Sam *FINALLY* quit his job!!!!

I know people may be shocked, but Sam FINALLY put in his notice at Frame.io. Shoutout to whoever bet he would make it past Labor Day. Sam will now be able to enjoy traveling without the added stress of late-night Slack conversations and tending to clients.

However, we have new added stress — officially watching our bank accounts diminish day by day (RIP to Sam's final commission checks). Who knew we'd make it to September with him quitting rather than being fired?! (Thanks Jfred & Drew if you’re reading this).

We decided to hang tight and move slowly in Malaysia during the transition, essentially allowing Sam to have stable Wi-Fi and tie up any loose ends before his last day.

KUALA LUMPUR aka “KL”

We settled into Kuala Lumpur and rented a nice Airbnb for the week to experience a slice of normalcy. We went grocery shopping, did our own dishes (Sam's input: Laura did the dishes, lol), did many loads of laundry, and even started going to the gym for the first time in 7 weeks (yes, our clothes have been washed during this time, but by laundry services hehe).

Kuala Lumpur isn't as well-known to Westerners as, let's say, Bangkok, but after visiting it, I've realized it's highly frequented and loved by other Eastern tourists (Malaysia had 26 million tourists per year pre-covid, the same as Greece). I'd recommend spending a few days in KL for a long layover if flight routes bring you this way.

As Malaysia's capital city, KL is often compared to Singapore (but deff more gritty). It's sprawling with malls and shopping centers on every corner. And I mean, EVERY CORNER — each subway/train station is conveniently located within a mall. Apartment complexes are connected to malls, and even grocery stores are found on the bottom floors of the malls! Sam and I actually didn't need to leave our Airbnb complex for 2 days because it was connected to all of the above, including restaurants, movie theaters, and more.

The times we did leave, we went on a quest to find the best Michelin Guide street food. Malaysia is renowned for its food, primarily because it's a melting pot for Malay, Chinese, Indian, Thai, and other South Asian cuisines. We explored night markets, tried stingray for the first time (it's delish and we didn’t get stung hah!), and indulged in plenty of stalls serving laksa, curry mee, and various rice dishes.

We haven't had the chance to try Malaysia's infamous stinky fruit, Durian. It's notorious for being the smelliest fruit in the world, to the extent that hotels forbid people from consuming it in their rooms. On the streets, groups of friends delve into this spiky fruit to savor its interior (which somewhat resembles uni), and they wear plastic gloves to protect their hands from the lingering smell that can last for days.

We fully embraced living like everyday people and even managed to catch two movies while we were there - 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer.' Guess who picked which, lol.

After a few days in KL, I grew restless and tired of strolling through malls to pass the time. At least we had a nice view from our Airbnb pool, and we spent a lot of time reading!

IPOH

We hopped on a train from KL and headed three hours north to Ipoh, a medium-sized town filled with artsy and trendy cafes. It's also renowned for Malaysia's famous coffee—white coffee, which uses condensed milk and margarine for sweetness and a frothy top layer. After trying it, we realized it was incredibly sugary (and extremely caloric lol), so we decided to limit ourselves in the days to come (Laura, in particular, decided to limit herself :)).

Our attempt to visit a cultural heritage site in Ipoh took an unexpected turn when we found ourselves in a mini amusement park that could rival Old Town Sacramento in California. Essentially, it was a fabricated miniature town where visitors could pedal around on four-person bikes (or even better, carriages) and don rice paper hats (I'm not entirely sure if this has been deemed "politically incorrect" in Asia yet).

It occupied us for an afternoon until it started raining.

PENANG

We continued our train journey, traveling another 2 hours north to Georgetown, Penang. Penang is famous for its street food, and I was in PARADISE. During our 4 day stint, we ended up eating at 12 different Michelin-recommended restaurants, spanning from hole-in-the-wall joints to fancy dim sum establishments that felt like a scene straight out of 'Crazy Rich Asians.'

Unfortunately, Sam's stomach finally gave in (about time!!) after consuming some questionable noodles on the train ride. So, I've been playing the role of nurse (and mom) reminding him to steer clear of spicy and oily foods.

—

Culturally, we haven't been able to grasp much about Malaysia, aside from a few observations:

Malaysians are sticklers for rules— We once got off at the wrong subway stop and played the role of dumb tourists, but we were still forced to pay a fine for our mistake (a whopping $1 USD!).

We attempted to ride the bus, thinking we could purchase a ticket onboard, only to discover that we needed a physical ticket. Unfortunately, our bus stop had no ticket counter, so we asked the driver if we could pay in cash or if he could make an exception. He refused.

Another instance was when we attempted to return a pair of pants (trousers for the Britts) that Sam had bought. The salesperson informed us that they were unable to process the return and that it would take up to 1 hour for them to resolve the issue with their manager.

“Melting Pot:” In terms of cultural interactions, we noticed that ethnic groups don't intermingle much here. Despite being a melting pot, there's minimal cultural exchange. The Muslim Malays tend to stick to their own, as do the Chinese and the Indians.

We also learned that if someone marries a Muslim Malay, by law, that person must convert to Islam. Consequently, it's rare to see Chinese Malaysians marrying Islamic Malaysians due to this legal requirement.

We haven't sensed a strong sense of national pride among the people. Ethnic ties appear to be much stronger than national ties in this country. We were in KL during Malaysia’s Independence Day, but there wasn’t as much celebration as we would have expected.

Malaysia is a very wealthy country: This nation is undeniably wealthy. We intend to delve deeper into this, but our initial thoughts are based on the country's status as a global financial hub and its position as the world's largest exporter of palm oil (we'll cover this in more detail in the next blog!).

After eating our way through the country, we're now ready for a new adventure. We're touching down in Borneo (as I write this!!) for a jungle trekking expedition with limited Wi-Fi connectivity and high hopes of spotting wild orangutans and other fascinating species in their natural habitat! I’m already dreading the bug bites and squatty potties, but here’s to a ~ once-in-a-lifetime opportunity HAHA.