Malaysia (13th-24th January 2026)

Packing for a long trip is normally tiring, even more so if you're in your 60s. After all the years of travelling and with hubby's master list at hand, I think we finally got it to a hilt. But as you get older, the types of medication take priority over what types of clothing to pack. We were aware of the humid temperatures in Malaysia and packed lightly. Our chosen destinations were Georgetown) Penang and KL. We flew with Qatar, as they were the cheapest quote (R15 800 pp) received from Save Travel. There were two stops along the way: Maputo and Phuket, and we had to disembark at the latter stop. Only 9 of us were enroute to Penang, and only 9 of us boarded that huge plane. It was the first time that the stewards outnumbered the passengers 😄. We were told that we could sit anywhere but alas it was only a 45 minutes flight to Penang. I had prebooked a taxi to pick us from the airport (obtained from a Malaysia FB page), but the assigned driver arranged for his father to pick us up, and there was panic and confusion when we arrived as we couldn't locate the driver. We expected the driver to be waiting for us at the arrival gate, but the driver was waiting outside, and we didn't know the car or the driver. We received the pickup details after he picked us up. Hubby phoned the driver at the airport on Whatsapp and received some details that were not clear due to a bad connection (thank goodness for airport wifi). The driver eventually arrived and proved to be very friendly and informative.

The empty plane from Phuket

We stayed at the Cititel Penang in Georgetown, which was a very comfortable hotel, and one of the best hotels that we ever stayed in. There was always cold juices in the foyer, a much needed respite after being in the hot sun. A water filter was outside our door, so we could fill up whenever we needed to do so. The concierge was brilliant and advised us on the shortest routes to the laundry place and to eating places. The free hop on and hop off shuttle bus was in front of the hotel. We soon got the hang of how to use the shuttle bus and travelled to all the hotspots in Georgetown. This saved us a lot of money. Places we visited were the Chew Jetty, Little India and Chinatown, and the esplanade (with lots of locals). We did get lost and once jumped off at the wrong stop, but the locals were very friendly when asking for directions. We walked past the Chulia Street Hawker stalls and the Kimberley Street Food Night Market, but didn't grab anything to eat here. We ate along the food courts outside Komtar and Prangin malls and also found some good supermarkets here. 

Cititel Penang

I developed a taste for a dish called Char kway teow (a smoky stir-fried noodle dish made with flat rice noodles, bean sprouts, eggs, and chives, and chicken or prawns) and the best one I had was at New World Park Food City. The amusing thing is that when we asked for directions at the front desk to this eating place, we were told that this place was very far and that we should take Grab (their version of Uber). We waited for our favourite concierge to arrive, and he explained the shortest route to getting there. 

My favourite food

On our last night we ate at the Red Garden Food Paradise, which was right opposite our hotel, if only we knew this, we could have eaten here every night. As usual there was a big variety of food, and the food was cheap. I believe that my idol Anthony Bourdain ate here, and this made this place extra special 😊

Red Garden Food Paradise

Georgetown was very relaxed and some places closed early. It didn't have a vibe that KL our next stop had. 

To get to KL, I had booked a train ticket in advance (the ETS ticket). We boarded the free shuttle to the ferry station and took a ferry to Butterworth and then the ETS train to KL. On arrival things got very confusing. We thought we will get a taxi to the hotel. But we didn't, we had to take the monorail. The attendants were not very helpful in showing us how to use the machines to obtain the tickets. Luckily a young Chinese couple assisted us. Also lugging the heavy suitcase up and down the narrow escalators was not funny. There were no lifts in sight 😕. The hotel was close to the Berjaya Times Square mall and we assumed that our hotel CitizenM was close, but we soon realised that it wasn't 😟. We arrived at a hotel within this mall and asked for assistance. Luckily this lady at reception called a Grab for us. 

This trip made us realise that having a local sim and data is priority. Google maps would have taken us everywhere, without having to ask for directions, etc, and we could have organised our own Grab rides. We would have needed it more so in KL as the free hop on and hop off schedules were only available online. When we wanted to go back to Berjaya Times Square mall, we found our way there but could not find our way back, and landed ourselves in a residential building. Luckily a security guard there called a Grab for us. The same evening we were determined to retrace our steps to and back to the mall by taking photos of the places along the route 😕

We were staying along what is called the downtown area. The hotel was a bit poky, wifi kept on dropping, and there was no tea making facilities. We only realised the day we were leaving that there was cold lemon water at the reception area. The main hub and where all the action is supposed to be, is  the area of the Pavilion mall (this area is easily compared to Times Square). We only decided to go here as we wanted to know where the shuttle stop was. To get to this mall, one had to pass through the Jalan Alor food street night market. We chanced upon a visit here the night we arrived. To say that it was bustling with people is an understatement. Furthermore I think KL has the most malls I have ever seen. The Pavilion mall has two food courts as well as other eating places 😀. Next to this mall are other malls 😀

The beautifully decorated Pavilion mall getting ready for the Chinese new year

We did a lot of walking, and I could feel it in my knees. We did take the shuttle bus but did not get off. The kind driver allowed us to stay in the bus and we jumped off at the Pavilion mall. Luckily there are under cover linked bridges that lead from one attraction to another, like the linked bridge that leads from Pavilion mall to the twin towers, and the national museum to the botanical gardens. For other trips we used the subway. Chinatown is a must see. I wasn't that impressed with Little India. We walked one evening via the linked bridge to see the lights in front of the Twin Towers. What a magnificent sight it was. It was very safe to walk at night, and we didn't feel threatened in any way, except of getting lost. This is a bit of a culture shock for us as we would not dare walk any where at night. The taxi driver in Penang explained to us that he parked his taxi on the street at night, when we told him we would not do that back home, he was shocked to hear this.

The iconic Twin Towers

Entrance to Chinatown

It was soon time to head back home. The hotel organised a Grab for us. All in all it was an amazing but tiring journey 😍