Malaysia
15 essays from our time in Malaysia, in the order we wrote them.
Malaysia, Our Next Home
It's official! We'll be leaving Costa Rica at the end of October, and heading half-way around the world to Malaysia, which will be our homebase for the next year or two. We still love Costa Rica, and will probably return here again, but we're excited to experience something new, and Asia has been…
First Week in Penang, Malaysia
Well, we're here! We've been enjoying Penang, Malaysia for about a week now, and while we've mostly spent the time getting settled, cleaning and organizing the house, and trying some delicious food, it's been a great adventure and in this post I'll share my first impressions and some pictures.
Adventure at the Fish Spa
We've been having so much fun in Penang! With so many new things to experience and enjoy, it's been difficult to write about them all.
Fun Activities Around Penang
Wow, we've been having so much fun in Penang! The island is full of entertaining and free activities right now, from jazz and orchid festivals to horse shows and dragon boat races. Most kids are out of school this month, which is why there's more going on than usual. But even without all the extra…
Overwhelmed By Travel
Have you ever gone on vacation, and after returning home felt like you needed even more time to recuperate from it? I have. This usually happens when you keep yourself busy seeing all the sites and doing all the fun activities you planned, while not leaving much down time for resting or thinking.…
Penang Hill and Kek Lok Si Temple
I was going to throw together a long video of everything we've done in the past few weeks, but I decided to split it into a few different posts so I can get them up a little faster and so I can share more pictures without boring you. :)
Dragon, Lion, and Indian Dances
While in Penang, Malaysia, we enjoyed a few cultural celebrations, including a New Year's Eve presentation in Georgetown featuring music, dance, and martial arts from the Malay, Chinese, and Indian populations living in Malaysia. We also went to the Lion & Dragon Dance Parade a few weeks earlier,…
42 Things I Did in 2011
Last year, I wrote a list of 77 Things I Did in 2010. Every time I read through it, I feel amazed at all we were able to accomplish in that short year. Compared to 2010, 2011 seems less exciting and even less productive, but it's been richer in other ways. For example, this has been a year full of…
Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, and Orang Utan Island
We recently left Penang, Malaysia for Kuala Lumpur -- about five hours away by car -- and we're loving it here! But on the way, we took a short trip to the Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, and also visited Orang Utan Island rehabilitation center to view some of our closer primate relatives.
Welcome to Kuala Lumpur
We've been in Kuala Lumpur for almost 3 weeks now and we love it! We never thought we'd say that about a big city because we don't like concrete jungles, smog, and places where people are too busy to talk to you. But we've also never been in a city like Kuala Lumpur, and it has some really great…
The Batu Caves
There are a lot of tourist attractions in Kuala Lumpur. So many that we haven't even tried to see them all. But we chose a few highlights to enjoy during our month here. One of these was the impressive Batu Caves.
KL Bird Park
Our time in Kuala Lumpur is coming to an end and we're heading out to Singapore in just a couple days. But I still have a lot of activities to blog about and pictures to highlight. One of these was the KL Bird Park, which boasts the largest free flight aviary in the world. From our time in Costa…
Petronas Towers and Petrosains
The most famous landmark in all of Malaysia is arguably the Petronas Towers, which was the tallest building in the world from 1998-2004 before being surpassed by the Taipei 101 skyscraper. It's still the tallest twin buildings in the world, though, and we went to see them several times while in…
Elephants at Kuala Gandah
About 90 minutes northeast from Kuala Lumpur lies the elephant sanctuary at Kuala Gandah. Many elephants have been forced from their homes due to destruction of their natural habitat for farming. Elephants become accustomed to using the same paths their whole lives, and farmers don't usually take…
Sick in Kuching, Borneo Malaysia
We had already spent more than three months in peninsular Malaysia, but we'd heard that Malaysian Borneo was completely different. And in some ways, it was different, with the numerous indigenous cultures that are prevalent, and being closer to many national parks. However, on our 10 day visa run…