Finally, several weeks after the fact, here is a quick summary of my trip to Malaysia and my impressions, thoughts, feelings, ramblings on my trip:
1. Kuala Lumpur:
Batu Caves |
Iconic KL building, Petronas Twin Towers |
I started the trip with the flight from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur, which was the first time I had left Cambodia since arriving about nine months before. Luckily, a fellow PCV had a long layover in Kuala Lumpur before heading to Australia, so I had a travel partner for my first day in country. We went to the Batu caves which turned out to be a great way to start the trip. After a quick stop at McDonald's, we caught a commuter train out to the caves. The golden statue towered over the small plaza in the front where we stood, making me feel quite small. As we walked up all those steps, I quickly rethought any claims fitness I had made before. Inside the caves were several shrines and statues, but the area was undergoing renovation at the time and so most things were closed. After that, we explored more of the city, quickly realizing that it was a city made for cars as opposed to walking. I imagine this is what it is like trying to get around most US cities without a car. Towards the end the day, I sent my travel partner on his way, and I went to my hostel in Chinatown.
One of the most famous buildings in KL, originally a British administration building |
Malaysia's national religion is Islam. Above, the National Mosque |
The next day I started my explorations of Kuala Lumpur, mostly using a hop-on, hop-off bus to get around to the different sites. All in all, I was very impressed with Kuala Lumpur. I hadn't known what to expect; I didn't know much about the city before coming, but I really liked its mixture of new and old. The city is clean, well organized, and has cheap mass transit. Walking out onto the streets, it felt like any major Western city.I hadn't quite realized how used to Cambodia and Phnom Penh I had become until I strolled around Kuala Lumpur.
2. Malacca
DELICIOUS!! |
The next day my new British friend wanted to eat her way through Malacca. Needless to say, I was all about that and joined her We walked around Malacca taking pictures, stopping in random shops, and eating anything and everything we could. I'm going to do an entire post on the food of Malaysia, so I'll save those descriptions for another time. After a day of fun I prepared to catch the night bus from Malacca to Penang. I left around 10:30 PM and get into Penang around 7:30 AM the next morning.
Malacca Straits Mosque |
3. Penang
Penang has many Chinese clan houses, which were used as community centers and schools for newly arrived Chinese immigrants |
Some of the street art of Penang |
However the best was yet to come. I honestly think my trip to Penang National Park was one of the highlights of my trip. As I mentioned, we got a lift to the park with a local, and we all hiked our way up and down slightly hazardous trails for two hours until we came out of the jungle into… this.
The beach was beautiful and very quiet when we got there. We brought our lunch and ate it sitting on the beach talking about this, that, and the other. It was a another of those wonderful "travel moments" that highlighted the beauties of traveling alone. After hiking back out, we headed to a large Chinese Buddhist temple perched on a hill overlooking the city. The view was quite lovely! You could see a little slice of the ocean, the tall buildings, and the jungle enveloping the hills. After having dinner together and saying our goodbyes, I headed back to the hostel to pack up and get ready for my flight back the next day.
Quite a lovely beach and well worth the hike! |
The view from one of the temples |
And as I said I learned a lot about Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur as well as the other cities I visited had great tours that were usually free in addition to many great museums; I learned a lot about the history, culture, and customs of the country. One thing that specifically stuck out to me was the diversity; Malaysia is known for being quite diverse. It is made up of three major ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese, and Indian), and each group speaks their own language and practices a their own religion but there has been a long tradition of unity in Malaysia and working together despite these differences. They kind of embrace those differences from what I can see and celebrate them rather than trying to make everyone the same. I can tell Kuala Lumpur especially, but also Malaysia as a whole, is doing its best to develop itself and make itself into a world-class city, destination, country. I look forward to seeing what the future has in store for Malaysia.
That's it for now.
Until next time,
Carissa