I have been planning a series of road trips within Malaysia, just to get to know my country a little better. The usual tourist attractions seem a little stale; their charms are waning in the name of tourism. It is perhaps time to hit the less trodden byways in the country, and be a stranger, at home.
The planning took more than a month, longer than expected, and it had not been easy. What an irony for someone who claimed to be a Malaysian, born and raised in the country in the past three decades. One more irony for the record, I bought a copy of Lonely Planet – Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei – to get me started.
My first destination is Melaka. I will be meeting a long-time friend, and her family. Melaka is familiar enough for anyone to trot about on his own but for me, I would like to find a sense of place and get to know the intricacies of its history and heritage, its buried and hidden charms in the 21st century setting. I am due for a visit to the Baba Nyonya Museum too.
Then I will be checking in at a guesthouse in Jalan Kampung Pantai – Oriental Residence – which is run by a couple of non-oriental lineage. On Sunday, I will be moving to Apa Kaba Home&Stay for 2 days in Kampung Banda Kaba.
There is something about taking the less beaten path. The guesswork in finding your ways in an unknown place is a quest in its own right. It gets you talking with the locals, especially when you are asking for direction.
If you are chatty and readily open-minded enough, there is even space and time to exchange some stories over a cup of teh-tarik. These unique experience and encounters are not listed in the guidebook. In my trip that is to begin tomorrow will include the following itinerary: to explore places, to meet people and to write stories.
Over and above sights and activities,
traveling is an engagement of the mind and the heart.
I have not have anything planned out from Tuesday until Thursday. I will leave the days open for the locals to fill them up, as they say: the best usually comes unplanned.
A stranger at home is a debut travel series on JoeyGan.com that documents the quest in discovering parts of Malaysia that are unknown to many. The destinations in the planning include:
- Finding a sense of place in Melaka (May)
- Trekking and getting lost in the wonders of nature in Pahang (June)
- Celebrate the Anniversary of Declaration of Penang as a World Heritage in the food haven, Penang (July)
- Tasting, and hopefully cooking, some of the greatest native buka puasa dishes in Kelantan and Terrenganu (August)
- Hoping 64 islands and stamping foot prints on shy sandy beaches in Johor (September)
- Embark on a jungle railway journey up north to Kedah and Perlis (October)
- Getting back to the far-from-mind and far-from-sight places in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur (November & December)
As often as possible, JoeyGan.com will recount encounters and stories of everyday during the trip in a 500-word journal. If you don’t want to miss out the odds, subscribe to our FEED now.
Our first post should be up either tomorrow evening or the morning of Friday.
Have a good day.
Harve and I are actually shooting a series right now that sounds alot like this blog.
I wld like to know more