Holiday In Malaysia

Malaysia is an amazing destination among the Asian countries in the tropical regions. It's a cosmopolitan country with many races, religions and cutures. But the amazing fact is the way in which the different ethnic races mix around and live together, each group speaking their own dialects and observing their own religions and festive celebrations. The country is politically peaceful and free from serious natural disaster. Although Malay (Bahasa Malaysia) is the national language, the people are multilingual and many of them can speak good English.

Kuala Lumpur Sightseeing

Upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur Internatonal Airport, we were quite surprised that the facilities and infrastructures were so advanced as we did not expect Malaysia to have an airport of such high efficiency. Our first stop was Kuala Lumpur. It is located in Selangor state and also the capital of Malaysia. We checked into Hotel Cititel, a 4-star hotel located in an upscale Megamall in the city centre. It was very convenient for shopping and finding local cuisine food within this shopping complex.

The next day we were driven from Kuala Lumpur to Gombak Orang Asli Centre where we visited the 'orang asli' (aborigines of Malaysia) settlement and saw their culture and lifestyles, the various items made and worn by them. The other attractions following were Batu Caves which had a series of limestone caves and Hindu temples, Sepang International Circuit for Formula One A1 Grand Prix, Kampung Kuantan Fireflies and Sungai Chongkak recreational Forest reserves.

On the third day we travelled 25km from Kuala Lumpur and arrived at Putrajaya to see Malaysia's Administration Center and Futuristc City. At Putrajaya, we visited the Putra Mosque and took some photos of the building as non-Muslim were not permitted to enter it. The other places in this city area were Putrajaya Independence Square for major national celebrations, Perdana Putra office building for the Prime Minister, Putrajaya Lake man-made lake as cooling system for the city, Istana Melati (2nd palace for the king's retreat amd meeting venue), Putrajaya Westlands Park wildlife sanctury, Almanda Putrajaya shopping complex, Putra International Convention Centre, and the two bridges of Sri Wawasan and Sri Perdana.

PENANG Sightseeing

The next state which we selected to visit was Penang island where we stayed for 2 nights before flying home. Penang is a small island, but there is really a lot of unique things to see there. The places of attraction seem to be so near, just like the city and beach areas, where we only need to drive about 30 - 40 minutes from one place to other. We were staying at the beach resorts, but not far from the city area. It was really so conveniently free and easy to move around. Penang people were even more patient and very helpful we asked them for directions on the road.

As we were staying at beach resorts in the northern shoreline, we went to Tropical Spice Garden for the spice garden tour and had lunch at the restaurant there, which was cooling and surrounded by greenery at the hill terrain. At the beach side there were many kinds of water sports and there were also services for foot reflexology. It was really a very nice place for retreat. The night markets along the main road were lined with many stalls selling all kinds local handicrafts and niche market products. We spent the night hours shopping at the stalls for souvenirs and tasting hawker food.

The next day we went to Penang Butterfly Farm and Tropical Fruit Farm. We were facisnated by the wide range of butterfly species, rare insects and tropical flora and fauna at the Butterfly Farm, very educational especially for the children. At the Tropical Fruit Farm, there were so many varieties of tropical fruit trees and we got to taste the most fresh fruits plucked from the trees.

It was most unfortunate that we had to fly home the next day as we didn't have enough time to trek the National Park of Penang, not to mention the heritage attractions in Georgetown,city. During the 3 days visit in Penang island, we find that Penang should be a highly recommended destination for free and easy travels and is indeed a very suitable place to go for vacation retreat and rejuvenation.