Swindles In Malaysia (Part Five)

Sorry for the delay of this fifth and final update of the Great Swindle Malaysian Adventure. I've been busy traveling with George (more to come on that magical time in future entries) and so I got a little distracted. Also, I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures of these last few days with my family. For some reason I started being a slacker when it came to picture taking, and I just started to rely on Dad to document the trip.

Let's see, last time we saw the Swindles they were enjoying fireside chats in the Cameron Highlands. From there, we drove toward the east coast where my state, Terengganu, is located. We stopped over in a town called Kota Bharu for one night to recharge and also to visit Kota Bharu's famous night market, known especially for its traditional Malay food choices. I had been to the market once before with my roommate Gwynne, and was excited to revisit it with my family. Highlights of the night included bargaining for Manchester United t-shirts, teaching Dad to eat nasi ayam (chicken rice) with his hand, and jamming to "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart" in a taxi, which our driver played especially for us.















After Kota Bharu, it was time to hit the islands! The east coast of Malaysia is known for its gorgeous array of tropical paradises, including Pulau (Island) Perhentian, Pulau Kapas, Pulau Tioman, and Pulau Redang. Our family decided to try Pulau Redang, and (even though our drive was stressful and there was a huge moment of silence in the car when we thought we'd miss our boat) we made it to the jetty with plenty of time to spare. Pulau Redang was beautiful and peaceful and definitely tropical, and our resort took good care of us. All we had to do was lounge in beach chairs, go on organized snorkeling trips in the South China Sea, and eat, eat, and eat some more at the buffet-style meals. Luckily, we handled the intense schedule pretty well. I suppose I was especially relaxed because I neglected to take a single picture on the island, except this one of me with Uno cards stuck to my forehead.















Then it was Terengganu time...my Malaysian turf. I was excited for my family to see where I'd been living and working since January, and having them in my apartment was incredibly surreal. They were great sports, and we were all squeezed into the non-air conditioned, cold water only, buggy place. Maybe the highlight of the whole trip was having my family come to school with me. Susan wore one of my Malay baju kurongs, my parents came bearing gifts, and everyone was a huge hit (no surprise there). My wonderful mentor, Anis, connected so well with my mother that she started crying within minutes of meeting her. Seriously. And Hayati, my foster sister who I am pretty sure doesn't care much for me, told my mother three times that she wanted to be just like her and that she loved the way she talked. I think they wanted to trade me in! (I would pick Dorothy Swindle any day, too.) My school was great and had a delicious chicken satay breakfast and special Malay lunch prepared for everyone. My family got to help me teach a couple of classes as well, and we had so much fun teaching the kids a song and a rhyming activity together. Here is "Miss Susan" with one of my Form 5 classes.















Sadly, the trip was quickly coming to an end, and so it was time to make our way back to KL. We drove our Proton rental the six hours to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night in order to have an entire day Friday together. It was so special! We celebrated Father's Day a couple of days early at a great Indian restaurant and also experienced a fish spa together. I had done this with George twice in Korea, but it was a new thing for everyone else. Basically, it's this foot treatment that began in Turkey, and you put your feet in water with special fish that nibble the dead skin off your feet. It feels WEIRD at first, and then, strangely, you get used to the sensation and even begin to like it. I was able to capture Dad's face as he first put his feet in, and it was pretty priceless.















































The past 18 days had been magical, and it felt like I should have been getting on the plane with Mom, Dad, and Susan on Friday night. Sadly, though, I had to let them go and then wander through KL International Airport sobbing, trying to make my way back to the hotel. I am still basking in the warmth my family brought when they came, and the fact that they were willing to come visit me all the way over here means the world. Malaysia has been such a distinctly different part of my life, and because they were able to see it firsthand I was able to better share my experience here. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Susan! I love you all so much!

Swindles In Malaysia (Part Four)

After Ipoh, it was time to begin our beautiful journey north (and uphill) into the Cameron Highlands. We kept driving up and up and up, feeling the air get cooler and cooler and watching the scenery getting greener and greener. After winding uphill for a few hours, we arrived at the Highlands and began to see the interesting and unique shape of tea leaves growing on bushes. The Cameron Highlands are very different from the rest of the country, and they are known for tea and strawberry-growing. The land is lovely, cool, and fertile -- ideal for these endeavors.















Our first stop was a strawberry farm, where we saw the berries growing in a greenhouse-style way, in elevated rows and such. We sampled some dried berries (not so good, it turns out) and then started out for the BOH tea plantation.



















Getting to the plantation was quite the adventure. The roads were windy and narrow, which meant you couldn't really see around the bend until you were actually turning, and there was no room for anyone to turn with you. Dad did great driving (and he had the unsolicited help of three anxious backseat drivers) and we made it there intact and only a little shaky.















BOH, which stands for "Best Of Highlands," was started in the 1929 by a British man named J.A. Russell, and the company is still owned by the same family. It was wonderful to walk through the plant and see how leave are processed into the tea we drink.















Influenced, I'm sure, by the deliciously cool climate, we bought way too much stuff at the gift shop, and then we enjoyed mugs of hot tea on a beautiful terrace overlooking the tea bushes and rolling hills.

































After our tea adventure, we stopped by a produce farm where Dad was a huge hit, earning the nickname "Boss" from a Bangladeshi farmer. As in, "Boss, boss, here's carrots." Believe me, the rest of us aren't going to let him forget that name...



















The day was starting to come to an end, so we transferred to our hotel, The Lakehouse, a gorgeous old place with an amazingly attentive staff. We chose our dinner menu hours in advance (think lamb, steak, etc.) and after lounging in our room for a while came downstairs to sit by the fire (yes, this place was cool enough that a fire was comfortable...in Malaysia...this was incredible).

Swindles In Malaysia (Part Three)

Arriving back in KL (a few hours late...thanks a lot, train) we seamlessly transferred to the Hertz rental car office, and that is where the easy transport for the day ended abruptly. After filling out paper work and getting the car all loaded up, we were just in time to hit extreme KL rush hour. Translation of extreme: it took us one hour to get approximately two city blocks from the Hertz place. Yuck. Then, as luck would have it, it happened to be the night before the spike in gas prices was going to take place, and so EVERY gas station we passed had lines out onto the highway, with at least 50 cars at each station. It was crazy, and took us until around 11 p.m. to reach Ipoh, our destination. We had originally hoped to arrive around 5. Needless to say, we were all exhausted by the time we got into town, and Dad deserves all the credit for being such a trooper through the crazy roads.

We woke up mostly recovered from our horrible traffic nightmare and began to get excited about our day in Ipoh. We had scheduled a guide to take us on an outdoor tour of the rain forest and other areas, and he showed up at 9 to begin our adventure.

After taking us by the old train station in Ipoh, our first real stop with Casey was an Indian restaurant to sample some local cuisine, which we loved. We especially loved the puffy bread (that's definitely not the correct name, but I forgot) and masala tea.





























Then Casey took us to a huge cave, only recently open as a tourist attraction, and we spent about an hour weaving our way through the darkness. (Oh yeah, and we paid a visit to the gift shop where Dad found a shirt he really connected with.)





































Then it was time to hit the rain forest, but on the way we stopped by a rubber tree plantation, which was so interesting! I never knew that rubber was created this way: essentially the rubber trees just bleed pure rubber. Farmers tap the trees for rubber like New Englanders do for maple syrup.















Continuing to the rain forest, we enjoyed the beautiful and unusual scenery along the way. Casey, by the way, turned out to not only be a great tour guide but a great guy all around. We loved our day spent with him and couldn't have asked for a better Ipoh friend. He was knowledgeable fun, and energetic, and Ipoh was one of our favorite Malaysia stops largely due to him. We spent the afternoon "jungle trekking" into the rain forest, eating a traditional Malay lunch, and swimming in a cool, refreshing waterfall. We even were able to observe the Orang Asli, a group of nomadic people who live in the rain forest and who, Casey told us, are thought to be the oldest pure race in the world.

Swindles In Malaysia (Part Two)

Singapore, our only non-Malaysian stop, was a wonderfully clean and enjoyable place. We stayed at a quaint hotel in Little India, and loved the area we were in, near many delicious little cafes.















Our hotel was also within walking distance of an unbelievable store. This place sold EVERYTHING – electronics, jewelry, vitamins, shoes, soccer balls, groceries, and then some. Dad even ended up finding a great new camera for a great price.



















Because our time in Singapore was limited (we were there for only two nights) tried to make the most of our time by squeezing things in. The first night we went to the highly recommended night safari, where we saw a nocturnal animal show and then rode through the zoo looking at various animals that are active at night. We all enjoyed it, and the nighttime element meant cool animals AND cool temperatures – a win-win!



















The next day we decided to take a city tour that Mr. Lim had recommended called Hippo tours, which turned out well because we were able to see a lot of the city in a short amount of time. We had two different guides – both very good – and enjoyed seeing famous Singapore landmarks, learning more about the city’s development, and being clued into housing options in Singapore.

























































After the tour, we had some time to kill before we were going to have tea at the famous Raffles Hotel, so we checked out a nearby mall (there are malls aplenty in Singapore, we quickly learned) and took advantage of the massage and exercise opportunities we found. Here is Dad working out his abs and Mom and me getting eye massages…or getting ready to join Star Trek.























































Before long, it was teatime and we were off to the Raffles Hotel. Tea was wonderful, and an incredibly special trip memory for me. The hotel itself has an old, majestic, historic feel, and we were served delicious cream cakes, sandwiches, and scones in the lovely dining room.





































































That night, full from our fabulous tea, we completed our time in Singapore by seeing the new Indiana Jones movie and then taking a moonlight walk along the quay. We left early, early the next morning to catch our train back to KL, where we would rent a car for the remainder of the trip. During our train ride, we stopped for just a minute in Kluang, only to find the entire Lim clan waiting at the tracks for us. We were so excited to see them! We hopped off the train and quickly hugged everyone, and they had gotten us drinks and kaya buns from the cafe. Those few minutes turned out to be some of the best of the whole trip. We love the Lims!

Swindles In Malaysia (Part One)

Well, my family's trip to Malaysia was a huge success, full of precious time together, many laughs, beautiful scenery, lots of rice, and glorious air conditioned hotel rooms. I think I'll have to split this into at least two installments, just to make sure I get lots of good details and photos in.

The trip began in the wee hours of the morning a little over two weeks ago, when Richard, Dorothy, and Susan arrived in the KL airport. (They had flown through Seoul and had been on a flight with George's parents, Dr. and Mrs. Jemison, on the way over. They were on the way to visit George in Korea, and we were thrilled that they were on the same international flight -- what are the odds?)

Because I have spent several weekends in KL, I was happy to play tour guide there and take my family to some of my favorite places. Our first stop on day one: shopping on Petaling Street. This turned out to be a huge hit, especially with Susan, who stocked up on tons of fake Polo, Lacoste, Coach, and Tiffany's stuff. Poor Dad -- we quickly ran through all the ringget he had gotten from the ATM that morning.

After our shopping spree, we headed to the Batu Caves so my family could see this impressive and unique Hindu temple-in-a-cave. We climbed all 272 steps to reach the cave's entrance, and had fun watching all the monkeys who live around the caves.



















Day two in KL started bright and early because we wanted to make it to the Petronas Towers early enough to get free tickets to the skybridge. Thoroughly nourished and extremely content after our amazing breakfast at the Hilton, we happily waited in line for our Petronas tickets and then had a little time to kill before our scheduled skybridge time.



















To help pass the time, we each got hour-long foot reflexology sessions, followed by 30-minute back massages. It was pretty glorious, and we were a relaxed bunch and ready to check out the view from the towers.





























Next up: a trip to the Lake Garden's Bird Park, supposedly "the largest bird park in the world." We enjoyed seeing the many interesting birds (some more hilarious looking than others) and even got to hold newborn baby chicks. We made it out of the park just before a huge rainstorm hit, too, so we were pretty fortunate.























































For our last dinner in KL, we chose the Coliseum Cafe after reading this intriguing review in Frommer's: "What can I say about Coliseum? Okay, the place is 86 years old, and so is the staff (seriously, some have worked here their whole lives). Located in the grottiest hotel I've ever witnessed, with stained white walls, worn tile floors, and threadbare linens, this is KL's authentic "greasy spoon." It sounds dreadful, but the place is legendary, and someday it will be gone and there will never be anything else like it." Sure enough, we found the staff to be, well, quite practiced, and the building to be smoky and grungy, but the food (steak!) was excellent and we had a great experience.















The next day it was time to head south to Kluang, Johor, but we had time to squeeze in a quick visit to the National Museum before we left KL. The museum only costs RM2 (about 60 U.S. cents) and gives a helpful overview of Malaysia's history as a colonized nation. Perhaps the best discovery the Swindle family made at the museum, though, was our love for the Malaysian "corn-in-cup," which is, just as it sounds, a little cup filled with warm corn mixed with salt and butter. We went on to enjoy many a corn-in-cup over the next two weeks.



















To get to Kluang, we took the train down from KL. I love riding on trains, and we were able to see lots of beautiful countryside (including countless palm oil trees) on the way. We were so excited the whole time to visit with Sharon Lim-Harle's family and to see the town she grew up in!















Arriving in Kluang, we were met at the station by Sharon's brother J.P. and her father, Mr. Lim. From the second we arrived until the second we left Kluang, the Lim family showed us nothing but genuine hospitality and wonderful companionship. We enjoyed eating at many of the Lim-affiliated Chinese eateries in the town, and were especially impressed by the kaya buns at the Kluang Railway Coffee shop.

Our time in Kluang was limited, but Mr. Lim was a thorough tour guide and so we made the most of each minute. We even squeezed in a short visit to Melaka, where we saw the famous Portuguese-and-then-Dutch occupied city, something I had been interested to see for a while.











































Although the architecture and history of Melaka was intriguing, I think my dad's favorite part of the trip was sampling some Indian vegetable fried puff things. He talked about them for the rest of the time he was in Malaysia!















Other highlights of our time in Kluang include a visit to Mrs. Lim's grave site, a tour of Sharon's old high school, and a great breakfast send-off when we boarded the train to Singapore.