City of the Lion

Eventually I made it alive to my final destination, the city of the Lion.
As you surely already guessed right that I was talking about Singapore. Well done!

This is gonna be a very brief post so no worries.

First of all I again had troubles with my damn arm and since I have an insurance I decided to go to the doctor to make sure I'm not gonna lose my arm. So being there the service is really professional!
But then the shock: more than 100$?! Like seriously? But hey: Love you, insurance!

But now:
Just telling that this city is incredible!
There are districts of heaps of Asian cultures.
For instance there is a Little India, Chinatown, Malay district,...

Street decoration in the Malay district

A mosque in the Malay district...

A Hindu temple in Little India

They all offer you the highlights of their cuisines and I tried them all!

Also worth a visit is the colonial district to see the old colonial buildings from which the British used to rule the city.

However the highlight of your Singapore visit is gonna be the Marina Bay.
It's probably the most beautiful skyline I have seen so far.
Lots of modern glass skyscrapers, the magnificent Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the bay itself form a stunning view and I can't spend enough time just sitting at the bay and enjoying that view.
Great to see the sunset there as well though...

Marina Bay, the heart of the city...country...whatever...

Just infront oft the Hotel is a collosal mall.
3 stories and so big they created an artificial canal in the mall to get around by boat!

Another highlight are the super trees in the Garden by the Bay.
Especially beautiful at night when they glow in different colours and during the light and sound show which occurs twice a night.

All in all a very futuristic and unbelievably clean metropolis!
Sad to leave now but happy to see my family and friends again soon!

Isle of the Gods

My second last destination was the isle of the gods, commonly known as Bali.
Expectations: sun, beach, party, diving & surfing.
Reality: sun, beach, party, diving & surfing.

What more could I want at the end of my amazing year? Holiday from my vacation!

I had to leave my hostel in Bangkok at half past 3am in the morning to catch my flight and therefore the plan for the day was to just arrive and take a nap and do not party. But as it is plans never really work out. I immediately met people at the airport and we shared a taxi to our hostel. Then we obviously had to grab some food first to prevent starvation and eventually we ended up at the beach. All together it was so awesome that we decided we had to go out that night. Things got even better when we met even more people to go out with and they told us that there is a happy hour in a club called skygarden where you get free cocktails between 9 and 10 pm. We made it there at 9 and let the fun beginn. Take a cocktail and while drinking it queue on for the next one. It was a dangerous game we played but we played it well. In other words we got completely shitfaced and had an awesome night out. Just the next morning I woke up and I found out that I have peeled off quite a lot of my skin of my big toe and my toe was covered in blood. Moreover I had no idea how we got back but apparently we have been on the back of some random guy's scooter. Well at least I had no hangover which was ridiculous. That day I had a shuttlebus to bring me north to Ubud. Small town with shitloads of temples and a monkey forest which later turned out to be great fun.

Here in Ubud I met a lot of people and on the next day 8 of us decided to rent a scooter and explore the island.

The gang on tour!

When we just wanted to start one Brazilian girl lost control of her scooter and drove into a field that was 1.5m below street level and she even flipped over. I really want to have her guardian angel because she just got some bruises and nothing else. Even the scooter was still fine and we could go on like planned.

Beautiful! Rice terrasses...

Selfi-time!

We drove north to the vulcano and we had a stunning view. Driving a scooter is so much fun but we were quite slow since the girls were a little bit scared.

The next day 5 of us were left and we wanted to rent a scooter again. But in end the 3 girls of us decided they wanted a taxi instead so only Timo and me rented a scooter. Since we were without the girls we could drive way faster and the max speed was 110km/hr. So we first went to the monkey forest in Ubud. We got some bananas to play with the monkeys and the were everywhere. They will just climb or jump on you to get to the bananas. Once I didn't let go of my banana and the monkey just peeled the inside of the banana out. Cheeky little creature!

Next stop was the elephant caves a little further. Not to bad as well but nothing too impressive.

Some altars for some gods I just don´t know...

At last we wanted to see the famous temple which was very far away in the north west but was a must see!

The game of Thrones!

We again finished the trip in the night and driving in Bali in the night is dangerous cause the streets are crap and you can't really see the deep potholes. So after some almost-accidents we made it home safely. The next day me and two amazing Irish girls, Emma&Jenni, left Ubud to go to marvellous Gili Trawangan!

As you obviously can scry I was gonna have an awesome time there consisting of beach, sun and PARTY!
Yeah Gili T is known as a great party island and that's what we did!
Going out every night and finish the week off with a full moon party but more about that later.

One day after us Timo arrived and he brought an engliah mate with him, Karl.
The group of us was complete now and very promising.
Since Timo and Karl stayed at another place we only met up with them in late afternoon so I spent most of my days with the girls and you seldom meet people as fun as those girls are.
Emma is just completely insane and Jenni has got the habbit to go into the sea with electronic devices which ends up quite funny for everyone but her.
-"Oh no I went into the sea with my phone last night!"
-"Don't take your iPod touch with you to the party Jenni! You're gonna crash it in the sea as well!"
-"Nah won't happen this time."
Next morning: "God damnit! I went into the sea with my iPod and it's broken now..."
One word: priceless...

One day I actually spent diving and I probably had my best dive so far.
Seen many many turtles, sharks, octopuses, lionfishes....

The day of the full moon party the girls eventually left me and we were all sad about that but they wanted to see Java and I wanted to surf in Kuta. Gonna miss ya girls!

So only me and the boys left to have a good night out.
Well that evening didn't start to bad tho we had a good predrinking and met some people to go to the party with and it was all in all good fun. Just at one point (probs about 3-4am) a damn scorpion stung me in the finger so I had to go to the doctor to see how much time I had left before I die of the poison. However it was a quite a weak poisoned scorpion and they said it'd be fine and I could return to the party what I did. Let's continue!
The day after the party I actually managed to gety ferry back to Kuta and Timo and Karl were about to follow me the day after.

Kuta is just sick! We managed to get an apartment quite close to the beach and the main road. We almost everyday we did the same: getting up late, go to the beach and surf til 5pm. Then we went to a club called Skygarden because they had a good all u can eat BBQ and free flow beer for 5$! After that back to our apparent for chilling or a nap. Be back at skygarden at 9pm because them starts the one hour freeflow of cocktails! And after that just keep on partying!

Karl, me, Timo : best party crew!

Well...nothing to say here...the clubs in Kuta are a little...how can I say...different...

How we sleep after a long night out!

You see them everywhere offering you mushrooms and even give out cards...seriously?

I just love Bali! But after one week in Kuta with Tue boys I had to leave to fly to my final destination!

Asia

After a smooth 5 hrs flight I eventually arrived late night in Kuala Lumpur and made my way into the hostel.
The next day I have been discovering the city by foot which wasn't as easy as expected because I had the worst map I've ever used.
I started with a visit in the national mosque. To get in there I had to wear long purple robes and take off my shoes.
Here I discovered my new style but actually it is really nice just to walk along there and have a look.

 Join the dark side of the force!

I made my way past a lot of colonial buildings and at every corner the was a next temple, church or mosque.

 British goverent building

China townarket! Get it cheap get it here!

I so do! For around 2 or 3 days...

Everywhere in the city you are being reminded that you are in a rainforest because there are a lot of them and you hear the noises they make. There are even monkeys walking around and I have seen the Hangover monkey tho it was in KL instead of Bangkok.

The next day I joined a tour because it was cheap and it took me to some places I wanted to see and couldn't get there by train.

 Buta caves: That's a big guy behind me!

Something for the ladies: Aren't they cute?

After that we went to the new palace of the King. The country is quite not rich but they spend 100 billion dollar for a new palace...good work Malaysia...

 But it looks nice though...

We went to the Buta Caves with its massive golden statue and later on to a massive Chinese temple where I found out that I was born in the year of the rooster...not the most spectacular animal but at least it tastes pretty nice!

To finish that great day I went to the Patronas Towers at night!

Aaand of course the KL-Tower!

I met some cool people on the tour so at the evening we went out together and I probably had my worst hangover the next morning.
It was 30C° and humid as anything. I had to check out before 12 and get my bus to Penang. Not a nice morning but it eventually got better and I was fully recovered after some sleep in the bus.

 You can see them at every corner...

 Penang prepared for battle...

Penang is quite small but even here you have new temples at every corner and I just wondered for whom they are built because it really wasn't that big there...

I met some Dutch guys and we went out for some drinks and pool that evening.
After a day Penang I made my long journey to Koh Tao where I was going to meet up with Luke.

Before I left Australia I burned my arm pretty hard in Perth and I met a French nurse who wanted to see the wound because she thought it was bandaged in the wrong way. Well it was good to let her have a look because she was right and the wound was already infected. She cleaned the wound and bandaged it new and in a proper way but from now on I had to attend to the doctor evey day to get it cleaned and freshly bandaged.

Burn baby burn!

This shows again that you always meet the right people during your journey.

So I spent the first couple of days in Koh Tao just chilling and letting my wound heal a bit before I start diving.
Having some drinks at the beach and playing pool with Luke and beach parties in the evenings. Not too bad at all and my arm seemed to heal pretty well.

So after a couple of days I could finally go diving and had two fun dives at the first day with Luke as my buddy. Here we dived through a cave which was a new experience for me.
On the second day I had two dives to finish my Advanced Adventure diver. Again a deep dive and the second dive was a wreck dive in a second world war ship. Pretty cool!

Just to show you how awesome Koh Tao is!

After the dives and almost a week on Koh Tao it was eventually time to leave. I was going to Chiang Mai and Luke headed towards Cambodia so again after only a week a good bye. We went together to Bangkok and there we had to part. Fare well ginger boy!

So yeah after a smooth flight I was in northern Thailand - in Chiang Mai! (Awesome!)

First of all you will see this guy where ever you are in Thailand: the king.

Also as I am an open minded person I quickly made new friends in Chiang Mai.

A very old and cultural city with -again- temples everywhere!

 Chiang Mai's oldest temple from the fourteenth century...

Not having had a massage in Thailand yet I of course had to try one but where to go best? Why not into a woman's prison to get a massage by prisoners? Best idea ever!

The next day I went to play with big cats - also called tigers!

Good fun and really impressive animals!

And the tiger whisperer strikes again!

The next day I went on a "safari".

I could ride an elephant for an hour but only with a guide and not myself how I naively believed...but still good. 

That was followed by an elephant show where they even did paintings...and not even bad ones...my brother probably couldn't paint better.

After lunch we have been riding an ox cart for some time to a rover where we rafted down the river on a bamboo float for a long time. 

Last but not least the safari brought me to a Karen village which is a hill tribe with very very long necks!

During my stay in Chiang Mai I stayed in the Baan Khun Hostel. Usually I do not advertise anything in my blog but this hostel is just incredibly awesome. It is quite cheap and very clean. The staff is just incredible, providing you a free breakfast. At the first evening the receptionist asked me if I was hungry. I replied " Yes, why?"

-"We are going to order Pad Thai. Do you want some?"

-"Yeah sure. Thanks! "

-" Okay be here in an hour."

-" Okay. How much does it cost?"

-" It's free. I'll pay for it."

So they give you food during the day and they even drove me to the hospital to get my bandages changed. Last but not least they offered me a free lift to the airport! Incredible those people. No other hostel would care that much for you!

A couple of hours later I eventually arrived in my hostel in Bangkok. The sun was shining, it was already 39 °C in the shade and it was humid as anything! Perfect conditions to explore the city!

Nevertheless I went to see some cool stuff, get food and get my bandage changed. Last turned out to be a pretty hard thing because most hospitals wanted 500-1000 baht to do the dressing and I paid only 70 in Chiang Mai. So I walked around the city and whenever I saw I doctor I went in to ask for the price and eventually found one who did it for 100. Lucky me!

Back in the hostel in the late evening I met Stef, who I met in Koh Tao before and we were hanging out playing some pool.

The next day then I went to explore the western part of the city with him and a friendly local told us that you can use the government tuktuks that day for 20baht/hr.

 

 Buddhas...every...where...

Even gigantic ones...

Everything in this picture is just perfect!

He´s everywhere looking at you: the king!

And another temple...since there aint enough already...

Can´t see them often enough? Here you go with another Buddha!

Good for us! So we went around the whole city for 3 hrs and had to visit 2 shops for the driver where he gets coupons if we buy something. Since we did not buy anything he got pissed off quickly.

So after 2.5hrs driving us around he just let us out at one temple we wanted to see and while we were in the temple he drove away...

So we got the next tuktuks that proved to be a little bit more expensive bit by afternoon we have seen everything we wanted to see. Nice!

So for the evening we went to Bangkok's main party road Khao San Road!

Started with some cheap shopping and a little not later it started to get a little busy in the bars tho the curfew still kinda destroyed it...

Anyway now without being racist: Am I the only one who thinks that the Thai language sounds a little bit like crows...?

That's it with Thailand now! Off to Bali!

Photos will follow as soon as I have computer access...