The transition to Malaysia from Thailand is gradual at first as the national lines blend somewhere along the longest peninsula in the world. There are more Muslim inhabitants in southern Thailand than just about anywhere else in the country, signalling the shift from a predominately Buddhist people to a predominantly Muslim population in Malaysia. After crossing both immigration strongholds, we were only two hours outside one of the many pearls of the orient: Georgetown on Penang island in Malaysia. After crossing the border, Megan and I hit it off with a Canadian girl from Vancouver sitting on the bus next to us. She had a very similar sense of humor to our own and swapping travel stories and sharing the slight dread of returning home made the ride pass quickly. The island was packed with traffic when we arrived after dark in Chinatown and sleep came soon after a satisfying meal at a cafe around the corner from our hostel.
Georgetown is a very cool place. It offers a unique crossroads of architecture, blend of cultures and flurry of foods in SE Asia. We found the time to knock out quite a few of the recommended sights in the first day of our stay here, visiting the Pinang Peranakah mansion, clan jettys and passed by a number of colorful Chinese temples along the way. The old town is easily walkable and we were delighted by the diversity of building styles; British colonial facades are still present on many structures and it is clear there are efforts to restore some more prominent examples, even as they mingle ever more with modern malls and skyscrapers. It was the cheap, delicious eats and the sounds of Bollywood musical scores that drew us into little India and the comforting smells of incense being burned alongside a steady stream of worshippers and budget accommodation welcomed us to China town.
Georgetown is a very cool place. It offers a unique crossroads of architecture, blend of cultures and flurry of foods in SE Asia. We found the time to knock out quite a few of the recommended sights in the first day of our stay here, visiting the Pinang Peranakah mansion, clan jettys and passed by a number of colorful Chinese temples along the way. The old town is easily walkable and we were delighted by the diversity of building styles; British colonial facades are still present on many structures and it is clear there are efforts to restore some more prominent examples, even as they mingle ever more with modern malls and skyscrapers. It was the cheap, delicious eats and the sounds of Bollywood musical scores that drew us into little India and the comforting smells of incense being burned alongside a steady stream of worshippers and budget accommodation welcomed us to China town.
One element that cannot be missed, according to our guidebook, are the food hawker stalls found around old town. This is where we ate dinner our second night, selecting a mix of Filipino and Thai cuisines to quell our hunger pains after a long day of being cultured. A few beers to wash it all down and we were back at our hostel for a final Tiger to end the night when an old man with a walker approached the curb in front of us. He struggled to scale the cement ramp built for motorbikes and asked for a hand up the curb and for our company, both of which we lent. After ordering a beer for himself and brief introductions, he proceeded to tell us about his journeys to Thailand nearly 30 years ago, his marriage to a Thai woman and a near fatal motorcycle accident in Phuket that put him into a week long coma after which he woke up back home in Basel, Switzerland. We talked about changes in Thailand, traveling, scuba diving and experiencing life to the fullest. His voice struggled as much as his walk and we strained to hear his soft, coarse tone over the passing motorbikes. At 59 years old, he looked only a few years away from his grave and though I would like to embody his carefree attitude, I would also love to be able to play tennis, surf and at least have enough stamina to speak above a whisper at that age. Hopefully, there's a balance in there somewhere.
After a relatively late night for us, we took it easy the next day, finishing our books and feasting for our only meal of the day in the late afternoon at an Indian restaurant about ten minutes walk from our room, finishing the evening with Iron Man 3 in 3D. On the walk back to our room close to midnight, the high volume of vehicle and pedestrian traffic on the streets struck us as unusual and the closer we came to our hotel, the more crowded the streets became. We finally got the impression that either we were in the middle of a political rally or a high spirited riot. Thousands of people chanted “UBAH!” (it means “change” in Malaysian), honked horns and waved their party’s flag well into the night. A crash course in Malay politics before bed told us everything we needed to know - a political rally for the opposition party was being staged two days before national elections on Sunday. The next day, our last in Georgetown, we visited the tallest building on the island and got a taste of modern Malay culture at the mall. We ate dinner at a hipster cafe serving Italian and western food and later had a beer among some 15 year olds (Malaysia has no drinking age).
After a relatively late night for us, we took it easy the next day, finishing our books and feasting for our only meal of the day in the late afternoon at an Indian restaurant about ten minutes walk from our room, finishing the evening with Iron Man 3 in 3D. On the walk back to our room close to midnight, the high volume of vehicle and pedestrian traffic on the streets struck us as unusual and the closer we came to our hotel, the more crowded the streets became. We finally got the impression that either we were in the middle of a political rally or a high spirited riot. Thousands of people chanted “UBAH!” (it means “change” in Malaysian), honked horns and waved their party’s flag well into the night. A crash course in Malay politics before bed told us everything we needed to know - a political rally for the opposition party was being staged two days before national elections on Sunday. The next day, our last in Georgetown, we visited the tallest building on the island and got a taste of modern Malay culture at the mall. We ate dinner at a hipster cafe serving Italian and western food and later had a beer among some 15 year olds (Malaysia has no drinking age).
Of course we chose voting day to travel to Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. The bus was packed with people traveling to or from their voting destinations because they have to travel to their home states to vote. Malaysians sure have no problem using the left hand shoulder to pass other cars on their highways! About half way through the journey we switched buses to an bus with only one seat left. Megan took it and I was stuck with the fold down seat in the front stairwell. Later on, we stopped at a broken down bus to pick up some more passengers, one of whom was an older man. With no seats left, everyone was sitting down on the isle floor. I didn’t want an old man to sit on the floor while I had a chair so I offered him my place and he gratefully took it. He was a dark skinned, soft spoken man well versed in English. We talked about everything from embedded corruption in Malaysian politics and the chance for “ubah,” tennis and sights in the big city. It helped pass the time and before I knew it, we arrived at the central station in good spirits and walked to our hostel with little difficulty.
The book said it was quirky but we didn’t know the half of it. The entrance is pretty well hidden and struck me as a decrepit subway station entrance. Up the stairs in the lobby, we stepped into a different world filled with loungy music, fish tanks, fake plants and run down bamboo furniture all surrounded by red paint. The halls and rooms looked and smelled like a locker room but felt like a dormitory. It was funky and I kind of liked it. However, what I didn’t like was the blaring music coming from the Reggae bar and hostel across the street until 3 AM; we adjusted our sleep schedules accordingly.
At this point, I suppose we both suffered from a case of travelers exhaustion; sick of all the mosquito bites we incurred, tired of switching beds so rapidly and unsure of which way to go next we both were having a hard time coping with so much freedom we found so liberating earlier in the trip. After talking it over for a while, we opted to fly out to Borneo later in the week to explore Bako national park and make our way across the island to do a few days of diving around much acclaimed Sipadan island.
The book said it was quirky but we didn’t know the half of it. The entrance is pretty well hidden and struck me as a decrepit subway station entrance. Up the stairs in the lobby, we stepped into a different world filled with loungy music, fish tanks, fake plants and run down bamboo furniture all surrounded by red paint. The halls and rooms looked and smelled like a locker room but felt like a dormitory. It was funky and I kind of liked it. However, what I didn’t like was the blaring music coming from the Reggae bar and hostel across the street until 3 AM; we adjusted our sleep schedules accordingly.
At this point, I suppose we both suffered from a case of travelers exhaustion; sick of all the mosquito bites we incurred, tired of switching beds so rapidly and unsure of which way to go next we both were having a hard time coping with so much freedom we found so liberating earlier in the trip. After talking it over for a while, we opted to fly out to Borneo later in the week to explore Bako national park and make our way across the island to do a few days of diving around much acclaimed Sipadan island.
The lush capital of Malaysia treated us well, offering more deliciously cheap Indian cuisine and plenty of cultural attractions. We really got the sense that Malaysia has much more of a car culture than any of the other countries that we visited, likely due to consistent heat, volatility of the weather and a large middle and upper class. Walking to Kuala Lumpur’s open air aviary exhibit was not exactly intuitive or easy but we were really impressed with the park itself. We toured around enclosures holding eagles, owls and lots of tropical species of parrots and lingered freely with peacocks, cranes, turkeys and roosters. After couple of hours of dodging bird and, surprisingly, monkey poop, we made our way to the nearby walk-in butterfly exhibit which also happened to showcase a collection of large and exotic insects and reptiles! That evening after we made it back to our room, it rained and didn’t stop raining all night. There was so much water in the street that it was flowing like a shallow river and washed over the curb and onto the sidewalks.
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The following morning we decided to check out the Islamic Arts Museum. This turned out to be the best museum we visited in SE Asia and one of the finest I’ve ever been to. Learning about the origins, practices and spread of Islam throughout the world was fascinating and we were blown away by the beautiful treasures of textiles, jewelry, woodwork, pottery and calligraphy that were housed here. Learning about Islamic history in Palestine was especially interesting and gave me new fundamental knowledge about the contested region. It was amazing to see the influence of this religion throughout Europe and Asia and a great way to begin our jump into a Muslim dominated culture. It served as a reminder of how misunderstood Islam can be in the United States. Also, the museum’s restaurant is phenomenal, delivering excellent middle eastern flavors. We tried to end our stay in Kuala Lumpur with a visit to the top of its Petronas twin towers but there were no more visits available before nightfall and they cost $30 each so we toured the mall next door, drank beer at Chili’s and saw Oblivion at the theater instead.
Borneo
Our flight to Kuching, Borneo, Malaysia’s other side, gave us each one unplanned stamp in our passport, our first for domestic travel. Our mission from here was to make it across the island to Semporna where we had plans to dive for three days in the region. It didn’t take long on the first day to figure out that it would take several days and an entry into Brunei for us to get there by bus. With my passport pages running out, a pass through an unplanned country was out of the question so we booked a flight across the island a few days in advance. The highlights of this riverfront state capital were surely the food and our day spent at Bako national park. Life Cafe in Chinatown served its homemade noodles in delicious sauces with some of the best tea drinks we’ve ever tasted and we returned here daily before departing.
Bako was spectacular and incredibly hot! We went on two strenuous hikes through a variety of biomes from a low tide saltwater marsh, to genuine tropical rain forest and higher elevation drier grassland. The hikes were filled with unique wildlife from colorful sand crabs, to reddish brown proboscis monkeys and we even saw a dung beetle pushing monkey dung! The plants were a feast for the eyes as well; tons of gigantic and bizarre looking trees and different varieties of pitcher plants were easy to spot. We ended the day at a beautiful beach almost to ourselves (save for a few other tourists and a greedy monkey) and rode in a boat past stunning sandstone formations sculpted elegantly by the elements.
Bako was spectacular and incredibly hot! We went on two strenuous hikes through a variety of biomes from a low tide saltwater marsh, to genuine tropical rain forest and higher elevation drier grassland. The hikes were filled with unique wildlife from colorful sand crabs, to reddish brown proboscis monkeys and we even saw a dung beetle pushing monkey dung! The plants were a feast for the eyes as well; tons of gigantic and bizarre looking trees and different varieties of pitcher plants were easy to spot. We ended the day at a beautiful beach almost to ourselves (save for a few other tourists and a greedy monkey) and rode in a boat past stunning sandstone formations sculpted elegantly by the elements.
A few days later we were transported to Semporna, a small fishing and dive tourism town on the opposite side of Borneo, just a few hours by plane. It was the first and only taste of rural Malaysia we had and it felt much different than the rest of Malaysia. Mostly Muslims here with a good amount of foreign workers from the Philippines and a healthy number of divers on holiday. Three full days of diving in a world class destination really gave us some new perspective on the underwater world. Everything changes down there. The sky becomes the surface of the water and it looks surreal when it is raining, like a liquid curtain always in flux. Time is measured in air consumption and no decompression limits. Life is incredibly abundant and comes in limitless shapes and colors. We saw tons of turtles, different types of sharks, big schools of fish and endless varieties of corals. My words or our pictures scarcely do any justice to this aquatic spectacle.
Sipidan island, where we did our dives, is part of a small, highly contested, archipelago of islands. It has claims from the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia for control over its territory but has fallen under the jurisdiction of Malaysia due to its relative stability compared to its neighbors. Malaysia has transformed the tiny island, which used to host several resorts, into a protected marine park and turtle hatchery, banning all development for good. It is now also currently being used as a military base due to the influx of violence in the region. To keep the waters pristine, the state government of Sabah issues permits to a limited number of divers and has banned plastic bags on the island. So far, the efforts are working. We met divers from all over the world here, mainly from China but also from Europe and the United States and got to know the dive masters quite well too. Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I will always remember the sublime diving we did here.
The nine hour bus ride to Kota Kinabalu was cold but passed swiftly. We passed the familiar scenery of endless palm fields but further up in elevation they gave way to fertile valleys, distant waterfalls and huge brown rivers. We drove over narrow mountain ridges and snaked up near the base camp of mount Kinabalu where we were covered in a dense fog and surrounded by pine trees briefly reminding us of home. The city of Kota Kinabalu is a much more modern feeling place than Kuching, complete with a pleasant Saturday walking street and a Sunday farmers market and flea market. We ate decent burritos at a Chipotle style taqueria run by an American and did a little shopping at the Saturday night market. Given that there are many national parks to be explored, mountains to scale and even more dive sites to plunge, I can definitely imagine myself spending some more time in this area. But, it is time for us to move on to the next chapter of our island hopping tour: three weeks in the Philippines.
Sipidan island, where we did our dives, is part of a small, highly contested, archipelago of islands. It has claims from the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia for control over its territory but has fallen under the jurisdiction of Malaysia due to its relative stability compared to its neighbors. Malaysia has transformed the tiny island, which used to host several resorts, into a protected marine park and turtle hatchery, banning all development for good. It is now also currently being used as a military base due to the influx of violence in the region. To keep the waters pristine, the state government of Sabah issues permits to a limited number of divers and has banned plastic bags on the island. So far, the efforts are working. We met divers from all over the world here, mainly from China but also from Europe and the United States and got to know the dive masters quite well too. Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I will always remember the sublime diving we did here.
The nine hour bus ride to Kota Kinabalu was cold but passed swiftly. We passed the familiar scenery of endless palm fields but further up in elevation they gave way to fertile valleys, distant waterfalls and huge brown rivers. We drove over narrow mountain ridges and snaked up near the base camp of mount Kinabalu where we were covered in a dense fog and surrounded by pine trees briefly reminding us of home. The city of Kota Kinabalu is a much more modern feeling place than Kuching, complete with a pleasant Saturday walking street and a Sunday farmers market and flea market. We ate decent burritos at a Chipotle style taqueria run by an American and did a little shopping at the Saturday night market. Given that there are many national parks to be explored, mountains to scale and even more dive sites to plunge, I can definitely imagine myself spending some more time in this area. But, it is time for us to move on to the next chapter of our island hopping tour: three weeks in the Philippines.