Back to Malaysia

Two years ago, I spent one month in this amazing country. It was a combination of doing volunteer work on an organic farm, and visiting some nice places in Malaysia. It was my first solo trip so it had a big influence on me. First sniff of this addictive drug called travelling. So I flew with great pleasure back to Malaysia! Top priority in the capital, Kuala Lumpur (KL) 2016 is my Chinese visa, which is supposed to be ready on the day before my flight. Fingers crossed…

Malaysia

This country isn’t a really popular place to go for other backpackers. Or you rather love it or you’ve only been to KL and be like “Naah“(Lifting shoulders). Malaysia is famous for it’s diversity in different religions living together. You have the Indians (mostly Hindu’s), the Chinese (Buddhist) and the Malay (Muslims). You also have the Indonesians, Bangladesh and Burmese but these I’m not counting these as “locals”. The food in Malaysia is amazing!

• Nasi Lemak
  Malay, steamed rice with delicious chicken
• Chendol
  Malay, herbal drink with jelly
• Curry mee
  Chinese, noodles soup with pork and strong curry
• Ipoh white coffee
  Chinese, delicious but sweet white coffee
• Teh tarik
  Indian, herbal tea often served with condensed milk
• Roti Canai/Telur
  Indian, kind of pancake which you eat with your hands served with different curry’s
• Roti Pisang
  Same as Coti Canai, but made with a banana. Really good as a dessert or breakfast!

Kuala Lumpur – Nigel

Last time I was in Malaysia, I spent one night in Melaka. Melaka is a little bit like the Chiang Mai from Thailand: Quiet, peaceful, good food, cheap hostels and lots of culture and places to see! On the bus back from Melaka to KL, I started talking with Nigel, a local Chinese guy who was really interested about my trip. We kept contact on facebook and instagram, and two years later we were able to meet up again.

Knowing from his instagram account, I knew he enjoyed running and hiking trough the mountains. It didn’t surprise me when he offered to go for a hike together. Waking up at 5.3o am to meet up at 6 am, promised a nice sunset. The climb was actually quiet heavy and pretty hardcore for my terms. Halfway going up I mentioned it which Nigel answered by: “I think it’s in Malaysia top 10 most difficult mountains”… This explained a lot.
Anyway, it was an amazing hike with some pretty intense cliffhangers and monkeys hanging around. Afterwards we went for a delicious Malay breakfast and I got an Indian haircut. Thanks bro!

Video coming up soon 😉

“I think it’s in Malaysia top 10 most difficult mountains” – Nigel Dre

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Natural Tropical Farm

As I mentioned before, I’ve spent some time volunteering on an organic farm. It’s also known under the term WWOOFING.
WWOOF stands for WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It’s a worldwide platform that allows you to work with locals on an organic farm in any country. You create an online profile, describes who you are and by paying a fee, you’ll be able to contact other farms on the website.
I worked for two weeks on the Natural Tropical Farm which was an amazing experience! Eric, Min and Wong teached me many things about the traditions and local dishes in Malaysia. It’s also how I met Vanthu, my friend from Sei Silau.
Because I already knew KL, I was happy to get back to the farm after two years and see if the chickens were still happy. A good way to see old friends again and to learn to work with your hands. (And safe money :p)

The daily tasks we had to do were:

• Cut banana trees/mango’s/chicken medicine
• Feed the chickens
• Cut and collect crass for the chickens
• Build a chicken house
• Collect the eggs

Doing these tasks in 30° is quiet hard work, but it’s really enjoyable. It’s an organic farm, so no pesticides or any special products are used for the chickens or fruits. There were about 1000 organic chickens on the farm. Almost no smell from the chickens! (only  a little bit after rain) Once more I was a victim of the Indonesian and Malay kindness for about three days… Thank you so much Eric and Vanthu for your kind words and great discussions! I definitely come back to the farm one day!

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Beijing

In the meantime I’ve received my Chinese visa and arrived in Beijing. I’ll write more about this in the next posts. I received a confirmation mail from the Kung Fu academy that everything is set to host me. Only problem is that it’s really cold… I’ll survive and be strong 😉