Trip Report: Langkawi, Penang, and more....

After visiting the Cameron Highlands, Logan and I hopped on a bus and rode to Alor Setar, a coastal city near Thailand in Malaysia   We stayed the night there and in the morning took the ferry to Langkawi.

Langkawi was perfect.  The island had beautiful beaches and incredibly warm water just like the other islands I have had the privilege to travel to, but it was the small things that made it perfect.  Unlike the other islands Langkawi was not overdeveloped.  There wasn't massive hotels and resorts taking up the beach-front property; it was all small cottages and villas.  The beaches were also very well maintained and not crowded.  In Bali it was hard to relax at the beach because we were constantly getting bombarded by locals selling random junk.   In Bali the locals would go as far as to wake you up from a nap just to offer you a shell bracelet.  The locals in Langkawi were relaxed and happy, very easy going.

Logan and I spent our first day in Langkawi doing nothing but sitting on the beach.... for over 15 hours... We enjoyed the afternoon swimming and hanging out, took a nap in the sand and woke up to a beautiful sunset.  We then went down to the bar pictured, Babylon, and sat around a small fire on the beach listening to waves crashing and meeting people from all over the world.  We sat with some Swedish girls and I finally got to ask them all of the very important Swedish questions I've been longing to have answered!  As it turns out they do have all of their Swedish traditional foods that the Patterson side of the family eats, but from the sounds of it they eat the traditional foods just about as often as we do, which is only a few times a year.

The next morning Logan and I rented sooters for the day for only $10 USD.  I believe renting scooters is the best way to see a place and enjoy the beauty of the area you are visiting.  We were able to cover five times as much ground with the them as we would be able to if we were taking a taxi around.  These weren't any regular motorized scooters either... we were on the interstate doing an easy 120 km/h or 75 mph....

While cruising the island we visited a waterfall flowing from the mountain to the ocean with crystal clear water.  We also took a cable car ride to the top of the mountain and got to enjoy an incredible view of the entire island.  

The entire island was also duty free so everything was incredibly inexpensive.  I ended up getting a few button down dress shirts for $7.00 USD each.  The best deal was the chocolate.  Double-extra-large Cadbury's chocolate bars for only $1.50 USD.... Plus it's so hot out you have to eat them quick, could not have been more perfect!

After three of the most relaxing days ever in Langkawi we hopped on another ferry down to the city of Penang.  Penang was a different world compared to Langkawi, but just as incredible!  Penang is another island off of the West coast of Malaysia but it is very developed unlike Langkawi!  Penang has over a million people living in and around the city.

Penang is one of the top ten destinations in the world for food and we were sure to try everything!  After a few hours we gave up trying to keep consistent with our meal times and ended up eating hourly...  Every corner had something new that was irresistible!  Our first meal we had was at the spice farm, we enjoyed the most amazing rice... It was an entire pineapple cut up and cooked with rice and chicken...  hands down the best rice I have ever had.

   

 We also rented mopeds while in Penang and toured the island.  On the far side of the island (much less developed) we found a hidden gem, something we would have never done if it weren't for the scooters.  We were riding up in the mountains and came across a massive fruit farm, and as the saying goes "When in Penang.... EAT!" we had to stop and check it out.  It was like stepping into the garden of Eden.  They had over 250 fruits from all over the world and we got a tour guide to show us how each fruit is grown and picked.

And, if I needed any more reasons to love Malaysia... the tour ended with an all you can eat fruit buffet!  The fruit was worth the whole semester in Singapore...

Riding through the mountains on mopeds, with monkeys crawling through the trees overhead, on an exotic island half way around the world, enjoying the greatest of Gods creations; how does life get better?

We spent the rest of our time in Penang traveling around on mopeds eating way too much food.  It was perfect.  But, after ten days of being on the road I was exhausted and ready to go back to Singapore.  It was a long 13 hour overnight bus ride back to Singapore.

It has been over a week since I've been home from Malaysia, and I already have a million more stories to share since that trip.  Last weekend I spent a day in another heavenly place... A few guys from Spain and I took a ferry from Singapore to Indonesia and visited a wake board cable-ski park.  I've only been to one other one in Florida and it was an amazing experience then (Thanks grandma!), so when I heard about this place I was determined to go.  We got a great deal on 8 hours of wake boarding for under $50 USD... that is unheard of back in America.  It was one of the funnest days of my life, we wake-boarded, enjoyed a dj playing great music, buffet lunch, and had lots of cheap drinks.

The Spanish showed me up the entire time.  There was no way I was going to do a back-flip on the wakeboard....

Life is pretty amazing right now, I'm not going to lie.  I am very blessed to have all the great support from my friends and family back home and am so thankful for all that God has given me.  I will be very busy this week studying for midterms, but next week is spring break and we are going to be touring Thailand for 10 days.  So, if you don't hear from me (Mom and Dad) I am most likely perfectly safe and happy; having the time of my life and unable to find a wi-fi connection to message home!  There's no need to ever worry!