18.03.18 - 24.03.18 Malaysia- Terranganu / Merang / Lang Tengah / Kuala Lumpur

Now the day had come when I had to leave Thailand. I have to say that I really liked it and I haven't seen everything yet. Maybe I will come back and visit more beautiful places. :)

What I learned in Thai:😀

Hello / Good day / Good morning / Good evening / Goodbye = Sawat di khrap

Thank you (to a woman) = Kop khun kha

Thank you (to a man) = Kop khun khrap

Beer = Bia

Water = Nam

I don't like it spicy 😅 = Ao mai phèt
The elongation of words when pronouncing was the funniest part, but I managed to do it.😀😁

The good thing about Thailand is that once I leave the country, I can re-enter anytime and get a new 30-day visa. The procedure is called Visa Run.👌😁

I had to say goodbye to Simone as well, as our paths separated again in Chiang Mai. He continued his journey to Laos. It could have been an option for me too, but since I wanted to continue traveling to the south first, I chose Malaysia.

At around 16:00, my plane departed for Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia. When I arrived at the airport, I didn't see any Europeans anymore, the same goes for when I was on the plane and arrived around 19:00. 😅🙈 Initially, it was very strange to see this contrast from Thailand with a lot of backpackers to Malaysia with hardly any Europeans.🙈

Everyone was looking at me. 🙈But I have to say, even though I felt strange, I still felt safe. Everyone was friendly and helpful.👍😁

I had to go from the airport to KL Sentral, as my booked night bus to Terengganu in the east departed from there at 22:30.

At the airport, I asked for directions and soon I was at the right stop. A ticket only cost about 0.80 cents for a 60-minute ride.

In Malaysia, the currency is called Ringgit - current exchange rate: 5 Ringgit = 1 Euro

Arriving at KL Sentral, I thought I was back at the airport, the station was so huge. It was insane.😀

I had to wait for about 1.5 hours, and then I was already on the bus.

The first thing I did was turn off the air conditioning.😅 It was incredibly cold on the bus.🙈 The journey took 6-7 hours. When I arrived in Terengganu, it was only 05:30. I got off the bus and sat on my backpack. I was pretty tired and couldn't sleep well on the bus.

Then the bus driver asked me where I needed to go. I showed him the location for the booked hostel, and he offered to take me there on his private scooter.😅 I got back on the bus and then he got his scooter. It wasn't easy with a 20kg backpack on my back.🤣

The location turned out to be wrong, after driving in circles and searching three times, I told him to just drop me off on the street, I would find it. 😀

Then I encountered a woman on the street and asked her if she knew where it was. She looked at me bewildered and told me that it's dangerous to walk alone on the street at this time.😅 She accompanied me to the nearest 7eleven store, where she asked about the hostel for me.

They looked it up on the internet, and as luck would have it, the hostel was just 10 meters away.🤣🤣🤣

Then came the next hurdle, when I wanted to enter the hostel, there was a note on the wall saying that you have to call to get the code for the door lock because no one from the hostel was there.😅😅😅

I walked back to the store and brought a Malaysian with me to the hostel, he made the call for me and I was able to talk directly to the owner. He gave me the code, and finally, at around 06:30, I was inside.🤣 The funniest thing about all of this was that the hostel was only a 10-minute walk from the bus station, and I spent an hour looking for it.🙈

Then I was in a 4-bed dorm, later I met Nina from Malaysia, who had been on a business trip there for 3 days. She was originally planning to go back home, which was a 2-hour drive away. However, she decided to extend her stay at the hostel for 1 night to spend time with me and show me the city.😍😊👍

I spent the day with her, we got on a bus and went to a temple with a huge complex. There we met Pablo, who was also staying at our hostel. He was from Spain-Madrid and has been traveling in Asia since last August. He also quit his job and is now traveling until December this year.👍 He joined us.

When we wanted to take a bus to a beach from the temple, the bus arrived and I wanted to catch it but then we saw it driving away.😅 We had already waited for 40 minutes. The bus only came about every 1.5 hours.😅🙈 Nina then called a taxi so that we wouldn't have to wait any longer.

When we arrived at the beach, many Malaysians were there flying their kites. There were also small stalls on the right and left. I couldn't see a single European, only Pablo and me.😀

On the way back, we took an Uber again, we also visited China Town and had something to eat there.👌

For those who don't know Uber: It is an app that works worldwide. You log in with your phone number. In the app, you can choose your starting point and destination, and it will show you drivers with prices for that route that you can book and they will pick you up. They are not public taxis but private drivers, so they are cheaper than regular taxis.👌👍

The next day, I wanted to continue to Lang Tengah Island, why this island?

I had researched the islands in Malaysia before. I chose this one because it looked incredibly beautiful on the internet, and I immediately fell in love with it. It is a small island with only 4 resorts, the rest of the island is jungle and nature. White long sandy beaches with crystal blue water. A dream.😍 But there was one thing, the cheapest resort started at 60 euros per night.🙈 I convinced Pablo to come to the island with me since it is one of the most beautiful islands in Malaysia and there aren't many tourists. Pablo actually wanted to go to another island further south. But I managed to persuade him, and he eventually accompanied me.👍😁

Before we went to the pier, the three of us were exploring the city. I needed a new GoPro.🙈 I bought the GoPro 5 for around 230 euros.👍😊 It's a lot of money, but now I can film my adventures again and save them as memories.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Nina, as she had to go back home and work. She was a very lovely person, and we got along very well.❤😊

Pablo and I then went to the pier. There we found out that the boat ride to the island cost 180 Ringgit + 30 Ringgit tax.

There was another pier in Merang that might have been cheaper. So we decided to take the bus for 90 cents to Merang (40 minutes ride). Unfortunately, when we arrived, it was already too late, and there were no more boats to the island. But we met a very nice boat owner who offered us a good deal for a round trip for 120 Ringgit, and we didn't have to pay the additional tax.👌😊

We didn't know where we wanted to stay, so we asked if there were any cheaper options besides the resorts, maybe there were pensions that weren't listed on the internet. But no, there were only the 4 resorts.

AND HERE IT IS:🤗🤗🤗

But then he told us that he might have an alternative for us, he had a Romanian friend on the island who leads a project to preserve sea turtles and carry out investigations of the surrounding reefs. They analyze the diversity and populations of corals, fish, and invertebrates living in these waters.

Oh my God😍😍😍, I thought to myself, this would be so amazing to be part of such projects.🙈🙈🙈

He called him and asked for us, and I finally got to speak to him personally. Normally, it wouldn't be possible just to stay there. BUT, he made an exception for us!!!😍😍😍

We could spend a night with them the next day, in the middle of the jungle without electricity!!!😀🙈 We were even allowed to participate in the project and help out.😍😍😍

I was so excited and incredibly happy to be able to have such an experience.❤

We stayed one night in Merang, near the pier. There was hardly anything there and hardly any people to be seen. 😀🙈

At around 08:00, we took the boat to our island. We were the only ones on board, so we had a private ride to the island.😀👌Upon arrival at the camp, Sebastian greeted us and showed us his little kingdom. The camp was located in the middle of the jungle, rainwater had to be filtered for drinking, we slept under the open sky on beds with a mattress and mosquito net. Cooking was done using solar energy, and we had to shower with rainwater from a bucket. It was incredible.😀😁

The team consisted of 8 volunteer helpers who committed to helping for 3 months and learned everything about turtles / corals and the sea life living there.

It was so impressive and great. Not only was I on one of the most beautiful islands in Malaysia, but I was also able to help with the project. I was so happy about it.😍❤😍

In the afternoon, Pablo and I explored the island. The first resort was located on a hill about 10 minutes away from the camp. The next one was again a 10-minute walk away. It takes about 30 minutes to walk to the last resort. There were hardly any tourists at the resorts, maybe because the overnight stays were really expensive. But that's even better for the island and its preservation.👍 The other side and the larger part of the island were full of nature and consisted of jungle. I had never seen such a beautiful and natural island before, I really fell in love.😍🙈 There are no shops, no cars, no scooters there, really nothing, except for the 4 resorts, the camp, and nature.👍

We went snorkeling at one of the resorts in the evening and spent the afternoon there. We booked a dive for the next morning for around 20 euros.😁👌 Pablo got his diving license two weeks ago in Bali, so we could dive together.😁👍

In the evening, we returned to the camp and sat by the campfire with the others. They went snorkeling and examined the corals. In the evening, from 21:00 to 06:00, a night shift started, and a team of 2 people was assigned to it, which changed daily. I had the first shift from 21:00 to 23:00 with Martin from France. Our task was to check the beaches for nests and turtles laying their eggs. We had red light lamps to look for them so as not to scare or confuse the turtles. That was very important! Unfortunately, we didn't find any because the nesting season had just started. Two days earlier, they saw one. They carefully covered the eggs with sand and a net to prevent other animals or poachers from coming and eating them. After our two-hour shift, the next team took over. When someone spotted a turtle, we had a phone with us to inform Sebastian. He then took care of hiding the eggs. It takes 30-40 days for the eggs to hatch, and then the turtles have to make it back to the sea. Sebastian and his team are also present to ensure that they are not eaten before that.

After checking all 4 beaches, we sat on a rock and looked at the sky. It was amazing, I had never seen so many stars in one place, it was incredibly beautiful!!!

We went back and checked again. Then we returned to the camp and went to sleep.👌😊

The next morning, we went diving, unfortunately, they didn't have a boat since too few people signed up for a snorkeling tour, and they could have rented a boat if more people came. So we went diving from the shore. It was very nice, even though some corals were losing their color and some were even damaged. I saw many fish and even two small reef sharks.😁👍

After the dive, we went back to the camp and went snorkeling with the others. They examined the corals in the water and attached fallen corals to a pier in the water so that they could regrow and develop further.

I asked Sebastian if we could spend another night with them. He allowed us to stay for one more night in the camp. 😁👌

In the evening, we had a delicious dinner prepared by two volunteers. Afterward, we watched a documentary on a screen that reported on how cargo ships with all kinds of goods (about 3 million per year) pollute the sea and contribute to the death of more and more marine creatures as well as being a major cause of global warming. In short, they destroy our planet so that we can buy cheap things from China or Japan and wear them. It's really crazy and sad if you think about it!!!

Pablo and I were then assigned to the shift from 05:00 to 06:00. Unfortunately, we still didn't see any turtles. Then we went back to bed.

The next day was already our departure day. We gave Sebastian 20 euros per person for the two nights, which would contribute to the project's support.👍

I can only mention it again, it was such an amazing experience, and I am very grateful that I was able to be on this island and be part of such a project.❤❤❤

Back in Merang, we took the bus to Terengganu. In the same evening, I booked my bus ride to Kuala Lumpur and said goodbye to Pablo. My departure was at 23:00, another 7 hours on the bus.🙈 Now I have arrived in Kuala Lumpur, and since I had to wait to check into my hostel, I used the time to write down my last few days and experiences for you.😅🙈 As you can see, it's really time-consuming, but I enjoy doing it, and the best part is that it will always remind me of my experiences.😊

I will stay here for one night and explore the city today and tomorrow.😁 I will upload the photos for Kuala Lumpur here afterwards.😊

Tomorrow night, my plane will continue as I arranged to meet a friend from Frankfurt and travel the west coast together for a week.👌😁

My next stop -

PERTH / AUSTRALIA!!! 😍😍😍

I'm so excited!!! 😀🤗😁