KL: Capital of Cool!

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UntitledHello once again to everybody!

Malaysia is really beautiful, wonderfully interesting, and, ummm...totally different! Greetings from KL to all those still avidly following my adventures - although I haven't been here long, it seems like a totally cool place to be. To those of you who have been following my at times sickeningly optimistic entries, it will absolutely come as no surprise to hear that I am still having a great time. And with only 5 days left, I am glad to say that I shall be going out in style! Although I may be looking forward to getting back home to a few basic luxuries (soft comfy beds, home-cooked western meals, no constant fear of contracting malaria, dengue fever etc..) I am really going to miss Asia - it's an experience totally unlike Europe, and one that I have enjoyed and absolutely intend to savour to the very end. But anyway - on with the great, seemingly unending narrative!

After leaving Krabi, the experience horizontal capital of South East Asia, we sped off on Saturday to Malaysia and therein to Georgetown, an old British colonial centre. I say sped - in fact this involved a lllllloooooooonnnnnngggggggggggggggg(yes, the repetition of letters is entirely necessary - 12 hours in a minibus by no means makes for an un-numb bum) drive, but one that I can safely say was in my power to survive. The border crossing was great - little hassle and only moderate strip searching (only kidding - in Thailand, they don't do that sort of thing moderately! (joking, by the way - no need to worry)) although a snag was hit when our tour leader, Nicole, refused to pay a tiny amount of bribe/departure tax to the Thai border authorities (by the way, she won - score one against corruption!). Anyway, basically it was a good, if slightly long trip, and we topped off the day in Georgetown by going out for an Indian meal, somewhat strange as it seemed at the time considering we were staying in Chinatown in a Malaysian city. But that's the thing that makes Malaysia so different to anywhere else I've been so far - I can literally say without hyperbole that it is THE most multicultural country in the world. The migrant waves of Indians and Chinese were so huge that they now, combined, nearly outnumber the Malays, which makes for a veritable melting pot of Asian cultures, but in which individual groups retain their identities. Anyway, it's a great experience, and on top of this there seems to be literally no resentment towards the British colonial past - handy, as it means the locals are all willing to converse and exchange pleasantries!

On to Georgetown; the next day, ditching my group (well, I couldn't stand to do the beach thing again - not after those beautiful days in Krabi (culture vulture alert) - possibly "ditching" is too strong a word -let's simply say I didn't want to miss the amazing cultural sites or pay the exorbitant taxi costs to see a few sights and the head in search of sand - I headed off to explore the city alone. Georgetown, an old British colonial centre, certainly has some amazing sights - first I saw the Khoo Kongsi Clan House (no KKK jokes - groan!) which was the community house of an extremely succesful and numerous chinese immigrant family - a little similar to some places in Hoi An, but still really beautiful and interestring. Then I headed up, via some interesing temples and guilds with free explanation by local people who just happened to be passing - the Malays are so friendly! - I dtook a tour around Cheong Fatt Tze's house. I say house - this sky-blue, feng-sui mansion was totally amazing, and absolutely worth the 12 ringgets it cost to get in. Cheong Fatt Tze was known as "the rockerfeller of the east", a Chinese migrant worker from a penniless background who left home at 16 and made millions trading in south east Asia, along with all the perks this brought (literally, a wife in every port! Heaven!) and who eventually decided to settle in Georgetoen. This masterpiece of feng-sui architecture had been recently restored and was extremely beautiful, as well as being totally ingenious. "Feng sui" literally translated means "wind and water" - possibly taking this concept a little too far, Cheong Fatt Tze built an internal courtyard which, when it rains heavily (which it OFTEN does in the afternoon in Malaysia) channels the water off the roof into a system of gutters. This then rushes down to the slightly lowered courtyard where it gushes out in two directions creating a cool whirpool effect! Anyway, the whole mansion was filled with such works and imported colonial touches like British wrought iron ballestrades and English art nouveau stained-glass windows amidst traditional Chines interiors - incredible. I have to say, after this the museum and the walk I took around the beautiful raj-era colonial district I took seemed quite tame, however both were really interesting and made a really cool change from everthing I had done over the last few weeks. After climbing the fort's watchtower, I took the bus off to the largest buddhist temple in Malaysia - unfortunately not so historical, but quite huge and awe-inspiring nonethelessm principally because of the beautiful tall pagoda and huge awe-inspiring bronze buddhashivna (female buddha) statue on the hill (which, incidently, becomes slighly less so when you ascend the hill, walk around the statue and see the big "Made in China, 1998-9" stamp on the back!)

The next day we were off straight awy early in the morning to the Cameron Highlands - perhaps the oddest of the places I've been so far - an old ex-British colonial resort in the Malay hills, mercifully cool yet oddly faux-British - but only for one night. I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to sample home-made scones and strawberry jam (made from the strawberries grown on the hillsides) and a brisk trek in the jungle before dinner was made all the more interesting by our getting lost! Well - we weren't so much lost as stupid - fearing we'd miss dinner, after trudging up the peak and halfway down we turned back to ensure we didn't get lost -see the twisted logic?! Anyway, it was very beautiful and definitely put me in the mood for my steamboat that evening! Steamboat is a traditional Malay dish, in which you are served several boiling soups and a platter of meats, seafood, fish and vegetables raw, which you cook in the still burning soup (lazy restauanteers!) Anyway, avoiding food poisoning we managed to have a really great meal, which I thoroughly enjoyed - more for the process than the flavour - to be safe I boiled my jellyfish to oblivion!

This morning was packed with highlands activities - after a visit to a beautiful rosegarden, we stopped off at a strawberry far (my god was it sweet!) and as you could imagine, I couldn't let the opportunity of scoffing my face on delicious fruit pass me by - well, it would be a shame to miss gap year experiences! Next up was an insect house - great, partcularly when they started getting the insects out and letting us hold them. I loved it when the guy gave me a scorpion the hold by the tail - reassuring me it couldn't sting me therefore. Very true, but did he then have to place another on my chest, open to crawl?!?! Anyway, marginally avoiding a stinging and getting away instead with a huge butterfly relieving itself in my hands, I headed off to a tea plantation, which was pretty incredibly - to see the tea processes, although I have already seen them in Sri Lanka, was fun and provided a gorgeous view of the mountain. Straight after that we headed off by bus to arrive here in Kuala Lumpur at around 6pm and have an enjoyable night exploring fake goods market in Chinatown. I am totally looking forwrd to seeing what KL hasd to offer me tomorrow - as well as Melaka and Singapore. And as I draw onto the final leg, I can truthfully say I look forward to seeing you all soon - overburdened with souveniers, that is!

Love to you all,

Richard

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