Seven years ago, I lived in beautiful, historic Florence, Italy with 11 other international students. The women I lived with were an amazing collection of people from all over the world and taught me so much about myself and about life.
One roommate Genelle or G was also from Arizona, with our common home and shared interests we became fast friends. I spent countless hours in G’s room attempting to learn the guitar and talking about our mutual desire to write professionally. On tighter budgets than our other roommates, G and I exchanged ideas on how to stretch each dollar and how to have fun without spending money. When I first arrived in Florence I struggled to learn Italian; a master at learning languages G helped me, suggesting I read children’s books, including her favorite the Little Prince. G was even there when I got the worst haircut I’ve ever had. I admired G, we had a lot in common, especially our love of languages, writing, foreign cultures and independent budget travel. Our times in Florence were memories that will last all my life.Two years ago, around the time I left my job to travel and find myself, so did G. She announced her plan to spend the next three years backpacking Asia and a website to follow her and her travel partner Ray’s journey. We soon began exchanging messages about backpacking, travel planning, budgets and blogs. I am very grateful to G for her support during that time as she gave me the confidence to make my trips longer, cheaper and more exotic.
I knew G was in Asia when I began planning this trip, but didn’t think we would be able to met up as G planned to be in Japan (far from my intended destination) during my time abroad. Then on March 11, 2011 things changed. A massive 9.0 earthquake shook Japan, causing a terrible aftermath of events and forcing G and other travelers in the region to cut their time in Japan short. G arrived in Thailand before I even got to Asia, but thanks to everyone’s favorite stalking tool, facebook, I discovered she was still there when I arrived in Singapore. I immediately sent her a message. I soon discovered, I was heading to Malaysia and so was she.
A few days later I woke up early and left food heaven, Georgetown, Penang to met G, her travel partner Ray and displaced Japan traveler Joel, in Langkawi. Seven years had gone by since we lived together, seven years since we saw each other in person and yet, somehow it was as if no time had gone by at all. In minutes we were laughing, and talking about our time in Italy. The plan was to meet up for a few days and then I would continue north and G would continue south. Langkawi, was fun, we had a real life MarioKart adventure at an unregulated go-kart track. We hiked to a beautiful waterfall and we ate so many delicious, Big Apple donuts. I was having a great time!
Which is why its no surprise, I found myself heading south with them, mostly because I wanted to share all of the wonderful food secrets of Georgetown and even try a few more. Eight amazing days in Georgetown where we did very little but hangout, eat delicious food and sleep. It was glorious, but I knew it was time for me to move on, so I began planning a trip to the beach. For three days I sent out emails to different beach resorts and everyone ignored my inquiries. So I made a few calls, nobody returned those either. It seems like fate or rather (as I soon found out) a four day Malaysian public holiday was telling me to continue the tour with G, Ray and Joel. So I did.
Suddenly, I was on an overnight bus to Kota Bharu beginning a week long excursion through Malaysia. Kota Bharu is off the typical backpacker trail, a very conservative Islamic state in Malaysia people come to Kota Bharu usually as a transit stopover, but G wanted to see more. She wanted to see some local culture. This began with a trip to the Gelanggang Seni Malay Cultural Center for traditional music, dance, crafts and games. Then on to a local market that smelled of fish. The next day, our merry band of travelers took on four of the regions Buddhist temples; including a reclining, sitting and standing Buddha, as well as a giant dragon temple.
The next morning came very early as we prepared to ride the Jungle Railway to Jeruntut, the gateway to Taman Negara National Park. On board the very early train, I watched as urban environment became, suburb, then farmlands and then dense green jungle. The ride was beautiful.
Once in Jeruntut, a small and boring little town, we found ourselves hungry and after so much time in the eating capital of Georgetown, with few options for food. So began one of the darker moments on this trip. I am embarrassed to share this next segment; I call it “The KFC Incident”.
The KFC Incident
First let me preface this, I haven’t eaten at a KFC more than five times in the past five years. Exhausted and hungry after a seven hour slow train journey, we set out mid-day looking for something to eat. We searched the small portions of the city for something local, something that sounded good, alas nothing. It was becoming infinitely clear, we were spoiled in Georgetown.
Finally, someone, I think G suggest we give up and get KFC. Now, in that moment it actually sounded really tasty. It was different than all the Asian cuisine we’d been eating. It was reminiscent of American food, which I had recently started craving and it was cheap. We all seemed to agree it was a good idea. So for lunch in the tiny little town of Jeruntut, we ate KFC. Again I thought this was an OK thing, it was just once, right? Wrong. That night just as dinner time was approaching it began to rain. Many of the local eateries were closed, but one place in town was not…KFC. So there we were eating KFC twice in less than ten hours. I felt like a ball of grease. It felt wrong that I was traveling and not eating local food. I vowed to never tell anyone what I’d done.
The next night, haggard from our long day in the Jungle, we found ourselves hungry and again left with only one option, KFC. This is the moment of extreme shame. Joel and Ray ran to the KFC, closing in less than twenty minutes and bought dinner making that our third round of KFC in less than thirty-six hours. I’m sure by this point the employees of the Jeruntut KFC thought we were crazy as they ordered the last of their stock for the day. I felt crazy and also disgusting as we ate the greasy chicken for the third time. Never again, never ever again! Just the thought of it makes me cringe.The lack of food had me longing for Georgetown, but I knew we had more adventures ahead. We were heading into the rainforest of Taman Negara.
The easiest and most scenic route to Teman Negara is via the Kuala Tembling River boat, a narrow long canoe like boat with an small motor on the back. The three hour journey down the river was gorgeous, and relaxing. When we arrived at the park, we ate a riverside lunch and then began our hike to the Canopy Walkway, the Jungle was dense and filled with the sounds of nature. Massive is the best word to describe everything in the Malaysian jungle. It began to rain, ironically my first time in a rainforest with actual rain.
The canopy walk was not as scary as others I’ve done in the past, and the fun was intensified because G was very nervous and Ray and Joel were having fun freaking her out. On our hike back through the park, we saw leeches. Ick! My first time seeing such creature and it was slightly freaky, we all managed to avoid one latching on to us but Joel, somehow got bit just long enough for his ankle to bleed for several hours.
The next morning we packed our things and began a long journey to Melaka. My original information required us to take a bus to another small town and then transfer to a bus that would take us to Melaka, yet when we arrived at the bus station, several locals suggest we take the bus to Kuala Lumpur and transfer to Melaka there, about a six hour journey. Not knowing the best route and assuming the locals had a handle on the situation we board the bus to Kuala Lumpur. Three hours later, our bus stopped at what I immediately knew was the wrong bus station in Kuala Lumpur. Fortunately, Ray befriend a local student who knew where we needed to go and even took us there. With our all of our bags we made our way to the metro station and rode it across town to the correct bus station where we booked our bus and got dinner.
Buses to Melaka, depart ever half-hour, the bus we chose was the wrong half-hour. Our bus was significantly delayed picking us up because of an accident. Then once on board the bus, we sat in traffic, trying to leave Kuala Lumpus for another hour. Our two hour bus journey soon became four. Once in Melaka, we were harassed by taxi drivers and people trying to sell us hotels to the point we hid inside of a McDonalds. When we finally reached our guesthouse after an unexpected eleven hours of travel, everyone was exhausted.
The owner of the Riverview Guesthouse, Raymond, met us at the door and gave us tea and cookies as a welcome. The guesthouse was a historic building right on the river with old wood floors and an amazing view. We all thought we had scored. I was very proud of my accommodation choice. G even gave me a shout out on facebook. Then as we were getting ready for bed, Joel noticed a small brown bug crawling across his shirt.
It was a bed bug. Moments later G found two more. The owners gone we searched for another room Joel and G could sleep in, and they moved across the hall. Hoping we solved the problem I showered and got ready for bed. That’s when Ray and I discovered our room had a bed bug problem as well. I went downstairs to search for another empty room. When I turned the lights on in the one I found, I also found more bed bugs. Tragic, wonderful owners, beautiful house, great location; all ruined by bed bugs. I didn’t sleep that night.The next morning we told the owners about the bed bugs and they were wonderful. They immediately apologized offered us new rooms and were generally helpful. We went out to sight see in Melaka, it was at least 95°F outside, with thick sticky air and humidity. I couldn’t take it and soon gave up to take a nap and explore the city more at sunset. Melaka was very cool with a beautiful river walk, a historic center with bright red dutch buildings and multiple night markets. We wait in line for hours to try the famous Melaka restaurant, Capital Satay.
Finally, it was on to Kuala Lumpur, to see the Petronas Towers and have a last night together before parting ways. Joel was headed to Bangkok, Ray and G were going back to Georgetown where they are renting an apartment, and I was on my way to Cambodia. Our last night out was fun and a great way to commemorate our journeys through Malaysia. It was great to see G again and reconnect. I really enjoyed our time together and hope our next met-up is sooner than seven years from now.
**I highly recommend checking out www.operationbackpackasia.com! G and Ray are living a life long dream, day by day. Your support (reading the blog and/or donations) can help them do more go further and share it with you.
