Geo: 7.7455, 98.7754Today I went on a snorkeling trip over to the neighboring island of Ko Phi Phi Ley. In a so called long tail boat, the most common ship type around here. Among the different places we went were also Maya Bay and Phi Phi Ley Cove where parts of the movie "The Beach" were filmed. The snorkeling was alright but not great. Came back, ate some delicious coconut donuts (more like coconut pancakes), got a massage and met Lindsey and Adam for dinner, who went diving today. Ging heute auf einen Schnorcheltrip zur Nachbarinsel Ko Phi Phi Ley. In einem der hier weitverbreiteten Longtail Boote. Unter anderem stoppten wir auch in Maya Bay und Phi Phi Ley Cove, wo Szenen aus dem Film "The Beach" gedreht wurden. Schnorcheln war heute leider mittelmaessig. Als ich ... read more

Geo: 8.05, 98.91Got picked up in the morning by one of the common mini buses to take me over the border to Thailand. After arriving in Hat Yai I had to change buses to get further up north to Krabi. At first I was picked up by a tiny converted passenger-carrying pick up truck with 4 other travelers (Lindsey & Adam and 2 others) plus backpacks already inside. None of us knew if we would spend the next 5 hours holding on to some flimsy rails cramped on some tiny benches :) (The driver spoke no English) But after a 15min drive we were told to unload. Another mini bus would do the rest of the trip. Although it was a better transportation option the mini bus was hopelessly overloaded with virtually no space left, with ... read more

Geo: 5.36365, 100.311Took the train to Butterworth this morning. Along endless jungle and mountain ranges. And saw a lot of monumental infrastructure projects like new freeways, factories, bridges and railway tracks being built. As well as virtually every train station along the way is getting a 21st century makeover. I wouldn't be surprised if Malaysia soon becomes a member of the 'Asian Tigers'.From Butterworth I took the ferry over to Georgetown on Pulau Penang Island. Checked into a guesthouse, got some food at the hawker centre down by the harbor and strolled through Little India, which happened to have some kind of celebration with mini parade tonight.Nahm den Zug nach Butterworth am Morgen. Entlang endlosen Dschungels und Bergketten. Und sah eine Menge von Infrastruktur-Projekten wie neue Autobahnen, neue Bruecken, neue Fabriken und neue Bahntrassen. Ausserdem wir ... read more

Geo: 3.12433, 101.684Left Phnom Penh early in the morning and flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Checked into a tiny room (36sqft), bought my train ticket to Penang, did my laundry and updated my travel blog. Verliess Phnom Penh frueh am Morgen und flog nach Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Checkte ein in meinen kleines Gasthauszimmer (4sqm), kaufte meine Fahrkarte nach Penang, ging Waesche waschen und schrieb in meinen TravelBlog.... read more

Geo: 11.5588, 104.917Went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum today. The former high school was turned into the notorious Security Prison S-21, a site of unimaginable cruel tortures during the 4-year reign of the Communist Red Khmer between 1975 and 1979. Even though that happened more than 30 years ago it is heartbreaking to walk through these rooms knowing what happened to innocent people there. It's a chilling reminder of how important it is to stay vigilant towards Communism and fight this inhuman ideology wherever it resurfaces. And when i talked to Cambodians about this issue it shows that even today the country is still trying to cope with the aftermath of these traumatic years. And as in Europe the guilty leaders never had to face justice...On a lighter note the space shuttle "Endeavour" made its ... read more