Blogs from Indonesia, Asia - page 520

Perdu à quelque part au milieu de l'île de Java en Indonésie, on déguste une tasse de thé alors que le soleil descend tranquillement sur les champs verdoyants de thé. Nos deux amis indonésiens qu'on a rencontré à Yogyakarta et qui nous trimballent un peu partout dans la région avec leur voiture qui leur sert aussi de chambre à coucher, sont bien évachés sur le tapis et se délectent d’une cigarette locale, un mélange de tabac et de clous de girofle qui à l’odorat, me rappelle la recette de jambon de ma mère. En regardant notre ami Jimin fumer sa cigarette, je ne peux m'empêcher de repenser à l'histoire qu'il nous racontait plus tôt dans la voiture. Le pauvre a eu la malchance d'habiter dans le village qui a subit l'épicentre du violent tremblement de terre ... read more

Batam is one of the 3,000 islands which make up the Riau Archipelago and is closest to Singapore which is only 5o minutes away by ferry (Batam Fast). the island is developing into a major tourist destination because of its proximity to Singapore. Many tourists come from nearby Singapore for a short holiday, duty free shopping and great seafood. For instance, in our tour group, me and my friend were the only Filipinos out of 12 people. the rest were singaporeans who were having holiday at the Holiday Inn and other hotels. Despite the budding economy, Batam retains the rural charm, peaceful spots with quiet beaches. Fishing villages supply delicious seafood to visitors. We had our sumptous lunch at Golden Prawn restaurant. While in Batam, we visited Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya, one of the largest ... read more

Gilly T...for some R & R...or so that was the plan! I arrived at Gilly Trawangan this evening! The bus journey turned out ok, got 2 seats to myself, popped 2 valium stretched out and slept the whole way. Didn't even wake up when the bus boarded a ferry bound for Lombok. Gilly Trawangan looks just the same as it did last May. The boat on the way over broke down for half an hour...I don't have much luck with boats. The boat guy recommended his friends bungalows, turns out they are the cheapest on the island. Its not too bad, vast improvement on 'Horse Shit' in Bajawa. I headed out for a walk and stumbled across a bar called Ocean, met a girl called V from South Africa, tonight we are off to the Full ... read more

Day 69 4 am start to drive to the ferry from Sumatra to Bali, and on to Kuta, the main tourist area in the south west of Bali. Many houses have intricate shrines, on which offerings of fruit and flowers are put out, as well as on the pavements. We met up with the breakaway group, who have been here for a few days already, and they found us a much nicer hotel hat the one we were booked into. Most of the group met up, but as I felt poorly I went to bed early. One of our number was hospitalised for a few hours. She had been unwell for a few days and her symptoms seemed malaria-like, so the tour manager suggested she seek medical advice. They ran some tests on her, and put ... read more

Okej...far se om det har gar nu. Hall tummarna! (Det blev farre an vi tankt. Far prova en annan gang, for de har fa bilderna tog en timme.)... read more