Top Malaysia!

With more than a week delay, I am posting this blog (wifi wasn't working properly, I think...). We are now in Bali, but will write about that next time!

Luckily our experience in Kuala Lumpur got better and we had a lovely second day in KL. After dark we went on a boat ride and saw an amazing 'show' of fireflies who were all around us in the trees lining the river. It was beautiful (but the pictures are not so great...) and definitely a highlight of our stay in KL.

 The girls also loved feeding the silver leaf monkeys on our way to the fireflies.

This beautiful temple was also part of the tour.

By bus we took the winding road to the Cameron Highlands, where the temperatures are a lot lower, although a sweater is still not necessary.

Unfortunately the long walks we wanted to do here failed as the tracks were either not safe or difficult to find. We did walk to a waterfall but seeing all that rubbish in the water and knowing how beautiful it could be if people would just put their rubbish in a trash can was a bit disheartening.

As the public transport (besides private taxis) in CH isn't great (well non-existent) we took a tour to visit the sights. With a ramshackle 4WD we went up the hills to visit mountain Gunung Brinchang and Mossey Forest where we did a short jungle trek. We would love to do more, but the cooler weather was still 24 degrees and the girls really thought this was enough.....

As CH is tea plantation and factory country we couldn't skip a visit to one of these. It was interesting to see where the lovely teas come from! 

A swim near a waterfall was the perfect end of the day.

We were wowed by the island Penang and its main city and Unesco World Heritage Site George Town. What an amazing and beautiful city. Although they do lack pedestrian crossings (why? Do they just expect you to cross anywhere and hope for the best? They do have sidewalks!), it was a pleasure to wander around town. So many tasty restaurants, nice little shops, amazing street art and old, historic buildings. 

We spent hours in the old mansions that are open to the public and even more time in the Kek Lok Si Temple (the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, and that is not a lie!). With a cable car you can visit the highest level, which is a the foot (literally) of a 36.5m-high bronze statue of the goddess of mercy.

As our first two weeks in Malaysia coincided with school holidays we were happy that they were over, but apparently after the school holidays is the time for maintenance, as the Penang Hills were closed when we wanted to pay them a visit.

That gave us time to see the Clan Jetties, which used to be one of the worlds most thriving ports. It became the place for the ever-growing Chinese community to live and is nowadays a low-income area with people living in floating and stilt houses.

Penang is a wonderful island and luckily we had the opportunity to visit its national park and had a walk in its jungle forest. It involved some climbing, but we all loved it!

After a short flight we arrived on the island of Langkawi two days ago. This tropical place is our last stop in Malaysia before we head to Bali for the final stretch of our trip.

Langkawi has white sand beaches, turquoise water and lots of tourists! 

Yesterday (well, now it is a little bit longer ago...) we rented a car and drove around the island. Of course we took the cable cab to see Panorama Langkawi from the stunning mountaintop of Gunung Machinchang. Amazing views, also from the SkyBridge, a simple-pilon suspension bridge.

Now the girls are asleep after a day of island hopping. A speedboat took us to two other islands today where we could kayak, swim and just hang around. No pictures unfortunately, so you just have to take my word for it that the scenery was stunning!

Asian delight!

Singapore surprised us with more old heritage buildings than we expected.
We have had three wonderful days there, filled with meals at so called hawker centres (food courts with lots of stalls where you can eat everything from veggie 'n rice to pork belly soup), walks through Chinatown, a visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum and the very large and interesting Science Centre.



At night we went to see two light shows in town. One was at the Supertrees at the Gardens by the Bay. Man-made trees extremely high, that explode in a magnificent light and sound show at night. To get to this show we had to cross a luxurious mall where you could even go on a Venice-like boat trip in an artificial canal inside the mall. On top of the mall/apartment building of 50+stories was an outdoor garden in the shape of a (space?)ship.....
Afterwards we had to hurry to the other side of the building to see the spectacular light show in the harbour of Singapore.



The most fun thing we did was a cool down in Snow City! Again, an artificial indoor snowpark, with ice and snow sculptures, where we went tubing down the slopes! As the temperature was 33 degrees outside and about minus 8 inside we had to adjust a bit (it was weird wearing gloves, waterproof pants and snow boots in Singapore).
I think the highlight of the trip for the kids was the Night Safari. In a separate part of the wonderful Singapore Zoo, you can see the animals after dark while walking around or on a tram ride (when there are no barriers, so it is important to keep hands and feet inside).
Singapore is crowded, more than 5 million people on an island of 20x50 km. So many people, but well organised.
We stayed in a lovely hostel, but with 5 people in two bunkbeds on a total of 8 m2, it felt a bit cramped at times.

From Singapore we took a bus across the border to Malaysia. Although not as exceptionally clean as Singapore (where you are not allowed to eat in the public transport, so no dustbins there....but what to do with small pieces of paper or the wrapper of a plaster, that our girls need a lot as they keep scratching the mosquito bites they got in Australia until it bleeds....), but a beautiful country indeed.
Lots of old heritage buildings here in Melaka, Portugese, Dutch and British.






A melting pot of Malay, Chinese and other cultures which as many different cuisines to enjoy.
We walked the cultural sites, ate at a range of different restaurants (yes, also the smelly (and often forbidden on planes, buses and other public transport) but tasteful durian fruit. As true travellers/tourists we had to take a trip on a trishaw. A colourfully decorated bicycle with an extra seat next to it. The girls chose Frozen and Hello Kitty as the themes.....





A Melaka River Cruise was the end of a long and exhausting day.

Of course we didn't miss the famous Jonker Night Market in Chinatown. The girls loved the baked potatoes on a stick!






Now we are in Kuala Lumpur and as happy we were yesterday with the smooth bus-ride here, so disappointed are we today about how the temple we couldn't find (and nobody seem to know where it was or could point us in the right direction) and the fact that they seem to make it very difficult to escape from the malls and find a walkway to the park. We did find it after all, but instead of a nice walkway, we had to walk along highways without proper signs where to go....
So far, KL hasn't stolen our hearts yet, but maybe tomorrow that will change.