Seleamat Datang ke Malaysia: Or, Welcome to Malaysia

I guess I'll start with general descriptions. I'm going to be very frank - the parts of Malaysia we visited were, by American standards, dirty. Except for our hotels, most buildings were old, dilapidated, and in disrepair. There were ants, flies, and lizards everywhere, and I felt wary of most of the food that I was eating. Almost all bathrooms lacked a western toilet and toilet paper, so even women had to squat. My Indian friends got sick of us complaining about the toilets because they are used to them from having visited India. But even though, as a guy, I didn't have to squat, it was a big difference from what I'm used to in the U.S. Another facet of this is that Malaysia is the first "poorly-developed" country I've ever visited. I thought I was a pretty open person, but I'm not going to lie: it was a shock, and I was really uncomfortable the first few days we were there.

Nonetheless, the landscape was beautiful. It was incredibly lush and verdant, even more so than Singapore because Malaysia is significantly less developed. Also, rubber and palm oil are two of Malaysia's main exports, so they have no dearth of broad-leafed trees. Here's a short video from the bus of the forests we passed the first day.

I'm not sure what else to say in general terms. I already wrote about how much I hated having to follow a preset tour and not having any freedom. It felt awful not being able to eat when I wanted or go to the bathroom when I wanted. It felt even worse when I didn't like the food we were eating, which happened often, because they kept serving us seafood and things we couldn't identify.

And yet, from the few interactions we did have with Malaysians, I gathered an entirely different opinion. Everyone we talked to was very friendly and kind and welcoming. Most of them didn't speak a lot of English, but hey, neither did we speak any Malay, so it didn't really matter. As corny as it sounds, "Kindness is a universal language." It seemed that the regions we visited were not really frequented by American tourists, and most people seemed excited and surprised to have us there. Sure, lots of people gawked at us when we were in public, but overall, they were really eager to share their "Malay culture," which they were very proud of, with us.

So I can't say one way or another that the trip was good or bad, or that I enjoyed it or hated it. I didn't enjoy the bad parts, and I really enjoyed the good parts, and instead of adding together to create some sort of overall impression, these two remain distinct feelings. I loved and hated the trip, but I can say that, overall, I'm thankful for the experience.