Awesome South East Asia

 Malaysia takes your breath away the very first minute you arrive. Cultures have 

been meeting and mixing in Malaysia since the  beginning of its history. More than

fifteen hundred years ago a Malay kingdom in Bujang Valley welcomed traders from

China and India. These traders brought with them not only  gold and silks but Buddhism

and Hinduism.The Hindu temples in KUALA LUMPUR are absolutely marvellous.

The MALAY are Malaysia's largest ethnic group, accounting for over half the population

and the national language.Almost all MALAY are MUSLIMS, though it must be 

mentioned that ISLAM in Malaysia is not as extreme as in the Middle East.

The CHINESE traded with Malaysia for centuries, but they settled in the XIX century.

Most CHINESE MALAYSIAN are Tao Buddhist,and the population represent about 

35% of the total. The INDIAN contact with Malaysia dates from 2000 years ago though

they settled, as the CHINESE, in the XIX century.Today  the HINDU MALAYSIANS  

represent about 10% of the population. However, their culture  is visiblethroughout the

country.   The oldest inhabitants of Malaysia are its tribal peoples. They account for 

about 5 % of the total population.All of Malaysia's tribal people generally are believed 

to share  a strong spiritual tie to the rain forest.

Foto: Betty Ojeda

Foto: Betty Ojeda

Foto: Betty Ojeda

Here you´ll find a translation from most of the mails I sent to my friends during my first trip to South East Asia, a place that seduced me deeply since the very first moment I set foot on MALAYSIA. The translation, as any from a very colloquial writing full or regionalisms, must have lost part of its flavour. Nevertheless hope it makes you think about getting the chance to travel and “taste” the marvels of SOUTH EAST ASIA.

MALAYSIA / BALI/ SINGAPORE 2000

KUALA LUMPUR

1. Alter a 22-hour flight we finally arrived in KUALA LUMPUR. The airport was outstanding. As you must imagine, we were pretty tired, however, we left the hotel soon ready to start our experience. This morning we visited a Buddhist Temple, China Town, the market, the Court – which used to be the Sultan´s home….beautiful home by the way…to take your breath away in fact. Suddenly it started to rain so we got absolutely soaked. We were planning to have dinner in the revolving restaurant which is  in the KL TOWER but it won´t be possible as it´s being redesigned. In three days time we´ll be in LANGKAWI so I don´t think we´ll have the chance to go…Pity. We haven´t been yet to the famous PETRONAS (KL TOWERS) We´re planning to go tomorrow.

The people are extraordinarily kind, most of them speak English, so we haven´t had any communication problem so far. Malaysian English has its pecularities, but everything´s ok.

Every time we mention we say we come from ARGENTINA, everybody mentions MARADONA, so it´s true he´s very popular all over the world.

Today we took a cab to go to the National Palace and we intended to go on visiting places on foot, but it was on a highway. The residence of the Yang Dipertuan Agung is a major tourist attraction and so are the palace guards and horse - mounted guards. I had a pic taken with one of them.The original building, completed in 1929, was the result of a Chinese millionaire's brief to the architect to build the "biggest house in Kuala Lumpur and Straits Settlements". We took pics and then tried to take another cab, but ALL of them were busy. We had been waiting for about 20 minutes when we decided to ask a cop, and we found that the cop helped us to find a taxi.

Batu CavesFoto: Betty Ojeda

Batu Caves
Foto: Betty Ojeda

2. Alter having had a delicious meal in a Chinese restaurant here I am again getting in touch with you.

Yesterday we we went to BATU CAVES and it was as if we were in INDIA. It´s an outstanding Hindu Temple which is in a cavern. We had to go up 300 steps, under the heat and you know that I´m a heavy smoker, well it was not easy but absolutely worth doing. Batu Caves consists of several small caves and a main cavern housing a shrine. The Caves are devoted to the Hindu deity Lord Murugan. There are  stalagtites and stalamites. There´s also an incredible arte gallery full of deities  downstairs.

We have visited three mosques, one of them was the National, some Chinese Temples, the National Museum and the Butterfly garden (woow!!!!!)

Everything´s new, different, interesting and I repeat, the people are very kind.

3.

PS.

Last NIGHT we visited the MKL TOWER (remember the revolving restaurant which is not open right now?) The tower is Asia's tallest and the fourth tallest in the world. It also serves as a transmission station for telecommunications, radio and television. We took some panoramic pics of the city and the Petronas and went to visit them. They belong to a petrol company so you cannot go up to uppermost floor. There´s a shopping center, beautiful but quite expensive for us.

Today we took the train to see KL from a different angle. The train stations are very clean and tidy. We saw some poor areas in the outskirts of the city.

We have talked to lot of people, all of them very interesting.

We´ll be going to the Hard Rock Café in a few minutes.

KUALA LUMPUR  and  LANGKAWI

4.

Everybody should visit S.E. ASIA, it´s marvelous. The people are great, the places spectacular, everything´s new, different, fantastic !!! Being in MALYSIA is like being in China and India together.

Last night, afer having  a delicious Chinese meal we  went to the Hard Rock Café. The atmosphere was interesting, with some locals and a lot of tourists from all over the world. We made friends with a couple of guys, both living in KL but one of them is Hindu Malay and the other American .After having had some margaritas we went to a Latin American Disco. Gary, the American friend, asked me what kind of music I liked dancing and I answered as you might imagine :”Latin American”. I was pretty surprised to learn there was a place in KL where latin music was played. The disco´s called EL NIÑO and belongs to a guy from Columbia. After that we ended eating and exotic meal at four in the morning in the Chinese area.

As you must imagine we slept all the way to LANGKAWI as we had slept very little, but we were very happy as we had had fun.

After arriving on the island we went to the beach and we had some Malay food for dinner. Today we sunbathed and saw sunset in a bar by the sea. Tomorrow we´re are renting a car with a Canadian girl me met today. We want to visit a Crocodrile Farm, some little waterfalls and a beach with black sand. We were planning to take a boat to nearby Thai islands, but we won´t have enough time as in two-days time we´re flying to BALI.

We´re very happy here , enjoying the trip and if my budgets allows me, my next trip will be to SOUTH EAST ASIA again.

Our dinner tonight was “international”. There were three Malays, one girl from Holland, another girl from England, and us, two Argentinians.

Foto: Betty Ojeda

Foto: Betty Ojeda

LANGKAWI and BALI

5. We arrived in BALI this afternoon, absolutely tired. As I told you, we rented a car with our Canadian friend, Suzanne, and we took a ride along the island. We visited

KAMPUNG BUKU MALAYSIA which is said to be the first and only book village in South-east Asia.  It is part of the International Book villages and Book Towns Movement. It´s amidst a green forest at the foot of Gunung Raya, the highest peak on the island. We also visited TAMAN LAGENDA, a scenic park with beautiful gardens of vivid local blooms, plants and fruit trees. As I told you, we were planning to visit a crocodile farm, and we did so. Taman Buaya Langkawi or Langkawi Crocodile Farm covers 20 acres that houses more than 1,000 crocodiles. The farm has main attractions for the tourists such as the feeding pond, and the bridge-over-pond. We watched an exhibition too. We went to PULAU SINGA BESAR, a wildlife sanctuary. We really enjoyed our day.

In the evening we had dinner in an interesting market in Kuah, the capital, which is located on the south eastern side of Langkawi. The restaurants are outdoors, and as they belong to Muslims no alcohol is sold. We had a typical meal with ice coffee. On our last night in LGK we had fish and crab by the sea, having the moon as our lamp. MARVELLOUS !!! We had dinner with Suzanne – who had bought red wine specially for us, and Nick – a very nice Malay friend.

Now in BALI we´re at the GRAND HYATT , first time in our lives!!!! The hotel is the most beautiful I have ever seen. When we arrived we were received with flowers. The people who work in the hotel wear typical clothes.

I have been asked about the people here. I can´ talk about people from INDONESIA so far because we have just arrived, but as for MALAYSIANS they  are great. They´re kind, nice, always ready to help people. I have fallen in love with KUALA LUMPUR, not only because it´s beautiful, but because of its people, its culture.

6.

Here we are still in BALI. We went to the beach and went back to the hotel with our hands full of red coral. We had sea food for dinner in a restaurant by the sea with candles. We sat and waited for the menu but we found it a bit strange. We asked the waiter and he told us how it worked…you have to go and choose your food. There are big bowls, you choose what you want to eat, the food is weighed and that´s it. Obviously, they cook the little animals first…

Then we went to the Hard Rock Café where we could see one of the Red Hit Chilli Peppers. Some people were moved because he was here, I wasn´t ´cause I didn´t know him, but he´s very handsome.

Today we visited a lot of Hindu Temples which are completely different from the ones we saw in MALAYSIA. They´re in the open and they resembled some I had seen on TV. We also saw a typical play at a theatre. Beautiful though we didn´t understand the language…We had lunch in a restaurant opposite a volcano !!!! We were eating when we heard some noise, and it was the volcano!!!! I ran to take a pic. We also visited a sacred park full of monkeys. The economic situation here is worse than in MALAYSIA. The people harass you offering their goods to be bought. They start telling you a price and then start going down and down.

Tomorrow we´re going to a small island nearby.

Foto: Betty Ojeda

Foto: Betty Ojeda

7. BALI and SINGAPORE.

We had planned to have dinner by the sea again, but…TROPICAL WEATHER…so…rain as you might imagine. Nevertheless we went out all the same and MASTER ASSIST great. You must be wondering what Master Assist has to do with what I´m telling you. Well I had a very silly little accident on the little island, and as my ankle hurt  I called MA. The Service was perfect!!!

The most outstanding temple we visited was one that is in part covered by the sea when the tide is in. We also visited a museum and other temples with names impossible to remember. We also went out at night, don´t you worry, but night life was not wowwwwwwwwww.

Something very interesting that happened to us was that the taxi driver who took us to all the temples invited us to his home, so we met his wife , saw pics of their children, and had some Coke. We were very happy .

We have just arrived in SINGAPUR. We had taken a walk and up to now we have liked what we have seen.

There has been a huge protest in MALAYSIA as well as in BALI. The Sea Food

Union has protested against a couple of Argentinians –quite cute both- says the newspaper report , who, have been eating and eating see food since their arrival on January 7 th.

SINGAPUR

8.

We´re in the NO CITY. We have even seen t-shirts which read : NO SMOKING, NO CHEWING GUM, The fine fine CITY. By the way, cigarettes here are terrible expensive, and so are alcoholic drinks.

A couple of days ago we went to the Asian Civilizations Museum . We met a girl from Singapore, Muslim, who invited us to her place. She is very kind, nice. We accepted the invitation and yesterday went to her house.

We took a train that is also a subway.

Taherah´s family are very, very kind. They don´t seem to be an orthodox Muslim family at all. Niether Taherah´s mum nor her sisters cover their heads and she , who does, took the scarf out at home. They come form Pakitan ,India and China. Perhaps that´s the reason they are so open.

Muslim women in MALAYSIA were always covered, you could only see their faces. At the hotel we saw a Saudi, wearing black and you could only see her eyes. Terrible. But…it seems that her husband doesn´t care about tradition when he´s abroad because he was wearing shorts and a t- shirt…quite comfortable considering the hot weather….

We also visited a Buddhist Temple, a Hindu Temple  , and a Sinagogue. As you see, we´re being very kind to all gods, and whoever says that there´s only one god, has never been to a Hindu Temple . After our “religious experience” we visited China Town and Little India where everything that glitters IS gold. We couldn´t  stop looking at the beautiful pieces of jewelry.

I forgot to tell you that at Taherah´s home we tried her clothes, as well as her sisters´. The garments were beautiful !!! and we had  some pics  taken wearing them. Gabriela and I were like five-year-old girls enjoying changing clothes.

Tonight we´re planning to have sea food in a typical market and then go to the Hard Rock Café.

On our second night here we had dinner by the river. The place was pretty but we had pizza which was not only very bad but expensive.

Today we visited VILLA MING. We thought it would be a traditional place, but it was a shop. The only interesting thing was to see how the people work painting those beautiful Chinese Vases.

We also visited  the de MADAME TUSSEAU Museum. No, we dind´t fly to England, there was an exhibition in SINGAPORE. I turned a bit shallow and had some pics taken with Mel Gibson, Bon Jovi, Brad Pitt. I also got intellectual and had pics taken with Mandela, Einstein, Shakespeare and Picasso.

Foto: Betty Ojeda

9.

Well, we´re back in ARGENTINA again. The experience was marvellous so we´re determined to go back to those  fantastic far  lands.

On our last days in Singapore, we went on visiting places, always with our map in hand, walking, by train and by bus. We didn´t have any problem at all. On our last night we had a delicious typical meal. Even though they say that Singapore never sleeps, everything closes quite early, at about 1, so we went out early. (the city doesn´t sleep, but the people DO!!!) We ended in a bar where customers are mainly yuppies. Gaby had some beers and I had my delicious Margaritas. In ASIA everything is so different that even yuppies are very nice. (lol) Then we went to another bar, far from downtown, It was quite nice, but I don´t remember the name. Then, back to the hotel. On the following morning we packed , had breakfast and  left to say good bye to SINGAPORE. While we were walking it started to rain, so we went to a gallery to see an exhibition , this time it was the ENTERPRISE !!!

I was a bit upset because Mr Spock wasn´t there, but we enjoyed playing there.

We left SINGAPORE at 8:15 PM on January 25 th. Taherah , our new friend, went to the airport to tell us good bye. She gave us some cards and we had a hug with tears. We took a flight to KL to wait for the flight to ARGENTINA. We left MALAYSIA at 1:15 AM on January 26 th, and after 24 hours arrived in Ezeiza. We slept during most of the flight.

Hope you have enjoyed this trip which has been a marvellous experience for us. Our eyes still picture so many beautiful places, and our hearts are full of emotions. We met lovely people and had the chance to share part of our life. Everything will be in our hearts, in our memories and in the approximately 400 pics I took.