By flying from La Reunion to Mauritius, I also left the European Union, which became apparent when I planned to hike Mauritius' most famous hill, Le Monte. I reached the gate in the early morning and was puzzled to hear that the path up was still closed due to the devastation caused by cyclone Belal. The most popular hike is closed three weeks after the storm, is that possible? Reviews on Google Maps indicated the contrary, so I wasn't giving up quickly. After walking a few meters, I joined forces with a Frenchman, let's call him François. We explored different options together, but the 500-meter distant private gate was also closed, and the rainforest was too dense to go off the beaten track. Shortly after, we bumped into a guide leading a small group of Czech visitors. The local offered us to join the tour for 1000 Mauritius rupees, about 30 Swiss francs. Indeed, it was not a bargain, but I really wanted to go up there. François and I agreed to the price, and after a short negotiation by the guide with the gatekeeper, we were granted access to the national park. Two life lessons can be drawn from that day:

1. Every service provider takes their share - two travelers from Bulgaria that I met on the way up paid the entrance fee directly and only spent 250 rupees per person.
2. No deal without a handshake - on the climb down, the Frenchman and I were much faster than the rest of the group. Once the group was reunited, the guide was surprised that François disappeared without saying goodbye. So the Frenchman showed how to outsmart the gatekeeper and guide who were trying to outsmart him. Bam.

For the remaining time in Mauritius, I refer to the photos. Mauritius' underwater world is mesmerizing, and its reefs are said to be some of the most stunning on planet Earth. I don't yet have an underwater camera, but my dive instructor could take a photo of me swimming or a turtle. I found with scuba diving a new holiday activity that I'll practice in other suitable locations!

I arrived late in the evening in Dubai at its shiny airport, exactly like I imagined. Yet the next morning, I was surprised to see rainfall when looking out of my 13th-floor hotel room. Rain in Dubai, what the hell? On that rainy Sunday, I met with my former co-worker Svetlana, who showed me around the city. She said that I should consider the seldom weather conditions as a welcome gift that would not be made to many visitors. As we will see later, that rainy day was only the half of it. At least it was an excellent day to explore the Dubai Mall, one of the largest in the world and a place where you would literally get everything (including a longtime desired Mövenpick ice cream). 

For the next day I booked a trip to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the country and another emirate of the seven that form the UAE. The rain continued overnight and led to flooded streets. The extraordinary conditions kept our driver on his toes, and we arrived in Abu Dhabi 2 hours later than planned. Our first stop was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in the UAE, which was finished in 2007. The building complex is impressive and beautifully designed but it was hard to enjoy given the massive crowds (no less than 2000 visitors per hour). Yep, because of the delay we arrived right during the rush hour. After lunch, we explored the city's downtown; I almost bought an eye-wateringly expensive carpet, we checked out the world's most pricey hotel, and bought a bag of dates at a local market. I was sure to return to Dubai on time as the sun shone the entire afternoon, but I was too optimistic. When we left the capital of the UAE, it started to rain again. The dinner I planned with Marina, a long-term colleague from Zurich, was literally rained off. Instead of returning in 1.5 hours, it took us 4 hours. Complete chaos on the roads. While sitting in the car, I learned that the UAE also means business when trying to control the environment: A few years ago, they started with cloud seeding, an artificial rain generation by spraying certain particles into clouds. While I understand the country's water scarcity (given its ever-growing population) I don't think it's wise to mess with Mother Nature. I'm intrigued to see how these experiments will play out a few years later.

Rendezvous in Singapore

I was excited to reach Southeast Asia and its gateway, Singapore, as I was ready to discover new countries and cultures and reunite with Michelle, my travel companion and better half. When we booked the flights, it wasn't on our radar that our reunion day would also be Valentine's Day, so on that day, one could expect to have difficulties finding a place for dinner, but sometimes you need to push your luck. Towards the dawn of night, we visited Marina Sands Bay, the most remarkable building in Singapore, and another astonishingly expensive hotel (USD 6.8 billion). It was a fortunate coincidence to get a table in the restaurant on the 57th floor - what a place to kick off the Asia chapter of our unpaid leave and what a rendezvous!

The remaining 6 days in Singapore were in the spirit of reunions. I briefly visited my company's office in Singapore, met a couple of colleagues, and was shown our premises. It was good to notice that I still didn't miss work and could leave the building after 2 hours, knowing I have another 4.5 months left to explore Mother Earth. Yet I must admit that I could imagine working in Singapore! While I'd probably never would get used to the smashing heat, I would love the convenience you get everywhere: Be it punctual and well-working public transports, clean streets and lush recreation areas, delicious and varied food at a decent price as well as orange juice machines every 50 meters (hell yeah!).

To make our reunion story perfect, we prolonged our sojourn by two days to meet Dominik and Corina. Dominik and I worked together for a few years, and he started his six-month travel adventure a day after we did. We met in a Swiss restaurant, drank Rivella, and ate a Cheese fondue - yes, at an outside temperature of 34 or so degrees, but why not?

After those 3 nights in Malacca, our journey brought us further north to Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur (KL). It's an impressive metropolis blending different cultures and feels like an even bigger version of Singapore. Most people know KL for the Petronas twin towers (451.9 meters), which used to be the world’s highest building complex from 1998 to 2004. Our local guide, Faizal, told us that it symbolizes the surge of Malaysia's economy, and its rocket-like look inspired the youth to believe that nothing is impossible. So it was difficult for Malaysians to accept that Taiwan had surpassed them with the world's tallest building (Taipei 101, 508 meters). Rumor has it that the pain was so hurtful that they didn’t want to compete further. Hence, when planning the Merdeka 118 (687.9 meters), they designed it on purpose only as the second tallest building (after Burj Khalifa, 828 meters) to avoid further pain in the future. While the story is full of doubt, I have yet to hear a better explanation, so we consider it the truth. Overall, we really liked the vibe of KL; the combination of vibrant neighborhoods and a superb culinary scene makes it a good place to stay for a few days.

Our last destination in Malaysia was George Town on Penang Island, situated in the northwest of the Malay peninsula. It's another colonial heritage city boasting three-dimensional street art and, once again, top-notch food. We fell in love with the creative street artwork on display and undertook an early morning photo tour before the heat struck the city. The hottest parts of the day were spent either resting in the hotel or visiting the botanical garden to watch monkeys (something one never gets tired of!).

By and large, Malaysia is an excellent country for traveling. The infrastructure works like a Swiss clock, the food is super yummy, the people are friendly, and there's plenty to see. And bear in mind, we haven't even seen Borneo, the eastern part of Malaysia. In our view, Malaysia is given scant attention by the global travel community, giving you the feeling of not being in a touristic place. So why not add it to your travel bucket list?

Alright, as you probably could grasp, I had to pack quite a number of memories into this blog post; that's why I'll stop now. Please excuse that it took so long to get an update, but diving in Thailand was exhausting. More about that in the next article.

Take care and see you soon

Chris