Malaysia - Land of the Toothpicks, Straw Hats, and the Occasional Yee-Haw!

October 7th, 2008 by Craig

Well, we’ve found ourselves in Malaysia at last. We didn’t know what to expect before coming. Would it be difficult to travel here? Would we starve to death for lack of a decent meal? Would the army herd us about mumbling things about the insolent westerners? Well, if you’ve been to Malaysia recently, you know that none of these are true. If you haven’t been recently, we hear that there are a few airlines that fly Singapore to all over the world (probably somewhere close to your hometown) direct, then take the train for a few hours and you will find yourself in beautiful Malaysia. We have travelled to Melacca (Malacca, Melaka, etc. It seems to have many different spellings for some reason.), where we found a charming old Chinatown with local shopkeepers, blacksmiths, tailors, and a centuries old church on a hill overlooking the city.

Next we travelled to Kuala Lumpur, the largest city in Malaysia with 1.5 million people, where we found friendship, a long-awaited taste from home, and much needed rest. We Couchsurfed (www.couchsurfing.com) with two separate people in KL. The first was a nice lady and her son who hosted us on the spur of the moment and carried us around for a night on the town. Then there was Ken, our second host here. If you were wondering about the title of this post, this is where it will all make sense. Ken is a Chinese Malaysian who is an avid Couchsurfer and a college professor who lived in the United States for 10 years. Much of this time was spent in Arkansas and Ken has told us much about his “redneck” ways while there. He has the straw cowboy hat, can do a good hick accent, and knows his way around a farm, we’re sure. Ken provided us many laughs, several nights rest, assistance around KL, and even a taste of home (sort of) when we got to cook fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, and fried okra at his house. We got to meet many of the local expat community (which is rather large here) and were truly amazed at how “user-friendly” Malaysia is.

Our time here has been nice and though we head off to Thailand soon, we will remember the friendliness and intelligence of the Malaysian people and the beauty of Malaysia for many years.