Blogs from Indonesia, Asia - page 517

Vi tog afsted fra Bukit Lawang den 17. december. Foerst koerte vi til Medan og derfra tog vi bussen til Parapat. Herfra var det meningen at vi skulle med baaden til oen Samosir, men desvaerre ankom vi for sent saa den sidste baad var sejlet. Vi sov derfor en nat i Parapat - paa et meget snusket sted; a la cigaret skodder paa gulvene og tomme oeldaaser + en seng der sandsynligvis ikke havde set et rent lagn i et stykke tid - tak og lov for vores soveposer! Saa vi kom nemt og hurtigt op naeste morgen og tog den foerste baad til Samosir! :) Her fik vi det bedste vaerelse paa hele oeen - tror vi da! :) Vi havde vores egen balkon, som laag adskilt fra alle andres OG vi havde den skoenneste ... read more

Hi all, Matthew has already described our terrifying drive; it was followed by an eexciting boat journey to Cubadak (pronounced Chewbadak) Island. We were loaded onto a small boat that looked like it was sitting quite low in the water. The night was pitch black, no moon visible, only enough starlight and the odd flash of lightning to see the outline of the mountains. Our boat departed with no running lights, just a fellow in the prow holding a torch to look for reefs and other boats. And we were travelling so fast that our pilot wouldn't have had time to change course if he had to. Had to trust that these guys knew what they were doing. After what seemed like ages, but was probably only 30 minutes, the lights of Villa Paradiso came into ... read more

Our train was 2 hours late leaving Jakarta, if we'd have known we could have had an extra hour in bed! The train journey was ok, we got water and a meal included but half way through the journey it started raining and of all the seats the leaky carriage roof could have leaked on it had to be Donna's, so she spent half the journey sat forward on the edge of her seat, making Neil feel incredibly uncomfortable and uneasy! So we arrived into Yogyakarta (or Yogya as the locals call it) to rain...pouring rain. We looked like drowned rats when we arrived into the hostel and had the manager scurrying after us with a mop! Yogya isn't the luckiest of cities having experienced earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami's in recent years owing in part, to ... read more

After a marathon 24 hours train journey to Guangzhou and a very luxurious bus to the Macau-China border (3 hours) we arrived at what must be the strangest border crossing we have ever went through. It was basically a large shopping centre and when we asked which way to Macau the Information lady replied '3rd floor'...we thought it was a mistake on her part, how could Macau possibly be located on the 3rd floor of this massive shopping complex? After going up two sets of escaltors, it seemed that Macau was indeed on the 3rd floor and after a long drawn out 2 hours (!) going through Immigration we got to the airport for our flight to Jakarta. Just a quick note here that Macau airport is shit...only high end shops, expensive internet and super rude ... read more

Ok, det var ett tag sen vi skrev insag jag (Brita) nar jag kollade var jag skulle ta vid efter Josephine. Sa, Yogyakarta. En stad som vi bada tyckte ganska bra om. En positiv kontrast till det skitiga Bandung. Eftersom vi inte har sa mycket tid i Indonesien blur schemat ganska fullspeckat. Vi borjade med en dagstur till Borobodur och Prambanan. Ett Buddhistiskt respektive ett hinduistiskt tempel. Ratt maffiga byggnader med imponerande stendekorationer. Men alltsa, det har med tempel. Jag tror inte riktigt att det ar min och Josephines grej. Det var jattehaftigt att se templen som bada ar varldsarv men allvarligt talat, hur lange kan man sta och glo pa en stenhog? Nasta dag hade vu istallet bestamt oss for att gora nagonting lite mer aktivt och kreativt. Bokade en batikkurs. Jag trodde lite naivt ... read more