penang

penang has been on my radar ever since we moved to southeast asia. my mom lived in asia as a child, and i've grown up hearing stories about snake temples and pristine beaches in penang. when i found dirt cheap tickets for the end of january, i couldn't pass them up.

since the deals were only during the week, katie and i left our working husbands (thanks, hon!) and took our toddlers on an adventure.

penang is a little island off of northern malaysia, and just over an hour flight from singapore.

we started the day in georgetown, a UNESCO world heritage site. i wish i had a photo of all four of us squeezed onto the trishaw. our six-fingered driver (he was proud to show us his sixth finger) kept singing "gangnam style" to the babies as we rode along.

i'd never seen this fruit before, but i love how exotic it looks

we stopped at various little temples, like the tiger temple and the dragon temple

we spent time exploring the chew clan jetty, a village built on stilts over the water, established in the 19th century. the clan used to thrive on fishing, but mostly consists of just the elders now since the younger generation has moved on to other trades.

we picked up some nutmeg balm, a product unique to penang. good thing it worked like a charm on all my inevitable mosquito bites.

our sweaty sidekicks. these kids were such good travelers.

after our trishaw tour of georgetown, we headed up penang hill on a steep little train. we could have ridden that thing all day. the views were so beautiful! katie and i have both been to other parts of malaysia, but we loved the lush, green jungle and island mentality of penang.

we dedicated our last day to the butterfly sanctuary and the beach.

we found a sweet deal for the hard rock hotel. i kind of laughed that we were bringing our toddlers here, but turns out they have the best water slides. we spent hours going down the slides.
in sage's words, "ageh!" (again)

sagie did not like sand before this trip, but i was determined to change that. 

i taught her how to splash in the surf, search for seashells, build a sandcastle, and bury her toes in that sand. 

success!

we made a pit stop at the snake temple on our way to the airport. from my mom's stories, i expected a scene straight out of indiana jones, but things have become so commercialized and safe (gasp!). there were only a few sleepy viper snakes hanging out in the temple, and a collection of giant pythons you had to pay to have wrapped around your body for a photo.

i'm so glad we saw penang, and especially with such easygoing and fun travel buddies.