I can't believe its almost been an entire month since my travels. Well, back in September I spent a few weeks back in Southeast Asia, but this time in some new countries. I explored Taiwan for a bit and had amazing dim sum and boba. The food there is absolutely phenomenal. I was so caught up with the excitement of travel, I barely took ANY pictures while I was there.The atmosphere seems just as busy as Jakarta, but a bit calmer in my opinion. I didn't see as much traffic as Indonesia, but there are a lot of people walking around town, well at least while I was in Taipei. I was only there for a day, but it was definitely a memorable place that I definitely have to visit again. My next stop was Malaysia, but more specifically Kuala Lumpur. I planned this trip for months and I was excited to stay in a new country for a few days to explore it in all its glory. I planned everything from how I would be able to get my Indonesian phone to work there and the route from the airport to my hostel. I will definitely talk more about the amazing hostel I stayed in, but that's for another post.
For a few days I stayed in Kuala Lumpur. KL is the national capital of Malaysia and one of its largest cities as well. Bahasa Malaysia is the main language spoken and what I found amazing was the fact that it is quite similar to Bahasa Indonesia. So while I was there I was actually able to communicate with locals and pass as someone from Indonesia. I would have to thank ILCIC at Universitas Sanata Dharma for their help in my language skills. My first day there I was pretty exhausted because of the plane ride, being jet lagged and all of the transportation getting to the hostel. Once I got all of my energy back I got to see Bukit Bintang. It's a famous area for shopping and eating and just to see in general as a tourist. There were so many foreigners it was like being in back in Malioboro. I went to this sky bar where you could see the Petronas towers and the Kuala Lumpur tower. The Petronas twin towers are the tallest twin towers in the world with 88 floors. It was amazing being able to see them during sunset and then at night. I can't wait to go back.
The next day was Malaysian Independence day and I was able to get an early morning hike in and to my amazement I climbed and summited the largest and longest quartz ridge in the world. A friend I met from the hostel took me on his bike at five in the morning and it was pitch black when we started. I was sweating so hard because of the humidity and of how rigorous the hike was. The sights were insane. I could see the entire city in its beauty and we were lucky to have such "great" weather. When my friend said it was great it was because it wasn't raining. After all of the cuts and bruises I accumulated because of climbing that rock we finally headed down the "easy" path (meaning the slippery and muddy downhill path). Once we got to the bottom of the mountain I was astonished looking at how high up we really climbed. I felt so accomplished. Afterwards we had some delicious traditional Malaysian cuisine. Street food is my favorite kind of food to try because I believe its an important way to learn the roots of each country with their traditional food that locals will stand by.
By the time we got back to the hostel I was totally exhausted. My body hurt in every way and it was barely the afternoon. After a long nap, I explore the city some more and met up with some people I met at the hostel earlier and we just walked all around the city. It was a similar version to Chinatown in LA/SF, but just a whole different vibe. We were just having a good time eating street food and bar hopping. It was definitely good times. By the time I got home it was way passed my bedtime and right before I knocked out hard I met some girls that were roommates in the hostel and we talked for some time about our travels. I met up with one of them the next morning and we decided to go to Batu caves together. Batu caves is a one of the famous places in Malaysia to visit because of its limestone caves and second tallest status of a Hindu deity, which is also has the tallest Murugan statue in the world.
After we finished the 272 steps up to see the caves we were definitely in awe of its beauty. We took an Uber back to the hostel and I had a delicious brunch at the restaurant called LOKL to get ready for my flight in the late afternoon to head to Borneo. I met a lovely woman that was living in Bali for a year that was starting her own business for swim wear. We got to talking and ended up making our way to the airport together. I had an amazing experience in KL and I can't wait to go back and explore some more. Here are some pictures of my adventures in Taiwan and Malaysia. Next stop: BORNEO!
