12.-15.07.2016 : The last days and our final conclusion

On the 12th we checked out early to get our train from JB Sentral to Singapore Woodlands. Actually, the ride itself should have taken 5 minutes as we only talk about a really small distance between JB and SIN, but we had not taken into account that our hotel underestimated the traffic, that during early morning the immigration counters were full and that no one was able to point us the right direction to the train instead of the tons of buses leaving every 5 minutes.

In real, we left JB on a crowded public bus with a 1,5 hour delay, stood with our heavy luggage on the back for further 45 min on the bridge to SIN in a typical traffic jam and arrived completely exhausted at Heike's office around noon. This has really been the most stressful part of the journey so far. 

We dropped off our luggage, changed our clothes and went out for final shopping moments. No need to mention how much Kjell loves these kind if activities during our vacations. 

Orchard Road, Chinatown,.... we did it all with our feet and legs getting sore. But what needs to be done, needs to be done! 

The evening we drove to Heike and Björn's wonderful, beautifully equipped stylish home out in Changi Ville. 

We went out for a small dinner at Changi beach and were looking forward to our last full day in Singapore.

Unfortunately, we had to change our plans the next morning. It was heavily pouring. Instead of driving out to Sentosa Island for final beaching we drove to Vivocenter at the Harbour and took a few   pics but then continued to Mustafa's, a major incredibly huge shopping center. If you cannot find it at Mustafa's, you won't find it anywhere. Insane! 

A final Mango Lassi at the outside Café and we called it a day... 

Packing the next morning was hilarious. I am always surprised about my packing skills. Mugs, shirts, Aroma diffusors (yes, really hip around here at the moment), it all fit somehow....

A big hug to Heike for their hospitality and off we went for Chengdu/ China in the afternoon. 

4 hours layover and when we left China at 1:30 am for a 10,5 flight back to Frankfurt / Germany we fell asleep straight away for almost 7 hours. 

We arrived in Frankfurt in pretty good shape, welcomed by the fact that still everywhere in the World airport trolleys are freely available but you need to have to pay 1 Euro for it in FFM. Still annoys me every time I get here.

Currently, I am sitting on the train to our hometown, so much looking forward to my wonderful husband and our lovely cat.

So, the conclusion of the past three weeks?

- travelling with a 10-year old is great, inspiring, mind-opening and bonding

- Malaysia is a safe country to travel to. Extremely clean, very helpful and always smiling friendly people

- You can easily travel, eat and sleep pn a low budget if you have to

- no dogs but many healthy, happy, cosy cats everywhere

- the Malayan kids don't seem to be raised in a strict manner, hardly ever I heard a kid being yelled at but on the other hand, I would have -from time to time- loved to say a few words in regards to good manners (pillow fight on an airplane i.e.)

- Chinese people have horrible eating habits and no facial expressions but still an interesting clothing style

- Asian women are sooo tiny and thin with beatiful legs - in general

- I HATE sandflies !!!!

- I love Singapore which now ranks very high in my 'favorite cities worldwide' list

- buying chewing gum is not possible in Singapore as it is forbidden. Just owning it for own consumption is allowed (yes, we are talking about bubblegum here!)

Asia, we will be back!!! New plans already in mind.... 

10.-11.7.2016: Johor Bharu & Legoland Malaysia

The 10th was a long travel day. Flying from Langkawi to KL for a 3 hour layover and further on to Johor Bahru. 

We arrived at our Hotel Nusa CT during the evening, ate our third AirAsia Tandoori Chicken wrap in two days at the room and enjoyed the most comfortable bed, we have ever seen. The room was newly renovated and the sheets were made to cover 5 persons in a row. A dream come true!!

The next morning, we got up early to be in time for the opening of the doors of Legoland Malaysia.

A few pics show more than words could describe: We had fun!!!!!

The late afternoon we went over to the attached water park where we spent another 4 hrs splashing, sliding, gliding, swimming, sun bathing,....

You don't necessarily need a kid to have a fun day! We were exhausted... but happy!

Unfortunately, this was the last location in MY before travelling back to Singapore... 

07.-09.07.2016: The better alternative: Langkawi

As on Tioman Island I got so heavily bitten by sandflies and as the healing and itching was taking really long, I decided to change our plans. 

Instead of flying from KL to the North-East Kota Bharu to go Camping in the Jungle of Perhentian's Kecil Island, I had decided to book flights via AirAsia to the North-Western part of Malaysia. On the early afternoon, we flew one hour to Langkawi Island, which turnt out to be the better choice after all. I would have loved to go Camping with Kjell and spent three days in the Jungle and on a beautiful beach with fluorescent plancton. But with my whole body itching because of the heat, no AC in sight and therefore difficult nights to be expected - not to mention the mosquitos and further East coast sandflies - Langkawi was to be the more comfortable option. 

Via Agoda.com I had quickly found a nice and pricy Motel on Pantai Cenang beach. Not two hours after we had left KL we were enjoying a wonderful bug-less beach in a backpackers atmosphere. Good decision!

The next challenge? Staying up until 3 am again to watch the European Champions Soccer game France : Germany. We found a really crowded place, packed with French tourists and many Malayian Germany fans. Unfortunately, we lost.... ;-( But on the other hand, for the rest of our trip we would get to bed at normal times again. 

The next day, we planned to go up one of the biggest hills on Langkawi Island. We took the taxi to Gunung Manchinchang to the basis of the Cable car, bought the tickets to go up and got a slot three hours later - insane. It was boiling hot and one was hardly able to move. So, we just sat in the shades and waited for the time to pass by....

The 20min ride in the cable car up the mountain was thrilling and fascinating. The view was spectacular and worth the long waiting.

Arrived at the summit we went to get the tickets for the famous sky bridge. A single-span suspension bridge, 100m above old-growth trees. 

They even had a glass bottom where one could see downwards for about 100m into the Jungle.

I was glad when we were back at our Motel and had survived the heights. 

The next day we had booked an Island hopping tour and if I have to come up with a wasted event during our trip: this would be it. 

Ok, it was cheap with 60 RM for the two of us but now I know why: We were picked up by a small van the early morning and driven to a pier. Here we would end up in a herd of tourists, being squeezed by 20 pax in appr. 40 boats waiting for us. In a row, we would speedboat to diverse Islands, hopping on and off, trying to remember the drivers face when hurrying back after an hour not to miss our boat. 

We got to see an Island with a rainwater lake (beautiful spot but totally cramped with Asians in life vests), heading off to some eagle feeding place and swimming at some "Robinson Crusoe" island. 

A trip we could have missed.... But the afternoon we were back at our beach and enjoyed the waves and pee-warm water. 

Eventually, Kjell even persuaded me to go on one of those nasty banana-rides. And, I have to admit, I had a blast! And, I am glad no pictures exist from this event. 

The evening we went out for a fancy dinner at a fish restaurant and for small money this truly was a gourmet highlight.

Langkawi - Pantai Chenang? Wonderful place, would love to be back !

05.-06.07.2016 - KL

Leaving beautiful Melaka after a good breakfast in the courtyard of our wonderful Hotel Puri.

We took the bus at the Central station, and again I realized how brillant the booking worked - starting with the online booking, the organization onsite and the friendliness of the staff. The buses we took so far were in excellent condition, nothing to compare to Thai or even Indian standards i.e..

Only a few 2,5 hrs later we arrived in KL. I am really a big fan a major cities but I have to admit that KL didn't touch me at all. Not dirtier than i.e. Bangkok, not more polluted than Delhi but still by far not as attractive at all. Unstructured, unfinished, somehow incomplete it seemed to me. 

Our Hotel Citin at Plaza Rakyat was close to Chinatown and had a wonderful view at the KL Tower but to be honest these were the only positive aspects about it. The breakfast was horrible, the Café was dirty, we had to request everything to be cleaned up.... The room was "ok". 

I was happy that I had only booked two nights. 

We took a walk on Petaling Street, the known shopping street where you could bargain hard to buy just anything ... fake.

After bargaining hard for a pair of flipflops we went to a food stall where we had just excellent chicken fried rice. I am really happy that also Kjell opens his mind towards these kind of healthy and delicious menues. 

We took a taxi for a few ringit to KL's main attraction: The Petronas towers!

If you ever plan to go there then choose the switch from day to night time. This was truely a highlight.

Unfortunately, the platform was closed but even standing in front of the towers was amazing. During daytime, the towers look quite futuristic while during night time the lights evoque a more mystique side. In short: We loved it!

The next full day in KL we spent by sitting  in the Hop-on-Hop-Off bus passing by all the touristic, national highlights of KL. We got off for some shopping at the Central Market and were home right in time before a major thunderstorm with heavy rain hit the city. 

Everything done right....

The evening we went out on Jalang Alor, a well known street with food stalls and restaurants only. The crowd was incredible and the amount of diverse dishes as well. I loved the fact - as during our whole trip actually - that there not many Western tourists to be seen but locals from all over the country.

We got a quiet table and had some delicious rice with sesame-honey chicken. 

We took the monorail back home and decided: Time to move on! 

02.-04.07.2016: Melaka

We took the ferry at 6:30 at ABC Beach to get to Mersing. We were lucky that it didn't rain as heavy as the night before and the heat was not on yet.... We got to the ferry in time and had to wait for a couple of hours at the quite boring central bus station of Mersing. 

Again, as on Tioman, we saw many cats, very thin ones with long legs and short tails and we realized that we have in the past days not seen one dog. Which I believe is very incommon for an Asian country... But obviously it seems that it is related to the Chinese and Muslim people cherishing cats. They all seem to be in good shape and be well treated - the cats, I mean.

We arrived at Melaka after a short 4 hour ride  and were very happy to be able to check in straight away into our beautiful and comfy hotel.

Hotel Puri is a very historical place with even a Museum chamber, a courtyard in a lovely atmosphere. We slept in a renovated room with AC, soft beds and again, the staff was extremely helpful with all wuestions we had. The hotel was in a perfect location, only 2 min from the famous Jonker Street / Jalan Hang Jebat. We took a quick shower and went out to discover the area but during the esrly afternoon it was way too hot to walk around and so we went back to get a couple of hours of cool sleep. 

Perfectly enough and highly recommended: it was Sa night and  during Fr-Sun the Night Market on Jonker's Walk was on. 

We have already seen many nightmarkets throughout Asia and this again was a different one. Not many local crafts shop but more tacky, plastic chinese toys in the middle of excellent and interesting food stalls. 

We were out to try everything and while Kjell was happy with anything on sticks (potatoes, chocolate fruit,...), I was enjoying a bunch of tasty dim sums.

The biggest challenge was still to come: the next round in the European Soccer Champions was on at 3 am in the morning and we had to stay up... ;-)

But we made it by watching Avatar on TV and ended up watching the game in a wonderful atmosphere in a Spanish tapas bar. We got stuffed with tapas and coke and had a lot of fun with the Spanish waiters. 

As Kjell almost fell asleep after the regular game and the extended playtime, we rushed back to the hotel as I was hoping to get the penalty kicks phase via liveticker. But horror: Wifi was way too slow so I called my hubby back home and we had a live transmission of the shots via phone. Incredibly exciting that was and horribly expensive as well.. ;-) 

Afterall, Germany won and we slept long the next morning. 

The next day we had a late breakfast in the afternoon at the Geographer's Café. A great place with very friendly staff, extremely good live music and excellent food. We strolled around the night market, bought a few shirts, funny drinks, walked around the historical area and went to bed early. 

Our ladt day in Melaka was again extremely hot. We went on a river cruise and enjoyed the beauty of this ancient, historical town with a cooler breeze on our faces.

We loved Melaka and its drive but I imagine this town less attractive during weekdays when the night market does not create this special atmosphere.

Packing our stuff. Tomorrow off to Kuala Lumpur....

28.06. - 01.07. - Ready for nature.. Pulau Tioman

Getting up at 5:00 am we caught the bus  at the Singapore Flyer at 6:30 and headed towards Malaysias Mersing in 2,5 hrs to get to the island of Pulau Tioman. 

I have not felt very well the past two days as the air conditioning is really killing me and tried to get some sleep wherever I could. Bus, waiting for the ferry, ferry itself, I power-napped every free minute.

I had booked the tickets online and the service inside the bus was incredible. They made sure that every single passenger had no open questions left, knew where to go and they even made sure we go to the bathroom. ;-)

We had booked 4 nights at one of the chalets at Bamboo Hill Chalets and to get there on ABC beach (Air Batang) you have to go all the way to the end while you walk on a tiny concrete pavement passing other rooms, a few little bars and many diving agencies. This place seems to be living but was not too crowded and according to a swedish who had been there 25 years ago: not changed at all. 

I can highly recommend Bamboo Hill Chalets as the owners and staff are very welcoming, friendly, open and helpful. In fact everybody on this island is. You get "Hi"s everywhere, always a smile and the food at ABC restaurant where we ate most of the time was excellent. I loved the Fish and Chicken BBQ they offered at night. 

We arrived during noon but were able to move into #5 straight away just to find ourselves on the bech a few minutes later. 

Pretty enough this and most of the other beaches here, have a nasty negative part to its beauty: Sandflies!! 

If you get bitten by them your body has two choices: Either get a minor red spot and ignore the bite or totally overreact to it. This is what I decided to do. I woke up the next morning with 105 (yes, we counted them) huge, itching spots all over my body. Under my arms, on my butt,... I spare showing you any pictures. Especially when wearing clothes and sweating the itching would become almost inbearable. 

I decided to wait on how this would develop and do went to Tekek to get spme cash at the only ATM existi g on the Island. The walk was long but pretty during the heat. We had to climb a small hill to get to the other beach of Tekek. Fortunately some friendly guy from the Marine Center took us the ATM in his car. 

Back at our beach we decided to rent some snorkeling gear and went out for some beautiful fishes directly a few meters off the shore. 90% of the Corals here are already dead. Too bad if one thinks about the natural beauty of it. 

The next morning we had booked a snorkeling trip to several bays. My whole body looked even worse, blusters everywhere and some filled with liquid. The boat driver recommended to take me to the local hospital in Tekek after this trip.

The snorkeling was a great idea. Kjell was totally oit of his mind when hubdreds of colorfull fishes popped up out of nothing. I don't know the English words of most of them but many Nemos, rainbow fishes and a black tip shark were amongst them. Whenever we changed diving location Kjell was the first one in and the last one out.

The best thing to driving to the Hospital afterwards? The fact that we had a water taxi on our own and that on our way back the guy let Kjell drive the speed boat on his own. Happiest kid ever...

Our last day on the Island we spent very relaxed by chilling, playing with the baby cats, chasing monitor lizzards and just feeling happy. 

Tomorrow it will be 5 am again.. Up and off by the ferry to Mersing to catch our bus to Malacca....