My Excellent Adventure ~ Malaysia

After less than 48 hours in Singapore I hopped on a comfy private bus and crossed the border into the neighboring country of Malaysia. Malaysia is a small country in south east Asia which is split between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Borneo. I only had 6 short days in Malaysia so I decided to split my time between the cities of Melaka and Kuala Lumpur.

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Melaka

My first stop in Malaysia was the small city of Melaka, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city, at one time a vibrant port city, showcases its cultural diversity through intimate ethnic neighborhoods, architecture and food. The focal point of the historic part of town is the Red Square, a cluster of red brick buildings built by the Dutch. The square is situated near a meandering river which is bordered by restaurants and bars in converted merchant buildings.Since I arrived in town on Monday I missed the weekly night market which draws large crowds every weekend. Instead I discovered that during the week the historic district of Melaka is eerily quiet with most restaurants closed by early evening, if open at all.This was a bit frustrating since the restaurants in this area were more likely to have vegetarian fare. Thankfully there was a small hole-in-the-wall that catered to the local Indian population which is where I ate a couple of different meals.

My visit to Melaka was relatively quiet and laid back - a nice adjustment after the hustle and bustle of Singapore. While there I enjoyed visits to the local Hindu temple, a boat ride down the river, a tea appreciation class, a small selection of vegetarian food and a beer or two while sitting near the river.

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Kuala Lumpur

After a few quiet days in Melaka I packed up my bag and hopped on another bus for a trip to Malaysia's bustling capital city - Kuala Lumpur.

In Kuala Lumpur I met up with Lina, a Malay woman living in the city. We had met via couchsurfing.org, a website that aims to connect travelers and locals. Lina was kind enough to offer to show me around the city and we spent the next two days exploring all it's different sites including the Batu Caves, the national mosque, the national museum and Patronas Towers. With the help of Lina's language skills  I was also able to try a variety of tasty Malay dishes including the incredibly spicy and sour assam.

While the Batu Caves was the highlight of my short visit to Kuala Lumpur (which I detail below) the visit to the national mosque was a unique and eye opening experience. The mosque is only open during set time periods for non-Mulism visitors and the dress code is strictly enforced. If a woman is not fully covered she must wear an abaya, a loose flowing gown, and all women must wear a hijab, a head covering (see the picture below). Men also are required to wear modest dress though they are not required to cover their heads. The mosque itself is a beautiful building with an interesting syncretization of traditional Islamic cultural elements and Malay design integrated into a sleek and modern building. Within the building we observed people praying and a classroom full of children singing verses from the Qur'an.

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Batu Caves

My favorite part of my trip to Malaysia was a morning visit to the Batu Caves. Located on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur the Batu Caves are a sacred site for the local Hindu population. Inside and around the caves are Hindu temples dedicated to Murugan, Siva and other deities. One of Malaysia's largest annual festivals is held at the caves - Thaipusam, a popular Tamil festival which draws thousands of Hindus to the Batu Caves.

Visitors to the caves walk there from the train station along a road with stalls set up selling Indian sweets, garlands of flowers and fresh coconuts. Once you arrive at the entrance you need to climb nearly 300 steps to get to the caves themselves and visit the temples inside.  Meandering amongst the tourists and devotees are wild monkeys which I was told are attracted to the crinkly sound of plastic bags and will snatch them from visitors in order to consume the contents.

Our visit to Batu Caves permitted me to observe disaporic Hindus practicing their religion. I was even welcomed by the priests to participate in aarti and archana and was blessed by the priests at different temples.

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