My Recent Trip To Malaysia
Recently I was on holidays to Malaysia for a few weeks visiting my friends, family and my girlfriend’s family too. Thought I’d share some pictures from my trip but I probably won’t upload everything because there’s a lot of photos (see bottom for gallery)!
My girlfriend also recently got a Nikon D90 which her dad secretly told me that she was meant to contribute half for it but her mum, Terri snuck her out to go shopping before poor uncle Wedge had a say in it hehe. So ever since that, she’s been taking photos of everything non-stop!
I’ll start off with my trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah where my girlfriend originally came from.
This is the view from the apartment I was living in. It is pretty much opposite Tanjung Aru beach. Hong Yi’s parents kindly and generously offered their apartment for me to live all by myself. Very nice and spacious 2 storey-apartment with three large bedrooms and as I can remember, 4 toilets and 2 bathrooms (toilet joined). Pretty cool ay?
I was even provided toothpaste, towels, soap, snacks, juice & water, a pen and even hotel slippers by auntie Terri! Wow, she really did impress me hehe.
This is Hong Yi’s cool outdoor table where they sometimes have meals because according to uncle Wedge, the temperature is around 2-3 degrees cooler outside. Also this is auntie Terri’s outdoor kitchen where she rules with an iron fist. Haha, just kidding. But she’s seriously good at cooking and I hope one day Hong Yi will surpass her mum’s cooking skills! You can check out auntie Terri’s food blog at hungerhunger.
Back from Sabah!
Just got back from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah last night and back in Kuala Lumpur before I head off to Perth next.
For those that don’t know where Sabah is, it is located in East Malaysia, above Kalimantan. Yes, I didn’t know where it was as well. Haha, just kidding :P
Notice how the map of Sabah looks like a dog’s head?
Unfortunately for the 11 days that I stayed at Kota Kinabalu, it was raining every single day which limited the amount of outdoor activities I could do there since Sabah is famed for its islands, Mount Kinabalu climb, fishing and whitewater rafting. I’m sure there’s more stuff to do there.
But I guess it was sort of a good thing because I had the opportunity and time to get to know Hong Yi’s immediate and extended family a bit better and they were very hospitable to me which was great! I’ll post up more about it once I get back to Sydney and also pictures once I’ve used photoshop to adjust the colours and contrast. Unfortunately my Olympus camera isn’t very good :(
So next stop tomorrow would be Perth to visit my thambi friend for a couple of days before I head back to Sydney!
Rampant crimes in Malaysia
Ever since I’ve been in Malaysia, I’ve been informed by direct and indirect friends about how crime rates are ever increasing in Malaysia.
These include petty thefts, mugging, car jacking and rape. It is no longer safe for women to travel alone (without the presence of a few males), for women to carry a handbag and risk getting dragged by a thief on a bike or a car.
It is no longer safe for men, women and children to enjoy a stroll down the street during early mornings, late nights or go for a run during these times. Nowadays you often see barricades set up by privately hired security personnel to block all other entries except for the checkpoints in residential areas.
You also see those rich houses that can afford it, with their own security guard, security cameras, guard dogs and high walls & gates.
It is no longer safe for people to get down from their cars after a car accident and risk getting mugged, or for women, raped and possibly murdered. It is no longer safe to trust a uniformed police officer without checking for their police identification and whether they’re on duty, as there have been cases of people disguising as a police and raping women.
It is a shame that despite all police reports, these crimes continue to be rampant perhaps due to poverty. Even the Bible has prophesied over this (Proverbs 30:8-9). It also seems that the police are helpless in tackling these crimes to the point that the people themselves must take drastic measures to protect themselves.
This isn’t the same Malaysia I grew up in 10-15 years ago. A shame how this country has tarnished and driving itself go the ground through crime, corruption, greed and political instability.
Air Asia to Malaysia is fail
I’m finally in Malaysia on holidays for about 3 weeks. However, the journey here wasn’t very pleasant though.
The night before my flight, I received an sms from Air Asia, the carrier I was flying with, stating that my flight was delayed by 8 hours due to aircraft technical issues.
Great. Flight delayed by 8 hours, and I have a flight from Sydney to Melbourne at 7.15am with the new take off time at 8.50pm now. What on earth am I going to do for like 11 hours in Melbourne?
Anwar Ibrahim Arrested
Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested over allegations of sodomy after being accused by a former male aide 2 weeks ago.
It is sad that the Malaysian government is so corrupt and has been strongly fighting against Anwar’s rise to political leadership. He has recently led the oppositions to unprecedented victories over several states from the current ruling party during the recent general elections.
10 years ago, Anwar Ibrahim was accused of the same allegation of sodomy and corruption, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, the charges of sodomy was dropped due to insufficient evidence and he was later released from prison after spending 6 years there.
During his time in prison, he was also allegedly mistreated by the ex-police chief through beatings.
With his current momentum in politics, its no surprise that this recent accusation is aimed at thwarting his comeback. He has also previously seeked protection from the Turkish embassy for fears that he would be wrongly accused again and imprisoned unjusticely.
Let’s hope that Malaysians have a glimmer of faith in the justice system that is already failing in the eyes of the people.