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George Town, Penang

We were slowing things down a bit, well, at least for 5 days. Our destination was Georgetown in Penang, Malaysia – a UNESCO-labeled town with colourful colonial buildings and a big food scene. I was looking forward to some relaxed days after a busy few weeks in China and Tibet. We’d booked an apartment to mix things up and get easy access to a washing machine and a kitchen. 

At first introductions, Georgetown felt quiet, but I reminded myself we were doing the classic British method of venturing out in the middle of the day, when the sun is high and the temperature and humidity are less than comfortable. We never learn 😅 It did get busier in the evenings, but it’s still fairly quiet and relaxed in the streets and restaurants.

Everywhere seemed walkable in the main town, but we did opt for a taxi from time to time, when it was hot (cheap prices though, and easily booked through Grab which is used in a few Asian countries).

Eating & Drinking

The night food markets in Georgetown are amazing – so much choice. Our favourite was just south of the main city, called Pasar Malam Van Praagh, or if you search on Google Maps – “Night Market on Friday”. We bought a mix of dishes – a Malaysian fried noodle and egg specialty served in a paper cone; an Okonomiyaki (not very Malaysian, but delicious); fried chili tofu; shaved ice with mango; fresh soy milk. From talking with the vendors, not all of them sold food full time, more of a weekend or evening gig to make some extra cash or a passion project.

We kept going back to the same coffee shop called Norm Roastery. Their coffee tasted particularly good and they also serve an affogato 🍨 More than anything, we just loved sitting there and doing some travel admin and people watching.

Desserts were everywhere in George Town, and Carmen had her mind set on tofu soy desserts. She hunted out the best places, and we sampled many pots of soft tofu pudding topped with sweet ginger, sesame paste, and other toppings. When you think of tofu dessert, it doesn’t sound the most appealing or delicious, but they’re incredible. Give them a try if you see them on a menu (preferably in Malaysia or China). 

Sunday Art Market 🎨

We visited an artsy Sunday market at the Hin Bus Depot, where there was food, arts and crafts, and live music. It was a good spot to spend a couple of hours. It’s another area of the city where there’s tonnes of street art. George Town has made a name for itself with the volume of art on the street. There’s a specific walk you can take to soak it all up. 

A peak we never ventured up 🏔️

Every day we said we were going to venture up the nearby Penang Hill via the funicular railway, but we never actually bothered as it was a bit overcast. No regrets though. Maybe next time. 

Five nights felt about right in George Town, it gave us a nice opportunity to relax, eat well and wander about a bit. I think a week would have been good if we ventured further around Penang – to the coast or mainland.

Brunei 🇧🇳

We visited the island of Borneo via Brunei on the north. Carmen had already been on the Malaysia side, so we thought let’s go somewhere new.

Brunei is an interesting place. We didn’t do that much research before arriving as it was a late change to our original plan of visiting Myanmar. It wasn’t overly expensive or difficult to get there from Malaysia, so we thought, why not? But the first realisation after we landed that things operated differently was when I was trying to find a nice bar to watch the sunset. There are no bars. There are no pubs. This is a dry country, you fool. Now, this isn’t out of the ordinary; we’d both been in other countries where alcohol sales were outlawed, but Brunei is a very small country with a fairly minimal amount of activities, meaning evenings (or afternoons) would be even quieter. It also gave us a good laugh when we realised. 

Brunei is famed for a few things, but the main one is probably the wealth of the Sultan. It was always the standard response for ‘who is the world’s richest person?’, in a pre-giant-tech era. Evidence of the Sultan is noticeable everywhere you go in Brunei – shops display his portrait; there’s a museum curated with his life story; there are incredible mosques dedicated to him. He’s also known for being present in society, frequently meeting the citizens of Brunei at events, etc.

Brunei is a very rich country. It’s rich in oil, and it’s acquired vast sums of cash since they started drilling for it in the mid-twentieth century. Hence the wealth of the Sultan. This great wealth has benefited the citizens of Brunei, though, with health care and education provided free of charge, and other benefits that include housing or free land, and zero tax on earnings or purchases. That doesn’t mean the whole country is rich in wealth, but it has helped push the standard of living. That being said, the government has chosen to make some poor decisions with regard to diversity and human rights in recent years; let’s hope they see sense and backtrack. 

The question has sat for a while now: what does Brunei do in a post-oil world, or phrased more accurately, how do they make money when it runs out? Some estimates say that could be in less than 30 years. From spending a bit of time in the museum, there’s now a big country objective for cracking that question, so they’re not naïve to it. 

At points, walking through the streets felt a bit like 28 Days Later or The Truman Show. There just wasn’t anyone around (maybe it was the time of day and everyone was at work, and there just weren’t any tourists that week, or maybe it’s just a quiet place). We had a whole fully stocked department store to ourselves one morning. 

Restaurants were plentiful, and there was a range of good vegetarian options. We loved visiting the Gadong Night Market for dinner. Everyone was so helpful and friendly; small businesses seemed to be thriving with a limited amount of chains visible where we travelled. And what we ate was always delicious. 

We visited the state-owned ‘7-star’ hotel one afternoon, The Empire Hotel (fact check – 7-star hotels don’t really exist; it’s just a PR strategy used throughout the world). It is very opulent though. Commissioned by the sultan’s brother and costing circa $1b, it’s an amazing hotel set on the ocean with huge grounds. No cocktails by the pool, though. It was cheap to grab a coffee, and they even gave us free biscuits. We watched the sunset and then headed off.

Hogwarts Induction Day

We couldn’t visit Brunei and not check-out one of the many awesome mosques. We just managed to get to Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque before the 15:00 prayer call. On arrival, we were asked to wear some very fetching long robes to make sure we were properly covered up for venturing inside. We politely accepted the request and had some good fun pretending we were starring in Harry Potter. I promise you we were sensitive and courteous to the significant place of worship we were standing in. The mosque was incredible; it was so peaceful and comfortable, and the architecture was on another planet. Brunei knows how to do grandeur.

The Rainforest – Ulu Temburong National Park

We’d be travelling to Ulu Temburong National Park – a vast area of rainforest protected from development by Brunei (a significantly smart decision following the deforestation that’s occurred in other parts of Borneo). Following the theme of the trip, we were the only people booked on our organised tour.

We set off from the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, travelling by car. We crossed the amazingly long, Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Bridge, which at 30km is the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. We then travelled upriver via longboat to reach the canopy walkway. We had a very nice guide who educated us on the trees and plants in the jungle as we walked.

The walkway was a very high scaffolding-like structure, peaking above the tall trees of the rainforest. We needed to climb up several sets of ladders on our own to reach the platform. It was pretty cool how much freedom they gave us, not needing to accompany us or check safety, etc. The views were beautiful, and as it was just us, it was incredibly peaceful at the top. The safety barrier either side was alarmingly low against my height, so we were careful not to move too erratically! 

After the walkway, we got our own kayaks to paddle back to the lodge. I had a few close calls while trying to film and paddle at the same time, hitting a set of trees at one point. Luckily, I didn’t capsize, but it was only a few days later when I remembered that crocodiles are common place in the river we were in! 🐊

See no evil, hear no evil 🙉

Now, Carmen really wanted to see the Proboscis Monkeys, and I hadn’t latched onto this, so it wasn’t in the tour I’d arranged, nor had I done any research. Luckily, our hotel had some good suggestions on how it was done. You could simply hire a boat just before sunset and be taken to the mangroves where there was a 50/50 chance you’d see them. 

Carmen haggled for a good boat price, fending off several boats who had bumped their prices high when they spotted her coming (I was instructed to hide out of sight when the haggling went down). We got a lovely captain who gave us a Capri Sun when we boarded (and the price Carmen had requested). 😆🧃 Within 15 minutes, we were in the mangroves, having sailed past the Sultan’s compound, catching a glimpse of the palace. 

It didn’t take much time to spot the monkeys; there were loads of them, but they were quite shy, nearly always turning their heads away from us and occasionally peeking a glimpse before running away. Their human-like cheeky faces are incredible to see in person, and I’m glad we made the effort to visit them. There was hardly anybody on the river doing the same; I think we noticed one or two boats.

Brunei definitely lived up to its quiet reputation; we even started to get the same taxi drivers. It was quite comforting as they asked how we’d been doing and whether we’d enjoyed what we’d said we would be doing previously. 

We flew back to Kuala Lumpur for one more evening, where we decided to eat Sri Lankan food and indulge in a few cocktails nearby while the rain poured. We somehow managed to get a bargain on an apartment that looked onto the Petronas Twin Towers, so the view wasn’t bad either. 

Up next: Cambodia and Vietnam (also a recent addition due to not going to Myanmar). We’re visiting Angkor Wat and making the most of the flight route to South Korea, where we needed to change to in Hanoi.