Mr O'C in Malaysia - Melaka and Penang

17th July – Saturday

Travelled back to KL on the commuter train and then had to catch a second train out to Jelatek where Fauziah’s daughter picked us up.

Dinner that night included octopus. When ordering a drink I was asked if I wanted a large drink, as I drink a lot I of course said yes. The lady then brought over what can only be called a bucket. It took some work to get through it.


18th July – Sunday

Today we had a very long trip to Melaka, which is a historical town on the coast south of KL. The trip there, which included three trains and a bus took four long hours.

While there we checked out some of the historical sites, particularly from the periods the area was occupied by the Portuguese and then by the Dutch. All the history was overwhelmed by me having the chance to get my photo taken with a snake. I know it is very touristy but it was still quite buzz having it slither around my neck and to hold it for the photo.

The trip home to KL took even longer. We only just managed to get on an 8pm bus from Melaka. Stupidly I commented that the bus seemed a bit run down, and sure enough half an hour into the journey we stopped at a roundabout and could not get going. The blokes had to get off the bus and push it backwards away from the roundabout and then we all waited for another bus. This arrived but turned out to be very slow so by the time we got back to KL we were only able to get the first train of two we needed before the trains closed down for the night. We then taxied the last bit to Jelatek.


19th July – Monday

We travelled to Penang today. It is a large Island just off the coast of Malaysia. It is connected to the main lain by a quite impressive bridge. We stayed at the D’Ferringhi Hotel in Batu Ferringhi. Batu Ferringhi translated means Foreigner’s Rock and this certainly was a touristy place.

The beach was beautiful and the empty sidewalks convert into a massive night market at 6pm. Once again the ringgit disappeared.

We had dinner at Sails Restaurant. It can best be described as Fishermans Table on steroids. The restaurant itself resembles Fishermans Table but there was definitely an effort to make the service seem like it was very up market.

20th July – Tuesday

We had arranged for a local tour guide to drive us around some of the main spots on the island. This cost $100 ringgit, or $50 nz dollars, for four hours. So Ayob picked us up at 9am.

The highlight was the Key Lok Si temple. The original part of this temple started being built in 1890 and took twenty years to finish. The temple is now spread over seven levels including the top level where the huge statue of Guan-Yin is. The original version of this statue was done in 1967 but it deteriorated quickly. The new 120 feet tall bronze statue was put in place in 1999.