Never in a million years did I expect to be back in Malaysia so soon and definitely not only a few day after my departure but this is exactly what happened. I got a tip, became curious and nothing could stop me from going … not back to Malaysia but onwards to the most beautiful island in the world and hopefully also my dream destination  .. in short: 

Readers of Condé Nast voted Palawan in the Philippines the most beautiful island in the world. What a timing. I have been toying myself with a thought of finding a paradise island where I could live happily ever after so, of course, Palawan was the most obvious choice for my next destination. I had to go there and check it out. Right away. 

There was only one teeny tiny obstacle. Getting from Brunei to Palawan was neither very straightforward nor cheap. There are not that many airlines operating from/to Brunei. My only reasonable priced option was getting back to Malaysia from where I could catch one of the budget airlines (Air Asia). So Malaysia … here I come. Again.

The prospect of flying with the Royal Brunei Airlines gave an extra spice to the trip, and it did higher the anticipations a notch. For not only has this 10 aircraft 16 destination strong fleet few passengers making each one of them unique but it also provides a 100% Dreamliner service. No wonder I was looking forward to my virgin flight with Brunei’s national carrier.

Expectations were higher than high, and I was so hoping not to get disappointed. I didn’t.  All passengers, coach included, got a royal welcome and then royal in-flight-service. Cool mist humidifiers were on full blast and as soon we boarded the aircraft, we were served cold drinks. Once air-borne the lovely, smiling, alert and attentive staff always ready to satisfy (most of) our wishes. Whatever they couldn’t provide (e.g. alcohol) we were welcome to bring onboard. How about that? First class.

Bandar Seri Begawan International Airport was small, efficient and very charming. No kilometer-long lines in sight. In fact, hardly any people at all. Quick check-in. Few meter walk and you’re at the gate. Round waiting hall with gates around it cut the distance to an absolute minimum – didn’t take more than a minute to get to the gate. (Guessing each of the ten aircraft has its own gate)

It only took an hour and to reach Kota Kinabalu a.k.a. KK which was my destination and transit to Palawan. The town is on the list of one of the best retirement places in the world thus I figured I may as well spend a few days there and explore what that rather remote Borneo town has to offer. 

A large part of downtown in KK is waterfront. It starts with a local market and then continues as a promenade with dozens of bars and restaurants. In a couple of bars, you can not only enjoy a well-chilled drink and a bite to eat but also a well-deserved massage. Top it all with the glorious sunset and you’re in heaven. The waterfront is true sunset paradise. ‘Everyone’ comes to the waterfront to watch the sunset and to party. 

No one seems to pay much attention to the sunset ‘next door’ – at the market. The market is open all day (and half a night), seven days a week. Freshly caught fish is delivered, sold or cooked in minutes. Fruits and vegetables likewise. The food court at the market is jam-packed with locals hungry not only for food but also for gossip. Just a regular market. I thought.

What made this market so different from other markets I visited was the sheer amount of small kids (4 – 7-year-old) running everywhere. At first, I took for granted they followed their parents to work which is so common throughout South East Asia until I realized it was not the case. The kids weren’t brought in by parents for supervision but most probably came there by themselves … to work. Cheap labor – human shopping carts. How sad. 

A 6-year-old boy carries bags for a fully grown man

Bags are too heavy and he drops them

Gets a penny or two for his hard work

Waterfront, market, outdated mall. That is pretty much it. The town itself is rather dull. Industrial feel. No beaches. You need to travel a bit or take a boat to nearby islands to walk in the sand or snorkel. I haven’t done it hence cannot vouch for their quality but am pretty sure the beaches in K.K. are very much the same as anywhere else in Malaysia. Not that great. 

How could Kota Kinabalu find a place on a list of top retirement destinations is beyond my comprehension.  The situation may be better outside of town or on the islands – but not by much. Malaysia and I aren’t a perfect match. The humidity and absence of pristine beaches are two major factors stopping me from paradise search in Malaysia. Be it Peninsula or Borneo.

Perhaps I’ll find my little paradise in Palawan. After all, it is the most beautiful island in the world. Isn’t it?

Kota Kinabalu – water-front in pictures

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Miri

Ready to board the Eva bus

After two nights in Bintulu, it was time to move on. According to (once again) Google map, a town called Miri seemed like a good idea. It is a second largest city in Sarawak and a major transport hub and (potentially) interesting to explore but above all; it is near Brunei border – so very convenient.

We took a long distance bus run by a local company – Eva. It was the name that made me choose this company. Bintulu – Mira route is run by three or four different operators so there is no shortage of competition with a coach leaving every half hour. The trip took four hours and was partially bumpy but nothing we couldn’t manage. The scenery was (hmm…) monotonous.. mile after mile of palm oil tree plantations.

Monotonous scenery? Good excuse for coach selfies

Once in town – I don’t have so much to say about Miri, other than – we didn’t click  … after only half an hour of explorations we found nothing interesting to explore and gave up looking for excitement spending the rest of the afternoon and evening in a mall getting well deserved pampering. We wanted to leave first thing in the morning. But where to?

The alternatives were to get on a bus and continue to Brunei or jump on a plane and fly to a duty-free paradise island Labuan and then take a ferry from there to Brunei. We chose the latter. 

Labuan

Swedish beer anyone?

Labuan is being promoted as a duty-free paradise but turned out to be a huge disappointment. Yes, you can get any alcohol your fancy may desire but this is pretty much it. There is nothing else to buy, duty-free or otherwise. Hoping for a new camera body at a bargain price I wanted to check photo equipment. Nothing. One teeny tiny shop selling old stuff for the same price as in Dubai. Luckily I didn’t make the trip especially for that for it would have been a total waste of time. 

The island itself gave an impression of a recent prime time but that prime time is over now.  Lovely resorts but no one cares for them anymore. Outdated facilities and equipment. No new investments. Hardly any tourists. Too many taxis. Most visitors were Bruneians that came to the island to spend Hari Raya with their families … and taste some of that duty-free booze. 

Tankers off Labuan’s coast. Dirty Beaches

Perhaps the reason for Labuan’s decline are hundreds and hundreds of vessels only a couple of hundred meters off its coast.

Ironically, from the photographic viewpoint the seen is absolutely amazing but unfortunately cannot be conveyed in one shot only. I tried many times and failed every single one of them. To understand the magnitude of the ongoing operation an aerial shot is needed from a chopper or even a drone. 

Two (or was it three?) days later I left Labuan and Borneo with somewhat knotted stomach … of an unaccomplished mission and somewhat saddened … by the feeling that something was amiss and that I may never be back to mend it. I felt the need to go back .. but I didn’t. 

Malaysian Borneo

We all associate Borneo with adventure and jungle. I didn’t experience either but instead spend my time touring cities that were of little interest to me. How could that happen?

Jungle telegraph.

Apparently, there isn’t much of Malaysian Borneo jungle left. The jungle is now replaced by palm oil tree plantations.  I saw them from the bus.  Kilometer after kilometer. Small patches of the jungle that are still there are turned into high-end resorts for tourists with deep pockets to … enjoy the jungle – artificial jungle.

At the same time solo travelers are discouraged and at times not even allowed to take trips on their own but forced to join organized and super expensive jungle tours. The jungle is no longer the jungle. ‘The Jungle’ is very commercialized business now.

To experience real jungle, you need to go to Brunei .. or so they say.  

Miri in pictures

Labuan in pictures

The post Ramadan in Malaysia, part 2 appeared first on One way ticket to Paradise.

Ramadan – Islamic holy month, a month of physical and spiritual purification, a month of intense prayers to bring the faithful closer to god, a month of fasting to gain a better understanding and greater compassion towards the deprived, a month of donations and feeding the hungry. During a holy month of Ramadan Muslims all over the world abstain from bodily pleasures including eating and drinking during daylight hours – from dawn to sunset.

Satwa in Dubai. Waiting for the fast to break

During Ramadan, as I know it, the buzz of town slows down and even stands still. The working hours are shorter, some people don’t work at all. Almost all restaurants, cafes and bars are closed as are small businesses. Many guest workers, especially those working for establishments that close down, take a vacation during that month and go home for their annual visit. The streets are almost deserted. Nothing much happens – during daylight hours.

But once the sun sets the town comes to life – all squares, streets, restaurants, cafes fill up as Muslims break their fast. The nightly feast begins. Night after night. For the whole month. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan. It is a 3-day long celebration. It is also a public holiday in Dubai.  

Most of Dubai non-Muslim expats, including myself, like that period of purification and are even looking forward to it. No traffic jams, in fact, no traffic at all. Empty streets, empty malls. Peace and quiet. The best of times.

Satwa in Dubai. The fast break begins

But if you’re visiting a Muslim country during Ramadan, things may be slightly different. Exactly the same things that residents appreciate tourists may find somewhat challenging. The empty town, empty malls, restaurants closed, no eating or drinking publicly. Nothing happens. Very, very sleepy town. 

It was only a week or two after I had arrived in Malaysia that I realized Ramadan was approaching and that Malaysia is a Muslim country. What a bad timing – for a tourist like myself and even more so for my friend coming for a visit. What to do. I expected the same procedures as in Dubai.  But … surprise, surprise .. the life in both Kuala Lumpur and Penang went on as usual. Hadn’t I known about Ramadan I would have never even noticed. All restaurants, bars, coffee shops and even street stalls were in full swing. Oh well, a different country different custom. Ramadan in Malaysia has no bearing on tourists. I thought. 

Muslim family celebrating Hari Raya in Borneo

Ramadan was ending and so was our KL leg of the trip. It was time to leave KL for Borneo and Kutching. From there we planned to travel on land to Brunei visiting as many places as we could on the way.  But things didn’t work out as planned. For at the same time as we were ready to travel so were the ‘millions’ of KL Muslims.  Most KL Muslim workers come from Borneo and they were all going home to their families to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, or as Malaysians call it – Hari Raya.  All plane seats to Kutching or any other larger town in Borneo were sold out weeks before. 

No Kutching for us and no Borneo. We had to get to Brunei somehow – in time for the flight my friend booked taking her back to Sweden, but for now,  we had to improvise. My travel companion was dreaming of paradise beaches and sea. So we looked at the map and went to Port Dickson instead.  

Port Dickson  

According to Google Maps, Port Dickson is a lovely coastal town with lovely beaches only one hour drive away from Kuala Lumpur – and even less from the airport (we wanted to be near the airport in case we found a couple of seats to Borneo). Due to its proximity to the capital I expected PD (Malaysians love to shorten names) to be a weekend getaway for Kuala Lumpurians, the Hamptons of Malaysia. I couldn’t be more wrong.

It took us the whole day to make the trip of fewer than 100 kilometers. Official travel information turned out to be 100% inaccurate. In addition, the huge numbers 12.20 p.m. printed on the tickets were not the expected departure time but the ticket purchase time  (huh???) so we missed the train. 

The only beach company, Crabs, crabs, crabs

When we finally got to our beach resort paradise in anticipation of a great evening with a breathtaking sunset and a cocktail in the pool we were greeted by a dull, gray and almost deserted place. White sandy beaches were nowhere to be seen. Nor were any weekend guests. With an exception of two hotels that were booked, one was luckily ours, the rest of them were vacant.  

We spend hours and hours walking the not so stroll friendly beaches looking for some kind of life but, other than armies of tiny sand crabs, found none.

Then the luck struck. I found two (literally) last tickets to Borneo. So we packed up again and left for a place that (apparently) nobody else wanted to visit called … 

Bintulu

One could see right away that Bintulu isn’t any poor fishing village somewhere in the jungle of Borneo but a town on the rise. Proper streets and street lights. Newly built houses. Fancy cars. Bintulu is a town with money. I have later learned that both oil and gas reserves were discovered just off the coast. I addition, as in so many places on Borneo, the oil palm plantations and all form of oil palm processing are also expanding in the city contributing to the booming economy. 

There is also a large Western expat community an hour drive from the city living on or nearby vessels they work on. Visitors to the city are business people. Only a few tourists come here – they were practically none during our visit. On another hand, the town was shut down due to ongoing Hari Raya celebrations. 

Celebrating couple

Even though the Muslims are in minority, one could feel the celebratory vibe everywhere in town. Celebrating families were all dressed in their Sunday best and family members wore matching outfits. Joy, happiness and big smiles from ear to ear adding to the festive atmosphere. The icing on the cake is the tradition of open houses. Anyone is welcome, including you and I. Unfortunately I missed the opportunity of celebrating with locals on their own premises. The tradition of ‘open houses’ is unique for Malaysia of which I didn’t know. To this day I feel such a disappointment for missing this opportunity and regret not doing my research better. 

continue to part 2

Port Dickson in pictures

Don’t let the pictures fool you. The beaches weren’t as nice as they appear to be in the pictures. The hotel though, especially the pool was lovely. 

Bintulu in pictures

continue to part 2

The post Ramadan in Malaysia, part 1 appeared first on One way ticket to Paradise.

It took quite a bit of scouting and decisions making to leave Penang for Kuala Lumpur. Train, bus, the location of stations in both places, stairs, uphill, downhill and so on, and on. Every single question had to be researched and answered. No surprises, thank you very much. This time I was not only planing around my suitcase but also around my post-operation condition. I didn’t want to subject myself to anything that could jeopardize my recuperation process.

Eventually, the vote fell on a couch and K-Sentral (the central station). And what a brilliant move it was. Not that I have any experience in the matter but the Central Station in Kuala Lumpur must be the best or one of the best central station in the world. A hub for all public means of transportation that moves on wheels. Changing between buses, trains, airport shuttle, commuting trains, metro, trams, you name it takes only seconds of time and meters in walking. No matter where you want to go you can get there from K-Sentral.

K-Sentral is not only a transport/transit hub but also a mall. You arrive in style and comfort. All amenities you can only think of are at your disposal. Escalators. elevators and smooth shiny floors in case you need to drag your suitcase are all there. Restaurants, cafes, stores, grocery shops, clean bathrooms, benches to rest, food to eat as well as entertainment for those who have time to kill. The icing on the cake are three or four hotels in the mall itself and plenty more around. There is no better location to come to after a long journey.  But if you ever find the time to leave the mall, you’ll find yourself in the middle of Little India full of cheap Indian restaurants and stalls. Quite a contrast from the mall.

Naturally even my hotel was right there and (consequently) the mall became a place where I spend most of my time. After a month of almost total isolation, I appreciated the fuzz and buzz of the mall and the constant flow of people. But what I appreciated and enjoyed the most was the variety of food the mall offered – what a difference from Tesco’s and street hawker’s bad quality and boring food in Penang. The mall became my home and my dining room. 

After 4 days of practically living in the mall, I needed a change. So I took the first best available transport going in direction of Petronas Towers and traveled the mere distance of one stop to check into a hotel located only a few meters away from the station.

A 2-minute ride by public transport or perhaps a 10-15 minute walk from the central station and I found myself in another world. I was no longer in Little India but in China Town famous for its inexpensive restaurants and markets but infamous for its ‘other’ markets. This is where you come to eat ‘real’ Chinese food and this is where you come to shop for ‘real’ fake merchandise. 

One stop or two stops at a time. What a great way to travel. The best. Yes, it requires time, so this is not for people in a hurry. But if you can take or make the time to ‘do the town’ on foot, the rewards are priceless. You get to see the parts of town you’d never see otherwise. You get to feel, smell, hear the town and interact with locals or other slow travelers. You get to be a part of town as opposed to being merely a visitor. But above all – you are free to go wherever you like and turn or cut any/every corner you like – none of which you can ever experience being caged in a tourist bus or a taxi.

‘Walking the streets’ comes with yet another bonus. You have a chance to check out hotels and make sure they really match the fancy pictures you see on booking sites. You can view the room or even book one. Often walk-ins offer better deals than online bookings. 

Walking in Kuala Lumpur is easy. Your only obstacle, as anywhere in Malaysia, is humidity which can be weary. Bring water.

KL, as Kuala Lumpur is called, or rather its city center is quite small, easily walkable and pedestrian friendly (for an Asian town). There are only 5 stations between K-Sentral and Petronas Towers, a stroll that shouldn’t take more than an hour. At the most. But if you can’t or don’t want to walk take Monorail that runs above the ground as taxis won’t get you anywhere. The traffic in central KL stands still, especially at peak hours.

Three days in China Town was more than enough. Conveniently there was a free bus stop right in front of my hotel. I took it.

My next stop was Bukit Bintang. This is where the old meets the new. Asian style on one side of the street and Western style on the other. This is where you find most restaurants, street stalls, pubs, bars, night clubs, malls – both more traditional ones and super fancy depending on which side of the road you are on. Wherever you look there is some sort of eatery within meters and their number only increases as the day progresses. Even wherever you don’t look, as they are not apparent, there may also be few gems in hiding. In fact, KL’s world-renowned eats are ‘hidden’ underground. 

Food, food, food. Malaysians love the food. The choice of dishes is limitless. And so is the choice of eateries. All from the simplest street stalls to the super fancy restaurants. After months of dining out every single day/night, I no longer eat street food in South East Asia. The novelty and fun have worn out already in Vietnam and hygiene issue kicked in. Nor do I eat in expensive restaurants. My preferred eateries these days, in KL, are food courts in fancy malls and occasionally the hidden eats. No, no, no. I do not eat Western type fast food but freshly, hygienically cooked, beautifully smart looking and delicious meals, fusion between East and West. Pleasure for the eye and delight for all other senses.

Wolo Hotel where I was staying (highly recommended) is a perfect platform from which to explore both areas as it is strategically located between the old Bukit Bintang full of budget hotels and cheap eats and the top modern KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center) packed with luxurious malls, residential towers, and offices including the most famous of them all – Petronas Towers.

My last stop and my home for the last 10 days in KL was KLCC during which I lived a very much European lifestyle in a top modern two-bedroom apartment, eating cheap local food in high-end malls, enjoying lady nights at 5 stars hotels while walking from place to place on properly paved sidewalks or, if it was too humid outside, in air-conditioned pedestrian walkways aboveground. And if I didn’t feel like walking at all, there was always a public bus ready and often waiting to take me around. Free.   

Public transport in Malaysia and particularly in Kuala Lumpur is great – as is. Cheap, efficient and plentiful. But there is still more. Free buses. Five different lines tour central parts of the city from early morning until late at night. These free buses are hugely popular not only with tourists but also with locals. These free buses drive local taxi drivers absolutely nuts. Naturally, presumptive customers travel on a free bus rather than in an expensive taxi. 

Monorail station in Bukit Bintang,

Not sure what is going on but there seems to be a lot of bad blood between taxi companies and authorities/government. It isn’t only KL-thing but applies to the whole country. A clean-up of a sort. Nothing wrong with that but the aggravation between the two is clearly felt by regular customers like myself only adding more stress to my already shuttered relationship with taxi drivers.   

Flat rates for airport taxis are imposed. Great. But to book a taxi from hotels was somewhat problematic as though the hotels were trying to discourage guests from traveling by taxi. ‘Sorry, but we don’t have any booking system in place‘, they claimed. Why take an expensive taxi when there is a cheap bus just around the corner?   

What surprised me the most was how old and run down taxi cars were: small, uncomfortable sedans making luggage loading and unloading very difficult and arrogant drivers unwilling to help. The worst cars on the roads. As they all were the same, both in Penang and in KL, I am assuming they were standardized and regulated by the authorities. 

Then the usual Asian stuff … No meter or refusal to put one on. Haggling over the price. Making sure I won’t be taken ‘for a ride’. Leading drivers to a destination I never visited before with a help of my phone-GPS and map as they never know the way.  Malaysian taxi clean up only added fuel to the fire. Thus, today I’d rather take public transport wherever possible than a taxi.  

But when I do take a taxi, I make sure I know which company to use,  where exactly my destination is, how to get there and what is the fare. Needles to say taxi drivers dislike me. 

Two stops at a time is the way to go.  By public transport. Best way to explore any city. But why limit it only to the city? Why not explore what is hiding behind the city lights? Why not spend a few days in a residential area somewhere in the suburbs? Why not indeed?  Suburb, two stops from K-Sentral, was supposed to be my next destination. Unfortunately, bad cold knocked me completely out for a week and I never got a chance to put my idea into practice. But I will.

Once I was back on my feet again, it was time to welcome a friend of mine who came from Sweden to KL to join me for the next leg of my trip. We were to concur the Malaysian Borneo. Was the plan.

Kuala Lumpur in pictures

The post Two stops at a time – Kuala Lumpur appeared first on One way ticket to Paradise.

Penang was on my must-visit-list for some three, four years now. Not only that, I was also seriously considering following the footsteps of my friends and moving to the island. Apparently, Penang is (or at least was) THE place for expats, or so they claimed. One of the best places in the world to retire. They went, I stayed. The timing wasn’t quite right. Not then.

To travel slowly was a motto of my South East Asian reconnaissance. I was in no hurry to get anywhere so what’s the rush. I’d take the whatever time I needed. If I found a place I liked, I’d stay there for as long as I liked – or could. No rush, no stress. I’d take it as it came.

Well, things didn’t quite work out that way. They seldom do. For even though I wasn’t in a hurry – I didn’t have all the time in the world. There was a ‘deadline’ lurking in the background or rather an interruption of my travel flow. I had to be back in Dubai to attend the Swedish Photo Crew summit in October. And that ‘deadline’ was in the back of my mind at all times. I didn’t quite have the luxury of ‘take it as it comes’.

Whether I liked it or whether I planned it the truth of the matter was – I was rushing. Not only was I rushing to be done with the SEA by October but also to be done with touristy things asap so I could park myself somewhere long term and just enjoy the life. Therefore, spending more time than necessary in one location wasn’t an option. I wanted to see things I wanted to see so I wouldn’t feel the need to come back to ‘finish the job’. And quite frankly, I didn’t really find a place where I wanted to stay for much longer than I actually stayed. So no problem. I was moving on. I was looking for that special place where the time has no meaning. 

Rushing is one thing. Living off a suitcase is another. I haven’t unpacked since I left Dubai. Unpacking for two or three days and then packing it all up again seemed like a waste of time. I couldn’t be bothered.

Changing hotels every two, three days also took its tow not to mention the never-ending task of looking for them on booking sites and then making sure I was getting the room I booked and paid for as more often than not there was an issue with one thing or the other. (This is why I never book now for more than two nights at a time. Most of the times one night only.)

Then there was the blog. I need inner peace to write. I need to settle down which takes three days.  Touristy things and shooting first then writing. Leaving the place after 3-4 days never gave me a chance to reach my creative stage. 

I needed to stop for a while. I needed to stay put in one place for a month or two, unpack, take every single item out of my suitcase and hang them all up on hangers, do laundry, maybe even cook something or at least have a takeout at home and eat it with fork and knife, catch up on my blog, check out on the life I left behind and take care of whatever needed my attention, chill. Live a ‘normal’ life. I was ready for Penang. 

I arrived in the middle of May. My spirit was high and so were the anticipations and even expectations. All I needed to do was find a place to stay long term and then just chill.

It started bumpily but then it always does. Nothing new. Some nonsense with an airport taxi. Then the room I booked not available, so the hotel was trying to upgrade me at my expense. I demanded the room I booked and paid for or an upgrade at their expense – which I got. Stuff like that although extremely annoying is a routine to me these days. I know how to handle it. The major problem was humidity. It was unbearable.

George Town is a lovely place to visit for a couple of days. Foodies should give it a week. The food is great; the variety is endless. But George Town is a place to visit and not to live in, I was told. Most expats live in Batu Ferringhi, 40 minutes up the coast. This is also a location of most hotels and resorts. And this is where I went. My friends also lived there, and I was so looking forward to meeting them again and having someone ‘local’ who could introduce me around. Imagine my disappointment when I found out they’d left the island and Malaysia before I arrived. They couldn’t stand the humidity.

My hotel room turned out to be a two-bedroom apartment in a residential building. Not what I booked, but it worked. The view was amazing. There were pots and pans. There were a washing machine and an iron. I looked forward to getting something cooked and washed. There was only one tiny problem – there was nothing to cook. Chips and sodas were pretty much all that local stores offered. To get food one could have for dinner required a 30-minute bus ride to Tesco which was the closest shopping center and 10 more minutes to other supermarkets.

Batu Ferringhi, as the whole of Penang, was a real disappointment. Tiny, bad beaches, dirty sea, no grocery stores, ‘exhausted-looking’ residential buildings begging for maintenance, nothing to do. And as humid as anywhere else. Far cry from the expat paradise I thought I was coming to. In addition, a two-week-long public holiday was coming and my smart landlord wanted to double the rent.

Public holiday? Oh no. Not again!!! I didn’t want to take any part of yet another public holiday when the entire country shuts down nor was I interested in paying double for a place I didn’t even like. So I packed up my stuff once again and moved to a hotel right on the beach – next to Tesco. 

Excruciating pain woke me up in the middle of the night and kept me awake for hours and hours. I felt similar pain on two different occasions a couple of weeks earlier in Laos but nothing of that magnitude. Eventually, things got better – I went to see a doctor. 

Long story short. I had an operation 24 hours later, spend 5 days in a hospital. USD 5.000. Acute, severe gallbladder inflammation.

For the whole following month, I stayed in my hotel on the beach, next to Tesco, trying to get it together. Due to the two week public holiday, all Malaysian expats and their two million kids were back home to celebrate. The hotel was jam-packed with screaming and running kids, and so was the pool. Glad I couldn’t use it. I felt fragile and stayed in my room most of the time out of fear that someone would bump into me. The convalescence took longer than expected due to a mental block – my first operation ever. But once I got mobile, I bought a first-class bus ticket and left for Kuala Lumpur. I needed a change. I was so done with chilling in Penang as I could ever be.

Batu Ferringhi

Hotel neighborhood

People and their friends

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