Malaysia - Home away from home

Back in Malaysia :) We visited Malaysia two years ago and the memory stuck in our heads as an amazing one. Actually, we were a bit worried to go back, as our first stay in this beautiful country was so great that we didn't want to spoil that memory. However, our craving for the Malaysian delights was unbearable :) Josie simply had to get her Roti Chennai fix! To add to our luck, Audrey and her husband, friends from the previous visit, invited us to stay with them. Yey! So we caught a cab to Audrey's place and found ourselves in Audrey's previous apartment as she has just moved to a new one - now that was heaven on earth. After 8 months of traveling, having space for ourselves in a country that we loved, in a "normal" housing area with a working fridge was just was we have been longing for. And more! This place had a feeling of a beach resort, with a nice swimming pool surrounded by palm trees, pool table, restaurant and a TV room. We could not believe it! Then, even though it was in the middle of the night Audrey took us out for some satays, ice lemon tea and ROTI CHANNEI. That was it, the icing on the cake. We were where back in Malaysia perfectly happy, and the food was every bit as delicious as we remembered it being.

Next day Audrey helped us apply for the Indian visa. Pictures with blue background had to be taken and forms had to be filled in. The day we arrived there, a new company had taken over the Visa processing, was this a good or a bad thing? Well they had laid on free Indian food at the office, so cheap as ever we were pleased and concluded it was probably a good thing :) After we submitted the forms the process was as follows, wait until the high commission gives the OK for the visa, come back to the office to drop off your passport and then come back again the same day or next day to pick up your passport. All not really customer friendly as we had to walk to the office at least 3 times, get a ticket, queue and wait. Apparently the whole process takes 5 working days, but when we turned up to drop off our passports we have been told that the high commission did not approve Andy's visa yet and we should have waited until that happens and then come and drop off the passport. So we tried to save ourselves some more walks and asked if we can leave the passports with them until it is all done. OK, we left the passports there, only to find out the next day that Andy received only the 3 months visa and not the standard 6 months like Josie did. Apparently they did not receive the OK from the high commission for Andy. We were told by another Britain there, that India now classes all British as a terrorist threat so we recieve more thorough treatment than others (no doubt in response to us classing them the same way). German's proved to be more efficient here (or less of a threat one of the two) ;) Partially it was our fault as Andy requested only 3 months visa, but we thought it would be from the point of entry and not from the day of submitting the application. This would mean we would have to leave India on 5 November, whereas our flights are booked for 29th. Here you go. The woman behind the counter said there is NOTHING she can do and asked why we can't cut our holidays short?! It was OUR FAULT after all for not requesting the correct lenght of time we where told, dispite us putting our arrival and departure date as requested. This was followed by a brief time arguing in raised voices as we didn't believe there was nothing that could be done, but apparently there was not. Josie was close to submitting another visa application and paying all the fees again and see there, suddenly the woman behind the counter found out that there is something she can do. She asked us to leave the passport there and come back in the afternoon. So we did, and found Andy's visa being manually amended (ie. scribbled on with a pen) to say it is valid for 6 months. Hopefully this won't bite us back in India we thought as not being allowed to leave and arrested for overstaying your visa isn't an attractive proposition. Never mind. Let's try.

During our stay in KL we met our virtualtourist friends again and had a great dinner at the Lotus Penang restaurant in Jalan Binjai. Very central and very good! Another day Audrey's husband and his friend took us out on a tour of Putrajaya - a city that has been build for the government and their servants. It definitely has been build to impress, with big streets and big stunning buildings. That place popped out of the soil like mushrooms after the rain. Within very few years it was ready to impress the world. A lot of money had clearly been poured into PutraJaya to impress the world, but at what cost to KL we thought? The place has a slightly eerie feel too, like a large city with not enough people to fill it.

When Audrey's husband heard that we really want to learn to cook some Indian food he arranged for us to meet his Indian friend. So on a Sunday morning we have been picked up at 7am to go to the market and buy some ingredients. Not quite a market like we know. The chickens were actually alive. To weigh them they were strapped by their feet and hung upside down from a scale. Very fresh we say. We picked the birds and then came back about 15mins later to find them now as meat. We also picked up some mutton and other bits a pieces and went home to start cooking. It was sooo interesting. We were cooking two meat dishes, vegetables and ghee rice. All was not so easy at all, with loads of ingredients. We were very impressed that somebody can actually remember it all as we even had trouble writing it all down! Another interesting thing was to see that it was not necessary to taste the dishes to spice them. Apparently you can judge from the smell what is missing?! All a mystery to us but it works if you are a professional like our teacher. Finally all was done and we were ready to serve. The girls took Josie aside and as they knew she would be going to an Indian wedding they dressed her up in a Saree. What an experience! A Saree is simply a long piece of cloth that the women wrap around themselves in a very nice way. It is an art to actually put the Saree together so it looks like it should do and to wear it without it falling apart! But also it feels very feminine to wear one. They come in the most beautiful colours, different patterns and stunning embroidery. The western women should definately take a leaf out of this book.

Then the database crash on TravelBlog happened. We were shocked at first as quite a few of our entries were missing but soon with Ali's help we managed to recover most of them. A minor disaster was averted here as we had lost half of our trip in one swoop.

Even though we felt like kings where we were, we decided to see a bit more of Malaysia. A place that Josie was dying to go to was Sipadan, a world famous diving spot on Sabah (East Malaysia). Here again knowing a few people came to an advantage. Patricia, another VirtualTourist member was very helpful and gave us a contact of a dive master, Lea, who organised our trip. Read more in the next blog :)

Being in one and the same place for some time allowed us to see few people again, make new friends and truly feel like at home. Josie was enjoying the pool and doing her laps until she met Savita, and the exercise turned into loads of girlie chat and laughter. In general it seemed like making new friends and getting to know people was sooo easy in Malaysia. People everywhere were so friendly and open that even though we were not necessary doing touristy things we were busy chatting to everyone and lunching our way through. Of course the weather also helps and drags the people out of their houses. Not to mention the good and reasonably priced food that everyone can afford. All that contributes to an amazing atmosphere in Malaysia, where loads of people eat out and enjoy each others company. Just like it should be :)

Our luck was not ending here. Another friend from virtualtourist, Akshat, knew that we will be coming to India next and so he invited us to his wedding! Definitely an event not to miss. So in KL we also met cousins of the bride to be and more people that would also be at the wedding in India. We had great fun eating good food and playing a totally crazy game of pictionary. We are still surprised that there were no casualties ;) Suja and Suchi took Josie to look for her own Saree. A once in a lifetime opportunity to dress up with everyone else. Even Andy was up for it and got himself a nice Kutra Pijama outfit. It probably was a good idea to buy some new clothes as ours started to look really worn out. The rough washing machines in the laundrettes that we had to use throughout our journey and the simple fact that we are wearing the same clothes all the time, left holes in our t-shirts and trousers. Yes, that made us feel like real travellers :)

Audrey and her husband went out of their way to introduce us to some amazing food only the locals know where to find. We tried so many things! Chinese and Indian, tofu, grilled fish, black noodles and loads of other things and of course a durian! Did we mention? We were in heaven :)

When we came back from Sipadan it so happened that Ali (Ali owns this travel blog website) was in town so we went out to meet him and two other friends we just made on Sipadan. We met Ali actually in Malaysia 2 years ago in Malakka. We have to admit that he is partially responsible for us being on this trip right now :) Thank you Ali! But also he amazed us with his still very optimistic attitude and outlook on life. After 5 years of travelling he was still as inspirational as the first time when we met him. A true character - meet him if you have the opportunity to.

With our batteries fully recharged we were ready for the last leg of our journey - India! We said goodbye to Malaysia, knowing that we will come back, again!

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