Malaysia At Last
How much do you remember from 2nd grade? For me, I can recall scenes and bursts of emotion but the fully formed picture isn't there. The last time I visited Malaysia, I was in 2nd grade. Malaysia is the birthplace of my parents and home to almost all of my extended family. Like the rest of my 2nd grade memories, I remember specific places, certain smells, and tastes, but the trip as a whole is blurry.
I graduated from Indiana University in May, and my immediate family has a tradition that after college graduation, you take a trip back to Malaysia to visit your home away from home. As luck would have it, my cousin Esther was also getting married in June, so I had two reasons to return to my parent's homeland. After 13 years of being separated from Malaysia, it was time for me to visit.
On May 24th, I headed to O'Hare airport to make the crazy long trek across the world to Malaysia. The last time my family made this big journey, we were little kids, but here I was as a college graduate and this time with my boyfriend Clay along for the ride! I was so excited to return and eat familiar foods, see my family, and show Clay all the things I tried to describe to him about Malaysia that I didn't have the right words for. Clay and I were travelling with my older sister Carmen and her boyfriend Danny a week earlier to spend some time in Singapore and Langkawi Island, Malaysia before meeting up with my dad, little sister Sabrina and her boyfriend Coley, and the big ol' extended family.
Clay, Carmen, Danny, and I took a 13 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan where we boarded a second 7 hour flight that brought us to our first destination: Singapore! To me, our 3 day adventure in Singapore was the appetizer alluding to all the exciting things to come. It's in Singapore that we were introduced to the sticky, oppressive heat of the rainforest. It's in Singapore we were greeted with the yummy food of Chinese, Malay, and Indian people all coming together to create dishes unique to this area of the world. With no one to plan our schedule but ourselves, we lazily adjusted to jet lag and ate our way through the hawker centers of Singapore. We even spent a day living our most posh lives at Marina Bay Sands, where we lounged at the iconic infinity pool at the top of three massive skyscrapers. This was my first time in Singapore, and I loved every second of it, but the whole time I was there, I was buzzing with anticipation to get to Malaysia.
Singapore resides on the most southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, but back in the day Singapore and Malaysia were joined together as the same country. After a number of political conflicts within Malaysia during the 1960s, Singapore changed from a Malaysian city to an independent country. Singapore has now developed into this super glam place full of business and order, and people my age in America are starting to take notice of it. It also helps that Crazy Rich Asians took place there. However, Malaysia, the country next door that has so much in common with Singapore, still flies under the radar.
After spending some time in Singapore, we flew to Langkawi Island, a little place left of the northern Malay peninsula. We took a short one hour flight, and the whole time I was so excited to land! After 13 years this was it! I'd finally get to step onto Malaysian land! As we got off the flight, we were hit with the tropical heat, but this time I was ready for it. We dragged our bags off the plane and took hopped into a car to take us to The Andaman, a resort on the northwestern tip of the island in the middle of Datai Bay. As we cut through the 10 million year old rainforest, I had my eyes glued to the windows taking in the mountains and the macaques. When we arrived to the Andaman, I felt like I had stepped into another world. We were greeted by this beautiful open air lobby, welcome drinks made with hibiscus nectar, and the sound of the ocean. After we dropped off our things in our rooms, we headed straight to get food because we were starving! After we sat down and I opened the menu, I was so ecstatic to find allergy warnings on every single dish! As someone with allergies to soy, peanuts, and tree nuts, eating in Malaysia can be hard, but at the Andaman, I got to happily eat fried rice and ayam goreng (Malaysian fried chicken) without any worries! The rest of the three days we spent on Langkawi were also worry free. We ate, we swam, we saw lots of animals, we read, and then we ate again. Additionally, Carmen turned 26 while we were there, so she arranged the most extra private beach dinner where we ate under a tent next a bonfire. It was at Carmen's unreal birthday dinner where I had one of my favorite Malaysian foods, satays!
After enjoying the paradise of Langkawi, the four of us got on another one hour flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia! This is where both of my parents were born and where most of my extended family lives. As soon as we got off the plane, we were greeted by my wonderful aunt Manku, cousin Deric, cousin Dylan, and cousin Diana, as well as my dad, Sabrina, and her boyfriend Coley who had just gotten in from the US. We all piled into a couple cars, and headed straight to a big Malaysian buffet! Here I devoured laksa (spicy noodle soup dish), nasi kerabu (blue rice colored by butterfly-pea flowers), beef rendang (spicy meat dish), fish chips, teh tarik (Malaysian milk tea), and fresh mango juice. My fabulous cousins also kept bringing us new dishes for us to try. At the end of the meal, they brought over durian pudding, a dessert made of the infamous Malaysian fruit durian. The durian is a spiky big looking fruit that must be hacked open to reveal a creamy fruit that tastes almost sweet but mostly terrible at the same time. They say durian is an acquired taste, and I used to hate it when my parents ate this at home, but durian is growing on me. Clay, always sweet and never trying to be rude, took a huge bite of the durian pudding. I watched him try to eat it with a smile, but I knew he was really just trying to keep it down!
After this big meal, my three sisters and all our boyfriends checked into our airbnb. We needed some rest before the big week we had ahead of us. We spent the next couple of days running around KL visiting other family and friends, exploring Batu Caves and walking down all 272 steps in the pouring rain, eating a lot of dim sum, spending time with my uncle Tai Pak and aunt Tai Pak Mei and cousin Jane at their lovely house, checking out the many malls in the city, stopping at my mom's favorite book & stationary store to get her favorite erasers, hanging out with my grandpa Tata and grandma Nei Nei from my dad’s side, trying Ovaltine ice cream milk tea, singing karaoke at a dinner and karaoke restaurant, swimming at the pool at our airbnb, paying a visit to Poh Poh and Gong Gong (my mom’s parents), trying Malaysian McDonalds, meeting our cousin Diana's fluffy gray bunny, and all with the help of my wonderful cousin Deric who spent his week driving us around.
After a hectic but super fun stint in KL, my whole family headed to Kuching. Kuching is located on the Borneo side of Malaysia, so you have to cross the ocean to get there. That's why my massive family that included me, Clay, my sisters, their boyfriends, my dad, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my second cousins, great aunts, great uncles, and more all had to take a plane there. Let me tell you, when we rolled up the airport, they were not ready for the Siew family takeover.
When we landed, we had another family reunion at the airport. My aunt Taiku, uncle Taiku Chong, cousin Esther, cousin Elaine, and cousin Elisa from Kuching greeted us with big hugs and smiles. They knew we were going to roll up with a massive crew, so they even prepared a big bus to drive us around for the few days we were there before the wedding. My aunt, Esther's mom, also arranged for all us to go sightseeing where we'd really get to see the city of Kuching, eat Kuching specialties, visit the cultural villages of Sarawak, and visit an orangutan preserve!! By this leg of the trip, I was starting to feel exhausted and beaten down, but sightseeing with my big extended family was way more fun than I could have imagined! I got to bond with all my little second cousins and get some quality time with the rest of my family.
Being born in the USA and having spent the majority of my life in the Midwest, it is the easiest thing in the world to feel disconnected from Malaysian culture. The food, the languages, the accent, and the traditions are almost nowhere to be found here. A product of my disengagement from the country my parents were born, I had taken to calling myself Asian whenever people asked about my ethnic background. I did this to make things easier on the white person asking about my background and to make things easier on myself so I would have to go into a long spiel. Recently, I also realized that I called myself Asian to feel connected to the few other non-Malaysian and non-Chinese people in my hometown that looked more like me. Later in college when I began trying to regrasp my heritage and pride, I started identifying by Chinese. But after visiting Malaysia, I can finally and proudly say, I am Malaysian. It was so special getting know my family, seeing my cousin get married, listening to all their stories, and this time I'll be able to remember all of it.
P.S. Esther's wedding was beautiful, so fun, and full of Malaysian Chinese tradition! You'll get to hear all about it in another post coming soon!