MALAYSIA SO FAR!

This is what I’ve learned so far! Malaysia was a colony of the British and became independent in 1957. At that time Singapore was part (it’s on the tip of the peninsula) but Kim said the leader, Lee (someone) - he was Chinese - was VERY strong! The rest of Malaysia offered Singapore, a huge Asian port, to be a city/state and it did! and has stayed that way! 

In Malaysia, it seems much more modern and upscale than Indonesia/Bali. KL started with tin mining, in 1857,  which Kim said involves a lot of sand, excavating, and straining when the tin falls beneath the sand. There is a lot of MUD resulting from this mining,  Kuala Lumpur literally means, in Malay, “muddy confluence,” of Klang and Gombak rivers. Now not much tin mining is done. We noticed as we landed huge fields of what looked like palm trees. Turns out palm oil is one of this country’s main products. They also produce rubber and oil - like gasoline. 

Malacca on the coast was a major stop along the “Spice Route.” Magellan stopped here (we learned about this in the Asian Museum in Singapore) and he picked up a Malay slave Enrique Malacca, who ended up actually sailing completely around the world (Magellan was killed along the way and never completed the circumnavigation). So now it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and supposed to be historically interesting. 

Kim took us downtown yesterday to see the sights of KL. Mainly we parked under the shopping mall at the base of the major tourist sight - the Petronas Twin Towers and Park. Built in 1998, they once were the tallest buildings in the world at 452 meters and 88 stories. There is a skybridge gaining them at the 41st and 42nd floors but we just took photos from outside in the lovely courtyard with a musical fountain (wasn’t running; being worked on). 

The other site we drove through was “Chinatown” but it wasn’t too impressive. We were looking for some “shophouses” that used to be wooden, but after a huge fire, I’m guessing there were shops on the ground floor and then the family house was on top. There are still some stone ones we saw. Kim pulled over and we got out for a few pictures. We also passed a few old looking temples. But really not too special.

Back at Kim’s house, we met Mabel, his 20-something daughter who was graduating the next day with a mechanical engineering. She had been doing an internship in Alaska when her class graduated so this was a make-up one for her. Mom and she were buying and arranging flowers for the ceremony. Picking up Jackson and Esther, we all went out to EAT MORE!!! Betty and I were still full from lunch. But we managed to eat some! I don’t think people in Malaysia cook! They have all these side of the road restaurants that are constantly filled. I think they cook so many dishes for each meal, it wouldn’t make sense to cook at home. You’d be preparing all day!! So they only cook special dishes for special occasions, is my impression. The kitchens we’ve seen aren’t very big. 

The next day, after a good night’s sleep at their lovely home, Kim took us to the bus station, where we were catching a bus for 2 hours down to Melaka on the coast - a UNESCO heritage site. This was a very important port on the spice route - along the Straits of Malacca. However, when we arrived and where Kim’s GPS said the bus station was, not too far from his home, it was under construction with no sign of where the current station had been temporarily moved! After many stops to ask people, and driving kind of in circles, we arrived at 9:15 - just when the bus was to leave!! He ran in to pick up our online ordered tickets; we stood by the bus so it wouldn’t leave without us; finally off we went!! Don’t like those last minute things when I travel! No one’s fault; I just get my adrenaline running! I knew the next bus didn’t leave until 1. Kim had to get home for the graduation. So we’d be sitting there for 4 hot, boring hours!! But all was well; we had a smooth ride there. Then found a taxi to our hotel - in a Buddhist and Taoist temple!!!