Allie's Got Seoul: Malaysia

Malaysia, our first taste of Southeast Asia. And what a delicious country it was. Malay, Chinese, and Indian cuisines filled the bellies of two food appreciating travelers. We became street food connoisseurs, always splitting every dish to maximize taste bud stimulation. Ten course meals at prices unthinkable in America. Spoons and forks were plentiful, but knives in Malaysia? Ha, yeah right. I loved being immersed in a food culture so heavily influenced by coconut, peanut, lemongrass flavors. And tropical fruit, I’ll never get enough, minus the durian. In Malaysia I finally realized that every culture has discovered how battering and deep-frying makes anything taste even better. I can't think of a disappointing meal but the highlights included grilled fish, coconut milk curries, tom yam soup, kaya (coconut egg jam), char kway teow (fried flat noodles) cendol (coconut cream shaved ice)...on and on...

Our week in Malaysia consisted of a nonstop day in Kuala Lumpur, a trip to the refreshingly chilly Cameron Highlands, beach time in Palau Pangkor, and a food fest in Penang. I knew I wasn’t in Korea anymore by the diversity of skin color and women in headscarves.

Malaysian rainy season seemed to have escaped our pre-trip research. No matter how sunny the morning seemed we quickly learned to always pack our raincoat. Though the downpours were not the most welcome, we never let them slow us down.

In Malaysia, English is widely spoken. English translations made acquiring a few basic Malaysian vocabulary words, mainly food related, rather easy. “MalEnglish” words also helped us navigate this new country, such as teksi (taxi)and coklat (chocolate). All the Malaysians we met were incredibly friendly and helpful and we rarely had issue communicating. We felt safe wherever we went.

“Travel is a state of mind” was my mantra for the trip. I sought to savor my own unique experience instead of succumbing to the pressures and temptations of seeing, doing, eating, and photographing everything. But it was only with moderate success; I wanted as much as I could get. Only a few days in we found that while the busy days left us utterly exhausted, the relaxed days left our minds a little too idle. Finding the right balance would take a little practice.

Malaysia was a great introduction to Southeast Asia. Little did we know how our experience would intensify in Indonesia. In the Cameron Highlands we learned to always ask to see a room before we pay. (In Indonesia we would learn that that Malaysian room was actually quite nice…)