Here is a journal of our trip to Malaysia. We visited over there for three weeks in the Fall of 2004 to visit her family and have some fun in the sun (or rain)!
Our trip to Malaysia required 4 different flights:
Overall our trip should take about 30 hours.
Midnight: We are in LAX waiting for our flight to Taiwan. We're a bit hungry and found the food court. There's a fast food joint here called Sushi Boy. It's pretty darn good. I think this is a chain that's pretty common out here in California. Not a bad idea. There's something kinda neat about getting sushi at midnight in the airport!
1:45 AM - Our 13 hour flight to Taiwan has just started (yes, 13 hours), and we have discovered a brand new way to fly: Eva Airlines (our carrier from LAX to Taipei Taiwan). Our plane is a 747 with two stories of passenger seats. Because we knew we'd be in the air so long we decided it was worth the extra $200 to upgrade from Economy to "Deluxe Evergreen" class seats. There's still Super First Class & Super Business Class above our level. Not sure why they insist on prefixing everything with "Super"...it’s not like there's a regular first or business class! I must say, it was definitely worth the extra money (our tickets already cost about a grand). The most important difference (to me) between Economy and our seats was the extra leg room. There was one whole foot of clearance between my knee and the seat in front of me. That person could actually lean back without ending up in my lap! There was a TV screen on the back of the seat in front of me, which had several channels of programming (only two were in English, but one of them was a movie channel playing three recent movies). The seats reclined an amazing 36 degrees and had an adjustable reclining footrest (as compared to the 16% recline rate of normal airline seats). There was a huge open space between the seats containing a table with stacks of newspapers from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the States. (This was the day after the Sox beat the Yankees in Game 7, so I grabbed a Taiwanese paper that had that as the headline of their sports section. Hopefully, I will be able to scan that in so you can see a picture of it.
The food was amazing, as far as airline food goes anyway. They served us two meals and a snack with free beer and wine (and the wine actually tasted good!). The stewardesses - I mean flight attendants - were very friendly and pretty darn hot (don't tell Gyee I said that). There was actually this unintentionally hilarious promo played at the beginning of the flight espousing the airline’s good traits in which the flight attendants were amazingly attentive to your every need. They were helping an old lady knit; reading a story to a rambunctious child (allowing the parents to sleep); and even standing in front of you (between you and the seat in front of you) helping tuck in your blankie for a good night's sleep (luckily they were all about 100 pounds so they could actually fit in that small spot). And to top everything off, they even had slippers and a pouch containing moisturizer, toothpaste, and a travel toothbrush! I'm very sold on the airline, and highly recommend upgrading if you're flying over the Pacific Ocean.
After our comfortable flight from LA to Taiwan, it was back to Economy with the commoners. It was about four hours from Taiwan to Kuala Lumpur, and after a few hours’ layover, we took a 40 minute flight to Gyee's hometown of Kuantan. Conveniently enough they were overbooked in Economy, so we were forced to get a first class ticket for the last leg (for a whole $25 more). Gyee's parents and sister met us at the airport and brought us home.
Today was Gyee's grandmother's 83rd birthday. A few minutes after we arrived, we went out for dinner at a Chinese place downtown. Both Gyee and I were suffering from jet lag, but managed to stay awake for most of the dinner. Gyee's eldest uncle, Yeak Hui, was in town for his mother's birthday and ate with us. He's a judge in KL and looks very similar to his younger brother (Gyee's dad, Freddie). Our eyes were hard to keep open towards the end of dinner, and we passed out on the short car ride back home. (Found out later that they postponed the cake cutting until tomorrow, when we were in better shape.)
Got up at 8am this morning to watch the Red Sox play the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the World Series. My first real memory of Sports is the 1986 Red Sox losing in dramatic fashion to the NY Mets. I've been following them passionately ever since, waiting for them to make it back to the championship series for a chance to end their 86 year drought. Back when we were planning this trip, it didn't even cross my mind that there might be a potential date conflict conflict. But as the playoffs started, I realized that we would be flying out the day after Game 7 of the ALCS (only played if necessary, which it didn't look to be for a little while). Being the superstitious Sox fan that I am, I figured that it would only make sense that they make it to the World Series the year I'm out of the country. They'd probably end up playing Houston (a mere four hours away), too, just to rub salt in the wound. Well, the Houston part didn't come true, but the important part of my "prescient vision" did come true. Here we were playing the St. Louis Cardinals in the Series again (after losing to them in 7 games in both '46 & '67). I wish I could have gotten a hold of my high school friend Kevin Flanagan (a devout Cards fan), as we used to always rib one another about the other's team. It would be fun to catch up and talk some smack!
I was very worried that I would not be able to watch the Series over in Malaysia, but luckily Gyee's dad loves soccer and consequently has ESPN on their satellite package. Even more luck, ESPN was broadcasting the game overseas (Fox has rights in the States). All the games start at 8AM, so I should be able to catch them all. Overseas ESPN is a little different in that it focuses almost exclusively on soccer. I have yet to see a mention of the World Series on Sports Center!
Yeah! The Sox won game 1 in dramatic fashion 11-9. Unfortunately, I missed the end of the game, as we had lunch plans with some of Gyee's family (her uncle from last night is going back to KL). Soon after the game I went back to bed. The rest of the day is kind of hazy, but I seem to remember there being lots of sleep involved; maybe some eating, too.
Woke up and watched Game 2. We're up 2 games to none now (Go Sox!!!). Went to a bookstore to exchange money. The bookstore is next to a huge mosque that looks like Disneyland (it's all white and blue with lots of towers)! Today is a holiday, the Sultan's birthday, so even more of the shops are closed (in addition to those already closed for Ramadan). Each of the 13 Malaysian states has a Sultan or King, who is the leader of the state. It is desirable to get a government job as they receive housing and other perks, including bribes.
Went to the Mega Mall today with Gyee, Apple, and Mie. The mall is five stories with a ton of cool stores; especially cheap clothes, shoes, and electronics. Gyee bought some shoes with mom, while Apple and I went up to the CD/DVD store. We checked out Chinese and Malaysian pop music. Western artists are lumped into the "International" category, and then further broken down into male, female, and group (country, rock, etc. are all bunched together). I spent the last hour in an Internet Cafe catching up on ESPN and my fantasy football team (kicked Uncle Jay's butt by the way). In the mall we ate chicken curry bun and bubble tea from Mie's cousin's stall. Dinner was at an Indian place downtown. Naan was their specialty. We all had some with different sauces. We sat down outside, but went in after spotting some foreboding storm clouds. Sure enough, not 60 seconds after we went in a torrential downpour ensued. Got home and fell asleep until Gyee's Dad's sister came by for a visit (with husband and their two kids). I said a brief hello and went back to sleep 'til morning.
13:49 - Went Teluk Cempedak ("Teluk" means "bay" in Malay) with Gyee today. This is a beautiful, tropical beach a few minutes from Gyee's family's house. We explored the beach and walked into the jungle along the hillside (you always remember your first official jungle). As we walked along the beach, if you looked down you could see hundreds of crabs scurrying down into their little crab homes. There's a McDonald's right there on the beach (yes they're everywhere!). Yes the food tasted the same. The biggest difference is no free drink refills! Plus they give you these small glasses. Very annoying!
17:48 - Just got back from an Internet cafe where Gyee and I caught up on our email and stuff (we are such geeks). Gyee and her brother, Justin, are buying their family a computer from Dell. This new computer will replace the old 486 that's currently collecting dust on the desk. It will also be nice to communicate with the family using IM and email.
About two thirds of Malaysians are Muslim, making this my first real exposure to a Muslim culture. We arrived at the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. During Ramadan the faithful are supposed to fast from sunrise to sunset. To help motivate(?) the faithful the Malaysian government fines Muslim-owned restaurants if they open before 7PM. There were articles in the paper "outing" restaurants that were open too early. Oddly enough, there is an exception to this 7 o'clock rule if the restaurant is an international chain restaurant (the power of the Big Mac!).
Tonight we had dinner with Soo Poon, Gyee's 2nd cousin and close family friend. She runs a (baby) nursery in the town and had Justin & Apple in care at one time (not sure what happened to Gyee). We ate at the same restaurant we ate at on our second night with Uncle Judge. We had some steamed fish, which was very tasty. It is cooked and served whole (eyes included), which is a bit disconcerting. I'm always afraid I'm gonna eat some bones or something unintentionally.
Today we had a Chinese tea ceremony for Gyee's grandmother. A tea ceremonies are traditionally performed at weddings to honor the bride and groom's parents and grandparents. In this ceremony the couple kneels on the floor and offers tea to their elders, who in turn give gifts to the bride and groom. The mother and grandmother traditionally give the bride jewelry and other things that have been passed down through the generations. We will be having a tea ceremony at our wedding, but because Gyee's grandmother won't be able to attend, we had a tea ceremony for her today.
Before the ceremony started Gyee and I honored her grandfather by burning incense and praying to his shrine Most Chinese are Buddhist, and you will often find a shrine in their house honoring their deceased ancestors. I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but I just followed Gyee's lead, and hopefully didn't look too foolish!
Next the actual tea ceremony started. Mama was sitting in a chair and Gyee and I kneeled in front of her and offered her some tea (saying "Yam Cha"). She drank the tea, and gave us red packets as gifts. Red packets are credit card sized red envelopes traditionally used by adults in the Chinese to give gifts (especially to kids). My packet contained a gold coin sized medallion. I think it is meant to be worn as jewelry, and I plan on wearing it on a necklace during the wedding ceremony.
Before the tea ceremony I watched the Sox win Game 3. Can't believe they are up three games to none! The Cardinals are a good team, but they sure aren't playing like it. Could this be the year?
Gyee's family's house is a large duplex with some of their cousins living on the other side. Today, I got to meet that family: Ken (Gyee's cousin) and his mother. Ken is about Gyee's age and is nicknamed "Baby". Another cousin Ken (who I met at Justin's wedding) is named Big Baby, which is kind of ironic as he is much smaller than Baby. To round out the trio is Chris, who is Ken's (Big Baby Ken) little brother. He is called Little Baby. I guess these names were used by their mother when they were little, and somehow stuck over the years. Ken owns a bar here in town. Hopefully, we'll be able to visit him there sometime before we leave.
Mama treated us to Chinese steamboat for dinner that night. If you've never had steamboat its kind of like a Chinese fondue. A pot filled with half chicken broth and half tom yam broth was brought to our table. After it started boiling we place our food inside to cook. We had a lot to choose from (all of it raw): beef, chicken, fish, squid, huge shrimp, and a few other things I couldn't easily identify. It was awesome!
After dinner we drove to Gyee's cousin Chris' house (Little Baby). I recognized the resemblance between Chris and his brother Ken (who lives in Chicago) as we walked in his driveway. Chris and his wife, Rosemund, recently got married and had an inspiring wedding photo album.
I can't believe it's true: the Boston Red Sox have won the World Series! The Curse of the Bambino has been reversed! I'm so happy and incredulous! Not only did they win, they did it in commanding fashion. The Cardinals, normally a very good offensive team, never lead at the end of any inning in all four games. Being the typical Sox fan, I was nervous right up til the final out. I can only imagine the euphoric bedlam in Boston right now. I called my parents and Adam after the game to share the joy. I could hardly hear Adam over all the cheering in the background. Wish I could have been there to share in the celebration!
Later that afternoon, we went shopping at the Natural Batik store. Batik is handpainted patterns usually placed on shirts or scarves. Every pattern is supposedly unique. We bought lots of stuff there, mainly gifts for our relatives. I don't think I've ever start my X-mas shopping this early!
That night we had dinner with Gyee's mom's family. Her mom has 9 brothers and 1 sister, and most of them were all at dinner tonight. They had a potluck dinner and the food we ate was amazing! It was a bit overwhelming trying to keep everyone's names straight (especially taking into account all the spouses and kids), but everyone was very welcoming and kind. We had a great time. They treated me to some real Guinness stout, which is much stronger than the usual fare. I think I surprised them by not falling over drunk after having a couple of those hardy beasts.
Today we are leaving on a road trip with the family. Gyee and I will drive with her parents and Apple around Malaysia for a little over a week. We will visit Penang, Pangkor, and Kuala Lumpur. After that Gyee and I will fly to Thailand while her family drives back to Kuantan. This will be a great way to spend some time with her family and get to see more of Malaysia.
Penang is our first destination. We get up early and hop in the family car for what turns out to be an 8 hour drive. Penang is a city on the west coast of Malaysia, very close to Thailand. We plan to do some shopping and see the sights. The car ride is pretty uneventful, but I get my first exposure to Malaysian highways. They are very nice, but not very crowded. This is probably due to the extremely high tolls. It cost us about 60 RM to get to Penang. Well out of the price range of the average Malaysian for day-to-day travelling. That's the last time I'll complain about paying a couple for the Dallas tollway!
We got to Penang and had to enlist the help of some random guy on a scooter to help us find the hotel. We paid him a few bucks and he led us successfully to our destination (even stopping oncoming traffic for us at one point!). Our hotel was beautiful with a great view of the ocean. Probably the neatest thing about the hotel was the pool on the seventh floor (yes, seventh floor). After dinner, we all got massages at the hotel's spa (amazingly cheap!). This is the life!
Today we decided to do all the touristy stuff at once and take a guided tour of Penang. The hotel arranged for a van and Chinese driver who took us on an all day, 5 part tour of the city. The tour included:
Today I had my first real firsthand experience with baretering in Malaysia. One of the biggest differences with shopping over here is that no price is final. The locals negotiate every purchase, and only the unwitting tourists pay the sticker price. Well, I'm not a good haggler. When I shop, if I see something I want, I buy it, usually without caring to try to get the best price. Well, Gyee is great at haggling. She grew up with it, and is great at getting the best price possible. I've seen her in action many times and am amazed at how low she can get them to go sometimes. She got a little frustrated with me as we were shopping outside the Kek Lok Si temple. I saw some trinket that I just had to have. The guy wanted 120RM, and I was proud that I got him down to 50RM (without assistance from her family, I would have taken 80 or so). I was satisfied with the 50RM, and purchased it without any more negotiation, even though Gyee felt I was way overpaying. Sure enough, we found the same exact thing later on for a little cheaper. I'm just a sucker when I shop!
That night we met Morgan, who went to college with Gyee in Mississippi, for a drink. He moved back from the States about a year ago after graduating with a Master's in Mechanical Engineering (or was it Electrical....). We hadn't seen him since he came to our house warming party two years prior.
Our time in Penang had come to an end. We all got back in the car for the few hour ride to our next destination: Pangkor Island. Pangkor is a resort island a little south of Penang, and is supposed to be beautiful!. We've reserved a room at a resort called Teluk Dalam on the island (Teluk means 'beach'). We arrived after an hour-long ferry ride and caught a shuttle to our resort.
Each room in the hotel is a free-standing chalet. We find out that there are a total of four rooms currently occupied in the hotel (apparently busy season doesn't start until next week), so we get them to switch our rooms to be closer to the ocean. After getting settled in we decide to rent a jet-ski and all go down to the beach. Gyee and I ride first for about a half hour. I think this was Gyee's first time on a jet-ski (it was my second or third time). We came back and I switched with Apple, who ride for another half hour. When they were done, the guys who rented us the equipment were kind enough to show us a few tricks (apparently they race jet-skis "professionally").
That night we went for dinner in the main town on the island. It's about a half hour from our resort. They were watching Fear Factor at the restaurant. In any language, Fear Factor isn't the best show to watch when eating!
Today we went snorkelling on a coral island close to Pangkor. This was the first time snorkelling for both Gyee and I (and Apple, too!), and the weather was perfect. Unfortunately, I was afraid of bringing the camera, so we don't have any pictures to post. We did buy a disposable underwater camera that hopefully captured a few good shots, but when we brought it back to get developed, nothing turned out that good. Oh well!
Snorkelling was fun! On the recommendation of some of the employees at our resort, we took a taxi over to a different beach to reserve a boat for snorkelling. "Uncle Sam" was the guy doing it at our hotel (the same guy we got the jet-skis from) and apparently he charges quite a bit more than these other guys do. To further defray the costs we found another couple at the hotel that also wanted to go snorkelling. Their names were Magerina and Hans (from Holland) and we split the taxi and boat reservation costs with them. They are very nice people and even invited us to stay with them should we ever find ourselves in Amsterdam.
After a vain attempt to find flippers to fit my clown-sized feet, we hopped into a little boat and our two guides started us on our little tour. They took us a little ways out to the island where we were going to snorkel, stopping at a few places along the way. We stopped on one coral beach and one of the guides hopped into the water and retrieved a sea cucumber. It looked like a large wet pickle. Apparently it had amorous feelings towards Gyee, because when she picked it up, it discharged a white milky substance all over her! Luckily she is on the Pill, so there's nothing to worry about.
A few minutes later we arrived at the island where we would spend the day snorkelling. There were already a few people there (Germans I think). I discarded my ill-fitting flippers and we promptly hopped into the water. There were a few schools of fish all over the water right off the shore (the water was only a few feet deep). A few people brought some bread, which brought the fish all around you. If you held the bread in between your fingers you could feel their little teeth as they bit it out of your grasp! Very fun! We even found some semi-large crabs roaming around the bottom underneath some rocks.
We were out there for a couple of hours. We had all applied plenty of sunblock at the beginning of the day. I even think I applied a second coat at some point, but despite all that I got a wicked sunburn! It didn't really make itself known until the next day, and when it did appear, it was only on my arms and a small area around my kidneys...exactly the spots the lifejacket I wore all day didn't cover. It hurt to wear shirts for the next few days, and I wasn't able to sleep on my sides at night (or rollover) without experiencing sharp pain. The real fun part was when it started to peel. Much to Apple's dismay, I could stand over her, shake my shirtsleeves, and create a "snowfall" of dead skin (Gyee didn't like it either for some reason).
We got back to the resort late in the afternoon. Gyee and I wanted to rent a motor scooter and ride into the main village to do a little exploring. The resort rented out scooters, so we went to rent one. Neither Gyee nor I have a license or much experience riding those little beasts. They are everywhere in Malaysia, cutting in and out of traffic. It requires a lot of skill to ride one, especially considering everything is on the opposite side of the road! The guys renting them out wanted to make sure we wouldn't die in a fiery wreck before we'd gone 100 feet, so they had me ride around the resort for a test run. I managed to not hit anything important, but I was very shaky and was a little concerned about riding on real roads, especially with Gyee on back. We decided to take a taxi instead, which probably didn't matter because after seeing my test drive, I don't think the guys at the hotel would havve let me rent it anyway!
At some point around my test drive one of the resort managers pulled out a machete, picked a yellow coconut from a tree, and chopped off the top for me. I gladly drank the can't-get-much-fresher coconut water, thinking that I probably can't find this in too many places in Texas!
10:50AM - Yesterday was Election Day in the States. I voted early the day before we left (for Kerry in case you don't know my political leanings). I was extremely anxious about the election, and because we were on a secluded tropical island, I couldn't check CNN or the Internet for election updates. I am so worried about this election; I actually woke up around 4am unable to sleep. I had three dreams about the election the night before: one in which Kerry won in a landslide, ala Reagan in '84 (hey, I said I was dreaming!); in the second dream Bush won a close election, and when I got back to work, my Bush-supporting co-workers had left lots of notes and messages offering their "condolences" [I work in Texas and my NotBush.com bumper sticker I've posted at work (on top of my Clark '04 sticker) definitely puts me in the minority]. My third dream is kinda fuzzy, but I think Kerry won a close one, and there was lots of fighting between supporters of both sides, descending our nation into chaotic civil unrest in parts of the nation. Anyway, I was pretty nervous.
I waited until it was 7pm Central time (when most polls were closed in the important swing states) and called my parents for an update. My parents were the only way I could score a political fix. At the time Kerry was ahead in the Electoral College but behind in the popular vote. Then while I was talking to Mom, the Carolinas reported in for Bush, giving him an 89-77 lead in the EC. I know I'm on vacation, and no amount of worrying will change the results, but I'm very anxious to find out what will happen. We will be leaving for Kuala Lumpur in an hour or so (catching the ferry back to the mainland). After approximately two hours in the car, we should be checking into our hotel in the Malaysian capital, at which point I'll be turning on CNN to get another fix..
Arrived late (5pm-ish) to Hotel Coronade, little bit o' phone shopping at one of three malls in immediate area. Met Lilian, Yan Ting, Caroline, Tze Gin, Chai Chow, Fan Chu & Wie Wan at Bijan, a Malaysian restaurant.
"How Can 59,000,000 Americans Be So Dumb?"That headline from some British paper summed up my feelings about Bush's re-election fairly well. I'm not saying that anyone who voted for Bush is dumb, not at all. About one third of this nation (including some in my family and several co-workers) identifies themselves as Republican and/or conservative and truly believes in President Bush and his policies. Those people aren't the ones I'm talking about (I may disagree with their beliefs but I do not think lightly of their intelligence). It's the "undecided" voters I'm referring to. The people who don't really follow politics all that much, but cast their ballots for Bush because he's the "values" President. If they would have bothered to look beyond the sound bites and voted on his actual record as President, I imagine a lot fewer of them would have voted for him. A majority of this nation is pro-choice; pro-environment; believes in the separation of church and state; pro-fiscal responsibility; and thinks Iraq wasn't a threat to our national security; all things that our newly re-elected President isn't. But Bush has this amorphous thing called "values", so they voted for him. People bought the Republican rhetoric that Kerry's "flip-flopping" showed a lack of values, while Bush's steadfastness highlighted his. Someone said during the campaign "It's one thing to be steadfast in your beliefs; it's another to be right." President Bush used the war on terror to suck us into an unnecessary war, and push through his radically conservative agenda.
But I digress... I will step down from my soapbox and return to the matter at hand. The election is over and has little to do with my trip to Malaysia! The one connection it does have is that it got me pretty depressed. The only cure for this depression was a little Retail Therapy (aka Shopping). The exchange rate in Malaysia is almost 4 Ringgits to the dollar, yet goods are often priced in amounts I'm used to seeing in the States. So a $40 shirt is 40 Ringgits (abbreviated here as RM: Ringgits Malaysian, I think), which equates to just over $10. Not bad. We went shopping at the Mid Valley mall in Kuala Lumpur, which was the perfect place to cure a little depression!
I quickly discovered one annoying fact: I'm too big for this country. The majority of stores I went into did not carry my size! Now I'm definitely bigger than the average Asian male, but I'm not that big! Lots of stores didn't carry XL shirts or any pants larger than a 34 waist (not that I need them much larger than that of course!). It got to the point where that was the first thing I asked when I walked into a store: "Do you have XL?" If not, I walked out. No sense in looking at what I won't fit into. Also, there's no guarantee that Asian sizes correspond to American sizes. There were several XL shirts that were skin tight on me. I know I've gained a few pounds over the years (especially on this trip), but my clothes still fit me at home! I was starting to get more depressed than I already was until I found redemption on the tag of an Adidas tank top. It read "Asian Size Large". So apparently, clothing manufacturers knowingly apply different sizing rules in different nations. It made shopping over here a little more challenging. It also has inspired me to increase my nightly sit-up rate from zero to some small number greater than zero! I’m beginning to understand some of what women go through!
This mall was absolutely gigantic. There were five or six very long floors, and even though we spent most of the day there, I didn't get far past the second floor (which is even more impressive considering my sizing impairment). Towards the end of the day, we met Kal Yong, a friend of Gyee's from college in Mississippi. He and I hung a little bit while Gyee was having fun in one store. We went and got some Starbucks (they really are everywhere), which was very expensive as compared to other Malaysian places. Not just the normal Starbucks premium either. It cost us about 34RM for three drinks, which roughly equates to a reasonable $10, but Malaysians view it as 34 dollars (the cost of living/per capita income is much smaller here). It would like us paying $11 for one drink! And we thought prices were high enough as it is!
That night we met up with some more of Gyee's friends from high school again. Gyee's former housemates, Lilian and Yang Ting, were there again from last night. We were also joined by Kal Yong and his sister, Erwin and his girlfriend, Joyce, and a couple of people I didn't get to talk to. We went to a place called Savannh (not to be confused with "Savannah"), which was some upscale, overpriced joint downtown. It was a few days after Halloween, but the staff there was all in costume. We had a good time, but couldn't stay for long, as we had to catch an early flight in the morning to Thailand.
We flew from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok this morning on Air Asia. This is the low-cost airlines of the Orient (their slogan is "Now everyone can fly"). They have a lot of similarities to Southwest Airlines in the States. They charge generally lower fees, and have few of the "frills" of other airlines. I was quite surprised when I ordered a coke and a water from the flight attendant and was asked to pay! But they were perfect for our two hour flight, and the price was definitely right. If you ever travel around Asia, I'd definitely recommend checking them out. Just be sure that your itinerary is set before booking anything, as they do charge for rescheduling any flights (which we had to do a couple of times as our plans changed).
We landed in Bangkok and were greeted by Jennifer (her real name is Cha, Jennifer is just her English name). She and Gyee were roommates at Ole Miss, and she had graciously agreed to let Gyee and I stay at her place and show us around town for our two day visit. The Thai language is Sanskrit based, and for the first time I felt truly lost as we drove home from the airport. I can't read Malay, but at least I can phonetically pronounce the street signs, and a lot of them even have the English interpretation below the Malay words. But in Thailand, I couldn't even pronounce the signs, and very few had any English. Even advertisements for Coke and Pepsi were incomprehensible. The cans don't say "Coke" they say whatever "Coke" looks like in Thai (I brought one home in case you're curious). Anyway, it was pretty interesting. I don't know what we would have done without Jennifer, though. She, of course, spoke fluent Thai and was a more than accommodating host. She took us out to eat, explained everything to us, showed us around the city, helped us haggle with the vendors, drove us around (on the left side of the road, same as Malaysia), etc. I am very grateful for all her help! Coincidentally enough, she is dating an American named Tony, who just moved to Dallas. Gyee and I will try to look him up when we get home.
Somehow on the plane ride over to Bangkok, I managed to pull a muscle or ligament in my ankle. I'm not sure what happened, but I think it was because I had it wedged in my armrest at an awkward angle as I was sleeping on the plane. Whatever it was, I was walking with a slight limp as I deplaned, and it got steadily worse as the day progressed. It definitely made walking around the city a little harder!
Jennifer took us to her aunt's barbershop where we were to park the car and pick up her cousin, Gino (which I assume was not his Chinese name). While we were there the former prime minister walked in for a hair cut! I have no idea who he is, but apparently he's been going there for a long time, and a lot of government officials frequent her shop. He walked straight to the back for his cut, leaving his bodyguard up front with me and Gyee. I gave him the universal "what's up" head nod familar to men worldwide, and we were soon out the door.
The first place we went was the Grand Palace. This is the former residence of the King and Queen of Thailand (guess they moved down the street or something). It was a huge palatial estate (oddly enough). There were several Buddhist temples, and a museum showing some amazing royal jewelry and stuff. They even had those audio tour guides you could purchase at the front gate (your choice of 8 languages!). We weren't allowed to wear shorts in the temple, so I had to put on some jeans. Unfortunately, my ankle was feeling a lot worse, and it was painful to walk. Gyee also pointed out that it was not a good idea for me to keep walking on it. So rather than force us all to go home I asked for a wheelchair! Apparently the only thing they had was from 1972. It looked like someone had taken a chair from my elementary school cafeteria, sawed off the legs, glued the seat on to some rickety metal frame, and attached some wheels. Despite its retro appearance, it served me well. Gino was kind enough to push me around the place. We quickly found out that the Grand Palace isn't the most wheelchair-friendly of environments. The main walking areas are made of large cobblestones that are often spaced out so much that there are large gaps between them. When the wheelchair hits one of these gaps, it stops and tends to catapult its occupant forward. Not cool. Also, most of the stairs in the place don't have ramps, which is fine, because I'm not crippled and can get up and walk up the stairs carrying the chair; but it must be hell for someone who really is handicapped. Finally, the stairs that do have ramps have an incline of about 30 degrees, which, if you've never been in a wheelchair, is pretty hard to traverse! But other than these minor inconveniences, the Grand Palace was a beautiful place to visit. Be sure to check out some of the pictures in the slideshow (which would be hard as I haven't added it yet).
After the Grand Palace and my wheelchair experience, I was in need of some massage relief. We traveled to the Wat Po temple, which is where "Thai Massage" originated. Thai massage focuses on stretching and concentrated pressure. If you haven't had a Thai massage, I strongly recommend you seek one out. The Wat Po temple is where this practice originated. Unfortunately, when we got there we were told that the King was coming for a massage, and no one else would be able to enter the temple while he was there! So we walked a few agonizing blocks (no wheel chair this time) to a wat po massage school. Here the four of us were treated to a wonderful massage by four wat po students. After that massage we went downstairs and got a foot reflexology massage. Apparently, there are about 62 trigger points in the foot that correspond to other parts of the body. Whatever. All I know is that it felt really good. And the next day, my foot was back to normal...coincidence? Probably, but maybe not.
The last part of our busy day was a dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya River. We got on a big boat and they served us a buffet dinner. The food sucked, but the view was great.
Today was filled with shopping. We started off by going to the "IT Mall". This was a huge mall dedicated to all things Geek. Store after store selling computers, phones, software, DVD's and other electronics. I was in heaven! The best thing was that Jennifer's brother knew where to go to get the "deeply discounted" software. I bought about two dozen software titles at one store, ranging from stuff for my Palm Pilot to one DVD that has every version of Windows all the way back to 1.0. Pretty impressive! This mall also had a wide variety of movies available. I didn't ever want to leave.
Gyee did manage to pull me away after a couple of hours, and Jennifer took us to around Bangkok for some more shopping. The neatest place was probably the Night Bazaar. We got there around 10pm, and shopped for a couple more hours. There were hundreds of small shops with a nice variety of Thai items. We wished we had more time before everyone started closing. I'd definitely recommend hitting this place if you ever find yourself shopping in Bangkok.
The next morning we boarded Air Asia for the last leg of our five stop trip: Phuket Island off the coast of Thailand. This is a tropical paradise similar to Pangkor Island in Malaysia. We were staying at a "boutique hotel" (whatever that means) called Burasari Hotel. It is located on beautiful Patong Beach (note: this was one of the hardest hit beaches on the island by the recent tsunamis). We rented a gorgeous suite for a great price. Our room included dinner at their restaurant, free poolside massages, and a complimentary bottle of champagne. Our room had a patio that opened to the pool. The place was gorgeous!
We arranged to have our free massages. Unfortunately, it started to rain, so we had to move them inside to our room. They were good massages, but our massage therapists didn't speak any English, and apparently something was very funny, because they were laughing pretty hard most of the time. It's weird having the person massaging you laughing, especially when you don't know what's so funny. Maybe it was my ridiculous sunburn?
That night we decided to take in some entertainment. We were told by some fellow hotel guests to be sure to check out this place called Phuket FantaSea. This was some sort of amusement park with some entertaining shows. It was a 30 minute shuttle ride to get there, and we were pretty impressed with what we saw. The facility entertained about 3,000 to 4,000 people every night. There were lots of vendors selling interesting stuff, games you could play (including a BB gun shooting range), small rides, and light shows. The oddest thing was the musical performance we witnessed right as we walked in. A full-on musical video/lip synching of a Britney Spears. I'll try to post a brief video we shot of it. Be prepared!
Phuket FantaSea's main nightly performance takes place in the Elephant Palace, and is the main reason most people go. It is about an hour and a half show telling a story about a boy prince and his magical elephant, interspersed with bits of Thai culture, especially the local tribe. The show had some really neat parts with laser lights, glow-in-the-dark acrobats suspended from the ceiling, live elephants with light-encrusted saddles, dancing girls with flames, and exploding cannons. I felt like I was on mushrooms or something! Overall, it was a pretty neat, if somewhat confusing, show. Definitely worth checking out.
As we walked into the show, they make you turn in your cameras (even patting you down to make sure you aren't packing any hidden devices). I thought this a bit extreme, and I soon found out what their motivation was. Right after you pass through the turnstile, you have the option of taking pictures with baby elephants, feeding a baby tiger, and a couple more, all for a not so small fee. The animals were beautiful, but we have heard bad stories about how they are treated, so we weren't comfortable giving money to those that may or may not have mistreated them. There were some baby elephants outside after the show, that we could take pictures with for free. While taking our few shots with the elephants, I couldn't help but notice that the handler had a large needle device in his hand to periodically prod the baby elephant to get him to pose for the camera. Definitely lessened my appreciate for the shots we got.
Today is our only full day in Phuket, and this was where we planned on doing most of our "stuff" (mainly water sports). We didn't want to have a set schedule, and preferred to play it by ear. We woke up, ate breakfast, and hit the beach around 10:30. Our first goal was to do some parasailing. We were told the night before by our South African friends to just walk straight out of the hotel, and we'd find plenty of people offering their parasailing services for about 750 Baht (although they talked them down to 500). We quickly found a vendor willing to take our money, but we could only talk him down to 600 a person. Oh well, it's still just the equivalent of $15 US. We'd probably pay around $60 for a similar ride in the US. They (there were about 8 young Thai men) first Today is our only full day in Phuket, and this was where we planned on doing most of our "stuff" (mainly water sports). We didn't want to have a set schedule, and preferred to play it by ear. We woke up, ate breakfast, and hit the beach around 10:30. Our first goal was to do some parasailing. We were told the night before by our South African friends to just walk straight out of the hotel, and we'd find plenty of people offering their parasailing services for about 750 Baht (although they talked them down to 500). We quickly found a vendor willing to take our money, but we could only talk him down to 600 a person. Oh well, it's still just the equivalent of $15 US. We'd probably pay around $60 for a similar ride in the US. They (there were about 8 young Thai men) first hooked Gyee up very tightly in the harness, and without any coaching or instructions, the boat took off, and they started yelling "Running". Assuming this to be the only coaching she would receive, Gyee did exactly that and was in the air in less than two seconds. She was aloft for a couple of minutes. I got this brief video of her experience.
I followed a minute or so after Gyee got back on land. I was soon tightly bound by our new friends and running down the beach waiting to get aloft. Unfortunately, I'm a bit heavier than Gyee, and didn't take to the air as quickly as she. I actually ran into the water, and tripped after a couple of steps. I fell face down into the water while still being dragged by the boat further out (and even a little under) the water. Luckily before I could realize the peril I was in, the parachute got enough lift to pull me up into the air. My ride was exhilarating. I was up for a couple of minutes (same as Gyee). The view was breathtaking. It was a bit windy, and it was a bit uncomfortable being tossed to and fro, but I hardly minded at all. I would periodically drop quickly, as there became some slack in the rope pulling me, which was both nerve-racking and exciting at the same time. As the boat slowly dropped me down into the water, I had visions of the paratroopers in D-day that were drowned by their parachutes when they landed in water, but the boat pulling me and the strong wind ensured that my chute was far enough behind me as I hit the water. I was quickly retrieved from the water and came back to shore. Here are two videos Gyee took during my flight: Video 1 and Video 2. If you've never tried parasailing before, I highly recommend giving it a try!
After our parasailing adventures, we decided to go horseback riding on the beach. We took a taxi to some stables about a half hour from our hotel. We rode the horses (with our guides leading on foot) for about a half hour down to the beach. We then rode for another half hour on beautiful Laguna Beach. This beach is much less crowded than Patong Beach, where our hotel is located. If you visit Phuket, and are looking for relaxation instead of partying, I would recommend finding a hotel here instead of the more touristy Patong (which is a great place to go if you're more in the partying mood).
After our ride was complete we decided to have lunch at a place called "Lotus Restaurant", which we had passed during our ride on the beach. They had about 6 tanks filled with live seafood from lobsters (without the claws I'm so used to), to tiger prawn (which were huge and covered with red and white stripes) and mantiss shrimp. They even had some live squid in a tank with hundreds of little squid eggs. I personally don't like seeing my food alive before I eat it, but I imagine it’s enjoyably fresh for those with a stronger stomach.
After lunch we walked a few feet down the beach and got some Thai massages on the beach (our third massage in three days!). It was nice getting a massage with the sound of real waves crashing on the beach in the background, instead of fake ones from some CD.
I'm writing from the airport in Phuket waiting for our flight to Kuala Lumpur. Our flight is delayed because apparently a couple of days ago an airplane ran off the runway somewhere in Malaysia, and they've closed that airport pending an investigation. That closure has disrupted air travel all over the country. Our connecting flight to Kuantan is also delayed, but only for one hour.
9:00PM: We've finally made it "home" to Kuantan. It’s been a long day, but it is thankfully over. We're getting some satay on the way home. If you've never tried satay, it is very good. Basically, it’s a chunk of marinated beef or chicken skewered on a stick and cooked. I think it is originally from India, but I'm not really sure.
Today was a very low key day. I slept until almost noon, and then spent most of the day trying to get this journal up to date. We should be receiving the family's computer from Dell today. This will replace the non-working 486 that has been on the desk in the living room for who knows how many years. At the request of Mama, we'll be having steamboat for dinner tonight at the same place we went to before. Mmm....can't wait for some more tom yam steamboat!
The computer finally arrived around 5 o'clock. It was supposed to be delivered a week ago, but the delivery guys couldn't find the house. Apparently, there are two different addresses for the house, and the street name we gave them isn't on their maps (plus the house number is hard to read from the street). So we gave them the other street name and semi-installed bright and shiny new numbers out by the driveway. I say semi-installed, because it's pretty hard to hammer nails into concrete, and lacking any other tools the numbers are not exactly set in stone (pun intended).
Today is the last full day we will spend in Malaysia. We don't have much planned besides packing. We sorted thru all the gifts/souvenirs we bought, and made sure we didn't forget anyone. Realizing that we had, we made one last trip to Mega Mall (I love that name) to pick up a few items (not yours of course). We also got some speakers and a microphone for the new PC. Hopefully, the family can use it to chat with Gyee and Justin.
Speaking of which, I installed Yahoo Messenger the night before and we used it for the first time today with Justin and Eileen. Justin gave us a web cam to bring back to the family to use with their new computer, and this gave us a perfect opportunity to test it out. It worked great. We got to see Justin and Eileen (her tummy is really starting to show!) and they could see us. It was Justin's first time seeing his grandmother and the house he grew up in in about six or seven years. Everyone really seemed to enjoy that. Now Gyee and I will have to make sure we pick one up so we can join in the fun. Maybe someone reading this will read this right before going out to do their X-mas shopping (Mom? Dad?). One can only hope...
We were visited by a few more family members later this night. Gyee's dad's cousin came with his wife, his son and his son's wife, and their 7-month-old baby (Li Hsing, his wife Adeline, and their baby Kaitlin). Sue Poon stopped by for a few minutes, and a few minutes later we were joined by one of Gyee's aunt, uncle, and their two kids (on the father's side). Neither Gyee nor I can remember their names. In the Chinese culture, kids address their aunt and uncles by their "title". Their parent's brothers and sisters are addressed differently based on whether they are older or younger than their parent. They are also addressed by their exact birth order in the family. So the eldest uncle is called Tua Pek. Pek means uncle, while Tua means oldest. Uncles who are younger than Gyee's dad are called Ah Tsek. To make matters more confusing those names are in the Teo Chew dialect (which is spoken by her Dad's side of the family). Aunts and uncles on her mom's sides are addressed in the Cantonese dialect. Considering that Gyee has about 17 aunts and uncles (not including spouses), I'm not surprised she can't remember everyone's name!
At 10 PM, Gyee's friend from high school, Wei Yan, came by to pick us up for a night out with her friends. We went to a pub owned by her cousin Ken (aka Baby), who lives next door to the Tan family. The pub is called De Room, and I really enjoyed it. They played good music, and the place would have fit right in to the Dallas bar scene. We met about 8 of Gyee's high school classmates, a couple of whom we had met earlier in KL (Wei Yan & Fan Chu). The others were Erwin, Edgar, Benjamin, Ai Ming, and Wai Tat. We shared some of our pictures with them, had a few drinks, and enjoyed ourselves. I had a good chat with Gyee's cousin, Ken about what it was like owning a bar: profit margins, competition, and all kinds of exciting stuff like that (no, really, I found it fascinating and couldn't stop asking questions). We went home a little after midnight to finish packing.
15:48: We're aboard Eva Airlines flying to Taipei, Taiwan from Kuala Lumpur. This is the second leg of our journey home. The flight from Kuantan to KL (on Malaysian Airlines) was uneventful and brief (roughly 40 minutes). It left at 10:30AM and we had a four hour layover in KL. We'll have another four hour layover in Taipei (after a four and a half hour flight), and then it’s on to LAX. I think it will take us about 13 hours to fly there. After a couple of hours in Los Angeles, we'll finally fly home to Dallas. We'll be arriving at 5:15AM, Saturday morning. Total travel time door to door: about 32 hours!
It was tough saying goodbye to Gyee's family when we flew out of Kuantan. They were such great hosts, and treated me like family. It's especially tough for Gyee as she doesn't know when we'll be able to return to Malaysia. With our wedding and the Meikle family reunion in 2005, and our planned honeymoon to Europe in 2006, it might not be for a while. We've toyed with the idea of going back with Justin and Eileen for Chinese New Year in 2007. That's probably the earliest we can go back, which is obviously a long time, especially considering that her grandmother is 83. At least we know we'll be seeing her parents and Apple real soon. Her mom will be coming to Dallas in about 4 months to be with Justin and Eileen for the birth of the first baby in March or April. Apple and Dad will be following about a month later. They will all be staying through until our wedding in May, which will be a nice long visit.
Well, that's all I have to write. I hope you enjoyed my little journey, and I apologize for any pictures/links that are not yet working. I promise I'll have the slideshows working soon!