I really didn’t know what to expect of Malaysia probably because I wasn’t finished digesting India. It only took us three days to go from Chennai to Penang. The seas were calm and we had occasional rain and beautiful rainbows.

The ship pulled into the harbor around 7am on the morning of the 19th. Different from any other port, the entire ship would be tendering or taking boats to the shore rather than docking in port. Penang is an Island of the Eastern side of Malaysia. The Island has skyscrapers all in front of lush green hills. My Borneo trip met at 0830 in the Union to board the first tender to shore to catch our 10:45am flight. Well, around 0930, the immigration officials had still not cleared the ship. Frantically, our passports were the first ones stamped and cleared and 30 of us boarded the first tender to shore, boarded our bus and sped to the airport. We left the ship around 9:50am and I was sitting in my seat on the airplane at 10:25am. Our flight was 45 minutes to Kuala Limpur (commonly known as KL) from Penang where we had a two and a half hour layover to catch our next flight. I bought an US Magazine and we had a healthy breakfast at Burger King. The next flight was on a Boeing 777 (the kind that seat 8 across) and conveniently I was in the last row of the entire airplane thanks to my last name- seat 48 D. We took off from KL for our 2.5 hour flight to Kota Kinabalu (KK) on lovely Malaysia Air. The flight was going well, some turbulence but nothing major. Right before the time when the plane was supposed to land the pilot came over the intercom saying that there was a plane stuck on the runway at KK and that the flight was put into a holding pattern until the plane could be moved. After 10 minutes the pilot came back over saying that we were to land in Brunei, a small country on the Island of Borneo, south of Sabah to “refuel.” The refueling took about 2 hours on the ground before finally taking off to land in KK. It was thunder and lightening outside but we still took off into the dark skies because by now it was 1800. The flight was very turbulent and then out of no where we hit an airpocket or got struck by lightening and dropped 100m. The freefall was in slow motion and was something out of the movies. All I remember was seeing the heads of the 20 rows infront of me fly sky high to the ceiling; get thrown across the plane and by some miracle, everyone ended up back in their seat. Jack, the girl sitting next to me who is also a SAS student didn’t have her seat belt on and actually hit her head on the ceiling. It was like a scene from a movie, babies crying, people praying. My hands were shaking. The worst part about it was that the pilot never came of the intercom to tell us what was happening! We didn’t even know when we were landing. All we heard was a big loud boom and then another and we were on the ground. The runway was so wet the plane actually slid to the side! Needless to say it was a very eventful flight and one that I will never forget. The entire group decided that the pilot wasn’t telling us the entire story. Once in KK we met our tour guide and headed to a cultural show and seafood dinner. The restaurant was on stilts over the water. There were all these tanks with snails, eels, fish, crabs, lobsters, mussels on the one side of the restaurant. Basically you point to which animal you wish to kill to eat and they prepare it- sketchy! Everyone shared their selected dish. I’m slowly mastering Chop Sticks- Glenn would be proud! Our hotel was very modern and the bed comfy. A handful of people from our group did karoke in the hotels “Lazer Lounge”- hilarious! Our director of Student Life and Field office coordinator sang a memorable performance of “ice, ice baby.”

It felt nice to sleep in until 6am. Today our trusty guide Darren was to take us to the Mt. Kinabalu Park in Sabah, one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Mt. Kinabalu is about 13,000 feet tall and climbed by people from around the world. Every year they have an International climbathon to see who can climb it the fastest. The record was set by a man who did the 21km hike in 2 hours and 39 minutes! Crazy. After a three hour drive to the park we visited the beautiful botanical gardens. Borneo is home to the world’s largest flower! We hiked around the park, swam in the hot springs and did a canopy walk. While we were having lunch at the Rainforest restaurant it started POURING rain. I saw more rain on this trip than California has seen in the last 10 years! My clothes are STILL wet and my laundry smells of a potent mud smell. The canopy walk consisted of 6 suspended bridges. The bridges were made up of twelve foot ladders tied together by ropes with plywood placed over the rungs of the latter. There were two ropes to support the weight, that’s it! It was a ton of fun! After a long day at the park we took the 3 hour bus ride back to the hotel where we ate another seafood dinner and headed back to the hotel.

The wake up call for our third day was at 5am to catch our 45 minute flight at 0730 from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan. I sat next to a really nice couple from Alberta, Canada who just flew into KK from their 10 hour flight. The next stop on the itinerary was the much anticipated Sepilok Orang Utan rehabilitation center where we were to watch an Orang Utan feeding. The platform that we stood on allowed us to see seven of these magnificent creatures. There were maqaok monkeys everywhere! After an exciting day at the center we left for our 2.5 hour speed boat ride up the Kinabatangan River. The river was beautiful! The water was a disgusting brown color but the bright green foliage that lined the river was mesmerizing. Occasionally we would see a large dark blob in the top of trees that were usually proboscis monkeys or wild Orang Utans. We even saw two venomous snakes and a crocodile! We stayed at a nice river side lodge with bungalows situated along the rivers edge. At dinner, we were not admitted unless we were wearing a sarong. The entire lodge sang songs and danced all night long, it was very fun!

The last day involved A LOT of traveling, almost 12 hours. In the morning the entire group boarded our speed boats again and headed down the river for our 2.5 hour journey back to the water taxi dock. We boarded the bus where we visited a beautiful Chinese Buddhist Temple that overlooked the entire city of Sandakan. Then we had lunch at the largest hotel in Sandakan before boarding the first of three flights to get back to the ship. Our flights were rather uneventful compared to the earlier flight. Our first flight was 45 minutes from Sandakan to KK, then 2.5 hours from KK to KL and then a 45 minute flight from KL to Penang. The entire group was thrilled to see the ship stationed off shore. The ship looks like a floating city of lights. After a warm, much anticipated, shower and a delicious mango smoothie from the pool deck, I settled into bed to read my pile of letters that Andrew, my steward, left for me on my pillow. A great way to end one of the best trips I’ve done so far.

In the morning, I overheard someone saying that it was EASTER! EASTER! My first Easter away from home, not at the Penna’s fishing or a sunrise service in Laguna. Growing up is hard.

Vanessa, Kristin and I headed to Starbucks to take advantage of their free internet. I haven’t seen a starbucks in over two months! I can’t tell you how comforting it was to be able to connect to the free internet with a green tea frappucino in hand. The U.S. is such a spoiled society. Starbucks was located in one the biggest vertical malls I’ve ever seen! This mall was 7 stories tall with an open courtyard in the middle. It was a very Asian mall. I swear Malaysia could survive on shoes, pirated DVD/ Video games, and massages. I bought 5 DVDS for 25 Ring git which is about 8 US Dollars- 27 Dresses, Mad Money, Juno, The Bucket List and P.S. I love you! Lauren, my roommate also got the third and fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy! After a 3 hour shopping spree, where the only thing I bought were DVDs, Kristin and I headed back to the dock to catch the tender back to the ship. The rest of the day I watched my new DVDs, caught up on homework and wrote postcards. I mailed 22 postcards from Malaysia because postcards and postage were unbelievably inexpensive. It was about 60 US cents to buy and send each postcard! Once everyone was back onboard an announcement came over the intercom saying that the ship would no depart until the morning due to the tides. I attended the Student led Easter service last night which was awesome. The ship community is blessed to have some amazingly talented speakers and such friendly people.

Malaysia really surprised me. Again, it may have been the huge contrast between India and Malaysia. The culture is largely influenced by Asia. On Peninsular Malaysia almost all the population is Muslim. In Sabah and Sarawak, the two Malaysian states on the Island of Borneo, 33% are Muslim. Malaysia has an economic goal to be a first world country by 2020. I feel like this country was a little intro to Asia. If I had to choose my two favorite countries so far it would be Cape Town, South Africa and Malaysia.

We are cruising at an average speed of 19 knots through the Strait of Malacca. There are cargo ships everywhere and land on both sides of us. It is still strange to look out the window and see a ship so close. Our itinerary has not changed due to the uprising in Tibet which is comforting. We are scheduled to bunker in Singapore tomorrow to get fuel since we were not docked in Malaysia. Singapore is the cleanest city in the world. If you do not flush the toilet it is a $300 fine! It is also illegal to chew gum.

We arrive in Vietnam in two days. I do not have any big trips planned. It will be nice to stay on the ship, not fly anywhere and hopefully get some homework done. I am doing two service visits in Vietnam; one to a school for the disabled and another to the Hy Vong School for the Deaf where we are taking 12 students to the zoo! I also plan on visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels that the Viet Cong used during the Vietnam war and taking a trip up the Mekong Delta. The voyage is going to go pretty fast from now until Japan. We have on average 2-3 days between every port from now until Kobe.

I can’t wait until Hawaii where I get to hang out with Aunt Kim and Mom. I’m craving Mexican food- Cholo’s here we come!!!

Happy Belated Easter!

P.S. Free postcard site has not been working on the ship...