To be familiar with a great place on earth is a privilege. But coming back to it after several years is a whole other experience.
My last visit to South-East-Asia has been a rush, but I enjoyed my time in Malaysia the most, so it would be only fitting to come back to the very same country. (plus a very brief stay in Singapore before the flight back)

But I might have waited longer, wouldn’t there be someone waiting as one of the main reasons for the visit…
You might remember the mention of a new friend in the article about my first visit to Malaysia. This old man, who I have met for such short time back then, has become a real friend over the years of exchanging letters. So one part of this trip would be very special.

In the following, I would like to lay out some of the elements that made this trip so unbelievably wonderful and shockingly perfect:

Travel Companion

Many of my travels I did in solitude (though ending up in marvellous company anyway), but not this one.
In order to have a great time, your travel companion should be an angel: Never in a bad mood, constantly appreciating the good things that happen around us, taking on at least half the organisatory tasks, being supportive when it takes me ages to choose, doing her own thing now and then, being brave when it comes to tasting gifted dried fish, not letting a foul word leave her mouth and never wasting energy to complain.
I don’t know where such people come from, but if you find someone who likes to see the good in the world as much as you: Go travel with them, once in a while!

Plan B

I like to plan things. And if I were planning my trip on my own, I would have booked it all in advance.
Luckily, we decided to leave as much as we could to be booked on the way, so that we had only very few things we were fixed on seeing. This is ‘Plan A’: The things that you set your heart on.
A careful evaluation of how that affects the travel plans made our list punchy, but short. Also, the very location of where our trip lead us was insurance enough for the experience we wanted.
What was more important for the feeling of child-like safety (one of the most craved goods in the adult life), was ‘Plan B’.
Plan B is constantly evolving and adapting towards Plan A, making sure everything is going well if something out of your control were to happen. It includes the secondary things like transportation, accommodation and the necessary list of priorities.
I discovered that it is far more useful to care about Plan B, as Plan B knows all the weaknesses of Plan A, makes sure that it doesn’t break apart and also leaves Plan A far more flexible for remodelling on the way.

So in the end, we ate all the nice things, saw all the nice places, visited my dear old friend in Penang, saw the beach, encountered more funky animal than we had anticipated, found some cool souvenirs and finally had some sugar cane juice!
Plan B helped us not worrying and making sure that we would achieve all those points.
This left room for so so many moments of mild freedom, where we were just living in the moment, absolutely sure we were well-tended.

Listen to recommendations

Luckily my intentions of booking all in advance were altered into the flexible approach, as that let us listen to local recommendations.
And following them, easy: If two different parties tell you not to go to the Cameron Highlands, you might want to take it as a sign and travel to Pangkor Island instead. If you don’t get encouraged to go to the East coast of West Malaysia because of the rain season, don’t be sad and don’t go. If someone tells you to try out this restaurant, you better go there. If another traveller writes you notes on scraps of paper of how to take a ferry to the mainland, you go take that ferry! If some people tell you about a temple lit up in all the colours, you surely should check it out. If you book an Airbnb and receive a personal tour guide with it, you are well off following his directions to irreplaceable memories.

Level 2

There are 3 types of activities in a country, also applies to food:

1. Those made for tourists
2. Those made for locals
3. Those only locals know about

A Level 1 vacation would be in a closed resort, with transport to and from the airport and food from the daily buffets.
A Level 2 vacation fears all Level 1 activites and looks for the authentic experience in the streets.
A Level 3 vacation is impossible without consulting locals and having a guide throughout the trip.

We were on the same page, luckily, and went for Level 2 as much as we could. Most of the time, we found ourselves out of sight of any other European, sitting, walking and eating with the locals as if it were natural.
Also we were so so lucky to have made connections with local people and even made some friends on the way, that we accessed some Level 3 on the way.
And who could say they ordered something not written on the menu in Malaysia?

Don’t fear the rain

It is all wet. The air, the toilets, the sweat, the rain. It would be the greatest challenge to flee all that.
We didn’t bother with this challenge. Because we would have missed so many encounters, weather moods, funny places and time outside. So pack your umbrella or your waterproof jacket, next time you go and experience more!

Rewards

When your trip looks something like this, you have done it right: