See ya later KL

Dear friends and family,

It’s been 5 days since I arrived in Asia and it already feels like two weeks have passed. I guess that’s a good thing. I never expected KL to be the way it was. Of course, I had some expectations, but you can never fully prepare. So I think I experienced this thing they call a ‘culture shock’, whatever this may mean. My head was kind of spinning around, and this might have been the reason why I was a little bit ‘off the radar’ to some people (sorry about that!). I experienced so many impressions, so many people and such high temperatures!! But we’ll get to that later.

Right now (exactly one week ago) I am on my way to Myanmar, Yangon with AirAsia. I’ve got three seats all to myself, because this morning on my way to the airport I sprained my ankle. So yeah, that really sucks. There I was, laying on the ground with my backpack, just like a turtle. It may sound funny, but it was rather painful actually. Fortunately I was with a fellow backpacker so she helped me out pretty well. I was quite the attraction for the Malay men I guess, as they were really concerned. I wasn’t able to walk, so I decided to stay at Starbucks until the pain would pass a little bit. After an hour or so, something nice happened. Two employees, a boy and a girl, carried both of my bags to the bus terminal. So I think Starbucks deserves a golden star!! I might pay Zila and Sha (the two helping me out) a visit when I return back to KL for my return flight in May. For now, I just need to take some rest when I get to the hostel and hope it won’t get any worse, because at this moment my ankle looks like a giant apple. Btw, I think the Dalai Lama is on my flight as well. Or at least a look a lookalike. Maybe three lookalikes.

But let’s start at the beginning: Tuesday was the big day. I had to say goodbye to my mum and boyfriend at the airport (:(), after which I was all by myself. The flight was quite comfortable and I arrived on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur. I was very surprised, because the airport looked more modern than I expected. Malaysia (especially KL) is actually a relatively developed city compared to the surroundings capitals in South East Asia (SEA). I think it’s a good place for anyone to start a journey through SEA. They’ve got a good infrastructure and the people are very helpful – at least most of them. Especially people who work in tourist areas will be able to converse with you in English. But don’t get me wrong: it is Asia. Some people will give you weird looks, traffic can be chaotic and a lot of them don’t have a roof to sleep under. The first hostel I stayed in was perfectly located – just a couple of minutes away from the train station, with the Central Market and Chinatown literally next to it. So the first night I was really hungry and decided to take a look in Chinatown. This is when I had the first noodles of my trip! Quite a memorable moment, I would say. Chinatown was just as you would expect – many fruitstalls (the Durian smell is so intense!), fake clothes and electronics, lots of restaurants, and a lot of Chinese people trying to lure you into their stalls. Unfortunately, my first night’s sleep was not very comfortable, because of the jetlag and the heat was killing me. I slept for only three hours.

So after being awake for the entire night, I went to get ‘breakfast’ at the Central Market. The concept of breakfast is very different in this part of Asia than what I am used to. They eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner! More noodles, rice, noodles and rice! But I went for a salad. Didn’t expect the spice in it, tough. That same day, in the afternoon, I went with a German girl to see the National Mosque, which was just a 15 minute walk from our hostel. The main religion of Malaysia is Islam, and we had to wear a headscarf to enter the mosque meaning we could take some funny looking pictures. As a ‘non-Muslim’ we were not allowed to enter the praying area, but it was still quite impressive. Afterwards, we went to see the Lake Gardens, but I was very tired and my body is not used to the extreme heat so I wasn’t able to enjoy that much. But it all looked very beautiful and well maintained with a big lake, a botanic garden, a zoo and rare fruit tree species. In the evening we went for some drinks with a local guy and some other tourists.

The next morning, I decided to change to another hostel, which was literally next door. This one looked a bit cleaner and had better air-conditioning so I felt more comfortable. But I still visited the other one frequently to meet the people I had met before. On Thursday, I went out with two friendly girls, Myrna and Maulida. They both study in Korea and come from the Philippines and Indonesia, respectively. So we had a lot to talk about. I had a very interesting and fulfilling day and I really hope to see them again.. We first visited a Chinese temple and a Hindu temple. These were located on the same street. The mix of religions is one of the most interesting things I found in Kuala Lumpur. All the Muslims, Hindu and Christians live very peacefully together and sometimes they even go to the same school. After a nice Indian lunch (the taste of the food keeps surprising me… you never know what to expect) we went to Kampung Baru. This is supposed to be a street with lots of local food stalls, but now it was naptime so it was rather deserted. Here, I had my first pure coconut! Very yummy. Then, after a while, Maulida, who is Muslim, wanted to go to the afternoon prayer in the mosque which was across the street. We decided to join her and put the same white clothes on the Muslim women put on. (The color white represents ‘purity’) We were the only tourists here so that was quite special. After the prayer, it started to pour down so we decided to stay in the mosque until the rain stopped. We met a very, warm, open and loving woman in the mosque who was very interested in what we were doing there. We exchanged numbers so when I return to KL, I’ll be able to meet her again. Unfortunately, Myrna and Maulida had to return home after a lovely local dinner, but I do hope we stay in contact :)

The next day, I went with a Portuguese girl and a Dutch guy to the Batu caves, which is a religious and sacred place for the Hindus. On that particular weekend, the Thaipusam festival, a Hindu festival, was on. According to Wikipedia --- This festival is celebrated mostly by the Tamilcommunity on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (moon) (January/February). It is mainly observed in countries where there is a significant presence of Tamil community such as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore, South Africa, Guadalupe, Reunion, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar.---

On Friday thousands of Hindus departed in their traditional clothes at around 10pm from Kuala Lumpur to the Batu Caves. They walked (some of them on bare feet!) for hours in the burning sun and arrived on Saturday afternoon. Once they arrived at the caves, they engage in a lot of traditions. One of the things they do, is they put hooks into their body and offer milk to the gods. We didn’t get to see a lot of Hindus arriving, because we were too early. But we did see some tired people lying on the ground as well as some other rituals, for example: a rolling man pushed by some women while singing chants (I took a picture!). Overall, there was a very festive atmosphere and a lot of foodstalls so it was a lot of fun. That same evening, we took the metro to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) where we saw the iconic Petronas Twin Towers. This was pretty cool, and we got to take some nice pictures. For dinner we wanted to go to Kampung Baru again for some local food, but we got a bit lost and took quite the detour. When we finally arrived and ordered our food, I had to wait for half an hour… Apparently they didn’t have any beef left, but they forgot to tell me haha.. So then I got some rice in less than 5 minutes. Everything here is a special experience!

Sunday was my last full day in KL, so I just wanted to relax until departing to Myanmar the next day. I had done many touristic things the days before, so I decided just to stay in the hostel and have some food. I had a very enjoyable final evening; we had some drinks in the first hostel I had stayed with some of the people I had met before. I still have some sightseeing to do in KL, so I am already looking forward to returning! Not for the heat though… But when I come back I should be used to the Asian temperature, I guess..

At this moment, as I am finalizing my first blog, I have been in Myanmar for the past week (the temperature here is soooo good). I really enjoyed to meet my friend Jolien again here, and we have already seen some incredible stuff in this country. But that’s going to be the next blog!

Thank you for reading my first one.

Love, Amanda