Last time i ended my blog with me and my friend on our way from Dubai to Malaysia. So herewith part 2 of our great adventure. Just like we flew to Dubai with Emirates we also flew with Emirates from Dubai to Malaysia. I don't exactly remember how long the flight took but i guess it was about 7 hours. Again we had great (and much!!!) food and after watching 2 bollywood movies (they take about 3 till 4 hours) we were ready for landing. We saw the country coming closer and closer, what a difference between Dubai and Malaysia! Everywhere you look there is green! Trees, flowers etc. From a high distance it could even be Holland but then a bit greener! I already saw myself making long walks (eventhough i'm pretty lazy..). When we got out of the airport it was very very very hot and not only that it was like i walked into a steamy shower, it was really humid. While driving to our hotel i saw the great nature and i was so excited to spend here our 3,5 week. Malacca, where we stayed in a very small hotel called Puri Malacca, it was located very close to Jonker Walk where there is market in the evenings. So me and my friend decided to go see the market.
When we arrived we saw little tables with all kind of stuff on it: clothes, Angry Birds puppets and a lot of food. The smell that came from the food and the street was awful and when we heard a man singing karaoke i kinda started to dislike Malaysia. It was smelly, i didn't like the food, the people sing very bad and they even do it on the street. And above all the streets are dirty and it is so humid that i just wanna take a shower every second. I decided to stay positive and have a good night of sleep.
Next day we had a trishaw ride. It is a bike which is decorated with flowers, plastic animals and more crazy stuff. Every bike got a radio which plays Malay music very loud and a man that cycles. So no, you don't have the cycle, you can just sit, relax, and enjoy the surrounding (and great music).
After the trishaw bike tour we had a tour by foot. We went to a shop where they sell chinese shoes. Years ago the Chinese men had the idea that very small feet is sexy, so many women were making their feet smaller and wearing very small shoes. They were as big as my hand or sometimes even smaller! Luckily it is not legal anymore, the women who had it years ago are unfortunately almost not able to walk anymore.
After this we went to a museum about Islam. Most of the inhabitants of Malaysia are Muslim. It was very interesting to see. There were dolls wearing typical Malaysian muslim clothes, golden Quran's and great Islamic art.
Then we had to hurry to catch the bus to Shah Alam where we would meet Malaysian students! We went to a Steamboat restaurant. Then you have a table with a hole in the middle with a bucket in it. The bucket got hot spiced boullion where you have to prepare your food in. At a large table full of food you could pick whatever you wanted: chicken's heart, liver, ink-fish, ink-fish rings and all other kinds of seafood. We kinda had to get used to it because that's soooo not comparable to our Dutch food. After eating a bit our fellow student (every 2 persons had 1 Malaysian student to hang around with the next day) Nurul came to our table to talk. She was a very sweet, hijab wearing, girl with a big smile on her face.
In the evening Nurul and her friends and me and my friend decided to go to I-city. We were not allowed to go with only girls so some of our male students went with us. I-city is a place where they haave tree's made of light, it is beautiful!
Also they have an indoor snow and ice hall! After looking around for a few hours Nurul and her friends came back by scooter. They asked or we wanted a ride back to our hotel. OFFCOURSE WE DO! So there we go 2 girls on the back of the scooter with our fellow Malaysian students touring through Malaysia! What a great experience!
Next day our fellow students prepared a great meal for us and gave us presents!So sweet, really, Malaysian people are soooo kind! After it Nurul brought me and my friend to the Mosque of Shah Alam, beautiful mosque! After the visit we said goodbye to our fellow student because we were going to Kuala Lumpur!
Kuala Lumpur... what can i say about it? I don't like the city and after the 3,5 week i really started to hate the place. It's smelly, warm, busy, dirty.. In the evening we had a meal in a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur with all my class mates from Holland. And after that night.. it was just me and my friend. Bye teachers, by classmates, hello backpack and hello best friend. Hello first hostel, it was very very very small we slept on stones with a small blanket on it. Me, my friend and our backpacks barely fitted in the room.
Next morning we went to Taman Negara by a mini bus. Me and my friend never get sick in a bus but this time we did. The trip took about 5 hours. After the greaaat (ahum..) bus trip we arrived at the boat. A very small wooden boat.
There our jungle tour started. The boat trip took about 3 hours till we arrived at Taman Negara. We walked to our resort (it was called a resort but it wasn't for sure!). The next morning me and my friend decided to go for a Canopy walk (walking on a small wooden bridge from tree to tree) I am very very very very afraid of hights so while my friend was looking down to the great view, all i could do was thinking: your almost there, almost there Michelle. I was shaking so i decided to sing a dutch song: Today i am so happy, so happy, so happy. And yes i was happy when we finished the walk! Then we went for a jungle tour, the guide told us to take care of the leeches. Leeches?! Oh great, pants in our socks and let's do this! Wauw.. the jungle it is great! The smell, the sound of the animals and insects. It really is beautiful! It almost doesn't look real!
Next day we went to Terengganu, a small city at the east of Malaysia. There we washed our clothes and went to a small bounty island by boat. When we arrived at the beautiful beach it was like a tv commercial. Very very very blue water and white sand. And that's not all there was NO ONE on the island!
After this small city we visited a few more cities. In one city we even ate Arabian food (i already only ate Mc Donalds for weeks because the Malaysian food is not really the kind of food i like) I ate so much. After weeks of Mc Donalds imagine eating your favorite food. It was like heaven! Then we went to a place called Butterworth, there was not much to do. Only a bird park. You have to know i am scared to death for birds but there was nothing left to do in this village. So we decided to go there. When you go to a park in holland most of the big and scary birds are in cages. Well, in Malaysia they are NOT. After a lot of yelling and many beautiful pictures we went to the trainstation. There we would go by train to Singapore. After being in the very very very hot train for a half day the people said the airco didn't work.. as if we didn't notice yet. So halfway they putted us in another train. There was a tv with dvd player in the train. But after seeing Badman returns for 3 times we kinda got bored so we decided to sing along with our MP3 player. After a while kids joined us and before we knew it we arrived in Woodland, where they checked our passports. After a train trip of 13 hours we finally arrived in Singapore (without chewing gum, because that is prohibited). We found out it is impossible to get a taxi in Singapore! So we decided to walk to our hostel. When we arrived there we found out we had to sleep with 28 other people (great..) and pay alot. Singapore is a very expensive city. But we had to sleep so okay here we go.
After a good night of sleep (with 28 other people) we went to the Singapore zoo. Awhhh i felt like a little kid again! White lions and much more, beautiful! In the evening my catholic friend went to church and i went to eat at Mc Donalds (yes, again) Singapore is a very modern, beautiful country and very very very clean!
The day after we went to Universal Studios, we had so much fun! The mummy returns rollercoaster, Jurassic parc slide, Sherk, we spend a great time! And after sleeping with 28 people again (last time, yeayy!) we said goodbye to Singapore and Hello to Sibu island. On this very white beach (without internet or telephone provider) we slept in an A-framed little house which was opened on the sides (hello insects!). On this island we did nothing but rest, enjoying the view and swimming. Oh, and enjoying (not) all the insects. The next day we went back to Kuala Lumpur in 6 hour car drive.
In Kuala Lumpur we slept again in our dirty hostel where we already slept many times (other hostels were full)
As i said before, i hate Kuala Lumpur, so i was happy we went to Cameron Highlands the next day. Cameron Highlands have tea plantations, strawberry plantations, and a tropical rainforest. It was much colder in this rainforest, it was very misty and the trees were covered with moss. This made it look kinda creapy, but still very pretty! The strawberries mixed with chocolate and ice crem were great! In the evening we hired a dvd, we didn't watch tv for a long time, it was very nice!
Next day we went back to Kuala Lumpur (again!) and slept in the same dirty hostel for like the 7th time. It started to be our second home.. The dirt that was in the blankets about 3 weeks ago was still in it.. great! Next day we went to a parc by train. The train had a WOMEN ONLY section! Great! It was totally pink from inside with flowers and very clean. Wish we had a WOMEN ONLY section in the trains in Holland too!
The last night we spend in a very nice hotel called City hotel, finally a nice shower after all these weeks! We went shopping and we bought so much we needed a suitcase for our bought stuff. Next day it was time to go back to Holland where my parents and my friends boyfriend were waiting for us after a very long but great month!
Bye bye Malaysia, it was a great adventure and i hope to see you soon again!
Bye, bye i am not going to miss you!
