Got a cab (20,000 Ruppiah, 10 minutes ride) to the airport at 5.30am in the morning.
I was joking with the air ticket seller yesterday to give me a morning call and she really did, I never expected it and that gave me a good impression about Indonesians. There is an airport tax of 75,000 Ruppiah which must be paid in Ruppiah.
Sriwijaya Air
So far in my trip, this is my 10th flights. Usually I avoid flying, but because flying is inexpensive in Indonesia and the road transportation is bad, I flew 3 times in Indonesia and that saved a lot of time.
On the plane, noticed that many Indonesians were flying to Penang for medical treatment, Penang is trying to attract medical tourism money from Medan since it’s just 40 minutes flight away. Taxied down at Penang at 9.20am Malaysian time (an hour ahead of Indonesia time) and my parents picked me up. I just have a few hours to kill before the 2.20pm train to Bangkok.
It has been many years since I last took the ferry to the mainland.
Ferry
Leaving the port
There is a daily train from Butterworth to Bangkok at 2.20pm (112 Ringgit.~USD$33, 20 hours ride). The train station is located right beside the ferry terminal in Butterworth. The train was delayed for 30 minutes and departed at 3pm.
Inside the train
There were only 2 coaches, so the train was pretty short compared to those in China with at least 15 coaches.
The train moved pretty slowly. It was supposed to cross the Malaysian border to Hat Yai, Thailand at 6pm but the train only crossed the border at 9pm.
Even though the financial crisis is affecting the western world quite seriously but it seems that Asia wasn’t hit that hard. Housing prices in some major Asian cities has been increasing pretty dramatically for the past 2 years, especially cities in China and South East Asia.
Noticed that there are a lot of constructions for residential properties in Penang currently and housing prices has increased quite a lot even during recession for the past 2 years.
Guess probably this might be caused by the MM2H program. Malaysian government is promoting the Malaysia my second home program, MM2H which allows foreigners to get 10 year long term visa to stay in the country. MM2H Requirement Property and Incentives
However, property prices in Penang is still cheaper than properties on other cities built on island such as Hainan, Hong Kong and Singapore so there might still be room for appreciation.
Hiking is a common pastime for Penangites. View of the northern part of Penang on a hill.
Today is the last day of Chinese New Year, day 15th. It’s called ChapGohMeh in MinNan/Hokkien dialect.
This also coincides with the Chinese Valentine’s day where single girls throw oranges in the water hoping to get some luck in marriage.
Weather in Penang and Kuala Lumpur is hot and humid especially in recent days. It’s around 34 C during the day. Just around a month ago I was in Ulan Bator, Mongolia and the weather there was -34 C.
Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur looked completely different compared to the previous time I went there. The place is re-renovated and is quite efficient. It only took me 30 minutes to submit my application with 50 people in line before me.
This is how the visa application center looked like around 1.5 years ago, the last time I went.
For single entry visa, the visa fee for US citizen is 430 and for locals it’s just 30.
I am trying to apply for a 2 year multiple entry Chinese visa (120 Ringgit~USD$35) and hope to get it in 4 working days.
A typical breakfast meal at an Indian restaurant, Mee Goreng and Teh Tarik (5 Ringgit~USD$1.7).
Went back to KLCC. Even though I have been to Kuala Lumpur many times, but I have not get up the sky bridge before. Unfortunately, the sky bridge is close on Monday.
View from KLCC
Met up with a friend for lunch and found out that he is working at a Blogging advertising company. Just signed up with Nuffnang and the advertisement on the left bottom side of my blog is in partnership with Nuffnang.
NuffNang office
Chinese new year decoration at Pavillion mall
Goodbye Kuala Lumpur
Went to Taiping to visit some relatives. Taiping is around 200km from Kuala Lumpur and it was a mining town many years ago. It’s one of the wettest place in Malaysia with rains occasionally. Taiping is a very quiet place.
Taiping Lake Garden
Going north from Taipng towards Penang, will get out from the Juru Toll. Autocity is just beside the toll exit. Went to AutoCity to meet some friends. Autocity is located just right before the Penang bridge and has coffee shops, bars and clubs for those that don’t want to go all the way to Penang Island.
Crossed Penang bridge (7 Ringgit~USD$2) back to Penang Island.
Malaysia | journey26 | Comments Off on Kuala Lumpur, Taiping, Penang, Malaysia
My passport is full with stamps and visas so I have to get a new passport before continuing my journey. Went to the state immigration office yesterday but there were too many people, so had to come back again today.
Again, there were still a lot of people. Probably that was because the office was close for Chinese new year for the past few days and people like me who came back for vacation were trying to renew their passport as well.
Compared to other government department, the state immigration office is more efficient and is possible to get back the passport on the same day.
While waiting, walked around Georgetown area. Georgetown is listed as a UNESCO heritage site with buildings from different architecture style.
Colonial buildings
Pre war buildings at the old district. These old buildings are still surviving and people are still living and doing business like it was during the 1960s.
I have lots of relatives and friends here and will be pretty busy visiting them for this week, especially since I have not spent a lot of time back home for the past 7 years. Tomorrow will be the first day of Chinese new year.
I will try to post some photos but it won’t be like my usual backpacking trip.
My bike from high school.
A typical Malaysian motorcycle, small but powerful. 0-80km in 6 seconds
Penang Bridge which connects the Island to the mainland, 13.5km. One of the longest bridge in the world.
Penang is famous for its food. In the 2004 edition of TIME magazine, Penang was voted as having the best street food in Asia. Penang has Chinese, Malay and Indian cuisine, as well as food from multiple types of influences.
Briyani Rice with tea (10 Ringgit~USD$3)
at an Indian place
