Malaysia my second home?

Well, maybe eventually.

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The joys of travel  mean you sometimes miss, you know, an entire 2 days while delayed in, of all godforsaken ice caverns, Minneapolis.  Near the airport.  We left home thinking our biggest challenge was getting out of Ohio because of an epic (for Ohio) snowstorm…but alas…it was a broken plane that ultimately was the challenge.

Sooooo, I would love to tell you how Malaka was, but I cannot because I’ve still only seen pictures.

Why Malaysia, the coworkers said?  Well, part of that was reading about the old town in Malaka reminding me of Hoi An, Vietnam, which still remains one of my favorite places on earth.  The other part is that I missed an opportunity to go for a conference last year, and finally (most importantly) I love Southeast Asia and Malaysia has been consistently rated one of the best countries to expat.

Malaysia is tucked in with Thailand to the north, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to the north east, Indonesia just south.  It is tropical and seriously sticky hot for about 1/2 the year, and really wet the other half.  The government is made up of 14 states, most led by a sultan, but a few with a governor (like Penang).  The sultans play ring around the rosy with the kingdom and do have significant power ,but there is also a prime minister outside of the royalty, and a group of lawmakers that directs what ends up on the sultans and king’s desk.  Seems strange to me at first, but most of the people we talked to throughout the trip said it actually doesn’t work too badly.

Religious makeup is vastly different than the US with 60% Muslim, 10% Indian and Sikh, 25% ‘Chinese’, and 5% randos.  Because of this, and this is generally welcome to me, it is a culture dominated by food and non-alcoholic beverages.  It wasn’t a dry January, of course, but much more dry than many vacations.

Like most southeast Asian countries, men rule the roost and freely joke about women not doing x or y, and even the women tell tales of ways they deal with the BS in demure ways without the final temptation of poisoning the tea.  This, I am sure everyone knows, is not my personality.  Several guides and chefs were amazed that Tim and I share cooking and that he runs most of the kids activities with the benefit of having a business with flexibility.  Surgeon…a lot less flexibility.  The men will talk over you, they will serve him the drink first, and chivalry, well, what the hell is that.   In spite of these truths, this is not my first rodeo being in male dominated culture (Ahem, surgeons), and I’m not trying to woo anyone.

Malaysian currency is 4.5 ringgit to the dollar, so things tend to be very economical and most of the time you can eat at a local restaurant for the equivalent of 3USD.  The books we bought were 1/3 the price of home, the fruit at the market was a steal, and you can get huge te Tarik (milk tea) for dirt cheap.  Accommodations are various, but on a budget, you can find a decent hotel, guesthouse, etc. for 50 Ringgit or less.  Like many other countries these days, credit card is widely accepted and Amex is widely not accepted.

Terrain: most of Malaysia is tropical and forest covered, like straight up jungle. Even Kuala Lumpur has a jungle in the middle of the city.  There is quite a bit of coast line but the western side is apparently plagued by dangerous hemotoxic jellyfish, so you see few people in the water.  Fishing and controlled production of shellfish are a way of life in many locations and like everything else, it is fetched at the open market straight from the water.

So, still interested? Next post is Kuala Lumpur, or for short, KL (which everyone refers as).