By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
It’s not like it’s actually scary there. It’s a major city. It has Starbucks. Almost everyone speaks English. I think it was partly to do with me reading the health section of my South-East Asia guide book on the train from Singapore. After reading about my almost guaranteed chance of losing control of my bowels due to apparently inevitable traveller’s diarrhea, I became completely paranoid about even looking at street food. Not to mention the parasites, bacteria, and motorcycle bandits that were after me too. I’m not blaming the guidebook at all. Obviously it’s important to have this information. And it doesn’t help that I may be slightly prone to overreactions. I went straight to Chinatown, and felt overwhelmed by the loud and in-your-face vendors, the smothering heat and the street food. I saw an obviously popular food stall selling what looked to be possibly the most delicious satays in Malaysia, and guess where I ended up? Starbucks. With a caramel latte, rocking in the corner. I didn’t know where to go, or what to do, and I was sure that I had already contracted amoebic dysentery. After about an hour of this, I managed to get a tenuous grip, and moseyed (latte gripped tightly in hand) off to Merdeka Square, where Malaysia gained independence in 1957. There were flags everywhere in preparation for Malaysia National Day, and it was lovely. But I still hadn’t eaten anything. It wasn’t until later, when I was waiting for my delayed overnight train to Butterworth that I wondered why I had freaked out so much. Even if I did get a bit of travellers tummy – so what? A few dashes to the toilets are unlikely to ruin my trip. What was I so worried about? In hindsight, I think I was more freaked out about travelling alone, especially with six more months ahead. The start of my trip, a week in Singapore hadn’t really felt like ‘travelling’. It was more of a holiday, and I wasn’t alone. I hadn’t even considered that I would feel a bit out of my depth leaving the security blanket of Singapore, and especially not in a place like Kuala Lumpur. But wasn’t this what I had signed up for? Leaving my comfort zone, enjoying new experiences and seeing the world along the way? It was time to stop worrying and learn to love the unknown. It was not the start to my trip that I anticipated, and it was jarring and unexpected to feel like that in a modern cosmopolitan city. But it was an interesting wake up to what I had signed myself over to, and prepared me to open myself up to experiencing what the next six months had in store, the risk of a dodgy stomach be damned. By the way, Penang Char Koay Teow was amazing, and I’ll definitely not let myself miss out on anymore local culinary delights.