Spring Break 2009 :: by mama

We are back from a 10-day trip to Malaysia for spring break. The trip was, for me, a perfect example of why we came to this part of the world: it was an adventure filled with things I never expected to see, in places I never expected to visit, at any point in my lifetime. Ever.

We spent six nights on the island of Borneo and three in Kuala Lumpur. I will freely admit that prior to this trip, I would not have been able to find Borneo on a map, let alone tell you anything about it. And the only thing I knew about KL before moving to Asia was that it was the home of the world's tallest buildings -- until recently, anyway -- neither of which I ever thought I would see in person. Surprise! I was wrong.

Our first stop was the beach, for four nights of relaxation (and, Chris would add, clean air). It was perfect, especially for Kaya: warm, perpetually shallow water with waves that were made for a three-year-old. (In other words, virtually non-existent from an adult perspective, but hugely fun-scary-exciting for a small child, in a totally non-threatening way.) Kaya loves the beach and could have spent every day of our vacation in the exact same spot, if we had let him.

:: Kaya now loves frangipanis (photo by Lorinda) ::

:: Blue skies + beach = happiness ::

Next, we went inland, into the jungle, for two nights. It was a 45-minute flight + 1 hour drive + 1 hour boat ride just to get there. Our accommodations were a wooden platform with a foam pad and a mosquito net. No fan, no electricity, no running water, no flush toilets. If we wanted to bathe, we could use a bucket of river water. Nobody bathed. The plus side to this was that we were surrounded by wildlife. Orangutans, gibbons, long-tailed macaques, silvered leaf monkeys, proboscis monkeys, a huge variety of birds and reptiles and amphibians and bats and, yes, insects. Scorpions and tarantulas and stink bugs, oh my.

:: Jungle trekking. Note the muddy boots and pants. Rainy season = mud. ::

:: Orangutan in the wild ::

:: Mystery water creature ::

Finally, having had the requisite nature experience, we went to the city, to KL. Chris and I agreed that this was the perfect order in which to do things, because never have I appreciated civilization as much as I did coming from the jungle (and from Dhaka before that...). Every bit of it was fabulous. Shopping malls, huge bookstores, Starbucks, heaps of restaurants, and a comfortable bed at the end of the day. I may or may not have shed a tear when it was time to leave. Yes, it was that fabulous. (And the power outages in Dhaka are that bad.)

:: View of the Petronas Towers from the observation deck of the KL Tower ::

Our travel companions, Andrew and Lorinda, were fabulous, and I think we are going through withdrawal from not spending all of our time with them every day -- especially Kaya, who loves "Miss Lorinda" to bits. Kaya has even picked up some Australian-isms from them, and he now greets them with a cheery "Hi, mate!" in a pseudo-Australian accent (it sounds more like "mite" than "mate," but he's trying). He may not be learning much Bangla, but he will soon have a rich vocabulary of Australian slang.  That has to count for something...