Malaysia

April 5th, 2016-Malaysia

I didn’t know what to expect from Malaysia since initially I was just going
to do a “visa run” and return back to Thailand. After a month with Bass, I figured why not explore the rest of South East Asia and see everything it has to offer then going back to the fitness camp. My first few days in Kuala Lumpur were really nice and relaxing. I was a bit tired from our Thailand go-go-go adventures so I took it easy, exploring the city at turtle speed. I was a bit sad to say good bye to Bass and realized I would have to make new friends and put myself out there again! I was lucky to have met an awesome guy (Atilla) on the airplane who gave me tons of tips about Malaysia and was so kind that he offered  me a ride to my hostel. I was also lucky that a girl named Sam who I had met in Bangkok (on the food tour) lived in KualaLumpur. She was able to meet me with me quite a few times to show me around, have drinks, dinner, take me out to enjoy the night life, and catch a lovely south Indian dance show with. She was definitely so helpful in a new city. Thanks Sam 🙂  I also met up with Skyler a few times who I met in the hostel back in Bangkok and toured the city and the Batu caves (Hindu temple inside a cave) with. I spent some time
with Emily from America walking around and site seeing. I also spent some time shopping and atthe Skybar (amazing views of the Petronas Towers) with Nas, Lexi, Jeremy, and Allison. I quickly realized the food in Malaysia is beyond amazing. A fusion of flavours around the world including Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian. One morning I had decided it was time to go to Myanmar/Burma after Malaysia. I wanted to look for the Myanmar embassy to apply for a visa to the country and somewhere along the way, I felt a sharp pain in my pinky finger. Something had either bitten or stung me and my finger started swelling/blistering. The next day fellow hostel mates had urged me to go to the hospital and get it checked out. A short wait in the ER and the doctor gave me some meds to reduce the swelling and told me to come back and have the blister popped. The next day the swelling hadn’t gone down so I went back to the ER. They ended up popping it and cutting off the dead skin, which was probably one of the grossest things I had to see and pretty painful. I had to stay in Kuala Lumpur a couple more days to have the bandage changed which I didn’t mind since the hostel (BackHome) gave me a free nights stay and I had met a lot of lovely people. I bought some supplies to change the bandage on my own and headed to the city of Melecca/Maleka on bus. I had met Sophie at my hostel in Kuala Lumpur as she was also going to the same city so I was glad for the company. The city was quite small and reminded me of what I assume Venice looks like. A canal runs through the city with beautiful Portuguese style houses along side and a rich history. It was unbearable during the day to walk through the city since it was so hot and Sophie and I were relieved to have travelled together to this city because there wasn’t much in terms of entertainment. It is a very quiet city with strict Muslim laws so alcohol is either not sold or extremely expensive but Soph and I managed to enjoy some wine on the roof top terrace of my hostel. We tried a walking tour earlier that day but it was a bit too long and drawn out sowe escaped and watched Superman Vs. Batman in the theatres and couldn’t get enough of the air conditioning ha ha. We said our good byes and I took a 10 hour bus to the city of Penang. I heard Penang was theepicenter of magical tasting food. I got to the city and checked into my hostel realizing that it was right in “Little India”. While walking on the street I ran into Anna from

England who I had met at my hostel in Kuala Lumpur and she introduce me to her friend Hussam from Egypt. Over the next few days we made friends with a lot of people from Hussam’s hostel like Michelle and Karsten from Germany, Ariy from America, and Sam from Montreal.

We all did an Escape room in Penang which was fun, hung out at the beach, partied one night, walked around the city, and ate plenty of meals together while sharing a laughs. I’ll be honest, maybe it’s a bit of burn out, but I really enjoyed Penang for the food and people I met, I wasn’t too into site seeing. It’s also been so incredibly hot here, that it’s too hot to walk around without being in a pile of sweat.

Overall, I really did enjoy exploring Malaysia for the short time I was here and was lucky to have tried so many lovely dishes. I also cannot forget all my travelling friends I have made which helped make this a wonderful country to visit. Next country is Myanmar/Burma.