back then, bali was-

Bali, Indonesia

11/08/08 - 15/08/08

haven't updated some legs of my travel, though i love them all very, very much. So much more after I sort of settled into this sedentary working life. Sometimes, just wonder if being an adult is about doing things that you don't really like, but do them anyway, just because. Or it being an excuse to be lazy and do much about nothing...

Back then en route to Bromo, someone mentioned that Bali is more famous than Indonesia. Bali is the ultimate holiday island - surfer's paradise, diver's hunt for molamola, beach bums and culture buffs, party goers and shopaholics, singles, couples, families - there's something for everyone. How is that possible?

After Bromo volcanoes i took a crazy 15h public bus to Bali. By public i mean the bus actually stops every ten minutes or so along the road to pick up and drop off passengers. Non aircon. Smoking passengers. The bus that was aptly named Mad Joe (!) madness indeed!

On the ferry crossing - Indonesia has many huge ferry crossings whereby buses and trucks will pile onto the ferry that crosses between islands - the stereo played ONE indonesian love song repeatedly for about 2h. I don't think I could every forget the song it was madness.

When I first arrived in Bali I absolutely disliked it. It has to be the one of the most touristed place on earth. There seemed to be more tourists than Balinese. I was wandering around poppies lane I and II searching for lodging and it screams tourists everywhere.

But Bali grew on me somehow. haha. I miss Bali!

Anyway, Bali is predominantly Hindu, in contrast with Java being predominantly Muslim. They observe many rituals and you can see them daily and many festivals such as this procession that we chanced upon.

Belsan joined me in Bali on the 3rd day. woohoo! :) we set the meeting place to be a certain Fat Yogi in poppies lane, we just found the name intriguingly funny. Being the blur me i woke up at 5-ish in the morning and waited along the lane since 6am - but bel's flight departs at 6am and arrives only about 8am. i panicked by 7am and called up random ppl to find out where she can be while talking to almost half the ppl who passed by-

it's way way to early to be doing something in kuta, bali at 7am!

But bel arrives safe and sound and we settled down her old school deuter bag and my backpack into a pretty reasonable lodging at Jln Legian and headed off to Ubud via public transport instead of the perama bus. Because we advocate public transport.

On day two in Bali i went for some dive trip off Nusa Dua. The dive was unbelievably and unbearably cold; by half tank i made myself surface and shivered and curled up for the next half hour or so (since i did not bring a towel and the staff were still doing their laundry and could only produce a towel after a certain half hour or so).

As usual i would like to be compensated for my half tank and the owner let me go on some 'turtle island' trip for free with this other Japanese couple, but i had to pretend to be his staff. :)

On the 'turtle island' the friendly guides speak Japanese and introduce you to a resident python, resident turtles, resident iguana, resident bat etc and make you take photos with them without your permission. So i had an iguana on my head, a python on my shoulder and a bat in my hands and all these in my camera.

Which on retrospect is ultimate kitsch but still, how often do you get iguanas on your head and pythons on your shoulders (!)

I dig anthony bourdain on discovery travel and living. There was one episode where he ate ibu oka babi guling in Ubud - and proclaimed it one of the best roasted pork in the world: Though a part of me would like to stay here and eat pig until I lose consciousness, there's a lot more to do and see.

I affirm the above.

Belsan and i absolutely cleaned out the babi guling with rice that we shared. Come to think if it, there's nothing for sale except babil guling in different portions. haha :)

I have never liked pork so much - i've never been a pork fan - but this was as near a genius a pig can achieve!

Ubud being the cultural center of Bali, we caught a Balinese geese theater titled 'the white goose trumphs the white goose'. We were pretty amused by that goose, it was really stepping on the other goose mercilessly!

After that we shopped around Ubud, buying random things such as fridge magnets, wooden rings, balinese musical instruments etc. I was on the hunt for the supposedly awe inspiring rice fields-

which we found the enxt day en route to Tulamben. Tulamben is about four hours north of Kuta by car and it hosts one of the best shore entry dive site in Bali. We planned a crazy itinerary for the day, diving 6-3, surfing 3-6. The rice terraces of Tirtagangga where we took photos were amazing.

cowboy outfit - my dive slate lent to belsan and the cowboy divemaster promptly tried to point out the fishies in the ocean. Morish Idols? How about morei eels and GROOpERS? hahaha the buaya part was hilarious!

And this is the Bali bombing memorial, at a corner of Kuta.

Sunset, Kuta. I probably spent a full week in Bali back then. It's an easy-going place and pleasant enough to stay for a long while. ohhh plus. i think I'm going back to Bali this year...

and thanks to belsan for being such a spontaneous travel buddy! you are great fun :) hahaha you probably like the part where three of us went on that surfer guy's bike with the surfboards together rite. ohh and the teh botol of course!

dive! sipadan :):)

18/06/08 - 23/06/08
dive! sipadan


Ever since we had our dive license we've always wanted to dive Sipadan. And so we did - dith did a Sipadan dive for her birthday :):)

I attempted local public transport again. It was a lil hard to locate the Tawau - Semporna bus as you look above your heading trying to find the destination.


Semporna is a very small town with nothing to do. Had to stay a night because the Uncle Chang boat only departs once a day at 7am. Stayed at a dragon inn which has a 22-bed dorm - i;ve never had that many beds! haha.

And i really dreaded my stay there because i was attacked/swarmed/ate up by mosquitoes. i covered myself with my sweater, dress, shirt and they still won't leave me alone, i slept curled up under all the clothers i have :(:(


The sunset.


Mabul island! It's a pretty small island you can go round it on foot in about an hour's time. Inhabited by the local fishing village and also quite a sizeable population of philippines ppl i tnk. They call them the sea gypsies too.


Stairway to heaven.

hahaha. A broken jetty on the other side of the island. Fret not, they have two other functioning ones. I jumped off from one of them to go snorkeling and then, couldn't really climbed back up. yikes!

but of course i did because i am still alive typing this now.


We did 6 dives at Sipadan and 3 dives at Mabul. woohooooo diving rocks!

There were 2 swiss guys who actually did 6 DAYS of diving at Sipadan and everyday they'd do Barracuda Point. Six times of Barracuda Point!

It's easily Sipadan's best dive site. Full of pelagics. I could rattle off statistics of one dive-

never-ending coral wall. check.
twenty turtles, hawksbill, green and even a leatherback. check.
a dozen sharks, mostly the resident white-tip. check.
tornado of barracuda. check. ohh this was really amazing. The 1st time i see the huge school of chevron barracudas but the 2nd time i found myself inside the tornado surrounded all over by barracudas and cut off from the rest of the divers, for a while. Surreal.


We always stroll over to the Sipadan water village (?) which is the ultimate expensive resort on Mabul and they always greeted us like we were guests. lol. We'll stay there someday.


Beautiful waters :):)


While walking around the island they asked if i'd like to drink coconut. ok. So i thought i'd have to buy some coconuts but no, the guy and his friends just climbed up the tree and threw the coconut down while his friend swung hard at the coconut to break the fall.

woohoo!


But Uncle Chang's the only place that has a nightlife of sorts. Everynight the night band plays and when the boss is around everyone gets free beer. Madhouse!

Everyone seemed really happy with freeflow spirits. haha. ohh well.

They have a makeshift drum set made of pails and stuff which was quite funky. And they sing a Mabul/Sipadan song and they do it when you leave the island :):)


One of the DMs. He braided his beard!

Bromo!

08/08/08 - 09/08/08

Mount Bromo, Cemoro Lawang, East Java

Took a day train from Yogya-Surabaya. The previous evening a handful of ppl were advising me to buy a direct minivan ticket to Gunung Bromo, but I opted for local public transport.

Train from Yogya-Surabaya, hitched a ride from Surabaya Gubeng-Bungurasih, took a bus to Probolinggo (horrible place!), took a 1h ojek uphill with my humongous backpack to Cemoro Lawang. It was a long, long, long journey.

The hitch was quite funny. I got out of the train station and wanted to take a bemo i.e. bus. Saw a whole bunch of ppl boarding a bus so I went to board as well.

'Do you go to bungurasih?'

'Sorry this is a private bus. We are going to a wedding.' oops hahahahaha.

He gave me a ride in his car 'cause it's on the way. The father of two was very concerned about me going to the volcano alone - he was so worried that he even asked me to join his family for the wedding for the night and he'll send me to the volcano tomorrow.

Wedding crasher again! I really wanted to join but I had a schedule to keep i.e. belsan. Ahhh. So no wedding in indonesia for me. Anyway back to the journey.

While going uphill the horrible ojek driver threatened not to send me to my destination. It was in the middle of nowhere, no houses, no ppl whatsoever, just in the middle of some hills. I was darn upset and was shouting at him to bring me to my destination. He wanted more $$ and I refused. ARGH.

When I arrived at Cemoro Lawang i.e. base camp of those volcanoes, I headed to café lava hostel. It was already dark and i was really exhausted from traveling since 7am :/:/ and -

'Sorry we are fully booked.''Can you tell me where else can I go?' 'You can try hotel x or hotel y.' 'How much do they cost?' 'I dunno.'

In the end I managed to get a homestay deal at 60,000rp plus a free ride up the sunrise peak and Bromo volcano crater. :):) Threw my bag and myself on the bag feeling extremely exhausted. So much for catching sunrise with volcanoes!

The next morning left the room at about 3am, and went up to Bkt Penanjakan on a bike. Had on a thick jacket, my sweaters, gloves and sarong. Brrrr cold. The ride up was quite amazing. It's pitch black, and the galaxy of stars were spread over the sky.

If it was the right guy it'd be really romantic lol.

It was rather shocking at the peak, jammed up with maybe a hundred jeeps and hundreds of ppl. Gotta tiptoe to take a decent shot of sunrise. But it was beautiful. But way too many ppl. I would attempt merapi next time, because you can get lava there!

From the peak you can catch a glimpse of the Sumeru volcano belching out smoke amongst the volcanic structures dotting the tengger caldera. It's like seeing national geographic live.

Volcanoes!

After volcano viewing we moved on to catch a caldera. I think i'd have to be a pretty good biker if i ever attempt Bromo as it's mostly ash, sand and bushes and stones for the roads.

A rocky hole a hundred feet below belching out smoke. More accurately, sulphur. Literally smelling sulphur. The hike up was harder than I anticipated, thought it would be piece of cake. Think I was a li'l unfit or it was a li'l altitude or it was a li'l sulphur. And my converse were rather frictionless for a while I was afraid that I'd slide into the fuming crater :o:o

Smoke and sulphur at the mouth of Bromo.

Picturesque cemoro lawang. Was sitting on the grass patch enjoying the breeze and shot some photos of the little boy scouts who were playing football and swarming around me excitedly when I started showing them their own shots.:):)

Next stop, bali!

A cup of Java?

05/05/08 - 08/08/08
Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Borobudur

Arrived in Jakarta only because it's the cheapest flight. At the customs they asked if i have a return ticket. No, i didn't. They won't let me enter Indonesia at the Jakarta airport. !!!

So i made a phone call to dad and while he took 10,000 years to buy an online ticket, either they were tired of waiting for me (i was miserably stranded at the airport customs for 1h+), they let me thru without a return ticket. Woohoo!

This is Monas - Monumen Nasional. They joke that it's the last erection of sukarno. haha.

Ojek is my usual mode of transport i.e. the motorbike. Jakarta's traffic is really crazy, i'd rank it crazier than Ho Chi Minh City's notorious traffic! I was on the ojek with my huge backpack and the guy was jerking his brakes and zipping thru the traffic, and cars are honking at us and at others all the time - for once i was really scared that i would lose a limb or topple off the bike or get scarred by some exhaust OMG :/:/

This was my 40,000rp (S$6.50) dirt cheap barebone room in Jakarta's Jln Jaksa. Thereafter i set this standard whenever i bargain for rooms - i am quite determined at not getting ripped off (one of my greatest fear in indonesia?! hahahaha)

Took a night train from Jakarta to Yogya. What a train ride!

Opted for bisnis class - yes it is business and no it's not - it's non-aircon and has green non-reclining seats for the night! I was initially very afraid of getting pickpocketed - i'm carrying my red slingbag (come rob me!) and heard many stories of pickpockets but the passenger next to me has a newer phone than i, so all was safe.

The train ride was sooo entertaining. All the time there're ppl going down the aisles shouting 'aqua aqua', 'mis-son mis-son' (?!) - those are drinking water brands in indonesia! Tons of ppl selling packed rice, sate, cigarettes, mats, hankerchiefs, and even transvesites bursting into songs at like 2am?? Goodness. He. She. was singing some indon song and waving his/her tambourine around, and you can tip if you like. Then there were dozen other guys playing guitars and singing love songs. hahaha.

The guy next to me offered to sleep on the legroom i.e. on the not very clean floor so that i can sleep on both our seats? Either he is really really nice or he is mental. MENTAL. I wouldn't sleep on the legroom under our seats even if you'd paid me!

That was a batik gallery in Yogya, with beautiful pieces. They run about 50,000rp to 1,000,000 or more rp!

So i arrived at Yogya at dawn and walked by instinct to Jln Sosro, the backpackers' area and everyone starts talking to me 'Where you going!' 'What you looking for?' 'You want accomodation' 'hey you!' 'Come here!' 'Where you from!' ohhhhhhh no! Walked straight ahead, ignored everyone, came to the end of the street. yikes i had to turn back.

But finally i let someone helped me find a room, thought he was some travel agent but he was just a friendly soul. Which is what Yogya really is - a really friendly place. Everyone is so nice and friendly i felt much relaxed here compared to Jakarta!

Jln Sosro has lotsa small alleys and lanes and you are supposed to get off your ojeks in some lanes :):)

Went to explore the kraton which is some palace complex of the sultan. I tagged along the tour with a friendly family from Kalimantan and they insisted i joined them on a becak tour - it was unbearable as i squeezed terribly into that tricycle with another girl and boy!

Made my way to Borobudur on an ojek, about 1h on the bike. Borobudur - comprised of 9 terraces and is decorated with 2,000+ carved relief panels and 500+ buddha statues with 72 stupas on the topmost terrace.

Apparently it was believed that borobudur was built in the middle of a lake such that it represents a floating lotus!

Sunset at the borobudur gives a yoga-esque feeling. Just lean against a stupa, put on your shades, and look into the horizon. There were many tourists there, but it was still as peaceful as you can imagine.

There was a group of buddhists chanting prayers there too. I always imagined buddhist chants to be in chinese or some sanskrit-sounding lingua but in bahasa indonesia! hahahaha.

In each and every bell-shaped stupa there is a buddha inside. However many are headless. There are also some buddhas that had the stupa removed.

The classic borobudur shot. :):)