Malaysia

It's been a while since my last Blogpost so I haven't told anything yet about Malaysia. Before I thought I would fly to Borneo soon after my arrival in Kuala Lumpur (KL), but I met fellow couchsurfers for a daytrip to Melaka and a group of friends going to the island Langkawi and Penang that I could join, so actually I am still in the peninsula / mainland of Malaysia. But I enjoy being so flexible and traveling in a relaxed pace.

My first impression of Malaysia was not very good, as on my way to my hostel I was followed by half-toothless man who grabbed my ass and asked me what I costed, but the people I met later proved that this was just bad luck and not representative for the country.

KL is just a big city with some very tall buildings, many many cars (the Malaysians never walk), almost no sideways and an all year round hot climate. It has huge fancy shopping malls, the famous Petronas twin towers, but also shabby apartments, many street sellers and brown-yellowish rivers. Quite different from Japanese cities.

I liked Melaka better. This is a smaller town with all touristic spots within walking distance from each other and an interesting history. The Portuguese, Dutch and British all left their mark, for example in the form of 'Stadthuys' at Dutch square. Together with a German girl and Malaysian guy (always useful to have a local with you ;)) we explored the city, tried some nice dishes and did some shopping.

In Malaysia there are 3 main ethnic groups. The Malay (Muslim in general), the Indians and the Chinese. This is why you can find Chinese temples, mosques and hindu temples. Also you can find each of the population's food or unique mixtures.

In KL I met a Nigerian guy who could show me KL's nightlife, and I especially liked the fancy sky bar at the 36th (?) floor with a swimming pool inside (unfortunately not allowed to swim there when the bar is openes) and a nice view on the twin towers. With him and his friends I flew to Langkawi which is an island with tax free status (so they came there just to party and enjoy cheap alcohol) but during the day I wanted to see more of the island so an hour after I left the hostel I was actually sitting on the back of a motorbike with an Italian guy. These are things you only experience when you travel alone :)
We checked out some nice beaches but I also just enjoyed riding around, since the breeze was quite refreshing.

From langkawi I took the ferry to Penang, famous for its food and street art and a very enjoyable island. I met some nice fellow travelers, watched a beautiful sunset at the beach and ended up in the reggae bar 3 nights in a row. From Penang I took a minivan (we thought it would be a big bus but turned out not to be) to Cameron Highlands, together with a Chinese girl. Here its much cooler, only around 20 degrees and I very much like it for a change. Tomorrow we're doing a kind of adventure tour so hope to see more of the area then. Tonight I've just visited the might market (everywhere they have night markets and in general lively nightlife, just as the fact that they van a little India and a Chinatown in every reasonably sized city). "nice for you" "shopping" "come have a look" "I can make discount for you" "cheap cheap" is what you hear everywhere when walking through the nightmarket. Copied dvd's and fake Louis vuitton bags (or any other famous brand stuff) is what you can see everywhere.

The hostels here are quite simple, but luckily quite clean as well. Most of them don't have computers for guests to use so I haven't had the chance to upload any photos yet as I still only have them on my camera. But I promise I'll try to upload some soon!

Wonder how you all are, back in Holland or anywhere else. Hope you all survived the storm?