Within an hour of arriving in Malaysia I met up with my friend Eric and his sister, Sheeba at the airport in Kuala Lumpur Asia . Luckily, his sister had some vacation time of her own from work in London
Eric and his sis arrived at the airport an hour after me. From the terminal we caught and hour long bus trip into the city and checked into our gorgeous hotel (my new traveling companions have amazing hook-ups everywhere!) We had a quick wardrobe change and went out for a nice dinner and some nightlife. The loungy bar we were at after dinner was nice, but when Eric asked the cocktail waitress where we should go, she gave us an encyclopedia’s amount of information on the club / bar scene in KL. After the conversation we could have written a travelers’ guide about the night life… we knew where to go, on what days and at what times.
A taxi swept us away and pretty soon we were walking into the entrance of Zouk, a hip-hop club in KL. The place was pumping with music and everyone was dancing! We spent the next few hours jumping and dancing in a circle with our new dance crew. We had formed a group of 10 great dancers (excluding myself) and would all take turns dancing in the center. Most of them knew how to break dance and everything!
In Malaysia Miami than in Asia ! We danced until 3 or 4am and although we were done, the club was still going off.
In the morning we had the most amazing complimentary buffet breakfast (fruits, make your own omelets to order, hashbrowns, pancakes, waffles with whipped cream, syrup and berries, toast, yogurt, tea, coffee, you name it!). We walked through China town and India village, tried some nice food, bought knock-off sunglasses, watches, visited Sheeb’s sister company (she works in London and they have another office in KL), got a view of the city from the 78th floor, and then checked out a humungous mall before heading back to our hotel.
We had another phenomenal breakfast the following morning, where I stuffed my face (not knowing if I’d ever see this much free food while backpacking again) and then we all left for the airport to catch our little flight to Langkawi (a resort-like beach island). Again, the power siblings had a business connection and we stayed at the nicest resort on the island (and the nicest place I’ve ever stayed in my whole life)!
When we arrived, traditional Chinese music was playing by women in ornate outfits and we were served chilled coconut milk to drink from beautiful coconuts. Our suite had a huge complimentary fruit basket in it (that was replenished everyday), along with complimentary wine to enjoy, and a fantastic balcony with a view of the ocean and islands around us.
We settled in and headed downstairs to our private beach where we ordered food, drinks, and sorbet, but mostly just lounged in the sun. A beach attendant would come around every so often and offer us sunscreen to use, extra towels, water, and would even offer clean our sunglasses (all complimentary)! I felt like royalty.
Back in our room we got ready for the evening but before we left I put some bananas outside our window for the monkeys (when we checked in they said not to leave the balcony door open since monkeys live in the trees outside). We took our minimalist rental car for a spin and had some dinner in town (food at the resort was a bit overprice, as one would imagine).
The next day we drove from the north of the island to the west to check out a nice beach. We rented a four-seater wave runner and took off towards the horizon. Before we left we were instructed to stay at least 300 meters away from the island (as the wave runner owner pointed at the islands to the right) and besides that, we were free to roam.
Eric drove out first and after 10 minutes or so we switched around and I was driving. The jet ski rode so fast over the water and we were flying! I weaved us in-between islands and got right up close to the cliffs, close enough that we saw monkeys on the rocks! Sheebs took the wheel next and rode us around for a while and started to bring us back to shore.
The wave runner owner came racing towards us all frantic looking, “where did you go? I was looking all over for you”. “Is our time up?” I said, “We have 10 more minutes, right?” He didn’t know how much time we had left, but I think he thought we had taken off for good with his prized possession. He was relieved we were heading in soon and told us to have fun as he headed back to shore. Sheebs jumped off into the water with my camera while Eric and I did big doughnuts around her. We were flying!!
On the car ride back we stopped at a waterfall and hiked to the top of it were there were little rapids flowing over large smooth rocks. We slid down them into pools of water while soaking up this gorgeous landscape of forest, mountains, and views of the island. Monkeys were all around this area and when we left and I tossed my empty coconut shell into a rubbish bin and watched as a monkey ran over and stole it.
A cable car was nearby so we floated up 705 meters to see the rest of the island from above and watch the sunset. The view was beautiful and the sun set could not have been more perfect. We had some Indian food for dinner, which was amazing, and took it easy watching a movie on Eric’s computer at night.
The three of us were flying back to KL the next day, but had a few good hours to enjoy the beach. We had breakfast near the pool and then took out kayaks to paddle to an island near ours. Sheebs and I laid in a few inches of water, sunning ourselves, while Eric searched for fish and coral reefs with his mask he had (he didn’t find very many).
On the way to the airport we stopped on the side of the road and ate some pretty gross meatish soup and tried a desert-like soupy drink as well. The sweet desert was alright, but was hard to enjoy after the unappetizing soup.
Back in KL we dropped off our bags at our little guesthouse at 10pm and then got ready for a big night. We had been talking about a huge last night in KL for days and now was that time. We were staying near the bar district and only had to walk two block before hearing music. Tired from our 5 hour delay at the airport, we devoured some red bulls and were ready to go!
We did our own pub crawl, having a drink and taking a shot at each bar until the bars shut down. The nightlife here was incredible (again) and each bar/club we went into had a different feel to it. Some were more Indian influenced, others were filled with Chinese or Malaysians; it was very unique. The bottom floor of each bar is more loungy and relaxed while the upstairs of the bars blast music and are filled with active party-goers looking to have a good time. Our trio eventually came to an end but we had one of the best nights out of my trip! Sad to leave these too... we’ll have to have another reunion in FL.
Off to Indonesia
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