Alone in Melaka

After such a sad good-bye in KL, I vowed not to speak to anyone the next two weeks of my trip as to prevent myself from making new friends and having to eventually say Good-Bye to them as well! Being quiet and unfriendly is not exactly one of my strong suits. But thankfully Melaka isn't exactly a big backpacker hub, and I actually enjoyed the few days alone getting some rest, catching up on my journal, and exploring the quaint seaside city...

The entire city is declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Melaka River Path where I sqeezed in a few jogs

 

Overlooking the Strait of Melaka

St. Paul Hill

St.Paul Cathedral

Musician at St.Paul Cathedral

Strolling through the streets of Melaka on my last day I found myself in a conversation with an Irish Bar owner, and before I knew it I had told him that I would come back that night for the live Jazz music. So after dinner, I strolled back down to the cute little bar on the river. Still feeling a little anti-social I ordered a cold beer and found a nice little spot in the corner to enjoy the music. I hadn't taken two sips before I was sitting at a table with an eccletic group of people from all of the world. A self proclaimed "Citizen of the World" whose name I can not remember for the life of me had come over and told me that he never lets anyone sit alone and that I had to join his group. It ended up being an incredible night. We had people from France, Australia, The Netherlands, England, Spain and even Alabama, who all took turns passing around an acoustic guitar while everyone else chimmed in singing a huge variety of songs. I obviously kept my singing to a bare minimum! I was on my way out of town the next day so there was no time to get to close and start to dread the inevitable goodbye. So I sipped my beer, enjoyed the music, and got a little dose of home reminiscing with my fellow southener! The next day I headed out of Melaka, taking my second case of Bed Bugs with me...

The last stop for the 3 Stooges...Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur would be the last stop for "Three Stooges." Natalie and Ryan had purchased AirAsia flights from KL to Vientianne, Laos to avoid the flooding in Thailand. I somehow managed to withstand the peer pressure to go back to Laos, and would remain in Malaysia for another 2 weeks before returning to Thailand! We spent the next 2 1/2 days seeing the sights of Malaysia's Capital city...

Petronas Towers

The pose you had to get down to to get the whole tower in the picture

Petronas Towers Night View

Menarea KL Tower

Shopping in the Markets...

Central Market

First taste of Rambutans

 

Climbing the 272 stairs to the top of the Batu Caves...

Natalie and I in front of the Batu Caves

Ryan and Andrew

Stairs to the top...

Batu Caves

Batu Caves

Trying to avoid the thieving monkeys!

Acting like 10 year olds in a Theme Park housed in a Department store...

Our friends for the day!

 And spending our last night together in true form...Experiencing the Night Life!

My Love!

The 3 stooges

Kuala Lumpur

Many people think that being away from home, friends and family, or language barriers are the hardest thing about traveling. False...the absolute worst part of traveling is saying Good-Bye to amazing friends you meet along the way! I met so many incredible people on my travels, and it's very easy to get super close to people you meet on the road. Ryan and I had been traveling together for over a month and had been with Natalie for about 3 weeks. I was sooo sad to see them go and it was a very tearful Good-bye! They were off to Laos and I was stepping out on my own for the first time in months...

Penang Island: Malaysia

While I was wallowing in self pity over my infections on Phi Phi Island, the rest of mainland Thailand had an actual tragedy on their hands. Due to heavy rainfall and overflowing rivers, much of Thailand was underwater from Bangkok through Chiang Mai in the North. The floods were a popular topic of converstaion amongst travelers and most had to detour their routes because of them. Ryan and Natalie had been working for weeks to try to talk me into going back to Laos to go Tubing with them for a second time. Had it been possible to get there by the usual overland route I probably would have gone. But it seemed like the only way to get there was by flight, which were expensive due to higher demand! Another problem, the main airport serving as the hub of South East Asia was in Bangkok, a city threatened to be under water within days. After much deliberation, we all decided to head South, away from the floods and into Peninsular Malaysia...

After another 12 hour day of transportation hopping, we arrived in the city of Georgetown on Penang Island. None of us really had any idea of what to expect from Malaysia, but I don't think any of us expected the huge city and tall skyline that greeted us when we came over the bridge onto the island. We quickly found a cheap, acceptable place to sleep for the night and headed out to do what one always has to do first thing in a new country...get a taste of the local beer!

The next day we headed out to see the "sights" of Georgetown.

Natalie's shoes had been stolen our last night on Phi Phi. She wasn't too concerned with getting a new pair at first because it is perfectly normal to see backpackers roaming the streets wearing a tank top with various beer logos and barefeet. We realized quickly that we weren't in Thailand anymore. Not only was she getting stared at by very suspicious looking men, her feet were on fire! We failed at finding shoes, but on our mission managed to find a reprieve from the heat in the Penang Island History Museum. Needless to say the A/C kept us in the museum much more than its contents!

Ryan carrying Natalie through the streets of Georgetown

We decided to head out of the city and try to enjoy some sun and beach, now that Ryan and I were healed enough to go back into the water! We took a 40 min bus out to Batu Ferringhi. A beach town that looked like it was happening sometime in the past, but now resembled a ghost town. We spent the next couple of days soaking in some sun, taking walks on the beach (denying women dressed in Burkas their requests that we take a picture with their creepy husbands in our bathing suits), and saddling up to the hotel bar during the daily 3pm monsoons!

Not your average walk on the beach

Ryan and I really enjoying Malaysian Public Transport

After a few relaxing days we continued on our way South and hopped on a five hour bus to Malyasia's capital...Kuala Lumpur!

Back to Koh Phi Phi

After making it out of Krabi we hopped on a 2 1/2 hour ferry headed back to Phi Phi Island for my second time! We were supposed to have a few days of rest and detox, but after making new friends we were quickly back on the Chang! My time spent on Phi Phi was much different this time around than the first. Ryan and I were not in good shape by the time we got off the boat and headed straight for the Pharmacy! (we would proceed to make multiple stops per day there throughout the next week!) The lady took one look at our wounds and said "Ohh ladyyy, you sooo infected!" Before I knew it I was holding a bag filled with alcohol rub, gauze, bandagaes, antibiotic cream, etc and was about $30 poorer. Step 2 was to try to find a cheap accommodation on one of the most touristy islands in Thailand. We checked into what I refer to has the jail cell, consisting of 3 single beds, cement floors and one rotating fan. Since "Creepy Tim" had decided to tag along, there were four of us in the room. So we had to push two of the beds together and Natalie, Ryan and I slept laying sideways, all trying to position ourselves to recieve a little of the minimal air the fan produced! (until one morning we realized Tim had decided to stop the fan directly on him...apparently he was hot in the night!)

We had befriended a Britsh guy named Charlie on the ferry that day, who was traveling alone on holiday and had just had a birthday. We couldn't pass up an opportunity so we declared it his unofficial birthday and celebrated accordingly...Buckets, straight-arms, fire shows, boys in lipstick, etc...

Charlie ready for his Bday Celebration!

Birthday Crew

Natalie and I with Ryan ruining another pic!

Pretty Ladies

Birthday Straight-Arm: Ready...

GO!

Always good aftermath pics

   

It was all downhill from there...I woke up the next morning feeling like I had been hit by a bus repeatedly!! (and no, Charlie's birthday festivities were not entirely to blame) All of the infections had gotten worse and my body was shutting down! Seven months of traveling seemed to catch up to me all at once and I was basically bedridden, in the jail cell, for the remainder of our time on the island. I knew I was really sick when I watched my friends go to the beach and out at night without me, despite my usual case of "FOMO" (Fear Of Missing Out). Usually I could pull myself together and hang with everyone despite how tired/hungover/sick I felt...not this time. After 3 days of pure misery, I finally broke down and decided to give up on my over the counter drugs and pay for the strong antibiotics. Thank goodness they worked their magic quickly and I was back out taking over the dance floor with Natalie our last night in Phi Phi!!

All bandaged up

I know it's gross, but this is what I was dealing with!

After a week of recouperation it was time to move on. We caught another early morning wake up call and embarked on another FULL day of non-stop transportation on our way to country #18: Malaysia!