Last I wrote I was leaving my solo adventure behind and meeting bf to take over Malaysia and make my way back (towards) home.
There is a difference between a trip and a vacation. Now I know I am not working hard but hear me out.
Last year, as I was embarking on a 14 day trip to Ecuador with my students, one excitedly exclaimed "I can't wait till our vacation!!!" It stopped me dead in my tracks. "Vacation? You are not going on vacation! You are going to work so hard and be exhausted once you come back. This is will be a vacation after which you'll require a vacation!" Somehow I was puzzled that a kid thought we were going on vacation. Did they not know they'll be sleeping 4 hours a night? Writing journals? Negotiating shower schedules with their roommates? I noticed I was in some weird way offended by the word "vacation" and now was determined to tell them how hard it was going to be and not. any. fun. at. all. What the hell was wrong with me?
Fast forward to this summer and between the epic Lombok bathrooms (you know you saw the evidence) and being stranded in various places and ordering who-knows-what and trying to figure out what holiday is being celebrated today, I was on a trip. Most definitely not a "vacation." Do I expect someone to say this wasn't fun? Feel pity? Oh no, one is by no means better than the other. Just totally different.
So with that, my blogging stopped/slowed down when my "vacation" started. Who blogs about a nice hotel and blue waters? Everyone has seen them. With that being said, here are some thought on the last few days:
-I really like passion fruit. Mojito, pie, ice cream, tea, passion fruit is sweet and tangy and perfectly refreshing. Do we have passion fruit flavored stuff in the US? If yes, I want to eat all of it.
Passion Fruit Mojito on the left
- I'm going to miss wearing flip flops 24/7. On most days, I didn't even wear those and went barefoot. I can do beach life.
-My favorite Pete quote for the week: "I can't think of a more scary thing than to sit on the back of your jetski." The man knows me well and good thing there are single jetskis available though we never ended up on any.
-It's no secret that my planning sucks and when Pete and I started to figure out which part of the trip he wanted to join, his one non negotiable was Penang. Having never heard of it and what it was about I didn't care either way. As we started talking to people everyone raved about the food. Penang is all about the food! The street food! The carts! Food food food!
Penang has a lot of food, no doubt about that. Cluster of food stalls appear in every neighborhood and are called Hawker Centers. Please don't give me crap but... The food was good. Cheap. Accessible. But the best food I've ever had? Nah. Memorable? Maybe because we followed a blog and had to eat every single thing listed (we came pretty close) but the thing that made Penang special? Street art. Around every corner, a surprise awaits you. A mural of kids on a swing (with a real swing you can sit in), a picture of a kid grabbing a cup (real cup, of course), a child pulling his dinosaur closer (dinosaur NOT real). The murals invite you in and tourists are happy to oblige. The images are beautiful and seemingly never ending. If it weren't for 2720 degrees and about 98% humidity, I could have spent countless hours walking around George Town photographing the images.
-When I leave Southeast Asia I won't miss smoke. I know I have mentioned it before but the smoke, the fumes, more smoke and more fumes are tiring and I miss free air. I don't mean the beautiful air on the beach
(even though that's sometimes fume-y too because of all the boats), I just mean regular air for breathing. The one we take for granted. Thank you, whoever passed the "no smoking inside" law in CA and most of the US, because my goodness, I got used to that luxury at home. I also won't miss the constant bug bites and perpetual canckles but unfortunately no one has taken that on as their political agenda. One last frustrating thing in these parts of the world is the incessant use of plastic and the ridiculous packaging. Would you like a plastic bag to wrap your plastic bag? Yes, it's that bad! Our breakfast this morning was wrapped in plastic, then a banana leaf, then newspaper then placed in a plastic bag. I made it a bit of a sport in the last month to grab the items and shove them in my bag before the plastic comes out. The waste...
Rice and anchovies and chilli paste wrapped in all the things listed above. Breakfast.
-This trip has been without a doubt the most religiously diverse I've ever had. All the temples and mosques and even one cathedral. Malaysia seems to be a hodgepodge of religions living under one roof. "Pork Free" signs are large and signage for "No alcohol" is everywhere. Yes, even on an island where a day without a piña colada seems incomplete. But then you turn the corner and find yourself in a Chinese area where crispy pork is on the menu and you are offered a cold Tiger to wash it down.
These differences can't be more obvious than on the beach. Muslim women in full outfits, several layers of clothing, and others in bikinis and one piece bathing suits. For me the best thing has been to be in these situations as I am and others being as they are and everyone minding their own business. I don't know what people say under their breath but at no point have I felt judged or received a look I didn't appreciate.
-I already wrote about lack of Americans in Indonesia and that hasn't changed in Malaysia. I heard some Russian on several occasions but the only English here is either British or broken. Lots of tourists from Middle East and Asia. Come on, Americas, join, this place rocks for oh so many reasons!
-"No tipping" takes some getting used to. In Cambodia, tipping $1 was fine and expected, regardless of the amount spent. In Hong Kong, we had to talk the lady into accepting our $2 tip and she wasn't sure if she should keep it or give it to her boss. By the time we got to Malaysia, no one was tipping anyone and it was just fine. We are so conditioned in the US to reward good service and a smile, we can't just enjoy it for what it is. Speaking of money...
-During a cruise on an incredible handbuilt yacht I was lucky enough to draw attention to myself (?) via "Despacito." Let's back up... Pete and I set out on a yacht built by a German Polish Jew refugee from Heidelberg for a sunset cruise. The views were incredible, the history of the yacht just as impressive (only yacht built old Malay style available for charter) but the people on board were the story. The Indian couple quickly making friends with the Saudi Arabian couple in their 20s. The Australians who help disabled children for a living offering us to use their towel, the gay New York couple currently living in London sharing their travel stories, the Koreans wanting to take a picture with us without even speaking one word beforehand.
My fishy taking a dip mid sunset cruise
Back to the Saudi Arabian couple. When they got on the yacht the girl was wearing full garb, face covered included, with only eye slit for her to see. As we got on the boat, she took off the face cover and spent the majority of her time taking selfies. The guy, dressed in full on Western clothing, ran up to the DJ (who knew there was one and he was taking requests?!) and asked for the Justin Bieber song.
"Despacito", I ask him?
"Yes!"
His face breaks out in a huge grin. The song plays and the entire boat is now in it. Young and old, bikini and burka, we are all jamming away. I make a quick video on my phone and out of nowhere a 15 yr old Lucy hops over to us. An English student from China is incredibly excited that I *too* know the words. OMG. Later on as the cruise progresses, Lucy and I reconnect and she almost loses her mind that I am from California and CAN GO TO JUSTIN BIEBER concerts. Her English is incredible and she shares the difficulty of learning it in China, no access to Facebook to Twitter or Snapchat. She repeatedly comments on her poor English while using bigger words than Pete and I do on regular basis. As she walks away, I know we made her night and I look forward to keeping in touch with Lucy. Pete comments how he sees the value of what I do. If my students (maybe one or two a year, let's be honest) can come up to a stranger 2 decades their senior and talk in Spanish to them then holy crap, is my job done. How does this tie into money? Lucy wants to be an interpreter.
"That's awesome, interpreters make lots of money" I volunteer.
"It doesn't matter about money" she says, "it's what makes you happy"
BAM.
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