Kuala Lumpur

The most exciting thing for me on this trip is always finding places that stubbornly refuse to meet the expectations I had of them. Karimunjawa, for example, a small island that I planned my entire Indonesia trip around. A spot that comes pretty close to paradise on earth, if you travel at the right time. As I now know, this is not, however, mid-November. Actually, many things should have been clear to me already when I wanted to buy my ferry ticket and the friendly ticket vendor replied to me, "Karimunjawa? Tomorrow? Ohhhhhh..." and slowly her facial features changed from pure friendliness to stunned amazement. Because on the next day, a storm with waterfall-like rain arrived simultaneously with me and persisted until my departure. Where all the water came from remains a mystery to me, at least not from the Indian Ocean, as it simultaneously washed its entire plastic waste onto the beaches due to unfavorable winds. And so my highlights of the four days in Karimunjawa were a YouTube documentary about Roland Kaiser's comeback, a conversation where a German living there tried to convert me, and getting acquainted with about 530 mosquitoes. When donating blood, they take less. But it must also be said that not everything was shitty. In the evenings, the local fishermen grilled and freshly sold their catch of the day on the football field, and for around €2.00, I alternated between barracuda and tuna. But such sections are simply part of a journey, also to be able to properly appreciate other experiences again. For example, Kuala Lumpur, where I flew to after Karimunjawa. A city that I mistakenly always dismissed as a boring version of Singapore. What a huge mistake, because KL has much more to offer than a pair of twin towers. For example, a very majestic royal palace or a temple inside a cave (Batu Caves). And even the cocktail bar that serves as a helipad during the day and is located on the roof of a skyscraper, left me speechless more than once. So Kuala Lumpur was also a place that stubbornly refused to meet my expectations. And this has often been the case on this trip, in an absolutely positive sense.

Currently, I am in Sri Lanka and for those who can't wait to find out what exactly I am doing and experiencing here, I recommend this wonderful documentary from arte: https://youtu.be/XCPK_jhJssw

See you soon,

With Love,