To Malaysia

This post is sponsored by Malaysia Airlines.

Malaysia Airlines is offering travelers great deals to over 100 destinations including Europe, India, China, Africa, Australia and many more locations across six continents. The Global Deals, Dream Getaway campaign presents something attractive for everyone. The promotion kicks off from May 3 – May 18, 2011 (booking period) for the travel period of May 3, 2011 until March 31, 2012. Visit their daily deals page: Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Air is offering great deals for business and economy classes around the world--including departures from Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and London. With flexible travel periods until March 31, 2012, as well as competitive fares, it’s more tempting to travel to Malaysia and other destinations. With so many wonderful travel memories from Malaysia, I'm looking at planning a vacation away (though I need to check on personal funds (would anyone like to sponsor me?)). While I may not be able to afford the trip, I know a few people who are still in Asia that may want to take advantage of this offer.

All promotional airfares are for one-way economy or business class travel on Malaysia Airlines and includes airfare, airport tax, fuel surcharge, insurance and administrative fees. For a complete list of destinations and fares please log on to www.malaysiaairlines.com. MasterCard Worldwide is the official card of the Global Deals, Dream Getaway. MasterCard cardholders who charge their eligible cards on Malaysia Airlines’ ticket purchases will stand a chance to bring their partner to an exclusive "Priceless Moment" event at the end of the year. Those looking for exciting holiday packages, for both international and domestic destinations, can choose from the wide range of “Global Deals, Dream Getaways” bargains from MASholidays.

MASholidays, the travel and tour arm of Malaysia Airlines offers packages to over 59 destinations on Malaysia Airlines’ extensive network. All packages are inclusive of return airfare on economy class, airport transfers (selected destinations), hotel accommodation and breakfast. MASholidays’ tours and packages can be booked online at http://holiday.malaysiaairlines.com or through its hotline at +603-7863 4000/4040 or for enquiries please email masholidays@malaysiaairlines.com

Malacca-minded

If we had known what Malacca was like, we would've stayed more than a day.

After spending a couple days around Kuala Lumpur, my parents, Jia, and I took a taxi to Malacca, a quiet colonial town less than two hours outside the Malaysian capital. The hotel concierge helped us find a friendly driver for a reasonable price (and his car ran on natural gas). When we arrived, he even offered to pick us up the next day after dinner for the same price.

Malacca is a walkable town, although the heat and humidity take some getting used to. After the noise and traffic of KL, this was a great place to relax. And we relaxed in between the sights--we found great food near the hotel and cafes along the river. And like everywhere else in Malaysia, we found the locals to be very friendly.

In America, we love to talk about diversity and tolerance, but we've got nothing on Malacca. On one particular street near the central tourist area is a beacon of religious tolerance. At one end of the street is a church. A little further down is a mosque, which is next door to a Hindu temple. A short walk down from there is a Taoist temple across the street from a Buddhist temple. I have never seen anything like it before or since.

On the same street, we found a shop that sold Buddhist paintings, furnishings, and other items mostly imported from Dharmsala. The shop owner was from India. He explained that he first came to Malaysia to visit his brother in Kuala Lumpur, but decided to stay after seeing Malacca. He pointed out the houses of worship outside and said he couldn't find a more peaceful street.

Peace of Mind

This week's Friday photo is again from Malaysia--this time from Penang. I found this billboard along a busy street after we visited the Thai and Burmese Buddhist temples.

The fence with barbed wire doesn't seem inviting for those seeking inner peace.

Satanic Verses

After our walk through the small rainforest in the center of Kuala Lumpur that surrounds the KL Tower, we walked along a narrow street on our way to other parts of the city.

I was surprised to see graffiti in English with this sentiment in a country as diverse as Malaysia. It was also rather unusual to see this across from what appeared to be a Catholic school.

Magical Religion

What do magic and religion have in common? I'm not really sure. But I spotted this sign advertising magic lessons in a Buddhist temple in Malacca, Malaysia.

The Jumble

I've been a little busy lately--though not as busy as I'd like to be. I feel like I'm going in quite a few directions--sort of like this tree I came across in Penang (does anyone know what it's called?).
Not sure why I didn't mention this on here earlier, but I finished putting together Terracotta Typewriter #3. This issue is pretty heavy on prose and light on poetry--I hope to even that out for the future. So, now I have to begin working on issue #4 and get back to updating the blog on the site more regularly.

I also published an article on healthcare (a rather sore subject here in the US) at Freelance Writing Jobs. And it looks like I'll be doing a little travel writing in the near future. I hope all this writing gets me into a better groove to work more efficiently on my novels and stories.

Colors on a Templed Street

After visiting so many temples in China and Thailand, it's difficult for me to be impressed. There are rare moments when something catches my eye and I'm enticed to take a picture.

We passed by numerous Buddhist temples while in Penang, Malaysia, but entered very few. Most of the temples were Chinese-Buddhist and very small, with little to attract non-Buddhist interest. Because we were in Penang during the Hungry Ghost Festival (supposedly a Chinese festival and Jia had never previous heard about), there were plenty of people entering temples and lighting incense.

This large incense caught my eye. I'm accustomed to seeing simple sticks (occassionally very large). This was also lit on the side of the street, outside the gate of the temple.

Tale of Two Temples

A wonderful site that we discovered on our journey through Penang was a street with adjacent Buddhist temples--one Thai, the other Burmese. Considering the long history of war between the two nations, I found it intriguing that these temples' gates would be directly opposite one another.

Dharmikarama Burmese Temple was our first stop, only because the taxi dropped us off on that side of the street. There are two main temples--the first had a long hallway with paintings depicting the story of Buddha, translated into English, and the second had a large standing Buddha. There were a few Burmese monks who blessed the visitors and tied braided yellow stings around their wrists.
The grounds around the temple contained more statues of Buddhist deities, such as Geruda, Naga, and Panca-Rupa. There was a set of bowls that rotated in the center of a fountain for visitors to throw coins in--each bowl was for a different prayer (fortune, health, happiness, etc.), my father and Jia both hit a few bowls.

Across the street was Wat Chaiyamangalarm. This temple had beautiful painted ironwork for the gate (also surrounding the Buddha inside). We didn't walk around much of the grounds because we were rather tired (and our next stop was Thailand and its temples). We entered the main temple, which had its guardians around the door. Inside was a reclining Buddha, much like the one in Wat Pho, only much smaller. Underneath the Buddha was a shrine for the remains of monks.

Rainforest Rendezvous

During our time in Penang, we took a day to walk through Penang National Forest, known locally as Tolek Bahang Forest. This is a small rainforest on the edge of the island with trails that go around. The signs at the entrance to the park do not accurately indicate distance or time it will take to walk through--we chose to walk to Monkey Beach, which is supposedly 45 minutes (but everyone else said an hour and a half).

We took our time to wander along--the first part of the trail is fairly easy, it got more difficult a bit before we reached a beach with a university that was a little more than midway to Monkey Beach. From there is was difficult to find the trail again, but we managed.

Until arriving at Monkey Beach, we only met one couple that was returning from the interior of the forest. Quite a few tourists take a boat to and from the beach and spend the day on jet skis.

The only downside to the hike was that we were not adequately prepared. It was, of course, hot and humid, without any rain to cool us off. We also should've brought something other than water--something with a little sugar in it to keep us going. But we did make it.

Rather than return the way we came, we paid 70 Ringgits to take the boat back to the park entrance and our ride to Georgetown. Ramli, the boat driver, immediately knew that we weren't walking back after seeing us soaked in sweat and downing whatever cold drinks were on offer on the beach.

I still think the highlight of the trip was watching the monkeys steal all the food from a scooter left on the trail, not far from the entrance. They did manage to break open the plastic containers to eat what was not meant for them.

Antiques Are Quite Modern

We were very confused at the sight of a few shops across from our hotel in Malacca. Unfortunately, we passed by when the shops were closed so we couldn't find out exactly what they sold. How exactly is an antique modern?

Dream of Blue Mansions

In Penang, we stayed across the street from Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, an old Chinese-style mansion that has been converted into a hotel. We intended to stay at the mansion during our trip, but there were no rooms available due to the filming of a Singaporean movie.

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion has been renovated in the last decade or so after years of neglect. It is a World Heritage Site, as is much of Georgetown. Since it's renovation and conversion into a hotel, tours are offered to visitors for a small fee.

Unfortunately, the owners of Cheong Fatt Tze do not allow photos inside (mostly so they can sell postcards and books at inflated prices). The tour itself was worthwhile because it traced the family history of the house as well as quite a bit of Chinese culture. It was the best explanation of Chinese culture that I received since arriving in China (it's too bad I had to travel to Malaysia to get it).

We also were told that there is still another Cheong Fatt Tze mansion in Taipu, Guangdong--not too far from Shenzhen. Jia and I have planned to take a weekend trip at some point to find it.

Don't Stink Up the Joint

All over Malaysia, there are signs notifying people to not bring durian into their establishments. For those who don't know, durian is a fruit with a spiky shell that was probably used as an ancient weapon. The fruit also stinks.
My wife was very disappointed by the signs because she loves durian and it's about half the price in Malaysia than in Shenzhen. We still allowed her to eat some, as long as it wasn't in the hotel or up wind from us.

Artistic Malaysia

One of the first stops on our tour through Malaysia was the Islamic Arts Museum, which was much further from the metro station than it appeared from the map. Along the way we passed the National Mosque, a modern structure that doesn't conform to the Western expectations of what a mosque looks like. It's a beautiful building, but, unfortunately, it's difficult to get a good view of it from a distance.

The Islamic Arts Museum claims to house the largest collection of art and culture from the Muslim world. It is certainly a large museum that one can spend hours wandering through. There was a large display of art from China, though they didn't mention the region or ethnic group to which each piece belonged. Suspiciously absent from the displays are works from Africa--there was nothing from the continent (unless you count a few items from Egypt and Morocco in the gift shop).

We also took a trip to Compleks Budaya Kraf, the traditional Malaysia crafts complex, which is another great work of architecture in a more traditional style. The shops inside the complex weren't that interesting, but the artist village outside was worth a walk in the heat. We came across some very nice original artwork. One of my favorites was the work of Mohammed Zaki Zakaria, who paints a lot of colorful sea scenes. I was only able to afford a print of one of his oil paintings.

Even as we went through Malacca and Penang, we found great galleries filled with some inspiring work. I had expected more repetition like I've seen in most of the art galleries throughout China, but I was relieved to find a wide variety original work. My only regret is that I didn't bring enough money to buy a few paintings.

Fast Food Luxury

This must be the classiest KFC anywhere. In Penang, we came across this interesting site on our way to an outdoor food market. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to make it back to view the inside. It seems that KFC acquired one of the old colonial mansions of Georgetown and fixed it up--much like many other places nearby (a university and hotel each have the mansions as part of the larger buildings). It was very nice to see that some people are making an effort to preserve these beautiful structures around Penang--many others are dilapidated and probably beyond repair.

Waiguoren Returns to China

I arrived back at the Shekou port early this afternoon from my nice vacation away from China and the Olympics--I really don't find summer Olympic sports all that exciting.

We began our trip with an interesting encounter at customs, while departing from China. Apparently, the customs officers had a problem with the fact that my wife is from Xinjiang, though not a minority. They held her up for a few minutes and asked her some pointless questions: Are you Han? Where do you live? Where do you work? Why are you leaving China? And then her passport was passed around to another three officers before they allowed her to pass.

Everything improved as we waited for my parents to arrive in Macau. We found a great new restaurant near Senado Square--Dragon Mama Cuisine. It was inexpensive and quite tasty.

Malaysia was beautiful and we found that Kuala Lumpur is nothing compared to Malacca and Penang. We made a mistake by not planning more time in Malacca--the people and culture were amazing. Jia was upset that she saw more Chinese culture in Malaysia than she's seen in China. I have to agree that the Malaysians presented the Chinese culture in their country better than most places in China.

The most amazing part of the vacation was the fact that Air Asia was on time for all five of our flights. For an airline with such a bad reputation, this was a pleasant surprise.

I'll post more stories about the trip over the next week or so.

Kuala Lumpur

We've been in Kuala Lumpur for about three days now and it is quite hot, but still better than Shenzhen. First impressions of this city are that it's very confusing--I blame the British for making the roads; why couldn't they make their roads straight? It also seems that the logical location for an entrance to any attraction is not where it should be--we've spent plenty of time wandering for a way to get in. Other than that, the people have been very friendly and the shopping areas are much more relaxed than in China (no one has yelled at me or grabbed me in an attempt to sell cheap tourist junk).

Tomorrow we head to Malacca for the day and then we're off to Penang.

I'll try to post more updates if I get to another Internet cafe.

Seeking Adventure

Later today Jia and I are heading to Macau to meet my parents. From there we'll travel through Malaysia and Thailand. I'll try to find time to get to an Internet cafe for some updates, but I won't be back in Shenzhen for two weeks. This will be a nice break from China and all the Olympic hype--and it's a chance for me to get lost in another language (or a few as the case may be in Malaysia).

I'll leave you with a sight from Bangkok that I probably won't visit this time around because it's just too hot. Wat Arun is a beautiful Khmer-style temple across the river from the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Keao.