YA LEUM.24 —Far from home, we always felt home
In the previous post, we arrived in Ipoh planning to stay only one day.
But then, we met wonderful people and decide to spend quality with them…
It has been intense days in Ipoh! Although we had planned only to overnight to continue traveling to the north.
It is good to have an overall idea of what the next plans are, but over-planning just makes us blind for potential nice opportunities.
We stayed a few days longer in The Castle to get to know the people there. We had plenty of talks and shared food with people coming from all over the globe. So many nationalities at the same time feels literally the world in a living room.
Five days later our arrival in Ipoh, we returned to the highway where the Canadian angel found us.
It was almost easy-peasy! In less than 20 min, we were already on the road with someone who took us close to George Town. However, the driver dropped us in a gas station because he was taking a different direction.
The gas station was challenging, there were so many cars, but no one was stopping. We even started looking for a place to overnight with the tent…
Finally, we spoke with some people and someone agreed to take us. It was a nice ride and smooth until George Town.
Malaysia is a multicultural country showing a great ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious diversity. It is easy to find the Indigenous people, the Malays, the Chinese, and the South Asians. Visiting this country is like exploring a country within a country. George Town, Penang’s capital city, is the place to experience all these cultures in one place.
The city is colorful, steeped in history, with lively aesthetic streets that mingle with today’s modern style and the lust traditional architecture.
I can summarize it as a place for foodies, aesthetic photographs enthusiasts, coffee corner lovers and multiculturalism seekers.
That was basically our program, plus visiting some friends.
Since I split with Madalena in Vientiane, Laos, she has been between Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Penang waiting for the Australian visa confirmation. Last time Mathieu saw her was in Thailand before leaving back to France. We were looking forward to meeting her again and hear all the news.
We spent time in the hostel where she was working, we had dinner and drinks around the town.
One of the evenings, around 10pm, we were looking for another bar to party and in the middle of the street, she got the visa message confirmation!!
Yeeeee, double reason to celebrate! And we did!
So funny, we split when she applied for the visa, and she got the conformation in the day we met again, four months later. Life is a crazy place!
We also met with Sun, my Syrian friend who I have been in Cambodia and Kuala Lumpur with. He was also staying in George Town for a while too.
With him, we went outside the city to stay two days at the Monkey Beach, which is inside the Penang National Park.
I created some expectations for this beach. Do not take me wrong, it is definitely a paradisiac type of beach. Clear water, fine sand, and palm trees. To arrive at the beach, we hiked in a beautiful jungle for about an hour which felt like a nice sporty hike.
The happy feeling of the jungle changed once we arrived at the beach: there were plenty of empty stands along the beach, but all closed and packed. We thought maybe the stands would open soon, which did not happen. That empty and somehow chaotic beach did not broadcast a too good vibe.
We heard there was a camping spot by the end of the beach. When we arrived at the campground, the same odd vibe followed us there.
So, then, we just decided to pitch the tent somewhere in the beach. We noticed some stand owners were organizing the place, so we asked if we could stay there to be more protected. As always, they were so welcoming and even offered some amenities so we could be more comfortable.
One day later, Sun arrived to hang out with us. His initial plan was to stay in the camping place, but finally he pitched his tent close to us.
During the day we met some fishermen and help them to remove the fresh fish from the net. As a thanks gift they offered a big bag of fish. So, let’s lit a barque tonight.
We just forgot the wood available on the floor was wet because it rained the night before…. Beginners!
We ate fresh grilled fish, but five hours later.
The evening was special, after fighting with the wood for five hours, tasting olive oil together with Syrian spices, finishing with a small middle eastern dessert, we talked about the world.
For the first time I asked all my genuine questions about Islam, to a intelligent, and sensible person.
The conversation went on for hours and it felt cozy to have someone so open and interested in hearing all my questions.
The three of us really connected that night. The continents, history or religions were just a dimension of our friendship.
The most beautiful dimension was the one that connected us as human beings, stripped of misjudgments, prejudices and wrong sides of the story.
Sun is a person that is part of our story.
He traveled longer in Malaysia and later returned to Syria to develop a social incubator to support the growth of social entrepreneurs.
Now, we work together. As partners, developing our initiatives, walking both towards the same direction of leaving the world a better place to be.
Sun in Syria, Mathieu in France, me in The Netherlands and Portugal… we have been bonded by the vision of doing better for the world, every single day.
After Monkey beach, Sun drove us to Cameron Highlands because I forgot my hiking boots at Fatima’s place. Link to Ya Leumºs Fatima
He continued driving until Kuala Lumpur and we decided to overnight in Cameron Highlands.
When we showed up at the Fatima’s door, she hugged us, prepared dinner and said “no tent tonight! You stay in the bedroom, in a bed”.
Cameron Highlands is really a blessed place!
We spent all night talking to her and her sister, telling our adventures since we left and spending relaxing times as friends in front of the TV.
Far from home, we always felt home.
This trip has been a gift.
