Our friend Bakri and his lovely family
Country: Malaysia and Singapore
In Kepala Batas, Kuala Lumpur, Taman Negara, Tioman, Singapore and Melaka
Lesson learned: A new bike chain can solve many problems
Laughed about: The cute baby elephants that showered us while we were supposed to shower them
Most wonderful miracle: My good old friend Dila and Roberto’s lovely family
Food we ate: Dodol, Laksa, Pineapple cookies, Chinese food, Indian food and fast food
Greatest challenge: Getting that karaoke machine work
In Kepala Batas, Laksa is the traditional Hari Raya-food
Apit and his family are Muslims. They fasted during the 30 days of Ramadan. Since we were their guests and we wanted to taste the feeling of fasting, experience social empathy and put ourselves in their shoes, we fasted for the last two days of Ramadan with them.
Fresh Rambutan as a treat for two days of fasting
After the last day of Ramadan, the family celebrated Eid al-Fitr, the sugar feast. In Malaysia it is called Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Most Malaysians had been travelling for the past two days in order to visit their home villages for this special day. Apit dressed us in traditional Hari Raya clothing (Article about our experiences on Hari Raya in Malaysia).
Everybody dresses up for Hari Raya
For Roberto it was the first time to wear a Sarong (men’s skirt) and I wore a long shirt, long skirt and a headscarf. We spent the entire day eating, drinking and playing with the children.
The first day in a Sarong
All families prepared food for their neighbors and friends, or went out to visit people themselves. The house was full of laughing children, treats and happiness, and the cozy feelings that I had this day reminded me a lot on Christmas.
The kids love Hari Raya, they get sweets and money from the adults for their good fasting
We took the bus to Kuala Lumpur in the same night, because Roberto’s family came to visit us. We had not seen them in more than two years. That is a long time for me, but for a Mexican family it is half an eternity.
Apit’s father hands out money to the neighbor kids
We travelled through Malaysia with them for three wonderful weeks, cleaned baby elephants, swam with colorful fishes in the South Chinese Sea and discovered tarantulas and snakes in the biggest national park.
We celebrated my 27th birthday in the beautiful historical town of Melaka
As one of the many highlights we celebrated my 27th birthday with Chinese karaoke and a Mexican picnic in our guesthouse’s garden in Melaka together with Dila and Apit as well as Katyna, Héctor and Anaid.
Karaoke the Chinese and Malay way: every group sits in a private room, so nobody else is forced to hear anybody sing.
On the last day the local TV channel Astro Awani interviewed us about our travel and our experiences celebrating Hari Raya in Malaysia.
Interview with Bihan from Astro Awani
Time flew so fast and soon we had to wave goodbye to our lovely family that had travelled for more than two days only to see us. Hopefully we will see them again in New Zealand.
In Kuala Lumpur we stayed with Bakri, one of those people who seem to know about a lot any topic. His son Adib went to see the Malaysia Day’s parade in the center of town with two friends and we joined them.
Red, white, yellow and blue everywhere
It was a very hot day, there were white, red and blue colors everywhere and in the end even some jets joined the parade
The enrire center of Kuala Lumpur was crowded
Soon we were back in Kepala Batas with Apit and our bikes, drank sweet coffee and chocolate with his siblings Fateen and Syauqee and made friends with Kamal and Achik.
Bathing the baby elephant
We worked a lot and prepared our bikes for the way south. I even changed the chain (what a difference after more than 10,000 km with the same chain, finally the gears worked again) and now I hope that my good old second-hand steel-donkey will carry me around the world.
The best elephant-bathing crew
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