Once again my visa in Thailand was soon expiring and I had to decide where to go next. Question was: Should I continue travel in Southeast Asia? or go somewhere further? Of course, the second option was much more attempting. I had to consider many variables and this time I didn’t have any sort of plan. Everything since I came back to Thailand was based on spontaneous decision. I was investigating which option would be more affordable, prices of flights, how far I would go if it’s better to stay in Asia or should I visit another continent? If yes, where? Then I went through fact that after so much time in Southeast Asia it wouldn’t be so attractive anymore as before because not only cultural similarity but even nature and especially behavior factors. It would be still interesting but far from something exiticng, at least that is my theory based what I felt after longer travel experience of that areas. I know, countries like Vietnam or Myanmar are definitely worth to visit but due to factors mentioned above I started to look for another possibilities. There was Africa on the list but one big cons was prices of any airticket. I tried to make combinations of many different airlines with different stopovers as other countries but the result was always overpricing more than 700$ for one way. Other target was Oceania. Yes, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji or even Tahiti. Yes, I had plan to cross over pacific from Auckland to French Polynesia, possibly continue to Eastern Island to Chile - South America. It took more than week until I had found solution. I bought ticket to Auckland, the cheapest flight ever to New Zealand. Air Asia for 300$ from Kuala Lumpur, so why not? I felt some uncertainty if I should stay there for while due to high criminal records statistic. That was the time when I still though the official statistic reports has some information value. Then I decided that I will try it to stay in KL for week.
My last day in Thailand, I said goodbye my good friend in Chiang Mai and flew to Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia was always little bit mystery for me, the culture, history, religion and people so it would be nice how it’s going on there. After three hours of flight finally I landed in Kuala Lumpur international airport. The airport was quite huge and comfortable. I checked out where is my hotel, got directions on my mobile and let’s get into it. First I needed to get to downtown and as always I try to avoid taxies but It wasn’t problem, in cities like this is always more alternative than taxi to get from Airport to downtown. When I am booking some hotel/hostel it should be always close to some station, especially to metro or sky train station because it’s usually fastest transportation for travel around city.
At the next few days I checked out downtown and some interesting markets in center. Of course I couldn’t forget about very famous structure in Southeast Asia. The Petronas Towers were finished in 1999 and were the tallest buildings in the world until Taipei 101 was completed in 2004. Front of towers is huge fountain which looks very interesting especially during night when many lights of many different colors are used to create quite spectacular show. Unfortunately at time of my visit view from towers wasn’t accessible for tourist due to maintenance.
Ethnic and religious diversity is very interesting part of Malaysia which include all main religions of the world. The state religion is Islam then Buddhism, Christianity and Hindu. I would say in Kuala Lumpur it’s more colorful and exotic due to mixture so many religions and ethics groups in just one city. Islam is dominant in the country but in KL it’s more diverse. Amongst mosques around there is lot of Hindu sculptures and temples, Buddhist temples and even some Christian churches too. In Kuala Lumpur half of population belong to ethnic group Bumiputera which represents Malay people, then other almost half population is Chinese and rest Indians. Those are three main groups in Malaysia.
Local cuisine reflect this diversity so dishes as yellow curry, Chinese noodles or falafel is possible to find anywhere around but even some special food which you can find only in Malaysia. I would consider Sambal belacan as very interesting food to try. Belacan is generally popular in Southeast Asia, it’s kind of mass made mostly from shrimps, then smoked and served with some vegetables and chili paste. I personally preferred typical Indian food, it spicy as hell and always very tasty.
North of downtown is located place named Batu Caves. Similar to Bangkok in KL is lot of sky bars so if you are staying little bit longer you should try some. Is nothing better than drinking and at the same time enjoying beautiful view of city from skyscraper. There is popular cave which is full of different species of bats. There is guide to caves, with small group of tourist deep in the cave to check out this creatures. The Batu caves are surrounded by Hindu structures temples and other architectural wonders. This place I definitely recommend to visit.
Five days left and I am leaving my hotel taking sky train to downtown and from there bus to airport which I reserved include with AirAsia airticket. I flew with AirAsia which was not the best for long flights it was quite satisfactory. I was just little bit disturbed and nervous during tis trip because I flew to such long distance from all other continents without any proper plan, I had to keep in my mind that I need to decide soon if I want to go back to Asia or continue further. This wasn’t easy decision, It was about to open another chapter of adventure.
Well, I hope I had included everything important from my journey. If you have any questions you can contact me on my social media or email published here on my website. Finally I am getting to New Zealand!
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