Gili Islands and Lombok Island

From Singapore we flew to Lombok,  a Island in Indonesia.  We travelled directly to Gili Trawangan by car and Ferry.  Gilli Trawangan is a touristy place,  therefore a lot of good food and nice hanging out places. We enjoyed one beach party, which was much fun. But the main purpose we came here, was diving with big Turtles.  And indeed - there are so many of them. Great feeling to swim with them :)

After those days on this little Island we travelled with our new friend Toni back to Lombok.  Toni and his English Teacher showed us around Lombok and was hosting us for 3 days. We visited 3 days schools in Lombok and encouraged and teached English. The local Teacher founded this Projekt in Lombok in 2008 and teaches young students English for free. It's a social project, financed from the locals and free helping hands. Unfortunately they have currently quite a big money problem as they need to build a new school and there a looking for helpers.  We spend 3 days with them and were really impressed how this project is running and how the students really wanna learn English.  Without books or anything, they just listen to the teacher. Imagen us learning a new Language like that. Amazing Experience!

Goodbye Asia - Hello Australia

7 Month throughout Asia - a big and amazing continent full of stories, brilliant skills, lots of beauty and spiritual cultures. In all of the countries I have been you could explore new things, so much differences and uniqueness.

I am so grateful for this big adventures time, where I could explore different cultures, discover new and beautiful places, learn about life and history,  develop myself and meet wonderful people from all over the world.

Your life is a result of the choices you make...

Now in Australia for 2.5 weeks and I must say I love this country already.  Australians are such a friendly and open Nation. Everybody wants to help and to know about you and your trip. We started in Darwin and bought an old Ford Falcon for our Roadtrip through Australia. In Darwin we could experienced the goodness of people around the world again. Arrived with the airforce from Bali 4 hours to late,  because on our first flight to Darwin we had to turn back to Bali as there was a problem with the aircraft.  So we arrived in Darwin pretty late and were trying to find a new place to stay as our couchsurfer was already sleeping.  It was 2 a.m. seating on the streets of Darwin, we may looked lost, one guy asked us if we need help. After a little chat, he offered us to stay at his house. Wonderful ! Thanks mate! Next day we could welcome our friend Nicole from home, who will travel with us until Cairns.  Big welcome and a lovely place to stay,  as she managed to phone a friend of a friend she met on her travels through West Australia, who has a lovely garden to camp. Next prove of Australias friendliness. We had a lovely time with those guys and had time to prepare and organise ourself for our next big adventure.

Singapore

Singapore, is a very modern, posh and fancy city-state. The country is highly urbanised. We arrived with the night train from Kuala Lumpur and stayed with a couch surfing host.

Singapore has since developed rapidly and is one of nine countries with the top AAA rating from all credit rating agencies and the only Asian country on the list. Nearly 5.5 million people live in Singapore, of which well over 2 million are foreign-born. There are four official languages—English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil.

Singapore has one of the lowest rates of drug use in the world. This may be due in part to the country's very strict drug laws, which include mandatory death sentences for some drug trafficking offenses.

There is a ban on importing chewing gum into Singapore which is strictly enforced. Since 2004, only chewing gum of therapeutic value is allowed into Singapore. Under the rule, no gum is allowed to be bought or sold inside Singapore and there is a $500 fine for spitting out gum on the streets.

Combining the skyscrapers and subways of a modern, affluent city with a medley of Chinese, Malay and Indian influences and a tropical climate, with tasty food, good shopping and a vibrant night-life scene, this Garden City makes a great stopover.

Singapore is one of the safest and cleanest major cities in the world.

Kuala Lumpur

This is Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia’s capital packed with historic monuments, skyscrapers, parks, mega-sized shopping malls, bustling street markets and trendy nightspots.

Also an essential part of it the mosques and temples of the country’s Malay, Chinese and Indian communities.

KL, where you could easily spend all day browsing glitzy air-conditioned malls. (Between 12 p.m and 3 p.m. the best way to spend your time)

A very nice part of the city is the golden Triangle where also the iconic Petronas Towers are.

Cameron Highland

After those really hot days in the jungle we were ready for some tea and hike in fresh air. In the Cameron Highlands we found this place and enjoyed hiking and motorbiking through tea plantages and strawberry selling points. 

Taman Negara

3 days ago we decided to move on to the
National parc Taman Negara. Again by minibus we arrived in a little town outside of the parc. I may could tell you on this point that we hate minibusses! Not really comfortable for such long journeys.  But we don't reclaim - we are backpacker =) After a good night sleep we started with a Malaysian Roti in our stomach our jungle experience. We walked 6 hours through this impressive jungle, with green plants and trees surrounded by rivers and of course it includes a little fight with blood suckars.

Today we enjoyed a "Nature Spa Day", means a boat trip through the Jungle and a long wellness bath in the river.  Great fun!

Malaysia here we come

After Thailand - a gorgeous country - we decided to start the new month in a new country.  A last Mango Sticky Rice ( sweet rice with coconut sauce and Mango) and Chang Beer for "goodbye Thailand" and we boarded our night ferry to the Mainland of Thailand.  As we left Koh Pha Ngan there was a small firework going on and we left with one crying eye. The people are really friendly, but maybe because of the big number of tourist not that autenthic as in other countries. Also the food is delicious.  The North and the Islands are beautiful and the weather hot. Easy to get lost here as many do and there is so much more to see ! Thailand we come back!

The slow night boat took as 7 hours to the mainland of Thailand, where we travelled further with a minibus over the boarder to Malaysia, a Muslim country. We stop our Journey in Georgetown on Penang Island. We did not spend much time there so acutely not sure if it is a nice town.  We needed some new shoes and stuff and went shopping. 
Next step on our travel list was Pulau Perhentian Kecil Island which took as an other 7 hours to get there. And we arrived on a beautiful and cute little Island by heavy speed boat waves. Didn't imagen that this speed boat could be that much fun. =) Well, not everyone obviously liked it. Hihi.

No cars, no motorbikes, no bikes - just jungles,  beaches, the sea, some backpackers and divers and a lot of Malaysia tourist. As we had the opportunity to camp there we decided to camp. By the way: Malaysian Food is also delicious. Really tasty.
We spend some relaxing days on this island with snorkeling, diving and good food. The highlight of the island: We saw a turtle while diving.  So cool, they look like little divers =)

Full moon we enjoyed at the long beach,  dancing in the moonlight with mostly Malaysians. Friendly and open people! ! The like to talk to you and to laugh and are always ready to help you.