Gettin Out of Dodge!

After literally counting down the days until April 10th for more than a month, Dan, Deidre, Tara and I finally boarded our plane for Malaysia. This was, of course, after my traditional stop at the DQ inside the terminal. Before going, I didn’t know much about Malaysia other than the fact that it wasn’t Cambodia. And that was enough for me. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur late that evening; leaving us just enough time to shuttle into the city, find the seediest hostel around, and grab our first of many Indian meals to kick off one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. Our plan was to head up to the Cameron Highlands the next day to visit some tea plantations and do a little jungle trekking. After that, we hit KL for a few more days before flying into Singapore to get our fill of the cities. We visited Kota Kinabalu for some sun and scuba on the surrounding islands. We planned to head to Mount Kinabalu to do some hiking but somewhere along the way, Tara and I decided to return to Singapore while Dan and Deidre conquered the mountain. For those of you who know me well, it should come as no surprise that I opted for a few more days of shopping and city hopping over hiking. Some things will never change I guess … even after nine months in the sticks!

Malaysia and Singapore are about as different from Cambodia as you get. Aside from the fact that they’re all in South-East Asia, I’d say they don’t share much in common. Malaysia has a stronger Indian and Muslim influence that gives it a lot of its character. Singapore is a utopia of high gloss shine, culture, and order. Both places have embraced Western culture in a way that made me feel right at home, without loosing their own uniqueness. Ok, on to my trip …

The Cameron Highlands are a five hour bus ride from Kaula Lumpur, up a winding mountain road that rivals the insanity of the Amalfi Coast. We stayed in a sleepy little village where we could o.d. on E! TV at our hostel, catch a cheap massage at the local spa, and continue or tour de force of Indian food. Actually, we spent most of our time in the Highlands hopping from one delicious meal to the next. Aside from the Indian food, we were surrounded by three tea plantations (each with their own assortment of homemade scones and pastries to accompany their tea), several strawberry farms where you could pick your own berries or any strawberry confection you could dream of, and an apiary – because tea and scones clearly wouldn’t be complete without a little honey. When we weren’t feeding our inner-epicureans (literally), we explored the surrounding rain forest and waterfalls. The tea plantations were by far my favorite part though. The Boh plantation is made up of 1,200 hectors of terraced and manicured tea plants, all of which are harvested every 15 days. The work that goes into making tea is astonishing, but to work at a place with that kind of view is probably worth its weight in tea leaves.

Coming from Cambodia to the Highlands wasn’t too much of a shock. Sure the Highlands were cleaner, people were driving on the proper side of the road, and no one was yelling or staring at us … but the town that we stayed in had a lot of the same rustic charm as the Bode. Kuala Lumpur blew it all out of the water. One of the first things on our agenda was to catch a movie (at a REAL theater) and do a little shopping for new ‘going-out’ outfits so we could hit the town without looking like a bunch of dirty Peace Corps Volunteers. Walking into the Pavilion shopping center was like releasing three caged animals back into the wild. I say three because while Tara, Deidre and I stalked the shelves for heels, bags, and dresses, Dan dutifully endured our shopping extravaganza in a way I didn’t know grown men were capable of…he even let us drag him along to see “He’s Just Not That Into You.” We did all the requisite sight seeing of the KL needle and Petronas Towers on our second day (although we never made it to the observation deck because we got distracted by the shopping center on the ground floor). That evening we were all in our best form. We went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then to a fabulous club where we made friends with half the bar staff and partied until the sun came up. Now, I know what you’re thinking: why would you go all the way to Malaysia to eat at Outback. But let me tell you what, after nine months of white rice and paddy fish, that steak never tasted so good. Trust me on this one.

We spent our first full day in Singapore at the Disneyland of beaches. It’s an entirely man-made beach island right off the city’s coast, complete with theme attractions and plenty of places to spend your money. In fairness, Sentosa Island is absolutely beautiful and would actually be a lot of fun if you went knowing what it was, but we were looking for a more laid-back vibe. Sentosa Island was recommended to us by one of the staff members at our hostel, who, interestingly, also recommended Attica – the Disneyland of clubs – to us for our first night out. After strike two we decided we should find a new resource.

Always the classy bunch, the four of us decided to head to the famous Raffles Hotel for Singapore Slings and peanuts (the rest of the menu was a little out of our budget) and Tara and I eventually found our club of choice. We claimed the Butter Factory as our late-night headquarters and embarked on another night of adventures … this time involving some slap-happy Cubans and an editor of Playboy magazine to name a few of the cast of characters. On our way out we snagged two of the bouncers who promised to show us the “real Singapore.” A bowl of noodles later and a few hours of chatting, the sun was coming up, but we weren’t ready to call it a day yet – so we headed to the East Coast beach where we all went swimming and watched the sun rise. We spent the next day hanging out with them and enjoying a totally relaxing day in Singapore. Perfect. I should also mention that we met up with two other volunteers who were also traveling through Malaysia and we all agreed we should move our office to Singapore and call it a day.

Needless to say, when it was time to head to our next destination, I was a little reluctant to leave. Kota Kinabalu was worth it though. Every day was a perfect day at the beach --all teal water and white sand. One of the days, Tara and I also went scuba diving. Our salty scuba instructor insisted we hold hands the whole time and regaled us with the story of how he woke one day and decided to flush his IT job down the drain for a life on the high seas. We have aptly startled referring to him as Captain Jack Sparrow. Although we didn’t dive too deep, we saw some great stuff: brilliant coral, a baby sea turtle, and a giant school of mirror-like fish that surrounded us and nibbled on our fingers and swam through our hair. We had dinner on the water and shot the breeze while listening to the waves break on the jetty that night … the perfect end to the perfect day. That was before Dan decided to take us on a - how should we say - "detour" on our way back to the hostel because he didn’t want to ask for directions. See, I knew it was only a matter of time after that shopping trip before he showed his true colors as a member of the male species!

Now, Kota Kinabalu was great, buuut Tara and I really wanted a few more days in Singapore and I was secretly (ok, maybe not so secretly) beginning to remember that in my heart of hearts, as much as I wish I could say I love hiking, I just don’t … and the next part of our journey had us heading straight to Mount Kinabalu for just that. By a stroke of luck, Tara and I found a flight back to Singapore for under $30 – at the point, we figured it was meant to be. So off we went for Singapore: Round 2. We spent our remaining days with the guys – even though they did throw off our one and only plan to get to the zoo!

By the time we said goodbye for the second time, I was fairly certain I’d hit a depression the minute we got back to the Bode. Our “home coming” to Phnom Pehn was less than ideal … but a good Indian meal and a major reminiscing session kept us sane!

…. So, when do I get to go back?