Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The next stop on the way to Indonesia was Kuala Lumpur. I’ve never been there so I decided to fly via Malaysia and work there for 2 weeks. I found a studio apartment in a good location and an amazing view of the skyline of Kuala Lumpur from the infinite pool on the rooftop.
I was able to meet some locals which showed me around the city after my workday. Shopping malls are a huge thing there as I noticed. And in addition, there was the Chinese New Year coming up. Which meant crazy decorations and lights in the malls.
I also went a little out of the city for day trips. Batu Caves and Genting Highlands were two places I wanted to visit and also did.
We’re having early 2019 and newspapers are writing something about a virus. I’m also wondering. People are scared to leave their homes, there’s an information flood on social media. People are confused. I was trying to figure out if more people are wearing masks than usual since it’s pretty common in Asia anyways. But when I arrived in the queue at the cable car to Genting it was clear. Something unusual is going on in this world (it’s late January 2019).
Jakarta, Indonesia
After being on the road for 3 weeks I finally made it to the destination country — Indonesia.
I landed in the capital, which isn’t a beautiful city at all and there’s not a lot to see. But the people made it great. It’s not the first time I visit Jakarta, so I was happy to meet some locals I knew from my last stay. I enjoyed my time going around with friends, enjoying dinner together, and having great talks.
On one of my last days in the city, I met one of my favorite people I met via Couchsurfing. Two Indonesian guys I met separately earlier. A fun fact was when I suggested meeting up together I figured out the two locals already know each other, which was a perfect match. I always wanted to go up to a rooftop restaurant, but since they mostly are a little fancy and require a certain dress code I wasn’t able to go (with my nomadic t-shirts). But we found a hidden rooftop above a hotel which we wanted to try and good luck we did. It was amazing and is actually one of my favorite places in Jakarta at all.
Bali, Indonesia
After 2 weeks in Jakarta, we headed off to Bali with 3 other friends. It was a spontaneous escape. For some, it was the first time relaxing on a beautiful sandy beach. I also had a couple of days holiday to go around with my friends by motorcycle and explore. The great thing is that I only needed to take 4 days off to enjoy Bali, a touristy island far away from Europe for which you normally can’t just take a week off. But that’s the beauty of being a digital nomad.
Bali isn’t the place of my choice in Indonesia but the infrastructure is very decent, there’s a good vibe, and very modern. So it’s a great place to work, which is important for me.
After my friends needed to leave back to Jakarta I moved into a Co-Living to work from. That’s what I always do when staying in Bali. On the weekends I still wanted to explore. So once I decided to explore the North (the less touristy part) of the island a little. I found a Couchsurfer from Austria who was happy to join me. So we went up there by bus and stayed in a hostel. The insecurity forced by Corona was recognizable. Lovina up in the North was dead and almost empty. Just a couple of stores and restaurants were open, in our hostel there were around 6 people and the host confirmed that this is very unusual.
Another weekend it was finally time to go up a volcano. It’s crazy, I spend almost 4 months in Indonesia in total and have never been up to a single volcano. So I needed to change this and went for a tour up to Mount Batur. Sadly we weren’t that lucky with the weather and couldn’t spot the best sunrise, but still, it was a very nice tour with some great new people I met.
After 1.5 months in Asia, my return flight came closer and closer. My flight back was to Frankfurt. I was able to fly the Airbus A380 for the first time on this route. Which was a nice experience for me as a guy which is pretty interested in aerospace and airplanes.