Malaysia

After arriving in Kuala Lumpur (or KL as the locals call it), Malaysia at 3 am, we caught a teksi into the city and kept looking at each other in trepidation as we zoomed by other vehicles at 160+ kph (100 mph). We arrived in record time at the condo of Mr. Reyes, the father of a childhood friend of Priti’s, who graciously hosted us in KL. As the taxi driver searched for his street, we drove in small circles in the Golden Triangle neighborhood of KL. Despite the hour, the streets were alive with a random assortment of people. The kadai kopis (street cafes) were packed with Muslim Malays eating their morning meal prior to fasting from dawn to dusk for Ramadan. Lamp posts had festive lights dangling from them, as though it were Christmas. Others have compared KL to NYC due to its incredible diversity and active nightlife. Although the majority of the country is Islamic, according to our host, KL is comprised mostly of Chinese, along with Malays and Indians. Thus, the people wore a range of clothes from tank tops and shirts to being fully covered from head to ankle. Many women wore jeans and long-sleeved t-shirts with a head scarf.On our first day, we went to the KLCC mall which is, like most of the malls in Asia, massive. It was six stories tall and had stores, and shoppers, from all over the world. One of the funniest sights we’ve seen on our trip is a group of Japanese tourists marveling at one of the stores in the mall as the tour guide told a fascinating tale about…your guess is as good as ours. One cool thing about the malls in Asia is that many of them host cultural events to offer a reprieve from the consumerism. Thus, we enjoyed a set of traditional Arabic music and watched a fashion show. Despite the fasting period, the restaurants in the mall were open for business. One of them was a desert place that served Durian which is a tropical fruit that was forbidden in Indonesia and Australia due to its unpleasant odor. We figured it was now or never so we gave it a try. The “ABC Durian” consisted of pureed durian on top of what looked like shaved ice mixed with an assortment of jelly candies and beans. The smell of durian was malodorous, sort of like rotten meat, yet the taste was sweet and nutty with the texture of sweet potatoes. Surprisingly tasty but something we probably won’t be eating again. Upon leaving the mall we stumbled into a local after-work market selling various skewered meats that we couldn’t resist, despite having full stomachs…yum!

The next day we went to the Petronas Towers, the tallest building in the world at 452 meters.

For some reason, they only let visitors up to the 42^nd floor to the sky bridge that connects the towers. Before they let us ascend, we had to sit through a 3D presentation about the wonders of oil exploration, courtesy of Petronas. The views weren’t that impressive and we were ushered back down after about five minutes. At least we hadn’t arrived early and stood in line for hours like all the other tourists, as Mr. Reyes scored us tickets. From the outside however, the Petronas Towers were spectacular, with their stainless steel exterior and building design modeled after an eight-pointed star which is an important symbol in the Islamic faith. We're not sure whether it looks better during the day or night.

Despite its chaotic appearance, KL is a city of street vendors and markets. We explored Masjib India’s markets and searched in vain for Jason’s favorite Indian sweets called ladoos, which are little orange flecks of fried dough sculpted into ping pong balls. The Indian food was pretty good, but of course couldn’t hold a candle to Mom’s home cooking. We also enjoyed eating seafood at Jalan Alor street market where the oysters, calamari, and fish were freshly caught. Malays like their food spicy and every table has sweet and spicy chili sauce – something that will definitely be added to our cupboard when we return to the States. Another interesting characteristic of all the restaurants, save for a few Chinese ones, is that they are Halal, meaning no pork due to the Islamic religion. Even the fast food restaurants alter their menus to serve “turkey bacon” or “beef pepperoni.” As described, the nightlife in KL was pretty good, with a wide range of environments and music. One place alternated a grunge cover band with a DJ spinning house music while another coupled reggae with R & B.

After four days in the city, we finally managed to venture out on a day trip north to the Batu Caves. Before arriving there, the “tour” (which was basically shuffling a bunch of tourists on a bus for 20x the cost of the local bus), took us to a pewter plant and a batik factory. Other than trying to get us to buy things, we couldn’t figure out how or why the three locales were combined into the same tour. The Batu Caves themselves, which house a Hindu temple, were spectacular with a cornucopia of carvings under the shadow of a gargantuan gold statue of a Hindu God. While we were visiting the caves, a Bollywood movie was being filmed that was depicting the biggest festivalof the city, Thaipusam, which typically draws more than a million worshipers. We watched Indians in colorful orange and yellow garb dance to the festive music, and Jason spotted a hippie doppelganger of Priti’s brother Pinto among the performers.

Tired of the urban environment, we flew to Sabah, Borneo, which is known for its natural splendor and captivating wildlife. Unfortunately for us, we hadn’t accounted for Hari Raya, or the celebration at the conclusion of Ramadan. Thus, when we tried to arrange activities outside of our arrival city of Kota Kinabalu (KK), we were disappointed to learn that all of the public busses were booked for the week. Thankfully, the company had arranged for a small mini-bus in a few days so we were only stuck in KK for a few days. But, the delays meant that we would not be able to see everything, so we had to cut out Sipadan, which is world-renowned for its marine wildlife. The nightlife in KK wasn’t nearly as exciting as KL, and consisted mostly of cheesy non-English karaoke bars and overpriced drinks.

Our first Borneo excursion consisted of a two-day hike up Mt. Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in SE Asia at over 4000 meters. Even from afar, it has a menacing presence, and we knew we were in for a grueling couple of days. Sure enough, the hike was a hellacious one. The trail is 8.5 km and the elevation increases 2.2 km, from 1800 meters above sea level at the trailhead to 4095 km at the summit. In other words, it is STEEP. The entire trail is uphill, offering almost no reprieve to hikers. As we slowly paced ourselves on the ascent, we were amazed at the porters who would zip right by us with loads ranging from 20-50 km (66-110 lbs.) that were harnessed on wooden contraptions to their heads/necks! Near the end of the first day, we experienced some heavy rainfall, which is another characteristic of Mt. Kinabalu. Exhausted and wet, we arrived at our lodge and were pleasantly surprised to learn that we’d gotten a heated room (we were told it would not be). (Tangent: During dinner, we spoke with an Aussie couple who told us a harrowing tale while they were traveling in India fifteen years ago. The driver of their public bus misread a narrow road and flipped their bus, killing several passengers. The driver had immediately fled the scene, knowing the other passengers would have enacted revenge for his stupidity.) After dinner, we tried to get to bed early in order to be rested by our 2 am departure to the top of the mountain the next morning.

After a fitful night’s sleep, Priti decided to stay in bed and let Jason ascend to the pinnacle with our guide. The rest of the hike was similarly brutal and at one point became so steep that the only way forward was with a secured rope. Jason was the 3^rd hiker to the peak and thus had beaten the sunrise by about 45 minutes. Although the weather at the base of the mountain was hot and humid, at the top it was freezing temperatures. When the sun finally appeared over the adjacent mountaintop it was a spectacular view. After about ten minutes, the clouds began to roll in, and five minutes later the visibility was virtually nil. As Jason descended, he felt sorry for the many other hikers he passed on the way down who had not reached the summit before the clouds rolled in. Thankfully, there was no rain on the way down, as the granite trail was already slick, as evidenced by Jason’s several wipeouts before returning to the lodge, where Priti had enjoyed a nice restful morning. We had more time on the descent to examine some of the local flora, including various orchids and “Pitcher” plants. We also enjoyed the company of our roommates Peter, a German physician living in Britain, and his wife Regina, who were traveling for four months for their honeymoon.

The grueling hike took its toll on Jason, whose left knee began throbbing, forcing him to limp back down the mountain and use our guide’s walking stick for support. By the time we finished, Priti’s legs were numb and Jason was jealous since he was feeling only pain in his.

We returned to KK for one night before departing for Sakau for a safari cruise along the Kinabatangan River. The drive took about seven hours as the roads were not in the best condition. Over the course of the three days, we went on four different boat rides to go searching for the local wildlife. They included the Proboscis monkeys, which, due to their large noses and large bellies were nicknamed the “Dutchmen” monkey by the locals. After seeing them just sitting up in the trees inert, we understood why their stomachs were so large. We also saw many Grey-tail monkeys, and for those of you watching the videos, be forewarned that they are a horny lot. We spotted lots of different birds, including Kingfishers, Rhinocerous Hornbills, Whitecrested Eagles, and many more which we don’t recall the names. Unfortunately, we just missed the Pygmy Elephants, which had been around a few weeks prior to our arrival, but had moved deeper into the forest with the arrival of the rains. During the evenings, we went on night walks and saw many more birds. Jason, feeling courageous, even let a gigantic scorpion crawl up his arm.

Priti served as a leech repelant for Jason (she must have tastier blood) and unfortunately had to endure several leech bites. To get leeches off, you can flick them when they are crawling or use vinager, salt, insect repellent, or tiger balm after one has attached to the skin. The night walks were a bit disappointing because we had so many people in our group, due to understaffing because of Hari Raya. The tradeoff was that on the 2^nd evening we were invited to attend a celebration courtesy of the owner of the nature lodge. We found their hospitality during their holiday celebration admirable, and the food was delicious. We met some cool people on the Kinabatangan River tour, including Frank, a German who’d been living in Austin and was on a circuitous route home to renew his visa. He was also the keyboardist of an indie rock band called the Glass Family. Incredibly, Frank was on the same flight to Fiji as we were, and we have basically been on the same route during our trip! We’re pretty sure we’ll see him again.

Our final stop in Malaysia was Sepilok, home to the Orangutan sanctuary. Of course we went on probably the busiest day of the year, as it was the Sunday of the long holiday weekend. Thus, the crowds were pretty big and, although the animals have free reign in the sanctuary as they are rehabilitated back into the wild, it felt more like a zoo. Also, we couldn’t believe the discrepancy in the prices they charged locals (5 ringits) versus the tourists (40 ringits).

Although it was only $12, the skewing of the pricing structure seemed a tad extreme, but apparently we'll be experiencing a lot of it in Asia. Despite these annoyances, it was a great experience to see the Orangutans in their natural habitats. The sanctuary has platforms set up and there are two daily feedings. We saw a handful of Orangutans and they were fascinating to watch, as they swung acrobatically on the ropes and enjoyed bunches of bananas. There was also another group of monkeys that mischievously grabbed the leftovers.

Wow, how the time is flying; we hope everyone is well and keep in touch!