Malaysia

Malaysia was our last stop in South-East Asia. We enjoyed the time in both parts: Borneo and Penisular Malaysia!

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Kuala Lumpur (03.-06.11.)

We arrive the third time in Kuala Lumpur already, but the first impression of the city remains – the gap between rich and poor is wide open. In no other place have we seen skyscrapers next to garbage dumps and homeless people next to luxury shops in such a high intensity. Seen this way, Kuala Lumpur is very different from the other cities we have seen in Malaysia. It looks a bit run down on one side and extremely prosperous on the other side. A luxurious area that is probably known worldwide are definitely the two landmarks in the centre of the city: the Petronas Towers.

We spend a lot of time in Chinatown and the famous shopping street Jalan Petaling, but also in the hostel (planning again). On our last complete day in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, we visit another famous sight in the north of the city: the Batu Caves.

The Batu Caves are a Hindu temple site. The colourful stairs lead many believers, but also tourists, to the caves, the temples and shrines there every day. But even if there are no people there, one is never alone.

The many macaques have got used to the tourists and are perfect thieves. If you are careless and carry a bag of food, you can basically say goodbye to it. The monkeys strike quickly and mercilessly and even look innocent. Fortunately we were prepared and were able to take all our possessions back with us.

In the caves themselves there are large temples, but they are used more as a picture backdrop than as a holy place.

Unfortunately we cannot find out anything about the content of the Batu Caves. The complex is aesthetically pleasing nonetheless.

Of course we also saw some monkeys.

In Malaysia, but also in Indonesia, a fruit always caught our eye (and our nose). After two months of postponing we managed to try the king of fruits on our last day – a real Musang King Durian.

The taste is definitely a matter of taste. For Lucas it tasted like a rancid mango and Diana said it was sweet and not sweet at the same time, has a buttery mango consistency, which tastes like soup spice in the aftertaste.

The last evening we spent in a convivial atmosphere in the hostel. In the morning we took the bus to the airport in Kuala Lumpur and said goodbye to a big part of our journey. Russia, Central, East and Southeast Asia are now behind us. Now we are heading for a new continent. Next stop: Chile!

Cameron Highlands (31.10.-03.11.)

The bus slowly winds its way up the serpentine road between Ipoh and our destination Tanah Rata. The people on the streets walk around with sweaters and it seems as if they are nevertheless freezing. At the roadside, one greenhouse follows another and as far as the eye can see, others nestle against the many hills of the Cameron Highlands. The region is known as the agricultural heart of the country. Here, one finds huge tea plantations, for example of Baharat, that export black tea to the whole world. In addition all possible farms for strawberries or other fruits join.

Getting off the bus is a relief. Not only because the serpentines have been made, but also because the Cameron Highlands are much higher than Penang or Kuala Lumpur. Instead of 34 it is now 20 degrees warm, instead of 85 there is only 70 % humidity. You can finally breathe in deeply again and the air is pleasantly fresh.

We use our time to try the great local cuisine, but also to finally hike again. Therefore we chose a sunny day and still it was very warm. Since it has a rainforest-like vegetation, we can walk relaxed between the high treetops along. But you have to be careful where you step. Some animals fall into shock rigidity, but at the same time are very well camouflaged.

Along the way we find interesting plants again and again.

Later our hike meanders through a small, quite original village towards the famous tea plantations.

The hike then leads us directly through the plantations and tea plants into the Cameron Tea Valley.

After we want to save the money for the return trip, we decide to wait again with outstretched thumb at the roadside. That works out within 3 minutes and we go with an Indian Malaysian who starts to tell us a lot about Malaysia and his job. The trip is quickly over and we arrive back at our hostel at the beginning of the monsoon rain.

Back to Kuala Lumpur we take a serpentine road again. We have chosen the most cost-efficient bus, but felt that they saved on shock absorbers with this model. After 5 hours we arrive back in Kuala Lumpur.

Penang (26.-31-10.)

By bus and ferry we travel to Penang. The main town of the island, George Town is a former jewel of the former British colony and in no other place of Malaysia are the colonial traces as well visible as there – be it the architecture or the naming of streets.

The city is known above all for its many street art projects within the framework of improving house facades. Thus, if one strolls through the many alleys, one finds art in many places that is optionally even extended by bicycles or motorcycles.

In a culinary way, Penang has a lot to offer. Each of the ethnic groups in Malaysian society shows their culinary skills here, especially the Indian and Chinese communities. We used every meal to try something new, but especially the Wonton soups are very tasty. We probably had them four times – but they were also very good and very cheap!

Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country. This is especially notable when travelling because of the many minarets, veiled women or the muezzin calls. Alcohol is also expensive because high taxes are levied on its purchase. Nevertheless, you will always find shops selling extremely cheap beer, wine and everything else your heart desires. In George Town we happend to find such a shop and it fulfills all the clichés one has about a shop selling cheap alcohol: rancid, dirty, dark, fat seller without a T-shirt, everything seems a bit illegal. And the refrigerator doesn’t work properly either. The price is nevertheless the convincing argument and so the red plastic stools in front of the shop are completely occupied every evening – at least we have heard. We weren’t there every evening…

But we don’t spend our time just wandering through the city, because South America approaches faster and faster and we organize a lot. If we still manage to walk through the small streets, we enjoyed the postcolonial style of the city to the fullest.

Penang is connected to the mainland by two bridges. However, these are subject to tolls and so many people still use the somewhat rickety looking ferries, which are often painted to make it look better.

With a sad stomach we leave the culinary diverse island and continue our journey, again by ferry and bus, to the Cameron Highlands.

Pulau Pangkor (23.-26.10.)

We have returned to Kuala Lumpur. The warm but intense monsoon rain welcomes us warmly and we decide to spend as little time as possible in the metropolis. We spontaneously decide at breakfast that we want to go to the small island Pulau Pangkor. After 15 minutes in the metro, 4 hours in the bus, 20 minutes on a ferry and 5 minutes on foot we arrived and moved into camp in the cheapest accommodation on the island. Since it is meanwhile quite late, we remain in our manageable quarter and make acquaintance with surprised eyes, pink taxis and obtrusive street dogs. A quite normal evening.

The next day we walk from the east to the west side of the island. We can do this in about 30 minutes, because the island is really very small. There a long sandy beach awaits us – without people! So we go into the sea and enjoy the peace.

Nevertheless, the island still has some singularities to offer. Especially hornbills are a landmark of the island and if you stroll along the coast in the afternoon, you can hardly pass the birds with the distinctive beak. There is even an accommodation that feeds the hornbills of the island at 6:30 in the evening. Many, many of the birds come fluttering by and occupy the power lines.

So when we wait at 6:20 a.m. at the mentioned house, a lonely hornbill sits on the opposite power lines. The minutes pass and soon there are more than 40 birds waiting on the power lines until the house owner appears with bananas. We may even take over the feeding and the birds rush greedily on the banana pieces between our fingers.

The next day we decide to rent a scooter to race over the island. But that didn’t even take an hour. So we again look for a nice place on the beach to relax.

Since the Depavali festival is slowly approaching for the Indian population of Malaysia, many travel to the islands. Also in Pangkor it gets so crowded that we can’t get cheap accommodation anymore. So we continue our trip to George Town in good spirits.

Kuching (20.-22.10.)

Kuching is the capital of the state of Sarawak in the Malaysian part of Borneo. On entering the country, we immediately notice the privilege of the largest state – it is allowed to decide on migration-related questions itself. Thus it comes for the first time that we receive a separate entry stamp during the transport within a country. Nevertheless the entry with the German passport is of course smooth.

Kuching is not really exciting for us. There are some large hotels, many dilapidated houses but also a number of delicious dining opportunities. Many of them are Chinese. Malaysia, but also Borneo in particular, has a long history of Chinese migrants who have settled in today’s Malaysian territory due to occupations or as guest workers. Many of these have remained and represent a not inconsiderable 23.4% of the Malaysian population.

Also the many cats, cat statues or street art with cats are very noticeable – after all kucing means cat in Malay. Some of the statues, however, have an interesting style.

We have also been able to observe a few installations in the field of renewable energies:

The main reason to visit Kuching, however, was again native to the animal world. Not far from the city there is a very good rehabilitation centre for orangutans who were either born there or rescued from illegal possession. There the giant monkeys, whose DNA matches 95% of the human DNA, can live semi-wild. When there is little food, the orangutans come on platforms where the keepers have bananas, sugar cane or coconuts ready. As an outsider you can watch.

So we set off to see some of our next relatives with a little luck. After a walk of about 20 minutes we arrived at the starting point of the feeding trail. Punctually at 3 pm we followed the animal keepers to a simple wood and bamboo platform which had been erected in the middle of the forest between the huge trees of the rainforest. The banquet had already been prepared on this platform. The spectators were told to be quiet and soon a ghostly silence returned. One of the keepers, who had positioned himself on the platform, gave a loud bait.

Waiting.

Another lure call.

Waiting.

Another lure call.

Waiting.

At a distance of about 100 meters the branches crack.

Waiting.

The leaf rustle intensifies.

Waiting.

Then the first orangutan swung out of a treetop and came very close to the platform to incorporate the feast. It was a young female.

Especially the bananas were well received!

Shortly thereafter an older female swung herself towards the platform – her offspring was also there.

When the rustle started again very loudly, the caretakers told the onlookers to clear the ranks. A large male was on his way to the platform and is known to like to storm over the stands. Which happened a few moments later:

We spent the rest of our time on Borneo with a few French we had already met in Bako. Then it was time to say goodbye after two weeks on Borneo, because we went back to Kuala Lumpur and Peninsular Malaysia.

Bako National Park (18.-20.10.)

By bus and boat we travel from Kuching, the capital of the state Sarawak in the south of the Malaysian part of Borneo to the Bako National Park. On the way along the river, which soon flows into the South China Sea, you will see some fishermen looking for crabs that have dug themselves into the sandy ground at low tide.

Bako is known for the fact that many species could develop there undisturbed or have withdrawn. These small retreats have become extremely important for the preservation of biodiversity, especially due to the extensive expansion of palm oil plantations in Sarawak, but also in the rest of Borneo. In the national park itself there are a few small, simple wooden huts where guests can stay overnight. Hardly arrived the first bearded pig crosses our way – a sight that should be repeated very often.

The national park is crossed by an extensive network of paths that are sometimes short and relaxed and sometimes long and exhausting. Especially the humidity is a problem – with 94% humidity it is probably one of the wettest places we have ever been (except Xingping in South China). Nevertheless, we set off to see the nose monkeys that are said to exist in Bako. Therefore we take the path recommended by the park management to see them. On this day we have only little luck and see no nose monkeys – but macaques and other creatures.

After we sweated like only seldom before, we also got beautiful views over the rainforest and the adjacent sea:

Since the entire island area of Borneo is in the ITC, we can also observe huge spring clouds here again – shortly before the monsoon rain breaks out.

After we walk on the second day also completely wet and sweaty again towards the hut, we decide to walk back on the beach. That’s what the bearded pigs decided.

On the ground we notice thousands of small sand balls, which are distributed near holes on the ground. At some point we manage to approach such a shelter slowly enough, so that the crab doesn’t flee immediately.

When we are very close to our shelter, the spell is finally broken and we see proboscis monkeys in the trees!

We are still a little patient and can finally get quite close to the proboscis monkeys.

The proboscis monkeys are however a strongly endangered type, that also only occurs on Borneo. Populations are declining sharply, mainly due to the continued expansion of palm oil plantations.

Most animal life, however, is not seen during the day, but at night. Therefore we joined the daily night hike to see other creatures!

Despite its remote location, the Bako National Park is not spared from plastic waste (especially on the beach). As we walk along the sea one evening we decide to spontaneously clean up some plastic. Thereby we find many interesting things that don’t belong in the sea at all, as for example meter-sized action figures, straws and instant noodle packages. But as we only manage a small part of the beach, we decide to tackle the rest of the beach the next day. We can still recruit a little reinforcement and at the end there are five of us. Nevertheless we need several hours to clear the beach of garbage. In the end we collected more than 100 kg of plastic, polystyrene and other garbage.

As already indicated before – the spell was broken and we could still see proboscis monkeys several times!

Nevertheless, there were still some macaques in Bako. However, the park guards often call them terrorists. This is probably due to their urge to steal bags of food.

Shortly before our departure, we even see some proboscis monkeys again – this time with a sad face, because we already have to leave.

After 3 days we leave the beautiful Bako National Park and make our way back to Kuching.

Kota Kinabalu (12.-16.10.)

After taking the ferry from Brunei to Labuan (a small island off Borneo), we have to change to another ferry that takes us to Kota Kinabalu. But when we arrived there we had to realize that KK is a tourist stronghold. Everywhere hotels lined up after hotels, guesthouses after guesthouses and Chinese characters after tour posters.

The reason to go to KK was that we had heard that it was a very good area for diving and snorkeling. In the sea in front of KK there are some small islands, which have been declared a national park (on land and under water). With snorkel, diving goggles and fins, as well as the two Dutch from Brunei in our luggage we start to explore the island.

Our first stop was the island Mamutik. After we had found a suitable spot on the beach, it was time to cool down in the sea. The humid heat on Borneo is hard to bear during the day.

But under water the spectacle could not continue. Borneo too, despite its isolated location, is not spared from human influences and the warming of the sea temperature. Most corals did not survive this and therefore one finds mainly dead, grey corals under water. After all, there are still a few parrotfish swimming around, which give the whole thing a little colour.

The colors of the sky and water were amazing though!

The underwater impression continued on the next island Sapi. But the view was very nice again.

Diana had organized a dive for the next days. But the promises of great corals could not come true again. Nevertheless she could see some, many fish and moray eels.

Meanwhile Lucas, Laura and Jorick use the day for an extensive scooter excursion. First we went towards the impressive mountain Gunung Kinabalu.

Unfortunately, the visibility deteriorated for the time being. Towards the sea we had a great view:

Since scooters cannot be operated with air and love, we had to make a refueling stop at some point. We arrived at an interesting gas station:

Afterwards we wanted to continue the tour, but the rain forced us to turn around. That was also okay, because we got wet more than enough. It was a good thing that the lady at the scooter rental had packed rain gear for us.

On the way back, however, the view of Gunung Kinabalu improved steadily and at some point we were able to see it almost completely.

The spectacular, cloudy views continued on the way back.

Back in the lowlands, we stopped at a suspension bridge that we had seen on the way there. The bridge crossed a river where there should be many crocodiles.

We continue the journey, we went to the campus of the University Malaysia Sabah. Apparently the biggest university of Borneo, located in the district Sabah. Lucas thought that the campus in Augsburg was very beautiful, but the memories of it faded after he had enjoyed the view from the UMS campus.

With these beautiful sunset views in mind we said goodbye to Laura and Jorick and the north of Borneo. Unfortunately, the infrastructure on the island is modest and so we decided with great remorse for a flight to the south to Kuching.