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Ernst's Velotouren
  
 
 
 
 
  
Bicycle Tour 2008 - 2013
Second stage South East Asia - Australia
Part 2: Malaysia und Singapore
map
Overview, for details see Google Earth or Garmin-File.
MALAYSIA
PULAU LANGKAWI, KUALA LUMPUR, MELAKKA, JOHOR BAHRU
Abschie
Picture: Sunset on the island of Langkawi in northern Malaysia. The island is a very popular holiday destination, especially for tourists from Arab countries and Europeans. So it happens that on the beach everything between bikini and burqa can be seen in harmony side by side.
Mekong-Fälle
Piczure: Slowly I drive kilometer per kilometer south on the Malay Peninsula towards the city state of Singapore. Each afternoon, it gets pretty hot (above 35 degrees C), and I drink every day more than 8 liters of fluid.
 
Picture: Homepage update the run-down Swiss Hotel in Taiping, one of the oldest towns in Malaysia. Taiping means "City of Eternal Peace." Fact is, that ifferent chinese mafia clans were fighting here during many years until 1874.
Picture: Malaysian drivers are fast and usually pretty ruthless. Bicycle lanes are mostly missing. Until now, the country does not inspire me much as a cyclist. But Malaysias people are very friendly and helpful.
Picture: On the Mekong tour last October, the carrier was broken on a non-bearing part . Here it gets now expertly repaired.
Picture: The metropolitan area around the capital Kuala Lumpurcan be described without exaggeration as a cyclist hell. Most of this day I drive next to black smoking and roaring trucks and buses through vibrant urban area, passing between mosques and mega-malls. Several times on that day I am pushed ruthlessly and abruptly. I have - inshallah - survived it without damage.
Picture: After about 60 km in urban area I reached finally the green landscape.
Malakka
Malacca has a long and eventful history. The city was founded by Chinese merchants, and remained until 15 Century virtually a Chinese colony, in which Indians, Chinese and Arabs traded their goods. From 1402 Malacca was a Malay sultanate, some 100 years later, around 1511, the city was conquered by Portuguese sailors. In the following centuries Malacca was intermittently under the Dutch crown and last until 1957, it belonged to the British colonial empire. All these different rulers left their marks in the city. Since 2008 Malacca is a World Heritge Site of the UNESCO.
Picture: The Christchurch and the Victoria Fountain in Red Square from the dutch colonial period.
Picture: The remains of the Portuguese fort from the 15th Century.
Picture: Malaysia's kitchen is as varied as his population. In the indian restarants vegetables, lentils and cucumber salad are served on a banana leaf. Delicious. No spoon or fork is available, the food has to be eaten with the right hand (shape the rice, vegetables and lentils with the fingers to a small ball which is then pushed with the thumb into mouth.
Picture: A mosque just before Pontian. About 60% of the population of Malaysia are Muslims, mostly Sunnis.
Picture: To get to Sinapore, I had to ride on an eight-lane motorway through the city Johor Bahru. As usual, cycle routes are lacking and especially the professional drivers race like the devil! With relief, I crossed the bridge between Johor Bahru and Singapore and continued on an eight-lane highway into the heart of Singapore, Little India. But what a difference! In Singapore all traffic signs and even cyclists are respected.
Singapore
Picture: The business center of Singapore at down. "Money never sleeps ..."
Picture: When I arrived in Singapore I organized immediately a trip to Perth, Australia, and flew just a few hours later.
Next side : Western-Australia