The trip of my life - Malaysia & Singapore

Malaysia 

I entered Malaysia from the North East and I didn’t understand what all the fuss in Lonely planet and from all of the people I met. It is true that the area of Thailand and Malaysia in that part isn’t actually friendly and a many armed officers didn’t make the situation pretty to look at. However, I did feel quite safe and guarded and even the driver didn’t want to leave in the city center but rather drove me all the way to the border so the passage was easier. My first plan was to go to the Perhentian islands, which should be one of the nicest island in Malaysia. I needed a little break from this break. My layover was first at Kota Bharu, a small town that was close to Kota Besut, the place where the boat leaves for the islands. There I met another scared couple that went to the same border crossing and together we found a cheap and nice place to stay. The host was an older women and her husband that were extremely kind and tried to help us with the booking of the boat and a place to stay at the island. My rule is to do things by myself since they always take extra commission, however I did find out later that their deal is better than when I arrived there! Anyhow, this was the first ever being in a Muslim country and of course I had my doubts and prejudice, but once again my parents and friends were wrong, people there was awesome and really nice!

Kuala Bharu

On the way to the Perhentians

After getting the taxi next morning we (with the scared couple and an American guy) went to Perhentian islands (Taxi was around 25 and boat to the islands was 50 ringgit). Perhentian island consist of two islands: Small and big island. The big one is more calm, quiet and family oriented while the small one is more for backpackers and people who enjoy a little fun time. Before I headed off to Perhentians I didn’t know which one to go to, but in the last second I decided to go to the small one, because I thought It would be easier to find a place to stay, since the main beach Is full of backpackers places. I was wrong and while everyone else already reserved their place me and a couple of others were left stranded. A germen girl and I decided to team up and find a place together and since most of the places were a little expensive I decided to go for the more authentic experience of sleeping in a tent on a beach. It was awesome just jumping in at night, taking a shower in a small hut in the forest, so natural :P.  The small island also offers some really nice paths around the island.

Long beach is the main beach which is situated on the NE side of the island and you could easily take a short walk to Coral bay on the other side and continue down south and around to Mira-Mira beach. The track up to there are OK, but if you want to make a full circle and return back to Long beach I would recommend to get a boat taxi for around 20Ringgit. I went the other way and tried to walk around, didn’t work as well as hopped. No path and either you go in the jungle or walk on huge rocks, while jumping through huge cracks. Somehow I managed to do it and made it alive but I would definitely advise other from doing it! The other side is much nicer to see and to walk around. It takes you around an hour to reach north of the island, where you have D Lagoon. That is my favorite place to be on the island, since it has really nice cabins for a decent price and the restaurant that cooks amazingly and desserts are just hmmmmmm. It also has a cute little beach in front with a view of the island. There is a nice abandoned turtle beach opposite on the west side where I saw cute little baby sharks. When it comes to the night life, long beach is the only place to be and even that is quite expensive (Alcohol tends to be expensive in a Muslim country) but the vibe is really nice, you can just sit on the towels smoke shisha and listen to smooth reggae music. Not a bad place to be if you just want to chill for a while. Going off the island there are only 3 boats in the morning and you really have to be there 30 min earlier!!!I was on time and missed it but luckily lied my ass of so they came back to pick me up!

A beach on the West side
Beaches around the small island
Small village on the island	Sunset on the island
Chocolate-banana shake	Small lizard

Once you’re off the island you can search for the bus connections in Kota Besut, it’s quite cheaper to find the next destination from one of the agencies there, however I would recommend you take the earliest boat from the island so you won’t have a problem connecting there. I found this really nice travel agency ran by a daughter and her father, since I didn’t have cash with me he took me to the ATM with one of those motorcycles that has a small pod attached on the side for another person. I ALWAYS WANTED TO RIDE IN ONE and he was going quite fast which felt like we were in a race.

So I made my next destination Taman Negara (jungle in the middle of Malaysia peninsula). The drive there was really nice with some really excellent views and I also met this amazing French woman (Nathalie)! After getting off we decided to look for a place together since both of us didn’t reserve anything, luckily we found these small huts a kilometer away that were really cheap and the surroundings were really nice, like a true jungle experience with a slight touch of comfort. We hit it off really well and by dinner we also found this crazy awesome guy from Bangladesh and a girl from Italy. We had a nice dinner joking around and laughing the whole time and at the end the restaurant owner’s fisherman took us out for a late night crazy boat ride with the long boat. The next day Nathalie and I went to Taman Negara but decided to each go our own way since I think I wanted to go all out and walk all day and she wanted to go and see some interesting spots not too far from the gate. By some odd coincidence the same group as the night before all met while I was going down a hill and of course after some 10 selfies and as short break we continued our way. The jungle area is quite easy to walk through since the paths are well walked but definitely not marked. I decided to go all the to the other side for nice easy 8km walk, which turned out to be more of an exercise than anything else and as soon as I found out that eventually I would have to return and the night was closing in, I turned all beast mode and ran back so I wouldn’t repeat the scary story a friend told me the day before when he got lost and came back in the dark! NO THANK YOU, so I made the 8km jungle hike back in an hour with no water and obviously no common sense! Yet again I’ve Nathalie and the Italian girl together and we made our way back to the small village by crossing the river with a boat. That night we also met an interesting woman from Singapore with whom I had some soul conversations. We ended up talking to midnight and headed to bed in our lovely Jungle hut.

Taman Negara	Map of the main park
The jungle selfie	The jungle maniacs
Welcome to the jungle	Canopy walk
Me and the amazing girls	Boat ride from Taman Negara

Together with Nathalie we decided it was time to move to our next spot, unfortunately in different directions. I moved on to Singapore and spend the whole day on the bus and in some small city where I had to change the bus, but it was a really small but nice city full of colors!

Nathalie and Me

One the houses in the small city

I arrived in a small city bordering Malaysia and Singapore at 3 a.m. and waited for 2h until the first bus went there. Since it’s only like 15km I thought I could make it there easily by 8h for breakfast with my good friend. My friend (Deborah) and I met in France where we studied together and we both trained rugby. I was wrong once again! I have never seen anything like this ever in my life, there were thousands of people there before the border, at the border and thousands more at the bridge going to the Singapore border. I took a direct bus from Malaysia to Singapore, of course had to get off at both borders. I actually arrived in Singapore city at 10 a.m.

Singapore

So a breakfast turned into a lunch. Anyway I took these two something hours to find a place to stay and walk around a little. Not by any standards does Singapore belong in SE Asia, it’s like a lost duck amongst dogs. Singapore is obviously known as an international city with strict rules, cleanliness, etiquette, for speaking English, rich and luxury place and what I found most interesting a city with a lot of different cultures. The latter really surprised me, having a huge China town, Indian and Muslim part all in this tiny little city yet they are in great relations. All the cultures work very well together and didn’t hear anyone even mentioning any disagreements. Singapore is a great example of how things should be and that with necessary rules people of any religion can live in peace. Hats off to Singapore.

Singapore water front

For lunch I met my friend’s boyfriend for lunch since she was still busy. Another awesome French guy (idk what is happening here), we had a great time talking and discussing the traveling life. He was also traveling for a long time around Asia until he “settled” in Singapore. Really cool guy, I guess my friend found herself a great boyfriend. YEY :)

And off I was to spend the afternoon in three different part of the city, my plan was to see the China town, Indian and Muslim part in the same afternoon so I could compare the sights, people and cultures. Of course I only made it to the Chinese and Indian part since I totally fell in love with the Chinese part of the town. I had to have been half or quarter Chinese in my past life! The buildings were spectacular, not to even mention the temples and small shops hidden in small alleys and of course the smell of real Chinese food…I WAS BACK IN CHINA!! I completely lost track of time and by the time I reached Indian part it was already 5 p.m. and the only thing I wanted to do since arriving in Singapore is to stuff my face full of Indian food! Well I didn’t see that much of the Indian part that day, but the food was definitely worth the visit! I met up with my friend that evening and decided to have dinner outside near the water front. She and her bf chose some really nice and interesting dishes and the ambiance was really nice as well. We took a nice stroll along the long riverfront through some really nice restaurants and party areas until we came to this lovely European restaurant where we met his friend (French, of course). Spending the evening amongst tasty European wine and cheese wasn’t bad at all. We all stayed and talked there for a long time and after a long while they had dirty minds too. Finally, some normal people! :P

Welcome to Chinese town
	Chinese food once again!!

The next day I continued to walk around the city. There are metro lines and buses all around the city that make transiting really easy! I did see the Muslim part and the waterline and park around that area. I’m especially curious about the Muslim part that was so beautiful and you really had a feeling it was all original and nothing seemed to made for tourist. The art work on the side streets was fantastic and you easily get lost in their modern art that has meaning and is connected to the problems of today’s world. The water front was charming with all the high buildings and the fancy tower with a boat on top (some hotel) and the park behind it. Unfortunately, I didn’t plan to stay longer in Singapore since I had a flight from Kuala Lumpur 3 days later. But It was enough to get a good feeling of the city and the place. Thanks to my friend and her bf I got to find out more about the culture and people as well. It’s a little expensive city, but a place I might see myself living one day.

India town
Muslim part
Debs & BF & ME	Singapore water front
Muslim part	Indian part

Together we met in the evening tried their special milk tea (I miss you and love you so much!!) and off I went to take the night bus to the other side and finding a bus straight to Kuala Lumpur (KL).

Back to Malaysia

I arrived in KL around 3 a.m. and after find a place to sit and eat a little I walked to the city center, but to my surprise it was closed off since they were preparing a parade for the National day (I found that our 4h later). Since the guards didn’t say anything when I was going in I just kept walking and found myself amongst hundreds of people wearing different costumes and a lot military man. At the time it seemed as I was in the middle of a movie scene about to take place. Eventually, I found a place to sit on the bleachers with a couple other locals. In time the preparation for the parade started and I was so trilled, I actually posted the video on FB and by accident my Bangladesh friend (Saif) saw in and 15 min we were watching the parade together. I mean you gotta love Facebook! Half of the time we watched the parade with our mouths open, full of surprise and excitement what else they would show. We saw hundreds of peoples simultaneously playing large drums and dancing at the same time, tanks and acrobat plains doing stunts, grandmas tearing the place down with their dancing routines, huge blowup balloons of famous cartoon characters, etc. I mean you name It and it was there, a spectacular show!!

The independence parade

Since Saif studied there he offered to take me around the city on his motorbike. Of course I jumped at the opportunity only to regret it 2h later. Haha, but seriously did! Let’s just say that his style and speed of driving in “slightly” fast for me. We visited a history museum of KL, some animal parks, a mosque and for lunch he invited me to his friend’s house for some local Bangladesh food. Unfortunately, the place was 30 min by bike away, which meant holding on for my dear life and hoping and feeling sorry for everything bad I have done in the past! YES, that terrible! The lunch was cooked by his friend’s wonderful wife and mannnn was It delicious! The spiciness of the chicken mixed with other dishes and hundreds of spices they used was simple mouthwatering. Their generosity was really surprising and welcomed after the ride from hell. I definitely have to visit Bangladesh in the future.

Amazing Bangladesh food and friends

Fortunately, we were half way to Batu caves so we stopped there on the way back to the city to look at that amazing cave with a mosque inside. There is a huge statue of a standing Buddha in front of 100 stairs that lead to the cave. The inside was really nice and at the end there was an opening like a crater where monkeys would climb down and try to rob everything you had in your possession. So be very careful of these sneaky monkey monsters! On the ride back I finally relaxed a little I try to enjoy the feeling of riding on a back of a bike cruising through the city looking all the amazing sites, which was a good option! We ended a night at a Shisha bar with a great view of the Petronas towers, a shisha pipe in one hand and a local beer in the other. What a great ending to the Peninsula trip so far. All that was left from that part of Asia was a night in KL, a train ride to the airport and off I was to SABAH (Borneo island, Malaysia).

KL
KL at night	Batu caves
A famous Mosque	Petronas towers

Sabah (Malaysia)

I took an AirAsia flight from KL to Kota Kinabalu (KK) for really cheap (around 40 EUR with luggage) and decided to spend 5 days. My only reason for visiting KK was so I could go on jungle trek, but not just any jungle trek, one where you go on unmarked treks and have to survive in the jungle with nothing but a sleeping bag and a bottle of water for 2 days. There is only one company that organizes that but unfortunately they were overbook and there was no place!! No problem, So I decided to go to the Mt. Kinabalu park and hike on the peak. I found this really beautiful cabin 2km from the entrance of the Mt. Kinabalu park in the hill for around 7 EUR per night. The beautiful cabin had a really amazing view to the surrounding valley and the atmosphere was really nice too. Workers and people staying there were all really easy to get along with and when I came to organizing a trip to places a little further it was easy to find people to go with. I decided to first visit the park since the jungle and the treks there should be nicer than the one of Taman Negara. The admission to the park was quite steep, but no one actually checks the tickets, but if you get caught you will pay much more! So be sure not to get caught or easier to just buy the ticket since the money from the tickets goes to maintaining the park. The park has numerous paths that are well marked and diverse. I spent the whole day walking around and there are some paths that are really nice, especially those next to the river as well as the botanical garden.

The cabin I stayed at	The view on the way to the park
View from the park entrance	The view from the cabin

Unfortunately, I couldn’t go to the top of the peak as well because there was an avalanche a couple of months earlier and the path to the top was destroyed and you could only go up to 2000m and I didn’t see any point to pay a lot of money just to walk to that height. So off to plan C, since it wasn’t meant for me to do something crazy I decided to take the relaxing way. With a couple of German girls, I met we decided to go to the Mt. Kinabalu park at the other side 2h away where they have some nice waterfalls and especially the hot spring. The tracks at the park were nicest I’ve seen in Malaysia, with bath caves, small streams and at the end of the train an amazing 100 something meter waterfall. Simply stunning and when you get back from walking for 3h there is nothing better than to simmer in really hot water (at the beginning uncomfortable) and just let go of all your worries (not like I had any, but If I did!). I spend more than 3h in those pools, where you had a tap and could adjust the flow and temperature of the water by yourself. Amazing, but having the German girls complaining a little too much I decided to go into the hot pools to lose them since it was too hot for them. Yes!

Mt. Kinabalu	Other side of the park
German girls and I at the big waterfall
Small streams at the park	Hot springs
View from the walk to the big waterfall	Biggest type of flower in the world (Refflesia )

I have to say that Malaysia and Singapore really surprised me, especially the peoples’ mentality and religion. I have only had good memories and experiences in both places, especially in Singapore. People are kind, polite, don’t want to cheat you and as I observed they are also quite connected and like to help each other. I would definitely like to come back to Sabah and Singapore for a second and third look.

After researching KK and the small city it was time to visit my favorite place in Asia…???