I have never traveled to Asia before, so I have no expectations what these next five countries will be like. In researching Malaysia, I have a feeling it’s going to be a fairly stark contrast from what I’ll be leaving behind in Africa. Their economy is the fourth largest in Southeast Asia, and is one of the most competitive in the world, a far cry from the poverty that is found in Africa. It might be a bit of a culture shock moving from Ethiopia to Malaysia, but I look forward to discovering what God has in store! Malaysia is 80% Islamic and Buddhist, so would you pray with me that we could reach this nation with the true Light of Jesus Christ?
Fun and Interesting Facts about Malaysia
- Capital: Kuala Lumpur
- Population: 30,949,962 – 237 people/sq mi
- Roughly the size of New Mexico
- Official Language: Bahasa Malaysia
- Religions: Muslim (official) 61.3%, Buddhist 19.8%, Christian 9.2%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 1.3%, other 0.4%, none 0.8%, unspecified 1% (2010 est.)
- Life Expectancy: 75 years
- Literacy Rate: 94.6%
- Gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1957
- The national dish is Nasi lemak, a fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk, often served wrapped in a banana leaf, and usually eaten for breakfast; the national drink is a hot milk tea called Teh tari
- Average temperature in April is 90° and 19 rainy days with over 9 inches of rain
- The Japanese invaded Malaysia on December 6, 1941, the same day they bombed Pearl Harbor
- The Petronas Towers in the capital were the world’s tallest buildings from 1998-2004 (now ranked 8th tallest) with a height of 1,483 feet and a walkway connecting the two at the 44th floor
- Malaysia has the largest cave chamber on the planet, the Sarawak Chamber, and it is often claimed that the corridor of Deer Cave, a 1-mile long passage of the caves, could house five rows of eight Boeing 747 jetliners parked nose to tail (notice the person in the bottom left corner of the photo for scale)
- The world´s biggest roundabout is located here and is over 2 miles in diameter
- The longest King Cobra, the largest species of venomous snake on the planet, was caught in Malaysia in 1937 at over 18 feet long (I sure hope I don’t run into any of these!)
- Malaysia’s Taman Negara (literally, “national park”) is one of the oldest rainforests on Earth (older than the tropical rainforests of the Amazon and the Congo Basins) and supports more than 10,000 species of plants, 1,000 types of butterflies, 140 types of animals, 350 bird species, 100 kinds of snakes, and 150,000 kinds of insects
- The largest flower on earth, the Rafflesia, is located here and its bloom can be up to 3-feet wide and weigh 15 lbs
- Malaysians are the friendliest people in the world…at least on Facebook! According to a 2010 survey conducted by international firm TNS, Malaysians have an average of 233 friends – the most in the world
- It is generally considered rude to point at people or things with the index finger; instead, a bent index finger or thumb is used to point—or, rather, to knuckle—in the right direction
- Some buildings in Malaysia do not have a fourth floor, they are replaced by “3A” as the sound of four (sì) is similar to the sound of death in Chinese (si )
