Malaysia is Ugly, and Other Lies I've Told (a.k.a. Clay and Jake's Honeymoon)

Whew! What an amazing last couple of weeks with great friends. Sorry for the delay in updating, but it was hard to motivate myself to write a blog post when I had friends from home to talk to instead. Last time I updated you, I was leaving Africa, flying into Kuala Lumpur to start my great Asian Adventure.

For the last couple of months, Jake Fuentes (Sigma Nu friend, now working in London) and I had been scheming to meet up somewhere in the world. Planning where exactly was not the easiest with him busy at work and me galivanting through Africa, but we eventually decided on Malaysia, and I'm really glad we did.

I got into Kuala Lumpur a couple days before Jake, which gave me a chance to get oriented (hah!) and explore a bit. Kuala Lumpur is a really incredible city. Big, clean, safe, modern and cheap. What more could you want? Public transportation is a breeze, the people are friendly, and the food is great.

The street market in Little India, similar to the one in Chinatown

Definitely one of the most amazing things about Kuala Lumpur was the markets. Our hostel was right near Chinatown, which is home to Jalan Petaling, a street that turns into an absolutely absurd street market at night. Wall to wall stalls fill the street - you literally have to walk single file through them - which sell everything from watches (imitation designer brands) to electronics (imitation and "night production", meaning it comes from the same factory with the same components but is unlicensed) to clothes (often the real thing), all for about a tenth of what you would pay for them in the States. Unfortunately for me I don't have room (or desire) to buy anything, but it didn't stop me from appreciating the spectacle.

Another truly amazing sight in Kuala Lumpur was the Petronas Towers. Built as a headquarters for Petronas (a Malaysian oil company), the twin buildings were the tallest in the world until 2003, when a building (also oil financed) in the Middle East took that prize. We went and visited the towers the night Jake got in, when they are spectacularly lit up. Let me tell you, these towers are HUGE. It's really disorienting to stand beneath them in the plaza. Neither of us had a camera so we had to settle for my terrible phone camera, which can't transfer photos to my computer just now, so I'm going to include a picture from the internet to give you something to go on. They were amazing, even more amazing than the picture, and a strange symbol of wealth in a country that, outside if its cities, is still quite impoverished.

Expecto Patronas? (Courtesy freemages.co.uk)

Jake was only in the country for a few days, so we decided to get out of the city quickly and head to the coast for some relaxation. Malaysia has so many amazing beaches that it's hard to pick one, but we settled on a small (8 square kilometer) island called Palau Pangkor (literally: beautiful island), about 5 hours north of Kuala Lumpur.

As you can see, it's totally ugly. Why would they name it "beautiful island"? Thick rainforest jungle, right down to white sand beaches, leading to turquoise water full of tropical fish. Ugh, terrible. Gila monsters and monkeys greeted you on the beach.

Actually, we got chased off the beach by the monkeys once. Apparently they wanted to get to the trees that were behind us, because a big male and female came up and quite successfully shooed us away from their spot. Jerks. Anyways, since it was Ramadan still we basically had the whole place to ourselves. We split our time relaxing on beaches and exploring, including one day hiking through the jungle...

Really great, minus the hitchhikers.

Leeches are really common in this whole area of the world, so I'm going to have to get used to them, I think, but they still freak me out.

After a relaxing couple days on Palau Pangkor (really not a lot to report, we basically just ate and slept) we made our way back to the city. We spent the day walking around, and found a hukah bar at which to relax before dinner on Jalan Astor, which turns into a massive street-food market at night.

Not a habit, mom, I swear

Jake flew out that night, and I stuck around Kuala Lumpur for one more evening before flying to Bangkok. Even though his trip was short, it was so amazing to see a familiar face and to explore and see a small part of Malaysia with him. You forget how much you miss having real conversations (not: "Oh where are you from?" "Oh neat! How long are you traveling in [this place] for?" "Yeah I'm here for [some number of days]." "Have you seen [this one thing] yet?") Unfortunately for Jake, he has to go back to work. I, on the other hand, get to go explore Thailand. Stay tuned for that update!

Love, C

Seriously, Malaysia. Try harder.