Malaysia, Truly Asia.

Some background: All throughout our trip, we had seen advertisements from the tourist department of Malaysia. They had montages of jungle, beautiful beaches, and of course, the world famous Petronas Towers. All of them boasted: "Malaysia, Truly Asia." We laughed it off, thinking it was just a clever and ridiculous rhyme. Also, while planning our trip to Malaysia, we initially thought we would make our way through as quickly as possible. Little did we know how right that jingle was, and we were enchanted by Malaysia. It really is, truly Asia. If you want you can you tube the ads, then you will know what we are talking about. As we soon discovered, Malaysia is a melting pot of Asian cultures, with sizable Indian and Chinese populations, as well as the "native" Malay. There are many other smaller pockets of South east and South Asian immigrant groups, however these three: Indian, Chinese, and Malay, make up the bulk. More on this later.

So, we arrive in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia which is simply referred to as "KL," by locals and foreigners alike. We had no particular plan, however we were excited to meet up with our Malaysian friends that we had met while they were on vacation in Halong Bay, Vietnam. Kara had kept up with them on email and were looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, a rare treat on this trip. Their names are Soon Kit and Chin, and they are Awesome. We hadn't the chance of getting to know them well in Vietnam, however after hanging out with them in Malaysia, we are now truly friends.

We called Soon Kit and Chin when we got to KL, thinking they might have some time to meet up for a drink. Instead, they took us along on their three-day holiday weekend to Taiping, Soon Kit's hometown in Northern Malaysia. Taiping has long been a majority Chinese city. It is the only city in Malaysia that has a Chinese name. This is because Chinese tin miners have been living in this area for hundreds of years. Taiping is also home to the "first" of many things in Malaysia: the first railway station, the first jail, and the first museum (which was unfortunately under construction when we came.) We were fortunate to be brought there and expertly toured around this historic city as we would have not chosen to come here otherwise. Taiping surprised us by being a perfect tourist destination, on top of the pleasure of meeting Soon Kit's lovely family. (Which was not surprising. The family is very sweet, we expected that.)

En route to Taiping from KL. Soon Kit and Chin both work in KL, though they met in Japan!

After we arrived in KL, we hit the ground running, "Asian tour style" as Soon Kit later joked with us. An hour after eating and briefly meeting Soon Kit's mother, father, and two sisters, we were off to a local swimming hole. Not before picking up lots of fried yummy stuff. So fried, but so good.

Can you spot Max in the crowd? Walking to the "Burmese Swimming Pool." We don't really know why it is called that. Taiping is still a long way from Myanmar.

It was clearly lots of fun. Soon Kit is in the back.

Earlier that day, Soon Kit told us about his grandfather who is a spiritual leader and healer. Soon Kit explained that he goes into trance almost every night to communicate with the spirits on behalf of members of the community who come for help. Some people come for physical ailments or illness, others for advice. We felt honored to be able to watch this process. His grandfather is well known not only in Taiping, but throughout the country. People have come from other countries to this small temple in the front of their house with this renowned healer. Soon Kit's grandfather practices Taoism, as do many Chinese Malaysians.

Here is the grandfather in the center. He goes into trance and speaks a language that most can not understand. Sitting to his right is his interpreter of sorts, who deciphers his spoken and written instructions. Many people were lined up to see him the night we came.

GIGANTIC fish. Soon Kit's grandfather is a lover of fish, especially large ones. In the house behind the temple swims the largest fish we have ever seen; in fact this species is the largest freshwater fish in the world. It was very difficult to get a good picture of it because it is so f**?!ng huge.

Soon Kit and Chin know all the best food spots. They introduced us to many new foods that we were previously scared of eating because we had no idea if they were veggie safe or not. Here is breakfast the next morning, at a local food court. Max had a delicious peanut pancake here that he says was "really good." Like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in pancake form. Kara can't eat wheat.

We had woken up super early to summit Maxwell Hill, another main attraction of Taiping, however only a certain amount of people can be up on the mountain at a time, and as it was a 3-day weekend, we were too late. We ended up going to another gorgeous spot instead-The Lake Garden. The Lake Garden's official sign claims it is the "most beautiful lake garden in Malaysia." We don't doubt it.

Here are some standard park regulations. The second from the top means no hanky panky. That includes different gender hand holding. Certain rules in Malaysia apply only to Muslims, most of whom are Malay. Essentially, conservative Muslim politicians can legislate religious regulations (restrictions) for their community without facing the political struggle of enforcing them on people of other religions (Taoist/Hindu/etc.) This results in some interesting policies; for instance, you can convert to Islam, however, you can never leave it. The rules that apply mostly to Malays seemed to be a dividing force in race relations throughout the country. Also contributing to the tension between races is the preferential treatment for Malays in school. We learned that Malays receive heavy handicaps on their exams and university admissions. We wanted to learn about how Malays felt in defense of these programs, however, we weren't able to make any personal friendships with any Malay people.

We saw some love birds looking comfy on the bench anyways. We're not sure if "close sitting" is covered by the sign. The garden was gorgeous, we really loved being there. The trees are unique and romantic, even in the sweatiest of days. Their long branches swoop down almost touching the surface of the water, creating a lush and shady park to wander through. Also good for wedding photos; we saw a couple taking theirs as we left.

Later Soon Kit and Chin took us to another temple. This one is the oldest in Taiping. It was so useful and wonderful to finally have answers to our questions about Chinese temples. The white papers on the purple above are donations to the temple. Soon Kit never tired of our questions, and always answered us with a smile on his face. Thank you Soon Kit. Seriously.

This is an incense stick: joss stick. This one, as you can see is as big as Kara. It is still not the biggest that this temple has created.

Turtle in a bowl. In the temple. Turtles are auspicious creatures in Chinese culture. This turtle was showered with love and money. That is Chin's hand.

Round two, same day. After stopping at home for a brief nap, we picked up the rest of the family and went to the charcoal factories on the edge of town. Charcoal has long been produced in Taiping. Previously it was used for fuel, mostly for cooking. Now it is exported to Japan for cosmetics. There are also certain water filters that employ charcoal. Its a pretty smoky and hot place. Giant kilns about three stories high are packed filled with split logs, manually chopped outside of the factory. The kilns are set on fire and their doors are sealed shut in stages to control the charcoal-ification. Eventually they are completely sealed and left to smolder for a really long time. We don't remember but we think its about a month.

After the charcoal factory, we headed to the mangrove forest with the family. Another unexpected surprise. We also went to a museum somewhere in here but don't have many pictures from that. It was an important and well put together museum that described the history of Taiping, which was pivotal in the history of Malaysia. Briefly, after two feuding Chinese tin mining clans got out of hand, the Sultan in charge of Taiping area signed an agreement with the British who were then stationed in Panang (north Malaysia). This was the beginning of the British takeover of all of Malaysia.

Back to fun. At the Mangrove forest, the "Ma" Clan plus Chin, Max and Kara. Soon Kit's surname is "Ma" which means horse in Chinese. There are beautiful photos and drawings (many by Soon Kits father, pictured here and not being silly) of horses in their house. There is an international Ma Clan convention in Toronto this year; we hope our new friends stop to see us in New York when they come. We enjoyed walking through the mangrove forest which was well laid out with informative signs. We saw some monkeys other than Max.

But our day was not yet over. We were later taken to a traditional Chinese fishing village where we ate some street food and drank some ABC (ais-batu-campur) or ice rock mix.

Taking the boat with the entire family and then some over to the other side of the village. Pictured is a very silly Soon Kit and very cute Chin. Also, did we mention that Soon Kit's family had a family hat box, with well over 30 hats? Max forgot to bring one, but luckily was saved by this box. This was also the first time we used umbrellas for shading our bodies from the boiling sun. We are really becoming Asian, if you will.

Mackerel shells. Mackerels are eaten in many dishes in this region and throughout SE Asia. The shells are boiled so the little slimies can come out.

The fishing village was very polluted, which was very sad to us. It is difficult to understand that people who live on the water can have such disregard for it. Or, perhaps they have too much regard for it, thinking it can absorb all toxins and pollutants.

The next and final day of our fabulous vacation, we went to Maxwell Hill. This time we made it up the mountain. Maxwell was a British dude who really liked high places in Malaysia. We made it just in time to catch a sweeping view of Taiping before the fog set in. Even with the fog, it was breathtaking. And also chilly, which was a nice change. The air was clean and crisp, like any proper hill station should be. More on Kara's love for hill stations later.

They are a very cute couple. See?

Max and Soon Kit saving the road from certain destruction.

Back at Soon Kit's grandfather's house before heading back to KL. Max added to his portfolio of other people taking pictures. Usually Kara is his only subject. He was happy to see that Soon Kit uses Chin in his photos just as much as Kara uses Max in hers. Thank you for this delicious ice cream.

These are just some of the prayers, written on red and gold paper, that are ornately folded, then burned, outside of Soon Kit's grandfather's temple/house.

Fascinated by our earlier experience at Soon Kit's grandfather's, we wanted to meet the man when he was not in a trance state. He was so kind to us and we felt honored to have met him. We watched a video with him, of him during a very important ceremony. He then gave us a blessed cloth paper (we don't know the name of this) for protection. Again, we were honored. Max is carrying it with him in his money belt every day until we get home. Thank you for your kindness, grandfather of Soon Kit.

Just before we left Soon Kit's house, his father showed us some moves on the Chinese yo-yo (again we have forgotten the name.) He is really talented and could do all sorts of tricks. Kara tried, then took to the camera as Max attempted to keep up with Soon Kit's dad. Notice the horse drawing in the background.

Leaving Taiping, we were lucky enough to be guarded by these soft, plush, snoopy, seat belt cover thingies. We were laughing a lot. We are still laughing at these. Why is Asia so into "cute?" Would these soft, plush, snoopy, seat belt cover thingies ever sell in America? Perhaps. These are the questions we pondered during our trip back to KL.
Seriously, though, we had such a great time in Taiping--we recommend it to anyone going to Malaysia. We owe our good time to the hospitality and generosity of the Ma family. Thank you Ma Clan! Soon Kit and Chin will be back on the blog...so we won't say goodbye to them, or Malaysia yet.

Coming soon-- Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, and Singapore.

K and M

Jakarta: Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

We arrived in Jakarta later that night. That night, meaning the night after the train ride from our last post. We rode through some gorgeous Javanese landscapes on that ride, and were able to see how large the island truly is. We knew that Southeast Asia's largest city, but we had no idea how massive it really was. Jakarta's traffic is also the stuff of legends, and we had heard about it well in advance. We had no idea that during our week stay here we would spend at least 2 hours a day stuck in traffic. Even with the "easy" maneuvering of a motorbike. Jakarta was our last stop in Indonesia. We spent the week at our friend Halden's house, which was a diamond in the rough: fully equipped with hot showers (something we hadn't had in a long time,) a pool, and a large kitchen to cook in and also for Kara to make her ear "Jamu" (see last post.) Many people had said that Jakarta did not have much to offer for the tourist, but we thought it was important to see the largest and capital city of a nation before leaving. Jakarta is a study in contrast, much like many large cities in developing nations. We found some of the nicest, newest, richest shops, restaurants, and apartments next to some of the most squalid living conditions that we have seen in the last 7 months. Here's Jakarta in a nutshell.

Sprawling metropolis. The city stretches to the horizon in every direction, as seen from the top of the Independence Monument in the center of Jakarta. We learned that approximately 250,000 people move here every year. Many of them, domestic immigrants looking for a better life in the big city, find their new living conditions cramped and dirty, sometimes little better than the rural areas from which they came.

Jakarta is also the political and economic center of all of Indonesia. Most national companies have their headquarters here, giving the skyline modern, abstract shapes from the drafting tables of international architectural firms. Many international companies have bases here as well. This gives Jakarta a sizeable ex-pat community and a more international feel than the rest of Indonesia. Halden, our friend who we stayed with, is one of these ex-pats. A cartographer from Canada, he works for a Canadian mapping company which is mapping the entire world in 3-d, one country at a time. Max was like, WHOA.

The next day was a Sunday, so Halden graciously spent his day off as our guide in our continuing quest to fix our broken Ipod. It might sound ridiculous to spend time doing this, however, if you were traveling for hours on end on horrible transportation, fixing your ipod would be a top priority. After several dead ends, three mega malls, and an hour of Jakarta traffic (all ughs,) we decided to go see a movie. Here is a prime example of the opulent wealth that can be found in this city. This particular mall was filled with Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and other shit that we hate. We shot off paper planes from the top of this 10-storied shopopolis. Halden, pictured at right.

Mall #2: DVD buying has become an addiction. Pirated copies of any DVD can be found in all malls. This is Halden's favorite stall. The ladies were nice to us and would tell us when we picked up a bad quality DVD. They also had Christian music karaoke playing in the background. Luckily no one was singing. Halden says this is the norm for this place.

Coolest movie theater idea ever: assigned seating! We went to go see "Slumdog Millionaire." We all enjoyed it very much. We bought the pirated DVD the next day. It comes complete with Malay, Chinese, English, and Thai subtitles. We found out later that all the subtitles are grossly inaccurate.

The next day, Halden went to work, and we went exploring. Tuk-tuks, a three wheeled motorized cart with a covered roof and a bench behind the driver, are still a means of transport in Jakarta, however they are not allowed on the main highways. They have the advantage of being able to outmaneuver cars but are still a step below having your own motorbike. We took this tuk-tuk to go rent a motorbike for the week. Fun fact: tuk-tuk engines are started with a hand crank, just to complete your mental picture. You usually have to yell to the person squished next to you if you want to communicate during your ride due to the loud engine.

Segway into dirty Jakarta... We went looking for Chinatown. Along the way we found a famous market underneath an overpass somewhere near Chinatown. Looking at this picture brings back smells we wish we could forget. We learned from Halden's roommate who works with the Asia Foundation, that Jakarta has a horrible sewage problem. Only 2%, yes TWO, of Jakarta's residents have proper sewage. About 10% have septic tanks, the rest use small canals that flow into these larger ones that penetrate the city. As Jakarta is situated on the water, this sewage water eventually hits the ocean. Max is having a hard time breathing while looking at this picture.

Max, seen hanging out for a chat with the local authorities at the market.

We made it to Chinatown. We found a vegetarian restaurant there, which was really exciting. We were pleased to have already eaten before venturing out to the rest of the area. The alleyways lining the main street are filled with produce stalls, Chinese medicinal shops, and pretty much the standard Chinatown product selection.

Then there were frogs. Going back deeper into the alleyways, we discovered the live and not so live animal market. Just to be clear, here are some skinned frogs lying in the foreground on a banana leaf. We did not have the pleasure of watching them skin the frogs. Apparently this happens in one swift motion, in order to leave the skins intact. It was difficult for Kara to take these pictures.

It was even more difficult for her to take this picture. Here are some turtles, supposedly lucky and auspicious beings in Chinese culture. It is surprising, then, that they are also eaten.

Produce/trash collection in Chinatown at the end of the day.

Other waste gets thrown into the canals. This water was bubbling. We are not sure why. Seriously, we are getting nauseous looking at this picture. We wish you could smell this to know why.

On a lighter note, we were following Hillary through Indonesia. Here she is with SBY, the president of Indonesia. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is his full name. You can understand why everyone, not just foreigners, call him SBY.

Another day in Jakarta. Kara wears super protective helmet and is loving it even though it made her even more sweaty than usual. She took this picture of herself while Maximilian deftly navigated through the bowels of Jakarta's deepest traffic. "Oh man," Max says.

The Independence Monument. It's really huge, we're not exactly sure how tall it is, wait, Max is googling to get the figures....ok, its 137 meters tall. On the bottom level is a very well put together exhibit, consisting over over 40 dioramas that chronicle the nation's history. However they skip Suharto's dictatorship. Max wanted to write presidency. He says, Suharto was the president of Indonesia. He doesn't know what Kara has against that. Suharto was a dictator, she says. We can't live in fear, she says, of not saying what he was. He was a dictator. Technically, he was the president. They also don't cover the succession of East Timor.

You can take an elevator up to the top of the Independence Monument, which has a 360 degree observation deck just below the monument's gold flame.

Back on the ground, Max drives through the traffic along with tuk-tuks, buses, SUVS, motorbikes, semi-trucks, and taxis.

While looking for the historic port of Jakarta, we couldn't help but stumble onto the MASSIVE area of slums near the waterfront. We had read that there was heavy flooding in the weeks before we came and we imagined that the pools of water like this one were leftover from that. Here children play in the water, their backyards. We were about to try and navigate this giant puddle when some friendly residents of this area motioned for us to go "that way," down an alley that led to an awkward 30-minute tour of the shanty town on motorbike. There are no pictures of this because Kara felt that it was weird enough that we were driving through these people's living rooms. To have taken pictures, she felt, would have been supremely disrepectful. Everyone was really nice to us, and could clearly tell we were trying to get out. It didn't help that the motorbike that we had rented was extremely EXTREMELY loud, sputting a long line of exhaust into the faces of all we passed. Oh man. We'll tell you the full story when we get back. Oh man.

Like we said, Jakarta, a city of extreme contrast. Not a 20 minute drive from the area above. SUVs, modern skyscrapers, shiny fountains.

The malls in Jakarta take the strategy of a Las Vegas casino, trying to confuse the shopper as much as possible so they wander, lost, amongst the buying opportunities. Here, Max is seen, slightly frustrated with the nonsensical floor plan. Why are there three ground floors? What the hell is 3a? Where did floor 7 go? Floor 6-9, What does that mean??? We came to this mall to find one of the vegetarian restaurants we had researched. It took over a half hour to find it. Its address was something to the effect of "6A, 32-10."

We found the veggie restaurant. It was good. Max was less unhappy with the system after eating.

The last day in Jakarta, we decided to watch the sunset from the romantic spot of "overpass near Mangga Dua Shopping Center." We had a video to show the madness of the traffic, but it won't load. There are food and beverage vendors who walk through the gridlock, selling everything from bottled water to inflatable football helmets.

We are sad to say we didn't take the boat to our next destination, Malaysia. We chose the healthier, cleaner, faster option. Here Kara can be seen clearly as a foreigner.

Our adventure as foreigners continue in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Thank you Indonesia. We loved every minute of you. All three months. We hope to be back sooner than later, thats for damn sure.

K and M