First week in Kuching

So now we have been in Kuching just over a week and have settled in the city and our new home which is really nice: we all have big rooms upstairs and a balcony, a huge living room and a kitchen downstairs (where couple of lizards live too). 


Last week we went to enroll at the University,which is no further than 2 kilometers away but it is almost impossible to walk there as there are no sidewalks. We had 2 days of orientation which wasn't really what we expected it to be as we felt like we were back in secondary school. :D After the orientation, on Friday we went to see the Sarawak Cultural Village (about 35km from the city, near mount Santubong) which introduces the ethnic diversity of Sarawak. There were many longhouses which you could enter and wonder around and also a dance performance in a theater. We met loads of people at Uni already during our first week here and invited them to our very first house-party in our place which was on Saturday! 

Our front yard on a rainy day.

Sarawak Cultural Village and mount Santubong.

One of the longhouses.

Handicrafts...

This guy was playing Beatles songs which I found quite amusing. :D

Cultural performance.

And this guy tried to hit on a girl from the audience...

First houseparty at our place! And there are many more to come...:)

So that was our first week here. This week we are having our first lectures and tutorials at Uni and  in the weekend we are heading to Damai beach to get tanned! :)


Hugs and kisses from Malaysia


Tare

Kuala Lumpur in a nutshell

Past couple of days have been suuuper busy since we arrived to Kuching yesterday at noon and we had to buy ourselves all necessary to our flat since we didn't have sheets, plates and so on...Also we went to the University for enrollment today and tomorrow we should be getting our timetables for the semester. So now since we have settled in our apartment I finally have the time to post photos form KL!

Our really really nice hostel Guesthouse Sahabat was on this street. I can definitely recommend this place for everyone!

First day we went shopping to Mid Valley shopping center and spend the whole day there. There was about 600 shops there and it was huuuge!

On Friday after relaxing massage and facial we went sightseeing in downtown!

Must see in KL: Petronas Twin towers (and also the shopping mall inside with all the top brand shops).

Twin Towers in the evening.

Chinatown was busy! I was the only one who got out of there without buying anything. :D

On Saturday we went to another shopping mall in Times Square but not for shopping...

We knew there was an amusement park inside! That roller coaster was AWESOME!!!

From Times Square we took a cab which drove us up the hill to Thean Hou temple.

In the top of the temple. There was also a great view to the city form the temple!

My little Monkey friends <3

We ended the day for some drinks and dinner in legendary Hard Rock cafe.

The burgers were goood!!!

So that was Kuala Lumpur. I definitely have to go back there at some point, there is plenty to do and see and I feel that I just got a glimpse of the city in four days.

From my new home in Kuching

Tare (and the lizard in the kitchen)

First Impressions of Kuala Lumpur

It's 8.15 am in Kuala Lumpur and I can't sleep anymore...After taking a train and a taxi we arrived at the hostel at midday yesterday with Minni and Anu came about 12 hours later (we all had different flights,it's a long story...). After travelling for 18 hours we were so tired with Minni that we slept the whole day after having lunch (and I had my first Tiger beer!). So I think it's not a wonder I can't sleep anymore...:D In the evening while we were waiting for Anu to arrive we went to see the bars and pubs nearby and there were plenty! We ended up going to this one Reggaebar (they didn't play reggae there though except for one song by Bob Marley). There seems to be quite lots of tourist in the area and I think the pricing is a bit higher for that reason too.

First impression of Kuala Lumpur after first day: Love it! People are friendly (although they speak quite quietly but that might have been because I couldn't hear well after the flight.:D) and there is so much to see!

Today we were planning to go shopping in one of the huge shopping malls and wonder around the city!

With love from Kuala Lumpur

Tare

2 days to go!

So the departure to Malaysia is getting closer and closer...Weekend went by again so quickly but I did managed to see my friends, returned books to the library and did some shopping in the pharmacy for the trip ( I need to have ibuprofen with me at all times...). And I also lost myself somewhere in sales and bought one dress and a top (but they were only 10 euros,that's cheap!)


So now my backpack is sitting in the corner and waiting to be packed. I think I'm gonna think about it over night and do it tomorrow then...Well anyway, it's gonna be terrible. Too many clothes, too little space.


Ps. I would appreciate some tips about what to do in Kuala Lumpur (besides shopping), that's where we are heading first!

6 days before leaving

Anyone thinking about going for an exchange to another continent I can say: think twice. Now that we are leaving in less than a week I know that I've done all the preparations: I've taken all the vaccinations needed, paid the deposit for the University, send all the paperwork, bought return flights and a backpack, arranged an accommodation, gone through medical examinations and so on but at some point I was seriously about to give up.  The process took months and the information reached us so late that we were in a hurry to get it all done in time before leaving from Finland. 


In spite of all this it seems that we are really leaving in 6 six days. I've bought my very own Lonely Planet for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei and spend hours on internet looking at pictures of places in Malaysia, Thailand and so on...And I just borrowed Madventures Kansainvälisen seikkailijan opas- book (sorry guys, this is Finnish book) from the library. You can find it from here: http://lue.wsoy.fi/madventures/. There are really good practical tips and pretty funny stuff for international traveler as well (like how to make an Asian plastic bag drink and how to attach hammock to a tree).


So next Tuesday starts my first trip outside Europe and on Wednesday morning I should be here: 

Lots of love from Finland


Tare