Malaysia Top Ten

I apologize in advance that this post is pretty long and includes a bunch of photos.

S and I returned home late Sunday night from our quick trip to Penang, Malaysia. We had a great time! The only thing that could have made this trip better was staying a few more days. There were a lot of activities, tours, and shopping we weren't able to do because of the short time we were gone. However, we did try to make the best of our time.

With this, I present the Top 10 Things We Did in Penang, Malaysia: (this list is really in no particular order)

1. Enjoyed the View from Our Hotel Room

We had an awesome and amazing view from our hotel room. We got a corner suite on the top floor (8th) of the hotel. The room was really nice with 2 bathrooms, 3 balconies, 2 fridges, etc., but the view just made the room. We overlooked the hotel gardens, pools, ocean, and the hills of Penang.

We had a couple of pretty powerful down pours of rain. It was relaxing to just sit on the balcony and read while it rained.

Really the photos don't do justice to the view that we had.

2. Walked on the Beach and Watched People Para sailing

The beach wasn't actually as nice as I was hoping it would be. However, compare it to the beaches of Chennai, and it was a dream! There were a lot of water and beach activities available to do...jet skis, horseback riding on the beach, and riding ATVs on the beach were some of the more popular things to do. However, by far, the most popular activity was to go para sailing.

Continuously all day long, we would see people being pulled behind ski boats attached to a parachute. Often times, we would see 3 or 4 para sailers on the ocean at a time. While walking along the beach, we enjoyed stopping to watch the people take off or land. A couple of times we had to scurry out of the way of people who were having a hard time coming down on the beach in the appropriate spot. The best example of this had us running almost at a dead speed up the beach shore towards the grass (of course running dead speed in sand isn't really all that fast). When we were safely out of the way, we turned around to see two ladies (two people could para sail together at the same time) in complete black Muslim dress land on the beach by completely falling on their behinds (normally you would land by touching down on your feet). It was a pretty funny sight.

I kept trying to talk S into para sailing...I told him that there are people out there who would pay money to see video of this, but he wouldn't fall for it. Maybe next time.

3. Drank Root Beer

I was so excited to find A&W Root Beer at a grocery store in Penang. Normally, I only drink diet pop, but when you haven't had something in 6 months, you really don't care what form it comes in. Remember from my food postings, root beer is on the list of items that we cannot have shipped in our food shipments.

This is a photo of the can that I smuggled back into India. OK, actually, I just put it in my suitcase, and I'm saving it for a rainy day (or maybe I could auction it off to the other expats in Chennai as I'm betting I know a few who would pay highly for this can). Besides root beer, diet Coke and diet Pepsi were easily found in both cans and bottles. Also, alcohol was easily obtained. S was so happy to be able to drink his favorite beer from China called Tsingtao.

4. Ate Another Unusual Pie Flavor from McDonald's

The local flavor of Malaysia...Banana! It by far was the most tasty of any of the weird flavors I have been eating lately. You just have to like hot bananas, and this flavor is for you.

I haven't had an apple pie from McDonald's for a really long time, but I think if I had a choice between what I remember the apple tasting like and the banana, I would choose the banana.

5. Ate a Very Unusual Sundae Flavor at McDonald's

Any guesses on what flavor it was? How about I tell you about eating it before I tell you what flavor it was...I like to keep everyone in suspense.

While S and I were in town shopping one day, we passed a McDonald's, and they had a big advertisement for this sundae. We just knew we had to try one. So we actually ate lunch at the McDonald's...I had the old standby of a cheeseburger while S had what they called a chicken foldover. Anyway, for dessert, we ordered the banana pie and this sundae. The sundae ended up not being as bad as what we thought it would be. The texture of the topping was a little strange, and the taste wasn't all that bad...but it wasn't all that great either! I think next go around, we'll just stick to a chocolate or strawberry sundae.

So, what was the flavor? I think I'll make you read to the end of this blog before giving it to you. No cheating by skipping ahead to the bottom.

6. Ate an Awesome Seafood Buffet Dinner Two Nights

On both Friday and Saturday nights, the buffet restaurant at our hotel specializes in seafood. As dinner was included in our room package, we ate this buffet all 3 nights we stayed. Now, normally we probably wouldn't have ate on the seafood nights because the price is really high compared to the other nights, but being that it was included, S and I were definitely not going to miss out on some good seafood. Not only was it good, it was GREAT! We were able to get lobster tails and shrimp cooked to order among about anything else seafood that you could think of. We were stuffed both nights...it was great!

Sorry, no photos of the buffet...we were too busy eating to worry about pictures.

7. Went to Penang Butterfly Farm

One of the days, we took a half day tour around Penang Island. The island is fairly small, but surprisingly there are a lot of things to see and do on the island. We didn't get to go to Monkey Beach or to the National Park, but we did get to stop at the Penang Butterfly Farm on our tour. S wasn't exactly thrilled to be going to see some butterflies, but I think he had a good time as there were enough other critters to look at as well.

Besides butterflies, we saw scorpions, lizards, beetles, tarantulas, ducks, fish, and other types of bugs.

8. Had a Few Days of No Spiders, Geckos, or Ants

Surprisingly, we didn't really see any wildlife in Penang. The only animals we saw were the ones at the butterfly farm plus a local house we stopped at had a pet monkey on a chain. Oh yeah, there was also the snake temple. There is a Chinese temple on Penang island that is known for the viper snakes that hang out there. We stopped as part of the tour and sure enough in the temple there are vipers on top of picture frames (supposedly they have been de-fanged) and elsewhere in the temple. We also went to a little snake farm behind the temple. I think they had about every type of snake that there is.

Anyway, I really thought that there would be geckos and lizards in Penang. There probably are somewhere, but they definitely weren't seen around our resort. Anyway, while we were at the grocery store, I happened to find a product that I just couldn't resist buying to bring back and try out.

Yep, that's right...it's lizard repellent! Who would have ever thought that such a thing exists? Don't worry gecko lovers...it's non-toxic and won't kill the geckos...it's just suppose to keep them away. The can says it is made in Singapore...let's just say if this stuff works, a trip to Singapore or Malaysia to pick up a few cases of this stuff may be in order...especially since we had to deal with a gecko first thing this morning crawling up the side of S's favorite chair...luckily for now, the gecko escaped, but if S finds it, it may be a goner.

9. Enjoyed Watching Some Awesome Sunsets

Remember how I said that I wasn't too impressed with the sunset in the desert in Dubai. Well, the sunsets in Malaysia made up for it.

Beautiful! Need I say more?

10. FREE INTERNET!

No surprise $500 internet bill when we checked out. In fact, high speed broadband internet (that actually worked with S's computer) was free with the type of room we had. In lower grade rooms, the internet cost $30 per day (about the going rate in hotels these days).

Overall, S and I had a great time at the Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa in Penang, Malaysia. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a place to stay in Penang. We are hoping to go back to Malaysia again next year. This time though we are looking at going to the eastern part of Malaysia on the Borneo island to the state of Sabah. The trip will involve a lot of activity, so I will have to plan well in advance...can't wait until the last minute and book everything a week in advance like I did for this trip. However, with only a week to figure everything out, our trip went very smoothly, and I won't be as worried in the future about booking things at the last minute.

OK, give up on what the sundae flavor was? It was...................................ready for this...........................................seaweed flavored!

OK, just joking, it wasn't seaweed flavored, but it actually was a green bean curd sundae! Goes along with the green bean curd pie I had at the McDonald's in China. I'm Lovin' It!