Wrapping up Malaysia and the Christmas Season

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope this blog post finds you well. Inge and I spent our Christmas travelling. Buses, airplanes, and airports aren't exactly the most festive places to spend your holidays, but they do save you money on tickets... That's kind of a Christmas miracle in itself, right? Especially when you have very little money.

At any rate, our past week was a relatively quiet one. Ingard traveled to three different cities during that time. The first, Ipoh, wasn't very interesting. It isn't a tourist destination, and as a result we spent our one day there shopping and watching movies instead of sightseeing. That was alright with us since Ipoh was just a stopover on the way to the Cameron Highlands, a truly gorgeous area of montane forest right in the middle of Malaysia. The highlands are famous for their tea and strawberries, so of course Inge and I had to check it out. The strawberries weren't all that special, but the tea was quite delicious. We spent a whole day exploring these two types of farms, watching how strawberries and tea are grown, made, and processed. Besides eating strawberries and drinking tea, we also hiked through absolutely beautiful primary rainforest. Nicknamed the "mossy forest", it was quite wet and slippery to walk through. But as all difficult things, very worth it.

After leaving the Cameron Highlands we decided to wrap up our last few days here in the capitol, Kuala Lumpur. KL, as it's affectionately referred too, was a bustling, yet relaxed city. While there wasn't a whole lot of cheap things to do, Inge and I had fun exploring. We saw the famous Petronas Towers, Batu Caves, visited the expansive national mosque, and rode a roller coaster in a mall. Yep, I said that right. Step aside Mall of America, because you have some serious competition. We also had drinks at a lounge that is a helipad by day and a fancy bar by night... Ok, you got me. We had a drink each. This place was way too classy and expensive to stay long. I'm honestly surprised they even let us in.


While our time in Malaysia is officially over (I'm actually writing this to you from Bangkok), our impressions of that beautiful place will last forever. A wonderful country filled with very nice people, breathtaking jungles, and an exquisite array of food, this writer would definitely recommend it as a must see for all travelers, experienced or not. Can you top that Thailand? I hope you give it your best shot!

Good Eats (1 of ???)

One of our favorite parts of traveling through Southeast Asia so far has been the amazing food available here. Chinese, Indian, Malay... We literally have been eating like kings the past few weeks. In honor of the delicious cuisine and to make you even more jealous, we decided to dedicate this entire blog to some of the best food we've had so far. It is the first of what I'm sure will be many more to come.

Char Kway Teow
 
A traditionally Malay/Singaporean invention, Char Kway Teow was a dish I'd never heard of. Luckily, Inge was on top of her game and did some research on food before we got here. While at a restaurant one day she ordered this dish, and our taste buds melted with gratitude after the first bite. A dish that consists of fried noodles tossed with seafood and spiced to perfection, you can't do better than this. It's a little on the unhealthy side with all the oil, but the best things in life tend to be don't they?

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori chicken is a typical Indian dish that almost everyone has heard of before. It isn't too complicated to make: chicken roasted in a special tandoor oven after being marinated in a mixture of yoghurt and spices. Even I knew what it was before coming here and had eaten it before. What no one knows is that you've never REALLY had Tandoori chicken until you come to Asia. The tandoori chicken we've had on the streets here is better than any I've had before, and it's become a staple of our diet here (we tend to go to an Indian restaurant about once a day).

Coconut Milkshake

Milkshakes can be found everywhere, but it's rare you find one that surprises you. I hate coconut, so when Inge suggested we try this I was a bit skeptical. All it took was one sip for me to realize just how much I'd misjudged this drink. Only really found in Melaka, the locals somehow managed to transform the simple ingredients of milk, ice cream, and coconut into something truly magical.

Hot Pot

One potato, two potato... Wait this dish has nothing to do with potatoes. Instead, hot pot is one of the best stews I've ever had. Originally from Mongolia but spread by the Chinese, this dish has made it's way to any town that has a Chinatown. A little on the expensive side, this dish consists of a main pot of stewed seafood that is accompanied by rice, vegetables, meats, and pretty much whatever else your heart desires. It's impossible to describe this with words other than "amazing," "delicious," and "mouth-watering," so we suggest you try this meal for yourself if you want to know what it tastes like.

Western Food

Now I know what you're thinking... How can we possibly be visiting Pizza Hut when we're surrounded by all this delicious food? We're a bit ashamed of us too. But hey, we've lived abroad for over two years now. We miss the grease and high calories that define American cuisine. Cut us some slack, ok?

The Birth of Ingard

It's been just over two weeks since we've started traveling together and our time in Malaysia has been awesome. Our first stop from Singapore was a sleepy, little riverside town called Melaka. Located on the coast about 2 hours southwest of Kuala Lumpur, Melaka was a perfect introduction to Malaysia. The people were friendly, the city was charming, and we stayed at a wonderful hostel filled with other backpackers. Our hostel was right on the edge of the area designated as a World Heritage Site, just a 5 minute walk from the river and the beautiful colonial era buildings surrounding it. We spent most of our time wandering the city, on foot and on bikes our host let us borrow for free! The food was delicious everywhere we went, and we even did a little shopping at the night market that opened on the weekends. One day, we took a trip out to Kuala Selangor, a small town famous for its lightning bugs. We took a boat down the river in the dark, passing tree after tree filled with lightning bugs all blinking in synchronization: it looked a lot like someone had decorated the river with Christmas lights. While I was expecting it to be a bit more exciting (I was really hoping for something as dramatic as the The Little Mermaid scene in the boat) we still had fun and were really glad we went.

After a few days we decided to move on and drove up to the island of Penang. Since much of the eastern half of the country is being drenched in torrential rains right now, we had to cancel our plans to visit a couple of places in that half of the country. As a result we ended up spending a whole week in Penang, which we didn't mind in the least. Penang was the perfect place to relax. There were awesome beaches with the warmest water I've ever been in, lots of other backpackers to meet up and hang out with, and a party on every other corner should we so happen to want to go. One day we even rented motorbikes and drove around the island, stopping in a butterfly garden and national park along the way. As if all that wasn't enough, Penang has some of the best street food in all of Malaysia and we ate to our heart's content every single night. After a whole 8 days there it started to feel like home. We were actually a little sad to leave today, but are headed up to the Cameron Highlands next.

Of course, anytime you start spending all your time with someone, there are bound to be problems here or there. Little things they do will annoy you, sleep patterns will be different, and periods have yet to sync up yet. But after two weeks together, Inge and I have gotten used to each other and are running like a well oiled machine. In many ways, we are kind of like an actual couple. We have a combined money pot, do almost everything together, and share all of our meals (and sometimes our beds too). We also have assigned duties so that we don't step on each others toes or get things confused. Inge is official photographer, booking agent, and keeper of the keys. Me? I am the navigator, banker, and resident know-it-all. Together, we are a dream pair and can't wait to continue our grand adventure through this tropical paradise.

Inge Harding and Bernard Smalls

Inge + Bernard = Ingard

We're not in Kansas Anymore...

To be fair we were never in Kansas, but Ethiopia and Singapore are about as different as two places can get. This beautiful city was the perfect place to have started our Southeast Asian adventure. It's kind of a little "mini-Asia", blending all that is unique and amazing about this continent into one not so mini city. While the Chinese, Indians, and Malay people make up the majority of the population, we've seen people from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and just about every other country here as well.

 Over the past few days we've visited various Buddhist and Hindu temples, every one of them unique. We stopped by the Asian Civilizations Museum to learn about this region's history, were slightly disappointed by the National Museum of Singapore, and were blown away by the futuristic technology of the Singapore City Gallery that showed what Singapore would look like over the next 30 years. We loved the Singapore Zoo and its Night Safari, where you have the unique opportunity of exploring a zoo at night when the animals are most active. The tram ride through the exhibits felt a bit like a real safari, and exploring the trails on foot afterwards was eerie even if you did know that all the animals were locked up. A lion's roar is awe-inspiring during the day, but it is absolutely spine tingling at night. Wonderful architecture, magnificent gardens, and mouth-watering, delicious Indian, Malay, and Chinese food (more on that later) have rounded out the experience nicely.

Singapore is one of the coolest cities I've been too. It is beautiful, clean, and even better organized than many American cities. Of course, we just got back from a country where the concept of "urban planning" rarely exists, so I might be a little biased. Even so, the MRT (subway) and the intracity bus system is cleaner and just as well run as New York City's public transportation system. All that beauty comes at a price though, something our pocket books have quickly learned. Singapore is expensive, and we've had to budget carefully to make it through.

Overall, it's been a bit of a transition for Inge and I though. We're constantly being blown away by little things, and are getting used to all the "rules" again. We've really had to concentrate to make sure we're walking with the flow of traffic, crossing the streets at the crosswalks, standing in the correct lines, waiting in the right spots, opening the doors the correct direction, and overall not looking like we just came from Mars. We've ridden more escalators in the past few days than we have in years, visited several malls where we couldn't afford to shop in a single store, and touched just about every touch screen in the city that was socially acceptable to touch (plus some that weren't). It's almost like we're little kids again, and I can't wait to see what this wonderful region has in store for us next.