Melissa here…..After Chris’ return from South Africa, we
took a 4 day trip to Malaysia to celebrate Hari Rayi Haji. During this highly religious
time
Muslims remember
their faith with prayer, sacrifice and reflection. Hari Raya Haji is also known
as the Festival of Sacrifice as it is traditional for towns/families to
sacrifice an animal and share the meat with their community.
Read more here….
As we are not Muslim, we celebrated the holiday with what we
do best….exploring new cities, getting some nature time (monkeys!!), pool time,
massages, cultural experiences and eating and drinking our way through all the
local establishments.
We flew in to Kuala Lumpur (KL) which is the federal capitol
of Malaysia. The flight was just 45 minutes from Singapore, although we could
have driven to the southern border of Malaysia from our home in less than 20 minutes!
For the first 2 nights we stayed at a high end hostel with a private room and air-
con. The hostel was very nice and located in the heart of the city; just a
minute walk to the metro station and an amazing coffee and sandwich shop. The first day we hopped the train to Batu
Caves which is a historic Hindu Temple built into a limestone hillside. I was
adorned with a flower garland prior to making the trek up the 272 steps to the
Temple Entrance. Again we did not take many pictures inside, as we felt it was
intrusive and too “touristy” or disrespectful to those engaged in the prayer
ceremony. The cave was filled with the sweet smell of incense, a constant humming
of prayer, bell and gong sounds and the occasional monkey or chicken running by.
It was truly an amazing place. Our favourite part of the trip!
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| Lord hanuman |
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| fixing the lights?? |
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| eating the lights?? |
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| Lord Murugan |
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| taking a break |
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| feeding the monkeys rice and milk |
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| up.... |
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| up.... |
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| UP! |
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| representing NorCal in Malaysia! |
After a power nap back at the hostel, we headed out again on
a search for the two highest points in KL; The KL Tower and the Petronas Twin
Towers. At the KL Tower we had afternoon
tea in a 360 degree restaurant to check out the views. Unfortunately, a storm
rolled in shortly after, obscuring the views, but we actually enjoyed the unique
perspective of being up in a storm cloud as we sipped our kopi (coffee) and
nibbled our egg sandwiches and kuih melayu (traditional Malaysian desserts).
After the storm passed, we caught a taxi to the Petronas
Twin Towers,which are now the highest twin towers in the word (after the World
Trade Center). They were quite impressive and bright!
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| Chris liked this Hari Raya decoration, Snowflakes? in Malaysia? |
The next day we packed up, enjoyed the free kopi and banana
fingers (what Chris calls the small bananas) and headed to the bus station to
catch a ride to Malacca (or Melaka in Malay). Given the holiday, the bus
station was quite crowded and even though we had pre purchased tickets online,
we made the mistake of queuing in the wrong line (whoops!) Fortunately, we got it
sorted out in time and had just enough time to grab some drinks and snacks and
use the bathroom. What I affectionately call “squatty potties” are rare to use
in SG, but are very common in Malaysia. Whew!
Glad I had some tissue paper as it was not provided in this bathroom; not that
is was out….just not provided.
The bus trip was nice and passed by quickly (about 2 hours).
Since we had saved some money in KL staying in the hostel, we splurged in
Malacca and upgraded to a Club Room at the Equatorial Hotel in the heart of the
historic district. Read more about the
history of Malacca here…..
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| can you spot the ang mo? |
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| Malacca |
After settling in, we took a Trishaw ride to a Tea house to
have a traditional Chinese Tea Tasting. We learned a lot and drank a lot of
tea. We especially enjoyed watching the tea Uncle (elder) go through the meticulous
and artistic process of choosing, pulling and preparing the tea for us.
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| Sydney would love this place!! |
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| Tea Uncle |
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| 30+ people were queuing for this Malaysia breakfast spot. Maybe we will try it next time! |
We left with a slight buzz and headed out for lunch. That
afternoon we went for foot and hand reflexology after reading by the pool. Ahhh
what a life!
Back in the hotel room, we were surprised by a street parade
going on below complete with floats, flashing lights and singing/chanting. It
was pouring down rain, but that did not slow the devoted participants that were
hand pushing the floats and carts. It was a wonderful surprise!
The next day we walked around, shopped, had more reflexology
(:0) prior to heading back to KL to fly home. It was a whirlwind trip and we
explored a lot. We loved the historic and quaint feel of Malacca and plan to
drive up soon. Yes, I said DRIVE! Stay
tuned for the next post!!!
