Its me again,
Laurens. Were in Malaysia for the moment, and Ill write a few things about
touristic things weve saw during our trip to Pahang.
We stopped
at a few touristic places to visit some things. I think its important to visit
a few things in a country you dont know, so you can really understand the
country and the history.
Before we
came to Malaysia, I looked up some commercials. I know that Malaysia made a
commercial for the tourism last year, so I checked it hoping to see a glimp of
the beauty of this country. If you click on the link below, you will see the
commercial spot.
First, we
passed East-Malaysia. You can describe this part of Malaysia as paradise.
The beaches
are white, the climate is perfect (no rain, hot temperatures, a lot of sun),
and the nature is beautiful. The tropical islands you can see everywhere are
the most beautiful I ever saw in my life.
We took the
boat for a day and visited some of the islands. It was so nice to be all alone
on such a beautiful island. You can find them everywhere in East-Malaysia.
As we moved
on, the next day we stopped at Pulau Langkawi, with its sparkling white beaches and clear waters (perfect
for snorkeling). A few miles further, you can find the divers paradise Pulau
Sipadan and Pulau Tiga. We dived an hour (a must do and really cheap) and we
were amazed by the underwater-world.
After the
diving, we escaped the coastline and travelled true the jungle. We visited
Taman Negara and Endau Rompin national parks in Malaysia and Bako, Similajau
and Gunung Mulu national park in Borneo. We saw a few wild life animals and
some rare flowers. We ended our day with a visit of a tea plantation.
More tips
and things to do can be found on the link below:
Yesterday we arrived in Pahang which is situated in Malaysia. You can see on the map where we are situated. We were so tired of the traveling from Bali to Pahang that we didnt do anything that day.
We learned from a guide in the hotel that Pahang can be divided in 3 sections: the highlands, the rainforest and the coastal areas. We saw these parts from our airplane yesterday. Our hotel is located in The Cameron Highlands. The Cameron Highlands is known for its extensive tea plantations, also for vegetables and fruits. They can cultivate the vegetables and fruits during the entire year because it is always around 30 degrees. For example, today it is 34°C. Malaysia in general is known for its upcoming industrial center. In 2007 Malaysia had the 3rd largest economy in South East Asia and 29th largest economy in the world.
Pahangs main industry is based on tropical timber. The massive production of wood products knows a decline in mature trees due to intensive harvesting.
Fishery products are also a main source of income in the coastal areas. Today we went to the coast in Pahang. Anne made a little video of the fishers at the breakwater that we posted online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXrW0soqhZM As you can see on the video, it was very windy today. The local fishers told us that they always go fishing in pairs. They have also modified their shoes with spikes or wear good rock fishing shoes and they always have a lifejacket ready just in case the water gets too choppy. These precautions are necessary because it can be very dangerous to fish at the breakwater. For lunch we ate dried and salted fish in a restaurant at the coast. It is a specialty here in Pahang.
In general the core industries are wood-based and petrochemical processing. There is a good transportation networks that allows the companies to transport goods throughout the state and to other islands.
My name is Miet and I am also an companion of Laurens, Anne and Emilie.
In this blog, I will write something about the economy of Indonesia. I thought that it was rather different and impressive to see because Indonesia has the largest economy in Southeast Asia. The country especially lives of the industry sector but is followed by the services and agriculture sectors.
But when we drove on some roads outside the city, we could really see that agriculture remains employing more people than any other sector. That is something we all really have noticed when we were travelling in Indonesia. The people in Indonesia still do manual labor, so they arent that digitalized as we are. We have also seen people work on lands and used their animals (e.g. buffalos, cows or horses) to plough their fields.
The guide that helped us with our tour in Indonesia told us that the country also has a lot of natural resources, like crude oil, tin, copper, gold, They export these products and imports machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels,
When we were walking in Negara, a little village near Bali, we saw a few people begging for money. It was rather sad to see that we were travelling in such a poor country. A little bit further, we found a little girl who opened a little shop with her sisters. You could buy necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, .. They were handmade and really beautiful. The three girls (Anne, Emilie and I) each bought some jewellery and Laurens put a henna-tattoo on his back.
Then, the girls of the little shop showed us their house and village. So we got a little private tour by local people. They also leaded us to their favorite place. That was a little open spot near a river, it was absolutely amazing to see. Because the sun was coming down and it was very peaceful and quiet.
In the distance, we could also see the Bali Barat National Park. The main aim of this park is to protect the Bali Starling and the animals. The total area is 19,000 ha which consists of a monsoon forest, mangrove forest, lowland rain forest, savanna,
