Blogs from Perak, Malaysia, Asia - page 5

At 6:50 a guitar sounds. 6:55, samba music blares. A telephone rings at 7:00, and I finally wake up to the multiple alarms set late last night. I knew I would have trouble waking up. I stayed up late writing my KL blog and packing. Leaving my old bag in the room, I check-out. I want to give it to charity or a fellow traveler, but the lack of time will leave it to its fate. Maybe I should have written my email on it, so I could see how far it travels. Hauling my bigger, cheaper bag on my back, tennis shoes tied to the front, I cradle my smaller bag to my chest and walk down the stairs. I opt for a teksi and make it to KL Sentral in 10 minutes with no ... read more

Welcome to part 2 of the blog. After KL we decided to head for the tropical island of (pulau) Pangkor, this involved a 3 hour bus journey to Ipoh, where we had to wait an hour at a ramshackle bus station, fending off interest from beggars, one of which took an unhealthy interest in reubens beard. After that it was a 2 hour bus journey to Lumut where you can catch a ferry to the island. We were a little worried about finding a place to stay as we hadn't booked anywhere and we were arriving too late to catch the last ferry back to the mainland. We need not have worried though as the 1st place we found 'Nipah bay villa' had plenty of nice rooms at reasonable rates. The one downside as we soon ... read more

In Ipoh habe ich mich mit einer weiteren Gruppe von Couchsurfern getroffen. Drunter waren vier chinesische Malaysier. Ich habe übrigens den Eindruck, dass unter den einheimischen Couchsurfern überdurchschnittlich viele Chinesen sind. Anscheinend sind diese oft die fortschrittlichsten Malaysier. Chinesen tragen beispielsweise häufig moderne, westliche Kleidung, während bei den Malaien die Männer häufig die islamische Kutte und/oder die dazugehörige Köpfbedeckung tragen. Malaiische Frauen tragen fast immer einen etwa hüftlangen Schleiber bzw. Kopftuch, das allerdings das Gesicht frei lässt und in verschiedenen Farben vorkommt. Indische Frauen tragen meist Sari und haben einen Punkt auf der Stirn. Letzteres teilweise auch die Männer. Chinesen tendieren bei der Sprache auch eher dazu Englisch zu verwenden und sprechen dieses auch besser als viele Malaien (das, nachdem die Chinesen in der VR ... read more

Update; 17 APRIL 8:57 Onze speciaal aangekochte camera voor de reis blijkt niet zo waterdicht te zijn als Panasonic doet vermoeden. Tijdens snorkelen bij Coral View hield hij ermee op, in eerste instantie dachten we dat de batterij leeg zou zijn. Toen ik deze wilde opladen stroomde er water uit de ruimte waar de batterij in zou moeten. Anka heeft geprobeerd om de camera te reanimeren en nieuw leven in te blazen maar helaas, na een nachtje drogen lukte het vanmorgen niet op hem te starten. Wij sturen de camera naar mijn ouders zodat zij deze kunnen doorsturen naar de dealer, na een inspectie hopen wij dat Panasonic het geld vergoed. Maandag gaan we waarschijnlijk terug naar het vaste land en schaffen een nieuwe camera aan, we willen perse een camera die onder water kan fotograferen. ... read more

We started off Day 3 of our trip by packing up the car and heading to Lumut, a seaside town that acts as the port to Pangkor Island. It felt like a very long trip, but it was interesting to see some of the smaller towns we drove through on the way there. It was quite a culture shock to see some of the places people live. I probably spent most of the drive looking at the different types of houses, and wondering about how some of the houses were big and nice looking but were surrounded by lots of smaller shacks, some almost falling apart. We checked into the hotel we were staying at and it didn't take long before Danny and Peter were down in the pool enjoying the cool of the water. I'm ... read more