Impressed by the food and people

Impressed by the food and people
Friday July 25, 2008

LAST week four of us returned to New Zealand after spending two glorious weeks holidaying in Malaysia.

After crossing over from Singapore, we picked up a rental vehicle from Johor Baru and departed for the east coast. Here we took one week to sink ourselves into the remoteness of your pristine beaches, amazing countryside, beautiful people and very tasty makan.

From Kota Baru, we motored across to Ipoh through some of the most beautiful views ever, sighting many wild animals along our way. From Ipoh, we surrounded ourselves with fresh strawberries and Boh tea as we wandered around Cameron Highlands.

Kuala Lumpur beckoned as we once again hit the roads, at times taking the minor highways over the expressways, driving through so many kampungs and enjoying fresh fruit from the many road-side stalls.

Our holiday ended with a couple of nights in historical Malacca, followed by a sumptuous seafood lunch over the waters at Kukup prior to returning to Johor Baru.

There is so much I could write about our holiday in your amazing country but there are two things I must comment on.

Firstly the IPRAC car-hire people we dealt with in Johor Baru and secondly the staff at Traders Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Both of them offered an extremely high level of service, exceptional professionalism, competency and a friendly personal service.

We left Malaysia with two great impressions. Firstly, the exquisite food and secondly the people who were always so friendly and helpful, laughing with us and not at us as we clumsily attempted to speak Malay. Terima Kasih.

ROGER & DIANE THOMPSON,
Marlborough,
New Zealand.