February 27 – March 19

Time for a family visit with my mom and her husband in Malaysia! We met them in Kuala Lumpur and she rented a 2 bedroom apartment that was right next to the Twin Towers. It had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city with views of the towers from the bedroom. Within the building they had a pool, kiddie pool, gym, toy room and playground so the baby was very happy! It made it so easy to just hang out and let Grandma (or Mema as John says) spend time with the baby during our down time. Being so close to KLCC we took advantage of eating meals at one of the many restaurants at the mall and going outside to the surrounding park for the playground and fountain show.  We had flavorful, spicy Nasi Lamak from my mom’s friends restaurant.  It’s rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves with a side of peanuts, cucumber, boiled or fried egg, fried anchovies, sambal (spicy sauce), and a choice of beef rendang, fried chicken or curry chicken.  We also had a great meal at a Dim Sum restaurant where they cut up our duck tableside and wrapped it in a thin pancake.

Another advantage of our location was having the metro next door.  Within just 1 metro stop we were at Kampung Baru which is a traditional Malay neighborhood where they have numerous restaurants serving local food, either buffet style or made to order.  We had a couple of meals there and were the only tourists.

After a week in KL we hopped on a flight together to Kuching on Borneo. Kuching is much smaller than KL, the people are friendlier, and the food was better. Our apartment was next to Topspot which is the location of a bunch of small, fresh seafood restaurants on top of a parking garage. They had so many different types of fish, shellfish, and vegetables for a relatively cheap price.  My favorites were slipper lobster in black pepper sauce and bamboo clams in curry sauce. We also got whole fish cooked in a ginger sauce and the meat was perfectly cooked, it was so tender.  Over the week I also fell in love with the traditional Sarawak Laksa.

The Sarawak river runs through the city with a promenade along it and a pedestrian bridge to the other side.  We walked across the river to the free Orchid park and saw beautiful, unique orchids.

At night time the promenade and bridge light up in a variety of colors and is a popular place to spend evenings.  Within the main square by the river there was a bunch of families hanging out blowing bubbles.  We found a man that was running a small business of renting bubbles and wands for a cheap price so my Mom got some for John.  He had so much fun chasing the bubbles and running around with the kids.

We went to an orangutan sanctuary on a rainy day but due to the conditions we didn’t get to see any but we still loved being in the beautiful jungle.  There was a patch of light green and red pitcher plants and our guide showed us the largest ant I have ever seen.  On the way home we stopped at a village with traditional long houses.  We were greeted with a shot of their local liquor then our guide walked us through.  The houses are attached to each other and share a common walkway made of bamboo.  It was interesting to see how the village was slowly getting modernized from their children who left for careers such as doctors then invested money to renovate their parents house.  I went on a quick evening trip with my Mom and Ayman to a river where we went out in a boat for a couple of hours to look for animals.  We saw some monkeys, heard about the deadly salt water crocodiles, saw some isolated villages along the river and had a little bit of a choppy boat ride traversing between the river and ocean when a storm was coming in.

After a fun week in Kuching we all flew to an even smaller city called Miri.  We stayed at a beautiful apartment with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the ocean.  There was a great local night market selling all kinds of grilled meat, vegetables, noodles and cakes that we went to for a couple of dinners and John played with the kids.  They chased each other, practiced their English with us, and eagerly posed for pictures.  Miri was also surrounded by beautiful jungle and one day we took a quick trip to a waterfall where we waded around in the fresh water for a little bit.

Our whirlwind trip through Malaysia went quickly but the memories of exploring this country together will last a lifetime.