After every country we visit, Vikram writes about our overall experiences and highlights. Here’s his take on Malaysia!

Malaysia has the best food, as I’ve repeatedly told anyone who would listen. This is a fact. For whatever reason, it hasn’t really taken off in America, but Malaysia’s famous street food scene should put it on the travel list of any Asian food enthusiast.

There are other reasons to go to Malaysia – the view from the Petronas Towers, the unique Portuguese architecture (and food!) of Malacca, the street art (and food!) of Penang.

But for me, the main reason has always been my loving family. The 26-hour journey from America means I haven’t visited as often as I would like, but you would never know based on the way we’re treated when we’re there. Introducing Mary to my family (in Malaysia and Australia) has been a highlight of the trip, and celebrating my 27th birthday surrounded by family, including my 86-year old grandmother, made it my favorite birthday yet. Malaysia wrapped up the family leg of our trip, but Mary and I will try our best to come back to see everyone soon.    

Basics

Number of days: 21

Cities: 4 (Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang, Malacca)

Number of plane rides: 1

Number of bus rides: 1

Number of car rides: 2

Finances

Daily budget: Not meaningful, because we were hosted and transported by my family. Thanks everyone!

Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4.05 Ringgit

Attractions

Favorite things we did:

• Eating everything
• Birthdays with my family

Better than expected: Malaysian infrastructure. After traveling around South America and Southeast Asia, I’ve come to appreciate how advanced Malaysia is, although the recent 1MDB fund embezzlement scandal hints at how much better things could be if not for the blatant corruption.

Worse than expected: Crime has increased in recent years. Nothing happened to us during our time in Malaysia, but many of my relatives have been affected. Malaysia is a fairly prosperous country, but despite gates in front of every house and security guards (of varying levels of effectiveness) in many neighborhoods, people don’t feel safe in their own homes.

Things you have to eat:

• Roti canai
• Satay
• Char kway teow
• Baba laksa
• Malaysian coffee, with condensed milk
• Anything else that you see, really

Biggest challenges we faced: None, really, but that’s largely because nearly all of our transportation and lodging was sorted out by my family.

What we would have done differently: Visited East Malaysia, which was highly recommended to us, but not really possible due to lack of time.

Read More!

Petronas Towers by Day and Night

A Guide to Visiting the Batu Caves

My Favorite Malaysian Foods

Birthdays in Malaysia

Malaysia Pictures