Malaysia

Our Malaysian itinerary: Penang/George Town, Cameron Highlands, Kuala Lumpur. I have to admit, Malaysia has never really been on my radar, so though I had heard of Kuala Lumpur, I was basically going in blind.

George Town

In 1786, a dude from the British East India Company purchased the jungled island of Penang from one of the mainland Sultans, as the locals on the mainland weren’t particularly receptive to sharing close quarters with the Brits (sounds like Mallorca nowadays!), and this particular sultan had a common enemy with the Brits and figured he could benefit from the protection or collaboration with the British forces. So the Brits got the island and colonized it, and the historical center with its grid design and colonial architecture remains intact to this day (also why it’s got UNESCO status). I was surprised at how much I liked it, particularly the mix of Asian cultures (roughly 50% Chinese, 30% Malay, 10% Indian, and then others) and colonial buildings. Creates a really unique, really cool vibe. Plus then the skyscrapers which dot the skyline, and you have this mix of old and new, east and west in a place which hasn’t yet been completely wrecked by tourism.

Definitely worth a visit, but be warned as a vegetarian (vegans, you’ll basically be stuck with plain white rice), you won’t have many options. After being told by five different restaurants that they had no veggie options, we went to a hawker center, and of the 15 different stalls, the only vegetarian option was fried egg with mushrooms. Or so we thought, until we got the dish and there were these clear, gelatinous, booger-like substances mixed in. We’re relatively confident that they were oysters, as they were also on offer (though we definitely didn’t order them), but then never having had fried oysters, we were a bit skeptical as to why they’d still be so gelatinous. Unsurprisingly, we didn’t manage to finish the dish.

Cameron Highlands

From George Town we headed over to the mainland and into the hills on a windy, two-lane road which would have been spectacular to cycle but in a bus just meant that Vera felt like throwing up for 5 hours. Fun.

The main attractions were the tea plantations, as we had missed out on those during our visit to Sri Lanka. We chose to do a 15km hike, first through jungle up to a local peak, then through a tea plantation. As far as man-made landscapes go, tea plantations are spectacular, this dense, vibrant green evenly carpeting the hillsides.  Felt like the tropical equivalent of wine country.

Something you probably didn’t know

We were curious about the connection between India and Malaysia. You’ve got thousands of kilometers of land or sea to cross over, and you’d hit other countries first either way, so why is there such a significant Indian population in the country? Turns out, it was the Brits. They lured many Tamil Indians to come work, promising an escape from the caste system and better living conditions. If only. Indians have it and have had it pretty rough for the past couple hundred years in Malaysia, having a number of hurdles to overcome to improve their standing. First, they were brought over as laborers, so neither their employers nor their new government was particularly focused on providing them education. Second, commerce at the time (and still to this day, though less based on clans) was dominated by Chinese clans who had extensive business practice, trading networks, and a much larger population, making them difficult incumbents to outcompete or innovate. And third, all non-Malays face systemic disadvantages, as regulatory policy favors Malays via “local” quotas, both in state jobs and in education, among others. Now you know!

Kuala Lumpur

The name sounds exotic and probably conjures images of the incredibly beautiful Petronas Twin Towers, but as we learned, it just means “muddy confluence” and comes from the city’s position at, you guessed it, the confluence of two rivers.

V and I have learned along the way, or more accurately, have had confirmed, that we’re still big city people, despite our love for all kinds of nature, mountains or sea. There’s something about big cities that gives us energy. So much going on, so much life. Kuala Lumpur was the same. In contrast to Bangkok, there’s a lot more green in KL, and it’s neat to be in a rainforest in the midst of skyscrapers.

So, skyscrapers. The Petronas towers are a marvel. As an architect, Vera is naturally interested in buildings and can appreciate them in ways I cannot, but even as an architectural layman, I was amazed. Beautiful by day, by night they turn into delicate ice crystals stretching 450-plus meters into the sky.

Most hotels are also in high-rises, as were ours and Dylan & Kelcie’s. Theirs had an infinity pool on the 50-ishth floor with a view of the skyline, ours on the 5th with a view of the highway (but who’s comparing). But across from theirs, in a sister hotel, was another rooftop pool with a better view of the Petronas towers. Being the mature adults we are, we decided to sneak in. Like teenagers, except with more confidence and more credibility, which is actually a pretty decent description of my entire adult life. We sent the girls first, as, well, they’re more attractive and less suspicious. Dylan went last, because Dylan panics under pressure. But it was much ado about nothing, we walked in with a group of other people, no questions asked. And it was worth it!

Next stop: Singapore