Europe 2007
Well, looks like there will be another attempt at Europe this year =]
This time we will be visiting Oskar & Karyn in Sweden and then trekking around various other parts of the continent. Jason will be travelling for 4 weeks and Irene only 1 week.
Here's Jason's itinerary (left) and Irene's itinerary (right):
Here's Oskar:
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Post-Contiki England, Vancouver & San Francisco
[ Photo Gallery of London ][ Photo Gallery of Stonehenge & Bath ][ Photo Gallery of Oxford & Abingdon ][ Photo Gallery of Stratford-upon-Avon & Wadderston Manor ][ Photo Gallery of our life San Francisco ]Say Hi to Herman - our first ever Halloween pumpkin. Yes, this means we are currently in the US. And here's how ...
After the bus tour, infecting as many people as possible with the Contiki cough was on the agenda. First stop - I stayed with my cousin
Filo and her housemate
Mabel for a week in London - where we checked out the
Ice Bar, toured the
Houses of Parliament and caught up with long-lost friends
Kevin and
Vivian & Michelle. Then we road tripped to look at some
famous rocks and
experience English culture in Jane Austen's town of
Bath.
Next - I stayed with Melbourne friends
Sussan, Julian, Caroline &
Liv in Abingdon - where we went sightseeing in
Oxford,
punted down the river, enjoyed
Shakespeare in the park in
Stratford-upon-Avon, marvelled at the history of
Waddeson Manor and of course - had
cocktails at the local bar.
After 2 weeks in England, it was off to San Francisco to meet up with Jason where he was working. Then onto
Vancouver for a working Visa. There, I stayed with high school friend
Laura and her fiance Marcus for 1 week. They showed me the
Vancouver Aquarium,
good food &
desserts,
chinatown and
X-Files Agent Scully's house.
Currently, Jason and I are both living in the heart of San Francisco and working in the bay area. Jason's still at
Insider Pages and I've just finished my first week at
Mobitv. Due to bandwidth issues, photos will be uploaded to a different site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/irenetong/
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Europe - 29 days of Contiki
[Highlights of Contiki Europe Photo Journal – 30 items][Contiki Europe Photo Journal – lots of items!] Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of blogging in the last few months. We’ve been busy seeing the world – life’s tough – you know how it is.
As you all probably know Jason got a job in Silicon Valley and had to cancel his Contiki trip to start his work. So I did the tour alone with 47 other 18-26yr olds. It started in London on Friday 14th July 2006 at 6.30am with chants for “More Beer More Beer”. So our 29 day journey saw us to Paris on Bastille Day where we almost got lost in the crush for the last train home, we ate frogs legs in Lyon, sun-baked at the pebbly French Riviera, gambled at a casino and drooled over the cars in Monaco. And that was just the first week!
Next, we leaned on the Leaning Tower at Pisa, marveled at the Renaissance art in Florence, cringed at the Italian men at the discotheque, cooled off in the Trevi Fountain, walked around the Roman Forum, tip-toed around the ancient Pantheon and sweated out bucket-loads at the Vatican City and Pompeii.
In Greece, we ate gyros in Corfu City, had cocktails at the Toga Party, went paragliding and sang about tzatziki on George’s boat. After a ferry ride up the Adriatic, we played with masks and gondolas in Venice and recited Shakespeare at Juliet’s balcony in Verona.
With a change of latitude, the winter clothes finally came out of the backpack. In the home of classical music (Vienna), we enjoyed Mozart and Strauss while sipping Viennese coffee with a side of strudel. We celebrated birthdays in the 5-storey nightclub in Prague and shopped till we dropped at Wenceslas Square, paid 2 Euros for a stamp in our passport to prove we were in Liechtenstein, stocked up on Swiss Army knives and cow bells in Lucerne and walked the valley of Lauterbrunnen.
Then we prosted our steins at a Munich beer hall, tasted ice wine at St Goar, checked out clogs and cheese and cycled past canals and the one windmill at Edam, discovered when Vincent cut his ear off at the Van Gough museum and learnt about prejudices at Anne Frank’s house. Finally, we finished with a farewell dinner at the floating restaurant and straw-pedos in Amsterdam.
All in all, this trip was a fantastic history lesson, a great way to meet people and a lesson in how little sleep your body really needs. Thanks to our Frankston tour manager Brek and our crazy Czech driver Mikhael for the journey. Ahhh, I am going to miss sleeping on those Contiki buses!
Interactive Map of Irene's Contiki Tour:
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London, Europe & Canada
[
Photo Gallery of the 2006 World Lacrosse Championships in London, Ontario]
Just to keep everyone up to date, last week we left NYC and shot over to London, England where we had to pick up the luggage we shipped there and open an english bank account. While we were there,
Melbourne Uni Basketball star
Scott Cuffe hooked us up royally by having us over to stay at his Hammersmith house.
London is ridiculously expensive - one day worth of public transport for us to get around and visit Liv & Caroline in Oxford cost us 50 quid - $140 AUD!!!! For one single days public transport???? Also, while where we were, it was like being at a night out at cheers in Camberwell - bars & pubs full of aussies drinking & drinking to 80's music - not a highly cultural experience (The aussies have taken over!).
Irene is now on her
29 day European Contrasts Contiki tour (which began July 14th). According to the country timeline on the right of this page, she's probably in a French Chateau or in Monaco right now.
I (Jason) am currently in
London-Ontario in Canada, waiting for a visa appointment in Toronto to try and sort out a job offer I received from
Insider Pages in Silicon Valley, California. One of my former managers at
Sensis -
Mark Smallcombe is now heading up engineering on this American startup company & hooked me up with an interview when Microsoft flew me down a
few weeks ago for their interview. If things work out, it is likely we will both move to California for the foreseeable future.
Most of my time waiting for the Visa has been spent hanging out with spanky, jono, deano, yuin & marc from the
2006 New Zealand Lacrosse team at the
ACBB Accomodation hostel in London, Ontario run by my buddy Patrick.
Hope everyone is well back home. Big shout out to Kenan & Sarah - Congratulations!
PS. Here's some video from the Haka the New Zealand Lacrosse Boys performed against Hong Kong an the 2006 World Lacrosse Championships in London, Canada:
Frontal view of the Haka:
Rear view of the Haka:
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New York City
[
21 Photo Journal Entries of New York City]
[
Jason's Streetball Blog in NYC]
We spent a week and a half in
NYC just recently and fell in love with the city!
Jill (whom we stayed with in South Carolina) put us onto her friend Abi who lives & works in NYC and Abi hooked us up royally - we spent a lot of time hanging out with her (and her friends!) and we even got to spend an entire weekend house-sitting in her manhattan apartment!!!!! Thanks sooo much Abi, getting food delivery and living in a New York studio was an awesome experience!
While we were there, Irene got to do a lot of sight-seeing where she took ferries around Manhattan, got skyline photo's of the NYC skyline & checked a number of museums (
MoMA,
Metropoliton Museum of Art). Irene also managed to get on
MTV (in an audience) & almost made a
letterman appearance (missed out by one place in the line). At the same time, I (Jason) used the location as an excuse to play basketball every day and had a ball
doing so.
While we were there, we also caught up with Jason's ex-Pacific Access work-mate Mike Booth & we purchased loads of Pizza Slices & street-meat (they have street vendors who sell awesome souvlaki, salads, hot dogs etc.).
New York is an amazing place - it would be a great place to live if given the opportunity. It is such a vibrant, diverse & happening place.. Always something to do.
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Oh Canada
[Canada Photo Journal - 16 items][Other Canada Photos - 56 items]Just drove into another country - try doing that in Australia!
The speed limits are displayed in kilometers per hour, you buy petrol by the litre, temperature is measured in degrees Celsius, all signs are in French and everybody speaks French - welcome to Quebec, the heart of French-Canadia.
Quebec City sits inside high stone walls littered with
canons on the
St Lawrence river, called the
Fortification of Quebec, and
European cafes and ice-creameries. We rolled into town on the only day Quebec comes alive - Quebec Day. There was a massive party till 4am with
free concerts and some
Quebec style hip-hop (90% French, 10% English).
Montreal was even busier as it hosted the F1 Grand Prix as well as Quebec Day
celebrations.
Old Montreal has some great walking tours and views from the
clock tower.
Next stop - Ottawa, Canada's capital, where we toured
Parliament Hill and accidentally bumped into Jason's Koukia buddy -
Benny - at our hostel.
In Toronto, we chilled out with Jason's Melb Uni bball pal
Mike with some
street meat at the
baseball and got dizzy looking up at the
CN Tower. We stayed with Mike for a few days in Bradford and was treated to some awesome home cooking courtesy of Mike's mom. We also celebrated the nation's 139th birthday on Canada Day with some fireworks.
Niagara Falls, one of the wonders of the world, was quite spectacular. It's so large that it's
impossible to stay dry within a 1km radius of the falls.
After quite a busy 1.5 weeks in Canada, we will be heading to New York to celebrate Independance Day with the yanks.
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North Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia & Boston
[North Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia & Boston Photo Journal - 16 items]
After an awesome stay with
Tim & Jill in York, South Carolina, we shot over to the East Coast Beach at
Wilmington, North Carolina where we unfortunately ran into Hurricane Alberta.
On our way back inland, our car temporarily stopped before we visited the Chapel Hill campuses of
UNC &
Duke (these university's hate each other with a vengeance).
Jason's IBM buddy
Mike and his wife Alicia put us up for a night and gave us some great
southern hospitality giving Irene
professional photography tips & tricks and
cooking up a storm.
Washington was next for our
sight-seeing extravaganza (no - we didn't get to talk to George W. or pass any laws, but we did say hello to
Big Abe) before shooting up to Philly for a
cheese-steak.
We have just left
Boston on our way up to Canada.
Also,
Microsoft somehow got hold of my (Jason's) resume and are flying me to Silicon Valley in California for an interview sometime in the next week or two??? (Sorry to all you Java guys back home but it'd be sweet to work on Hotmail).
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Texas, New Orleans, Mississippi, Memphis & South Carolina
[
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee & South Carolina - 36 items]
[
Jason's Memphis Basketball Blog]
Apparently everything is supposed to be bigger in Texas. Apart from the 80 mile (130km) speed limit, there wasn't much evidence to back that up (my 'super-sized' McDonalds was dissapointingly normal).
In Dallas, Irene learned that JFK was the most popular president ever, but he had loads of enemies (the soprano's, the Commies, F. Castro). In Austin we caught some live toons (it reminded us of brunswick street) & in Houston, we sampled some of Texas's famous steak.
On to New Orleans (which was under a lot of construction) where we visited Big Al on Bourban street - the home of inebriated tourists and jazz.
On our way through Mississipi we caught a blues festival (at Leland - the home of B.B King) & a rodeo. Some poor bloke who was trying to ride a bull was bucked, bounced and trampled. The rodeo was postponed for an hour while the ambo's came out. The bull was appropriately named 'The Undertaker' & some of our neighbouring spectators suggested the cowboy had probably 'only broken his back'.
Last week, we were in Memphis shaking our money-makers with Elvis fans from all over the globe at Graceland and experienced the Saturday Beale St street parties. Then hiked through the Smoky Mountains National Park where we were almost attacked by several animals walking in the dark.
Right now, we are staying with
Tim & Jill in South Carolina having a ball
fishing,
mowing, cooking &
kicking back.
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Southern Utah, Arizona and New Mexico
[
Bryce, Arches & Grand Canyon's Photo Journals (33 Items)]
[
Slide Rock, Sedona - Arizona Photo Journal of natural water slide & 8m cliff jump (20 Items)]
[
Arizona & New Mexico Photo Journal (3 Items)]
Somebody phone Mulder and Scully coz we've had a close encounter of the 3rd kind!
A week leading up to the incident, we had hiked through Southern Utah's National Parks - Zion NP,
Bryce Canyon NP &
Arches NP. At Bryce, Jason and Nigel attempted to break Utah's record for
most varied amount of alcohol ever consumed.
Then we drove south to the very hot and dry
Phoenix (Arizona), where we cheered on Nash and chanted 'defence' with the crowd at
our first ever NBA match (
Double Overtime Phoenix Suns vs LA Clippers, Game 5).
Slide Rock State Park in Sedona was our next stop on the way to the Grand Canyon. This naturally formed water slide was recommended to us by a friendly mechanic in Reno. When the air temperature reached 40 Celcius (110 Farenheit), the melted snow they called water
felt quite refreshing.
At
Grand Canyon NP, we obtained a Backcountry Permit and found some hiking buddies (
Leland & Sarah, Tim & Jill) for the
journey into the canyon. As instructed by the ranger, we started hiking down at 6am to finish by 10am (before temperatures reach unbearable). Down in the canyon we tried cooling off by dipping our sore toes into the
Colorado river before we passed out in our
scorpion-free tents. At 3:45am we woke to discover our legs had turned to concrete as we all fell out of our tents in a pack-up frenzy. While we munched on our salamis like they were carrot sticks, the promise of burritos on the top kept us going. Eight hours later, six
weary bodies stumbled onto the grand canyon south rim and threw down their backpacks to
capture their victory on film before beginning their next quest - the search for burritos.
Descending - South Kaibab Trail. 6.3mi/10.3km. 4,860ft/1,433m elevation change. Our hike time: 6am - 10:30am (4.5hrs).
Ascending - Bright Angel Trail. 9.3mi/14.9km. 4,460/1,359m elevation change. Our hike time: 5am - 12:30pm (7.5hrs).
Next we returned to Phoenix to stay with a couple we had met in Bryce Canyon -
Christian & Meghan - (Jason and Christian were wearing the same BRW triathlon t-shirt which is how we met). We had an awesome time there eating
Mexican take-out, being educated in all things geology, experiencing the
best bagles in the world and learning a bit about Native American culture at the
HEARD Museum.
We woke up one day and FREAKED OUT when we found a small metallic implant in our thumbs. When did this happen? Were we abducted by aliens? Are we apart of a government conspiracy? The truth was out there, and we knew it was in
Roswell (New Mexico), where UFOs and conspiracy theories had all began.
Upon arriving at the
International UFO Museum & Research Centre, the experts put our fears to rest informing us the metallic implants were metal bits from our toothbrush (they hold the bristles in place) - quite a common case. With our faith restored in the government,
we watched an alien autopsy on our way out. It's ok, folks. You can tell the FBI that there's nothing unusual in New Mexico - no
X-File here.
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Vegas
[Photo Journal - 26 entries]We have enabled anonymous comments on this blog (finally) so if you get a chance, add a comment and let us know what you think! (there is a comment link at the end of each entry)
Well, we wish everyone had come to the shotgun wedding, but hey, Vegas is a long way from home.
Vegas. 3 days staying on the strip, $230 gambled, $95 lost, 5 hours of sleep, 2 beautiful sunrises.
Vegas was so much fun that this blog gets it's own timeline format:
Itinerary Day 1: Vegas Jason's Place
PM
8.00 After bbq in Red Rock Canyon, we were invited over for a beer with a group of rock climbers
9.00 Jason, Christy & Wilson (our new climbing buddies who are the sound & design experts at the RIO) took us back to Vegas Jason's place & cooked shrimp on the barbie for us, while Jase cooked Kotch-burgers for them (bit of a role reversal there).
11.00 Vegas Jason graciously let us crash over
Itinerary Day 2: Christy's PlaceAM9.00 Christy gave us the keys to her place & went to work so we spent the day chilling at hers using her internet & watching NBA - people here in the states are so nice, they make this trip better than a long cold beer after a hard day's work!
10.00 Clothing Outlet Shopping
PM
9.00 We tried to start the Nissan to go Casino'ing, but discovered an unrepareable flat
Itinerary Day 3: The Strip
AM
10.00 Our AAA membership (the US equivalent of RACV), got us towed to Walmart where we replaced our 2 bald tyres.
PM
1.00 We checked into the Luxor
2.30 Jason lost his first $30 Poker Luxor buy-in after 10 minutes on a pair Ladies to a pair Kings. Irene rated a TV show Pilot at CBS to get some free stuff
9.00 We went to Sunset Park so Jase could get dunked on a lot by a big black guy
11.30 At the stratosphere, Irene took photos & Jase lost his $25 buy-in on the second hand with a Two-Pair
Itinerary Day 4: The Strip
AM
2.45 We got a feed at Circus Circus (a film set in Fear & Loathing)
3.45 We got lost in Ceasar's Palace
4.30 Irene lost $20 learning Blackjack & did a Jager-Bomb at O'Sheas
5.45 Vegas Sunrise
6.00 Caught over an hour of sleep
8.00 Got up to do a timeshare tour (spend 3 horrendous hours on a personal tour from a sales guy, got loads of free stuff - $75 gambling chips, a free weekend of accom in a Vegas Casino & tickets to a show)
PM12.30 We had a very ordinary 2 for 1 Buffet at the Luxor
2.00 Caught 2 hours shut-eye by the hotel pool
9.00 Jase took an hour to lose his $35 Stratosphere buy-in on an all-in full house (3 Jacks) to a full house (3 kings). Check the comments on this blog for more.
10.00 Checked out Bellagio's magnificent fountain show (featured in the Ocean's 11), the Venetian's gondola's & Treasure Island's pirate show
11.20 Irene won $35 on Blackjack at the Luxor (Way to go Reen's!).
11.30 Jason took 6 hours to lose $15 of his $40 Luxor buy-in. Check this blogs comments for more.
Itinerary Day 5: The Strip
AM
6.08 Caught another sunrise & watched The Fonz on tv
7.00 Caught 2 hours sleep
11.00 Checked out & used our free timeshare tickets on Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay
PM
12.30 Had an unbelievable international buffet at the RIO - Seafood, personalised Teppanyaki, Dim Sum, Ribs, etc. etc. - Highly recommend! Pigged out so much, I had to walk on an angle afterwards.
Vegas is a highlight of this trip so far - everyone should definitely go there!
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Smog City & National Parks
[Photo Journal - 32 entries]San Francisco is a bustling city. On every street corner, there's something different going on - tourist-filled
cable cars, street chess, cafes, boutique shops, theatre, gambling in the park and a
fortune cookie factory. Driving in downtown San Francisco is quite an experience, it's sort of like a 5 star rollercoaster ride! San Fran's
Fisherman's Wharf is home of excellent fresh crab and shrimp. This is where we had the clam chowder bread bowl - creamy soup in a bowl made of sour dough - yum!!
Monday 1st of May was declared a
day without immigrants in the US. A day where the nation's immigrants skipped work to
protest the government's views on immigration.
Our night tour of
Alcatraz was very informative and windy! Only 5 people have ever escaped from the island prison. It's possible that escapees are alive, so if you think you make a good detective - there is still a US$1 million reward for their capture.
Next we toured the amazing National Parks of California and Nevada:
- Yosemite National Park - one of the most beautiful natural surroundings you'll we've ever seen. In the Yosemite Valley area, there are many waterfalls, wildlife, cliffs, hiking trails and pine trees as far as the eye can see. Don't forget to store your food in the campground Bear Boxes, otherwise you might wake up to a brown bear rummaging through your car!!
- Sequoia National Park - where we got to hug General Sherman. No, he's not a war hero, the General is the biggest tree in the world. Click here for his stats.
- Death Valley National Park - the lowest point in North America (282 feet below sea level) and one of the hottest places on earth. There is not much to see except the many strange rock formations (Mushroom Rock, Natural Bridge), massive salt planes and Scotty's castle. Wildflowers bloom and then die within a few weeks due to the extreme weather conditions in the valley.
- Red Rock National Park - situated just outside Las Vegas and is a great place for rock climbing.
We got a US cell (mobile) number -
(+1) 415 627 8612
Feel free to text (sms) us anytime, or use the work phone to buzz us! (Remember California is 17hrs behind Melbourne!! We'd still like to hear from ya even at 3am.)
Also, we have a Skype account, our user name is:
jason.kotchoff
If you have internet and a computer microphone + speakers, you can call us using Skype Voice Over IP for free!
Next stop - Las Vegas!!!
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Highway 80: Utah to California
[Photo Journal - 16 entries]Now that we have wheels, we have just completed our first interstate road-trip from Salt Lake City to San Francisco (3 days, 700km).
The
scenery along the way was outstanding. A majority of the trip was in northern Nevada where every gas pitstop was a mini casino in the middle of nowhere.
We did our first
camping in the pickup in a Walmart carpark in Winnemucca and then stopped overnight at the picturesque and affluent
Lake Tahoe on the border of Nevada & California. At the Wolfdale's restaurant in Tahoe City, we met a super nice couple (
Jack & Joannie) who graciously invited us to stay in one of their absent kids rooms for the night (After they heard we were planning to camp in the snow with the black bears).
Next will be San Fran, Yosemite & Vegas before hooking up with Nige again near the Grand Canyon.
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Huntsville, Utah
[
Photo Journal - 24 entries]
After our car-less week at Venice Beach (the USA has very, very ordinary public transport), we are now amongst the beautiful snow mountains here at Huntsville, Utah with our good mate
Nige (who is out here studying secondary school teaching at
Weber State University).
We have now officially met
Mormons (60% of Utah is religiously mormon) & country folk (just about everyone here has a moustache!). As expected, everything is bigger here in the states - WalMart the American superstore sells absolutely everything you can think of and is cheaper than anywhere else. Imagine Bunnings combined with Target combined with Safeway combined with Myer.
Yesterday, we purchased a car - yes, you guessed it, a
Pickup! Probably 90% of people in Utah own a Pickup Truck and most of them are big enough to tow a house. Also, pretty much everyone in Ogden (where Nige's Uni is) is selling at least one of their vehicles and the state allows non-residents with a local address to get Insurance (unlike California where that was illegal) so we really came to the right place.
Luckily for us, we also just caught the end of the
snow season here (right now it's sunny and warm but apparently last week it was bucketing snow). Our last 4 days here, we have watched the snow melt from the
surrounding mountains.
Today we embark on a 12 day loop of San Francisco, Yosemite & Vegas. We plan on meeting up with Nige afterwards during his school break to go camping in Southern Utah & the Grand Canyon. Hope everyone back home is healthy and well =]
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Venice Beach & Hollywood
[
Photo Journal of Venice Beach, Hollywood & the Getty Center - 47 entries]
[
Photo Gallery of Jason's Basketball - 49 entries]
[
Photo Album of other US photo's that we do not write captions for - this will be updated regularly]
10 days ago, we arrived in the US and headed over to Venice Beach (the filming location for Baywatch) for a week of sun, sand (& basketball for Jason).
Talk about contrasts: we had only just gotten used to the quiet, reserved culture of Malaysia when all of a sudden we find ourselves amongst street performers, drug dealers & surfers - all the while trying to talk our way out of being converted to the lord!
Our hostel (Venice Beach Hostel - book ahead if you go: we got screwed out of an extra $9 a night from not booking ahead) was one crazy place. It seemed like every night a different tenant was being kicked out by management (point in case - Dave from Lousiana, the crazy guy Jason met playing basketball who spent a number of hours forcefully preaching gospel to everyone).
Irene did a tour of Hollywood where she met Elmo & saw a lot of famous peoples houses, and we did a tour of the Getty center together.
On our last night at the hostel, our friendly (dorm) room-mate "Jeff" from Northern California proceeded to get wasted (as he had done so pretty much every day we had been there) on vodka & green. The next morning, Jeff was asked to leave the hostel by management. On our way down the stairs to the office (helping him with his bags), we noticed a commotion whereupon we found two of the office girls very distressed, all over the place & calling 911 because some hostile crazy guy had locked himself into a private room with the hostel owner. Jeff promptly kicked the door off it's hinges and man-handled the aggressor down the stairs and out onto the street (and yet even after possibly saving the hostel owners life, he still didn't get to stay).
Oh yeah, did I mention that we found out our room-mate Jeff was an adult movie star named Earl Buck-Eye? He dropped that pearl of wisdom on his way out =]
PS. Jason's Streetball Blog has also been updated with content from Venice Beach.
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Jas & Reen's Tips For Malaysia
Gee, two and a half weeks sure flies by when you're having fun! We thought we'd compile a list of things you might want to know before going to Malaysia:
General:
- There's no real need to learn Malay, as English is one of their national languages. But be aware that there is a generation of Malaysians that cannot speak English, apparently it was rulled out of the school cirriculum for a decade. (People always like it when you make an effort: "Terima Kasih" = Thank you) .
- Take toilet paper or tissue with you everywhere.
- Get acquainted with squat toilets. They're more hygenic and easier to use.
- When travelling long distances, go by bus (business class, if you can).
- Try to find a place to stay near Chinatown or Little India - lots of good food and shopping.
- Petaling St Chinatown in KL is a must - night market every night!! [Tip for the girls - if you're after imitation LV, Gucci & Prada's, go to KL not Bangkok!! The stock in KL is imported from Bangkok (ie. excellent quality), you don't need to bargain as aggressively in KL to get a good deal and it's not illegal to sell/buy imitations in Malaysia (ie. you don't have to walk down some dark alley to buy them)!]
- For an island holiday - Pulau Perhentian (Long Beach) and Pulau Langkawi. Some islands are "duty free" which means alcohol is 1/3 of the mainland price. The island accomm gets booked out during summer & long weekends so book before you go. Be prepared to extend your island holiday - most people do. (I met a Czech girl who loved the island so much that when she ran out of money, she made arrangements to sleep in a tent and work for food).
- Dress conservatively - most people cover their knees or shoulders even in 35 degree weather (except on the islands).
- Generally everyone is so friendly and welcoming. We felt safe walking around dark alleys at night and approaching strangers for directions.
Food:
- Serving portions are not large, so people eat throughout the day/night. 11pm seems to be quite a popular time!
- Don't be afraid to eat out at small street (hawker) stalls - this is where you'll find the tastiest and cheapest food!
- In Melacca (Melaka) - try the famous Chicken Rice Balls (ask a local where it's sold). Get there before it sells out (ie. before 10am)
- In Penang (Pinang) - pig-out on seafood (it's so tasty and cheap!!)
If you've got any questions, feel free to post it and we will answer them asap.
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