When you decide to travel, you often change places. At first, our travels looked the same, but over time we became so-called “Slow-travelers” and our reason was Malaysia. I recently read an article somewhere that this country is very dangerous, but I have to disagree with my own experience. We’ve been here for 7 months! and more and more, this country will grow in our heart. For this reason, you have the desire to show a completely different but still wonderful place to your friends and family. However, we heard the answers in the style: we are expecting a baby, we have a little baby and it would be complicated, we build a house and we have a mortgage, this country is too far, I don´t have a time (i have to go to the job), it is too expensive. Everyone has some duties, but on the other side, it is really sad because a lot of people are jealous and they would like to be in the same place as me and Martin.
In the end, there were three brave Robinsons who had come to us. What can I say… When I was younger, I was glad when my grandmother and grandfather took me to Slovakia or my parents took me to Croatia. Today it’s all different. Everything is easier, more affordable and there is nothing easier than pack some important things to hand-luggage and go for example to South East Asia. My cousins Martin, Dave and friend Annie did it!
Regarding their friends and the generation around twenty, travel with one of the best airlines (Emirates) and more than a month’s stay abroad, it sounded like a big provocation, but their notes like: Will you sleep in a shack? Is there a Laundry? Do you really need just a small backpack for such a long stay? Will you have a signal? … are quite funny for us. The idea of most people about how it looks like in Asia and that they live 100 years behind monkeys is really quite funny. Just imagine: The basic package of 6 GB of the internet with an unlimited social networking package (Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter) costs 35 RM (less than CZK 200 converted to the Czech currency). So, who lives 100 years behind monkeys? : D
Stay on Kawah Padi
The welcome party with us and the host was in a big style and even though Malaysia is a Muslim country and alcohol consumption is forbidden here for local people, there is no problem in Duty-Free shops. You have a maximum of 1 liter per person per month. Some brands that are very expensive in our country, you can buy cheaper here.
As for the common evenings, I love to remember when the phones were put off and we played cards. It’s a small thing, but it’s been a change for us. It’s always better to play in more people than just two. At the same time, I had to document the moment when the boys decided to play chess. No smartphones (at least for a moment). I felt like a grandmother what she said – when we were young we hadn´t smartphones and it was better…
Kawah Padi and 4 cats inherently belong to each other, and despite our warnings, we learned that both Dave and Annie are allergic. In the end, their stay survived with Zyrtec.
Sometimes, all had to help us. The boys were originally thinking about jogging or workout. However, we prepared for them outdoor workout and a solarium, so they didn´t need another fitness. Digging, banana planting, work with pallets, helping in the kitchen and washing the bathroom (last day) …. they did a lot! On the contrary, Annie helped me and she was in the role of a housewife who did a laundry, cooked, helped on the garden, painted rooms, and cared about “household”. THANKS A LOT FOR HELP!
After work, of course, there was a reward either. Sometimes the classic “relaxing on the beach” and even sometimes we had a small zoo.
I think this doesn´t need a comment:
Beach walks and the sea view …
Local cuisine
Another popular activity was to taste a local cuisine. The saddest for our Robinsons was the finding that there are no salami or sausages in Malaysia, and butcher shop (especially on the island) does not exist. So, for example, toast with ham and cheese for breakfast was not possible. The only option was toast with cheese (but it is not a local food and imports are from Australia or New Zealand, so you pay much more). Another situation is when you order a meal with a meat in a local restaurant. Meat is everything (leather, bone, meat) and it is possible that you get 3 pieces of bones and 2 pieces of skin from the 5 pieces of meat.
I remembered one more situation when we took our trio into a Swedish-style restaurant where you can take whatever you want and how much you want. Dave was so pleased that he takes a lot of meat…so he took a great looking mix, but instead of meat there were chicken paws: D yes … you can eat chicken paws too.
For little money, a lot of FOOD = shopping in the night market
One of the ways to taste some kinds of local delicacies and not to waste too much money is to visit the night market. You can get one piece of food for 1 RM (for about CZK 5).
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Durian’s tasting – an unforgettable experience for boys
• Typical fruits for Malaysia
• People are divided into 2 camps – either you love or hate it
• It is a fruit that makes it worthwhile to travel to Southeast Asia
• But most agree that it smells very much. Most often, the impressions are compared to a rotten onion, garlic, feces, Romadur cheese, or the odor of Gorgonzola in a warm room
• It is forbidden to enter public transport
• In markets, he does not need advertising, his odor is in a wide area
I went to the tasting of fresh durian too. For several months I’ve been smelling the typical aroma, but I never wanted to buy the whole durian for myself. It is true that I had previously tasted Durian ice cream, which was very distinctive, but it was not bad at all. After tasting of a fresh durian, I can say that flavor generally correspond to the description above, but I personally expected it to be much worse. On the contrary, the boys wanted to vomit before the first bite, and after the first bite, they couldnť continue in the eating. They said that never forget it. Whenever we went around a restaurant where they offered anything with a durian (for example McDonald has a McFlurry with a durian), they can not understand how somebody can eat it!
