Kuala Lumpur / Maleka / MALAYSIA

Petronas Towers, once the highest buildings in the world


A modern mosque in KL


Old Railway Station / Kuala Lumpur


Streets decorated for the Chinese New Year


Read the sign above the dog!! (only in Asia :))


Horse shoe shaped Chinese gravestones




A traditional Maleka house


No, the temple is not on fire, just lots of incense burning




Oldest mosque in Malaysia. It was quite weird seeing mosques in far-east Asian style.


Street Scene / Maleka

Kuala Lumpur greets me with monsoon rains and great humidity. When the cheapest ticket I found out of India was to Malaysia, I didn't know it was the monsoon season here. Although not lasting for too long, you have to endure heavy rains at least once, sometimes twice a day. As a friend over here put it nicely, when the rain comes it's the coffee time of the day, because there's nothing you can do but seek shelter at the nearest enclosed place and sip on your coffee. Even though it effects my travel plans, I'm happy to experience3 the monsoon rains.
I decided to give the couchsurfing site another shot in Malaysia after a not so pleasant first experience in India. I made arrangements to stay at two different houses and spent four days in the first house and two days in the second house during my visit in Kuala Lumpur. Both of my visits were fun and pleasant. While staying in a family environment and enjoying home cooked meals in the first house, I was hosted by younger people who showed me sides of KL I hadn't seen at the second house. I will keep using this site when I get a chance.
Kuala Lumpur is a highly developed, modern city. It's no different than any western city except for all the Malay, Chinese and Indian people surrounding you. After centuries of immigration from China and India, these minorities now form 40% of the population and their demands for social equalities as citizens occupy the political scene here in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, being a very livable city, is not all that interesting for a traveller, but has been a pleasant stop for me thanks to the experiences I had through couch surfing. Malaysia has many other parts to explore but I decided to cross over to Indonesia and return to Malaysia towards the end of my journey. I arrived in Maleka to take a ferry that would bring me to Sumatra island of Indonesia. After spending a few days in Maleka exploring the interesting architecture including the oldest mosque and temples of the country, I'm leaving this highly touristic city for Indonesia where I'm planning on spending a month in...

Kerala / Au Revoir INDIA!!!

Chinese fishing nets








Boathouses you can rent and spend the night in


What you see actually is a river bed covered with overgrown plants


Kerala is a communist state, governed by communist political parties so you see such signs and posters all over the place



Chinese fishing nets


First day I arrived in Kerala the whole state was on a strike against the local government. Every single business was closed and the city (Ernakulam) was like a ghost town. Being the southern most state in India, temperature was much warmer and more humid than the north. I spent the day walking around the empty streets of Ernakulam and more touristy Fort Cochin. Kerala is known for its backwaters, which are river-ways and channels that make their way through dense tropical forests of palm trees and small villages scattered around on the shores. I took a boat ride through these backwaters that lasted for eight hours with magnificent views of the nature and life on the river. As quiet and peaceful as it is, there’s an endless activity on the waters as the locals use them to fish, wash, transport, and swim. Traveling along the coastline, I reached the beach town of Varkala on New Year ’s Eve. Not knowing what a popular tourist destination the town was and not having made any reservations I desperately started looking for a room only to find out that every single hotel in town was full despite their outrageous prices. But my protective angels were busy at work as always and I ran into a guy who offered me a spot on the rooftop of his hotel for free. Washing away my exhaustion with the best shower I have taken in my life in open air on a rooftop under a full moon I was ready for 2010 filled with optimism and enthusiasm. Celebrating the midnight with a British couple and two Swedish brothers I met at a restaurant, we made our way down to the beach after cops forced the restaurant to shut down for some obscure reason, and joined the crowds of people on the beach celebrating to the early hours of the new year. I spent most of my last days in Varkala just enjoying the beaches with the company of new friends. Soon (always too soon) it was time for me to close the India chapter of my travels and start a new chapter in Malaysia.

Spending two months in India was nowhere close to being enough for such a vast country with so many different cultures and sights to explore. India feels like a different universe than the rest of the world, and it’s very easy to lose yourself in this overwhelming place. I don’t know whether it’s over one billion people living together, all the religions existing in harmony, endless spices you eat in the food or the colors that surround you, but the country grows on you and before you know it you become addicted to it. I think most of all it’s the people smiling unhesitantly with their perfect white teeth despite the poverty or conditions they’re in that leaves the deepest mark. I know that I will go back to India someday and she will welcome me with the same joyful head wiggle.

Bangalore / Home sweet home!!

City Market, Bangalore


Flower Market, Bangalore. Scents and colors are so intense that you get dizzy walking around in the market.




Shredding coconut the Indian way


One of the many delicious dinners


u talkin to me??


Kannan & Mythili @ Karanji Park, Mysore


Maharaja's Palace, Mysore




Two nymphs and two demons


Kannan loving on an ox with beautifully decorated horns


A game called Chowka Bhaara (Four Eight), played with seashells as dice


Of course I won :))


Father & Daughter Pretty in Pink

*Pictures are taken by Lakshmi Jayaram (the pretty girl in the pics)


My next stop after Goa was the fastest growing city of the South, Bangalore. As a relatively new city it doesn't have much to offer to tourists but I had been looking very forward to this stop to see my friends Kannan, Mythili and their family. I met the Jayaram family while camping next to each other in Hawaii, and we had the opportunity to see each other many more times when I coincidentally moved to the same state they were living in. Seeing my friends whom I didn't think I would get to see again after both they and I moved back to our home countries permanently, was one of the nice surprises of life. In addition to the joy of seeing my friends the visit was a great opportunity for me to experience the Indian culture and lifestyle in its natural environment without the usual touristy distraction. During the two weeks I spent with them I had unique experiences ranging from family visits (they have a large family, I was constantly meeting cousins, nieces, nephews, uncles and aunts during Kannan's sister's house-warming party) to neighborhood’s social gatherings (every Sunday the neighborhood meets at a facility and organize various events. They were holding a badminton tournament the week I was there. My friend Kannan, who is officially 60 years old but has the soul of a 25 year old, made it to the semifinals), from temple visits (we took a trip to Mysore, which is couple of hours away from Bangalore, for a couple of days with the family. In Mysore, which is a peaceful and pleasant city with its 2000 year old temples, palaces and parks, we visited an ancient temple with the relatives we were staying with at 6:30 in the morning for the morning ceremony. I accompanied them with all the rituals (except for the Sanskrit prayers they were reciting) throughout the ceremony, of which I wouldn't be able to attend as a tourist anywhere else) to their domestic life (food is eaten on the floor by hand (right hand only, left hand is used for dishing up the food to your plate). You drink the water without touching your lips to the glass. Dirty plates after dinner are first rinsed through at a separate sink in the house, then brought into the kitchen sink to be washed. Nothing that touches the mouth goes directly into the kitchen sink since that's where they get the water they present to gods. There's a section in each house decorated with god pictures, figures and offerings where they perform their daily rituals and recite prayers. And the list goes on but impossible to write them all here) from their local games (you can see one such game in the pictures above. Did I mention I won! :)) to home cooking (Mythili was constantly in the kitchen preparing delicious dishes for me to have something different at every meal. My shyness and politeness disappeared after the first couple of days and I started gorging myself with the food. Few pounds I had lost during my journey were soon replaced in their place on my belly. I kept watching Mythili in the kitchen, hoping to learn some recipes but found it impossible to keep track of the endless variety of spices, veggies and grains she mixed in the dishes, so finally I gave up and decided I was better at eating the dishes than cooking them).
Another thing I was focusing on during my visit was learning more about Hinduism. Even though I had an idea about the daily rituals through many temple visits on my journey, I hadn't had much of a chance to learn about the philosophy of the religion. Kannan, being quite knowledgeable about his religion and eagerly learning more, patiently answered my numerous questions and gave me an introduction to the thought system, reasoning and progress of the religion.
Settling in comfortably it was hard leaving my house (as one of the household members I adopted their last name Jayaram in addition to the nickname "Prakash" I had been using in India. As Prakash Jayaram, I started pretending to be an Indian, but soon realized I had a long ways to go when I got busted by the security personnel at one of the museums while trying to sneak in with a cheaper local's entrance ticket instead of the much more expensive foreigner ticket :) ) after two weeks. Unwillingly I got on a train that would take me to Kerala, where I would be spending my last ten in India, and left these beautiful people behind with the hope of seeing them again someday.

Arambol Beach, GOA!

I travelled to Goa in what they call a sleeper bus. These buses don’t have any seats, but instead have little bunkers on each side of the aisle. Each little compartment sleeps two persons, so if you’re traveling alone as I am you end up sleeping with a stranger without much of a personal space. I was hoping to be placed next to a gorgeous Indian girl, but of course that wasn’t the case : ) Luckily though I shared a space with a nice older American gentleman with whom I ended up spending a lot of time hanging out with during my stay in Goa. My plan was to spend a couple of days in each beach along the coast but quickly changed my mind and decided to stay in Arambol beach for the whole period (one dollar a night hotel room (a mattress on the terrace actually) played a major role in my decision making naturally). Goa has such a relaxed atmosphere that you can spend your days doing nothing and not realize how fast days go by. My initial plan of staying for a few days turned into one week, then turned into ten days, when I decided I might end up spending a few months there if I didn’t move on. A brief summary of a day (or of everyday for that matter) would go as waking up to sun shining through palm trees and birds singing (I stayed on the rooftop of a hotel in open air), having a yummy breakfast of fresh tropical fruit with muesli, yoghurt, and honey, going to the beach for a morning swim, buying fresh fish from the fishermen while they unload the catch of the day from their nets on the beach, having a fish fiesta then a siesta, going for a afternoon swim, watching the sun set over the ocean, and listening to live music at one of the many jam sessions taking place throughout the beach. Alright, I think that’s enough to make you all jealous so I won’t even mention the dirt cheap drinks, backgammon parties, colorful interesting crowds of people (including drop dead gorgeous chicks), and scooter rides through other beaches and cities of Goa (which was hell a lot of fun riding, even though I had no previous experience and got close to minor accidents quite a few times but never got into one). Good times, good times…

Mumbai (Bombay)

Mumbai has been the most westernized city I’ve visited so far in India. It stands out from the rest of India with its British style buildings, wide roads, somewhat more organized traffic, and especially its residents. Seeing young Indian women dressed in fashionable western clothing and socializing with men in pubs was quite a different scene than what I had witnessed so far. Mumbai actually sits on a large area of landfill that integrated many small islands scattered around into one large island. I would have liked to spend some more time in the city to explore the different parts of it better but it was by far the most expensive city I’ve visited, so ended up staying for only a couple of days. Luckily I met a German guy on the train coming into Mumbai with whom we decided to share a room, so was able to keep the cost relatively down. Spent the first day visiting the usual sights, and the second day visiting the art galleries which was a nice change. After purchasing my bus ticket to Goa (trains are always my preferred means of transportation but they were all full) I could feel the excitement of laying on the sandy beaches building up within me.

Rajastan

Jodhpur Fort

Jodhpur Bride

Jain Temple in Jaisalmer Fort

View of Jaisalmer from the fort

Jaisalmer Fort

Scarry looking fish

Intricate carvings on facades of buildings in Jaisalmer

I arrived in Pushkar and checked into a hotel which I thought had a fun name: Milkman Guest House (I wouldn't take my wife there!!). Pushkar is a tiny village in central Rajastan, but an important one at the same time since it's one of the stops for Hindu pilgrims. It's also famous for its annual camel fair where country's biggest camel trading takes place. Unfortunately I missed this year's fair, but still had a pleasant stay in this calm and relaxed place. I rented the cheapest room in the hotel, which was a tent on the rooftop. Also on the rooftop were hammocks, cushions and other comfy seating areas, so I spent most of my time sitting, sleeping, eating, reading, chatting and watching the view at this cosy terrace. After getting recharged for a couple of days, I wen't to the "blue city" Jodhpur. Jodhpur was much larger than I had thought of it being. I was expecting another small village, but it actually was a mid-size city. It didn't have much charm, so I only spent a day sightseeing the usual tourist spots and left for Jaisalmer the next day. Jaisalmer was the most western point of India I would get to on my trip, close to the Pakistan border in the Thar desert. It's a beautiful town with spectacularly intracate carvings on the facades of the buildings. They worked on the stone as if they were crochetting on a piece of cloth. As beautiful as the city was, highly unpleasant encounters I had first with a drunken restaurant owner who tried to cheat me on the bill, then with the hotel owners who turned ugly and rude when I didn't go on their camel safari tour, ruinedthe days I stayed there. Udaipur was my last and turned out to be my mest stop in Rajastan. Discovered for its beauty by the wealthy, biggest luxury hotel chains of the world are opening five-star palace hotels year after year in this mesmerizing city by the Pichola Lake. I was glad to have visited it while it still kept its authentic charms and reasonably priced options. Although there're many historic buildings and other sights around the city, one doesn't really need to do much but enjoy the serene atmosphere. Watching the sunset over the lake surrounded by buildings reflecting the pinkish light and centuries of history off their walls is a rejuvenating experience.