Malaysia,
One day layover in Bangkok
I was heading back to Asia again after 10 days. People found it crazy but I was calling it something different. I and Ruth met in Bangkok Airport. I remember the after I landed we had to wait 2 hours due to quite long que in the border… we had decided to spend one day in Bangkok and chose a close hotel to stay. I was feeling like it was a dream. Was i in Asia again? Really? With her? I had just said goodbye. Goodbye wasn’t ready to involve our life yet.
We enjoyed to reunite again and lost in the street of Bangkok. Partied hard, drinking like crazy, dancing as we never gonna stop. But our flight was very early and I was already playing with the taxi´s window while we going back to our hotel. We were enjoying the life like small kids after a long while… our solo traveler status wasn’t solo anymore…
1. Kuala Lumpur,
Where to stay... We stayed in Resort Hostel in City. It was close to the attraction points and affordable for 2 people. I love Asian food so the best place of the city for me was Jalan Alor Street. It is full of Asian Restaurants…Affordable and good food. However we went to KFC for the Lunch :)
Actually Kuala Lumpur wasn’t attractive for me it looks like a big city in Europe. I could not see the traditional Asian culture here.
KLLC Park…We bought some cheese and wine and went to the park where just in front of the Petronas tower. I can say that we enjoyed there; a small lake, view of towers and us…
Where to eat... There is a very modern shopping area Between Jalan Alor Street and KLLC Park: Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. If you want to have a break of Asian food this is one of the best stop. You can feel like in Europe or USA; High quality fashion brands, restaurants, Pubs, Cafes, etc.… And we found a place to drink and play pool again. Malone Bar… the prices were not cheap but still fine.
The day after we ate in Jalan Alor street instead of KFC J and walking through the city. Central Market Kuala Lumpur was the only place that made us remember we were in Asia. After little bit more wine and playing pool… we were going to go to Langkawi the next day. Despite the tour lady was very grumpy we bought our ticket from an travel agency and took the late evening train to Arau :)
We went to get our ticket to go Langkawi. Here you can check it out the fees and schedule. https://www.travel-penang-malaysia.com/ets-train-ticket-online.html
2. Langkawi
How to go...There are several ways to go to Langkawi from Kuala Lumpur. We went by train. Train stops at Arau Station where 18 km to the Pier for ferries is. You can go by Taxi from the station but it is not easy to find when you arrive there at 4.30 am. We waited 1 hour and booked an Uber driver. After 2 hours waiting for Ferry the journey took 1.45 hours to Langkawi Island. We paid 17 USD each.
Where to stay...We took taxi after arrived to the Pier there were 22 km between the hostels we stayed: Village 19 Retreat. The place is on a very big field. Looks like farms in American movies. One side is for dorm staying and the other side is for private rooms alongside of a river. The room was fully woody and very big. I really enjoyed staying there. I highly recommend that hostel for travelers (not for solo travelers).
Let´s have quick overview what to do in Langkawi:
Pantai Cenang:
Is one of the main beaches in the area nice place to chill out? Also there are many places to eat and drink. We hang out here all day and then went to a Turkish restaurant and eat some Turkish stuff. I can say that it was delicious and expensive.After we hang out in the town we got our drinks and chilled out on the beach. The weather was going to worst and worst every hour. In the end heavy rain started. There was a beach side bar that we could refuge in …CBA Miritus Pelangi Beach Resorts & Spa BAR. That place was so cool. We drank so much while we were waiting the rain was getting over.
The weather was amazing after the rain we went to beach side with our drinks and spent 2 hours there. We were completely drunk. We were completely enjoying the moments…we were completely isolated from the Earth in this beach...
Sky Bridge and Cable Car.
As we always do we booked a scooter. You will need to take the Cable Car ride from Oriental Village in Pantai Kok area where is 25 minutes from the center by scooter. It is more likely a funfair. You can choose a lot of stuff to do but we interested only with the Cable Car and Sky Bridge. The rest of the things were kind of you can find in anywhere.
It takes you the top of the mountains and even clouds. If you have no acrophobia this event is worth to see. In the top station of cable car there is a bridge that you can walk from one mountain to another.
Normally you take the cars with other people but we were lucky that only two of us were in cable car and enjoy the view of Langkawi from top. Well, i guess i enjoyed little bit more…;)
Temurun Waterfall,
On the way back from Sky Bridge you can have rest and cool down in Temurun Waterfall. There is a natural pool and the water is so fresh. We back to the hotel after chill out in the waterfall 1 hour.
Where to eat. We ate that night in Sizzling Plate. It wasn’t in a luxury area but the meals were still very delicious. We paid 8 usd for 2 people.
The Eagle Statue
There is a big shopping area, restaurants and cafes. Also the island is duty free zone. If you keen to shopping, this place might be your place. It was 40 minute ride from the hotel.
Where to eat...Eagle Statue is just alongside of the ocean. You can enjoy the sunset with view of the Eagle Statue in Shellout Langawi Restaurant. I can say that the lobster and prawn were amazing. But the Asian Sunset our vibe were making the night more enjoyable. We enjoyed the night like kids beside i had been told off that i was riding the scooter so fast J and she was right. May be together maybe not… We had life to live…
Beside small conflicts, we had become great team. Even we didn’t understand what was going on, who were we? What were we doing there together? How could we end up in this way? All we know was Asia got us. Somehow it was keeping us together…Somehow it gave us some feelings that we hadn’t felt for a while. As if we had known each other years and years. It was not easy to give it a name. We called it ´´ b´shert´´…Do you know that word?
3. Georgetown
After beautiful 3 Langkawi days we were going to another island town: Georgetown. It was from British colony times of Malaysia. The the town is not for beach&ocean however it has still good vibe to hangout 1-2 days. Bars, cafes, Street food and street art… it is possible to see many drawings on the walls of the town.
Where to stay... What to eat..We stayed in Chateau One hostel. It is only 3 mins walk to main Street where everything is going on. The best part of the town was the street food in the evenings. Also you can choose whatever fruit you like and they make fresh smoothies for you. I think I had had the best food here during my Asia trip.
Beside this there is nothing to do that much in the town. I wouldn’t stay more than 2 days here. We went to see Penang beach by scooter but it wasn’t that good. Despite we try to see in that wavy ocean, something touched my leg and I got out of the water.:)
4. Cameron highlands
This place is one of the most special places for me and Ruth. Despite there is nothing much to do the mountains, the vibe of the town and our room…this place has nailed in my mind…
After 6 hours bus trip we were in Cameron Highlands. It was one of the most interesting bus trips for me. There was no one beside us on the bus. As if we rent it for our self…As if it was a gift of Asia to me and her:)
Where to stay...First night we stayed in a really bad hostel. Well I cannot remember the hostel´s name but it was extremely dirty. All I can suggest is to stay in a good hotel in Cameron Highland. The first day we looked for another hostel but to be honest we couldn’t find anything good. Then we decided to stay in a hotel and checked in Bird's Nest Hotel. The room was going to be our home next 2 days. That room though…that room…
There are a lot of tours options in Cameron Highlands. Most probably they would be very enjoyable but we preferred to get a scooter and explore our self. Put our helmets and are you ready Belgian…? Two body, one soul and one scooter. We were going to the place where sky meets with mountains again…
Cameron Valley
Easy ride to curvy roads, feeling the breezing on our cheeks. Vibe of b`shert took those two outlander to tea trees with endless green. We were hoping that we were lost in that endless.
There are tea houses top of the valley. You can stop by any of them and enjoy your tea accompany of an amazing view. After a cup of tea we went for hiking to the view. To the other side of the Valley…
Orang Asli village,
This is a community in Cameron Highlands, The people who are living without technology in a rain forest. We tried to find it out on our own but we couldn’t find them. In that case that was the only regret of mine that didn’t take a tour. I really wanted to see their village and meet up whit those people. Anyway, to find those people we rode 1 hour to nowhere. It was still very enjoyable. We couldn’t find them but we were still in an adventure it was still something we wished it never ended.
We grabbed Rum & Coke with ice cubes from a local market in the center and went to our room…
After get pissed by our ``Cuba Libre`` we decided to go out despite we knew there was nowhere to dance and enjoy in that small town. We found a really small bar: Jungle Bar. There was everything that make us enjoy; Pool table and beer. Played all night till something AM in the morning…
The intensive days made our nerves fucked up as well. As we were having issues; how were we going to end up in the end? How could be the chemistry that strong and intensive? How were we taking care each other’s body and soul? She had to go to her other life and needed some time before she went… I must have left to give her some space before she went her real life… a gap… Despite we both knew that had to be end in a point, we couldn’t leave each other … I extended it once again. We decided to use the time till the edge of it.
We were going to Perhentian island…
5. Perhentian Island.
How to go...The definition of Paradise… it is the union of small islands where you can almost accommodate any of them. But one small tip for you: book your hotel from 1 week or 10 days before. The island is the capital of scuba diving sport. All around the world people heading to the island for get their certificate. Therefore there are limited hotels and it wasn’t that easy to find a place for us for accommodation. Our first 3 hours passed to find a hotel but we couldn’t. Of course Ruth´s eyes got bigger and bigger. Also she became grumpy J in the end a lady who was working in a scuba diver school arranged us a place in a different small island. This place was going to be out new home next 4 days…
Where to Stay...D`Ayumni house is just near a beautiful beach and pier. It has a small bar that you can enjoy after 6. Even isolated from Electricity (you have 4-6 hours every day ) this place was like unreal for me even there were limited facilities. We couldn’t find any place to stay in the main island but we were still happy there. There were boat-shuttles of the diving school every day to the main island. Also you can go to that island every night for Party. If you do not want to return before 1 am to your hotel you have to stay till morning as the shuttles stop after midnight. What we did was we found another people to go our island and share a shuttle for 1.45 AM as Ruth had a diving practice. We couldn’t have stayed till the morning.
Our small island also has some places to eat, beaches to walk and pier to enjoy. Most likely we bought Rum&Coke and enjoy it on the pier in the evenings. The best conversations that I have ever had were there on that Pier. We were spending our time with each other as if we weren’t separate in couple of days. Of course we were thinking the future but there no many options. And we both knew it. it looks like we had fell in love with each other unexpectedly. Asia had made it at last.
It was 2 days before our inevitable end. i decided to leave the island and went to Kuala Lumpur. Maybe this time I was the one who needed a gap to make myself calm down. I booked my boat to the mainland. Hugged each other very tight and thanked for everything. I shut the door and went to the pier that we were sharing our happiness. This time the pier was not for happiness. It was the sadness itself. I jumped in the boat. Ruth was there she was sitting down. The engine of the boat was started. This had to be done. There was no other choice. We were looking each other’s eyes while the boat was leaving the island. Even we left each other the eyes were still together. The pier was getting smaller and smaller every second… in the end everything became a point size. I couldn’t see the island anymore….
6. Kuala Lumpur again.
The way back to Kuala Lumpur was not that easy. It took 8 hours to the city with a bus I booked 2 nights in Mercu summer suits KLCC. It was a Hostel but I think that one was the most interesting hostel that I have ever stayed. Imagine a hotel on the top of a skyscraper. Even it has a playground and swimming pool and nightly i paid only 12 usd.
I was alone afterwards the person who I had been traveling last 1 month was not here anymore… that took only 1 day. She took a bus and came to Kuala Lumpur the day after. We had had one day more one more night one more Rum&Coke, one more pool game, one more sunset through the Skyscraper.
Why we couldn’t success on goodbye each other? What the fuck was wrong with us? What were we thinking? The flights were booked for the next day and we were still not ready to say goodbye. What were we going to do? Burn the tickets and run away together to somewhere that no one can find is? Naa! That end happens only in movies. We were in a real life. It was real as the last night of ours in the balcony…while we wer watching our last sunset…
The day after I took her to the airport I remember the last minutes. We hugged to each other and didn’t say anything for 20 minutes... just cry and cry and cry quietly. Only we could hear how loudly we were crying.
In the end the trip with Ruthy was like a tattoo in my heart. I feel very lucky. That story cannot be experienced to everyone. That one only we can see in the movies…you never know who will make you feel in what way…we were the characters of that short movie… short but intensive…if we assume that we were soulmates our souls are still in Asia. Maybe we couldn’t be together afterwards but i believe that our souls are riding on the Asian mountains… Still… Forever…
After that day i couldn’t see Ruthy again. She disappeared… I hope she is happy in somewhere else somehow… Thank you Asia, thank you Ruth, you guys made me remember that love exists in the Word.
See you in another life maybe…
