Malaysia’s capital is an important transport hub in Southeast Asia and we had used it several times, mostly to or from Indonesia. Up to now, we have been in Kuala Lumpur four times, twice only at the airport and twice we stayed in the city. This is mainly due to Asia’s first low-cost airline, Air Asia, which is based in Kuala Lumpur. The airport is very modern, filled with light and convenient, it has only one serious drawback: it is 72 km from the city centre. There is a fast express train to the centre but this is very expensive (RM 65 = EUR 13), for travellers who are not in a big rush, there are slower but much cheaper alternatives. The cheapest way is to take a local bus which stops every few metres, that ... read more

They say, everybody needs a second chance and so we thought that the island of the gods also deserved one. We were hopeful but it did not start well; as a matter of fact the trouble started as soon as we set foot on Bali. And this is not a question of different cultural backgrounds, as a reader suggested, we had come perfectly along on Sumatra and Java. It seems that for the Indonesian government the country consists mainly of Java and Bali, some attention has gone to Sumatra due to its northernmost province of Aceh, but it seems that east of Bali Indonesia ceases to exist, maybe they still bear a grudge against the East Timorese? We think that tourism should not be concentrated on the two islands, the whole country has much to offer ... read more

Sometime before the 5th century AD, the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism spread southward from the mainland of Southeast Asia to the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and a few others in the archipelago currently called Indonesia. There are no archaeological remains of temples in the Indianized states of Java prior to the end of the seventh century as the early Hindu structures were built of wood and have long since decayed in the moist tropic climate. The greatest concentration of Javanese sacred architecture lies on the plain around the present city of Yogyakarta, here stands the beautiful Hindu temple complex of Prambanam and the world famous Hindu/Buddhist temple of Borobudur. Borobudur, a name deriving from an expression meaning 'Mountain of accumulation of merits of the ten states of Bodhisattva' is commonly thought of as a ... read more

The train ride from Bandung to Yogyakarta was long and uneventful, it was actually quite boring. What a difference to Indian trains! The train station area was blocked by heavy metal bars, so that people don’t linger around the tracks without a ticket or run across them, it was very effective, maybe people have to be forced into discipline a bit. The train left on time, was very clean for Asia, and everything was well organised, you could rent cushions and vendors were only allowed in at certain moments, in order not to allow too much competition to the official food and drinks sellers. Furthermore, this train was relatively empty, well we drove ‘bisniss’ class because 3rd class which local people mostly use, was not available. We arrived well in Yogyakarta, and also the pick-up service ... read more

Our sightseeing trip from Bukit Lawang to Lake Toba was undertaken in a minibus, which by itself was not really uncomfortable but we felt the bad road conditions (potholes etc.) much more strongly. The first part of the trip led us back to Medan, crossing wide plantations of oil palms whose fruits were just being picked and transported to oil mills, and huge plantations of gum trees. The crossing of Medan did not consume too much time, there were relatively few congestions. Our next stop on the way to Lake Toba was Brastagi, a hill resort town established by the Dutch in the early 20th century as a retreat from the heat and humidity of the lowlands. Although the town does not have many specific points of interest, its position, surrounded by active volcanoes, is memorable ... read more