Mammoth Post of Magnificent Madness in Malaysia

I've been to Malaysia before, to visit my grandmother. And yet, so many aspects of my trip I still found intriguing. It was still new, still exciting, and a bit of fun. I'll share a bit.

I frightened myself quite completely climbing Mount Kinabalu.

View from Kota Belud

Mount Kinabalu, which stands at 4,095.2 meters (that's 13,436 feet), is the highest mountain in Southeast Asia. It is located in Sabah: the Eastern part of Malaysia. Although it is quite high, it is not in fact a technical climb. You do not need any qualifications to climb it.


I didn't think I was scared of heights, but I guess when I got a few thousand meters above sea level things got scary.

View from perhaps halfway up...

Arranging the trip was a nightmare, but thankfully, my dad has a friend in Sabah, and she arranged it for me and my brother. It's quite expensive actually, due to the park's changing hands a few years ago. A private company owns it now, and in order to climb, you have to use their package. Their nights at the lodge, and their expensive meals.


BUT. The meals are mostly expensive because they have to be brought up the mountain to the resthouse. As we walked up, we saw people climbing up carrying food and linens, which I guess is part of why you have to pay so much.


It's gorgeous though. The climb is pretty extensive, essentially climbing stairs until you get to the resthouse, where you stay the night.

Lions and tigers and stairs, oh my!! 

More frightening stairs...

For us, it took about six hours. For others, it took perhaps four. In the morning, you're supposed to start walking up around 2:30 in the morning, so that you'll get to the top by sunrise at around 5:30. We didn't make the sunrise, but it was still breathtaking at the top. 

View from the summit, 4,095.2 meters above sea level

One can clearly see my fingers and most of my left eye...

That part of the climb was quite scary, since the steepness of the rock is such that the management attach ropes to help people climb. It was satisfying, even though it took ages to get down and my legs were sore for days.


I will now proceed to bombard you with pictures of things I found cool while climbing the mountain. Have fun! 

Brown Squirrel (point!)

Pitcher Plant! That's a Malaysian 20 cent piece in my hand.

I thought this was cool because it resembled pine, but had these gorgeous bells on it!! Fantastic. 

Diseased plants! Maybe. Actually I have no idea. But it is weird, eh?

These are edible.

These are pretty. 

I bet you thought this was over, now, didn't you? 
It's not. 

I went completely nuts over all the yummy food.

Note: Pictures do not correlate with food described! :]]

(Just keeping you on your toes.)

I think anyone who's ever met me knows how obsessed I am with pasta, and noodles. The Italians definitely have something serious going on, but all the noodles in Malaysia kick their ass in my opinion.

Really trying to pretend I'm excited about all of the caged animals awaiting their fate.

We had wan tan mee every day for the first week. Those are Chinese noodles. Skinny and curly similar to ramen, but the sauce is better, they have a few greens and slices of pork in them, and the dumplings are fabulous.

This guy made us Cendol. It has coconut milk, shaved ice, brown sugar, and other yummy things.

Hokkien noodles we can get knockoffs in Atlanta, though the original is obviously better. They're Chinese too actually. They're thicker noodles, egg noodles perhaps, and they're cooked in dark white sauce with bits of pork fat--that's why it tastes so good.

Dad's friend Goh taught us how to make
Kaya. Typically put on bread, it's made
with mainly coconut milk and eggs. And
on the right, peanut pancakes! YUM :3

At the pasar malam (literally night market) there's almost always a lady making kway teow. Typically, they're skinny flat noodles, and a little bit wide. Those my grandmother likes too. They cook it in front of you with egg, veggies, and bits of meat, wrap it in plastic and a layer of newspaper to keep it warm. I'm always so fastinated by food that gets wrapped in newspaper.

Ice cream on toast. Just what it says.

Beyond noodles though, my taste buds are still tantalized.

Queh Lapis, literally layered cake. Colorful and flavored differently. Very yummy.

Roti Canai is what we had for breakfast almost every day. It's indian bread cooked on a hot stove like a pancake. It's thin and layery because when they make it, they flip it around to stretch it out, and then they fold it up. When I was little we always got it from one guy when we were there. The shop remains, but the guy that I remember is gone. 

I have a hard time with change.

Dad's friend Goh made sweet and sour fish for us. I'm not big on fish, but this was scrumptious. 

Pau is Chinese too. It's a white bun filled with meat and veggies, or red bean, the way I like it. It's steamed until it's warm everywhere, and it pulls apart like I can only image a cloud would pull apart. My parents are both so nice about humoring me, and getting me pau whenever we find shops that have it.

Beautiful drinks at a market. They have jelly, and other yummy things in them.

No. It still isn't over. 

I stood on the very tip of Borneo.

Malaysia has two parts. West Malaysia, the peninsular bit, and Sabah and Sarawak, which are both on an island to the East called Borneo. The tip is beautiful. It's not very developed, so it isn't crawling with people, and if we hadn't had friends to drive us there, I'm not sure how we would have gotten there.

The roads along the way are atrocious. Allegedly, because of the corruption and the bribery, the only way to make money when building a road is to build it to not last as long. So it crumbles into a dirt and gravel road. There are patches where the road is intact, and patches where it's just gravel. Even though the distance is probably only a hundred or so kilometers, it takes quite a while to get there because you have to go so slow.

Actually I sat. But I think you get the point.

However once you get there it's quite lovely. Even though Malaysia is hot and humid as can be, at the tip of Borneo, the wind is blowing something fierce, so you can't tell. The beaches are beautiful (and lacking cow patties--some of the beaches cows roam free...), and the rock that actually makes up the tip is mostly sandstone. It's been carved out by the water as if by an artist. It's smooth and colorful and  beautiful. May people not come in and build high rises all over it.

Finally! Some tips if you visit Malaysia...

Don't drive. Not only is it disorienting to be on the wrong side of the road, but a great majority of the drivers are entirely incompetent. It is rare to see someone signaling before switching lanes or turning in general. It is common to see people cutting in front of everyone and turning in front of people. Just in case the general chaos of the cars isn't enough, add a few million kamakazi motorcyclists. They drive in between the cars, run red lights (and not just when it's newly red), and just generally do everything possibly to disobey the rules of the road. Riding in the cars with native Malaysians driving was scary enough. I gripped the oh shit handles almost constantly in terror of my youth.

If you're going to venture outside of Kuala Lumpur, be aware of yourself and all of the people around you. put your valuables somewhere SAFE. There is not always safety in numbers. The aforementioned kamakazi motorcyclists are also snatchtheives, as they are referred to over there. And I'll be straight. They're Indians. They drive by on motorcycles and grab bags, chains, earrings, and other items. If by luck your bag breaks or you let go, they'll get your money and your stuff and you'll both go about your business. If you're unlucky, you'll break an arm or fall over. But if your bag is sturdy, or if you hold on, he'll keep going and you will be dragged. People have gotten concussions and died. BE CAREFUL and BE AWARE. In Sabah, it's not as bad, and I suspect in KL, where the tourists are it's not as bad. But if you go anywhere else, just be careful.

Try new things. Go into a restaurant, and get something you've never heard of. You could bust (my brother and I have gotten a squid dish before that I was not so fond of, but we've also ended up with tofu with pumpkin sauce, which was delightful.) Also sometimes, the restaurants don't actually have menus. You just ask for what you want--chicken, cooked how, and so forth. Be adventurous. There's lots of good stuff to have.

If you're like me, traveling in other places means that you're constantly looking for a bathroom. As a general rule, always carry tissue with you. 

Let me reiterate. Always. Carry. Tissue. With. You. 

Assume you will you never get to sit down because a) it's a squat toilet, b) the seat is broken or c) it's just gross. But what you're doing does not necessitate a beautiful throne. Let's be honest. Get it done, and get out. No drama necessary. When in Rome, people! 

And just in case I haven't "talked" your ear off...

I'll leave you now, with a story. 

On our flight from Canada to Hong Kong, we encountered an interesting family whilst attempting to check in. The line was incredibly long, and it was moving incredibly slowly. Curious, we looked to the front. Standing at the desk was a Chinese family with perhaps ten humongous boxes on carts. There were at least six people in the family (mother, daughter, grandmother, son, etc), and the huge boxes were in addition to their other luggage. They wanted all of the boxes (imagine refrigerator boxes all wrapped up in cellophane. Ten of them.) on the flight with them. They proceeded to fight about the excess luggage, but finally, they began weighing them, wrapping cords around them, and sending them to be checked in.

By then, we made it to the counter next to them. I placed myself conveniently at my father's right, within eavesdropping range. They finished weighing all of them. At least six were overweight—they would have to pay extra. They told the woman, the head of the family, (we suspected) the total.

~$1,200

She asked for a discount.

We applauded the guy working the counter. He was polite, but still said: “Look. This is standard. You have extra baggage and extra weight. This is the price. If you don't want to pay it, we'll bring all of your boxes back.”

She paid it.

We referred to them as The Box Brigade. When they left, the guy working the counter put up the “please go next counter” sign. Poor guy.

I apologize for this novel. Please understand it is with the best of intentions that I share this with you, and I do promise that if you continue to read these rambling posts, they will be shorter in length. 

Please also feel free to post corrects. I'm human (etc. etc.) and I make mistakes. But I'd love to correct them if you'd only show me. Or let me know if you can't read anything. Because I'm having some technical problems. So let me know if something went wrong...

kthanks

Thanks to anyone who read this. You're great. I really am finished now.