My first day in Malaysia

Okay, this is a special request from my twin Suely, so I guess this is dedicated to you.

This post is actually about my first day in Malaysia. Oh yeah! I ain't Asian. I'm African, proudly! Lol.

Yeah, as I was blogging before the interruption, I departed from Nigeria, sometime November 2nd and arrive in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, November 3rd. My initial idea of Malaysia that it was like one of  them Caribbean Countries where you go to school, you come back home and when you want to chill, you just take a stroll to the beach and walk barefooted on the beach sand. Well, my expectations were defeated wholesomely!

The normal constitution for studying in Malaysia is that if you're coming here for schooling, the school to which you applied to must pick you up from the airport. Under no circumstance will they allow another to fetch you, not even if you have your mother or father or brother or whatsoever relation living here down will here. Strange eh? Well, I waited for them for close to an hour and then this chic comes and says she's the one to pick me up. I was blaaaddy hungry at the time. I flew with Qatar Airways and the foods served in-flight from Doha to Kuala Lumpur were just terrible!! I could barely eat it. I just kept on requesting for Tea and more Tea. Didn't even trust their coffee, lol.  Anyways, she offered to buy me something to feed on because the journey from the airport to the school arena is pretty far. She bought me cupcakes (seriously??? I would have expected something a little more decent..) and some weird tasting drink they call 100PLUS. Apparently, its some hydrating drink made because the weather out here is insanely hot on most days. One taste and I lost my taste buds. It tasted horrible!! Then I asked why the hell didn't she buy me something more conventional like Coke or Sprite and guess what she tells me? She says its her favorite drink and thats the reason why she bought it for me! Now act surprised. 

Driving to the schools' hostel, I saw nothing but cars and trees and the first human I saw on the road was a man dressed like some Sudanese desert man strolling with his bicycle!! I was like; Oh no! Do not tell me this is the what I left my beautiful Country Nigeria for. I asked the lady where the beaches and Islands at? She laughed and replied that I'd have to go to East Malaysia or, go to where the islands are situated. That KL is just a city, no water, nothing! Just a bunch of high-rise buildings, sky-scrapers and such! Disappointed and hungry as I was, I uttered no words until we got to the hostel. Oh yeah! In between all of that, she gave me the schools' phone to call my family, telling them I arrives safely. That I did.

I must say, the hostel wasn't what I expected. I mean, from what they put on the college's website, it seemed cleaner and finner but whatever though, at least I got a place to rest my head for the night. Later that evening, my friend John from high school came over to see me. He hadn't change one bit I said to myself. We had dinner together at McDonalds and then he left. It was more like a normal day only that my phone wouldn't stop buzzing at night and it then dawned on me that I really did leave Nigeria and my family and all my friends. I was now in this strange land filled with Asians. 

At this point, I was missing my best friend like mad with whom I had done everything with everyday for the past one year.

How I met Banky W, and WizKid

It was Monday morning and my bro told me wizkid and Banky W were coming to town to perform and he might as well be performing in that show but it wasn't a sealed deal yet.

All the while, I've been fussing over Banky W and his cute face, my God he's cute! I asked him on twitter on Tuesday if he'd love to have breakfast with me at Macdonalds on Sunday after the show, he didn't reply but I'm sure as hell he saw my tweet and stalked me a little. (Chuckles)

Came Saturday, and it was time to go for the show. I would say I was a little bit mad at my bro over something silly so I told him I wasn't gonna come see him perform nor attend the show even. I called Loveth and to make it worse, she said she wasn't going to make it!! This would be the third time in a row she's missing Erastus' performance. I was mad at her and ended the call cos I was like; what's the point of going without my girls? Rebbe already made it clear to me she wasn't gonna make it cos she thought it would be uninteresting. (weird much?) A-ny-way-s, I had to go with Maggie and her cousin, the sweetheart, she paid for my ticket cos I wasn't having cash on me. Reason? There's like this thing with the ATM's in Malaysia; at about midnight until sometime 2am, they stop working. It's probable that they get serviced during those times. I couldn't withdraw at the time of course, due to the obvious reasons in the light of the above. We arrived just in time to witness my my bro; Erastus and Debi J perform my bro's song "Ur Back". They did really good! I must say, it was better than his performance at Ms Segi College event awhile back.

Banky W, wizkid, Sexy steel came out at about 3/4pm to perform and I could've sworn Banky recognized me! He took one look at the crowd and he kind of stopped at me for something like 3seconds and then he looked away. While he was yet performing, he came down to the crowds and he - amongst others - danced with me some 2- 3 times. Yep! I was pretty much starstruck I just froze! I was too in shock to dance 'with' him and so I just stood there smiling like some silly gander! Lol. I was so happy. Came back home at about 6am and ran to Saniya's (my friend) unit hugged her. Told her everything that happened cos she knew how excited I was before going for the show. I waved goodbye to her as she was travelling that morning to her Country for some 2weeks holiday or thereabouts..

Slept for a few hours, then woke up and began tweeting and voila! Banky was (according to his tweet fans) literally raping my timeline. Tweeted once at him, he replied, did again and he replied rapidly and I'm like; okay, am I dreaming or something? Then he followed me back on twitter, that blew me away! He happened to be putting up in a hotel 5minutes away from where I live. We arranged to meet up later cos he said he had a meeting to attend at the moment. At about midnight, he sent a text saying he has been trying to call me all day but couldn't get through to me. I called back and we talked. Then he said he's at this bistro that just turned into a night club for Africans and asked if I could make it. Told him yeah, my friends and I were supposed to attend the opening thingy. Bro came to pick me up and as we was on or way there, the car just decided it was the perfect time to stop. Battery issues. Mahn! I thought of my friend Reyhaneh and said this would be a perfect time to ring Murphy's law all up in my ears. After much battle, we finally got the stupid car to work with the help of a kind stranger. On arriving there, I called him to say i was outside. He said to come inside and upstairs to the VIP lounge. He gave me a very big hug when he saw me and I could see the other girls eyes were ridden with so much envy! If eyes could rip humans apart, I should be dead by now, probably be eaten by some hungry ostriches. #jokes! He then took me to his seat and introduced me to Wizkid and wizzy was like; I'm wizzy. and I was like; I KNOW!!!!! Looool.

We talked for a while and took pictures until it was time for them to go, hugged him, whispered thank you in his ears and off he went.

It wasn't exactly how I planned to hang out with Banky W but I was very pleased I even got the chance. Most girls would do the insane to have this opportunity and looking from another bright side; My first tweet-meet was with a celebrity. Beat that!! If I were to do anything differently, I wouldn't have met him at the bistro. I'd rather drive him around my city Damansara and Kuala Lumpur, take him to the movies, for ice-cream, cakes, just treat the man to some tender-loving-and-care and some good fuuuuuun too. Maybe dinner afterwards?

~ ketybrown.

My wilderness Experience(More like my life as a 4-day celebrity)

This is my experience in Laos.

I spent four days there. I was supposed to travel Saturday 7th May to return 14th May but I missed my flight. The next flight was for 10th May. I cried the whole way back home. Anyways, Tuesday came and I didn't miss my flight, on the contrary, I arrived there pretty early! Waved byes to my brother and friend who dropped me off at the airport and soon enough, I was on my way to Laos. It's a pretty nice country. Its not as architectural or developed as most of its surrounding countries, but the air is clean, the people are warm the food is oh! Sooo good, you're hooked! Everyone there was shocked and surprised to see me there. From what I gathered, they don't get to have black people (women most especially) around there. People kept tapping themselves in surprise as I walked the streets of Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

My Friend, Khany, couldn't make it to the airport because she had to work. Therefore, she sent her friend to pick me up, of which I met when she came visiting Malaysia. A little run down on memory lane on how I met Khanny, she came touring alongside 2 of her friends - the one she sent to pick me up from the airport and her brother - in Malaysia. We then had a mutual friend in Lolita and Teofil, my Spaniard friends whom I also met in Malaysia.

Anyways, khany's friend names Kum took me round town. First, she took me to this coffee house, kind of like Starbucks coffee and I felt right at home. Okay this one's for jokes; I ordered my meal and when I asked for the price, the tender replied, 48 thousand and I was like what??? I asked for the exchange rate to find out $1 is only 8,000Kip. How embarrassed I felt as I was making a scene already with others present, saring in amusement. After I was done feeding, she showed me all the nice things in Vientiane as we passed them on her motorbike and talked about the hot spots for tourists like myself. It was then she told me about Vang Vieng. Glad she did cos I absolutely loved every minute of my stay there. She said there were many touristic places in Laos but if I were to tour, I should start with the common ones - Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. I saw a picture of Luang Prabang and it was absolutely breathtaking! But since vang vieng was common for tourists, I decided to take the next days' bus headed there. I could come another time and tour Luang Prabang, I figured. Glad I did because I never would have met the people I did meet in vang vieng.

Spent the night at Khanys'. Next day I was on my way to vang vieng on the 10am bus bound for Vang Vieng. It took about 4 to 5 hours to get to vang vieng. Actually, there are two kind of buses that are headed Vang Vieng; the 'VIP' bus and the normal towns' bus. The VIP bus actually wasn't so much of a VIP bus but because its Laos, I'll give them an upper hand.

I happened to sit near this Kiwi girl who just graduated as a Biologist from a top University in Singapore. Strange eh? I asked her why she left New Zealand to study in Singapore. She said cos its cheaper and the education standard in S'pore is quite good! We talked the whole way through. It so happened she was on vacation with her friends, a group of biologists touring Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam(sweet!).

Upon arrival, I felt like I was in an aussie community. Vang vieng is swamped with Australians amongst others, but they take the lead in the population. Vang vieng is actually a place populated by tourists more than the locals themselves. I found that quite interesting. There are usually advertisers as you disembark the bus who would do anything to sell their guest house to you. Oh yes! You rent guest houses or you can stay in a hotel but guest houses are the best! You get a whole apartment to yourself for about $5 per night, more or less.. The bungalow I rented was super super nice!! I had air conditioning; free coffee and water at my disposal; the bicycle i didn't have to rent, I used for free; the hosts were super super nice.. it was a haven.

I stayed two nights in Vang Vieng. The day i arrived which was Wednesday, I spent it walking around the streets of Vang Vieng taking pictures and I even got me an anklet! I spent it walking 'round town with the Singaporeans, the sweethearts! We as a group, booked for a tour package which included caving, tubing, kayaking (thats right! We went kayaking) and it included our lunch. While taking a stroll later at night, and I met this Irish guy who says he's been in Laos for 12months, that the following day would make it his 12th month in Vang Vieng, Laos. When I asked what hes been doing there, he said he was just 'chilling'. I was perturbed! He walked me home, even bought me a cold bottled water (lol!) Then he asked if I could have a drink or two with him, I declined. Didn't want some creep around me, yeah! I was creeped out. Maybe I was a little too harsh, I'd leave you to be the judge of that.

The next day I met this Finish girl travelling alone like I was, she was on my tour group alongside the Singaporeans. She was cool too.

Just as we went tubing, my camera and mobile phone decided to take a swim and off it went! The wet bag I was given seemed not to have been covered properly and so water still got in anyways. As sad as it sounds, I don't have any pictures of me kayaking nor tubing nor anything done that Thursday and the next. I was so sad the whole time but I had to keep up a smiling face. Oh yeah, to make it worse I almost drowned! After kayaking to a bar in the middle of nowhere (Where of course aussies rocked and partayed hard ) there was this really high point where you hold a rope, swing until it reaches its maximum and then dive into the water. I did that. I fell into the water and thought my feet would touch the ground or rock or something so I just let myself to keep going down and then I realized, shit! I really am drowning and then I found my bearing but by then, some French hawttie came to my rescue. Too bad he was touring with his girlfriend who happened to be a sweetheart! My bad. I was invited to dine with them later in the evening were they payed for my dinner and we had a beer or two afterwards at a club for tourists run by the aussies (Aussies! Lol).

There, I met this Spaniard who was completely taken by me. He loved the fact that I was a nerd (really!!??) and I got to find out he has his masters in Computer Engineering! As we talked into the night, he kept on looking at me with such augustness and kept saying how much he was liking me as the minutes rolled by (some romantic.. hmmph!!) I may never see him again as I wasn't with my phone nor a pen/paper, neither was he. He asked around but; who takes a pen and paper to a night club? Stupid! He's got me in his camera though, he just kept taking pictures upon pictures of me and yeah, he loved my blue eyes. (The silly goose..) He recorded my Facebook account name unto his camera so hopefully it works and he'd be able to contact me once again. I left the next day for Vientiane as my flight back to Malaysia was Saturday evening. I must confess, the VIP bus back to Vientiane from vang vieng was so much better than that from Vientiane to Vang Vieng. I sat close to this Australian who's lived most of his life in London and had Nigerians as close buddies so he had no problem interacting with me. The oldie, says he never married and ended up passing up his email address to me that I should mail him. Still trying to figure out why and if I really should. Well, he might come in handy someday and age never played the lead role in friendships (I hope just that). While walking down the street market in the evening that sunny Friday, I met this trio, one of them was from Amsterdam, the other two from Lebanon and Syria respectively. Chatted for a while and then I waltzed away as my friend called for me.

My friend and her other friends took me to a karaoke bar at night where we totally went insane singing off our lungs.

There's something about karaoke. Even though your voice is as sweet as a birds', there's a way it kind of makes you feel incompetent as you hear yourself singing terribly to your favorite songs. It rained all through the morning of Saturday and I just had to take the liberty of walking around in the rain just cos I had my rain coat with me. Silly me! I got to a place and found out it was a morning market where you can buy almost anything for half its normal price! I bought my souvenirs from there, bought a shirt for myself that says; "I went tubing in Vang Vieng". I think everyone who goes tubing should have this shirt. Funny! I found out there's a boutique with some creepy name, only Nigerians and a few other Africans would understand this:

At about 3pm, my friend took me to the airport and we waved our goodbyes after i checked in. There was a delay in the flight and so we left pretty late. I arrived in Malaysia at about 9pm Malaysian time.

I felt kind of sad leaving Laos which I now refer to as my little Haven, but it felt good to be back. Just as I got in, I realized my visa was valid for 2 months and I was like eh? Why didn't I see this any earlier?

~ ketybrown.