Category: malaysia

the cheapest way i could find from china back to israel was rather circuitous, just the way i like it! a seven hour flight from beijing to kuala lumpur, malaysia only cost a little over $100! kuala lumpur is famous for being a luxury shopping and eating destination. the malls were copious, spacious and extravagant, and there was lots of cheap and delicious food! and one can stay in inexpensive parts of town which is nice. though malaysia is almost entirely muslim, the food courts were pretty crowded even though it was ramadan! i went up the “kl” tower for an amazing view, and saw the famous petronas twin towers, which way back in the day used to be the world’s tallest. malls and food!

the next day i took a bus to singapore to see more malls! singapore is such a nice place. extremely high standard of living and prices to match. for the most part, they’ve made their cash off naval trade and science. a fascinating cultural (and culinary!) milieu of chinese, malays, tamils and countless others. and the lingua franca is… english! my friend apurva is going to medical school in singapore, and he was kind enough to let me stay at his place. we ate some more amazing food and i spent a few days riding on one of the world’s most efficient public transportation systems and endlessly walking around some of the best malls the world has to offer, such as my personal favorite, a futuristically shaped one called the “ion.” one day i took a one hour ferry to a nearby indonesian island called batam and back. indonesia is a whole other world, and i’d love to go back sometime. i also hit up singapore’s resort island of sentosa for some sneaking into luxury hotel’s beachfronts and to see one of singapore’s two casinos – which singaporians have to pay $100 to get into, but is free for everyone else. an arguably overbearing government is about the only drawback of living in singapore – even the sale of chewing gum is strictly regulated.

the next dirt cheap flight brought me to sri lanka for a 30 hour stop! quickly regained my appreciation for the subcontinental sideways head nod! i found my way to the idyllic beachfront town of negombo, and spent the night in what ended up being a room in a family’s house. the next day did some body surfing in the indian ocean and then went to colombo, the capital. being white, i was (rather awkwardly) very much the center of attention in an underground restroom “facility.” also in a cafeteria style restaurant where every single one of the dozens of clientele literally stopped everything and stared with rapt attention for the entire ten minutes that it took the white person to eat a plate of food with his hand. no, don’t worry – i was using the right hand. overall though a really enjoyable time – there is something about the blunt rawness of life in india and its similar neighbors that helps positively reorient a person’s perspective on life if one lets it – even in just 30 hours.

i then traveled back to israel through sharjah, in the united arab emirates, and amman, jordan. that made eight countries in a week, which is sort of crazy! getting from amman to israel turned out to be more of an adventure than i had planned, as it was the eve of eid al fitr (the end of the muslim month of ramadan), which complicated the logistics in a number of ways. but i made it, and second year, starting with anatomy of the thorax, has been really great so far!