MALAYSIA
& SINGAPORE
February
5 - 19, 2001 Written by Laura
Warning-- I could write pages and pages about Sarawak & each hike we took, but I'll try to summarize only the best of the highlights. Needless to say, it's at the top of the list of places to visit when we decide to travel again. Who knew that when we only scheduled 12 days for Malaysia, it would turn out to be one of the highlights of the entire trip!
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Feb 11-14 |
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Feb 14-16 |
Feb 16-19 |
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Kuala
Lumpur - Feburary 5-6, 2001
We were energized from the Junk Trip, but we still had nearly
3 weeks until Paris. We were going hard, pushing on through the
last bit of Asia. I was so tired of packing and unpacking and
of moving around. We'd been going nearly 7 months, but we still
had two countries to do in a short amount of time (considering
the time we spent in other places).
As you can see from the map above, Malaysia is divided into two main sections, Peninsular Malaysia (below Thailand and just above Singapore) and Borneo Malaysia, made up of two states, Sabah & Sarawak. Sarawak has a very different history than the other states, it was actually ruled by a British adventurer (James Brooke) from 1838 and by his decendents until after WWII. The population is also extremely varied. Peninsular Malaysia is a mixture of native Malay (mostly Islamic, few Christians), Indian (Hindu) and Chinese (mostly Buddhist, few Christians), whereas Sarawak has pockets of Chinese and Malays, but is mostly different indigenous tribes who have lived in various parts of Borneo (now Indonesia, Brunei or Malaysian Sabah) for thousands of years. It was very interesting to read in the local papers about the government's policies and promotions to ensure harmony and understanding amongst the Malay, Indian and Chinese & their various religious beliefs. These policies are a little on the heavy handed side, as everything is in that country, but from my short time there, it seemed truly a great accomplishment to have so many people with such different cultures, religions and languages getting along so well. Especially compared with the USA's melting pot. One activity that the government encouraged were house visits. I couldn't determine how often these happen, but families were encouraged to invite their neighbors of different cultural groups to their homes during their cultural festivals so various cultures could be shared on a personal level. The government impressed upon the people the fact that the only way Malaysia could succeed as a strong country was to keep racial harmony.
God sure was watching out for us. When we were the most tired, we arrived in the two easiest SE Asian countries to travel in, Malaysia and Singapore. On Monday, Feburary 5, 2001 we arrived at the modern airport at Kuala Lumpur, otherwise known as KL. We only had 24 hrs to see the city, as the next day we were flying to Malaysian Borneo. At the airport they had ATM's, information desks staffed with knowledgable, friendly people, who we could actually trust! There was an affordable bus to and from the airport and we found a reasonable priced, nice hotel in the city center, all of which we booked from the info desk at the airport. I know this must sound normal to most of you, but this truly was a sign of just how well Malaysia was doing economically and how well they understood tourism. What a breath of fresh air. We just shook our heads in amazement the whole ride to our hotel. We noticed a couple riding on the bus with us, who we had seen on our plane ride from Thailand. We both got off at the same hotel and started chatting. Of course, they were from the Bay Area (San Francisco) and of course, they were traveling around the world just like us! We both settled into our rooms and went out for a walk downtown to get some dinner.
Sandra & Luke were some months into their trip and having some of the difficulties we were having at that same time. We reassured them with our experiences and exchanged stories. Its tough to have come from a life of go-go-go to suddenly nothing to actually do or accomplish! Sandra, originally from Texas, quit her hi-tech job and decided to travel along with Luke, originally from South Africa. We had a great time eating in Chinatown chatting and learning places we should go and things we should do in S. Africa (a great help!!). Sandra and I talked about the crazy culture in Silicon Valley and how different the rest of the world is. It had been a while since I had met someone I could have this kind of conversation with and it really brought me home.
The next morning we were up early, had to quickly tour the butterfly museum (awesome) but had to miss the Bird Park and Orchid Garden. We have to save seomthing for the next time. By the way,the butterfuly museum was full of living butterflies and we also got to see some fantastic exotic flowers and insects. Next we were off to the tallet building in the world, the KL City Centre. Unfortunately, we ran out of time & couldn't take the elevator to the viewing area (it doesn't go up very high, only to the connecting bridge), but we took lots of pictures from both the outside and inside, and then rushed off to the airport. Thus we started our long history with Malaysian Airlines, arriving just in time to catch our flight, but we always made it! Usually we're 1-2 hours early, but somehow, with Malaysian Airlines, we would arrive for every flight 15 min before the plane was taking off!
This one stood still long enough for me to grab this shot
Can you tell what is the stick and what is the stick insect?
