Week Number 2 - Malaysia

Time to summarize the week.

Monday started with rain. So a relaxed day with a trip to Chinatown and a pancake (not as delicious as yours Marie, but still pretty tasty) and various delicious small fruits.

In the evening we had sourdough bread - made by a great couchsurfer - who showed me places that are not so touristy :)

Great to slice the bread with such an excellently sharp knife! (Thanks Jule and Daniel)

On Tuesday, after Indian dosas in the morning, we headed to Melaka. A colonial town where the influences of various countries can be seen.

A bit more relaxed and with a fun travel group, we had the kickoff in a bar with exclusively high-proof drinks and then followed our declared travel motto: 'Follow the river'. I didn't know there is blue rice, but it tastes good.

We had our first sunset by the water on Tuesday evening right next to a mosque and our feet were in water (in the Straits of Melaka from the Indian Ocean) 🤗

On Wednesday, the city enchanted us with its pretty little (partially very European-influenced) cafes.

We explored the historical things in Melaka, the 'World Heritage Site', in a city tour - among other things, we discovered how shoes are made and where the best chandol in town is eaten.

On Thursday, our travel group split up again. :/

For me, it continued towards Kuala Lumpur and then to Jerantut.

What do you actually do there?

Yep - off to the rainforest! It is already 130 million years old and has turned out to be a little sauna.

On Friday morning, on the way by taxi to Kuala Tahan, the starting point for hikes in the national park, the road (which has been there for about 20 years now - before, access to the rainforest was only possible by boat) was lined with palm plantations. All palms perfectly planted in rows.

After a short crossing, the hike surprised us a bit. At the beginning, it was easy and a bit confusing because we (here again there was a small new travel group) hiked the first kilometers on a path built for tourists.

We already saw the first monkeys there.

There are plenty of mangoes in Malaysia - the green ones are the sweetest and we had them as a snack at the mountaintop.

The way down turned out to be much more exciting.

Mud everywhere - so the assumption is that the word trekking might actually come from dirt :D

There was a lot of rain two days ago...

After a good 4 hours, we arrived back at the starting point.

On the way back, we briefly stocked up on deep-fried sweet potatoes (everyone can deep-fry here!)

On Saturday, this little travel group also dissolved and off we go to Kuala Tahan. It's time to finally jump into the water!)

Now I'm sitting on the bus (almost 4 hours of travel time) and the bus is definitely a different climate zone - subpolar or already polar? Air conditioners are really everywhere here, and you should definitely not get on a bus without a sweater and long pants.

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