Thanks for the tip. Actually I had no issue being constantly with locals in India but this is not the same story in Malaysia. There isn't this "westerners curiosity", hence the feeling of loneliness.

Plus, chinese are at best cordial at worse rude. And they are legions in Malaysia. Doesn't give a warm feeling to the country.

I will still check Meetup out, thanks again.

Maybe you should stop being a constant dick and just enjoy the pics of the monkeys that I uploaded here just for you.

You ungrateful asian prick (but I still love you )

Hmm... interesting... I'm a bit familiar with Haitian vodou. Never heard of Samoan's. Will check that out. Thanks !

Hi, /i was reading your blog and thinking how much better it is than mine
I wish I could travel around the world dood

nit

MALACCA

After my disappointing start in Kuala Lumpur, and after 3 days there, I decided to head to the south of Malaysia in a city called Malacca (also spelled Melaka, Malaka).

It took me a couple of hours to get there by bus.

Buses in Malaysia are very nice. Equiped with A/C, large and comfy seats and no Bollywood music as in indian's buses (and this one was a big positive point).

I arrived at Melaka central and knew that I would have to take another local bus to go to the city.

A chinese man came to me.

-Hello, new in town ?
-Yup, I'm looking for the local bus to go to the city
-Have you booked a room already ?
-I have. Do you have guesthouses ? I asked
-Yes. Mine is ranked in 7th position on Tripadvisor.
-Nice ! I have to go to get a drink. See ya.

And I went away. Didn't want to be bothered by a kind of tout wanting to sell me anything.

Got a cold coffee and kept on looking around for the local bus.

The chinese dude arrived once again.

-You like coffee right ? he asked
-What would be a day without a coffee ?
-Haha, you're right. Look, if you want I bring you to your hotel. My car is nearby.
-Sounds like a plan. Thanks a lot !

I wasn't concerned he would kill me (lol@that) so I followed him.

Actually he was cool. Chinese roots, now living there, speaking chinese, malaysian and english, and ruling a guesthouse.

I asked him quite some questions about Malacca and the tchat was nice.

We arrived ay my hotel and before I got inside he just gave me his business card. I thought that maybe he would ask some money for the ride but he didn't. Actually it was just my lucky day.

I got inside the place. It was an hostel but I had booked a private room. I like this mix : on one hand you have your own privacy and on the other hand you're in a place where many people and you can socialize.

Simple yet clean room and with A/C. Like 15€ a night :



Well, not this time. I don't know if it was off season or what but the hostel had very few guests. As a result I spent most of the time all by myself.
So, how is Malacca ?

I'm not gonna make the suspense last longer. Malacca was nice but I still wasn't that thrilled about Malaysia.

Ok let's be fair and start with the good points :

- It is a nice little town with the souvenir of the past colonies by Portuguese, Spanish and English. You see that in the architecture of the city.
- Blend of chinese, muslim, churches, and hindu Temples
-The chinese market during the week end is nice
-It has a nice river where it is relaxing to wander around
-There are some good place to eat, mainly indian restaurants and chinese ones.

Now, there was this big problem to me that there is no malaysian identity. The chinese occupies all the city. Not only in Chinatown, but in general. Almost all the shops are chinese and chinese people are everywhere. It was a huge disappointement.

The chinese market was nice but after 2 nights you get bored. When you see one (like in KL) you've seen'em all.





There were some nice art paintings on the walls :







And most of all the bicycle taxis (bicycle tuc tuc ?) made my day :





And at night they shine (lol) :



At least, a city with such 'taxis' musn't be a bad, evil and violent city, right ?

I stayed 4 nights. After my 2 months trip to India I needed a break. Plus I only stayed 3 days in KL so now was the time to rest a bit.

I didn't meet any malaysian people. I didn't really meet any traveler. I've found myself quite lonely in Malacca so after 4 days I decided to go back to Kuala Lumpur.

At this point I started to wonder if coming in Malaysia was a good move. I went to KL and stayed 3 days there. This is when I met the belgium guy owning a diving website and now living in Koh Lanta. He was the 1st person I really clicked with.

Let me finish this article with some pics of Malacca.

Random streets :





The river :





St Paul's church :



Portuguese fort :





Mosque :



St Xavier's church :



Chines things :





After those 3 new days in Kuala Lumpur I decided to give to Malaysia another chance and decided to head to the north this time.

Actually what I didn't know at the time is that I would indeed in that new place meet a lot of people and really have some great (and sometimes akward) moments.

i think everyone wants to murder me. i wouldn't have went with a stranger even if i was pretending to be broke like you because i'd think he'd still want to kill me for fun. sounds like you got lucky this time, but for god's sake be more careful

You really think it could have been dangerous ?

Screamin Asian sounds overly paranoid. Sure there is always the potential for bad **** to go down, but most people will be fine.

Also if you want to keep traveling the world it's a natural part of it to take risks. I say keep doing it the way you've been doing it.

Murder in SE Asia, Screamin? Come on man. Murderers aren't disguising themselves as touts looking to kill random tourists.

That said, I wouldn't have gone with the guy. You already had a place. He'd be more likely to take you to the guesthouse he has and try to get you to stay there rather than to your place. Got lucky imo

NO

Lol

GEORGE TOWN, PENANG ISLAND

After some disappointing experiences with both Kuala Lumpur and Malacca, I decided to go to Penang island. Especially in George town. I had read that this place was full of history with the souvenir of the English, Portuguese, Spanish colonies.

From KL I took a bus. 5 hours ride. Not that sexy. But it was the only way to get there. So I woke up early and caught the bus. An aussie guy arrived and took his seat right next to mine and naturally we started to talk to each other. He was a dancing teacher and explained to me how he decided to become « a shark » to get results from his students. His thing was to become tough and « get into his students mind » to make them improve and become better dancers. Quite an interesting talk.

When we arrived after 5 hours bus ride he proposed me to use his taxi to get to the city and obviously I agreed. I'd been lucky to meet an asian guy in Malacca getting me to my hostel and now this guy in Georgetown. It saved me both some money and hassle to get to my hotel.

I hadn't booked any room. I only had the name of a hotel given to me by this dude from Belgium I met in KL and who is living in Koh Lanta. He told me that this hotel in Georgetown was nice, not that expensive and that I should check it out.

So, after the taxi dropped me in downtown George town I walked to this hotel and eventually elected to stay there for as long as my stay would be.

My room was quite nice, with AC, double bed, ensuite bathroom and wifi. The hotel was located at the heart of the city so it was a great spot to hang out around.



After dropping my things, I decided to have a short walk to get the vibe of this new place.

This is what I enjoy during this world travel. Transportation is a real pain in the ass but arriving to a new city is always exciting. You wonder who you will meet, what experiences you're gonna live and this feeling is really great.
So, how was George Town ?

Long story short I stayed 2 weeks in George town. The city was quite big with many differents vibes and areas so that I couldn't feel bored.

Plus, George town is a crossroads. Many travelers go there for visa run purposes since it is so close to Thailand and Indonesia. Therefore you're guaranteed to meet many people there.

I didn't have any real contact with the locals because as I already said Malaysia is full of chinese people and they don't mix with westerners. I've been told that George town counts 60% of chinese, so it was again quite disappointing. I really hoped I would meet 'real' malaysian people and I couldn't. I've been told that maybe in the east coast I would have met more malaysian. I couldn't tell, I've not been there. But in all the 3 cities I visited in Malaysia, chinese were predominant. So I had the feeling to be in China and not in Malaysia.

The only thing that I enjoyed is indeed this blend of culture that you find in religious monuments. It is not rare to cross churches, hindu temples, mosque and chinese temples. I enjoyed this mix. But I wished I could also experience this diversity within the people and as I said I mainly saw chinese.

George town is known for its street art and indeed you can see many of them when you walk around the city :











There is a Little India as well but it is only composed of few streets with indian shops and restaurants. Funny thing is that when you walk there you hear Bolywood music. It adds to the flavour of this area. I enjoyed really much my 2 months in India so I was happy to spend some times in Little India and eat again indian food. But as I said this area was quite small, just a few roads so after a while there's nothing much you can do there.







At the north of the city is a jetty. I enjoyed spending some times there. There is a chinese market there as well and which was nice, but again, I wished I had seen malaysian things.



Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the Chinese. But if I want to dive into this culture I will go to China. If I go to Malaysia, I expect to meet malaysian people and deal with malaysian culture. Being there to only be in places were Chinese were predominant was not what I was looking for. I knew this society was a blend of different cultures but problem is that I mainly dealt with only one of them, hence my disappointement.

I loved Armenian street area. Beautiful buildings and very relaxed vibes :









As about the people I met there, it was a blast. Each day I would meet new travelers from all the world and spending some times there.

Those 2 italian fellows were nice. I met them one evening while I was having diner. We ate together and since we clicked so well we saw each others each evening having diner then going to a bar to drink beers until late. They had been traveling for months now and were about to go back home in Italy. Still I stayed with them a good week.

This guy from Slovenia. Oh boy ! He was constantly whining and complaining about EVERYTHING. Nothing was good to his view and he was like carrying all the world's problems on his shoulder. As he told me, he was stucked in this « ****hole » (speaking about Georgetown) because he ran out of money and had to wait for a relative to send him via Western Union some money so that he could go back to Koh Phangan in Thailand.

- You have to go to Ko Phangan Angelo ! All those american females, oh my god, you have no idea how hot they are !
-Thanks for the tip, it was on my list so we'll see.

Each time I was meeting this guy he was with a different pretty girl. But I found out that he was like their confident. Maybe another reason why the guy was so unhappy and constantly complaining.

One night and while I was having diner, an old man – 60 yo ? - with painted blue nails sat down next to me.

- Do you mind if I join you ? He asked
-Be my guest ! I answered
-What are you doing here young man ?
-I'm traveling the world. 2 months in India and now here I am in Malaysia. What about you ?
- I've been traveling the world for maybe 20 years. Maybe more. I live in Thailand but I came here for just a short period of time. My room is at the hotel (don't remember the name)
-Wow ! Quite a nice one ! So expensive too ! How can you afford such an hotel since you're a world traveler ? I naively asked
-Because I'm a millionnaire, he responded
-Are you ?
-Yeah, I used to be the boss of a Cie that I developped very well before selling it. Now I have enough money for all my life, I don't even have to think about it. I'm just enjoying my life traveling from place to place.
-Such an awful life !
-Right ! Where do you plan to go after Malaysia, Angelo ?
-Don't know, just living day by day. At some point I will go to Indonesia for sure.
-Let me give you this tip. Don't bother with Bali. Just a place with no interest and full of drunk tourist. If you want to go to Indonesia, you have to go to this place : Lake Toba.

He explained to me what this place was but I don't remember well. Anyway, google it and you will see by yourself. A lake with lush vegetation and I think there is a volcano as well. Anyway, I googled the name and indeed the pics were stunning. A place where I have to go for sure.

We spoke the entire evening and this guy was a gem. He gave me so many advices about how to world travel, I'm really grateful I met him.

One day an italian dude living in Australia arrived at my hotel. We met and since we clicked well together we decided to hang out during the evening. This guy was a walking dick. He couldn't help himself talking to every woman he came across :

-Hello, what's going on ?

Was his opener. He asked this every single time a woman was showing up. Obviously none answered, but it was fun.

We stopped in a liquor shop and bought some whisky. The dude wanted to get himself in the mood of the evening. I'm not really a drinker so no need to tell that this whiskey quite burnt my mind, but it was still an enjoyable moment. Then we stopped at a bar and drank some beers, then some whiskey again. Oh man, I was really starting to get drunk. At some point we walked in the streets, it was maybe midnight. We saw those 2 malaysian girls seated in a cafe, drinking some cocktails. I didn't find them attractive but this opinion was apparently not shared by my italian dude since he went to them straight.

I followed him not really convinced but eventually we were all seated and talking to each others. He had targetted one girl and I was speaking to the other. She wasn't attractive to me but well, it was still ok to tchat a bit. This italian fellow tried so hard to bring the girl back to his hotel room but it didn't work. The girl was clearly bored with him and it was quite funny to say the least.

At some point I gave my email to the girls just before I decided to go away. It was more for fun because as I said I wasn't really seduced by any of them.

Then we left the place and kept on walking in the night streets of George town. Then we saw 2 black women. Again, the italian fellow targetted one. Actually they were both prostitutes. I wasn't in the mood to pay for sex but apparently the italian guy was considering the option. The young african girl he was speaking to was really stunning ! Such a beautiful face and body, she was damn hot.

I sat down and talked to the other girl. Older and not that pretty but no big deal I was just talking for the fun of it. Actually we clicked quite well and we spoke about her home country (Nigeria). I got interested by this country because of some of its lores and magical practices (vodou) so we spoke about it.

Can you imagine how unreal the situation was ? 2Am in the street of Georgetown speaking to an african woman about vodou while the italian guy was negociating for 1 hour of sex ?

-Angelo, when you decide to go to Nigeria, send me a message, I will tell you where you can go and who you can meet. You have to be cautious because this country is not easy and you will find many people wanting your money. But hit me up when you go there and I will guide you to good people, she said

I thanked her, got her whatsapp number and I left. Finally the italian dude decided not to pay the 25€ asked by the young beautiful lady. His choice.

Then we kept on walking and he said to me :

-Ok I'm bringing you now to another place
-Which place ? I asked
-You'll see.

It was a brothel. 2 ugly asian woman were there waiting for lost clients to come. There was no way I would get in there. The italian dude looked inside the place and finally agreed to walk away.

When I hit my hotel room it was like 4:30am. I was exhausted.

Another evening and while we were having fun with the one of the 2 italian fellows and the slovenian guy I talked to you about earlier, a muscular malaysian man arrived.

-Guys, can I join you ?

The request was quite odd since this unknown guy was coming out from nowhere but we still agreed. We started to all talk and the guy was oddly too kind. It was suspicious. He wanted to be with us, to buy us some beers and just spend time with us.

-I'm leaving between Thailand and Malaysia. I came here for business and I'm alone tonight, I just want to meet some people and have fun, he told us.

Well, why not. Then and just 2 minutes after he joined us he turned to me :

- Angelo, come with me to that bar that I know.
-Which bar ? I asked
-A nice one, they serve good whiskey, not far from here.
-Well, I was about to go to another bar with those dudes. Why don't you come ?
-All right. Oh and by the way, you should come with me to my appartement that I have in (forgot the name of the malaysian city close to Thailand)
-Thanks for the proposition. I still have some time to spend here you know, I said.

No need to say that my spidey senses were tingling. This unknown guy inviting himself, proposing me to go with him to another bar then proposing me to come with him to his appartement was more than enough to makes me be on my guard.

We all went to this other bar and the malaysian guy insisted to buy plenty of beers for all of us. I wasn't feeling comfortable with that, I didn't want to owe anything to this man but at this point and besides his odd propositions there was nothing bad he was doing. So I let him pay the beers and we all enjoyed them.

But before getting to the bar he proposed me to smoke some marijuana. I told him that I wasn't interested but the italian guy was and therefore they smoked on the way to the bar. No need to tell that they got quite high at some point.

The malaysian guy told us that he was earning so much money that spending it here with us was not a problem. He was constantly saying « aren't we good here guys ? », it was really akward.

When we finished all the beers he stood up to buy some more but I didn't let him do. I told him that now it was our turn to invite him and pay for the booze. At 1st, he didn't want to let us pay but I insisted so much that he eventually agreed. I really didn't want to let this stranger pay for everything. I didn't want to have any « bill » with this guy so paying back buying liquor was mandatory.

Long story short we all 3 spent the whole night drinking, moving from place to place. Then, suddenly, he stood up and told us that he was leaving. It was maybe 2am and it was quite surprising to see him leave right away. His face wasn't friendly anymore and seemed like he was bored and/or disappointed. So he stood up, wished us a good night and left.

All this evening was so odd..

I met so many people, I can't relate everything in this article.

This polish girl traveling the world for 1 year and now stuck in George town. Some people had stolen her money and computer at the hostel she was sleeping and now she was out of money and of plans. 2 weeks before this she had a bike accident and almost lose her toe. Poor girl, so unlucky ! She was depressed and in some way depressing. But I can understand, she was really into some bad ****.

This cute Danish girl. Maybe something could have happened between us but finally nothing did happen. We clicked really well but she was constantly busy with young travelers, drinking liquor with them that I dropped it. She had been traveling the world for 6 months now, visiting Vietnam on a bike that she bought (and sold before leaving the country) and was now in Malaysia. She had found a bar she was working for and it was a way for her to keep earning a bit of money. Quite a crazy girl but very funny and I enjoyed a lot hanging out with her.

A chinese girl having issue with her husband. She was pressured to have kids and didn't want to, so she chose to travel and she had been hitting the road for 6 months. We shared an evening together.

And so many other people I met in George town. This city is a crossroads, you're assured to meet so many people coming from such different places with various background. This is the reason why I stayed 2 weeks there. I didn't feel bored one sec.

I liked the architecture of George town, some areas are really nice and with a very laid back atmosphere. Some others are more hectic. You have options if you go there.

















After 2 weeks thought I felt that it was time for me to leave. I didn't really want to stay in Malaysia so now was the time to leave the country and go somewhere else.

So I looked at the world map and asked myself « where shall I go now ? »

HELLO THAILAND !

After traveling on a high pace for 2 months in India and one month in Malaysia I felt the need to rest a bit. Thailand was a serious option. I had some others.

After my last stop in Malaysia, I considered where I could go between those possibilities.
Thailand was the closest country so it was an easy pick.

The cheapest way to go to Thailand from George Town in Malaysia was to take 2 mini vans and one ferry. 17 hours ride in some tough conditions but for only 30€. After some researches I found a plane from George Town to Koh Samui for 90€ (1 hour flight) so it was a no brainer.

I felt quite happy to leave Malaysia. I had some fun in George Town but didn't feel thrilled by the country.

I knew that Thailand was laid back and it was exactly what I needed at this point.

There are many places you can visit in Thailand but I decided to go with its islands.

Still, you have many of them so picking one was not easy. But the weather did help me. All the islands on the west coast were starting to be off season with shops closing and with also the rainy season coming.

I focused on the eastern thai islands.

Will I go back to Malaysia. Not likely. Maybe in Borneo though, I feel it could be interesting. But in the Malaysian peninsula ? Not gonna happen anytime soon.

I woke up one morning, took a bus (1 hour ride), arrived at the airport, waited 2 hours, and then I took the plane for the first thai island of the list.

I thought that I would rest and chill ? I was totally wrong, as I would learn later on.

Big party last night until 5am

Tried to bang 2 chicks. Failed. Will do better next time.

Ps : dont talk to me about alcohol until 2023

Passed my level 2 diving certification (open water advanced explorer). Can now dive everywhere in the world to 65 feet max depth.

Love diving. New experience for me. Amazing ****.

You are getting old my friend

Agreed

Stayed on Koh Samui for 1 month a year or two ago.

Make sure you get across to Koh Phangan. Awesome isolated beaches there.

Love your reports, if get the chance to take some picture of the people you meet, imho that would make the stories even more enjoyable

SHORT PAUSE IN FRANCE

One morning I woke up with the urge to see my gran mother. I knew I had to go back to Paris.

She is old (87 years old) and had recently a surgery.

More than enough to put my world trip on hold for a month, to see her and spend some times with her.

I love her, she is like a second mother and the idea of keeping on traveling whereas she had a surgery made me feel bad.

So I came back from Thailand yesterday. Yes, I'm in France right now. Came from Thailand to Paris (20 hours trip), slept one night in an hotel and today I drove where my gran mother lives (in the north of France, 2h30 away from Paris).

I'm going to spend some times with her, then I will also take advantage of this return to fix some things and I will resume my trip.

I should be leaving next month to keep on traveling. France (and Paris) are just one stop amongst many. In no way I'm turning back, I will never live in France anymore and those 4 months abroad convinced me that leaving was the best decision I could make for me and my life.

For now, I focus on my gran mother and give her all the love she deserves.

I will update in the meantime this blog with all that occured since I arrived in Thailand. Many things did happen that I feel like sharing with you.

So stay tuned !

ps : the cover picture has been taken yesterday in Thailand at the airport.

Omg he's alive. And he can afford to take a small pause in France. And they says money can't buy happiness lol.

Anyways, I'm glad to know that you care about your few family member left. I think you made a good choice.

Donc l'aventure reprend dans 1 mois?

We have to show to the ones we love that we love them when they are alive so it was a no brainer to come back regardless of how much I would have to spend and how long it would take me to go back.

Easiest solution would have been to keep on traveling, but to have one day a phone call telling me that she's gone while I had the intuition to come back to spend some time with her would have made me unable to look at myself in the mirror for the rest of my life.

Yes, I leave France in July to resume my journey. No change about my will to hit the road and not to live anymore in France. This is just a 'familly pause'

post scriptum : never said that money bought happiness. It gives freedom. Im not happy to go back but money gave me the freedom to do so.

Gl, j'ai changé d'idée et je ne ferai pas comme toi. Malheureusement je pense pas avoir assez d'argent.