trip to malaysia

Only having been to Asia once before, I was super excited about traveling to Malaysia and exploring another part of Asia. We planned this trip as a little 2 week vacation before our 5 month exchange program in Taiwan, and wow... it was worth it.

Flying into Kuala Lumpur, right off the bat I noticed the warm weather. I was wearing yoga pants and a sweatshirt, and it was a very, very bad decision (sweat... sweat everywhere). After a very short night's rest, we left for our first destination in Malaysia -- 📍Redang Island.

​Redang is a quiet island off the coast of East Malaysia with beautiful, white beaches and clear waters. Not having gotten much sleep, I was looking forward to our trip to the island as we would be going by boat, so I could close my eyes for a bit before getting there. 

Mind you, I have been on 'speed boats' before, so I was expecting a little boat that goes pretty fast, but nothing crazy. This boat ride... was not what I expected. The boat pulled away from the docks and we started to accelerate little by little. After about 5 minutes, we were speeding across the blue oceans... actually more like flying. We were going so fast, jumping over the waves, tilting to the sides, back up straight, jumping over more waves, bigger waves... needless to say I didn't get much sleep.

With my adrenaline at the highest it's been in weeks, we finally arrived to our little beach front hotel and the relaxing can begin. We stayed at the Sari Pacifica Resort and Spa, which is surrounded by dozens of other hotels along the beach. We entered the hotel from the beach, so we never really saw a front door/entrance; these hotels felt very isolated, which is something I have never experienced before-- just beach, ocean, and hotel; no roads, no cars, nothing.

The beach here is insane!! The ocean is a bright, light blue color, and the sand is white; my personal definition of paradise. A week of relaxing in the sun was exactly what I needed after a stressful couple weeks packing and moving out of my apartment in Antwerp.

The food at our hotel was not that great and very expensive for such low quality, so we always went a couple hotels over to their beach bar to have dinner. This beach bar is part of the Redang Bay Resort and is called SandFly. They have a variety of local and western dishes at a very cheap price (I got a huge plate of fried rice for 2 euros...yeah).

What else to do on Redang Island?

• walk along the beach, visit the other hotels
• try the food stands along the beach for some local foods
• snorkeling in the clear blue waters (!!)
• other water sports

​We left Redang with a little sunburn, tan lines, relaxed minds, sand everywhere, and lots of  memories.

Want to go to Redang Island?

• How?: fly into Kuala Terrenganu airport and take the ferry from Merang Jetty
• Price?: Ferry from Merang Jetty costs around 55RN (11 euro)
• Time?: Speed boat ferry takes about 40 minutes to bring you to the island
• BRING CASH: most hotels do not have an ATM and only accept cash payments

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We spent the next four days in 📍Kuala Lumpur. 
Not gonna lie, the first day we were there we just stayed at our place to plan what we will do the following couple days (and to watch Game of Thrones finale). 

We decided to have a late lunch in one of the many, many enormous shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur and later we headed over to the Central Market to check out the little market stands. After Central Market, we walked to the very photogenic Merdaka Square and the Masjid Jamek Sultan Mosque. Personally, I love the architecture of mosques and how this square is surrounded by these beautifully built buildings, so it was a nice way to end the day.

During our first real day out in Kuala Lumpur we decided to go to the center to see the Petronas Towers. We walked through the very quiet KLCC park to get to the towers, and the view was breathtaking. These towers have 88 floors, which is pretty tall if you ask me, and they have a very unique look to them. In the towers, you have the possibility to go up to the top to get a view of the whole city. There are also restaurants/bars in the towers where you can enjoy the view with your dinner or drinks.

Getting another late start, our third day in Kuala Lumpur was dedicated to visiting the Thean Hou Temple and the Chinatown of KL. I have to say, I love temples. I don't know what it is about them, but the colors, the tranquility, the history, etc. So visiting this temple in Kuala Lumpur was a must. We took a Grab taxi to the temple, which was a very cheap ride (similar to Uber, a very handy app to have in KL). The temple itself is free and open to worshippers or people just visiting. There was a place to eat and buy little souvenirs at the bottom of the temple. There was also a garden full of statues of all the Chinese horoscopes (I am a pig🐷). The temple itself was not that big, but it was so beautiful and gave a nice view on Kuala Lumpur's skyscrapers so I really suggest going here!

Next up is the infamous Chinatown of KL: To take a break, we stopped at the cutest, little coffee shop called Coffee Amo right around the corner from Petaling Street in Chinatown.
Chinatown was very busy and a little overwhelming. People yelling out their products from left to right and swearing theirs are the cheapest. It was an interesting experience and very picturesque as the sun was slowly going down. 

Later that night, we had drinks at the craziest rooftop bar ever. The bar was located on the 30-something floor, however, you could walk up to the rooftop to have your drinks on the helicopter pad. Yes, the helicopter pad... where there are no railings or glass walls, just complete open air between you and the skyscrapers of KL. I think that this is the coolest rooftop bar I have ever been to, hands down; I loved it. 

​This little 10 day trip to Malaysia was exactly what I had hoped for. Redang Island was perfect for relaxing and enjoying island life for a week. Kuala Lumpur had that concrete jungle feeling with an Asian/Muslim touch.
 
I wonder what adventures are next...
 
With love,
Sara