MALAYSIA- The journey is the destination!

Hello from Malaysia,

Time flies, and now I am writing my first blog from Malaysia - specifically from Georgetown on the island of Penang.

But let's rewind a few days. It all started in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

Arrived in the second country of my world trip :)

Here, I tried authentic Indian cuisine for the first time and was immediately impressed. The food in Indonesia was delicious, but honestly nothing special, and I was craving for a change from fried noodles, fried rice, or noodle soup! 

Thosai Masala- a kind of rice pancake filled with potatoes and curry. Plus Teh Tarik- tea with milk. I could eat this every day!! (...and I actually do :D)

After 3 days in Kuala Lumpur, we traveled by bus and boat to Taman Negara - the oldest rainforest in the world! The 2 hours we spent on the boat to Kuala Tahan were the highlight of our entire stay in the jungle. 

The boat was so low that we were almost at the same level as the water. There was nothing on the banks except jungle. The further we went, the more mountainous it became, and the more we could imagine the size of the jungle we were in. I could have spent hours on the river, as the variety of trees and plants was so unique and unlike anything I had ever seen before!

In Taman Negara, apart from countless insects and bird species, there are also elephants, leopards, and even the Malayan tiger. You could hear the insects especially loud at night - I enjoyed this sound and could fall asleep to the sound of the jungle :) However, our sightings of animals were limited to insects and lizards. But that was to be expected because to see the really exotic animals, you have to go on a multi-day tour into the jungle with a lot of luck. 

There was also a 1.5-hour night tour. However, when I found out that this tour mainly focused on insects (SPIDERS), I suddenly lost interest :D Besides, we wouldn't have been able to afford this tour anyway. In Kuala Lumpur, we were naive enough to think that we could withdraw money for our stay in the rainforest. Kuala Tahan is a small town in the rainforest and is considered the starting point for many tours, but there are no ATMs there. So we had to manage with the cash we had left. It was not necessarily advantageous that we had to pay for our accommodation in cash^^ When we left after 3 frugal days, we had 75 cents left to buy a small pack of cookies for breakfast. So it was just enough :D 

Kuala Tahan riverside

The next stop on our journey through Malaysia was the Cameron Highlands. During the 6-hour bus ride, we were treated to some beautiful landscapes. In the first section, we had another great view of the rainforest before passing through a road that led through a forest consisting exclusively of palm trees! Exclusively! 

By the way, this was also the first thing I saw of Malaysia. When I had a stopover in Kuala Lumpur on my first flight and the onward flight to Bali started, I saw a huge palm tree forest from the plane. That impressed me from the plane. (*these are palm oil plantations, which I don't want to evaluate positively and find extremely worrying. Unfortunately, I only realized late what the palm trees were for. More on this in the next post) And now, 5 weeks later, we drove through such a forest in a small bus. That made me realize once again how much I have experienced and seen in this short time. Since apparently I have overcome my travel sickness, I can truly enjoy these trips! Before my trip, I used to feel sick even in the car on the way to the supermarket. And now I sit in the bus for hours, look out the window, and think about my journey - with a smile on my face :)

The Cameron Highlands are located at an altitude of about 1400-1500 meters and are of great agricultural importance. Due to the milder climate, tea is mainly grown here, but also flowers, strawberries, and various vegetables. 

Pick-your-own strawberries :)

In the last kilometers, we could already see many agricultural fields and greenhouses on the slopes. With about 26 degrees, the climate was much more pleasant than the 38 degrees in the jungle! We spent our days exploring the surroundings of the Cameron Highlands and eating at our favorite Indian restaurant. I read on the internet that hitchhiking is possible in this area. Get from A to B for free? Well, we don't need to be told twice :D It took a bit of courage at first, but we actually never had to wait longer than 5 minutes for a ride!

  

 

We were even taken on a scooter - together :D

We were dropped off near the tea plantations and explored them on foot. 

While doing so, we also carefully observed the field workers harvesting the tea. 

Aren't they cute with their hats? :D

Green, black, brown, white, and yellow tea is made from the tea plants. This information comes from a German guy we met at our hostel who had taken a tour of the tea plantations and kindly told us about it. Unfortunately, I also don't know the difference between these types of tea, but it is enough for me to know that they produce 5 different types of tea :D 

The rice fields in Indonesia really impressed us, but tea plantations are also unique in their shapes and colors!! 

Of course, we also treated ourselves to tea from the local supplier - with a view of the tea plantations, of course :)

Mossy forest - this mystical rainforest is located just above the tea plantations and is almost in the clouds!

Yesterday, we arrived in Georgetown - the capital of the island of Penang. 

To be honest, we needed some time to warm up to this city, but after our city tour today, we feel very comfortable here!

Georgetown is a former British colony, which is easily recognizable from the architectural style of many buildings! The city is a prime example that people from different cultures can live together peacefully. The population here is predominantly Chinese, and when you walk through the city, you could also think that you are in China because of the countless Chinese restaurants, handicraft and clothing stores. 

But there is also 'Little India' where you could think you are in the middle of India. I'm glad that we can also enjoy Indian cuisine here because honestly I'm not ready yet to try Chinese food^^. 

We were particularly impressed by the street art in Georgetown!

Malaysia has continuously surprised us so far! I think and hope that this won't change in the next few days and weeks :) ahead of us are Langkawi island and Borneo!!!

I have one request - the blog is very personal to me, and I deliberately only share it with a specific group of people. Please treat the blog confidentially. Thank you :) 

Thank you also for the great feedback I have received so far! I'm very happy that you are so interested in following my posts and that you like them :)

Best regards

and see you soon :)