Muy Mal-asia

On May 5Th, I sadly left fabulous Bali and headed through Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I had honestly been back and forth in my mind weather or not to travel in Malaysia. Towards the end of my stay in Indo I heard many good things about the country from other tra-velers, so I decided that it would be nice to spend a couple weeks seeing the mainland. I spent the first 3 nights in KL and just milled about the city checking out the attractions. I enjoyed the Batu Caves, impressing Petronas Towers, and the government buildings. Other than that, I could take or leave KL.



Next I headed down to Malacca, which is a couple of hours south of KL. It's a Portuguese settled city and has some lovely architecture and a nice vibe. Overall, I must admit that this city had the most charm than any other city I visited. All of the tuk tuks were ornately decorated with fake flowers and pretty much anything else they could get their hands on. It was so funny to watch. Each one was very individual and usually projected some random genre of music over loud speakers in the carriage. There may be some old Malay guy driving the bike while "Baby Got Back" blared from his carriage. Hilarious!

After 3 nights in Malacca, I decided to head all the way up the country to Langkawi Island and then work my way back down to KL. A friend I met in Indo said that it was very nice and worth checking out. I was sold since I LOVE the islands. So I took an overnight bus up to Kuala Perlis, a small coastal town that is mainly just a jump off point for the island, and then hopped on the ferry to Langkawi. My guide book had recommended a backpackers called Gecko Guesthouse. I know that at this point in my travels I've experienced weeks on end of hot, humid weather. Well, Langkawi took the cake. It was nearing 40 degrees C. with heavy humidity. Being exhausted from my trip up the country, I headed to a shady bit on the beach, laid out my sarong, and stretched out and napped. At least outside I'd get, hopefully, a breeze. That evening I had a terrible experience at this awful GECKO GUESTHOUSE and was not protected by its owners, staff or even the guest who witnessed what had happened. It truly saddened and frightened me that there are cultures in this world that have no regard or respect for women. That women in these cultures must endure the unfair treatment and inequality on a daily basis infuriates me. It's amazing how naive I am in assuming that all women feel this way. What is almost worse is that none of the men around when this incident happened stood up for me or did anything to help. It was, and still is, difficult for me to understand the lack of balls in every man there. So, needless to say, this solitary experience shattered my view of Malaysia and it's people. I had not felt totally comfortable at the any point in my journey thru this country and was having a tremendous time following my experience.

I still needed to continue back down to Kuala Lumpur and set out to pass through a few little towns as cautiously as I could.

I stopped for a day in Kuala Kangsar to see a few lovely sights, such as the Ubudiah Mosque and the Palace. After which, I made my way back to KL as quickly as possible to find my way out of Malaysia and into Thailand. Good Riddance!!!



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