MaLaySia!

I had the time of my life in Malaysia. I didn’t do too much the first day as I was still recovering from the cold I received while in India (bad souvenir). I was up for the sunrise, went back to bed, and slept until the early afternoon. Our ship was not able to dock in Malaysia so we anchored near the docked and used a lifeboat as a water taxi to get people from the ship to land (this process is called tendering). The early tenders were reserved for people who had trips to be on and flights to catch. I didn’t feel bad about sleeping so late because I wouldn’t have been able to get off of the ship anyway. I made it out after lunch and went to use the internet to attempt to make some plans. I couldn’t find much that made sense. Plane tickets were too costly and the bus schedules varied. I looked into catching a train to Kuala Lumpur but couldn’t really figure out how to read the rail schedule. I gave up and decided to just “go with the flow” of things and be adventurous again. I went back to the ship in time for dinner and ate with some friends who had been out on trips all day. Ashley, a friend here, hadn’t had a good day on her trip so we decided that it was time to have some fun. I told her that I wasn’t able to figure out too much as far as traveling within Malaysia, but that we should ask the locals who were on the ship at the time. They told us that there was one more train to Kuala Lumpur that would leave at 10 pm. We ran downstairs, packed our bags, grabbed Eddie to come with us, and then got stuck waiting for 30 minutes for the next water taxi. We didn’t make the train that night but were able to catch a taxi to the bus station. We bought tickets, boarded the bus, and started our unplanned adventure. The bus was crazy and we arrived, finally, to K.L around 5:30 in the morning. We got a room in a hostel and slept for a few hours. We spent the next three days in K.L having so much fun. We did some touristy stuff, met some really interesting people, shared some American food and drinks with a guy from Holland at Hard Rock Café, went to a theme park that was inside of a twelve story mall, and survived a day playing in rain as we made our way around that wonderful city. At the National Art Gallery, we met a man who had traveled the world and is now drawing replicas of his photos to make a 1km piece of art made up of many canvas rolls. He had great insights to travel and theory behind the human race. He made quite an impression on me as a person, and his art work was incredible. I just stood there gawking at it wondering why I struggle with stick people.
We didn’t plan a thing and it was probably the most fun I have had, ever. I told Ashley at one point that I felt like I had waited my whole life for this. As a kid, you tired of the rules and secretly wish that there was no one around to tell you what you could or could not do. You just wish that you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want. That was exactly what we did. We were fortunate enough to take the overnight train back to Penang. We wondered how it would be, but it was pretty fun as well and I met a guy from Iran who kept feeding me chips. He was great. I have a lot of funny pictures from that train ride. It is not too suitable for the best sleep of your life, but again, we arrived about 5:30 in the morning, caught the ferry from the mainland back to the island, and walked back to the ship just as the sun was rising on Easter morning.
I had a box (Easter basket) waiting for me when I returned home. I ate some breakfast, showered, and got some sleep. When I woke up, I grabbed lunch and then headed out to Cheshire Home, a residential rehab facility for handicapped people between the ages of 12 and 45. There, I met a 25 year old man and we just sat and talked for about 2 hours. I shared some things with him such as postcards and Easter candy. He was a wonderful person to meet and has a great attitude about life. I still think about him often.
Before going back to ship, I wondered around Penang with Eddie and Jocilyn, my roommate on ship, and ate some street food. I’m not at all sure what I ate, but I started getting the hang of those goofy chopsticks and it really didn’t taste too bad. I took a picture of my plate because the noodle things looked like thick, juicy, white worms. But I ate ‘em.
We headed back to the ship and got ready for classes the next day. Our ship did not leave until early morning for some reason or another. I definitely want to go back.