Interlude

Malaysia has turned into something of an interlude or intermission for the trip. We’ll have stayed a total of 6 days in Kuala Lumpur, and there certainly isn’t six days of sights in Kuala Lumpur. That being said, Kuala Lumpur is an excellent little city. It’s sort of like a little Bangkok, though in all reality it’s probably most similar to Singapore (except we wouldn’t know, we haven’t been). Kuala Lumpur is exceptionally nice, so nice you wonder where this little country and comparatively small city gets the money for all these beautiful skyscrapers and incredible public transit infrastructure. There are something like 4 separate trains and free buses to take around town. The highlight of Kuala Lumpur (besides the Grand Prix obviously) was the Islamic Arts Museum. Beautiful and highly unique works of art housed in a beautifully serene building. Only later as I was talking to another friend about the museum did I realize the irony in the museum having an overflowing amount of jeweled weapons.  We weren’t exactly bursting with excitement when we went to go take our obligatory pictures of the Petronas towers but, wow. These things are an architectural wonder and are certainly the most beautiful skyscrapers I’ve ever seen and could quite possibly be the most beautiful skyscrapers in existence. Also, going at night with them lit up is a good call. We’ve been staying in China town which is a fun experience. The covered street market is practically home. They have a couple of steps-above average fakes which are fun to look at on our way back to the guesthouse. Speaking of guesthouses, after staying in hotels for two weeks with my parents Libby put us in our worst guesthouse to date on night 1 in Kuala Lumpur. A literal box, with a mattress that was more springs than it was mattress. I’m talking the floor could’ve been a more comfortable option, save for the fact you couldn’t be sure what might be crawling on the floor. Now we’re in a more deluxe (for 20 as opposed to 10 USD) box for which I’m thankful. We went to a movie one night in one of if not the central mall in Kuala Lumpur. I thought I had seen nice malls in Manila, but this mall was somehow on the next level. I’m talking Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Burberry, Versace and literally dozens more all in a row a couple hundred meters long. There are an astounding amount of tourists here in Kuala Lumpur and at first I wasn’t sure why they all had come exactly. This is still a working hypothesis that others have mentioned but I think Kuala Lumpur is something of a shopping center for all of Southeast Asia (maybe greater Asia too). Because we went to another mall in the Petronas towers, and they had almost the exact same designer lineup! As I mentioned before, Kuala Lumpur is a wonderful city, but I think as far as sights to see and food to eat, there are better cities/places to go for all of these tourists.

I encountered the most peculiar man over a game of chess in our hotel. I was in the lobby of the guesthouse, and all of a sudden, a man comes up to me and asks if I play chess. I say yes, and he immediately asks if I want to play. I haven’t played since coming to Asia. We play, I lose in a close game, and we get to talking. The man has been in Kuala Lumpur for 2.5 months. He’s on a 5.5 month tour of Asia and had spent two weeks in Thailand before settling in KL. His main reason for staying being his love for Durian. He said he ate three whole durian the previous day, which, by the way, IS A LOT OF DURIAN.  For those who don’t know, durian is a large spikey fruit with a custardy texture and TERRIBLE smell; so bad that hotels and public transportation have signs outlawing it.  Libby once taught a class with a student who had durian.  She had to step outside for fresh air because the smell was making her light headed and nauseous.  The way this guy was gushing about Durian felt like he was talking about the woman of his dreams; it was all a bit surreal. Secondly, he really likes playing chess, and has found good chess players in a nearby park. To top it off his name is Klaus and he’s from a small town in Austria. He’s been a postal clerk for 22 straight years and said he needed a break. Very strange man. I figure since he’s from such a small town it’s easier and much more comfortable to settle in a single place. But I wish I could have convinced him to uproot and spend those last two months seeing everything there is to see in this wonderful part of the world.

Back to KL. The only thing that’s a little strange in the religious aspect of KL. I mean, you can’t help but feel a little strange when you see these women walking around in Niqabs next to other scantily clad Asian girls. It’s even stranger when you think how the women IN the Niqabs must feel about the scantily clad women while they’re presumably baking a little inside their curtains. You can easily imagine the tension that must exist. Also as a westerner with somewhat progressive values, you can’t help but feel a little moral revulsion at the blatant sexism of it all. I mean, yeah I guess it’d be fine if the husbands were also wearing that thing but they don’t; usually they’re chilling in shorts and t-shirts. And also I’d guess it’d be fine if the men weren’t allowed to walk around alone like the women, but they are. Who knows though, maybe the husbands are like, “hey honey, what do you want to wear today, a long dress? a skirt and blouse? or your Niqab?”

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-02/what-are-the-differences-between-the-burka-niqab-and-hijab/5785816 (worth the read says Libby)

Had an extraordinary last day in Kuala Lumpur. We started the day off with a fantastic Sunday brunch in downtown KL at Acme Bar and Coffee (ABC).  More spectacular skyscrapers, one of the best breakfasts we’ve had in Asia in combination with a super chic setting had me loving KL even more. After lunch, we headed to track for the Grand Prix race. What a great experience! I really feel that I’m sold on Formula One and will be something I’ll stay interested in for the rest of my life.  I feel like we as human beings (or at least men) have this natural affinity towards the sounds of those engines. Needless when the engines start it raises the hair on the back of my neck. Even though I knew next to nothing when it came to the drivers, the strategies, the tactics, everything really, but I could sense there was a lot going on that you could get into. Something that I still feel is missing entirely with NASCAR. Vettel from Ferrari won which was sort of a big deal because Mercedes has been simply dominating the field of late. Also it was exciting being around people cheering their driver on every lap of the way even though there is no possible chance of someone hearing anything over the deafening roar of the engines; people who clearly loved this sport. There was a certain amount of class in the audience, at the very least it was extremely worldly. Yes there were your rednecks (bring loud engines and they will come), but they were in the minority.  A main reason for this thought process being the excessive price of Formula 1 gear.  The t-shirts were $80! The polos $100! And so many people had them!  I was jealous.  Not to mention the super nice cars in the parking lots.  We ended the day in a very awesome restaurant in China town called the Old China Café. It used to be in the old grocer’s (or something similar) guild hall and had that perfect authentic or maybe raw vintage feel to it with beautiful wooden doors and white marble tables.  Also I love KL because even the central market food court has these vintage white marble top tables (I don’t know where they get all this marble from, but I love it.) Anyways, that ended our KL trip; we were up at 5 am the next morning for our flight to Lombok.

Old China Cafe 

fancy food court tables 

Having such a fantastic day, one of those extraordinary days that stick out above the rest of all the other special days this trip has entailed, can’t help but leave a good taste in your mouth when you think of KL. Yeah, I feel this city is most suited to someone with 5 or 10 thousand dollars to blow in an afternoon of shopping (and maybe a night of fancy clubbing), but I don’t regret the 6 days of recuperation and preparation for Indonesia. WAIT A SECOND. MY one complaint of KL was the shocking price of beer. I felt like I was stealing a cookie from the cookie jar every time I broke down and spent an obscene 2 dollars for a beer (in comparison to the standard 50 cent beers in Vietnam).

After an exhausting day of travel, we woke up in KL and fell asleep in Gili Air (which is an impressive amount of distance to cover=Train, Plane, Automobile, Boat, and Foot). We could have added horse cart to our list but Libby felt too bad for the horse and I felt too cheap. Gili is nice, we’re on the east coast of Gili Air which is entirely splendid. I think Palawan still might beat it up, but just slightly. We were having coconuts on the beach with chilled out French house music which were two comparable experiences we’ve had in Gili and Palawan. But I think 7 commando beach bar still wins, in case anyone was wondering. We’re still kind of pouting about the fact that we came to Gili specifically for the amazing deals on open water diving certifications and the amazing deals have disappeared. Upon further inspection our Lonely Planet copy (digital), which Amazon hopefully keeps updated, is from 2013 so our $280 certifications is up to $360, just like everywhere else. O well, our itinerary is still rock solid and we’ve just got to take the kick in the balls, suck it up, and move on. Speaking of itinerary, I can give you our rough Indonesia itinerary, which I’m proud of and maybe, just maybe, one of y’all might just use one day. So we flew into Lombok in the morning, and after a taxi and a boat, we arrived on Gili Air. After our introduction to diving, we are moving to Labuan Bajo. From Labuan Bajo you access Komodo and Rinca islands, the only two islands in the world home to the Komodo Dragon. Also, there is world class diving around these areas which we hope to take part in. Afterwards, we take an overland journey of the island of Flores from East to West. Taking in volcanos, hot springs, local tribes, chameleon esque volcanic lakes, and of course beaches.  Libby is excited for one beach known for having dark pink sand and another which has blue stones.  From East Flores (around Ende), we hope to take a 20 hour ferry to the Alor Archipelago. What’s in Alor you ask? For me, general desolation. But also, world class diving and dozens of ethnic minorities that should be the most untouched we’ll be able to get our hands on (and honestly some of the most untouched in the world). From Alor, it’s another 17 hour ferry to the Island of East Timor and its capital-Kupang. Time will dictate whether we have time to explore East Timor or not, but from its Capital and the Capital of Tusa Nengarra (the province of islands we are exploring) we will hopefully find a reasonable flight from Kupang to Jakarta and continue on from Jakarta to Chiang Mai for the next leg of our journey (otherwise we may be stuck in East Timor forever). Bon Voyage!!!!!!!!