Up and Down Malaysia in 21 Days

THE FLIGHT. FIRST STOP: CAIRO

For anyone who has a dog, every intercontinental trip begins with something unpleasant....leaving our dear trusted friend with someone. This time it's the turn of a Roman dog-sitter. Ugo, with his white shaved coat and brown ears, looks at us baffled...and in that moment (it happens every time) I understand that you can love a dog too....see you soon, little one!!! Half a day of work, and my father Puccio Bruno shows up at the office. Once again it'll be him who takes us, a matter of convenience but also of superstition....Giusy, my faithful companion, is ready...backpack on her shoulders, Lonely Planet clutched in hand and lots of hopes and emotions: Malaysia, here we come!! The flight leaves Fiumicino at 14:25, Egypt Air, extremely punctual; the beast takes off and penetrates the sky. The arrival is on time in the Egyptian capital — we arrive as scheduled at 18:30.

In the hall the pleasant surprises begin: we meet a group of Italians, some of them continuing on to Bangkok, others, like us, going to Kuala Lumpur — Cristian from Bologna (40 days of holiday for him...how envious), Silvia and Tiziano from Florence. This is the beauty of every trip: friendships that most of the time last a very short while but will remain forever...The surprises don't end there: Egypt Air, to make up for our 8-hour wait for the next flight, offers us free of charge either a full tour of Cairo or a room with dinner in a hotel. We're tired; Giusy and I have already visited the Egyptian capital, so we opt for the hotel; the others follow us too. The hotel is called La Passage and it's beautiful: restaurant at the edge of a pool, casino, disco and bar...they serve us fish, and almost stunned we go to rest in our rooms.

The start is decidedly encouraging — we even happen upon an Egyptian wedding...splendid, of unique elegance. We go to sleep around 11 p.m., and after barely two and a half hours we wake up....

Second Flight: Bombay and then third flight: Kuala Lumpur.

The flight to Kuala Lumpur leaves at 04:30, extremely punctual; we arrive in Bombay (India) at 11:30 for a brief technical stop. From the air, Bombay shows all its incredible poverty: a jumble of shacks piled one on top of another, a megalopolis of zombies reaching right up to the airport. After about 2 hours we set off again, and at 22:40 (local time) we're finally in Kuala Lumpur. The city immediately shows itself to be extremely orderly: wide streets, four-lane motorways...so much for a developing country!!! A taxi-van takes us to the city centre; the cost of the trip from the airport is € 36.00 (split 4 ways — me, Giusy and the couple from Florence).

After dropping the two Tuscans off in front of their hotel, goodbyes, kisses and promises to stay in touch....who knows?? We arrive at the Chinatown Inn hotel, highly recommended by Lonely Planet, and pay € 20.00 a day for a double room with air conditioning, bathroom and a great view of the Chinatown night market. It's 1:30 at night, almost time to sleep...tomorrow our visit to Kuala Lumpur will begin.

KUALA LUMPUR

The alarm goes off at 07:15; after 5 minutes of numbness and chilling exhaustion we get up and, undaunted, set off for our first day in Malaysia. We have breakfast at a 7-Eleven with yoghurt, fruit juices and biscuits and take the metro to the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world, two imposing steel monsters elegantly lunging at the sky, 88 floors of strength and cutting-edge technology....The queue to get tickets to enter the deck, the suspended bridge connecting the two towers, is already very long. We lose about an hour, and our entry is at 13:30....we have about 3 hours, so we leave the Petronas and plunge into the super-modern KLCC district of Kuala Lumpur: skyscrapers and futuristic buildings everywhere.

We decide to go up the Menara KL too, a 421-metre-tall skyscraper; meanwhile we chat with two gentlemen from Livorno, and together we buy tickets for the panoramic deck of the Menara KL (€4.00 per person). The view is exceptional; the Petronas Towers rise above all the other skyscrapers, some of them with downright futuristic shapes.

We snap photos and film everything; a view like this is like opening a window onto the future...Back on the ground, with our two friends from Livorno we decide to go to the Malay district of Kampung Baru, adjacent to the Petronas, characterised by the Malays' wooden houses, which clash with the steel of modernity, crying out their own survival......how long will they last??? We try a new fruit with a curious name, Durian; we taste it....how disgusting!!! Something rotten in the mouth, we spit everything out.....truly nauseating!!! Even the two Tuscans, named Rino and Vanna, are disgusted. We visit the Sikh Temple and the Kampung Baru Mosque (if you're short on time you can skip them) and around 12:30 we return to the Petronas. We say goodbye to the two from Livorno, and Giusy and I visit the KLLC park, a very beautiful green area with lakes, fountains and children's games.

Just be careful how you move — the police are extremely strict; Giusy pays the price.....No Smoking Please!! At 13:30 we go to the Petronas; first they show us a film about the history of the national oil and gas company Petronas, and then we take the lift up to enjoy this fantastic bridge raised and held by the towers....unheard of!!! Here too the view is exceptional; we go back down also because Giusy needs a nappy...she has to pee...and in that situation she becomes unmanageable!! Once this pressing need is dealt with, we eat something in the tower, and we immediately discover the delicacies of Malay cuisine: salmon and rice for Giusy, who eats with chopsticks, and fish skewers for me; one in particular is very good — each piece of fish is wrapped in a layer of banana leaf...delicious!!! It's about 2 p.m.

and we decide to visit, again in the Petronas, the Petrosains interactive science centre (admission € 3.00, students € 2.50). We spend two cheerful, fun hours simulating the force of a hurricane, the flight of a helicopter, discovering and learning new things while playing.....it's lovely to see so many kids playing!!! At 16:30 we leave and try to visit the Dewan Filharmonik Orchestra hall; unfortunately, as we feared, we find it closed...it only opens on concert days. We skip the Petronas Towers, and, exhausted — the long flight the day before is taking its toll — we go back to the hotel to rest and shower.

What a lovely surprise Kuala Lumpur is!!! We get into bed and instantly sink into the world of dreams; we wake at 20:00...shorts on and off to discover the gastronomic delights of Kuala Lumpur; first we call my father and our dog-sitter....relax, big Ugo is fine!! We scout out Chinatown with its night market, stalls full of counterfeit goods, confusion, shouts and smells blending into a puzzle of Oriental flavour...In the end we have dinner at Roland's and for € 22.00 (a bit pricey) we eat a mega portion of noodles with fish, 2 dishes of spicy chicken and a dish of spiced mushrooms and prawns + water and beer.

Full but not sleepy, we take a taxi (which, by the way, are incredibly cheap) and go to marvel in front of the fantastic Petronas Towers by night; illuminated, they're simply stunning...A beautiful full moon is right in between the two towers; it almost seems to be greeting us....we snap photos over and over and maybe we even come up with our first painting!!! Tired but happy, we go back to the hotel...first, though, we wolf down two ice creams...Just 24 hours was enough, Malaysia, and you've already won us over!!!

Kuala Lumpur + Kuala Selangor Fireflies

The time difference makes itself felt; in fact I sleep only a few hours....Giusy, on the other hand, is like a cricket — how does she do it?? She sleeps on the plane, the time zones don't affect her...give her a bed and she'll demolish it!!! At 07:45 we're up; today the sky is cloudy...we have breakfast at the 7-Eleven with milk, biscuits and fruit juice and go to the bus station to catch one....we wait and wait but there's no sign of the bus; we take a taxi and for just 1 euro we're at the Lake Gardens, an area of lush gardens with some very beautiful tourist attractions. We start with the Tama Rama Rama (admission € 3.00 + € 1.00 for a video camera and € 0.20 for photographs); it's a small park where lots of butterflies fly free.

It's an unusual spectacle that opens up before our eyes: colourful wings flying in front of us and landing on colourful flowers....the photos are a must (this is the classic place where you feel like Piero Angela). At the exit there are glass cases housing many insects....the extraordinary world of insects!!!We leave and go to visit the Taman Bunga Raya and the Tama Orkid (that is, the hibiscus and orchid gardens); admission is free. We stroll among the flowers and gardens and look closely at these wonders; we leave and walk to the Deer Park; unfortunately it's closed and we can only see the deer from outside. It's 12:30, and I have some slight stomach trouble....oh nooooooo!! We eat a coconut and drink its thirst-quenching juice, ice cream and mango juice and water...all this for less than € 3.00.

A taxi driver takes us to see the National Monument; he doesn't even want to be paid because: "we take care of you," "we treat you well"!! Incredible, the civility of these people; there isn't a single cigarette butt on the ground; Kuala Lumpur is so clean it shines...I feel envy and anger at us Italians, who are destroying what we have!! We visit the National Monument, sculpted by Felix de Veldon, the man who created the Iwo Jima monument in Washington DC; this memorial, which is beautiful and imposing, commemorates the defeat of the communists in 1950. We go back to the hotel, but first I take care of a few little things...Imodium, where are you??? We're at the hotel; the day has just begun. We wait until 15:00 and I confess that getting out of bed is truly hard; I have a bit of a fever and my nurse Giusy tries to take emergency measures.

The meeting point is at the Hotel Malaysia, and while we wait we book the 6 August flight from Khota Barhu to Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia, ticket cost € 25.00 per person. The flight is confirmed for 6 August at 15:00. We set off in a minibus in the company of an American from Texas, 2 Japanese and a Pakistani family, with a 13-year-old boy named Sark who's a goalkeeper and loves Italian football. They tell me Pakistan lacks a coach...do they pay well?? I'm signing up....we arrive at the Historical Museum of Kuala Selangor, a place an hour and a half north of Kuala Lumpur; the roads are wonderful and all of Malaysia has been built to human scale.

We don't go into the museum, but in front of the main entrance there's a sizable colony of free-roaming monkeys that, as soon as we feed them, jump on us — one in particular on my shoulders, staying in that position for about an hour and even scratching Giusy...she only wants me...the charm of the Latin man has struck again!! It's wonderful to observe these animals so close up; their eyes, their hands look very much like human ones....a spine-tingling sensation!!! We leave the monkeys and around 18:30 we arrive at the restaurant, where we have dinner with exquisite fish dishes...really good!!! Around 20:00 we queue up to take the canoes and set off in absolute silence toward the fireflies....a wonderful spectacle, Christmas trees lighting up and going out, the only sound the forest...The only downside is that the canoe trip lasts too short, about 30 minutes....Meanwhile my head is spinnin

g and I think the fever is rising slightly too. This whole excursion, starting with the monkeys, with dinner, transport and fireflies, cost us € 22.00 per person......We arrive at the hotel at 23:30; Kuala Lumpur is truly a city that never sleeps — traffic, clubs, venues, lights, discos, live music in the streets.....what a beautiful city!!! We're tired and I'm sick....too bad we can't stay to celebrate...but tomorrow is another day....who knows??

BATU CAVES + KUALA LUMPUR

This time we wake late; we set off at 09:30, still dazed from the fever — I've taken a paracetamol too. We go out and take bus 11 (€ 0.50), crossing all of Kuala Lumpur to the Batu Caves, enormous caves that house a Hindu sanctuary inside. The golden statue dedicated to the god Muruga is impressive and majestic. We climb the stairs leading into the caves, accompanied by the inevitable little monkeys waiting for various treats from tourists; we have some biscuits that they seem to like very much. Around 13:00 we come out of the temple and try to figure out where the bus stop is to take us back to Kuala Lumpur.

A bus going the other way understands our difficulty, so it stops, waits for us and takes us to the right bus stop for us....in this gesture the whole hospitality of this extraordinary people reveals itself...As we head back, the person next to me is talking on the phone, worried...about his brother Cicci Yang, who has problems with the law...We get back to the hotel at 14:00, buy some mango, and as I'm dirtying this page with my story I still have the sweet taste of this extraordinary fruit in my mouth....how Giusy loves eating like this!!! We manage almost immediately and go to KL Central railway station to book a night ticket for 29 July to Penang-Georgetown...the last train leaves at 20:45, too early for us given that the plane bringing us back from Borneo will land at 20:00 in Kuala Lumpur...We leave the station and take a taxi to visit the nearby Thean Hou Temple, a Buddhist temple

of extraordinary impact, with dragons, animal statues, pagodas and a beautiful golden Buddha inside. Giusy and I snap photo after photo, and here too we might just come up with a painting....We leave the temple and take a taxi to the Puduraya central bus station, where we book two tickets to Penang at a cost of € 5.00 per person, departing at 24:00 on 29 July and arriving in Penang at 06:00...let's hope now that the flight isn't delayed...fingers crossed!!! We go back to the hotel to freshen up and shower. Today the shower wasn't relaxing, given that the water is cold, and after a bit of a fever a freezing shower isn't exactly the best...our room hasn't been cleaned either...a strike day?? We manage around 19:30 and we're back at Puduraya Bus Station to book a ticket for 21 July to Malacca, departing at 08:00 and returning at 19:00 (€ 7.00 per person).

Giusy talks to her mother, who's worried about the notorious tiger mosquito plaguing Borneo...damn, that was all we needed!! At 20:00 we sit down at the Chinatown restaurant and pay € 6.00 for 2 portions of chicken that turns out to be goat, noodles and vegetables, 1 beer and water...the taste is acceptable, the portions super-tiny!! We take a taxi for a nice walk toward the KLC area, the one with the Petronas Twin Towers; the venues are beautiful — the RUM JUNGLE even has an aquarium with sharks inside, Honolulu Club, the Italian Modesto's, Beach Bar, voted the most famous venue in Asia...in short, fun is guaranteed for everyone!! We go back to the hotel after wolfing down 2 ice creams each and after hearing from the dog-sitter, who reassures us that our great four-legged legend Ugo is fine....and with this good news we get ready to sleep.

KUALA LUMPUR

Breakfast around 09:00; I shave — I look like a homeless man....Puccia Giusy didn't sleep well today.....and now what do we do??? Breakfast at the 7-Eleven with milk, yoghurt and assorted juices, and we set off for the centre of Kuala Lumpur. We start our tour at Masjid Jamek, a small mosque set in a grove of palms.

To go in we wrap ourselves in various cloths and scarves....salam -a-leukum!! We continue to Merdeka Square, a beautiful colonial square that houses various buildings such as the Kuala Lumpur Memorial Library and the National History Museum, and we find a mega-festival — there must be some event like "30 Hours for Life", complete with TV, music and various shows.....we enjoy a group of little dancing girls who very much recall the various Japanese cartoons......the sun is scorching, so we continue to Masjid India and Little India, that is, the Indian district complete with bazaar; to tell the truth, though, it's a long way from the real India, since here everything is clean and extremely tidy!!! We continue our tour through Chinatown and visit various Taoist temples, starting with the Sze-ya Temple, where we meet a couple from Turin just back from Borneo....and they were disappointed....t

he forest too is too touristy......really?? We'll see.....but then we understood why....NO Uncle's Tan?? AHI AHI AHI AHI.....We then go to the Guandi Temple, characterised by incense smoke, the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, with its 22-metre-tall gateway; the Chan See Shu Yuen Temple, where there are very elaborate statues, and the KoonYah Temple, perhaps the least interesting and where the elevated metro line almost touches the walls of the temple......the modern devouring the ancient.

In the middle of these visits we treat ourselves to a break in the Central Market, where we taste chocolates with kiwi, pineapple and mango......honestly they all seemed the same to us!! We take a long walk along Petaling Street, stopping at a few stalls without buying anything; we'll wait until the end of the trip to buy something....Back to the hotel; Kuala Lumpur is slowly becoming part of our past and our memories....a city that embraces a world where Muslims, Hindus, Taoists and Christians live together respecting one another, where the modern blends with the ancient and tradition.....we'll have great memories of you, Kuala Lumpur!! We drop off some clothes to be washed at the laundry of a hostel next to our hotel; the price is € 1.20 per kilo....We go out around 19:00 and decide to return to the Central Market; we stop to eat at a little stall.

In this market there's a room with free tables and around it many little restaurants and venues; you can choose to eat from different places, in a sort of pay-as-you-go buffet....we opt for a mix of Asian and Western and for € 11.00 we get 2 portions of chicken, 1 paprika and 1 barbecue, 1 portion of grilled salmon and 1 portion of mixed grilled fish, + water....€ 11.00 for all this....incredible!! We eat very well and we're sorry we discovered this place too late.

Around 21:00 we walk toward Merdeka Square; the festival is practically over, but the square is all lit up and beautiful; here too we might just come up with a painting....Heading back toward Chinatown we hear music and discover that an Asian Folklore and Music Festival is in full swing; we sit down and enjoy the various dances being performed, some beautiful, others heavy and endless, but all colourful and certainly fascinating. Before going back to the hotel we get the usual 2 ice creams, and as we walk toward the hotel, in the Petaling market, an

MALACCA

06.30 and as promised we are up, the sky is cloudy and promises nothing good....let's hope for the best!!! In her dreams Giusy fought with a traffic warden who, while giving her information, was touching her "piddecchia" (dead skin on the elbow) and saying: "Piddecchia is beautiful"!!! S.O.S. urgently seeking a psychiatrist....Breakfast at 7-eleven with yogurt, cookies and fruit juices and on foot we go to the Puduraya bus station where at 08.00 the bus for Malacca departs.

The service is punctual, the bus is well maintained and clean, just bring a coat....the air conditioning is turned up way too high!!! We arrive in Malacca at 10.00 and it's raining....luckily it won't last long....We begin our tour of the city from Town Square, with its Christ Church, prettier outside than inside, the large Stadthuys, the town hall (admission € 1.00), which houses many museums of considerable interest....we go outside and climb on the remains of St. Paul's Church, a suggestive place that offers beautiful views over the bay of Malacca.

We then continue following to the letter the walking itinerary proposed by Lonely Planet, we enter the narrow and picturesque Jln Tun Tan Cheng Lock and from the outside we pass the Baba-Nonya Heritage Museum and enter the Malaqa House, where wonderful antiques are on display, wardrobes, Chinese boxes, small statues....simply fantastic, we visit the Guanyin Temple and stop to talk with the shoemaker Wah Aik, the only one in the world who makes very small-sized shoes, as souvenirs, though once used by geishas to keep their feet very small. I can assure you that you won't believe your eyes, we then go to the beautiful Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, undoubtedly the most beautiful temple in Malacca, dedicated to the goddess of Mercy Guanyin, it offers wonderful wooden statues and an atmosphere that gives you chills.

To be honest, we felt more emotions visiting the temples of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai in Thailand, since there the Buddhist monks wore the classic long, colorful robes....We continue our tour visiting only from the outside the Kampung Kling Mosque and then we enter many small temples in the city. It's 15.00 and we walk toward the Sultanate Palace, a wooden building that displays period costumes and tools (admission € 0.40). We stroll along modern Malacca and as a snack for € 3.00 we get 4 small portions of sushi....good and distinctive. We head back and with a local bus that takes us all around the city we arrive at the bus station. Departure at 19.00, arrival in Kuala Lumpur at 21.00.

We have dinner in Chinatown at the Chinatown International Food Centre and for € 10.00 we get 1 portion of spring rolls, 1 portion of Singapore Style noodles (practically with everything inside) and 2 portions of skewers, one of roast lamb and one of chicken.....excellent taste!!! We pick up the clothes from the laundry...they haven't faded...we call the dog-sitter, Ugo is still doing well and we can't reach our parents, but we send an email to reassure everyone....we devour 2 gelatos and around 24.00 we are at the hotel. Tomorrow we fly to Borneo....what an adventure!!!

FLYING TO BORNEO: SANDAKAN

A day of transition and travel....we leave Kuala Lumpur to arrive in Borneo at Sandakan. Breakfast at 7-eleven with yogurt, fruit juices and cookies and then around 1.30 with a taxi (€ 14.00) we leave for the airport. Don't have the hotel book the taxi for you, go down and find one yourself, you save money and give it to drivers not affiliated with the hotels!! We arrive at LLC airport, Kuala Lumpur's second, where domestic low-cost flights depart, around 11.30, and Giusy and I, to kill time, take a stroll through the airport's few shops. The Air Asia plane departs about 30 minutes late, which it will make up in flight, it is truly clean, well organized and never gives the impression of being the poor relative of the more prestigious airlines.

The round-trip flight for two cost us € 80.00...crazy!! 4 flights € 80.00...for this, though, on the plane you pay for everything, Giusy and I get a sandwich and 2 bottles of water for € 3.00 (not a rip-off) and the most curious thing is that toward the end of the trip a steward came by with a piggy bank to collect tips.....absurd but true!!! Anyway, if only we had Italian airlines like this....can you imagine a Rome-Milan always at € 20.00?? Before landing the landscape is exceptional, it feels like flying over the Amazon rainforest, we cross Sabah with its green jungle, its rivers with sinuous curves and in the distance the blinding blue of the sea...an authentic spectacle!!We land and with a pre-paid coupon (€4.20) we take a taxi to the May Fair Hotel, but the hotel is completely full and on the owner's advice we go to the nearby Malaysia Hotel, and we also ask him for his opinion on U

ncle Tan...and he replies: "he is the best"!! And for Sipadan he advises us to book directly on site. At the Malaysia Hotel for € 11.00 we get a nice double room with a/c, window and private bathroom, in short a great deal, too bad about the tiny towels, we go out after a healthy shower and wander around Sandakan, the city is an authentic disappointment, from the little we see it's all dark, the places are closed and no one speaks English, in short the exact opposite of eccentric Kuala Lumpur. We roam around looking for some open restaurant and in the end we find Fat Cat Five, cozy, tiny, with girls wearing veils who serve you and smile while I speak English. We pay € 6.00 for 1 portion of noodles, 1 of rice with chicken and 2 portions of fried chicken and 2 bottles of water.

On the way out we find the adjacent pastry shop and buy a series of coconut, cinnamon and lemon pastries...we must have bought a kilo!!! We go back to the hotel, tomorrow in fact we'll get up early, at 06.00 because we have to go to the bus station and then to Uncle Tan.....see you tomorrow!!

SEPILOK - JUNGLE - UNCLE'S TAN

I get up early in the morning, around 05:50, Giusy stays in bed, with a taxi at a price of €3.30 I go to the bus station in Sandakan, a real ghost station, with a small dusty office and a few beat-up buses....bad news for us, the bus to Semporna leaves at 08:00 in the morning and so we risk losing a day, all the buses, for all directions departing from this city leave in the morning....I go back to my Giusy who has just woken up, at 07:30 we have an appointment with a taxi driver who for €7.50 takes us to Uncle's Tan village. The base camp is definitely nice, with a ping-pong table, billiards, darts and more...I was expecting worse!! At 09:00 with a pick-up we go to visit the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, a place where injured monkeys and orphaned babies are healed and then returned to the forest.

The site, although touristy, is definitely beautiful and distinctive, you walk along a wooden path in the middle of the greenery and on the sides monkeys of various sizes pop up, freely jumping from tree to tree, Giusy and I take lots of photos....and then at 10:00 we enjoy the moment when the monkeys are fed....a myriad of fur, bones, eyes, hands pouncing on the food, it's undoubtedly a great show!!! Meanwhile we meet Massimo, an Italian who has been travelling the world for a few years....lucky him!!! We go back to Uncle's Tan, for lunch rice, various vegetables and chicken, a little ping-pong match with puccia who invents a style all her own.....the one-finger one, the two-finger one.....and the one with the missing little ball, what a champion!!!! We pay €63.00 per person for the full 3-day, 2-night jungle tour, meals included, and at 14:30 we leave with the pick-up and after about an

hour and a half we're at the Kinabantang River, where we take canoes and for about 45 minutes we go deep into the forest.....the scenery is fantastic, green and more green...however we're unlucky when it comes to spotting animals, we have to settle for just a group of little monkeys and a few herons.

We arrive at the camp at 17:00...and there the surprises begin, the bungalows look like zoo cages, 6 people sleep in them, we end up with a couple, him from Paris and her from Belgium, named Alain and Nickie, very nice and not very French.....The camp isn't basic, it's more than that (so be prepared), it borders on primitive....dirty Turkish-style toilets, no shower, running water from the river and therefore brown, smelly mattresses.....We have dinner with rice, chicken and vegetables and at 21:00 we leave by boat for a night tour on the river, but before getting there we get our feet stuck in the mud more than a few times....what a mess....here it's survival!! The scenery along the river changes profoundly, the environment is almost ghostly, the silence is even terrifying, we manage to spot a kingfisher coloured with a masterly beauty, another tiny one, a couple of owls, a baby crocodil

e (doesn't it melt your heart)?? and a frog.......everything will be unforgettable. It's 24:00, tomorrow we get up at 06:00 for another safari....this time we've outdone ourselves!!!

UNCLE'S TAN BORNEO JUNGLE

What a night guys!!! Would you ever manage to sleep in a smelly oven, where it's hard to breathe, in complete darkness, with monkeys on the roof jumping around, peeing (which of course gets in) and another one that from the forest stretches out a hand and snatches a plastic bag, luckily empty??' I did for an hour, Giusy a bit longer, the two French instead split the match in half, Alain falls into a trance right away, Nickie doesn't close an eye for even a minute....what a night guys!!! At 24:00 sharp the light automatically goes out and the darkness becomes total, it's the first time I've seen darkness of such intensity, I mean true darkness, the kind that stops you from talking, the kind that doesn't even let you see your own hands, the kind that terrifies.....To encourage each other, I, Giusy and the French couple start laughing and laughing......for at least 2 hours we're doubled over

with laughter....what a night guys!!! We wake up, so to speak, at 05:50 and at 06:30 we leave for a new adventure by boat, with the help of our guide we try to see some animals, we watch some eagles flying in the sky, herons, crocodiles and finally the famous proboscis monkeys, the only specimens live in this area, only they're shy and therefore quite far from our canoe.

They take us back to the village, this time through a secondary entrance and they want to make us get off in the middle of the river.....what?? No way!!! Adventure is one thing, madness is another.....they tell us there are crocodiles and then they want us to get off here?? Alain, scornful of danger, gets off, another French family with a 4-year-old girl, named Eva, follows Alain, but she falls no less than 3 times into the river (thank goodness the little girl was being held by her dad), I, Giusy and Nickie stay on the boat and have ourselves taken to the main entrance!!! We have breakfast with fruit and then at 10:30 we set off again for a trek, this time on foot through the jungle.....2 very pleasant hours, where we see lots of insects, including the blue tarantula of Borneo, a gigantic yellow bat, various centipedes, a tiny frog and more.....a lovely walk in the greenery of the jungle

!!! Maybe so far this has been the most beautiful tour, organised by Uncle's Tan. We have lunch with rice, chicken and vegetables and right in the middle of lunch we're stopped by the unexpected but certainly welcome visit of a wild boar and then a monitor lizard, that huge lizard, with prehistoric movements and undeniable charm....photo time!!!! After lunch we chat a bit among ourselves and the main topic, needless to say, is football....Giusy dozes off and rests a bit, I write......at 17:00 we set off again by boat, will we manage to see the proboscis monkey up close??? Who knows.....

And at 17:00 sharp we're on the boat and this time our eyes will smile and our hearts will beat faster than usual......after a few minutes, in fact, sitting on a tree, with her little one, we see some Orangutans, we position ourselves from the canoe and go down into the forest, in a stretch still intact and wild, Giusy gets bitten by a leech but manages to remove it immediately anyway, we find ourselves under the tree with the Orangutan and her baby above....it's an authentic spectacle, seeing them in a zoo is one thing and seeing them free is another.....We continue and it's the turn of the proboscis monkey who doesn't want to be disturbed and turns her back so as not to be photographed, every now and then an eagle flies in the sky and the herons spread their wings almost touching the river, we spot a crocodile and many macaques....this time nature opened up to us.....before our eyes!!!

We go back to the camp with the awareness of having seen something unique....we're dirty, sweaty, smelly, tired, but happy!!! We have dinner with the usual chicken, rice and vegetables and for Giusy, who is allergic to garlic and onion, the usual omelette (not much imagination from Uncle's Tan's cooks)....after dinner we chat with Alain, Nickie, another 2 French people and a Spanish couple from Barcelona, Robert and Maribel, Catalans who would like Catalonia to be an independent state....long live unity!!! Around 21:30 we set off for the last excursion in the jungle, a night trek, and this time it will be the world of insects that amazes us....we immediately see various frogs of various sizes, colourful but poisonous centipedes, gigantic scorpions, a giant tarantula resting on a tree, a snake about 4 metres long and thin, a wild cat, climbing on a tree, a colourful kingfisher resting on a

branch, bats, lizards of various sizes, a gecko that barks (you won't believe it but it's true, I thought it was a dog and instead....go figure out nature!!! We go back to the camp, what a thing guys, hard even to describe!!! Everyone is together sipping a coke...and then off to sleep....sleep??? A state that belongs to the past.....after lots of laughter, I close my eyes for about 3 hours...and then around 04:00 I walk around the camp alone...Giusy is an alien....she sleeps!!! Tomorrow we'll leave Uncle's Tan, what can I say?? Love and hate, cross and delight....only one adjective can describe this place: unique!!!

SEMPORNA

In the morning we have breakfast twice, it's time for goodbyes, we take the ritual photos, we promise impossible things, a hug, a photo and lots of memories, that's what will remain. At 10:00 by canoe we say goodbye to Uncle's Tan and after about an hour we reach the first road and see the first car again, it feels like a century has passed....We get off the canoe and with a minivan we reach Lahbu Datu, where we change bus and arrive in Semporna around 14:30.

Along the way, we observe the catastrophe that is taking place, the deforestation of Borneo and the oil palms that for economic reasons are put in place of the cut trees....hectares and hectares of forest wiped out....animals forced to flee or worse still dead of hunger....but what is the WWF waiting for to declare the forest of Borneo a World Heritage Site?? As soon as we arrive in Semporna, a local tour operator gives us leaflets promising us everything, we play along and go to see, we don't like the room and we drop it, as for the excursions, just as we feared Sipadan is completely full for weeks and so we book for €20.00 (meal included) the excursion for the next day to the island of Sabuan....sea....sea....sea.....We go outside and the van with our luggage has disappeared, they tell us that the driver and his colleagues (all employees of the excursion agency) will be right back, I ge

t angry and say that if they're not back in 5 minutes I'll call the police....after a few minutes they come back and apologise to us.....We book at the Seafest hotel, a mega multi-storey building overlooking the sea, elegant in its rooms, more suited to a business clientele than to tourists looking for sun. We take for €24.00, breakfast included, a huge room, with a sea view, with air conditioning, bathroom....a room that in Italy you'd pay about €100.00 a night for...shower...shower...shower...shower...shower.... We have an appointment with the French at 19:00, we'll definitely have dinner together...see you later then. At 18:30 we go out for a walk, Semporna is a small town, with a rather shabby seafront, a few bars and restaurants and lots of curious people looking at us.

At 19:00 we meet Alain and Nicke and try to contact our parents, here in Borneo the phone lines are a disaster, so we send an email hoping that our parents will read it. We go to a restaurant on the seafront with a very long and unpronounceable name, we spend just €4.00 for 3 portions of grilled prawns (very good but small quantity), 1 plate of fish noodles (delicious) and 1 plate of boiled Sabah vegetables and 1 bottle of water.

A local waiter, (he tells us he's from the Philippines), as soon as he sees my video camera he mistakes me for Steven Spielberg and tells me he wants to be an actor and a singer and starts singing......a real artist, honestly I felt sympathy and also pity, the desperation of a boy with no future.....We leave the restaurant and Giusy and I (the French go to sleep) go into a bar where they're playing live music, western rock....we have a beer, jump around a bit and around 23:00, very tired, we go back to the hotel, but first I have to see Giusy wearing the swimsuits to go to the sea....pink, we chose the pink one!!! Goodnight....

SABUAN ISLAND

After a good restorative sleep, at 06:45 we wake up eager for sun and sea. We have breakfast at the hotel with fruit, milk and chocolate, mango juice, a ring cake and toast with jam and peanut butter...not bad, right?? At 08:00 we meet Alain and Nicke in front of the office of Singamata Adventures, the agency where we booked our first excursion €20.00 to the island of Sabuan. At 08:15 we leave on a small, dilapidated boat that takes us to the Singamata chalet located right in the middle of the ocean.

We change boats and another French and Filipino family joins us plus a French guy...but how many French people are there in Malaysia?? Do you remember Massimo?? The guy from Naples met at the Sepilok Orang Utan Centre? Well, he's passed through here.....how small the world is...we leave him a good luck message!!! We set off by boat and the scenery captivates us instantly, how can such beauty be described?? A Picasso painting, the Pyramid of Giza......a wonder beyond comparison, a brightly coloured sea, emerald green, deep blue, as blue as the sky, islets popping up everywhere and then we slowly approach the island of Sabuan....and it's paradise, an islet of about 500 metres, with coconut palms, a very white beach, with a thin strip that ends in a blue and in some places emerald green sea, the water is very warm....we're speechless, it's a heavenly vision, a jewel in the middle of the sea,

simply wonderful!!! Giusy and I walk on the very white beach, a child for €1.00 cracks open 2 coconuts full of juice for us....there are also very few tourists and so we can enjoy this spectacle in absolute tranquillity....we dive in, sunbathe, take photos and film, it's really hard to find a place like this....The seabeds are rich in fish, unfortunately though the corals have been destroyed by the bombs of the Philippine government which a few years ago had the brilliant idea of doing war tests right here.......idiocy knows no bounds!!! A positive sign is that the corals are growing back and in any case the ones that remain are a spectacle....we see blue starfish, sea urchins with very long spines and the usual colourful fish.....fantastic!!! Around 11:00 a sudden storm hits us, for about 20 minutes we take shelter under a tree and then we dive into the very warm ocean water under the ra

in....luckily it all lasts a short while and the sun comes out right away...At 13:00 by boat we go back to the Singamata Chalet where we have lunch (included), a plate of noodles and some chicken. In the early afternoon I dive into a fenced area created specifically. The area is very rich in many varieties of fish, there's even a small shark....it's a very particular feeling, it's like diving into an aquarium, with fish of various sizes....beautiful!!! Around 18:00 Vicky, the manager of Singamata, arrives and we book the excursion for the next day, same price €20.00 for the island of Mabul, departing at 08:00.

We go back to the hotel to shower and freshen up, despite the strong protective sunscreen we've turned red....Appointment at 20:00 with Alain and Nickie and this time we go to the Seafood Seaside Restaurant, where we pay €5.00 for 1 portion of very spicy rice with prawns, a portion of rice with soy sauce and fish and a plate of squid with... wait, what's "al pede"? Oh, "al pepe" probably? Let me translate literally: "al pede" — hmm, it must be "al pepe" (with pepper). So a plate of squid with pepper, to drink beer and water. Yesterday's restaurant was definitely better, both for quality, for prices and for the atmosphere. We're tired, we decide to go to sleep, but first we stop to read my father's reply email.....everything's fine!!! Around 22:30 we go back to the hotel, tomorrow we go to the island of Mabul.

MABUL ISLAND

The alarm is set for 07:00, a very rich breakfast at the hotel and then an appointment with the French at the Singamata agency. We leave by boat and stop at their village. The Singamata Agency is definitely professional and reliable and the manager Vicky is a woman who does everything......but it's better she doesn't really do everything, when and if you see her you'll understand why....We arrive at the island of Mabul passing many islets of a blinding green, small lands emerging from the sea that offer scenery worthy of a tourist brochure.

Mabul, as we feared, after seeing Sabuan, disappoints us a bit, here in fact instead of very white beaches we find lots of tourist resorts, instead of a fantastic sea, we find a clean sea but certainly not unforgettable, the corals and fish are few too.....mind you, Mabul is a nice place, but more suited to divers than to people who want to snorkel or simply relax on the beaches.

After a few minutes' swim we sit under a jetty in the shade, the sun today is really scorching and you can't stay outside the shade....except of course Giusy who is a lizard!!! We have lunch with rice and eggs, then Giusy and I take a walk around the island and reach the famous and very expensive Water Village Resort tourist resort, €800.00 a night for a double room...to enter they give you a permit and you have to sign a register, it almost feels like entering the White House, we buy 2 ice creams in the resort and as we're leaving we see some rather ridiculous scenes, the tourists who are in the resort to cover 100 metres have themselves accompanied by a mini-car.......the usual Japanese walking on the jetty with their umbrella open....maybe it's just me but I've never been able to stand snobs!!! Outside the resort there's the village of the local indigenous people, Giusy and I go in and

lots of children greet us, some of them go around completely naked, others proudly show us fish they've just caught....we take some photos, honestly we feel much closer to these people than to those staying in the village.....moreover a fence has been put up to divide the locals and the resort.....foreigners in their own home!!! We find a spot with very clear water, with Alain and Nickie, Giusy and I relax in this splendid natural bay, formed by crystal-clear water, never deeper than the knee, we sink in and sunbathe lulled by this limpid water....then you know, when you're having a good time, time flies and at 15:30 we're back on the boat leaving for the Seafest Hotel in Semporna...we arrive and after about an hour we go again to the Singamata Office and there we get the bad news, even though we knew it.......no luck for the island of Sipadan, Vicky didn't manage to find a slot to fit us

in....oh well....there'll be another opportunity....On the plus side we book the excursion to the island of Mantabuan €20.00 (they all cost the same) per person, with lunch and transport included, so tomorrow more sea and sun...by the way I'm as red as a pepper...Giusy instead is already quite dark!! We go back to the hotel, shower and a light rest, the sun kills me....around 19:15 we go out, appointment at 19:30 with Alain and Nickie, this time though we split up, they decide to go back to the first restaurant, the one with the unpronounceable name, Giusy and I go to the Mabul Steak House Restaurant...and never was a choice more fortunate, €12.00 for a large beer and a water, a plate of exquisite grilled salmon, one with grilled chicken and prawns, salad and seafood rolls, all very good, seasoned with a cheerful and lively atmosphere....While we're walking back to the hotel we first meet

a German tourist we had seen at the Sepilok Orang Utan Centre and then Alain and Nicke who decide to follow us tomorrow to the restaurant where we've just been....ehhhh French people, when it comes to food, listen to the Italians...We go back to the hotel, first we reply to a funny email from the great poet Bruno, my father, and then it's back to sleep, tomorrow the last excursion in Borneo, then back to Malaysia, for our final rush.....

MANTABUAN ISLAND

We wake up at 07:00 sharp, the sky is grey and it's raining lightly, we have the usual very rich breakfast at the hotel and doubtfully go to the Singamata Office, what to do?? Go by boat to the island or not?? Alain and Nicke are in favour of yes, Giusy too is convinced the weather will change and so I let myself be convinced and around 08:10 with the usual boat we set off for the island of Mantabuan...we pass again among islets and atolls, soaked by the spray of a fantastic sea, we've been seeing this scenery for three days, but every time it gives us fantastic emotions....we arrive at the island and once again we're left open-mouthed, a small atoll covered in palms with very white beaches...wonderful, can you feel like Robinson Crusoe nowadays? Well yes...on the whole island we are the only four tourists and the local indigenous people who seem never to have seen a white man....I try to

approach them and they run away, there are lots of children and slowly four children, a little boy named Herman and three little girls Cindy, Cinda and Mottè come closer and start laughing, we offer them our lunches, they're happy and eat greedily, it feels like going back in time, they can't write, they don't understand our language, we talk with gestures and together we build some sandcastles....and is it possible that there are still people like this?? Should we educate them or leave them alone?? Is happiness knowledge or the simplicity of not knowing?? These are the topics we discuss among ourselves, but believe me seeing people living on stilts, completely cut off from the world is something extraordinary....The island itself is very beautiful, maybe Sabuan was more beautiful as a setting, but the seabeds of Mantabuan are largely superior, we see corals and fish without end, Alain ma

nages to see a giant turtle, I've never seen so many starfish and sea urchins as in this place.....an authentic paradise not yet touched by fame and civilization. The locals like us and we try to communicate through music, the children sing local songs, we reply with Vasco Rossi, Zero, Ligabue for the Italians, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden and Rolling Stones for the internationals....I have a go with 2 bamboo canes and a piece of wood at playing the drums, more children arrive, one in particular stays in my mind, Isa, she looks at us, smiles, in the arms of another child, two other little boys have fun with a kite made from a plastic bag....how I'd love to bring our spoiled western kids here.....Time passes quickly and this memorable day too is over, it's the first time I find myself in a situation like this, the white western man on one side and the naive faces, with big black eyes, of the lo

cal kids.....Around 16:00 we set off again, we leave this fantastic island behind us....the more time passes the more Malaysia fascinates us and captivates us....would we be willing to leave everything and live in a country like this....As the boat approaches the Singamata Village, we pull alongside some fishing boats with fishermen greeting us waving their arms, we return their greetings and their smiles......there are images that remain engraved in the heart and this is one of them, the strength of life....We say goodbye to all the guys of the Singamata Village, we had a great time with them, they were all kind and professional, we also say goodbye to Vicky making her promise to see each other again next year, who knows.....we'll try anyway, this is a place hard to find in the world....Around 17:30 we're at the hotel for a shower and a rest.

We go out and at 19:00 we have an appointment with Nicke and Alain, we go to the same restaurant as last night, the Mabul Steak House Restaurant and with 13 euros we eat 1 plate of rice and fish noodles, 2 grilled mixed fish portions and to drink 1 beer and 1 water. We say goodbye to the French with the promise of staying in touch and after going to an internet point to reply to my father's email, we go back to the hotel with a craving for ice cream, is it possible that there's no ice cream in Semporna?? Of course they're closed! Tomorrow a hard and demanding day of travel awaits us....See you tomorrow!!!

FROM BORNEO TO MALAYSIA

By some joke of fate, the hotel alarm goes off at 04:50...what an early rise, we get ready very slowly, have breakfast with mango juice and biscuits bought the previous evening and go down around 06:30, the Seafest hotel before we leave gives us two plastic bags with two bottles of water and some sandwiches inside, really great service!!! After 5 minutes of waiting the taxi arrives, a tiny car that takes us for €2.00 to the bus stop for Sandakan. The bus, instead of at 07:00, leaves at 08:00 and after a pleasant and relaxing 5-hour journey we find ourselves at our destination.

We look for a taxi and the first ones right under the bus stop ask us for €4.00 to go to the airport, we move just 30 metres and the price drops to €3.00....sold, but here's the good part, the taxi driver who doesn't speak English takes the wrong road and takes us to the pier, so Giusy and I imitate a plane to make him understand that we have to fly and not sail.....in short, it takes us about an hour for 7 km of journey. We arrive at Sandakan airport, very small and quick to get around, we buy some postcards and wait for 17:10 for the departure with the airline Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur. The flight leaves very punctually and even arrives early in Kuala Lumpur. We pick up our luggage and pay the pre-established coupon for the taxi (€12.00 to the Puduraya bus station).

We arrive around 21:00 and I confess that seeing the Petronas Towers again always has a nice effect, we call Giovanna, Giusy's mum and Giordana, Ugo is being a rascal, he scratched the door and peed on the sofa, but overall he's fine and good.....let's hope he doesn't destroy her house!!! We have dinner at the Kenny Rogers chain restaurant and pay €14.00 for two portions of chicken, a plate of pasta that tastes like plastic and some pseudo salad, we won't go back, the worst meal we've had in Malaysia.

It's 22:00, all we have to do is wait 2 hours before taking the bus to Penang...what a day!!! We manage to change the bus and bring the departure forward, instead of at 24:00 we leave at 23:00, the bus is very punctual and inside it's freezing cold, the air conditioning is very high and you freeze!! We say goodbye to Kuala Lumpur for the last time with its skyscrapers and the fantastic illuminated Petronas Towers!!!

GEORGETOWN

In the middle of the North Pole we arrive in Georgetown at 04.00, with a taxi (€5.00) we go to the Malaysia Hotel, but the only rooms left are the deluxe ones, too expensive for Malaysian standards (€ 28.00), we continue our search and try the Oriental Hotel, here too we're out of luck, they have a double free only for one night, finally our wandering ends at the Merchant Hotel, where we book a double € 17.00 with a/c, private bathroom and great view over the city. We're on the eleventh floor. At 08.00 we wake up, sleepy and tired.

The day begins with a misunderstanding with the hotel, on the receipt they wrote the date of our arrival as 29/07/08, but we arrived at 05.00 in the morning of 30/07/08!! They insist that the night of the 29th has to be paid, I say that arriving at 05.00 in the morning and leaving at 08.00 can't be considered a night, they call the big boss on the phone and rightly the boss agrees with me, math has never been an opinion, by the way the room price also includes breakfast, but not from today, rather starting from tomorrow, ok..sold!! We have breakfast at a supermarket and go out and with a taxi at the price of € 2.00 we go to the Georgetown pier heading for Butterworth to book the bus to Khota Bharu, our last destination.

The ferry is free, but don't trust the posted timetables, we wait for more than 30 minutes and there's not even a shadow of the ferry, we then decide to take another taxi that for € 5.00 takes us to a Georgetown agency (without going to Butterworth), we book, for August 1, 2 seats for the night bus leaving at 21.00 for Khota Bharu, at the price of € 8.00 per person and finally we begin our tour of the colonial city of Georgetown. We follow to the letter the itinerary proposed on foot by the Lonely Planet in the colonial district, we visit Fort Cornwallis, with its outer walls, a few cannons and nothing more, we continue to the Victoria Memorial Clock Tower, the clock tower in memory of Queen Victoria, we visit the Town Hall, a beautiful white building and the City Hall.

We arrive at the Convent Lebuh Light, a girls' school, and feel tenderness seeing so many little girls smiling at us and a group practicing an oriental-style dance, it's Catholicism's turn, with St. George's Church, with a very simple structure and opposite is the beautiful Supreme Court, we arrive at the Cheong Fatt Tze Museum, but it's closed and will reopen at 15.00, we'll try later. I confess that I don't much love colonial style and that I'm eager to discover the oriental part. Meanwhile the heat is terrible and so we rent a rickshaw for a couple of hours at the cost of € 10.00, don't call us slave drivers, after all they have to work and so...our pedal driver is called Abdullah and I must say the choice was a good one!! Visiting the city on foot in that heat would have been dramatic.

We visit the small and pretty Hainan Temple Chinese temple, then only from the outside the Kuan Yin Teng and the beautiful Pinang Peranakan Mansion (entrance € 2.00), an elegant villa where the typical home of a wealthy babanaya family of the late 1800s has been recreated, it's really worth seeing this place...the furniture, the floors and the elegance of this house are splendid.

With the rickshaw we enter Little India and visit the Sri Mariamman Temple, an interesting Hindu temple but certainly not the most beautiful (especially if you've been, like us, to India)! It's 14.00 and the heat is unbearable, we drink endless water and with the rickshaw we arrive at perhaps the most beautiful temple in Georgetown, the Khoo Kongsi (entrance € 1.50), very colorful, with dragons and sculptures everywhere, a real feast for the eyes, beautiful!! Abdullah takes us to the real Chinatown, a series of little houses perched on the sea, for the first time since we've been in Malaysia, we see something dirty and breathe a bad smell, these Chinese must understand that they can't destroy everything!! The place is also typical and characteristic, but it's truly a shame to ruin it with plastic bags and various dirt thrown on the ground.

We buy 2 ice creams, say goodbye and pay Abdullah and take another taxi, which for € 6.00 (round trip) takes us to see the Wat Chayamangkalaram and the Dhammikarama. The Wat, that is the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, is undoubtedly beautiful, not comparable to the Reclining Buddha of Bangkok but this one too offers an engaging atmosphere, among colors, dragons, pagodas and many Buddhas, there's a Buddha lying on one side 33 meters long and it seems it's the third largest Buddha effigy in the world, we take photo after photo and are amazed to see that under the Buddha statue there's a real cemetery, with the ashes and photos of many deceased, we go through the temple once again, how nice to see so many barefoot children running, 3 Muslim women with veils also enter and when it's time for a photo they pull it down, signs of change? We go out and visit the Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Tem

ple, this one too beautiful, with two large stone elephants placed at the sides of the entrance and a gigantic standing Buddha inside, splendid. We leave some money for the reconstruction of Burma after the recent and terrible cyclone and set off again with the taxi driver whose name is Muthu. For the next day he tells us that for € 5.00 an hour he'll stay with us the whole time and that we can ask him to take us to any point on the island, we accept!! Having a taxi at our disposal for 5 hours and spending € 25.00 isn't so bad!! We try again at the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, and the same guy tells us again that it's too late now, but it's 15.20?? He explains that there are only 2 entries, one at 11.00 and one at 15.00, and couldn't he have said so earlier? We photograph this beautiful blue mansion from the outside and say goodbye.

Next to our hotel is the Boutique du Chocolat, how can you not go in? We explore the shop but honestly we're disappointed both by the imagination and the quality of the products. Around 16.00, tired, we decide to go take a shower and rest a bit.

Around 19.30 we go out and head straight to the Red Garden, an outdoor dining area, in the center of Chinatown, here you can find everything, Indian, Malaysian, Chinese and Japanese cuisine and the nice thing is that you can take a bit from all of them, we finally try the Tofu, a typical Malaysian cheese, made with soy milk and then to give it some flavor they fry fish and vegetables inside it, we didn't like it much, too far from our usual tastes, then we go for the classic with Satay, Malaysian grilled skewers of chicken, shrimp, mutton, squid and then Japanese with 2 portions of chicken and salmon with rice, fried ginger and various vegetables..excellent, to drink 1 beer and 1 water, the bill? € 14.00. Meanwhile in the middle of the dining area there's a piano bar and the Chinese start dancing and it's a show to watch them, a series of robots all dancing together.

We go for a walk, Georgetown at night lights up and dresses up, there are many clubs and pubs that open. We rent a rickshaw and for € 8.00 we go to the seafront, we get as far as the Esplanade Zone Centre, full of Chinese stalls selling food. Me and Giusy taste various sweets, there's nothing to be done, they just don't know how to make them!! We go back to Chinatown and watch again their very schematic dances and seeing them dance Mambo Number Five like so many puppets makes us smile. It's 23.30 we eat 2 ice creams and go to bed, tomorrow the island of Penang awaits us.

PENANG ISLAND

Wake-up at 08:15, I'm peeling like a snake (despite the SPF 20 cream), breakfast at the hotel with toast, butter and jam and at 09:30 the taxi driver Muthu is ready to take us around the island of Penang. First stop is the fishing village of Batu Maung, with a temple in terrible condition, abandoned by the sea, a shame, also because from what you can see the place must have been and could have been magical....There are lots of stray dogs wandering around the temple, after initial perplexity and hesitation they come closer and want to be petted, we oblige them!!! We continue our journey by taxi to the Snake Temple, a tiny temple with snakes (venomous Wagler's pit vipers) coiled on some small part of the temple.

Don't imagine millions of snakes, there are about 5-6, so don't worry....last year in India at the mouse temple we really trembled, here instead it was a walk in the park...At the exit of the temple, after avoiding the ritual photo with the snake on your shoulders (they want €6.00), there's a small snake exhibition (entrance €1.00). We go from glass case to glass case discovering this infernal reptile, there are also iguanas, rabbits (what will happen to them)?? and tethered little monkeys....We finish the tour and set off again, this time towards the island's main attraction, the Kek Lok Si Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, we're not lucky, the Ban Po Thar, that is the pagoda of ten thousand Buddhas is under restoration and therefore can only be visited from the outside.

We visit the 3-storey temple with many Buddha statues inside, the whole thing is truly evocative and beautiful, among the many photos we take and Buddhas we see.....I have a yellow-and-red vision, an Australian guy wearing the legendary Roma shirt, "camon brother, let's take a picture"!! Immortalised in a yellow-and-red shrine: "Daje Roma Daje"!! We continue visiting other temples, every arch leads to a hall, every hall leads to a temple, it's truly beautiful, even though I repeat myself and keep saying that as far as monuments go Thailand offers much more.

Kuan Yin, the goddess of Mercy, a very tall bronze statue, is also being restored....oh well, these are the setbacks that happen on every trip!!! Coming down from the temple we cross a picturesque market full of stalls and start buying gifts for our friends, relatives and for ourselves!! It's almost 13:00 when, hot and sweaty, we set off again by taxi and discover that the funicular that goes up to Penang Hill is also closed for restoration, so it's a curse!!! We visit the nearby Botanical Gardens, 30 hectares of garden, with closed greenhouses that can only be visited from the outside, with orchids, cacti and more....In the gardens there's also a small waterfall and the inevitable monkeys....The gardens are well kept and it's truly pleasant to take a refreshing walk among tropical trees in the middle of the Penang heat.

Around 14:00 we go back to the hotel to freshen up, we pay the taxi driver €22.00 for having been with us for 4 and a half hours and tomorrow for €5.00 he'll take us in the evening to the bus station for Khota Bharu, but that's another story....We go out around 18:30 and along Lebuh Chulia, one of the busiest arteries of Georgetown, we buy a book for €9.00 about Malaysian cuisine, then we call our parents and then, walking, we pass in front of the Banana Travel & Tours agency specialising in packages for the Perenthian islands, what to do?? The temptation is really strong, we go in and ask for information, they can for €30.00 per person take us directly by minivan to Kuala Besut and board us to the Perenthians....as you know we've already bought the ticket for the night bus (€14.00).......but after a quick calculation we prefer to take the agency's offer: departure at 07:00 and arrival at

the Perenthians at 13:30 on 1 August, with the bus instead, departure would have been at 21:00 and arrival at 06:00 in the morning of 2 August, so with the agency we gain a day, we don't sleep on a bus for a night and we save money for taxes... wait, "taxis" and sweat for our backpacks on our shoulders.....sometimes money isn't everything!!!! We have dinner again at the Red Garden and for €13.00 we eat 2 plates of barbecue chicken, good but small, a plate of exquisite sushi and a plate of chicken curry, to drink beer, water and coke. We call the dog-sitter who tells us Ugo is calm and that maybe she'll take him.......eh, children are pieces of your heart....

and Ugo is not to be touched!!!! We buy food and juices for the next day's breakfast, have a wander, devour 2 ice creams and around 23:00 we go back to the hotel, tomorrow the alarm is at 06:00, the scenery changes again.....Palau Perenthian here we come!!!!

PERENTHIAN ISLANDS

The alarm is set for 06:00, breakfast and we say goodbye to the Merchant hotel, undoubtedly well organised. At 07:00 sharp the van of the Banana Travel & Tours agency comes to pick us up. The other travel companions are three couples. The journey is long, embellished by a few stops and slowed down by many bends. We pass through the Cameron Highlands, where we have the chance to see some tea plantations.

The greenery that welcomes us is immense, but here too the destructive work of man is underway, many areas have been deforested.....a paradise in agony that is slowly dying!! Everyone else gets off at the Cameron Highlands and we continue the journey alone, between a nap, a smile and a yawn we arrive in Kuala Besut at 15:00, where a woman welcomes us and after stamping our tickets takes us to the boat, it's a small lifeboat with at least 15 people inside, we feel like Libyan refugees trying to land in Lampedusa. The sea is quite rough and on some occasions the boat almost seems about to fly. After about 40 minutes of travel (by the way you have to pay €1.00 per person to enter the marine park and then €0.20 cents per person to disembark at Long Beach), we arrive at the Perenthian Islands, two islands, Besar, called the Big one and Kecil, called the small one.

Giusy and I get off on the small one and they practically leave us in the sea, a few metres from Long Beach....with backpacks on our shoulders and dripping with sweat we start our search for accommodation on the island and I confess I feel envy seeing the many tourists in the water looking at us smiling......life is a wheel that turns!!! The search is really hard, we try the Matahari Chalets, but it's completely full, same fate with the Panorama Chalets and the Moonlight Beach. Meanwhile we meet a Danish family with a 2-year-old daughter whose name is Ophelia, they too are looking for a room.... Meanwhile I find a room at the Symphony Village, he wants €12.00, but he should be the one paying me just to enter and see that disaster.

The Dane's wife tells me to join forces, it's hot and honestly a slight fear is coming on, don't tell me that??? But then the turning point comes: Mohsin Chalet, a bungalow on top of a hill with bathroom and fan at the price of €24.00, + €8.00 deposit for the towels and €0.10 for each roll of toilet paper.

The view from the balcony of our room, number 7, also called Albatros, is exceptional, the white beach bay below us, coconut palms and rocks in the distance....wow what a spectacle!!! And the Danes, you ask?? No problem, room number 8...next to us, when it's written it's written!!! We quickly undress, swimsuit and splash, at 17:00 sharp here we are in the water in the fantastic crystal-clear waters of the Perenthian islands, totally different from those of Borneo, these are greener and rockier, the others sandy and arid....On the beach there are some restaurants, a few small shops and nothing more.....the Perenthians are suitable for those who want to escape, even if only for a few days, from the world!!! Around 19:00 we go back to our bungalow, shower and dinner....News for Lonely Planet fans, the Palm Green Café restaurant is closed, on the other hand many small restaurants have sprung

up with tables on the beach that offer practically the same thing, grilled fish or chicken at a cost of €3.00 a plate. We opt for shark and tuna, good but the quantity is meagre and you need to arm yourself with patience, it takes quite a while before the courses arrive.....so spaghetti with tuna (€2.00) and rice with tuna (€1.50), to drink coke and water, total cost €11.00!!! We get up and take 2 croissants (€2.00) (the cost of living in the Perenthians is slightly higher than the other areas we visited in Malaysia)....we take a walk on the beach and were expecting a bit of nightlife, instead here people only come to relax and so there's no dancing, we're tired from the long journey and around 23:00 we go back to our bungalow!!

PERENTHIAN ISLAND LONG BEACH

In the middle of the night a tropical storm takes us by surprise, we go out onto the balcony to watch the spectacle, we see the drenched palms and the lights in the distance from the sea, beautiful and poetic, although I must admit that a thought about the Tsunami did cross my mind......the surprises don't end there, a big black lizard with red spots strolls along the outer wall of our bungalow.....what to do?? It looks at me, after all it's raining...why not make a bed for it too?? We manage to sleep...we wake up first at 04.00 and then again at 09.00, breakfast with mango and pineapple pancakes and fruit juices (they put ice in them, it's hit or miss...) we pay € 4.00 and go down to the beach, Long Beach, and we abandon ourselves to an idle day, the sweet art of doing nothing, sun, sea, walks along Long Beach, photographs and filming with the video camera....nothing more!! For lunch we

have 2 ice creams and meanwhile we book directly at the Mohsin Village the excursion for tomorrow dedicated to snorkeling, they'll take us to 6 different points of the island and they promise they'll make us swim with the giant turtles.....we'll see......Around 18.00 we return to our bungalows, a shower, by the way in the Perenthians the water is constantly cold, so forget about hot bathtubs and various Jacuzzis!!! And here I am, on the balcony of the bungalow, me writing, Giusy is getting ready to go out and next to us Ophelia is drinking......see you later!!! Around 19.30 we go out and this time we stop at the Lily Restaurant, another small place with little tables on the beach.

For € 12.00 we eat 2 plates of noodles, 2 plates of grilled tuna and 1 plate of French fries, to drink 2 bottles of water and 1 can of seven-up! We take a short stroll on the beach, get two ice creams and another bottle of water and while the sky flashes, another tropical storm looms, we return to our bungalow. See you tomorrow with the snorkeling!!

SNORKELING IN THE PERENTHIAN ISLANDS

Today has been and will forever be a special day, happy birthday dear and never forgotten grandma Mimma, I miss you so much!!! We wake up around 08.10 and have breakfast on the beach at the Amir Café, where for € 4.00 we get toast with very little jam, a tea, a horrible coffee and a watered-down orange juice....terrible I'd say!! We tidy up the room a bit since here in the Perenthians (at least in this village) they don't do the cleaning and only give you the towels. A day completely dedicated to the sea, for € 10.00 per person we earned ourselves the boat tour of the island, complete with masks and fins.

There are six points we're going to visit and even today this fantastic land will gift us with incomparable emotions!! How would you describe a day where you swim with a giant turtle, over sharks, a giant lizard eats next to us and you spend time sunbathing on idyllic little beaches?? Impossible?? In Malaysia you can, but let's go in order.... Before going down to the beach a giant lizard, I'm not exaggerating, it must have been about a meter and a half, walks in front of us, we'll later discover that it's the mascot of the Mohsin village and that they even feed it.

Armed with fins and masks we begin our tour in the company of Simon, a New Zealander who's been traveling the world for two years....you'd think the dumbest ones are us?? The first stop is Turtle Bay, the scenery is fantastic, the sea is emerald green and as soon as I dive in a giant turtle is coming up, it's practically beneath me....I'd like to freeze that moment...it's simply magical, the turtle despite its bulk moves with great elegance, it almost seems drawn....stunning!!! It's the first time we see a giant turtle swimming in completely open water...another turtle, slightly smaller, is resting on the seabed and eating...goosebumps!!! The second stop will be no less....Sharks Bay, and here too, among corals, colorful fish, palms and rocks in a fantastic sea, we observe two sharks about three meters from us, they move very fast and we can only see them for about ten seconds, the third

stop is KK Bay's turn, a small bay, with many colorful fish and a myriad of corals. It's time for lunch, we're taken by boat to a fishing village, I eat fish with coconut, wrapped in banana leaves, delicious!!! There's only one problem, the leaves aren't edible.....I made everyone laugh, fortunately I stopped in time, I only ate 2, tough, long to chew but still delicious!! Then chicken and seafood salad, to drink water, all for € 4.00.

Meanwhile an indigenous child of about 3 years old smiles at us, runs and plays with a ball....he's wearing a big jersey, the one of the Italian national team, number 10, with the name De Rossi......great little Malaysian boy with a giallorosso heart....run.....run....click captured!! After lunch considered by the tour as a stop, so we're at 4, we dive into Little Turtle Bay, in search of the small turtles, but this time we're unlucky and can't see even one, on the other hand the scenery is paradisiacal, beaches of fine white sand, coconut palms and rocks, a crystal-clear sea of many colors......give us citizenship!!! The last stop of our tour is Blue Lagoon Beach......what a thing!!! Just the name makes you understand what a place it is....a postcard, a place for a honeymoon, an enchanting place, almost magical......a small white beach shaped like a half moon, a sea so crystalline that y

ou can see the seabed beyond 20 meters, fish and corals everywhere, some even come right up with their snout in front of your mask, beautiful!!! It's August 3rd and once again my great grandmother from heaven made us have a wonderful day.....you were with us weren't you grandma??? I know it's so.... It's 16.00 and we head back to Long Beach, I make an arrangement with the boat-driver and for € 10.00 for the two of us tomorrow he'll take us again to Blue Lagoon Beach....we want to spend the whole day there!!! We stroll along Long Beach, we call my father with great difficulty and give him all the coordinates for our return.....return??? Noooooooooooooooo........

We dive in again and stay in the water for about an hour....and then around 18.10 we return to our bungalow to freshen up, the day is coming to an end, but first there's another surprise, two giant lizards devouring chicken skin that was thrown to them from the Rumours restaurant, the one at the Mohsin Village....we snap photo after photo and enjoy these animals with their long tongues and icy eyes that eat and look at us suspiciously......this is a day worth a lifetime!!! Around 19.30 we manage and return to the Lily Restaurant, where for € 14.00 we get two dishes, one with chicken and one mixed seafood, honestly we didn't like them much and despite having clearly told the waiter no onion, no garlic for Giusy's allergy, we find onion in the seasoning of the dish and my sweet half has a bad moment.....We then get a chicken burger, fries and Thai-style rice...which then has very little Tha

i about it and a good and fresh fruit salad, to drink 2 bottles of water and a can of coca-cola. A storm takes us by surprise, we quickly leave the tables on the beach and go into the restaurant, lightning and thunder light up the night and show us the sea in flashes, while many fishing boats are stopped waiting for better weather conditions. We take advantage of an improvement in the weather to walk along the beach, quickly get 2 ice creams and return to our bungalows. Another day is over!!!

PERENTHIAN ISLANDS - MIRA BEACH

The alarm is at 08:30, breakfast at the Lily Restaurant, € 5.00 for two delicious fruit salads, a mango, milk and hot chocolate, lime and sugar pancakes that are very good, tea and 2 cornflakes with fruit....wow what a breakfast!!! The appointment with our boat-driver whose name is Joe is at 10.30, but the plan changes, in fact we decide to head to another beach: Mira Beach. The boat trip both ways costs us € 12.00.

Mira Beach is another dream place, a small white beach of fine sand, bordered by coconut palms and dotted with some bungalows, a single wooden restaurant and surrounded by a crystal-clear sea...We take the usual ritual photos and what strikes you about this place is the absolute silence, the few tourists present don't talk, some read a book, some write, some sit and look at the sea, another two do yoga, in short it almost seems like a place outside of time.......for our tastes the tranquility seemed even excessive.....Mira Beach is the right place for those who want to escape from the world and be alone with themselves!!! We meet an Englishman, to give you an idea a Hemingway type, white beard, fair complexion, pensive gaze, he tells us that he's now retired and that he's traveling the world...."Good Choice"!!! At the only restaurant on the beach we get for € 2.00 a mango juice and a coco

nut and mango smoothie.....finger-licking good!!!! Between one swim and another I also find time to doze off under a palm tree, Giusy tells me I even snored!!! At 16.00 sharp Joe comes to pick us up to take us back to Long Beach, but along the way something incredible happens: we run out of fuel!!! We stay cradled by the waves in the middle of the ocean waiting for some boat to pass......we don't know whether to laugh or cry, I film the moment with the video camera, especially when we get towed by another boat....we can tell this story too!!! Refueling and back to Long Beach, where after a nice walk and long chats with Giusy we return to our bungalow to freshen up and shower.

I forgot, tomorrow Joe for € 32.00 (round trip) will take us to the island of Rawa, they say it's stunning!!! Let's hope our driver has refueled!!! Around 19.30 we go out to have dinner and this time we stop at the Meeting Point Café, another small place with little tables on the beach. We spend € 15.00, eat very well and feel guilty for the feast we have: 1 plate of rice and 1 of fish noodles, 1 grilled shark and 1 grilled chicken, 1 portion of roast chicken, to drink 2 bottles of water and a can of coca-cola. Before returning to the hotel we devour two ice creams, but are we becoming like Mount Kinabalu?? Returning to our bungalow, a friend comes to visit us, the big lizard with red spots on its body that rests on the outer part of our room......It's time to sleep.....

PERENTHIAN ISLANDS - ROMANTIC BEACH AND CORAL BAY

It rains all night and with rain don't imagine a Roman downpour or London drizzle, here we're talking about real tropical storms, lightning, thunder, flashes, torrents of water......The alarm is at 08.30, it's raining less and the sky seems to be opening up, we have breakfast at the Lily Restaurant and spend € 5.00 for 2 portions of cornflakes with milk and fruit, 1 milk with chocolate, lime and sugar pancakes, a mango juice and toast with jam.

Is breakfast the most important meal of the day or isn't it? At 10.45 we meet Joe, the boat-driver who advises us against going to Rawa island, too much wind and the sea is too rough for the little boats of these sea commuters, we're sorry but we appreciate Joe's advice......in exchange for € 16.00 (round trip) he takes us, not him this time (his boat is broken, remember the day before)?? but a colleague of his to Romantic Beach, called that because only couples go there......sold!! We sail the sea once again and the scenery is always beautiful, this time we pull up alongside the north side of Kecil island, and it's much more rocky and every now and then you can glimpse some fantastic little beaches!!! One of these is Romantic Beach, small and narrow, very white, with reefs and rocks and a few trees (not palms) that with their long branches give shade to tourists.......it's just me, Giusy

and two local fishermen, who to tell the truth fish little and sleep a lot.....The day passes tanning ourselves, walking along the soft sand, playing frisbee (I hate this game anyway), chatting and snorkeling, and today too Malaysia gives us emotions that only this faraway and untouched land knows how to give, in fact we first see a manta ray, with elegant and sinuous movements, then a giant squid that looks at us with its desperate eyes.....no, no you're good but we don't want to eat you, from fear anyway it hides under a rock, the usual colorful fish and two sharks, not big but still always threatening.....better to stay far away!!! Another superb image this day will give us, while we're on the sun lounger an eagle flies about 10 meters from us, its movements are graceful and powerful, a symbol of freedom, it keeps circling above our heads for about 10 minutes and then leaves us.

16.00 comes quickly and the boat comes to pick us up, we go back to Long Beach and follow a path that goes into a small jungle, cutting across the island from coast to coast, we find ourselves on the other side at Coral Bay, a decidedly commercial place, but more elite compared to our Long Beach. We stop at Mama Kitchen to sip a lime juice, a mango one and a pineapple one, price € 1.50 and then we walk along the pier to admire the fantastic panorama.

Three small islands emerge from the sea, fish jump out of the water in search of prey, it's truly a paradise!!! Coral Bay is famous for its sunsets, we wait for one armed with camera and video camera, unfortunately around 18.00 the sky becomes cloudy and black, a strong wind rises and the sun disappears, on the other hand though we enjoy the changing colors, from bright to gray, from gray to reddish, from reddish to blue, it's an immense natural explosion, a spectacular scenario......leaving these places is truly difficult, never have we felt so nostalgic for a country as for Malaysia.....People talk about Africa or India blues, we still have our feet on this land and already tremble at the thought of leaving it....Around 18.30 I dive for the last time, I hope for this year, into this fantastic sea, I thank nature and close my eyes to store up as much as possible all the images that flow

inside me....Towards 18.40 we go back to the hotel to shower and freshen up. Towards 19.30 we go out and go again to eat at the Meeting Point Café where for € 12.00 we get a can of sprite and 1 of coca-cola, 2 bottles of water, 1 grilled chicken and one grilled fish and a plate of Thai-style rice and one of noodles with tuna....Before the grilled chicken, Giusy had chosen a fish one....but as soon as it arrived at the table we realized it wasn't good and we replaced it with chicken....Before returning to our bungalows we get the usual 2 ice creams and then off to sleep....Tomorrow we fly to go back home!!!

Goodbye Malaysia

It's departure day...we wake up at 06.30 and after packing our backpacks we treat ourselves to a short walk on the beach.....the Perenthian islands say goodbye to us with a thrilling sunrise, we see the sun rise and light up the sea, we take photos and film the moment. We go back to the bungalows and we're ready to leave.

First I go to the reception of the Mohsin Chalets to hand in the key and get back my € 8.00 left as a deposit for the towels (too many tourists steal them), I go and there's no one there, then lying on a little table I see Joe, the boat-driver who also works in the chalet restaurant, I'm sorry to wake him, I apologize and explain the situation, he kindly gives me the € 8.00, takes the receipt, says goodbye and goes back to sleep....Joe's house?? The sea.....At 08.00 we take the boat taxi and together with another group of people we leave these magnificent islands, the Perenthian, two splendid jewels......We arrive at Kuala Besut after an hour of splashes and bumps over waves, we have breakfast in a small local bar and pay only € 1.50 for milk with chocolate, 2 toasts with butter and jam, 4 pieces of banana cake, a tea and a small bottle of water and they even give us some dried fish that

I'll take to a colleague of mine (she asked me for them)....With a taxi (€14.00), after about an hour we arrive at Khota Bharu airport, small, pretty and well organized, we buy a gift for my father and another for my sister and then to kill time me and Giusy do a crossword puzzle.....it's noon, the Air Asia flight leaves at 15.00. We have lunch at a Kentucky Fried Chicken and feel a bit guilty, indeed we ingest fried chicken in industrial quantities...Time passes and we're on the plane, we fly about 30 minutes late and arrive at 16.30 in Kuala Lumpur, where with a taxi costing € 9.00 we go to KL International Airport.

Kuala Lumpur airport is a real modern work of art, with a train that takes you to the various terminals and a ceiling that looks like that of a sports arena, organized to the max it makes you angry thinking about our Fiumicino or even worse the rundown Malpensa and Linate in Milan. We take a walk around, buy a gift for some friends of ours. After check-in we have some money left over and we spend it on a mountain of tropical fruit chocolate and a couple of souvenirs for our little home......The moment of departure arrives and at 23.45 sharp we detach from Malaysian soil......bye Malaysia....distant and magical land!!

SEE YOU SOON!!

Egypt Air is definitely a good airline, the journey passes quickly. Stop in rainy Bombay and then stop in the hot Egyptian capital. We have breakfast in an Egyptian bar in the airport, since you can't go out, and we wait for the 11.00 flight that will take us definitively to Rome. Arrival is at 13.30, on time, my father waits for us outside the airport and right away we go to pick up Ugo from the dog-sitter...who as soon as he sees us jumps on us, he's fine, slightly thinner but he's fine.......

Every trip leaves indelible emotions, but I can assure you that this time the feeling is different, first of all, of all our trips Malaysia was the most beautiful place we have ever seen, this was more than a geographical trip, this was more than a historical, cultural and naturalistic trip, Malaysia tests you, you have to know how to adapt in the jungle, you have to open your heart to people, you have to appreciate the past with its monuments and in Kuala Lumpur you mustn't be afraid of the future, you have to try the typical spicy dishes of the cuisine, you mustn't judge but you have to let yourself go and you have to know how to accept all the uses, customs and traditions of the various ethnicities and religions that peacefully stand side by side in this state, you have to love the sea, with its colors and you have to appreciate its white beaches...........this was not a trip, this was

a journey within ourselves, Malaysia has the power to make you discover who you truly are and this magical place makes you reflect and think again about so many things...............how can you not believe in God when you discover such perfect nature??? No....no.....no......it can't be a coincidence......... And so close your eyes and fly......Welcome to Malaysia!!!! Never ever had I imagined the world so beautiful........