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Published: March 14th 2014
On which soil we stand on, that is where we carry the weight of the sky... ~ Malaysian Proverb
Selamat people!
It’s been 14 months between our travels, and it has seemed like such a long time. As you may have guessed from the greeting, we are Asia bound – to Malaysia. To be honest, it wasn’t our first destination choice for this trip. However, the other top contenders – Mexico and China – required far more time that we could muster right now, so Peninsular Malaysia it is.
This is our second trip to Malaysia. However, the last time we only spent two days in Kuala Lumpur, with a day trip to Melaka. We know a little about Malaysian history, culture and food, but not a lot...so this trip has been much anticipated.
The Malay culture has mixed with Chinese, Indian, Portuguese, Dutch and English influences over a long history that has been rich in trade and immigration. Malaysia is marketed as a melting pot of these various races, religions and cultures, and we are eager to see how this translates to the food, the architecture, the Malaysian sense of identity and the reality of everyday living.
We’ll be visiting eight of the thirteen states/territories in Peninsular Malaysia – starting in the chaotic
and vibrant skyscraper-land that is Kuala Lumpur, and then heading to modern regional cities, old ports, preserved colonial towns, small villages, islands, beaches, ancient rain forests and lush highlands filled with tea. We will first travel along the west coast on a trip with a very high focus on getting to know the food; then with more of an adventurous bent, we will head inland and cross the spiny mountains of the peninsular to the east coast. Hopefully we’ll strike the right balance of exploration and relaxation that we are aiming for.
Andrew’s favourite noodle dish is
char kway teow, and Ren struggles to say no to a good
laksa or anything with
sambal – so we are seriously hungry with excitement. And we have just read that there’s a 24hr meatball and noodles vendor near one of our hotels! We have both accepted the fact that we are going to be coming home a few sizes larger. And on that note, we must apologise in advance for the number of om-nom-noms and food photos our future posts are surely going to hold.
Here is a quick snapshot of Malaysia: it has a population of just under 29
million; the capital is Kuala Lumpur; the currency is Ringgit; and the language is Bahasa Malaysia/Malay (although English, Hokkien, Cantonese and Tamil are also spoken widely).
The weather is a standard 25-30 degrees all year round in most of the country, with the main variable factor being the humidity. The east and west coasts have different weather patterns, and we are hoping for reasonable levels of humidity by timing our visit to the west coast before the rainy season and our visit to the east coast after their monsoon. However, we have heard that the seasons aren’t keeping to their normal schedules...
We’ve had a very mixed bag of summer weather in Tasmania so far – startlingly hot days, humid damp days and stormy rainy days – so whatever the Malaysian weather throws at us, chances are we’ve experienced it recently. 😊
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As we get closer to the end of the day, we can feel ourselves switching from calm ‘travel planning mode’, to thrilled ‘about to travel mode’. The butterflies of excitement have been released.
One more sleep!
Ren and Andrew
Films that set the scene for this trip... Sham Moh (At the End of Daybreak), directed by Yuhang Ho (2009);
Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, Series 8, Episode 4 Penang (2012).
Travel reading on this trip... Lonely Planet Guide Malaysia;
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (Andrew);
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Ren).
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denidax
Deni, Dax and Ella
exciting!
Have lots of fun and I'm looking forward to reading all about it