a week in Malaysia

for the past week I’ve been staying in Penang in Malaysia, working for a client located here on the island. I’ve never been to Penang before and have had an excellent time working here and exploring the city, which is a fascinating and very diverse place. So far I’ve learned a lot about the country and its culture and have experienced some new and interesting things.

when I arrived in Penang by way of Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning I was exhausted. However, instead of taking a nap, I went out into the city with some contacts, both of whom turned out to be extremely nice and a lot of fun to tour around with. We went to the Penang Botanic Gardens for a walk (with monkeys!) and then to a beach to watch the sunset. Afterward we had dinner and toured the local night market – I love Asian night markets!

this evening we stopped by a street-side fruit vendor and I got to try durian, a local fruit that smells so bad that they won’t let people bring it into hotels or office towers lest they upset others in the building. It smelled pretty terrible… but I persevered and tried some, and found that it actually tastes quite good. It was very sweet, and somewhat pasty, and gooey between my fingers. I also tried some rambutan, otherwise known as “hair fruit” due to the bright red hairs that grow on its shell. It was also good; it looked and tasted rather like lychee.

here are some pictures from my stay here:

a monkey, with a baby monkey, at the Penang Botanic Gardens. The gardens were full of these monkeys scampering around and climbing all over everything.

A monkey in the Penang Botanic Gardens

a picture from inside the Botanic Gardens. There’s a monitor lizard in the picture, but you probably can’t find it… or can you?

Penang Botanic Gardens

sunset from the beach in Penang.

Sunset on the beach in Penang

sundown. Yeah I know, I wasn’t holding my camera perfectly straight… oops.

Sundown

a single flower embedded in the wall at the Botanic Gardens.

A flower in the wall

you’re darn right I bought a whole bunch of Malaysian sauces to bring back on the plane with me!

Malaysian sauces

5 thoughts on “a week in Malaysia

  • April 7, 2011 at 8:35 pm
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    That’s really neat, plus, love the pics

    Reply
  • April 8, 2011 at 12:06 pm
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    Great photos and nice story! What a beautiful country. What type of camera do you have? Such beautiful detail in the low light.

    I think our lizard friend is in the lower right, pretending to be a root 🙂

    Reply
  • February 5, 2012 at 12:42 am
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    thnak you for visiting malaysia..well im malaysian..and thank you again,,,

    Reply
    • February 10, 2012 at 6:19 pm
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      Ira – I really did like visiting Malaysia – it is a beautiful country! Perhaps next time I will get to see Kuala Lumpur.

      Reply

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