A week in any new country is never enough. But I know that’s about as much as you would get leaves for. So with a two weekends and a week, this time, we set off for Malaysia to celebrate our first anniversary. 

Before you leave

If you are travelling from India, like we did, you have to apply for the eNTRI visa. For this, the first thing you need to do is get your photos ready. Check for the Malaysian visa photo requirements first. Typically, this is what they need: 3.5cm X 5cm 60%-70% face appearance in white background. Now, on the portal here: https://www.windowmalaysia.my/evisa/evisa.jsp?countryaccess=0 You need to attach a digital copy of your photo. It cannot be a scanned copy of an existing photo. So what you need to do is, go to a photo studio, and ask them to send you a digital copy. Most studios can, so this shouldn’t be an issue. You have to upload this to the portal, or it won’t be accepted. 

Once you do that and pay the fees (around 2500 INR), you need to take a printout of the visa. An electronic copy will not be accepted. 

Itinerary

We had 8 days in Malaysia, of which we spent 3 days in KL, 2 in Penang and 2 in Langkawi. 

This is how we broke up our days:

Day one: Arrival at KL early morning, check in and rest. Visit the Istana Negara (old palace) and the MuseumNegara. Head back in the evening to have dinner at Jalan Alor and a nightcap at Changkat.

Day two: Head out to the Perdana botanical gardens in the morning. Even if you know nothing about trees, this area has a number of other gardens. There’s the bird park and the butterfly park, or if you feel geeky, there’s the planetarium too. You can spend an entire day here, and also check out the National Mosque and the Islamic Art Museum. From here, head to China Town for shopping and dinner. 

Day three: Leave from KL in the afternoon and take the bus to Penang. It is a 4-hour journey and you’ll reach Penang by early evening. Once there, take a taxi to your hotel, check in and head out to the Komtar tower for an insanely good view of Penang from the 68th floor. You can choose to buy tickets for other activities here, or head to Love Lane for dinner and drinks.

Day four: Go straight to the Penang Hill and take the funicular train up. There, explore the forest park and rent a buggy to take you around the hill. You can spend all day here and finish with a view of Penang from the top after sundown. From here, head to the heritage zone of George Town for its street art and food

Day five: Take the early morning ferry to Langkawi. It is a high speed ferry and takes about 3 hours to reach Langkawi. You’ll need a taxi to get to your hotel, and once you are there, in the evening, go to the SkyCab Langkawi cable car. From here, head on to the Langkawi SkyBridge. 

Day six: Leave for Pulao Payar for a full day’s snorkeling trip. Get back and relax at the Pantai Cenang.

Day seven: Head out for a mangrove tour in the morning. Get back in the afternoon and take the evening flight to KL

Day eight: Head to KLCC and go up the Petronas towers/Menara KL tower. Get back to hotel and check out. Head to airport. 

So there. This was our itinerary for Malaysia. Please visit our post on what to know before you visit Malaysia so you can be ready to make the most of your visit there.