Asia – Malaysia & Singapore

Langkawi – Ringing in the New Year a second time – Days 207-211

Mike PLeave a comment
Secluded beachfront with loungers

Five nights at a resort in Langkawi, an island off the Malaysian mainland, was a new level of “slowing things down”. Most days involved 4 hours at the pool, 4 hours of television, 3 hours of eating and then an hour at the bar. In between, we would sprinkle in some homeschooling. It rained every day but fortunately, it was limited to 15-minute downpours in the late afternoon. By the end of our 5 days, the family was fit, tanned and in excellent spirits. Our mini-break exceeded all expectations.

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Georgetown – Just keep eating – Days 200-206

Mike P2 Comments
Family with children standing in front of historic hotel in Georgetown

Another week, another new place. This time it would be Penang for the 7 days preceding Chinese New Year. Paigey knocked it out of the park by finding a restored hotel smack dab in the historic centre. The kids enjoyed the full week in the comfortable surroundings, and the weather continued to be in our favour, with temperatures above 30 degrees and no rain. Laundry, school, history and food were all on the docket.

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Cameron Highlands – Tea Plantation Time – Days 197-199

paige mLeave a comment

I have always wanted to visit a tea plantation. We are not planning to go to India or Sri Lanka on the trip so I figured that the Malaysian Highlands was a must-stop. I knew basically nothing about the Cameron Highlands except that there were tea plantations and it was in the direction of Penang, which was our next destination. We planned a three-night stop (again against our rules of one-week minimum) because there did not seem to be a lot to do in the Cameron Highlands beyond the tea plantations. I also struggled to figure out where to stay as there seemed to be only expensive and cheap hotels with little in between -and everything seemed poorly reviewed. So we opted for an Airbnb in the town of Tanah Rata.

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Kuala Lumpur – Towers, Doctors and Badminton – Days 191-196

Mike PLeave a comment
Family of three on skywalk Petronas Towers

I grew up believing the CN Tower was the be-all and end-all in Toronto. We had an entire unit dedicated to the tower in primary school, culminating in a field trip. We learned it was the tallest building, with a radio antenna and restaurant at the top. In my 20s, I was humbled when it took me 40+ minutes to climb the 1,776 steps during a charity event. After visiting Kuala Lumpur, I’m not sure my children will grow up with the same reverence for our Toronto-based tower. KL has towers aplenty, and they actually seem to do something (like function as malls or offices). Wherever we went, there would always be some tower lurking in the background, reminding us we were in KL and a long way from home.

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Johor – We really mean Legoland – Days 189-190

Mike P1 Comment

Each of us picked a destination that the family could not object to.  Isabella’s pick was Legoland.  When we looked at the map, we noticed there was one across the border from Singapore in Johor, Malaysia.  There was a hotel, theme park and water park all under the Lego brand.  What better way to start the New Year than two days hunkered down with all things Lego.  We also realized that going to Denmark (to the original Legoland) would blow our budget in a couple of days. So off to Johor we went!

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Singapore – Bring on the Food – Days 183-188

Mike P2 Comments

With the exception of Melbourne, we’ve been on a good streak of cities we LOVED.  Fortunately, Singapore kept that trend alive.  We were booked into a nice hotel for six days and would welcome the New Year in style. We would use our time here to get acclimated to travelling in Asia. And finally, Paige and I were going to undo all the health gains from the previous weeks by eating non-stop for six days. As Nan and Cathy (a family friend) were joining us, this would also be our last stretch with family.  After Singapore, we are on our own until the end of March.

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