in kuala lumpur

wow, this is my first post in a really long time, and for that, i’m sorry! internet’s been exorbitantly pricey and finding a good connection was even harder (this one’s not even that great, but at least it’s free at the official malay tourism office).

SO. i’ve been in malaysia for about 5 days now. i took a long-ass journey (about 18 hours) from ko tao, a beautiful island in thailand, to penang, a crappy island in malaysia; first by boat for about 7 hours, then the rest of the journey by minivan, a random sketchy black sedan, then another minivan. see, the thing about traveling in asia by bus is that sometimes, it’s really only a “bus” with quotation marks – as in you might be taking a really nice coach, or a minivan (or a minibus as they like to call it here), or occasionally, a black sedan. they also generally don’t tell you what the hell is going on, so that when you’re shuffled from vehicle to vehicle, you may tend to get nervous about what in the world is going to happen to you or where you’re really going to end up. when they shuffled me out of the minibus into the black toyota sedan with tinted windows, i kept asking the drivers from both vehicles if they were really taking me all the way to malaysia in this random sedan with random other thai/malay people, and all they could say was “yes yes get in get in,” when really, they didn’t understand a word of what i was asking at all.

shite, i am in the tourism office and i can hear the rain pouring down cats and dogs. (the whole thing about the monsoon season in southeast asia is also a bit iffy. it’s never clear when it begins or ends. i thought it was supposed to have been over in these parts ages ago except for the east coast of the malaysian peninsula.) oh, and it’s thanksgiving today! i had KFC for lunch in honor of the holiday – that was the closest thing i could get to a turkey and something american out here – well, there are a lot of mickey d’s and kfc’s, but i chose the latter to feast on a bird. (i believe i am the only american at my hostel which is a bit saddening.)

anyway, penang was pretty run-down and a bit slummy. i had heard from many other travellers not to go there, but one american guy advised that it was more interesting than langkawi island, so i took his advice and went. but that’s the last time i’m taking advice from an american traveler again! (langkawi, from what i’ve seen of pics from other traveling friends, looks a lot nicer and more like the thai islands.)

anyway, next, i went to the cameron highlands, which was a really beautiful mountainous place. it was a bit chilly, a welcome change from the 80-90 degree weather out here. i got to wear my long-sleeved shirts and sneakers for the first time in a really long time, which was exciting! we (myself and four other english people, 2 of whom i’ve known for a while) stayed at a lodge which had a really chilled out atmosphere. i went on a little hike by myself to a rather miniscule waterfall, then went to some tea plantations – immense corduroy fields of rolling greens.

after 2 nights there, chris, rachel and i went to taman negara, purportedly the oldest rainforest in the world (not sure about that one), and climbed the highest canopy bridge in the world. pretty awesome, but frankly, i was so focused on just walking ahead and not looking down that the experience passed by pretty quickly. chris and i also went on a cave exploration, and that was freakin rad! bats every, crawling through tiny holes on all fours, slipping and sliding on bat droppings, getting bitten by leeches (just outside of the caves), cave millipedes, snakes, the whole works.

but overall, my impression of malaysia hasn’t been all that great so far. maybe if i went to borneo, it’d be different. but as far as peninsular malaysia, it’s definitely a male-dominated society as it’s a muslim nation, and i do feel uncomfortable sometimes in my western summer clothes (tank tops and shorts, skirts or dresses). what’s ironic though is that it’s a pretty wealthy nation. it’s a weird dicotomy… i wanted to go into a mosque today as there was a sign that said it provided headscarves and robes, but it didn’t seem really legit, and there were a ton of men milling around outside just staring at me, so i didn’t feel comfortable stepping into the premises.

oh the other thing about malaysia is that although food and accomodations are cheap, alcohol is NOT. not in the slightest. i believe it’s almost as expensive as the west, if not more so. $3-4 for a can of beer at a 7/11 (and it’s more at a proper bar, like $5), although 350 mls of bad whiskey can be about $4 as well. bars in general are expensive here, which i guess is a good reason to detox. but it definitely makes the traveling scene and the nightlife pretty bland.

then again, thailand was pretty crazy for that. basically, southern thailand, as in the islands (ko phi phi, ko phagnan, and ko tao) was a real drunken mess of a party. i miss it already! i had a real blast, and i really hope that i’ll be able to go back to thailand again sometime in the near future (before i’m 30). it was just so much fun and just so full of people my age (not too many younger or older). all of thailand, lao, vietnam and cambodia were great, really. i miss it so so sooo much already! well, except for the prostitutes and the sex tourism part. nearly every guy traveler i’ve met has definitely slept with at least one prostitute or a local girl who sorta dubbed as a prostitute even if she didn’t ask for money. but it’s more likely that they’ve actually slept with at least one lady (or ladyboy) from each country. yeeahhh. and i’ve only met one guy who’s DEFINITELY been entirely faithful to his girlfriend, and that’s probably only because he was on his way to visiting her in tokyo.) quite honestly, i didn’t find most thai/lao/vietnamese/cambodian women to be attractive, but then again, i’m east asian, so i suppose i feel superior to them (haa, jk…).

anyway, i had briefly considered going back up to chiang mai in northern thailand after the islands before heading south to malaysia, because it’s a wicked place and also a good place to get really nice, cheap souvenirs and clothes (i hadn’t shopped much the first time i was there, thinking i could pick up all of the same good stuff later on in my journey, but i’m now kicking myself for not having gotten tons of stuff there and shipped them home). in hindsight, what i should’ve done was go back to chiang mai right after i got back to bangkok from siem reap, cambodia, before heading down to the islands and just skipped bangkok the second time around. but i guess hindsight is always 20/20 as they say. i do wish that i had spent more time in northern thailand, because i feel like i breezed right through a lot of places because i hadn’t met any cool travelers and was afraid of being alone, or through a lack of knowledge about a place and not knowing what there was all to see. i think i spent 2 1/2 weeks in southern thailand, whereas i only spent 5 nights in northern thailand (not including bangkok, which doesn’t really count and i actually wish i’d spent less time there anyway, both times around). well, i guess there might be a next time – if there is a next time, which i’m definitely hoping for!

i say this as i’m now nearing the end of my travels and i’m already missing all of the places i’ve been. i do feel like a seasoned traveler now though. i definitely feel like if i were to do this trip again in a few years time, i would definitely know where all the good places are and where all to hit up, though i’m sure some things’ll change by then. i suppose i should check out some other countries and continents before heading back here though, huh? perhaps next on the list is europe (since i have all these new european friends i’ve made), australia (same deal), south america, india and north africa.

the other sort of depressing part of this trip right now for me is that except for bali, the last week or two have been sort of anticlimactic, either because the people i’ve met were leaving/going home, ’cause i’ve had to part ways with friends, or go to a place i didn’t really want to go and traveled with a girl who was only fun for about half the time but then pretty annoying for the other half. i’m definitely hoping bali will help end my trip on a good note, with a big bang. it’ll be a bit hard to meet people there as there aren’t any hostels on the island, but if it’s anything like ko phi phi, ko phagnan and ko tao, fun times should be had. i’ll make my own fun times if i have to!

and then it’s on to hawaii for christmas, and back home to the cold ol’ big apple! just in time for new year’s! woo hoo!