Apologies in advance for any spelling/ grammatical errors. I'm writing in cafes for the duration of this trip so I won't have time to proof read and edit!
So we decided to spend some time in Malaysia before heading on to India because we were unable to gt Indian visas in Seoul. After a long series of unfortunate events, Caitlin ended up having to overstay her Korean visa and was therefore hiding out illegally in the country, which essentially made it impossible to contact any government offices of any kind, seeing as she was risking immediate deportation...
Naturally, we were concerned about getting out of the country, and had worked up fantastic scenarios in our heads of Caitlin being whisked off to a secret immigration office where unimaginable events would have occurred. As it turned out, it wasn't a big deal and they let her out of the country without so much as a sideways glance. Go figure.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. It was a reasonable flight and I would highly recommend flying Malaysian Air to anyone traveling throughout Asia. We had several issues (having to cancel and reschedule, extend our layover, etc) and they were very helpful and the price was quite good. In all honesty, they've definitely taken top spot in my list of "favourite discount airline"!
Malaysia, or at least Kuala Lumpur, has so far proven to be a low-key yet highly enjoyable place. It's a little dirty, it was incredibly difficult to get my money exchanged (ie: all but impossible) and I had to kill cockroaches in our hotel room last night, but nevertheless it possesses an undeniable charm that I'm all but positive you need to experience to fully understand.
It's an incredibly diverse city. After experiencing the homogeneity of Seoul for so long, Caitlin and I were absolutely astounded by the variety of EVERYTHING. We just sat in a street side restaurant and people watched for an unbelievably long time, just taking it in. Maybe it's reverse culture shock, but I just feel incomprehensively lucky to be a part of such a multicultural city at the moment!
Added bonuses: it's VERY warm and humid (although a little overcast... Still, I'm not complaining seeing as we knew full well when we decided to come here that it was the beginning of the monsoon!), there's food that's not galbi and bibimbap (we went to an AMAZING vegetarian restaurant today and ate VEGETABLES! It was pretty incredible...), everyone speaks English (we were fully prepared for the kind of communication difficulties we experienced so frequently in Seoul, but we haven't encountered a single issue so far!)and EVERYONE we've met has been unbelievably kind and helpful. I'm not sure, perhaps it's just because I'm happy to be on vacation but so far I'm pretty into Malaysia!
We applied for our Indian visas today, and we have about a week before they'll be ready, so we're contemplating heading south to a beach somewhere and possibly on to Thailand, but we haven't decided on anything yet. I'll be sure to keep "everyone" posted!
Selamet Jalan, until next time!
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