Final Countdown!

So it is ending. About 20 days left on this wonderful adventure of mine and then it will be on to America to start a new adventure.  Getting settled back home, moving in with the parents, adjusting to America, living out of a house instead of a suitcase, options on menus, driving, everyone understanding what I am saying, using English all the time… all the small things that I will have to readjust to while getting a job and starting to make some of that money! Whew. As overwhelming as that seems and will be, I am ready for it.  Well, half of me is ready, the other half is really, REALLY sad that I have to leave this lifestyle.  And yes, traveling is a lifestyle.  Wearing the same three shirts over and over, smelling, sharing bathrooms with 20 other strangers, learning to try and sleep on buses, planning your next few days, crossing borders, meeting new people constantly, being in situations where you don’t know what is going on but you need to understand.  It is a lifestyle.  It is a crazy and wonderful lifestyle that I will miss sincerely. 

But enough of that, more of what I have planned and what I have seen and done.  That is what this blog is all about: updating on my adventures.  Last I left you, I finished touring Siam Reap and the Angkor Wat temples, which are still amazing and one of the coolest things I have seen.  We headed from there to Battambang, Cambodia.  It is supposed to be the second largest city in Cambodia and I am not sure how. It was completely dead at night, not to say it wasn’t interesting or worthwhile, just not what you expect the second largest city in a country to be like.  We arrived fairly early in the day, dropped our stuff off, and walked around the city.  We basically saw everything there was to see within the city that afternoon.  The next day we booked a tuk tuk to take us around the city to the temples that were about 40 or so kilometers outside.  They were really interesting.  We went to the Killing Caves, which has a horrible background story from the Khmer Rouge.  It is such juxtaposition because the cave itself is beautiful but the history of what happened there is brutal.  We also saw a few temples around the area which were really pretty and one of them is supposedly what the main temple at Angkor Wat is modeled after.  We also drove through some rice fields and got to see a little of village life.  The kids are so friendly and they always smile and wave at you.  It is a lot of fun and really shows the happiness and simplicity in children all over the world.  Children are children no matter where you are and they all want the same things in life: to play and laugh. 

The next stop on our trip was supposed to be a fishing village outside of Phnom Penh and on the way to the border with Laos but our bus just kind of flew right by our stop and we ended up in Phnom Penh AGAIN! Ah.  While the city is great and I really do enjoy it, we have been there three times and only have planned to go there once! But it turned out for the better because we were able to book bus tickets to Don Det and the 4000 Islands in southern Laos and also arranged our visas ahead of time.  We probably should have just gotten our visas at the border but with so much conflicting information about the border crossing and visa on arrival availability, we just got it in advance.  The first night in Phnom Penh, I checked out couchsurfing.org and saw that they had a CS weekly meet up so we headed to there to meet some fellow travelers and also some people who live in Phnom Penh.  It was pretty cool and we met some interesting people who were doing short volunteer stints in Cambodia through various programs and organizations. They had some interesting view points about the city and I think it is wonderful to meet ‘expats’ because you are able to get an outsiders view of the inside. 

The next day we walked around Phnom Penh and saw more of the temples and museums in the area.  Southeast Asia is such a small area and there is such a backpackers trail that people we saw in Battambang, we met randomly again in a museum that afternoon.  This has happened repeatedly and is always fun because we are able to give and receive pointers and tips about the places we are traveling to.  It’s a great community (and another reason why I will be sad to leave). 

With our last night in Cambodia, we went out and ate dinner along the river and enjoyed the people watching that came along with it.  There really is a strange mix within Phnom Penh of locals, expats, wealthy, poor, ladyboy, and tourists culture that all works together to create a really good mix and vibe.  I did really enjoy the city, even if we only planned to go there once.

The next morning at the ungodly hour of 7, we were up and ready for our bus ride.  We were told the bus would leave at 7:30 but didn’t actually end up leaving until 9.  But it wasn’t too bad of a bus ride and we were stopping a little on the way to pick up more people.  Our first stop in Laos was Don Det which is a part of the 4000 Islands (Si Pan Don) in the very southern part.  It is part of the Mekong River and there are all of these little islands throughout.  A few of them are inhabited and some are too small to really be considered an island.  We went in low season so there were plenty of rooms available and we found a pretty affordable bungalow close to the main street.  We had to take a small boat over to the island and arrived pretty late at night.  One of the things we didn’t really take in to consideration was that Laos has an 11:00 curfew for business, including bars and restaurants.  We arrived at 9 and figured we would have time to organize ourselves.  But we ended up rushing through and found an Indian restaurant along the river that was pretty decent.

The next day we rented bikes and rode around the island, through the local area of the island and to the bridge that connected to another island.  It was a pretty decent ride.  We made plans to meet up with one of ze Germans in central Laos so we weren’t able to stay long on the island.  The next day we were on a bus up to Tha Kheak for two evenings before we met the German at the border.  The whole time the plan was to meet at the border and then go to Kong Lor Cave, which has been described as the creepiest cave you have ever seen.  German was coming from Vietnam and so we met up earlier than planned and headed to Ban Na Hin, the small city that you can base your cave adventure out of.  We spent the night there and the next morning woke up to head out to the cave.  Well our timing was HORRIBLE and we showed up in the middle of a village celebration that essentially shut down the cave.  It was really our only chance to go there and we had booked our tickets and trip for the next town already! So after all of that planning and traveling, we didn’t end up seeing the cave.  We explored the outside of it but never made it in!  Ah! So this just means that I will need to come back to Laos in the future, which I fully intend on doing because it is a wonderful country!

So night bus up to the capital, Vientiane, spent a few days sight-seeing around there, before heading to Vang Vieng, our Christmas destination! And oh my, what a Christmas it was! Vang Vieng is an interesting area.  It is basically a co-op of families that have decided by making money off of tourists and really boosting their economy and education system.  Pretty damn cool if you ask me.  We went to the tubing area for Christmas and mainly just hung around the first bar area and had a wonderful time and met lots of super cool people.  The area is a great place to meet others and just hang out and dance a bit.  We spent the next few days relaxing, tubing, people watching, and meeting people.  It was also Mr. Lee’s birthday during that time and we had a good time just tubing and relaxing.  Relaxing from what, I don’t know, but it was fun nonetheless. 

From Vang Vieng, we headed up to Luang Prabang where we would spend New Year.  We stayed at Spicy Laos Backpackers which is another hostel we have been recommended throughout our travels.  And I completely understand why, it was a great place to meet others.  We went to a waterfall on the day of New Years Eve and it was beautiful. I was a little skeptical of it at first but it turned out to be totally worth it.  So beautiful and a little bit of a hike up to the top but great view of the area. Laos is a beautiful country and I would love to come back and explore a lot more. It just looks like a place that is authentic and true to itself.  The people are so incredibly friendly and welcoming.  Beautiful people, beautiful country. 

We have been hearing about how amazing Laos is since Armenia.  We met a few backpackers that have done our trip in the opposite direction and all of them talk about the amazingness of Laos and I see why.  It’s not so much what you see or what you do but it is about the atmosphere and the people firstly and then secondly what you do and see.  I don’t know how else to describe it besides the fact that it is more of a feeling than an experience.  Hopefully that makes a little sense?

Well that is all from Laos.  Except the bus ride from Luang Prabang to the border of Thailand was by far the WORST bus I have ever taken in my entire life. It was about 17 hours of pure hell and NEVER again will I take that bus route.  And yes, I do plan on visiting Laos again. It was amazing!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday! I hope that no matter where you are, who you are with, or what you are doing, that you have an amazing time! Much love! :)

Koh Chang to Cambodia: Same same but different

"Same same but different" is a saying that both Thai and Khmer (Cambodian) people say.  Not sure why but it is interesting and expresses exactly what it means, this is similar but different. Thailand and Cambodia are not same same though. 

We spent our last few days in Koh Chang and had a beautiful time! I love that little island and could see myself going there many, many more times. Lonely Beach is where we stayed and it was just so relaxing with a nice mix of culture.  Although I didnt end up diving or taking a cooking class, I still really enjoyed my time there.  We met a LOT of people that we have planned to meet up with along the way.

When the day came to say goodbye to Koh Chang and Thailand, we woke up and took a taxi bus to the ferry, the ferry across to the mainland, another taxi to the bus station, and then a mini bus to the border.

*Here it is important to mention that I forgot my Lonely Planet on Ko Samui.  Southeast Asia on a Shoestring has been like my Bible on this trip.  I have taken notes, highlighted passages, drawn maps, wrote cross references, post-it noted the heck out of it, basically anything you can do to make your trip easier, I had in that book.  And I forgot it. But the Germans were there to save the day and they saw it and saved it to return to me at a later date.*

So we are at the border and without the book, we have been relying on other travelers and the internet for advice.  We saw online that crossing the border is kind of a hassle and on the Cambodian side, people will try and scam you.  So we were semi-prepared for it.  But we assumed it just meant for the visa, we didnt realize it was the entire process and everything after that.  Through being rushed through, being told that the last bus leaves in 15 minutes, exchanging money at a really bad rate, and a taxi driver driving off with some of our money, we were scammed and scammed a LOT! Very not cool and not a good way to say goodbye to Thailand and hello to Cambodia.

*The reason the book is important to this part of the story is because in the Lonely Planet, there is an ENTIRE section on border crossing scams and just about every one they list in the book happened to us... if I had my book, maybe we would still have all of our money. Grr.... *

We finally arrive at our destination of Phnom Penh at the Mad Monkey hostel after hearing a lot of recommendations for it.  It was a really nice hostel, quieter than expected but their neighbors arent too understanding of the 'party' hostel atmosphere. Understandable too because of the neighborhood the hostel is in... very close to embassy houses and extravagantly rich complexes.  I cant imagine they want to hear backpackers on a rooftop bar.  Anyhow, we arrived at the hostel tired and ready to sleep and forget about our day of scams.  We went to a restaurant very close to the hostel and ate some good noodle soup.  That was about all we could do and headed up to bed.

The next day we were meeting Parksie's friend, Mr. Lee, at the hostel and so we took a day to kind of get our bearings and look up where we would head to next. During the day we met a few people who were also hanging around the hostel.  When Mr. Lee arrived, he met three other guys that were staying at the hostel as well, so we all decided to go to dinner.  We met some other randoms in the hostel as we were rounding up all of our new friends and had 11 people in total: 6 Americans, 2 Swedes, 1 Swiss, and 2 Kiwis. Oh and myself and another American were the only girls in this group.  Weird ratios. :)  This was the most Americans I have seen in a while.  While traveling through, we have met more Germans and Aussies than anyone else. 

We all went to this street stall where we overwhelmed this woman who was stir frying noodles.  But she loved us and told us to sit.  Her grand-daughter was translating for her and making sure that everyone was happy and had enough food.  It was a simple noodle dish but really, really good!  I LOVE the noodle dishes from this area!  From there we went to a few bars and had a generally wonderful night! This is what I mean about meeting people in hostels.  One of the people that we met that night, we ended up following to the beach.  Two others, we keep in contact and might meet up in Laos with.  I love this kind of traveling.

The next day, we had a sobering day at the Killing Fields. Cambodia's past is one of turmoil and war and their history is pretty intense.  The current state of the country though is interesting in a weird way.  They have borrowed money and help from their neighbors and to pay the debts back they have sold a lot of their temples, land, and important historical sites. This website has an interesting debate about what this implies for the sites.  It is an adaption from an article but I think it is a good short summary of a memorial vs. profit.  The money from visiting Choeung Ek goes to Vietnam and not to the victims of the genocide.  That to me, is unacceptable and I didnt realize this before I went there.  However, the money from the National Museum goes to Cambodia.

Nevertheless, the memorial was done in a way of respect and memory.  The site had an audio guide that was really good and informative.  I must admit I did not know a lot about the history of Cambodia but after going there, I have gotten a few books that I have started reading along the way.  I dont like being ignorant about the place I am in.

From the fields we headed to the prison that has been turned into a museum of sorts. This was hard to see because it had so many pictures of the prisoners on display and gave some more of the history of the site.  This was a really hard day emotionally because it was so recent.  I have been to some concentration camps in Germany but this seemed harder because it isnt well known.  I would say most Americans do not know a lot about the genocide that happened between 1975 and 1979 where 20 percent of the population was killed.  It was so recent and anyone we meet that is over 30 was affected. Walking around the cities and meeting people, you always wonder how they were effected, how they are coping, and how they survived.  It is hard.

To kind of move away from that topic and in to what else I have been doing in Cambodia, I will continue with after Phnom Penh.  As I mentioned, we met an American girl that was heading south to the beach.  We had some more time to burn through before we met up with ze Germans to get my book back.  We planned on meeting them in Siem Reap and had a few days.  So of course, being us, we headed to the beach! We went to Otres Beach which is this incredibly relaxing, relatively quiet, and undisturbed beach.  It was really nice to get some reading done.  We spent a few nights there and then decided to head up to Siem Reap to meet up with our Germans. Not only were we meeting ze Germans, but we also met my new best friend who is also a German.  Suzie Q! We met her in Koh Chang on the infamous Thanksgiving night and convinced her to come to Cambodia.

Leaving Otres Beach, we were supposed to make it all the way to Siem Reap but that didnt end up happening.  Between the night bus being sold out, the bus breaking down, waiting for a new bus for two hours, and a bunch of other stuff, we ended up having to stay in Phnom Penh for a night before taking the earliest bus up to Siem Reap.  Even that bus was late and drove really slow while honking at people the entire time.  The transportation in this country leaves a LOT to be desired and we have been constantly having to add two hours to our journeys.  Frustrating.

FINALLY, we made it to Siem Reap and to the Garden Village Guesthouse where we have 1 dollar dorm beds.  They are actually pretty good, albeit noisy at night.  The Sunset bar is a great place to come up and relax (actually where I am writing this now).  Walking up the stairs to the bar area where we had planned to meet everyone, Suzie comes running down the stairs! It was so good to see her and sad that it was only for a few nights! 

That night we were also meeting up with the other Germans.  So we were catching up with Suzie while we waited for them to show up.  They stupidly bought tickets for 12 that night but I was able to persuade them to stay the night and leave the next morning.  It wasnt hard to convince them, I basically just changed their ticket for them. They very nicely brought my book and handed it over. It was beautiful and just as I remembered it. It was like I felt complete again! We went out and had a great night dancing and checking out the night scene in Siem Reap.  Ze German's bus was leaving at 7 and they had to be at the station around 6, so we all decided just to stay up to see them off and also go see the sunrise at the main temple of Angkor Wat. 

It was beautiful and a wonderful way to welcome ourselves to Siem Reap.  After sunrise we went back to the dorms and slept.  Then later that night we went to watch the sunset on a different temple and that was beautiful as well.  Cambodia has a beautiful country and a beautiful country side.  We took a lot of great pictures.  Then we had a pretty relaxing night, went to a good dinner and walked around the night market.

The next day we toured some of the farther temples and also met up with two other Americans (one from the beach and her friend that came out to visit).  We took a van and spent the day touring the temples.  On the way back we went to Angkor Thom and checked out the temple with all of the faces on it.  That was a really cool temple and I wish that we had a guide to explain all of the carvings on it.

Angkor Wat and all of the temples are relatively young, if you compare them to other temples.  They are about the same age as Notre Dame.  Most of the temples were built between the 9th and 11th century.  I had it in my head that they were a lot older, like Mayan aged temples, but they are a lot newer.  Dont let that diminish how awesome they are though.  They were structurally fantastic and their history is pretty great. Changing from Hindu to Buddhist temples and then the unification of the two from the 7th Angkorian king where he wanted an acceptance of both religions.  It was really interesting.  The day when we went to a majority of the temples, we had a guide with us so we were able to learn a lot more about the temples and its history.

Our guide, Brother Sava, was great and I highly recommend him if you come to Angkor Wat and need a guide for the day.  He was great and really friendly.  His email address is: sunsava2007@yahoo.com.

Also, in Siem Reap, I took a cooking class that I highly recommend!  It is through the Le Tigre de Papier and is amazing!  We had Savoeun and she was amazing!  If you are in Siem Reap and interested in cooking at all, take this course.  You get to go to the market, pick the dishes you want to prepare, have someone explain the recipes while you cook them... all for 12 dollars.  That is it, just 12 dollars.  By far the cheapest cooking class I have seen.  And quite possibly, the best.

Before the day of the cooking class, we had another German send off.  Suzie was leaving us to go back to Bangkok.  We had to send her off in a fancy way so we kind of did the same stuff, went out and danced the night away until almost the morning.  Her bus left a little later so she was able to get a bit of sleep before her 10 hour bus to Bangkok. It was still sad to say goodbye but we have plans to meet up again in Berlin, her hometown.  And we all know, I love Germany so I am excited for that.  Berlin is a place I havent been yet and have heard a lot of great things about it.

That is about it for Siem Reap.  The temples were amazing! The people that we have met along the way have been fantastic and now it is time to say goodbye to Siem Reap and head out.  Not too sure where or for how long, but its back on the road again!

Thanksgiving Abroad

I miss Thanksgiving and family.  Preparing with my mom for a week in advance, looking through recipes for hours before deciding on some of the same things.  Shopping and then cooking for hours and hours.  And then spending the whole day with family, playing cards, catching up, watching the parade, all of it. I miss it.  I dont know the next time I will be spending Thanksgiving with family.  I wish I could be there next year, but with plans to work abroad again, who knows.  I want it though.

With that being said, we did have a good Thanksgiving.  Parks and I met two Americans that we first encountered in Ko Phi Phi in a very random way.  We met them and they had a great idea to eat a whole chicken on the beach and spend the whole day talking about Thanksgiving with anyone who would listen.  So we bought some food and drinks and went to the beach and invited anyone who would walk by to come and join in our celebration.  By the end of the night, we had an Israeli, a few Germans (new ones), a few English ladies, and a few Thais.  It was awesome! Exactly what Thanksgiving is supposed to be, meeting new people and coming together under the idea of being thankful for what you have.

So I will write a few things that I am thankful for...
All of the beautiful people in my life, I am so thankful to have family and friends that are so incredibly loving and supportive.  From the friends I dont talk to anymore to the future friends and family members I have yet to meet, you all mean a lot to me and I hope you know how much you all mean to me. 

The ability to travel and experience this world, whatever small portion I am able to see along the way. 

The ability to make connections, meet people, interact with them, and make new friends.

And while this list isnt by any means complete, I think the most important thing is the people and connections I have in my life.

It might be a day or two late, but Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day and that you realize what a special gift life is and celebrate all of the people in your life!

Islands

And then there were two. We parted ways in KL with our Danya as she ventured off to see family in Australia. Parks and I continued our trek north to the islands. We took an overnight train to Penang. Well actually it stopped in Butterworth and then we had to take a ferry to Georgetown, Penang. Arriving at 7:30 in the morning, nothing really was open. We picked a hostel, dropped our bags off and set out for breakfast. Found a place after walking around for a bit and saw some pretty interesting things along the way: a temple, a few food stalls, older English buildings, a ladyboy, prostitutes and men leaving them… Just to name a few things! I heard that Penang has prostitution but I didn't expect it to be so in the open. We eventually had our breakfast and then headed back to the hostel to check in and lay down for a bit. We took a short nap and then went out exploring some more. We saw all of the buildings and places of interests within walking distance of Georgetown, which turned out to be about 90 percent of the map. We also checked out a museum where we found out that Armenians had an influence over Penang! So of course we checked out Armenian Street and took our picture in front of it! It was pretty interesting, two brothers opened the Oriental Hotel that was quite famous for a while but eventually it went under. Georgetown was pretty good.

We went to a night food court area and of course had so many options and tried a bunch of things. We really did Penang correctly; we saw all of the sights and then tasted a lot of the local foods. We went back to the hostel, took another nap before heading out to dinner and to check out the night scene of Penang. The next morning we awoke to two Germans and a small Filipino barging into our room. Although later we found out ze Germans and the Filipino were not traveling together as originally thought. The two Germans turned out to be Martin and Joe and were heading in the same direction as we were. After being woken up, we dressed and took a bus to Batu Feringi and spent a day at the beach. We went to a night market there and ate more street/stall food. We got back later than expected to Georgetown and met up with ze Germans.

After that night, we solidified our new friendships with "pops" and began traveling together: the Germaricans. We headed to Langkawi, Malaysia for two nights. Our taxi driver from the ferry to the hostel was awesome and incredibly helpful about pricing, where to go and what to do, although we just ended being beach bums and not doing much of anything. Langkawi is a BEAUTIFUL place with gorgeous, fine, white sand. Some of the best sunsets and most relaxing days we have had. We wanted to go around the island on scooters but decided to just stay at the beach and enjoy the sun. We met some really cool people at the Bungalow Restaurant and Bar… great place to spend a night dancing, smoking sheesha, and having a fun night.

On a Saturday, we took a boat and crossed into Thailand. This is my life right now: taking boats and crossing borders. I feel guilty at the time we are having, everything is so laid back and fun. I know that I am completely fortunate to have this time to travel and explore. Thailand and Malaysia have been so easy to travel around and get to places. It is nothing like India where everything is about bargaining and fighting for a fair price. For the most part, things are listed as prices that everyone pays, although I know there is a tourist price and a local price. But I am okay for paying that difference because a lot of the places we are going, their economy is dependent on tourists and everything is still relatively inexpensive.
Ko Phi Phi is where we started our Thailand adventure and an adventure it was. Ko Phi Phi is not Thailand; it is a beautiful tourist inhabited island with nothing but foreigners. While it has beautiful beaches and even prettier islands surrounding it, it was good for only a few nights. We took a longboat and went to a few other islands; the main attraction was Maya Beach. It was where The Beach with Leonardo DiCrapio was filmed and based out of it. We just sopped there and stayed for an hour or so. We were supposed to go snorkeling but it was really overcast so it wasn't the best weather for it.

After Phi Phi for a few nights, we headed up to Phuket to decide where we would go next. We were still traveling with the crazy Germans at this point and I don't think we were ready to separate from our new best friends. So we spent two nights in Phuket before heading to Koh Samui on the other side of Thailand. Phi Phi and Phuket were on the west coast of southern Thailand and Koh Samui was on the east side. It did not have that pretty of beaches but it was a nice place to hang out. We met a few other travelers in our hostel that gave us all kinds of ideas and advice about where to go and what to do. Possible people to meet up with later… who knows.

That is the greatest thing about traveling and staying at hostels, you get to meet so many people traveling and sharing stories and everything. All of the places we have been recently have been mostly tourists that we are meeting. It is good because I like making connections and new friends. It isnt always the best because sometimes it means we aren't getting the culture of Thailand or its peoples. After island life, it will be better.

Right now I am in Koh Chang and loving it! After Samui, we took a train through Bangkok and then caught a bus to Trat and then a ferry to Koh Chang. It was a long day of traveling but it got us to where we want to be, which is close to Cambodia. We weren't completely done with Thailand and beaches so we are spending a few more days here. But it meant that we had to separate from our beloved Germans. It was a really sad farewell that kind of broke all of our hearts. Eh, such is life.

Malaysia… Family, Friends, and Food

What more could a person ask for? My family has welcomed me with open and loving arms. The friends I have met here, while new in the friendship stage seem to be the kind that will last a while. And the food, oh… my… God. THE FOOD! People have written books, upon books of Malaysian cuisine and I totally see why. It is delicious. I don't think I have had one thing that hasn't tasted Amazing! While all of the other countries I have visited have been great, there has been no comparison to the food in Malaysia.

But I am getting ahead of myself here, first the family business. Arriving late at night, we took a taxi up to my grandmother's house. I was nervous, excited, anxious, all the emotions you feel when you are about to meet family for basically the first time. The last time I saw her, I was seven and scarcely remember the trip. Although I have been able to pick up more memories as we have continued this trip. I am remembering smells and areas.

Re-meeting my grandmother was great and I will be coming back to Malaysia in January to spend even more time with her. I really have an interest to learn more about my family and just learn the stories and history. It is very interesting. I am taking notes along the way and although I am not sure what I will do with them, I have a feeling I need to write down our history. I am not a history buff and never have really been that interested in it, I am developing this need to know where my family came from. Both sides too, not just my fathers. It is just I am here in Malaysia with my father's family and not a lot of people talk about the history.

We spent a few days in Seremban with grandma and then on Deepavali, we went over to an Auntie's house. Even though she isn't blood related, she might as well be. Our families have grown up together and the older generation is quite connected.

One of the stories I have heard and this is where the connection comes in, is my great-grandfather mysteriously disappeared during the war. My grandmother was about 13 at the time when one day her father went to work and just didn't come back. There were 8 kids in the family. Basically Auntie's family helped out a lot during that time and the two families have been connected ever since.

So for Deepavali, we went over to her house for the afternoon and had our first course of food. Really good too! All kinds of curries and different dishes, so many sweets too! It was good. From there was the real test of family… we went to my Auntie Sheila's house for another party/celebration. Side note on my Auntie Sheila: She is amazing! She is basically a walking angel. My parents have always talked so highly of her and I totally understand why. She has made this visit for me and is so incredibly helpful. You know on television shows or in movies where there is that flawless character that helps in some way? That is her. She is beautiful, inside and out!

She arranged to have a Deepavali celebration so that I could meet even MORE family! I have so many cousins, second cousins, third cousins, and cousins eight times removed, but in Malaysia it doesn't matter. Family means family. If there is a drop in your blood that has a 100^th of the similarity as the drop in my blood, even if it came from some ancient grandparent, it counts. It was great! I met a few cousins that are around my age and we all have a weird memory of the night we met in Malaysia way back in the day. The last time I was here, we had a get together, much like the one on Deepavali, where the parents met up and had the kids meet up and play with each other. We all have some odd memory of that time. Mine is that someone cried, I am not sure who. We spent the night and the girls watched Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13^th, whichever Freddie Krueger is and it scared the crap out of me. Although I tried not to show it, I stayed up and was freaked out by the whole thing. Although looking back, I think that is where my love of horror movies began because you get so caught up in it and you are scared but if you think about it, it is just a movie and a story line.

I met so many people that night; I can barely keep any of the names straight though. I mean, even quizzed today, I wouldn't do so well. My family is big. There are lots and lots of them. But all wonderful and all so incredibly welcoming! It has really convinced me that I need to come back to Malaysia and spend more time with everyone. I am planning on getting a job in July of 2012 and coming back here to work, live, and connect with family.

With meeting family, of course you meet family friends. They have all been wonderful as well! There is such an expat community here in KL that is so interesting. I don't know anywhere else in the world that has this big of an expat community. But it is also so integrated into Malaysia that you never know if you are talking to a Malaysian or an expat. KL has really interesting dynamics and where I have only seen one side of KL, it seems pretty great.

To continue back to food:

My mom will talk about Malaysian food and every once in a while, her, my father, my aunt and my uncle will get in these long discussions about Malaysian food and I have always found them funny. Who can talk about food for that long? Well, I have learned in Peace Corps that you can. Example 1: Two friends and myself staying up until 4 in the morning having hour long conversations about burgers. Example 2: Drooling over wedding pictures of food that someone's friend posted on facebook. Not the wedding or the people, but the food. Example 3: Watching and re-watching Top Chef seasons. I could continue on with so many more examples, but I will leave it at that. And then to come here, the capital of food, I don't know how my parents don't talk about Malaysian food more!

Much like the Malaysian community, the food here has integrated quite well while still maintaining its distinctions. For example, in America, it is a fusion culture. When you are eating Italian food, you are eating American-Italian; same for Mexican, German, Chinese, and lots of others. You can go to the authentic restaurants and eat authentic food but those are few and far between. And even they have a lot more fusion flavors. And it is hard not to, the ingredients are different, the palate of your customer is different. However here, while everyone eats all different foods, the Indian food is authentic Indian food, the Malay food is authentic, and the Chinese food is authentic. Each culture has brought its own flavors and its own cooking style and kept it traditional. Then the best part about it, they have food courts where you can get all of it sent to your table in one spot!

My Uncle Hardev is great! He also likes to go out and has a few places where he is a regular and I know why. We went to a food court and just walked around and everyone ordered a few dishes. Then we all came back and shared, it was delicious! That is also the night I got my satay! I, sadly, haven't had a lot of satay while being here but it is mainly because we have been eating so much other amazing food!

One of my favorite experiences so far has been sitting at the table at my great-aunt's house with my grandma, my Aunt Sheila, my Uncle Hardev and my great-aunt. They got into a discussion about curry. While that may seem trite, let me explain. I love to cook as most of you already know. I have a section dedicated to recipes, so obviously I like to cook. I asked them about possibly teaching me how to cook. I have made curry and I think mine taste pretty good but the curry they make outshines my curry like no one's business. It is mainly the fact that they have been cooking and eating curry since they were born but there is a small part that also has to do with the ingredients they have. They are way fresher!

Anyhow, back to the discussion. They began by having a 20 minute discussion on when to put in the curry powder. Some say mix with water and put in before the chicken, some say put in after the chicken; some say sprinkle on the onions and then add the chicken straight away. The one thing they all agreed upon is to never, under any circumstance, put the curry powder in the oil. This makes sense because you don't usually put any powdered spice in the oil, but it was funny that they agreed upon that point so quickly. Then they began talking about the spices they add and how you can never really know how much of anything because all spices are different. Some cloves are stronger than other cloves and it is all about the smell and fragrance of the cooking.

The smell of the food here has been wonderful too, except for the durian. Durian is a type of fruit that smells really bad. I am not a big fan of it mainly because of the aftertaste that just never leaves but the smell gets to me as well. We had durian ice cream on Deepavali and I swear I was tasting and smelling it a day later!

That is it for now on Malaysia. I have done and seen more than this blog shares but this is what was important to me. I am having a wonderful time with family and can't wait to spend more time with them! Now the three of us are heading up to Penang and then on to Thailand, maybe. We don't really have a concrete plan but it is working itself out as we go along.