Tag: malaysia

Our very best of 2017

2017 has been another incredible year on the road. In 2015 when we left the Netherlands to see the world we didn’t think we would still be traveling more than 2 years later. Yet 2017 brought some of the most incredible sights in our journey. We want to share them with you in this pretty compact list. Hopefully it will bring you inspiration for travels in the years ahead.

  1. Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

We travel to discover something foreign, a culture, a sight, a cuisine which we don’t have at home. Gardens by the Bay is something truly unique, that you won’t find anywhere else in the world. For me it felt like a vision of a future city, green, modern and a perfect symbiosis of nature and people. I could go back there a thousand times, over and over again and to all of you I recommend it as my unbeatable number 1. Don’t miss the light show by the main Super Trees site. More about the Gardens here.

  1. The Kaluts desert, Iran

That’s Jandirk’s  number 1 and the first place we saw in 2017. The silence, the rock formations and the feeling of landing on the Moon made it one of our very favorite sites. Not to mention the beauty of solitude out there. More about the journey here.

  1. Fuji mountain, Japan

Japan as a country has stolen our hearts. Jandirk has been fascinated by their manga, food and culture for a long time but for me it’s a very new love. Japan as a whole is an incredible journey full of surprises on every corner. But if we had to choose a specific place we would say Fuji Mountain. It can be seen from so many different places and it’s so perfectly symmetrical and majestic. We were lucky enough to see a lot of it from many different angles and we somehow can not imagine a trip to Japan without it.

  1. Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE

In 2017 we saw many incredible mosques in Oman and Iran but there was one winner and surprisingly it was in Abu Dhabi. It was completed in 2007 so I didn’t expect more than tons of gold and kitsch. I was wrong, the mosque is breathtaking! Every bit is magnificent, stylish, very thoughtfully made. In the evening it looks like a fairytale palace from Aladdin or 1001 Nights. It’s lit according to the phases of the moon so the color and intensity of the light changes every day. That should give you an idea about the amount of work and thought that went into this masterpiece.

  1. Pingxi mountains, Taiwan

I love mountainous views. Especially at sunrise there is something magical with the morning mist and clouds disappearing in between rays of light. I have to admit that I am not the type of person who likes hiking just for the joy of it. I have to have something spectacular at the top of the peak. Well Pingxi mountains gave us just that, super short, strenuous hike and absolutely magnificent views worth every bit of sweat and fear. About how to get there and exactly what to see go here.

  1. View on Sigiriya Rock, Sri Lanka

I’m not going to lie to you. We were not enchanted by Sri Lanka. We were stunned by the amount of garbage, scary transportation and not overly kind people. But one view stayed with us and it was the one on the Sigiriya Rock. It looked so blissful, so green, so Avatar-like, something we won’t ever forget. Tempted by this sight we actually visited the fortress on the top of that rock. We recommend you guys not to make that same mistake. It’s not worth the overpriced entrance and the slow, tiring walk up in a column of tourists.

  1. Japan in bloom

People tend to think that bloom in Japan means only cherry blossom and cherry blossom is only seen in Kyoto and Tokyo. The truth is cherry blossom is everywhere but just varies in period very much. This spectacle of nature, although very brief, brings Japan to life, pushes locals to celebrate and cherish what's fugacious in life. There are picnics and festivals everywhere and the trees look just breathtaking. After few days when the petals start falling it almost looks like snow. More about where to see cherry blossom here.

Except for cherry blossom we were lucky enough to see plum blossom which is almost as beautiful. It comes before the cherries and it’s more peaceful, less touristic.

  1. Kyoto, Japan

Every bit, every kilometer of it. It’s the city that charmed me the most this year. Kyoto is just pure essence of Japan for me. There is so much history there, so much soul but also plenty of modern, pleasantly weird Japan. I seriously can’t wait to go back there. For more info about our favorite places in Kyoto go to the post.

  1. Montserrat, Spain

No mountains are like those surrounding Montserrat Monastery. They look like sleeping giants overgrown with plants. I still can’t believe that all these times I came to visit Barcelona I didn’t think about coming here. Short trip away to huge joy.

  1. Tea plantations, Malaysia

We are massive tea drinkers and disappointed by tea plantations on Sri Lanka we decided to give it another tea try in Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Although the villages in the tea region were hideous, the plantations made up for it pretty fast. Hills of green, filled with bushes of tea. Unforgettable experience.

  1. Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

Already the name says it all. It’s a spectacular location that has a lot to offer when it comes to nature, culture and even modern architecture. Perfect escape from somehow chaotic cities of Taiwan. Every Dutch person will be delighted to hear that the best way to explore the area is by bike. More here.

How much does it cost to travel in Malaysia? Our budget and tips

Malaysia is quite a cheap country. For our 69 euros a day for the two of us (34,5 euro p.p) we spent a beautiful 15 days in Malaysia treating ourselves with very nice accommodations and even quite some visits to local cafes. We could have stayed in Malaysia on a significantly lower budget but for those few extra euros we got quite a lot more.

 

Where did we travel?

We didn’t travel very extensively. Malaysia was really like a long stopover for us and we mainly focused on recharging in there. We stayed in Georgetown, Kuala Lumpur and Cameron Highlands.

How did we travel?

We mostly used public transport so buses and in KL the metro. A bus from Georgetown to Cameron Highlands cost us 80 MYR for both of us (around 17 euro).

Sometimes we spent few riggits on uber. Usually it was never more than 9 MYR (2 euro) but in Cameron Highlands where there was no other way to travel around than taxi or a tour we had to pay even 25 ringgit (around 5 euro) for quite a short ride. Generally there the taxi drivers charge per hour and in high season when you don’t want to rent them for several hours or a whole day, they won’t take you at all. Fortunately we were there in a bit of a dead season so the driver gave us the honor.

In total we spent 46 euros on transportation.

Where did we stay?

In all of the three locations we stayed in very nice places. First in Georgetown we stayed in a very nice, huge room in one of those stunning, Peranakan houses. We rented it for 36 euros per night on Airbnb and although we knew we could get a more or less decent room for half of it… we never regretted it.

In Kuala Lumpur we stayed in an Airbnb studio with access to a spectacular view on the city with an infinity pool. More about that here.

Only in Cameron Highlands we couldn’t find anything interesting on Airbnb so we decided to stay in a little, charming guesthouse. There we paid 158 MYR per night (31 euro). More about this one and tea region in general here.

Overal we spent 489 euros on accommodation.

What did we eat?

Only in Kuala Lumpur we had our own kitchen so we cooked a bit there. In other places we were forced to eat out. At first we thought it would be rewarding but very soon we realized that the Malaysian cuisine we knew from Holland had nothing to do with the one in the country. It was fatty, bloody and we were far from being impressed. So to be honest few times we chose for a meal from a supermarket rather than for a restaurant.

In total we spent 162 euros on eating out and that includes 110 MYR (around 23 euros) we paid for high tea for the two of us in Cameron Highlands and various lunches in quite nice cafes. In a normal, local restaurant we would pay around 20-30 ringgit (4-6 euros) for a meal for both of us. That without even choosing the cheapest of the cheapest.

In 206 euros under “food” we included our supermarket groceries, ice creams we bought in convenient stores and many, many, fresh, cold coconuts bravely opened by teenage boys all over Malaysia.

How expensive are museums, tours etc?

In 39 euros under “tourism” we only included our whole day tour with a jeep in Cameron Highlands. For the rest, what we saw was free.

Where did the rest of our money go?

Postcards, laundry, small souvenirs and my dream rattan bag turned out to be 88 euros.  

Money- saving tips and tricks

Malaysia is a pretty cheap country. Transportation, food and even handcrafts are very affordable but…

    1. Bargain! It’s one of those countries where people get those few extra euros off you if you don’t know how much something should cost. Ask for a price up front, bargain or just search for places where the prices are already written.
    2. Choose your accommodation wisely. Decide if you want to go for the cheapest of the cheapest or a bit more luxurious. If the first one it’s best to walk around once you get here and ask around for the best deal. We met people who were literally staying for 2 euros per night, per bed in hostels that were not even mentioned online. If you want to go somewhere clean and really nice, we would recommend Airbnb. It’s definitely cheaper than hotels and often the service and conditions you get are way better.
    3. Eat locally! Food at local food courts and restaurants is really affordable, not to mention the coffee. You get a bag (yep a plastic bag) that would wake up a cow for 50 euro cents. It's surprisingly good, just make sure you take a very basic one without any sugar, butter or the typical Malaysian one that tastes like it was poured from nescafe powder.
    4. Try to volunteer! Always a great idea to save money on food and accommodation and get to know local culture and customs.
    5. Enjoy the free attractions. Street art, nature, animals. You can see all that for free.

     Exchange rate used: 1 Euro = 4.98 MYR

What to do in the Cameron Highlands? Our guide

The Cameron Highlands are famous for their tea plantations. Coming on the bus we saw nothing of that. To our surprise the closer we got to the area, the more strawberry farms appeared. All adjusted to Asian tourism, with massive strawberry statues and fruit menus. We saw buses unloading in front of so many of them. It was our first disappointment before we even arrived.

Where to stay?

Both of the villages (Brinchang and Tana Rata) are really not that special. Those are not coffee towns of Colombia with charming architecture and certain peace. Here there is a construction site everywhere, all concrete, all future hotels and hostels.

As a traveler you always want to be close to what there is to see, in that case to tea plantations and to be honest none of the villages will place you close to everything. The plantations and anything else that there is to see in Cameron Highlands is pretty widespread so in final end, it doesn´t matter where you stay, you will have to take a tour or a taxi anyway.

We were relieved when it turned out that our little hotel was really friendly and beautiful and Brinchang turned out to be a bit calmer than Tana Rata.

Hotel Flora Plus was situated almost at the outskirts of the village which we didn't mind, since there was little noise and food was still close by. The hotel itself had a really charming lobby filled with plants and comfortable places to sit. We also loved their quiet, spacious sitting area in the back that was just perfect for a chill out or eating your take out meal.

What to see?

Unfortunately exploring the Cameron Highlands we saw way more strawberry farms than tea plantations. It seems that those attract more Asian tourists than tea and at the end of the day, it’s all about business.

We decided to give it a chance and visit Big Strawberry Farm since it was at walking distance from our place. I wouldn’t call it a must-see. I wasn’t impressed by pots and pots of strawberries or their strawberry menu or certainly not by cheesy statues. All the other farms looked pretty much the same… So at least if you see one, you saw them all. The visit doesn’t take more than 30 minutes unless someone is very fond of screaming Chinese tourists than a visit in the café is recommended. On the bright side, entrance to the farm is free.

Tea plantations

Sungai Palas Boh Tea Estate is the most popular choice. The plantation is huge and spread all over the surrounding hills. In the middle of it all there is a building where one can explore the history of the estate and find out a bit more about tea in general. The busiest spot is definitely the terrace and the café where one can try local tea and pastries. The crowds are insane! It takes a fight to find a place and then a lot of patience to stand in the queue. And for what???? Because the tea there is not as good as assam black tea on Taiwan or even earl grey produced on Sri Lanka. To be fair the views from the terrace are spectacular.

I’m a tea lover so one plantation would not be enough. We decided to visit the Cameron Bharat Tea Plantation and this one has stolen our hearts. The tea house was maybe not as pretty as the one from the Boh Estate but the views were just as good, employees were very friendly and their chai tea was really good.

But the best part was that we had the whole estate for ourselves for hours. We could walk around between tea bushes undisturbed. For us that was the winner! 🙂

High tea

There are many places offering a high tea experience in the Cameron Highlands. But some seem not to offer really a “high” type of experience. What’s the point of going for high tea to a shabby café?

We decided to splurge in the Cameron Highlands Resort and it was as luxurious as the name could indicate. The whole hotel was stunning and brought us immediately back to the colonial past.

The tea room was exactly how I imagined a colonial manor. Rattan furniture, massive windows and lots of wood. Surrounded by lovely music we were ready to dig into our delicious scones with strawberry jam. Except for those we got some decadent pastries and lovely, tiny sandwiches. The tea was the same one we had at the Boh tea estate, not impressive but when the food is that good and the atmosphere is so lovely you can overlook that 🙂

p.s. high tea is served between 3-6 pm and costs 55 MYR (so around 11 euro) per person.

Surrounding nature

In our dreams we saw ourselves strolling through tea plantations, sitting on terraces with views on even more tea with a cup in one hand and a book in the other. In reality the tea estates were not as easily accessible as we thought and definitely not as omnipresent as we thought.

We decided to search beyond that and found out that the Cameron Highlands have much more to offer than just plantations. The only problem was that we had to take a tour simply because there are no buses or any other public transportation available. We also didn’t want to rent a taxi.

We decided to take a tour from Hill Top Tours (whole day for 98 MYR around 20 euros). We were both really happy we did that. First of all we saw rafflesias, the largest flowers on earth. I’m sure we wouldn’t be able to find them on our own in the forest even though they can grow up to 1m in diameter. We were actually very lucky, nowadays rafflesias are scarce and the flowers blooms only for few days.

Our guide didn’t know much about nature and actually many things he said were probably a creation of his imagination but I could forgive him that because he took us to a really beautiful mossy forest. We were the only people there and with a bit of mist, the forest looked like a set for Lord of the Rings.

In there I spotted many carnivore plants. Thankfully they stick to small meat like insects. They looked very innocent, hanging in between the branches of the trees.

Except for the “hidden” mossy forest we visited another one that already has the tourism infrastructure. There was a deck there leading through a less impressive, trampled down forest. It was a sad example of “before” and “after” mass tourism…

Except for those the excursion took us for a demonstration of blow pipe hunting. It was a typical touristic circle that we never really enjoy and probably never will. We also passed the Boh Tea plantation.

TIP! Since transportation in the Cameron Highlands is not that easy if you show up without your own car, we really would recommend taking an excursion. Taxi is not such a great option, simply because they tend to be more expensive and you have to pay per hour rather than for a certain route. Also when it's busy taxi drivers are very picky and prefer clients that book them for a whole day rather than an hour or two.

How to get a million dollar view for very little? Our Airbnb in Kuala Lumpur

I’ve always dreamt of sunrises by the pool with views on some vibrant city below. Something that would literally wake me up in the middle of the night with all the energy necessary to get out of bed when the sun is nowhere to be seen yet.

I never thought that this item of my bucket list could be scratched off so fast. Researching options to sleep in Kuala Lumpur I realized how many there were with an infinity pool on the top floor. From the majority you could see the Petronas Towers and the whole capital.

Surprisingly the prices were very affordable and after a short discussion with Jandirk, we decided to splurge for little above 40 dollars (including Airbnb fee and cleaning).

There was no doubt we had to choose an Airbnb simply because hotels with an infinity pool had too many zeros in their prices and so they were above our budget 🙂

The reality behind the fairytale

We rented a small apartment in Regalia Residence with access to jaw-dropping views. We were surprised to discover that our location wasn’t that bad after all. We were not really far from the center and just next door there was a commercial center with a very good supermarket.

The apartment was definitely bigger and better than what we hoped for. We even had a fully equipped kitchen and Netflix.

The building itself was either not finished yet or already run down. The money that was loaded in it was melting the higher we went. When we left our apartment to go to the top floor where the observation deck was, we saw bare concrete, unfinished elevators and balconies that would never be finished.

That said, as long as we didn’t look behind the view in front of us was stunning. Huge swimming pool, marvelous lights of one of the most vivid cities in Asia. Every day we were the first ones out there to enjoy the waking up city views. We stayed peacefully alone for a while before other tourists even woke up.

When the infinity pool was getting hectic and scorching hot we would relocate ourselves to a very peaceful pool in the middle of the building. Thankfully it wasn’t attractive enough to attract crowds… who would want a view of concrete flats, right? We found a certain charm in it and spend lots of time enjoying it and chasing each other around. We loved every bit of this crazy experience of luxury Malaysian style:)

Our favorite street art in George Town

George Town is THE destination for all the street art lovers. The scene is huge, on every corner there is something new and surprising. Old, stunning but neglected houses are a great canvas for artists from all over the world. Many pieces are a bit like mandalas… take hours, days even to be painted and then they disappear in a few months.

There is a certain charm about George Town that made us really love the place. We spent a lot of days walking around the streets there and we could have easily spent weeks.

Here is what we found:

  1. A man with a bowl of cendol

Unfortunately like most of the pieces on the list, we don’t know the author of this one. But it’s my favorite one by far. There is something about the colors, something in the way that that man eats his precious bowl of cendol (popular traditional dessert). Something that made me hungry every time I passed by. Luckily there was always a man selling cendol nearby. Location on our map below.

  1. The black swans

Absolutely stunning piece at the Hin Bus Depot. Beautiful colors and patterns makes it the best piece at the Hin Bus Depot. It’s not the only one though, the spot has quite few epic murals. Not to mention they also have an amazing café, art gallery and weekend market. Heaven to stop by.

  1. More art at Hin Bus Depot

A tiger, a circus boy even a girl exercising. All of these murals are really close to each other.

  1. An old motorbike

This is one of the most famous ones. It was painted by Ernest Zacharevic, the most known of the artists in George Town. He’s based there although he comes from Lithuania and paints all over the world. His art is often very interactive and includes something real in the painting like a chair or a bike or, in that case, a motorcycle.

  1. A kid with a monster

The kid on the motorcycle is running away from a monster that is held by another little boy. JD did his best to help him.

  1. Kids on a swing

Another one of those interactive pieces this time by Louis Gan. Here there are two kids on a swing and another swing just next to them reserved for the daring tourists to join the fun.

  1. The delivery siblings

I assumed that those are brother and sister trying to deliver food from the nearby Chinese restaurant.

  1. Kids on a bike

Ernest Zacharevic painted those kids riding a real bike. There is an extra spot in the back for a wheel-lover like JD.

  1. The rowing man

I have no idea who painted this one but I sure hope it will stay there for years. Stunning mural.

  1. The ballerina

A lot of art in Georgetown is very subtle. You could easily miss it if you’re not careful. Just like this ballerina dancing on a door frame.

  1. Guy with an open mouth

How often can you stand in someone else’s mouth??? Not often, right? So let’s use the chances we have 🙂

  1. The woman with the spices

Vibrant colors and massive size makes this piece truly unmissable. Although it's hidden in the courtyard of the urban spice cafe 🙂

  1. The face of a kid

This one looks sooooo realistic. It’s unbelievable.

The murals above are just a fraction of what there is to see in George Town. But as with art not all of the murals, we loved. There were some we didn’t like that much and with some we were disappointed to see devastated or almost completely fainted away. The ones below are also on our map 🙂