MALAYSIA Part I

It's been a week and 2 days since I got back from Malaysia and I'm already missing Nasi Lemak! I had so many firsts in this trip. It was my first trip out of the country, my first time at a hawker stall, my first time eating (yucky) durian!

There's so much to talk about and so many things that I want to share. I'll try not to blabber too much but here are my thoughts and opinions!

My trip started in Alor Setar. I was there for a couple days to spend Chinese New Year with my bf's family. There, I got to experience the brutal humidity of Malaysia. It was scorching hot! Instead of shivers running up your spine, you feel a waterfall running down your spine! It was necessary to shower 3 times a day. I'm use to the sun since I live in Florida, but Malaysia was on a different level!

Aside from the weather, the second thing I noticed were the "onion" top buildings, also known as mosques. hehe. If you didn't know, the major religion in Malaysia is Islam. Malaysia is a multicultural country that is home to Malay, Chinese, and Indians.

Third, billboards, advertisements, and signs were everywhere! I guess you could compare it to New York. Ads followed and screamed at me everywhere I went!

Fourth, Malaysians love coffee! You can get a cuppa anywhere! From cute ones to a local popular named, 'Old Town Coffee'. I didn't get a chance to sit in a cute cafe cuz well... there was so much on the schedule for the day.

Fifth, everything was so cheap! Compared to US Dollars of course. Not average food, but outta-this-world-awesome-bomb food can be found for $.30!!! Also, asian cosmetics was sooo much cheaper compared to the US.

Notice how I relate everything to cosmetics and food. That seemed to be my focus on my trip lol Instead of reveling in Malaysia's famous towers and historical buildings, I kept thinking whether I had enough money and luggage space for beauty buys. Yikes!

After Alor Setar, we took a road trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital. That's when I felt America was so behind on creativity, design, and architecture. The malls were incredibly huge! The project planner had much thought in how he wanted it to look. Each mall was unique and I could really tell that they cared a lot about presentation.

I was most thrilled to see asian cosmetics. Access to asian skincare and cosmetics is slim-to-none here so to see them in their own stand-alone store made me giddy! I saw Innisfree, Face Shop, Etude House, Shu Uemura, and SASA! It was close to heaven for me. :)

Oh and I can't sign off without talking about fashion! People dressed casually and fitting to the weather. I didn't see much personal style around me. Maybe because I was on the LRT when ppl were making their way to work etc. Clearly, I explored the city in odd times. I'm sure there's a fashion popping place in KL somewhere, unfortunately I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So I was hoping to buy clothes locally but in all of the boutiques I walked in, most products were from Taiwan and China. Out of all the stores I dropped in, I liked Charles & Keith (Singapore brand) the most. I wanted to buy a bag soooo terribly bad, but I had so much to carry that the thought of lugging another bag around would make me faint! Especially my dslr... it was annoyingly heavy. However, while I'm typing this and thinking about the store... I REGRET not buying a bag. boohoohoohoo. (I only ended up buying shoes from Singapore, because the flats I had on gave me blisters!)

AH- Anyway, I purchased two shirts from Padini Concept Store for $10 and bought shoes from Vincci. And of course, I had to stop by Zara. Ahhh how I wish we had no sales tax! Although rumor has it, that sales tax will be implemented possibly in April. Eeeek >.<

I went to Johor Bahru for two days. From there, I took a bus to Singapore! I spent two fantastic days there. I'll write a separate post about that excursion later!

Enough of the blabbing, here are some pictures of my travel. Enjoy!

What I wore:
Dress: H&M
HandBag: Tumi travel bag
Shoes: New Balance
Sunglasses: ASOS