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Published: April 5th 2008
Petronas Towers
You come to KL to see these two magnificant buildings. They do not dissappoint. We must have sat there looking at them for an hour while the sun went down. Every five minutes they looked better. Nightime is when they really shine.It is really difficult to title this piece "Malaysia in a Week". To admit that I went to a country and spent only 6 days there is quite a shame. However, circumstances prevented me from staying any longer than that. I have friends to meet in Thailand only 6 days after I crossed the boarder into Malaysia. Plus, I take comfort in know that I'm probably going to be coming back through here on my way to Indonesia.
Singapore was such a great send off into Malaysia. My plan was to stick to the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and make stops along the way to Thailand. The first order of business was crossing the border in to Malaysia. My now good friend, the Makansutra, has done a bit of touring through Malaysia. He created a list of 10 of what he considers the best eats in Malaysia, all of them were on my route to Thailand. The first of them was in the border town of Johor Baru. After one last shower at the luxurious Singapore Marriot I packed my things and got on the road. I navigated my way on the train and local bus to the Singapore/Malaysia
Welcome to Malaysia
Crossing boarders in a car, van, plane, boat, bus, I've done it all. But walking across the boarder into a new country has a unique feel to it. Politically generated lines that separate what? Aside from the high security, long lines at immigration, and this sign, there really isn't a whole lot that changed when I got in to Johor Baru. border. Of course I skipped breakfast knowing that a sizzling bowl of fish head curry was waiting for me at the border. I made it through immigration with little hastle. I had removed my immigration card from my passport and it took me a minute to find it in my backpack. This pissed off Mr. Immigration a good deal but they let me into the country. I walked accross the bridge into Johor Baru and spent the next hour searching out my first meal of the day. Johor Baru (JB) is not much to look at. It had one main street once I got through immigration and it felt like I was still in Singapore. My notes had the name of a road and a street address. I had no map and unfortunately had written down the name of the road incorrectly so nobody could really help me out. But with a little help from above and a few U-turns I found myself in the right place. I sat down and never even spoke a word to the cooks. They only have one dish I found out and if you sit down at their shop you must want fish head
Fish Head Curry
Sorry Mom.. you may want to avert your eyes. But this was the first Makansutra suggestion in Malaysia. It took me about 30 minutes or more to find it, but it was well worth the wait. curry. So I tossed my backpack on the ground and ran my t-shirt over my face to clear away the sweat. I quickly was served up a delicious curry dish with a whole fish inside. The side of rice completed my meal and I gobbled down every last bit, right down to the eyeball which I made sure to ask the cook if it was something people eat.
With a full stomach and my energy levels back on full I boarded a local bus to the outbound bus terminal. I had asked a taxi driver to take me to the Larkin Bus Terminal and he suggested that a payment of 10 Ringit (Malay currency) would be appropriate. I said no thanks and found a local bus after some difficulties that charged me only 1.20 Ringit. It is small victories like this when you are on the budget travel that can make your day. At the Larkin terminal I caught the bus to Melaka. I would spend my first night in Melaka and possibly my second night in Malaysia. Everything at this point was up in the air. The three hour bus ride in the rain storm was rather depressing.
Totally Whacked
This is what you look like after walking in the heat across the boarder carrying your backpack with everything that you own and then spending 30 minutes finding food, before sitting down to enjoy the long awaited first meal of the day. Pretty happy looking, all things considered. Just last night I was with my good buddy, enjoying and warm evening in Singapore, and now here I was alone, on a bus to Melaka and outside the window was a storm that had the clowds scared. But this is just the flow of travel. You have to go with it. Appriciate each moment for what it offers you. For the first time in a few days I was sitting in silence and reflecting on my weekend, my friend, and my loved ones at home.
When I arrive in Melaka at the bus terminal I go searching for a bus into town. Of course I go wtih my trusty Dumb Dumb face whenever I don't know what to do. This works like a charm my friends. A police officer comes up to me and asks me if I need help. I tell him my situation and he guides me directly to the appropriate city bus. It is on the bus that I meet Christoffer and Dean, the Danish and Canadian boys, respectively, that I would end up spending the next 4 days with as I journeyed through Malaysia. Three is a great number to have when backpacking. You
Melaka
You come to Melaka to see the Dutch influence. I guess this is what I'm looking at here in the city center. Pretty architecture. get the best deals on accomodation, you have a little more bargining power, and there is always a buffer person between you and either of the other two companions.
The three of us found a great place to stay in Chinatown. Ringo's Foyer was our choice and the guesthouse owner (can't remember his name, I'll just call him Ringo) was the nicest man. He was so helpful. He informed us that we were in Melaka on a very quiet Monday and that if we had been there two nights ago then we would have been in for a real treat. He helped orient us the the city. He pointed us in the direction of various sights and was willing to take us around to show us the town if we so desired. We opted to spend our first night getting lost and just seeing where the wind would take us.
Melaka is a nice size. We concluded that Melaka must be the get away town for Malaysians. It is a coastal town and has so much character. Walking around for hours was all the entertainment we needed. My Melaka meal that was recommended to me by the Makansutra
Melaka at Night
Pinkish lights lit up the buildings in this part of town. that night did not happen. A small shop that sells oyster omlets had closed a couple hours before we got there and we had to settle for some other delicious food along the way. We stopped in for our first drink at ta local bar where the guests were getting down to some wild indian hip hop music. One man was kind enough to dance for us. Shakira had nothing on this guy, he could shake his hips like a pro. We called it night after a drink at the Discovery Cafe, a backpacker joint that I was very glad we chose not to stay at.
The three of us agreed that another day in Melaka was not going to happen. For as much charm as the city has, it was just too quiet for us and we were eager to get to the capitol city of KL where good food awaited me and great architecture awaited Dean. Christoffer was just happy go lucky and kept along for the ride. But before we left Melaka I did get my second Makansutra recommended meal. A chicken rice place that served up rice balls instead of steamed rice. It was satisfying
More night shots
The river was a peaceful place to walk at night. and a nice send off. We hopped the bus to KL and arrived a few hours later. It was still early in the day and we spent every last minute of it being busy. We walked around the whole city for about 7 hours. We managed to see a great many sights, take a whole load of pictures of buildings, eat another Makansutra recommended meal, and enjoy some entertainment at night in Chinatown. It was a splendid day that left me almost crawling back to the guesthouse exhausted. Our plans to wake up at 7am the next morning to go get in line for tickets to go up the Petronas Towers to walk the skybridge were not sounding so great to me anymore. I complained about it a bit and went to bed unsure if I would join them in the morning.
When Christoffer came back into the room after showering at 7:10am and hit the switch to the bright flourescent lights I was a little bit annoyed. What the F!*@ do we need to go up these stupid towers? We saw them last night and they were beautiful. Why can't we just save that as our lasting memory
Chicken Rice, Malay Style
I spoke before about the wonders of chicken rice. Well, here I dine at the second Makansutra suggested restaurant in Malaysia. Chicken Rice with chili sauce. But this time the Rice came in rice balls. A slight twist on a classic. of the Malaysian Twin Towers? It turns out Dean stayed up about 3 hours later than both Chris and myself. He had been drinking at the roof top bar with some other travellers and was feeling much worse than me. It is strange what motivates you to get out of a funk when you are travelling, but to see Dean rally for this Skybridge thing got me motivated to go. So we cleaned up and arrived at the Petronas towers at 8:30am to a line that was already several hundred deep. We waited for an hour before getting tickets. I had a really really big coffee from a shop called "San Francisco Coffee". It was nice but I've had much better in San Francisco. It did however wake me up a bit. Our tickets said to come back at 10:30 for our 15 minute tour of the skybridge. So we lounged around the SF Coffee place and talked about spirituality and god. Christoffer had overheard me saying my mantras and counting my Mala beads the night before and was curious about what I was doing. We talked about how different places on earth hold special energy and therefore holy significance.
Dim Sum
Ok, you might be saying to yourself, "Hey Marcus, Dim Sum is actually spelled Tim Sum". Ok, you got me there. I just sorted this out recently. These guys ran the Tim Sum place on the 1st floor of our guesthouse in Melaka. It was perfect becasue I had just finished telling Christoffer and Dean all about my Tim Sum experience in Hong Kong when we found it. These guys did a great chicken's foot as well, plus my new travel mates got to try the pork buns (chinese hamburger). It was not the conversation I planned on having with these two guys at 10am over a cup of SF's finest coffee. We talked right up until it was time to get on the elevator to go up the towers. First they showed us a 3D movie about the history of the towers, what they represent ,and who owns them. They are the headquarters for the Malaysian Petrolium Company, Petronas. Did you know?
After our trip up the skybridge we had planned to visit the Batu Caves. But Dean's late night had caught up with him and he bailed on us back to the guesthouse. Christoffer and I pressed on and made the 30 minute journey outside of town to the Caves. These are the site of several Hindu Shrines and a Million visitors come every year tot his place. It didn't have the kind of sacred feel that me and boys had discussed earlier that morning during our talk on spirituality. It was a little dirty and the aggressive monkey's were really the highlight of the trip.
We came back to Chinatown and made our way back to the guesthouse. Any plans we may have had to
Rolling Market
We arrive in Kuala Lumpur to find ourselves smack in the middle of the Petaling Market. At around mid-day all the vendors begin to move some of their tables into the middle of the road. They roll these tables filled with glasses, jewelry, watches, cloths, etc... all over the place to position themselves for the nights events. We got caught in the crossfire and began calling it the rolling market. explore the city further were quickly dropped in exchange for some relaxation time. I took a few hours to go and write on the computer and run some errands that had been on my mind for a couple days. When it finally came dinner time me and the boys combed our street tasting the different options at the various food stalls. I had some Bak Kuh Teh (a pork soup cooked in chinese herb broth). I also sampled some pork, gizzard/liver, satay, and tasted a bit of Dean's rice/ice dessert dish thing. We had a few beers before heading up to the rooftop bar where we all relaxed for the night and engaged some fellow travellers in great conversation. There was a Sweedish Couple, a Canadian Guy, a handful of guests from Norway, and then two Australian newly weds and their sister just stopping through KL for a night on their way to Mexico. I had the sense that this was my last night in KL. There was not much else I wanted to see and I was motivated to move on the next day.
In the morning Dean and Christoffer set off to the Camerron Highlands without me.
Independance Hall
Not really the name of the building, although Malaysians did claim their independance at this place. Come along for the next few photos as I pose for you at some of KL's sights. It was a bit off the path I was headed on and I didn't think I could afford to go out of my way this time around. Perhaps on my way back through Malaysia. At this point Dean has messaged me several times to tell me some great spots in Malaysia to go through if I get the chance. Hopefully I will. So I said goodbye and for the next couple hours before my bus left to Penang I ran some more errands and went out for one last delicious meal. I found a street vendor selling variety of different meat and vegetables that were served over rice. It was all layed out in front of my hungry eyes. I sample some fish, pork, and vegetable stir fry. For about 4.50 Ringit I ate a full plate of food. That is about 1.50 US. I sampled different chili sauces they had. It wasn't until I was almost done with my food that I realized that everyone eating around me had been using their hands. I was of course the guy using his spoon and fork. Fortunately another man was using a spoon as well but I think he had soup
View from the KL tower
The KL tower is a space needle like building that I'm pretty sure was built at the time to take over as the tallest thing of it's type. It has since been surpassed by several other large buildings but offers a nice view from the top of a hill. or something, the kind of this that the hand doesn't work so well for. I didn't know. But I will keep it in mind for the next trip through Malaysia. Eat with Hands!!
I got on my long bus to Penang, an Island just of the mainland that is about the last major stop before you head in to Thailand. I'm going to stay there one night and then catch an early bus to Krabi Thailand where a day later I'll meet up with my friends Chris and Joe from Berkeley.
My stay in Penang was short. I did really like what I saw there. The whole Island had so much to offer to the adventurous traveler. It has a nice city, some great nature, and plenty of sights to see. All of them I missed, except the city which I spent several hours walking around. I'll gladly go back to Penang if my trip takes me back through Malaysia. With some of the other stops that Dean has mentioned I could almost do the entire Peninsula again and never have to cross any paths. We'll see where the wind takes me.
Malaysia has been a blast.
Christoffer and Dean
These are the two guys I met on the Bus to Melaka. This is another view from the KL tower. It was so fast and yet I did so much. I abandoned the Makansutra guide at some point becasue you really cannot go wrong with food here. Plus, I had lost a bit of ambition to seek out places he recommended partly because I had not seen them on TV and Tony Bourdain had not been to them. Moreover, I'm about to head in to Thailand where I'll have absolutely no food guide, only the lessons I have learned along the way as I have followed Tony Bourdain through Singapore and Malaysia.
Till the next one, love and light to you all.
Many Blessings
Marcus
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nomad_ninja
racky
cool
great blog dude! when you go to thailand... it'll be a sumptuous experience... great food... rice meals are awesome... there's a lao-thai restaurant in sukhumvit (im sorry i cant remember its excat location and its name) that serves very nice sour soup... if you cant find it... pad thais in khao san arer real great treat to a tried traveller... keep on writing... keep on travelling... and btw... the indonesian chicken java rice in baan thai (sukothai) is real good!