We got a bus from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi - a town on the River Kwai, where the infamous bridge over the River Kwai is located. On my travels so far, I had heard very bad things about buses in Thailand, but from this experience, which was absolutely fine, even comfortable, I have decided that everyone who told me such things is either a liar or an idiot.
When we arrived, we then got what Jack called a "chicken bus" to the guesthouse. This was just an open backed truck where you all sit in the back on benches down the side. Otherwise known as "songthaew".
Our guest house was a cabin floating on the River Kwai and tied to the bank with a bit of rope. If that wasn't cool enough, I managed to find mashed potato on the menu - something that excited me immensely, as I hadn't had this since I left home. I wasn't sure if it would turn out to be vaguely edible, but I couldn't resist it, and when it came it was the creamiest, fluffiest mash as any other.
In the afternoon we went on a boat tour of Kanchanaburi. The boat was like a long flattened canoe with a motor. We were all expecting it to meander gentle along the river, but that was not to be. As soon as we pulled away from the bank, the boat sped along so fast we had to hold on to our clothes to make sure they were blown off us! It was crazy, but lots of fun. Amongst the things we zoomed past were lots of houses (yes entire, large houses) being pulled down the river by little boats. It seemed to be a normal thing here, but to me it was the most bizarre thing ever! One even had a disco on it!
First stop on the boat trip was the Jeath war museum. Kanchanaburi was was home to a Japanese POW camp for the workers of the Death Railway, connecting the Japanese army to Burma and India. It is also, as mentioned above, where the railway bridge over the River Kwai, that the allies notably destroyed, is located. 100,000 Asians and 16,000 POW's died building the Death Railway. The Jeath Museum contains photos and paintings of the camp and the building of the railway, all by POW's, and newspaper clippings, relating to the POW's who were held in the camp here. I found the paintings the most fascinating, as unlike the photos, which can be limited, they show how things were through the eyes of the prisoners, conveying their emotion more than a camera ever could.
The second stop was less depressing. It was the Kapoon Cave Temple. On the path to this temple were child monks, as young as about seven, with a big fish bowl collecting caterpillars. When you reach the temple, you have to climb down a ladder to get inside, as it is all underground in a claustrophobic, dripping, sauna-like cave made of limestone. Inside the cave were loads of young girls, all dressed in white, about the same age as the novice monks on the path, who followed us around, giggling. The cave was a series of small rooms containing all different gold statues of Buddha, it wasn't very big, but after ten minutes down there we couldn't take the heat anymore and desperately needed to escape into the fresh air. One thing I did manage to note before almost passing out, was how different the Thai Buddha looks to the Chinese Buddha! Like a totally different guy....
Third and final stop on this boat trip was the infamous bridge over the River Kwai. In fitting with the tone of this tourist attraction, as we pulled up by the shore, we noticed lots of people crowded round on the other side of the river. As we looked further at the commotion we noticed that amongst these people were a LOT of policemen. We soon realised why. Floating down the river, right by that point was a dead body. We never heard what had happened.
Slightly bewildered, we got out the boat and walked to the bridge above. The railway line across the bridge is still in use to day, however, being Thailand we were allowed to sit in the middle of it and take photos. Rather to my amusement, I noticed a couple place their baby in the middle of the train tracks to take photos. Soon after a security guard came out, blowing his whistle and waving a stick, then we heard the horn of the train. Despite the fact that there was a train a few metres away blowing its horn at people to get out the way, some tourists just didn't seem to have any interest in moving, so it took about ten minutes for the train to pass. As it did so a young boy waved out the window at me. As I waved back he giggled and ducked out of sight.
That evening I went for a walk around town. One of the main sights is the war cemetery - it consists of mostly foreigners though because the Thais didn't get too involved with the war, as they are happy to recall. One of the other main things I noticed was the number of dogs everywhere! As I walked there were many shops selling the beautiful tradition Thai dancing costume. There weren't really any shops for tourist, mostly practical kind of shops, such as tailors or mechanics. Though lots of places were selling offerings, ready for the Thai new year.
After dinner that night, we all went to a really chilled out bar called the Irish Gecko. When they ran out of what we wanted to drink, they hopped on a bike to 7-11 to buy it for us! The lady owner was really funny, completely wasted, yet still beating us all at pool. We played a drinking game called Ring of Fire (which always ends in disaster for someone) and poor Jack got destroyed. By the end of the night, he was wearing the triangle you use for setting up the balls in pool as a hat.
The following day (most of us feeling a bit worse for wear) we went to nearby Erawan National Park. Along the road there were more butterflies then I have ever seen in my life, just flitting about - it was beautiful. Amongst the butterflies were campaigning pick-up trucks with posters and megaphones for the coming up election.
When we arrived at the National Park we noticed that there were two different prices - local and foreigner. How cheeky!
We got out the car by a big puddle with hundreds and hundreds of butterflies crowded on top of it, drinking. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I got up so close that I could stick my hand amongst them and they just didn't care in the slightest. There were butterflies all over the park, but this was incredible.
The attraction of the national park is a 7 tier waterfall. As a bid to prevent littering (and thankfully one that works), you can't take any food or drink to the waterfall, except water, which you must check in at the entrance and leave a deposit to make sure you bring the bottles back out.
At the second tier of the waterfall we went swimming. There were hardly any people there and it was so beautiful. The water was an amazing azure colour with lush green trees growing all around. In the water were hudreds of fish that, if you kept still, would come and nibble away at you. It was so peaceful and relaxing there, we just floated around in the water and sat on the rocks, letting the waterfall above splash down onto us.
Then we climbed up all seven tiers. Stunning, but exhausting. In all the pools on the way up, local people played in the water. Boys swung from vines into the pools, while their parents lay on mats in the shade. Right at the top I got attacked by biting flies. Eurgh. So we went back down and by that point we were ravenous so ate packet after packet of crisps for lunch.
That night we went to the Kanchanaburi night market. It was so chilled out compared to what I had expected! Absolutely no pestering whatsoever! Here I had a dinner of corn on the cob with lashings of butter and salt...and a rather interesting sweet waffle, with sweetcorn in! It actually tasted great though. The other non-vegetarians went to a Korean barbeque - where you choose as much food as you want from a buffet and then cook it yourself on a little round metal cooker on top of coals.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
First Encounter with Bangkok
The first thing I thought when I arrived in Bangkok, was where were all the people? I had expected crazy hassle every step I took, yet when I got to the airport not even one person offered me a taxi and walking down the streets I was completely left to myself. Already this place had exceeded my expectations.
Though talking of taxis - my first encounter with one was somewhat interesting. For starters the taxi licence had the photo of a man on it, when the driver was clearly a very different female - perhaps the drivers mother I thought at first? But then decided it was probably, actually a completely random person. And then the driver got completely lost. As I had asked her to use the meter, at first I thought this was a scam to stretch the journey out and make me pay extra, but on arrival she knocked the price down 50% so I guess she genuinely didn't know the way to one of the most famous streets in Thailand, where I was going. It was slightly worrying when she stopped in the middle of the highway and ran out of the car to hail down other taxis to ask for directions, but I got there in one piece in the end!
Another assumption I had made about Thailand from things I had been told was how spicy the food would be, so I went to dinner expecting the worst, but it wasn't in the slightest bit spicy.... I did however eat egg for the first time! Wasn't so bad at all!
After dinner we went to the all famous Khao San Road - featured in the Beach and popular with backpackers. I thought I would hate it here but it was great! You could by really realistic fake driving licences, presscards, oxford or "lerverpool" degrees! I am definitely getting on of each when I go back there! The streets were lined with people trying to get you into their bars with signs saying things such as "Very Strong Cocktails - we don't check ID". However probably the best part of it was a stage featuring an excellent Elvis impersonator - the best I've ever seen, complete with insane backing dancers....the thing was though, the person playing Elvis was about 8 years old! He was amazing.
Another dominant feature of Khao San road was the buckets of rum - accompanied with red bull, coke and speed.... We decided a better option would be to stop off at Club 7-11 to pick up some drink and then drink it back at the hotel. This is where I first got to know our guide for the next month - Jack. He is the sweetest guy. It has only been about five years since he left the jungle for the first time, where he was part of the Red Karen hill tribe and hunted monkeys. He told us that the first time he ever saw a white person he was terrified and ran away. Since then he has been in the military, worked in a guest house and now has worked as a guide for about a year and a half. During this time he has seemed to pick up all the English drinking games and has gained a deep appreciation for cheesy American love songs!
Though talking of taxis - my first encounter with one was somewhat interesting. For starters the taxi licence had the photo of a man on it, when the driver was clearly a very different female - perhaps the drivers mother I thought at first? But then decided it was probably, actually a completely random person. And then the driver got completely lost. As I had asked her to use the meter, at first I thought this was a scam to stretch the journey out and make me pay extra, but on arrival she knocked the price down 50% so I guess she genuinely didn't know the way to one of the most famous streets in Thailand, where I was going. It was slightly worrying when she stopped in the middle of the highway and ran out of the car to hail down other taxis to ask for directions, but I got there in one piece in the end!
Another assumption I had made about Thailand from things I had been told was how spicy the food would be, so I went to dinner expecting the worst, but it wasn't in the slightest bit spicy.... I did however eat egg for the first time! Wasn't so bad at all!
After dinner we went to the all famous Khao San Road - featured in the Beach and popular with backpackers. I thought I would hate it here but it was great! You could by really realistic fake driving licences, presscards, oxford or "lerverpool" degrees! I am definitely getting on of each when I go back there! The streets were lined with people trying to get you into their bars with signs saying things such as "Very Strong Cocktails - we don't check ID". However probably the best part of it was a stage featuring an excellent Elvis impersonator - the best I've ever seen, complete with insane backing dancers....the thing was though, the person playing Elvis was about 8 years old! He was amazing.
Another dominant feature of Khao San road was the buckets of rum - accompanied with red bull, coke and speed.... We decided a better option would be to stop off at Club 7-11 to pick up some drink and then drink it back at the hotel. This is where I first got to know our guide for the next month - Jack. He is the sweetest guy. It has only been about five years since he left the jungle for the first time, where he was part of the Red Karen hill tribe and hunted monkeys. He told us that the first time he ever saw a white person he was terrified and ran away. Since then he has been in the military, worked in a guest house and now has worked as a guide for about a year and a half. During this time he has seemed to pick up all the English drinking games and has gained a deep appreciation for cheesy American love songs!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Malaysia
First impressions of KL = what a complicated city! I actually got lost before I even got through immigration. When you get out of the plane, you come into the gate into the terminal and there's one sign post pointing in the direction of arrivals, so you follow this down the corridoor and into the departures area, with all the duty-free shops, restaurants, lounges - everything except any sort of direction to tell you where the arrivals are meant to go. So I wondered around here for a bit before finally making it past baggage reclaim, immigration and finally even customs.
Now I had to find my way to the city centre - which is actually MILES AND MILES away. After going up and down in the elevator 5 times, I managed to find the floor which had the most expensive way to the city centre, however I wasn't up for another 20 elevator rides to find out where the bus was, so I got this "KLIA Express" which took me to KL Sentral Station.
I thought this would be easy enough, as the monorail to the area I was staying in "Bukit Bintang" also stopped at KL Sentral station. After walking round this station for about half an hour and asking more people directions than I can remember, one McDonalds and three maps later, I was almost ready to give up and die, when I saw the worlds smallest sign labelled "KL Monorail" pointing outside the building towards some scaffolding. I followed it. On reaching the scaffolding and finding nothing, I decided to walk around it. On the other side of the scaffolding I found a sort of make-shift scaffolding path. I followed this. Then, I saw what looked like a Monorail track above me! So I followed this for about 10 minutes and then found KL Sentral Monorail Station, apparently a different place from KL Sentral Station.
Dear god.
However, KL is not as bad as everyone makes out. I'd been fed lots of horror stories about this city, and expected some horrible grimy place where I would feel really uncomfortable and where I everyone would be really rude. I expected a massive culture shock with fanatical Islamic terrorists roaming the streets. I expected people to try and pull me in an alley way and rape me on every corner. Well actually, I thought KL was quite nice. Everyone was really friendly, things were chilled out, not masses to do, but it's a nice enough place! Maybe it was because I had such low expectations, but I thought KL was quite alright!
That night I went to Chinatown with a girl in my dorm. It felt just like being back in Hong Kong, which I felt kind of strange! We then found a reggae bar. It was a great place, with items on the menu such as "Reggae Rasta Vegetarian Soup", Bob Marley's greatest hits on repeat, and backpackers lying around smoking shisha. I liked it.
The next day, the girl from my dorm - Laura - and I, attempted to go sight seeing. This was just as complicated as my trip from the airport to my hostel. First of all we wanted to go to the Lake Gardens, which according to the map, contained a bird park, butterfly park, deer park, boating area, and many other things to do. So we got the monorail to what appeared to be the nearest stop and tried to follow the map to what looked like just down the street. All the streets had about 5 lanes either side, no crossings, no subways, no overpasses. It took long enough to find out how to cross a street (though we didn't always manage to do this), and after wondering around in the heat for 45 minutes we gave up and got a taxi. We asked the taxi to take us to the Lake Gardens. He took us to the bird park. Contrary to the map and the taxi drivers ideas, this was actually a different place, apparently half an hours walk away. We started to try and walk back to the Lake Gardens but the taxi driver found us and offered to take us there for free, as he was going back that way anyways. He dropped us off a pointed us in the direction to go, so we walked in the entrance he said and found ourself in someones house. Exiting quickly we walked back up the way to where we had seen a sign post. We didn't find that, but we did find the Butterfly Park, so we gave up and went here. While Laura walked around here, I carefully studied the map they had on the wall and planned our route to the Lake Gardens.
Finally we got there! It was some grass, with a building site in the middle and a murky stream running through it. Great.
It took a big lunch and some chocolate milkshake before we felt ready to attempt another destination. This time we studied the map extra, extra carefully and felt we could definitely find the next place. Back in KL Sentral Station again, I'm not even going to begin to describe our attempt to find the train to go to our next destination, except a brief part of it where some men, who quite obviously had no idea what we were trying to find tried to ask what we were looking for so that they could take a photo of themselves talking to us. As they attempted this without our permission and with us already in a very bad mood, they did not get an amicable response.
Eventually we made it to Merdeka Square, which in my opinion is the only real sight seeing attraction in the city of KL itself. There were some very beautiful Islamic looking buildings surrounding in, and also some rather oddly placed Tudor style buildings! It was conveniently close to Central Market, which was inconveniently overpriced.
Our next days activities were much more successful. The only difficulty in getting there was waiting at the wrong bus stop for about 10 minutes, but compared to the past two days this was fine. We ventured out the city to the Batu Caves - a Hindu temple, up lots and lots and lots of stairs, and in a cave. As you approach the temple there are loads of vegetarian restaurants and people trying to sell the obvious foreigners water. Then guarding the temple, is a massive gold statue of one of the gods, behind which y0u have the millions of stairs. A few attempts later, we made it to the top and into the massive, dark, dripping cave. Inside were lots of statues depicting scenes from Hindu legend. It was all very beautiful and entrancing, but i wished that we had a guide or someone who could tell us what it all meant.
At the back of the temple were monkeys, chickens and cats! Just roaming around, probably there not because the place was holy, but because they knew they could get fed by the tourists. There was a boy with a pigeon under his arm. I couldn't tell whether or not he was being cruel, but I found it best to give him a dubious look and then leave.
That evening I discovered Yo Sushi! My new favourite restaurant. Japanese food is undoubtedly the best food in the world. I went here 4 times in my stay in KL!
The next day Laura left for Melaka, where I was due to meet her the following day. I decided to spend my day alone here visiting the Malaysian National History Museum. So I planned on my map exactly how to get there, got off the train, walked to exactly where it should be, but it wasn't there! I walked around the area trying to find it, but it was no where to be seen. Eventually I stumbled across a tourist information office, it was closed, but on the side was the same map as mine....exactly the same except for the museum was missing. It seemed to have completely disappeared from existance. Very odd.
Next I was off to Melaka! A pleasant enough, 2 hour bus ride from KL. Here I went out to dinner with the owner of my hostel, to a very yummy and very cheap Buddhist restaurant. No idea what I was eating, but for just 3 Ringit (about 70p) I got to pile my plate high with delicious food from a vegetarian buffet. I then met up with Laura at her hostel for drinks. Here I played my first game of pool since the age of about seven, and actually it wasn't that hard! Not that I was any good, but it was my first time pretty much! I normally refuse to play on the grounds that I can't. We then went upstairs to play drinking games with the people in her dorm, and that's how I met Pete and Craig. It was a messy night. It took 2 hours for Pete and I to make the 10 minute walk back to my hostel (he kindly agreed to walk me home to make sure I was safe). But it was a pretty interesting walk! We saw a massive golden statue of Mr Universe from Melaka, complete with bulging muscles and holding weights. Even more amusing was the fire station, with the word "BOMB" written in 5 metre letters across the doors.
The next day none of us felt so good, but I introduced everyone to strawberry Fanta, and then everything was okay again. We went back to the bar in their hostel and played drinking games a second night in a row. This night the band from the bar joined us, and they were the most hilarious people ever. They told me that I had to take Craig back to Hong Kong, because he was very romantic, and HK was closer than London!
The following night was the night market, complete with kareoke competition. This took place on a massive stage, in front of an audience of about 100. The contestants were all middle-aged to old locals, warbling away love songs. There was one old man dancing away in front of the stage, on his own, but having the absolute time of his life. They all took it very seriously, and it was hilarious to watch.
I didn't feel like I saw much in Melaka, but then I'm not sure if there was much to see. We were staying right on the river, by all the pretty stuff and in Chinatown so we were in the heart of it really. And I had a good time, so that's what matters. Soon I was off back to KL - but this time with Pete and Craig in tow. I forced Yo Sushi! on them before heading up to Penang, where they were to meet me the following day.
I almost didn't get to Penang. Am starting to realise that yes I am infact completely incompetent when it comes to flying. I almost missed my flight because I am a total idiot and went to the wrong airport. I'm not even going to bother with the details of me running around trying to actually make my flight, but I made it. 45 minutes before departure. And yes, I'm the most useless person in existence. I will try harder.
Again I didn't see too much in Penang, but that's not because I didn't try. I went for a walk on my first day, and there were lots of temples and mosques and churches, but frankly I'm quite sick of this sort of thing at the moment. Once you've seen so many temples.... However a schoolboy did ask for my number, so I was quite impressed with the place. Another day Pete and I tried to find the beach, which was supposed to be really nice, but we failed and ended up in McDonalds. We did however make it Tescos one day - which was incredibly exciting and enabled us to cook some very, very satisfying pasta and potato dishes on Pete and Craig's portable cooker. It was so good to have home cooked Western food! We also made it to the Snake Temple, which was one room, with a few gold statues and a couple of snakes. Not the crazy snake pit filled, Indiana Jones adventure we were expecting.... and certainly not worth the 2 hour return trip, but oh well.
I didn't really feel like I saw much of Malaysia, but it was a nice relaxing break, and I had a good time, met some great people, so it's all good.
Next stop Thailand!!
Now I had to find my way to the city centre - which is actually MILES AND MILES away. After going up and down in the elevator 5 times, I managed to find the floor which had the most expensive way to the city centre, however I wasn't up for another 20 elevator rides to find out where the bus was, so I got this "KLIA Express" which took me to KL Sentral Station.
I thought this would be easy enough, as the monorail to the area I was staying in "Bukit Bintang" also stopped at KL Sentral station. After walking round this station for about half an hour and asking more people directions than I can remember, one McDonalds and three maps later, I was almost ready to give up and die, when I saw the worlds smallest sign labelled "KL Monorail" pointing outside the building towards some scaffolding. I followed it. On reaching the scaffolding and finding nothing, I decided to walk around it. On the other side of the scaffolding I found a sort of make-shift scaffolding path. I followed this. Then, I saw what looked like a Monorail track above me! So I followed this for about 10 minutes and then found KL Sentral Monorail Station, apparently a different place from KL Sentral Station.
Dear god.
However, KL is not as bad as everyone makes out. I'd been fed lots of horror stories about this city, and expected some horrible grimy place where I would feel really uncomfortable and where I everyone would be really rude. I expected a massive culture shock with fanatical Islamic terrorists roaming the streets. I expected people to try and pull me in an alley way and rape me on every corner. Well actually, I thought KL was quite nice. Everyone was really friendly, things were chilled out, not masses to do, but it's a nice enough place! Maybe it was because I had such low expectations, but I thought KL was quite alright!
That night I went to Chinatown with a girl in my dorm. It felt just like being back in Hong Kong, which I felt kind of strange! We then found a reggae bar. It was a great place, with items on the menu such as "Reggae Rasta Vegetarian Soup", Bob Marley's greatest hits on repeat, and backpackers lying around smoking shisha. I liked it.
The next day, the girl from my dorm - Laura - and I, attempted to go sight seeing. This was just as complicated as my trip from the airport to my hostel. First of all we wanted to go to the Lake Gardens, which according to the map, contained a bird park, butterfly park, deer park, boating area, and many other things to do. So we got the monorail to what appeared to be the nearest stop and tried to follow the map to what looked like just down the street. All the streets had about 5 lanes either side, no crossings, no subways, no overpasses. It took long enough to find out how to cross a street (though we didn't always manage to do this), and after wondering around in the heat for 45 minutes we gave up and got a taxi. We asked the taxi to take us to the Lake Gardens. He took us to the bird park. Contrary to the map and the taxi drivers ideas, this was actually a different place, apparently half an hours walk away. We started to try and walk back to the Lake Gardens but the taxi driver found us and offered to take us there for free, as he was going back that way anyways. He dropped us off a pointed us in the direction to go, so we walked in the entrance he said and found ourself in someones house. Exiting quickly we walked back up the way to where we had seen a sign post. We didn't find that, but we did find the Butterfly Park, so we gave up and went here. While Laura walked around here, I carefully studied the map they had on the wall and planned our route to the Lake Gardens.
Finally we got there! It was some grass, with a building site in the middle and a murky stream running through it. Great.
It took a big lunch and some chocolate milkshake before we felt ready to attempt another destination. This time we studied the map extra, extra carefully and felt we could definitely find the next place. Back in KL Sentral Station again, I'm not even going to begin to describe our attempt to find the train to go to our next destination, except a brief part of it where some men, who quite obviously had no idea what we were trying to find tried to ask what we were looking for so that they could take a photo of themselves talking to us. As they attempted this without our permission and with us already in a very bad mood, they did not get an amicable response.
Eventually we made it to Merdeka Square, which in my opinion is the only real sight seeing attraction in the city of KL itself. There were some very beautiful Islamic looking buildings surrounding in, and also some rather oddly placed Tudor style buildings! It was conveniently close to Central Market, which was inconveniently overpriced.
Our next days activities were much more successful. The only difficulty in getting there was waiting at the wrong bus stop for about 10 minutes, but compared to the past two days this was fine. We ventured out the city to the Batu Caves - a Hindu temple, up lots and lots and lots of stairs, and in a cave. As you approach the temple there are loads of vegetarian restaurants and people trying to sell the obvious foreigners water. Then guarding the temple, is a massive gold statue of one of the gods, behind which y0u have the millions of stairs. A few attempts later, we made it to the top and into the massive, dark, dripping cave. Inside were lots of statues depicting scenes from Hindu legend. It was all very beautiful and entrancing, but i wished that we had a guide or someone who could tell us what it all meant.
At the back of the temple were monkeys, chickens and cats! Just roaming around, probably there not because the place was holy, but because they knew they could get fed by the tourists. There was a boy with a pigeon under his arm. I couldn't tell whether or not he was being cruel, but I found it best to give him a dubious look and then leave.
That evening I discovered Yo Sushi! My new favourite restaurant. Japanese food is undoubtedly the best food in the world. I went here 4 times in my stay in KL!
The next day Laura left for Melaka, where I was due to meet her the following day. I decided to spend my day alone here visiting the Malaysian National History Museum. So I planned on my map exactly how to get there, got off the train, walked to exactly where it should be, but it wasn't there! I walked around the area trying to find it, but it was no where to be seen. Eventually I stumbled across a tourist information office, it was closed, but on the side was the same map as mine....exactly the same except for the museum was missing. It seemed to have completely disappeared from existance. Very odd.
Next I was off to Melaka! A pleasant enough, 2 hour bus ride from KL. Here I went out to dinner with the owner of my hostel, to a very yummy and very cheap Buddhist restaurant. No idea what I was eating, but for just 3 Ringit (about 70p) I got to pile my plate high with delicious food from a vegetarian buffet. I then met up with Laura at her hostel for drinks. Here I played my first game of pool since the age of about seven, and actually it wasn't that hard! Not that I was any good, but it was my first time pretty much! I normally refuse to play on the grounds that I can't. We then went upstairs to play drinking games with the people in her dorm, and that's how I met Pete and Craig. It was a messy night. It took 2 hours for Pete and I to make the 10 minute walk back to my hostel (he kindly agreed to walk me home to make sure I was safe). But it was a pretty interesting walk! We saw a massive golden statue of Mr Universe from Melaka, complete with bulging muscles and holding weights. Even more amusing was the fire station, with the word "BOMB" written in 5 metre letters across the doors.
The next day none of us felt so good, but I introduced everyone to strawberry Fanta, and then everything was okay again. We went back to the bar in their hostel and played drinking games a second night in a row. This night the band from the bar joined us, and they were the most hilarious people ever. They told me that I had to take Craig back to Hong Kong, because he was very romantic, and HK was closer than London!
The following night was the night market, complete with kareoke competition. This took place on a massive stage, in front of an audience of about 100. The contestants were all middle-aged to old locals, warbling away love songs. There was one old man dancing away in front of the stage, on his own, but having the absolute time of his life. They all took it very seriously, and it was hilarious to watch.
I didn't feel like I saw much in Melaka, but then I'm not sure if there was much to see. We were staying right on the river, by all the pretty stuff and in Chinatown so we were in the heart of it really. And I had a good time, so that's what matters. Soon I was off back to KL - but this time with Pete and Craig in tow. I forced Yo Sushi! on them before heading up to Penang, where they were to meet me the following day.
I almost didn't get to Penang. Am starting to realise that yes I am infact completely incompetent when it comes to flying. I almost missed my flight because I am a total idiot and went to the wrong airport. I'm not even going to bother with the details of me running around trying to actually make my flight, but I made it. 45 minutes before departure. And yes, I'm the most useless person in existence. I will try harder.
Again I didn't see too much in Penang, but that's not because I didn't try. I went for a walk on my first day, and there were lots of temples and mosques and churches, but frankly I'm quite sick of this sort of thing at the moment. Once you've seen so many temples.... However a schoolboy did ask for my number, so I was quite impressed with the place. Another day Pete and I tried to find the beach, which was supposed to be really nice, but we failed and ended up in McDonalds. We did however make it Tescos one day - which was incredibly exciting and enabled us to cook some very, very satisfying pasta and potato dishes on Pete and Craig's portable cooker. It was so good to have home cooked Western food! We also made it to the Snake Temple, which was one room, with a few gold statues and a couple of snakes. Not the crazy snake pit filled, Indiana Jones adventure we were expecting.... and certainly not worth the 2 hour return trip, but oh well.
I didn't really feel like I saw much of Malaysia, but it was a nice relaxing break, and I had a good time, met some great people, so it's all good.
Next stop Thailand!!
Singapore
The initial amusement of Singapore wore off as soon as I got to the Thai embassy. At the moment they are doing free tourist visas to try and entice tourists back after the riots, however they make it so complicated and were SO rude that it's a wonder there's any tourists going there at all. So I went to pick up the form that I needed but there were a few things I didn't quite understand and I wasn't sure exactly what type of visa I needed, as the website makes no sense and there are no guide notes to the form. Therefore, I thought it only reasonably to ask the lady processing the visas a couple of questions, especially seeing as there was no one else there and she was just sitting doing nothing. As I approached her, the rudest woman I have ever met stepped in front of me, saying "No flight, no visa!" I tried to explain that I just wanted to ask a few questions about the visa, as I wasn't sure what type I needed, but again "No flight, no visa!" Well that established that I wasn't allowed to approach the lady at the desk. So I tried to talk to the woman standing in my way, but all she would say was this phrase, then walk and stand a few feet away from me. I followed her and tried to ask her another question but she barged past me and went and stood a few feet away in the other direction. This ridiculous process went on for some time until I couldn't contain my anger any longer, so I stormed out before I erupted into something that would have got me kicked out.
Well I worked out from my extremely annoying encounter that I wasn't going to even get to talk to anyone without a flight in and out of Thailand (which I personally think is stupid thing to buy without first getting the visa, but there we go). So I bought a flight in, a flight out and proceeded to try and fill out the form without any idea of what type of visa I was supposed to be getting and only guess work to help me fill in the half of it that seemed ridiculous or didn't make sense. In the end I had to give the name, address and telephone number of someone in Thailand who could vouch for me and someone in Singapore who could vouch for me! This was completely, ridiculously, stupid. What tourists would generally have this! It was because I was staying over 30 days (58 in total) that I had to apply for a visa, unfortunately visa runs overland are now restricted to 14 day periods in the country. Luckily I was able to get people in both countries who knew me to let me give their details, but I have no idea what most people do!
Well as you can imagine, I was completely fuming, when I was on my way back to my hostel that afternoon, and matters were only made worse by my next encounter. It was 3pm, in a perfectly respectable street in Little India, I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, no short skirts, no make up. Remember that I'm in sterile Singapore here.... A middle aged Indian man comes up to me and walks along side me, saying something under his breath. I could hardly hear him, he was being very discreet about talking to me, but I worked out that he was asking where I was from. I told him England, then tried to work out what he was whispering next and suddenly realised that he was asking me for sex, in a totally serious manner, as though I was a prostitute. In London or somewhere I may have expected this, but Singapore?! Shocked, and very much conveying my shock in my voice, I told him firmly no, and walked five times as fast. He ran along beside me calling "I always pay!" I was appalled and now over my initial shock I turned round and shouted at him. The attention scared him away. I was now even less a fan of Singapore.
I spent the rest of the day grumbling to myself in my hostel.
On a more pleasant note, my friend from HK happened to be in Singapore on business for the time that I was there, and I was quite glad of a familiar face. She took me for dinner that nice in an organic vegetarian restaurant and I had such a nice meal, I forgot how good it felt to eat good, healthy food. Not that the food I had been eating in Bali was bad, far from it, but this was the kinda meal that made you feel like you'd just done your body a massive favour.
I returned to my hostel that night much happier, and in a far better mood to receive my crazy room mate. Apparently he was travelling on the money that the Norwegian governement gave him because he "thought too much". He refused to talk about China because if he gave his views on communism the Russian's (who are tracking people from Northern/Eastern/Central Europe everywhere) would kill him. During his sleep he tossed and turned so violently, and coughed a very pronounced, ridiculously fake-sounding cough that I, the worlds greatest sleeper, couldn't get the tiniest second of sleep. A very bizarre guy.
Well Singapore so far had been really weird, so I decided to try and actually see some sights, have a normal, holiday type experience, and the hostel I was staying at - an excellent place actually, called the Inn Crowd - had free guided tours of the local area of Bugis. It was really interesting actually, and our guide, one of the hostel workers was great. First of all we went to a beautiful green and yellow mosque, covered in moons and stars. Some of the girls on the tour - English, surprise surprise, were wearing little dresses and didn't understand that to go into the mosque they had to cover up, so that caused a bit of a problem, but I had come prepared so I went off to explore it by myself. It was just as pretty as any of the great churches or temples of other religions, though I found myself thinking that the lampshades and carpets would look quite good in a house of my own.
Next we went to a Chinese temple where our guide taught us how to ask the Goddess of Mercy our fortune. We each took three incense sticks and lit them on a gas lamp. First we faced south, bowing and waving the incense, praying to the south; then we faced the Goddess to do the same. After we had prayed, we put the incense in the giant incense holder as an offering and went inside the temple. Here we collected a container of bamboo sticks, and knelt before the goddess, shaking the container and focusing on a question we wanted answered until one of the sticks fell out. Then we had two moon shape chips that we needed to hold while praying to the goddess and toss them on the ground. If the chips were opposite ways up, then the stick belonged to us. Our stick would have on it a number, that we would look up in a book, providing the answer to our question.
The book told me that "the path is misty" as an answer to my question about a future career in international diplomacy/human rights that I am considering, but then went on to say that travellers would face difficulties. Uh oh.
Our guide told us that Chinese are very superstitious people and sometimes if they are told of a bad fortune from this Buddhist temple, they go to the Hindu temple next door to pray for a better fortune. So this is what we did!
Next we went to a local hawker center selling all types of local food. Here I tried some very strange bright pink, very sweet, drink in a plastic bag and an ice cream sandwich. Think I will stick to the nasi goreng. Rather unimpressed by this food, I went to meet my friend from HK, Fleur, in her hotel. Her company is putting her up in the hotel in an executive suite, which means she gets access to the executive lounge and is allowed to bring guests. Cue free cocktails all evening.
The following day I decided to go to Sentosa Island - the place I had seen so many adverts for whilst studying my inflight magazines at work in HK. I imagined it to be a bit tacky, but thought I may as well see what it is all about. Actually I was quite impressed. It was sort of a big theme park island, with a revolving/elevating look out tower, a giant "Merlion" statue, an aquarium, animal centres, eco-trails, go-karts, a giant ski lift type thing, a museum on Singaporean history.....and gorgeous beaches! Not something I would have expected in Singapore, but they were nicer than the beaches in Bali even! This island also contains, conveniently labelled, the most southernly point in continental Asia. So I went and stood there, gazed out to sea for a bit, and took a photo. All in all, I was quite impressed. I only had a look around and spent a few hours there, but it's the kind of place you could take the kids for a long weekend and have a very pleasant time.
For a final activity in Singapore I had to go to Raffles hotel with Fleur for a Singapore Sling. For those of you who don't know, Raffles is a very posh, very famous, very colonial hotel where people have afternoon tea, and that type of thing. It is where the cocktail "the Singapore Sling" was invented. It was rather nice. Just to make sure I didn't get mistaken for a classy person like everyone else there, I asked if I could nick a few free coasters to keep as a souvenir. The waiting staff were quite amused, so happily consented.
My flight the next day was at 7:30am, so I needed to be at the airport at 6am, before the first MRT would have got me there. So in order to save money on an overpriced taxi and accommodation for that night, I decided it would be a much better idea to sleep in the airport. So much for a tropical climate! I almost froze to death! Horrible night, not doing that again! (I give myself about a month before I come up with the same "clever" idea again.)
Well I worked out from my extremely annoying encounter that I wasn't going to even get to talk to anyone without a flight in and out of Thailand (which I personally think is stupid thing to buy without first getting the visa, but there we go). So I bought a flight in, a flight out and proceeded to try and fill out the form without any idea of what type of visa I was supposed to be getting and only guess work to help me fill in the half of it that seemed ridiculous or didn't make sense. In the end I had to give the name, address and telephone number of someone in Thailand who could vouch for me and someone in Singapore who could vouch for me! This was completely, ridiculously, stupid. What tourists would generally have this! It was because I was staying over 30 days (58 in total) that I had to apply for a visa, unfortunately visa runs overland are now restricted to 14 day periods in the country. Luckily I was able to get people in both countries who knew me to let me give their details, but I have no idea what most people do!
Well as you can imagine, I was completely fuming, when I was on my way back to my hostel that afternoon, and matters were only made worse by my next encounter. It was 3pm, in a perfectly respectable street in Little India, I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, no short skirts, no make up. Remember that I'm in sterile Singapore here.... A middle aged Indian man comes up to me and walks along side me, saying something under his breath. I could hardly hear him, he was being very discreet about talking to me, but I worked out that he was asking where I was from. I told him England, then tried to work out what he was whispering next and suddenly realised that he was asking me for sex, in a totally serious manner, as though I was a prostitute. In London or somewhere I may have expected this, but Singapore?! Shocked, and very much conveying my shock in my voice, I told him firmly no, and walked five times as fast. He ran along beside me calling "I always pay!" I was appalled and now over my initial shock I turned round and shouted at him. The attention scared him away. I was now even less a fan of Singapore.
I spent the rest of the day grumbling to myself in my hostel.
On a more pleasant note, my friend from HK happened to be in Singapore on business for the time that I was there, and I was quite glad of a familiar face. She took me for dinner that nice in an organic vegetarian restaurant and I had such a nice meal, I forgot how good it felt to eat good, healthy food. Not that the food I had been eating in Bali was bad, far from it, but this was the kinda meal that made you feel like you'd just done your body a massive favour.
I returned to my hostel that night much happier, and in a far better mood to receive my crazy room mate. Apparently he was travelling on the money that the Norwegian governement gave him because he "thought too much". He refused to talk about China because if he gave his views on communism the Russian's (who are tracking people from Northern/Eastern/Central Europe everywhere) would kill him. During his sleep he tossed and turned so violently, and coughed a very pronounced, ridiculously fake-sounding cough that I, the worlds greatest sleeper, couldn't get the tiniest second of sleep. A very bizarre guy.
Well Singapore so far had been really weird, so I decided to try and actually see some sights, have a normal, holiday type experience, and the hostel I was staying at - an excellent place actually, called the Inn Crowd - had free guided tours of the local area of Bugis. It was really interesting actually, and our guide, one of the hostel workers was great. First of all we went to a beautiful green and yellow mosque, covered in moons and stars. Some of the girls on the tour - English, surprise surprise, were wearing little dresses and didn't understand that to go into the mosque they had to cover up, so that caused a bit of a problem, but I had come prepared so I went off to explore it by myself. It was just as pretty as any of the great churches or temples of other religions, though I found myself thinking that the lampshades and carpets would look quite good in a house of my own.
Next we went to a Chinese temple where our guide taught us how to ask the Goddess of Mercy our fortune. We each took three incense sticks and lit them on a gas lamp. First we faced south, bowing and waving the incense, praying to the south; then we faced the Goddess to do the same. After we had prayed, we put the incense in the giant incense holder as an offering and went inside the temple. Here we collected a container of bamboo sticks, and knelt before the goddess, shaking the container and focusing on a question we wanted answered until one of the sticks fell out. Then we had two moon shape chips that we needed to hold while praying to the goddess and toss them on the ground. If the chips were opposite ways up, then the stick belonged to us. Our stick would have on it a number, that we would look up in a book, providing the answer to our question.
The book told me that "the path is misty" as an answer to my question about a future career in international diplomacy/human rights that I am considering, but then went on to say that travellers would face difficulties. Uh oh.
Our guide told us that Chinese are very superstitious people and sometimes if they are told of a bad fortune from this Buddhist temple, they go to the Hindu temple next door to pray for a better fortune. So this is what we did!
Next we went to a local hawker center selling all types of local food. Here I tried some very strange bright pink, very sweet, drink in a plastic bag and an ice cream sandwich. Think I will stick to the nasi goreng. Rather unimpressed by this food, I went to meet my friend from HK, Fleur, in her hotel. Her company is putting her up in the hotel in an executive suite, which means she gets access to the executive lounge and is allowed to bring guests. Cue free cocktails all evening.
The following day I decided to go to Sentosa Island - the place I had seen so many adverts for whilst studying my inflight magazines at work in HK. I imagined it to be a bit tacky, but thought I may as well see what it is all about. Actually I was quite impressed. It was sort of a big theme park island, with a revolving/elevating look out tower, a giant "Merlion" statue, an aquarium, animal centres, eco-trails, go-karts, a giant ski lift type thing, a museum on Singaporean history.....and gorgeous beaches! Not something I would have expected in Singapore, but they were nicer than the beaches in Bali even! This island also contains, conveniently labelled, the most southernly point in continental Asia. So I went and stood there, gazed out to sea for a bit, and took a photo. All in all, I was quite impressed. I only had a look around and spent a few hours there, but it's the kind of place you could take the kids for a long weekend and have a very pleasant time.
For a final activity in Singapore I had to go to Raffles hotel with Fleur for a Singapore Sling. For those of you who don't know, Raffles is a very posh, very famous, very colonial hotel where people have afternoon tea, and that type of thing. It is where the cocktail "the Singapore Sling" was invented. It was rather nice. Just to make sure I didn't get mistaken for a classy person like everyone else there, I asked if I could nick a few free coasters to keep as a souvenir. The waiting staff were quite amused, so happily consented.
My flight the next day was at 7:30am, so I needed to be at the airport at 6am, before the first MRT would have got me there. So in order to save money on an overpriced taxi and accommodation for that night, I decided it would be a much better idea to sleep in the airport. So much for a tropical climate! I almost froze to death! Horrible night, not doing that again! (I give myself about a month before I come up with the same "clever" idea again.)
Journey to Singapore
It took me 14 hours to travel from Bali to Singapore. This is about the same amount of time it takes to get to London. It was ridiculous. Don't ask me how I managed to take this long, because the answer is, I really, truly, do not know. However I kept myself amused with some interesting cultural differences. The first being in the departure lounge in Bali's domestic airport. Most airports no longer have any smoking area left, they were phased out ages ago. Bali's domestic terminal smoking "room" consists of a corner of the departure lounge, with a six foot tall screen round it, this kept me entertained for a while. So long in fact that I completely missed the boarding calls for my flight until I heard my name being called over the loud speaker. Here I would like to point out that this was nothing to do with my incompetence. The screen with my flight's gate number had a different number to one my boarding pass. Unlike all the other passengers who chose to believe the boarding pass, I chose to believe the screen. All the other flights on the screen were boarding, but still nothing came up for mine, so I assumed it must be on "rubber time". Thing was that the screen was actually broken, the announcement for boarding could only be heard at the actual gate itself, and I was sat, totally oblivious, on the wrong side of the terminal. I know it sounds typical of me, but it wasn't my fault.
Anyways I made the flight just about, despite some annoyed stares from the passengers who had been kept waiting. I just grinned back at them and found myself ready for my next source of amusement. I was flying "Value Air" a VERY budget Asian airline, and like Air Asia in that when they take off and land they play music over the speakers. Fittingly for a budget Asian airline, the song playing during take off was the old disco song "Staying Alive."
Things were pretty boring after this until I got to Singapore airport and the ATM started talking to me. Up until this point I hadn't really wanted to come to Singapore, I was just here for visa reasons, but this made me rethink - if this was what the rest of Singapore is going to be like, I am going to be extremely entertained. So the ATM politely, and in the Queen's English I might point out, thanked me for using it and made sure I took my card, money and receipt. I couldn't help but wishing it would have come out with the phrase "You don't have enough gold!" in a very computer-game-esque, deep, knight's-of-the-round-table-type voice.
On the MRT (underground train) next to the no smoking, no eating or drinking, and no explosives signs complete with their fine warnings, there was a sign for no Durians. A durian is a rather smelly type of tropical fruit. This kept me laughing all the way to my hostel. Perhaps I am too easily amused.
Anyways I made the flight just about, despite some annoyed stares from the passengers who had been kept waiting. I just grinned back at them and found myself ready for my next source of amusement. I was flying "Value Air" a VERY budget Asian airline, and like Air Asia in that when they take off and land they play music over the speakers. Fittingly for a budget Asian airline, the song playing during take off was the old disco song "Staying Alive."
Things were pretty boring after this until I got to Singapore airport and the ATM started talking to me. Up until this point I hadn't really wanted to come to Singapore, I was just here for visa reasons, but this made me rethink - if this was what the rest of Singapore is going to be like, I am going to be extremely entertained. So the ATM politely, and in the Queen's English I might point out, thanked me for using it and made sure I took my card, money and receipt. I couldn't help but wishing it would have come out with the phrase "You don't have enough gold!" in a very computer-game-esque, deep, knight's-of-the-round-table-type voice.
On the MRT (underground train) next to the no smoking, no eating or drinking, and no explosives signs complete with their fine warnings, there was a sign for no Durians. A durian is a rather smelly type of tropical fruit. This kept me laughing all the way to my hostel. Perhaps I am too easily amused.
And back to Ubud
On the final day of our trip in Bali, we drove back to Ubud, via a Hindu temple. We parked up on the opposite side of the lake and commissioned two canoes to take us across and into the temple.
Literally seconds after we stepped out of the canoe, Chloe and I were grabbed by some Javanese men, their arms put round us and cameras taken out. I wouldn't have minded this at all, apart from the fact that they didn't ask, but just grabbed us like we were objects, less than animals. So we stopped the photos from being photos, shook our fists and growled. Well not really. But we did get away without our images being violated and a few angry glares.
Once we were actually allowed to look around the temple it was a little bit of a disappointment. It was so full of tourists, unlike the other temples we had seen which we just us and the locals, that it didn't have the peace and mystery that I felt in the other places. It felt like the gods had left the place long ago, and it was just a sell out show.
Back in Ubud, I really felt like I wanted to stay. It's such a lovely town, with great people, and such a good atmosphere. Every other shop is an art shop, there are beautiful bamboo restaurants serving delicious food, the locals sit around playing guitar, excited to just chat to you, with no ulterior motive. However the last night was a little bit...interesting...
Chloe was staying in a homestay with a friend of our group leader - Wayan - so that night we went out with him to a reggae bar. There was a really good live reggae band, with the worlds happiest singer, people were losing themselves dancing and there was just a great holiday atmosphere. Though annoyingly, one of the guys we were talking to sat down next to me and kept edging closer and closer. I kept edging away until I was squashed up against Chloe, but he didn't get the message and sooner or later was practically sitting on top of me and staring intently at me, despite the fact I was facing the other way. I felt quite uncomfortable. In this kind of situation in London, Hong Kong, or any other Western country it wouldn't have been a big deal, but when you're in a place where the culture is so different from your own, it's hard to know what people's agenda is or how they will react to things.
Then, a the biggest Balinese guy I had ever seen, covered with tattoos as far as his forehead and lots of big gold jewellery came along. He was Wayan's friend. Earlier in the day Chloe had met him, and a Dutch lady had told her to stay away from him as he was "bad news", but he seemed nice enough, and his presence seemed to scare the other guy away so I was happy! However, when it got to the end of the night he was so insistent on taking me home, it was kind of unnerving. We had to pretend that Chloe needed to get something from mine, but even then he followed us half way there and was very difficult to dissuade. We had to get Wayan to come with us so that Chloe would be okay going back on her own. So as much as Ubud was lovely during the day, at night, things were a little bit on the worrying side.
Literally seconds after we stepped out of the canoe, Chloe and I were grabbed by some Javanese men, their arms put round us and cameras taken out. I wouldn't have minded this at all, apart from the fact that they didn't ask, but just grabbed us like we were objects, less than animals. So we stopped the photos from being photos, shook our fists and growled. Well not really. But we did get away without our images being violated and a few angry glares.
Once we were actually allowed to look around the temple it was a little bit of a disappointment. It was so full of tourists, unlike the other temples we had seen which we just us and the locals, that it didn't have the peace and mystery that I felt in the other places. It felt like the gods had left the place long ago, and it was just a sell out show.
Back in Ubud, I really felt like I wanted to stay. It's such a lovely town, with great people, and such a good atmosphere. Every other shop is an art shop, there are beautiful bamboo restaurants serving delicious food, the locals sit around playing guitar, excited to just chat to you, with no ulterior motive. However the last night was a little bit...interesting...
Chloe was staying in a homestay with a friend of our group leader - Wayan - so that night we went out with him to a reggae bar. There was a really good live reggae band, with the worlds happiest singer, people were losing themselves dancing and there was just a great holiday atmosphere. Though annoyingly, one of the guys we were talking to sat down next to me and kept edging closer and closer. I kept edging away until I was squashed up against Chloe, but he didn't get the message and sooner or later was practically sitting on top of me and staring intently at me, despite the fact I was facing the other way. I felt quite uncomfortable. In this kind of situation in London, Hong Kong, or any other Western country it wouldn't have been a big deal, but when you're in a place where the culture is so different from your own, it's hard to know what people's agenda is or how they will react to things.
Then, a the biggest Balinese guy I had ever seen, covered with tattoos as far as his forehead and lots of big gold jewellery came along. He was Wayan's friend. Earlier in the day Chloe had met him, and a Dutch lady had told her to stay away from him as he was "bad news", but he seemed nice enough, and his presence seemed to scare the other guy away so I was happy! However, when it got to the end of the night he was so insistent on taking me home, it was kind of unnerving. We had to pretend that Chloe needed to get something from mine, but even then he followed us half way there and was very difficult to dissuade. We had to get Wayan to come with us so that Chloe would be okay going back on her own. So as much as Ubud was lovely during the day, at night, things were a little bit on the worrying side.
Lovina
Finally we drove to out hotel - with a swimming pool and real people! Wow! We were back in civilisation again.
That night at dinner, Chloe and I decided to check out the local bars. There wasn't a great deal of choice (namely two bars next door to each other) but we headed for what seemed like the best option, containing only four people with whom we sat. The drinks were very, very expensive. There was a live cover band playing, who I actually thought were very good. They reminded me of the Philippino bands in Hong Kong, though these guys got a great deal more of the words wrong. The other Europeans we were sitting with left, leaving just the bar staff, Tim from East Timor and a guy sitting on his own - so I invited him over. Turns out (and I believe this story as it wasn't the person in question who told me, and the concept seemed to fit him very well) he was a Dutch lottery winner, trying to immigrate to Bali. Anyways he paid some of the boys at the bar to drive us to the nearby "Volcano Club" and paid for ALL our entries.
So we rode to the club - me, Chloe, the Dutch lottery winner, Tim from East Timor, the bar manager and the band. Chloe and I went on the same bike, for safety reasons, but we were so weighed down that we couldn't go as fast as the other bikes, so failed miserably in the attempt to race. It wasn't half as scary - being on a motorbike - as I thought, but actually really fun, and made more so by Chloe making shadow puppets in the headlamp!
The club was in the shape of a volcano, with a rotating dancefloor. It was all black inside with swirling, glowing patterns on the walls and ceilings - like the inside of a volcano. Here we met a guy from Jakarta and an O'Neill sponsored surfer from the Gilly(sp?) Islands, and all proceeded to the dancefloor to partake in some of the most stupid dancing I have ever done, including salsa, ballroom, and a local dance called "the Joggette". We also drank some of the local spirit, Arak. At first I thought this was actually ok, but later that night Chloe was sick, Tim from East Timor passed out! And the following day I felt like I was going to die.
At the end of the night, the guys discussed who would get to take us back to our hotel, while Chloe and I discussed whether we would be safer getting in a car with a drunk driver, or on a bike with a drunk driver. There was no other option to get home. Our logic was that we would be less likely to die in a car because they are bigger.
That night at dinner, Chloe and I decided to check out the local bars. There wasn't a great deal of choice (namely two bars next door to each other) but we headed for what seemed like the best option, containing only four people with whom we sat. The drinks were very, very expensive. There was a live cover band playing, who I actually thought were very good. They reminded me of the Philippino bands in Hong Kong, though these guys got a great deal more of the words wrong. The other Europeans we were sitting with left, leaving just the bar staff, Tim from East Timor and a guy sitting on his own - so I invited him over. Turns out (and I believe this story as it wasn't the person in question who told me, and the concept seemed to fit him very well) he was a Dutch lottery winner, trying to immigrate to Bali. Anyways he paid some of the boys at the bar to drive us to the nearby "Volcano Club" and paid for ALL our entries.
So we rode to the club - me, Chloe, the Dutch lottery winner, Tim from East Timor, the bar manager and the band. Chloe and I went on the same bike, for safety reasons, but we were so weighed down that we couldn't go as fast as the other bikes, so failed miserably in the attempt to race. It wasn't half as scary - being on a motorbike - as I thought, but actually really fun, and made more so by Chloe making shadow puppets in the headlamp!
The club was in the shape of a volcano, with a rotating dancefloor. It was all black inside with swirling, glowing patterns on the walls and ceilings - like the inside of a volcano. Here we met a guy from Jakarta and an O'Neill sponsored surfer from the Gilly(sp?) Islands, and all proceeded to the dancefloor to partake in some of the most stupid dancing I have ever done, including salsa, ballroom, and a local dance called "the Joggette". We also drank some of the local spirit, Arak. At first I thought this was actually ok, but later that night Chloe was sick, Tim from East Timor passed out! And the following day I felt like I was going to die.
At the end of the night, the guys discussed who would get to take us back to our hotel, while Chloe and I discussed whether we would be safer getting in a car with a drunk driver, or on a bike with a drunk driver. There was no other option to get home. Our logic was that we would be less likely to die in a car because they are bigger.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Western Bali
Now closer to the main Indonesian island of Java, we were in Islamic territory. We had to cover up even in the hotel here, though in the car on the way there I was just in a tank top, and when we stopped for petrol and stayed in the car I got some very big stares! It was in the hotel that night that I heard my first ever Islamic call to prayer. I thought it sounded rather peaceful and comforting!
The next morning we went straight to get the ferry, which was a tiny wooden motor boat, to an island for some snorkelling. Wow. It was actually even more amazing than the Great Barrier Reef! The water was crystal clear, and further out, in the deep, a beautiful turquoise. There were more types of fish here than in Australia by about a hundred times! I even saw giant clams!.....A big blue starfish, the fish in the tank with a scar from Finding Nemo, Nemo himself in his little plant that he lives in. There was a big scary fish, about a metre long, shaped like a pencil with a big pointed noise, giant teeth and glaring eyes! I swam up to it and had a look for a while, but then I got scared and swam off as quick as I could! There were smaller long pointy, silver fish, bigger, darker fish on the drop off, lots of cute coupled fish swimming around in pairs, so many luminous colours! We got called back after a couple of hours, but again I just wanted to spend forever in the water.
Back on the shore, our group leader, the local guides and I got some bin liners to pick up the rubbish on the beach. There was so much of it, it was really sad. You can see bags in the water when you are snorkelling, a ridiculous amount of flip flops, lots of polystyrene, and so much medical waste! It wasn't very nice, but I did feel like I was giving my bit back to the country. Although more rubbish will be washed up on the shore with the next tide, it acts as an education to the local people, which is the important thing. Some of them were helping, so it was obviously working to some extent!
After another delicious, banana leaf packed lunch, we went to see the island temple. On the way we saw a great deer with massive antlers that barked.....yes barked....at us. The first part of the temple was dedicated to Brahma and guarded by a statue of a crocodile, which was interesting as you don't get crocs in Bali! Then there was a Buddhist temple in the middle of the Hindu temples. And then just to confuse things even further, the new Hindu temple that was being built featured Chinese coins as part of it's decoration. Bali is an interesting mix!
I was thinking on the ferry back - it would be nice if the sea wasn't so salty...then I discovered strawberry Fanta. It is the best drink. Ever.
The next morning we went straight to get the ferry, which was a tiny wooden motor boat, to an island for some snorkelling. Wow. It was actually even more amazing than the Great Barrier Reef! The water was crystal clear, and further out, in the deep, a beautiful turquoise. There were more types of fish here than in Australia by about a hundred times! I even saw giant clams!.....A big blue starfish, the fish in the tank with a scar from Finding Nemo, Nemo himself in his little plant that he lives in. There was a big scary fish, about a metre long, shaped like a pencil with a big pointed noise, giant teeth and glaring eyes! I swam up to it and had a look for a while, but then I got scared and swam off as quick as I could! There were smaller long pointy, silver fish, bigger, darker fish on the drop off, lots of cute coupled fish swimming around in pairs, so many luminous colours! We got called back after a couple of hours, but again I just wanted to spend forever in the water.
Back on the shore, our group leader, the local guides and I got some bin liners to pick up the rubbish on the beach. There was so much of it, it was really sad. You can see bags in the water when you are snorkelling, a ridiculous amount of flip flops, lots of polystyrene, and so much medical waste! It wasn't very nice, but I did feel like I was giving my bit back to the country. Although more rubbish will be washed up on the shore with the next tide, it acts as an education to the local people, which is the important thing. Some of them were helping, so it was obviously working to some extent!
After another delicious, banana leaf packed lunch, we went to see the island temple. On the way we saw a great deer with massive antlers that barked.....yes barked....at us. The first part of the temple was dedicated to Brahma and guarded by a statue of a crocodile, which was interesting as you don't get crocs in Bali! Then there was a Buddhist temple in the middle of the Hindu temples. And then just to confuse things even further, the new Hindu temple that was being built featured Chinese coins as part of it's decoration. Bali is an interesting mix!
I was thinking on the ferry back - it would be nice if the sea wasn't so salty...then I discovered strawberry Fanta. It is the best drink. Ever.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Mt. Batur
Our next stop for the night was at Kedisan, a small town at the base of Mt. Batur. I slept most the journey there bar one stop at a beautiful lookout point down to the town with the volcano in the background. We were the only ones there, as it was a small passing point at the side of the road, but all of a sudden we were surrounded by hawkers, who had come out of nowhere on their motorbikes! They kept asking again and again if we would like to see their wares and wouldn't take no for an answer, giving prices that got lower and lower, then asking what we wanted to pay. It was so annoying, that in the end we just gave up and got back in the car. However, before giving up, we managed to locate the path we would be taking up the mountain the next day... it looked STEEP!
Once we arrived in the hotel for the night I realised, much to my dismay, that it was absolutely freezing. In Bali. Quite crazy, but I suppose we were in mountain territory now. I wasn't looking forward to the temperature at the top at sunrise. Then just a few hours later, at 3am, we were out of bed into an even deeper cold to begin our climb.
We had two local guides and two water boys who would accompany us to the top. Lots of the guides came up to chat before we started off, asking our name, where we were from, the usual sort of thing. One guide, on finding out that I was called Annie, and my friend was called Chloe, burst out laughing, saying, "So, Annie and Chloe? Annie and Chloe!" then ran off. Very strange. Our two guides that came with us however were great fun, laughing and joking about the whole time. We thought that one of them way called Norman, which amused us quite a bit seeing as he was a local Balinese, but later found out it was "Nyoman". He was so lovely, always smiling, always helping us out, holding people's hands on the scary bits. He was very informative and really helped make the trip what it was.
We started the walk in the pitch dark, and it remained like this until we were almost at the top. At first the path was very flat, but with lots of big volcanic rocks to trip over. Fortunately we all had torches to see where we were putting our feet. As the slope began to steepen, I soon warmed up, and my 50 layers were all tied round my waist. I hadn't had time to eat breakfast before we left and a mixture of this and the fact that my body was being exerted before I'd even woken up, made me start to feel quite sick. Luckily some of the older members of the group were already struggling, so we were soon stopping to rest, and I could bring my supply of chocolate brownies out.
The guide leading us stopped at the shrine, half way up the mountain, to pray and light incense. It felt quite atmospheric and mysterious watching this in the dark, on a mountain, at 4am!
The guide leading us stopped at the shrine, half way up the mountain, to pray and light incense. It felt quite atmospheric and mysterious watching this in the dark, on a mountain, at 4am!
As the path went on, it got steeper and steeper, until we were climbing up the mountain using our hands to pull ourselves up. A couple of times when the shorter ones of us couldn't reach, the guides, who were in fact mountain goats, had to pull us up. We had by this point split into two groups, with those struggling in the second group. Apparently the guide of the other group held one lady's hand the entire way up, as she was scared of falling on the steep climb. My dad had repeatedly told me that I would find this immensely difficult, but really I was quite comfortable climbing it, and found it thoroughly enjoyable.
When we finally made it to the top of the volcano, there was a man selling tea and rice - a warm respite to the freezing cold morning, which I was not designed for. I also bought a coke off my drinks boy. These kids aren't paid, but climb the mountain with you, helping out along the way, in the hope that you will buy a drink off them at the end - so despite the fact that I didn't really want it, I bought it anyways for his effort. There were about 10 other people who had climbed the mountain up there. Other residents of the top of Mt. Batur included two very friendly dogs. I gave them my hard boiled egg, even peeling it for them, but apparently they can peel eggs themselves!
All morning the mountain was shrouded in cloud, apart from a brief few minutes, right at sunrise, when it cleared to reveal the spectacular view for us. You could see the sparkling lake, the lush green fields and forests; you could even see as far as a mountain all the way on the next island of Lombok!
After we felt like we could stand up again, we walked on to peer down the massive crater. Once a year this crater is used for animal sacrifice to appease the god of the volcano - where they throw down a cow and a few chickens that the community buys together as a whole.
Then we walked round the other side of the mountain, where there was steam coming from the rocks around us, and when the cloud cleared we could see steam coming out of a more recent crater below. If you put your hand to the rocks they felt so nice and warm - I was tempted to sit on one, but it was perhaps a little too hot for that! Instead we dug a hole and cooked a banana in it!
Finally, we started the descent. Below us we could see the black larva field, then where it was green the land was in swirling formations, that we later found out had been streams of larva - the volcano last erupted in about 2000. Our guide pointed out lots of temples on the way down devoted to the god of the volcano. At one point the ground was all made of ash, it was like being on a sand dune. So we ran down it, which was loads of fun, if a little scary - running down a really steep and high mountain and all! Then we saw the path we walked up....it was so long and steep! Everyone was very glad we had done it in the dark so we hadn't been able to see that!
We walked back to where we started through vegetable plantations that we also hadn't been able to see in the dark. There was chilli, sweet potato, white potato, sweetcorn, tomatoes....and peanuts - which apparently aren't a nut at all, but in fact a vegetable.
There was a great sense of satisfaction that it was all over, and we complemented this with a trip to some paradisaical hot springs, where I got a bizarre bright red free drink. It wasn't tomato juice, and it wasn't blood. This is where I had my first (and possibly best) Nasi Goreng, which I liked so much that I had it again for dinner! The water in the hot springs was so hot that I had to get out to cool off in the 40 degree heat! But it was incredibly relaxing, and sent us to sleep for the long car drive to the West.
All morning the mountain was shrouded in cloud, apart from a brief few minutes, right at sunrise, when it cleared to reveal the spectacular view for us. You could see the sparkling lake, the lush green fields and forests; you could even see as far as a mountain all the way on the next island of Lombok!
After we felt like we could stand up again, we walked on to peer down the massive crater. Once a year this crater is used for animal sacrifice to appease the god of the volcano - where they throw down a cow and a few chickens that the community buys together as a whole.
Then we walked round the other side of the mountain, where there was steam coming from the rocks around us, and when the cloud cleared we could see steam coming out of a more recent crater below. If you put your hand to the rocks they felt so nice and warm - I was tempted to sit on one, but it was perhaps a little too hot for that! Instead we dug a hole and cooked a banana in it!
Finally, we started the descent. Below us we could see the black larva field, then where it was green the land was in swirling formations, that we later found out had been streams of larva - the volcano last erupted in about 2000. Our guide pointed out lots of temples on the way down devoted to the god of the volcano. At one point the ground was all made of ash, it was like being on a sand dune. So we ran down it, which was loads of fun, if a little scary - running down a really steep and high mountain and all! Then we saw the path we walked up....it was so long and steep! Everyone was very glad we had done it in the dark so we hadn't been able to see that!
We walked back to where we started through vegetable plantations that we also hadn't been able to see in the dark. There was chilli, sweet potato, white potato, sweetcorn, tomatoes....and peanuts - which apparently aren't a nut at all, but in fact a vegetable.
There was a great sense of satisfaction that it was all over, and we complemented this with a trip to some paradisaical hot springs, where I got a bizarre bright red free drink. It wasn't tomato juice, and it wasn't blood. This is where I had my first (and possibly best) Nasi Goreng, which I liked so much that I had it again for dinner! The water in the hot springs was so hot that I had to get out to cool off in the 40 degree heat! But it was incredibly relaxing, and sent us to sleep for the long car drive to the West.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Journey to and in Sideman
We drove slowly through the beautiful countryside and fascinating small villages to Sideman. The villages were lined with sweet stalls, drinks stalls and statue stalls. The Balinese obviously must eat a lot of sweets and fill their houses with a lot of statues, as none of these villages were tourist areas at all! I also noticed the IMMENSE amount of dogs just wondering around the street, totally ignoring the cars and bikes. There were a lot of chickens wondering around as well, and I even noticed on a couple of occasions, ducks being herded! Yes, herded - like sheep. There was an option to go on bike, but most of us didn't take it. The driving in Bali is crazy, we probably would have died. Plus, I noticed that the locals all rode motorbike, it was only foreigners who were crazy enough to ride a push bike in the heat.
About half way there we stopped at a Monkey Forest temple. This was, as is probably quite obvious, a temple, in a forest, with loads of monkeys. This was the first temple I went in in Bali, and the first thing we learnt was, of course, the rules. We had to wear a sarong and a sash - to seperate the evil bottom half of our body from the good top half. Also no women on their periods were allowed in, but they were pretty trusting with this one.
So about the monkeys - there were HUNDREDS, everywhere. They were very cheeky, and we had been emphatically warned about them trying to steal things, but we weren't prepared for them to jump on our heads! As I sat down at one point a monkey came and sat on my lap. He was quite a friendly monkey though, so I fed him a banana. He was very, very cute. Some people didn't find them so cute (so I don't really know what they were doing there in the first place). One Indonesian man had a monkey jump on him and was so terrified he was running around screaming. The look on his face was just hilarious.
There was one monkey inhaling a can of lighter gas....
Our next stop on the way to Sideman was at a sweat shop. I never realised how much work goes in to weaving just a sarong and how complicated it is! It is actually really clever - they dye the thread, which is all stretched out over a wooden frame, by dotting different colours in seemingly random places, by hand. Then the thread is woven on some big crazy machine, worked by a peddle, that makes a loud clacking sound and then the dyed thread mysteriously ends up in a predesigned pattern! Crazy. This particular place had won government awards for its designs.
The women seemed to be working in very good conditions, they were all very chatty and smiley, though it must be a very monotonous job. I was happy to notice they were all of working age. However, you have to bear in mind that this was a sweat shop open to tourists, so it would obviously want to create a good impression and may not reflect the usual working conditions in other places.
The hotel we stayed in, in Sideman was set in the most stunning location. It consisted of bungalows owned by foreigners (though not in full as that is illegal) as holiday homes. When they are not in use the hotel lets them out to visitors. We had an excellent one, with a gorgeous view of rice fields, jungle, and a big volcano - Mt. Agung - in the background. It was very cute, like a little mini house. Our bathroom was outside with a tall wall attaching it to the house. It was a shower, toilet and fishpond rolled into one!
The next day we walked through the rice paddies and vegetable fields - they do a crop rotation of them all every so often. It was all quite clever and the irrigation system for the rice was pretty impressive! Though maybe I'm very easily impressed by these things, being very much a city girl. All the farmers would stop to say hello, with the biggest smile on their faces. The little kids in the streets would run up and follow us shouting "hello!" and grinning when we shouted it back. A couple of children even ran up and asked me to take a photo of them. So I did and showed them, they were enthralled by it! It was quite good really, our guide asked us to print off any photos we took of the locals and send them to her so she can give them to them. This is especially good for the children, as their parents would otherwise have no pictures of them growing up, so it is much appreciated. Everyone was so friendly and excited that we were visiting their community. We had a local guide for the walk as well. He was very sweet, if a little shy about speaking in English. We learnt that today was his first wedding anniversary with his wife, who was pregnant, and waiting at home for him to have a celebratory lunch.
As we were walking up a very steep slope through the forest (or rather stopped to rest on our way up the slope) I noticed a rather interesting looking mosquito, with black and white stripes, so I thought I would point it out to everyone. "Oh yes," our guide happily said, "they're the ones that carry dengue fever." Ah dear. DEET time.
When we got the the top of this massive slope we stopped for drinks at a small stall and one of our group bought some cigarette papers. They were crazy - thicker than writing paper, sugar coated, and with no sticky bit, so you had to hold them together while you smoked the cigarette.
Then we went to another temple. Inside, there were lots of women making rice cakes for an upcoming festival. They were all very happy to have us visiting them and to show us what they were doing, even though they didn't speak any English. I wanted to take a photo, but I felt too rude to ask, as traditionally it is considered to be stealing part of one's soul.
The temple was from the 16th century, but the buildings and statues had been replaced and renovated throughout time. It was on top of a massive hill (which we had spent the day slowly getting up) and so had an amazing view. There were all seperate temples within the temple for the different gods of sea, wind, sun, etc. The Balinese actually believe in only one god - but these were all different manifestations of that same god. The main temple had eleven rooves, all symbolising something, but I can't remember what! Though despite my lack of memory, I found it very interesting to learn about Hinduism, because, as I then realised, I know hardly anything! The temple was beautiful and there was such a sense of peace about it that it made Hinduism a very endearing religion, and the Balinese lifestye seem very ideallic.
At this point, before I forget, I have to mention the offerings that are all over the floor in the whole of Bali, just randomly in the street and everywhere! They were little palm leaf baskets filled with rice, flowers and incense. They were placed on the floor to appease the evil spirits, and up high for the good spirits. Everyone in Bali put them out, even in the hotels and bars.
On our walk back to Sideman we stopped by a river for lunch. We went swimming and was told it was fine for us to do so in our bikinis, but soon noticed a LOT of people standing on a bridge above us, staring. I wasn't sure if they were staring because we were strange foreigners, or if it was because we were in bikinis. It was so hot though and the river was so nice and cool that to be honest I couldn't care less. And after the refreshing swim we had an amazing packed lunch that the drivers wife had cooked us and wrapped up individually in banana leaves. It was such delicious food! Curry flavoured noodles AND rice, turmeric tofu, tempe, and amazing sweetcorn fritters. It was so lovely of his wife to do this for us, though I'm sure she probably gets paid for it.
About half way there we stopped at a Monkey Forest temple. This was, as is probably quite obvious, a temple, in a forest, with loads of monkeys. This was the first temple I went in in Bali, and the first thing we learnt was, of course, the rules. We had to wear a sarong and a sash - to seperate the evil bottom half of our body from the good top half. Also no women on their periods were allowed in, but they were pretty trusting with this one.
So about the monkeys - there were HUNDREDS, everywhere. They were very cheeky, and we had been emphatically warned about them trying to steal things, but we weren't prepared for them to jump on our heads! As I sat down at one point a monkey came and sat on my lap. He was quite a friendly monkey though, so I fed him a banana. He was very, very cute. Some people didn't find them so cute (so I don't really know what they were doing there in the first place). One Indonesian man had a monkey jump on him and was so terrified he was running around screaming. The look on his face was just hilarious.
There was one monkey inhaling a can of lighter gas....
Our next stop on the way to Sideman was at a sweat shop. I never realised how much work goes in to weaving just a sarong and how complicated it is! It is actually really clever - they dye the thread, which is all stretched out over a wooden frame, by dotting different colours in seemingly random places, by hand. Then the thread is woven on some big crazy machine, worked by a peddle, that makes a loud clacking sound and then the dyed thread mysteriously ends up in a predesigned pattern! Crazy. This particular place had won government awards for its designs.
The women seemed to be working in very good conditions, they were all very chatty and smiley, though it must be a very monotonous job. I was happy to notice they were all of working age. However, you have to bear in mind that this was a sweat shop open to tourists, so it would obviously want to create a good impression and may not reflect the usual working conditions in other places.
The hotel we stayed in, in Sideman was set in the most stunning location. It consisted of bungalows owned by foreigners (though not in full as that is illegal) as holiday homes. When they are not in use the hotel lets them out to visitors. We had an excellent one, with a gorgeous view of rice fields, jungle, and a big volcano - Mt. Agung - in the background. It was very cute, like a little mini house. Our bathroom was outside with a tall wall attaching it to the house. It was a shower, toilet and fishpond rolled into one!
The next day we walked through the rice paddies and vegetable fields - they do a crop rotation of them all every so often. It was all quite clever and the irrigation system for the rice was pretty impressive! Though maybe I'm very easily impressed by these things, being very much a city girl. All the farmers would stop to say hello, with the biggest smile on their faces. The little kids in the streets would run up and follow us shouting "hello!" and grinning when we shouted it back. A couple of children even ran up and asked me to take a photo of them. So I did and showed them, they were enthralled by it! It was quite good really, our guide asked us to print off any photos we took of the locals and send them to her so she can give them to them. This is especially good for the children, as their parents would otherwise have no pictures of them growing up, so it is much appreciated. Everyone was so friendly and excited that we were visiting their community. We had a local guide for the walk as well. He was very sweet, if a little shy about speaking in English. We learnt that today was his first wedding anniversary with his wife, who was pregnant, and waiting at home for him to have a celebratory lunch.
As we were walking up a very steep slope through the forest (or rather stopped to rest on our way up the slope) I noticed a rather interesting looking mosquito, with black and white stripes, so I thought I would point it out to everyone. "Oh yes," our guide happily said, "they're the ones that carry dengue fever." Ah dear. DEET time.
When we got the the top of this massive slope we stopped for drinks at a small stall and one of our group bought some cigarette papers. They were crazy - thicker than writing paper, sugar coated, and with no sticky bit, so you had to hold them together while you smoked the cigarette.
Then we went to another temple. Inside, there were lots of women making rice cakes for an upcoming festival. They were all very happy to have us visiting them and to show us what they were doing, even though they didn't speak any English. I wanted to take a photo, but I felt too rude to ask, as traditionally it is considered to be stealing part of one's soul.
The temple was from the 16th century, but the buildings and statues had been replaced and renovated throughout time. It was on top of a massive hill (which we had spent the day slowly getting up) and so had an amazing view. There were all seperate temples within the temple for the different gods of sea, wind, sun, etc. The Balinese actually believe in only one god - but these were all different manifestations of that same god. The main temple had eleven rooves, all symbolising something, but I can't remember what! Though despite my lack of memory, I found it very interesting to learn about Hinduism, because, as I then realised, I know hardly anything! The temple was beautiful and there was such a sense of peace about it that it made Hinduism a very endearing religion, and the Balinese lifestye seem very ideallic.
At this point, before I forget, I have to mention the offerings that are all over the floor in the whole of Bali, just randomly in the street and everywhere! They were little palm leaf baskets filled with rice, flowers and incense. They were placed on the floor to appease the evil spirits, and up high for the good spirits. Everyone in Bali put them out, even in the hotels and bars.
On our walk back to Sideman we stopped by a river for lunch. We went swimming and was told it was fine for us to do so in our bikinis, but soon noticed a LOT of people standing on a bridge above us, staring. I wasn't sure if they were staring because we were strange foreigners, or if it was because we were in bikinis. It was so hot though and the river was so nice and cool that to be honest I couldn't care less. And after the refreshing swim we had an amazing packed lunch that the drivers wife had cooked us and wrapped up individually in banana leaves. It was such delicious food! Curry flavoured noodles AND rice, turmeric tofu, tempe, and amazing sweetcorn fritters. It was so lovely of his wife to do this for us, though I'm sure she probably gets paid for it.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Ubud
So I left Sanur for Ubud to begin my trip around the island, and even the taxi journey up there was more fascinating than Sanur. The major thing that stood out to me was the election campaign posters lining the roads. They were just like the ones in HK, except there were about 50 different candidates. My favourite was a guy in an army-style, roofless jeep, grinning, with his arms up in the air as if to say "Whatever". My second favourite was a guy with a yellow mohawk. I have to point out this was for the Indonesian general election!
Ubud itself is lovely. Much more upmarket and chilled out than Sanur, where there is so much hassle that I felt uncomfortable going out in the street, making it a chore to leave the hotel. The place I was staying in here was set in tranquil, tropical gardens, where you feel totally alone. It creates the impression that you are in your own, giant Balinese palace. If you take the time to sit and look around you, you begin to notice the intricate stone carvings of nonsensical animals. It was the calmest view imaginable, yet it was a jungle of sound - hundreds of insects chirping away, the hidden gardener chopping at the hedges, a girl singing nearby, a cockrel crowing(!), some kids making tarzan noises, people manually building something, laughter..... It was nice to just sit for a while and listen.
Later in the day I met with the group that I was due to go on my trip with, there were only six of us in total. Two of the people were American diplomats - there lives sounded fascinating. They work as politcal officers to improve human rights and have been stationed in countries such as Afhganistan, Bangladesh, Thailand.... from everything they were telling me it sounding exactly like my perfect job! Maybe a possible result of my intended International Relations/Peace Studies masters in Japan...?
Another person on the trip was Chloe, a girl the same age as me who I shared a room with. She had just been travelling in Australia as well, and turns out we both knew some of the same people in Byron Bay! Such a small world! Also, she happens to be in Bangkok on the same dates as me, so we are meeting up again there.
That night we all went to a night market. It was kind of funny - the drive there was the first sense I really had of being in Asia, it felt like I had come home. The market itself was a bit like a Hong Kong market, except no where near as packed and so much more chilled out. It was all locals apart from us. Here was the first place I realised my love of Asian food - I had an excellent meal of these veggie tempura type things. No idea what was in them other than that the were vegetarian, but they were delicious! And all for about 30 US cents. The market's speciality was suckling pig.
The next day we walked through the nearby countryside, surrounded by rice fields. It was so beautiful, like a picturebook. A kind of bizarre thing was though, that the small path was dotted with art galleries, but there were no tourists to buy the art. Perhaps the send it to Ubud to be sold.
At the beginning of the walk we saw a traditional (rich person) Balinese house. Each room in the house had a different function and needed to be facing a different direction according to its function; but the great thing was that every room could also be used for sleeping. The house was beautiful, with such detailed carving everywhere in wood and gold. The most striking feature, I thought, was the two statues of what appeared to the Western eye to be demons guarding the door from evil. There was also a pet dog that sang.
Througout the day our local guide would tell us all the relevent traditions of Hinduism to what we were seeing. There are several major ceremonies throughout life, one being tooth filing, and they all seem quite focused on purity. We were appropriately standing under a great Banyan tree while the guide was giving is longest talk on the ceremonies - this tree is holy to Hindus - and the guide, who was lovely, made what at the time was a rather amusing joke (though I think it was more amusing for him to be telling it as he couldn't speak much English, so it was rather sweet, whereas if i told it, it would have been quite cheesy). The joke was that in Hinduism they have a holy tree - the Banyan tree, in America they have a Holy-wood. The guide also, much to my entertainment, frenquently used the phrase: "Take a chill pill, man."
One thing I started to learn in Ubud - all chips in Bali are so tasty!!!
So after that tasty chip lunch, we went shopping in the market. They were shouting out that though shoes were 1000IDR...thats 10 US cents... which of course was incredibly cheap and worth getting some. However when I actually went to buy a pair, they changed their price to 100,000, so it was just a trick to reel people in. However I did get a good bargain on a pair of light trousers which I needed for more conservative areas, but the woman didn't seem to happy about selling them for such a low price, so I felt a bit bad afterwards! Thinking about it now though, I reckon it was all an act.
I should really talk about the people in Ubud, as they were absolutely lovely. I ended up spending a while talking to the hotel staff, and just random people on street corners! They were all really curious about us, loving to ask questions about where we were from, what we did for a living, our family. They were so sweet and unlike other places where you never really talk to hotel staff, these guys would just come and socialise with you.
In the evening we went to see a traditional dance, which was in three parts. The first dance had a dramatic chorus of about 60 men, chanting noises throughout, such as a very fast "tukka tukka tukka" and something sounding a bit like "ketchup". At first it was a bit confusing as the two main, male characters were played by girls, but we soon figured this out! The costumes were a show in themselves. They were so extravagent with lots of gold - very beautiful. The bad guys were all played by older men in masks. It was a typical story of a princess being kidnapped and her rescue - all very lively and dramatic.
The second dance was done by two very long girls in a trance, dancing with their eyes closed. Every so often they would collapse and have to be picked up by the nearest female background-chanters. They were perfectly in time with each other, but apparently they aren't taught the dance at all - the spirit of the goddess goes within them and dances using their bodies. At the end a priest revives them using incense and holy water.
The final dance was somewhat disturbing! It started with a big fire being made out of coconut shells and the all traditional petrol! Then a guy came along riding a toy horse and ran straight through the middle of the fire! He carried on like this for about fifteen minutes, kicking the fire about and running across the burning coals barefoot! All the time he is in a trance with his eyes closed. With the little girls I didn't believe the trance, however this was so....incredible I'm not so sure anymore. He was in a total frenzy. In the end two people had to catch him and hold him down while the priest revived him in the same manner as the little girls. That was the end of the show....but I noticed the guy who had been running through the fire just sat in the same place where he had been revived, not moving and looking like he was going to be sick for about half an hour afterwards. He was really not in a good state at all, it was quite worrying!
After that intense start of the evening we headed to a local Balinese lady's house for dinner - a friend of our group leader. She had cooked a big buffet for us and it was delicious! There was lots of coconut involved. I was very pleasantly surprised, the fussy eater that I am, that on trying everything vegetarian I loved it all and ate until I couldn't move!
Ubud itself is lovely. Much more upmarket and chilled out than Sanur, where there is so much hassle that I felt uncomfortable going out in the street, making it a chore to leave the hotel. The place I was staying in here was set in tranquil, tropical gardens, where you feel totally alone. It creates the impression that you are in your own, giant Balinese palace. If you take the time to sit and look around you, you begin to notice the intricate stone carvings of nonsensical animals. It was the calmest view imaginable, yet it was a jungle of sound - hundreds of insects chirping away, the hidden gardener chopping at the hedges, a girl singing nearby, a cockrel crowing(!), some kids making tarzan noises, people manually building something, laughter..... It was nice to just sit for a while and listen.
Later in the day I met with the group that I was due to go on my trip with, there were only six of us in total. Two of the people were American diplomats - there lives sounded fascinating. They work as politcal officers to improve human rights and have been stationed in countries such as Afhganistan, Bangladesh, Thailand.... from everything they were telling me it sounding exactly like my perfect job! Maybe a possible result of my intended International Relations/Peace Studies masters in Japan...?
Another person on the trip was Chloe, a girl the same age as me who I shared a room with. She had just been travelling in Australia as well, and turns out we both knew some of the same people in Byron Bay! Such a small world! Also, she happens to be in Bangkok on the same dates as me, so we are meeting up again there.
That night we all went to a night market. It was kind of funny - the drive there was the first sense I really had of being in Asia, it felt like I had come home. The market itself was a bit like a Hong Kong market, except no where near as packed and so much more chilled out. It was all locals apart from us. Here was the first place I realised my love of Asian food - I had an excellent meal of these veggie tempura type things. No idea what was in them other than that the were vegetarian, but they were delicious! And all for about 30 US cents. The market's speciality was suckling pig.
The next day we walked through the nearby countryside, surrounded by rice fields. It was so beautiful, like a picturebook. A kind of bizarre thing was though, that the small path was dotted with art galleries, but there were no tourists to buy the art. Perhaps the send it to Ubud to be sold.
At the beginning of the walk we saw a traditional (rich person) Balinese house. Each room in the house had a different function and needed to be facing a different direction according to its function; but the great thing was that every room could also be used for sleeping. The house was beautiful, with such detailed carving everywhere in wood and gold. The most striking feature, I thought, was the two statues of what appeared to the Western eye to be demons guarding the door from evil. There was also a pet dog that sang.
Througout the day our local guide would tell us all the relevent traditions of Hinduism to what we were seeing. There are several major ceremonies throughout life, one being tooth filing, and they all seem quite focused on purity. We were appropriately standing under a great Banyan tree while the guide was giving is longest talk on the ceremonies - this tree is holy to Hindus - and the guide, who was lovely, made what at the time was a rather amusing joke (though I think it was more amusing for him to be telling it as he couldn't speak much English, so it was rather sweet, whereas if i told it, it would have been quite cheesy). The joke was that in Hinduism they have a holy tree - the Banyan tree, in America they have a Holy-wood. The guide also, much to my entertainment, frenquently used the phrase: "Take a chill pill, man."
One thing I started to learn in Ubud - all chips in Bali are so tasty!!!
So after that tasty chip lunch, we went shopping in the market. They were shouting out that though shoes were 1000IDR...thats 10 US cents... which of course was incredibly cheap and worth getting some. However when I actually went to buy a pair, they changed their price to 100,000, so it was just a trick to reel people in. However I did get a good bargain on a pair of light trousers which I needed for more conservative areas, but the woman didn't seem to happy about selling them for such a low price, so I felt a bit bad afterwards! Thinking about it now though, I reckon it was all an act.
I should really talk about the people in Ubud, as they were absolutely lovely. I ended up spending a while talking to the hotel staff, and just random people on street corners! They were all really curious about us, loving to ask questions about where we were from, what we did for a living, our family. They were so sweet and unlike other places where you never really talk to hotel staff, these guys would just come and socialise with you.
In the evening we went to see a traditional dance, which was in three parts. The first dance had a dramatic chorus of about 60 men, chanting noises throughout, such as a very fast "tukka tukka tukka" and something sounding a bit like "ketchup". At first it was a bit confusing as the two main, male characters were played by girls, but we soon figured this out! The costumes were a show in themselves. They were so extravagent with lots of gold - very beautiful. The bad guys were all played by older men in masks. It was a typical story of a princess being kidnapped and her rescue - all very lively and dramatic.
The second dance was done by two very long girls in a trance, dancing with their eyes closed. Every so often they would collapse and have to be picked up by the nearest female background-chanters. They were perfectly in time with each other, but apparently they aren't taught the dance at all - the spirit of the goddess goes within them and dances using their bodies. At the end a priest revives them using incense and holy water.
The final dance was somewhat disturbing! It started with a big fire being made out of coconut shells and the all traditional petrol! Then a guy came along riding a toy horse and ran straight through the middle of the fire! He carried on like this for about fifteen minutes, kicking the fire about and running across the burning coals barefoot! All the time he is in a trance with his eyes closed. With the little girls I didn't believe the trance, however this was so....incredible I'm not so sure anymore. He was in a total frenzy. In the end two people had to catch him and hold him down while the priest revived him in the same manner as the little girls. That was the end of the show....but I noticed the guy who had been running through the fire just sat in the same place where he had been revived, not moving and looking like he was going to be sick for about half an hour afterwards. He was really not in a good state at all, it was quite worrying!
After that intense start of the evening we headed to a local Balinese lady's house for dinner - a friend of our group leader. She had cooked a big buffet for us and it was delicious! There was lots of coconut involved. I was very pleasantly surprised, the fussy eater that I am, that on trying everything vegetarian I loved it all and ate until I couldn't move!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Arrival in Bali....
Sanur: I'm sitting on my "large balcony designed for luxury living" in my Bali hotel room, overlooking the pagoda roofing, tropical gardens and lagoon-like pool. The smell of incense drifts through the air and the only thing I hear is the traditional Balinese gamelan music playing somewhere in the distance - it seems to belong with the view, as though it was the music of nature. Occasionally the peace is broken when a bat flutters around me, but this too belongs perfectly.
My first day in Bali went as follows (repeated about every two metres down the street):
Local guy: Hello, how are you?
Me: I'm good thankyou.
Local: Where are you from?
Me: Hong Kong. (Just to be confusing.)
Local: But you don't look like you're from Hong Kong?
Me: No, my family are English.
Local: Ohhh. There are many English in Hong Kong?
Me: Yes, lots.
Local: Can I know your name?
Me: Yes, it's An-nie.
Local: Honey?
Me: No, An-nie.
Local: An-nie.
Me: And your name?
Local: I am so-and-so.
Me: So-and-so?
Local: Yes, so-and-so. How old are you Annie?
Me: I am twenty-two.
Local: Twenty-three?
Me: No, no, twenty-two.
Local: Twenty-two, ohhh, I am twenty-six. Do you have a boyfriend Annie?
Me: (lying) Yes, I do.
Local: How many boyfriends?
Me: Just the one!
Local: Would you like another one.
Me: No, I'm fine with the one I've got, thankyou.
Local: Where is your boyfriend?
Me: He is back at the hotel.
Local: You don't want a Balinese boyfriend as well?
Me: I don't think my boyfriend would be too happen with that....
Local: Oh, what are you doing tomorrow?
Me: I'm not sure yet.
Local: Would you like to come with me tomorrow? I have a taxi. For you it is free.
Me: No I'm sorry, thankyou.
Local: We could go on a trip? The volcano? Ubud? Kuta?
Me: I'm sorry, I can't.
Local: Maybe you like to go swimming, we could go swimming?
Me: No, I'm sorry.
Local: Oh ok. You are very beautiful. I like you Annie.
Me: Oh, thankyou.
Local: Where are you going now?
Me: Back to my hotel.
Local: Oh ok, maybe I can see you again sometime.
Me: Maybe....
Local: Ok, goodbye Annie, you are very beautiful!
Me: Thankyou! Goodbye!
I have to point out this was done with beaming smiles and in a most friendly nature. It was not at all agressive or sleazy.
My first day in Bali went as follows (repeated about every two metres down the street):
Local guy: Hello, how are you?
Me: I'm good thankyou.
Local: Where are you from?
Me: Hong Kong. (Just to be confusing.)
Local: But you don't look like you're from Hong Kong?
Me: No, my family are English.
Local: Ohhh. There are many English in Hong Kong?
Me: Yes, lots.
Local: Can I know your name?
Me: Yes, it's An-nie.
Local: Honey?
Me: No, An-nie.
Local: An-nie.
Me: And your name?
Local: I am so-and-so.
Me: So-and-so?
Local: Yes, so-and-so. How old are you Annie?
Me: I am twenty-two.
Local: Twenty-three?
Me: No, no, twenty-two.
Local: Twenty-two, ohhh, I am twenty-six. Do you have a boyfriend Annie?
Me: (lying) Yes, I do.
Local: How many boyfriends?
Me: Just the one!
Local: Would you like another one.
Me: No, I'm fine with the one I've got, thankyou.
Local: Where is your boyfriend?
Me: He is back at the hotel.
Local: You don't want a Balinese boyfriend as well?
Me: I don't think my boyfriend would be too happen with that....
Local: Oh, what are you doing tomorrow?
Me: I'm not sure yet.
Local: Would you like to come with me tomorrow? I have a taxi. For you it is free.
Me: No I'm sorry, thankyou.
Local: We could go on a trip? The volcano? Ubud? Kuta?
Me: I'm sorry, I can't.
Local: Maybe you like to go swimming, we could go swimming?
Me: No, I'm sorry.
Local: Oh ok. You are very beautiful. I like you Annie.
Me: Oh, thankyou.
Local: Where are you going now?
Me: Back to my hotel.
Local: Oh ok, maybe I can see you again sometime.
Me: Maybe....
Local: Ok, goodbye Annie, you are very beautiful!
Me: Thankyou! Goodbye!
I have to point out this was done with beaming smiles and in a most friendly nature. It was not at all agressive or sleazy.
A bit of a disaster....
It started with those useless cookers in the hostel. A place could get shut down for them, just for the safety of normal people, so god help all the poor idiots like me with no coordination, severe difficulties with perception and no damn common sense. Of course I ended up burning myself. It was inevitable. And it hurt. Really hurt. So much that after the initial thirty seconds of shock, I broke out into a sweat, an intense heat overcame me and my vision became that of a barely-able-to-stand drunk. I managed to stagger to the toilet before completely blacking out, collapsed into a heap on the floor and poured the contents of my stomach into the toilet bowl. THAT is how much it hurt.
And that was a sign of things to come. Despite the fact that it lost me the use of one hand and caused a ridiculous (and literally sickening) amount of pain, this was not my really problem of the day. My bank balance was. Five pounds. Five measly pounds. Not even enough to get out the cash point! Certainly not enough to pay for my visa into Indonesia (which I needed that day) or my hotel.
So there I was, sitting at the airport in Darwin, thoroughly expecting to be deported from Bali before I'd even made it out the airport. It was really quite typical of me to be in this situation, and a serious flaw that I need to work on. On this occasion however, it happened that money does grow on trees after all....
However, I still showed all signs that things were dire, when after eating the airplane meal I found myself contently thinking: "Wow, that was delicious! Best food I've eaten in ages!" and scraping up every last crumb.
And that was a sign of things to come. Despite the fact that it lost me the use of one hand and caused a ridiculous (and literally sickening) amount of pain, this was not my really problem of the day. My bank balance was. Five pounds. Five measly pounds. Not even enough to get out the cash point! Certainly not enough to pay for my visa into Indonesia (which I needed that day) or my hotel.
So there I was, sitting at the airport in Darwin, thoroughly expecting to be deported from Bali before I'd even made it out the airport. It was really quite typical of me to be in this situation, and a serious flaw that I need to work on. On this occasion however, it happened that money does grow on trees after all....
However, I still showed all signs that things were dire, when after eating the airplane meal I found myself contently thinking: "Wow, that was delicious! Best food I've eaten in ages!" and scraping up every last crumb.
Darwin wasn't too bad afterall....
I mentioned the writers that I was staying in my Darwin room with. Well they had a group of writer friends, all stayingin our hostel, all awesome people. So we sat around the whole time, sipping drink and discussing modern literature. Soon enough, the conversation turned to one man, of whom I am the biggest fan - and turns out so were they! - the late journalist, Hunter S Thompson. These guys were great. Any Thompson fans are automatically great, but these guys were a great laugh as well. I suppose it takes a certain type of person to be a Thompson fan, but they seemed to really share my life values and....and well we just really clicked. These were my kind of people. One of them even reminded me of Thompson - maybe it was the clothes that did it: his aviator sunglasses teemed with a proper collered shirt and shorts. Or maybe he did have that essense that only a super cool, permanently intoxicated, eccentric journalist could have. Anywyas these people really seemed to inspire me, as I haven't stopped writing since. Also, I quite took a liking to one of them.
We all had a very crazy night out - involving lots of goon, 3am swimming pool antics, pants landing on security guards faces....and far more hilarious events, but as much as I'm itching to write about it all, I don't feel the world is quiet ready to hear about it! It sure showed me that Darwin can give you a damn good time though, despite my initial dislike of the place!
We all had a very crazy night out - involving lots of goon, 3am swimming pool antics, pants landing on security guards faces....and far more hilarious events, but as much as I'm itching to write about it all, I don't feel the world is quiet ready to hear about it! It sure showed me that Darwin can give you a damn good time though, despite my initial dislike of the place!
Thought on leaving home....
I'd been put in a room in Darwin with two writers - both very nice people. For the girl, this is the first tmie she has left her home town of Perth for any significant period of time, and she had written a piece on how it made her feel. This made me think about what it meant to me - sending myself off, alone, into the unknown world - and realised that my feelings must be very different to hers.
I don't really feel like I'm out of my comfort zone. Every bed feels like my own bed. I feel at home everywhere I go. In fact, I feel like I'm more at home and more in my comfort zone leading the life of a nomad. This kind of life truly is where I belong.
I don't really feel like I'm out of my comfort zone. Every bed feels like my own bed. I feel at home everywhere I go. In fact, I feel like I'm more at home and more in my comfort zone leading the life of a nomad. This kind of life truly is where I belong.
First Impressions of Darwin
Now don't get me wrong - I'm all for debauchery, but at first I thought Darwin was HORRIBLE. I wrote my thoughts stated here when I had just got back to my room after sitting on the pavement for an hour because some dumbass set the fire alarm off by smoking in their room. That time I spent on the pavement really created a strong first image of the town.
The first thing I noticed about Darwin was the difference in the type of backpacker. Where before it had always been more female, all my age, and very chatty, now it was predominantly male, thirties - think builder tan, the kind of tattoos you would expect to find on a sailor, tank tops, and a general look of someone you do not want to mess with - this was the main kind of inhabitant of Darwin, so it seemed. Most people appeared to be workers and stuck to their already formed friendship groups.
So I decided to have a look around town to see if Darwin had anything better to offer. It didn't, to put it simply. It was however the first time an Aborigine person spoke to me, previously they have remained very secluded. He was very friendly, and I felt kinda bad that I didn't have the cigarette he asked for.
Back to the hostel and Darwin's scummyness: As I was cooking dinner, I soon learnt that the nobs for the hobs weren't working - it was a case of some being permanently on and some being permanently off! Fair enough, as long as I could still get my dinner cooked I didn't care too much at that point, but it did cross my mind that places get shut down for less fire hazards!
Shortly after this, though thankfully after I'd finished my dinner (otherwise I would have been going no where!) the fire alarm goes off. So everyone leaves the building in what must have been the most lethargic evacuation of all time and the fire brigade comes. I overheard some of the more permanent residents complain about how this happens every night. From observing some of the people in the street however I learnt that three more days here was probably three more days too much (so I thought at the time). It was half nine in the evening, some people that had miraculously made it out the hostel were passed out on the pavement, some lying in the road even, with the traffic being diverted round them! Others were falling about all over the place and trying to drag the unconscious bodies down the street. As I said earlier, I'm all for debauchery, but overhearing people's conversations pushed me into the understanding of the place: "When I was last arrested....", "Oh yeah, this guy who the police tasered the other night....", "When I was charged with assault the other week....", "Who are those guys on the other side of the road? Do you think they want to fight?...."
First impressions of Darwin: This was a city of nothing to do, nothing to see, and full of annoying, scummy people. A bit of a dump, to say the least..... I ended up having a hell of a lot of fun in the end!
The first thing I noticed about Darwin was the difference in the type of backpacker. Where before it had always been more female, all my age, and very chatty, now it was predominantly male, thirties - think builder tan, the kind of tattoos you would expect to find on a sailor, tank tops, and a general look of someone you do not want to mess with - this was the main kind of inhabitant of Darwin, so it seemed. Most people appeared to be workers and stuck to their already formed friendship groups.
So I decided to have a look around town to see if Darwin had anything better to offer. It didn't, to put it simply. It was however the first time an Aborigine person spoke to me, previously they have remained very secluded. He was very friendly, and I felt kinda bad that I didn't have the cigarette he asked for.
Back to the hostel and Darwin's scummyness: As I was cooking dinner, I soon learnt that the nobs for the hobs weren't working - it was a case of some being permanently on and some being permanently off! Fair enough, as long as I could still get my dinner cooked I didn't care too much at that point, but it did cross my mind that places get shut down for less fire hazards!
Shortly after this, though thankfully after I'd finished my dinner (otherwise I would have been going no where!) the fire alarm goes off. So everyone leaves the building in what must have been the most lethargic evacuation of all time and the fire brigade comes. I overheard some of the more permanent residents complain about how this happens every night. From observing some of the people in the street however I learnt that three more days here was probably three more days too much (so I thought at the time). It was half nine in the evening, some people that had miraculously made it out the hostel were passed out on the pavement, some lying in the road even, with the traffic being diverted round them! Others were falling about all over the place and trying to drag the unconscious bodies down the street. As I said earlier, I'm all for debauchery, but overhearing people's conversations pushed me into the understanding of the place: "When I was last arrested....", "Oh yeah, this guy who the police tasered the other night....", "When I was charged with assault the other week....", "Who are those guys on the other side of the road? Do you think they want to fight?...."
First impressions of Darwin: This was a city of nothing to do, nothing to see, and full of annoying, scummy people. A bit of a dump, to say the least..... I ended up having a hell of a lot of fun in the end!
Music in Australia
1) Circular Quay, Sydney - Aborigine, complete with warpaint, playing a digeridoo to a trance beat background
2) Red Hot Chilli Pepper obsession, followed by Silverchair who seemingly still exist!
3) On the Nimbin tour Douggie played the most memorable song from the Sacrid Spirits - Canadian Red Indian soundtrack that my family seem obsessed with in Canada
4) Travelling Wilburies - End of the Line came on the radio on the Eungella rainforest tour - my first ever favourite song
5) Steady as she Goes!
2) Red Hot Chilli Pepper obsession, followed by Silverchair who seemingly still exist!
3) On the Nimbin tour Douggie played the most memorable song from the Sacrid Spirits - Canadian Red Indian soundtrack that my family seem obsessed with in Canada
4) Travelling Wilburies - End of the Line came on the radio on the Eungella rainforest tour - my first ever favourite song
5) Steady as she Goes!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Outback!
From Cairns I flew to Alice Springs and what a different world! The two places are possibly as opposite as you can get. Cairns is tropical, Alice Springs is desert. Cairns is an impersonal city, Alice Springs is very small-town.
I was staying in a hostel called Annie's Place - chosen of course because it shared its name with me. As I came through security at the airport there was a desk for the hostels, and when I told the staff from Annie's Place that my name was Annie, they were incredibly excited. I have to talk a little bit about this hostel before I go on to my outback trip, as apart from the Arts Factory in Byron Bay, this was the best place I have stayed so far. The rooms were spacious, the people were super friendly - everyone says hello or chats to you if you are in the same place for more than a few seconds! There is a nice pool, and every night by the pool, a film is projected onto a large screen so everyone from the hostel sits round the pool and watches a movie under the stars. The bar is good, the food is cheap, the reception is extremely helpful.
When I first arrived at Annie's place, I was told they had to cancel the outback tour that I was booked on, as there wasn't enough people. So I was upgraded to another tour. To begin with I was a bit disappointed. The tour I had booked was real rough bush living, whereas the new one was "luxury camping". I have no objection to luxury, just for the record, but I thought that the other tour would be more of an experience. Also, I knew that the new tour would have more old people and less partying - and I was right, but it also had less drama and more interesting things to learn about the outback. After finishing the trip, I don't think that I lost out on any experience - we still cooked our dinner on a bonfire, drove off road, ran away from scary bugs, and all that jazz! Only this way I slept well at night and had a decent shower in the mornings!
The tour guide was excellent, he was like a walking encyclopedia on the area. We learnt about the Aboriginal traditions of the area, the explorers who *tried* to conquer the area, all the local nature and wildlife, the current social situation, the geology....everything! Funny thing about the guide though, is that I soon found out he was a Hong Kong Permanent Resident! Now if this wasn't funny enough (no one you meet travelling is from Hong Kong!), when I asked about what he was doing in HK, I soon found out he had been the manager of Club 97! This wasn't one of my most frequented places, but I certainly had been there a good few times! What a small world!
So anyways,as we know the Aboriginal people were here in Australia long before the British, but they were not indigenous to Australia. However, no one is quite sure how they got here. Back a very long time ago (don't ask me when, as I have a terrible tendency not to listen) the channel of sea between the top of Australia and the bottom of Papua New Guinea was so narrow that you could see across it when standing on top of the mountains in P N G - that they came across here is one theory. Another, is that certain peoples from Africa mastered lengthy sea travel, thousands (and thousands) of years before anyone else, then totally abandoned the knowledge.
Well somehow they got there, and then maintained the same ancient lifestyle, until the whiteman came along. A lifestyle consisting of the men hunting and protecting, and the women gathering foods and looking after children. Their laws were based around the will of the spirits and ancient legends of the land. Then we came along and ruined everything. We (and I say "we" unfortunately as a white person) introduced alcohol. Europeans had been getting used to this poison for as far as history remembers, and our bodies contain enzymes specially to digest it. Aborigines hadn't had the chance to adapt in this way and so, lacking this all important enzyme, did not take well to alcohol. It made them violent and incapable. They soon became alcoholics and their old way of life was destroyed.
Nowadays we appear to have two "types" of Aborigine. The bush Aborigine - untouched by alcohol, protected by national parks and still living in a mostly traditional way - though these are few. The city Aborigines are the ones we come into contact with, and sadly the ones who give white Australians their opinions of the race. Every white Australian I have met, as open minded as they have seemed, as soon as the topic of Aborigines comes up - speaks of them like animals. This really surprised me. So the stereotypical city Aborigine that has gained this reputation is the alcoholic, living off dole money, lying around in parks and sending the violent crime statistics soaring. It is a very sad state of affairs, and it is, in fact, all our fault.
The first place we stopped on our trip was a camel farm. Australia now has plague amounts of camels, so many that it even exports them to Saudi Arabia, because apparently the camels in Australia are better than in their original country. In the first place they came over from Afghanistan as labour animals, much better at coping in the arid climate than say horses. When the railways they were building were finished, they were released into the wild.
At this camel farm there was also a pet dingo, as tame and friendly as any household pet dog. So I sat and stroked him for a while.... and fed him a few sneaky crisps.
Next stop was a cattle station/gas station/cafe/art gallery. These places are dotted about all over the outback, with comforting signs outside saying "Last stop for infinite kilometres". So you don't really have a choice but to stop at them. They create a sense of being a very small dot in a boundless wilderness. And wilderness it was indeed. All you could see, as far as the horizon, was yellow sand, or perhaps sometimes red sand, with the odd dried up shrub meagerly poking its head up every so often. Oh and of course the flies. The damn pesky flies. Within 30 seconds of stepping outdoors you have at least 50 swarming round your face, desperately trying to get in your mouth, up your nose, in your ears, on your eyeballs.... to suck at all your juicy moisture. And they are unrelentless, no matter how many times you bat them out the way, they will be back for more instantly. Luckily we had fly nets to prevent them penetrating our many facial holes, but they were still as annoying as hell.
To add to our sense of isolation we were told about all the explorers who tried to conquer this land, failed, wondered round for months lost and after draining their supplies, died, bodies never to be found. Hopefully this would not be us.
In the afternoon we came to a gorge amidst lots of big, giant, red rocks. It really was like nothing I had ever seen before. These rocks resembled giant heads sticking out of the sand, and the story goes that these heads were the spirits of warriors who were captured after a war between two tribes. Once prisoners, they were forced to dig great holes in the sand, then made to stand in the holes, where they were buried, with just their heads left poking out for the likes of dingos and crazy insects to have their way with. On this delightful tale we walked through the gorge, took lots of pictures, then headed to a sunset viewing point of Ayers Rock, where we would scoff our way through numerous packets of crackers and refresh our hard days work with some wine.
Now Ayers Rock, or Uluru, is a bit of a wonder really. It's this enormous red blob of rock in the middle of absolutely nothing. No mountain range or anything, it just stands there, on its own, in the middle of the desert. Pretty bizarre. Apparently it is just the same as the surrounding land, but denser; so where the rest of the land has been eroded by weather, this great blob remains. Also, it was once 90 degrees the other way up, but fell over one day to the position we now know it to be in AND something like 80% of it is underground....like an iceberg....
The following morning we got up at stupid-o-clock in the morning for a sunset walk around the rock. A walk which is possibly, I think, the most beautiful few hours of my life - the many changing colours of the rock as the sun slowly rose, the silhouettes of the scattered trees, the sky of a million colours and clouds glowing in the newly born sun. Then of course the sunrise itself. It was then I realised that I had in fact never seen a sunrise before in my life. It was pretty spectacular. I was amazed how after about an hour of the sky slowly changing colour, the movement of the sun over the horizon happened in seconds. So fast you could see it moving through the sky. Needless to say, I took a lot of photos.
After this we met up with our guide again,who took us to the most sacred spots of Uluru to learn its legends. The main story concerns a certain snake named Kuinya, who journeyed to Uluru to lay her eggs. At the time, a tribe of another type of snake was living in the area, a tribe with whom Kuinya's nephew happened to be in trouble. One day, the nephew was cornered by the warriors of this tribe and killed. Kuinya came as soon as she heard - her path can still be seen today in great black snake trails across the rock. Alas she was too late! Her nephew was dead, and only one enemy warrior remained to mock her. Crying, she asked why had he killed her nephew, but the warrior just laughed at her. So she picked up some sand from the ground and, chanting a curse, threw it at the warriors feet. Now all the trees on the ground where the warrior stood are poisoned, and still now the Aboriginal people will not eat from them. But still the warrior laughed, so she hit him over the head with her stick - this can be seen as a great crack in the rock, with a blood stain trickling out. Still the warrior mocked her, so she it him one more fatal time, revenging her nephew - this strike can be seen by an even larger crack in the rock.
This story I have just told is merely the children's version, to hear the full version of all the legends we must first be initiated into the tribe - a process involving withstanding great amounts of pain, and which frankly just isn't going to happen.
We then went to the area's main waterhole (which was somewhat lacking in water) and to see Aboriginal cave drawings.
By this time we were pretty exhausted and had miserably given in to the flies, so were pretty glad of the four hour coach trip to our next camp. It is amazing what things please you in certain situations.
That night we built a big bonfire and cooked our dinner on it whilst listening to Rolph Harris' greatest hits....which was all very well for the first couple of songs....
I'm sure it's not hard to think that Rolph Harris plus exhaustion made it an early night, and we were up before dawn again the next morning for our big canyon climb. However this would not be before the most terrifying experience of my life ever. I was relatively please with the showers at this place, as they had been totally clean and insect free - that is until some numbskull obviously left the door open over night. So I came in, just before dawn, to find the three most heart-stoppingly horrendous being known to mankind. Giant, mutant, alien crickets. Bigger than me. Well, perhaps not, but without exaggeration, they were at least as long as my foot, and almost as wide, with a hard, black, shiny shell, and crazy pincers....or legs....or antennae....I didn't stay long enough to find out. I didn't care how much I smelt, or how rugged I looked, I was NOT sharing my shower with these things!
So, smelly and unwashed, I arrived at King's Canyon and found myself face to face with the sign: "Trail moderate, with strenuous start. Do not attempt in intense heat." I then glanced at the daily temperature chart: "Today's heat rating falls into the category of: Very Dangerous." "Ah", I thought. At this point hald the group dropped out. When the guide told us about the recent death count of people falling off the edge of the trail, half the remaining group dropped out. For me it wasn't an option, so I began the "strenuous" beginning. Before long, my heart was beating out of my chest, sweat was pouring down my face and I was pretty sure that I knew what having an asthma attack must be like, but I looked around me and saw everyone else suffering just as badly. so I crawled on, content that I wasn't dying alone, if a little jealous that the guys next to me were tall enough to be able to lift themselves from one rock to the other without using their hands. But I scrambled on determind, and next thing I knew I was one of the first at the top, with the rest a few minute behind and in a much worse state! This surprised me somewhat, as I don't claim to ever do any exercise, but I guess I have been spending a lot of time lately walking a great deal, so maybe I'm fitter than I thought!
Once at the top we walked for about four hours, probably a highlight of my Australia trip. We were presented with spectacular views and dizzying heights - for those of us stupid enough to stand on the edge of the cliff and look down. As we walked, our guide showed us plants for making suncream, plants for making glue; plants you can eat, plants you really shouldn't! We met a very friendly lizard who let us pick him up! And we even went to the place where part of Priscilla Queen of the Desert was filmed.
Now I'm generally not particulatly interested in rocks - for some reason I used to collect them as a kid, but don't ask me why now! - but just this once, the rocks actually were interesting. Every so often, we would notice a rippling effect in the rocks. Apparently these are left over indentations from water, a VERY long time ago, when there was no ice on the North Pole, so the water level was much higher, and right in the middle of Australia was a great big sea! This is actually not me making stuff up. We also saw jellyfish fossils!
About half way through this walk, we came to a sunken oasis - deep pools of glistening blue water, surrounded by beautiful green plants. An unexpected respite to the endless rocks and sand. This place was called the Garden of Eden, and it just so happens I had an apple in my bag, which I thought rather appropriate to eat here.
Eventually I made it to te end of the trail, as did the rest of the group, and it was an awesome sense of achievement, as it had been far from easy, but so spectacular that it was well worth it. A funny thing though - in the heat and I guess from exerting myself a lot further than usual, my fingers had swollen up to a ridiculous size, and the tips had gone completely numb! I found this highly entertaining for the hour or so it lasted!
I was staying in a hostel called Annie's Place - chosen of course because it shared its name with me. As I came through security at the airport there was a desk for the hostels, and when I told the staff from Annie's Place that my name was Annie, they were incredibly excited. I have to talk a little bit about this hostel before I go on to my outback trip, as apart from the Arts Factory in Byron Bay, this was the best place I have stayed so far. The rooms were spacious, the people were super friendly - everyone says hello or chats to you if you are in the same place for more than a few seconds! There is a nice pool, and every night by the pool, a film is projected onto a large screen so everyone from the hostel sits round the pool and watches a movie under the stars. The bar is good, the food is cheap, the reception is extremely helpful.
When I first arrived at Annie's place, I was told they had to cancel the outback tour that I was booked on, as there wasn't enough people. So I was upgraded to another tour. To begin with I was a bit disappointed. The tour I had booked was real rough bush living, whereas the new one was "luxury camping". I have no objection to luxury, just for the record, but I thought that the other tour would be more of an experience. Also, I knew that the new tour would have more old people and less partying - and I was right, but it also had less drama and more interesting things to learn about the outback. After finishing the trip, I don't think that I lost out on any experience - we still cooked our dinner on a bonfire, drove off road, ran away from scary bugs, and all that jazz! Only this way I slept well at night and had a decent shower in the mornings!
The tour guide was excellent, he was like a walking encyclopedia on the area. We learnt about the Aboriginal traditions of the area, the explorers who *tried* to conquer the area, all the local nature and wildlife, the current social situation, the geology....everything! Funny thing about the guide though, is that I soon found out he was a Hong Kong Permanent Resident! Now if this wasn't funny enough (no one you meet travelling is from Hong Kong!), when I asked about what he was doing in HK, I soon found out he had been the manager of Club 97! This wasn't one of my most frequented places, but I certainly had been there a good few times! What a small world!
So anyways,as we know the Aboriginal people were here in Australia long before the British, but they were not indigenous to Australia. However, no one is quite sure how they got here. Back a very long time ago (don't ask me when, as I have a terrible tendency not to listen) the channel of sea between the top of Australia and the bottom of Papua New Guinea was so narrow that you could see across it when standing on top of the mountains in P N G - that they came across here is one theory. Another, is that certain peoples from Africa mastered lengthy sea travel, thousands (and thousands) of years before anyone else, then totally abandoned the knowledge.
Well somehow they got there, and then maintained the same ancient lifestyle, until the whiteman came along. A lifestyle consisting of the men hunting and protecting, and the women gathering foods and looking after children. Their laws were based around the will of the spirits and ancient legends of the land. Then we came along and ruined everything. We (and I say "we" unfortunately as a white person) introduced alcohol. Europeans had been getting used to this poison for as far as history remembers, and our bodies contain enzymes specially to digest it. Aborigines hadn't had the chance to adapt in this way and so, lacking this all important enzyme, did not take well to alcohol. It made them violent and incapable. They soon became alcoholics and their old way of life was destroyed.
Nowadays we appear to have two "types" of Aborigine. The bush Aborigine - untouched by alcohol, protected by national parks and still living in a mostly traditional way - though these are few. The city Aborigines are the ones we come into contact with, and sadly the ones who give white Australians their opinions of the race. Every white Australian I have met, as open minded as they have seemed, as soon as the topic of Aborigines comes up - speaks of them like animals. This really surprised me. So the stereotypical city Aborigine that has gained this reputation is the alcoholic, living off dole money, lying around in parks and sending the violent crime statistics soaring. It is a very sad state of affairs, and it is, in fact, all our fault.
The first place we stopped on our trip was a camel farm. Australia now has plague amounts of camels, so many that it even exports them to Saudi Arabia, because apparently the camels in Australia are better than in their original country. In the first place they came over from Afghanistan as labour animals, much better at coping in the arid climate than say horses. When the railways they were building were finished, they were released into the wild.
At this camel farm there was also a pet dingo, as tame and friendly as any household pet dog. So I sat and stroked him for a while.... and fed him a few sneaky crisps.
Next stop was a cattle station/gas station/cafe/art gallery. These places are dotted about all over the outback, with comforting signs outside saying "Last stop for infinite kilometres". So you don't really have a choice but to stop at them. They create a sense of being a very small dot in a boundless wilderness. And wilderness it was indeed. All you could see, as far as the horizon, was yellow sand, or perhaps sometimes red sand, with the odd dried up shrub meagerly poking its head up every so often. Oh and of course the flies. The damn pesky flies. Within 30 seconds of stepping outdoors you have at least 50 swarming round your face, desperately trying to get in your mouth, up your nose, in your ears, on your eyeballs.... to suck at all your juicy moisture. And they are unrelentless, no matter how many times you bat them out the way, they will be back for more instantly. Luckily we had fly nets to prevent them penetrating our many facial holes, but they were still as annoying as hell.
To add to our sense of isolation we were told about all the explorers who tried to conquer this land, failed, wondered round for months lost and after draining their supplies, died, bodies never to be found. Hopefully this would not be us.
In the afternoon we came to a gorge amidst lots of big, giant, red rocks. It really was like nothing I had ever seen before. These rocks resembled giant heads sticking out of the sand, and the story goes that these heads were the spirits of warriors who were captured after a war between two tribes. Once prisoners, they were forced to dig great holes in the sand, then made to stand in the holes, where they were buried, with just their heads left poking out for the likes of dingos and crazy insects to have their way with. On this delightful tale we walked through the gorge, took lots of pictures, then headed to a sunset viewing point of Ayers Rock, where we would scoff our way through numerous packets of crackers and refresh our hard days work with some wine.
Now Ayers Rock, or Uluru, is a bit of a wonder really. It's this enormous red blob of rock in the middle of absolutely nothing. No mountain range or anything, it just stands there, on its own, in the middle of the desert. Pretty bizarre. Apparently it is just the same as the surrounding land, but denser; so where the rest of the land has been eroded by weather, this great blob remains. Also, it was once 90 degrees the other way up, but fell over one day to the position we now know it to be in AND something like 80% of it is underground....like an iceberg....
The following morning we got up at stupid-o-clock in the morning for a sunset walk around the rock. A walk which is possibly, I think, the most beautiful few hours of my life - the many changing colours of the rock as the sun slowly rose, the silhouettes of the scattered trees, the sky of a million colours and clouds glowing in the newly born sun. Then of course the sunrise itself. It was then I realised that I had in fact never seen a sunrise before in my life. It was pretty spectacular. I was amazed how after about an hour of the sky slowly changing colour, the movement of the sun over the horizon happened in seconds. So fast you could see it moving through the sky. Needless to say, I took a lot of photos.
After this we met up with our guide again,who took us to the most sacred spots of Uluru to learn its legends. The main story concerns a certain snake named Kuinya, who journeyed to Uluru to lay her eggs. At the time, a tribe of another type of snake was living in the area, a tribe with whom Kuinya's nephew happened to be in trouble. One day, the nephew was cornered by the warriors of this tribe and killed. Kuinya came as soon as she heard - her path can still be seen today in great black snake trails across the rock. Alas she was too late! Her nephew was dead, and only one enemy warrior remained to mock her. Crying, she asked why had he killed her nephew, but the warrior just laughed at her. So she picked up some sand from the ground and, chanting a curse, threw it at the warriors feet. Now all the trees on the ground where the warrior stood are poisoned, and still now the Aboriginal people will not eat from them. But still the warrior laughed, so she hit him over the head with her stick - this can be seen as a great crack in the rock, with a blood stain trickling out. Still the warrior mocked her, so she it him one more fatal time, revenging her nephew - this strike can be seen by an even larger crack in the rock.
This story I have just told is merely the children's version, to hear the full version of all the legends we must first be initiated into the tribe - a process involving withstanding great amounts of pain, and which frankly just isn't going to happen.
We then went to the area's main waterhole (which was somewhat lacking in water) and to see Aboriginal cave drawings.
By this time we were pretty exhausted and had miserably given in to the flies, so were pretty glad of the four hour coach trip to our next camp. It is amazing what things please you in certain situations.
That night we built a big bonfire and cooked our dinner on it whilst listening to Rolph Harris' greatest hits....which was all very well for the first couple of songs....
I'm sure it's not hard to think that Rolph Harris plus exhaustion made it an early night, and we were up before dawn again the next morning for our big canyon climb. However this would not be before the most terrifying experience of my life ever. I was relatively please with the showers at this place, as they had been totally clean and insect free - that is until some numbskull obviously left the door open over night. So I came in, just before dawn, to find the three most heart-stoppingly horrendous being known to mankind. Giant, mutant, alien crickets. Bigger than me. Well, perhaps not, but without exaggeration, they were at least as long as my foot, and almost as wide, with a hard, black, shiny shell, and crazy pincers....or legs....or antennae....I didn't stay long enough to find out. I didn't care how much I smelt, or how rugged I looked, I was NOT sharing my shower with these things!
So, smelly and unwashed, I arrived at King's Canyon and found myself face to face with the sign: "Trail moderate, with strenuous start. Do not attempt in intense heat." I then glanced at the daily temperature chart: "Today's heat rating falls into the category of: Very Dangerous." "Ah", I thought. At this point hald the group dropped out. When the guide told us about the recent death count of people falling off the edge of the trail, half the remaining group dropped out. For me it wasn't an option, so I began the "strenuous" beginning. Before long, my heart was beating out of my chest, sweat was pouring down my face and I was pretty sure that I knew what having an asthma attack must be like, but I looked around me and saw everyone else suffering just as badly. so I crawled on, content that I wasn't dying alone, if a little jealous that the guys next to me were tall enough to be able to lift themselves from one rock to the other without using their hands. But I scrambled on determind, and next thing I knew I was one of the first at the top, with the rest a few minute behind and in a much worse state! This surprised me somewhat, as I don't claim to ever do any exercise, but I guess I have been spending a lot of time lately walking a great deal, so maybe I'm fitter than I thought!
Once at the top we walked for about four hours, probably a highlight of my Australia trip. We were presented with spectacular views and dizzying heights - for those of us stupid enough to stand on the edge of the cliff and look down. As we walked, our guide showed us plants for making suncream, plants for making glue; plants you can eat, plants you really shouldn't! We met a very friendly lizard who let us pick him up! And we even went to the place where part of Priscilla Queen of the Desert was filmed.
Now I'm generally not particulatly interested in rocks - for some reason I used to collect them as a kid, but don't ask me why now! - but just this once, the rocks actually were interesting. Every so often, we would notice a rippling effect in the rocks. Apparently these are left over indentations from water, a VERY long time ago, when there was no ice on the North Pole, so the water level was much higher, and right in the middle of Australia was a great big sea! This is actually not me making stuff up. We also saw jellyfish fossils!
About half way through this walk, we came to a sunken oasis - deep pools of glistening blue water, surrounded by beautiful green plants. An unexpected respite to the endless rocks and sand. This place was called the Garden of Eden, and it just so happens I had an apple in my bag, which I thought rather appropriate to eat here.
Eventually I made it to te end of the trail, as did the rest of the group, and it was an awesome sense of achievement, as it had been far from easy, but so spectacular that it was well worth it. A funny thing though - in the heat and I guess from exerting myself a lot further than usual, my fingers had swollen up to a ridiculous size, and the tips had gone completely numb! I found this highly entertaining for the hour or so it lasted!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Before I begin I have a complaint. About internet cafes. People really should show some common courtesy in these places. It is so frustratingly hard to write anything, my thoughts and experiences (let alone personal emails!) with people standing over me, potentially reading what I'm writing...drunk people shouting and singing and talking about totally annoying and stupid things....people having loud arguements with their boyfriends/girlfriends back home....and yesterday people sitting on top of each other and making out on the chair next to me. So I apologise if my writing drones on or doesn't make sense, but if these people could be shot my blog would be far better, and would include all the details I'm probably missing out that will be tragically forgotten forever. ARGH.
Rant over.
Have spent the past three days in Cairns had had a totally amazing time (as usual)...though I can't say it's anything to do with the town itself. On my first day here I spent the day walking round the town, only to realise that there's nothing here. A lot of travel agents, but not a lot else. The esplanade is supposed to be the exciting happening place...but there's not really anything there. As for the lagoon....well I'd heard about this loads when I was looking online for a place to stay here, so i kinda expected something reasonably impressive. At the least I expected a real lagoon. It was in fact a pretty bog standard swimming pool.
Something I did notice as well actually was the type of in Cairns is different to everywhere else. I mean still the majority of people you meet, like the rest of Australia, are absolutely awesome. But there seem to be quite a few "scummy" looking people around, for want of a better word.... According to some police I got chatting to, who were on my sailing trip on their day off, there's a lot of violent crime here as well.
Another thing, while I'm on the topic of people in Cairns....so far in Australia I had been quite conscious of the fact that I hadn't seen any Aboriginal people. Seeing as this was originally their country I thought this was quite strange, but up here in Cairns though there are quite a lot. Unfortunately they all seem to be very poor and separate from the rest of the community, which really is quite sad. As I mentioned before the book I'm reading is about a shipwrecked white boy who becomes part of an Aborigine clan. The part I'm on at the moment is talking about how the white people came to take the land and the way the Aboriginal people were treated. It's quite disgusting, and puts a very different light on Australia as a country.
Moving on from that bad thought, yesterday I went on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Most amazing experience ever. Beyond words. As soon as I got back I had to phone England to tell people about it because I was just so excited about the whole experience I had just had.
We went on a 21 foot sailing boat, which in itself was a bit of an achievement for me! I was really nervous about the boat trip. As you may or may not know, I have a problem with boats. A MAJOR problem with boats. I literally just have to look at a boat and I throw up. Well not quite, but I have been known to be horrendously sick on even half hour trips, on very large boats, on a completely calm Mediterranean. It's ridiculous, I know, but until yesterday I had never been able to find a way round it. However, you can't come to Australia and not see the Great Barrier Reef, so I was preparing myself for a lot of throwing up, but ultimately I thought it would be worth it, and I'd get over it once I was in the water, if I let myself float around a bit before actually doing anything....and we were stopping at a tropical island which had the all important factor of solid land!
Things went very differently to how I'd expected. Just before I got on the boat, there was someone selling sea sickness tablets. Normally these either don't work in the slightest or completely knock me out, but these were specially sold for people going on reef trips, so I thought I would give them a try. Absolute miracle pills. Not the slightest whiff of sea sickness whatsoever! I was completely stoked, and able to have a fantastic day.
Anyways, the trip itself. We set off on our sailing boat for the 2ish hour trip to Green Island. There was about 15 people on the trip and we spent this time getting to know one another over complimentary chocolate chip muffins. Perfect. The part of the reef we were going to was the opposite side of Green Island to where all the other boats go, and we were the only boat who had a licence to operate on this part of the reef, so it was really quite a unique experience.
Again I was quite nervous, this time about actually snorkelling in the reef. Firstly I haven't properly been swimming for years so am not at all a strong swimmer, secondly the idea of deep water and the open seas seems very terrifying and then of course there's the things I would be swimming with - I was certain some of the fish would be rather scary looking, and I'm definitely not one for being near scary looking creatures. As soon as I was in the water all my fears went away. Everything was so amazing, and I was so in awe that there was no room for nerves. We swam about 20 metres away from the boat before we reached the reef and then at some points the reef was so close to the surface that we could touch it even when snorkelling. The fish...the thousands of fish...just totally ignored me, like I was just another random fish swimming about the coral. If you just floated completely still for a while they would curiously come right up to your face. They were amazing - all colours imaginable, some as small as my thumbnail, some bigger than me. My favourite fish was (I think) a type of surgeon fish - it had a bright yellow tail and bright yellow fins, then the rest of it was this crazy yellow and sky blue psychedelic pattern! It was like the fish had been designed by some mad artist, who had spent hours carefully drawing this mad design all over the fish's body. It makes you wonder really the purpose of such a look. Nature generally has a purpose in it's designs, but these fish look like nature came into work one day on acid. I was so absorbed by these amazing creatures of the sea that before I knew it, I was begrudgingly being called back to the boat, 2 and a half hours later, for lunch. It had seemed like mere minutes. After lunch I even came back to the boat 2 hours early, preferring to spend my time swimming on the reef than on the tropical island!
So these fish themselves were amazing enough, but just as I was swimming back to the boat to be taken back to the mainland, one of the ships crew called out: "Who hasn't seen a shark yet?" Of course everyone replied that they hadn't. Then he pointed out, about two metres away from where some of us were swimming, a reef shark! It was a bit bigger than me (though I have terrible perception of size), grey, with a fin....the exact picture that would come into your mind if you were trying to imagine a shark! The first thought that came into my head was that I needed to get out of the water immediately, but I couldn't take my eyes off it, and rather than heading as fast as I could to the boat, I found myself swimming after the shark, fear numbed by fascination, in order to get a better look. It was only later I found that these sharks didn't attack people, so I don't know what sort of idiocy had come over me before I knew this.
On the return home, sunbathing on the deck of the boat, I was thinking that I could really get used to this. Maybe in addition to learning to drive I should learn to sail?
The next day I went Cairns' tropical zoo. The travel agent I booked my ticket with told me I needed about two hours to look around the whole place, so I had a nice lie in and got to the zoo at about midday. After spending five and a half hours there, and being the last person ESCORTED OUT of the park, I really felt I could have done with more time. Maybe I'm just a sucker for animals.
The zoo contained all sorts of animals native to Australia and a few not - emus, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, crocodiles, snakes, wombats, birds, red pandas..... I went to see them all, plus every show the zoo offered that afternoon. The shows were a great way to see the animals, as you could get close and interact with them, whilst learning more about the animal and the conservation work done to benefit it. So I cuddled a koala, patted a python on the head, tickled a wombat in it's sleep, hand fed some kangaroos, stroked a baby crocodile, watched a fullsized crocodile be hand fed a chicken.... I had so much fun! Even if I was a supposed adult on a kids day out! The keepers were so enthusiastic about their animals, which was lovely to see. Unfortunately a lot of these animals will probably be extinct soon, the red panda from Nepal only has about 400 of its kind still in the wild. For all the creatures in the zoo that are endangered, the zoo runs breeding and reintroduction to the wild programmes, and the money the people pay to go to the zoo helps to fund this. As for the animals more local to Australia, such as snakes and crocodiles, unfortunately most people misunderstand them. The snakes for example will generally leave you alone, they don't chase people down the street as seems to be an idea circulating among some Ozzies. Crocodiles usually will only attack you if you're swimming in crocodile infested water...which really is your own fault. Now I know that some people are against animals being kept in cages - surely they should be in the wild rather than in a zoo. Of course this is true, but at this zoo, all the animals are rescue animals. For example, the crocodiles have all commited offences that normally would mean the destruction of the animal (for example eating people's livestock or pets or being general menaces to society!) but luckily they have been found by sympathetic people who called the zoo rather than the animal destruction unit.
On a final note, while we are on the topic of animals, I have to recall a story I heard whilst on my reef trip. I'm sure you have probably heard about the terrible bushfires in southern Australia that have killed over a hundred people and destroyed the homes of over 800 more. On top of this it has destroyed a ridiculous amount of wildlife. And shockingly at least one of the fires is known to have been started deliberately. Why anyone would do this is beyond my comprehension. So anyways, amongst the wildlife that has suffered is the koalas, and that is where my story comes along. Whilst fighting the out of control fires, a fireman spotted a poor koala trapped up a tree, and couldn't bear to leave it to die. So he went into the fire to save the koala, as he approached the animal reached out his paw to the fireman, as though begging him to take pity and save him. The fireman reached back to the koala and lifted it from the tree, holding it in his arms as the koala wrapped itself around the fireman - his only hope of survival. The koala was saved! You probably don't know but koalas don't drink water, yet this poor koala was so thirsty from being trapped in the fire that it let the fireman hand feed it from a bottle of water, like a baby. The fireman, touched by this experience, went to visit the koala at a later date, to see how it was getting on. Now the local news reported on this story, making jokes about the fireman going on a date with the koala, and silly things like that, but due to the tragic nature of the bush fires, a great deal of people complained that this was inappropriate and disrespectful. The local news made an official apology to the koala.
Rant over.
Have spent the past three days in Cairns had had a totally amazing time (as usual)...though I can't say it's anything to do with the town itself. On my first day here I spent the day walking round the town, only to realise that there's nothing here. A lot of travel agents, but not a lot else. The esplanade is supposed to be the exciting happening place...but there's not really anything there. As for the lagoon....well I'd heard about this loads when I was looking online for a place to stay here, so i kinda expected something reasonably impressive. At the least I expected a real lagoon. It was in fact a pretty bog standard swimming pool.
Something I did notice as well actually was the type of in Cairns is different to everywhere else. I mean still the majority of people you meet, like the rest of Australia, are absolutely awesome. But there seem to be quite a few "scummy" looking people around, for want of a better word.... According to some police I got chatting to, who were on my sailing trip on their day off, there's a lot of violent crime here as well.
Another thing, while I'm on the topic of people in Cairns....so far in Australia I had been quite conscious of the fact that I hadn't seen any Aboriginal people. Seeing as this was originally their country I thought this was quite strange, but up here in Cairns though there are quite a lot. Unfortunately they all seem to be very poor and separate from the rest of the community, which really is quite sad. As I mentioned before the book I'm reading is about a shipwrecked white boy who becomes part of an Aborigine clan. The part I'm on at the moment is talking about how the white people came to take the land and the way the Aboriginal people were treated. It's quite disgusting, and puts a very different light on Australia as a country.
Moving on from that bad thought, yesterday I went on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Most amazing experience ever. Beyond words. As soon as I got back I had to phone England to tell people about it because I was just so excited about the whole experience I had just had.
We went on a 21 foot sailing boat, which in itself was a bit of an achievement for me! I was really nervous about the boat trip. As you may or may not know, I have a problem with boats. A MAJOR problem with boats. I literally just have to look at a boat and I throw up. Well not quite, but I have been known to be horrendously sick on even half hour trips, on very large boats, on a completely calm Mediterranean. It's ridiculous, I know, but until yesterday I had never been able to find a way round it. However, you can't come to Australia and not see the Great Barrier Reef, so I was preparing myself for a lot of throwing up, but ultimately I thought it would be worth it, and I'd get over it once I was in the water, if I let myself float around a bit before actually doing anything....and we were stopping at a tropical island which had the all important factor of solid land!
Things went very differently to how I'd expected. Just before I got on the boat, there was someone selling sea sickness tablets. Normally these either don't work in the slightest or completely knock me out, but these were specially sold for people going on reef trips, so I thought I would give them a try. Absolute miracle pills. Not the slightest whiff of sea sickness whatsoever! I was completely stoked, and able to have a fantastic day.
Anyways, the trip itself. We set off on our sailing boat for the 2ish hour trip to Green Island. There was about 15 people on the trip and we spent this time getting to know one another over complimentary chocolate chip muffins. Perfect. The part of the reef we were going to was the opposite side of Green Island to where all the other boats go, and we were the only boat who had a licence to operate on this part of the reef, so it was really quite a unique experience.
Again I was quite nervous, this time about actually snorkelling in the reef. Firstly I haven't properly been swimming for years so am not at all a strong swimmer, secondly the idea of deep water and the open seas seems very terrifying and then of course there's the things I would be swimming with - I was certain some of the fish would be rather scary looking, and I'm definitely not one for being near scary looking creatures. As soon as I was in the water all my fears went away. Everything was so amazing, and I was so in awe that there was no room for nerves. We swam about 20 metres away from the boat before we reached the reef and then at some points the reef was so close to the surface that we could touch it even when snorkelling. The fish...the thousands of fish...just totally ignored me, like I was just another random fish swimming about the coral. If you just floated completely still for a while they would curiously come right up to your face. They were amazing - all colours imaginable, some as small as my thumbnail, some bigger than me. My favourite fish was (I think) a type of surgeon fish - it had a bright yellow tail and bright yellow fins, then the rest of it was this crazy yellow and sky blue psychedelic pattern! It was like the fish had been designed by some mad artist, who had spent hours carefully drawing this mad design all over the fish's body. It makes you wonder really the purpose of such a look. Nature generally has a purpose in it's designs, but these fish look like nature came into work one day on acid. I was so absorbed by these amazing creatures of the sea that before I knew it, I was begrudgingly being called back to the boat, 2 and a half hours later, for lunch. It had seemed like mere minutes. After lunch I even came back to the boat 2 hours early, preferring to spend my time swimming on the reef than on the tropical island!
So these fish themselves were amazing enough, but just as I was swimming back to the boat to be taken back to the mainland, one of the ships crew called out: "Who hasn't seen a shark yet?" Of course everyone replied that they hadn't. Then he pointed out, about two metres away from where some of us were swimming, a reef shark! It was a bit bigger than me (though I have terrible perception of size), grey, with a fin....the exact picture that would come into your mind if you were trying to imagine a shark! The first thought that came into my head was that I needed to get out of the water immediately, but I couldn't take my eyes off it, and rather than heading as fast as I could to the boat, I found myself swimming after the shark, fear numbed by fascination, in order to get a better look. It was only later I found that these sharks didn't attack people, so I don't know what sort of idiocy had come over me before I knew this.
On the return home, sunbathing on the deck of the boat, I was thinking that I could really get used to this. Maybe in addition to learning to drive I should learn to sail?
The next day I went Cairns' tropical zoo. The travel agent I booked my ticket with told me I needed about two hours to look around the whole place, so I had a nice lie in and got to the zoo at about midday. After spending five and a half hours there, and being the last person ESCORTED OUT of the park, I really felt I could have done with more time. Maybe I'm just a sucker for animals.
The zoo contained all sorts of animals native to Australia and a few not - emus, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, crocodiles, snakes, wombats, birds, red pandas..... I went to see them all, plus every show the zoo offered that afternoon. The shows were a great way to see the animals, as you could get close and interact with them, whilst learning more about the animal and the conservation work done to benefit it. So I cuddled a koala, patted a python on the head, tickled a wombat in it's sleep, hand fed some kangaroos, stroked a baby crocodile, watched a fullsized crocodile be hand fed a chicken.... I had so much fun! Even if I was a supposed adult on a kids day out! The keepers were so enthusiastic about their animals, which was lovely to see. Unfortunately a lot of these animals will probably be extinct soon, the red panda from Nepal only has about 400 of its kind still in the wild. For all the creatures in the zoo that are endangered, the zoo runs breeding and reintroduction to the wild programmes, and the money the people pay to go to the zoo helps to fund this. As for the animals more local to Australia, such as snakes and crocodiles, unfortunately most people misunderstand them. The snakes for example will generally leave you alone, they don't chase people down the street as seems to be an idea circulating among some Ozzies. Crocodiles usually will only attack you if you're swimming in crocodile infested water...which really is your own fault. Now I know that some people are against animals being kept in cages - surely they should be in the wild rather than in a zoo. Of course this is true, but at this zoo, all the animals are rescue animals. For example, the crocodiles have all commited offences that normally would mean the destruction of the animal (for example eating people's livestock or pets or being general menaces to society!) but luckily they have been found by sympathetic people who called the zoo rather than the animal destruction unit.
On a final note, while we are on the topic of animals, I have to recall a story I heard whilst on my reef trip. I'm sure you have probably heard about the terrible bushfires in southern Australia that have killed over a hundred people and destroyed the homes of over 800 more. On top of this it has destroyed a ridiculous amount of wildlife. And shockingly at least one of the fires is known to have been started deliberately. Why anyone would do this is beyond my comprehension. So anyways, amongst the wildlife that has suffered is the koalas, and that is where my story comes along. Whilst fighting the out of control fires, a fireman spotted a poor koala trapped up a tree, and couldn't bear to leave it to die. So he went into the fire to save the koala, as he approached the animal reached out his paw to the fireman, as though begging him to take pity and save him. The fireman reached back to the koala and lifted it from the tree, holding it in his arms as the koala wrapped itself around the fireman - his only hope of survival. The koala was saved! You probably don't know but koalas don't drink water, yet this poor koala was so thirsty from being trapped in the fire that it let the fireman hand feed it from a bottle of water, like a baby. The fireman, touched by this experience, went to visit the koala at a later date, to see how it was getting on. Now the local news reported on this story, making jokes about the fireman going on a date with the koala, and silly things like that, but due to the tragic nature of the bush fires, a great deal of people complained that this was inappropriate and disrespectful. The local news made an official apology to the koala.
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