What It's Like to Live in....Malaysia

endlesslight44, does your open invitation extend to Sparkitors?? —SparkNotes editors

As I think I may have mentioned in some of my other posts and comments, I live a rather complicated life. I was born and raised in the Chicago area (so I’m American), but when I was 8, my family moved overseas to Malaysia (where my parents teach at an international school). I spent the next 8 years of my life growing up next to a beach (seriously, my house is 15 feet from the water. Yes, you should be jealous). Malaysia is fantastic, and I totally love it there. Any Sparkler out there has an open invitation to come visit me. Here’s what we could do:

1) Go to the beach. Now, I have some slightly disappointing news for you. The water that surrounds my island (did I mention I live on an island??) is pretty polluted from all the hotels and villages and general human things on the island. With a million people, there’s bound to be some unattended-to garbage, right? But the beach is still beautiful to walk on. It’s especially magnificent when the sun is setting. The most brilliant colors you’ve ever seen, guaranteed.

2) Go to the mall. In America, malls are mostly higher end or random stores that couldn’t survive on their own. In Asia, malls are everything. Our grocery store, bookstore, shoe stores, coffee shops, movie theatre, electronic stores, bakeries, clothing stores, restaurants, and most other stores we’d ever need, are all found in our malls. An added bonus is that Malaysia is cheap! Going to a movie costs less than 3 US dollars, and the theatres are pretty nice; my friends and I go to movies all the time. The malls are also air-conditioned, a very nice thing in a tropical rainforest climate.

3) Go to the stalls. How does one explain the beauty of stalls to someone who has never been to them? The stalls are these conglomerations of vendors (usually around a squarish area filled with tables) all selling the best food and fresh fruit juices you will ever partake of in your whole entire life. You can get Chinese, Malay, Thai, Indian, Western, Japanese, Mexican, and even French food. Everything is super cheap, and the food is SO good (did I mention that already?). My stomach is growling just thinking about it.

4) Go to the pool. To make up for the ocean water being a little dirty, hanging out at the pool is super fun. My school has a small pool, and the hotels all have beautiful pools, mostly right next to the beach. After properly applying sunscreen to protect yourself from skin cancer, you can swim, play games, tan, or just lounge for hours in the warm sun and cool water.

5) Go to the night market. The “tourist strip” of our island comes alive every night. Vendors set up their wares all along the sidewalk in front of all the hotels. You can buy almost anything you want, from knockoff soccer jerseys to knoc-off watches, from perfume to pirated movies, from Thai lamps to Chinese pottery, from hand painted pictures to traditional batik fabric. Souvenirs and trinkets abound at the night market. There’s something for everyone. And everything is still really cheap.

Basically, Malaysia is one of the coolest countries out there, and I’ve been to quite a few. The food is the best in the world, the beaches are beautiful, and Malaysians are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. I love living here!

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