We would like to inform you that we have safely returned home to one of the most beautifull cities in the world a.k.a Groningen. But we still have one story to tell and that is that of our trip to Singapore and Malaysia!
After we'd left The Amazing Country of Oz we arrived in the oven also known as Singapore. We were slapped in the face by the heat there and it took us some days to get used to it. In Singapore we had a nice hostel in an area called Little India. We explored a bit of this area, immediatly enjoying all the amazing food and fresh fruit juices. One of Willemien's friends (Die Schöne Karin) had to renew her visa for Indonesia where she was doing research and therefore had to come to Singapore! It was very nice to see her again. Together we visited Santosa Island by taking the cable car. This gave us some impressive views over Singapore harbour, which is one of the largest harbours in the world. Santosa island itself is just one big theme park. We also visited Marina Bay and the Gardens by the Bay. The Marina Bay Sands hotel is an icon in Singapore and has a nice small pool on top! Too bad we looked to shabby to be allowed to take the escalator to the second floor... Apparently, sandals and pants with zip off legs are a NO-GO. We disagree! A very delicious waffle eased this deception a bit. The next morning we (Roger and Mien) had to catch an early bus to Malaysia for the ferry to Tioman Island.
Our bus trip towards Tioman Island showed us endless stretches of palm oil plantations. We knew there were palm oil plantations in Malaysia, but we somehow didn't expect them to be this prominent. Luckily, Malaysia is also know for its good diving and snorkling, so that is we did the next week. We liked the diving so much that after getting our PADI Open Water we decided to continue with the Advanced Diving course. Unfortunately Willemien's ears and blocked nose made it impossible to finish the Deep and Wreck dives. But we can still call ourselves Adventures Divers, since we did do three Adventure Dives of which one was a very exciting night dive! Snorkling is another way to observe the rich underwater life of Malaysia. We could walk straight of the beach into the coral reef! Here we spotted our first ever turtle! What an amazingly relaxed and weirdly graceful creature :) In addition we spotted a seal faced pufferfish, a giant pufferfish, squids, and many more colourfull fish.
After our dive and snorkel adventures we headed inland towards the jungle of Taman Negara. We decided to do a 2 day guided jungle trekking in which we spent the night in a cave full of bats and huge toads. We also met quite a few hungry leeches and followed the path of elephants (evident by the fresh mountains of poo and torn down trees) and sun bears. In this jungle there are still some Malaysian tigers, which we sadly (or gladly?) did not see. To be able to get to the track we had to take a water taxi deep into the jungle. On the way we passed a few villages of the aboriginals of Malaysia, called the Orang Asli. On the second day when we returned from the bush, partly devoured by the leeches, we got the chance to meet a few of the Orang Asli when we visited their village. They showed us how to make fire without a lighter or any other modern technology. And how to kill a teddy beer using a blow pipe. An instrument which they still use to kill monkey's or birds with poisonous darts.
Together with some people of our jungle tour group we decided to travel on to the Perhentian Islands. These are located on the west side of Malaysia, near the Thai border. One of the Islands, Kecil (which means small) was the-place-to-be for backpackers, with fire shows and a lively beach night life. Here we got the chance to meet-up with our Swiss friend Sam who we had met on our train journey through Russia and Mongolia. It seemed that we had to take a rest from our 8 months of travelling here, so we mostly spend our time relaxing on the beach, eating, drinking, sleeping and enjoying the company of Sam and our new friend, fellow Groninger Ali. We also did a snorkel trip in which we saw a very big hawksbill turtle, black tip reef sharkes and a lot of colorful coral and fish. We wanted to see if we could finish our advance diving course here, but unfortunately Mien got a weird allergic reaction to insect bites, which made it impossible to continue diving. It was just not meant to be. Before we headed back to the main land we had to see the first match of the Netherlands vs Spain. Due to the time difference we had to got up at 2:30AM but it was soooo worth it! What a match! :D Revenge is sweet.
Our next destination were the Cameron Highlands, where the temperature is much more pleasant (around 20-25 degrees) because of the height. The highlands are well known for the tea and strawberry plantations. But also because of the Raflesia flower, which is the worlds largest flower that grows here in the jungle. The bud of the flower takes around 5 years to grow and then only blooms for 7 days. And since we think of ourselves to be true Biologists we went to see this biological phenomena! It really was a very huge flower! And the one we visited was a medium sized specimen. We also stumbled across Mat and Rachel, friends of ours who we had met earlier in New Zealand. This resulted in some very nice Indian and Chineese dinners and a lot of talking and sharing travel experiences. The last day of our stay we walked up to Mt. Binchang, which was a very nice walk until we reached the top. There was no view due to low clouds, and when we reached the tourist attraction of 'The Mossy Forest' we were just struck again by all the junk that people leave behind here. We have discovered that next to palm oil, waste (especially plastic) is also a problem here in Malaysia :(.
The last stop of our 9 months trip was Kuala Lumpur. Here we again met with our good friend Sam. Together with him we spend our last days strolling around KL. We visited the famous Petronas towers in the evening which resulted in some very nice pictures. Another must-see were the Batu Caves. A set of limestone caverns in which a few hindoe tempels are housed, but where you can also visit the Dark Caves set aside for research and conservations purposes. These caves contain some very rare animals which can only be found here, like the 'trap door' spider. In KL we also made a trip to the bird park and the national mosque.
And then suddenly the moment was there...we had to catch our flight home! There was just one last thing to do: eat durian, the smelliest fruit in the world. It so smelly that it's not allowed in the metro, bus or any other form of public transport or building. Let's just say it wasn't the tastiest fruit we have eaten during our trip.
The past 9 months feel both long and short at the same time. It's hard to describe in words how much we have enjoyed this journey and the company of the people we have met along the way. And in the end even the hard parts are transformed into good experiences. But we won't miss the taste of durian. Thanks to everyone who has made our worldtrip even more awesome!
Many kisses from the curly couple! To the stars and beyond, we´ll be back and more of those oneliners!
