Sepilok, Sandakan, Malaysian Borneo

Google maps: Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary

Sepilok near Sandakan is a worldwide known Orangutans' rehabilitation centre. Injured, ill or orphaned apes  are cared for here and prepared for being returned to the wild. The area is massive, a piece of wild jungle where Orangutans can learn their skills to safely return to where they belong. Normally Orangutans are very difficult to see in the wild but here they are lured to specific spots for supplementary feeding twice daily. There is a fruiting season now so this time only few of them came but it still made the whole experience unforgettable.

Orangutan means "person of the forest" - Orang Utan in Malay / Indonesian, and it really feels like they are not so different from us humans. They are said to be the most intelligent out of all the great apes, use tools and communicate extensively but it is more their behaviour, body posture that make their resemblance to humans unique. They can stand up straight, make faces, go bald, kiss each other, frown their eyebrows and fold their arms. They are also very hairy, live on trees and survive on fruits and leaves but there is really something special - I am not so sure the feeling is mutual though as many of them actually end up in Sepilok because of us.

Kuching, Malaysian Borneo

Google maps: Kuching, Malaysia

We have not even planned to come here. Initially the plan was to climb the Mount Kinabalu in northern Borneo but steep prices (300€ for two-night trek) kept us away and we settled for Kuching instead. The place is well known among the locals but completely new to me. Maybe it was the low expectations, maybe the local people saying 'hello' all the time or relaxing atmosphere but the place is great with loads to see around. Hiking in the jungle, swimming in South China Sea, watching Orangutans and funny Proboscis monkeys (with noses like bacterias from 'Il etait une fois... la vie' or 'Bylo sobie zycie') and eating local laksa, breakfast spicy soup. It would be perfect if only gin & tonic was a bit cheaper :-)

Melaka, Malaysia

Google maps: Melaka, Malaysia

First time Unesco let me down. Usually it always indicates a site worth visiting and exploring, but it seems like this time they just bought a great story. And Melaka has a great one to tell. It is located on the shores of the strategic Melaka Straits (now and before one of the world's busiest sea routes) so it was born to be a powerhouse. Indian traders set it up, Chinese took it over to be later overrun by Malays who created the powerful Melaka Sultanate. This drew the Portuguese in mid-16th century, but they cared too much about religion and after 100 years the Dutch showed them the way out. They on the other hand cared only about trade and were eventually replaced by British, who traded but also applied divide-and-rule tactics supported by some warships and rifles. All communities left their mark on Melaka - Indians their cuisine, Chinese their trade shops, Malays left nothing but current local government built few replicas, Portuguese left a church now in ruins, Dutch a town hall (Stadhuys) and British their administrative system. It is a great story of East meeting West and history repeating itself; it is only pity for the tourists that in spite of the story there is really nothing to see here... (the food was still good :-)

Georgetown, Penang Island

Google maps: Georgetown, Penang Island, Malaysia

After fun of the Thai islands we followed all the backpacking crowd down south and got to Malaysian island of Penang. Georgetown does not sound very Malay and it really is not - it feels more like Chinese, but then once you cross the street it becomes Indian to only few meters further become English colonial to end up Malay on a next corner. You can eat coconut rice (nasi lemak) or Indian masala dosa for breakfast, then for lunch or dinner noodles fried or in soup malay, chinese or indian style, Indonesian satay or Thai curries - and you have plenty of hawker food places to choose from. And then you have Unesco World Heritage sites neighbouring vibrant port city with intriguing murals scattered all-around (see photos).

But what really made me think is how all this different cultures come seemingly effortlessly together and complement each other. There were some major clashes in the past, especially when Malaysia was developing its own post-colonial identity, but Penang kept its uniqueness.  Big cities have their Chinatowns or Little Indias but here in Penang all these cultures are equal partners and not just an awkward distraction. Truly multicultural. This is how I always thought Sarajevo had been, but I just came too late to see it for myself. I hope in Penang it is here to stay for longer.Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia...

Jansom Bay, Ko Tao

In Ko Tao you need to either be cool or go fancy. If you want to be cool you can stay in 20$ bungalows, eat street food but need to do diving (freediving would be the coolest), drink buckets, party till late, ride a scooter and above all have a big tattoo. If you go fancy you need to choose one of 200$ a night resort & spas, move by speedboat, drink cocktails, eat romantic dinner and above all do not mix with the cool bunch.
I am neither of the two. I stay in cheap beach bungalow (great!), only do snorkelling, drink cocktails, eat street food (so much better) and still have no tattoo (unlike 2/3 of the island) - so I am definitely not cool, certainly not yet fancy but while sitting on a beach sipping gin & tonic I feel kind of relaxed...

Ko Tao

Google maps: Ko Tao, Thailand

Most tourists coming to Thailand visit Bangkok, maybe Chiang Mai in the north and spend the most of the time on the islands in the south. Sandy beaches, amazing dive spots, tattoo shops, cheap drinks and Thai food - almost paradise so you cannot really not like it. Or can you?

You can always be very un-cool and get Bon Jovi tattoo, drink Heineken and eat pizza and kebab (the same price as pad thai - disgrace!), or like in my case force yourself to spending time on a beach (which I kinda hate). In South America with Ewa we spent barely two days in Punta del Este and still we were mostly walking - which was great fun btw! With Piotr, my travel companion here, even though a beach is 20m from our bungalow we have not even touched the sand. So why did I really come here? To really see what all the fuss is about and then consciously avoid coming here again -but we will see; snorkelling tomorrow will be decisive. Just in case there is always afternoon ferry back to the mainland - there is still plenty of temples to see :-)

Bangkok

It feels like 2007 again... Not much has changed in Bangkok, or maybe in Khao San Road, a backpackers' mecca. It is still the place to go for cheap hotel, good food a plenty of booze straight out of little buckets (200ml Thai vodka for 5€ - you guess the quality, effect as desired). I am only now in my thirties as David Brent from 'The Office' used to say - the feeling is the same. Still no tattoo or dreadlocks :-)
As I saw the best sights already last time so now it is really about the ambiance and the food (surprised?:-) . And Bangkok is great because best food does not come from fancy restaurants but lost food stalls or plastic tables' bars. And it is so tasty - green curries, pork satays, tom yam soups or papaya salads - whatever actually... Only I never know is it really the food or holidays too...

Brussels

Landing in Brussels felt odd - kind of like home but just felt amazed when hearing the airport announcements that people actually speak Flemish and French rather than Polish... Or maybe Poland looks more like Belgium now, or maybe I was just slow after waking up at 3.30am. After two months it felt good to be back, meet friends, visit favourite places and enjoy being bruxellois. See you back in April...