Third Time's the Charm

I made it back to Kuala Lumpur for the third time this month on Tuesday, just 15 minutes before the India visa office closed for the day. Luckily, my visa was ready, so it's good news that India is letting me in! ;) Gundula and I made arrangements for flights on Wednesday. Since we really don't have a travel itinerary, only a list of places we'd like to visit, we had trouble deciding which city to start with. So, Gundula literally flipped a coin down in Bali to help us decide...and off to New Delhi we go! (it was between Delhi and Jaipur...we'll get to Jaipur eventually!). I love that we're going to let fate decide our path in India, in more ways than one! Gundula arrived in KL today, and we fly out early Monday morning. It is great to see her again and I am really excited for the culture and chaos that India is sure to offer!

I went to dinner with my Father's Brother's Wife's Brother, Mark, and his two adorable daughters, Jada and Jasmine on Wednesday night. We went to a fantastic Malaysian restaurant with live music and dancing. Mark works as a geologist for a US petroleum firm here in KL. It was fascinating to learn how he goes about finding oil 5-10 miles below the surface of the ocean, and it was fun to be around children again. They have so much energy and reminded me that they are the ones amongst us who are best at living for the moment.

I found out this week that my brother, Gerad, will be able to come visit and travel with me. He lands in Bangkok on July 31st. I am very excited to see him and be able to share this experience with him. Thailand and Laos will not be the same after the Barden's visit. ;)

I spent some time shopping around town in preparation for India, and I went to the movies. I really wish now that I had watched A-Team back in the day. I don't know if it's just because I really miss watching movies or what, but I thought the movie was great! I have also eaten two Oreo McFlurry's since Tuesday. I'm trying to stock up before 6 weeks in India! And, I keep meeting people from Europe who have never had them, and so I feel it is my duty as an American to introduce them to one of the most amazing desserts quite possibly ever made.

On Friday, I went to the Batu Caves, just outside of KL. On the way, I met a German guy, Ruben, and a guy from Iraq (I can't spell his name, but I think it's something like Hairim??). We walked around the caves and the largest Murugan statue, a Hindu deity, in the world at 140'. Inside the caves are several Hindu worship areas. Unfortunately, like a lot of tourist areas in Asia, the caves were a bit too kitchy and not maintained, which is sad because it is a sacred area in sects of the Hindu religion. Every February, hundreds of thousands (some say millions) of people travel to the caves for the Thaipusam Festival. Here, they do some rituals involving hooks, needles and skin. Too bad I wasn't here in February. Hairim absolutely cracked me up when he insisted on having someone take photos of the 3 of us. He wanted the pictures to be titled Hitler, Hussein and Bush. I couldn't stop laughing at that for several hours. ;)

That night, as I was waiting for Hairim and Ruben to head out to watch the opening ceremony and first game of the World Cup, I ran into Ron and Karim, friends I made in the Perhentian Islands. It is such a small world! This added a lot of momentum to the evening, and I finally made it home at 5 AM after two football matches, some dancing, some shisha and a 'few' cocktails. I love watching the World Cup in other countries. They get so much more into it than we do back home.

I've posted pictures of my time in Malaysia and Singapore. Click on the picture below if you'd like to see them!

Malaysia & Singapore

in

Next update from somewhere in India! Selamat jalan!

Chicken Perfume & Fish Eyes

Malacca, Malaysia has made it to my top 10 favorite places in the world. As is always the case, it's not where you are but who you are with that makes the difference. In this case, it was both. I met two sisters from Newcastle, England on the bus ride up from Singapore last Saturday. Ashleigh and Christie also happened to be staying at the same hostel - Discovery Cafe & Guesthouse - and so I was fortunate to have met two great girls to hang out with and to share a room with! I love it when things work out like that. Immediately upon our arrival, Bob, the hostel owner, gave us beef rendang, rice and beer. He was Malaysian-Chinese, so it was great to be able to speak Mandarin with him and his friends! Ashleigh, Christie and I went sightseeing around Malacca for the remainder of the day. We watched a search & rescue team recover a motorbike that had fallen in the river...such drama! We walked through Chinatown and it was fun negotiating in Mandarin again, especially when they weren't expecting a Westerner to be able to speak their language! That evening, we had dinner by the river that runs through the heart of the town and watched people singing and dancing on the streets. After dinner, boats decorated with more Christmas lights than I've ever seen paraded by. June 5th is not only the birthday of the King of Malaysia, but of Allie, the daughter of one of my best friends, who turned two last weekend! Happy Birthday to Allie and to the King of Malaysia!

On Sunday, we did more walking around the city. Malacca has been controlled over their 600 years of history by the Portuguese, Dutch, British and Japanese, therefore, the architecture of their buildings is quite charming. Once a thriving port city, the area has been redeveloped and has become a hopping tourist destination for the Chinese and Singaporeans. Ashleigh, Christie and I were among the handful of Westerners I saw the entire weekend. We were stopped very frequently to take pictures with locals and other Asian tourists. So funny! There was a food festival going on (free food!) in celebration of the King's birthday. I ate so many things that I can't identify that I won't even try...best left to say that I only ended up purchasing fresh mango juice and banana chips. The good news...I didn't get sick! That night, Bob and his childhood friend, Simon, took us to a restaurant to eat some local Malay-Chinese dishes. The food was incredible and it was great to get off the beaten path of the Lonely Planet warriors (of which I am not a fan because the planet, in fact, is not lonely at all!) and to hang out with Malacca's finest!

That night, back at the Discovery Cafe, everyone twisted my arm and I ended up singing on stage. The husband/wife performers and I serenaded the crown to a really awful version (my fault!) of Amy Winehouse's song Rehab (fitting for me to sing that in a lot of ways actually...ha ha!). A table of locals next to us brought in a bucket of KFC chicken (they love chicken here!!). One of the couples brought their precious 8 month old little girl with them...I offered to hold the baby so the couple could dance. The little girl was clutching a drumstick with a death grip. As I was holding her, she proceeded to rub the chicken all over my face, neck and chest. She was too adorable for me to be upset or to try and take it away from her, so I just went with it. When I gave her back, everyone at my table was laughing at me and complimented my chicken perfume for the remainder of the evening.

Monday morning, we went with Bob and some of his friends to a local dim sum restaurant. I've never seen or tasted so many different kinds of dim sum...literally over 50 different types carried around the joint by women on trays. It's like a roaming buffet...you don't even have to move! I ate chendol, an Indian dessert soup made of shaved ice, coconut milk, red beans and some kind of green noodle, under a big tree by the river while making predictions on the World Cup with an old Malaysian man. That night, Bob, Simon, Nikki, another Malay guy and I went to a Portuguese restaurant. We had steamed fish that was incredible. I accidentally picked up the fish eye with my spoon and immediately dumped it back on the serving dish thinking that surely no one ate that part of the fish. Bob caught me and told me that I should try it...he said it would be good for my eyesight! So, I ate it. The 'clear' part of the eye kind of popped in my mouth. I spit the rest out. They told me to put it back in and chew/suck the white residue off. This part tasted like chalk, and I am proud to say that I did a great job controlling my gag reflex. I got it down to what you see in the picture...that little piece of the eye is currently residing in my wallet until I figure out a way to get it mounted onto a ring or pendant. I have seen the world in 3D ever since.

Tuesday, I again had fish for breakfast...this time, Bob had me eat the heart and reproductive organs. He said that it would make my future husband very happy...we'll have to see about that! Meals with such generous and friendly people, chicken perfume and fish eyes....it's easy to see how my time in Malacca was such a wonderful experience!

Made my way back to Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday afternoon. Currently getting all the last minute details finalized before I head to India! ;)

Slingapore

I am feeling a bit lazy today, so titled my blog Slingapore instead of Singapore Sling to save time. Singapore is a model of efficiency in action...must make the Germans jealous! It is very clean. I felt that if I dropped food on the sidewalk, it would be okay to pick it up and eat it. They have queue lines to enter and exit anywhere and rules for everything...the toilet rules are quite humorous! I must admit, that although seemingly simple, my favorite part of Singapore is the taxis. On top of each, there is an LED sign that reads 'Hired' or 'Taxi' so that you know whether or not it's available and saves you from standing on the side of the street and waving your hands around unnecessarily. Genius!

Shay and I arrived on Wednesday and spent the better part of Wednesday evening trying to find a place to sleep...seems that it would have been a good idea to plan ahead and book a room. We settled in Little India, visited a Hindu Temple (very colorful, lots of cows) and ate with our hands at a fabulous hole in the wall Indian joint. On Thursday, we slung our cameras around our necks and hit the town as tourists. First stop, the Quay area...a nice blend of English Colonial meets modern design (Norman Foster designed the new Supreme Court Building...amazing architecture). After our morning tour around the CBD and river, we headed out to the Singapore Zoo. These crazy people dressed like trees attacked us as we were entering and a nice Singaporean gave us free passes as we were walking up...people in Singapore are very kind and gracious. The zoo is reputedly the best in the world...very clean, large, interactive and a boat load of animals. Noah would have been jealous. I was most intrigued by the proboscis monkey, quite possibly the least attractive creature I've ever seen.

Thursday night, we made our way to Raffles Hotel for an original Singapore Sling. The drink was invented by a bartender a long time ago at the Long Bar, then and now part of the Raffles Hotel. The hotel itself is incredibly beautiful, classic Colonial architecture and today also holds every designer boutique you can think of. Long Bar has old fans, antique furniture...very cool atmosphere. The drink, at $25 Singapore Dollars (roughly $20 USD), was delicious. But, my budget and the fact that I can't drink a lot of terribly sweet drinks limited my intake to only one.

On Friday, Shay and I made our way to Chinatown. We went to the Hawkers Market (basically a covered street food market) and I had the best meal I've had in a while - raw cod fish with vegetables, porridge and dragon fruit juice...all for $5. I said goodbye to Shay, who headed to Bali to meet his girlfriend, and enjoyed the rest of the day wandering around Little India and back down to the Quay. At the Quay, there was a group of students performing percussion music (I think Samba!?) which was fantastic. At the MRT stop, about 20 or more teenagers were practicing break dancing. I really want to learn how to do that! The skyline of Singapore is beautiful at night, except for the three towers with a boat on top (behind me in the picture). In my humble opinion, it might just be the ugliest building in the world. Back in Little India, I capped off my excursion to country #14 on this little trip of mine by eating yet another meal with my hands. I am seriously starting to feel that silverware is highly overrated.

Same Same, But Different

The title of my blog is one of the answers that you get for almost any question you ask in either Malaysia or Indonesia, I've discovered. It makes me laugh every time I hear it.

I spent a total of 11 days in the Perhentian Islands. It was paradise and it was hard to leave. I met some great people and we had a blast snorkeling, watching sunsets, eating and drinking together. I ate every meal but two with my feet in the sand (it was raining for those two meals!). I did some great diving...saw some beautiful and colorful coral, a giant grouper, several stingrays, lots of reef sharks, a black and white spotted eel, several large trigger fish, barracuda, butterfly fish, parrot fish and a lot of clown fish. They are so fun to play with...one of them swam into my face mask when I was trying to tickle it! The 11 days all kind of blur together...it was so relaxing! Medical update: I tried some unconventional methods of curing my rash (ask me about it sometime if you're curious!) and that seemed to help it get better throughout the week.

I spent Sunday night on an overnight bus from the Perhentian Islands back to Kuala Lumpur. The bus we were on did not have shocks, or if they did, they were all broken. The bus literally swayed and squeaked for the entire 9 hour ride. I did not get any sleep because the locals on the bus kept screaming at random points in the night, mostly when we were going around mountains and dodging oncoming traffic at the same time. Hard to sleep when there are those kind of distractions!

Shay, an Irish guy that I met in the islands, and I spent the last two days exploring more of Kuala Lumpur. I spent Monday morning dealing with a surprising amount of red tape in order to start the India visa process, although it probably felt more challenging because I was going on over 24 hours with no sleep! Last night, we went to a fish spa. It tickled like crazy to have the fish eat the dead skin off my feet! We also went to the movies and saw Robinhood...great movie and so nice to do something that reminds me of life back home.

Today, we went to Malaysia's National Mosque (picture) and to Mosque Jamid. As in all mosques, women are required to cover their body and hair. I thought my purple cloak was quite cute! Shay has just come from traveling in India, so we went to Little India for a vegetarian lunch so that he could prepare me for what my travels will be like there. A meal served on banana leaf with no silverware....ate with my hands. The food was amazing and I actually enjoyed touching my food and getting my hands dirty while eating it. I think I'll enjoy India just fine, as long as I can wash my hands before eating!

I've never had any real interest in traveling to Singapore. Shay convinced me that drinking a Singapore Sling in Singapore was a reason, and I could not disagree. Tomorrow, we're heading to Singapore. It's only a 5 hour bus ride from KL and I've got to kill some time waiting for my India visa to process. So, my next update will come after I've had a Singapore Sling in Singapore! ;)