South-East Asia Explorer

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South-East Asia Explorer Traveler
Vientiane
August 8, 2018 in Laos ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
The bus ride from Vang Vieng to Vientiane was pleasant compared to previous tortures. So we were still pretty refreshed to go out and explore the vicinity of our hostel. It's a pretty small city for being a capital with just around 200.000 inhabitants. Consequently it has a really laid back and relaxed atmosphere making it perfect for a stroll. We visited the Victory arch in the middle of the center which is the major landmark. Afterwards we took a detour to a Wat which is named the "Black Stupa". Nothing too impressive to see...
The next day we took a bus to the outskirts to the city next to the Mekong River and the border to Thailand. There is the so-called Buddha Park, a seemingly random area with all kinds of statues of gods and goddesses. A rather impressive sight even though the composition is pretty random and there's absolutely no information on the history or the statues itself 😅 We took the bus back, had a quick lunch and then hired bikes to go to "Lao's most important cultural landmark" - a golden stupa located within beautifully renovated temples. Even though I didn't like the massive fake golden shiny stupa it was still nice to look at from a distance. Vientiane is a nice city but it lacks the natural features other parts of Laos has to offer.
An evening stroll along the Mekong river and the night markets with a traditional Laotian barbecue concluded our journey to Indochina. It was an amazing experience and we enjoyed all three countries that have similarities and yet are so different.Read more
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South-East Asia Explorer Traveler
Malacca
August 10, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
When we arrived at the airport in Vientiane our flight wasn't posted anywhere but after our first - a little bit worried - investigations we found the proper Check-in counter. From Kuala Lumpur we took the first bus we could find in direction of Malacca (malay: Melaka). It's a well known tourist destination due to its rich colonial history with Portuguese, Dutch and British occupations and their leftovers. Especially the Dutch are responsible for many of the sights nowadays.
We had thought that the evening would be enough to see the city but as we arrived later than anticipated we decided to stay another night to have enough time to see it all!!
Actually all the sights are spread over an area of about 1 sqm, so you can comfortably see them in a 2-3 hours stroll through the alleys. First we went to the main square with the distinct red painted houses, a church and the "Stadthuys", a huge administration building. The Church of Christ wasn't very impressive from the inside but still nice for a change after the temples in Laos. Then we went to St. Paul's Hill with the ruins of St Paul's Church and a lighthouse/watchtower on top. The last sight was "A Famoso", the last standing building from the Portuguese and only spared because of the intervention a captain named Raffles. He will later be known as the founder of Singapore and governor of the Dutch East Indies. Then we had a simply amazing Falafel at our hostel before relaxing in the afternoon there with some beers.
In the evening we went out to see the city in the nightly illumination... Just as pretty as during the day and we really loved the atmosphere in the city. There was a tourist market going on and the streets were completely full of people looking for snacks or souvenirs. Quite the difference to the day before where we were alone at night in the streets. Early in the morning we took a taxi to the bus station to take the bus to our last stop before flying home, Tioman Island.Read more
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South-East Asia Explorer Traveler
Tioman Island
August 15, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌬 28 °C
After being constantly on the move for 1 1/2 months straight we decided to treat ourselves with some days of beach vacation. For this purpose Tioman Island is ideally located between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
We were really excited about a few days of relaxing under the sun, swimming in the sea and drinking beer.
This plan went great until the second day when I started to get a really bad headache and fever. I was also pretty weak, so there was not much I could do
... Not like I had planned to anyways 😉 Julia went a bit snorkeling directly offshore while I spent most of the day in the hammock. After three days I was in a condition good enough to go for a day trip snorkeling to a few places which was really nice. Especially Renggis Island offers a beautiful underwater scenery.
Overall we liked Tioman Island for its laid back setting and calmth. What we didn't like that much was that it's quite expensive compared to other destinations in the area. And we weren't big fans of the beach itself, there were just too many rocks in medium to low tide to go enjoyably for a swim.
Unfortunately I couldn't go diving because of the flu I had caught. But this is also said to be one of the highlights.Read more
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Trip end
August 20, 2018

South-East Asia Explorer

Vientiane

Malacca

Tioman Island