With another major trip coming up in 2 weeks (you'll find out soon!), I'm not sure why I am deciding "now" to start backtracking on our trip to Asia last year?! I mean better now than never, right? Honestly, I have been meaning to write about this for sooooo long now, but as a mom life with a fast-growing second child, my only free time to write is at night after the kids go to bed...which leaves me like 2 or 3 hours I need to be in bed. And by then, this mama's brain is too fried to write lol.
Unfortunately, some details are already feeling a little hazy, and this will probably turn more into a photo dump than anything. If you haven't yet, read my first post recapping the overall experience before you start reading this - it'll give you some context on why we made this travel with two little ones.
Arriving Malaysia
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur around 8:30am after traveling for 24 hours, so as you can imagine we were exhausted and also equally confused because now we had to force our bodies to start a day when it really wanted to sleep (remember, US is on an opposite time).
In true Asian form, we quickly unloaded our luggage, briefly embraced the reunion, and went off to the food market for some food. Let it be known that I knew no such feeling of hunger since that moment. I swear in Asia, food is the ultimate love language across all generations. Such a simple, affordable meal - the food at the market was simply divine. I love curry laksa, all the different variations of roti canai, desserts with all the exotic fruits...the variety of cuisine that Malaysia offers due to its influence from China, the Middle East, India, European countries, and so on, really makes the foodie in me excited to eat. I was somewhat worried about my mac-and-cheese, everything cheese-loving child, Zoe, when it came to trying drastically new food, but she surprised me with her curiosity and willingness to try. She loved roti canai, anything noodle (of course) including curry laksa.
Meeting The Behs
If you are asking me, "What else did you do, Wonjee?" then, I don't really have much more to say other than eating. Our stay in Malaysia was brief as we were planning to travel to Cambodia shortly after. There was a lot of 'catching up on everything we missed eating' mentality as well as the Behs loving to book a whole restaurant for family gatherings. My father-in-law comes from a large family (I forget...8 or 9 siblings), so you can imagine the size of the extended family once we count all the cousins, nieces, and nephews. It kind of makes sense that they have to book an entire restaurant. Coming from a small extended family myself, I particularly admire the closeness of this gigantic network of family. They come together at rather short notice and are always happy to see each other. This was the case when I first met them 9 years ago and that dynamic never changed. And thanks to social media, we feel more familiar with each other. Did I mention there are like 8 or 9-course meals? Again, I was never hungry.
Zoe's new attachment, cooling off
When we were not eating, we just spent time with each other. Han Hong is Z's half-sister, which would make Zoe's aunt (?) - she was simply amazing to both Zoe and Zaylee (but Zoe, especially). Zoe instantly looked up to her and despite her intense attachment at times, Han Hong was always patient, playful, and engaging which really helped Zoe ease into a new environment.
My father-in-law owned a condo unit near his house, so we cooled off at a very nice pool within the complex. I loved watching Zoe having fun in the water and flexing her swim skills - those 2+ years of driving to the lesson, on-and-off crying phases (in the beginning) paid off!
The next post is going to Cambodia, which I am going to have a very hard time writing a concise post and weaving through thousands of photos - wish me luck! It is nice to come back to these photos again, though!