Tag: unesco

Eating our way through Penang

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December 28/29, 2025

Often referred to as the “Crown Jewel of Malaysia,” Penang earned its reputation long before it became a foodie pilgrimage. Founded in 1786 by the British East India Company, Penang quickly emerged as one of the most valuable trading ports in the region making it one of the busiest maritime routes in the world.

At the center is George Town which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over time, Penang’s wealth shifted from trade to culture most famously its food! When we realized we were making a stop here we decided that we needed to do a food tour.

We booked one with the ship – and our first stop was the Wonder Food Museum, which was a real hoot. They had created a ton of interactive photo opportunities throughout – and a lot of their national dishes on display. Our tour guide let us know to take pictures of ones that looked interesting for the market we were going to later, so we knew to look for them while we were there.

Beatriz, our guide took a liking to us. Probably because she saw me quickly put on a chef jacket and pull out two frying pans and pose for a picture for Andy. She basically led the two of us from display to display while we were in the museum because I think she knew we would be excited to take pictures in the exhibits. (Pictures below as proof).

After the museum we went to a few different shops where we were able to buy different Malaysian goods. Malaysia is most known for the Batik, which features vibrant floral and geometric patterns with bold colors (pinks, blues, purples) from its wax-resist dyeing tradition. The store that we stopped by had a large selection for men, women, and kids. Plus, a ton of accessories that had a wide variety of different patterns. Basically, they would draw in the fabric in wax, then dye the fabric, then boil the fabric so the wax melts off- they dye doesn’t change the color under the wax, so it leaves a cool effect!

Next door, we walked into a store that “white coffee” and tea. They were both delicious, but when they call it white it means it’s instant and packed full of sugar. The teas were similar for the most part – loaded with sugar! The ones that didn’t have sugar were really expensive, but we took pictures in hopes to find something similar when we get home because they are known for their natural remedies.

After our shopping was done, we finally made our way to the market. This was a foodie heaven. Beatriz told us to grab a table and memorize the number. She explained that we could go to a booth: order, pay for the food, and wait there OR tell them our table number and they could bring it over. But she said it’s happened to her in the past where she’d forgotten she ordered something and she wandered off and when she remembered the food wasn’t there (likely because someone else had already taken it).

The market was super busy – so we ended up sharing a table with a couple that didn’t speak any English. They made great table mates! We ordered a LOT of food – it was all very affordable. Fried rice, fried noodles, dumplings, soup dumplings, meat skewers, and a large Skol beer. It was all super tasty and we left super full!

Our bus dropped us off at the cruise port, but Andy and I wanted to see if the local Starbucks had a Malaysia mug. We made our way over only to find out that they were out of stock, disappointing considering how muggy it was outside! On our walk we did get to walk by a very cool fort, which we learned had never been fired upon so never saw any military action.

That evening our Cruise Director had coordinated to have a local dance company to come on board to perform a traditional Malaysian dance for us. We really enjoyed it!

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We had two days in Penang, so we woke up in Penang. We lounged around the ship taking advantage of a quieter day on board. We decided to make another attempt at a different Starbucks for a mug (a bit over a mile away). We walked in and out of traffic for about 30 minutes to a super large mall. We couldn’t find a directory to help us find it, so we just started wandering.

That’s when we quickly realized how big this mall was. Eventually we finally asked a man who told us we needed to take a sky bridge to an entirely different section of the mall which was on a different block, the place was massive, and that is coming from people that grew up around the Mall of America. Once we made our way over there, we found a directory.

Their decorations were so cute!
Some will appreciate this

We were still lost, but this time we had more hope. I finally found a picture on Google maps and saw that it looked like it had exterior windows. Success! We found it! AND it had mugs!

We started our grueling 30 minute walk back in the humidity, but took a different route this time. This street was more interesting. There were more shops and restaurants. It was very cute, but we just wanted to get back to AC at this point.

We really enjoyed our time in Penang – it was a very cute city! We wish we would have had more time to explore, but grateful for the time we did have there.

Up Next: Langkawi

Port Klang / Kuala Lumpur

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December 27, 2025

We arrived in Port Klang on Saturday morning and we were eager to get off the ship after 2 days at sea. Both days had been really nice sailing days though – the water had been really smooth and the ship had done a nice job with Christmas entertainment and food. At a certain point you’re just excited to see land again!

Port Klang is a major port in Malaysia and serves as a gateway to Kuala Lumpur, which means it is at least an hour to hour and a half bus ride to get into the city. We had booked an excursion with the ship this time to show us around.

Our first stop was at a hotel for a buffet lunch, which was a bit unusual that we didn’t start with an activity first. There was quite a bit of local cuisine, with some international cuisine mixed in too. We got to try some new things without worrying about going hungry if we didn’t like it!

After lunch we hopped back on the bus before making a quick stop at Petronas Twin Towers. If you’re a Formula 1 fan, you probably recognize the name as they are a huge sponsor of F1. If you’re a Harry Potter fan you might think I’ve misspelled patronus but I swear I know what I’m talking about! They are one of the most prominent fixtures in the city skyline – and they are really cool to look at!

Merdeka 118, 2nd tallest tower in the world (2,227 feet tall)
Petronas Twin Towers

We continued over to their central square area where we started a mild walking tour towards the Central Market, stopping along the way to look at a few of their landmarks.

River of life (2 rivers coming together into one)
Masjid Jamel Mosque
Independance Square

Next we made our way over to the Central Market to do a little shopping, and the group had an option to go to the market or head into China Town. It was a no brainer for us because the Central Market was air conditioned and at this point we were both melting.

We bought a few things and made our way to the meeting point. This is where things started to take a turn. The whole group wasn’t there, which started to push our timeline back for Batu Caves (the real reason we had all booked this tour). Our guide suggested we split up and some of us head to the bus, as we got outside we realized the bus wasn’t there, it was easily 90 degrees Fahrenheit and 60%+ humidity, and it looked like it might start to rain.

Now we were getting pretty annoyed because I think all of us would have rather had started at the caves when the weather was better and skipped the shopping, the 15 minutes at the towers, etc. And where was our bus anyhow?!

Short story long… Our bus finally pulled up, along with the rest of our group. We’ve all been there, our guide had originally said an hour and then changed his mind and said a specific time. They had heard the hour first and immediately left to capitalize on their time shopping. But that left 40 minutes at the caves.

I’ll tell you why this matters. Batu Caves has 272 stairs to climb to get into the caves, yes. You read that right. It isn’t something you want to sprint up. And now imagine you’re doing that in the rain. Throw in the added pressure of needing to get back in time for the ship’s departure time.

People were getting really upset, rightfully so. Eventually our guide called the company and was able to get us 20 more minutes at the caves, which wasn’t much. But it did help.

Did I mention it’s a sacred site so women had to cover their shoulders and knees? An added pleasure on a particularly humid day.

Now that I got that off my chest. IT WAS STUNNING! And there were monkeys everywhere. It was sooooo cool!

We saw a few monkeys actually grab food out of people’s hands, some were a little aggressive, but most were well behaved

The colorful stairs were so fun to look at from a distance (not so much as you were walking up them and trying to catch your breath). The caves themself were really cool – there were different ceremonies being performed while we were there too.

It was worth it. We were really happy that we went, and if you’re in the area I would highly recommend going! The hour we had was just the right amount of time to fully take in and enjoy the temple, any less and we would’ve been rushing.

After we returned to the ship and had dinner we were even able to catch a magic show on the ship. (No, I didn’t get selected to volunteer this time. 😉).

Up Next: Penang

ATV Adventure on Pacaya Volcano

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November 29, 2025

Saturday morning we woke up and had another great breakfast at the hotel – it was included, but everything was made to order. We had thought we had given ourselves enough time because the morning before we were still chewing our food as we were running out the door, but we found ourselves in a similar situation.

We noticed two other women in a similar situation, but honestly what were the odds that they were heading on the same tour? Andy had mentioned that one of the women was sort of rude – I told him to be careful or she’d end up on our tour. (More on that later…)

We ate quick and then power walked to the tour office and rolled in right on time. Once we checked in, the man working the front desk let us know that there were a number of different tours taking off at 8:30 and that we could use the bathrooms and wander around their office.

Sure enough, the two women from breakfast walked in, which was fine. There was still a chance she could end up on a different tour. A few more minutes went by and loads more people piled in and we were finally ready to go. Our guide called out for our group, and sure enough. They were in our group!

We had to walk a short distance to get in the mini bus to where they stored their ATVs, which was about 2 hours outside of Antigua. The company that we toured with was thoughtful about the excursion – we had a lunch included, but along the way we stopped for a quick bathroom break and to pick up food if anyone wanted something additional.

You might be wondering, how did we decide to ride a couple of ATVs up an active volcano? Or you might be thinking – nothing you do surprises me anymore, Dani. Either way, here’s the scoop.

Antigua is surrounded by active volcanoes (you would see them puff smoke ever few minutes) that practically dare you to climb them.

One of the puffs of black smoke it would produce every 5-10 mintues

Hiking Acatenango is a bucket-list favorite, and you know how much I love a good bucket-list item. But we were short on time (and not looking to sacrifice multiple days). So I found a smarter workaround. Pacaya: an active volcano just outside the city delivers lava fields, steaming ground, and all the volcanic drama without the long-haul hike. An ATV up Pacaya felt like the perfect way to get our volcano fix and fast.

We made it to their garage and got our helmets and a quick lesson on how to start them/operate them/stop them. I do feel like we all could have probably had a little bit of a longer safety briefing because some people didn’t grow up in central Minnesota around them… But then we were off!

At the garage, ready to go!

We did follow a guide – and there was another guide with a camera woman who was bringing up the rear. They made sure that they were getting a lot of good footage of us. We made our way through some rural villages before making our way out into some hillside.

We rode through some pastures and that’s when things started to get a bit sketchy. They made us go up the hill one by one to make sure we could each safely make it up. Andy’s friend – the unfriendly one from the hotel – went first. Miraculously, she made it. It turns out she was a terrible driver, at this point in the day she had already gotten stopped once and needed help by one of the guides to get unstuck. (From here on out I’ll be calling her the Aussie).

I knew I needed to be able to make it up. Andy went first – and naturally, he made it. The ATVs had been used numerous times so the tires were shot, so they weren’t very grippy. You really had to give it all it had when you were going up the hill in order to make it, but you also had to hit the rocks just right. Thankfully, I made it. It was a white knuckle ride. I was so relieved to have made it through the worst of it.

Made it with a big sigh of relief

After that nasty patch we were nearing the “top” of where we were going for the day. We were able to get off and walk around for a bit. We had about 15-20 minutes to take in the scenery and relax before we started the drive again.

Our next stop was a lava field. Normally, the lava field is where we would have lunch. A rainstorm earlier in the week had cooled the rocks too much and we were unable to heat our sandwiches up enough to cook them fully. We were still about to walk out there and experience the steam vent, which was cool enough in itself.

I really felt like this looked like the “Little Mermaid” rock. Not pictured is that I cut my ankle on the lava rock about 3 seconds later walking back from there. Whoops

From there, our guide suggested we go to a local restaurant to sit and eat our lunches before driving to our final stop. This is where the Aussie almost flipped her ATV. Andy was directly behind her – and remember how I said our tires were bad? Our brakes were also bad, thankfully Andy and I knew how to drive so we were both able to stop. But the man behind me had been tailgating me the entire day and had almost rear ended me because he couldn’t stop.

She had no idea how close she was to flipping her ATV and at this point I’m shouting, “This is SO DANGEROUS!” Because she had no basic driving lessons – and neither did the man behind me. The ATVs just didn’t have great maintenance on them – it really could have ended up being a bad situation, thankfully Andy and I had both pulled off in separate directions and had common sense. But man, that was scary.

After lunch, we made our way to a lake. If the weather had been warmer it would have been a fun spot to swim. But we made our way back to their office and rounded out the trip.

We made our way back to Antigua after a long day on the ATVs. It was an 8 hour tour, so it had been a long day. Once we freshened up we made our way to a local restaurant, where we ended up having dinner with a solo traveler from Canada. She was a hoot and we really enjoyed our conversation with her. Like I said, Guatemala really seemed like a hotspot for people who were venturing out on their own.

After dinner we made our way back to Aqua (from our first night!) for a night cap and to take in the views from the terrace. It was a beautiful way to round out our trip to Guatemala. The next morning we had arranged transportation with our hotel back to the airport. We didn’t have too early of a pickup, so we knew we’d be able to enjoy a slow breakfast at the hotel one last time.

Accommodations: San Rafael Hotel

Up Next: 12 Night Bali, Malaysia, & Thailand Holiday Cruise

The slow life

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November 28, 2025

One of the major pulls for us to Guatemala was the coffee industry. I had done a lot of research on different companies that offered them, but one that had stood out was De La Gente. They are a nonprofit organization that works with local small scale coffee growers that have formed a cooperative to make coffee growing possible for the locals.

It started back in 2014, the plantation that we visited is a part of the San Miguel Escobar Cooperative. There are 16 coffee growers that are a part of it, and they actually renewed in 2021.

We got picked up close to our hotel for a quick bus ride to the coffee farmer’s house. When we booked the tour, we loved the idea that it would include a portion of it that would include a stop at the house. As we made our way out of Antigua, the streets got rougher and you began to see the disparity from the “city” life to rural Guatemala.

The further out we got – we even saw local watering holes where women and children were gathered with buckets collecting it for the day. It was just such a stark difference from back home where we genuinely take for granted turning the tap on and getting hot water. Often times when we travel I’m left humbled and a little in my thoughts feeling both ashamed for complaining about things about utterly grateful for the things that I do have.

As we pulled up to our stop we were greeted by a group of dogs (Guatemala is definitely a stray dog country – not as many cats wandering around!) and our coffee farmer – Andres was out front throwing a biscuit at a rather sad looking puppy.

We had been in a van full of people, but about 5 of us had been called to get out and our groups were split up. We were with a wonderful gal, Ava, from Ireland, Haim, from Florida, and another woman from New Jersey who I don’t know how to spell her name! We had a short uphill walk to the coffee field with Andres, the translator, and someone else from De La Gente (DLG).

Andres

Once we got to the field we learned more about how Andres, how he got into the coffee industry, how coffee is grown, and how many fields he owns. It was really fascinating to learn Andres’ story and how much he sacrificed to become successful. He had grown up picking coffee for someone else, and then had spent 18 years waiting tables in Guatemala City while his children grew up to save money, and then finally had enough money to buy his own land to grow his own coffee. In the beginning he sold his coffee to big corporations, and didn’t make a lot of money.

Then came along DLG. DLG made it possible to form the coop, which provided the equipment for them to produce their own coffee end to end. The tours also provide about 30% directly to the coffee farmers themselves (at least according to the fact sheets that they provided to us).

We got to pick the ripe berries from the field and then made our way back down to his house. He told us all about how you need the shade trees and how the berries ripen at different times. Full growing process from a master!

You only want to pick the red fruit, the skin is called “cascara” and the coffee bean is inside. It’s ripe and ready to pick when it’s bright red!

You guys, like his actual house with his wife, daughter, and grandson. Incredible. We roasted the beans on his wood-fire stove with his daughter, taking turns of course.

A machine that separates the fruit skin (cascara) from the coffee bean
Green coffee beans after they have been sun dried for almost 2 weeks in the sun (manual process to keep them moving so they dry evenly and don’t grow mold or rot).
We hand roasted the beans on their kitchen’s wood fire stove; the smell!

Then they broke out their old lava stone metate – a long lava stone tool that is used to grind grain and seeds – and we took turns grinding the roasted coffee beans. We learned that the metate was passed down from Andres’ wife’s grandmother. It was at least over 90 years old, if not older. There I was standing in this man’s kitchen in rural Guatemala thinking about how many women had touched this metate. This man and his family had graciously welcome us into their humble home.

We all took turns hand grinding the freshly roasted beans

And I complain about the most embarrassing things. Haim and I shared a moment where everything truly just felt so small. Like our problems really aren’t problems. That really felt like the theme from the day, because Ava felt the same way as well. That we really don’t need all of these THINGS. As we’re standing in their kitchen and they were all just so happy.

So I started crying, just a few tears. I mean it was beautiful to think about something that was so unbreakable – so valuable – to be passed down from generation to generation. There we were, grinding out the coffee beans (rather poorly might I add) and drinking coffee with them.

I can’t recommend that tour enough.

From there, we made our way back into town and parted ways. Andy and I made our way to get empanadas for lunch. Before making our way to Casa Santo Domingo. We had made deep tissue spa appointments beforehand.

The facilities were incredible – it was a former convent that had been destroyed in one of the major earthquake. We got there early so we could swim in the pool, use the sauna, and the hot tub. By the time it was our appointment we were really relaxed. Both of us had incredible massages – we both thought we might have bruises from how much pressure our therapists were using!

After the massages we made our way back to our hotel. We freshened up and were trying to figure out what to do for dinner when I realize we were close to a speakeasy. It was a no brainer at that point and we made our way over there. The front was a wig shop – which was really funny – we were the first ones inside so we got our pick of the tables.

By the end of the night, after we had wrapped up and the place was full. I was seated next to one of the old school rotary phones and it started to ring. I looked at our server and asked him if I should answer it and he shrugged. So I did. I had to solve a riddle – and once I did I was rewarded with a shot.

Up Next: ATV tour on Pacaya Volcano

Guatemala: Jet Lag and Blog Lag

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November 27, 2025

Andy and I have traveled to some pretty obscure destinations over the years, and most of the time people don’t even bat an eye. We get an occasional, “Is that place safe?” And I usually respond with, “Is the United States?” (Let’s be honest, no). But what was surprising when we booked this trip, we both got a lot of the same question separately, “Why?”

So let’s start there. I love Central America. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I love the culture, the climate, and Andy and I both love the coffee. Andy spent about 3 years working for Starbucks as a Store Manager (and a Coffee Master!) and Guatemala coffee is one of his favorite regions. Guatemala has rich history – and amazing natural features – hello? Volcanoes!

I had been researching a trip to Cartagena, Colombia on a Thursday, and when I went to book the trip on Sunday the flight had basically DOUBLED in price. Andy had thought we had gotten priced out and we were going to stay in the US for Thanksgiving and I said, “Hold my beer.” 😏

I looked through a range of countries we hadn’t been to – including Jamaica – which I’m glad with the recent hurricane we didn’t end up booking there. But we finally landed on Guatemala Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site.

We knew it would be a short trip, but we decided to book it anyway. We booked a red eye flight out of Tijuana the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we were on our way!

We arrived in Guatemala City on Thanksgiving and I had arranged transportation to Antigua through our hotel, which made it super convenient. Antigua was just under 2 hours from the airport, but depending on the time of day I’m sure the traffic could be way worse.

We had booked our room for the night before since it was such an affordable rate – and so we could check in right away. As soon as we got into our room as we took a nap because we were so tired from the flight. We didn’t want to sleep too long because there was exploring to do!

I had found a boutique hotel that was central to the famous arch in Antigua. We also knew that a lot of our activities could launch from this hotel, so once we saw the price and location we booked it. We grabbed a few appetizers and then rushed back to the hotel to meet our guide for a walking tour.

When we can, we like to do walking tours to familiarize ourselves with a local city if we are staying there for a few days. This helps us find restaurants and things to do. Our guide met us at our hotel and took us over to the Arch (half a block away) to start the tour. It was a private tour, which sounds far more impressive than it is. Everything is very affordable in Guatemala, so I think this tour cost us around $50.

Our guide told us about how Antigua was the third capital in Guatemala, but was eventually moved due to earthquakes. It is still a very popular city, and a destination for locals. It is very expensive though – for the locals – and many people vacation there (or get married there!).

We stopped by many different churches and other buildings that held significance. One thing that stood out to us, is that a lot of the “magic” in Antigua happens behind the walls. From the street you actually can’t tell how beautiful a building is until you walking inside the courtyard and that’s when you can see how special it is.

We walked inside a restaurant called Aqua and were able to see from a rooftop the three surrounding volcanoes. It was such a cool view, we decided we needed to come back later in the trip! Another stop was maybe the most beautiful Starbucks we’ve ever seen, which was pretty cool to see how they infused the local culture in it.

We ended the tour and then had dinner before turning in for the evening. It was a great way to get acquainted with the city and scope out different places to stop by on the rest of our trip!

Accommodations: San Rafael Hotel Antigua Guatemala

Up Next: Coffee Tour with De La Gente
Spa Day at Casa Santo Domingo