Summer trip to Berlin and Frankfurt

Valentina is enjoying this art installation at the Frankfurt Portikus.




Visiting my favorite chocolate and sweets shop Bitter Zart in Frankfurt



Love the Garten Zwerge (Gnomes)!




New Haircut and color at Tony & Guy Hair salon.



And now Berlin:
Kayaking with Maria on the river Spree, that runs through Berlin


Even bathing in the Spree was fun.



Enjoying the outdoors and good weather.

Penang

The kitchen in the historical Sun Yat House


The main room in the Sun Yat house. Here you can see the big windowless skylight that all Chinese shop house have in the middle room. On rainy days it rains right into your house.


Ricksaws drive through the Heritage District


Entrance to the stately Kongsi House


Vintage Chinese Shop Houses


We visited Penang,which is my favorite place in Malaysia, because of it's heritage district in the heart of the city. There you still find the old chinese shop houses and rickshaw. Buildings left over from another time, that has been erased throughout Asia. Two reasons for that: modern Asia is either communist or it's the colonial times these buildings stem from and nobody wants to be reminded of. Only recently have they realized the historical value of these buildings. And the Penang heritage district has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO.

I enjoyed the culture there tremendously, stolling around and looking at old houses and their beautiful interiors: faded and washed out periwinkle blue walls, bird cages and woven baskets hanging from the ceiling, old chinese wooden sideboards that were once painted with gold and red ornaments, crackle glazed celadon earthenware dishes and white and blue patterned Chinese tiles on the floor...

Malaysian Fashion

Headscarves for sale!


Malaysian women's fashion is a mirror of the country's multicultural ethnic and religious make up. Most Malays are muslims and their degree of devoutness shows in their dress code. You can see the whole gamut of fully covered women to the more modern version of jeans and head scarfes. The Chinese on the other hand are very modern and enjoy showing some skin. That results sometimes in the intriguing image of a Chinese woman in super tight and short hot pants (a lot of women wear hot pants - they seem to love them) and tank top standing in line at the bus stop next to Malayan Muslim Lady, who is fully covered and wearing a headscarve. The difference couldn't be bolder. I have seen this many times. Unfortunately never had my camera with me to capture this anachronism.There are also Indian women who will dress very modern in Jeans and t-shirt or sport Saris or other traditional Indian dress. I found the juxtaposition of traditional and modern dress in everyday life in Malaysian very intriguing.

A woman completely covered and in black is mostly from Saudi Arabia. This is the typical strict Saudi Muslim dress code. The Malayan Muslims are more colorful. As seen here in this next photo. They wear a long nigth shirt-like dress, called a baju kurung, that is usually boldly patterned over a very long skirt. Often their headscarves can be also patterend or at least colorful.
This is the traditional Malayan dress: a long fitted jacket, called kebaya over a sarong. This combination is also worn in Indonisia. Muslim women will add a head scarf.
The modern and more liberal version of Muslim dress code, can be seen here on this stylish women in jeans, heels with her chic handbag and shades. A lot of women will also wear jeans and snug t-shirt and a black headscarf.
Ladies of Indian decent are often seen dressed very modern, but with a red dot on their forehead. But many are also still sporting traditional dress, like these in the photo.


It seems that Chinese women's appearance is the most western. They also show the most skin, often wearing short skirts and hot pants. I photographed one that looked rather decent, compared to some hotties I saw.

Kuala Lumpur revisited and an excursion to Putrajaya

Malaysian architecture in Kuala Lumpur mixes the new with the traditional, which I found intriguing and odd at times.



A typical street scene downtown Kuala Lumpur




Excursion to Putrajaya , Malaysia's Seat of Goverment:Impressive modern bridge in Putrajaya


Government Building



The national Mosque

To come closer and see the outside of the mosque (non-believers are not allowed inside), women have to be fully covered. Female visitors have to wear this hooded pink thing, that I am modeling here.



With my dad outside of the national mosque.

Store signs and street posters in Kuala Lumpur

Fabric Heaven in Langkawi

Yes, we love chartreuse!
My aunt took me to this amazing fabric store. I have never seen so much fabric in one place.
The colors and display were completely over the top. I enjoyed the place, but was too overwhelmed to buying anything,

More Langkawi Impressions

I am enjoying island living with my dad and aunt. Particularly cute was our encounter with a group of monkeys by the road side. One photo shows a mama monkey holding her tiny baby.But watch out these monkeys can be very naughty. They steal your bag, if they suspect you have food!

Langkawi Island Retreat

Here are some photos taken in Langkawi island, where I am also spending some time. I am staying in this beautiful little house in the jungle. Temperatures are high, so it's great to cool off in the pool. The photo underneath was taken at the entrance to a restaurant on the island.