So I’m in South East Asia Backpacking for a year when……. Oh, by the way my name is Joe I am from Philadelphia PA and I’m 23 years old. I start to real time chat with a friend of mine who lives in Brooklyn. We haven’t spoken since I’ve left, over a month ago and he wants to know what’s up; and I’m sure most of my other friends, relatives, co-workers and acquaintances also want to be informed as to my adventures/revelations/prospectives etc….. I start telling him some of the fun I’d had in Cambodia and Thailand, Bangkok mostly, and he keeps asking me to start a blog. Now I’m a tech savy mother fucker! A lazy one at that, so the concept of blogging isn’t new to me, in fact I had already created an account at another travel blog site before I left. But it was really beat…… I was sick and tired of corresponding by repeatedly relaying the same experiences over and over again to each of my immediate family members; actually, I was copying and pasting portions of sent messages from my emails to my mother, my father and my grandmother (Bubby) who all wanted to know my whereabouts and wanted to know that I was still alive, safe, happy and healthy. Damn I’m lucky to have family! Finally my boy (“A”) sent me a link to this site. Lo and Behold I liked this Jawn (Philly slang, It’s a universal substitute for a noun, “at least in this context”; if you don’t believe me then look it up on urban dictionary)enough to actually type something out….. So here is the start of this documented madness….
I am right now on Penang (which shares the name of a restaurant on 10th st in Philly Chinatown) in Malaysia, staying in the colonial city of Georgetown and chatting it up with the local mix. Penang is really interesting because in a largely Muslim nation, this island is quite diverse. The three main ethnicity’s are Malay, Indian and Chinese, the result is a colorful coexistence between the vastly different cultural backgrounds AND the best damn food I’ve ever had. Everyone has a specialty from their own ethnic cuisine and each stall or restaurant seems to share a little of the flavor and style from each other’s own traditional cooking. Today I wen to see the Largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia bearing the name “Kek Lok Si”………. I felt inspired, lots of history and I could feel the resonance of greatness; afterwards we ate Curry Mee for lunch, which was banging! In the surrounding area of Kek Lok Si there were Hindu Temples and Islamic Mosques, all of which are very beautiful. It’s like this all over Penang. For breakfast tomorrow I think I will get some Samosa’s from little India (3 for 1 US dollar) they come in three variations; chicken, fish and vegetable…….. We (Dave, my travel buddy) had originally came to Malaysia so that we could get our 2 month visas at the Indonesian consulate located here in Georgetown, instead of the standard 1 month visas issued at the border crossings. The whole process was a pain in the ass (copies of passports, specialized photos and forms filled out in duplicate!) and in the end? VICTORY! We Got em and so after spending a grand total of 6 days in Malaysia we’re off to Medan (3rd largest city in Indonesia), by way of an express ferry service that takes about 5 hours to complete. The end result is ending up on the Island of Sumatra and I will be starting my experience(s) in Indonesia!
Much love to everyone who’s loved me….. I apologize in advance for the lack of communication up until this point and give some credit to my boy “A” in NYC; because if it were not for him none of y’all would be reading this right now :) Feel free to send me an email if you have questions or comments or if you just want to say hi…… My Internet usage will be sporadic at best so please don’t be upset! I will try my best!
ComputerJoe8@gmail.com
-Joe Tabas
Part of Kek Lok Si
Kek Lok Si Malaysia
Inside of Kek Lok Si
Our New Friend, Kelvin!
