April '09

Due to family circumstances the planned Europe trip of my father was cancelled. After a brief discussion at home we decided that Rick and I would be travelling to Malaysia for a week to visit my father. We flew from Schiphol 12 hours to Kuala Lumpur followed by a 60 minutes flight to Penang, an island in the Northern part of Malaysia. Click on the map to enlarge it in a new window. My father does not live on the island itself but on the main land in Sungai Petani, approx. 60 minutes by car from the island.

We stayed at the Tanjung Bunga hotel in the Northern part of the island. It was the end of the rain season and during day time it was mostly clouded, oppressive and extremely humid. Both of us had a pretty hard time getting used to the continuous feeling of living in a big sauna.

Malaysia is a lovely country and you can find all the tropical ingredients you expect: palms and coconuts, white beaches and exotic shells, a Chinese pagode next to a mosk. The people are extremely friendly and helpfull, although the constant bargaining in taxis and on the market place took some time to get used to. The food is excellent and cheap and there's something for everyones taste: Chinese, Thai, Indian, Japanese or typical Malay... I liked it all! Rick absolutely did not agree with me and experienced a culinary nightmare. His only argument was that McDonalds was extremely cheap.......

My father proudly showed us around the island (where his wife originally came from) and pointed us out to the interesting places we should go visit. Ofcourse we also went to his house in Sungai Petani and visited some family (of his wife). The way we were welcomed in their homes was absolutely heartwarming.

During the week Rick and I had plenty of time to discover the island at our own pace. We visited Penang Hill and enjoyed the magnificent view over the island from 830m height. There also was a small zoo where Rick was brave enough to play around with a living snake!! Later that week we visited Penang National Park which is absolutely beautifull. But the atmosphere was extremely warm and humid .... after 15 minutes we were soaking wet. Following the trail through the jungle we felt like a couple of 17th century adventurers discovering new grounds for human kind.

All in all I enjoyed this trip more than I could have imagined before I left. From my European point of view South East Asia is a complete different world and culture and I loved every minute of being there. I can imagine that these trips could develop into a tradition......

To enlarge the pics click on them and to return hit the Back button.

In de jungle of the National Park we made some videos which have been edited by Rick into a nice movie. Enjoy!