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We’re starting this post at Colombo International Airport as we wait for the check-in… Today is a Thursday like any other. People are out and about at the airport, excited to go on vacations or to see their loved ones. Meanwhile, we’re thinking about the last 30 days, just completely unbelieving everything we have lived in this country.
Choosing Sri Lanka as our first destination for our one-year trip has to be the best thing we have ever done. The cultural shock, the different experiences, the kind, and genuinely happy people, the food, the smell, the nature… We fell deeply in love with all of it (well, let’s just excuse the extra spicy food from this conversation).
As we sit here we realized just how much we’re leaving behind, and how much we’re carrying with us to this new adventure. During this trip, we learned that there are so many different paths to success and happiness and that TRUE happiness radiates from within when you’re following your dreams.
Fast forward to what happened these past two weeks:
Airport Madness
Shortly after we wrote the first sentimental and super cheesy first paragraphs of this weekly, we decided to check in for our flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. Nick’s VISA had been already approved and Bruno’s hadn’t BUT we read online that Brazilians could apply for a VISA on Arrival in Vietnam. Turns out we were denied boarding because the VISA on Arrival needs to be pre-approved online and you can’t literally get it “on arrival”. Shame on us for not double-checking this before the flight…
Easy to say we were in despair. Our tourist visa for Sri Lanka would expire on that same day, and any other flight would cost us SO MUCH MONEY. But Nick realized our flight had a long connection in Kuala Lumpur, and that we didn’t need a visa to travel there so she begged the attendant to let us hop on our flight and do only the first leg of our trip.
After what felt like a lifetime, they came back and said that, although it was strictly against the airline’s conduct, they somehow managed to authorize our flight to Malaysia (insert here BIG sigh of relief).
Kuala Lumpur
And this is the story of how we ended up in Kuala Lumpur.
The New York of South East Asia, we feel like we could move here in a heartbeat. Coming from Sri Lanka, this city felt like returning to the real world hahaha oh the relief of being able to get wherever we want to, whenever we want to.
There’s so much to do here and the food is UNREAL. We now believe every single person who told us that Malaysia had the best food in all of South East Asia.
Our days in KL were mostly spent doing touristy stuff and organizing our new itinerary. Changing plans like that was a bit of a shock as we hadn’t planned anything for Malaysia yet but we managed to come up with something and still include Singapore in our itinerary. Some of the nicest places we visited here were:
Masjid Wilayah
Thean Hou Temple
Batu Caves
Please be aware of the monkeys when visiting!
New Plan
Our plan as of now consists of traveling south of KL for a quick trip to Singapore, then heading all the way up the East Coast, and crossing back to the West before crossing borders to Thailand. We have no idea if this will work out for us but we have managed to travel south and visited a couple of small towns and stayed in quite a few sketchy hotels before hitting Melaka – a historic colonial town declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2008.
Melaka
We’re currently exploring this super cute town for the next few days and will go from here directly to Singapore. Oh, and if you ever visit, their Coconut Shakes are a must!
Meanwhile, if you still don’t follow us on INSTAGRAM, do GIVE US A FOLLOW, and go check our stories for daily videos of this trip! Come flow with us through Asia!
