Salamut Dateng Malaysia!

Day 57 – The endless diversity of our world never ceases to amaze me. In our crossing of the Bay of Bengal from Chennai, India, to Georgetown, Malaysia, it is as though we crossed an invisible prosperity line. Standing in stark contrast a stone’s throw across the bay from dirty, noisy, bustling India is clean, manicured, tranquil Malaysia. Malaysia’s booming economy is certainly reflected in the clean streets and large buildings that boarder the docks. The country just finished celebrating its 50^th year as a nation after gaining independence from Britain in 1957.

I knew that the British empire was vast (The sun never sets on the British empire right?) but now that we’ve visited four consecutive countries that are her former possessions I am deeply impressed by how much the Brits were able to control at their peak!

The port of Georgetown is situated on the island of Penang and is connected to the mainland by the 3^rd longest bridge in the world, the aptly named 2.5 km Penang Bridge. After tendering (that’s ship lingo for taking a smaller boat from ship to shore) to shore and exchanging for a few Ringgit I found myself on an SAS bus crossing Penang Bridge bound for Kuala Lumpur! I have come to the conclusion that our currency is incredibly boring with its same sized dull green bills whereas every other country I’ve been too has colorful currency which is larger if it is a greater denomination. I think the United States should immediately enact legislation to require that all paper currency be dipped in the stuff you make tie-dye T-shirts out of!

At the halfway point of our journey we stopped at a Chinese restaurant called the Resteran Kok Thai, where we were served rice crackers, soup, Chinese tea, huge prawns that smelt odd and didn’t taste much better, beef and rice stir-fry, assorted fruits, and finally a platter of duck. The food is served in a very spread out manner and often each new course comes as a surprise and after you have just eaten a heaping portion of the first dish brought to you.

Another hour after the restaurant we had cruised through miles of lush green countryside periodically interrupted by jagged limestone cliffs, clouds that seemed to have forgotten they belong in the sky, and the occasional mine.

Malaysia is worlds apart from India. Everything here is clean and modern while drivers make use of lanes and convey that some sense of order is observed on the roads. Our approach to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, was spectacular. KL as it is affectionately called is an ultra modern city with the latest and greatest name brands from around the world, a monorail system, and sparkling skyscrapers. If Disney World were made into a functioning city, it would be KL. It is home to the 457 meter tall Petronas twin towers, which are the tallest twin buildings in the world and symbolize the relative prosperity enjoyed by Malaysia. The multitude of high rises is also punctuated by the KL tower, which is the 4^th highest communications tower in the world.

We arrived at our hotel in the heart of KL called Meliá which was conveniently located across the street from an enormous 7 or so story tall shopping mall called Times Square. We were given 45 minutes to freshen up before we were taken to a restaurant for dinner called Beri Melayu, which served buffet style a huge selection of Malay, Indian, Chinese, and Thai food. It was excellent though I have determined that as far as deserts go, gelatinous multi-colored treats may be pleasant to look at but perhaps should ONLY be enjoyed with the eyes… After the meal there was a cultural show where dancers performed in Chinese, Malay, and Indian styles. It was quite entertaining and concluded by bringing audience members on stage to dance with the performers. Of course, since it involved involuntary dancing in front of a room full of 100 or so people they were drawn to my lack of dancing ability. I was one of the chosen ones to go up on stage and prove to people that I do in fact, define bad dancing. I actually ended up having quite a bit of fun as the dance was simple and my partner warm and friendly.

After the show we loaded back up on the buses and returned to the hotel with the evening free for individual pursuits. A fairly large group of us decided that an Asian karaoke bar should be the order of the evening and having seen a suitable venue called club Vegas a block from our hotel, headed there. Apparently it was a six star place and my sweet Wal-Mart sandals and shorts were only allowed in because we were recognized as Americans which have a reputation of being good patrons. However, the place was very expensive so we headed on a recommendation to the Times Square mall next door to see what might be open at 10pm on a Wednesday

The front part of the mall was completely empty and closed down. This created the odd experience of strolling through a huge atrium type area where one could see seven stories of closed shops. Eventually though we made our way to an area of the mall that had strong signs of life and we ended up before a Karaoke bar called New Way. Unfortunately this bar also proved to be too rich for our blood and we wound up at a huge bowling alley called the Ampang Superbowl. It was packed with locals who apparently come out in droves to bowl on Wednesday nights. Vicki, Sara, Heather, and I bowled on one lane that had some serious technical issues. Often it would knock down pins when setting them up, or just not set down 10, making for some awkward setups. We had a great time though and bowling, shoe rental, and sock purchase could be had for RM 18 which is less than $6 USD! We came back to the hotel shortly after midnight and a few of us went swimming at the hotel pool which was on a rooftop surrounded by skyscrapers.

Afterwards we took an elevator we had disabled earlier in the night by loading too many people onto it and headed to our rooms to bed. I found it interesting that they had Discovery Channel here and that the law breaking antics of little hobunk towns in the States were being recounted on FBI files in Malaysia. WWE wrestling also seems to be big in this part of the world as just as in India it gets very heavy media coverage. I was also delighted to discover that Malaysia has its own Deal or no Deal with a Malaysian Howie Mandel to boot!

Day 58 – This morning we boarded the bus for a tour of KL. Our first stop was the palace of the King of Malaysia who, like the British royalty, is more a figurehead than any sort of political power. Though he does have final authority on prisoners who have received the death penalty for drug trafficking offenses. The palace was similar to but much less elaborate than Buckingham palace in England but also featured stone faced guards stationed about the gates.

Next it was onto the Malaysian War Memorial park which honors those soldiers from Malaysia who gave their lives in WWI, WWII, and the Malaysian Emergency (an internal conflict against communists) in the 1950s. From there we rode up in the KL communications tower for a magnificent 360 degree view of KL and an excellent vantage point of the Petronas towers. I can still scarcely believe how massive and modern this city is. It has all the comforts of any western city including 7/11s, a Starbucks on every corner, an Outback Steakhouse, and even a Hard Rock Café! After the tower we had lunch at a place inside the central market which was excellent. Particularly some kind of orange juice which in my opinion was perhaps the most glorious tasting beverage I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

With a few hours of free time to spare before our next activity, Justin, Larissa, Sara, Vicki, and I decided to go to Times Square. I got my passport photos I’ll need for Cambodia next week and it was then that Justin told me about the roller coaster. This mall had a 3 story indoor amusement park called Cosmo’s World that featured an 800 meter long roller coaster that featured loops and barrel rolls, and all the hallmarks of a good time. The best part was that there was no wait for the ride, so Justin and I walked right on and had a thrilling ride through the mall.

The rest of the evening’s plan called for a 90 minute bus ride to a river that is known for its huge firefly population. Since KL was cloudy and threatening rain, and there was a chance for storms in the area of the river the majority of our SAS group balked on going and elected to stay in KL. Sara, Larissa, Vicki, Justin, Ryan, and I decided to join the other dozen or so optimistic adventurers to see if we would get lucky. It ended up being one of my favorite evenings thus far on SAS.

As we tried to leave KL we got caught in bad traffic and our driver attempted to take a shortcut through a side street. Somehow our bus got stuck between a car in the front left and another car in the back right. Our Chinese guide Eddie had the idea to have Justin, Ryan, and I being the only young males on the bus try and help him and a few people from the neighborhood who had gathered to look at the tour bus trapped on their street pick up the car and move it. Realizing what an incredible legend of manliness lifting and moving a car would create and allowing that machoism to cancel out our concerns that this might not be the best idea we lined up along the car counted 1…2…3!!! SNAP! The bolts of the right side of the BMWs bumper were now laying in the street and the bumper was now oddly protruding from the side of the car. The three of us promptly returned to the bus while the other men in the street looked on with amusement. One man though, who I suspect was the owner of the car did not seem too thrilled and exchanged some heated words with Eddie. Having failed to move the car, our driver decided the time had come to punch his way through and he proceeded to scrape the bus past the same car we had ripped the bumper off of. Our bus scratched along the poor fellow’s car the whole way out until we were finally clear and sped off leaving behind a very livid owner who I’m sure will now have a lifelong hatred of tour buses.

Along the way to the river we passed through an intense thunderstorm that had some of us thinking we made a mistake in coming. However the skies soon cleared and we found ourselves in a fishing village and ate at a restaurant literally on the banks of the river. They served us possibly the best meal I’ve yet had on SAS, and one that ranked pretty highly in my entire history of fine food consumption. Also because so many people did not show up we got huge helpings of food as the restaurant had made preparations to serve a much larger group! We had Chicken, Chinese Spinach, Prawns, Sweet and Sour fish, and Crab. The seafood was to die for as it had gone from water to stomach in less than a kilometer! The prawns were breaded and covered with some kind of pink sauce and were to die for; possibly one of the best things I have ever tasted! I could not stop eating them!

Our bellies full we were bussed about 10 minutes down the river to the firefly park. We were loaded onto battery powered river boats and glided along in near silence with thousands of fireflies flickering on and off in the trees on the riverbanks under a nearly full moon shrouded by clouds. There were so many fireflies it was as though the stars had fallen from the sky and simply come to rest on the branches of the trees lining the riverbank. It was absolutely spectacular and one of my favorite night activities on par with Bio Bay in Puerto Rico or the night game drives in South Africa.

By 11:00 pm we were back to the hotel and the 6 of us decided to head out on the city. We took the monorail to the Hard Rock Café, but found it ridiculously overpriced and walked in search of a more reasonable place to spend the evening. Along the way I was reminded that prostitution is in fact legal here and doing quite well. This created an ironic role reversal where now the girls in our group needed to protect the guys from being harassed! A few blocks past the Hard Rock we came across the Aloha bar which had a good sounding live band and a good atmosphere. We had a few drinks and danced to the largely American music selection. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Asians and a big group of Brits belting out Offspring songs with us and for an evening we were all friends!

Before too long we were allowed into the VIP lounge area upstairs which overlooked the stage, bar, and dance floor. We enjoyed a few more drinks upstairs until one of the management of the place came up and told us to follow her downstairs to see “surprise surprise!” We were a little bit skeptical but decided to follow her and she led us to a hidden stairway to the side of the main bar that went to another club UNDERNEATH the main one that was a techno/rave club that was much more energetic, had GREAT music, and a much larger dance floor.

At about 2:15 am we decided to head back to the hotel and get some sleep. I ended up staying up to 3:30 am to get my classes for the fall semester figured out (thanks Erika!) It’s weird to think about going home and trying to return to normal life and I can’t believe we’re already down to our last 50 days…

Day 59 – Today I slept in late to recover from last night and bid farewell to KL at noon. I loved KL and vow to return someday. It took us awhile to drive back and along the way we hit heavy rain. The rain in Malaysia is intense and the clouds are so low that the countryside becomes bathed in fog. By the time I stepped off the tender and onto the ship it was already 2000 so I decided to spend a quiet evening relaxing on the ship. Hopefully tomorrow we will see the large Buddhist temple here as well as Penang Hill!

Day 60 – My first day in Georgetown brought Liz, Vicki, Sarah, Kait, and I to the services of a taxi driver named Hasan. We hired him for the day to show us around the island of Penang. We began with a trip to see a huge reclining Buddha at a Buddhist temple. It was also interesting to see burning incense everywhere inside the temple as well as about 25 statues of various Buddhist gods and deities with descriptions of what advantages a worshipper receives by praying to that God. There was also a monk who was providing holy water blessing but we unfortunately did not have time. Buddhism is a fascinating religion and one which seems very inviting from an outsider’s perspective.

After the Buddhist temple we went to a botanical garden which was quite beautiful and very tranquil. Along the way into the garden we encountered several Macaque monkeys that were running around the grounds. One of them charged at Larissa when she tried to take a close up picture of it eating.

Afterwards we headed to the Buddhist temple of 1000 steps. It is unfortunate because the first few hundred steps have been taken over and built over by shops. However the experience dealing with merchants in Malaysia is leagues tamer than was India. These merchants actually respect your decision not to buy after you refuse and are sometimes so soft spoken I had to strain to hear what they were saying. The last stretch to the top was traversed via an incline cable car. The view at the top was spectacular and there were several small statues of all of the animals of the Chinese zodiac. There was also a huge statue at the top that was several stories tall but it was partially obscured by scaffolding because they are currently building a multi-million USD protective shelter for the statue.

From there we headed to Penang Hill, which we unfortunately could not do because the tickets to go up were sold out for the next two hours and we didn’t feel like we had the time to spare. We decided to head out in search of lunch and a short while later it was pouring rain. We had lunch at a little Chinese restaurant which I quite enjoyed.

Our final stop was a the Chocolate Boutique, where we all bought authentic Malaysian chocolate and coffee. They even had a hot pepper chocolate which tasted like a mix between dark and white chocolate but it had a very spicy aftertaste.

Day 61 – My last morning in Malaysia was spent trying to recuperate from the eventful past few days and so I did not wake up until 1130. I had an Easter service visit to the Cheshire Home for the physically handicapped in the afternoon. Although I had a bit of trouble striking up conversation at first, by the end of our time I had befriended one of their residents. Though I was not able to get his name, I did get that he was 29, turning 30 last week and something about the fact that he had 3 girlfriends. When I told him that I had none and Kirsten and I asked if he could give me some advice he was all smiles. The Cheshire Home is the manifestation of an idea started in England to create facilities where physically handicapped citizens can be rehabilitated and taught to do something that can allow them to become productive members of society.

Afterwards we went to a mall to go to a grocery store and stock up on snacks as Malaysia carries many American brands of food. And thus ended my Malaysia trip!