Tschuala Lumpur und Tschingapur

Our next stop was Kuala Lumpur and despite the difficult goodbye, we were looking forward to it, at least a little bit. Finally, back in the big city! And if you do a bit of research about Kuala Lumpur, it all sounds pretty good. The different cultures and ethnic groups (Malay, Indian, Muslims, Chinese, and of course the Westerners) who live here and blend together, a few nice tourist attractions, and above all, really good food. So, we were excited to see what awaited us. Our hostel was located in Chinatown and was a great starting point for everything. All the metro connections passed through here, so it was no problem to get to the different attractions and other parts of the city. Right outside our door was the 'famous' Petalin Street, a market street for pretty much everything - watches, jewelry, clothes, electronics accessories, everything, of course, cheap cheap and high quality. A food court was also located right in the middle with a wild collection of food. A bit of Chinese food here, Indian there, Malaysian specialties over there, pretty much everything you could want. After such a long time in Asia, we were really craving some Indian food. The nice man in the Arsenal jersey also made a damn good tandoori chicken and naan (in all forms, garlic being our favorite) in his oven. So good that from that point on, I became a regular customer, which was not only because of his good food, but also because he was the first really nice and polite person in Kuala Lumpur. But more on that later.

Since we hadn't slept much, we took a little nap in the hostel and then went to Bukit Bintang Road in the evening, which is popular among tourists and therefore busy. Funny enough, we met an old acquaintance there, whom we had already met twice before. He crossed the border from Cambodia to Thailand with us (and stopped the time of the border officials with us, you might remember) and again in Bangkok on Khao San Road. We still don't know his name, but it makes it even funnier, especially because after the bus ride, he mentioned that you always meet twice in life. He should be right about that, and who knows how many more times we will meet him, because we have no idea where he is going next...

The next day, we spent a classic Kuala Lumpur tourist round. Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, Central Market, Merdeka Square, and last but not least, we went up the Kuala Lumpur Tower. From the observation tower, we had a good overview of the city, took some pictures, and located our rooftop bar for the evening (well, more or less successfully).

After a cozy dinner with my new Indian friend (and Christmas music), we headed to the Heli Lounge Bar. A rooftop bar that was simply 'built' on a helicopter landing platform. So, if there is an emergency, the landing pad is still used during the day (there are only 4 others in the city), but in the evening, it is converted into a bar, and this half-improvised concept gives the charm to this bar. No railing, just a barrier like the ones you know from queuing at the airport. No big crowds, prices are absolutely fair, and to our surprise, no music either. We ordered a mojito, enjoyed the peace and the view of the skyline, especially the changing colors of the Kuala Lumpur Tower, and of course the Petronas Towers.

A perfect day with maybe a bit too much height for my taste, but I survived ;-)

The next day we went to the Batu Caves (and the surrounding caves), but we didn't find it that impressive. The cave itself is really beautiful, but right now, everything is being built around it, a temple in front, another one inside the cave, and so on. You get the feeling: the main goal is to have one more attraction on site, and the cave itself is becoming less and less important. Sad, because without all the built stuff, it would have been even more impressive.

On the way back, we took a little detour and walked through the Botanical Gardens, a bit of greenery in between. A nice change, although not as much was in bloom as we had hoped, still a nice outing.

When we returned to the hostel, we had to change rooms because we only spent the first two days in a single room and then slept in the dorm from then on. There, we promptly met a German who had just come from Australia, and we exchanged some travel tips and then went to eat together. For once, not at my favorite Indian place, but we had Clay Pot Chicken Rice (a Malaysian specialty) and mango salad and ended the evening on our hostel terrace.

There, the time had come to draw a small conclusion about the city and our expectations, etc.: After a few days here, we noticed a few things that were different from what we had imagined. Firstly, the cultures might have blended in terms of food, but otherwise not really. Each culture/nation lives here for themselves. The Asians in Chinatown, the Indians in Little India, the Malays mostly outside the city (except for the rich ones, who of course live downtown in the banking and hotel district), and the Westerners live in downtown. There are hardly any overlaps, if at all, maybe you run into each other while eating. The same goes for the language, Malays speak Malay with the Indians and Chinese, but the Chinese and Indians speak English with each other. What's up with that? It's like if we in Germany spoke German with the Turks and Italians, but they spoke English when talking to each other. Doesn't make any sense, right? So, for me, integration and merging of cultures look a bit different.

As mentioned before, we liked to eat at our Indian friend's place, but not just because of the good food, but also because he was happy to see us and was simply friendly and polite.

Friendliness and politeness are generally not very common here. Whether it's at tourist attractions, shopping malls, or at 7eleven (or similar stores), saying hello or goodbye or anything like that doesn't seem to be known. It's also normal for the cashiers to prefer playing with their phones instead of telling you how much you have to pay. After all, you can see the amount yourself at the cash register.

At first, we thought that maybe we were too spoiled from Thailand, where the Thais are so incredibly friendly and grateful that there are almost no words to describe it. But since the people here didn't talk to us at all (and not just us, it was the same for everyone else too :-) ) and the fact that we had to read the prices ourselves, our conclusion is that it is definitely the unfriendliest city we have ever been to (in our whole lives).

But enough complaining, there was still one main attraction missing, so on our last day, we headed to the KLCC Park to see the Petronas Towers. An impressive building with the connecting bridge between the towers, but since we had already spent enough time on tall buildings, we skipped going up this one (it wouldn't make much sense anyway, because then we wouldn't see the two towers anymore ;-) )

Since we were leaving for Singapore the next morning at 5:30 a.m., we had to do laundry and pack. Luckily, the laundromat was right across from our hostel because as soon as we put the laundry in the dryer (and wanted to chill on the terrace in the hostel), a typical monsoon rain started, flooding the streets within a few minutes. Even crossing the 5-meter street led to getting completely soaked. Fortunately, only one of us had to do it...

In our room, a nice German couple moved in (Christin and Philip), and we hit it off right away. We spent a super nice and relaxed last evening together. (You can probably guess where we ate ;-) ) Also, for both of them, we hope to meet them again because their next destination is Australia, and they will also be in Sydney for New Year's Eve.

- Stephan

In Singapore, we took the train to Chinatown (once again ;-) ). We had booked a capsule hostel, but it's not as futuristic as you would imagine. They are more like bunk beds with the entrance at the foot end instead of the side. Since our beds were not ready yet, we went to Chinatown for a bite to eat. Unfortunately, we didn't like it here as much as in other cities. Everything seemed somehow fake and set up just for tourists. The food court wasn't that great either. Maybe we should have joined the long line in front of one of the stalls (Anthony Bourdain had eaten there), but we were tired and the steamed duck didn't look that tempting either.

So, we went back to the hostel, took a midday nap, and in the evening, we went to Little India (based on our good experiences in Kuala Lumpur). Here, the food tasted really good again. We were quite full (we had actually ordered 3 small portions but got large ones), and then we walked to Singapur Plaza to go to the cinema for the first time while traveling! We chose the new Star Wars movie, of course in English with Chinese subtitles (which didn't bother us much, as we couldn't read the characters anyway).

The next day, we went to the Formula 1 track. We couldn't find a real official entrance, so we just walked around the pit building, and there we were on the track!

Really impressive! We took some pictures until a nice man told us that the track was actually closed because a street parade for next year was being set up. Since we had already taken all our pictures, we turned around. On the way back, we saw the gate that was supposed to be closed... Boldness usually wins ;-)

Our journey continued past the Ferris wheel and the floating football field, over the Helix Bridge to the Gardens by the Bay. Here, the famous Super Trees are located, offering a great view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. We walked back through downtown to the hostel. We spent a cozy evening, relaxing after the extensive tourist program of the day.

Since Singapore is not exactly the cheapest city in the world, it was the first time while traveling that we bought our own breakfast stuff at the supermarket and started the next day with oatmeal/banana/apple muesli. Then we went to the Botanic Gardens, which were really beautiful. This time, we had to pay an entrance fee for the orchid area, but it was definitely worth it (see pictures)!

After enjoying pure nature, we went to Orchard Street, a luxury shopping street, which, as expected, we didn't really like. Overpriced shopping malls with things that now seem (and partly already seemed) completely unnecessary to us! On top of that, there were crowds of people (mainly Chinese), which were almost worse than on National Day in Shanghai! Well, Stephan quickly grabbed a few boxer shorts from H&M and then we went back to the hostel.

In the evening, the highlight awaited us: we treated ourselves to a 15€ beer each in the sky bar of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, an amazing view of the city, the Gardens by the Bay, and of course, the hotel's infinity pool! A really nice evening, but we still can't understand how someone can spend so much money on a room in this hotel (the cheapest one is 353€/night!!! Without a view, of course)?!?

On our last day in Singapore, we met Jan at the hostel in the morning. He had just come from a semester abroad in Melbourne and gave us some tips for the east coast of Australia. With him, we passed the time, as we had already checked out but didn't want to go to the airport until the evening (our flight left at 6:55 a.m., and we wanted to skip a hotel and just sleep at the airport for a few hours). We walked to an artist district, visited a temple, took a shower, did laundry, and had something to eat.

At the airport, we spent most of the time in the cinema (yes, they have a free cinema here where movies run almost 24 hours!!! Incredible!) and then lay down for a few hours. Armed with 2 bottles of alcohol, we boarded the plane to Australia!

- Rahel