Malaysia
Kampung Boyan

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    • Day 2,401

      Pool day

      June 25, 2022 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

      I wake early this morning even though I haven't had much sleep, and my alarm clock is the sound of local music and when I look out the window I see a bunch of men in suits so give Paddy a quick shout and make my way downstairs for a quick nosey. It's a wedding and as the bride's posing for her photos I try and make myself inconspicuous in the background. Before every Malay wedding ceremony, the couple will have to go through the stages of merisik, meminang dan bertunang, akad nikah, and bersanding. Merisik is where the groom's family meet the brides family and check the bride is not engaged to anyone else. Meminang is the proposal but unlike a lot of cultures it's actually a senior woman from the male side of the family that presents the engagement ring.Akad Nikah (Solemnisation) is a ceremony to hand the bride away. It is headed by a Wali, who is customarily the father of the bride. This is where the contracts are signed and takes place a day before the actual wedding day. During this special Malay wedding ceremony, a beautifully-decorated couch can be seen on top of an elevated platform. This is called the Pelamin, which is the centre piece of the ceremony.
      The bride will be waiting on the Pelamin with her face hidden by a hand fan, held by her Mak Andam, a close female relative. The groom will have to complete a series of light-hearted and charming challenges prepared by the bride’s relatives and friends in order to reach his bride. A band of male musicians will escort the groom while singing various verses from the Qur’an. This is the Islamic way of seeking blessings for newlyweds. Once the groom reaches her bride, the guests will be invited to express their well-wishes. Before we head for breakfast we say our first goodbyes to Paddy and Charlie or as I like to call him George. They are heading to Bali so I have a feeling I'll be seeing them again. We have breakfast and then it's time to say goodbye to Will Dan and Liam.,they've hired a car for a few days and shortly after are heading home. Anouk Bente and Dominic are going to have a few hours at the museum and I've decided to chill by the pool. At lunchtime I just eat at a local bistro before it's time to say goodbye to the last 3. We've only known each other for such a short time but they've been a wonderful group of people to spend time with and I feel very honoured to have enjoyed the time. I stay by the pool for the rest of the afternoon and get speaking with a group of girls from Kuching who have just finished they're last day of college. They invite me out tonight but I think a stroll along the river and a bite to eat is more up my street. I take a short stroll along the river and call into the the shopping centre to pick up a few essentials. I've really struggled to find nail polish here as most people use henna but tonight is my lucky night. When I go outside it's starting to rain so I head back and have a pamper night.
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    • Day 2

      Yes, I am the king of the jungle

      June 18, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

      Semenggoh Nationalpark...noch nie den Menschenaffen so nah gekommen.
      Sie schauen dich an, sie verfolgen dich mit den Augen und gleichzeitig wirken sie so vertraut, aber wilde Tiere. Und dann hab ich die Orang Utans gesehen 😂Read more

    • Day 127

      Last day in Kuching

      October 8, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

      Picking up from yesterday's post, I didn't get the chicken and waffles sandwich, but I did take home a Pizza Hut pizza for dinner, which meant once I got back to the room, I didn't have to go out again. And I didn't. I feel like I've been resting a lot on this leg of my journey, but it feels so good. The three weeks of hashing must have tired me out more than I thought.

      Right now, I'm buying a car ride to the port and a ferry ticket to Sibu, another city to the northeast. The ferry is only about $3 US more than the bus, so why not, right?

      I have no plans for the rest of the day or tonight. More rest probably.

      So long [for now] and thanks for all the fish. ✌️
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    • Day 16

      Semenggoh Wildlife Center

      September 7, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      De wekker gaat dit keer vroeg, 06.10 uur.
      Snel om 06.30 uur ontbijten, met de taxi naar de bushalte om bus K6 van 07.20 uur te hebben die naar Semenggoh gaat. Een enkele reis kost RM4. Omdat de bus vandaag wel het schema volgt zijn we royaal op tijd. Om de hoek bij het busstation bieden ook hier mensen hun verse waren aan de man.

      De bus stopt bij het loket waar je een ticket koopt voor RM20. De weg naar het Wildlife Center toe is een aardig stukje wandelen. Berg op, berg af. We raken er bijna aan gewend. Je loopt langs het arboretum en we blijven ons verbazen over de diversiteit aan bomen en planten. Weinig vogels maar genoeg andere insecten!

      Hopelijk gaan we de Orang Oetans straks zien?
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    • Day 36

      A night in the capital

      August 17, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      15.37 and we are just about to take off from Kota Kinabalu with our air Asia flight to Kuching. We are staying overnight in Kuching before our 6.55 am flight to Kuala Lumpur to get our flight to get our flight to Manila, the Philippines.

      We have just had the most incredible lunch at 'Nook Cafe' in KK. Hope had tomato soup, sweet potato chips, a cheese sandwich and a chocolate brownie with an orange juice. I had a 'create your own breakfast' with poached eggs, sour dough toast, sautéed potatoes, salsa, fried eggplant and sautéed mushrooms, with an orange juice and also followed with a chocolate brownie (and ice cream). It was all so good - and so cheap (about a fiver each).
      The plan was just to go there to kill time before heading to the airport but it was that good that we kept ordering more food.

      We were going to do some more island hopping today, and go to one of the islands further away as they are supposed to be beautiful, and not as touristy. But when we woke up at 8, it was so cloudy and had rained all night that we thought it wasn't worth it. So we spent the morning getting organised - repacking our bags, and booking our first internal flight in the Philippines; from Manila to Puerto Princesa. The plan is to get out of Manila as quickly as possible as we've heard it's not very clean and is not particularly nice.

      When we land in Kuching, we are probably going to get an uber to the hostel as we have started using uber all the time now ... it is ridiculously cheap! For instance, using a taxi from the airport to our Hotel (hotel Victoria) cost 30 RM but an uber from the cafe to the airport (not much distance between the cafe and hotel ... and if anything the cafe is probably further out) cost just 10 RM (approx £1.80) for a good 20/25 minute journey.

      We started panicking as by the time we had eaten and ordered an uber it was 2.15 pm and our flight was 3.30!! But the uber came within minutes and we were at the airport by 2.40 (we did have a small worry though when the machine said we could not check in as it was less than 1 hour prior to the departure time but all was fine at the desk). We walked through security and immigration so quickly that we still ended up having so much time to spare and were sat about waiting. You really do not need to leave longer than an hour for domestic flights (however us English do like to be early).

      It's 15.49 and we are at the runway about to take off.

      Will update the blog later! Goodbyeeeee

      ****

      Writing this on the 18th...

      We had such a great night last night in Kuching! We arrived at the hostel which Hope booked on Hostel World, Singgahsana - which was great! It had a lovely little rooftop bar, and we had a nice private room with a shared bathroom.

      We chilled for an hour, then went and had some noodles from a 7/11 (we weren't starving after having the massive lunch before we flew) so just had a snack. Then...funny story, we were supposed to go and buy some vodka to have some pre drinks but ended up sat in a bar with a load of locals and were drinking beer! It was a strange but very fun couple of hours to say the least.
      We did also buy vodka though, so after a few beers, we got ready at the hostel and had a few drinks before going out to a couple of bars. We didn't even need to go out - pre drinks just me and Hope was hilarious! We were having so much fun!

      We had a great night!

      Of course we thought it was a good idea to go out until 2 am when we had a 7 am flight hahaha!!! Somehow we have managed though
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    • Day 6

      Ebbe

      March 6, 2019 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

      Heute ist nicht viel passiert.
      Nachdem gestern die Nachtwanderung ausgefallen war, regnete es noch die ganze Nacht und den morgen stark weiter. ☔️ Morgens war alles matschig und rutschig. Keine guten Voraussetzungen für eine Wanderung durch den Dschungel. Deshalb wollten wir früher abreisen und den Tag wieder in Kuching verbringen, wo wir auf besseres Wetter hofften.
      Leider war Ebbe und anscheinend war keiner darauf vorbereitet gewesen (ich dachte immer das wär relativ vorhersehbar). Der einzige Weg zurück vom Nationalpark zur Bus-Station ging über ein kleines Boot. Diese Boote konnten aber wegen der Ebbe nicht fahren, weshalb sich im Laufe des Vormittages immer mehr Leute sammelten, die nur darauf warteten, endlich das erste Bötchen anschippern zu sehen. Die Wartezeit wurde versüßt durch die dreisten Affen, die ununterbrochen (erfolgreich) probierten das Mittagessen zu klauen, die Mülleimer umzuwerfen oder einfach wie besengte durch Menschengruppen zu rennen. 🐒
      Gegen 12:30 Uhr konnten wir dann gegen eine Extra Gebühr von der Insel runter (eigentlich hatten wir ein Boot um 15 Uhr am vorherigen Tag gebucht gehabt).
      Zurück in Kuching gab es erstmal Mittagessen und dann sind wir den Tag durch die Stadt spaziert, mal auf die andere Seite des Ufers, ein paar Souvenirs und Postkarten gekauft und dann zum frühen Abend zum Hostel zurück. Den Sonnenuntergang verbrachte ich auf der Dachterasse des Hostels und schrieb Postkarten. Abends waren Dir dann in China Town essen. Wir haben 3 bzw. 4 Gerichte bestellt, weil wir uns nicht entscheiden konnten. Alles was ins geschmeckt hat, haben wir sogar geschafft aufzuessen.
      Wie immer planen wir abends im Hostel den nächsten Tag und dann geht’s ins Bett.
      Morgen geht unser nächster Flug nach Kota Kinabalu. 🛫
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    • Day 1

      Riverside Majestic Hotel

      November 7, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      ホテルチェックイン
      旧クラウンプラザ 川沿い 古いが、基本的なメンテナンスはなされてる。Riverview room を二部屋、ホテルウェブサイトから予約。
      観光にはベストロケーション。パークソンが隣接。予算があればヒルトンクチンの方が良さそう。
      系列のGrand Margherita も検討したが、プール改装中なのと、レビューを参考にマジェスティックに決定。(RM212+GST6%/DLX Riverview/night incl b'fast)
      目の前にRiverside Suite というアパートメントもあった。ここも良いかも。
      朝食は単調。可もなく不可もなく。
      アメニティは基本、揃っていた。古いホテルなので、部屋は広め。バスタブ付きだが蓋が壊れていた。
      とにかく、寒い!

      Pullmanが最新の5スターだが、丘の上、少し川からは歩く。
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