Malaysia — The Country I Went Back To 🇲🇾

Sometimes you don’t return to a place because you haven’t seen enough. You return because you liked how you felt there.

My third international trip was Malaysia in 2017.

But this wasn’t my first Malaysia trip.

I had already been to Malaysia in 2016 — my first-ever international trip and my first flight. That journey had a completely different kind of excitement. Everything was new: the airport, the passport, the flight, being in another country, hearing different languages and suddenly realising that the world was much bigger than I had imagined.

You can read that story here: My First International Trip — Malaysia

And perhaps that first experience is exactly why I went back.

Malaysia had already left a good impression on me.

The first time, I had gone there with the excitement of someone discovering international travel for the first time.

The second time, I went there with a different feeling.

I already knew I liked the place.

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Why Malaysia Again?

If I’m being honest, I had always wanted to explore places like Italy or Switzerland.

But travelling internationally isn’t just about choosing a destination. There are visas, budgets, planning and a lot of other things that have to come together.

Malaysia was comparatively easier to plan, affordable enough for the trip I had in mind, and most importantly — I already knew that I enjoyed being there.

So when the opportunity came to visit Malaysia again in 2017, it didn’t feel like going back to the same country.

It felt like going back to a place I had unfinished business with.

This time, we wanted to explore new places.

And we did.

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Seeing Malaysia With Different Eyes

The interesting thing about visiting the same country twice is that the second trip doesn’t feel like the first.

The first time, you are busy noticing everything.

The second time, you start noticing the little things.

The greenery.

The roads.

The surroundings.

The way people behave.

The overall calmness.

There was something very refreshing about the environment.

I remember being impressed by how peaceful and patient people seemed, especially while driving. There wasn’t the kind of constant impatience and chaos that I was used to seeing back home.

Cars would slow down and give way.

People seemed to have patience.

And somehow, everything kept moving.

It made me think about how differently people can live in different parts of the world.

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And Then There Was My New Dream 😂

One observation from Malaysia stayed with me.

Back home, we often dream about buying a house or a car.

But while travelling, I started seeing something that made my imagination run a little further.

People were dreaming about islands. 😂

And I remember thinking:

“Okay… maybe I need to upgrade my dreams.”

A house?

A car?

No.

Let’s buy an island! 😂

Obviously, that was just a dream.

But that’s one of the beautiful things about travelling.

Sometimes you don’t just see a new place.

You discover a new possibility in your own mind.

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Greenery, Fruits & New Experiences

One of the things I loved most about Malaysia was the greenery.

There was something visually refreshing about being surrounded by so much green.

And then came the fruits.

There were fruits I had never really seen or tasted before.

For someone who enjoys exploring food, that itself became an experience.

Although there was one challenge…

We were vegetarians.

And food became one of the few things we had to think about carefully.

Finding vegetarian food wasn’t always easy.

But whenever we found an Indian restaurant, there was a different kind of happiness.

You know that feeling when you’ve been eating unfamiliar food for a while and suddenly someone puts an Indian meal in front of you?

That first bite feels like home.

The taste was familiar.

The spices were familiar.

And for a few minutes, it didn’t feel like we were thousands of kilometres away.

It felt like India had somehow followed us there.

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My First Five-Star Check-In

The second Malaysia trip also gave me another first.

I checked into a beautiful five-star property for the first time.

I don’t remember it simply as a hotel check-in.

I remember the feeling.

There was a different kind of excitement in entering a place like that and thinking:

“Wow… I’m actually staying here.”

Travel slowly started changing my definition of what was possible.

Things that once felt distant started becoming experiences I could actually live.

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And Then… The Event

There was another important reason behind this trip.

We were travelling to Malaysia for an event.

And that made the journey even more exciting.

It wasn’t just a holiday where we would decide what to do after reaching there.

There was something we were actually looking forward to.

The event itself became one of the highlights of the trip.

There was excitement around it, people, energy and the feeling of being part of something while also being in another country.

That combination made the trip even more memorable.

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The Funny Thing About Coming Back

My first Malaysia trip was about discovering a new world.

My second Malaysia trip was about discovering more of a world I already knew I liked.

And that’s a very different feeling.

The first time, I was excited because I had never been there.

The second time, I was excited because I was going back.

We explored new places.

We saw new surroundings.

We experienced a different environment.

We found new food.

We laughed about the things we couldn’t eat.

We celebrated whenever we found an Indian restaurant.

We attended an exciting event.

And we came back with another collection of memories.

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Some Places Become More Than Places

Looking back, Malaysia became special to me for a simple reason.

It was the country that introduced me to international travel.

And then, just one year later, it became one of the first countries I willingly returned to.

That says something about how strongly a place can stay with you.

My first visit gave me the excitement of a first international journey.

My second visit gave me the comfort of returning somewhere familiar while still discovering something new.

And perhaps that’s why this trip felt so different.

I wasn’t visiting Malaysia for the first time anymore.

I was returning to a place that had already become a part of my travel story.

And sometimes…

coming back is its own kind of adventure.