112 - SINGAPORE

Singapore, 2013.

For a lot of reasons that are not that important, I kinda forgot to bring my camera along while walking around Singapore… I think mostly because it was so hot that I started to dread the sweat that the strap gave me. But the Marina Gardens, oh yes, the cloud forest and that cool air was so fantastic… and gorgeous, of course!

111 - MALACA (MELAKA AND TONS OF OTHER WAYS OF WRITING IT)

Malaca, Malaysia 2013.

I got to Malaca limping, because cleverly enough I had hurt my foot back in KL on my stop coming down to Malaca. The first night there I discovered the joys of sleeping near an Hindu temple, a Mosque and two chinese temples… between the different calls for prayer and the colorful and noisy rickshaws it made for a very interesting night. Even so, there's nothing, really, *nothing* that good nyonya cuisine can cure. I still miss the nyonya chungs, the best dumplings I've ever tried. And their laksa, of course. I don't think I've ever eaten so well as I did in Malaysia. 

110 - PENANG AND GEORGETOWN

Pulau Penang and Georgetown, Malaysia 2013

Telling you why I love Malaysia so much has a lot to do with the people I was lucky enough to meet there, the friends I was able to make, people that I love now as much as I did when I met them. One of the first things you learn as a backpacker is to form attachments really quickly and detachments also as quick, is either that or not surviving saying goodbye so often. Sometimes in the constant parading of people you make friends… in my case the same ones that I made in KL and with whom I spent my days eating and doing not much in the Cameron Highlands, also came to Penang Island. A bunch of crazies with whom I saw a chinese operetta on the street, corny pop singers singing christmas carols in food courts, strolled at night looking for a karaoke that we didn't find (much to the displeasure of a few prostitutes when we stopped at their corner scaring costumers while we talked). I loved Georgetown.

109 - CLOUD FOREST, CAMERON HIGHLANDS

Cloud Forest Trek, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia 2013.

After the humidity and heat of KL, arriving at the Cameron Highlands and seeing the tea plantations and the Cloud Forest was like breathing free again. So beautiful.

108 - BOH PLANTATIONS, CAMERON HIGHLANDS

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia 2013

107 - KUALA LUMPUR

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2013.

When I was planing the trip, I asked a few friends that have done the around the world thing about their favorite places in SEAsia and recommendations about where to go. The ones I trusted the most, because they were girls, first, and second, their trip was really recent were the girls from Elige Nuestra Aventura (their blog is down… I'm sorry). We decided to meet at our favorite tea shop, and while drinking chai and eating mochi (strawberry!) they told me how the more rewarding and unexpected country they visited was maybe Malaysia. Between suggestions and food recommendations, this girl from a table at our side suddenly faced us and told us, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I heard you talking and I couldn't help to butt in because I'm from Malaysia". It was so amazing and funny; we spent like hours talking with her, and after that evening, and the serendipity of the encounter, the fact that I was going to visit was a done deal.