Malaysia...Friendly Asia

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I think that should be the new motto. I swear Malaysia is the friendliest country I have ever been too. Everybody is just so upbeat and helpful. The guesthouse staff, the taxi and trishaw drivers, the people in restaurants and on the streets. This is really a great place to be. It’s strange that many SE Asia travelers don’t make it down here. They are missing out on one of the most comfortable Asian countries.

I need to start out with this funny story. The place I am staying right now has wireless Internet. But the owner started messing with the settings and it stopped working. Myself and this other guy started messing with it and got it to work. When the other guy saw I had a Mac he asked if he could check something. He designs websites and there was a bug reported on his site by Mac users. I said sure. He got on my laptop and logged on to this site, TravelBlog. I asked him how he was involved with TravelBlog...to which he responded, "I invented it". This guy was about my age, and he has been traveling for 4 years. Before he left for his first trip, he was sitting at home and decided to start coding this site to share his travel stories with his friends. Too funny! Here I am fixing a wireless connection on an island off the coast of Malaysia so I can update my TravelBlog with the guy who invented TravelBlog. Small world...and if you're reading...thanks Ali! Great site!

Malaysia is different from the other Asia countries I have visited because it doesn't have a standard route. In Vietnam you start from the Hanoi and head Saigon, or the other way. In Laos it's Luang Prabang to Vientinenne...Cambodia you have the 3 main stops. But in Malaysia, there are places all over, with no logical route between them. I have only been on Peninsular Malaysia...but half the country is located on the island of Borneo. Borneo is a huge island that is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the tiny nation of Brunei. I was going to go there after Singapore, but now I think I am just going to head back into Thailand. Some things have come up, and I think I might be coming home a little early. I don’t know how early it’s going to be, but it would be best to get back to Bangkok and figure things out. To be honest, I was getting a little exhausted. It hit me yesterday. I was on a beautiful beach on the island of Perhentian Kechil, and I was just tired. I slept well, and didn't really do anything but lay around on the beach all day...but I was tired through and through. I was seriously thinking that home sounded really good. But now that there is the real possibility that I will be home soon…I am kinda sad. All these other places I want to go and see are flashing through my mind. But I know I have been very lucky to have the time I have had…and when it’s time to go home, it’s time to go home.

Since I last updated I left KL and went to the Cameron Highlands. The Highlands are a hill station about 5 hours north of KL. It was nice and cool there and even rained a little. It was one of the most relaxing places I have been yet. I didn't do much there, just went of a tour of the tea factories and hung out at one of the best guesthouse I have been, Fathers. The rooms are in old Nissen huts. Really neat place. Great atmosphere.

After Cameron, I went to the island of Penang. I had always heard good things about Georgetown, and it was cool. But within a day I had seen and done everything I wanted to do...so I came out here to the Perhentian islands.
There are plenty of people out there who say the Pehentians beat any island in Thailand. I don't agree. They are beautiful. But the lodging is expensive for what you get...and is not well kept. I love A Frames on the beach...but most of these are so dirty and...yeah, just filthy. And the water on Long Beach? It is about 96 degree F. Way too hot...you can't even cool off. So after the first night, this German guy, Chris, and I moved over to Coral Bay on the other side of the island. Much nicer lodging...and much cooler water. Beautiful place. Now I don’t want to leave ;-)

Happy Wesak Day! (Buddha’s birthday, enlightenment, and death)

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Photos

Father's Guesthouse
In Cameron Highlands. Bunker-style Nissen huts.

Tea Fields
Cameron Highlands

Viper
Come type of deadly viper snake...don't remember what kind

Fresh Tea
Boh's Sungai Palas Tea Estate

Tea Fields
View from Boh's Sungai Palas Tea Estate

Colonial Houses
Penang

Colonial Houses
Penang

Lizard
This thing was crawling around in this fisherman village in their rubish heap. Check out the platic spoon to judge the size. This was a small one!

Masjid Kapitan Keling
Penang Mosque

Suria Perhentian Islands
The nicer place I stayed on Coral Bay

Sunset Perhentian Islands
From my room...coral bay

Comments

[shawn]

art
don't forget a work of art! Thanks for sharing...let me knwo the dates, you may be back, there are some shows I want to go to... he! he!

[Ali]

Hey Kevin!
Greetings from Perhentian Kecil, it's still paradise, and the wifi is still working :)