Barb’s First Southeast Asian Adventure

Barb has arrived! Since we didn’t get back to my dogsitting house until 2am from the airport Sunday night, we took things pretty easy on Monday. We started out with a Christmas meal at a nearby hotel restaurant. The food selection was a good mix of traditional (turkey, cranberry sauce, rolls, Waldorf salad) and international (naan bread, sushi, nasi goreng, etc.) cuisine.

Merry Christmas from the Asian Santa Clause! His beard though…

That evening we ventured into downtown Kuala Lumpur and watched the KLCC Park Lake Symphony Fountains. It’s similar to the Bellagio’s fountain show but with way better colors and fountain features. While on the train ride to KLCC Park, an Indian man sat down next to us. After a lull in Barb’s and my conversation, he leaned over to me and asked where he could find a beer. I explained alcohol is pretty taboo in Kuala Lumpur but gave him some suggestions on bars. He preceded to tell me he had spent quite a few years in Los Angeles and one in Houston. Then he nodded over at two Muslim women and said, “That’s why I like the States so much. Girls don’t cover up there!” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. He was quite the character.

KLCC Park Lake Symphony Fountains

We hit the ground running on Tuesday with a jam packed schedule. We visited the following:

• Thean Hou Temple – Chinese temple paying homage to the Sea Goddess
• Muzium Istana Negara – Royal museum showcasing a traditional royal Malaysian house
• Sri Mahamariamman Temple – Hindu temple
• KL City Gallery
• Upside Down House – place to take mind-bending pictures
• KL Forest Eco-Park – natural rainforest situated in the heart of Kuala Lumpur
  

  Thean Hou Temple

  

  Sri Mahamariamman Temple

  

  KL Upside Down House

  

  

  KL City Gallery

After Barb turned in early for the night, I headed to my gym. Up until now, I had been going to the gym around lunchtime and it was pretty empty. When I arrived at 9pm (gym is open until 11:30pm), a completely different scene emerged. I felt like I was at a club with bouncers. The lights were neon instead of white; electronic dance music was blaring from the speakers; Asian bodybuilders were coming out of the woodwork.

On Wednesday we headed out to Batu Caves which is a massive limestone hill that is home to several Hindu temples within multiple caves. I thought Barb was going to kill me when she saw how many stairs we had to climb to access the most famous one, Cathedral Cave. For the record, there were 262 stairs up to Cathedral Cave and then another 40 within. I was pretty proud of myself for making it all 262 stairs without stopping. Annapurna Circuit, here I come! Barb, on the other hand, rallied 17 stairs, took a break, 17 stairs, took a break, etc. But she did make it, even through complaining and despising me.

You’re looking at the first 262 steps of Batu Caves

At the top, there were signs asking visitors to carry a bucket of sand further into Cathedral Cave as it would be used to repair one of the Hindu temples. I gladly offered my services while Barb looked like she was going to pass out. After spending about half an hour inside the cave, we successfully made it back down the stairs and headed off to the area of town I had stayed in before.

So happy to come across Mango Sticky Rice!!!

I was originally going to sign us up for a food tour that evening but I had already tried most of the food offered. So instead, I took Barb on a food tour hosted by your’s truly. We went to Jalan Alor street food market as I had eaten there when I was staying at my hostel earlier this month. I had Barb try Thailand apples (a cross between a pear and an apple), fried pineapple, rambutan (Malaysian fruit that looks like a hairy strawberry), some deep-fried and greasy dough thing (tasted like a funnel cake, looked like a churro), banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich), cendol (Malaysian dessert consisting of sticky rice, shaved ice, palm sugar syrup, rice flour jelly, coconut milk and kidney beans), mango sticky rice (my absolute favorite dessert in Thailand), dim sum (Chinese dumpling), naan (Indian flatbread), and roti canai (Malaysian flatbread). We were able to eat all of this for a total of $14 while the food tour I had originally looked at was going to cost $62 per person. Yay for savings and doing things on our own!

I was super excited to stumble upon mango sticky rice as it tasted exactly like what I had in Chiang Mai, Thailand one year ago. The only thing I couldn’t get Barb to try was durian… and I don’t blame her. Durian is a fruit that smells and tastes like expired meat and dirty socks. Its smell is so potent it is banned in most public places. You’ll see the typical signs for no smoking, no pets, no eating/drinking, and right along side that will be the sign for “No Durians”. I had my first and only durian encounter in Thailand when I mistook durian for pre-sliced pineapple.

We ended the night grabbing drinks at Heli Lounge- heli-pad during the day, rooftop bar by night. While waiting for the elevator, I explained to Barb where we were going. She asked, “What are the safety features to keep people from falling off?” I replied, “Well, there’s the equivalent of police tape around the edges.” Welcome to Asia, the land where safety goes out the window. 

Thursday… now Thursday was a fantastic day! I started it out with watching Iowa win their bowl game over Boston College. I had Adam Skype me on his iPad which was placed in front of his TV. So while he was in his kitchen making and eating supper, I was laying in bed watching his TV through my phone screen. Technology is a beautiful thing.

Afterwards, I told Barb the big thing I had been planning all along which also happened to be her Christmas present from us kids…. Bungee Jumping!!!

L: “So… what do you think?!?!”

B: “Well…..” {long pause} … “what safety precautions do they take?”

L: “Uh… you have two cords on you and you jump over water?”

B: “How about I watch you first and then decide?”

During the drive there, I laid in with the peer pressure. “Don’t you want to be a cool grandma?!” “This is your Christmas present. If you don’t jump, you won’t get anything for Christmas.” “2017 is about over, you’ll ruin our once a year big adventure together trend.” “It’ll be such a cool story to tell! You went to Malaysia over your Christmas break and bungee jumped.” “You’ve said before you want to bungee jump at some point in your life. Now’s the perfect time.” “It’s going to be so much fun!!!”

Needless to say, by the time we arrived to the ticket counter, Barb had bought in to the idea. I later found out she had a mental conversation with herself, saying if the cords were to break, at least she’d just fall into water and not smack into the ground and break into 48 pieces. Whatever works!

P.S. Barb meant to say she broke the record at that location, not in the world. And don’t mind us being total “woo girls”. We were on an adrenaline high.

In case you can’t tell by the video, bungee jumping was awesome!!!! I would totally do it again and now have my sights set on the 134m one in New Zealand. When I asked Barb if she would join me for the NZ one, she replied, “probably” with a big grin on her face. Have you ever met a cooler over 60-year-old? Some day when we’ve thrown her into a nursing home and she reflects back on her life, she’ll thank me for expanding her comfort zone. 

We finished the day off with dinner at Naughty Nuri’s. I first had Naughty Nuri’s in Ubud, Bali as Melissa and Travis had seen it on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. Naughty Nuri’s is known for their BBQ ribs. It was absolutely delicious in Bali so I was super excited when I saw a location in Kuala Lumpur. To my delight, the KL location was just as good and I was thrilled for Barb to experience it as well. The meat just falls off the bone and their BBQ is sweet like brown sugar and spicy like jalapeños.

After running some errands Friday morning, I took Barb to a fish spa. In case you’re unfamiliar, a fish spa is where you stick your feet into a tank of water and fish eat the dead skin from your legs and feet. While fish spas are illegal in the US due to hygiene and sanitation issues, they are prevalent in Asia and definitely a unique experience. Again, safety features are nonexistent here. Before even sticking our feet in the water, the fish swarmed over to us and began puckering out of the water. At first, it was super ticklish but after about 5 minutes it was rather relaxing. There were so many fish eating our dead skin at a time that it looked like we were wearing booties in the water. After we were done, our skin felt smooth and I still haven’t noticed any dead skin remaining. It was definitely a unique experience and one I would do again!

The fish clearly enjoying Barb’s legs and feet

Our final agenda item for Friday was checking out the Perdana Botanical Gardens. It was hot and humid at the time so we didn’t stay too long. Before leaving, we checked out their Palm Tree collection which was sweet. I had no idea there were so many varieties of palm trees! Apparently, there are over 2,600 kinds and we saw about 15. My favorite was the Ravenala.

Covered up at the National Mosque

Saturday was a pretty chill day. I slept in until noon which was glorious as I had only been getting about 4 hours of sleep with taking the dogs for their 5:30am walks and wanting to make the most out of Barb’s time. That afternoon we headed to the National Mosque which can hold 15,000 worshipers at one time. No, that is not a typo. Fifteen thousand people at once! I find other religions and cultures interesting so after getting outfitted in robes I asked one of the volunteers some questions such as when do Muslim girls start to cover up/wear hijabs (answer: once boys start to notice them) and why do some women wear niqab (completed covered except for their eyes) and others wear hijab (answer: it’s more of a cultural difference and what is acceptable in their country’s society). When I asked her why men prayed in the front of the mosque and women prayed in the back, she replied, “Because men wouldn’t be able to concentrate if they were behind the women” and winked.

Inside Meeples Board game Cafe

On our way back home, we stopped by Meeples European Board Game Cafe. It. Was. Awesome! And I’m calling dibs on opening one up in the US. It’s a cafe (serving snacks and drinks) where you can play boardgames. They easily had 100+ boardgames to choose from. There were some variations from US games, i.e. Operation was known as Doctor Panic, Risk was known as Power, but most were games we hadn’t heard of before. We settled on Word on the Street (strategic word game) and Patchwork (numbers and puzzle game). We paid $4.43 for 2 hours of playing and could have extended to unlimited hours for $1.48 more. The Board Game Cafe serves two purposes. 1 – you can try out new games before you buy them. 2 – it’s located near a university so college kids can still enjoy board games without bringing theirs from home to campus.

If you know anything about my family, you know how excited Barb and I were to stumble upon this!

This week Barb and I will head up north to the Malaysian island of Langkawi to ring in the New Year and to enjoy five days of fun in the sun.

Ladies only train car on the light rail

One word: Disgusting.

This week started out in a way I can only describe as disgusting. Shortly before 5am, I was woken up to the sound of the dogs barking and going psycho. When I came downstairs, I was greeted with the sight of this….

The dogs were so proud of their kill while I thought I was going to vomit. It. Was. Awful. I didn’t want to deal with it so I took the dogs on their morning walk in hopes the rat would be gone when we returned….. it wasn’t. I called my brother, Adam, and asked him to fly to Malaysia to take care of it for me. Instead he gave me two options: have the dogs drag the rat outside or use a dustpan and dispose of it in the garbage. After envisioning the dogs shredding the rat and blood dripping on the floor, I begrudgingly opted for the dustpan method. Why can’t I just have a normal dogsit for once?

The other disgusting thing that morning occurred during our walk. Because we were up earlier than normal, I ended up walking past the garbage truck making the rounds through the neighborhood. Not only were the garbage men picking up trash with their bare hands, but they were sorting through it with their bare hands. One guy grabbed the bag out of the trash can and threw it into the back of the truck. The other guy ripped open said bag and dug around until he pulled out all the recyclables…. all with their bare hands. It’s truly a miracle I didn’t vomit that morning.

I went to the gym a few times this week to start getting my body in shape for the Annapurna Circuit. I’m not entirely sure how often I’ll have access to hiking or a gym for the next 12 weeks so I figured I should start now while there is a gym close that offers a drop-in fee of $2. When I looked around at the other gym-goers, I noticed something peculiar… The locals were working out in either flip flops or their bare feet. Even while running on the treadmill! I haven’t figured out the reason behind this – do they not own tennis shoes? Is this how they handle the “No Dirty Shoes Allowed” policy? Are they embracing the “feet weren’t designed for shoes” theory? Who knows.

I was able to Skype in for both family Christmases at Barb’s house and at Dad and my stepmom, Gail’s house this week. They just propped me up on either a couch or lamp base and I was able to participate in conversations when I wanted to or when someone sat down in front of the phone. I was even able to join in on a family game of Over Under. It’s like I was there in person! Technology is such a great thing. However, I’m pretty sure my younger niece and nephews think I just live in the phone as that’s the only way they’ve seen me for the last year.

Barb lands tonight which I’m super excited about. I haven’t really explored Kuala Lumpur as everything I wanted to see, Barb does too so I didn’t see a point in going twice. Now that she’s here, it’s time to have some fun! Although, Barb and I have different definitions of fun. While we agree on the general concept, I go on the more extreme/adventuresome side. For example, we both enjoy skiing/snowboarding. Barb sticks to greens, blues, and one black while I prefer blues, blacks, and the terrain park. We both like water. Barb prefers to walk into water whereas I prefer to jump off cliffs into water.

The week after Thanksgiving when I was sick and barely left the house/hostel, I spent most of my awake time researching things to do during my time off from dogsitting as well as during the two weeks Barb is going to be here. One evening, I texted Barb and said, “Are you up for ANYTHING on this trip?!” She replied with a very hesitant answer and for good reason… I took her skydiving with me in 2014, accidentally took her down a double black diamond at Beaver Creek in 2015, and took her on a 14er (Colorado mountain whose summit is over 14,000 feet) in 2016. Clearly, I enjoy pushing her outside of her comfort zone. I told her it’s amazing how deep you can get into researching when you have time on your side. Her response? “I know. That’s what I’m afraid of.”

With her arrival looming ahead, she told me numerous time week, “I know my limits, Laura!” We shall see about that…

Penang

Three tiers of beds

On Monday, I headed north to the island of Penang on another sleeper bus. After getting checked in to my hostel, I was surprised to find the bunk beds were 3 tiers high especially with it being labeled a party hostel. I wonder how many people have fallen off trying to climb to the top bunk after a night out. Especially when you get two free double cocktails to start off each night plus their offer of unlimited drinks for only $10. In the midst of chatting with my new bunk mates, I found out the answer: Just the night before, a guy fell off the top bunk which is about 10 feet high. The bags on the floor broke his fall, but they still sent him to the hospital.

 

I ventured out for some food as Penang, especially the town of Georgetown, is known for their street food. I found a stall serving Wan Tan Mee (noodles and broth dish) that had about 15 people in line which is a good sign. When I got to the front of the line, I ordered one medium dish. The cook gave me a shoo-fly motion of her hand. That’s weird. I didn’t see a fly in my presence. She then preceded to serve customers behind me. None of them were speaking English so I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t being served. I decided to keep walking and found another place serving Wan Tan Mee. This time, I sat down at a table and waited for a server. Again, nobody approached me, yet I saw the cook delivering food out to the other tables of people. Am I doing something wrong?! After about 10 minutes, I gave up on the idea of eating food for the night.

Chendol – cocunut milk, jelly noodles, palm sugar, shaved ice, and sticky rice

On Tuesday before venturing out to see Georgetown’s renowned street art, I told one of the hostel workers my food story from the previous night and asked them what I was doing wrong. Turns out the proper way to order food here is to secure a spot at a table, then stand in line to order food, and tell the cook where you are sitting. So the first food stall cook was probably trying to motion to me to find a table and the second place assumed I had already ordered food since I was sitting at a table. I took this newfound knowledge and was finally able to eat Wan Tan Mee and finished with the dessert called Chendol, two of Penang’s signature dishes.

 

I checked out of my hostel on Wednesday and headed to the northeastern side of the island with two girls I had met at my hostel the night before. McKenzie was from Chicago and Vemeisha was from Kuala Lumpur. They had met at University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire two years ago and the American was showing the Malaysian the joys of backpacking.

We rented scooters and headed off to Penang National Park with the hopes of hiking to Monkey Beach. When we arrived at the entrance, we were told Monkey Beach could only be accessed via boat due to the destruction of the October landslide. It was a flat 80MYR fee ($19.57 USD) for the boat which could hold up to 10 people. We started asking others in the area if they wanted to join our boat so we could all pay a cheaper price. We ended up gathering five other people; two were from Germany traveling together and the other four were all solo travelers hailing from Ireland, USA, and Malaysia.

The eight of us completed the one hour hike to Turtle Beach and it was great having two Malaysians with me as they could read the signs so I didn’t get lost! Turtle Beach, known for rehabbing turtles and releasing them back into the wild, wasn’t very impressive. An hour later our boat picked us up and took us to Monkey Beach. Monkey Beach is known for having wild monkeys all over the beach. We only saw one in our two hours there which again, wasn’t very impressive. However, I did have a blast playing sand volleyball and sand soccer tennis with a local. Afterwards, I sent the American and Malaysian on their merry way back to Georgetown and I checked into my AirBNB for the night.

Turtle Beach

Can you find the shower in my dogsitting house?!

My initial impression of the AirBNB was, “Holy cow. This is so nice!” I had rented a room in a condo occupied by a Japanese couple. The living room looked out over the ocean. The bed was queen-sized and so comfortable. The shower had a rainfall waterfall head, great water pressure, hot water, and was separate from the toilet. Side note: my shower in the dogsitting house is just to the left of the toilet but counter is in the way with the weak water pressure so I have about a one foot area to shower in without detaching the nozzle. The hostel shower was located directly over the toilet so I had to straddle the toilet to shower as the water pressure wasn’t quiet there either. Needless to say, I was relishing in the space and amenities of this homestay/AirBNB.

View from my AirBNB balacony

In the morning while the wife was cooking me breakfast, the husband was showed me music videos of his daughter’s band. While the words were in Japanese, the tunes were pretty catchy. The band is well-known in Japan and China and they just completed a 25-city tour. The husband then told me he’s going to put on his favorite song. I thought he meant his favorite song from his daughter’s band…. Nope. On comes Mambo #5 by Lou Bega. What a way to start my morning!

Mariko, the wife, cooked me a delicious breakfast. It consisted of potatoes, dumplings in a light gravy sauce, lettuce salad with Italian herbs, and miso soup. Just when I thought I couldn’t eat anymore, Mariko brought out dessert: chocolate cake layered with vanilla yogurt and fruit. It was so good that I extended my stay for another day. It’s not very often you come across 5 star quality at $19/night.

Breakfast

That afternoon I laid out at the pool, took a nap, and met up with Kuzac and his brother, Kuzain, for dinner. Kuzac was one of my interns during my employment with Kick It 3v3 Soccer. Kuzain just signed a contract to play professional soccer in the USL, the second tier of MLS at only 19 years old! Their parents are from Malaysia so the brothers took a trip here to get Kuzain sponsorship deals as he’s the first Malaysian-American to play in the MLS.

First time I’ve seen Uber offer specific language speaking drivers

Friday morning I checked out of the wonderful AirBNB and met up again with Kuzac and Kuzain. Our plan for the day was to see the hidden gem called Frog Hill. I tried to talk the boys into renting scooters to access Frog Hill as it was rather remote, but they were too terrified of driving in Penang’s traffic. Instead, we took an Uber to the entrance of Frog Hill which was an hour away from the boys’ hotel. I suggested we should pay the Uber driver to wait for us because I wasn’t confident there would be any drivers when we were done. “Oh, we’ll be fine. We’ll figure it when we’re done,” was their reply.

After walking for thirty minutes, we came upon Frog Hill and it was so pretty! Frog Hill is an abandoned mine area that has created numerous pools of turquoise and aqua-colored water. Very, very cool to see. After spending about an hour in awe of the views, we began our journey back. When we arrived at the main road, there weren’t any drivers available on Uber or Grab (Asia’s version of Uber). I wasn’t surprised one bit as it would be like expecting there to be an Uber in Mineola for my Southwest Iowa readers. We walked 1km to the nearest gas station in hopes of finding a taxi or a bus. When we arrived, the gas station attendant said taxis didn’t come to this village of Tasek Gelugor but there was a bus coming in an hour. However, she didn’t know where the bus went after it stopped in their village. That doesn’t help much. “Bet you wish we would have rented scooters, huh?” I said to the boys. They gave an annoyed look in response.

Frog Hill

While waiting for the bus, we came up with a better idea…. hitchhiking. Friday Prayer was just getting over at the mosque so we were banking on two ideas. 1 – maybe someone would be heading into town that we could hitch a ride with. 2 – maybe someone would be feeling generous after spending two hours in their Friday Prayer service. We began asking around for a ride but most people only had a scooter. After feeling defeated, we sat back down at the bus stop. About five minutes later, a man approached us and asked if we were waiting for someone. The boys explained our situation and he offered us a ride. Wahoo!!!!! During the 30 minute ride into the nearest large town, he only spoke to Kuzain. I didn’t think much of it as Muslim men are only supposed to talk to females if it’s a necessity. Since I had two males with me, there was no need to interact with me. I was essentially non-existent. We found out he lived by Frog Hill and was just giving us a ride into town because he wanted to. I knew someone would be feeling generous! After dropping us off, Kuzac said, “I think he recognized you Kuzain! That’s why he offered us a ride and only talked to you.” I should mention Kuzain is a pretty big deal here; they call him the Malaysian Messi. Whatever the reason was, I’m glad the man brought us to town and I survived my first hitchhiking experience! It was touch and go for half of the ride as once we hit the highway, the driver floored it. He got the car up to 140km/hour which is just shy of 90mph and was whipping in and out and traffic like he was playing Grand Theft Auto. It was slightly terrifying and the boys and I exchanged numerous looks of “What the heck did we just get ourselves into?!”

Julian LeStrange

That night I caught a bus back to Kuala Lumpur and slept for most of Saturday. Sunday was spent running errands, working out (day 1 of getting in hiking shape for the Anapurna Circuit!), and with the dogs. The girlfriends/guard dogs are back so they must have went out on an adventure for the last two weeks. They joined our morning walks and kept the other street dogs at bay.

This week I plan to research and decide where I should go next. After Barb leaves, I will have two months and 3 days before I meet up with Flynn in Cambodia. I’ve narrowed it down to four countries, but realistically need to cut it down to two, one per month.

Sunset on Batu Ferringhi Beach

Scouting Trip to Langkawi

My plan for this week was to spend Monday – Thursday on the Malaysian island of Langkawi. I could have flown there but it was cheaper to take a bus and it allowed me to see Malaysia’s countryside. On Monday, I caught the 10am bus north to the port town of Kuala Perlis. My online research informed me it would take 7 hours. The last ferry to Langkawi leaves at 7pm each night. That’ll give me two hours to play around with time in case something comes up during the bus ride. Oh, how I was wrong! 9 hours and 47 minutes later (the bus had a visible stopwatch), I arrived in Kuala Perlis. Almost an hour after the last ferry arrived. I’ve already paid for my hostel for the night in Langkawi. Guess I’ll just sleep at the bus terminal. Nope… the bus terminal was a large scale open-air hut… not the safest choice. Ok… how about sleeping in the jetty/ferry terminal? Nope… that was locked for the night. Ugh. Looks like I’ll be paying double for accommodation tonight. Let’s see what’s on Expedia. Nope… “No properties located in your area.” How about Agoda (Asia’s version of Expedia)? Nope… “All properties are sold out during your dates.”  Well this is going to be an interesting night. The next ferry doesn’t leave until 7am. Where the heck am I going to post up for the night? After walking around the small town that is really just there to transport passengers to/from Langkawi, I found a hotel with an available room. The downside? They charged per hour. I feel like such a prostitute… these sheets are probably filled with diseases… Is this really a safer option than the bus terminal? The door does have a lock… not sure how secure it is. After deciding the per hour hotel was the lesser of two evils, I filled out the paperwork. The desk clerk asked me if I was just arriving. I replied, “Yep. My bus from KL took almost three hours longer than expected.” He smiled and said, “Happens every day.”

My only food option Monday night after checking into my per hour hotel was KFC. I chose the regular-sized mashed potatoes as my side. It was gone after three bites! No wonder Asians are tiny.

As you can imagine, I got very little sleep that night but was able to catch the first ferry out in the morning. One hour later, I had arrived on the island of Langkawi! For the next few days, when I wasn’t soaking up the sun, I was being a travel agent… scoping out lodging, meals, and activities which I can’t go into detail about. Barb knows that I’m taking her to Langkawi for part of her 2 week trip here over Christmas but she is unaware of all the details. For whatever reason, I really love planning out trips when Barb visits me but leaving her in the dark until it’s too late to turn back.  🙂 As with when she visited me in Australia, all I’ve given her is a packing list and the expectation of hopping on the plane.

These are the signs posted around when you are in a Muslim country. No alcohol and no kissing??? No touching of the opposite sex??

The one meal I will share details about is the Mexican restaurant I went to. I was really craving Mexican food and was stoked when I saw they had one there. I ordered a beef and been burrito and a mango margarita. I’m on a tropical island. The sun is out. This mango margarita is going to hit the spot! It. Was. Awful. They must have used the tequila equivalent of Hawkeye or Karkov vodka in the drink. I can throw back some cheap tequila, but this was on a whole new level. That was disappointing, but can you really blame them for poor cocktails? Alcohol is pretty taboo in Malaysia as they are a Muslim country.  Up next was the burrito…. which should have been labeled enchiladas. The beef was chewy and probably a Grade E. The guacamole was chopped up onions and tomatoes with watered down avocado drizzled on top. The worst part? My bill was $14! I’ve been spending about $3/meal in Malaysia. The one day I splurge on Western food and it wasn’t even worth it. Definitely won’t be taking Barb here! Southeast Asian fail for sure.

The mango margarita that looked so much better than it tasted.

On Thursday before I caught the 5:30pm ferry back to Kuala Perlis, I laid out at a pool near the beach. A Malay man struck up a conversation with me and eventually offered me one of his beers. “Yes please!” Free beer is my favorite, even if it’s a Heineken.  After I finished the can, he asked if I wanted another one. “Sure!” After he grabbed his wallet, he said, “You watch my kid? I go buy more beer.” What?! You’re going to leave your kid with a stranger.. in a pool?! “Uhh… okay…” Thankfully the kid stayed within my eye sight and where he could touch (he was maybe 5) and the man brought me another beer within 10 minutes. A short while later, his wife came to the pool and did not look pleased. Needless to say, that was the last he interacted with me.

That evening I took the night bus back to Kuala Lumpur. Did I mention earlier that these buses are double deckers and sleepers?! When I first bought these roundtrip tickets, I had mentally prepared to sit on a cramped charter style bus for multiple hours. I was pleasantly surprised when I boarded Monday’s bus. There are only about 30 seats on the upper deck and are arranged in a 1-2 order. I selected a single seat both times so had some of my own space. The seats reclined back around 80% and came with an attached foot rest. Basically a recliner you’d find in your average living room, just on a bus and not as cushiony.

The upright position of the sleeper bus seats

About an hour into the ride back that evening, we stopped to pick up more passengers. I noticed they had parked their scooters oddly close to the bus. Then I saw the driver pull out a ramp and walk the scooter onto the lower level. Turns out, the upper level is for passengers and the lower level is for scooters and baggage! I had heard about people putting scooters on buses in Vietnam, but had just assumed it was similar to where bicycles are placed on the front of public transportation buses in the US. Mind. Blown.

Friday I picked up groceries at a nearby grocery store. What I loved… Honeycrisp apples being the second cheapest kind. What I didn’t love… 1 cup of shredded cheese costing $5. Keep in mind, I purchased 24 items and my total was only $20. That one bag of cheese was 1/4 of my bill!

Saturday and Sunday were spent at the house with the dogs and planning out this week’s trip to the island of Penang. Rachel will get home tomorrow (Monday) morning and I’ll catch another sleeper bus up north to Penang. This time, I’m prepared for a longer bus ride than advertised and since this island is located a few hundred yards away from the peninsula, I don’t have to worry about catching a ferry as they built a bridge to connect it. I will spend the week on Penang (Aunt Nancy, you’ll be getting another magnet to add to your collection!) and then come back to KL for my last stint of dogsitting for Rachel.

This is Carlos Broccoli. He has a skin-condition that makes him rather scraggly looking.

Lazy Week

I spent Monday and Tuesday laying in my hostel bed, watching Netflix and sleeping so I could get over this 2 week long cold. I did venture out at night to grab some dinner but that’s really all that was accomplished the first two days.

Wednesday morning I awoke to three new bunk mates. As with everyone I met in the hostel except staff, these three were supposed to go to Bali but got rerouted to Kuala Lumpur due to Bali’s volcano situation. I may be the only person selfishly happy it’s erupting because that means I can go back! I’ve been tracking the volcano activity since summer. At the time, scientists said it would erupt but could between 2 weeks and 7 years. That’s as far as you could narrow it down? A time frame up to 7 years?! Because of that, I put my return to Bali on hold so yay that I’ll be able to head back there! The area of Bali that I plan to spend my time at is 70km from the volcano and hypothetically shouldn’t be impacted.

While we were having the same beginning conversation all traveler’s have with each other (What’s your name? Where are you from? How long are you traveling for?), one of the girls put her glasses. Oh my gosh. I’ve seen her before on my travels. This is going to sound really mean/judgmental, but this blog is all about sharing my honest thoughts and experiences so here we go. Back in the Philippines, you might remember I took a ferry from Cebu and Bohol. After arriving in Bohol, I waited about 20 minutes to claim my backpack. Three girls were standing in front of me and one stood out because her glasses gave her bug eyes. Of all the styles of glasses and lenses out there, those are the ones you choose?! I’m blind as a bat but strategically choose a combination where you can’t exactly tell just how blind I am. Also, all three were wearing fanny packs which is humorous to most Americans. My mother, Barb, thinks I should rally a fanny pack while traveling. “You can keep all your valuables in front of you. You’ll be able to see if someone tries to pickpocket you.” I would rather wear my backpack on the front of my body than a fanny pack. This isn’t the 80s. Plus it’ll be pretty obvious if someones tries to get into my drawstring bag while I’m wearing it. Back to my hostel room in Kuala Lumpur….

L: “This is going to sound really creepy but did you guys take a ferry from Cebu to Bohol two and a half weeks ago?”

Girl: “Yes…”

L: “You guys were totally on my ferry.”

Girl: “What a small world! How did you know it was us?”

L: “Because you…” (you can’t say she has bug eyes!)”… were all wearing fanny packs.”  Phew! Good save. 

That evening, I took the train out to the suburbs to start my dogsitting gig. I planned to walk the 2km from the train station to Rachel’s house (dog owner). When I told Rachel, she immediately said she would pay for my taxi because the streets are not pedestrian friendly. 1) There aren’t sidewalks. 2) Cars don’t stop for you in the cross walk, even when you have the green walking man. I hopped in my Uber and the first commercial that came on was how the announcer felt totally safe using zebra walks (their phrase for cross walks) in Australia but has a lack of confidence in Malaysian drivers while he’s crossing the street. Wow. She wasn’t joking.

Thursday morning, I woke up to my 5:30am alarm to walk the dogs. There are two reasons why I have to walk them under the cover of night (sunrise is at 7am). 1) The roads get hot during the day which burns the dogs’ feet. 2) Dogs are considered haram (forbidden) in Islam and Malaysia is a Muslim country. Therefore, I have to walk the dogs before others are up for their morning prayer. Muslims pray 5 times a day. A call to prayer sound comes on the neighborhood loud speaker when it’s time. Upon some research, I learned dogs are haram because the Muslim prophet Muhammad said, “Whoever keeps a dog, except a dog for herding, hunting or farming, his reward will decrease by one qiraat every day.” He also said, “If a dog licks the vessel of any one of you, let him throw away whatever was in it and wash it seven times.” As with most religions, it’s up to the individual for how they interpret this. For example, Rachel’s vet is a Muslim but she takes extra precaution when cleaning herself after tending to a dog.

Thursday morning’s walk was good. I was greeted by Julian and Carlos’s girlfriends. Rachel rescued both Julian in 2015 and Carlos in 2016 from the streets. On one walk this past June, two female dogs followed Rachel, Julian, and Carlos and they haven’t left since. Rachel, along with two other families in the neighborhood, all take care of Honey and Badger. They walk with Julian and Carlos in the mornings and eat breakfast at Rachel’s. Yes, I have the unfortunate responsibility of welcoming two street dogs into the house every morning for breakfast. During the day and in the evening, Honey and Badger stay at the next door lady’s house. A Chinese Muslim paid for them to get neutered and pays for their shots. While she doesn’t interact with the dogs, she does care for them deeply. Again, all in the interpretation.

Friday morning, I woke up at 4am for no reason so I decided to Facetime Eleanor. Colleen, the nanny I trained, had told me Eleanor was on the verge of tears one day, talking about how she missed me. The parents had also mentioned they think Eleanor is realizing I’m actually gone because she’s been mentioning me frequently. Eleanor and I had sent birthday videos to each other as she turned 5 the day after my birthday. So when I Facetimed her, she thought I was a video at first and wouldn’t respond back to me besides a smile. After Colleen explained I was in real-time and she could talk back and forth with me, then Eleanor just went wild. She chatted my ear off for 45 minutes (“Look at my rock pile. Isn’t this rock beautiful, Laura?!” “Look Laura! I’m balancing on the ledge while I talk to you.” “Here’s my scarf. It has pink which is my favorite color and blue which is your favorite color.”) and I loved every bit of it. I feel very fortunate that between the parents and Colleen, I get daily pictures or videos of the kids.

After Facetiming, I got the dogs ready for their morning walk. For whatever reason, Honey and Badger weren’t there in the morning. So the three of us took off on our walk. About 10 minutes in, we were approached by a pact of street dogs whose barking scared the life out of me. Maybe because we were alone on the street in the dark. Maybe because most street dogs are aggressive and known to bite. Either way, I was terrified and immediately turned around, wishing Honey and Badger were with us as they acted as our guard dogs on the previous morning’s walk. Plus, they have a lot more street cred than Julian (Miniature Pinscher) or Carlos (only barks at people and not other dogs).

Saturday and Sunday’s walks were uneventful as I found a route that didn’t involve encounters with street dogs, knock on wood. Honey and Badger didn’t show up again so I’m wondering if A) they were picked up by Animal Control or B) went off on an adventure.

I’m happy to report that my week of doing nothing and barely leaving the hostel/house has paid off as my cold is gone! Rachel comes homes tonight and I leave for the Malaysian island of Langkawi tomorrow morning. I will be back at Rachel’s house on Friday to dogsit over another weekend.

Facetiming with this awesome little girl. I don’t know who was more excited.