During my time living in other
countries I went on a lot of vacations and did a decent amount of
traveling. A few times I neglected to
write blogs about it, but that stops now.
I’m going to write about the larger trips that I had previously slacked
on. Luckily for me (and my readers) I
often take notes in a notebook that is perpetually in my purse, so a lot of the
details will remain intact.
First up is a trip I took to Malaysia
and Bali from July 24, 2010 through July 31, 2010. It was my summer vacation from my first job
at Maple Bear in Suwon that took place at the end of my first year there, and
immediately after the trip I went home to America for two weeks.
The most important thing about
traveling I learned during this trip, is the people you travel with. I went with Amanda and Shannon, both of whom
I had traveled with in the past. For
some reason this trip was different, and the whole thing devolved so rapidly
that the lesson is one I’ll never forget.
Amanda and I went a day early because
Shannon had to work an extra day. Our
plane stopped in another city of Malaysia (we were headed to Kuala Lumpur) but
we didn’t realize we were in the wrong spot.
We got off and went all the way through customs before we realized we
were in the wrong town. We ran back and
caught the plane before it left. It
ended up being a good idea, however, because we didn’t have to go through
customs again once we got to Kuala Lumpur and we got to race through to the
taxis. We got to our hostel, which was
pretty bare and utilitarian. That was
fine with both of us because it had everything we needed. The bathroom was unisex, open air, which
made cold showers feel GREAT because it was so muggy there. The shower was one of those huge round heads
that points straight down and it was really nice. We
dropped off our stuff, chatted briefly with a few cute guys in our
dormitory-style room, and then headed out to see the neighborhood and find some
food. When we came back we played cards
with a good-looking young Australian man for a few hours and then crashed.
We tried to do things the first full
day that Shannon might not find interesting, but inevitably we ended up showing
her most of those things anyway because they were cool. Still, the first day was one of the less
exciting.
First off we booked a tour to the Batu
Caves, which are a hugely popular sight in Kuala Lumpur. We booked the tour for the day after Shannon
was due to arrive so she could come with us.
Then we set off for a walk through our neighborhood. It was extremely muggy and hot because it was
the monsoon season, but hadn’t rained in a few days. Our first destination was a local shopping
area where we walked through stalls filled with local handicrafts and
souvenirs. Neither of us bought much,
and we mostly just looked around because we knew Shannon would want to go there
as well.
Next we headed to the National Mosque,
not having many expectations because we didn’t know anything about it. I, for one, was stunned by its beauty. It
was one of those places that are so open, so simple, so beautiful, that it
reminds you that man can do some amazing things- that at heart man is
essentially good. I wouldn’t have
expected to have that experience in a mosque; I’ve never felt like that in a
church (churches feel so oppressive, with the heavy architecture, dark wood,
and stained glass). Although unexpected,
it wasn’t at all weird. It just felt
that way, easy. We had to wear large
purple robes that covered us from neck to ankle, but people stared less. All day long people stared at us because we
weren’t Malaysian and because I was showing some skin. Generally I try to observe and respect local
customs on what clothing is and is not appropriate, but it was just too hot and
I couldn’t bear to do anything but stay bare.
Our last stop for the day was the
world’s largest free flight walk-in aviary.
There were amazing birds everywhere, and both Amanda and I were taking
tons of photos. Amanda doesn’t
particularly like birds, and she was a little scared when they got too close to
her, but she kept up with me just fine.
I’ve noticed that when people spend time with me they tend to face their
fears a lot, particularly if they’re afraid of things I like, such as the
ocean. Maybe it’s just because I’m
adventurous and have a keep-up-or-quit attitude, who knows. Anyway, the birds were absolutely
incredible. My local zoo in Oregon has a
section where you can walk in and feed apple juice to lorikeets. This place had a similar area, but with ten
times more lorikeets and more options on feed.
We were both covered in them.
Amanda was freaking out a little, but she mostly had a good attitude about
it. Then we took tourist-y photos
holding larger birds, like owls and hawks.
It was pretty cool and I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling
to Kuala Lumpur.
That night Shannon arrived and we
prepared for our trip to the Batu Caves the next day. The tour also offered elephant riding at the
end, which Shannon was pretty excited about, and which Amanda had never
done. We took a small van about thirteen
kilometers outside of Kuala Lumpur out to the caves with just the three of us,
and once again it was extremely hot. I
wore a sundress and flip flops (not typical spelunking attire) because I hate
the heat. There was a huge Buddah statue
at the base of a really long set of stairs.
We counted. Two hundred and
ninety two steps up. At the top the
climb was totally worth it- there was an amazing view of the outskirts of the
city, and the cave was incredible. The
texture of the walls defies description, and the screams of the birds flying
around by the ceiling were deafening.
The monkey climbing up the stairs and climbing around inside the caves
were also quite loud, and apt to steal things if you weren’t paying close
attention. Inside the cave were lots of
small Hindu statues and shrines, with incense burning and monks milling about
in certain areas. As we prepared for the
two hundred and ninety two steps down I slipped, skidded down about five steps,
and left behind a decent sized piece of the skin on the back of my butt and one
ankle. So the sundress was, indeed, a
poor choice.
We continued on to the elephant
sanctuary, where we met several baby elephants, the youngest of which was only
ten months old. One of the youngsters, a
two year old, only had three legs, and most of a fourth. When he was wild he got his foot caught in a
trap, and gangrene had set in by the time people found him a few days
later. They had to amputate. He was my favorite. He also loved me. He kept trying to grab me while I fed him and
then he wrapped his trunk around my leg when I tried to walk away. In the water he hit me with his trunk. We fed them peanuts, rode them a little bit,
and went in the river with them. It was fun.
It was a much better experience than riding elephants in Thailand (the
first time, though later times were much better).
Our guide also
taught us a lot about elephants on this trip, and after researching them more,
they are now my favorite animal. They
are some of the most intelligent animals on Earth, they are one of the most oft
cited when making claims that animals have emotions, and they are the only
species other than humans who bury their dead (and show respect to other dead
creatures by burying them as well). They
also mourn. They mourn, you guys. They’re so cool.
On the way back from the sanctuary we passed grass
huts. Our guide told us the people
inside were Che Wong- a native tribe of Malaysia with no religion, they believe
only in the spirit of the jungle. There
are only about five hundred people in the tribe, and they live only in the
jungles of Malaysia. Some of them are
extremely isolated, living deep in the rainforest and living off what they can
catch and collect from the forest. It
was pretty interesting to hear about them.
We went to
Skybar that night. Skybar is a bar on
the 33rd floor of the Trader’s Hotel. It
was INCREDIBLE. There was a shallow,
long, rectangular, swimming pool in the center, and it was sort of like an
infinity pool but not quite. The lights
were dark and the ambiance was very cool.
Two walls were made entirely of windows, which overlooked all of Kuala
Lumpur. There was a perfect view of the
Patronus Towers, which are the (formerly) tallest buildings in the world. Along one of the walls of windows (and along
one long edge of the pool) were couches and pillows with a sunken floors and
short tables for using whilst sitting on the floor. We drank some Absinth, but didn’t hallucinate
because most Absinth these days is made differently than in the past. It was a fun time.
The next day we
had planned to leave early for Melaka, but decided to leave late so Shannon
could see more of Kuala Lumpur. We went
back to the National Mosque, and a guide gave us an hour-long instruction on
Islam, which was really interesting, and contributed to the lateness of leaving
for Melaka. Shannon didn’t seem that
interested; she was pointing and laughing at some of the pamphlets, and didn’t
even really look around the mosque much.
The guide asked us if we would like to do the next call to prayer, and
Shannon immediately said no. Then we
left for the Central Market. We all
bought tons of stuff, mostly souvenirs for others.
We finally got
to Melaka and walked around. It was a
really beautiful city. There were
remnants of the Portuguese and Dutch occupations mixed in with the more current
Malay structures. We saw little benches
pulled by bicycles, with the bicycles decorated lavishly and strangely, one
covered in Barbies and most coated completely in faux flowers.
Shannon, being
a slow walker on vacation with long legs and speed demon, constantly lagged
behind. She had a sourpuss attitude all
day and kept telling us not to wait for her.
Later, after we showered and were hanging out at the guesthouse, she
didn’t come to hang out with Amanda and me, staying in her room alone. We went and invited her and she said no. She chose to stay alone, it’s not like we
sent her off. When she finally came by
she accused me of excluding her, saying I’d done the same at Mudfest. She said I was only able to have one friend
at a time and I kept leaving her out.
I’m sorry, bullshit. It is not
like I actively kicked her out, and it’s your responsibility to include your
own damn self. Yes, I am closer with
both you and Amanda than you are with one another, but that doesn’t mean it’s
my job to take care of you. We’re
walking too fast? Either keep up or ask
us to slow down. You got here a day
late? Your fault- you should’ve switched
your flight once the school schedule changed.
It was then that I realized that traveling with people can be a bit of a
crapshoot, even if you’ve traveled with them in the past. It’s the people that can make or break your
experience of a place.
The next day we flew to Bali in the
afternoon. We had to take a two-hour cab
ride from Melaka to the airport first, which was a bit brutal. Then in Bali we couldn’t find the guy from
our hotel, and had to sit outside the Bali airport for a while to wait for
him. When we finally found him we had a
hilarious van ride to our guesthouse.
Our guide’s name was Baru, like all first-born Balinese men, and he was
twenty-two with a wife and an eighteen month old son. He was really funny, and we liked him a
lot. He then took us to a local roadside
restaurant for dinner, where we got noodles with vegetables and egg and a soda
for $1.50. The hotel itself was
beautiful little huts with thatched grass roofs and tons of beautiful flowers
and small trees in between. All good
things.
Our first morning there we tried to
take scooters to the beach. We failed.
Shannon and I got separated from Amanda when she failed to make a turn, mistook
the brakes for the gas, and shot forward through a banner, off a pole, into a
stone wall. Before we ever noticed she
was missing she’d been carried off to a hospital (she was fine). Then Shannon and I got lost about ten
times. We finally passed Amanda on the
road and found the beach together. Echo
beach was pretty shitty; there was tons of trash in the water and black sand. That particular beach was mostly for surfing,
I think. We went back to the hostel,
showered, then went for Indian food. It
was a bit of a dud, as days in Bali go.
The next day
was my last day, and I was flying out that night. I wanted it to be packed with fun, so Baru
took us on a longtail boat to a nearby island with an animal sanctuary. We got to pet, feed, and hold sea turtles,
hold a giant bat, put a snake on our shoulders, pet a hawk, and hang out with
some chickens. Then we went snorkeling,
but the water was choppy and visibility was low. When we got back he took us to the most
popular tourist beach, Kuta beach. This is
the place where I stayed during my second trip to Bali. It was much nicer than the previous beach,
though still covered in trash. At least
the sand was white and there were good restaurants and stalls around for food
and souvenir shopping.
That night I
flew back to Korea and got back to my apartment just before midnight. Then I got up at four in the morning, took a
cab to the bus to the airport and got on a sixteen turned twenty-three hour
flight. I got to San Francisco just
fine, but then my flight home was delayed.
And delayed. And delayed. And cancelled. I was so stressed from my day and a half
spent almost entirely on planes and in airports that I immediately burst into
full-on sobbing tears. Downside: I had
to wait until one in the morning for a flight home. Upside: I was crying so hard that everyone on
my flight let me get rebooked first.
I’m gonna go
ahead and call that a win.
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