Overall I spent about three weeks in Malaysia, a country which wasn’t even on my list when I started my journey. Another stopover in Kuala Lumpur before heading to Myanmar / Burma made me decide to at least explore a little bit of that country. I mean, I was there already so why not take advantage of it? Since I had only a few weeks, I decided to travel the Malaysian Peninsula and not Borneo. Maybe a mistake after all looking at it now. But first things first… Read more
Roundup Malaysia: Tracing the colonial past on well established paths
Categories: Malaysia, Roundups
Tags: Backpacking, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Malaysia, photography, Travel Blog
13 Comments
ESCapology featured Online and in local Newspaper
This post is a rather unusual one as I usually just write about my experiences and adventures while traveling here in South East Asia. Apparently my trip has sparked some interest and this time others have been writing about me and my journey. That is awesome and I am happy to share with you guys that ESCapology has just been covered in the newspaper of my hometown. Having grown up with “Die Glocke”, it makes me proud to see my picture in the paper that has been subscribed by my family as far as I can remember. I would have never expected anything like this to happen.
At the same time, the article was also published on www. auslandsjob.de, an independent German portal on work & travel and traveling in general.
It is great to get that kind of exposure and since my feature on WordPress’ “Freshly Pressed”, this is probably the best publicity I have received so far. I think this is a good chance to thank all the people that have supported me until now. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks to my subscribers and avid readers here, your support and feedback keeps me going. Thanks to Simone, who has edited the articles mentioned above. And of course thanks to my family and friends for supporting me and what I do. You are the best.
If you can read German, here are the resources for both articles:
Escapology in local German Newspaper “Die Glocke”
Escapology on www. auslandsjob.de
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Blogging, Escapology, Reiseblog, South East Asia, Travel Blog, Traveling
14 Comments
Street Art and Cat Frenzy in Penang
After my recent adventures in the wild, it was time to mix it up again and spend some time in a proper city. Malaysia’s colonial gem Penang, renowned for good street food and its street art, seemed to be the place to be on my way up the Malaysian Peninsula. In between I had a brief stop on the Perhentian Islands which I didn’t find too worthwhile. Hence I decided to post no coverage of this leg here. However, coming from the Perhentians, I took a minivan over to Penang and once again I lucked out. I booked on a very short notice and found a driver who just had to drive a minivan back to Penang for an upcoming group tour. That meant he was going without passengers, just me. I had the whole van for myself which made the rather long ride an diverting affair. I arrived late at night in Georgetown and was dropped off right in the middle of Chinatown. I found a good hostel and was eager to go exploring the next day. My mission was to find all of, or at least a big part of Georgetowns famous street art.
Categories: Culture, Malaysia
Tags: Malaysia, Penang, photography, Street Art, Street Art Penang
16 Comments
Tea Plantations and another trip into the Green Hell
Apart from KL not being my favorite place on this earth, I can generally take big cities for only a limited time before the desire of getting back to the outdoors takes over again. So after a few days in the big city it was about time for me to head back out there to find the next adventure. The plan was to first hit the Cameron Highlands, famous for its vast tea plantations and cool climate which should be a relief after humid Kuala Lumpur. After a few days in the highlands I wanted to go into Taman Negara National Park, home to the world’s oldest jungle being about 130 million years of age. As these brief descriptions already implicate, the experiences there would be two completely different ones with one being a test of my boundaries. Read more
Categories: Culture, Malaysia, Trekking
Tags: Cameron Highlands, photography, Taman Negara, Tanah Rata, Tea Plantations
14 Comments
5 reasons to go and see Kuala Lumpur and 5 to not to
I have been to Kuala Lumpur, or KL as most travelers call it, three times now. It was my starting point for travelling Malaysia and my transport hub for getting to other countries here in South East Asia. And it has struck me with mixed feelings. To be honest, I don’t really like the city and I’ve been to other cities which were wy more fascinating and captivating to me. But a lot of travelers do love it and I was wondering what makes me not like it and what others find great about one of Asia’s biggest metropolises. Here are 5 reasons why one should go and see KL and 5 reasons why you shouldn’t bother: Read more
Malaysia’s Finest in colonial Malacca.
After a great time in Indo, I flew over to Singapore to meet friends who had just recently moved there. We had some great two days together but my original plan was to take the bus over to Malaysia which worked out very smoothly I have to say. It was actually the quickest and easiest land border crossing I have ever done here in Asia. I was bound for Malacca, the colonial city a few hours south of Kuala Lumpur located right next to the Straits of Malacca. I had booked a hostel in the center of Chinatown which was supposed to be the best part of town. I checked in, got to know some people staying in the same dorm but then couldn’t help but rest for a couple of hours under the soothing aircon. It was blazing hot outside and there was no way I was either willing or able to walk around and explore the city. However, things started to look different when it had cooled down a little. Read more
Roundup Indonesia: Surfing, Skulls and Dragons
My Indonesia journey was one of very different facets. It all started with about three weeks of intensive surfing on the island of gods, Bali. That I would come here for surfing was already set before I even left home. I just wanted to get some practice and finally improve my surfing which is so hard to do when you are from a country like Germany. That being said, this quest turned out to be harder than I hoped for. The waves were often either too big (and that’s massive), too small or it was too windy to go out. At the same time the crowd factor was insane. Of course, I was there during peak season so what should I have expected. But having been there already once before, it really seemed like surfing has just exploded. Sometimes the lineups were so full, that it even got dangerous paddling out. I was involved in a couple of incidents myself and witnessed a couple of more from close by. So in terms of the surfing itself, my stint on the island leaves me with mixed feelings at the least. Read more
Categories: Indonesia, Roundups
Tags: Backpacking, Bali, Bunaken, Diving, Indonesia, Komodo, photography, Sulawesi, Surfing Bali, Travel Blog, Travelblogger, Traveling
24 Comments
Wicked Diving in Komodo
Besides spotting the dragons, another highlight during my stay on Flores was supposed to be the diving. A lot of people i met on the way had recommended diving Komodo so I was pretty excited to go. Komodo is supposed to be one of the richest marine environments in the world and at the same time one of the most challenging dive destinations. I heard rumors of huge schools of fish, large pelagic fish and an abundance of colorful coral. At the same time strong currents were supposed to make the diving the mentioned challenge. Hence a good dive shop with properly educated personnel and good equipment was needed. After shopping around a bit in Labuan Bajo I found Wicked Diving. The shop made a very good impression and after getting to know the team and discussing some details, I was convinced and ready to go. True to the shops motto “No rest for the wicked!”. Read more
Categories: Diving, Indonesia
Tags: Diving, Diving Komodo, Flores, Indonesia, Komodo, Wicked Diving
22 Comments
Pic of the Week 16
A butterfly living on the edge. Thrill-Seeker.
This one was taken at Paradise Bar in Labuan Bajo, Flores. I already mentioned the bar in my last post on the Komodo Dragons. I was having my well deserved sun downer on their beautiful terrace as a cute cat jumped onto the balustrade to also catch some warming sunrays. I watched a butterfly flying around when it all of sudden flew very close to the lazy cat. At one point it appeared as if the butterfly would play with the cat, aiming for its nose. The cat wasn’t too sure what to do and finally swung its paw a couple of times at the speedy butterfly. It was a moment of tension and everybody seemed to watch the cat and the butterfly for a split second. Then the insect took off again with the cat left behind, wondering what had just happened. It didn’t seem to be bothered though since it just resumed its previous activity again – snoozing in the last light of the day.
Categories: Indonesia, Photography, Pic of the Week
Tags: Cat, Flores, Indonesia, Labauan Bajo, photography, Pic of the Week
4 Comments
Walking with Dragons on Komodo
After a great trip all the way from North to South Sulawesi, it was time for a location change. I had booked a ferry ride over to Flores which would take one whole day. I was a little late when I showed up at the booking office and was only able to get the expensive first class ticket. A little reluctant I payed up without knowing that this investment was actually a very good one. I arrived at the port and instantly realized why – there were thousands of people waiting to get onto the boat. It was chaos and anarchy with everyone hectically pushing to save a good spot on the ferry. I instead could relax and wait it out because I had my cabin booked. Thank god. Once we took off, the whole extent of the situation became evident. There were people lying and sitting everywhere. There was not even space left for walking along the aisles. The expensive ticket was worth every penny and I even got to know some locals also traveling in first class who were super nice. All in all a pleasant journey to the island of Flores. But I quickly forgot about those events because I had exciting plans. Diving in Komodo National Park and seeing the famous Komodo Dragons.
Categories: Indonesia, Trekking
Tags: Flores, Indonesia, Komodo, Komodo Dragons, Labuan Bajo, photography, Rinca
9 Comments
About me
Hi, I'm Phil from Germany, a traveler and adventurer suffering from a severe case of wanderlust. With a passion for Asia, I am exploring this beautiful world bit by bit, thoroughly and slowly. I love photo- graphy, surfing, diving and trekking. Come and join me. More here.
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