Trans - Siberian no go ....

Yeap Russians ridiculous visa requirments will stop us from taking this amazing train Adventure. Well it happens 2 nd time for me and first to Clo we are a bit down however it means that we will have to come back here in the future....

In mean time we search for ideas how to replace our train journey with something eqully specatular any suggestions more than welcomed as our spirits do not fly high today :).

Bangkok visit no 2

After 2 weeks visiting Malaysia and Singapore we are back to Bangkok. It was a nice two weeks that took us to a bit different South East Asia from what we knew so far.

After two hours wait at the Kuala Lumpur airport that looked like a ghost town more than an airport we were happy to board a malaysian air plane heading to the party city.

Plan for today: go for the delicious salt fried beef for me and some meat curry for clo and get ready for tomorow - fight with Russians in the embassy to get a visa.

Yeap this delicious culinary perspective made us fast and skip the food in the plane that looked surprisingly good. Well, fasting hmmm not entirely true as clo bought us a large house of candies Kinder beueno at the airport which we consumed with truly holiday's appetite- I guess the everywhere to be heard christmas carols got to us a bit earlier.

Back to Bangkok

We are headed back to Bangkok today and are just about to leave for the airport.

Melaka was nice, but I think that most of the historical value and heritage of the place is in Melakans' hearts more than anywhere else, although there were a few interesting architectural hybrids, such as mosques with pagoda shaped domes, unique to the region.

Nevertheless, it was nice to spend a little bit of time outside big cities and to be in a place where Westerners are not the target market - they cater much more to Chinese or Singaporians.

Some work awaits us in Bangkok as we need to organize the transsiberian trip back to Europe; hopefully we won't spend too much time in Embassies.

Melaka, Malaysia

We're back in Malaysia and have stopped by Melaka (Malacca), a coastal town in the province of the same name, between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Melaka, which was declared UNESCO world heritage city last year, was the port of entry to Malaysia by traders of different countries for centuries and is therefore very culturally rich. Chinese, Indian, Portuguese, Dutch, British, etc. have all contributed to the traditions, the cuisine, the architecture...

We are staying in a very nice guesthouse just outside the old town area (China town) and our hosts are taking very good care of us, driving us around and telling us about the region which they are very proud of.

Singapore

We've made it to Singapore after a sleeepless night in the train yeap what a surprise. At the moment we are enjoying a shisha in the Arabic distric of the city that is incredibly spacious and beatifull.

Tomorrow we plan on visiting a city and later the week we will check he famous ministry of sound to dance a bit.

We are truly in love with this city that is one of the most beautifull places we visited so far however the prices are very very western though we will try to maximize those 3 days.

One question remain will we resist a temptation to get a new cell phone number, that would he a cell no. 4 ;) ?

Singapore next morning...

We are waiting on the train terminal in Kuala Lumpur sitting on the floor an enjoying looking at bypassing Malaysians. You can see all races in their most original and beautiful outfits. At 9.35 pm we are boarding overnight train to Singapore. We should arrive there at 8 am.

We have a very ambitious plan to quicly check in to our hotel and spend all day visiting the city. There is only one problem to succeed with our plan. We will have to sleep in the train and wake up quite early for us 8 am. So far our record is not the greatest with waking up so early, it took us three days of trials to wake up at 9 to go and organize our visas, but of course we are optimists this time. Okay it should be ease as the train has to stop unless those creative Asians built a water passage to Indonesia.

A little town named Siem Reap

Siem Reap, in Cambodia, is one of the nicest little towns we've seen so far. And this may sound surprising, or even astonishing to anyone who has been there! But we have our theory on that: we got there at night.

Getting into a city in the night time always leaves a special first impression. I guess our senses are more aware and each sound, sight and smell is multiplied by ten and you just see things differently.

That's exactly how it was when we got to Siem Reap. Our hotel was located on a street that was plunged in darkness and was quiet to the extent that we weren’t expecting much from this little town.

The main street was just as dark but much more lively, and full of pot-holes, overcrowded with tuk tuk drivers, and we quickly got surrounded by begging kids who lure tourists into shops to get them to buy them food - but what they really want is the US$25 powder milk supposedly for their little brother or sister, but we suspect they resell it to the store... anyways, as I was saying, we left the main street and engaged in a narrow alley, well decorated, nicely lit, and packed with restaurants and bistros, each one livelier than the next. And then, another unexpected surprise, the passage emerged on a busy street lined with terrasse pubs and restaurants and all the action a little town has to offer. Quite a contrast with the previous scene!

See, if we had arrived during the day in Siem Reap, we wouldn't have experienced that. We would have showed up on a super hot day, in a little town that seems to have been abandoned - although the truth is everything and everyone is slowed down by the heat, and the rest are visiting Angkor Wat! - and we would probably have found it very plain.

The night time theory was confirmed also in Bangkok. Although Bangkok is a bustling city, night or day, getting off the minibus after sun down and walking through the crowd of Khao San Road makes you wonder if you weren’t dropped off in the middle of a party: loud music, street vendors, food stalls, open air restaurants and tons and tons of people enjoying themselves.

And, we also got to Kuala Lumpur after dark. Big city, with a giant lighted disco ball dominating the skyline (KL Tower) and Twin Towers entirely illuminated until midnight, that you can’t keep your eyes off of them, and a landscape of hills that you guess in the shadows. Very impressive.

...But more details about KL in another story. ;)