Tag Archives: Malaysia

Day 173 – Stats 105 Malaysia

We have a spare Malaysia flag sticker ... any takers?

We have a spare Malaysia flag sticker … any takers?

We did … NOTHING! Well, other than lounging all day we only crawled out of our palace to have breakfast and dinner with our lovely hosts Thomas and Dui. Thus, room for another (more timely) stat post!

We have already shared our thoughts about Malaysia at length in previous posts. Therefore, just some brief observations.

What made Malaysia great for us were the amazing people we met along the way. We got free accommodation, workshop space and heaps of food from a bunch of generous peoples. Special thanks once more to Sonja and her family, Sunny, Tony, BK and of course Jonathan.

Unfortunately, we did not really find access to the country beyond that. Maybe we will come back some day, with a fresher mind and also go exploring further east. Just over 1000km feels like barely scratching the surface, now …

Country data #5: Malasia

Full screen version of the map

  • 1222 km traveled (1178 km of GPS tracked)
  • 6 travel days, 18 days total
  • $8.28 Average cost per night (7x room, 9x invitation)
  • 73.69l of standard fuel for $  48.89 (6 l / 100km)
  • ~$25.15 for food every day, always eating out with many invitations
  • ~$1.650 in total

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 165 – Jaded, faded

To understand today’s post, one needs to know that I’ve been having an “identity crisis” for the last couple of days. Five and a half months into the journey, the honeymoon phase is well and truly over. And our time off in Thailand as well as our stay in Kuala Lumpur freed up time to think. Do I really want to go back to sleeping in moldy rooms? Is this still what I want to be doing? Are we doing something wrong? Do we still enjoy it? For a while now, there hasn’t been one of these “WOW” moments on the motorcycle. Yes, we loved KL but this is hardly a place where you need to go on a bike…a regular plane takes you right into the heart of it.

Today, we woke up in the Cameron Highlands. This place has made it onto the cover of the Lonely Planet edition for Malaysia…and we were totally underwhelmed. All I could think of is “Sumatra’s tea plantations are nicer”. Is that what comes with travelling extensively? You’re just filled up with experiences and landscapes and can’t appreciate what is in front of you anymore? Are we even doing the countries justice anymore?

To not be a total, depressed spoilsport, we started on the whole Cameron Highlands thing: First, see a tea plantation from up close. We decided to go for the one that is especially recommended. Still not as nice as Sumatra’s.

Different products: Grade 1 and 2 teas, tiny particles for teabags and the last row is only used for fertilization

Different products: Grade 1 and 2 teas, tiny particles for teabags and the last row is only used for fertilization

The tour through the factory was cool but only took 5 minutes and basically, you don’t need any humans for the whole process. We tried some of Boh’s own tea in the cafe which I liked but even the strawberry cake didn’t get me out of my low. It was too sweet anyway.

By this point, I have probably depressed you enough. To quote Flo who quoted Hugh Laurie: “I realized that I must be depressed when not even exploding monster trucks could excite me”. Is that what was happening?

Standing amidst tea

Standing amidst tea

One the way back from the Boh tea plantation, we stopped at Cameron Bharat’s tea house because it had a nice view. The tea was not as good as Boh’s but the views were nicer.

Defeated, we went back to the hostel. To put our heads into the sand or under a blanket. But we still had a high tea planned for the afternoon so we needed to have lunch in order to make everything happen. Quick lunch in one of the local food stalls before returning to our room. Lunch turned out to be our turning point. I ordered food at this stall run by an older couple who turned out to be deaf-mute. Not only was the food excellent but the couple was amazingly lovely. Interested in where we came from, they kept asking us questions. Neither Flo nor I are able to sign so we improvised gestures or, if everything failed, wrote questions and answers down. As soon as both of them heard that we came from NZ, they opened up completely. Both of their children live in Auckland and they had been to NZ recently to visit them. We were shown pictures of them at Matamata, on the sky tower and in Rotorua. It just made for such an awesome encounter. This is why we are on this trip…not all the tourist attractions. When we left, they even got out one  of their own souvenirs from NZ to give to us…which we had to refuse as we have such limited space on the bike. What a sweet gesture though!

To further remind us of the “why”, we watched “Terra Circa”. It is really helpful every once in a while to get inspired again. Reading, listening or watching other travellers is something we highly recommend. Although, just to be clear, we have no aspirations to rough it like those guys. They are insane. 🙂

The high tea and us

The high tea and us

At 3pm, we went to our high tea at Cameron Highland Resort. And enjoyed it! Yes, it was not as fancy or delicious as the Hippopotamus one (thank you brain for reminding me) but it was a solid high tea with time to try sweet pastries and another pot of Cameron Highland tea.

There was just enough time to finish “Terra Circa” and write some postcards before we headed off to dinner in an Indian restaurant. Most of the Indians in Malaysia who we encounter are from the southern part, as is the food they prepare. For us, this is amazing as southern India is not currently along the route we have planned but this way, we get to experience the food here. My paneer Masala with naan was delicious.

Ending the day on a food high was exactly what it needed. While I finished commenting photos for the latest blog entry, Flo oiled the bike’s chain on his own. And then the bike fell…tbc…

Day 161 – Melaka

Monday is a good day to start again. Monday was the day we were leaving KL to explore more of Malaysia. If we could only get this packing done…

In our defense, we had stayed longer at Sonja’s place than we usually do in any hotel plus we had sorted things out that we didn’t take on our special trip to Thailand. And, we were probably more thorough than at other times. We noticed, for example, that the oxo cubes in our kitchen box had somehow drawn water and were disintegrating…a mess that we cleaned immediately, with running water and swipes so nearby, rather than leave it. So yeah, packing took until lunch time.

beautiful!

beautiful!

It didn’t impede much on our plans though. The city of Melaka,  a Unesco World Heritage Site, is only 150km away from KL. Also, Flo had picked a small town half-way in between to have lunch as he read a lot about Malaysian food lately. Going on the motorway still delights Flo and we even listened to some audio book, a thing we haven’t done since we left the Australian Stuart Highway. This fact, probably more than anything else, should tell you in what a great shape the roads here are.

Cautious at first, but it was pretty good

Cautious at first, but it was pretty good

Stopping in Seremban at a small but well-frequented eatery (Lonely Planet suggestion), we realized that we didn’t even look at the language section so far. Luckily, most of the words for foods are exactly the same here as they are in bahasa Indonesia so we already know a lot. One phrase needs to be added to my vocabulary “sayuran saja” (gemüsig ich bin) and then I should be sweet for the rest of our time here. In the end, we had noodles in some kind of tomato sauce with fried tofu and tried a cendol as dessert. Cendol is like nothing I knew and it is surprisingly un-sweet. You get a bowl with shaved ice cubes, jelly noodles, little crunchy things, coconut milk and some sort of red bean mash. Not bad but very new for my taste buds.

Riding another 80km down to Melaka didn’t take long anymore. The city is probably still better known in the West as “Malacca”, first a Portugese trade hub, then taken over by the Dutch before being handed over to the British…Flo could give you a history lesson if you are interested. =P

Still not sure why, but cool motto

Still not sure why, but cool motto

Today, “Don’t mess with Melaka” is the slogan here. After we found a place to stay and cooled down a little again (man, you forget how hot those motorcycle clothes get), we explored the old center a bit. Crossing the river got us to the “Stadthuys” or town hall next to St. Peter’s hill. There used to be a fortress on the hill but after having been taken a couple of times by force, one settled for a church up there now. It is an odd place, filled with the old grave headstones which are nowadays used as props by the tourists. We even saw a couple taking their wedding pictures there.

Back down from the hill, half molten by the heat, we once again stumbled into a massive mall. The AC was on “freezer” temperature, I think, but the mall had many perks. First and foremost, it had massage chair which I used for 6min. Don’t bash it before you’ve tried it…it’s not the real thing but it’s still better than no massage at all.

ICE CREAM!!!!!

ICE CREAM!!!!!

Second, it had a real ice cream stall. The advertisement went from “natural ingredient” to “freshly produce”. BUT, the ice cream was YUMMY and it made me happy as the picture testifies. Flo had a very good but very sour “Lemon Lime” flavour which he balanced with “Snickers” while I had the more classic combo of “Chocolate” and “Berry yogurt”.

This refreshment gave us new energy to keep on exploring colourful alleys around the river. We also started looking for a dinner restaurant when the sun started to set, just to notice that most places were already closed. Cafe-style eateries close at 5.30pm here so we were more than an hour too late. Wandering the streets, we had to settle on a Western restaurant which meant that the food was expensive and not spicy enough.

Day 160 – Confluence of Mud

Not much is left of the namesake mud that gave the city its little complementing name, nor of the tin upon which the early success was founded. There was plenty to discover of the people that came here for that reason and many others, though. From European colonial era buildings to the Indian and Chinese quarters – Kuala Lumpur really feels like the melting pot it has been for so long.

Sultan Abdul Samad Building, one of the landmarks

Sultan Abdul Samad Building, one of the landmarks

We wanted to use the last day in KL to do some more proper sight seeing. So we headed out a bit before lunch to go for a long walk in the city. For a city with millions of inhabitants and teeming with glittering high-rises, KL is surprisingly walk-able. We took a taxi to Merdeka Square to start our walk. The square is surrounded by colonial era buildings with some modern museums thrown into the gaps and feels like a huge contrast to all the skyscrapers all around.

From here, it was a short walk to our lunch spot, an all vegetarian restaurant in Little India. All the food was amazing, but we had it especially for the plain naan bread. Fluffy, smoky and perfect to lap up that butter paneer sauce. An observation I made was that there was a surprising variety in what a main dish consists of. Until now, most Indian restaurants we have been still stuck to the western formula of rice – sauce – maybe bread. Whereas here, I got a tray with something between a naan and a pizza in the middle and 4 pots of sauces around it plus a cup with either a soup or a sauce. Without anyone around to mimic, it can be surprisingly hard to find out how you are supposed to eat your food 😉

Red lanterns mark the whole quarter

Red lanterns mark the whole quarter

With a short walk we crossed half a continent and went from Little India to Chinatown. There are a couple of roofed streets providing much needed shade in the searing afternoon heat. We used that for a stroll over the street markets here, amusing ourselves with knock off handbags and the politely pushy hawkers.

A three dollar cab ride later, we were right at the foot of today’s main attraction: The KL Tower, or Menara Kuala Lumpur. Since we did not get up the Petronas Towers we went all in here and got tickets for the highest (open air) platform for RM210. This one is higher anyway with its 421m on a 90m hill.

We  spotted a Hard Rock Cafe nearby from up top and thought it be a cool way to end the foray with a drink there. Unfortunately it was A: further than it looked from up top and B: we realized too late that we had run out of cash. At least we could pay our overpriced but nice drinks by credit card.

It took us almost an hour to find the nearest ATM in the next mall to be able to pay the taxi home – just in time for Nina’s family call to Germany.

The day was rounded off by another lovely home cooked dinner and wine, compliments of Sonja.

 

Day 159 – The Two Towers

ignore the hair, we are at work here ...

ignore the hair, we are at work here …

Our first “free” day; and we spent it catching up on blogging. Through the bike maintenance and the museum visit, we were now 6 days behind. This needed to be rectified. Writing my entry went okay, Flo needs more time for his. Lunch time came and went. Luckily, I had left-overs to share so no one needed to go hangry (also Sonja’s kitchen always has food).

While Flo was working on his workshop blog post, Sonja started fixing our hiking pants. Our North face hiking pants are a vital piece of equipment and while they are still good after 5 years of use (except for the hole I created when I fell in Dili), the seams were about to give up. I could have sewn it by hand in a couple of days and probably with finger pain but Sonja owns a sewing machine and offered to reinforce the seams. Continue reading →

Day 156 – The last plane?

5:30 am is very early. But even Klaus and Silvia made it to give us a very warm farewell. Another if….if things go well, we will meet them again in July…in Germany, shortly before hitting Frankfurt. The next thing, we got carried away into the pre-dawn gloom the same way we came, on the back of an old pickup truck.

Checking what to do next ...

Checking what to do next …

To wake up after checking in, we waddled over to the nearest coffee shop at the terminal, just to have our most expensive meal of the entire stay in Thailand. A danish, a croissant, a coffee and a tea for the price of 7 Pad Thai …

The flight was pleasantly uneventful, except for yet another small child within arm’s reach. This one was better behaved but unfortunately kept on absent-mindedly kicking Nina for half of the flight.

I am still pleasantly surprised how smooth everything works in Kuala Lumpur. After picking up a new SIM card, we were good to go on the fancy airport shuttle train. We arrived back at Sonja’s place just to be invited to join for lunch right away. The food at the Ministry of Coffee was great. The place reminded me a lot of good New Zealand Cafes.

The rest of the day was very low key. I finally got to do the Indonesian summary post and we made a long list of To do’s while having such a great hub to work from. Speaking of which, we also got invited to home cooked dinner that night.