Hey, everyone!  It feels like ages since I’ve caught y’all up on where I’m at.  The last post, being my “grand finale in Indonesia” was pretty dense so I suppose it’s good you got a little break.  I’m now in Malaysia and while there are certain some similarities to Indonesia, it’s also very different in many ways.  I’m currently in Cameron Highlands, which is a region at a higher elevation – it is a lovely break from the recent heat and humidity.  

A few housekeeping things:

1) I have started a podcast on Spotify called Rose Thorn Bouquet. Please check it out!
2) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
3) I have recently finished the first draft of my latest novel, The Death of Duncan Lee. I’ve sent it out to some friends to get feedback and I’m really excited to have it done(ish) finally. If you haven’t read it already, the link to my first book, Eclipse Me can be found here.

Kuala Lumpur

In my mind, I was certain my flight from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur was on the 14th of August.  I had it in my itinerary notes… and I even had checked my flight a couple of days earlier to check what time it was at.  But what I didn’t check, apparently, was the date – which was actually the 13th.  I randomly woke up at 7am on the 13th and then went back to bed.  I was still recovering from the intense Sumatra jungle trekking experience.  I re-woke at 11am to what sounded like fighter jets near the city.  They sounded so close, I woke with a start.  I thought the city was about to be bombed lol.  

I had a relaxing morning – went to an online AA meeting, meditated.  And then I checked my flight details for the next day and that’s when it hit me.  I had missed my flight by two hours.  DAMN IT!!!  If this had been a more expensive flight, I would have been in an awful mood.  I was still aggravated but it was just an $80 loss.  I quickly booked a flight for the next day and was grateful the last minute booking was the exact same price.  I had been so sure the flight was on the 14th!  But alas.

The next morning, I got to the airport and flew two hours to Kuala Lumpur.  I then took the train into the city.  On the journey in, a thunderstorm was rumbling through town.  It was the first thunderstorm experience I’ve had in ages.  It was cool to see lightning strike so closely to the city. It has rained at least a little bit every day since I’ve been in Malaysia.

Thunderstorms are one thing from Chicago that I miss.  Since leaving home, I really haven’t experienced them.  Maybe very slightly in Perth but that’s about it.  I’ve experienced rain for sure but it’s kind of a constant deluge of rain, often a little more than a drizzle.  Not the intense pouring that comes with Chicago rains.  So, immediately I was pleased.  And the rain eased up by the time I had to walk the eight minute journey to my hostel accommodation.

I checked in, got situated, then went out for some roti.  Jasper had given me a list of Malaysian cuisines to try – from Indian to Chinese to Malay.  One thing that makes Malaysia so interesting is it is a blend of those three ethnicities, making for lots of culinary fusion and delicious meals.  So, I grabbed some roti and decided I may as well venture down to the Petronas Towers.

The Petronas Towers are probably the most iconic buildings in Kuala Lumpur.  On my walk there, I was able to enter an above-ground tunnel that traversed through multiple city blocks until it reached the gardens outside the Petronas Towers.  WHAT?!

I was immediately impressed by the towers.  They were beautiful.  I also had a moment that I stopped myself and thought, “I am really here right now.”  It felt surreal for some reason.  I’d seen pictures of the Petronas Towers over the years but never really pictured I would be seeing them with my own eyes. 

I’d read there is a fountain display, similar to that of Dubai and Las Vegas, at the pond outside the towers, so I decided to stick around and watch the show.  It was pretty neat but as some had reviewed online… not really comparable to Dubai/Vegas.  I have to agree.

After, I went in search of a wintermelon bubble tea.  Jasper and I always used to get that drink together in Queenstown, so I was definitely on the hunt for it.  I didn’t find it that night but did the following.

The next day, I had curry noodles for lunch and then set out for the Kuala Lumpur tower – basically a tower similar to the one in Seoul, the tower in Tokyo, etc.  But still an attraction!  I was able to get a good view of the Merdeka tower, which is another impressive tower that is lit up with cool light instillations at nighttime.

Once I’d finished walking around the tower, I slowly wandered back to my accommodation.  Along the way, I found a street lined with food stalls and grabbed myself a few samosas for 1 ringgit.  1 ringgit is like USD$0.25.  I will NEVER find samosas as cheap as that in America haha.

Later in the day, I wandered around town and Bukit Bintang – the area I was staying near – and found myself near another street filled with food stalls.  It started to rain again, so I sought shelter in a roofed restaurant.  I ordered Nasi Lamak, Malaysia’s national dish.  I’ve had similar meals in Indonesia – the Malay cuisine is very similar to Indonesia in that regard.

It was lovely to watch the rain cascading down and to hear it beating on the tin roof.  So calming.  One of my favorite things!

Once I’d finished my meal and the rain stopped, I walked over to the next block to check out a graffiti alley.  Some of the graffiti was really pretty.

My initial visit in KL was pretty short – just two nights.  I knew I would be coming back there again before leaving Malaysia.  Really it was serving as the launching point for my Malaysian adventure – but boy, was I liking it.  Such a big, modern city.  Definitely a major breath of fresh air from the chaos of Southeast Asia.  And bonus – pretty much everyone speaks English. 

George Town, Penang

I hadn’t decided until last minute where my first stop would be.  Originally, it was going to be the Perhentians… but then I saw the accommodation prices.  NO!  They were so expensive!  And from the reviews, the quality of the rooms were really, really lacking.  It’s currently high season on the islands and so prices were exorbitant.  I was disgruntled because I had heard diving as the Perhentians was cheap and excellent.  (Even before Perhentians, I had looked at Redang which was the ideal spot… but accommodation there was SO out of my budget it was laughable.)  Funnily enough, I had already booked my USD$10 bus ticket to the Perhentians before finding that out about the accommodation.  Look at me tossing around my money without thinking about the whole picture.  And NO REFUNDS.

Anyway.  Sadly, I decided to skip the Perhentians and booked a bus to Penang.  In some ways, it was a relief.  Less running around to do.

The next morning, I went to the bus terminal to catch a ~6hr bus to Penang.  At the terminal, I saw a woman wearing the Paris Hilton “STOP BEING POOR” shirt which had me cackling.  Once on the bus, I enjoyed watching the scenery pass by.  The bus dropped me off at Butterworth (which I accidentally called Buttertown at some point and I kind of like that better) and then I had to take a 10min ferry from Butterworth to George Town on Penang Island.  After a 10min walk, I arrived at my accommodation, which SUCKED.  The dorm room I was in was a 4-bed but it was incredibly small.  I’ve never had a dorm room so small.  It was basically two bunk beds and a narrow strip to walk between the two.  No room between the beds and the walls.  No room under the beds to leave our luggage.  I ended up having my bags on the bed with me during the duration of my five night stay.  And the Wi-Fi didn’t work so I couldn’t watch shows at night.  UGH!  There were some redeeming qualities, though.  Free water, good water pressure in the showers, great air conditioning in the room, free breakfast.  But still – the lack of space and Wi-Fi was a major bummer.

Once I’d put my stuff down, I went down the street and found a samosa stall with, again, very cheap samosas.  YUM.  I ended up visiting there every day during my time in Penang haha.  I am obsessed with samosas (and spring rolls and curry puffs) so I took advantage of the cheap prices.

I walked around town for a while, getting familiarized with the area.  I made my way down to the Clan Jetties, which is a series of homes built on… well, a jetty.  Some of them have been around since the 19th century.  They’re a popular tourist destination in Penang.  When I went, it was high tide.  It was cool to see the homes on stilts atop the water.  But I actually preferred seeing them another night at low tide, where you could see the entirety of the stilts touching the ground.  Really interesting.  And people live there!  

Snake Temple

The next morning, I woke up early to take the bus out to the Snake Temple about an hour away.  On the ride, I saw a naked man running down the road.  What the hell?  

I’d heard of Snake Temple about a year prior, when I was doing some preliminary research on what I wanted to do in each of the Asian countries I’d be visiting.  From what I’d read, Snake Temple was a temple built near the jungle where snakes naturally began to congregate a couple of hundred years ago.  The snakes were predominantly vipers but, while venomous, were docile and calm due to the constant incense smoke burning.  Okay, this seemed like an oddity I would like to check out!

Unfortunately, the temple was a bit of a let down.  I had this vision in my head of a somewhat large temple complex, with dark corners where snakes were hanging out.  Incense filling the room, etc.  It just… was not that at all.

The temple itself was very, very small.  And outside the temple, it was filled with vendors trying to sell various souvenirs.  GAH!!!

And what’s worse… I wasn’t seen any snakes at all!  But then I walked into the next room and perched on a tree was a Wagler’s pit viper.  What a beautiful snake – really cool patterns and the colors on its scales had a matte finish as opposed to slick/shiny.

The next room over had, unfortunately, photo opportunities, where tourists could take pictures with pythons/boas around their necks.  Sigh.  Obviously, I wasn’t going to be supporting that.  

But outside, in the courtyard was a set of trees and signs saying “snake breeding area,” “beware – venomous snakes,” “do not touch,” “look up in the trees, there are many snakes!”.  And there really were a lot of snakes.  Some were so well-camouflaged. I ended up staying for maybe an hour and a half, walking along the trees.  As time went on, I would spot another one and another one.  There must have been over ten, probably even more that I wasn’t seeing.  

Really beautiful snakes!  

But, okay, now for the even more discouraging parts.

While the snakes were in trees, the trees were essentially fenced in by wall on all sides.  I wondered if the snakes would even be able to climb over the wall.  Snakes can climb up walls, but I wasn’t sure if their muscles would be able to grip onto the porcelain.  So… they were potentially in a makeshift cage.  

Worse than that, though, is that I’d recently read that while the snakes are not de-fanged, they are de-venomed.  Arguably not as bad as de-fanging them, but it’s still tampering with their methods of self-defense.

I’d also read some theories that at night, the snakes are put in tanks and released back into the trees early in the morning.  I’m not sure how much truth there is to that because the snakes seemed scattered all over the trees.  But I really don’t know.

Basically, there was a lot of unpleasantness to it.  I had hoped for a sort of mystical, unusual snake temple and it didn’t meet my expectations at all.  It was cool but also not super ethical and so I definitely wouldn’t recommend it or go back there again.

While waiting for the bus back to town, I impatiently started singing my new hit single, titled “Where the Fuck is this Bus?”.  I looked down for all of 30 seconds to inspect the $1 ringgit note I was holding in my hand and BAM, the bus goes whooshing by.  “UH!” I gasped, and proceeded to wait another 10 or 20 minutes for the next bus haha.  Damn it!

Penang Botanical Gardens

The next morning, I went to the Penang Botanical Gardens.  My mission?  To see a dusky leaf monkey!  My Dutch friend Claire, whom I knew from Queenstown, had recently been to Malaysia and she had posted a photo of these CRAZY looking monkeys.  She’d seen them all over Langkawi island, north of Penang.  However, I’d read they were on Penang too and that the botanical gardens were a potential viewing spot.  So, off I went.

The gardens were pretty enough, nestled next to the jungles of the Penang hills.  Unfortunately, many of the greenhouses were only open on certain days and not the day I was there.  So I wasn’t really able to enjoy the flowers/plants of the garden.  The grounds were still beautiful, though.

I walked along the main trail then ventured off towards Lily Pond, which was supposed to be a spot where the monkeys frequented.  No monkeys at the pond.  A side trail ventured higher up into the hills.  I walked along it for some time.  While I spotted a macaque, I didn’t see any dusky leaf monkeys.  Damn!

I walked back down and, continuing my walk, was surprised to see the largest millipede I’ve ever seen in my life.  It was MASSIVE!  

Then I spotted a monitor lizard on a tree… and some small fruit bats hanging underneath a pavilion.  So funny that after never seeing bats in the daylight, I’ve seen them now in both Indonesia and Malaysia during the day!  These guys were way smaller than the one in Sumatra.

It was almost noon now and the sun was high in the sky.  I was sweating.  I debated leaving the gardens but decided to give the area around Lily Pond one more go.  And I was rewarded.  At the very start of the trail leading to the pond, I spotted some monkeys.  Macaques?  No.  NO, they’re dusky leaf!!!  

I was able to watch a troop of maybe 15 monkeys hanging out in the trees.  Jumping, feeding, occasionally interacting with each other.  And Claire was right, wow, were they weird monkeys!  In some places, they’re called spectacled monkeys because it looks like they’re wearing spectacles/glasses around their eyes.  They are really cute!  I was hoping to see a baby, too, because the babies are bright orange, almost like an orangutan.  But none of them were young enough.

Still, I saw them.  And was able to enjoy observing them for quite some time, maybe 45min.

Really goofy looking guys!

Spotting them also meant there wasn’t really a reason for me to go to Langkawi Island, which was also a bit of a relief.  While Claire had said she really liked Langkawi, I wasn’t feeling compelled to go there.  If I’m going to an island… I want to be able to snorkel.  And while Langkawi has snorkeling tours on a nearby island, I’d read the snorkeling wasn’t that great and the coral is pretty damaged.  Nothing else was really calling me to the island other than seeing the dusky leaf monkeys.  I’ll talk more about the crazy itinerary-changing in a later section.

All in all, the visit to the botanical gardens was a major success.  I felt delighted I was able to spot the dusky leaf monkeys after all!

Shopping Spree & Ghost Museum

While I could have run all around Penang, I also wanted some time to just kind of peruse the area.  It seems that this a season for me where I am really needing to “re-up” on things.  My shoes were pretty destroyed after the Sumatra jungle trek, I tore a hole in my shorts, etc., needed new face moisturizer and sun screen and X and Y and Z.  Seven months in to Asia (today, actually) and it is time to revamp a little bit.

So, I went to the mall, baby!  I got myself some new hiking shoes and shorts.  I also stopped by a salon after seeing they had mole removal service and made an appointment to get one of mine removed, which I did a couple of days later.  I’ve been wanting to get it removed for ages and it was pretty affordable.

Continuing with the oddity trend, I also decided to check out the nearby ghost museum.  It ended up being more for kids than adults – sort of like a haunted house with different stories about ghost lore, etc.  It was cute, though. 

They had a zombie section, which I loved.  Various Asian ghosts, pirates, vampires, etc.  Camp.

Youth Park Hiking

On my penultimate day in Penang, I returned to the area near the botanical gardens to go on a hike up the hills.  Immediately, I spotted a troop of macaques hanging near the more frequented park area.  I felt happy to be on the trail – it was the first time in a long time that I was able to be on a hike, by myself, without a guide.  

I saw another giant millipede and also spotted a green crested Asian lizard.  I kept my eyes peeled for snakes, but no luck.  I did spot a large monitor lizard digging in the dirt for some food, though!  That was pretty cool.

I hiked for maybe an hour and a half, to a spot that gave me a nice viewpoint of the city below – and the bridge connecting Penang and mainland Malaysia.  Once I’d arrived, I sat down and enjoyed the view.  

Three kids walked up to me and asked if I spoke English.  They’d gotten separated from their parents.  I let them use my phone to WhatsApp their parents.  The parents were near Station 84, while we were at 39.  It sounds like that would be really far away, but 84 was just a spot that branches off from the trail we were on.  Anyway, we looked on GoogleMaps and I tried to guide them in the direction of 84.  I told the kids, “it says 20min, so if you’re not finding it at that point, go back to 39 and wait for your parents there.”  I told the parents their plan and asked them to let me know once they were reunited. The parents sent me a picture of all the kids reunited a little while later.  

Early on in the hike, I was pleased to spot yet another dusky leaf monkey.  This one seemed to be alone, which I thought odd, because normally monkeys hang out in groups.  I was able to look at it for all of a minute before it climbed higher into the trees.

I also spotted a whole bunch of macaques hanging out resting. Some were napping, many were grooming each other. All of them were watching me.

The walk was really nice.  Afterwards, I returned to my hostel to have a shower and catch up with some friends on the phone.

In the evening, I returned to the jetties and admired the sunset.

The next morning, I would be leaving Penang to head to Cameron Highlands.

I couldn’t help but think that Kuala Lumpur reminded me of Perth (and also Chicago, because of its beautiful architecture) and Penang, of Fremantle.  Penang’s tall buildings were all pretty much white and since I was staying in George Town, the buildings were much shorter and more colonial feeling.  I wasn’t really the biggest fan of that.  BUT the food was excellent and I certainly had some interesting experiences there.  Odd experiences.  The oddities of Penang!  A snake temple, the weird monkeys, the ghost museum, the historical jetties.

Itinerary Shuffling

Because my Malaysia itinerary has been so incredibly in flux, I felt it might be interesting to kind of map out what the changes have been for you all.

Obviously, Malaysian Borneo would have been incredible to visit but it seems like it fell into two categories for me: Danum Valley or… river cruise.  The Danum Valley jungle experience was the ideal one and way more in line with the Sumatra junkle trek experience, looking for wild orangutans, wild pygmy elephants, probiscus monkeys, etc.  Unfortunately, the only tour that really operates those jungle treks was pretty much unresponsive and they also require a minimum of two people.  The tour itself was very expensive, around USD$1,000 for a few nights.  The other category was the river cruises.  These are typically group tours, meaning they’re more accessible and cheaper, but they’re less wild.  You’re basically on a boat ride through the river, hoping to see wildlife.  But then also stopping at orangutan rehab centers and sun bear conservation centers.  It just felt less wild and while the tour itself was cheaper, it wasn’t calling to me nearly as much as Danum Valley.  I decided that I would rather save Borneo for one day in the future, where I have someone else to travel there with, and am able to splurge on the proper jungle experience.  Plus, $200 for a 5 day jungle trek in Sumatra vs. $1,000 for 2 nights in Borneo?  No, thanks.  

So, Borneo was ruled out.

In Peninsular Malaysia, my main objective was Redang Island for diving/snorkeling.  But then accommodation was WAY too expensive, as I mentioned earlier, so the Perhentians was my back up.  But then THAT accommodation was way too expensive, too, since it’s high season right now apparently.

I thought maybe I would go to Langkawi after Penang then.  While there was no snorkeling on the island itself, they had snorkeling tours on nearby islands.  But then after looking into it, it seemed like the snorkeling isn’t that nice – polluted beaches, poor coral quality, etc.  I thought – should I really go out of my way for that?  So here’s where I landed: if I didn’t see dusky leaf monkeys in Penang, I’d go to Langkawi and then would go on a snorkel tour.  But if I did see the monkeys in Penang, I wouldn’t.  And I DID see them, so I decided to nix Langkawi.  Instead, I’ll be going to Tioman island, which is northeast of Kuala Lumpur. Cheap accommodation and cheap, good diving.

I also was originally planning to go to drop off my vape in KL, go to Singapore, and then come back to KL, but I’ve since decided to just ship my vape home.  This means I can go to Singapore and then fly to Vietnam from there, which is easier and less back/forth.

So here’s where I’m at now: Penang -> Cameron Highlands for some chill time and cooler temperatures -> Taman Negara for some jungle tours at night -> Kuala Lumpur to do some housekeeping things like shipping back my vape, maybe buying some Rx sunglasses -> Tioman Island -> Singapore.  

I had to just share all of this because it is crazy how much plans can change.  It’s important to be flexible, but sometimes it’s good to plan too, so you can prioritize interests.  I feel pretty happy with how my plans have now come together and am looking forward to the next few weeks.  My timing in Singapore also syncs up with my friend from Darwin, John, for about two nights so we will get together to go on a walk around a nature reserve.  Fun! 

Miscellaneous

I had one day in Penang that was filled with phone calls.  In the morning, I talked with my nephew.  In the afternoon, had a group chat with Jasper/Yvonne/Abby.  In the evening, caught up with my parents.  And then maybe an hour later, talked with my brother.  It’s so nice to connect with people!  Especially because I haven’t had many in-person interactions since leaving Sumatra.

Also, a few ridiculous encounters in Penang.  My dorm room was like a revolving door – it seemed most people were only staying one or two nights.  On my first night, a guy started talking on the phone at almost 1am.  I let him go on for a few minutes, but eventually knocked on his bunk.  “Can you go outside if you’re going to talk on the phone?”  He got out of his bed and looked at me.  “Oh, am I too loud?”  I responded with, “…it’s past midnight.”  He didn’t understand me.  “It’s past midnight,” I said again.  He went outside the room and continued to talk, now at a completely normal volume instead of trying to be quiet, in the hallway.

Another funny dorm situation… two English girls checked in.  Sometimes, during the height of the day’s heat, I’d retreat to my room to have a nap or just play games in the air conditioning.  I would have the curtain drawn.  Anyway, I don’t think they knew I was there.  They both came back in after exploring the city and one of them farts and says, “OMG, I think I just shit my pants.”  They start laughing and then they start whispering because I think they realized I was in there.  The girl went to the bathroom and comes back maybe ten minutes later.  She explains to her friend that yes, she had, and she just spent that time washing out her underwear LOL.  I also learned a lot about that girl over the course of two nights because she was constantly on the phone with friends back home.  “Don’t get too excited, but I think I might be home by next month.  I’ve done five countries now and I feel like I might be done.” She was planning to go to Sri Lanka to meet up with her ex-boyfriend, but there was some drama because she was going to meet up with another friend, too and that friend didn’t want the ex-boyfriend Ben to come.  On the final night, the girl was on the phone with Ben and she came back into the room and said, “Meg, I just talked with Ben and he doesn’t want to see me in Sri Lanka and doesn’t want to see me anymore” and then proceeded to crawl into Meg’s bunk and cry.  WILD.

That same night, I was walking down Chulia St., which is a famous bar/cafe street where people get drunk at night and I saw two grown ass men being held back by locals as they tried to get into a fist fight.  I’m so glad I spent absolutely no time in that area lol – what a mess.

I went to get bubble tea one evening and enjoyed it in the air conditioning of the shop.  On the speakers, there was a song repeating, “Bubble tea… xie xie!” over and over and over and over and over again.  I quickly learned that the song does not change, and it is just constantly playing on repeat.  I asked one of the workers, “doesn’t this song drive you crazy?” but I don’t think he understood what I was asking (in Penang, it seems not everyone is super fluent in English as opposed to in KL).

A couple of other notes about Malaysia.  The transit system is pretty excellent.  It’s super easy and cheap to book busses/vans from place to place.  And also, there are way less scooters here compared to Indonesia, which is an interesting change.  A lot more cars.

Some Malaysian foods!!! And below… a Greek salad that I was DESPERATELY in need of.

And finally, after seven months, I am on the last puffs of my vape juice.  The timing is perfect in some ways because vaping is illegal in Singapore and then in Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos/Thailand, the laws are iffy.  It’s technically illegal, but then there are vape shops everywhere, etc.  So I’m going to be shipping my vape back home and then will just have to unfortunately buy disposables when possible from here on out.  Hate it!

Reflections

I’m currently in Cameron Highlands, and it’s about 70F outside, close to 60F at night.  What a change from the… honestly, I don’t even know what the temperatures have been for the past month.  I don’t even look anymore.  It’s basically – hot or hot and humid.  Probably about 88F most days.

I don’t have too much planned in Cameron.  It’s famous for its tea and strawberry farms.  I arrived last night pretty late so didn’t get up to anything.  Today, I am blogging and maybe will go on a walk in the late afternoon.  

I have heard the walking trails here aren’t really the best so I may do some light adventuring, but not go too crazy.  Just kinda take it easy.  Nothing wrong with that!  

From here, I’ll be heading to Kuala Tahan near Taman Negara National Park, where I’ll go on some night tours to try and see interesting nocturnal animals – weird insects and hopefully snakes, etc.  

Things are good!  Kind of crazy that today marks seven months in Asia.  It feels like less than that, somehow – I think because so much of that time was spent in Indonesia.

Until next time, sending you all my love.  x