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Funny how easy it is to write a daily post while in the midst of a new adventure, but once back home all the usual distractions take over. We've been back home in Mexico for nearly 4 weeks now, and although I have lots more photos and stories to tell, it's time to wrap up this blog and leave Malaysia behind, at least for now.
I was intending do to that in one final post, but all the odds and ends just kept going on and on, so I almost decided to split the last, long post into several shorter ones. But, in the end efficiency won out. So settle in for one final (lo-o-ong) read.
Drinks
Many things in Malaysia are quite inexpensive by our standards, but liquor isn't one of them. It's also relatively hard to come by, Malaysia being a Muslim country.
Many restaurants don't serve alcoholic drinks at all, and those that do generally have limited offerings. Accordingly, we didn't have a single margarita or glass of wine during our entire time in Malaysia.
Gerry did try out the local beer on a few occasions though, as this was frequently on offer in establishments serving Chinese or Thai cuisine. Maybe the bottles were so big to make up for the fact that most other restaurants didn't serve beer. Or maybe it was the just the heat, I'm not sure.
But most of the time, we went with the flow and took the opportunity to try out lots of really yummy (and sometimes interesting) beverages from the local offerings.
Tea was always an option of course. Malaysia has a robust tea industry and tea can be enjoyed any time of day, which suited me just fine. From my morning iced tea with sweetened milk to a cup of strong Chinese herbal tea like the ones we had at this establishment, a cup of tea was never very far away.
We tried two different teas here, both of which were very strong and tasted like they could cure just about anything. Served iced, of course.
Tea was also our beverage of choice in any of the several Middle Eastern restaurants we ate at. We often had a pot of one of the more traditional varieties, and Gerry always brought his tea-drinking manners along, pinkies and all. 
Aside from tea, one of my personal favourites was lychee water, which I had on more than one occasion. As far as I could tell, this was a concoction of water, a little sugar, and the concentrated juice of lychee fruits, with several whole lychee fruits tossed in for good measure.
I know it looks a bit like a glassful of eyeballs, but it was really quite refreshing. Of course, fruit drinks are served with both a straw and a spoon so that you can more easily scoop out the chunky bits and gobble them down too. Yummy!
Another interesting drink I enjoyed was a bitter melon water at a Chinese Hot Pot restaurant. I'm still not sure what all that stuff was on top of the glass, but it came with a straw so I just drank whatever came up the straw and left the rest behind.
Hot Pot
Speaking of the Chinese Hot Pot restaurant, now that was an experience! We'd passed by it a few times at night on our way to find something for dinner, and it was so eye-catching that we decided we had to give it a try, even though we had no idea what hot pot was. There were lineups out the door and around the corner on weekends (always a good sign), so we came back on a Monday night to check it out.
When we arrived, we were shown to a table right away. We sat down and waited for menus, or for a server to appear and tells us about the specials, but...nothing. Then we noticed the big hole in the centre of the table, and that was about when we realized we had absolutely no clue how the whole hot pot thing worked.
The place wasn't too busy yet, so I got up and went to the door where a couple of staff were chatting, and asked for a menu. I was given a large, colourful paper listing all kinds of different items like beef, vegetables, noodles, etc but I still had no idea what or how to order. So I just played dumb (which wasn't hard!) and asked the person who looked like the head waiter if he wouldn't mind coming over to our table to explain everything to us poor Canadians who didn't have a clue.
After that, things went a lot smoother. We learned that the hole in the middle of the table was where a cauldron of hot broth went, then a gas burner was lit underneath it to keep it bubbling away.
Our helper said we could order one, two or three different kinds of broth, so of course we chose to have three so we'd have the opportunity to try more options. He recommended tomato (great), mushroom (also great), then asked if we liked spicy. Sure. A little. Not too hot though.
This is what arrived at our table a few minutes later...
Tomato broth in the back, mushroom on the right, and "not too hot" chile pepper broth on the left. I dunno, looks pretty spicy to me (it was!). You'll notice that the broth ingredients aren't yet cooked. The idea is that they cook down into the broth right in front of you, and when you figure it's hot enough you plop whatever else you ordered (meat, noodles, vegetables, etc, all of it raw) into the broth of your choice and watch it cook before your eyes.
Then, using your chopsticks, you deftly collect the bits you had previously dropped in, and place them in your bowl. There's also a sort of soup ladle should you want to add broth to your bowl, and also a slotted ladle which I suppose could be used if you don't have much luck plucking out the smaller bits with your chopsticks.
You can see our order card at the far right of the photo above. Every time we wanted to order something new (more veggies, please), our waiter would mark the item on the card. It's much the same as how dim sum works. At the end of the meal, we took our card to the cashier and at that point we got to discover how much we'd spent. (Yikes!)
The Twin Towers
I'd be completely remiss if I didn't talk about the Petronas Twin Towers. After all, they are a large part of what makes Kuala Lumpur's skyline so recognizable. Here we are at KLCC Park, which is a really nice urban park at the base of the towers.
Here's a better shot showing the Skybridge that connects the two towers between the 41st and 42nd floors.
And here we are on said Skybridge. If I look just a tad apprehensive it's because I was. I just kept telling myself that I'd done the Eiffel Tower, as well as countless bell towers and duomos in Italy, so I could surely manage this as well. And I did. But I still wasn't getting too close to the glass!
After the Skybridge experience it was up, up, up to the 88th floor (where I was definitely feeling a lot more apprehensive) and a view of the second tower right across the way.
In the background here you can see the Merdeka 118 tower, so named because it has 118 floors. The spire on top makes it the 2nd highest building in the world right now, and the tallest in Southeast Asia. You'll see this one again from a different angle in a bit.
But first, check out this view of the Petronas Towers all lit up at night!
Other Towers
Here's a view of the Merdeka 118 tower from top of the KL condo building we stayed in, lit up at night. I'm not sure I'm a fan of either the architecture or the lighting, but to each their own.
From street level right outside our condo, we had an interesting view of this same tower with St. Anthony's Catholic church in front.
Then there's KL Tower, a 421 metre tall telecommunications tower. We didn't go inside this one, though we had a great view of it from the rooftop deck of our condo building, and we saw it all lit up while on the night bus tour. Of course, this tower also features a variety of attractions such as assorted observation decks and a revolving restaurant. And according to Google, it also houses a mini zoo, an aquarium, and apparently also serves as a venue for BASE jumping. No thanks!
Finally, the Top Tower in Georgetown is worth a mention. This was a major orientation point for us whenever we were out walking, as we could see it from pretty much everywhere and we knew which way our hotel was in relation to it.
Since this was pretty much the only option for sky-high sightseeing in Penang, we decided to give it a go. There were some very adventurous people taking advantage of the sky walk, but we opted out. Walking around the outside of the 65th floor while harnessed up to 5 other people and guided by some guy with a single safety rope was definitely not on our bucket list.
Much more to my liking was the indoor glass floor, though as you can see I wasn't about to actually stand on it! Note the outdoor sky walk behind me, complete with chain link safety fence. 🫣
But the best part about the Top Tower was the rooftop. No, not the rainbow skywalk...
The 360 degree view was gorgeous, the seating was comfy and plentiful, the breeze was welcome indeed, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to sit in the "world's luckiest chair" made of golden horseshoes. I guess every tower has to have its signature draw to differentiate itself from all the other towers out there these days.
But I shouldn't scoff. After all, according to the sign over Gerry's shoulder, Mr. Eric Ng attributed a lottery win to his stint in the lucky chair.
So with that in mind, we tossed a penny or two into the Wishing Pot of Gold. You never know, right?
Perdana Botanical Garden in KL
We spent our last day in KL at the Perdana Botanical Garden, a huge park filled with playgrounds, lakes, gardens and even a large outdoor performance venue. I'm sure we didn't see even half of it, but we did enjoy strolling about taking in the sights. The sunken garden was lovely, with this covered walkway offering a shaded place to take in the view.
There were lots of water features in addition to the lake, like fountains and waterfalls and this pond complete with a stepping stone crossing.
While approaching the pond, we were admiring the natural beauty of the large boulders and such, when we suddenly realized there was nothing natural about it. All the boulders and other rock features were made of rebar, wire and poured concrete! Oh well, it was still pretty to look at and lovely o listen to listen to the water trickling over the "rocks."
And bonus, we saw this pretty little insect creature along the way.
Even though the day was overcast during our visit, the humidity just doesn't quit, so when we saw this fellow setting up a tea stand out of the trunk of his car, we were first in line.
Iced, of course. Mmmmmm!
Downtown Georgetown in Penang
Here are a few more photos from our walks around Georgetown.
Armenian Street with the umbrellas is a nice place for a colourful photo op.
The main fire station, looking very smart in red and white.
The Blue Mansion, former residence of a wealthy Chinese businessman and now a museum of sorts, showcasing its history. It also houses a ritzy restaurant and hotel. These original rickshaws are just one of the many historical artifacts on display.
The gateway to Little India was so colourful, as was the entire neighbourhood.
While walking home from dinner one night we happened on a parade, complete with lion dancers.
Kek Lok Si Temple
This is one of Penang's most iconic temples, set on a hillside overlooking Georgetown. It's definitely worth a visit and we spent the better part of a day here. There was so much to see, and these photos show only a very few parts of this incredible temple.
From the bottom of the hill, we walked up, and up, and up (apparently the funicular was out of service) until we got to this main area.
From there, we walked up some more, then took another funicular to the top. Or at least, the top of the line. Then we had some more stairs to go up to get to the pagoda which you can see behind us in this photo.
We made it as high up the pagoda as the interior renovation permitted, and were rewarded with this spectacular view over the temple grounds and Georgetown in the distance.
After descending the pagoda stairs, we got to try our hand at "gonging" the giant brass bell in the courtyard below.
There were golden statues and Buddhas everywhere it seemed, along with well-kept gardens and many huge prayer halls with elaborately carved pillars and ceilings.
Inside several of the prayer halls were these Wishing Ribbons. You choose the ones you want, putting your 1 ringgit donation for each ribbon into a box. Then you place your ribbons onto a "tree" that holds all the wishes, and presumably say a prayer for your wishes to be granted.
There were wishes for almost every possible thing you can imagine, such as "booming business," "world peace," "academic progress," and even "attaining eminence step by step." And if none of the specific wishes fit the bill, I suppose you could just choose something more general like "all things as wish for," or "success in everything."
More Food!
At one of our many Middle Eastern meals, we tried this Yemeni bread. It was as delicious as it was huge!
Here we are enjoying yet another meal at our favourite Chinese restaurant in Georgetown...
...where our new friend Jenny helped us choose the best items on the menu every time.
We even lucked out and were able to order this special dessert which apparently is served only at Christmas. It was enough for 4 people at least, but we managed.
Bathrooms
These very modern and spotlessly clean public toilets in KLCC Park surprised me so much that I couldn't resist taking a photo. I mean, who takes pictures of public bathrooms? Me, apparently.
But that was only the tip of the iceberg. While enjoy an air conditioned break in the very upscale Suria Mall next to KLCC Park, we walked past this sign advertising "premier toilets."
Ampang Mall, another very upscale establishment, also had a premier toilet experience.
I can't comment further, as the regular toilets were good enough for us.
Odds & Ends
Public toilets aren't the only thing that come in premier quality in Malaysia. All the water fountains in KLCC Park were gorgeous, just like this one.
The water itself was filtered, as evidenced by this sign advising us it was safe to drink. We weren't sure if that applied only to the drinking fountain or if it also applied to the decorative fountain, but we decided not to find out.
The Advanced Computer Centre just a few doors down from our hotel in Penang looked like it had been out of business for a while. I'm not sure how advanced it was at the time it closed its doors. Maybe not very.
Did I mention the Yummy Cottage in a previous post? We ate breakfast here on several occasions since it was very close to our hotel and offered a large assortment of yummy breakfast items.
Then there was this "Festive Skating Experience." We passed by it after walking through KLCC Park on our way to the Petronas Towers.
Ever the curious one, I was wondering how on earth you could skate in +30 degree heat so I peeked over the fence. That's when I realized that the "experience" involved slipping and sliding over ?plexiglass? that had been laid down over top of white matting so that it (somewhat) resembled ice. Ha! Gotcha figured! You can't fool us Canucks!
And last but not least, we discovered the absolute, bar none, best way to keep up with the laundry when traveling light with carry on luggage only. Normally we'd wash our socks and undies in the bathroom sink every couple of days and hang them to dry. Well, on this trip it occurred to me that since I had water running in the shower once a day anyway, I might as well take my undies in there with me to wash them. I have to say it was much easier than the sink method, which can be unreliable depending on whether there's a stopper in the hotel sink, and how big the sink actually is.
The only challenge was where to hang things to dry, since our bathroom was small and the only hanging rack was over the toilet where the towels went. Always the resourceful one, I spied an ironing board hanging by the door. Since our room had no windows that opened, running the A/C was a given overnight. So after showering in the evening, we draped our freshly laundered clothes over the ironing board and thanks to the dehumidifying effect of the A/C, they were dry by morning. Voila!
And if there wasn't quite enough room on the ironing board, the wall-mounted TV could handle a pair of undies or a couple of socks on each top corner. Never mind that I forgot to remove my undies from the TV the first night and inadvertently left them there while we went out the next day. If the cleaning staff thought we'd had a wild party the night before they were too polite to say anything, but after that I stuck to using just the ironing board!
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