I didn’t know much about Malaysia prior to arriving. The general consensus was that it was going to be much more of a vacation, and far less shocking than many other ports. The itinerary sandwiched Malaysia in between India and Vietnam, both of which are regarded as monumental and extremely culturally shocking. We only had three days there and we had no idea what there was to do, so I didn’t plan much. A lot of kids even planned to fly to Singapore and spend their time there. This was such a great example of how much expectations play into your experiences. I had zero expectations and this ended up being my favorite port. There have already been many countries that I want to visit again, but I am most eager to come back to Malaysia.
The night before arriving in Malaysia, most people realized that no one knew what to do and that plans should probably be considered. There had only been three days since India and the recovering process was lengthier than expected. We googled “Malaysia tourism” and “Things to do in Malaysia” and found an island called Langkawi that looked very fun. Word spread like wildfire and within a few hours, all of the flights were full with SAS kids. I planned to go with a group that I had only met a few days before. They were all good friends beforehand and had been travelling together the whole time. I decided to go for it and jumped aboard because it sounded like we had similar goals. We planned to leave early the morning of the second day and come back the morning of the third day. Who knew 24 hours could be so memorable.
Day 1: Getting through customs and immigration was equally as frustrating as India, but outside and more humid. Drenched in sweat, I found a cab with Lauren and our friend Taylor. We planned on doing some light shopping and going to the beach. We wanted to have a mellow day and just see Penang. Penang is a large island off the coast of the Malaysian mainland. It is fairly westernized, but still has a lot of culture and cool architecture. The taxi system in Malaysia is different than any I have ever experienced. There is no meter, or bargaining. Every single taxi driver knows the set price for every ride and will stick to it. They do not compete with one another and back each other up if there is ever a question. Whenever we tried to bargain, they just walked away and left us to find that every other driver would stick to that same price. Our taxi cab driver, named “Ballin”, gave us a little tour of the city and took us to the mall where we found Starbucks and Forever 21. I hadn’t seen these two staples in two months, and was very happy to do so. I got an iced coffee and shopped for a while before getting sick. I thought that I’d be safe because coffee seemed fine and Starbucks was so reliable in my mind, but I had completely forgotten about avoiding ice. Anyways, some Tums, Pepto Bismol, a lot of gum, and a few concerned Malaysians later- I learned my lesson: No more ice. I ended up skipping the rest of the day and coming back to the ship to rest, get ready, and pack. I met up with the new group and we made our way to a hotel, which they had found earlier that day. It was perfect! Three big beds in one room, clean, and perfectly suitable for the twelve people that planned to sleep in it. We stayed there for a while and relaxed before making our way to the reggae bar/hostel that some other SAS kids were at. It was one of our friends’ twenty-first birthday so we celebrated and had a lot of fun that night. I spent most of the night dancing with the toothless 65-year-old bouncer who introduced himself as Charlie Chaplain. The two of us, along with a few waiters and bartenders, had ourselves a great time and bounced around for most of the night. There are two things that I’ve learned on this trip when it comes to dancing. The first is that it is one of the best ways to learn about cultures. The way that different locals dance differs drastically from country to country and is very indicative of their lifestyles. The second is that it is the best way to get to know people. From now on, I will always accept and encourage dancing, in whatever setting, with whomever, from 5-year-old girls to 90-year-old men. Sometimes the language barrier is tough but everyone can dance and there’s nothing that produces more genuine smiling, which instantaneously breaks down every wall. I was the only SAS kid, or white person for that matter, but I didn’t care and the awkwardness was surmounted very quickly. We made our way back to the hotel around midnight, only to find a big issue that changed the rest of our trip. At the entrance of the small hotel, there’s an outside courtyard with a small restaurant and bar. Our room was right above the bar and earlier that day, while I was on the ship getting sick, my friends had put on suits and were hanging out in the rain on the roof. They thought it seemed pretty safe. That night when we got back, two of our friends were in chairs with their heads down, surrounded by hotel personnel and a few of our other friends. A group of 5 had come back earlier and two of them had walked out on the roof. They stood together on one panel and, to their surprise, fell through. The bartender said that he felt it shake and then just saw two girls fall from the sky. He told us that it was clearly a sign from heaven because two girls, covered in white, fell from the sky. The ambulance came and they went to the hospital. I stayed back and cleaned the room, hiding backpacks and trying to make it look like there was only four of us staying there in case the hotel workers came up to talk with us and investigate. Apparently the hospital was very clean and comparable to ours. The difference was that the nurses and doctors were the nicest people ever. They said that they were never too busy, no matter what was going on and were more helpful than any American health professional that they had encountered. For each girl’s consultation, X-rays, ultrasound, bandaging, and whatever else, it was 100 ringgits (approximately US$30). Stitches were included and no insurance was used. The people working at the hotel were the same- we thought that they would be furious but they were so sympathetic and just apologized over and over for the flimsy roof. Of course it was our fault, and I had expected some harsh feelings. Anyways, I didn’t sleep for 5 minutes that night. I laid down at one point but so much was going on, with people running in and out of the room, phone calls being made and hotel personnel inquiring, that I never relaxed. The girls had been brought back to the ship’s medical center on stretchers. Apparently one of the ship’s security men, Vladimir from the Ukraine, ordered over the walkie talkie “Do not touch the broken person” in his extremely strong accent. This whole fiasco proved to be a learning experience about the people and the systems in Malaysia- everyone was incredibly friendly, helpful and efficient.
Day 2: When the alarm went off, I was ready and excited for the day. The two girls that fell through the roof were definitely not making the flight and we got news from the ship that they were okay- no broken bones or serious issues- so we settled the roof payment (US $275 for a broken roof) and made our way to the airport. The 25-minute flight was unbelievable- it looked a little bit like Mauritius. The clear water was gorgeous and divided by hundreds of tiny, uninhabited islands. I immediately knew that we had made the right decision to come to Langkawi. We talked to the airport tourism woman who recommended the cheapest, best hostel to stay at. We rented a van and made our way to “Gecko Guest House”, a shanty little place that ended up being perfect. It was about $5/person and we got two rooms. The amenities weren’t 5-star by any means, but it was sufficient and the experience surpassed anything we expected. Langkawi is very mellow and the general look is board shorts and dreadlocks. The man who walked us through the booking procedure took an extra ten seconds to process each question before responding. He would just stare off in the distance and then look back and ask us to repeat the question. This was not a language barrier but I hope that my suspicions weren’t correct because he seemed like a nice guy and marijuana is punishable by the death penalty in Malaysia. Sam ended up becoming a friend and loved high-fiving me whenever we walked by. The hostel consisted of tiny individual rooms that surrounded the outside courtyard/ bar/ restaurant. There were 25 cats, all of which were incredibly cute and small and roamed freely. Sam knew all of their names and was quite proud of them. We left our stuff behind the bar for the day and walked down to the main street to find a taxi. We wanted to hike and find caves and waterfalls, so we talked to a man who would drive us around the island in his van for 6 hours and show us everything. This was the best 6 hours of my life, one-hundred percent. I could write pages and pages about every single thing we did but it would not do it justice. I’m going to leave most of it for pictures and hope that everyone reading this makes it to Langkawi once in their life. (If I become a millionaire, I’m definitely having a destination wedding here so everyone reading this- get excited). We went to a little café in the middle of rice patty farms. No one spoke English but we ended up getting thin Asian pancakes with really good sauce and paying 8 rinngits TOTAL- this is about 3 dollars total, for 7 people. We had a Pepto Party in order to not get sick and went on our way. The island is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen, more so than any movie or photograph. We first went to a place where we could find someone to take us out on a boat and explore the little rivers. The little rivers curve around the mountains in the island and then deposit in the ocean in various places. We saw giant lizards, monkey families, and in one spot- hundreds of eagles. The roots of the trees lining the river were a few feet above the water and created a very mystical atmosphere. It was muggy and otherworldly and overwhelming. The boat threaded in and out of caves, where we saw bats and tons of other creatures. Finally, the boat dropped us off on a tiny beach that you can only reach by sea. Keep in mind that no one is around for any of this. There aren’t any tourists- we saw a few boats but no one was on the beach or the caves. We hiked up another cave and then walked out a long, gorgeous dock and jumped in. We swam and marveled at what was around us. The shore to the right was Malaysia and to the left, we could see Thailand. It was an outer body experience, and one I will never forget. Afterwards, we met up with our driver and went to a place where we could see waterfalls. We got out and immediately had cookies and a huge coconut stolen by monkeys. We then made the huge trek up the side of a mountain. It was the best workout- so beautiful and so much to look at. We hiked next to a waterfall, going straight up incredibly steep steps. At the top of the waterfall, we found an area that had natural-made rock water slides. There were a few other people there who had already found them, so we followed their lead, got in and had the time of our lives. Looking around was unreal. We were sliding down incredible, exhilarating slides in the middle of a tiny island off of Langkawi. Behind and around us were rain forests with monkeys. Below was a waterfall (there was a curve so you didn’t go down that) and then the ocean in front of you and, eventually, Thailand. Dreamlike. And then it started to rain. That just put it over the edge. I have never smiled harder. It was out of a movie; we went down the slide all together in disbelief that this was really happening. At that point, we went down to the bottom of the waterfall to look up and really see the height. We carried our clothes and did the whole hike down wearing suits and hiking shoes. At one point, on even ground, I decided to run with one other friend. It was the best run I have ever been on- so warm, raining, surrounded by a fantasy. We made it to the bottom only to find more slides. Only two went in because by now there was thunder and lightning. We watched and warned them to get out when the lightning and thunder got close together. On their way out, they learned their lesson. Somewhere close, the water was struck so their legs were shocked. It was minor but their muscles were shaking and cramped a little- pretty crazy and very scary. We made our way back to the van and headed back to the hostel. I had to throw my shirt and socks out because of how dirty it was. The shower consisted of a water spout in the bathroom that completely soaked the whole room, including the toilet and little ledge- there were no dividers. We went to a little café down the street and had burgers. The meat was red (not undercooked- just actually red from sauces, etc.), very different, and probably not a smart idea. Pepto party! We spent the rest of the night at the hostel, meeting other travelling students and backpackers, mainly from Australia and Sweden.
Day 3: We woke up early, cleaned up from the hectic and very fun previous night and made our way to the airport. By this time in the trip, most food hesitation has diminished. I devoured an egg sandwich from a bizarre fast food place and had a chocolate and peanut butter waffle. Incredible. We flew back and got back to the ship. I wasted an hour or two on the ship because my body was so dead. Three hours of sleep in two nights, an extremely vigorous day, and questionable food definitely took its toll. I then went to my scheduled orphanage trip, which was really disappointing. The kids only wanted to talk to us if we offered them toys. They didn’t seem to be orphans- one even told me that her mommy gave her her necklace. I sound like a horrible person, but to be honest- they were all just really bratty. It was such a contrast from all the extremely nice Malaysian adults we had met. We made our way back to the ship and through customs and immigration in time for the ship to leave at 6.
Malaysia was incredible and I am so eager to return. We were there for three days but I felt like it was a week. The second day feels like it was a dream and all of the people that I traveled with were so fun. I’m recovering and excited to get to Vietnam- three days!
The night before arriving in Malaysia, most people realized that no one knew what to do and that plans should probably be considered. There had only been three days since India and the recovering process was lengthier than expected. We googled “Malaysia tourism” and “Things to do in Malaysia” and found an island called Langkawi that looked very fun. Word spread like wildfire and within a few hours, all of the flights were full with SAS kids. I planned to go with a group that I had only met a few days before. They were all good friends beforehand and had been travelling together the whole time. I decided to go for it and jumped aboard because it sounded like we had similar goals. We planned to leave early the morning of the second day and come back the morning of the third day. Who knew 24 hours could be so memorable.
Day 1: Getting through customs and immigration was equally as frustrating as India, but outside and more humid. Drenched in sweat, I found a cab with Lauren and our friend Taylor. We planned on doing some light shopping and going to the beach. We wanted to have a mellow day and just see Penang. Penang is a large island off the coast of the Malaysian mainland. It is fairly westernized, but still has a lot of culture and cool architecture. The taxi system in Malaysia is different than any I have ever experienced. There is no meter, or bargaining. Every single taxi driver knows the set price for every ride and will stick to it. They do not compete with one another and back each other up if there is ever a question. Whenever we tried to bargain, they just walked away and left us to find that every other driver would stick to that same price. Our taxi cab driver, named “Ballin”, gave us a little tour of the city and took us to the mall where we found Starbucks and Forever 21. I hadn’t seen these two staples in two months, and was very happy to do so. I got an iced coffee and shopped for a while before getting sick. I thought that I’d be safe because coffee seemed fine and Starbucks was so reliable in my mind, but I had completely forgotten about avoiding ice. Anyways, some Tums, Pepto Bismol, a lot of gum, and a few concerned Malaysians later- I learned my lesson: No more ice. I ended up skipping the rest of the day and coming back to the ship to rest, get ready, and pack. I met up with the new group and we made our way to a hotel, which they had found earlier that day. It was perfect! Three big beds in one room, clean, and perfectly suitable for the twelve people that planned to sleep in it. We stayed there for a while and relaxed before making our way to the reggae bar/hostel that some other SAS kids were at. It was one of our friends’ twenty-first birthday so we celebrated and had a lot of fun that night. I spent most of the night dancing with the toothless 65-year-old bouncer who introduced himself as Charlie Chaplain. The two of us, along with a few waiters and bartenders, had ourselves a great time and bounced around for most of the night. There are two things that I’ve learned on this trip when it comes to dancing. The first is that it is one of the best ways to learn about cultures. The way that different locals dance differs drastically from country to country and is very indicative of their lifestyles. The second is that it is the best way to get to know people. From now on, I will always accept and encourage dancing, in whatever setting, with whomever, from 5-year-old girls to 90-year-old men. Sometimes the language barrier is tough but everyone can dance and there’s nothing that produces more genuine smiling, which instantaneously breaks down every wall. I was the only SAS kid, or white person for that matter, but I didn’t care and the awkwardness was surmounted very quickly. We made our way back to the hotel around midnight, only to find a big issue that changed the rest of our trip. At the entrance of the small hotel, there’s an outside courtyard with a small restaurant and bar. Our room was right above the bar and earlier that day, while I was on the ship getting sick, my friends had put on suits and were hanging out in the rain on the roof. They thought it seemed pretty safe. That night when we got back, two of our friends were in chairs with their heads down, surrounded by hotel personnel and a few of our other friends. A group of 5 had come back earlier and two of them had walked out on the roof. They stood together on one panel and, to their surprise, fell through. The bartender said that he felt it shake and then just saw two girls fall from the sky. He told us that it was clearly a sign from heaven because two girls, covered in white, fell from the sky. The ambulance came and they went to the hospital. I stayed back and cleaned the room, hiding backpacks and trying to make it look like there was only four of us staying there in case the hotel workers came up to talk with us and investigate. Apparently the hospital was very clean and comparable to ours. The difference was that the nurses and doctors were the nicest people ever. They said that they were never too busy, no matter what was going on and were more helpful than any American health professional that they had encountered. For each girl’s consultation, X-rays, ultrasound, bandaging, and whatever else, it was 100 ringgits (approximately US$30). Stitches were included and no insurance was used. The people working at the hotel were the same- we thought that they would be furious but they were so sympathetic and just apologized over and over for the flimsy roof. Of course it was our fault, and I had expected some harsh feelings. Anyways, I didn’t sleep for 5 minutes that night. I laid down at one point but so much was going on, with people running in and out of the room, phone calls being made and hotel personnel inquiring, that I never relaxed. The girls had been brought back to the ship’s medical center on stretchers. Apparently one of the ship’s security men, Vladimir from the Ukraine, ordered over the walkie talkie “Do not touch the broken person” in his extremely strong accent. This whole fiasco proved to be a learning experience about the people and the systems in Malaysia- everyone was incredibly friendly, helpful and efficient.
Day 2: When the alarm went off, I was ready and excited for the day. The two girls that fell through the roof were definitely not making the flight and we got news from the ship that they were okay- no broken bones or serious issues- so we settled the roof payment (US $275 for a broken roof) and made our way to the airport. The 25-minute flight was unbelievable- it looked a little bit like Mauritius. The clear water was gorgeous and divided by hundreds of tiny, uninhabited islands. I immediately knew that we had made the right decision to come to Langkawi. We talked to the airport tourism woman who recommended the cheapest, best hostel to stay at. We rented a van and made our way to “Gecko Guest House”, a shanty little place that ended up being perfect. It was about $5/person and we got two rooms. The amenities weren’t 5-star by any means, but it was sufficient and the experience surpassed anything we expected. Langkawi is very mellow and the general look is board shorts and dreadlocks. The man who walked us through the booking procedure took an extra ten seconds to process each question before responding. He would just stare off in the distance and then look back and ask us to repeat the question. This was not a language barrier but I hope that my suspicions weren’t correct because he seemed like a nice guy and marijuana is punishable by the death penalty in Malaysia. Sam ended up becoming a friend and loved high-fiving me whenever we walked by. The hostel consisted of tiny individual rooms that surrounded the outside courtyard/ bar/ restaurant. There were 25 cats, all of which were incredibly cute and small and roamed freely. Sam knew all of their names and was quite proud of them. We left our stuff behind the bar for the day and walked down to the main street to find a taxi. We wanted to hike and find caves and waterfalls, so we talked to a man who would drive us around the island in his van for 6 hours and show us everything. This was the best 6 hours of my life, one-hundred percent. I could write pages and pages about every single thing we did but it would not do it justice. I’m going to leave most of it for pictures and hope that everyone reading this makes it to Langkawi once in their life. (If I become a millionaire, I’m definitely having a destination wedding here so everyone reading this- get excited). We went to a little café in the middle of rice patty farms. No one spoke English but we ended up getting thin Asian pancakes with really good sauce and paying 8 rinngits TOTAL- this is about 3 dollars total, for 7 people. We had a Pepto Party in order to not get sick and went on our way. The island is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen, more so than any movie or photograph. We first went to a place where we could find someone to take us out on a boat and explore the little rivers. The little rivers curve around the mountains in the island and then deposit in the ocean in various places. We saw giant lizards, monkey families, and in one spot- hundreds of eagles. The roots of the trees lining the river were a few feet above the water and created a very mystical atmosphere. It was muggy and otherworldly and overwhelming. The boat threaded in and out of caves, where we saw bats and tons of other creatures. Finally, the boat dropped us off on a tiny beach that you can only reach by sea. Keep in mind that no one is around for any of this. There aren’t any tourists- we saw a few boats but no one was on the beach or the caves. We hiked up another cave and then walked out a long, gorgeous dock and jumped in. We swam and marveled at what was around us. The shore to the right was Malaysia and to the left, we could see Thailand. It was an outer body experience, and one I will never forget. Afterwards, we met up with our driver and went to a place where we could see waterfalls. We got out and immediately had cookies and a huge coconut stolen by monkeys. We then made the huge trek up the side of a mountain. It was the best workout- so beautiful and so much to look at. We hiked next to a waterfall, going straight up incredibly steep steps. At the top of the waterfall, we found an area that had natural-made rock water slides. There were a few other people there who had already found them, so we followed their lead, got in and had the time of our lives. Looking around was unreal. We were sliding down incredible, exhilarating slides in the middle of a tiny island off of Langkawi. Behind and around us were rain forests with monkeys. Below was a waterfall (there was a curve so you didn’t go down that) and then the ocean in front of you and, eventually, Thailand. Dreamlike. And then it started to rain. That just put it over the edge. I have never smiled harder. It was out of a movie; we went down the slide all together in disbelief that this was really happening. At that point, we went down to the bottom of the waterfall to look up and really see the height. We carried our clothes and did the whole hike down wearing suits and hiking shoes. At one point, on even ground, I decided to run with one other friend. It was the best run I have ever been on- so warm, raining, surrounded by a fantasy. We made it to the bottom only to find more slides. Only two went in because by now there was thunder and lightning. We watched and warned them to get out when the lightning and thunder got close together. On their way out, they learned their lesson. Somewhere close, the water was struck so their legs were shocked. It was minor but their muscles were shaking and cramped a little- pretty crazy and very scary. We made our way back to the van and headed back to the hostel. I had to throw my shirt and socks out because of how dirty it was. The shower consisted of a water spout in the bathroom that completely soaked the whole room, including the toilet and little ledge- there were no dividers. We went to a little café down the street and had burgers. The meat was red (not undercooked- just actually red from sauces, etc.), very different, and probably not a smart idea. Pepto party! We spent the rest of the night at the hostel, meeting other travelling students and backpackers, mainly from Australia and Sweden.
Day 3: We woke up early, cleaned up from the hectic and very fun previous night and made our way to the airport. By this time in the trip, most food hesitation has diminished. I devoured an egg sandwich from a bizarre fast food place and had a chocolate and peanut butter waffle. Incredible. We flew back and got back to the ship. I wasted an hour or two on the ship because my body was so dead. Three hours of sleep in two nights, an extremely vigorous day, and questionable food definitely took its toll. I then went to my scheduled orphanage trip, which was really disappointing. The kids only wanted to talk to us if we offered them toys. They didn’t seem to be orphans- one even told me that her mommy gave her her necklace. I sound like a horrible person, but to be honest- they were all just really bratty. It was such a contrast from all the extremely nice Malaysian adults we had met. We made our way back to the ship and through customs and immigration in time for the ship to leave at 6.
Malaysia was incredible and I am so eager to return. We were there for three days but I felt like it was a week. The second day feels like it was a dream and all of the people that I traveled with were so fun. I’m recovering and excited to get to Vietnam- three days!
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