I'm in love. I love Malaysia. Well, I love Penang but I think I'd probably love all of Malaysia if I had the chance.
It helps of course that some of our favorite people in the whole world where in Penang the same time we were and that those same people were able to show us all the best places to eat and go to.
It was very hot. That's the only negative thing I can think of and even that wasn't all that horrible. In fact, when we stepped off the plane in Kuala Lumpur, I couldn't stop talking about how great it felt. So, when we went to the airport to head back to Xi'an Madeleine kept saying, "Feels so nice, feels so nice." She obviously thought that's what you say in tropical airports.
The best story from the trip comes from our visit to the Eco Zoo. This zoo is special in that each section of the zoo puts you inside the "cages" of the animals. Unfortunately, for Madeleine I had given her a cookie right as we walked in the monkey section. A squirrel monkey immediately ran to her stroller, jumped in with her and began trying to pry the cookie from her tight grip. M was terrified but refused to give up the cookie. Phil got the cookie away from M and to the monkey but unfortunately we were all so wrapped up in helping the monkey and M that we got no photos of the dramatic events. Madeleine seemed to get over it but we'll see next time we visit an Eco Zoo.
It's also unfortunate that we visited the Butterfly Farm the day after the monkey incident because M was pretty scared of butterflies. Granted there were thousands of butterflies fluttering around and landing on people's heads, backs and shoulders but having a butterfly land on your shoulder is quite different from a squirrel monkey leaping through the air and landing on your back. Hopefully, she'll realize that one day.
The food was awesome, the pool was lovely, and our view from the apartment was amazing. Every morning I sat on the balcony, drinking tea and watching the sun light up the sky. Perfect.
At first we wanted to keep M on her normal nap and nighttime routine but we quickly ditched it when we realized we all had way more fun staying up late and waking up late. Madeleine handled it well and we enjoyed actually sleeping in on vacation - a novel concept once you have kids and try to "vacation" with them.
Phil and I have been discussing how to vacation there again next year. And I'm already scheming on how to retire there.
It helps of course that some of our favorite people in the whole world where in Penang the same time we were and that those same people were able to show us all the best places to eat and go to.
It was very hot. That's the only negative thing I can think of and even that wasn't all that horrible. In fact, when we stepped off the plane in Kuala Lumpur, I couldn't stop talking about how great it felt. So, when we went to the airport to head back to Xi'an Madeleine kept saying, "Feels so nice, feels so nice." She obviously thought that's what you say in tropical airports.
The best story from the trip comes from our visit to the Eco Zoo. This zoo is special in that each section of the zoo puts you inside the "cages" of the animals. Unfortunately, for Madeleine I had given her a cookie right as we walked in the monkey section. A squirrel monkey immediately ran to her stroller, jumped in with her and began trying to pry the cookie from her tight grip. M was terrified but refused to give up the cookie. Phil got the cookie away from M and to the monkey but unfortunately we were all so wrapped up in helping the monkey and M that we got no photos of the dramatic events. Madeleine seemed to get over it but we'll see next time we visit an Eco Zoo.
It's also unfortunate that we visited the Butterfly Farm the day after the monkey incident because M was pretty scared of butterflies. Granted there were thousands of butterflies fluttering around and landing on people's heads, backs and shoulders but having a butterfly land on your shoulder is quite different from a squirrel monkey leaping through the air and landing on your back. Hopefully, she'll realize that one day.
The food was awesome, the pool was lovely, and our view from the apartment was amazing. Every morning I sat on the balcony, drinking tea and watching the sun light up the sky. Perfect.
At first we wanted to keep M on her normal nap and nighttime routine but we quickly ditched it when we realized we all had way more fun staying up late and waking up late. Madeleine handled it well and we enjoyed actually sleeping in on vacation - a novel concept once you have kids and try to "vacation" with them.
Phil and I have been discussing how to vacation there again next year. And I'm already scheming on how to retire there.