Week 14 ~ Malaysia

#SoloTravel

Inseparable for three months straight. Started off a year-long international travel by spending a month together in a very small van. We’d literally done everything together for the last three months. No separation. No privacy. Tight quarters in foreign places. We needed a break from each other.

Or that is what people might think when I say we parted ways last Wednesday. The reality is Nick was flying halfway across the world for one of his best friend’s bachelor parties (s/o Calvin). While he had an enjoyable time in Hong Kong during his 6 hour layover and in Dallas with his buddies, Mr. Big Lung is sitting out on this week's blog post. He is recovering with some much-needed rest after being in the air for 60+ hours in a span of 6 days.

It was literally just 6 days apart, but it seemed like such a bigger deal since we were going from being constantly around each other to the opposite side of the globe. I knew I was far when I checked FindMyFriends and couldn’t fit a single person in my screen. Theatrics aside, it was a good week. We both enjoyed ourselves and now have some fresh conversations lol.

I wanted to dedicate this blog to my solo traveling girl friends who inspired my solo female travel. Beth, Kayleigh, Victoria, and Megan. Some of you are known for solo camping, some for your international travel, and others for road tripping and backpacking for months on end. All insanely cool and very inspirational.

Despite having these girls in the back of my mind as I began my adventure, I was still a little worried about getting squirrelly with the decreased human interaction. I feel like I can be pretty nutty at baseline, but didn’t notice too much of a change this week. Ya’ll can be the final judge of that by the end of this blog.

Something about the 5am sunrise surf sessions and Nick’s late-night work calls had us leaving Sri Lanka less rested than we’d expected. Good thing for me, I had a 3.5 hour direct flight to Kuala Lumpur and zero plans after that. I had really wanted to go to Nepal or Laos during this time, but with Nick’s time away shortened, it geographically did not make sense. So I decided to split my time between Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Melaka.

Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia (Translated as Muddy River Mouth in Malay)

Melaka: Multicultural trading port from the 15th century, located on the Strait of Melaka and just under 2 hours away from Kuala Lumpur.

I visited the infamous Batu Caves of Kuala Lumpur.

Instead of booking a tour, I decided to visit on my own, with one AirPod, listening to a podcast about the cave’s significance and history. It’s a pretty new development, with construction starting in 2002 and ending in 2004. While this Hindu shrine and temple are relatively new, the limestone hills and cave in which it is built into, is over 400 million years old.

To my surprise, there were an enormous number of monkeys on the premises. They were everywhere. If there is one thing I’ve learned from my extensive encounters with monkeys, it’s that there are chill monkeys and not-so-chill monkeys. Any primate who has been exposed to human food, not a chill monkey.

Almost everywhere I looked, there were monkeys eating bananas, potato chips, and any human food they could get their hands on. It wasn’t too difficult to come by since majority of the visitors were feeding the monkeys. Insane.

With their superhuman food to charge them, these monkeys were not shy at all. VERY active monkeys who were running around stealing purses from the ground, chasing after people with food, and overall just participating in a lot of monkey business. (Had to include a dad joke with it being Father’s Day this weekend, LOL).

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/24cfbc_7c7c69c4ae47480f92c44a0f80ab0496/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

At one point, I saw two different monkeys jump up onto a bag and then latch onto the torso of a guy holding said grocery bag. Insane. I felt like I was dodging them left and right, trying to maintain my distance despite them having no problem being in my personal bubble. What was more insane than the monkey behavior was the number of people who would try to touch the monkeys. For example, who would poke a mama monkey grooming her baby?! Or try to high-five a monkey?! I even saw someone sitting down, feeding monkeys, and tried kissing one?! Like what?!

The concerned face of a mamma monkey who just was poked by a random person.was just

On my way to the temple, I saw these monkeys exploring a car:

On my way out, I  just happened to look over and see how the monkeys left the car. Tough day for that car owner... Devious little monkeys who've had a taste of human food.

Before I transition off the topic of these monkeys, here are some scenic pics of the Batu Caves, bringing back the fun little game of ‘I Spy’.

I Spy 2 monkeys

I spy 14 monkeys.. excluding the stairs!

I Spy 2 more monkeys

What else did I do in KL? Honestly, not much except for eat, sleep, exercise, and relax at the hotel.

As far as the food in Kuala Lumpur goes, I was desperately looking for some comfort food at this point in my travels. I knew to avoid the lasagna, but I needed a break from fried rice, noodles, and curry. I enjoyed a fabulous steak at an Argentinian steakhouse and a fantastic Italian restaurant that thankfully did not give me food poisoning.Speaking of food, lets discuss the Malaysian food review.

..... No, I didn’t eat here, but this was the funniest thing to see in the little town of Melaka. I can't imagine the shame I would've received from Mr. International Chef if I did.

Malaysia Food review from whatever is the opposite of an international chef:

Eight years into our relationship, I found out the most amazing surprise: Nick is an excellent cook. He's known for his bolognese, pasta salads and whipping up any delicious meal with no recipe, just "a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and whatever feels good."  He received his title as International Chef, when dropped at a home in Cape Coast with 8 Ghanaian women he just met to cook 80+ meals for a Leprosy Community. 24 hours into Ghana and I left him on his own to go buy some medical supplies while he sat on the floor and chopped some onion in his lap with complete strangers. The meals were presented to the community by our local friends stating "This meal was cooked with care by eight generous woman and an international chef." The crowd went wild. Mr. International Chef loves food. He's a pretty strict food critic yet he decided to marry a woman who was once seen putting bare chicken breasts in an oven to cook. I can still hear him saying "Not even salt and pepper?!" 

With all of that said, I cannot think of a lesser qualified person to be giving the Malaysia food review. Since the only other time we plan to be in Malaysia on this trip is during a jungle trek in Borneo, the board decided it was time for me to step up to the plate. 

So here is the Malaysian food review from whatever is the opposite of an international chef.

Malaysia Food Review: 8.9 /10

Kopi Harian Fried Kuey Teow: 10/10 - Best noodle dish I’ve had so far in Asia. Their version of Pad Thai. I had originally sought out this restaurant to try their Nasi Lemak recommended by my hotel doorman. They were already sold out for the day so I had to pivot. Pleasant surprise with this noodle dish.

Nasi Lemak: 8.8/10  - The Nasi Lemak is rice cooked with coconut cream and was quite delicious. I went back the next day to the same restaurant, advised by my doorman, for they were known for the best. There was a line out the door, so I pivoted to a different highly rated local restaurant that served the traditional Peranakan (Nyonya) cuisine. I ended up trying the Nasi Lemak in a combination platter.

Blue rice: Nasi Kerabu (colored by the petals of the butterfly pea flower) / Yellow Rice: Nasi Kunyit (turmeric rice) / White Rice: Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), and regular steamed rice.

Chicken Rice Balls - The name explains the dish pretty well. I didn’t get the chance to try these popular balls, but I will see if there is an opportunity next time I’m visiting Malaysia. (For anyone who’s tried them, let me know if it is worth my going out of my way to explore).

Cendol:  4/10. Dessert! It was really just fine. There have been a few desserts we’ve tried on this trip that include some type of beans, which is really just not dessert-like, in my opinion. I’ve really taken a liking to anything with coconut, and this was coconut shaved ice with coconut cream, and I did enjoy that part. As far as the green jelly that looked like green beans, the texture wasn’t my favorite, and I didn’t think it added much taste.

Kuih Tart Nanas: 8/10 Nyonya pineapple tart, associated with the Peranakan (Nyona) community in Melaka. It was a good light pastry to enjoy. My hotel had surprised me with it when they turned down my room for the night in Melaka. I wasn’t brave enough to try any of the street food from the night market, so this was a tasty surprise treat. I had no idea what it was until I saw a sign for it the next day. I liked the size, not something I’d eat many of but was a good sweet fix.

Night Market Food: No solo adventuring of street food this week but here are some pics of some tempting options of culinary delight:

That’s it for my underqualified Malaysia food review, but here are some more pictures from the Melaka night market. Aside from food, the best way to describe the items being sold was… very Asian. Keychains, little trinkets, and of course, croc gems. Would have to say that, between the food and other items being sold, very similar to every other market I’ve been to so far in Asia.

Melaka:

Similar to Hoi An, which makes sense since it was a historic trading port with multicultural influence that is now a tourist destination as a UNESCO world heritage site. It felt slightly dirtier than Hoi An, but I think it was because the consumption and sales of durian were much higher here, with almost a constant smell of durian when walking around.

Melaka was still a very charming little town with heavy Persian, Chinese, Indian, Portuguese and Dutch influence. This quiet little town was a busy trading port of the 15th century, off the Strait of Melaka connecting the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea.

In Hoi An, Nick referred to the adults being biked around in large seats as adult strollers. I didn’t have him or anyone else here to reason with, so I decided to splurge on the mini themed bike tour of Melaka. I thought it would be a silly and efficient way to see the highlights of the town when I arrived. It was definitely very silly. So here I found myself on a Hello Kitty-themed bike ride.

“What music do you want?” “Surprise me. Whatever is your favorite music”

Sound on.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/24cfbc_a5505c3bad9241188754df050352ebcd/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

This song must be the current anthem of Malaysia because my bus ride home, this song and the “big boom boom” song were playing on repeat.

… annnndddd speaking of buses, this leads me to Lesson Learned of the Week:

Funny story / Lesson Learned of the week: 

A kook on land. Stereotypical tourist. American. Call it what you will, but I was D all of the above at the Melaka bus station in Malaysia. Day 5 of solo traveling and I was feeling ~great~ . So empowered and loving, how I'd been spending my time. This type of confidence is always where one finds themselves getting humbled. 

I'd already navigated the much larger Kuala Lumpur bus station and was returning to the Melaka Station for my return home to KL. Should've been a walk in the park. Mindless travel was my expectation. My ticket said gate D. I walked up, gave the woman my ticket, beep went the scanner, and I proceeded through the gate. I followed the crowd in front of me, assuming we were all going to the same place. I loaded my bag into the bottom of the bus and waited my turn to board. 

"What seat are you?" "4" 

"What seat?!" "4". 

The bus driver proceeds to ask some incomprehensible question.

I kindly ask for him to repeat.

Still, I had no idea what this man was saying, but his body language and tone definitely seemed annoyed.  

He asks what gate (I think that's what he asked) and I responded with D. 

Another minute or two of him talking, and me not understanding. I'm starting to sweat as if I were just experiencing the Southeast Asia heat for the first time. I'm looking around to see if anyone is going to step in and help this hopeless tourist. Just stares. 

I show him my ticket and he gets more animated but not any clearer with what he was saying. I'm staring at him, dumbfounded on what my next move should be. 

At this point someone took me out of my misery and said, "This bus is going to Singapore". 

I wish there could have been a photo or video of what my face looked like. I'd been holding up the line for what felt like 10 minutes for a bus I wasn't even getting on. I got off the bus, quickly grabbed my bag and looked around for a person who looked like the might speak clearer English. I decided to go with these two 20 year old looking guys. Skipping  the pleasantries, I went straight to  "where are you going?!" "Singapore". Bags hanging off my shoulder I respond "I'm definitely not supposed to be going to Singapore right now. Any chance you know which bus is going to Kuala Lumpur?" They pointed and suggested the bus next door. 

I walked over.  No bus driver is present to confirm or deny my entry. Risky business. I checked the front dash and it said Kuala Lumpur and took my chances boarding the second bus. 

Two friends were talking, one sitting in my seat. There was an open single seat across from them. I assumed they just wanted to sit next to each other. Since there was no bus driver to prevent me from boarding the wrong bus, I decided to show the girls my ticket. "Excuse me, I think you're in my seat, Seat 4."  They responded with showing me their ticket saying seat 4 & 5. Big sigh.

From my previous experience, I asked where they were going. "Kuala Lumpur". Okay me too. They looked at my ticket and said I was on the wrong Kuala Lumpur bus. They pointed to the bus next door. I didn't understand why I couldn't just stay on this bus that I had confirmed was going to my destination but regardless I responded with "no, no, no, I was just there. They are going to Singapore." At this point it was 5:29. My bus departure time was 5:30. 

This might've been karma for the stress I have  repeatedly caused Nick, Christian, and Helen while traveling. To probably nobody's surprise, I'm known for being the last person to board a plane. 

I was basically shoo'd off bus #2. I literally couldn't understand how one gate had so many busses all leaving at the same time and nobody to navigate. I crawled under bus #2 to collect my larger backpack and briskly hobbled over to bus #3. Hesitant to put my bag underneath the bus for a 3rd time, I looked to check with the bus driver. No driver. Is this even my bus? It's 5:31 and no driver? Sign on the windshield said Kuala Lumpur. I made up my mind. I'm going wherever this bus is going and I will figure it out from there. Bags loaded, I took an open seat under the number 4. Pretty empty bus compared to the other two. Bus driver eventually came 15 min later, put the bus in drive without any announcement. I nodded off. 

Woke up at the bus station, in Burma. 

LOL, just kidding! It would've been funnier if I were writing this blog in Myanmar, but instead it's being written on the plane from Kuala Lumpur to Bali. 

Lessons learned: Never assume, and there is no such thing as mindless travel. 

HLUL -MK

High: The sense of accomplishment of navigating the week by myself in a foreign place. It may sound lame, but I think it was a really great personal experience.

Low: The Asian bathrooms got to me this week. It wasn’t anything new, but the constant mystery liquid in every public bathroom I paid to use finally caught up to me. It became more of a challenge when having my backpacks, no place to put them, no person to watch them, and having to strategically roll my pants to not touch the mystery liquids. It was at this moment, in the Melaka bus station,  that I started to miss home, specifically the plumbing.

Unexpected: The people at Batu Caves were just as unhinged as the monkeys.

Learned: A LOT about the history of Malaysia. I found this great podcast series that dove deep into Malaysia’s history, which kept me VERY entertained. Some highlights:

• Malaysia gained independence from Great Britain in 1957.

• Malaysia is quite the multicultural melting pot thanks to colonialism, rubber, and tin.

• There was a labor migration from both India and China, and their cultural influence can be seen in many aspects of their cuisine and religion.

• Melaka is a multicultural trading port from the 15th century with heavy Persian influence, followed by Portuguese, Dutch, British, Chinese, and Indian. This is why you’ll find elaborate mosques, Catholic churches, Buddhist and Hindu temples in excess within this heritage site.

Thank you for reading! We'll have more entertainment from the foreigner himself next week.

Are you like my brother, and have fallen behind on the weekly posts?

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Love,

MK

& Nicky in spirit