Monday, June 29, 2015

Welcome to Yellow House in Kuala Lumpur

It was already after midnight when we arrived in Kuala Lumpur by bus. There was no public transport at this time and so we had to take the taxi to Ampang. Don’t use a taxi after 12 p.m. because it’s damn expensive. Our only aim was the cosy bed in the hostel. The last kilometres we had to lead the taxi driver to our destination. He asked us 3 times if it would be the right address and we agreed all the time. Maybe he wasn’t used to drive European to this part of the city at this time. We said thank you and tried to find the hostel. A few steps later, we weren’t sure anymore if we are in the right place. Suddenly we heard some chatter and laughing which made us happy again. They welcomed us very friend and we did our first steps in the Yellow House where we will stay to weeks.
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The Yellow House isn’t just a normal hostel. It’s more a community of backpackers who are helping out in the house and the garden. Next to daily tasked like housekeeping, there were also special projects. Our was it to built a new wall made from recycled material such as glass bottles and used bricks. This project turned into something big. Much bigger than expected. Our time schedule was very small but everybody gave a hand. We dug a big hole, removed the old shitty wall, set up new columns, placed the bricks and concreted all over. We didn’t finished the project but the most was done.
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KL Tower
Waiting for the bus
On the move to refugee school
On our free days off, we visited the inner city from Kuala Lumpur. It took a while to find orientation. We wandered along the streets and our necks got stiff from looking up to the skyscrapers. The KL Tower and the Petronas Towers represents Kuala Lumpur. Especially at night, these buildings are worth a look. We also visited China Town. Loads of people walked from left to right through the narrow alleys and we had to pay attention not to be caught by salespersons. They are a little bit more aggressive here. Even if you don’t buy what you looked at, the salesperson would follow you the next 50 meters to try to sell it. After a long day spending hours walking around, our feet got tired. We liked to go home but the police officer didn’t agreed with our idea. Why? Because of J-Walking (Crossing the road not at the traffic light) which was really ridiculous. Everybody is doing this in Asia. He wanted to fine us with 300 MYR each but this time we did’t agreed either. We starred discussing for the next 20 minutes. We never used “PLEASE” so many times. He asked us if we are married and so we said “No”. And suddenly he asked us to invite him for a beer at midnight to forget the ticket. What the hell!!! We didn’t give up and discussed a few minutes and finally he released us without a fine. What did we learn from it? “Talking can make you tired.”
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Skyline from Kuala Lumpur
Nice wooden faces
Mosque from KL
In the Yellow House, we got the opportunity to give some magic to other people. In the soup kitchen we chopped vegetables, fried chicken and cooked noodles for homeless people. This isn’t normal for these people. Every single “Thank you” made us feel much better. In the swimming pool we had a lot fun with these awesome disabled people. Fun was priority and also a good refreshment during the hot day. With refugees from Afghanistan we did a little bit more sport. These kids got a lot of energy which made us feel like old fellows. At last, we pretended to be hairdressers for homeless people. Cutting, washing and drying till after midnight. I think that Yellow House is an awesome idea to make the world a little bit better. Thanks to Shyam who showed us these side.
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How much time will you spend?
Food stall
China Town
Also 2 weeks will end in some point. We met in this time so many nice people, got a lot of fun, learned much about culture and food and gave some people something back. Our experience during that time increased and we are so thankful for that. Everyone who will go to Kuala Lumpur should visit the Yellow House. You will be welcome as volunteer or just as a guest.
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Petronas Towers
Project WALL
Little butt on the wall

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Krabi, Koh Lanta und Koh Phi Phi - Thailand's West coast

Close to Krabi, I took a look outside of the bus and couldn’t believe where I am. I felt like stuck as an actor in the movie “Avatar”. Everywhere, steep green overgrown rocks reached up to the sky which is typical for Thailand. I doubted that they would be there after one day. But they did. I met Ines in Krabi Town again, but first of all we went to the food market. Fruit shakes, exotic fruits, fried noodles and rice, delicious curry, fried vegetables and heaps more were sold by many small food stalls. One highlight was also the big night market on friday. The narrow alleys were filled with people, everywhere it smelled after fresh made food, lots of outfits for a low price you can find here, souvenirs from Thailand were sold in every corner und on the stage, break dancers, musicians and dancers tried to entertain the crowd.
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Steep, green...
...rocks. So nice.
Highway to hell
With the scooter we went to the Tiger Cave Temple nearby Krabi. But just to take the motorcycle wasn’t enough. The actual temple is 1260 steps higher and who is thinking that every single step is similar to the next one, he or she’s wrong. The smallest wasn’t really a step and for the biggest one, we had to jump to get over the almost 50 centimetre step. Also we as tourists were in the minority. Gangs of monkeys tried to scare the shit out of everybody. Don’t drop anything because you will definitely lose it. Every effort to get it again, it will be answered with a loud hiss. After 2 litre sweat less and 1260 steps higher, we reached the summit where we could find a big golden Buddha statue.
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Start point for the Tiger Cave Tempel
Beware of the gangs of monkeys
1260 steps higher. 
We already knew about the Railay Beach because almost every Tuk-Tuk or taxi driver asked us if we need a ride to that place. Instead of taking a taxi, we rented the scooter again for one day and followed the road which leads us along the steep rocks to this beach. It is paradise for rock climbers. But if you don’t like rock climbing than you can also take a sunbath on the beach and watching little monkeys.
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Night market
So sweet 
National park on Koh Lanta
Koh Lanta was another island on our bucket list. Everybody who likes parties should avoid this place. Here are just a few people in the low session which gives the locals the opportunity to have vacation or to build some more bungalows. Our discovery started with a tour to the Southern point from the island to a small national park. There, we walked along a small natural trail which was over after one hour. We didn’t know that stairs and steps are natural. Some other very nice places were Old Town on the other side and the Tiger Cave, which we couldn’t find.
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A little restaurant 
Food market
A nice bar next to the beach
If you like the movie “the beach” than you should definitely go to Koh Phi Phi. The small island “Koh Phi Leh” was the scenery for that movie. But this was not the reason for us to come here. We wanted to visit another place which is below the surface and completely different. The reef was very healthy what I didn’t expect. We also did a kaiak tour to 2 different beaches. On our way back, the wind got stronger and we got this brillant idea to make a sail. It worked pretty well and everybody was cheering during they passed us. But one hard gust and we lost our balance. We felt into the water with all of our belongings. During Ines collected everything that swim on the surface, I chased the kaiak down. No chance at all. The wind was to strong and pushed the kayak a way to fast. Some friendly guys with a long tail boat picked us up. They are maybe still laughing about the 2 stupid tourists. 
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Sunset on Koh Lanta
Heaps of long-tail-boats
Koh Phi Phi
Travelling is very exhausting but lots of people will not understand this. We applied as a volunteer in a hostel in Kuala Lumpur/ Malaysia and were approved. The Yellow House, so its named, is not a normal hostel. It’s more like a community which works together all the time. Additional, the people are helping out disabled kids and adults and also homeless people. We will see how it is.
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Thursday, June 4, 2015

Koh Samui and Koh Phangan

We spend 24 hours on boat, bus and taxi until we could move freely again. My foot didn’t get a rest and so I forced myself to do almost nothing for the next 3 days. It really helped a lot. We wandered along the streets nearby which were quite busy even in the low season. I don’t wanna know how it looks like in the peak season.
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To many of us
Chaos
This sucker is everywhere
Being lazy for 3 days drove us nuts. We wanted to get out of the city, discovering the island and to be independent. The scooter is the best thing every for this task. In the beginning we were sceptical to rent one because we heard a lot of rumours about rip-offs and scamming and we had to leave one passport as deposit. But it was alright. Just have a close look and take some pictures for any case. Our driving style was crap at the first time but it got better and better. We took a tour around the whole Island via ring road which is about 50 km long. I don’t know what it was. Either the wind or something else left a big smile in our faces. We could keep going like this the entire day.
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A nice view
Big Buddha 
Our boat to Koh Phangan
We left Koh Samui after 4 days and took the boat to Koh Phangan which was much quieter than its neighbour. Here we met Scott from the USA who came by to take some yoga courses on the island. Later more. Because driving a scooter makes fun we rented one again and cruised along the roads. It didn’t matter if we got lost. All roads lead to Rome.
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The full moon party beach
Another beach
Not spirits but fuel
Thong Salad is the biggest town on the island and worth to visit. The life takes place on the streets, not behind fences and walls made from concrete. If you like Asian food than you have to visit the food market in town. From A to Z you will find everything for your tongue. Even if you don’t like Asian food there are still pizza, burgers, schnitzel, sausage and fried insects. Also you have to try the fruit shakes. Blueberry, chocolate and banana is my favourite. 
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Ines and the sea
Local market
Our first monkey
The highest point on Koh Phangan is Khan Ra which is 627 meter high. The way up is quite steep but harder was the humid weather that day. Time to time we had to make a break and couldn’t believe how lively the forest is. We could hear thousand of crickets, birds and geckos; butterflies in every colour and size danced up to the air, the ground belongs to the ants and we had to move carefully step by step because of poisonous animals. Sweat drenched and out of breath we reached the summit and got a very nice view over the West and east coast. 
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Nice shot Ines
Golden Orb
628 above sea level
While Ines were already on her way to Krabi, I visited Scott in the Sanctuary and took my first yoga session in that place. It was worthwhile to do this. Especially the exercises to strengthen the core were amazing. But like my teacher from the 2nd grade said: “Maik is a good student, but get distracted easily and can’t hold still.” Maybe it’s still true. Anyway it was a nice experience for me and I also met some very interesting people from the end of the world. I spend the rest of my time with snorkelling, swimming, relaxing, writing this blog or enjoying coffee all day long.
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Hey little fellow
Beach from the Sanctuary
A bad side - Trash everywhere