My Travel Adventures

Originally, my travels this spring were to last only two weeks. After my adventure in Pakistan, I was planning to return either home or to university and focus on my studies. However, I put my studies on hold when I found out my friends Brent and Joel would be travelling to Japan on their yearlong journey around the world, and another friend, Kevin, would overlap with them for his honeymoon. This constellation of events had already convinced our mutual friend Ciaran to plan his own trip to Japan during his few months of ‘funemployment,’ and my fear of missing out grew too great to bury in books.

I dedicated my last day in Malaysia to exploring its capital. Kuala Lumpur is a relatively young city, having arisen from a tin-mining settlement in the nineteenth century. The period brought about an enormous demand for tin: it was used to make household items, line tea chests, and fuel the industrial revolution in the Western World. To harness the production of this valuable material, the local Raja invited Chinese miners and engaged Chinese businessmen in support of the venture, succeeding in expanding the town despite rampant malaria and other tropical ailments. Disputes over the flourishing industry led to the outbreak of the Selangor Civil War (also known as the Klang War) between 1867 and 1874, which saw Kuala Lumpur burned to the ground and decimated by an outbreak of cholera.

My second day in Malaysia was dedicated to the exploration of Malacca. Legend has it that the city was founded in 1402 by King Parameswara, known as Iskandar Shah after his conversion to Islam. Parameswara had been the ruler of Singapura until it was invaded by the Majapahit Empire, which had its centre in East Java and extended its influence all the way to northern Malaysia and Eastern New Guinea. Exiled from his homeland, Parameswara was once resting under a Malacca tree when one of his dogs cornered a mouse deer. In one last act of defiance, the mouse deer stood up and pushed the larger dog into the river. Inspired by the deer’s courage, the king decided to found a city on the very spot and named it after the tree under which he had witnessed the scene.