Bye and hello

Today we continue on the big journey! Stage two - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - lies ahead of us.

We check out, but leave the luggage in the hotel for now. In the Chinese restaurant, we have vegetarian dumplings for breakfast/lunch, but we stay away from the chicken, beef, pork, or frog porridge. They misunderstand us (once again), we are not satisfied and walk to the Indian restaurant. The huge amount of rice will probably keep us full until the evening.

We leave the Lion City of Singapore behind us by ✈️ and arrive in Malaysia at 6:30 pm on July 11th, after an hour of flight time.

How did we like it so far? Quite simple: 9/10 points. If you can, you should definitely enjoy Singapore!

The entry into Malaysia takes a while, but who cares. Our beautiful hotel is worth it. We quickly walk around the block to have Naan bread from the Indian restaurant as an evening snack.

They are generous with the garlic again, and you can't complain about a large portion for €0.70.

We decide to go to bed early, as there are exhausting days ahead of us...

So we lay a solid foundation... the breakfast is amazing. A wide variety of beautifully arranged dishes, a very large... actually, I'm always skeptical about something like this (can the quality be maintained when there's so much stuff?!), but here I am convinced. They have everything: from bread and English breakfast, to Indian specialties, self-preparable miso soups, pasta, and plenty of fruit.... the list goes on. But 😱one flaw: there is no soy milk or tofu... we will survive...

Our extensive breakfast delays the start of the day, and we find ourselves in the rush hour traffic, experiencing close contact with the locals in the trains. At least we are not cold, as the air conditioning is on full blast. First stop of the day: the Batu Caves.

Or maybe not, the train leaves just in front of us. As if that's not enough, it only runs once an hour due to construction work. That was a disappointment.

For your information: The Batu Caves are huge caves in limestone cliffs that contain temples and shrines. They are a popular pilgrimage site for Hindus in Malaysia. We'll try again tomorrow.

Dania decides to go to the Botanical Gardens, Michi and I, on the other hand, go to the Bird Park. In a large part of the park, the birds fly and hop freely. I have to protect myself from attacks, I quickly panic, I'm not comfortable with birds being so free🥴.

Kuala Lumpur.... the city is still making it difficult for us to fully like it.

Is it because of the unwanted touches from strange men combined with welcome words "Welcome to Malaysia," the endless traffic, or the "River of Life" that could have sprung from a Stephen King novel?!

At least some of the words are pronounced the way they are spoken, bus (in English) is also written and pronounced as bas.

We also sweat a lot because the pedestrian lights never turn green, so we always have to walk into traffic with a smile to cross the street. The 35°C add to our discomfort.

Nevertheless: especially Chinatown, the people of different cultures, the street stalls, beautiful mosques, and the prices make us like it.

But it remains hot: we decide to go to the pool, which means getting out of the crowd and returning to the hotel. After all, we have been on our feet for 9 hours without a break, walking from point A to point B... in a tropical city...