I went to four countries in total (21 days) and thus will make this Part 1 of 4.
Malaysia.
I must admit that going into the vacation I had the least eagerness to explore Malaysia - perhaps because of reputation or perhaps not because I really hadn't heard anything about. Thailand promised islands and seclusion, Cambodia had Angkor Wat and I spent a whole semester emerged in Vietnamese history - Malaysia seemed a distant fourth and a reluctant starting point.
And to be honest, the only reason the group probably wound up there was that Air Asia in its infinite cheapdom had a flight Seoul to Kuala Lumpur for something like 230 bucks. Couldn't beat it.
And you know - Malaysia shocked me. Plopped me right beside the head. It was without doubt the most culturally enlightening of the four countries - it gave me the most picture souvenirs and taught me the undeniably perennial lesson of not judging a country before you've experienced it.
So, then. We spent about the better part of the first week in Malaysia - 2/3 in Kuala Lumpur and 3/4 on Penang Island (buses and flights make for the half days and sort).
Kuala Lumpur existed sinisterly in my mind ever since adolescence when their Petronas Towers striped the Sears Tower of World's Tallest Building - something I took far more seriously then.
They were closed. Didn't get to go up.
But low and behold, KL also had a gigantically tall TV-type tower that had a higher observation deck and I got to go up there and snap some pretty incredible pictures of the tower - which I suppose I might have preferred anyway.
But the city was interesting - it was the opening door to Southeast Asia and its cheap prices, knockoff markets and people that speak far better English than the Koreans I have been brought to this continent to teach.
We learned quickly that Malaysia is a mix of British, Indian and Chinese influences - something that the two latter gave to boost their food straight to "incredible". Roti Canai - 50 cents? - hello!
KL gave us our share of attractions - some nice Hindi Temples that had a quirky new years festival going on - and great food and markets. But the highlight was when we out of the city for the day to the Bhatu Caves.
These are a series of caves, I believe, but we only went to one. And I don't think we would have had the energy for anymore. It was a few hundred steps up to the cave and was in the middle of a serious religious ceremony (chanting and carrying up buckets of something) as well as being surrounded by several dozen pernicious monkeys ready to pounce on any food going up or down.
It had, at its front, a giant standing statue of a Hindi god.
Inside the cave there were several elderly people blessing youths with sawdust and the sort to keep their bald heads cool. There was more chanting and altogether confusion on our part as we did not want to interrupt to inquire about what was happening.
But altogether a rewarding visit.
The day before we left for Penang Island we went to the bus station (a bit out of the city) and bought tickets for the large group. We were scheduled to leave at 3:30pm and we showed up at 3pm to make sure things were smooth.
They weren't. Problems with the buses and two dyed-mohawked s**theads delayed our departure until after 5 and we didn't get onto the island until after 10pm.
Penang was an amazingly cool island that we all enjoyed to full effect (except for a brief food poisoning episode by Sam). Malaysia only gained its independence from Britain some half century ago and the relics of imperialism still exist on the island that the Brits considered the jewel of the country.
Our hostel worker was a Malay man named Nathan. Adjectives elude me for him - but let's just say he had two rings for each finger, a haircut cropped from 1982 and wore only shirts with impeccable shine. Gotta see him to believe in him, I guess.
Anyway, we spent the first while in Penang touring some old Brit-infused haunts, including the worst tour of a mansion I've ever associated myself with and then some time looking out at the ocean because it'd be a while since anyone had done that.
Georgetown - the main city of the island where we stayed - had all of this and more. But no beach.
We had heard of Batu Ferringi (possible contender for future pet name) was nice, but also resort-conquered so we opted for a little further and chartered a private boat led by Captain Jack Sparrow (who we called Jack the whole day since he didn't tell us his real name) to a beach called Monkey Beach - populated by the same aggressive part of that species as we saw at the caves.
Well the monkeys stole our food, and followed us and the other people up and down the beach. We learned how to fend them off but relied on the Malay experts a few times. The beach was beautiful though and there were only maybe a few dozen people on the whole long strip so it felt like complete seclusion - terrific day.
When we got back to our hostel the man himself - Nathan - offered to take us over to the Thaipusam Festival. We had heard about this and were planning to go the next day but he figured either it'd be cool to also see at night or knew that we would never be able to see all of it in one day and insisted on taking us to "stop by"
We were there for at least 2 hours.
But lord was it fascinating. The festival is multi-faceted but is none for the most part because of the ritual where men put hooks through their skin and pull things along toward a temple on a hill. If it sounds painful and looks painful - we thought so too. We were told they either didn't feel pain because of a "trance" or were glad of the pain they felt as a sacrifice.
It's an optional thing in the religion and some men do it every year, some never, and some here and there.
In the picture below, the guy has hooks all up and down his back and the other guy has a belt of sorts attached and is pulling back to either incur pain or test the boundaries of it.
Besides the hooks, the festival had loud music, free food & drink (non-alc) and several groups of young Malay men dancing like barbarians with popped collars. Girls were not allowed to dance.
Also - medical tent - Red Crescent? Didn't know that there existed this Red Cross alternative but certainly interesting.
Anyway, we went back the next day for me and marched up the temple and my friends went in there while I sat and hung out wtih little kids and handed out some coins to them. They assured me I missed nothing (my knee got a bit banged up from a rahter large boulder at the beach the day before).
We flew out of Penang the day after that but we most certainly enjoyed our stay. I will, now, only have positive things to say about the country and its overwhelmingly nice people.
Next up, Thailand: A contrast of Phuket Scum and Two Isolated Paradises - as well as a half dozen boats, an overnight train, some minivans and taxis.
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