July 12 - 17, 2015

We decided to start our visit to Malaysia in Penang. It was actually cheaper to fly from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur and then connect to Penang than it was just to fly to Kuala Lumpur. We had heard that Penang had a unique cultural, artsy vibe and excellent food. We thought we were in for a treat.

Arriving at the airport in Hanoi for our flight to Malaysia

Guess they are still kids...quite a modern airport in Hanoi.

When we arrived in Kuala Lumpur for our connection, we tried to get local currency. We tried a few ATMs with no luck. We tried again when we arrived in Penang and again, our cards were denied. We paid for our taxi by credit card in advance and figured we would just wait until we got to our hotel in Georgetown to get money.

It was a rather lengthy ride to Georgetown, the capital of Penang state. There was considerable traffic and the traffic light durations seemed unusually long. It was mid-afternoon by the time we were settled in our room. The room was nothing great, but it would be fine for the five days we were there.

Once settled, we decided to find something to eat. Georgetown is known for street food and various ethnic restaurants. Our problem was we still did not have local currency and there were no ATMs near us, so we had to go to a proper restaurant. Our next problem was it was Ramadan.

Ramadan is a Muslim holiday that lasts a month. We knew to avoid it in highly populated Muslim locations like Dubai. The reason for that is because Muslims fast during the day for the entire month and can only eat at sundown. So in places like Dubai, that means that all restaurants would close and no one would be allowed to eat during the day in public.

Penang is only about 40% Muslim, so there were restaurants open, but many of them respect Muslim practices and give them priority at sundown. So we were turned away at an Indian restaurant and told to come back in 20-30 minutes.

So the Collins family went out walking the streets again looking for food with no game plan. Liam particularly hated this, most likely because of the crazy number of times we found ourselves in that sitation. Michael usually tried to diffuse these situations with an attempt at a David Attenborough impersonation, saying something like, 'Once again, the Collins family begins to embark on their quest for food.' This usually ticked the kids off even more, but we found it funny.

Eventually we found a restaurant. It wasn't cheap, but there were definitely more expensive places. The next morning, I left the hotel and walked to the mall to find an ATM.

We did not have any luck at the ATMs and the bank lines were huge. Eventually we figured out it was because our ATM card did not have a chip in it. We had been to 16 other countries with no problems and now the chip is a problem. However, we had made sure our credit card had a chip before we left. The U.S. is only now figuring this out since the rest of the world is using different technology.

So we spent a good chunk of the day trying to find a bank that would give us cash. We walked all the way across town to find a Citibank. Finally, we were successful in obtaining cash!

Georgetown was not what we had expected. It was unusually quiet, mainly due to the holiday. We did walk about and explore. We enjoyed some freshly made juice from street vendors and examined some street art. One of the interesting parts of Georgetown were the clan jetties. These Chinese water villages are over a century old. The houses are on stilts. Each jetty is named after a clan and you are welcome to walk through each one. Some are bigger than others.

Michael and Liam walking through one of the jetties.

All of the houses in the clan jetties are over water and on stilts

You should excerise caution when taking pictures throughout the jetties and not include local people in their houses or on their property,

The rest of our time in Penang was spent finding some great places to eat. There was a great cheap Indian restaurant and an excellent Malaysian place with unique local dishes.

Of course, we waited until our last day to do the hop-on, hop-off city bus tour. There were two buses - one focused on the city and the other went to the beach. Some people choose to stay at the beach. This area did not seem too appealing to me. Many hotels looked completely run down and you were pretty removed from the city. It was another hot day and when we switched buses, we got on one that had no working AC. It was insanely hot inside, so we sat in the outside part of the bus, which wasn't much better, but at least there was a breeze.

The Collins clan was cranky. We did not get off the bus to explore much of the city. We returned to our hotel and made our bus reservation plans to Kuala Lumpur. It is about a six hour ride, so it was manageable. Plus, Ramadan had just ended, so we were hopeful that we would have a better experience in Kuala Lumpur.

Local tailor repaired our bag for about one U.S. dollar

Funicular to a popular (crowded and long wait) hill that boasts lovely views of the city.

Maeve and Liam trying to catch a breeze on the top of the tour bus