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.
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.
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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.
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Pre-race
shot, with the bridge in the background (Photo credit: Random Stranger #1)
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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!
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| All done! (Photo credit: Random Stranger #2) |
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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 :-).
