Michelle and Brent

Monday, January 28. 4:40pm
Michelle and I have arrived in Pulau Penang (Georgetown), via the Lumut-Butterworth express bus yesterday. We spent two nights at a small chalet on the beach of Pangkor over the weekend, and enjoyed the leisurely lifestyle of the island folk. We swam in the ocean, and drank some beer by moonlight with a very interesting guy from Amsterdam (we forget his name) who was in Kuala Lumpur on business. He was an IT Securities guy, which basically means (as we found out) that he hacks smartcards, then tells the producer what needs to be fixed. He was telling us about his girlfriend in Vancouver, and it was fun to hang out with someone close to our age who enjoyed similar things to us. Also while on that island, we rented a motor bike for a couple hours and drove it all the way around the island. There is one road that winds quite a bit, and is very steep in some parts which surrounds the interior jungle and had lots of good sights and sounds. We also found out that even with two people on one scooter, it can reach speeds of up to 80km/h! Needless to say it was I, and not Michelle who tested the capabilities of that.
Now, being on another island a bit further north, we tried to take a city bus all the way around, but only made it about half way, then back again due to confusion about buses, and hunger for lunch. Later this afternoon we will be going up Penang Hill, which is a popular tourist spot, which used to be reserved for Malaysian Elites, and is supposedly quite nice, especially at dusk.
Tomorrow we will be heading to Thailand via either minibus, or train, depending on costs, time, and availability. Malaysia has been great, but we are both pretty excited to be entering a new country...plus the Thai food is supposed to be fantastic!

More pictures will be coming soon.

Until the next time,

Brent

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 5 :30pm
After leaving The Inn Crowd in Singapore yesterday morning we borded a bus to Johor Bahru, the city on the other side of the border. Customes was a breeze, and the bus took us all the way to the bus station in town. There we caught another bus and travelled 3 hours to Melaka.
Melaka is a small city on the west coast and a great first experience in Malaysia. Everyone is very friendly and smiles alot. After arriving we met a local hotel owner who took us around the city to see some of the sights after we decided to stay at his hotel. We then wandered around the city on foot and found a great old church ruin from the Dutch colonial period. The church was on top of a hill, the highest point in the city, and from here we watched the sun set over the Straits of Melaka, which is the ocean separating Malaysia from Indonesia. We had some interesting food for dinner from the Sim Lum restaurant which was packed with locals. The waitress brought us over a tray full of small round dishes and we picked a variety of them to try. Some were good, some were not. Brent was more adventurous in finishing the 'strange' ones.
Today we found another hotel for the night, significantly nicer but the same price, which is under $15 dollars canadian for the both of us. Weve got our own double bed and bathroom and it is very clean. We wandered around again today and took a small tourist boat ride up the canal. China town here is great, with lots of shops and things to see and do. It is where our hotel is.
Tonight we are planning on having Indian for dinner, our favorite food choice so far, and then watch the Light and Sound show, a daily event for tourists which acts out the history of the town.
Tomorrow we plan on heading to Kuala Lumpur, and then to find some beaches and islands.
We are both in good spirits and good health.
Michelle