Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (12/25/08-12/30/08)

This leg of the trip presented a few firsts for me. It was the first time I had been to Malaysia, or any Muslim country in the Far East. It was also the first time I had played with monkeys, tapped a rubber tree, and visited a Hindu temple in the middle of a cave. Lastly, it was the first time I stayed in a hotel that looked like a resort on top of the central train station (and not stayed in a hostel)! Overall it was a fun experience, the food was great, and the people were quite nice. I learned a lot about some of the underlying political tensions, current societal issues, and more importantly I also learned what Singapore might have been like without Lee Kuan Yew and feel firsthand what the impact of one individual can have on a country.