Get Yourself Lost in Malaysia

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There may not be another country that I enjoy getting lost in so much.

For my work, I travel alone quite frequently, and I’m not one to spend my free time holed up in my hotel room watching ESPN when I’m on the road. Normally, if I have an evening or afternoon free, I’ll bolt from the hotel and set off on some odyssey through whatever city I’m in. It usually results in some excellent people watching, off the beaten path meals, glimpses into the everyday life of the locals, phenomenal discussions, and the occasional uncomfortable situation (of which I’ve probably already written about). I’ve been fortunate to make five trips to Malaysia over the past three years including three different cities in three different states. In each stop, I’ve always been so pleasantly surprised at the conglomerate of people and cultures that is Malaysia, but yet it continually manages to challenge your expectations.

From the moment you leave your hotel room, you encounter an environment of incredible diversity: Ethnic Malays, Malay Chinese, Indians, Chinese, ex-pat Euro/Americans. Excluding that last group, most people are multi-lingual, so you stroll down the street and hear a medley of Bahasa, English, and Mandarin, among others. As you turn the corner, on your left is a stunning Chinese Taoist temple, beautifully adorned with renderings of dragons, warriors, and Chinese calligraphy. The incense is burning, the offerings are being made, and the tranquility is deafening. Then you turn to the right, and a magnificent south Indian Hindu shrine towers above the narrow street. Intricately decorated with religious icons, its pastel colors contrast starkly with the bold reds, blues, and golds across the street. Worshipers slide off their shoes, and enter quietly into their sanctuary. As you press on down the street, a song permeates the walkways. It’s almost hypnotic. It’s the prayer calling from the minaret of the closest mosque around the corner. People begin coming out of nowhere with the singular intent of making it to the mosque for one of the five prayer times of each day. The neighborhood quiets down for a half hour, as many shops close, but then as quickly as it was silenced, the streets are revived and again bustling.

The sun sets, and you pass into an open courtyard; except it’s not really open because an army of vendors has temporarily set up shop to sell their various goods at the local night market. On the first pass through, you find your typical handicrafts: lots of batik fabrics, wooden carvings, sarongs, etc. On the next pass you find your more obvious tourists traps: fake Louis Vetton handbags, “Tag Hauer” time pieces, knockoff Pumas, and a $2 copy of whatever movie you ever wanted (regardless if has been released yet in theatres or not). Then you smell what’s waiting for you on the next pass. It starts with the produce; some of the freshest, most exotic, incredibly delicious fruit you can imagine. You ask what certain items are, but you’ve never heard of most of them. Then some guy tries to sell you the famed durian fruit. You approach, then take a smell and almost vomit. Aside from that, the colors and scents are pleasantly intoxicating. Finally, you take the last turn, and through the smoky haze rising up from the endless array of makeshift grills, you discover a carnivore’s personal zen. Skewers of chicken, beef, prawns, fish, stingray, and many other unmentionables are being cooked up fresh to take away from each of the stalls. There’s no way to differentiate whose recipe is better than another, so you hedge your bet by buying a little from each of them; thirty cents here, a dollar there. Then you encounter a pavilion where you can sample any number of regional cuisines from a collection of food carts….Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Hallal, whatever. By the time you emerge on the other side, you’ve had the best budget meal you can imagine, and you’re stuffed beyond belief.

It’s time for a walk back, and as you pass the bustling nightlife, you find ex-pat watering holes, trendy lounges, tranquil cafes, and booming nightclubs. Once again, the random collection of influences just works. No apparent judging, nothing much threatening. Sure, just like any place, there are a lot of areas still in need of improvement. It’s far from perfect. But Malaysia certainly is an example of how to coexist that much of the world would still benefit greatly from by just taking notice. Coming back to my first comment, while there are many impressive sites to be seen in this country, what I enjoy most is just wandering about and watching life unfold. There’s never a lull in the excitement.

To be honest, that little summary is an amalgamation of multiple days, although most of it is readily accessible on any given day (provided it’s not one of the 21 or so public holidays that acknowledge each of the religions' holy days, where everyone gets the day off).

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