Change of Plans

Well after my liveaboard I had about two days to make it to get out of Thailand before my visa expired. So I made a vee line towards the Malaysia/Thailand border. Originally I was just going to take the train/bus all the way to Singapore and then fly to Vietnam but I figured since I was in Malaysia anyways I should go ahead and spend a few extra days there. Well it turns out I only knew around 3 things about Malaysia before I arrived: 1) the Petronas Towers are in Kuala Lumpur 2) the island of Borneo has orangutans 3) Zoolander tried to kill its prime minister. Well none of this did me much good as I was on the overnight bus to Kuala Lumpur but none of that seemed to bother me.

As soon as the bus cleared customs I could tell we had arrived in a different country. Malaysia is a lot more modern than Cambodia and even Thailand. Everything just looked newer and more advanced. After arriving in KL five hours later, I headed for my hostel to grab some more sleep. The next day I literally spent the entire day catching up on emails, updating my blog, and registering for facebook as I finally had a high speed wifi connection. Apparently facebook is the new myspace except better. Everyone that I was in Thailand with and some people from other places as well are on it and it really does help keep in touch. So anyways, back to my story. My second day in KL I spent researching facts about Malaysia, places to go, and things to do. Here is a little of what I learned: Malaysia is blend of various Asian cultures. The people are made up of Malays, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Orang Asli (aborigines), and other various Asian decents. The majority of the people are Islamic but there is also a large population of Muslims, Christians, Hindu and other religions. The majority of the island of Borneo is not part of Malaysia. Orangutans also live on the island of Sumatra.

Well despite this influx of knowledge I still hadn't sorted out all my plans. I just realized that I probably wasn't going to make it to the Sarawak and Sabah regions on Borneo because it costs more to get there than to get to Vietnam and it was advised to steer clear of the eastern side of Sabah because of terrorism (not sure how true all that is). Unfortunately as it turns out most all the things I wanted to do in Malaysia are in Borneo so that put me back at square one. I finally ended up deciding on taking buses throughout some highlights of peninsular Malaysia including the Perhentian Islands, the Cameron Highlands, and the island of Penang before heading back to KL.