Brett and Bernii

On the 30th of October we flew Malaysia Airlines from Chennai, India to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. On arrival, we caught a taxi to our hotel which was about an hour from the airport. We were staying at the recently renovated Grand Mercure Kuala Lumpur Bukit Bintang (AU$129.25 per night). Unfortunately, they didn’t have a license to sell alcohol yet, so we spent much of our time at the nearby street, Changkat Bukit Bintang where there are many bars and restaurants.

While in KL, we also visited the Petronas Towers and went to the sky bridge and viewing platform.

From KL, we caught the train to Ipoh, a small city in the highlands of Malaysia. It was a fairly sleepy place, and we stayed for two nights at De Quinton Hotel (AU$74.01 per night).

From there we again caught the train to Penang and then the ferry to George Town, the main island in Penang.

We stayed at the lyf Georgetown Penang by The Ascott Limited (AU$111.76 per night), where we were well placed to explore the local streets including the street art, cafes, street food stalls, and bars.

George Town had a more lively nightlife than Ipoh, but generally didn’t get going until after 7pm. We found a nice Irish pub as well as a live music venue, both of which we visited regularly.

From George Town, we flew to the island of Langkawi in the north of Malaysia. We stayed at the Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang –  a centrally located hotel on the main beach (AU$157.01 per night). They upgraded our room to a penthouse suite, which was very nice, and a little too big for us.

The nightlife on Langkawi was very limited – there were only a small handful of bars, most of which were a bit lacking in atmosphere. The pick of them was Ah Chong Beach Bar, where they played good music and you could get a can of Tiger beer for 8 Ringit (about AU$3).

From Langkawi we flew back to KL and spent our last two nights at the Novotel Kuala Lumpur City Centre AU$128.06 per night). It was an opportunity to get our washing done before our return to Bangkok, Thailand where we will be catching up with a friend from Brisbane and travelling to some new locations.

Stay tuned for our next update which will look back on some of our personal highlights from the first 12 months of travel and our updated travel stats.