Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Oh my! (Jordan)

Hey friends and family,
I haven’t written anything since Southern Thailand, and so much has happened since. Three countries have happened, in fact, and you all deserve an update. After our 5 day retreat at The Sanctuary on Ko Phangan, we headed on a treacherous journey to the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. So the travel day went something like this: we left The Sanctuary at 11am and took a long boat to the main part of the island, then we booked the 8:30pm night ferry (so we had to wait ALL day), then we slept in a boat crossing the 100km between the island and the main land of Thailand. In the morning we woke up and over the course of the next 18 hours we were in about 3 cars, one van, and finally a bus which took us across the border, into Malaysia, and dropped us in downtown KL at 1am. We found a hostel in China Town and crashed.
Excited to be in a new country, we woke up and explored KL. The population in Malaysia is fascinating. It is about 50% Muslim and 50% Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Christian, etc. Ethnically speaking there are Indians, Chinese, Malay, and a small percentage of white (Dutch, Portuguese and Ex-pat). Walking down the street in a single block you can see all these different cultures, religions and races. The best part is they are all co-existing extremely peacefully and functioning together as a whole. The other good part about this is that most everyone uses English to communicate cross-culturally. So we were smooth sailing with the ever intimidating language barrier problem when traveling.
KL is a modern concrete jungle with the famous Petronas Twin Towers being the most globally recognizable land mark. Until the 90s these were the tallest towers in the world (Taiwan has since taken 1st place). The city is full of character. One moment you are strolling through the China Town street market admiring fake Gucci bags, then you stumble upon an elaborate marble mosque, which happens to be across the street from an air-conditioned mega-mall. In the midst of Little India, I felt like I might as well be in New Delhi, and during one of the 5 times per day when Muslim people pray to Allah facing Mecca, I felt as if I might as well be in Saudi Arabia.
Megan took it upon herself to arrange a fantastic home stay with a Malaysian family through the Couch Surfing website. We spent 2 nights with Elma and her kids in a modest local home. Elma was so gracious and took care of us as if we were her daughters, doing our laundry, cooking us noodles and French toast, driving us around to sight see. We all hung out together in the evening watching TV and chatting. Just like home! The frightening thing though, was that Elma and her family were OBSESSED with American television. I mean I watched American Idol in Malaysia. That is bizarre. When Friday arrived we decided that we ought to move to a hostel and check out the Malaysian night life with out having to worry about stumbling into Elma’s home at odd hours in the night. We had a great time partying with other backpackers and locals in China Town. We left KL with nothing but good feelings of hospitality as Corey’s friend who lives in the city treated us to a lovely dinner for our final night.
The next day we hopped on a 2 hour bus to the ancient port city of Melaka. We toured museums and old neighborhoods and learned how the Dutch and Portuguese arrived in the East and starting trading and settling. In between historical sites we spent quality time in the state of the art massage chairs in the strip malls. Melaka held our interest for a mere 2 days and we were ready to jet.
Corey and I took a bus to Singapore, while Megan went to Cambodia to possibly pursue some volunteer opportunities and wait for us to meet her there. I am sooo glad I decided to check out Singapore. What a FANTASTIC city! Staying in Little India gave the city a more intimate and charming feeling. We stayed at the Price of Wales Hostel in a dorm with 4 other girls. The hostel is above a Pub and the bartender, a local Chinese guy totally took us in and showed us a great time in the City. The 1st night we got there he kept the bar open til 4am and didn’t make us pay for a thing. That night we partied with some US Marines who were in transit by ship to Iraq. It was really great to meet these guys and talk to them about the service at this vulnerable awkward time of "war."
The following day I sought out the local Brahma Kumaris center to speak with someone about continuing with the meditation course I started in Bali. The guy I spoke with talked to me for a good hour and a half until I became wary of the organization because he was making it seem extremely cultish, unlike my previous teacher Frank’s take on the practice. I decided to not let this one person’s interpretation scare me off, so I arranged another meeting for the following day. The next lesson I had was with an extremely peaceful, bald headed yogi, who was of course wearing all white. He spent two hours with me, teaching me more about the practice of Raja Yoga Meditation, the powers one can gain from the practice, and gave me tools to continue on my own. It was beautiful and powerful and I am so happy I spent some of my time in Singapore remembering how important my introduction to meditation was in Bali. It is easy to forget the lessons and tools I learned, so in Singapore I was happy to be reintroduced to these.
Back to the previous night in Prince of Wales Pub, nick the bartender ensured that we had a bottomless glass of wine all evening until he was ready to close the bar and take us out. At 1am we arrived at The Ministry of Sound (one of a famous chain of night clubs that started in London). Corey, myself, two girls from Norway, and Nick, got a private area with bottle service! Bottle service!? Are we really still in Asia? Nick treated us to the whole night, which I lasted till around 5am and I was the first to bail!
Another Singaporean activity is to go to what the Loney Planet refers to as "The Plastic Fantastic" Sentosa Island. This man-made island is attatched to a mall in by a monorail. Talk about futuristic! We spent Sunday at Cafe del Mar (there is also one in Ibiza) listening to great music and playing in the fake sand.
Our final night in Sing is defintaley one to write home about. We met a lovely local guy at The Ministry of Sound who is a restaurant manager of an extremely prestigious fine dining establishment (which must remain nameless by request) in the city. We were treated to a dining experience on par with the Flagstaff House. The restaurant is in the middle of the sky scrapers but is inside a renovated 19th century former fire house. We started the evening on the deck with Moet Champagne. Then we moved inside to the air-conditioned porch where we had appetizers and opened a bottle of Chardonnay. We enjoyed Alaskan king crab souffle and scallop carpaccio with cavier. For our entree we had seared ocean trout with squid risotto, and Prawn Scampi. This was an OH MY GOD meal, to say the very least. With enjoyed an elaborate desert platter (with every dessert on the menu to taste) served with a chilled Cabernet. So would say we left Singapore with a major BANG!
The next morning, or rather that night at 4am, Nick took us to the airport to catch our 6am flight to Siem Reap Cambodia. If you could choose one place in the world that is the polar opposite of Singapore, I can say with confidence that it is Cambodia. More on that thought to come!
Ciao and Bessos!
Jordan