In the Land of Smiles – Angthong National Park.

Working online is no longer an “underground” movement (at least not as much as it used to be).  People are aware there are opportunities to make money online, to quit your typical 9-5 cubible job, or to start a first business.  It isn’t always easy, and it typically requires a radical change of perspective.

If working online full-time, you have to view the world a bit differently.  What we’ve been told to do our entire lives is do well in school to get into a good college.  Do well in college to get a good job, and get a good job to make a lot of money.  And make a lot of money to do, what? Retire earlier, raise a family, buy a house? This perspective is hammered into our heads. With the massive opportunity on the internet, and the education bubble, a shift is happening. Now, if you enjoy your current job (no matter what it is) and can’t see yourself doing something better most days, then I am not writing to you. This is more for all the people I hear complain all the time about their work, or the people who wish they could be doing more with their life (both financially or timewise).

Time “Off”

One of the biggest restrictions I see with working in the “corporate world” (I don’t like the term, but I am defining this as the classic job, working a typical 40 hours a week and happy with the wage you’re making) is the time restriction.  You typically get 2-3 weeks off a year (out of 52 weeks/year).  Not only this, you are forced to be in a certain place at a certain time 5 out of 7 days a week.  This is something that drives unhappiness, and it baffles me how many people live this life without a significant drive to change. If you have a family, and you sleep 8 hours a night, work 8 hours, that leaves only 1/3 of your conscious life to enjoy with them.  Not only that, it is on a schedule that someone else made.  How are so many people satisfied with this?

“treat it as a real job”

One of the things I hear all the time from people working online is to “treat it like a real job”.  Their point being that it is easy to slack off and not work, and that it should be taken seriously.  Absolutely.  However, with this said, it is also important to realize the change and all the opportunities it creates that the “corporate world” doesn’t have.  Has there been a particular place in the world you want to see? Do you enjoy working out in the gym when no one is there? Do you enjoy going to lunch when you’re hungry, going to sleep when you’re tired, and waking up when you’re not tired? Use your flexible schedule and location-freedom is take advantage of this stuff.  It is stuff that most people dream about but will never take the risk of doing. Those who do take the risk reap the rewards.

I can’t count the number of times my friends left an event, party, or gathering early “because they have to work at 7am tomorrow”. Not only this, they then miss out on so much of the night/gathering.  Yes, I have to work tomorrow as well, and will still likely still get more work done than the average corporate.  But the time flexibility allows me to still do what I want without constraint.  That is VERY powerful.  Think about it.

Opportunties

There is more opportunity now than ever to make money online.  The internet is expected to grow, so there is a lot of pie that needs to be eaten, and the pie is only getting bigger. 3 billion more people will use the internet in the next 10 years. Why not start now? There is little risk, just start learning, reading, and executing.

There is even more opportunity to learn new things than ever.  I don’t know if there are numbers, but I’d guess that most people who work online today learned a skill online. I can tell you that I learned everything I use on a daily basis today (to make a living) on the internet, by reading and practicing constantly.  The information is there, it is just a matter of reading it.  It is free, too. It is interesting: I’ve never taken a marketing class in my life, never had someone teach me marketing or advertising, yet I can make a living doing it. Again, the information is there, read and execute! I can tell you I am not alone.  There are thousands of people doing very similar things as me. Get busy!

Other things you should read:

• Forbes: Why do so many people hate their jobs?
• James Altucher: 10 Reasons to Quit Your Job Right Now

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It’s almost everyday I see another article come up about someone complaining about their privacy when using a web-based service.  It was Facebook for the longest time (and still today), then Twitter, then a lot of Instagram, and now any service where people find out their data is being used.

If you’re going to use a service, expect them to have your data and use it, and no, they aren’t stealing your data or using it to hurt you – almost all of the data is used to benefit you, the user/consumer.  Facebook doesn’t sell your data, it simply allows advertisers to create targeted campaigns, and advertisers do not have your data, they simply have pools of data.  Therefore, nothing bad can come out of it.  For example, an advertiser can target 35 year old females who like cars in Canada, but they don’t know anything about them other than there are 20,000 of them on Facebook. Would you rather see an advertisement about nothing related to you, or one that is targeted to your interests?  The obvious answer is a targeted one, and it is a better experience for you, the user/consumer, and a better experience for the advertiser.  The revenue these companies make also allows these services to improve so they can better serve YOU – they want to make the service better for you so there is more user engagement, hence more growth. There is also competition, so services are constantly improving.  These are also free services – be privileged they exist, don’t bitch about them.

Ever download a new mobile keyboard for your phone? You have to agree to their terms and conditions before using, which means they can record all your keystrokes and use them to help improve their service – this includes text messages, phone numbers, credit card numbers, and virtually anything you type. If you don’t want to share that info, don’t use the service.

If you’re still incredibly worried about privacy, then don’t share what you don’t want seen – simple as that.  When you go to Starbucks and buy a coffee, they now have data on you, and they use it to help improve their service.  When you use Skype and talk to a friend, they use your data to improve their service, and help you.  Get used to it, it is very common, and it is a good thing.  The web is becoming more personal, and everywhere you go your data us being used in one way or another.  Don’t be scared, accept it and know what to share and what not to share.  We are living in a very exciting time.

Want to share files without the risk of people stealing them? Use mega.nz, which encrypts your data.  It is a fantastic service, and you get 50GB free, take advantage of it.

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A couple months ago when I knew I had to do a visa run on March 5th, I decided to begin looking into my next trip.  Initially, I was thinking of heading to Bangledesh and India, but after procrastinating and not being able to contact my friend there, I decided to go to somewhere a bit closer.  Not long after I returned from my trip around Thailand in late February, I booked my flight to Vietnam in early March.  Since I had been traveling pretty much consistently for the last 6 months, I decided to make it a relatively short trip such that I could come back to Bangkok and spend some time here working and relaxing with friends.  I decided to head to Ho Chi Mihn City for 4 nights, and then up north to the Hanoi area for 4 nights, before returning to Bangkok on the 13th.

It was a very last minute trip. The flight was booked very last minute, as was the accomodation.  I tried to couchsurf, but since I only gave 24 hours notice, there wasn’t much chance.  After sending some requests and waiting 12 hours, I decided to book my accomodation at 2 different hostels, only to wake up in the morning of my flight to see that all the requests I sent to couchsurf had been accepted.  So, in Ho Chi Mihn City, I stayed at the Vietnam Inn Saigon hostel, but I ended up hanging out with 2 locals most of the time I was there.  Both were excellent people.

About 4 hours before leaving my condo on the 5th, I realized that I had completely spaced getting a visa.  A visa is required to enter Vietnam for most foreigners, and I began to worry that I wouldn’t be able to board my flight that evening.  However, after researching online, I discovered that I could pay for a 2 hour service, have a “visa letter of approval” emailed to me, and then upon arrival get a landing visa.  This ended up working out, and the letter of approval cost $39 (normally costs $8).  Upon arriving in Ho Chi Mihn city, there was a large line of people waiting to get their landing visa’s.  It ended up costing another $50 to get the visa itself, but considering I almost made the mistake of not even being able to travel, I couldn’t complain about paying $80 when most people pay $60. The fee for the “landing visa” was supposed to be $45, but because I didn’t know the conversion, they charged me $50 (because they could).  Lesson learned – always know the exchange rates prior to going to a country.

I arrived late on the 5th at my hostel after being picked up my the shuttle service my hostel provided ($15 each way), on the 6th I woke and toured the city by myself including the sky tower, and in the evening I met up with Nhat (local Vietnamese jouralist) and went to have frog for dinner (had baked frog with cheese, steamed frog, and fried frog curry – all very tasty). Nhat was very kind and picked me up from the hostel on his bike, and also dropped my off.

The next day I met at the War Museum  with another local named Anna.  She checked out the museum with me, showed me around the city, toured the Reunification Palace with me, took me to the finest brew house in HCMC, and also showed me the best and cheapest food in town.  It was great.  In the evening we played pool and had a few drinks.  The War Museum was 15k VND (like $0.75) entrance, and was basically lots of photos and stories talking about the Vietnam War.  It was certainly very anti-American, which is understanable.  The Runification Palace cost similar, and was basically a self guided tour through the building where the former president lived (prior to 1975, and also where he was forced to surrender at the end of the war).

My last day in HCMC we met at the reunification palace again, met a random guy from Indonesia who toured with us, and we went to the zoo.  It was also 15k VND entry, and was actually very cool.  Had lots of animals on display, was very open and clean, and overall well worth the trip. After the zoo, we headed to the brew house again, Hoavien Brauhaus, for some excellent dark beer.  We then grabbed dinner, and later met up with Nhat again to go to a nightclub.  After the night club, we explored the backpackers area near the 23-9 park, and had a few drinks before calling it a night.  In that area, we probably had 3 different people come up to us and ask us if we wanted to buy marijuana or cocaine.  I felt like I was in Amsterdam all over again.

I woke my last day in HCMC a bit tired, and skyped with my brother for awhile and relaxed, before heading out to checkout another part of the city.  I had to leave to the airport around 4pm, so after a late lunch which included a Vietnamese pancake, a mixed fruit dish, and a banana smoothie, I

Reunification Palace

headed back to the hostel and caught a taxi to the aiport.

I arrived in Hanoi around 9:00pm, and got to my hostel around 10:00pm. After checking in, I brushed my teeth, checked the internet briefly, and as I was about to sleep 2 others came in.  One girl from Scotland (who has been teaching English in Thailand for the last 10 months), and a guy from LA walked in.  We ended up chatting for about 45 minutes about all kinds of topics, and it was awesome to meet them.

The next day we met for breakfast and decided to walk around the city together.  We first walked down south to the revolution museum, which was closing for lunch, and then went to the war museum, which was already closed.  So we grabbed a snack and walked to down to Lenin Park, which had a massive lake in it.  We paid 4k VND entry, saw a statue of Ho Chi Mihn, and then walked along the train tracks north, past the train station.  Near the station we randomly ran into a Filipino guy from our hostel, and he ended up walking with us.  We grabbed lunch at an upper-class restaurant (overrated), where I ate eel soup (excellent).  After lunch, we went to the Temple of Literature, which took about 1 hour.

In the evening we ate lots of grilled meat, had a few beers, and negotiated the Halong Bay cruise.  I was told by my friend to book through the hostel, but after talking to a few people they suggested negotiating elsewhere.  I found a shop in Hanoi that offered it for $70, while the hostel was charging $120 for the exact same thing.  So a couple of us booked the cruise (but on different dates).  After booking that, we had a few more drinks.  A couple of us stayed out late into the night, met some cool people, while the rest of the people headed back to the hostel.

I woke early the next morning to go on the Halong Bay cruise.  The cruise was a 2 day, 1 night ride through Halong Bay, sleeping in the bay on the boat. After eating breakfast, I browsed the web and waited for the pickup (which would take us to the bay – about a 3.5 hour van ride). The van arrived 1 hour late in the morning, but once there, it was well.  Out of the 15 or so people, I was one of the youngest. It made me feel confident in my choice – I mean, if they can do it and enjoy it, I’m sure I would!  About half way there, we stopped at a souvienere shop, where lots of diabled people were stitching photos and building some really cool things.  I bought a nice stitched photo for $13.

Floating Village in Halong Bay

Once we arrived at the bay, we hoped onto a shuttle boat that took us out to our boat (around noon).  The boat itself didn’t look good as we pulled up, but once on it, it was fine.  I had a room to myself since everyone else on there was a couple.  Shortly after dropping my bags in my room, we ate lunch, and began talking with one another.  Our first stop was a floating village where around 45 families live (there is even a small police station).  We kayaked around for about an hour, which was awesome.  After getting back on the boat, we drove for another hour.  We ended up stopping and they let people jump off the boat into the water.  Me and one other guy were the only ones interested in jumping in, so I did it a few times while everyone else watched.  After showering, it was already time for dinner.  We learned how to make spring rolls, and then relaxed and ate dinner/had a few beers.  Before I knew it, I was with 2 German girls, the Australian guy, his young Vietnamese girlfriend, and the 2 Vietnamese tour guides. Late into the evening the tour guides offered free beer, while we played some card games.  Everyone ended up going to sleep, aside from the 2 guides and the Vietnamese girl.  We were playing games until about 2am, and then the 2 guides slept. Since I had an extra bed in my room, I offered that to one of the guides, while the other guide slept in the chair.  The Vietnamese girl and I went down and fished for squid for a couple hours.  We ended up catching about 5 squid, and netted another 5 small fish and 1 crab. We went back into the kitchen and cooked them up.  Shrotly after eating, we called it a night. 2 notes: on the boat was also an older man from Colorado (small world!), a guy and his wife from Napa Valley (who own a vineyard), an older couple from Birmingham (near where I used to live in England), and one of the German girls lives in Prague – she can speak 6 languages fluently.

I woke around 7am to grab breakfast, then showered and began chatting with a few others on the boat.  There was the older couple from Birmingham, England that I ended up talking to a lot about English stories and life lessons.  In the early afternoon, we got off the boat and hiked into a massive cave and toured it for about an hour. After touring, we grabbed some lunch on the boat, and continued to head toward land.  We made it to land around noon.  One of the fellow passengers has slipped in his bathroom (Napa Valley guy), and perhaps broke his rib.  So I helped him on and off the boat, and into an ambulance.  Once that was sorted, we all got into the van.  I got dropped off at my hostel around 5pm, the last one to be dropped off (I was the last one picked up in the morning originally).  Overall, excellent trip.

View overlooking our boat while going into the cave

That evening I was using my laptop in the game area and ended up meeting a Chiliean guy (JP), played a few games of pool with him, then met an 18 year old American girl and the 3 of us played.  Shortly after, the Chilian and I headed out for dinner and a few drinks, met some random Vietnamese and Japanese people, all who were very friendly. I also bought a fake print of Lonely Planet’s “Laos” book for $5, which was great. Around 9pm, JP had to head off to a puppet water show, so I headed back to the hostel, chatted with the receptionist for a bit, and went to sleep.  I woke around 5:30am the next morning to catch my flight back to Bangkok.

Vietnam was absolutely spectacular.  Prior to going, I hadn’t heard too much about traveling there (compared to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia), but after going, I’ve realized that most people spend 3+ weeks backpacking it.  I only saw 2 cities, and both were great (and I even missed a lot of Hanoi since I ran out of time).  There are so many more great places, such as the world’s largest cave, countless other beaches, Da Nang, and more. I was recommended a lot of places by the locals, and I’m certain I will have a couch to sleep on when I go back.  I will certainly go back – I really want to try dog and cat meat, and the fresh snake blood/meat that I missed in Hanoi.  Both of the hostels I stayed at were excellent, and all the people I met were very very great.  Though it is nice to be home in Bangkok, I am excited to travel again soon.

Hostel Reviews

Vietnam Inn Saigon (Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam): They don’t have a website (yet), but I booked through hostelbookers.com.  It is a very new hostel, just opened in early 2013 – located in the central part of town – within walking distance to all main attractions, and lots of good food/drinks right across the park (next to it).  The staff is very friendly, the rooms are clean (have outlets/shelves/lights near each bed in the dorm), the bathrooms are great (w/ hot water), and the game room was great.  There is a rooftop restaurant with great, cheap food, and drinks are very reasonably priced.  The cost for the dorm was $6/night.  The only thing I could complain about is the cost of the shuttle to/from the airport.  I paid around $15 each way, which was by far the most expensive thing I had to buy during my entire time in HCMC.  Overall, excellent hostel, and I would highly recommend it.

May de Ville Backpackers Hostel (Hanoi, Vietnam): I was recommended this hostel by my friend who stayed here.  It is a great hostel, very big and clean, the game room is very nice.  The staff was friendly, it was located in a very active area, and the price was very reasonable ($6/night).  They also offer all kinds of tours.  I would not suggest booking through the hostel though since they are more expensive than other vendors out on the street (for the exact same thing). Aside from the high prices for tours, the airport shuttle was also very expensive ($15 from the airport, and $18 to the airport).  With that said, I would gladly stay here again, and I would recommend it to anyone, assuming they are aware of the high tour prices.

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While living in England in 2009/10, one of the people I lived with was a Malaysian named Hairuddin AKA Harry.  Little did I know at the time, but the people I lived with in England have become lifelong friends, despite coming from completely different places on the globe and still living on opposite sides of it.  As I was deciding to move to Thailand, I got in contact with Harry and asked him if he would be in Southeast Asia anytime (since he was living in London).  He said he would be in Malaysia for three months around the time I was living in Bangkok.  He invited me to spend 3 weeks staying at his place with his family, and I knew it was an opportunity I had to take.  So a couple months back I booked my flights and made it happen (flew from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur (KL), and then from KL to Johor (his home city)).

As I begin writing this, I am sitting on a couch in Johor, Malaysia.  By the time I finish I will likely be back in Bangkok.  I really like writing as I experience something (if I can) because it really brings out of the best of the trip – I don’t forget small things and write them really as I see them, or the day of.

I arrived into Johor late on Nov. 14th.  Harry and his father picked me up from the airport and took me home. The following day was the Islamic holiday so we basically just relaxed all day.  It was nice to relax and spend some time catching up with him and meeting his family (though I don’t speak Malay and his family speaks little English).

On Tuesday, we were heading to Singapore.  We planned a day trip (because Johor is literally right along the border, but traffic makes it much further away than it really is). We woke early in the morning, caught a bus into town where we would catch another bus across the border and into Singapore.  It was nearly 9:30am by the time we got to the border.  We first had to cross the Malaysian border and get off to get our passports checked, and then get back onto the bus and cross the Singapore border and do the same thing.  It is quite a tedious task since the buses are overcrowded, the borders are understaffed, and it is more like herding cattle than humans traveling.  It was quite ridiculous (and we had to experience it on the way back as well). Apparently a lot of people from Malaysia do it everyday to find work or education in Singapore.

Nonetheless, once getting into Singapore, we hopped onto the MRT (subway) and traveled around to the main city.  Since the MRT goes all over the country, we decided to hop on where we got off the bus, and then take that into the main city and get off around Marina Bay Sands. This took about an hour, but it gave me the chance to see some of the country. After getting off at Marina Bay Sands, we explored the inside of the massive hotel/shopping mall.  We then walked around outside to the infamous Merlion sculpture.  After snapping some awesome pictures, we took the MRT to the Bigus station where we grabbed some drinks and lunch, and walked through more malls. We also walked around Orchard Street, bought some postcards (which are very tough to find in Asia), and went to the Apple store to unlock Harry’s iPhone.  By the time we left the Apple store, it was nearly 7pm, and we were ready to head back home.  We took the MRT back to where the bus dropped us off, grabbed a quick dinner, and then hopped on the bus.  It took a couple hours to finally get to the border, and another hour to cross it.  We then waited at the train station in Johor Bahru for awhile until Harry’s parents came to pick us up.  It ended up being a good 17 hour day, but was quite the adventure.

Singapore is a no place I’ve ever seen. Is it very modern, and growing fast.  There are cranes building near massive structures everywhere.  Most apartments are high rise buildings since they don’t have room to build out – they build up.  The city center is a tight=packed group of skyscrappers.  It is similar to NYC, but more modern.  Lots of glass windows and unique architecture.  There are lots of white people, and lots of money their.  According to wikipedia, Singapore has the 3rd highest per capita income in the world, 1 in 6 families are millionaires, and it has the 2nd biggest gambling scene in the world. I also saw several lambo’s driving around. It is a bit pricier than the US, but still relatively cheap considering the wealth there.  It doesn’t quite fit into SEA like other countries do, and it is very unique. It will be interesting to see the country in 5-10 years.

On Wednesday we drove 5 hours to Kuala Lumpur. On the way, we stopped over to use the toilet, which ended up being a disaster for me.  The hose that connects the water sprayer by the toilet broke when I was using it and it soaked my shorts. Hey, you live you learn! After getting back into the car, we continued on. We were staying with Harry’s friend Ismail, so we drove into the city center to meet him after he got off work, checked out the Twin Towers, ate dinner, and then drove back to his house.  He lives about 20 minutes out of the city, but his balcony faces the city, so you get a pretty good view of the skyline.  His house was excellent, and very comfortable.

The next day I had a few things I needed to buy, so Harry and I went into KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center) to some malls to do some shopping.  After a couple hours of that, we met up with Harry’s cousin Hida, who was in town with a couple of her friends. We grabbed some lunch together, and they went on their way and Harry and I headed to J.Co, which has the most amazing donuts. After eating those, we walked the mall a bit more, and then headed home. I worked some while Harry relaxed. Later that evening, a group of us went to dinner, and had an excellent seafood platter, fried rice (Malayasian style), and some sort of chicken dish.  I also had an avocado-strawberry smoothie, which was also excellent (cost 10 ringgit = $3).

The next day Harry took me to Batu Caves.  It is one of the largest Hindu shrines outside of India.  We hiked the stairs into the caves, took a lot of pictures and explored, and then hiked back down.  By that point it was starting to rain so we headed to the car.  We then drove by Harry’s old work studio (he used to be on TV for a morning show), and then we went to a massive mall for a late lunch ( at what used to be the biggest shopping mall in SEA). While at lunch, we met up with another friend, who joined us. In the evening I watched Fargo, and then went out to a club in KLCC. After a few hours of dancing, we had 4am breakfast at some Indian restaurant. I had never seen anything like it, but apparently it is quite common in Malaysia – there is no menu, they essentially will make anything you ask them for. We finally got to bed around 5am.

After waking the next morning, it was our last day and we planned to tour a bit more before driving back to Johor. We met up with Harry’s cousin (again) and her family at their house. I had a great discussion with Hida’s father about his experience in the Malaysian army, including living in the jungle and seeing tigers, dealing with guerrilla warfare, and surviving months on end in a jungle.  He now owns a resort, and has traveled much of Europe, which he shared some of his stories there.  After a few hours at his house, we (Hida, her sister and her kids, Harry, and I) then went together to the international convention center in KL, then to the government buildings, which were spectacular.  They are all very big, nice architecture, and also very modern.  I felt like I was in Dubai walking around there. After that, they asked me what I wanted to eat, and then drove around 45 minutes to take me to an amazing dinner that consisted of 3 kinds of crab, full prawns, and squid.  It was certainly one of the most amazing dinners I have ever had (but I still don’t understand why the restaurant makes you crack the crab yourself, it would be so much more pleasant if that was already done, haha). After dinner with Harry, his 2 cousins (2 sisters), and their 4 kids, 1 of his cousins (Hida), Harry and I drove to the Grand Millennium Hotel in KLCC to meetup with some friends for some drinks.  Hida is a stuartist for Kuwait Airways, and her 2 friends from Kuwait (who are originally from Bangkok) were in KL for a couple days. So we headed to the hotel, had some drinks, and went out to a couple clubs.  Since we needed to be back in Johor by 7/8am, we had to leave at 2:30am.  So around 2:30am, after a crazy night of dancing with some awesome people, Harry drove the 5 hours back to Johor.  Once we arrived, we showered, picked up Harry’s parents, and within 20 minutes were back on the road for about 3 hours to drive to a wedding reception.  To this day I don’t understand how Harry can function on no sleep, but it was no problem.  After the reception, we went to his aunts house, then over to see his sister at his university, and finally went back home.  We arrived back home around 10pm after about 7 hours of driving around (Johor > wedding > sister’s house > mosque > store > home).  It was quite the 24 hours period.

The next day was a recovery day of sleep, food, and relaxed work for me. A few days later Harry went back to KL for a day trip (via train) to do an interview, while I stayed in Johor, relaxed with his family, went to the infamous Kite Museum, and then flew a kite for a couple hours. It was very hot, and after sweating for a couple hours, we called it a day and headed home.

The last few days in Malaysia was more or less just relaxing.  I went on a few runs with Harry, went to the gym, met up with some more of his family, watched some TV, and also worked. The trip flew by. A few observations from this trip:
- The toilets are typically just holes in the ground, and there is no toilet paper – you use a bum sprayer or you bucket water onto yourself.
- A shower typically consists of a bucket of cold water that you dump onto yourself.  Both the toilets and showers like this are common all over SEA.
- In Malaysia, you eat with your hands.  At first this was very weird, but after a few times I got used to it. Tip: only use 1 only to eat.  Always keep 1 hand free to grab stuff other than food.
- All roads/highways have tolls, and lots of them. Within KL, it seems you pay every few miles.  Outside of KL, you get a ticket and pay at the next checkpoint.  It can get quite expensive driving around hitting all the tolls.
- There are traffic jams all the time.  The highway is a carpark.  Unfortunately, in KL, you kind of have to drive since the public transport is terrible.
- It is normal to burp without covering your mouth or saying excuse me.  It isn’t considered impolite.
- Malaysians are racist (as are lots of countries in SEA): they often raise prices on things just because of the color of your skin. For example, I went to a waterfall resort and I had to pay 3x what the Malaysians paid.  Another example: I went to a kite museum and had to pay 50% more for entry than everyone else, purely because I was white.
- I saw McDonalds stickers on lots of cars – apparently you get a free apple pie if you go to McDonalds and spend above a certain amount (and have a sticker on your car). KFC does a similar thing.  Brilliant way to spend advertising dollars!
- Malaysian wedding receptions are awesome. You show up and eat amazing food, and leave. The people getting married just want to see people show up and enjoy the food.
- I went to baby shower, and it was similar – show up and eat, then leave.
- Night markets have amazing food and lots of good stuff for sale.
- Coconut shavers are awesome.
- Even Malaysians watch Man vs. Food on TV.
- Sunscreen is hard to find, and if you can find it, it is expensive. Postcards are the same.
- Breakfast in Malaysia is similar to dinner.  It isn’t common to have sugar/sweets for breakfast. Sometimes I’d have pasta and chili sauce for breakfast.
- Motorcyclists can be wild – saw a few driving at night without lights on.
- Laws are hardly enforced – many people speed and run red lights.  No problem.
The last day in Johor was spent relaxing while Harry’s family packed for their big adventure.  Harry, his 2 aunts, his parents, and his younger sister were all flying to London and later heading up to Leeds for his graduation. Since none of them (aside from Harry) had ever been out of SEA, it was going to be super exciting.  Our plan was to catch a train at 11pm on the 5th, take an overnight train to KL, arrive into the city center at 6:30am on the 6th, and then bus from KL Central to the KL airport for them to catch their 10am flight (my flight wasn’t until 1pm).  However, things changed.

The night before leaving Harry told me that the accommodation they booked in London ended up being a scam (they weren’t returning calls, their site went down), and after I researched it a bit, I confirmed.  So we spent the last 24 hours in Johor trying to sort that out (which we were able to do after some further Airbnb mistakes).  After successfully catching the train at 11pm, we slept for the night.  Since Harry and his family bought tickets before me, I was sitting in a different rail car.  Harry told me about 15 minutes before arriving in KL he would come wake me. I wake up around 6:30am, and I don’t see Harry.  So I wait a bit, and around 7am I walk the train looking for Harry and his family, and I find them.  I sit with them and talk, and come 8am we’re still not to KL.  In fact, we’re stopped on the track somewhere well before KL.  Harry notified the conductor around 8:30am about their flight, so the train reverses to the previous stop and he and his family get off the train to catch a taxi directly to the airport while I stay on the train.

I ended up sitting on the train and meet an older Singaporean guy and have some good conversations with him.  We finally arrive into KL at 9:45am (yes, over 3 hours late), and he even helps me find the bus I need to the airport. He was very friendly and helpful.  After getting the to the aiport, I ate and relaxed.  The flight back to Bangkok went well, and I made it home fine.

This was such an amazing trip.  It really opened my eyes to more of the world, exposed me to cultures and ways of life I never knew existed.  If you ever get the chance to explore Malaysia with a local, do it. Get outside of KL and explore the countryside and the small villages.  Learn from them, and understand them.  There is no way to explain what it is like through writing or images, you have to experience it and spend time there.  I’d love to go back someday, especially to other parts of Malaysia that I heard about but didn’t visit.

This post took me 2 months to get up, but I’m glad I finally got it wrote down. I’m currently on a 45 day backpacking trip around Thailand, so expect another trip report soon.

Happy New Year.

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