (further enforcing the fact that Malaysia is an amazing blend of cultures!).

The final stop of the day was an outdoor food market with vendors lining all four sides of the square.  We let the locals do all the ordering and the results were fantastic!

With our stomachs full, we headed back to the hotel to prep for the main event (and the original reason for the whole trip): the Penang Bridge Half Marathon!  The race is an out-and-back run on the 2nd Penang bridge, and due to a combination of daytime heat and traffic, it started at 3:00am.  That meant a half-night sleep, 1:00am wakeup call, and a 1:30 shuttle to the race.  We got all our gear in order the night before figuring we'd be a little delirious in the morning...

  

Sunday

The shuttle logistics in the morning were flawless, and we soon found ourselves at the start line wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.

Pre-race shot, with the bridge in the background (Photo credit: Random Stranger #1)

The actual race was quite an experience. The combination of running at 3am, having high humidity, being on a bridge, and being surrounded by over 10,000 other runners made for almost a surreal experience.  I wasn't going for a fast time, but I did accidentally end up way to far back in the starting chute in a pack of walkers.  Only by jumping a barrier and running in the motorbike lane was I able to break free and have some room to run.  The course turned out to be about half a mile short, but that was a-ok with me because the humidity was was pretty brutal even in the middle of the night.  Since the race was an out-and-back course, I figured that the three of us would be able to see each other at some point in the run, but with so many runners that turned out to be nearly impossible.  I did see Albert for a split second on the run, and was able to see Weng Hong finish.  But even then I lost him in the crowd.  It wasn't until we looped back to our meeting point that we were all able to link up for a celebratory shot!

All done! (Photo credit: Random Stranger #2)

Since it was only 7am by the time we got back to the hotel, we took advantage of the breakfast buffet before heading back to sleep.  Around noon we woke up and headed out for, you guessed it, more food!  This time we met up with Albert's former coworker Jen who is currently an Ex-Pat in Penang.  The timing worked out perfectly and we feasted on wonderful Indian cuisine.

 

From there we headed up to the northern side of the island to drop our bags at Jen's incredible ocean-front apartment (life as an Ex-Pat is pretty good!).

At that point, we had to bid farewell to Weng Hong so that he could make it back to Ipoh before sunset.  As he drove off, we jumped into a cab and headed up for some last-minute sight-seeing at the Kek Lok Si Temple, the largest temple in Souteast Asia.

The temple is built into the side of a hill, offering fantastic views of the northern part of the island.  As the sun set on the horizon, it was also setting on our trip.  The next time I would see the daylight was during my flight back to the States.

After one last dinner in Malaysia we hopped back into a taxi and headed back to the airport for a red-eye flight to Hong Kong.  From there I headed on to New York and Boston, arriving exactly 33 hours after leaving Penang.

Looking back, I can't believe how many people we met and sights that we saw during our four days in Malaysia!  Thank you Weng Hong for handling all the logistics, and thank you to all your classmates and friends who helped show us around the amazing country.  The plan was excellent, and it was executed flawlessly.  And thanks Albert for documenting the trip in amazing pictures!  Let's do it again sometime :-).