So I’ve made a couple more stops in Malaysia since I last wrote. I spent two more full days in KL--the first wandering around (perhaps too much—some achy feet for sure) the whole town. I woke up early to secure a ticket to go up the Skybridge of the Petronas Towers (for you Hollywood buffs, it was featured in a movie featuring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones I believe—they dangled from it or something equally believable). I actually love the Petronas Towers (see picture from last post), and though my mother questioned my taste at first based on this fact, I think she has come around. They really are quite spectacular, especially at night.
I spent the rest of the day exploring Little India, sampling tandoori chicken and naan, Penang laksa (spicy noodle soup), and various ambiguous juice flavors at the Saturday market kicked into high gear and stretched for blocks on end. I visited a couple intimidating mosques where I
was requested to don the full veiling—very hot—temperature-wise that is. After seeing the main square, the Merderka, and dodging some soaking rains, I made my way back to the Skybridge to watch the informational video on the Petronas Towers and oil company (aka propaganda) and then took in a sweeping albeit dramatically cloudy view of the rain-soaked city. I topped of the night with dinner for one at the night markets on Jalan Alor street—did I mention I was the only one in my dorm that night? Alone or lonely? That night I would venture lonely perhaps.
The next day I was off to the Batu Caves via public bus—ah, the adventure of it all…After wandering around for a good while asking way too many people the same question, I finally found the loading point for bus 11d, and was o
ff on the 13km ride to the caves, three looming caves holding impressive Hindu shrines including a humongous gold statue that can be seen miles away. 
Every year, a million Hindus make pilgrimmage to this site for a religious festival in January or February. There were also plenty of cheeky monkeys to keep visitors entertained:
After a visit to the Islamic Art Museum and the orchid and hibiscus garden (the national flower of Malaysia), I could be found pacing the side of an enormous highway that had somehow roped me in. I’m glad there was no camera on me as I took on 8 lines of speeding traffic—t
he joys of travel! But made it I did, and I was off on another moderately successful adventure to Putrajaya, the new landscaped “town” that houses the administrative and government offices of Malaysia. The train ride out went smoothly, the waiting for the public bus to give me a cheap mini tour did not. (“Just take a taxi!” I was told for the 10th time that day. Nope, didn’t take them in NYC, certainly not taking them here!) An hour and a half later, I boarded a bus and had a rather frantic though ultimately rewarding view of the impressive mosque and other government buildings by night.
The following morning I rounded out my KL tour with a visit to the KL tower on a lovely, clear morning. The views were really spectacular and a good note to end on. Then I sweated my way, lugging my backpack and two other bags (I have no idea what was in them) to the bus station to board a bus to the Cameron Highlands—a cooler mountain retreat midway between KL and Penang. I met two Brits who were on my bus and staying at the same guest house and hung out with them that evening over a delicious curry dinner and scones with fresh strawberry jam (a local specialty).
The following day we took a half-day country tour that took us to a rose growing center, strawberry farm, butterfly farm, honey farm, Buddhist temple, and my favorite, the BOH tea estate—the biggest tea supplier in Malaysia. The tea hills were stunningly beautiful and made me shift my dream job from owning a vineyard to having a tea farm.
I had a lovely relaxing afternoon in the cool mountain air and ate more than my fair share of vegetarian banana leaf meals, naan, and tandoori chicken (notice a theme—I heart Indian food). But Malaysia has really been an amazing surprise to me that Malaysia with its diversity of cultures and cuisines. The population is so varied and each brings it specialties to the table, keeping meal options exciting and enticing. I know this is blasphemy to say, but even in Italy I got bored with the food. After a couple months there’s only so much Italian food you can take and then you just want some greasy Chinese—and they don’t do that so well. Here Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Thai all intersect which makes for foodie heaven—especially at these prices!
On Wednesday, I was up early to catch another bus farther up the west coast of the country, this time to the island of Penang, which is actually connected to the mainland by an impressively long bridge. However, I took a 20 minute ferry ride, and boy am I glad I did. I started talking to the only other backpacker on the ferry—a German student, Sylvia. We were both trying to find accommodation in Georgetown, the main city on Penang, and after wandering the town center in the heat of the day, we finally found a lovely guest house with a twin room for two for a mere RM 25 (about $8 US)—brilliant! We spent the rest of the afternoon glorifying in our find, wandering the town, admiring the brightly colored colonial building with Buddhist wats, Hindu temples, and Muslim mosques scattered throughout, taking a rickshaw ride, and feasting on Indian banana leaf meals and mango lassis.
The next morning we headed out to see one of the largest Buddhist temple complexes in Southeast Asia, the Kek Lok Si Temple with its impressive Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddas and good views of Georgetown. Breakfast came in the form of laksa asam, spicy noodle soup accompanied by sugar cane juice and a side of karaoke--no joke--not me mind you, the others in the cafe starting the day off right. Next stop was another public bus (very impressive system actually) to Penang hill for a steep (and slow) funicular up to the top for more sweeping views and a Hindu temple adjacent to a mosque with a playground in between—such interesting
co-existence in relative peace. Bus ride number three for the day brought us towards the southern end of the island to see the Snake Temple, where live poisonous snakes are kept at the alter, lulled to sleep by the incense, which are said to be servants of the deity Chor Soo Kong. Our final journey for the day was to see another impressive temple, Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram, which houses one of the longest sleeping Buddhas in the world at 33 meters. The temple was closed, but the outsid
e was still a wonderful sight of boldly painted and grotesque creatures. We rounded out the day with an eclectic dinner of satay, sticky rice, wok fried noodles, soybean juice, rojak (fruit salad tossed in a spicy thick brown tamarind sauce, a local specialty!) and fresh mango, pineapple, and guava.
Today we were mostly templed-out to be honest. After a great Indian breakfast of roti canai (flaky dough pancake dipped in lentil sauce) and the tarik (the most delicious sweet milky foamy poured tea!) and visiting some local craftsman (the sign-engraver, the incense stick maker), we took a terrific tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, “the Rockefeller of the East” and learning all about real feng
shui, we headed out to the beach of Batu Ferenghi on the northwestern end of the island where we strolled the beach, and get this, went parasailing tandem for less than $25. Loved it. After a stop at a quaint and untouristy fishing village, we bussed it back to Georgetown for my final Indian meal and more tea tarik—I will miss this! With that I’m off to Thailand, a place I’ve always wanted to go to since hearing about my mother’s experiences living there. And oh, the food of course! I board a 5am bus to Krabi, a beach town on the west coast of Southern Thailand, and while I can’t wait, I’m delighted with my time in Malaysia, highly recommend the scenery, food, and incredibly friendly people, and hope to be back sooner rather than later!
I spent the rest of the day exploring Little India, sampling tandoori chicken and naan, Penang laksa (spicy noodle soup), and various ambiguous juice flavors at the Saturday market kicked into high gear and stretched for blocks on end. I visited a couple intimidating mosques where I
was requested to don the full veiling—very hot—temperature-wise that is. After seeing the main square, the Merderka, and dodging some soaking rains, I made my way back to the Skybridge to watch the informational video on the Petronas Towers and oil company (aka propaganda) and then took in a sweeping albeit dramatically cloudy view of the rain-soaked city. I topped of the night with dinner for one at the night markets on Jalan Alor street—did I mention I was the only one in my dorm that night? Alone or lonely? That night I would venture lonely perhaps.The next day I was off to the Batu Caves via public bus—ah, the adventure of it all…After wandering around for a good while asking way too many people the same question, I finally found the loading point for bus 11d, and was o
ff on the 13km ride to the caves, three looming caves holding impressive Hindu shrines including a humongous gold statue that can be seen miles away. 
Every year, a million Hindus make pilgrimmage to this site for a religious festival in January or February. There were also plenty of cheeky monkeys to keep visitors entertained:
After a visit to the Islamic Art Museum and the orchid and hibiscus garden (the national flower of Malaysia), I could be found pacing the side of an enormous highway that had somehow roped me in. I’m glad there was no camera on me as I took on 8 lines of speeding traffic—t
he joys of travel! But made it I did, and I was off on another moderately successful adventure to Putrajaya, the new landscaped “town” that houses the administrative and government offices of Malaysia. The train ride out went smoothly, the waiting for the public bus to give me a cheap mini tour did not. (“Just take a taxi!” I was told for the 10th time that day. Nope, didn’t take them in NYC, certainly not taking them here!) An hour and a half later, I boarded a bus and had a rather frantic though ultimately rewarding view of the impressive mosque and other government buildings by night.The following morning I rounded out my KL tour with a visit to the KL tower on a lovely, clear morning. The views were really spectacular and a good note to end on. Then I sweated my way, lugging my backpack and two other bags (I have no idea what was in them) to the bus station to board a bus to the Cameron Highlands—a cooler mountain retreat midway between KL and Penang. I met two Brits who were on my bus and staying at the same guest house and hung out with them that evening over a delicious curry dinner and scones with fresh strawberry jam (a local specialty).
The following day we took a half-day country tour that took us to a rose growing center, strawberry farm, butterfly farm, honey farm, Buddhist temple, and my favorite, the BOH tea estate—the biggest tea supplier in Malaysia. The tea hills were stunningly beautiful and made me shift my dream job from owning a vineyard to having a tea farm.
I had a lovely relaxing afternoon in the cool mountain air and ate more than my fair share of vegetarian banana leaf meals, naan, and tandoori chicken (notice a theme—I heart Indian food). But Malaysia has really been an amazing surprise to me that Malaysia with its diversity of cultures and cuisines. The population is so varied and each brings it specialties to the table, keeping meal options exciting and enticing. I know this is blasphemy to say, but even in Italy I got bored with the food. After a couple months there’s only so much Italian food you can take and then you just want some greasy Chinese—and they don’t do that so well. Here Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Thai all intersect which makes for foodie heaven—especially at these prices!On Wednesday, I was up early to catch another bus farther up the west coast of the country, this time to the island of Penang, which is actually connected to the mainland by an impressively long bridge. However, I took a 20 minute ferry ride, and boy am I glad I did. I started talking to the only other backpacker on the ferry—a German student, Sylvia. We were both trying to find accommodation in Georgetown, the main city on Penang, and after wandering the town center in the heat of the day, we finally found a lovely guest house with a twin room for two for a mere RM 25 (about $8 US)—brilliant! We spent the rest of the afternoon glorifying in our find, wandering the town, admiring the brightly colored colonial building with Buddhist wats, Hindu temples, and Muslim mosques scattered throughout, taking a rickshaw ride, and feasting on Indian banana leaf meals and mango lassis.
The next morning we headed out to see one of the largest Buddhist temple complexes in Southeast Asia, the Kek Lok Si Temple with its impressive Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddas and good views of Georgetown. Breakfast came in the form of laksa asam, spicy noodle soup accompanied by sugar cane juice and a side of karaoke--no joke--not me mind you, the others in the cafe starting the day off right. Next stop was another public bus (very impressive system actually) to Penang hill for a steep (and slow) funicular up to the top for more sweeping views and a Hindu temple adjacent to a mosque with a playground in between—such interesting
co-existence in relative peace. Bus ride number three for the day brought us towards the southern end of the island to see the Snake Temple, where live poisonous snakes are kept at the alter, lulled to sleep by the incense, which are said to be servants of the deity Chor Soo Kong. Our final journey for the day was to see another impressive temple, Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram, which houses one of the longest sleeping Buddhas in the world at 33 meters. The temple was closed, but the outsid
e was still a wonderful sight of boldly painted and grotesque creatures. We rounded out the day with an eclectic dinner of satay, sticky rice, wok fried noodles, soybean juice, rojak (fruit salad tossed in a spicy thick brown tamarind sauce, a local specialty!) and fresh mango, pineapple, and guava.Today we were mostly templed-out to be honest. After a great Indian breakfast of roti canai (flaky dough pancake dipped in lentil sauce) and the tarik (the most delicious sweet milky foamy poured tea!) and visiting some local craftsman (the sign-engraver, the incense stick maker), we took a terrific tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, “the Rockefeller of the East” and learning all about real feng
shui, we headed out to the beach of Batu Ferenghi on the northwestern end of the island where we strolled the beach, and get this, went parasailing tandem for less than $25. Loved it. After a stop at a quaint and untouristy fishing village, we bussed it back to Georgetown for my final Indian meal and more tea tarik—I will miss this! With that I’m off to Thailand, a place I’ve always wanted to go to since hearing about my mother’s experiences living there. And oh, the food of course! I board a 5am bus to Krabi, a beach town on the west coast of Southern Thailand, and while I can’t wait, I’m delighted with my time in Malaysia, highly recommend the scenery, food, and incredibly friendly people, and hope to be back sooner rather than later!
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