We were invited by a Malaysian gentleman to come visit him at his “jungle resort,” which surely intrigued us! Steven, who lives mostly in Singapore, has been building his jungle cottage for the past two decades, and our visit to Sungai Petani (north of Penang) was a mini break to the Garden of Eden. A little primitive (like glamping), we still had a bed to sleep in, a nice shower, and access to a kitchen, but the best part was that it was built literally on top of a beautiful waterfall—which actually kept us up at night! Kat and I always wanted to frolic (!) under a waterfall, so we can cross that off of our bucket list.

Even with the nighttime noise (and surprisingly lack of bugs!), our two days there were lovely, and we met two of his long time friends, Rudy and Nishi, also from Singapore, plus a young lady, Sonya, visiting from Morocco, who found Steven’s property via Workaway. Kat and I have been saying for a while that we needed a break “back to nature,” and we surely got it! It was a nice 4 hour train ride, and even THAT was awesome, as we sat with two Malaysian ladies, Jenny and Melinda, and talked most of the time!

As much as we enjoy meeting other expats and sharing experiences, it is always a pleasure to meet locals and learn about their history and experiences, too