When planning any trip it’s fairly usual to check out the weather forecast for the place you’re going to. In my experience, the sight of rain every day in south-east Asian cities has been quite a common occurrence but has rarely ever been correct. That was indeed what was predicted for my three night trip to Malaysia 15 years ago but reality was just a few brief moments of drizzle amidst mostly hot weather.

On arrival at the airport, my girlfriend-of-the-time and I took a local bus followed by a 15 minute walk to our hotel which was a bit more luxurious than my usual travel accommodation at that time. When we checked in we were a bit shocked to have to pay an extra 100 MYR each as deposit which was annoying as getting that money back on check-out would mean we had a surplus amount of cash that could only really be spent at the airport.

We went out straight away for some well-earned beers and tried out some local dishes (hokkien mee, duck and some other stuff) at a nearby outdoor food court.

More local cuisine was sampled the next morning at the most local of places as we made our way to the main bus terminal. We managed to feast on a load of Chinese dishes and a couple of drinks for a very cheap price but after that fuel stop my accomplice broke her  sandal so we had to stop at a shopping mall. She didn’t just buy one pair though as she went for safety in numbers I guess by buying two!

We finally took a local bus to the north of the island which is home to its most famous beach; Batu Ferringhi. After a quick drink of mint lemon tea and some laksa (noodles in a spicy coconut-based soup) we tried our hand at two activities albeit not together! You could say that was preparation for our eventual split about half a year later!!

She went horse-riding along the beach and then I went parasailing for the first time. There was barely any safety demonstration course. Pay your money, sign a form, put on the harness, get a ten second instruction of what to do (something about changing hand position and pulling something or another on the descent!) and then away you go! I didn’t really know how to get up in the air smoothly. Run until you feel the boat really pulling you and then hope you take off!

As it was, I went up a bit and seconds later hit the water before instantly shooting up in to the sky which was really cool although the brief dip in the ocean meant my eyes were full of salty water which impaired my vision slightly. The whole trip round the bay only lasted a few minutes but it was probably enough and for under 15 quid it was money well spent.

That really is me!

Over the road from the beach was Dr Fish which cost us 50 MYR (10 GBP) to dip our feet in this small bath full of fish who nibble away at your feet and supposedly cure it of all dead skin. I’ve done such a thing a couple of times since but this was the innaugural one and was actually very relaxing and rejuvenating, and on the back of our time at the beach felt really nice.

As a James Bond fan I was surprised to notice a roadside restaurant called ‘The Place 007’ on the the outward journey. I knew it would be almost impossible to go there but wanted to get a picture of it on the way home and knew taking it through the bus window would be my only chance. I just about managed it!

The two pictures below are of Swettenham Pier in Penang Harbour and Armenian Street which (along with Khoo Kongsi temple – the featured photo at the top of this post) both  portrayed “Bangkok” in ‘Anna And The King‘ (1999) which is a historical romantic period-drama starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat. It’s not my usual kind of movie but I watched it with a deeper interest than would’ve been the case had there not been a Malaysian connection. These were different times when I didn’t have screenshots so I could only photograph the locations used whilst not getting the same angles.

We later headed down to the southern part of Penang to visit Snake Temple via two buses. The main reason for making such an effort for a temple was the chance to get our picture taken with a snake. I had touched and held a snake or two before but had never got the touristy photo.

We returned to George Town by bus and almost instantly took another bus to Kek Lok Si; the island’s most prominent and famous temple. The hilltop setting was really picturesque but it was a long climb up to the entrance that went almost un-noticed as we had to walk up narrow steps through a load of souvenir stalls.

The first stop was a slightly cramped pond jam-packed with turtles and the rest of the impressive complex soon followed which included a seven tier 30 metre tower and a cable-car ride up to the huge bronze statue amid an area of more temples, a fish pool and animal statues of the Chinese zodiac.

We only just caught the last cable-car of the day going up which meant we had to take the long walk down where it started to drizzle a bit. I rewarded myself with a huge ais kacang which is basically a dessert of ice shavings topped with syrups, coconut milk, red beans, seeds and jelly.

Some Asian trips stick in the mind more than others and to be honest this is one of my most forgotten ones so reliving it here has been quite interesting. Maybe it’s because I went with my ex and we tend to slightly erase such trips from our mind once separated! I’m not sure but looking back on it now it does seems like it was a good mix of food, drink,  culture, adrenaline activities, sightseeing and exploration.

Click here to read ‘A Mouthwatering Food Tour of Singapore (2014)’

Click here to read ‘SE Asia 2013/14 Pt I: Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)’

Click here to read ‘Into The Jungles Of Malaysian Borneo On A Wildlife Adventure That Ended With A Very Costly Error! (2008)’

Click here to read ‘TF Top 5……Movies Made In Malaysia’