Blogs from Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia, Asia
November 20th 2011
Was haben wir hier gefunden? Wie funktioniert das eigentlich? Und wo kommt das Alles überhaupt her? Wieso ist der Himmel so tief Blau? Und das Wasser so kristallklar? Was macht ein Paradies besonders, wenn man doch die unendliche Auswahl hat? Und gibt es eigentlich so etwas, wie ein „Paradies“? Ist es nicht einfach nur eine aneinander Reihung von Dingen, Tatsachen, Landschaften, die den Blick des Betrachters in besonderem Maße auf sich ziehen? Dann wäre ein Paradies ja überall zu finden und nichts außergewöhnlich Besonderes mehr. Oder ist es nur dort zu finden wo wir gelernt haben, wo uns anerzogen worden ist, wo wir also lediglich darauf konditioniert worden sind, das Paradies zu suchen und wenn wir schon einmal da sind, auch zu finden, vielleicht? Aber anders. Oder doch nicht. Oder lassen wir einfach das schnöde Nachdenken ... read more
September 8th 2011
So, there apparently was a first class lounge at Kuala Lumpur train station. After we dragged our sorry arses upstairs to find it, we happened upon a dark, hot, empty room which seemed not to have had any occupants in it since 2006. This ddn't bode well for the journey but at this point we were still too stupidly naive and full of excitement at the thought of leaving KL and spending the night on a first class sleeper. If we'd chanced to look past our reveries on having dinner in the fabulous dining car or a cheeky vodka cocktail whilst watching the jungle fly past gracefully, we might have just clicked that all was not as it should be. All I will say is that I can now see why people get murdered on trains... ... read more
August 30th 2011
We walked around aimlessly looking for a taxi that wouldn't rip us off when a city bus pulled up and asked if we were wanting to go to kota bharu. We said yes and jumped on. A taxi would of cost us 60 RM, where we paid 6 RM each. We found a guesthouse close to the bus station that would be our home for the next 2 nights. Its pretty basic, but clean and is only $7US a night. Because it is Ramadan (the largest muslim holiday) not many restaurants are open except American chains. We grabbed a bite at A&W then walked around the market. We spent the evening and early morning listening to a baby scream at the top of its lungs till 4 am. The next day not a single store ws ... read more
May 8th 2011
Taking the jungle train up through the shack villages was like stepping back through time. Houses consisted of tin sheds mostly squeezed between the railway line and either a cliff or the jungle. Most villages won't much bigger then a dozen of these sheds and im not sure where their income came from, although there were two bigger villages in the rail line there wasn't much else, suppose that's why they call it the jungle line. Arriving in Kota Bharu in the middle of a tropical storm wasn't the best especially when we were greeted by a taxi trout who was adamant on overcharging us (Anki, a russian guy I couldn't pronounce the name of and myself) for a taxi to the backpackers Anki had been recommended. Arriving at the backpackers it was by far the ... read more
Robbed during Ramadan - Emails from Malaysia. September 2010
Published: December 7th 2010Asia » Malaysia » Kelantan » Kota Bharu
November 29th 2010
Dirk Jan Enjoy the island life! Mel Yes, we enjoyed the island life. We stayed on Long Beach on Perhentian Kecil. A real backpackers playground, with huts beside the beach to sleep in, cafes, dive shops, snorkling shops and boat taxis to take us to anyplace we wanted, on either island. The sea around the islands was glassy clear dark and light green, and the water was as warm as a bubblebath with cold bits swirling through it. The fish come right up to the shore, so as soon as you go in the water you can see them. We went snorkling, because there was a sign at one of the snorkling shops saying snorkling is like sex. Well, there was that sign, but it is not the real reason we went snorkling. The real reason ... read more
October 16th 2010
Kota Bharu is a rarely visited city in the north of Malaysia. It’s a little non-descript; it is not a tourist city for a reason. There are a couple of mediocre museums and a river without a promenade and that’s about it. It does have a pretty cool cultural centre that is worth a visit if you are in town but not really worth staying in the city. Most people who stay here do so as an overnight stop as it’s a quick trip into Thailand, I stayed four days and I’m glad I did. On my final evening in the city after three quiet and non-eventful days I was in the communal area of my hostel when I heard a loud and prolonged drumming noise outside. The hostel owner called me over to the window ... read more
September 19th 2010
Coucou, voici la suite de nos aventures. Apres un petit episode maladif, nous revoila sur les routes. Nous avons fait une etape par la jungle malaisienne ou Kate a ete un peu malade. La bonne consequence de cet episode et que nous avons rencontre un medecin chinois 'doctor Chong' tres sympathique qui nous a emmene dans la ville ou il habitait (Jerantut), il etait tres content de nous faire decouvrir pleins de choses et nous a emmene dans plusieurs restaurants. Tout ca ete tres interressant, il nous a aussi emmene dans un temple boudhiste et nous a explique sa religion. Apres 2 jours passe a Jerantut, nous avons repris le train aujourdhui pour un trajet de 7h. Ce train sappelle le 'Jungle Train' et comme son nom lindique il travers la jungle, ce qui nous a ... read more
September 19th 2010
Coucou, voici la suite de nos aventures. Apres un petit episode maladif, nous revoila sur les routes. Nous avons fait une etape par la jungle malaisienne ou Kate a ete un peu malade. La bonne consequence de cet episode et que nous avons rencontre un medecin chinois 'doctor Chong' tres sympathique qui nous a emmene dans la ville ou il habitait (Jerantut), il etait tres content de nous faire decouvrir pleins de choses et nous a emmene dans plusieurs restaurants. Tout ca ete tres interressant, il nous a aussi emmene dans un temple boudhiste et nous a explique sa religion. Apres 2 jours passe a Jerantut, nous avons repris le train aujourdhui pour un trajet de 7h. Ce train sappelle le 'Jungle Train' et comme son nom lindique il travers la jungle, ce qui nous a ... read more
September 16th 2010
Currently in the city of Kota Bharu, nicely refreshed from our time on the islands...things really are different here though. One of the more devoutly religious areas of Malaysia we always knew it'd be different, but perhaps weren't quite prepared for the reality. On our first night we ventured to the night market for some local food, paid about £1 for some chicken and rice (a brilliant bit of guess-work as obviously nothing is in English so just had to order and hope for the best). We've visited the war museum (again, Hans was in his element) and generally had a little walk about. Keeping covered up has been hard as this is by far the hottest place we've been to so far, but not wanting to cause offence or disrespect I've been baking in a ... read more
August 29th 2010
Chris's Section Apologies for the delay since our last blog. We haven't had much internet. In fact, in some places we haven't even had electricity, but more on that later. This might be a long-ish one. The last time we blogged we were heading to Georgetown. We really liked this place, particularly our guesthouse which was really nice (Hutton Lodge). Georgetown is a colonial town on the island of Penang. The colonial bits aren't nearly as interesting as I thought they'd be, but I still generally liked this town. It has a real mix of cultures and some excellent food - you can have a roti (flat-bread type thing) with curry dipping sauce for about 20p from a road-side stall. Very very tasty. We met an English chap called Ben on the boat over. He's ... read more
