MALAYSIA

1992 & 2000
 Malaysia is made up of a large mix of ethnicities and religions, making it an interesting place to be a traveller. It cannot be said that there is always racial harmony, but they do fairly well between Chinese, Malays, Indians, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, etc. While living in Thailand, I traveled twice to Malaysia to renew my visa. Any excuse to travel!

Seven girlfriends and I recently returned to Malaysia for some time away from Hong Kong. I found the same amazing mix of peoples, but quite a few more five-star resorts.



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Published
December 1997

KOTA KINABALU 2000

Package trips from Hong Kong are incredibly cheap and the digs are great! The first three suspects are Hen, me, and Angela.
The next four are Mich, Michelle, Kamie, and Mary.
Most of the trip was spent very near this spot!
The rest was spent in the exact same spot at a different time.
Kota Kinabalu's city is pretty modern, but this view of downtown stilthouses and the city's towering mosque reminds you of what it looked like before tourism.
Our most active day consisted of a five-island-cruise. After snorkeling, parasailing, and banana boat rides - we had a little lunch on the beach.

(Mich, Alaina, Mary, Kamie)
On our little cruise we went through the stilt house neighborhoods and saw the local floating mosque.

PENANG & KOTA BARU 1992

This is the Nagore Durgha Sheriff's station located in Georgetown on Penang Island in Malaysia's Northwest. Penang is the only Malaysian state dominated by Chinese and is quite liberal compared with the rest of the country.
A testament to Malaysia's diversity this Hindu temple stands in Penang's Georgetown.
In the conservative Muslim majority city of Kota Baru on Malaysia's Northeast coast taxi's are the cream of the crop. While I was there an unmarried Muslim couple was arrested for drinking alcohol together in a bar while Chinese couples were left alone - hmmm.....
If you're going to drive a cyclo, you might as well do it up. Then loads of goofy tourists will want to ride it...
This is Kota Baru's morning market. It is the main source of grocery items for the community, whether Muslim Malay, Hindu Indian or Buddhist Chinese (and a couple of other combinations).