mamma mia here we go again

Friday, October 21, 2011 (10:46pm) - Malaysia

sooo about malaysia. just spent three days there and still not really sure what there was to do or see there. i don't think i did malaysia right, but then again i did the same thing as everyone else for the most part. so we land in penang on wednesday. brew and i expect it to be another lazy day landing in port... get up at 8, go eat breakfast, lay in bed until we have to get our passports, then leave the ship whenever we're ready. jokes on us... and the rest of the ship for that matter. the beginning of the morning was the same, but as i'm laying in bed and brew is in the shower "the voice" gets on the intercom in a panic that EVERYONE on the ship has to physically get off the ship and walk to the customs area in the port to do a face to face check with customs there. mostly this was just a huge pain in the ass because i hadn't packed yet and they were making it seem like we wouldn't be able to get back on the ship for a good chunk of the day. so malaysia did not get started on the right foot. brew & i hustle over to the customs area where we spend like 45 minutes in line for customs sweating our balls off cus it's sooo humid and there's like 800 people in this non-air conditioned building. but once we went through, we were allowed to get back on the ship to pack and breathe for a second.

once we were ready to get off the ship, we ran into sam, ryan, osh, natasa, and susie who were also trying to get to kuala lumpur, which is the capital. we ended up being able to book a bus ticket from these people on the ship... so they took us to the bus station. on the way, we were shocked to see a 7eleven on like every corner. though we're used to seeing american places in these countries, this is the first time we've seen a 7eleven. on the same note, i'm really shocked at how international kfc is! i've seen more kfc's than i have mcdonalds. anyways, on the way to the bus station we also saw a starbucks... and brewer lost her shit. so we had to run over to starbucks before we got on the bus. when we got on the bus we started laughing. and this time not a "we're definitely going to die" nervous laugh. this time we were like dying at how luxurious the bus was. in the place of normal bus seats were recliners, with foot rests and everything. i've been on some LONG bus rides this trip, so a 4.5 hour bus ride in a luxury air-conditioned bus was not a problem.

if you look at a map, you might be a little confused thus far with my story. mostly because penang is an island and kuala lumpur is on the mainland. but don't fret, there is the penang bridge that took us across. on the drive to kl (that's what all the locals call kuala lumpur), i was amazed at how gorgeous malaysia was. i had no idea what to expect, but the freeways cut through beautiful forests with huge hundred foot tall trees and gorgeous mountains. i had no idea how green malaysia was. but then we'd be passing trucks on the road full of timber, and i saw deforestation in real life for the first time so that was really sad. and then it started POURING. i've never seen rain like that in my life. josh wasn't lying when he said it rains at 4:30 like clockwork in malaysia. but we got to kl around 5:15 safe and sound. nice and rested from our naps in our recliners. the five other people we traveled with had plans to stay with one of their friends, so michael, maddy, and i took a taxi to the golden triangle area of the city since that's pretty much where everything is. i'm an idiot and left the paper with all the information i had gathered in my cabin, so we were truly winging it. we had the cab drop us off at the kfc, cus why not really? then walked into the nearest clean-looking hotel and booked a room for the night. brewer wasn't feeling good so we rested for an hour to see if she'd feel better to go out, but she never did. so michael & i left her at the hotel so she could sleep. and when you have the flu, i'm gonna leave you in the hotel room and i'm gonna go drink. cus i'm a good friend.

so michael and i walked a few blocks down the street from our hotel where there were a TON of cute restaurants and bars. it was raining when we left the hotel so we just kind of picked the first restaurant that looked good. we decided on flam's... home of traditional french pizza. cus what's more malaysian than that? but it was SO good. i got a chicken "flam"... chicken, cheese, sour cream, "salsa"... pretty much a malaysian attempt at mexican food on a flatbread pizza. WINNING. and i had the first margarita of the voyage to go along with my fake mexican food. it was sooo bad, but it was real strong so i can't complain about that. after dinner, michael and i walked up the street a little bit and stopped at this bar called "never mine." i don't know why we picked it, but it was maybe the best decision of the trip. why? THEY ONLY PLAYED ABBA MUSIC... so mamma mia all night long! best bar ever? i think yes. so in addition to listening to abba hits all night long, it was also happy hour all night. which kind of defeats the purpose of happy hour, but i'm not gonna complain about buy one long island get one free... all night. nor am i going to complain about "ladies night" in all of malaysia where i get to drink for free on wednesdays. check the calendar... YES this was a wednesday. malaysia is starting to sound like a great place now, right? the owner of never mine absolutely loved michael and i since we were the only white people there. so he brought us these free drinks that were basically coffee and patron. sounds disgusting, right? WRONG. best thing everrr. coffee and tequila are probably my two favorite things separately, so why not combine the two? genius shit here people.

so after the bar we decided to head back to the hotel. mainly because we had to wake up early the next day, but i guess also to make sure brew wasn't choking on her proj-vom and dying. cus what's worse than waking up with a dead body in your bed? a sister is... anywaysss, game plan was to wake up and be out of the hotel room by 7:30 the next morning to go get in line to get tickets for the petronas towers. google image the petronas towers, cus that's pretty much the only reason why we went to kl was to see them and go up on the walkway. turns out, the walkway is closed for three months for renovation. malaysia's not sounding so good again, right? i was so pissed off. i not only woke up early to get in line to get one of the "limited number of tickets" they hand out everyday, but i also only came to kl to do that. so that was a serious buzz kill. and add in the fact that brewer looks green and may or may not drop dead at any second, this was not going to be a good day. so we walk through the city center that is around the towers for a little, sit at "san francisco coffee" and get some breakfast. then take a taxi to the kl/medera tower. google image that one too i guess, or just invision the stratosphere in las vegas and you're picturing this tower. this time we were able to go to the top and we had clear views of the entire city which was really pretty. but not too much to do up there so we left and took a cab to the central market. we left brew in a restaurant outside (again, such a good friend, i know) because she couldn't walk around... and michael and i roamed around inside for a little. wasn't really much to buy. pretty much just stuff we just bought in india, or stuff we're about to buy in china. so we came back to brewer after a while, got some lunch... then headed to the bus stop early. we had bought bus tickets back to penang when we first got to kl, but that wasn't until 7:30 cus we figured we were going to explore all day. but brew was dying so we got on the 2:50 bus and headed back.

once we were back in penang we took a cab back to the port to catch a tender to the ship. this is the first port where we couldn't just walk right on the ship at all hours of the night. instead, the ship was anchored in the middle of the harbor, and we had to catch a tender (fancy word for one of the lifeboats) to the ship and get on from there. it was actually really fun... though i really hope we don't sink cus i can't imagine being stuck in one of those with 150 people (maximum capacity). once back on the ship, i was seriously starving. but with the tendering process and my actual genuine concern for brew at that point, i just ran up to the pool bar and got some food there. then brew and i showered and went to bed.

this morning we were woken up by the voice at 9. sometimes i love her, but when she wakes me up i want to kill her. but she told us that the last tender was leaving at 9:30 and then we wouldn't be able to get off the ship until 11:15 when the ship was docked again. so brew and i rallied and i met michael and audrey to go explore the city together. michael, audrey, and i didn't really have a game plan, so we got on the hop on/hop off bus that was free that would drive us around georgetown so we could see the city. not really much to see so we got off on the last stop, went to the post office, then realized we were pretty much right back where we started. we all wanted to get lunch so we stopped at this restaurant. michael and audrey didn't want to go there, but i saw jake and linda there so i stayed with them instead. i had the most delicious spicy noodles with chicken... and i also had fresh orange, apple, and banana juice. it tasted like jamba juice and i was so happy. jake & linda left after lunch but i needed to do a few things so i stayed at the restaurant for a little while longer. plus i had ringgit that i needed to burn, so i had some fun ordering different drinks. i had a dragonfruit juice, a frozen chocolate milk, and a sprite float thing. they were all so good, and super cheap. then i had nothing left to do, so i headed back to the ship that was like a block away.

back at the ship i changed and got ready because i had an fdp in the afternoon. we left at 2 and went to st. joseph's home, which is an orphanage in georgetown. we only got to spend a few hours there, but it was a lot of fun playing with the children. brooke brought bubbles and play-doh which were both a huge hit and a lot of fun. after the orphanage, we came back and cassie and i turned in our passports at customs so we wouldn't have to wait for the line. then her and i went back to the cafe i had lunch at. i still had ringgit i needed to spend, so i got spicy chicken fried rice, she got noodles, we shared a tomato cheesy bread, and we each got a juice. all that was for less than 10 us dollars. crazy, right!? we were so full after dinner, and it was time to get back to the ship before on-ship time.

overall, malaysia was alright. not a huge fan, but not opposed to coming back. some of the people who went to the different islands had a better time, but not those people who got so stung by jellyfish they had to be admitted overnight in the hospital. we're definitely getting to the land of knock-offs though. saw so many fake designer purses in the malls and stuff.

i'm sorry this is so long, cus there's really no reason for it to be. but now there's lightning outside so i'm about to turn off all the lights in the cabin and go sit in the nook for a while. cus it's like the weather channel, but real. and i need to study for the global studies test i have tomorrow. so, signing off.