Bye-bye Malaysia

 Well... that's it... we are back on the ferry headed back to mainland Malaysia...

 This seemed like an awfully short trip compared to the 3.5 months I did earlier.

But this trip was different in other ways too...

I met another little bear!! Sebastian and I spent a lot of time whispering in the front of the car... scheming you might say...

We have a plan...

Back in Kuala Lumpur and look... they have a Christmas tree set up!!

As we got closer to our destination, Sebastian made his pitch to Mama's partner... "Well.... you know... I would really really like to see some snow! I was hoping I could come home with you guys and see a bit of Canada!" Of course Sebastian turned on his considerable little-bear-charm (of which we have a tonne) and Mama's partner caved immediately... Us little bears are pretty irresistible you know.

Wheeee!!! We are at the airport... Sebastian didn't have anything to pack (little bears travel light)... although I did explain about how cold snow can be.... He's not too concerned and I'm glad I have a wardrobe of warm winter outfits!

On the plane... we are flying to Hong Kong...

Sebastian hasn't ever flown anywhere before so this is new for him...

Now we're taxiing to the  end of the runway... oh boy...

And up in the air!

Sebastian thinks that we are flying higher than those two big towers in Kuala Lumpur... yup, we are!

And now we're in Hong Kong... but not for long.

I showed Sebastian the route we are going to be flying. He's kind of glad we are going to be relatively close to land in case anything goes wrong with the plane...

And the rest of the trip was a blur! We were so tired that we just crawled into the backpack and fell asleep - made it through passport control fine... Sebastian didn't have a passport but just pretended to be a stuffed animal and we were waved through with no issues... picked up luggage and got spit out into International Arrivals where... Mama was waiting to greet us! Yay!!! But both Sebastian and I were pretty groggy and jet-lagged so mumbled a few greetings and fell asleep again for the long ferry ride home...

Exploring Penang

We are going off on an adventure today! Sebastian says he has some special places to show us...

First up is Kek Lok Si, a Buddhist Temple which is also known as the Turtle Temple. It is apparently the largest Buddhist temple in SE Asia!

Oh... do we have to climb up all those stairs???

Yes we do! Oh... this is hard work for little bears...

But we managed it...

There are turtle ponds here! Look at them all...

They don't look beary large but then... maybe the big ones are hiding in the water.

I think they are looking for a handout.

Ooooh... there is a lot of gold here... and a lot of Chinese writing too. Malaysia has a lot of people of Chinese descent.

This is a huge complex and there is a lot to see...

Sebastian says it is lucky we came here now because at Chinese New Year it is an absolute zoo!

Whew... and we are leaving again...

Sitting in the lap of a Buddha... we are going to be wise little bears!

In the evening we went to the night market... it was dark out...

There were some rickshaws waiting for customers and we tried to convince the humans to rent us one so that our tired little bear paws could get a rest but... no luck... however...

Look at that!!! There is a rabbit stuffie getting his picture taken in the rickshaw too!!

WOW!!! I've never met another traveling stuffie in my travels!!! This guy is from Australia... we didn't catch his name but his Papa always takes him along on trips and sends pictures back to his kids back home... Cool!

Oh my goodness... there are so many stuffies here (not traveling ones though)...

And a mysterious stuffie that looks a bit like a squirrel but could be a beaver as well...

I met so many at the night market!

What a great day!!

Beach Time!

Oh yay!! We are off to the beach today - to the resort island of Penang. First we have to drive a bit...

Did you know that they drive on the wrong side of the road here (sorry Beanie!!)... and cars have their steering wheels on the wrong side too? A hold-over from British times. I wonder why Canada and the US went the other way??

Then we have to take a ferry...

Which has all sorts of cool places for a little bear to hide and play...

And this is our guest - suite!

Ahhhh... we get a whole big bed to ourselves!!

It was dark when we arrived so we couldn't see much outside...

But there were rumours that fireworks were going to happen, so Sebastian and I waited patiently...

Whoa!!! Yup, those are fireworks... cool!

After a restful sleep we got up to see... ooohhh... a beautiful bay with sandy beaches...

But we are beary high up!

So we scampered down the elevator and had a look around.

There are some beary nice beaches here...

And weird flowers. Sebastian says these are called Birds of Paradise...

Our resort has a pool too...

There are lots of fishing boats around...

And this one looked beary cool but someone didn't have a great camera so this zoom-in shot didn't work beary well...

Ah... time to sit by the pool and chill.

We found a lounger and relaxed in the sun... "Waiter! We'll have a Virgin Honey Margarita!"

And now we'll top it off with some ice cream... of course it would have been better if it was Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (no relation to Jerry & Ben...). I told Sebastian all about my stuffie friends around the world and he was quite impressed!