The first thing you do is passing by the airport and you need to visit the Jewels. It is an inside jungle of plants, fountains, restaurants, shops, cafés... It is everything you don't think about when I tell you airport. Yet it is such a pretty and interesting place. I loved hanging out there an afternoon before my flight. I highly recommand even if you just want to see it. No need to spend money there just go people watching. 

Singapore is not known for its nature but they have two major mangroves that are preserved and under national park rules. You can visit them both and enjoy the incredible flora and fauna. It is mind-blowing the number of blue crabs, mud skitters and birds you can see. You can also see a lot of different trees, flowers and lake system.

It is somehow hard to find a good beach in Singapore even if it is surrounded by water. South of Singapore you have Sentosa the island connect by the train system to downtown. It feels like your in an amusement park but the beach is worth the trip as it is really nice and the water is at the perfect temperature.

Malaysia was a Hindou country for a long time and has a vast number of temples. My favorite in Kuala Lumpur was the Batu Caves. It is very vibrant and has a magestic statue at the entrance. You need to climb what seems like a million stairs to get to the cave where you have even more statues and colors everywhere. IU was really impressed and loved the peace it gave me to be walking and observing this art.

One thing I loved to discover is the amount of art work you can find in Malaysia. You have wood sculptures, weaving, kites, paintings, batik... I shows the culture and the beleifs of the population. You should take a walk in the downtown market. Obviously it is a touristic place so prices might be higher than in other places of the city but it is worth going to at leats to get an idea of the rich history.

Something that you see more and more everywhere in the world is the mix between old and new buildings. If you are in Kuala Lumpur you have all those tall buildings with a few spots of historic ones and if you drive out of the city you'll find more and more of the traditional houses. It is very interesting to see and understand the expension of the technology in the more rural areas where it is way slower than in the rest of the country. But I love to see a nice older charming house. 

I traveled around and saw 8 temples out of the 10000. each one was different as they are dedicated to different gods and serve different purposes (family temple, city temple, communal...) i loved the architecture and would highly recommend visiting multiple ones to get a good sense of the art and the architecture. some are very old and they keep the artisanal roof and buildings to keep up with traditions.

Talking about artisanal work, you can visit many different museum and shops for wood carving, stone carving, silver work, jewelery, batik and so much more. For me that's the best part of the travel because legends and culture are transmited through those ancient ways and I am so happy that they are renewing that knowledge. 

I was brought up catholic and the idea of multiple gods was always related to the old ways of Romans and Greeks. If you walk around temples and the city you can see carvings and drawings butbyou can also enjoy the kecak dance. it was verybmoving and interesting even if sometimes confusing to watch. The balinese dancers are very talented and light up the space.