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.