Malaysia by bus: Kuala Lumpur, Sekinchan & Pulau Pangkor

On the 25th april we took the plane to Kuala Lumpur (KL). We arrived pretty late at night and were very happy that they have Grab in KL (no argueing about taxi fares). The first night we stayed at a very simpel hostel (Airport Hostel Moon Eleven).

Note: 1 RM ~ 24 Cents

26th - 28th April: Kuala Lumpur

• Recommended hotel in the centre of Chinatown: 1000 Miles Hotel..check out their hotel keys and power box thing. Hilarious we think.

• On our first day in KL we were more or less browsing through the city. As it started raining pretty early we could not really see a lot of the city but we could arrange a Malaysian Simcard (Internet for a month for 40 MR pp / 8€ - Hotlink) and I got myself some new eyebrows for 1€ ;)..."you have a lot of facial hair Miss"... thank you haha.

• Visted the Central Market where you can see a lot of grumpy looking and not very friendly salesmen/women.

• If you ever come to KL have dinner @Manja. We had our date night there and enjoyed great food and above all NZ wine!!!

• We spent a few hours on the rooftop of our hotel, chatting with 2 young Americans (until 2 pm ..pffff).

27th April

• Hop On, Hop Off bus.

• We saw the whole city (it takes for hours due to a lot of traffic) and did not do anything special really (Dinner: Bonne Gilla).

• A lot of people from Bangladesh work in KL as they seek their fortune in Malaysia so lot of restaurants are run by Bangladesh people. (Donnabad - thank you).

• KL is a very impressive city that is very contradictive (new vs old, rich vs poor, modern vs simpel).

28th - 29th April: Sekinchan

• We chose to stay the next night in Sekinchan. I read that a lot of Malaysian tourists come to that small fishermen village.

• We took a 3 hour bus to Sekinchan where they just dropped us somewhere.

• The rest of the day we wandered around (got lost several times) and tried to find the tourist highlights everyone wrote about. We did not see any tourists (apart from ourselves), did not see the famous Paddy fields (I read that they are beautiful) but we did see the famous beach with its Wishing Tree where we did not make a wish. LOL.

• Rick had his worst food so far (some weird soup).

• Main concern: How do we get out of here (apparently they do not really have buses there)?

29th April - 3rd May: Pulau Pangkor

• Pulau Pangkor is a small island on the westcoast of Malaysia. It is not really known by Western tourists so we thought we'd give it a try.

• After we figured out a way to get out of Sekinchan (they do have a small busstation - thank you staff from the East Sun Hotel) we went there to get on a free bus (check the curtains haha) to Sungai Besar.

• At Sungai Besar we tried to find our next bus to Teluk Intan. They were no signs what so ever but everyone told us we just have to wait...after only 10 min waiting a bus arrived out of nowhere with a big sign in the front (Teluk Intan). Costs: 6 RM for 2 persons (1,20€)

• Luckily we did not believe that one taxi driver who told us it would take veeeeeeeeeeery long for the next bus to arrive so we should better take his taxi.

• In Teluk Intan we stepped over to a new bus to Lumut (this is the place where the ferrys leave to Pulau Pangkor. Costs: 18 RM for 2 persons) and after 2 hours of a bumpy drive we arrived at the port and could hop on the ferry right away (28 RM for 2 persons).

• First hotel: Puteri Bayu Beach resort ("the Mosque").

• The first night we slept at a far too expensive hotel (>50€) close to the main town on the island. To get there we had to take one of those pink taxi buses (you have no other choice than to take one of them as there is no other public transport). They reminded us of Monty (pink Monty).

• We spent the rest of the day at THE beach there; Coral Beach - well, there are no corals anymore so we call it 'coralless beach'. They have some nice beach restaurants (Daddys Cafe) there that sell Tiger beer (being on an island with no Western tourists, it can be hard to find alcohol).

• Note: Pulau Pangkor was supposed to be a very quiet island ... well, when we arrived all hotels were full, they were Malaysian tourists everywhere and the scooters we rent out. It was a long weekend (labour day) so a lot (and when I say a lot I mean A LOT) people were on that quite island. We reaaaaaaaally need to inform ourselves better.

• I had my first Karaoke experience that first night (as they pour beer in for you every 2 minutes...): We (2 chinese women and me) sang "Pretty Woman" and "You are my sunshine". Luckily for everyone my micro was on mute during the first song. I only found out during the second song.

Second hotel: Waterfall Beach Hotel ("no Waterfall hotel")

• Still far too expensive for what you get (38€ due to the island being so crowded for a very very simpel room and a too cold airco that you cannot control). How do the locals pay that?

• We spent the day out our beach restaurant and rent a scooter for the next 3 days (for a normal price! Whoop whoop Rick).

• In the evening it started raining, we tried a new restaurant (Nipah Deli Steamboat & Noodle House) and we got to know Amir and Joselito. Two really cool people where we had great laugh and "some" Tigers with. See you guys in Ipoh!

• New for us: Coach Surfing is very hip and happening here in Malaysia and it is for free (we have both have an account now).

Third and best hotel: Pangkor Fish House :)

This is the hotel we came for and now that all the tourists are gone we can finally stay there!

We will just chill the last 2 days on this small island and enjoy being the almost only tourists here. Everything is cheaper now and our Guesthouse is very adorable.

Next destinations

Cameron Highlands via Ipoh (hopefully we can do some coachsurfing at Amirs place).

Penang to meet with our friends we met in Maastricht.