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Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Kuta February 7th 2008

It's been well over a week since we've been in Bali and I've left it until now to write something, largely because there is very little to do here, except if you're a surfer or a perennial sunbather. I'm neither (although I did try my hand at bodyboarding, which is very tough on my skin and elbow!!) so I was left with Bali's main attractions, all of which seemed to be Hindu temples - the most spectacular being Tanah Lot in sunset. Bali conjured up images of a paradise before I came here. I was very disappointed with the dirty beaches and many touts and tourists here, and there are many things I could complain about - the brashness; the rampant commercialization; the noise; the pollution; the women lying in alleyways with their babies at night ... read more
Dreamland

Asia » Indonesia » Java » Yogyakarta February 7th 2008

Nach zwei wundervollen Wochen auf Bali, in denen ich die gesamte Insel mit dem Motorrad erkundet hatte, kam ich heute bereits um halb 9 morgens in Yoyakarta an und fuhr die knapp 10 km vom Flughafen ins Zentrum. Da ich viel Zeit hatte schaute ich mir verschiedene Losmen in Yogyas Travellerzentrum Sosrowijayan an, netschied mich dann aber schnell für das Bladok, wo die Zimmer zwar etwas teurer waren, als in den anderen Billigunterkünften, aber das Bladok ist topgepflegt, hat einen kleinen Pool und allgemein eine gute Atmosphäre. Mein Einzelzimmer für 77.000 Rp war klein, aber supersauber und sogar recht stilvoll eingerichtet mit schönem indonesischen Mandi. Das dazugehörige Restaurant hatte sehr ordentliche, aber etwas überteuerte, überwiegend westliche Gerichte auf Lager. Den Rest des Tages verbrachte ich damit Yogya zu erkunden, Indonesiens touristischste Stadt, und sicher auch eine ... read more
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Asia » Indonesia February 7th 2008

It's always interesting to find out cultures which I never knew before. Apparently today, chinese community all over the world are celebrating Chinese New Year 2559, welcoming the new Rat year. Most of them said it would be a prosperous year, as Rat is very smart and able to addapt in various environments. At first, I was really interested to see the Barongsai. A dance played by at least 17 people using huge lion suit and also play traditional instruments such as Gong and Cymbal. The dance is very unique as the dancers form themselves as if they were one huge lion. The Chinese community believed that performing Barongsai could eliminate the Bad Aura. According to Nian Legend, the first Barongsai show held at Qing Dinasty era on a village to get rid of a monster ... read more
Red Lampions
Beautiful Goddesses
Smoke from the Sticks

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Pulau Weh February 6th 2008

On to Palau Weh otherwise known as Sabang What a stunning island fantastic but even now with most of the NGO staff gone from Banda there is an accommodation problem especially at weekends. We arrived at the ferry port and locals sort the transport out part of the way in a bus then they unloaded us into a Taxi. Nice driver who is the main driver for Iboih beach. We wanted to stay at Gapang so he took us round looking for a place Ellie wasn’t feeling to good so looked for AC it was late, we ended up at one of the Government places Laguna Resort big bungalows 250000Rp a night absolutely crap. Toilet stank like a gent’s urinal that had never been cleaned. The rooms are huge soulless and depressing ours had more ants ... read more
Beach tree
Indonesian car wash
Jungle walk

Asia » Indonesia » Bali February 5th 2008

Bali Being in Bali is somewhat like being in Northern Canada, there's some parts I love dearly, other parts I'm not so crazy about. Like both countries, it all depends on the time of year. Smart snow birds leave Canada in winter. Not so smart snow birds to go Bali in winter. It's unbelievably hot and muggy here in the wet season. Even the locals sweat and complain about the heat, until we tell them Canada is colder than their freezers. We're typical tourists, surviving the tropics in our air conditioned villa, dodging the gecko pooh, which likes to land on our dinner and scrabble game. Not intentionally of course, they were here first. I love the gecko, although it takes a little getting used to them crawling around the walls and ceiling. They're much preferable ... read more

Asia » Indonesia » Java » Yogyakarta February 4th 2008

One of the things I love about Jogja is that everyone is an early riser! The local usually gets up at 5am or Subuh Prayer. By 6am breakfast stalls were full of patrons. And the best part is that the sun rises at 5.30am! Which means we get to do so much more in a day! I totally love it! Since I am an early riser myself hehe... I got up at 5am today and by 6am I was already looming at the streets with the locals and having breakfast at McDonalds! (a short note on Jogja's McD...their ayam goreng taste much better than our Spicy KFC! A MUST try!) After breakfast, I walked my way to the Kraton (city palace) to catch the Gamelan and Classical Dance performance. The 2km walk was extremely annoying. With ... read more
Gamelan performances
kraton guards and their keris
beautiful jogja ladies

Asia » Indonesia » Bali February 3rd 2008

This what Stephanie and Harreson left behind in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada, Rosswood BC in Dec 07!... read more
Harreson's shower
Our drive to town

Asia » Indonesia » Java » Surabaya February 3rd 2008

There’s not so much to say about the last two days. The weekend when I was plan to travel to many places. To join a test and visit my hometown Surabaya, to meet my colleagues in Jakarta, and to spend holiday in Bandung which I never visited before. Everything was well planed and booked, until the heavy rain and flood come. Heavy rain which happened since Thursday, Jan 31st 2008 at Jakarta caused flood in some places including the main road to Jakarta’s Airport. On Friday afternoon, the Jakarta’s airport was closed to all flight due to heavy rain and flood at the airport. Many fights from and to Jakarta are delayed or canceled. This situation impacted to national flight schedule. On Friday, I was on a trip from Denpasar to Surabaya. My flight normally board ... read more
Study for the Saturday Morning's Test
Visit Jakarta 2008?
Search For Our Rights

Asia » Indonesia February 3rd 2008

Om Swasti Astu ! This is one of the first phrases we learned after arriving here in Bali Jan. 16th, 2008 and one of the few I can still keep in my head to repeat as we interact with the Balinese. This is a Balinese phrase, always well received as it is a wonderful greeting of heartfelt respect. It is customary to also place the hands at the heart in prayer position when saying it. We learned this phrase on our second day from a German who has spent a lot of time in Bali and knows Balinese fairly well. Everywhere we walked with him one morning around the hotels people knew him and he was so warmly received. Many Balinese are tremendously warm and curious toward us and almost always like to try and open ... read more
Drum shop near Hotel Kumala
Sania's House Ubud

Asia » Indonesia » Java » Borobudur February 2nd 2008

Even though I was the first to arrive at the ticket counter at Borobudur Temple at 6am, the sun rise has long passed. Crap! There goes the highlight of my trip :( I thought to myself. After all, the best time to photograph Borobudur Temple is either at sun rise or sunset. And I didn't have the luxury to stay until sunset! Haha... Stupas at BorobudurTemple Buddha Statue at Borobudur Temple Not wanting to be just looking at 'stones', I hired a guide for 50,000(RM19). It was alright, only problem was, I couldn't juggle between history lesson and taking artsy photographs. By the time I finish the temple tour (about 2 hours), I was exhausted and the sun was too bright and unforgiving to indulge in any form of photography. sigh! So, that was it?! The ... read more
bell shaped stupa
cheeky lady at Malioboro st
Dokar




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