Malaysia

Dilarang Merokok! No Smoking! Anywhere! Ever! Welcome to Malaysia!

We touched down on the island of Penang, the food capital of Malaysia, feeling a little clueless and disorientated. Sometimes we cruise into a new country and hit the ground running, and sometimes we arrive and scratch our heads for a while, trying to reorientate. We were well positioned in old Georgetown: our accommodation spot, Lang Hoose, was a ‘long house’ in China town – literally one of the rows of long, narrow houses, each one home to multiple families in days gone by. We weren’t sure where to go or what to do – until we discovered a technicolour pamphlet outlining the variety of dishes that have made Penang famous. Aha! When in Penang: eat!

With gusto, we spread the net wide and sampled from street markets, pavement hawkers, food halls and restaurants. With about 50 ‘characteristic’ dishes to choose from, we could test four different dishes each meal and still only scratch the surface. Some of the notables we tried were Char Koay Teow (delicious prawn noodles), Assam Laksa (hot and sour chunky soup with coconut cream), Mee Goreng (tomato based stir-fried noodles), Chee Cheung Fun (weird slippery broad noodles and sauce) and a  two strange desserts that grew on us, Cendol (iced coconut water topped with red beans, green jelly noodles and a blob of ice-cream) and Ais Kacang (red beans, sweetcorn, charcoal jelly, and frozen coconut milk with palm sugar syrup. Well, they sort of grew on us! We skipped the frog porridge, and a few other offerings that were just a bridge too far for our palates, and at some point, the kids said, “please can we just have cereal for supper tonight?”

It was fascinating walking from Chinatown to Little India – the buildings changed, as did the music, food offerings, shop layouts, aromas, street decorations and people. It was like a mini-country hop, from one block to another. Carys commented, “hey, if you didn’t tell me we were in Malaysia, I would think I was in India – it’s just like it!” And then wandering on, the European architecture held itself with faded grace amidst the newer buildings of the esplanade. It’s so interesting how in some places the cultures of the settled people blend, and a newly synthesised culture emerges; while in other places, cultures retain such distinctness. Of course, both happen to some degree, but we were really struck by the distinctness of the areas in old Georgetown.  

Since our visit was now food themed, we had to visit the Food Museum, which had fantastic models of local dishes: giant cendol and a series of fried eggs so convincing, you’d be forgiven for nibbling a crispy edge. It also had some thought-provoking displays around food, waste and starvation, the costs of unethical eating (with a pretty graphic display on shark-fin soup), and a terrifying table of the world’s most expensive foods – gold pizza, anyone? 

Penang has a chilled out feeling, and we cruised around for the few days we were there, soaking up the vibe, enjoying the varied street art, and popping into the odd park or two. We left with more educated palates, slightly tighter trousers and a curiosity about what Kuala Lumpur would be like.  

The free ferry from Georgetown to Butterworth (very different from Butterworth in the Eastern Cape) was rapid and efficient; and the train took us south through massive palm plantations interspersed with untouched tropical forest. There is such s a stark difference between the monoculture of the palm plantations and the diversity of the virgin forest – the cost of our demand for palm oil visible for hundreds of kilometres. Finally, the rolling green landscape took an upward sweep into silver skyscrapers, and we knew we had entered ‘KL’.  

As we offloaded our bags at the old Victorian train station, Nick messaged our accommodation host to see if we could check into the apartment a bit early. Turned out that a ‘bit early’ was two days early – we had booked the wrong dates (again!). No free cancellation. Oops. While the kids went hunting for something to drink, we speedily checked options to avoid a night in the train station. Fortunately, before we booked anything else, our host replied to say that we could shift our booking forward and stay at another apartment they owned (for a fee). Phew. 

As we stepped out of the train station and taxied our way to the apartment, we realised that Kuala Lumpur was different from what we were expecting. So often we don’t even know what we are expecting until we arrive in a place and it shatters preconceptions we didn’t even know we had. KL was more modern, more wealthy, more efficient and smaller than we had imagined. The skyline is dominated by the Petronas Twin Towers and other, even higher skyscrapers, and with the parks, lightshows, theatre, and high end shopping mall centred on the towers, it feels as if it has become the central hub of the city. With only two nights in the capital, and a lot on offer, we had to make some tough calls about what to leave out.

The thing we all agreed on was a trip up the Petronas Towers to the double-decker bridge on the 42nd floor and the viewing deck on the 86th floor. There we had a happy reunion with my parents, who had come to join us for the last leg of our journey. The views were spectacular, and it was a great lesson for all of us in modern Islamic architecture – the patterns and symbolism that give the structure much deeper meaning than just tall buildings with impressive engineering. We had no idea how much these buildings represent national independence and a rising Malaysia. (That said, we also heard a number of times that the old government, full of rot and corruption, had just been replaced, and there were high hopes that the new lot were saving the country from certain implosion. How do you represent that in architecture?)

The kids were keen on the Science Centre, and our experience is that these are usually great for everyone, so we went along. It started with a ride through ‘The Journey of Energy’ that culminated in a rousing but shallow encouragement to fight climate change together. Sponsored by Petronas, Malaysia’s giant national oil and gas company, we couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in skepticism… 

The rest of the place was great though, very hands on, and with a wide variety of interactive displays. The kids’ best part, was an ‘anti-friction slide’ where you could climb into a slippery bag, and zoom down a 3 story twirly slide at great speed. I was persuaded into a ride, and flew out the bottom, nearly upending a group standing with coffee mugs. A good lesson in momentum: P = M x V. In other words, Mother going down the slide, with greater mass and velocity, becomes a dangerous flying object with no brakes.

Supper at a streetside food hall was tasty, and our Penang food research paid off – we were glad to be able to recognise some of the dishes in Malay, as they didn’t have English translations. In the sultry warmth of the evening, we wandered back to the towers to watch the light and music fountain show. There was something so human about the way the water moved, the fountains looked like dancers, and it was surprisingly emotionally moving.  We meandered home, savouring a full day. While it was only a short visit, we are glad we now have a point of reference for, and some small experience of, Kuala Lumpur. 

We had been encouraged to visit the smaller coastal city of Malacca for a different sort of Malaysian experience. Malacca is an historical trading port that has a long history of Asian, then colonial occupation and rule. The Dutch were the first to set up a colonial settlement in Malacca and the solid red church and colonial buildings still form the centre of the tourist hub. A harbour and fort were built on a small river just upstream from where it joins the Malacca Straits and this has now developed into a bustling riverside walkway, with restaurants, cafes, pubs and small shops dotting the scenic route on both sides of the river. The main tourist thoroughfare, called Jonker Street, is lined with preserved historic buildings, now turned into shops, but gets transformed into a bustling street market at night selling all sorts of Malay food and cheap plastic toys. We sampled quail egg kebabs (nice), avocado smoothie (strange) and durian cake (plain disgusting) before settling at a scenic, but very slow, restaurant on the riverside, where we watched boatloads of Korean tourists shuttle at high speed up and down the river. Another popular tourist activity is to hire a bicycle rickshaw – fairly common throughout Asia, but in Malacca these are pretty special. The riders decorate the rickshaw with garlands, LED lights and soft toys along themes like Spiderman or Hello Kitty. They look like bright poofy cakes on wheels, with music pumping at full volume from speakers behind the seat. Although it was tempting to be deafened by ‘Baby Shark’ or ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ AND have an epileptic fit from the flashing lights, while cruising around at 2km/hr, we declined the enthusiastic offers.

The next day Nick and I headed to a massive shopping mall for a few necessities while the kids bonded over card games and Snakes and Ladders with Granny Anne and Grandpa. We spent the afternoon ambling along the river before picking one of the many food spots for an unusual, but fitting, cendol supper for our last night in Malaysia.

Malacca is clearly a popular tourist destination but seems to have seen better days – probably a COVID casualty. Our apartment block had hundreds of flats but was only about 10% occupied and was sorely in need of some maintenance. There were other hotels with peeling paint, plants taking over and closed signs, and more than a few hotels stopped mid-construction. It is a charming place and offers an interesting history, so we hope it recovers.