Malaysia

I would be willing to bet that when someone says “Asia,” the first thing that comes to your mind is not “Mal-asia” (forgive the spelling, it emphasizes the point.) I know it didn’t for me and to be honest, I knew virtually nothing about the country. But after spending three far too short days there, I would make the case that it should be added to any Asian travel itinerary. I think the best way to describe it is as “Asia Light”…all the culture of Asia, but with mostly English-speaking people. It provided the ideal Asia 101 course for us, for even though we’ve been to the craziest of the crazy, Asia is still an intimidating travel destination, from Veitnam to China to Japan. So it was nice to feel like we were in China even while gazing out to some of the tropical islands that come up when you google “paradise.”

On the first day, I was signed up for an FDP (Faculty-Directed Practica) trip for my architecture class. FDP’s are basically educationally centered field trips (as opposed to trips that are just for fun) and are led by your professor. Since we only have 46 days of class instead of the usual 55, 20% of our grade is participation on 2 FDP’s for each class. All things considered, they’re definitely not a bad way to get a grade. Anyway, this FDP was a walking tour of Georgetown, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the location of our berth. It was fascinating going from a Christian Cathedral to a Buddhist Temple to a Chinese Clan House, passing mosques the whole way. The final place we visited, the Khoo Kongsi Clan House, was an incredibly decorated Chinese house where one of the descendents of the clan was actually having his wedding photos taken with his fiancé. Much to my surprise, our guide walked up to them and nudged them out of the way, motioning for us to follow. Hmm. They didn’t seem to mind too much…I guess that’s what happens when you’re in love. The next part of my day is one of shame, regret and remorse. We rode the free shuttle to the Komtar Shopping Center, at which point we indulged in the finest Malaysian Starbucks and McDonalds. To make matters worse, we even ran into the ship’s head chef, who recognized us and said “What, my food is even worse than McDonalds?” Ouch.

To make up for this indiscretion of mine, on the second day AJ and I hiked Penang Hill. This required us taking a public bus to the Botanic Gardens, then hiking a trail from there. The gardens were a beautiful escape from the city, as they were only 20 minutes away but felt like a world apart. There were towering jungles all around us, monkeys running around, and tons of schoolchildren fascinated by the large, lost-looking gentlemen wandering around the botanic gardens. We had a hell of a time finding the actual trail, and at one point we wandered through the parking lot, where a taxi driver asked if we wanted to go to the train station that goes up the hill. Being manly men, we said of course not, we were going to hike it thankyouverymuch. He looked at us, laughed, and said “alright.” Turns out we should have taken the train.

Eventually we found the trail and began our hike of what we thought would be about 2 hours. The heat was oppressive, the humidity even more so, and within 5 minutes we were both dripping like faucets. My decision not to fill my water bottle all the way to the top that morning was looking like a terrible one, but we pressed on. After about an hour and a half, we reached the top of the mountain…only to find ourselves looking at the mountain we actually wanted to climb about a mile away. Discouraged but not quitters, AJ took the first steps along the trail to the summit. Immediately I heard a hissing sound and saw a flash of black movement right by his foot. Looking closer, I saw a 6-inch, midnight black scorpion with its stinger fully locked and loaded. It took every ounce of strength I possessed not to scream like a little girl. Once my testosterone came out of hiding, though, it took every ounce of strength I possessed not to provoke it. However, being a solid 2 hours away from anything, common sense took over and we left it alone. A little further down the trail, we reached the road to the top. There was a trail next to it, but it didn’t look well-traveled and so we opted for the paved route. Mistake #2. The next hour and a half or so was spent trekking up a 30% graded road. For comparison, Vail pass is about 7% grade. It got so bad that we ended up hiking 100 feet and then stopping for 3 minutes. Hike 100, stop. This was all made worse by the cars blowing past us up to the top, including one driven by my international law professor. Eventually we made it, a solid 3 hours and 2 liters of water later, and despite the view that I knew awaited us, we headed straight for the food court and bought 4 bottles of beverage and 2 plates of food. After half an hour of refreshment, we headed out to admire the view. I got one picture before the monsoon hit.

Monsoons are things that must be seen to be believed, especially for us Colorado folks. It lasted about 90 minutes and unlike many Colorado storms, it didn’t taper off before strengthening again. This was 90 minutes of full-on downpour. I actually left my water bottle out in the rain and ended up collecting about 100 mL of rainwater when all was said and done. It finally ceased and we went out and explored the Hindu temple and Muslim mosque located at the top (after that climb, I can see why prayer is necessary upon summiting). Then it was time for our return trip down in the air-conditioned comfort of the train and bus back to the ship. Side note: I almost gagged myself when I took of my shirt that night.

Our final day in Malaysia was by far the highlight of my trip. Since the activities of the previous day had taken *ahem* longer than expected, our plan of visiting Kek Lok Si temple was postponed until the following day, and it turns out that was the best thing that could have happened. We arrived in the morning and ended up staying the entire day there, something we could not have done had we tried to cram it into the end of the other day. Kek Lok Si is a temple built into the side of a mountain, offering more stunning views of the city. I’m still not quite sure what kind of temple it is…mostly Buddhist, I assume, but the pagoda is Buddhist, Burmese and Thai influenced, so it’s anybody’s guess. It doesn’t really matter though, because it was still the most incredible experience I’ve had in a temple. The complex itself is enormous, and there was almost nobody there, making it feel like it was built just for us. It was sunny and a little bit cooler farther up the hill, giving us a place to escape the heat. There were no rules, no security guards, not even a sign letting us know that this was the destination we were trying to find. It just was. We took an inclined elevator farther up the hill to a 50+ foot golden statue, as well as a shelter built in the middle of a pond with a waterfall behind it. Everything about it was perfect, and it felt like it wasn’t so much a temple for Buddhists or Taoists as it was a temple for people. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences on this trip.

It didn’t hurt that the temple was also free, which fit nicely into my budget of traveling Malaysia on 100 Ringitt (~33 USD). When changing countries every week, you learn about how much money you’ll need and travel so you don’t have to make several different trips to the ATM. I only took out 100, so that was my budget. It is also very difficult not only switching between currencies and exchange rates, but even the NAMES of the currencies can prove difficult. Most often, they are referred to as “(country name) dollars” (Moroccan dollars, Mauritian dollars), “(country name) whatevers” (Ghanaian whatevers, South African whatevers) or, if all else fails, “dirham,” the currency of Morocco, has become the go-to (though word on the street is upon our arrival in Vietnam, ‘dong’ will become the new gold standard.)  It is not uncommon to take out 100 Malaysian dollars, take the bus for the price of 2 Malaysian dirham, and then grab dinner using the remainder of your Malaysian whatevers. But I’ve digressed. Anyway, I spent exactly 100 Ringitt in the following breakdown:

6- Souveneirs

18-Transportation

17- Food

25- Drink

34- Transportation down Penang Hill

We should have just walked down.