Are we nearly there yet?

I'm nearly there

ansku — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:22:00 GMT

Once again it has come the time to say goodbye. The last time was in Sydney when I started my journal by saying goodbyes to the city I had lived in for almost a year. At that point I was looking forward to my travels in South East Asia but also the time I would reach home and meet my family and friends. Well that time has come. I'm in a train to Bangkok where I will have my flight to Manila. The last part of my trip. I will meet my family and attend to my brothers wedding. Then I'm off to Finland and then in few weeks to Barcelona. Home.

I've been waiting for this for which seems like forever but I can not help feeling sad. This means that my dream world will come to an end and to its inevidable death. Don't get me wrong I really miss you all but when I've been travelling I've literally been living in another world, a dream world. In this reality everything is different. I'm free to do as I please. If it rains I can go where the sun shines. If I thought of something unpleasent I've been free to imagine it to go away. In this world it doesn't exist. The thruth that my boyfriend who I lived with married to someone else cause his parents wanted him to didn't happen in this world. It's like I'm living in parallel life which is created by every choise we make. But I know I don't belong here and I have to go back to my real life. With me I take the memories. I now know what it would be like to live in this world. I am blessed in so many ways. To be given this opportunity to see and learn what I am really cabable of and what are my strenghts and weaknesses. I am not a religious person but I have found faith. There is a huge difference between the two and I have now learned that not to have faith is very selfish. (Don't worry I wont becoming the next missionary, that is for the religious people). I have learned that there are no coincidences. The people you meet are there for a reason.

Back to reality. I've changed. And then I'm not. I'm the same. I wish to think that I've learned so much but I remain confused. I feel so small and powerless in this world. I begin to understand the people who don't travel. It is easier to stay in your comfort zone. The more you travel and see things the more you realize that you can not stay still in one place. Some may say it's an easy life, travellers life without going to same work every day worrying about normal things but it's not. Instead you start worrying about homeless people, war victims, powerty and where are you going to sleep tonight. In the end it becomes like a heroin. It consumes you but you cannot live without it. There are good days and there are bad days. Sometimes you feel so alone and tired but then you meet new people and go to a new place with new things to do and you get that rush of new experiences and you really feel alive.

With this I say goodbye to my dream world to my parallel reality. It has been a pleasure. Amazing trip through Bali, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Amazing trip by myself and with so many people that I will miss. Amazing experiences, doing things I never thought I would, staying in places I never believed I could but most of all getting to know myself, learning to count to 100, learning to ask the way and take chances.

"Everything will be ok in the end. If it's not ok it is not the end." (unknown)

There is a chicken in the bus

ansku — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:13:00 GMT

I’m in Laos. I’m trying to think of some words to describe you all I have experienced in the past few days I’ve been here but since I’m not a writer I find it very hard. I’m sitting in a bus to Vientiaine and I’m playing a game with a five year old girl. She is waving at me and when I wave back she finds it terribly amusing. She becomes shy and she presses her face against her mother, takes a quick peek at me and giggles. Then she waves again. She is part of the reason I have fallen in love with Laos.

I’m sleepy and I linger to this morning when I woke up to the sounds of life. I heard people talking and I felt the floor moving when they were walking on the wooden floor. I opened my eyes to check the time and since it was only 4.40 am and still dark I decided to go back to sleep. When I wake up again the sun has risen and it’s 6.30. I hear a sound of splashing water and I know someone is taking a “shower”. I know this because the day before I was shown how it’s done. First you get into a tube like sarong and then you take a soap and bucket and start splashing. Sounds easy but for a city girl a bucket shower with clothes on is not simple thing to do. Once you’re done you just slip into another sarong and pull off the wet one. I decide to get up and notice someone staring at me. The pair of brown eyes belong to a five year old boy who is trying to take a peek through a pink mosquito net of the “falang” (foreigner) who is staying at their home.

I get dressed and climb down from the house which is built on 3-4 meter long stilts to use the bathroom which is behind the garden. I take in the scenery. It was dark when I arrived the day before so I didn’t really see that I was in a small village by an impressive mountain, in the middle of fields in a small group of houses. There are cows, water buffaloes, chicken and few dogs walking around all free. When I climb back to the house the breakfast is ready and the young lady of the house carries a tray for me like she did the day before with my dinner. She places it on a sitting mat. There are no furniture in the house, just tv and a fridge. The mattress where I was sleeping with the pink mosquito net hanging over it is on the far corner of the living room floor. If you can call it a living “room”. It is more like a big verandah and I felt like sleeping outside. But I slept very well as I was tired of the long travel the day before.

I arrived the night before from Savannakhet where I had spent two nights planning what to do in Laos. I met some people to spend my time with and we shared a memorable moment in a fancy restaurant by the Mekong River looking at the sunset over Thailand and sharing a plate of fried crickets for appetizer. Later on we had a very nice dinner at the food market in a local style where you cook your veggies, noodles and in our case seafood in a pot filled with some sort of veggie stock. The food was very tasty with garlic, all sorts of herbs, chili and peanut sauce. We ended the evening sipping Beer Lao until 1.30 am which made it hard for me to get up early enough to get to the bus station before 8.30 where I got the bus to Tha Khaek. The bus was much bigger than a minibus but smaller then a normal bus and it was packed. People sitting on top of each other I was happy to have a single window seat. On the bumpy road I paid attention to a weird sound every now and then. It almost sounded like a chicken but could have easily been just a squeak from the bus. 100km trip took 3.5 hours and when I was ready to jump out I saw a woman with a plastic bag a chicken inside only its head peeking out.

I wasn’t completely sure where to go next so I was happy when I was offered a ride directly to Kong Lo which was my final destination. I had expected to have to change busses for at least 3 times on the way. So I hopped on a back of a pickup truck my backpack on the roof and began a journey that turned out to be 5 hours. Travelling with local people, some boxes, spare tires, motorbike, watermelons and at the end two big ducks stuffed to a bag and a chicken with its chicks in a basket. It was already dark when we finally arrived to Kong Lo and the driver took me to this home stay where I could stay overnight. On my whole trip hardly anyone spoke a word of English but everywhere I went I felt very welcomed.

In the morning I went to the Kong Lo cave which is the reason I came to this village in the first place. The cave is 7.5km long and a small river is running through it. I meet a couple to share the three seat boat with and we take the amazing drive through the dark cave. With our flashlights we can see the impressive stalactites in this huge sometimes 100m high cave.

So here I am finally in the bus on my way to the capital half asleep writing a story in my head wondering if I can remember any of it when I have the change to write it down and thinking if my time to come in Laos will be as good and rewarding as the past few days.

Photos: Laos

ansku — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:22:00 GMT

First Impressions of Cambodia

ansku — Fri, 4 Nov 2011 00:02:00 GMT

Since my Thai visa was expiring in few days and Bangkok was about to become one big pool I decided to evacuate myself as soon as possible. Because to the east seemed to be the only land route out of Bangkok not filled with water, Cambodia was a logical choice for my next destination. I took the afternoon train from Bangkok to the Aranya Prathet, the border town of Thailand. The train was late once again and after six hour ride in the third class I finally reached my destination at 7.30 in the evening. I didn't want to rush to the border which was closing at 8 pm so found a cheap room for a night.

In the morning a got a bike ride to the border and managed to cross without any big complications. Getting out of Poipet, the border town on Cambodia side, turned out to be a bigger problem. Since there were no busses I had to get a private car to Siem Reap. After paying over price for my ride I ended up sharing the car with four locals and 7 huge sacks of flip flop shoes. I immediately noticed Cambodians been very different from Thais. Where Thais are shy and quiet Cambodians or Khmers as they are called are nothing alike and the two and a half hour trip I was listening their lively chat about something I had no idea of.

I had decided to stay in dorm room in a hostel recommended by Lonely Planet but was lucky to meet someone to share a room with when I arrived. One dollar hostel room sounded attempting but my criteria for a room is that it has to have walls preferably four of them and this dorm didn't exactly meet my criteria.

Our room was $4 but at least it had walls, simple but adequate.

Me and my travel companion had similar plans to explore the 8. wonder of the world the great temples of Angkor so the next morning we rented bicycles (motorbike rental is forbidden) and hit the road. Bicycling in Cambodian heat on the bumpy roads with an old bicycle is no joyride and after the first day we were exhausted. For the second day we decided to get a tuk tuk which was a smart move because we got to see the temples further away and got to take a stop at the land mine museum as well. The land mine museum was touching as the land mines are still part of everyday life in Cambodia. Many of the mine fields are still waiting to be demined and people are losing their lives and getting crippled by the mines. There are no maps of the mine fields and the demining is a very slow process. I was shocked to notice that the only European country not signed the contract forbidding land mines is my own.

The third day our bodies had recovered enough to jump back on the bikes and we got up early to see the sunrise behind the most famous of the temples; Angkor Wat. After an hour bike ride we reached Angkor Wat just before the sunrise at 5.45am. We were not the only early birds there but managed to capture the breath taking dawn with our cameras.

These great temples were built by different kings about 1000 years ago. Most of them were first built as Hindu temples but were later around 16th century converted to Buddhist ones. Every king wanted to be greater than the other so they all built their own temple which is the reason Angkor has so many temples.

After exploring these ancient ruins for three days I cannot say I've seen too many as every single one had something different compared to the other ones. But the best part of my tour has not been the temples as marvelous as they are but the people. The Khmers are friendly, smiley, welcoming and helpful. They do want to sell you something and sometimes they can try annoyingly hard but we cannot blame them as they have so little and they are never rude if you say no. And there are children everywhere mostly bare feet and sometimes naked, playing around, swimming, also selling things but always smiling and happy. They wave and yell hello when you pass by. These people have nothing but still they give so much. They have touched my heart and that is why I like Cambodia.

Photos: Cambodia

ansku — Thu, 3 Nov 2011 23:46:00 GMT

Stop for a moment

ansku — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 03:23:00 GMT

It’s quiet. People are calm. At first look a traveler would say everything looks normal. Food stalls on the streets are selling their delicious dishes. People are smiling and doing their chores. Dogs sleep on the street. Tuk tuk driver is offering a ride. When you look closer you notice that the shops are closed. There are not many people on the streets. In 7/11 the shelves are empty. Sandbags surround the empty shops and someone is building a meter high brick wall around their shop. It is too calm in this 24 hours buzzing city of Bangkok.

Everyone knows the water is there. Everyone knows it is coming. No one knows exactly when or how bad it will be but everyone knows it will come. There is nothing anyone can do to avoid it. The only way is to be prepared.

I didn’t know. I had heard about the floods up north but honestly I didn’t know. I hadn’t even realized that it could happen. There wasn’t even a single doubt in my mind that the trains wouldn’t be running or I couldn’t get water from 7/11.

I got the night train from Surat Thani to Bangkok. The train was three hours late. I had been traveling since morning so I was tired and quite happy that I could sleep on the train and not arrive in Bangkok on time at 6.30 but few hours later instead. Nothing had prepared me what I was about to see when arriving in Bangkok. First there was a bit of water on the train tracks next to ours. Then there were more water and I couldn’t see the tracks anymore. Then there were people in canoes. There were people on anything that would float. Water had taken over houses and people had moved into shackles that they had build on a bridge. At first I thought they were slums but then I realized that these people had had to leave their homes and were now living in these boxes made out of corrugated iron. I saw children, business men, office ladies, old people and entire families living their lives and surviving. It is very hard to describe the feelings that went through me seeing everything so close. I was shocked, sad, worried, scared and just speechless.

And the worst part is that I know I have only seen a glimpse of it. That it had been and it would be worse. I was upset about my travel plans but these people had lost their homes their livelihoods and some of them their lives. Things would never be the same. I was safe in the train but worried about my safety. To be honest, I was scared. What if I couldn’t get out?

I haven’t seen any water on the streets after arriving in Bangkok. The metro, skytrain, busses and trains seem to work normally. I went to the railway station to make sure I could take the train to Aranya Prathet, the border of Cambodia tomorrow and the lady on the information desk looked at me like I had just asked her if the world is round. I wasn’t completely convinced and I asked someone else but I got the same answer. I asked about the floods and they told me “no floods”. I’m not sure whether it’s denial or acceptance but everyone is acting like there is nothing to be worried about or to be afraid of.

I have to say I admire them. My first thought was to get out of the city as soon as I can but the calmness of the Thai people has given me some peace of mind. I won’t die. I’ll be ok. I am not brave enough to stay and I have the option to leave so I will. But for the sake of the people that don't have that option I hope that it is not going to be as bad as the tv news let us to believe

Getting there and away

ansku — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 03:00:00 GMT

Traveling in Thailand is not very easy. Is not that there wouldn’t be busses, trains, taxis, boats or travel agencies but there are too many and something is always lost in translation. You think you make it easier for yourself by buying train-bus-boat combination ticket from the travel agency but somehow the ticket forgets to mention the two hour wait at another travel agency before the bus picks you up and another 45 minute wait when you suddenly have to change the bus. It won’t also mention the 4km motorbike transfer to the ferry pier nor that annoying quy on the boat that knows how to convince you to book a hotel room at double of the normal price against your better judgment. How the system works is beyond any western understanding. Sometimes it works quite ok and you get from place A to the place E via B, C and D. Then again sometimes you are just left in places B, C or D (which were not even in your original itinery) without any further explanation. The trip that should normally take 3 hours will inevitably take at least 5. Not because the bus is late or the roads are bad but because of the travel agencies want to sell you something more and they make sure that you sit and wait until you have at least bought yourself a coke. If you are not going to buy something or book at least a taxi drive for your next destination then they’ll just see how long can you wait.

There is quite good public transportation system in Thailand. However the problem is finding it. Most of the locals don’t speak English and if you ask travel agency… well you know that you are not going to get the public bus. Enough bitching? Ok so I’ll tell the story.

I decided to leave Ko Phi Phi and catch the nine o’clock boat to Krabi. I wanted to take the bus to Surat Thani railway station where I could get the overnight train to Bangkok. People here don’t want you to just to go to the bus station and buy your ticket. They want to sell you the trip and in the best case accommodation as well. They know how to convince you to its convenience oppose to you doing it yourself. The problem is you never know what you get or where you end up and you always pay double the price. In my case on the boat there was a guy selling taxi tickets to Krabi town from the pier. I said I don’t want to buy it because I want to go to the bus station which I knew where outside of the town. This was no problem to him; he could sell me the transportation to the bus station and the bus trip to Surat Thani. I still didn’t want to buy it because I wanted to go to the railway station in Surat Thani which is about 15km from the city. This was also no problem as the bus could drop me to the railway station first. So I ended up buying the ticket. Do I ever learn?

I knew I had screwed up when the taxi from the pier took me to a travel agency instead of bus station in Krabi. It was no surprise that we had to wait for an hour before getting into a bus which was not the public bus I wanted to take. The bus drove directly to another travel agency in Sura Thani where people going to the islands got their boat tickets. I got the instructions to complain to the agency I got my ticket from as there was no transportation to the railway station. It was pissing down rain and I had no idea where exactly I was or how to get out of there. There were no taxis and no one knew where to find one. After wondering around in the rain for half an hour I managed to find a café and a nice lady who knew I could take a taxi to the bus station and then the bus to the train station. She even stopped the car for me and explained the driver where I wanted to go. It is good to mention here that when I say taxi it is nothing like the taxis most of us are used to and I wouldn’t have had any idea that I could have stopped the vehicle in question and get a drive even if I saw it. It was again no surprise that the taxi and the public bus were very cheap compared to the taxi drives the travel agencies offer you.

So I finally got to the railway station and got my ticket to Bangkok. The train was three hours late but I was only happy to get back to the civilization. For now I decided to try and stay away from the travel agencies if possible.

The Full Moon Party

ansku — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:44:00 GMT

Ko Phangan is obsessed about the moon. It is not enough that there is the full moon party there’s also the half moon festival and Shiva moon party, there is a full moon bus stop, full moon buckets, the road signs advertise “full moon every month” (oh, really!?!) and every shop on the island sells you the same neon colored full moon branded shirts and tops.

Apparently the correct worship includes arriving at the right time (sounds obvious but not everyone manage), painting your face and body with bright colors, dressing in beach wear and getting pissed by drinking liters of mixed drinks from buckets that were made for kid’s sandbox plays and finally giving the ultimate sacrifice peeing into the sea in the moon light. I’m not convinced that this is the religion I want to follow but I refuse to be too old for having fun and tag along.

It’s supposed to be good fun and I’m kind of looking forward to a good party. I put on some make up and my party dress. Unfortunately the party is on the beach so no high heels. I let one of the girls paint a pink heart on my cheek and I have couple of beers while the crazy (and loud) crowd of already drunken boys and girls from our bungalows suck their party booster from a bucket. I could not even imagine drinking that amount of vodka cola before the ice melts but the kids seem to be fine. They drink to get drunk.

Around 11.30 we finally head of to the party beach. There is a pickup truck with two benches at the back and we manage to hustle 14 loud and drunken tourists in. No one else seems to care that our devoted “taxi driver” is ripping us off charging 100 bahts each for a five km trip. I bargain for a discount and he agrees to round sum of 1000 bahts in total which is about 25€/$33 and of we go. The trip is scary. The road is bad, curvy and some hills are so steep that I’m afraid some of the most drunken ones will fall off but we manage to arrive without complications. We head to the beach through small alleys with stands selling even more buckets. People stock up; it’s more expensive on the beach. You will actually need to pay 10€ instead of 8 of your 1 liter vodka bucket. I’m worried. I’m not drunk enough if I can still care about the safety of the others, price of the taxi and worry about the hangover I might have if I’d buy myself a bucket. I head to a convenience store and get myself a half bottle of red wine.

People are giving me weird looks. “What are you drinking? Is that wine?” (At this point I will need to ask you to imagine the tone these questions are presented.) “Yes it is.” I know vodka. It pretends it’s your best friend and you share such a memorable moments but next day it will literally leave you in a way that you wish you never had met. So I stick to my wine.

The beach is full of people and the music is loud. It is not only one music it’s many. On the whole beach you cannot find a spot where you wouldn’t hear at least 3 different tunes at once so it is a bit hard to dance at least if you’re not completely pissed. We hover around the beach trying to find the perfect party spot. I forget myself to watch a fire show for a while and I suddenly notice my “friends” are gone. The friend I actually came with found herself a bloke and the rest of the group has just dissolved to the party crowd. I’m actually quite relieved. I mean, I wouldn’t mind hanging around with my friend but I reckon she will appreciate the “alone time” with the guy and the rest of the gang I’m not missing very much. And then someone starts to talk to me. I recognize the guy from the group from our bungalows. His shorts are completely wet and his body paint has smudged big time. “I fell into the ocean” he explains. He doesn’t have much to say but he won’t stop talking. The poor guy is trying so hard I almost feel sorry for him but I have to let him down. “Look, I reckon you should go and I find your friends. I’ll bet you’ll find another girl to hang with. I mean, your more than welcome to stay with me and talk but that is all you gonna get from me tonight.” He looks like a wet puppy when he asks me why, but settles with my answer and hangs around.

It’s around 4 am when I decide that I’ve had enough. There are people passed out on the beach, some couples have obviously forgotten where their room was and people start to look like they’ve seen better days still unaware of their current state. I’ve finished my wine had a bottle of water and a bite to eat and we finally manage to find my friend with her bloke. When we head back to our bungalows I decide that it’s time for a moonlight swim. It’s the low tide and the water is shallow on our beach anyway so it’s really not dangerous. I feel quite ok when I finally crawl into bed freshened by the cool water and night breeze. The next morning I wake up with something which I first think is the worst hangover ever.

Photos: Thailand

ansku — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:49:00 GMT

fortune teller

ansku — Sat, 8 Oct 2011 16:48:00 GMT

I'm in Bangkok. It's good to be back in civilized world with shopping centers, cinemas and skytrains. It's sweaty and cloudy an a bit rainy but I like it. I'm staying in a nice hostel in a good company with some other travelers. Just down the road there is a food market where you can buy unrecognizable food with weird names but it's very tasty and sometimes really spicy. Sticky rice with sweet mango and coconut sauce is my favorite but it's a desert.

Then he took my right hand. "You will have a long life. You are very lucky. No big health issues. Money is not a problem. 1 2 3 4.." then he stopped and looked confused and continued, "you have many boyfriends, but you can only marry one" he laughed. Then he took my left hand. "Yes, very long life, but never mind." Did he see something that he didn't want to tell? Everything was a bit too positive to be true, yet he had known that I have studied and done my masters and Spain is southwest from Finland. He never actually said that I will get married; he said you can get married. There is a big difference so I'm not much wizer about my future.

Tomorrow I'm continuing my trip to south as I want to see the famous full moon party and also because I cannot go to the north because of the flooding. It seems that I bring the rain with me: first year in Barcelona it rained 6 weeks in a row, in Australia Queensland was completely under water and now the northern Thailand. Let's hope it stops there.

Few days ago I went to a fortune teller. For 100 Baths (2,5€) he promised to tell my past, present and future with an astrological map and read my palm. I gave him my date, time and place of birth and he did some calculations and started talking. "You are very good with studies. You are smart. You have done masters and you can do doctorate as well. Your body is really strong and you have a good health. Maybe you have a problem with your friend, but nevermind. from your next birthday to the birthday after that you can get married. There are two men and the other one is true love. But it is not to good to have children at that time. If you do there will be complications and possibly miscarriedge. But you can have children in 2014. That is better time. Now write down guestions and I will answer them all." I was puzzled what to ask. It is hard to ask questions about your own life from a stranger. I managed to write down five questions: will I find a good jobb, which country will I live in, will I get married, do I get to travel more and finally will I be happy? "You will get good job, maybe a government job. Job is no problem for you." He made some calculations and said "you will live in south west from the place you were born. I already said that you can get married after this year. You will travel more and you will be very happy."

Experiences

ansku — Sun, 2 Oct 2011 15:47:00 GMT

Since I came back to Bali I stayed two nights in Candidasa which is on the east coast. I spent one day at the pool recovering from my trip from Gili and the second day I decided to test my driving skills in Balinese traffic. I rented a scooter for a day and drove to see the beautiful Taman Tirta Gangga water palace built by the last Rajah.

After Candidasa I decided to return to Ubud where I had spent only few nights before my trip to Gili. I stayed in same adorable homestay as before and was welcomed back with opened arms. Some people find Ubud too touristic and noisy but I think it is a very pleasant small town. Also its handy location makes it an excellent base for some touring around Bali. I had already done one tour to see some temples in the area so this time I decided to get the scooter again. The traffic in Bali is not as bad as it first looks. There is a certain logic to it and it is actually quite flexible. The bumpers are actually smoother here than in Barcelona. The only worrying thing for me is the ten to twelve year olds driving scooters with an eight year old on the back and both without helmets.

I visited the amazing rice terraces in Jatiluwih which is an UNESCO world heritage site. I bathed in the holy and heeling (and also very green) in two different hot springs. I saw the famous sunset behind the temple of Tanah Lot. I got a ticket for driving wrong way on a one way street as it was dark and no one saw the sign. I got lost and drove aimlessly enjoying the views and the feeling of freedom. I saw volcanoes, rice fields, temples, villages after villages, waterfalls, trees with flowers in the brightest colors, monkeys begging for treats beside the roads, five on a scooter families, kids in their school uniforms waving and yelling hello as I passed by and all this got me gasping for how beautiful this island can be. After a day’s drive I was covered in black dust. I learnt that there is no load too big to be transported on a scooter, if you have a minibus for seven people you should at least try to fit in 14 and if there’s a truck the load should be at least double as high as the sides, hati hati means be careful and honking means “excuse me but I’m going to make a crazy attempt to overtake you in his curve, let’s hope that we both survive” rather than “what the hell are you doing, you idiot”. There are two main rules on the road: try not to hit anyone and try your best not to be hit by anyone and it seems to be working.

I was invited to a wedding ceremony by my host Widia and I eagerly accepted the invitation. He dressed me and two of his other guests in traditional sarongs so we could attend the ceremony in a family temple performed by the high priest. It was definitely an interesting experience. The ceremony itself included a lot of splashing and drinking of holy water, incents and prayers, however we (the tourists) seemed to be the only ones actually interested in the ceremony. People were talking, eating and having tea and no one but us took any pictures. The ceremony wasn’t very long and the whole wedding was over in 4 or 5 hours. The food was very good. The bride and groom looked like pretty dolls in their traditional dresses and make up. And the happiest person in the wedding seemed to be the mother of the bride, the couple didn’t look happy at all for some reason.

After spending eight days in Ubud I booked a shuttle bus to take me to Lovina in North Bali. On arrival I booked a snorkeling trip to Pulau Menjangan which is a small island on the northwest corner of Bali and a part of Bali’s only national park. It is said to be the best diving spot in Bali and after seeing part of the underwater world by snorkeling I don’t doubt it. I even found Nemo! I wasn’t as lucky with my dolphin watch trip that I had booked (and paid) at the same time. The next morning I was supposed to be picked up at 6 am to go to see some dolphins but the guy never showed up. I made a new booking for the next day but there were no dolphins that morning. I was puzzled whether to try a third time the next morning and since my inner alarm woke me up at 5 I decided to go for it. And yes this time I saw dolphins. After getting up at 5.30 three mornings in a row and all the hassle of going to the tourist police to find the guy who didn’t show up and arguing with him to get my money back for the first dolphin trip that never happened.

After almost 4 weeks in Bali I'm impressed. The warnings in Australia "why do you want to go to Bali? It's only ful of drunken Aussies" were not true. The only Aussie tourists I've seen were in Kuta. You just need to go a bit further. I've truly enjoyed my time here. Only two more days to go and I will continue my trip to Thailand, first stop, Bangkok.

Ramayana

ansku — Sun, 2 Oct 2011 15:26:00 GMT

Once upon a time there were two kings, Rama of Ayodia symbolizing good and Rahwana of Alengka symbolizing evil. Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Laksamana were living in a forest near Nandaka Mountain. One day they see a golden deer. Sita not knowing that the deer is actually an incarnation of Marica, the minister of Rahwana, wants Rama to catch it. Rama leaves his brother to protect Sita and goes after the deer. Sita believes that Rama’s life is in danger and convinces Laksamana to go and help him. Laksamana doesn’t want to leave Sita but in the end goes to find his brother. Sita now left alone is captured by Rahwana and carried to his kindom of Alengka.

Sita held as a prisoner gets depressed and thinks that maybe Rama has forgotten her when Hanoman the king of the monkeys comes on a mission from Rama bringing her a ring and telling her she will soon be rescued. Sita sends a golden flower to Rama with Hanoman.

Hanoman returns to Ayodia and gives his monkey army to Rama to help him to rescue Sita. Rama, Laksamana and the army go to Alengka but outside Rahwana’s palace Rahwana’s son shoots a magic arrow that becomes a snake that encircles Rama and Laksamana and they cannot move. Wisnu hears their prayers for help and sends Garuda to eat the snake.

Sugriwa, the chief general of the monkey army, leads the army to fight the Rahwana’s forces. They defeat Rahwana and Sita is rescued. They return to Ayodia in glory.

The story is taken from the great Ramayana epic which was written hundreds of years ago by Indian Hindu author, Bagawan Walmiki. The story is performed in traditional Balinese dance called Kecak. It’s performed by over one hundred dancers and singers and the music is unique to this dance because there are no musical instruments used. All the sounds are human voices and some hand clapping.

and so came the tears

ansku — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:21:00 GMT

Today I have travelled by boat, by horse carriage, by minibus, by ferry, by another minibus and by foot. Maybe being hungry and tired have caused an emotional wave to flush over me or maybe it is the feeling of being so powerless and helpless in front of the things that you see that it’s easier to just close your eyes from them but today I cried.

After 6 nights in Gili Trawangan I had regained my strength for the trip back to Bali. I had spent my days mostly by doing nothing but a little bit snorkeling and wondering around. Thursday I had a really bad day and I hoped the whole bloody island as far as the pepper grows. After I made the decision to leave on Saturday my spirits got lifted and I had a very pleasant Friday on the island. I had given up the idea to stay in Lombok and as my helpful travel mates from Poland were leaving as well I decided to join them for this long journey back to Bali. I didn’t want to make it too long so I decided to go to place called Candidasa which is very close to the harbor where the slow ferry comes.

After waking up at 7, having a quick coffee and saying goodbye to my roomie Bianca I once again climbed to the boat. To my surprise I felt sad to leave, not so much the island but all the nice people I met. I have been surrounded by so many people and even though I like travelling alone I couldn’t help feeling a bit lonely. The trip itself was much like the trip to Gili so I don’t bore you with the details but this time instead of concentrating to misery I saw the one of others which at the end was worse.

When we got out of the boat at Lombok our bags and us where stuffed in a horse carriage except that the horse was rather a pony. Such a small creature was pulling not just the carriage but three backpacks, trolley, three passengers and a driver. I felt so sorry for the thing that I felt like walking. There is always an excuse that we had a bus to catch and I had no idea from where but the truth is that I closed my eyes and tried not to think about it. The driver kept whipping the poor pony so it would run faster and keep up with the speed of the cars and the scooters around it. I almost didn’t want to bargain the price so he could get some food for the skinny pony but once again I closed my eyes the excuse being that I knew it wouldn’t make any difference and we were upset that we had to pay extra as we were told that the bus would pick us up from the same spot the boat left us.

When we arrived to the harbor we had some time to eat. I got some rice with fish from an old man selling some food packed in banana leaves. At first it was just annoying because for every traveler there were one person who sold something. Old men, young guys, children who were suppose to be in school all selling something. As I got my Indonesian lunch pack for 50 cents I wondered how on earth these people could make a living like this. There was one man who reminded me a lot of my own granddad. He was selling knifes with carved handles for $6 but no one was buying. I had to close my eyes to hide the sadness that I felt. Suddenly my own life seemed too privileged and shallow.

As we arrived to Bali I said goodbyes to my travel mates who were continuing to Kuta and I got into another minibus, this time a quite luxurious one with seatbelts. After short drive we arrived to Candidasa. Soon I noticed that there were not a lot of choice of accommodation and a short talk with passing tourists revealed Candidasa to be rather expensive as well. Finally I managed to find an Australian owned home stay for 140 000 which seems cheap after getting offered rooms for 500 000. As I took a cold but fresh water shower and fell into my big bed with clean sheets I felt empty and sad and I cried.

Finding Nemo

ansku — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:13:00 GMT

My friends had booked a diving trip for this morning so I was offered the opportunity to join them on the boat for some snorkeling. So I woke up early once again to rent a snorkeling gear and head to the sea. The snorkeling gear rent for a day was only 20 000 rupees (just a bit over $2 less than 2€). I was nervous as I had never done snorkeling before and I’m not really a water person but this opportunity was too good to miss. I had been told about this wonderful world below the surface with beautiful corals, fish and sea turtles and I wanted to see it.

After a short boat trip we first watched the divers getting ready and then disappearing to the sea then got on our masks and got into the water. Once I had my mask on and got under the water breathing through the pipe all my fears dissolved. It was surprisingly easy and the underwater world was amazing. It was like in big aquarium. I was surrounded by bright colored fish everywhere in all the colors, sizes and shapes. The coral was like a surface of a strange planet below me and just when I thought I saw the biggest, the smallest or the brightest colored fish something else emerged from the coral leaving me amazed. The highlight was definitely the big sea turtle that suddenly emerged from the turquoise water and was just right in front of me. I would like to say the turtle was huge but I know they can get much bigger. This one’s shell was just a bit over half meter long. The turtle got up to the surface to breathe and then dived again. I was following it for awhile but then it disappeared between the corals.

Soon after I had to get back to the boat as it had to go and fetch the divers who where back from their underwater journey. I only saw a glimpse of it but it left me the thirst to explore more. Who knows, maybe I’ll find Nemo one day.

Photos: Gili

ansku — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:51:00 GMT

The paradise

ansku — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:42:00 GMT

As I have not been able to get online for awhile I post few stories at once so just bare with me. My first day at Gili Trawangan is turning into night as I hear the fourth call for the prayer from the mosque. Most of the population here are Muslims or at least they should be. However a short talk with a local fruit seller tells me another story. He says: “why did you spend your time in Bali? We don’t like Bali cause they have too many gods. Here at Gili there is no god, just bananas.” Me the well know atheist am about to raise my voice for objection, but I just laugh.

The place is definitely different from Bali and I’m not quite sure if I like it at all. Overall it’s very touristic island. Everything is made for tourists that come here for the beautiful beaches, clear water, the coral reefs or maybe for something else. I have decided to take a dive to see what is this place so famous for. I’m afraid that if I don’t, I will leave disappointed that I came. The restaurants advertise fresh magic mushrooms and offer the way to eternal happiness. Each place have even sexier, fresher or more magical ones. “This is a paradise” they say but I’m not convinced. I didn’t come here to get high from mushrooms and I feel sad if that really is the only way to happiness here in Gili.

The island itself is beautiful though. There are no cars or other motor vehicles apart from boats. People go by bicycles or horse carriages. Tailless cats are everywhere. Apparently it’s some sort of genetic disorder and the kittens are born tailless. The water is clear blue and warm and full of corals and the weather is hot and humid. After yesterdays boat trip I’m happy that the day turns out to be a bit cloudy. My feet are burned badly and walking with thongs hurt. The roosters here are timed exactly as in Bali, they start at 6.15 so I was up at 7 again. Luckily I had an early night yesterday so I wasn’t too tired. I had a nice breakfast an onion-tomato-mushroom-omelet with cheese (can’t describe the satisfaction for finally having some cheese) served on whole meal toast and some coffee which looked really suspicious at first but turned out to be quite nice. I only paid 27 000 which is around $3 or 2.5€. I’m sharing a room with a Dutch girl which is convenient cause we save some money. The room is not that bad but the bathroom is shared and the shower salty water so we are looking to change tomorrow for a bungalow with its own bathroom and fresh water. It will cost a little bit extra but with 75 000 ($8.5/6€) per person I think we’ll survive.

I need some air

ansku — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:36:00 GMT

After spending three quite pleasant nights in Ubud I was heading to Gili islands. I wouldn’t have mind spending one more day in Ubud just doing nothing and relaxing but my neighbors 2 Polish guys were going on Sunday so I decided to join them. It is always nice to have some company when you don’t exactly know where you’re going.

Our trip began at 7 am when the minibus came to pick us up from our guesthouse. The bus trip took about an hour and a half. The bus wasn’t too full and it was nice to see the passing villages to wake up to a new day. I read somewhere that the slow boat would normally take about four hours but that it would be perfectly normal as well if it would take seven instead. We walked and carried our luggage from the bus to the ferry where we were placed on the top deck. I was quite worried when I saw no shade what so ever but I was still thinking it wouldn’t be that bad. At this point my fellow travelers on the deck (all backpackers) were still enthusiastic about the trip sitting on their backpacks trying to avoid touching the dirty deck, girls in bikinis trying to make the most of the opportunity to get some sun. But as the trip went on and on you could see the spirits broken one by one.

We were sitting on a towel leaning our back to our backpacks and sleeping. We were sweating and trying to cover ourselves from the burning sun as best as we could. I woke up at some point with the terrible headache. It felt like hours had gone by but to my disappointment it was only an hour and a half. I went to look for a shade and found kiosk selling some drinks and snacks. I was suppose to name this story “I need potato crisps” because when I saw the Lays logo I just had to get them. I don’t normally buy crisps so I considered that to be some sort of a low point in my life but luckily I didn’t know what was still waiting. After eating the small bag of seaweed flavored crisps my headache started fading. It was obvious that I just needed the salt. We had been on the ferry for two hours and the worst was yet to come.

Somehow the time passed and we started the see land in front of us. It had been three hours of journey and I was hopeful that we would be there in four and we wouldn’t have to take this much longer. As we started to get closer people some more burnt than others started packing their things. The ferry had stopped and we got down from the deck. My travel mates helped with my bag and we got three levels lower on to the car deck. Everyone packed in front of the busses, scooters and cars we were waiting the bridge to come down but the wait would be long. The drivers started their busses to get the aircon going and the deck started to fill up with gasses. Soon it became impossible for me to breath. I started gasping air which made it worse. We were in a gas chamber with no way out. I felt tickles on my fingertips and my vision going plur. We had been there for half an hour and I wasn’t the only one feeling sick. We managed to find a staircase up and go into a small balcony with fresh air. After one more hour the gates finally opened and we got our out from the ferry hungry, thirsty and sweaty.

We were at Lombok. Once again we were stuffed in a mini bus for the next part of our trip. Two hours drive up north on a beautiful mountain road. We drove through small villages with wedding parties through corn and rice fields and up and down to the mountain through jungle with breathe taking sceneries and monkeys aside the road. Then we arrived at small beach with boats. We were in the boat, maybe 20 backpackers and their bags, sun setting down on the right and our destination finally glooming in front. At this point I thought there is no way I’m ever gonna to do this again.

Ubud

ansku — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:33:00 GMT

Ubud is a beautiful place. It is quite touristic but I think it hasn’t lost its personality to the tourism yet. You can still find the streets were the locals live and do their everyday chores although they do try to get their share of the money that the tourists bring in. There are lots of shops, home stays as well as fancy hotels, tourist “information” shops which are more like local travel agents and restaurants.

On my second day I rented a bicycle for 20 000 rupees (a bit over $2 less than 2€) for a day. My first destination was the monkey temple which is surprisingly located in monkey forest and the forest is full of monkeys of course. Monkeys are always entertaining to watch. Monkeys eating bananas, sleeping, playing, grooming, swimming, scratching their asses or just doing some other funny monkey business. Some were trying to steal hats or other items from poor tourists and there was a swim jumping competition going on among the young ones.

After the monkey temple I went just cycling around but without a map it was hard to know where to go so I decided to book a tour for the next day. So on Saturday I went on a temple tour. The driver took us to see five different temples, we visited a coffee farm where we tasted different coffees and teas and we saw the crater of the collapsed volcano, the lake Batur which is located in the crater and the mount Batur with black traces of old lava flows. We ended our trip with nice views over some rice terraces. Over all the tour was quite nice but I was a bit disappointed that the tour price of 130 000 ($15/11€) didn’t include anything else than the car and the driver. All the temples had entrance fees from 15 000 to 20 000 so at the end the tour wasn’t as cheap as I had thought. Also the view over the volcano crater to the lake Batur had a price and even though the view was from a public road we had to pay to pass. It was a bit annoying that every place we stopped especially the beautiful temples were surrounded by all sorts of souvenir stalls and that people were constantly trying to sell you something. It felt like there is almost nothing holy in this country and there are no limits in getting your share. But at the end I was happy I took the tour. I don’t have to see any more temples and I once again learnt something new.

The coffee horror

ansku — Fri, 9 Sep 2011 14:30:00 GMT

I have come to realize that there is no such thing in Bali that getting up late. I’m quite fine with that but I need my morning coffee to make sure that I am actually awake and not just sleep walking. When staying at Kuta the coffee served at the breakfast was quite awful. Luckily they had some white stuff resembling milk to put in it. However this morning my host Widia informed me that there is no milk at Bali just coppee which is their way to pronounce coffee. At first look the coffee powder looked like instant coffee but I soon noticed that it was actually really finely grounded coffee that doesn’t dissolve in water. No need to say that when you mix it with boiling water you only get undrinkable black liquid. As I still need something to support my coffee addiction I’ll be heading to a place I saw yesterday called Starbucks.

After paying honey (59 000 rupees) for my huge mug of strong latte and espresso brownie I start to feel human again. My brain starts to work and I realize what I have done. I have spent a full bus fare of money just to get coffee. I decide never to do it again.

Cold shower and warm wind

ansku — Fri, 9 Sep 2011 14:01:00 GMT

Anyone who knows me at all must not be surprised when I state that there is no weather hot enough for a cold shower. I prefer my shower to be hot or at least warm and before you go and call me crazy I assure that there is the same logic behind it as there is in dipping into an ice cold water in the middle of the winter, the breath taking sport that we Finnish call avantouinti. When you dip into the cold water the air (even when -20°C) feels warm afterwards. It works the same way when you have a hot shower, the air feels cooler afterwards. In Bali there is no such thing as hot shower. I haven’t even seen warm shower. There is only one tap and that’s for cold water. I knew to expect it but that still didn’t prepare me for my first cold shower in Bali.

After my breath taking shower experience I booked my shuttle bus to Ubud. I paid 60 000 rupees which is around $7 or 5€. There were seven passengers, seven backpacks, a trolley, a surfboard, the driver and a minibus. One girl her feet out of the window, me sitting on my other leg the other one on top of my trolley and under one backpack and one quy squatting on the seat surfboard on the roof we started the journey. All windows open we shuffled through the traffic. I felt the warm wind on my face and got that lovely feeling of complete freedom. For a moment I had no worries at all. The driver admitted that we had a bit of an issue with non existing leg space in the bus so he made an arrangement for us to swap the bus. We got a bigger vehicle and the journey continued.

I was a bit worried how to find accommodation in Ubud but the problem was solved easily. As soon as I got out of the bus I was offered a room for good price. The price was actually quite good 100 000 rupees (which is around $11 or 8€) per night breakfast included and the room turned out to be even better than the hotel room in Kuta where I paid 250 000. The place is a lovely home stay called Widia which is the name of my host. He is also a painter and my room is decorated with few of his paintings. His business card also mentions Balinese massage and cooking class. His house is located within walking distance from Ubud’s main road but far enough not to hear the cars. The street is absolutely lovely. There are hardly any shops just houses and beautiful flowering trees. Along the street there are decorative gates and when you look inside you can see the elephant headed hindu god Ganesha. It seems like paradise on earth though I’m quite worried about the amount of roosters I’ve seen walking around. If only one rooster could get me up at 7.30 on holiday I wonder what 10 of them would be capable of.