Malaysia Kuala Lumpur

The final countdown has begun. Only 4 more days to go before leaving South East Asia.
As expected, we indulge in delicious and cheap food, visiting the city with its international flair and simply enjoy the warmth and screaming vendors on the street in Chinatown and little India.



On our first official stroll through the city we passed one of the biggest mosques in South East Asia (tough Lonely Planet said the same about the National Mosque in Jakarta). But here, when wanting to enter, they handed us a purple robe to cover all our body parts and additionally one could take away leaflets answering questions about Islam. Tough they were a little suspiciously written since they d rather focus on fighting the prejudices than to state what the religion is all about for them.





From here we continued to the Islamic Arts Museum showing the development and relics from Islam from all over the world. As you might imagine, it was quite colorful and divers.

After the Museum, we didn't quite know where to go, so Jan lead us to the bird park just around the corner. This park looked very much like a zoo since some of the birds were in cages and others could run around freely. Like for example this big fat blue bird would just walk amongst visitors, wait until someone drop food. Its color was remarkable. See for yourself.




One quite interesting species we encountered had the size of a ostrich but its head was blue and on top of its head was a triangle (reminded me of a dinosaur) but its body was completely fluffy. In their describition it said that they are rather shy but when Jan was feeding it with salad, the bird wanted to pick the food from his hands and accidentially or not picked instead his finger.



Well, and since we were already in a very touristy feeling we topped the visit with some birds sitting on our shoulders.




After the bird park we went to the Central Market. One would expect that the main attraction would be nice souvenirs, but our attention was mainly focused on the fish massage. More than 100 fish were in a little pool, and when you put your feet into the water, they would suck on our skin and clean it all up. It was soooooo strange. First when you put your feet into the water it would feel very ticklish and then with time and less focus on the tingle, it really feels like a massage!

Malaysia Pulau Tioman

paradise , paradise , paradise. wuff wuff wau.
this is the ultimate island. Cristal clear water, whitest white sandy beach, one road only crossing the island and jungle!




Crossing the island to go to the east side of the island to a village called juara. in short that means great food , quiet, little tourists and il dolce fareniente.
one day, while we were walking on the beach, we have discovered turtle eggs that have been laid on the beach and according to the local ngo that was in charge of the turtle sanctuary, they were about to hatch any moment. unfortunately we didnt see that happen.

since the island consisted of more than 75% jungle, we encountered many wild animals.
one real beauty is called monitor lizard. at first glace they look like a mixture between dinosaur and gecko but quite big. around 50cm to 75cm. on this island they live off eating trash, dead animals and actually anything edible.
the first time i ve seen it, i was so freak out, i didnt want to pass it. and jan of course was too curious, so he d get to a half meter close to it. well in the end i had to pass but cowardly i have waited for a motor bike to come, so i could pass beside it, without having to get too close to the bastard.



at night while eating we heard someone scream that there was a piton underneath the plateau of the restaurant. a little boy would even climb underneath to see what everyone was talking about. the piton would snap at him... but luckily nothing happened, since the snake was only around a meter long and quite thin.



days pass by here so unnoticed. once we crossed the island and did a jungle walk. 7 km through the thickest jungle. we were sweating like hell and listening to the sound coming from the trees, the waterfall splashes, monkey s jumping around in the trees ...



along the way we meet a green, 2m snake that was crawling into the bushes. that really freaked us out.




right in front of our chalet was a beautiful reef for snorkeling were we spotted clown fish (like from finding nemo), sting reys, sergent fish, stone fish, ... and
many more.





7 days later we changed location and headed for the other side of the island. ABC was our headquarter for diving. Jan finished off his advanced open water and i did my open water certification.
while i was at first practicing all breathing and emergency exercises in the pool jan jumped r ight into diving. on his second day,after having finished the wreck dive where they went to 29,8 m, a whale shark appeared. they took off their gear and grabbed their mask s and jumped into the water. the whale shark was about 7 meter long (usually they get up to 14 meters, so this was obviously not an adult jet) . the whale shark would stay with them for over 20 minutes . Ama zing. Jan could even s wim underneath, over and beside her. wow! usually t he y just come once every 2 years. what a life time experience!







I on the other hand saw some cool stuff as well. During my last dive, i have spotted a lion fish, and 2 turtles. it was so great, blending out all t he noise from the outside world and move slow m otioon under the water!

Malayasia Melaka

Meleka was our second cultural city on the west coast of malaysia and another unesco world heritage city. most of the historical parts from the city were painted red because the british have decided to paint it all red to spare from havin to clean the houses all the time, especially during monsoon season.

most popular transport system is called trikshaw. as you can see on the picture. but they are usually not this extremly decorated but somehow this city has made it to its biggest hobby to decorate it with flowers and play extremely loud music with it. either techno, classics or oldies.

Malaysia Cameron Highlands

From culture and lifestile we decided to go to Cameron Highlands. This is located in the centre of the peninsular. 4 hours of drive later, we arrived in chilly Cameron Highlands. A region which mostly cultivates tea and farms fruits and most importantly gives home to the biggest flower in the world. The Raflesia. No this picture is not the raflesia, it s just a demonstration of the vast diversity of fauna of this region!



Day 2 we did a tour with the coolest of all guides in the world. He appeared like a Daniel Boom, but from the jungle. He was wearing boots, had a moustage, long hair, a jungle knife and a leather cowboy hat. This jeep had a horn in the front.
When we were driving up the jungle to get closer to the biggest flower in the world, the Raflesia, we had to drive up quite some muddy roads and the car would even slip at times and roll back. An hour later we started walking through the biggest jungle with a native (Orang Asli), leading us the way. 45 minutes later, there it was. The flower that only blooms ever 2 years and 8 months for around 2 weeks only.



The journey continued to a native village where we could try for ourselved blowhunting ( that is a pipe with a poisenous dart that the orang aslis use to go hunting).


From there to the tea plantage. Imagine mountains that are fully covered by bushes. Light green bushes!!! Beautiful.



The last stop was a rain forest that is over 1,5 million years all and is just called the mossy forest, since everything is covered in moss.

Malaysia Pulau Penang/ Georgetown

Our journey to Malaysia, roughly took us 16 hours in one ferry and two different Minivans. But due to our 15 day Visa in Thailand, we had one day left to leave the country without having to pay a penalty... and figuring the luck I had entering, I was prepared for the worst case scenario. Surprisingly, the only thing that happened was that the machine didnt recognize my passport and every information had to be tipped in by hand.

3 more hours later, we have arrived in Pulau Penang.A culturally wealthy city due to its chinese, european, malay and indian influence. This port was an important concection point between Europe and Asia. In 2008, the city received UNESCO world heritage.
The next day, just walking around and breathing in fresh air and observing the happenings in the surroundings. Our hostel was located in Chinatown. That is usually the place for cheaper accomodations and much more athmospheric than skyscraper landscapes. Right in front of our hostel were several food stalls, selling all kinds of delicacies. Fresh fruit juices (with all kinds of flavours, next to it, evvery seller, was selling different kind of food. Some would sell curry noodle (curry mee), others just spring rolls, chicken rice, ... and so many more.



Apparently, the food is one of the best places in south east asia (according to lonely planet) ... and indeed, I believe they are right. Every taste, tasted 10 times more intensely than in other places. It was sooooo fabolous!

The city itself was a mixture of everything. Starting from the cold colonial buildings and the sea flair... everything seemed really laid back (except from LIttle Indiah. There everything was loud and busy at all times :) )
The main street for example gave home to a Tao temple, next to it was a Moshee and then right next to it was a Hindu temple.




This city in short it 10 + and recommened to everyone who is open to world culture and great, tasty food!

Thailand Ko Pha Ngan

Ko Pha Ngan is the 5th biggest island of Thailand and is located in the Gulf of Thailand. After long back and forth we decided not to head to the Andaman coast but actually stay in a place for some time and really enjoy spending day after day lazy in a hammock, just reading a book and go to eat when necessary.
we have stayed in the west cost of the island, right in front of Ko Ma, an island which could be reached either by boat or by a 1 km sandstrip.





Right in front of the beach, one could snorkel in the finest and most divers coral reef. Jan's second day of snorkeling was marked by an underwater encounter which he simply called "fishi". This little fellow decided to accompany him around the water and nibbed on his skin every once in a while.

Right next to our bungalow was a man who owned two monkeys. This man would send his monkeys up into the trees to make them pick coconuts and throw them down.

Thailand Hua Hin

Hua Hin is one of the many residences from the King and Queen of Thailand. Nevertheless the glamorous hotels are just one side of this town. Around the old port you can dine cheaply in restaurants overlooking the sea, whilst observing old, fat white man sitting with the most beautiful gorgeous Thai woman.



Our main attraction was the nearby Safari. I know, it sounds quite touristy and when just looking at the pictures I am having quite a hard time convincing myself that I have indeed fed a two month old baby tiger. He loved to bite into Jan's hairy leg and play with our backpack. When we arrived in the Safari someone said, "hey, do you want to feed the baby tiger." and i was saying "sure" whilst not really believing my eyes. there he was. a beauty. the mini tiger playing around and almost smiling at you. when i was striking his back it was fluffy and soft. wuff, unbelievable.



the attraction for which we came here was pushed little into the corner. Elephant trekking. we were even able to climb onto the neck of the elephant like a "Mahoot" (thats the people who ride the elephants professionally). The elephants skin was really rough and hairy but hell feeling the slow motion steps. one after the other. wow. really great experience.

Thailand Phetchaburi

Phetchaburi, a quite traditional old town which is full of surprises. After a long and hot train ride from Bangkok we arrived in "temple ville".



Over 30 different temples decorate the city landscape. Tough we are quite "templed out" after Cambodia, the wooden carving on the front of the buildings put them into a complete different light than the ones in Bangkok, where everything was super gold and super mosaic and super super.




The next morning we visited some mysterious stalactite caves. But apart from the caves the real attraction was once again on the outside. Monkeys, the cute but hungry ones. Because when Jan bought some bananas the monkeys gathered around him, waiting for a little treat. At first the little ones approached first. Some started pulling his pants like children who want something from their parents. Some others jumped up to the hight of his hands and stole a banana or two. But by the time the big monkey came, the little ones hid behind the trees to watch "fezzo" get all the delights. The monkey would sit in front of Jans feet and stare at him. When Jan decided to give him some the monkey would stand up and pick it out of his hands.

Thailand Bangkok

This city is a world completly apart from what we have experienced so far. People, traffic jam, buses with no windows, food cart sellers, fresh fruits, heaps of pictures from the queen since on the 12th of august was her birthday. Here in Thailand, her birthday is celebrated like mothers day. But here you ll have 3 days of vacations in addition. By night, the entire city illuminates and it made me feel like christmas in europe. THe only difference is that its warm and not actually christmas. there is the ocasional rain pour, where out of nowhere everything gets heavily irrigated.

Chinatown is a district of the city, that in itself might as well be right in china. everywhere you look you ll see red lampions, chinese writing and an enormous market. you can find everything here, whether you need it or not, i guess anyhow will have troubles not leaving the market with at least one delicacy or local goods.



The grand palace is a little bit of too much of everything. Masaique and gold everywhere you ll look. Very majestic. see for yourself and you will understand what i mean.



Wat Po is famous for its around 50m long lying golden buddha. and apart from the lying buddha, you d see some more bling bling shine buddhas. everything is golden.
seeing all this, it makes me wonder, in how far buddha gautamas preachings are represented in all the gold?




what i really like about bangkok is all the different ways of transportation. apart from the traditional bus, train, metro, skytrain, tuk tuk, taxi... you have boats connecting the entire city with each other. you hop on one side of the city and get off on th other side of town, with no traffic jam. fabolous.
Interestingly we read, that women are not supposed to stand beside a monk or in his area.nor are they allowed to sit next to a monk. in boats, they d even have marked areas to stand.



well, a real highlight of this trip was watching a thai box competition live. Inside the hall thousands of locals gathered to watch the upcoming 6 fights. most of fighers were still kids, but regardless, their power and technique were one of a trained professional. The first contestants out of 6 fights, were hardly older than 15. by the time the fight began, men around us started screaming around to take on bets on the outcome of the fight. By the time the fight has reached the 4th round, the entire crowd started screaming uhhs and ahhs, depending on which contestant they were for.



Our last night in bangkok we had to do one last thing. have a drink on top of the highest skybar of the world. aftr 64 floors the view over the city was breathtaking. it seemed like the city has put its nicest outfit on to make our breath gasp for air.in the background you could hear jazz muscians play, whilst we enjoyed the most expensive investment of our trip. a cocktail.

Thailand National Park Khao Yai

After the excruciating trip to Pranchinburi we didnt know whether the National Park will even be accessible from this town. But this time around, we were lucky. We found a hotel, and the park was in indeed accessible from the town.
This exhausting day we finished off eating. As it turned out, life looked totally different once our tummies were filled with delicious table barbeque food.



The next morning, we went to the local market. Super higenious and all kinds of fresh food could be found here.



From here we somehow managed to find a driver who took us to the National Park Khao Yai, one of the UNESCO world heritage parks. Unfortunatly he did not understand any word we were saying, but in return neither did he.
In the park we stopped at some sights. Amongst them were several waterfalls, cute monkeys but no free running elephants, since they can only be spotted by night.

Thailand border crossing poipet

The thought of crossing the borders down to malaysia just like this was obviously a bit naive, at least for me . . . i mean for me as a hungarian citizen. Since Thai authorities only allow hungarian to enter the country, if they have a departure ticket within the next 15 days. So there we were, in nowhereland between Cambodia and THailand. Dusty roads, big casino zone and nowhere near entering to Thailand. After some search we have found an internet cafe, looking for a desperate ticket out of this country. after exhausting all the possiblities we had to end up buying a freaking plane ticket that showed that I am going to leave this country in the stated time period. aaaaaaaaah... we definitly started off with the wrong foot in this country. everything seemed to be going wrong.

finally, 2 hours later, the authorities let me pass the border and what happens then? The rain starts pouring like cats and dogs and the bus that we should have taken, was long gone. fabolous.



This picture was taken in the tuk tuk to the bus station after all the hussle

Cambodia Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat claims to be the 8th world wonder of the world and used to be the pride of khmer god kings in the 12th century.

In the 12th century, Angkor Thom, another part of the complex already had 1 million inhabitants while Londons inhabitants only amounted to 50.000 citizens. Due to the uprising importance of trade with India, Hinduism and Buddhism gained importance with the kings, that is why the temples are partially Hindu and partially Buddhist.
It was to be believed that the stones were reserved for the gods and the kings, that is why civilians only had wooden houses.

One remarkable temple was called the Bayon temple. Approximately 54 towers were built. Each tower had 4 faces. Each face was pointing towards one of the four hemispheres. The king that has built Ankor Thom used his face as model for the towers. So everywhere you looked, a face or maybe 10 were staring down at you. But most fascinating were the details of reliefs that were carved into the wall of the temple. Some of the carvings displayed the history of the Khmers in the 12th centurty.



Here everywhere people sell things. From mouthdrums to flutes, pants, drinks, books. You ll find it here all. Like a gigantic shopping mall spread out on historic property. You ll find lots of children helping their parents sell. Buying some cold water and fresh pineapples from them already puts a big smile on their faces. Others, amongst them lots of victims from the land mines that the Khmer Rouge spread throughout the country, would play music in the shaddow of the enormous trees.

Being here in Cambodia and observing life here I am very positivly surprise that kids dont inhale drugs and dont steel on the streets just to make ends meet, at least not at first sight. But they sell whatever they can. A little boy approached me when leaving Ankor Thom. He wanted to sell a flute.I believe he was not older than 5 years old and with no shoes on his feet. He say in good English "Miss, you buy flute, 2 for 1 Dollar. My business wasnt good today, you buy from me please."

Being here I cant help but recognize the education that seems to have much higher standards than in other developement countries. Most of the people here speak English, some even French.