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Singapore, Singapore
Singapore
Penang - street art
Arab street Singapore
Old part of Singapore - Arab street
Places to visit
• Botanic Gardens! Really amazing.
• Marina Bay Sands – great views
Food & drinks
• Coffee & baguettes in Singapore are really good
• Any kind of noodle dish
• There is a shopping center by Marina Bay Sands (I think called The Shoppes) that has a really nice food court and is a good break from the humidity
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Malacca, Malaysia
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Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Malaysia
City tour
Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur
Train system is good & easy to use but less frequent than some other cities so you can be waiting a little bit longer. Use google maps to plan your journey – is very accurate.
The cultural and religious diversity in Malaysia is very interesting and seems to remain relatively peaceful.
Places to visit
• KL Eco Forest Park ($15 entry) – fun to explore (can get there on hop on / hop off bus)
• Perdana Botanic Gardens – really beautiful and can easily spend a lot of time here
• Batu Caves – out of the city (we took a Grab) but fun to visit. Go early in the day as it gets busy. You also need to cover shoulders and knees (if you’re a woman…) so wear a t-shirt and longer pants or just travel with a sarong. They will give you something to wear anyway if you need.
• Hop on / Hop off bus – can be good for just sitting down for half a day and seeing sights. It’s pretty slow to get around but you get a great view of Petronas Towers and other icons. We travelled on the city route for an hour or so and then jumped off at the Forest Park.
• Day trip to Melaka – looks super interesting with Dutch influence, heritage buildings, and street art but we didn’t have enough time to go.
Food & drinks
• Roti and coffee for breakfast – costs about $1-$2 and roti telur (roti with egg ) really keeps you going for the day! We went to SFS Food Corner every morning but there are lots of these sorts of places around (they tend to be muslim).
• Jalan Alor – food street with a lot more Chinese food (although often with Malaysian names). Good for seafood, and beers!
• Bukit Bintang – food street with more Malaysian (there are quite a few muslim places on this street so no alcohol).
• Rooftop bars – there’s heaps around in KL but we didn’t end up going to any.
• “Sambal Street Food Tour” – loved this for an evening! But if you book one maybe find one with less dishes. They all compete with each other by offering things like “try 15 different dishes!” but it’s too much and can be a bit rushed. Such a good way to try lots of different food though and we often did these at the start of our time in a big city.
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Ipoh, Malaysia
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Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
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Penang, Malaysia
Malaysia – Georgetown, Penang
Places to visit
• Penang Hill – well worth the visit. You go up on a little funicular and there is so much to explore up the top and lots of beautiful flora and fauna. We ended up walking about 11km all around the hill, visiting little cafes etc but you can just stay in the main area around the top for less walking. There’s plenty to look at and incredible views of Penang.
• Little India – such good food here. The food in Penang is the best. There’s a stall called “Little India Famous Samosa” that literally does have the best samosa ever and they cost about $1.50. Just keep going back to Little India and eating from the different stalls, everything we had was so good.
• Shusi Banana Leaf Restaurant – great Indian food if you want to sit down. Try “apom” which is a delicious kind of rice pancake thing that comes with some tasty dips.
• Penang Laksa – go to 92 Armenian Café and ask for a Penang Laksa. It’s very delicious and not at all what you’re used too. There’s no coconut milk and it’s quite tangy, very nice in the humid weather. They also have a cold drinks stall out the front.
• Masala chai – you can get good masala chai around the place too.
• Food tour – well worth it here as Penang just has the best food.
• Heritage sites & street art – there are loads of heritage buildings in Penang that are fun to look at. You can make a good day out of trying to find all the heritage mansions and famous street art. There’s also lots of mosques around which are very beautiful.
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Langkawi, Malaysia
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Krabi, Thailand
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Perhentian Islands, Malaysia
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Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand – Bangkok
I don’t have as much to note here as I don’t love big capital cities. Mostly we just walk around and find things as we go, try different foods, and avoid the super popular attractions where it’s all a bit mental. It was quite fun to walk through Khao San Road one night just for the experience, then we went to the nearby Soi Rambuttri street which has same crazy vibes but less busy and had beers there. Great spot for getting a quick foot massage too!
Places to visit
• Erawan National Park & Kanchanaburi – we took a (long) organized day trip out here. I loved it as I like to get away from the city but it is a lot for 1 day (is about 3 hours of driving each way). Beautiful area though, and some interesting war history.
• Chinatown – Ridiculously big, interesting to walk around
• Ferry on the river – there’s lots of touristy boat trips but we walked down to the waterfront and just took the public ferry for a few stops down to Chinatown and that was a fun enough experience.
• Massages – lots of cheap massages obviously!
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Chiang Mai, Thailand
Thailand – Chaing Mai
Places to visit
• Temples – there are so so many around the old city. Sometimes people make a point of walking around and visiting them all. We just viewed them as we came across them.
• Wua Lai Night Market & Sunday Walking Street Market – great for trying lots of different foods. Go early, gets mega busy and crammed.
• Doi Inthanon National Part – we took an organised day trip out here to view all the different temples and sites and it was really incredible. Great to be out of the city for a bit too! And it’s so high up that it’s actually cold which is a nice change.
• Cooking class – this is a great city for a cooking class.
• Doi Suthep Temple – great for a visit, easy to get a Grab (they will just charge a fixed fee and take you to the couple of different sites up there and wait for you).
Food & drinks
• Khao Soi – this dish is quite specific to Chiang Mai and I think I ate it nearly every day. It’s so good!! Chicken is common, some places do a pork or beef option too.
• Lots & lots of great Thai food in Chiang Mai. The markets are a good option for eating.
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Hua Hin, Thailand
Bus from Bangkok Southern bus terminal
Train from Hualampjong station
Both take 3-4 hours
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Koh Chang, Thailand