As the soft corals of the Anaman sea quickly rolled into the tides of Penang, a shift in life occured. The first difference between Thailand and Malaysia was the language. The signs were no longer written in sandscript, which meant hope for my directionally challenge self. Even if I couldn't tell you what the signs said, I could at least sound out the words. Modern grocery stores, gas stations, electronics stores and malls pyramided up from the bungalows of the north. Everyone spoke English, and everyone was willing to help. Lucy and I were given great advice on every turn. People paid for our travels, bought us food, and were friendlier than I have experienced before here in Asia. Penang was our first stop. Georgetown, the big city of the island, is a Unesco world heritage sight for its Chinese, Indian, Muslim, and Colonial relics. We decided the best way to explore was to rent bikes and just go. We met many Malayasian people, which made the experience more local, and cultural. Although, we were living with a Thai family, I never felt like I was apart of their lives other than as a guest. While in Malaysia, I felt right at home. But not everything there was perfect. Life above and below the sea morphed into a progressive corruption of broken reefs and sterile mud hat once was jungle. The 8 hour bus ride to the Perhentian Islands reviled empty stretches of logged jungle, deeply scared and stained from over consumption. Trash bellowed over every sidewalk, riverbank, and beach making our human impact in your face. This seems is an overarching theme wherever there is corruption, poverty, and over population mixed with a lack of education. Trash and deforestation were just the first signs of a dilapidated ecosystem. The oceans, although still radiant were starting to bleach with human manipulation a. Many malasian people cannot swim and they walk all over the coral as they attempt to snorkel with life jackets on. They just don't know that if you touch, pet, or feed wildlife it affects their future in a negative way. The lack of education in terms of sustainability was rampant and overwhelming.
But I was not there to criticize, I was there to scuba dive. A form of Eco tourism that provideds the locals with a reason to protect their natural gems. After searching for the perfect dive shop, Lucy and I found Turtle Bay. A shop filled with Swiss, Spanish, British, and Malasian instructors and dive masters. I decided to get my Open Water Certificate, which looking back was an excellent choice. I was able to scuba dive in an sunken cargo ship with coral sharks sleeping in the hull, and lion fish who where drifting in and out of the sunlight, which shown like the white of your eyes. There was a stairway that once lead to the second level of the ship, which had turned green with time and file fish had made a new feeding ground on the steps. Large schools of barracudas circled the propeller trying to keep to together in the current, and scorpion fish hid like dust drifting at the bottom of the sea. The inhale of each breath I took from my regulator was like living a new life. All the dive masters at the shop call it an addiction, which can lead you to going on over 500 dives, or for some over 5000 dives!
Our next plan was to catch the overnight bus to Kuala Lumpur, but as all plans change we ended up taking a day train as close as we could get to Kuala Lumpur and a night shuttle the last bit. The transit town Kuala Lipe was the moment the green of the jungle turned to dark sky and it begin to drop its humid sweat. The once bellowing train over filled with women, their rice, children, and husbands who were shrouded in colorful traditional Muslim attire remained empty. Frogs leap out of the sidewalk puddles, grasshoppers scrambled to dry shelter awkwardly hitting your whole body making a light thud. At this point we weren't sure there was another train or bus to KL until 6 in the morning. So we were thinking we may have to sleep in the train station until then, but as luck and good planning would have it we caught a train 40 min later. I had a sever ear infection and sinus infection so I just tried to sleep the whole way. Sixteen hours on a train through the hot jungle with maximum air conditioning meant not much sleep was to be had. Yet, you rough and tough whatever you have to for the ultimate goal of adventure and end up feeling like you can accomplish anything.
KL was just a pit stop, as most cities tend to be, but it wasn't the scariest, dirtiest, or most overwhelming city I'd ever been too. The Malaysian people continued to be extremely nice, and I even met up with a friend we had met in Georgetown. The Chinese were an ever present culture, and when I tried to get antibiotics they proceeded to tell me that in Colorado you could sell heroin at the store. Needless to say I didn't take much of their medical opinion to seriously.
