It had emerged as an afterthought. A “whatabout” suggestion. Plan, already having taken shape. Consideration given to factors of time, reputation and the weight of both. Yet when applying just a touch of logic to this map, one need only take notice of the line connecting the dots. If such a line had been administered by paintbrush, a tragedy only clear through hindsight would have occurred. The disaster of missed opportunity, missed experiences. Instead, when pen stroke connecting countries, revealed was the possibility of potential. As more ink emerged, endless, during line being drawn, further doubt was cast on original plans. To cross over this much land without any more care or consideration than soreness of wrist was inexcusable. “Whatabout stopping in Kuala Lumpur?” said our curious traveller. “Whatabout Singapore?”

Unencumbered by expectations, the soil for experience was fertile. A city whose name rings familiar, but few able to paint a picture when questioned. A collection of cultures. From this, diversity of many form. A place that seems unsure of which identity to claim, but emerging from this uncertainty is a constant: the kindness of its people. As if worrying not about a cultural identity, but instead about the truth and emotion found in a human connection. Taking it upon oneself to connect. No pre or misconceived notions of humanity. No convoluted social or cultural norms. Just a smile and a hello. Raw interaction. A curiosity, maybe, but at its simplest, its purest, a smile and a hello.

When Katie and I were planning our route around Southeast Asia we had the key players at the top of our list. Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam jumping out as our main priorities and the countries we wanted to experience fully. There is a classic ‘O’ or ‘U’ shaped trip many travellers do around this part of the world involving these places and also including Cambodia and Laos. For us, when we considered the amount of time we had for the trip (approximately 10 weeks) we chose to fully experience a few countries instead of skimming the surface of a bunch. Therefore this, along with the reality of our travel nurse making Cambodia and Laos sound like the wild wild west of mosquito-related illness, had us plan the majority of our trip within our original three countries. However I can honestly admit that although I knew all of these countries by reputation, my grade school geography had failed me because I did not have an accurate picture of their locations in my mind. When planning I had thought these three places were much closer together, and that they would lead seamlessly into one another and allow for efficient travel and thus making the best use of our time. After looking at a map, I realized I was very wrong. But luckily as sometimes happens with mistakes, especially in the realm of travel, wonderful things can emerge. In this case, my mistake led to a more thorough investigation of earth and realized that between Thailand and Indonesia there is a fair amount of space. Within this space, a couple of names jumped off the page (okay it was a screen. But for the sake of my writing I would rather you envision me with an actual atlas instead of a computer screen. Just as I hope you envision me writing these passages with ink and parchment instead of typing on a laptop). To follow our plan and fly from Southern Thailand to Indonesia, we would pass directly over both Malaysia and Singapore. After realizing both my original blunder and the geographical facts, I approached Katie with the “whatabout” moment. I suggested instead of just dismissing these countries with the casual purchase of a plane ticket, why not stay on land and take the long way? My original, overly ambitious in hindsight, suggestion included a collection of train and bus rides to still follow our original plan, but to include a much more eclectic version of A to B. That original plan evolved into something more realistic and involved a couple shorter flights and a bus ride. Due to the Malaria situation around the majority of Malaysia, we decided to fly into Kuala Lumpur, which is outside of the danger zone, and from there take a bus to Singapore where we would eventually fly onto Jakarta. Sounds better right? We thought so too.

It began as an afterthought, but we are so glad we went. Kuala Lumpur was such a fantastic experience. Since it is fairly central in Southeast Asia, there are a huge variety of cultures beyond the native Malaysians. Lots of foreign investment and it being a major business hub creates an interesting dynamic of a city caught in the middle between it’s roots and location amongst poverty stricken nations and a melting pot corporate culture. Both are unavoidable, but both make this a really unique place to experience as a traveller. Walk to a popular food market and you are surrounded by skyscrapers, but eating on the street with locals from all walks of life. Witness the Petronas Twin Towers, but on your walk back to your hostel you pass through a flea market with locals selling their wares. Extravagant displays of wealth are constantly balanced by an impecunious truth. However this isn’t to paint a sad picture. Quite the opposite in fact. For example, a well-known Sean Connery film called ‘Entrapment’ tried to really play up this stereotype. When framing scenes within the city, with these same Twin Towers shown in the distance, the film depicts intense poverty and more of how people picture Southeast Asia in their mind if they haven’t visited. The city, and its representatives, stood up for themselves and denounced the way the filmmakers chose to portray Kuala Lumpur. As with any place, it of course has its problems, but this unique dichotomy was a wonderful thing to behold and allowed for some incredible and memorable experiences.

Malaysian food is amazing. Let me state that again, especially for anyone that has casually passed over the option in favour of more familiar Asian alternatives. Malaysian food is amazing. Due to the addition of these two cities being very last minute, and not wanting to impact the original intent of our trip, we only had a handful of days in KL. Therefore our main priority, and what is often the lifeblood of any travel experience, especially in Southeast Asia, was the food. I had heard of things like the Twin Towers, and we knew it was a beautiful city, but I knew very little about what would be considered Malaysian food. Katie had read about a famous street not too far from our hostel that was essentially a food market, even though most of the restaurants were actual brick and mortar instead of food stalls. What made the street unique was that every restaurant spilled out onto the sidewalk, essentially doubling their square footage, and creating an incredible and welcoming atmosphere for culinary experience. Cars could pass through, but it was mostly pedestrian traffic flooding the street. Other vendors post up with their food carts on the few pieces of sidewalk that were available selling fruit, quick takeaway options and desserts, but the main draw to the area are the restaurants themselves. Owners and servers are pounding the pavement and trying to entice you to choose their restaurants, which only added to the overwhelming scene, as there were hundreds of tables blurring the lines between each individual space. Katie knew the one we were searching for and her research paid off as we enjoyed amazing noodle dishes and some famous chicken wings. This street, and this menu, was also our first sighting of one particular food that Malaysia is known for…more on that later. We found our way to a local craft beer bar and here I had an encounter that set the theme for this post: a random guy struck up a conversation with me…more on that later. Fun beer fact: Malaysia is home to one of only a few Guinness breweries in the world. It is a widely held belief that Guinness tastes best fresh and therefore, a popular myth around KL is that this country, in terms of flavour, has the second best Guinness in the world (second only to Dublin, naturally). I tried to do a spot of research to confirm, but couldn’t find any consensus list, so I am choosing to believe our friendly, completely unbiased, bartender. In honour of this we drank a Guinness on our hostel’s rooftop patio overlooking the Twin Towers and skyline.

Skip to lunch time of day two and the Malaysian experience really ramped up. We Ubered to a part of town that caused the driver to second-guess our final address. I always consider this a good sign because I feel it validates my identity as a traveller, not a tourist. Luckily in this particular instance his reaction was not due to the potential for danger, but instead his own lack of knowledge of where we were headed. You guessed it. A food market. This wasn’t just any market though. This place specialized in one thing and does this one thing really well. Barbequed stingray. Since hearing about it and seeing it on the menu from the night before, we were amped up to finally taste for ourselves. Arriving at a punctual 1pm, we were gutted when we discovered the main place was sold out! Turns out you’ve got to arrive real early to get the best of the best. So it seems that everywhere in the world people eat barbeque at a ridiculously early hour (Google ‘Franklin’s BBQ’ in Austin, Texas). The chefs could sense our disappointment and quickly assured us that the other restaurants would have some left, so we made our way next door and he was right. And if what we tried was the second or third best stingray available, then the first place must be on another level because ours was delicious. To help paint the picture, and partially why our Uber driver was so confused, this was clearly a local joint. We were absolutely the only tourists within earshot. Therefore we first had to figure out how to order. People seemed to have food. Other people were definitely cooking. Nobody was serving the tables. But there was no line up to order. When in doubt, go to the dude on the grill. A bit of broken English later and we managed to get a variety of meat and most importantly some stingray. Great, job one done. Now what else. Rice. Some rice would be good. People seemed to have rice. Mmmm, but no rice in sight. Okay lets go for a walk. Take the lid off of a couple Gatorade-esque coolers and bingo, self-serve rice. Then when we’re all sorted we look around and fully appreciate one of the best parts of Malaysian food culture. Everybody eats with their hands! So fun. Instead of giving out cutlery and napkins, basically every food service location around the country provides a mini sink to wash your hands after you finish eating. If the atmosphere and the food wasn’t enough, this absolutely pushed us over the edge and the smiles on our faces matched the excitement of our taste buds. The stingray was so good. Our portion was served in a shape almost like pork tenderloin with the meat peeling effortlessly off the skin. It tasted much more like dark meat than I was expecting, but had a unique texture and flavour that I have a tough time comparing to anything else. None of this “tastes like chicken” nonsense. Obviously they have their own unique seasonings that make it authentic and special, but it was different to any other fish I have ever tasted. I am craving some right now just writing about it. And then it happened again…A random guy struck up a conversation.

Whether strangers in a bar, strangers sharing a table, strangers driving an uber or strangers on the street, the common theme across many of our KL experiences was the intense kindness of it’s people. The target many travellers feel on their backs in a foreign place was this time placed not with a feeling of intimidation or threat, but with a smile and a handshake. Our existence as foreigners was an unspoken invitation. On multiple occasions throughout our stay we would be approached for no other reason than to have a chat…and maybe a photo. There was clearly a curiosity. Our accents, our skin colour, our fashion, our hair, everything. What came of it were incredibly friendly conversations with wonderfully pleasant people. In the bar the first day, “hey, where are you from?” At the food market the second day, “hey, what do you think of the food?” No excuse needed, just our existence in their country was an opportunity to connect. I had a great conversation about Asian craft beer with the first guy. The second guy introduced us to his friends that he was having lunch with. When I went to wash my hands, I turn around and Katie is all smiles and taking photos with them. Again, with no feeling of intimidation or threat (right, Katie?), just a genuine moment of human connection. As more instances began to pile up with the same central theme, I was left with an overwhelming affection for Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur.

Now with the good stuff out of the way, it’s time to vent a bit. One of the most celebrated reasons for visiting any country in Southeast Asia is that you can find any clothes, shoes, watches, technology, you name it, for an extremely competitive price. Obviously there is a question of quality, but the point is that it’s cheap and it’s available. I needed some shoes. I was excited at the prospect of getting some inexpensive shoes. I began shopping for some shoes. Let it be known that my shoe size is an incredibly average 10.5-11. Should be super easy to find shoes when you are the average size, right? Wrong. I might as well have been in the NBA. For the life of us we could not find shoes over a men’s 8, maybe 9 if you’re lucky. It was unbelievable. I talked these guys in circles getting them to my price and then when someone runs off to find the shoe and try it on, nothing. “Do you ever get shoes bigger than this?” I ask. He immediately laughs and responds helpfully, “No.” But fast-forward a few weeks and for the ultimate salt on the wound moment, guess who buys the exact shoe I wanted? No but seriously Katie, you look great in them…

The last notable day in Kuala Lumpur involved the popular Batu Caves. Recognized chiefly by the enormous golden Murugan Statue that stands next to a staircase leading into a wall of limestone. At the top of the stairs you enter a series of caves and Hindu temples that create an incredible environment to witness. Monkeys run around the scattered temples and craning your neck towards the cliffs and top of the caves creates an awe-inspiring perspective. Back at street level we took a train back into the city and had our last important food stop. Lot 10 Hutong Food Court. Somebody had the absolutely brilliant idea to approach all of the best food stalls in the city and bring them together under one roof. Places that would normally be just a cart on the side of the street could now open a polished extension in a bustling food court. Needless to say the only negative was having too much to choose from. Lunch done and we made our way to an afternoon coffee. Here I was given the other form of satisfaction I search for as a traveller and reached an important milestone for everyone keeping score at home. My hair had reached a new level. When preparing to order I was jokingly welcomed by the barista with greetings in Spanish, French, Italian and English as the gentleman tried to determine my nationality. I won’t lie. It was the best thing that happened to me that day. I ordered my coffee in Portuguese and we went on with our day.

It was time to leave this magical place behind and head towards Singapore. After ending up on a bus with massage chairs for seats (yes, random, and they didn’t really work), viewing some beautiful mountain scenery along the way and fighting through a brutal line at customs, we arrived in our second unintended destination. Their status as a sovereign city-state is something that clearly separates them from their neighbours, but it took all of thirty seconds after crossing the border to realize just how different they really are. The more time we spent in Singapore it became increasingly evident that the city is everything I described about Kuala Lumpur in terms of big business and foreign investment, but to the extreme. The easiest way to describe it is a cross between Europe and Asia. An extremely wealthy country that absolutely embodies the Asian characteristics we have come to appreciate, but with a very strong Western influence. Understandably, just as discussed previously, this creates another very stark societal separation. Hidden beneath the glamour of the city, the vast influx of expats, Disney, a boat on top of a hotel and some crazy trees, lies the real identify of its people and the history of their culture. By far our favourite illustration of this was the concept of the “hawker” and the hawker centre. Simply put, a hawker is someone selling food in a stall and hawker centres are open-air complexes that can be found not only in Singapore, but also in Malaysia, Hong Kong and other countries. Even though we hadn’t exactly experienced this anywhere else, Singapore makes it special, and you can feel it. Scattered around the city are a bunch of these centres, which is the easiest way to get delicious and reasonably priced good in this unbelievably expensive place. And for the coolest part of all, a local hawker was the first ever food stall in the world to receive a Michelin star. Since then, multiple others in town have been given the same honour. Curious to find one? No need for Google Maps, just look for the longest line.

We knew when we were stopping in Tokyo on our way to SEA that it was going to be a pricey few days, but since it was only the beginning of the trip it was much easier to swallow the exchange rate. Now after having spent a few weeks experiencing the price tag of Southeast Asian travel on the off-season, trying to “backpack” in Singapore was shocking. It is a place driven by tourism and big business, so the lowly backpacker has a tough time getting the most out of the city. Even the hostels were expensive, which were full of businessmen who live in them full time because they can’t afford apartment or hotel prices. As you can imagine it creates a bit of an awkward dynamic in the hostel when a 20-year-old dread-locked Finnish scuba diving instructor shares a bunk with a 55-year-old Malaysian accountant. But since we knew craft beer was going to be expensive, and we didn’t have a lot of time (nor finances) to take on a bunch of excursions, we saved our money by sticking to the street food. It really is a fantastic city and I hope to return someday soon, but it is definitely on the list of cities I want to visit with a little more money in the bank.

Arguably the most iconic images of Singapore involve the Marina Bay Sands hotel and the Supertree Grove. The stunning architecture and design of the two attractions can be enjoyed both day and night as the city puts on a set of light shows after dark. First, visitors can sit amongst the trees or pay to view from the tree house-style walkways and stare into the enormous structures as music and lights coordinate to put on an incredible display. For any Avatar fans out there, the experience was very surreal. Felt like the scene where they are all connected to the earth and praying to the Tree God, or whatever that was. After this show a short walk takes you over to the hotel where a crazy projector shoots light from the top of the building down to the waterfront where people can sit and watch the images display on the mist from orchestrated water fountains. With the city’s skyline in the background it made for another amazing moment.

The theme throughout this post has been about people. And in spite of the reality of Singapore, one that I found current visitors and those that had never visited before often assumed to be negative, our experiences with the people here were lovely. There were countless more examples of random kindness, random conversation. Our bus driver at the border was waiting for us directly next to customs because he could see we were unlucky with the longest line and didn’t want to leave us behind, which we later found out had happened to some other backpackers. I stopped abruptly on a sidewalk when I noticed a Michelen sign in front of a random restaurant in the central business district. I must have had a confused look on my face because a gentleman stopped and asked if I had heard of it before and even recommended a smaller, easier to get into location, just around the corner. We got caught in maybe the hardest rain I have ever experienced, and after trying to dodge and avoid each drop finally succumbed and accepted saturation. We were running through the main market area, purposely jumping into puddles and laughing as people were cheering us on from their patios and restaurants. We unknowingly arrived minutes before a restaurant in Little India was closing and instead of turning us away, the owner assured us it was okay and delivered what I objectively and genuinely think was the most delicious curry of my life (Little India is not so little here and it is absolutely incredible. Worthy of a lot more writing, but this post is getting long, so just go there if you’re in Singapore). Both Kuala Lumpur and Singapore certainly have their faults, and I am absolutely only speaking to our own, very short experience. But it was so wonderfully refreshing, surprising and reinvigorating to experience such a beautiful example of the humanity discovered in travel. These are the types of experiences that inspire me to pursue this lifestyle and to encourage others to do the same. When language is an obstacle, not an excuse. When a smile becomes contagious. When a stranger is just someone you haven’t said hello to yet. I’m just really glad I had a longer look at that map.

No Regrets.

The Travelling Gentleman