Ay May Lay

Ay May Lay!! Malaysia was nothing like I expected. Before setting foot in the country, I expected a country that was culturally diverse and very clean. What I found was a country that was a mesh of the places we’ve been and the places we will soon visit. Being from America, I can’t say anything negative about a country having many types of customs meshed together to create its own, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought I would be able to buy Malaysian food, clothes that are specific to the country and possibly even learn a dance that is typically done in the region. What I found was Indian and Chinese cuisine, clothes that I had already seen in India and I didn’t see any dancing at all. I guess I was just disappointed because the country didn’t seem to have its own identity. After I got over that, Malaysia impressed me over and over again. It was a wonderful trip. Our boat did not dock in port because Penang is building a new dock. The boat stayed a few hundred yards off of the dock and we were boated onto shore. This was slightly annoying because it took a half hour to get on and off shore. It took us a long time to debark originally; we didn’t even get clear to leave until noon. We stayed on the boat for lunch so we didn’t get off until two. We walked around Penang for a while trying to get a set of plans together (since we had a VERY open schedule.) We decided to go to a Snake Temple. The description of this temple in all the brochures was a temple where snakes are hanging from beams in the sacred space. Because the place is filled with incenses, the snakes are very calm and never strike. When we got there, it was like 10 sleeping snakes and one huge python that you could pay to take a picture with. It was disappointing so we got our taxi driver to take us to the war museum that wasn’t too far away. This place was quality. It wasn’t a huge building like you would typically imagine a museum. This war museum was a British fort during WWII. (ps, yes the British did colonize Malaysia also.) The buildings and facilities that the British soldiers used during this war were filled with relics from the time period. It was super cool because people actually used these things at one time. Then when we were done looking through the museum, we played paintball. To be honest, I never imagined playing paintball in the middle of Malaysia at a fort that has been converted into a war museum. On the other hand, it was amazingly fun. It was rainy so no one else was there. Me and Mal played against our friend Davis and even if we got hit, we kept playing anyways. It was super fun and we took some awesome pictures of us looking like soldiers. After the museum, we went to eat in a Chinese restaurant. They asked if we wanted tea so we said yes (like we typically do because we normally don’t know what we’re doing) and they poured us tea into glasses. We all had a sip and realized it was hot. Who serves hot tea on a hot day? We roll with the punches so we just drank it and didn’t really worry about it. After we had finished, davis asked for water. They brought us all water and when we took a sip of that, we realized it was also hot. Wtf? Eventually, we got some ice cubes and it was all good. After dinner we went out to get a drink with some Malaysians. We walked past a sign that said “GIRLS DRINK FREE.” How do they make money? Well we went in to see what the catch was and it turns out, there was no catch. The whole night, Davis only spent 40 ringlets (like $15.) Then we went back to the boat to bed. The next day we hung around Penang again and decided to go to Cameron Highlands the next morning. Cameron Highlands is an area about 6 hours outside of where we were docked. The area is famous for growing strawberries and tea. I also heard it is a good spot for hiking. We were super excited to get out there eventho we had no plans or a place to stay. As we boarded the bus, some semester at sea people were getting off the bus. They told us to stay at Daniel’s Lodge. We got to the lodge and immediately fell in love with it. Daniel’s Lodge was a pretty large building that was portioned into areas. A couple rooms, some dorm room style bathrooms and barracks style beds. All of our beds were right next to each other and pretty much no privacy. But it seemed to be perfect. Especially each person’s stay only cost 8 ringlets. That’s like $2.50 per night. You can’t beat that. (o: there were lots of hilarious signs like “**** the lonely planet. Lord of rubbish.” Lonely planet is a set of travel books that everyone reads. I guess Daniel’s Lodge got a bad review. Another sign said “No food in the rooms = no jangle rats.” We have no idea what jangle rats were, but the sign was hilarious. It was super fun there because all the people staying there were backpackers from all over the world. It made me want to backpack sometime in my life. Most people had been going around South East Asia for the past few months. I was jealous of everyone who got to stay in China for 6 weeks or India for 3 months. I’ll do that some day. The next day we were set to go on a hike. $13 got us an 8 hour hike to a tea farm and a waterfall. As we were walking up to the jungle where we would hike, I sang a popular song that I changed to fit the situation “welcome to the jangle…..” hahaha for the rest of the day, we didn’t say jungle once, we only said jangle. Later, we wondered if our guide and the German girls were with us thought that American’s said Jangle rather than Jungle. The tea farm was amazing. The steep hills were filled with tea bushes. It was beautiful. The hills are steep because it rains hard, the plants would droned if they were grown on a flat area. Then we hiked to a waterfall. It was pretty, but the water was super cold. After we got out, it started raining a little. I like the rain and it hasn’t rained much on this trip so I was very excited. I would soon see how it rains in Malaysia. For the next 6 hours, the amount of rain that poured on us was of biblical proportion. I’ve never seen the rain come down so hard for such a long time. Although everything on me and in my book bag was soaked, it was a very fun time. The road we were walking on turned into a river. We just went with it and had a good time. We had to buy dry clothes, but I don’t even care. (o: The next day we went back to Penang and did some internet-ing and bought some groceries then went back to the boat to go to bed. I had a wonderful time and you won’t believe these pictures when you see them. This place was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The jangle was so green and the trails we went on weren’t really trails. The tea farm was super hilly and it eventho it was tiring to hike, it was beautiful to look at. I think I was the only person, besides our guide, that didn’t slip the whole day. Well, that’s all for Malaysia. In 2 days, I’ll be in Vietnam. Then two days after that, China. I’ll try to post in between the two but we’ll see what happens. Wish me luck.

Mumma (relative)- I got my girlscout cookies (thanks you’re the best) but I didn’t get my malaria medicine. We’ll see how that pans out. Thanks for the package tho.

Poppa Bear- Love your posts. Anyone who isn’t reading the comments on my post really should. They are hilarious and you’ll probably read poppa bear’s comments more than you care to read my blog.

Rannie and Ryan- thanks for the Steelers AFC Central Division Pog. I have no idea where you found it but I was so excited when I saw it. it’s on my wall right now. Love you tons.

Mark- Love the emails and letters. I get excited to read all of them. For everyone that doesn’t know, Mark was the MVP of the all star game in his hockey league. Cute.

Juli- thanks for the email. (o: you’re the best.

Mumma (friend mumma)- I am going to call you from Hawaii and straighten you out. Till then, I love you and you are perfect.

Kristofer- You are almost done student teaching. I’m positive you are super excited about that.

Nano- I have no idea what you are up to, but I still think about you a lot and miss your gutz.

Laur- I loved your email. I’ll write back sometime…. Probably after Japan. Love you lots.

To everyone: please send more emails!!!