This weekly wrap-up covers our journey from January 5 to January 11. We spent the first few days of the week in Yogyakarta on the island of Java, Indonesia. We had planned to head to Bandung afterward, but our plans were mostly hiking, and Java had been getting a ton of rain. We opted instead to leave Indonesia and head directly to Malaysia from Yogyakarta. We flew to Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday evening and then traveled to George Town on Friday.
Favorite thing we ate: Wow, this week was hard to choose!! Between the amazing street food in Yogyakarta and Malaysia (both Kuala Lumpur and George Town), we ate so many good things. You’ll quickly see that food also figures into many of our other superlatives for the week. 😉 After much deliberation, Jonathan chose the barbecue chicken wings he had at Jalan Alor Night Food Court in KL [pictured above left with pandan leaf pancakes, which were also delicious]. Megan chose the gudeg (stewed jackfruit) from Gudeg Yu Djum off Malioboro in Yogyakarta [pictured above right].
Favorite thing we drank: Jonathan’s favorite drink of the week is also from the barbecue stall in Jalan Alor: passionfruit Thai soda [above left]. On the left, you can see the mixed soda; the cup on the right is how the drink looks when it is served. Megan is now obsessed with Malaysian “local coffee” served cold with condensed milk, which she first tried at Madras Lane in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown [above right].
Favorite thing we did: More food!! 😛 We visited a lot of hawker courts this week, but Jonathan’s favorite was Madras Lane Hawkers in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur [above left]. It felt the most authentic and hectic, and we were (quite obviously) the only Western tourists there during our visit. The locals were very helpful in showing us what to order and telling us where to sit. Megan’s favorite activity of the week was joining a food tour in Penang with Urban Adventures. We spent nearly three hours eating and drinking our way through George Town, and it was very satisfying [small sample of the tour pictured above right].
Biggest splurge: Said food tour was also our biggest splurge of the week; it ran $57 USD per person. We had a 10 percent off code from taking an Urban Adventures tour in Krakow (which was also our biggest splurge that week), but we tipped 10 percent of the undiscounted cost, so it still cost $114 total.
Best deal: Jonathan downloaded Agoda as another option for accommodations, and he found a one-bedroom apartment in Kuala Lumpur with a pool and a fitness center for only $26 USD/night! Seriously, it was a steal. Probably one of the best-value accommodations we’ve gotten in the past nine months, if not the best. [Pictured above left: Megan reading by the pool. Above right: View of the city at dusk from our apartment window.]
Biggest oops: While exploring Kuala Lumpur, Megan was delighted to see the city library. (Really, it wasn’t planned!) But when they went to explore, Megan wasn’t allowed to enter because her knees were showing. 🙁 She is usually very diligent about wearing her most conservative clothing if there’s even a chance of visiting a religious site, but she didn’t realize government buildings in Malaysia would also be off-limits. Lesson learned!
What we’re reading: Jonathan finished Redemption by David Baldacci on audiobook and is reading The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren on his Kindle. Megan finished How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, then tore through Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (so good! sorry you have to wait until September to read it…). She also read In Five Years by Rebecca Serle (quick, fun and surprising read, publishing in March) and In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (absolutely astounding writing).
What we’re watching: We started watching episodes of Street Food on Netflix to correspond with where we’re visiting in Southeast Asia. So far, we’ve watched Yogyakarta (and visited gudeg street!) and Singapore. Hopefully we’ll visit more places featured in this series to try all the delicious food. 😉
Total walking distance: 37.1 miles
Up next: We are staying in George Town until (at least) the middle of the week, then we’ll have to decide where to head next. We’ll let you know! 😉
Featured image: Borobudur Temple outside Yogyakarta
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