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Published: July 13th 2009
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Malaysia with no doubt surprised me specially after sleeping between buses & trains during 3 days coming all the way from the little hill tribe village in the North of Thailand where i was living & studying massage to this multi-cultural overwhelming city populated by Malays, Chinese & Indians to say the least because there's many many more ethnicities that undoubtedly add up to the flavor of this country...compared to the other countries i visited in South East Asia, it somehow felt that this place remained quite undiscovered and that the majority of travelers (including myself) used it only as a quick stop over to jump to the next destination....
Anyways, there is about 1.5 million people living here, first thing that stroke me when entering the city on the bus was the huge architectural monuments (mosques, banks, & towers) and traffic jams that felt out of proportion to its village-like neighborhoods. It is a tremendously chaotic city, it definitely took over the place Bangkok had on my list as one of the most polluted cities i have ever been to. I caught a glimpse at the Petrona Twin Towers on my way to the Australian Embassy
, i have to admit they looked quite impressive from the outside but did not instigate my curiosity to make arrangements to go up the ex-tallest building in the world before some towers in Taiwan took over. I guess i was just feeling totally out of place in KL after living at the tiny rural village in Thailand with no desire to be surrounded by man-made monuments....
The interviews at the Australian Embassy were hectic & discouraging, i had a rough session where they asked me to show many documents (bank statements, letters of invitation, employment letters, airplane tickets, etc), that i just didn't have so i went back feeling a bit dissapointed....
I waited for the weekend to take a trip out to this place called Melacca located in the southern region of the Malay peninsula another UNESCO world heritage town about 2 hrs from KL. I went with the intention to clear my mind, get some fresh air and decide if it was worth going back to reapply for the tourist visa....To say the least, none of that happened, i ended up staying in this bed-bug infested guest house hosted by an Indian guy with crazy stories about
his countless deportations and issues with the law hahahaha incredible!!!!....He introduced me to few of his friends including the owner of the guest house who happened to be a really cool guy, we spent most of the time on the roof top smoking some incredible Malay grass with his Muslim friends, ohhh yeah!!!!!, all dressed up in traditional Muslim clothing and holding on tight to the bong , we played some music, had a talk & smoked together in the name of peace, unfortunately, i had to held on to my questions because of the language barrier. The little village was quite colorful, the night market was interesting specially for the display of antique arts & crafts, i recognize that my state of mind wasn't the best, i was being dragged by worry, i couldn't help picturing this lady at the embassy on my mind reciting all the documents i had to bring with me....anyways, i went back to KL on Monday, showed up at the embassy giving up to my expectations and leaving everything to destiny, i had a second interview with another lady who asked me no questions at all, she quickly checked whatever few documents i had
and told me to wait 10 days for a response.....
I grabbed my bag right away and headed to the bus station with destination to Pulau Tioman (Island) on the South China Sea which i heard was supposed to be one of the best islands in the world....I was completely determined to spend this waiting time somewhere outside this chaotic and tremendously polluted pile of cement, i wish i had something more positive to say about KL but i don't, i am sure there's some interesting things to learn like most of the places i have visited but at the time i was just not open to the idea....
I took me about 5 hours on an overnight freezing full-on air-con bus ride to arrive to Mersing on the east coast where i took the 2 hr boat next morning to Pulau Tioman. I decided to get off at Air Batang ABC beach where i read the cheapest acomodation was, most of the other places were plagued with expensive family resorts. My dream was coming true, i was welcomed with an amazing white sandy beach, crystal clear water, swaying palm trees, and a charming little village with guest
houses, little restaurants, and many scuba diving shops along the 2 km road that made up Air Batang Beach. The next morning I took this wonderful 45 minute hike to Monkey Beach on the way to the next village, the hike through this dense lush tropical jungle was wild, i felt on my butt few times looking down at the cliffs, and feeling my heart beat going crazy, i had so many flashbacks thinking about Costa Rica, the weather, the vegetation, the monkeys jumping on the trees, i couldn't have felt more at home....I ended up staying 10 days, hang out with some locals at the reggae bar, met some interesting fellow travelers & got harassed by a young Malay lady who wanted me to become her son's daddy hahahaha (that's what happens when getting a bit too friendly)....
At the end it all went well, i received an email telling me to show up at the embassy in KL and pick up the Australian visa, i hung out at the rustic village guest house counting down the days to get out of the city....I did meet up with a really wonderful Malay couch surfer friend who took me
out of china town and drove me around all different neighborhoods in KL, took me out for dinner to a outdoor market and talked to me about the country's culture, religion and history, that was definitely the highlight for my last few days in Malaysia....
NEXT DESTINATION: Melbourne, Australia......
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Andrew
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Malaysia
Even i enjoy the trekking...cool buddy.. Thanks for sharing... ___________________ Andrew The Best PRICE for the BEST ENTERTAINMENT