Nara (May 14-15)

On Monday I arrived in Nara on a beautiful spring day. Taking the regional train from Osaka was very easy. Yes, I can confirm that it’s true – trains arrive exactly to-the-minute, I proved it personally! After leaving my bags at the guest house I started my walk through the huge park with all its temples and gardens. For me the most interesting part was observing hundreds or even thousands of school kids in their uniforms. Someone told me they come from everywhere in Japan to visit the temples. Obviously these kids have the task to talk to tourists and deploy their English knowledge with the help of a small booklet. In fact, the most important part of the interview is not the questions but rather the photo shooting at the end. I seem to be an interesting target for the kids because of my outward appearance. I didn’t see any other tourists being interviewed.

In Nara I had amazing lunch (Udon noodles in Japanese style curry) and in the evening I went to my first Japanese Sushi bar. I was surprised that it it almost identical to the Sushi bars we have in Europe. At least they don’t cheat on us and sell food which is not authentic like it happens with the Chinese restaurants.

Yesterday the weather was very bad. In the morning I continued the sightseeing tour but I had to stop in the early afternoon as it began to rain heavily. I spent the rest of the day sleeping. In the nights I don’t get a very good sleep because of the dorm rooms, the only affordable option in Japan.

The evening turned out to be very nice. I met Tommy from the US who has been working for four years in a Japanese company in Tokyo. He told me very interesting stuff about the working culture and living in Japan in general. We went to a Sushi bar in the evening (the same that I had been to before) and this time they had a special promotion offer for draft beer. Actually I wouldn’t have noticed because of the language barrier but thanks to him we found out. The beer was amazingly cheap (105 Yen, normally it’s three to four times more), so we took advantage. We continued drinking in the guest house where we also met a French couple, a guy from the Czech Republic and other Japanese people. It was a nice group and we could have continued until late. Unfortunately in Japan the rules are strict so we had to stop the “conversation” at 23:30.

What really impresses me in Japan is that everything has a sense, even if this sense is not visible for us as Europeans at first sight. One example: In the Sushi bar there were plastic baskets on the floor. I asked Tommy what they are for and he told me that they are for putting your bag inside, so it won’t get dirty on the floor. Amazing! Someone is thinking for you, similar to staying with mum.

This morning I continued to Kyoto with hangover. Just this: The photo shootings with me continued!

Osaka (May 12-13)

The difference between Japan and all the other countries I have been to in Asia so far is that Japanese are able to invent a toilet with integrated water tap. It’s not a revolutionary invention but at least someone invested some brain power. In other countries some guest house rooms didn’t even have a hook at the wall to hang up a towel. This is definitely equal to zero brain power.

Yesterday I was lucky to catch one of the last trains from Kansai airport to the city because the flight was one hour delayed. I left the plane running to be in a front position of the immigration queue. It was a good decision to push to the front because the queue turned out to be huge. If I hadn’t been able to catch the train, I would have had to pay a real fortune for a taxi. Someone told me that in the vicinity of more than 100 euro! Unfortunately when I arrived in the city, the subway was already suspended, so I had to pay 20 euro for a taxi to my guest house. Thank you Air Asia! No wonder that the taxis are so expensive, the drivers are wearing suit and tie and the cars are real limousines. I felt ashamed to put my dirty backpack on top of the white seat cover. Ok you get a bit more for your money but do I really need a TV (in Japanese) in the taxi? I think only millionaires would be able to afford watching a whole movie inside the taxi.

The guest house is really nice. The rooms are Japanese style with bamboo floor and there is a common area with free Wi-Fi, bar, etc. The showers and toilets are immaculate! Yesterday night I met a German guy and he seemed to be overwhelmingly happy to meet another compatriot. He told me that he hadn’t met any German since he started travelling two weeks ago. That is really impressive because in other Asian countries you meet Germans every day. In fact, the traveller scene here is very different. There are only few real backpackers and the proportion of Westerners is way smaller than in other countries. It’s not surprising because the money you spend here in week or little more would be enough to travel a whole month in Thailand or Cambodia.

Osaka itself is a big and modern city. There are only few real sights such as the castle but for me the travel experience is simply walking around, trying the amazing food and observing the people. There is so much to discover! Today, in one of the pedestrian streets I was interviewed by a Japanese TV channel. They were asking the typical questions such as how long I have been in Japan, if I like it, etc. I think they wanted me because I look so strange to them J. Today the streets were quite empty because it’s Sunday. I had the impression that half of the city is gambling. They have gambling halls with slot machines everywhere and this seems to be one of the favourite weekend activities.

The weather today was very good but it’s quite cool – day temperatures of around 20°C and 12°C at night. Compared to the places I have been to before, this is very, very cold!

First day conclusion: I like it! Tomorrow I will head to Nara, only 40 km east of Osaka. It’s a world heritage site with a lot of gardens and temples.

Kuala Lumpur (May 10-11)

Here I am again in Kuala Lumpur. As my last experiences with backpacker places in KL were close to disgusting, I decided to book a hotel online. I don’t regret a single cent for this nice room with white bed sheets (I mean really white, not grey), towels (also white), a bathroom with rain-shower shower, aircon etc. It’s still comparably cheap because I got a special promo offer. In Japan, I will have to pay the same price for a dorm room bed!

After going to the haircutter this morning, I visited the Batu caves in a northern suburb of KL. The big cave itself is actually quite nice but not what mankind has done to it. Today it’s a Hindu pilgrim site with some small temples but it’s all extremely cheesy. There are even souvenir shops at the entrance! The floor inside the cave is entirely paved and completely destroys the cave experience. There is a long stairway you have to go up for reaching the cave. It’s beleaguered by hundreds of monkeys looking for food. I saw people feeding them, so no wonder that they reproduce uncontrolled. I have given up to get worked up about the stupidity of people. In a nutshell, visiting the Batu caves is not an indispensable activity in KL.

This afternoon I did some decent shopping in Chinatown, which means a toothbrush and a deodorant. It was so terribly hot that even that can be exhausting! Fortunately it started to rain later and the air cooled down a little bit. Unbelievable but true, I was able to buy some Japanese Yen for a good exchange rate. I hope that the bills are not faked but they seem to be alright.

Tomorrow I will finally depart for Japan. I will keep you posted as soon as possible. I heard that they also have Internet so it shouldn’t be a problem J

Kota Kinabalu (May 6-9)

Saturday evening ended quite scary. I had dinner in one of the typical restaurants which are completely open towards the street. As it was raining I decided to sit inside. All of a sudden parts of the ceiling collapsed and big concrete blocks fell down. I was sitting maybe 3 metres away. Fortunately nobody was injured because it happened in one of the corners without tables. It was a terrible noise and all the people were staring with a face of disbelief. Nobody left the restaurant, the people discussed what happened and finally continued eating. I tried to finish my prawn soup faster, burned my tongue and left as soon as possible.

I completely changed my plans in Kota Kinabalu. As I commented in my previous entry, on Sunday I went diving (nice!!). On Monday I was too lazy to go somewhere else and besides I didn’t really know what else could be interesting around KK. Going to the Mt. Kinabalu National Park finally didn’t convince me, I thought it could become really boring there without climbing the mountain. On the other hand side, staying in KK is terribly boring because there is nothing to do. I went back to the diving centre because I knew they were also offering other activities than diving. As nothing really convinced me neither I finally decided to do my Advanced Open Water Diver course. Now I can say that it was definitely the right decision. The dive sites here are not spectacular but very nice and this is perfect for a course. I mean if you go to a world-famous diving site like Sipadan you don’t really want to “waste” your time doing exercises instead of fun dives. When I did my Open Water Diver on Perhentian Islands I was almost a little impatient because I wanted to see turtles and sharks and would have preferred to skip all the exercises. I know that they are necessary but you know what I mean!

The deep dive to 30 metres was actually a bit disappointing because the visibility was almost zero. Furthermore the water was freezing cold down there. My dive instructor told me that the temperature was 23°C which in Germany would be a warm temperature for an outdoor swimming pool but compared to the 29°C above it felt cold. The other dives were really nice although visibility could have been better.

In my mind I am already somewhere else, planning my last two weeks in Japan. This afternoon I will fly back to Kuala Lumpur and on Saturday to Osaka. I am really excited and to be honest, I have a certain respect. It feels like beginning a completely new trip because I imagine it to be so different from what I have seen until now. I tried to prepare as good as possible, booking a hostel for the first two days, downloading the train timetable for the ride from the airport to the city, etc. The guesthouse already sent me some additional and very useful information, so I think I should be able to make it. Unfortunately my plane arrives very late. I hate arrivals at night in a new city because it makes travel and orientation even more difficult (not to mention the fatigue).

Kota Kinabalu (May 4-5)

OK I already knew it, Kota Kinabalu (KK) is a spotless town. Normally people use KK as a stopover to the famous Mt. Kinabalu. It’s Southeast Asia’s highest mountain with 4.095m and so crazily popular that you have to reserve weeks in advance and pay a tremendous amount of money to climb it. Obviously I didn’t purchase my permit and camp accommodation on time, so I will not climb Mt. Kinabalu. The other big highlight in this region of Malaysian Borneo beside Mt. Kinabalu is Sipadan Island – one of the world’s most famous diving sites – but same same, you need a previously arranged permit and also it’s very expensive. Instead I will go diving tomorrow in the Abdul Rahman National Park just some few kilometres off KK, which consists in a couple of islands. I hope it’s more than the poor man’s version of Sipadan.

After that, my plan is to spend the three remaining days in Borneo somewhere in the nature. Maybe I will go to the Mt. Kinabalu National Park and do some trekking at the foot of the mountain. I read that there are some decent lodges and I think that would be a nice way of concluding my stay in Borneo.

Yesterday morning Krystyna and I said goodbye. She already flew back to Kuala Lumpur from where she’s heading to Bali. We really had a great time travelling together! I took a flight to KK with a small prop aircraft – I love that! I am glad that I didn’t take the bus because I heard from other travellers that the ride takes more than 10 hours and involves numerous border crossings between Brunei and Malaysia. Look at the map and you’ll see why. Actually flying is quite cheap here so the bus is not an option for me as a 2m man. By the way I already know that my height is 6 feet and 5 inches. Everywhere people ask me and they are still not used to the metric system in Malaysia although officially they use it.

In KK I went to a guest house which someone recommended to me in Miri. It’s a nice place but the only remaining room yesterday was a tiny prison cell without window. I was too tired to go somewhere else so I accepted. Beside it was really cheap. Fortunately I was able to change the room today. Now I have a window and even aircon but I have to pay triple. I did not do any sightseeing today (due to a lack of sights), so I spent the day vagabonding around and looking for Wi-Fi places as the Wi-Fi in the guest house doesn’t work. I told them a lie saying that I have to contact my boss back in Germany and finish some work (I had this idea because I really met people working while travelling) but this didn’t seem to speed up their efforts to fix the problem.

Niah Caves National Park (May 2-3)

All the negative stuff we have heard about Niah National Park was bullshit. The park was absolutely amazing. I have never seen a cave like this, it was huge! Some parts of the inner cave have holes in the ceiling and sunlight is shining through. This creates a really mystic atmosphere. Other parts of the cave are completely dark. Without torches you cannot even see a person standing beside you, really freaky. Unfortunately another cave called the “Painted Cave” was closed due to maintenance of the walkway. In this cave you can find paintings which are 1200 years old.

We went to the National Park together with Bernd from Germany and his Malaysian girlfriend Amelie from Kuala Lumpur. We shared a private car taking us to the park, which is more than 100 km south of Miri. The accommodations in the park were stunning – huge rooms with wooden furniture and private bathroom for 10 EUR per room. I think we were the only guest spending the night there because we didn’t see anybody around later in the evening. The small restaurant seemed to open only for us. We didn’t expect amazing food in a National Park with hardly any visitors but it was really lousy.

The next day after sleeping long in the luxurious rooms, we went to the small museum at the park entrance. On the way back, there was a guy asking us if we would like to go back to Miri with him for 30 Ringgit each. You have to know that going to the park by public transport is quite a hassle and expensive because it consists of a mix of public bus and taxi. He told us that he is waiting for a German couple to come back from the park and that this would take another 2-3 hours. It was the same for us hanging around in the park or in Miri, so we accepted. In the meantime, the man took us to the next village, so at least we could buy some decent food and drinks. There was a Chinese supermarket selling smuggled beer for a very good price, so we took advantage. We spent the waiting time drinking and listening to music (Krystyna even had some small loudspeakers). Bernd and Amelie spent another night so we could sit on the nice veranda of the bungalow. We had to wait 4 hours until the German couple came back from the park and I was already a bit drunk when we finally left. This was the first time that I drank alcohol during the day, so don’t get a wrong impression J. Anyway I had to ask the driver to stop on the road because I had to pee. Later, talking to the German couple in the bus, I found out that they come from my small village Hüttenberg, not kidding. It’s unbelievable how small the world is!!!!!! I hope that they didn’t realize that I had drunk. They would have got a totally wrong impression of me.

Back in Miri, Krystyna and I spent our last day together with a group of locals on the roof terrace. They were from Kuching and came to Miri working for a music festival which starts next week. They were drinking a lot and brought loads of very bad spirits which I didn’t touch because otherwise my hangover would have been evil! Anyway, yesterday was really fun.

Miri (April 30 - May 1)

Last night I had to sleep in an 8-bed dorm room. There were no other options in the guest house we went to and other places in town were overpriced and low-standard. At the end it wasn’t that bad but I normally hate sleeping in a room without space to put your things, squeaking bunk beds and noisy roommates. Men and women here are separated on different floors which I think is pretty ridiculous because the travellers are not 12 years old. Thankfully we got an own room today.

We spent 2 hours discussing yesterday evening with other travellers what would be the best option to get to Niah Caves National Park, if it is worth spending a night there and so on. At the end there was no minibus available for today because of the bank holiday (yes they also celebrate Labour Day). Instead of trying to go there by public transport, we decided to stay one more day in Miri. The problem is that there is really nothing to see or do here. This town was mainly built because of the oil boom in this region (it’s also very close to Brunei) but tourists only use it as a gateway to the national parks around. We went to the only sight which was recommended in the guidebook – a really nice Taoist temple – but it took not more than 30 minutes to visit it. At least we had a fantastic sea food dinner today with other travellers!

I hope that the Niah Caves National Park will fulfil our expectations because the park is the main reason why we flew here. We already heard some negative things but we will have to see it with own eyes.