Rants and Raves

After spending almost two weeks in Peninsular Malaysia I'd like to take a moment to reflect. I wasn't unhappy with the place but it didn't appeal to me the way that Cambodia and Thailand did. Maybe thats because I didn't get to visit Sarawak and Sabah, where all the cool stuff was. Or maybe Cambodia and Thailand set the bar too high and from now on I'll be disappointed in the places I go. But with the mixture of so many cultures I think the country is still trying to establish an identity. Its not really like the Thai's established culture or the Khmer's in Cambodia.

But like I said before I wasn't unhappy with the place. The food is dirt cheap where I consistently got nice big meals and a drink for less than $3. The weather was surprisingly cooler than I thought it would be despite being closer to the equator. A lot of people spoke English and intercity transport was pretty easy. On the other hand although the food was cheap it didn't hold a candle to the excellent food in Thailand and Cambodia. It is cooler but it rains at the worst possible times and for extended periods every day. There are a lot of English speaking people but the taxi drivers always try to rip you off even though they're supposed to be required to use the meter and the city bus routes are absolutely impossible to understand.

At the end of it all I really did like Malaysia, I just didn't love it. I think I would like to return and do Sarawak and Sabah as well as the rest of Borneo sometime. I have no regrets in taking a few extra days to do a little roaming.