A year ago this month, I was traveling in Malaysia, so I thought I would share my favorite bits of Malaysia. In no particular order here are 10 things that make me happy about Malaysia… Culture contrast: Malaysia is a truly unique country, with a mix of three very different cultures – Malay, Indian and Chinese – along with their respective religions – Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist.  It’s fascinating to see the cultures combined out on the street… an Indian girl in a brightly colored sari, next to a head covered Muslim woman, and then a Chinese girl in stilettos, Read more…

After several relaxing days in Melaka, it was off to Singapore. Goodbye Malaysia and cheap prices! Hello Singapore, land of exorbitant prices! After we arrived, we took the MRT (Singapore metro) out to the Singapore Zoo. Since I’ll be here for a week, I bought a metro EZ-card, like I did in Tokyo, so I don’t have to buy single trip tickets every time. Anyway, the zoo was really cool, and the night safari was amazing! I had never been to a night zoo before. It’s a really great concept. We took a train and then walked around the night Read more…

We took the three hour bus ride down to Melaka, yesterday. We went to a local Malay restaurant at lunch and ordered family style, so I finally got to taste all the Malay food I’ve been wanting to try. After lunch, we walked to the Chinatown area, and then I took off, for some exploring. I did some browsing in Chinatown, walked to the St. Paul’s church on the hill, overlooking the sea, and then down to the Porta de Santiago. I really like this size of town. It’s very walkable. This morning, I did a river tour and then Read more…

This morning we went to the Petronas Twin Towers in KL. What a view of the city! Below the towers, is a gigantic mall, so we did a little bit of shopping, before heading out to the Kraft town. I ended up buying a dress at Zara. After walking all afternoon, we stopped in another mall to eat at the basement food court. Have I mentioned how cool the basements are in the malls in Asia? After dinner, we took a taxi back over to Chinatown to do some shopping at the night market. I bought a few gifts and Read more…

Today we left for Kuala Lumpur (KL). Wow, what a change, going from serene, scenic mountain village to claustrophobic, humid, traffic clogged city. KL is huge! It’s a such a different mix of wealth and poverty, so much different than Bangkok. After checking in to our hotel, I went to lunch and then we caught the bus to the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves is a Hindu shrine. You walk up 272 steps to get inside the cave and there are several temples and hundreds of monkeys inside. This evening, we went to look at the Radio Tower. The restaurant Read more…