The boys made it through one semester of public school in Taiwan! I’ll post about our school experience at a later time, but for now I wanted to write about our trip to Malaysia during winter break or 寒假.

Some people asked if we have plans to go back to SF during our stay in Taiwan. Honestly, unless something urgent comes up we don’t plan to travel back home. Our time in Taiwan is limited and there is SO much to see and experience, not only in Taiwan but in Asia! We are also constrained by the boys’ school schedule and there aren’t many breaks during the school year aside from winter and summer vacation.

This winter break, we decided to travel to Malaysia. I went on a tour 20 years ago (!!!) and stayed in Malaysia for only 2-3 days. This time around, I wanted to experience it with Baba and the boys on our own terms. I was intrigued by Malaysia’s diversity and delicious street food. We went to two places in Malaysia: Penang and Kuala Lumpur, for a total of 9 days.

Penang. Penang is a state in Malaysia that consists of two parts. We stayed on Penang Island, specifically in Georgetown, the state capital. Georgetown is charming city known for its colonial style architecture, street art and street food. Our hotel was in the heart of Little India, which is an incredibly vibrant, colorful, and at times, super noisy neighborhood!

The quaint architecture of Georgetown.

One of the highlights of Georgetown is the street art. The art is scattered around town, so we spent half a day trying to track them down. The most famous artwork is by a Lithuanian artist named Ernest Zacharevic, who incorporates 3D aspects to his art. We had a lot of fun thinking of ways to interact with them!

Penang is also known for its street food, and it did not disappoint! We loved the diversity, intensity of flavors, and of course the price. We already think food in Taiwan is cheap but you can’t beat the prices in Southeast Asia. Many dishes in Penang were about $2-$3, and there were times when we had a whole family dinner for less than $15.

Food in Malaysia is influenced by so many cultures – Chinese, Malay, Singapore, Indian – and you can often taste the influences in each dish. Baba and I especially loved all the spice, something that we miss in Taiwan. (Taiwanese food tends to be on the milder side.) Our favorite dishes were Char Kuey Teow which is similar to Chinese fried rice noodles, and Asam Laksa, a tangy, spicy noodle soup. But seriously, even random food stalls we found had delicious food!

Admittedly, Penang doesn’t have a lot of “must-see” sites, but one place on our list was the Kek Lok Si Temple. It’s the largest Buddhist temple complex in Malaysia, filled with countless statues, pagodas, and pavilions. It’s so big that it’s impossible to capture the whole complex in one shot. Kek Lok Si sits on top of a hill, and seeing it from afar is even more awe-inspiring. The entire temple also lights up at night which we didn’t get to see; I can imagine it looking magical!

Kuala Lumpur. After 4 days in Penang, we took a ferry to Buttersworth, where we caught a train to Kuala Lumpur. The train ride took 4 hours.

Kuala Lumpur (or KL as the locals call it) is a massive, chaotic city, making it challenging for pedestrians to navigate. Crossing the streets was an ordeal – you’d either have to scramble across the street because there are no street lights, or track down an overpass like the below. This would sometimes add 10-15 minutes to our commute, which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the heat.

The subway and bus system isn’t as comprehensive as Taipei’s either, so we would often walk or hail a ride through Grab, SE Asia’s version of Uber. Grab rides are super cheap – rides were typically $2-$3. Even a 45 minute ride to the airport was less than $20! I highly recommend downloading Grab if you’re traveling in SE Asia.

Now for the positives of KL. 😊 Like Penang, KL is super diverse and that’s reflected in its delicious food. There is a large Cantonese and Indian population so we ate all the dim sum and Indian food we sorely miss since moving to Taiwan. Our favorite restaurant in KL was probably Mollagaa, an South Indian restaurant serving everything from curries to banana leaf rice. It was so good we went back twice!

Overall, the food in KL was very good and cheap. You can eat like royalty here without breaking the bank.

A favorite pastime of ours when traveling if visiting wet markets. The ones in SE Asia are the best because they have the most interesting and exotic fruits and vegetables. We ate so much mangosteen and jackfruit here (fruits that are relatively hard to find in Taiwan). We also discovered a new fruit: snake fruit, or salak. It’s native to Indonesia/Malaysia and has a mild sour taste with a crunchy texture. Not one of my personal favorites, but it’s always fun discovering new fruits.

Speaking of exotic fruits, Malaysia is obsessed with durian (and so are we!). They have their own varieties of durian – 24 of them! – with the most popular being Musang King. Malaysia durian is creamy, sweet, with a slight bitter taste. Even though Thailand is the biggest exporter of durian, Malaysia is known to have the best tasting. There are cafes and restaurants throughout KL dedicated to just durian! I think we probably ate one a day. 😋

Although it may seem otherwise, our trip wasn’t just about eating. 😅 We did some sight-seeing too! One of the most stunning sites we visited was Batu Caves just outside KL. The Batu Caves is a large Hindu temple complex guarded by the monumental statue of Hindu god Lord Murugan. Next to the statue are 272 colorful steps leading to a limestone cave. Truly a site to behold, Batu Caves is not to missed when visiting KL!

We also visited the Petronas Towers, which I have to say is one of the prettier skyscrapers! They look like shining jewels against the KL skyline. Next is Petaling Street, a bustling street of shops, stalls, and restaurants in the heart of Chinatown. Pictured on the right is the new Merdeka 118, which is currently the second tallest building in the world (after Burj Khalif in Dubai)! It’s sleek and modern, but even though Google says it’s been completed since November 2023 we didn’t see very much activity around it. Maybe it will be open to the public at a later time.

The rest of our time at KL was spent at our Airbnb’s pool and gym, which was probably the boys’ favorite part of the trip. 🙄 We also had access to the building’s infinity pool that had a glass floor looking 35 floors down. I didn’t dare to step on it but did swim over it, ha! This was our first time swimming in an infinity pool!

Malaysia is often overlooked in SE Asia, but if you’re a foodie and looking for a good bang for your buck, then Malaysia is a great place to pop by!