Malaysia is one of the most successful tiger economies. The economic grew rapidly in last couple decades. The key reason is the hard-working people, but also the government subventions which brought in a number of foreign investors. However Malaysia is also rich for its oil production. The money from oil were invested into infrastructure, transportation or services, so from this perception Malaysia is quite like Europe, just with a bit of an exotic flavor of local culture.
Malaysia has an extensive history. Colonial town Melaka or Penang island are worth of visiting. Malaysia was on the main path between Europe and far Asia and was important not only for Portugal, Brits and Dutch, but also for Chinese and Arabians who invented Islam there. Now, Islam is the most common religion in Malaysia. But Malaysia is interesting not only for the history. The ultra-modern capital Kuala Lumpur is famous for the third tallest building in the world – Petronas Twin Towers.
Moreover, Malaysia is worth of visit for it nature and national parks. The most famous can be found at Sabah and Sarawak province, at Borneo. One of the touristic highlights is the highest mountain Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah, with the summit height at (4,095 m /13,435 ft) above sea level. It’s the highest mountain between Himalaya Mountains and New Guinea. The famous marine national park is Sipadan Island, great diving location with nice colorful corals and many gray reef sharks, white tipped sharks and turtles. Near Sandakan city there is a Orangutan Rehabilitation center, helping the injured orangutans with their return to the wild forest. Orangutans can be seen just at Borneo and Sumatra. Sarawak province includes Gunung Mulu National Park, full of caves and rain forest. Next tot eh coast there is Niah Cave National Park, one of the places where people are picking bird’s nests, very expensive Chinese delicacy. Finally, National Park Bako is one of the few places where you can spot endemic Proboscis Monkeys.
Borneo is ethnically very different from continental Malaysia. The original inhabitants were Dayaks, famous as “skull hunters”. They were building longhouses, where the whole villages were living together. Dayaks were originally animists. Nowadays it’s still possible to visit Dayaks in their traditional houses living the traditional live, but you have to travel far inland Borneo. The seafront areas are already civilized and inhabited by Malay people who came here for work.
