My last entry was pretty pathetic....I realized after I signed out that I spent more time talking about my sickness than the snorkel trip. Mom did a much better job, so here are her words about the trip. And yes, she was the "snorkel star" (or snorkel nazi....depends on your perspective) of the group. First in the water, and last out. And her and dad were the only two to jump in late at night and experience the phosporesence....mom first, then after lots of convincing dad followed. Here is what mom had to say:
Our snorkeling trip was fun. The crew guide, Marcus, Swedish, was cute and very likeable. His accent and cute use of English phrases such as, "Yes, it is possible to swim to the beach" and "So...yes, we swim and it will be very beautiful." He did the unthinkable, he left two of us (out of 16 passengers) at a snorkeling spot and had the boat drive away. We were all pigging out at lunch when one of the passengers mentioned, "Where is the Dutch couple?" and Marcus jumped up and had the captain turn the boat around; the captain didn't believe he had to turn around. (There is a little communication difficulty between them). The couple were waving from a rock when we returned to the island. All was ok, they were the strongest swimmers of the bunch but they did remark that it seemed to take a long time for us to realize they were not at the lunch table. We even noticed two plates not being used but guessed they were still below deck. Anyway, they'll have a great story to tell.
The coral was beautiful, many,many fish, a turtle that let us follow him for quite a while, a moray eel and sea snakes. We visited an island manned by the navy on which they are raising baby turtles (they take the eggs from the nests and raise them for a few months and then release) That seems to be a good use for navy guys if you ask me. We slept below deck and surprisingly slept well. All that salt water activity. Marcus was impressed with my swimming, being the oldest gal on board. We were dropped from the dingy too far and Em and I had to swim back to see the great sea fans that he told us about. There were cute corals or urchins that closed up fast when Marcus dove down. When they closed, they changed from blue to white and he called it a Christmas tree. There was a beautiful garden of coral, all blues and greens. We had a Thai cook that had to work in a tiny space crouching down, cooking hot delicious meals for 16 people. We had traditional Thai lunches and dinners and American egg breakfasts, lots of pineapple and watermelons, bananas. We ate everything! My Dramamine worked like a charm except one morning I kept sleeping and no one woke me for breakfast. When I said why didn't anyone save me any, Keith said "That is not possible...."
Poseidon Resort is run by Swedes and they were not overly friendly or helpful. We checked out the area north of our resort but were disappointed that it was too touristy. Em and I got another massage; it was great. The whole area was devastated by the tsunami but is recovering quickly, altho Marcus says the money is being used to build way too many houses. He wonders what work there will be for the people. He wishes the money could be used for education, especially on environmental areas. He says they are building lots of fishing boats but the fish are being overcaught already. So much money pouring in. One of the Europeans on board noticed on a website that they asked people to stop donating money. Interesting. Why couldn't they bank some of it for future use.
We spent the last two days in a small town called Phang Nga, or as we came to call it, Stinky Town. Not a great place. Most people pass through, or use it as a base to explore more of those karsts from boats, the most famous one being the James Bond Island - the island where 'Man With a Golden Gun' was filmed. We ended up not doing the tour boat as the place is overrun with daytrippers from Phuket, and we had seen plenty of that already. So instead we rented motorbikes again and cruised around the outlying areas around Phang Nga, visiting some very lovely parks and back roads.
We left Phang Nga early yesterday morning, and spent the day on 'Airport Beach', a lovely and perfect swimming beach about 5 km from the Phuket airport. We wanted one more dip in a Thailand ocean, and did not want to bide our time in Phang Nga waiting for our evening flight to Bangkok. It was a nice, relaxing day where all of the transport went incredibly smoothly (it's amazing how having a good transport experience can affect your mood). And then we flew into Bangkok very late, and took a taxi straight to a hotel where we had rooms waiting for us.
Today we went out and saw Bangkok. And later after getting back to the room after visiting huge reclining buddhas, and emerald buddhas and Grand Palaces and the skinny crowded markets of China Town, I go to check in on my folks, and find my dad curled up in the fetal position staring at the wall. OK, so he was joking, but he did not enjoy those crowded streets one bit. I don't think home as ever looked so good to him! We are not even trying to attempt public transport here. There are taxis everywhere, and taking a taxi is refreshingly cheap and easy (as long as you can communicate where it is you want to go). It's a big and dirty city, with all modes of transport either driving at breakneck speed or not moving at all. It's dirty in a heavily air pollutioned way, but surprisingly little rubbish on the ground. An interesting place, but you definitely have to be mentally prepared for the bombardment of noise and activity and physically prepared for the heat.
Oh, and it's Chinese New Year here, and the midst of celebrations for the king being on the throne for 60 years. So it's busier than usual I guess. The only indication we have had of this is that it was a little difficult to find decent hotel rooms - all the good places were full.
My folks have one more full day here tomorrow - we'll see how much of it my dad spends outside the room. Luckily there is a nice coffee shop next to our hotel. Then they leave, and Keith and I will be back on our own and will spend a few days getting logistics and the next stage of our trip planned (visas, airline tickets, etc). We are going to try and minimize our time in this city, but we may end up needing to spend a full week here.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Chinese New Year in Bangkok
My last entry was pretty pathetic....I realized after I signed out that I spent more time talking about my sickness than the snorkel trip. Mom did a much better job, so here are her words about the trip. And yes, she was the "snorkel star" (or snorkel nazi....depends on your perspective) of the group. First in the water, and last out. And her and dad were the only two to jump in late at night and experience the phosporesence....mom first, then after lots of convincing dad followed. Here is what mom had to say:
Our snorkeling trip was fun. The crew guide, Marcus, Swedish, was cute and very likeable. His accent and cute use of English phrases such as, "Yes, it is possible to swim to the beach" and "So...yes, we swim and it will be very beautiful." He did the unthinkable, he left two of us (out of 16 passengers) at a snorkeling spot and had the boat drive away. We were all pigging out at lunch when one of the passengers mentioned, "Where is the Dutch couple?" and Marcus jumped up and had the captain turn the boat around; the captain didn't believe he had to turn around. (There is a little communication difficulty between them). The couple were waving from a rock when we returned to the island. All was ok, they were the strongest swimmers of the bunch but they did remark that it seemed to take a long time for us to realize they were not at the lunch table. We even noticed two plates not being used but guessed they were still below deck. Anyway, they'll have a great story to tell.
The coral was beautiful, many,many fish, a turtle that let us follow him for quite a while, a moray eel and sea snakes. We visited an island manned by the navy on which they are raising baby turtles (they take the eggs from the nests and raise them for a few months and then release) That seems to be a good use for navy guys if you ask me. We slept below deck and surprisingly slept well. All that salt water activity. Marcus was impressed with my swimming, being the oldest gal on board. We were dropped from the dingy too far and Em and I had to swim back to see the great sea fans that he told us about. There were cute corals or urchins that closed up fast when Marcus dove down. When they closed, they changed from blue to white and he called it a Christmas tree. There was a beautiful garden of coral, all blues and greens. We had a Thai cook that had to work in a tiny space crouching down, cooking hot delicious meals for 16 people. We had traditional Thai lunches and dinners and American egg breakfasts, lots of pineapple and watermelons, bananas. We ate everything! My Dramamine worked like a charm except one morning I kept sleeping and no one woke me for breakfast. When I said why didn't anyone save me any, Keith said "That is not possible...."
Poseidon Resort is run by Swedes and they were not overly friendly or helpful. We checked out the area north of our resort but were disappointed that it was too touristy. Em and I got another massage;
it was great. The whole area was devastated by the tsunami but is recovering quickly, altho Marcus says the money is being used to build way too many houses. He wonders what work there will be for the
people. He wishes the money could be used for education, especially on environmental areas. He says they are building lots of fishing boats but the fish are being overcaught already. So much money pouring in.
One of the Europeans on board noticed on a website that they asked people to stop donating money. Interesting. Why couldn't they bank some of it for future use.
We spent the last two days in a small town called Phang Nga, or as we came to call it, Stinky Town. Not a great place. Most people pass through, or use it as a base to explore more of those karsts from boats, the most famous one being the James Bond Island - the island where 'Man With a Golden Gun' was filmed. We ended up not doing the tour boat as the place is overrun with daytrippers from Phuket, and we had seen plenty of that already. So instead we rented motorbikes again and cruised around the outlying areas around Phang Nga, visiting some very lovely parks and back roads.
We left Phang Nga early yesterday morning, and spent the day on 'Airport Beach', a lovely and perfect swimming beach about 5 km from the Phuket airport. We wanted one more dip in a Thailand ocean, and did not want to bide our time in Phang Nga waiting for our evening flight to Bangkok. It was a nice, relaxing day where all of the transport went incredibly smoothly (it's amazing how having a good transport experience can affect your mood). And then we flew into Bangkok very late, and took a taxi straight to a hotel where we had rooms waiting for us.
Today we went out and saw Bangkok. And later after getting back to the room after visiting huge reclining buddhas, and emerald buddhas and Grand Palaces and the skinny crowded markets of China Town, I go to check in on my folks, and find my dad curled up in the fetal position staring at the wall. OK, so he was joking, but he did not enjoy those crowded streets one bit. I don't think home as ever looked so good to him! We are not even trying to attempt public transport here. There are taxis everywhere, and taking a taxi is refreshingly cheap and easy (as long as you can communicate where it is you want to go). It's a big and dirty city, with all modes of transport either driving at breakneck speed or not moving at all. It's dirty in a heavily air pollutioned way, but surprisingly little rubbish on the ground. An interesting place, but you definitely have to be mentally prepared for the bombardment of noise and activity and physically prepared for the heat.
My folks have one more full day here tomorrow - we'll see how much of it my dad spends outside the room. Luckily there is a nice coffee shop next to our hotel. Then they leave, and Keith and I will be back on our own and will spend a few days getting logistics and the next stage of our trip planned (visas, airline tickets, etc). We are going to try and minimize our time in this city, but we may end up needing to spend a full week here.
Our snorkeling trip was fun. The crew guide, Marcus, Swedish, was cute and very likeable. His accent and cute use of English phrases such as, "Yes, it is possible to swim to the beach" and "So...yes, we swim and it will be very beautiful." He did the unthinkable, he left two of us (out of 16 passengers) at a snorkeling spot and had the boat drive away. We were all pigging out at lunch when one of the passengers mentioned, "Where is the Dutch couple?" and Marcus jumped up and had the captain turn the boat around; the captain didn't believe he had to turn around. (There is a little communication difficulty between them). The couple were waving from a rock when we returned to the island. All was ok, they were the strongest swimmers of the bunch but they did remark that it seemed to take a long time for us to realize they were not at the lunch table. We even noticed two plates not being used but guessed they were still below deck. Anyway, they'll have a great story to tell.
The coral was beautiful, many,many fish, a turtle that let us follow him for quite a while, a moray eel and sea snakes. We visited an island manned by the navy on which they are raising baby turtles (they take the eggs from the nests and raise them for a few months and then release) That seems to be a good use for navy guys if you ask me. We slept below deck and surprisingly slept well. All that salt water activity. Marcus was impressed with my swimming, being the oldest gal on board. We were dropped from the dingy too far and Em and I had to swim back to see the great sea fans that he told us about. There were cute corals or urchins that closed up fast when Marcus dove down. When they closed, they changed from blue to white and he called it a Christmas tree. There was a beautiful garden of coral, all blues and greens. We had a Thai cook that had to work in a tiny space crouching down, cooking hot delicious meals for 16 people. We had traditional Thai lunches and dinners and American egg breakfasts, lots of pineapple and watermelons, bananas. We ate everything! My Dramamine worked like a charm except one morning I kept sleeping and no one woke me for breakfast. When I said why didn't anyone save me any, Keith said "That is not possible...."
Poseidon Resort is run by Swedes and they were not overly friendly or helpful. We checked out the area north of our resort but were disappointed that it was too touristy. Em and I got another massage;
it was great. The whole area was devastated by the tsunami but is recovering quickly, altho Marcus says the money is being used to build way too many houses. He wonders what work there will be for the
people. He wishes the money could be used for education, especially on environmental areas. He says they are building lots of fishing boats but the fish are being overcaught already. So much money pouring in.
One of the Europeans on board noticed on a website that they asked people to stop donating money. Interesting. Why couldn't they bank some of it for future use.
We spent the last two days in a small town called Phang Nga, or as we came to call it, Stinky Town. Not a great place. Most people pass through, or use it as a base to explore more of those karsts from boats, the most famous one being the James Bond Island - the island where 'Man With a Golden Gun' was filmed. We ended up not doing the tour boat as the place is overrun with daytrippers from Phuket, and we had seen plenty of that already. So instead we rented motorbikes again and cruised around the outlying areas around Phang Nga, visiting some very lovely parks and back roads.
We left Phang Nga early yesterday morning, and spent the day on 'Airport Beach', a lovely and perfect swimming beach about 5 km from the Phuket airport. We wanted one more dip in a Thailand ocean, and did not want to bide our time in Phang Nga waiting for our evening flight to Bangkok. It was a nice, relaxing day where all of the transport went incredibly smoothly (it's amazing how having a good transport experience can affect your mood). And then we flew into Bangkok very late, and took a taxi straight to a hotel where we had rooms waiting for us.
Today we went out and saw Bangkok. And later after getting back to the room after visiting huge reclining buddhas, and emerald buddhas and Grand Palaces and the skinny crowded markets of China Town, I go to check in on my folks, and find my dad curled up in the fetal position staring at the wall. OK, so he was joking, but he did not enjoy those crowded streets one bit. I don't think home as ever looked so good to him! We are not even trying to attempt public transport here. There are taxis everywhere, and taking a taxi is refreshingly cheap and easy (as long as you can communicate where it is you want to go). It's a big and dirty city, with all modes of transport either driving at breakneck speed or not moving at all. It's dirty in a heavily air pollutioned way, but surprisingly little rubbish on the ground. An interesting place, but you definitely have to be mentally prepared for the bombardment of noise and activity and physically prepared for the heat.
My folks have one more full day here tomorrow - we'll see how much of it my dad spends outside the room. Luckily there is a nice coffee shop next to our hotel. Then they leave, and Keith and I will be back on our own and will spend a few days getting logistics and the next stage of our trip planned (visas, airline tickets, etc). We are going to try and minimize our time in this city, but we may end up needing to spend a full week here.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Snorkeling the Similans
We all survived our first live-aboard experience. Although it was touch and go for one of us for a while. It was a great trip. The islands were beautiful, the snorkeling was amazing, and the people with us were mostly companionable. The boat was reasonably comfortable, but would have been ideal with a few less people - they cram on as many as they can for obvious reasons. The trip out to the islands takes about four hours (60 km or so? can't remember), and we had beautiful weather and reasonably calm seas. Each day works out about the same. Get to an island, jump in and snorkel, get out, eat, move to next island, jump in and snorkel, etc. So nothing else to say, right?
We did get breaks and got to walk along some beautiful beaches. This is a picture of the last island we stopped at - Island Number 1. Similan means the number 9 in Malay, and this group of islands everyone refers to as the Similans is a group of nine islands all very close together. They are known for pristine beaches, coral, and the large granite boulders that dominate their topography.
Unfortunately after lunch on the very first day, I got hit with a nasty bug, and for those of you who know me well, will be shocked to hear that it actually made me throw up (I haven't thrown up since the 8th grade during the Dale Ellis basketball camp....do you remember that Sarah?). At first I thought I was just seasick (surprised, but couldn't figure anything else out), but after sitting on a beach for two hours and not resolving itself, then being followed by a myriad of other symptoms I don't need to go into detail about, I surmised it had to be food poisoning. It resolved itself for the most part within 24 hours, but nobody else got sick, and I didn't eat anything different. A question for my nursing friends....can you have that kind of a reaction to a sea sickness pill (all the classic symptoms of food poisoning)? Or is it possible for one of a group of 18 to get sick from some random bad piece of squid or something?
Oh well, I digress. I survived, and still got plenty of snorkeling in. We saw great things under that water. Eels, parrotfish, Keith and I swam with a school of barracuda, turtles, amazing coral, sea snake, and so many fish that I have no idea what they all are.
Another look at the beaches and some of that granite rock:
The chef on this boat was amazing. She produced three square meals a day, and such a variety and quality. Too bad I didn't get to eat very much of it. Something about fragrant Thai food while your stomach's not right...
Here is the amazing lady that made it happen and the very small space she had to work with. We still can't believe the food that was produced in this kitchen...and it would get so hot in that tiny little room.
A viewpoint at one of the islands. Beautiful.
This was taken at the Poseidon bungalows. The place where we stayed before and after the snorkel trip. They are also the ones that organize and run the trip. This is the beach that was a very short walking distance from our bungalow. Finally, we got to see our sunset.
We did get breaks and got to walk along some beautiful beaches. This is a picture of the last island we stopped at - Island Number 1. Similan means the number 9 in Malay, and this group of islands everyone refers to as the Similans is a group of nine islands all very close together. They are known for pristine beaches, coral, and the large granite boulders that dominate their topography.
Unfortunately after lunch on the very first day, I got hit with a nasty bug, and for those of you who know me well, will be shocked to hear that it actually made me throw up (I haven't thrown up since the 8th grade during the Dale Ellis basketball camp....do you remember that Sarah?). At first I thought I was just seasick (surprised, but couldn't figure anything else out), but after sitting on a beach for two hours and not resolving itself, then being followed by a myriad of other symptoms I don't need to go into detail about, I surmised it had to be food poisoning. It resolved itself for the most part within 24 hours, but nobody else got sick, and I didn't eat anything different. A question for my nursing friends....can you have that kind of a reaction to a sea sickness pill (all the classic symptoms of food poisoning)? Or is it possible for one of a group of 18 to get sick from some random bad piece of squid or something?
Oh well, I digress. I survived, and still got plenty of snorkeling in. We saw great things under that water. Eels, parrotfish, Keith and I swam with a school of barracuda, turtles, amazing coral, sea snake, and so many fish that I have no idea what they all are.
Another look at the beaches and some of that granite rock:
The chef on this boat was amazing. She produced three square meals a day, and such a variety and quality. Too bad I didn't get to eat very much of it. Something about fragrant Thai food while your stomach's not right...
Here is the amazing lady that made it happen and the very small space she had to work with. We still can't believe the food that was produced in this kitchen...and it would get so hot in that tiny little room.
A viewpoint at one of the islands. Beautiful.
This was taken at the Poseidon bungalows. The place where we stayed before and after the snorkel trip. They are also the ones that organize and run the trip. This is the beach that was a very short walking distance from our bungalow. Finally, we got to see our sunset.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Still in Krabi Town
We are still here in Krabi, Thailand. Our last evening here. To start off this blog, we have a few guest entries. First, some words from Dad Bauer:
Hat Yai, Everyone
My favorite expression after going through town of same name. That name says it all for the daytime heat around here.I'm getting my fill of limestone and caves. This area is absolutely riddled with karst. The smaller of the caves here would be major attractions in the US. The hot rain dissolves a lot of rock. It is truly spectacular scenery. Too bad that most of it is covered by a layer of crawling, touristy humanity.
We have been renting motorbikes to get around. Cheap! Less than $4 per day per bike. Fun to drive and stay a bit cooler. Crazy driving on the wrong side of the road. Especially confusing is making right turns. My brain keeps telling me the wrong thing. Even worse is when someone is driving on YOUR shoulder, coming at you (they do that a lot here). That momentarily short-circuits my brain altogether. Quite often two or more vehicles abreast of each other will be coming at you as they are passing.
We found a coffee shop near our hotel (Relaxed Coffee) that serves the best coffee, by far, of anyplace I have ever been. They make it cold and frothy: it tastes so good it makes you weak in the knees (or it makes my black socks go up and down).
Yes, indeed. Relax Coffee & Restaurant has become a favorite for us. I think the owner thinks we are a bit crazy, (we spend about 10 minutes every meal picking which table to sit at, then after deciding moving to a different one anyway) but the food and the coffee is sooooo good, we can't stay away.
Now some words from Mom Bauer. For those of you on her email list, this will be a repeat. She is better about jotting down detailed observations. This first section is random thoughts from her:
We are a white minority in the sense that there are more Europeans here than Americans. Logical since the Euro is doing so well and they travel more anyway. Never saw so many whites on these resort areas. Henry claims that these white sand beaches are not too hot to walk on since the sand is composed of Calcium carbonate instead of silican and this mineral conducts heat better. I don't know, the sands today were kind of hot.
The resort we stayed in on Ko Lanta was called Dream Team and I just always thought of the U.S. basketball team that went to the olympics. Weird name but the reception staff said they were three brothers that started the place and it was their dream or something like that, we are never sure about answers. They were very friendly and called Henry, Yung Papa or something like that, H likes to say Young Papa but I don't think so. They had asked if Em and I were mother and daughter right away. I think they liked to see a family together. Too bad the rest of us weren't here.....
Saw a huge-beaked bird, hornbill, I guess, on Ko Hai right in a tree on the beach, pecking at fruit. Huge extra bill material on upperside. The insects in the forest here and in Malaysia make this screeching sound, like a siren in the forest. The sound is sustained, almost constant and sometimes changes pitch a little. Never heard anything like it. Very loud. Motorbiking around is fun. Driving on left. Crazy drivers coming toward us on the shoulder, even though we are also driving on the shoulder heading the other direction. Sometimes two vehicles pass us. Drove through courntryside and saw these wonderful rain collection ceramic huge vessels, probably 4 or 5 feet tall; some had a hose coming off the roof downspouts. Loved the rubber plantations. Have to find out how much each of thosesmall sheets of latex, about 2 feet by 4 feet (?). They are hanging everywhere in these villages.
And her latest is about food:
Since we spend a lot of time eating and finding places to eat...
Unfortunately for weight loss, I am finding plenty non-spicey menu selections. We are spending between 2-3 dollars on meals per person,incl drinks, not alcohol, sometimes if we really pig out-- $4. We like cashew chicken with vegs and rice in oyster sauce. Or with squid or with just vegs, they use cabbage, carrots some kind of greensticks that look like green onion but aren't, tomatoes (surprisingly). PadThai is also good. The kids have tried spicey curry. Emily loved a soup she tried with red curry when she asked for very little spice but she couldn't repeat the experience, usually too spicey.
Everyone understands when I say "no spicey", thank heaven, altho "spicey" is a relative term (it was too much for me when we stopped at a beautiful,local, wayside place on our motorbikes--everyone staring at us while we ate and refusing to serve us some of the items, no,no, not for you gringos). Keith tried a soup once that was spicey in the wrong way, loaded with ginger. He could not finish that meal, especially since he ordered the huge bowl. Lots of steamed rice helps the spice go down. Emily tried Tom Yam but couldn't tell what was in there, it was sour rather than spicey and we couldn't find any yams in there.
We are all dipping our spoons and forks in each other's plates.We all love the "shakes" made with fresh fruits blended with ice:banana and pineapple. Only 50 cents to $1.50 depending on place. So fresh tasting. Banana and/or pineapple filled pancakes are very good in the morning. Also most places have muesli with fruit and yogurt, especially since there are so many Scandinavians here. Pot of Chinese tea here is $1 and very good. Sweet tea with milk is delicious probably cause it's with real cream instead of that thin stuff back home. Keith and Henry ordered coffee to go in Singapore in the Arab section, best coffee there, and they poured it into the thinnest plastic bags with a straw out the top and two little handles. I don't know how that plastic held hot coffee without burning through. Failed to get a picture thinking we'd be getting those all month long. Darn. The only food I'm not able to find is fish, reasonably priced, good-sized portion. Tried for $6 but was disappointed. So hope all this encourages you to fly out to the tropics.
You will all be happy to know, that last night, mom found the fish dish she has been searching for. A good sized piece of barracuda steamed in a lovely lemon sauce. No surprise, it was found at our new favorite establishment, Relax Coffee & Restaurant.
The last two days have seen us doing more of the same. Two days ago, we went out to Tiger Cave (also known as Wat Tham Seua). A wat is a place of worship for Buddhists where monks live year round. The complex around Tiger Cave is huge. Many temples, caves with temples, and buddhas. The one buddha we visited was at the top of 1247 stairs!! Yes, we all made it. We braved a pack full of monkeys (that was almost enough to drive mom and I back - the thought of one of those biting me freaks me out!), very steep stairs, and lots of sweat. It was worth the effort despite the sore muscles we all are recovering from. We were rewarded with beautiful views of the surrounding area and did it early enough in the day to beat the crowds. Some images of that expedition:
Another day on the motorbikes. My butt is sore. Traveling around the back roads, visited a resort on the edge of anational park and realized we should have spent a night there. We pass homes on stilts with bamboo walls looking very poor and then next door they'd be this lovely small concrete home with a garden in front, colorfully painted bright colors. Interesting economy. Everyone smiles, waves, yells hello. We've been getting by with no Thai, luckily. We know how to say hello, finally. Thank you is a bit tricky.
Not a good value: We've been at this hotel for five nights and keep saying over and over, not a good value. Em has a better room next door, aircon, best shower I've had for 3 weeks and 200 bahts less. Ours has aircon but everything else needs maintenance like the aircon that drips on the floor, previously on H's backpack, horrible shower,sprays all over the room altho there is a curtain (I am getting to like the bathrooms that have the shower and toilet and sink all in one, like an rv.) the faucet swivels around and the sink is too low. Why are we still here? It has a tiny pool and aircon. The pool needs some maintenance and dirty dishes are still there from yesterday. Em and Keith join us there for happy hour, rum and cokes from the liquor store. Mostly we are here because we bargained down to 600 bahts a night telling them we'd be there for 4 more nights. Oh, well, we are out of here tomorrow.
On to the bungalow on the beach. We are taking a private car, friendof the manager of Em's guesthouse, for lots of bahts, $12.50 each person but it's worth it, we say, why not splurge a bit, altho we are saying that a lot. Door to door delivery instead of 4 legs that will eat away the savings on the bus. And he said they'd stop along the way for an hour or so if we want to see anything.
Hat Yai, Everyone
My favorite expression after going through town of same name. That name says it all for the daytime heat around here.I'm getting my fill of limestone and caves. This area is absolutely riddled with karst. The smaller of the caves here would be major attractions in the US. The hot rain dissolves a lot of rock. It is truly spectacular scenery. Too bad that most of it is covered by a layer of crawling, touristy humanity.
We have been renting motorbikes to get around. Cheap! Less than $4 per day per bike. Fun to drive and stay a bit cooler. Crazy driving on the wrong side of the road. Especially confusing is making right turns. My brain keeps telling me the wrong thing. Even worse is when someone is driving on YOUR shoulder, coming at you (they do that a lot here). That momentarily short-circuits my brain altogether. Quite often two or more vehicles abreast of each other will be coming at you as they are passing.
We found a coffee shop near our hotel (Relaxed Coffee) that serves the best coffee, by far, of anyplace I have ever been. They make it cold and frothy: it tastes so good it makes you weak in the knees (or it makes my black socks go up and down).
Yes, indeed. Relax Coffee & Restaurant has become a favorite for us. I think the owner thinks we are a bit crazy, (we spend about 10 minutes every meal picking which table to sit at, then after deciding moving to a different one anyway) but the food and the coffee is sooooo good, we can't stay away.
Now some words from Mom Bauer. For those of you on her email list, this will be a repeat. She is better about jotting down detailed observations. This first section is random thoughts from her:
We are a white minority in the sense that there are more Europeans here than Americans. Logical since the Euro is doing so well and they travel more anyway. Never saw so many whites on these resort areas. Henry claims that these white sand beaches are not too hot to walk on since the sand is composed of Calcium carbonate instead of silican and this mineral conducts heat better. I don't know, the sands today were kind of hot.
The resort we stayed in on Ko Lanta was called Dream Team and I just always thought of the U.S. basketball team that went to the olympics. Weird name but the reception staff said they were three brothers that started the place and it was their dream or something like that, we are never sure about answers. They were very friendly and called Henry, Yung Papa or something like that, H likes to say Young Papa but I don't think so. They had asked if Em and I were mother and daughter right away. I think they liked to see a family together. Too bad the rest of us weren't here.....
Saw a huge-beaked bird, hornbill, I guess, on Ko Hai right in a tree on the beach, pecking at fruit. Huge extra bill material on upperside. The insects in the forest here and in Malaysia make this screeching sound, like a siren in the forest. The sound is sustained, almost constant and sometimes changes pitch a little. Never heard anything like it. Very loud. Motorbiking around is fun. Driving on left. Crazy drivers coming toward us on the shoulder, even though we are also driving on the shoulder heading the other direction. Sometimes two vehicles pass us. Drove through courntryside and saw these wonderful rain collection ceramic huge vessels, probably 4 or 5 feet tall; some had a hose coming off the roof downspouts. Loved the rubber plantations. Have to find out how much each of thosesmall sheets of latex, about 2 feet by 4 feet (?). They are hanging everywhere in these villages.
And her latest is about food:
Since we spend a lot of time eating and finding places to eat...
Unfortunately for weight loss, I am finding plenty non-spicey menu selections. We are spending between 2-3 dollars on meals per person,incl drinks, not alcohol, sometimes if we really pig out-- $4. We like cashew chicken with vegs and rice in oyster sauce. Or with squid or with just vegs, they use cabbage, carrots some kind of greensticks that look like green onion but aren't, tomatoes (surprisingly). PadThai is also good. The kids have tried spicey curry. Emily loved a soup she tried with red curry when she asked for very little spice but she couldn't repeat the experience, usually too spicey.
Everyone understands when I say "no spicey", thank heaven, altho "spicey" is a relative term (it was too much for me when we stopped at a beautiful,local, wayside place on our motorbikes--everyone staring at us while we ate and refusing to serve us some of the items, no,no, not for you gringos). Keith tried a soup once that was spicey in the wrong way, loaded with ginger. He could not finish that meal, especially since he ordered the huge bowl. Lots of steamed rice helps the spice go down. Emily tried Tom Yam but couldn't tell what was in there, it was sour rather than spicey and we couldn't find any yams in there.
We are all dipping our spoons and forks in each other's plates.We all love the "shakes" made with fresh fruits blended with ice:banana and pineapple. Only 50 cents to $1.50 depending on place. So fresh tasting. Banana and/or pineapple filled pancakes are very good in the morning. Also most places have muesli with fruit and yogurt, especially since there are so many Scandinavians here. Pot of Chinese tea here is $1 and very good. Sweet tea with milk is delicious probably cause it's with real cream instead of that thin stuff back home. Keith and Henry ordered coffee to go in Singapore in the Arab section, best coffee there, and they poured it into the thinnest plastic bags with a straw out the top and two little handles. I don't know how that plastic held hot coffee without burning through. Failed to get a picture thinking we'd be getting those all month long. Darn. The only food I'm not able to find is fish, reasonably priced, good-sized portion. Tried for $6 but was disappointed. So hope all this encourages you to fly out to the tropics.
You will all be happy to know, that last night, mom found the fish dish she has been searching for. A good sized piece of barracuda steamed in a lovely lemon sauce. No surprise, it was found at our new favorite establishment, Relax Coffee & Restaurant.
The last two days have seen us doing more of the same. Two days ago, we went out to Tiger Cave (also known as Wat Tham Seua). A wat is a place of worship for Buddhists where monks live year round. The complex around Tiger Cave is huge. Many temples, caves with temples, and buddhas. The one buddha we visited was at the top of 1247 stairs!! Yes, we all made it. We braved a pack full of monkeys (that was almost enough to drive mom and I back - the thought of one of those biting me freaks me out!), very steep stairs, and lots of sweat. It was worth the effort despite the sore muscles we all are recovering from. We were rewarded with beautiful views of the surrounding area and did it early enough in the day to beat the crowds. Some images of that expedition:
Mom and Dad home stretching it. They aren't really posing in this picture - mom really crawled up the steeper stairs!
Keith emerging at the top. Look at the size of that buddha! We decided he is so fit (the buddha, not Keith) because of all those stairs.
And the view from the top, looking East:
Yesterday we did absolutely nothing. Wandered around the streets window shopping. Lazing by mom and dad's marginal pool (mom has a whole email coming about the inadequacies of their hotel. She came over tonight to shower at our cheap-o place!). Eating, reading, eating, drinking coffee, napping, eating. You get the idea.
Here we are eating lunch at a simple cafe:
Mom and Dad picking out the perfect pineapple so that we don't go hungry in between meals:
Chili peppers at the Krabi morning market. They are so pretty, but so hot!
Today we rented motorbikes again and did some more touring of the rural roads. We rented three bikes this time so that I could get more practice driving my own. Dad is right, it is great fun! No injuries or accidents, just one minor burn on my leg from those darn exhaust pipes that get so hot....It's amazing the things you do in a foreign country that you wouldn't really consider doing back home. For example, riding in the backs of pickup truck (that is what a taxi is here), or me riding a motorcycle through a busy city street!
We leave tomorrow for our bungalow retreat and back to the beaches. On Tuesday, we head out onto a boat for a three day live-aboard snorkeling trip. Not sure when we'll have the next internet access - it may be a good week.
Wait....another email in from Mom Bauer (who is sitting right next to me...):
Another day on the motorbikes. My butt is sore. Traveling around the back roads, visited a resort on the edge of anational park and realized we should have spent a night there. We pass homes on stilts with bamboo walls looking very poor and then next door they'd be this lovely small concrete home with a garden in front, colorfully painted bright colors. Interesting economy. Everyone smiles, waves, yells hello. We've been getting by with no Thai, luckily. We know how to say hello, finally. Thank you is a bit tricky.
Not a good value: We've been at this hotel for five nights and keep saying over and over, not a good value. Em has a better room next door, aircon, best shower I've had for 3 weeks and 200 bahts less. Ours has aircon but everything else needs maintenance like the aircon that drips on the floor, previously on H's backpack, horrible shower,sprays all over the room altho there is a curtain (I am getting to like the bathrooms that have the shower and toilet and sink all in one, like an rv.) the faucet swivels around and the sink is too low. Why are we still here? It has a tiny pool and aircon. The pool needs some maintenance and dirty dishes are still there from yesterday. Em and Keith join us there for happy hour, rum and cokes from the liquor store. Mostly we are here because we bargained down to 600 bahts a night telling them we'd be there for 4 more nights. Oh, well, we are out of here tomorrow.
On to the bungalow on the beach. We are taking a private car, friendof the manager of Em's guesthouse, for lots of bahts, $12.50 each person but it's worth it, we say, why not splurge a bit, altho we are saying that a lot. Door to door delivery instead of 4 legs that will eat away the savings on the bus. And he said they'd stop along the way for an hour or so if we want to see anything.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Island Hopping to Krabi, Thailand
We have left our little paradise on Ko Hai, and are now settled into city life in Krabi, Thailand. Krabi sits pretty much due East of Phuket. We are staying in the city of Krabi, which is not what most tourists do. Most pass through Krabi as a way of getting out to the beaches of Ao Nang and the islands beyond. We went there today, and we are so happy we decided to stay in the city. It is soooo touristy out there! We got tired not only from the heat but from being around so many European/Western tourists. It made us long for the beaches of Ko Hai again.
We thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our time on Ko Hai. We spent the last two days there doing more of the same. We spent one day kayaking around the entire island. It was pretty fun, but by the last hour we were all wiped by the heat and salt. The sun can be a killer here, and everytime we get ready for an outing, we feel a bit like we are preparing for battle....applying sunscreen to all exposed appendages, donning hats, sunglasses, and dad's latest weapon: black knee high socks.
Leaving the island turned out to be another epic travel day. I swear, if anything is going to break my travel stamina and spirit is the transport days. Just when you are feeling confident, you get duped and ripped off, or lied to, or just plain cranky. We bought ferry tickets to get to Ko Lanta - a bigger, more developed island about 20km north of Ko Hai. We packed up and spent most of the day waiting for the ferry, finally got into a longtail boat to get ferried to the ferry, only to be dropped off on a snorkel tour boat! So we had to wait around and watch people snorkle for an hour, after which the boat went back to Ko Hai to pick up more people. All of that was tolerable, but when the boat docked well south of where we had paid to go, forcing us to pay more for a taxi ride to get to our planned destination....well that was the breaking point. We eventually found out that the original ferry had broken down....someone could have told us!!
Ko Lanta is an island that is quickly becoming more and more developed. It is nothing like where we were today, but it soon will be. It has a small, bustling tourist town on the northern part, but as you travel south, you can still find pockets of peacefulness. We splurged on a very nice hotel with a wonderful pool. We only spent two days there. One of the days we rented motor scooters, and cruised around the island, seeing some of rural Thailand and lots of rubber plantations.
After Ko Lanta, we came here to Krabi, and the trip on this ferry was seamless and comfortable. The town of Krabi sits on a river, with a population of about 25,000, a nice size. It has a bustling night market where you can get lots of cheap eats, and a feel for how the locals shop which is quite a different feel than the tourist strips. We got settled in yesterday, mom and dad taking a more expensive hotel right next to the more modest one Keith and I are staying in. Being off the tourist stretch, prices are nice and low again. Our room is about 10 bucks and you can easily eat at the market for 1 dollar a person. We spent today on motor bikes again and drove out to see some of the famous limestone karsts that this area is known for. Lots of people come here to rockclimb. Very dramatic scenery, but the hoards of crowds does take some of the beauty out of it. We have decided to stay put here and do day trips for the next 3 days. After that we will push on a bit more north where mom booked us in a bungalow on a very secluded beach and a live aboard snorkle tour out to the Similian Islands.
And now, what you have all been waiting for.....some pictures! Unfortunately mom and dad take more and better pictures than we do, but we do not have a card reader that fits their memory card, so I can only select from the photos Keith and I took....
First, back to Malaysia. Our first stop in Malaysia was the Cameron Highlands. Here is one view of the tea plantations surrounded by mist.
From Cameron, we spent a day in Ipoh, Malaysia. Here is the train station-one of the prettier buildings in town. The top half of the station is the hotel where we spent many hours playing Spades and reading books waiting for our 1 AM train.
Here is a look at us getting settled in for the night on the train that took us from Malaysia to Thailand.
I do not have any pictures from Trang or any of our stops before the island of Ko Hai. So onto the stunning scenery of Ko Hai. Keith and mom and dad all managed to get up and watch some sunrises. I never quite made it out of bed....glad Keith took a couple pictures. Sure is pretty. This is the beach that is right out in front of our bungalows.
A look at our home for our week on the island. We ended up sharing a family room, which are the rooms in that long building behind mom.
This photo was taken from Ko Kradon which was one of the islands we stopped at on our snorkling day. Ko Kradon, had the most dramatic beach and the best snorkeling. This boat is one of the infamous longtails that are everywhere in Thailand. The engine that runs them is an old car engine without a muffler - huge and loud - with a prop attached to the end of a very long pole that the fellow steers like an outboard motor. They are pretty, but they are way too loud. This was our transport on our snorkeling day - we all ended up wearing earplugs.
Another look at our beach. This is what we had to do for a couple hours while waiting for our ferry - tough life. We do not usually lie out in the sun. In fact, there was one day my parents were literally running from shade spot to shade spot as they worked their way down the beach! Keith is just trying to dry off a little here.
Moving on to Ko Lanta. Here is a look at our bungalows at the very nice hotel with the very silly name of Dream Team. The pool was a dream and I wish we had a picture of it....there is one, it is just on moms camera.
Motorbiking around the rubber plantations on Ko Lanta. If you look close you can see small cups nailed onto the trees. These are collecting the bleeding rubber from the trees.
And on to Krabi. Here is a look at the night market where we pigged out last night on all kinds of miscellaneous stuff.
Penny, here is a look - not the best photo- of those really big-leaved plants. We see them here and there everywhere. These were right outside of a cave we went into today - there are LOTS of caves around here. This particular one claimed to have a quartz waterfall. Dad quickly informed us that it was absolutely not quartz. We told him he has to write to Lonely Planet and tell them to stop spreading falsehoods!
A look at the famous scenery around Krabi. Cliffs like this fill the bay. This was taken from the longtail ferry we took to the very crowded beaches today. You can notice the undercutting at the bottom of the cliffs. Swimming around some of them, you find that they are littered with small caves, holes, tunnels, etc. Paul - I think you might really enjoy playing around this part of the world - you could get back into rock climbing and do plenty of cave exploration.
One more look at todays scenery.
We thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our time on Ko Hai. We spent the last two days there doing more of the same. We spent one day kayaking around the entire island. It was pretty fun, but by the last hour we were all wiped by the heat and salt. The sun can be a killer here, and everytime we get ready for an outing, we feel a bit like we are preparing for battle....applying sunscreen to all exposed appendages, donning hats, sunglasses, and dad's latest weapon: black knee high socks.
Leaving the island turned out to be another epic travel day. I swear, if anything is going to break my travel stamina and spirit is the transport days. Just when you are feeling confident, you get duped and ripped off, or lied to, or just plain cranky. We bought ferry tickets to get to Ko Lanta - a bigger, more developed island about 20km north of Ko Hai. We packed up and spent most of the day waiting for the ferry, finally got into a longtail boat to get ferried to the ferry, only to be dropped off on a snorkel tour boat! So we had to wait around and watch people snorkle for an hour, after which the boat went back to Ko Hai to pick up more people. All of that was tolerable, but when the boat docked well south of where we had paid to go, forcing us to pay more for a taxi ride to get to our planned destination....well that was the breaking point. We eventually found out that the original ferry had broken down....someone could have told us!!
Ko Lanta is an island that is quickly becoming more and more developed. It is nothing like where we were today, but it soon will be. It has a small, bustling tourist town on the northern part, but as you travel south, you can still find pockets of peacefulness. We splurged on a very nice hotel with a wonderful pool. We only spent two days there. One of the days we rented motor scooters, and cruised around the island, seeing some of rural Thailand and lots of rubber plantations.
After Ko Lanta, we came here to Krabi, and the trip on this ferry was seamless and comfortable. The town of Krabi sits on a river, with a population of about 25,000, a nice size. It has a bustling night market where you can get lots of cheap eats, and a feel for how the locals shop which is quite a different feel than the tourist strips. We got settled in yesterday, mom and dad taking a more expensive hotel right next to the more modest one Keith and I are staying in. Being off the tourist stretch, prices are nice and low again. Our room is about 10 bucks and you can easily eat at the market for 1 dollar a person. We spent today on motor bikes again and drove out to see some of the famous limestone karsts that this area is known for. Lots of people come here to rockclimb. Very dramatic scenery, but the hoards of crowds does take some of the beauty out of it. We have decided to stay put here and do day trips for the next 3 days. After that we will push on a bit more north where mom booked us in a bungalow on a very secluded beach and a live aboard snorkle tour out to the Similian Islands.
And now, what you have all been waiting for.....some pictures! Unfortunately mom and dad take more and better pictures than we do, but we do not have a card reader that fits their memory card, so I can only select from the photos Keith and I took....
First, back to Malaysia. Our first stop in Malaysia was the Cameron Highlands. Here is one view of the tea plantations surrounded by mist.
From Cameron, we spent a day in Ipoh, Malaysia. Here is the train station-one of the prettier buildings in town. The top half of the station is the hotel where we spent many hours playing Spades and reading books waiting for our 1 AM train.
Here is a look at us getting settled in for the night on the train that took us from Malaysia to Thailand.
I do not have any pictures from Trang or any of our stops before the island of Ko Hai. So onto the stunning scenery of Ko Hai. Keith and mom and dad all managed to get up and watch some sunrises. I never quite made it out of bed....glad Keith took a couple pictures. Sure is pretty. This is the beach that is right out in front of our bungalows.
A look at our home for our week on the island. We ended up sharing a family room, which are the rooms in that long building behind mom.
This photo was taken from Ko Kradon which was one of the islands we stopped at on our snorkling day. Ko Kradon, had the most dramatic beach and the best snorkeling. This boat is one of the infamous longtails that are everywhere in Thailand. The engine that runs them is an old car engine without a muffler - huge and loud - with a prop attached to the end of a very long pole that the fellow steers like an outboard motor. They are pretty, but they are way too loud. This was our transport on our snorkeling day - we all ended up wearing earplugs.
Another look at our beach. This is what we had to do for a couple hours while waiting for our ferry - tough life. We do not usually lie out in the sun. In fact, there was one day my parents were literally running from shade spot to shade spot as they worked their way down the beach! Keith is just trying to dry off a little here.
Moving on to Ko Lanta. Here is a look at our bungalows at the very nice hotel with the very silly name of Dream Team. The pool was a dream and I wish we had a picture of it....there is one, it is just on moms camera.
Motorbiking around the rubber plantations on Ko Lanta. If you look close you can see small cups nailed onto the trees. These are collecting the bleeding rubber from the trees.
And on to Krabi. Here is a look at the night market where we pigged out last night on all kinds of miscellaneous stuff.
Penny, here is a look - not the best photo- of those really big-leaved plants. We see them here and there everywhere. These were right outside of a cave we went into today - there are LOTS of caves around here. This particular one claimed to have a quartz waterfall. Dad quickly informed us that it was absolutely not quartz. We told him he has to write to Lonely Planet and tell them to stop spreading falsehoods!
A look at the famous scenery around Krabi. Cliffs like this fill the bay. This was taken from the longtail ferry we took to the very crowded beaches today. You can notice the undercutting at the bottom of the cliffs. Swimming around some of them, you find that they are littered with small caves, holes, tunnels, etc. Paul - I think you might really enjoy playing around this part of the world - you could get back into rock climbing and do plenty of cave exploration.
One more look at todays scenery.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Thailand Island Paradise via Malaysia
Clearly my stamina in keeping this web page current is fading. It has been a while, and we have traveled many miles since my last entry. This will have to be a summary of sorts I suppose. I am currently composing this from paradise. We are on a small island in Thailand the Andaman Sea (West of peninsular Thailand) called Ko Ngai (or Ko Hai - it has two names). There are only 4 resorts on this island, and no town, so it is really quiet. The water is that brilliant turquoise color, and the sand is like talcom powder and stays cool under your feet. Our little place is called Ko Ngai Villa, and is the budget option on the island. Small concrete or bamboo bungalows with electricity only from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM. Nothing fancy, but in a lovely grassy setting surrounded by palm trees. The beach is about a 30 second walk from our room. The water is warm, yet refreshing, and there is a coral reef that surrounds the island, so snorkeling galore and calm water for swimming.
But first, what happened between Singapore and Thailand? A lot of transport. In hindsight, we definitely should have had my parents meet us in Phuket. We did way too much overland travel between Singapore and through Malaysia, with not enough interesting sights along the way. Leaving Singapore is an interesting story though. My parents first border crossing was hilarious (although mom may have a different word to describe it). We booked an overnight train that left from the border town in Malaysia, so we had to get to the Malaysian train station by bus from Singapore. The shuttle bus up there was fine, but the border crossing was a bit of chaos. It was a Friday night, and a lot of Malaysians commute to Singapore to work, so it was about 6:00 PM and the roads were packed. As our bus approached the border "checkpoint", everyone started filing out of it as the roads were clogged. We found a friendly face in the crowd and were reassured that we should walk from there. So we did and we got officially stamped out of Singapore. Then we followed the crowds back onto a bus, and continued up the road in "no mans land" as we hadn't officially entered Malaysia yet. Then the traffic piled up again, and everyone piled off the bus again. One very nice local took us under his wing and guided us in the right direction, but it was still a bit hairy because we had to get off the bus in the middle of the road, weaving in between several moving buses and huge trucks that all started honking at us to get to the correct queue. Mom likened the feeling to being a Mexican immigrant trying to cross the border. We did feel a bit vulnerable. Regardless, we got to the immigrations/customs, and were officially stamped into Malaysia.
We had to get to the train station early to claim our tickets, so then we had about 2 hours to kill at a marginal station. Here's an antedote that Paul and Carl will appreciate. We're sitting in the station - mom, Keith and I on the floor lined up on the wall leaning on our packs. Dad is sitting about 3 feet across from us in the chairs. We're talking about money, so mom asks dad, "How many Ringets do you have?" To which dad responds, "How many radians in a circle?" It was too funny. (My dad is just a 'tad' hard of hearing).
The deluxe overnight cabins that we had were very nicely designed, but very poorly managed/maintained. Our toilet didn't flush, the food was awful, the sheets wouldn't stay on the bed, and for a sleeper train the mechanisms of the train and the tracks were very loud. Despite our private quarters, none of us slept very well.
The train took us to Kuala Lumpur (which if you read this blog closely you may have called my bluff by now - it is not a city of 22 million, but only about 2 million - the entire country of Malaysia has 22 million people in it! oops.). We had decided not to stay a night there because of how big the city is (again, oops), and easily transferred to a bus that took us up to Cameron Highlands - northeast of KL. The bus up there was another transport day to be forgotten - a very old bus, with no leg room and seats that you have to assemble before sitting down in. We all slept well that night.
Cameron Highlands is known for its tea plantations. Its a hilly, green, lush and very peaceful place to hang out. But it was cold and rainy and foggy, and both my parents were quick to point out that it feels just like Gig Harbor. After one day, mom kept saying, "Let's get to Thailand!". We enjoyed the views of the tea plantations, let dad recover from a bout of illness, then headed out (this time on a VERY nice VIP bus). Dad was against a long travel day, so we stopped over in a small, nontouristy place called Ipoh, Malaysia, where we spent a full day exploring before catching an overnight train to Thailand that left from Ipoh at 1:00 AM.
Ipoh turned out to be a reasonably interesting city. It is known for its limestone caves. We gave my folks a good experience on a local bus to get out of central Ipoh, before hiring a personal taxi to drive us from sight to sight. Our first and main stop was to a huge cave - the largest limestone cave in peninsular Malaysia (forget the name at this point). And it was massive. We think the ceiling of this cave was almost as high as a big sporting stadium like the Kingdome or Key Arena. Massive. And of course the structures inside were equally massive. Like cave formations on steroids. Then we stopped a silly little castle that a white man with a lot of money built, then peeked in at some Buddhist temples that were built into more caves on the road back to Ipoh. We spent the evening at the hotel above the train station where we rented a room for storing stuff and hanging out. The hotel was again not well maintained, but had a great open air balcony, perfect for playing cards and waiting for the train.
This time, no personal sleeper cars, but a bed in a common bunk car. So one car of the train made up entirely of bunks. We were late to buy tickets so we all ended up with a top bunk, where we had to sleep with our backpacks. Pretty funny to see dad try to get comfortable in such a small space. We all slept on and off as again, it was a loud and rocky ride. But not long after we awoke, we entered Thailand! And after a smooth border crossing, we got off in Hat Yai. Hat Yai greeted mom and dad with their first transportation touts who the were able to ignore beautifully. We moved right on from here and settled down in Trang, a town a bit closer to the coast that would be the jumping off point to the islands and a heck of a lot closer to Phuket than Singapore was! Sorry mom and dad, hindsight is always 20/20! After all that travel, we were all ready to get to an island and stay put for a while.
Trang was a nice place, and it was quite fun to watch my parents get into the traveling way. They are more social and ask more questions than Keith and I, and were off exploring the town with more vigour than either of us - finding good coffee shops, prying travelers for info, etc. We also found the Thai people (those who are not selling transport) to be absolutely lovely. They want so much to help us. We were standing on a street corner in a downpour after probably the most miserable bus ride of my dad's life. A minivan stuffed with 17 people and seats that required my dad to have his knees way up on the seat in front of him - this after being promised an express bus to Trang that we paid a premium for! Anyway, this lady saw our confusion, asked where we wanted to go, and went so far as to call the hotel on her cell phone to get accurate directions and then flag down a tuk tuk for us to make sure we didn't get wet or lost. So cute. And my parents were chased down the street in their quest for finding a coffee shop by someone trying to lead them in the right direction.
We only stayed one day, and then booked a boat out to this lovely island, where we've been living it up. The first day was just a getting settled day. The next day we rented kayaks and explored our side of the island while jumping in to snorkle periodically. We sit on the east side of the island, so that night we walked through the jungle of the interior (it's not a very big island - about 5km in diameter) to the 4th resort which is very much isolated (the only way is on this trail through the jungle) where we thought we'd get some sunset views. Not quite far enough west, but a nice walk through the woods. The only downfall is that once you crest the first hill away from our beach, the wind stops and the mosquitos swarm. Within 5 minutes before I had a chance to put on the Deet, I had about 10 bites!
Yesterday, we went on a snorkle trip where we stopped at 4 different islands and a beach for lunch. The snorkeling is fantastic. Lots of very diverse coral, fish, I saw a sea snake, and the coolest clams. The one downfall is that all the boats stop at the same spots to snorkle and they feed some of the fish. This creates very aggressive fish. The only ones that seem to care are these small gold and black ones, but it's kind of creepy because as soon as a boat and the people hit the water, there they are. Following you around. Sometimes they even peck at you! I got "pecked" the first time while we were snorkeling from the kayaks, and Keith loves to tell everyone how those little fish scared me right out of the water (after I got bit, you see, I climbed back into the kayak for a 'break'). The highlight of yesterday was the Emerald Cave. I want dad to write the description of it because I'm no good at describing things like this. It was surreal. You swim about 90 meters through a cave and emerge in a mini paradise. Perfect sand beach, crazy tropical plants with leaves as big as a small person, and sheer cliffs all around. It felt like we were standing in a movie set. Dad says it formed from a giant sinkhole. We hadn't brought our cameras so no pics, but dad took a picture of a picture on the wall.
And that brings us to today. Finally a day to recover. We're doing nothing but hanging around in the shade (we all got a bit burnt yesterday), swimming, catching up on internet, and eating. Life is rough.
Just tried to get some pictures up, but the USB on this computer doesn't work. Internet is very limited here - in fact I am surprised they have it at all (we're using the computer from one of the fancier resorts....). Our next stop is Ko Lanta, a more developed island, so we'll try to get some pics up there. I'm sure that's exactly what you all want to see - tropical beaches, tanned faces, etc., while you are freezing through the cold NW winter.
But first, what happened between Singapore and Thailand? A lot of transport. In hindsight, we definitely should have had my parents meet us in Phuket. We did way too much overland travel between Singapore and through Malaysia, with not enough interesting sights along the way. Leaving Singapore is an interesting story though. My parents first border crossing was hilarious (although mom may have a different word to describe it). We booked an overnight train that left from the border town in Malaysia, so we had to get to the Malaysian train station by bus from Singapore. The shuttle bus up there was fine, but the border crossing was a bit of chaos. It was a Friday night, and a lot of Malaysians commute to Singapore to work, so it was about 6:00 PM and the roads were packed. As our bus approached the border "checkpoint", everyone started filing out of it as the roads were clogged. We found a friendly face in the crowd and were reassured that we should walk from there. So we did and we got officially stamped out of Singapore. Then we followed the crowds back onto a bus, and continued up the road in "no mans land" as we hadn't officially entered Malaysia yet. Then the traffic piled up again, and everyone piled off the bus again. One very nice local took us under his wing and guided us in the right direction, but it was still a bit hairy because we had to get off the bus in the middle of the road, weaving in between several moving buses and huge trucks that all started honking at us to get to the correct queue. Mom likened the feeling to being a Mexican immigrant trying to cross the border. We did feel a bit vulnerable. Regardless, we got to the immigrations/customs, and were officially stamped into Malaysia.
We had to get to the train station early to claim our tickets, so then we had about 2 hours to kill at a marginal station. Here's an antedote that Paul and Carl will appreciate. We're sitting in the station - mom, Keith and I on the floor lined up on the wall leaning on our packs. Dad is sitting about 3 feet across from us in the chairs. We're talking about money, so mom asks dad, "How many Ringets do you have?" To which dad responds, "How many radians in a circle?" It was too funny. (My dad is just a 'tad' hard of hearing).
The deluxe overnight cabins that we had were very nicely designed, but very poorly managed/maintained. Our toilet didn't flush, the food was awful, the sheets wouldn't stay on the bed, and for a sleeper train the mechanisms of the train and the tracks were very loud. Despite our private quarters, none of us slept very well.
The train took us to Kuala Lumpur (which if you read this blog closely you may have called my bluff by now - it is not a city of 22 million, but only about 2 million - the entire country of Malaysia has 22 million people in it! oops.). We had decided not to stay a night there because of how big the city is (again, oops), and easily transferred to a bus that took us up to Cameron Highlands - northeast of KL. The bus up there was another transport day to be forgotten - a very old bus, with no leg room and seats that you have to assemble before sitting down in. We all slept well that night.
Cameron Highlands is known for its tea plantations. Its a hilly, green, lush and very peaceful place to hang out. But it was cold and rainy and foggy, and both my parents were quick to point out that it feels just like Gig Harbor. After one day, mom kept saying, "Let's get to Thailand!". We enjoyed the views of the tea plantations, let dad recover from a bout of illness, then headed out (this time on a VERY nice VIP bus). Dad was against a long travel day, so we stopped over in a small, nontouristy place called Ipoh, Malaysia, where we spent a full day exploring before catching an overnight train to Thailand that left from Ipoh at 1:00 AM.
Ipoh turned out to be a reasonably interesting city. It is known for its limestone caves. We gave my folks a good experience on a local bus to get out of central Ipoh, before hiring a personal taxi to drive us from sight to sight. Our first and main stop was to a huge cave - the largest limestone cave in peninsular Malaysia (forget the name at this point). And it was massive. We think the ceiling of this cave was almost as high as a big sporting stadium like the Kingdome or Key Arena. Massive. And of course the structures inside were equally massive. Like cave formations on steroids. Then we stopped a silly little castle that a white man with a lot of money built, then peeked in at some Buddhist temples that were built into more caves on the road back to Ipoh. We spent the evening at the hotel above the train station where we rented a room for storing stuff and hanging out. The hotel was again not well maintained, but had a great open air balcony, perfect for playing cards and waiting for the train.
This time, no personal sleeper cars, but a bed in a common bunk car. So one car of the train made up entirely of bunks. We were late to buy tickets so we all ended up with a top bunk, where we had to sleep with our backpacks. Pretty funny to see dad try to get comfortable in such a small space. We all slept on and off as again, it was a loud and rocky ride. But not long after we awoke, we entered Thailand! And after a smooth border crossing, we got off in Hat Yai. Hat Yai greeted mom and dad with their first transportation touts who the were able to ignore beautifully. We moved right on from here and settled down in Trang, a town a bit closer to the coast that would be the jumping off point to the islands and a heck of a lot closer to Phuket than Singapore was! Sorry mom and dad, hindsight is always 20/20! After all that travel, we were all ready to get to an island and stay put for a while.
Trang was a nice place, and it was quite fun to watch my parents get into the traveling way. They are more social and ask more questions than Keith and I, and were off exploring the town with more vigour than either of us - finding good coffee shops, prying travelers for info, etc. We also found the Thai people (those who are not selling transport) to be absolutely lovely. They want so much to help us. We were standing on a street corner in a downpour after probably the most miserable bus ride of my dad's life. A minivan stuffed with 17 people and seats that required my dad to have his knees way up on the seat in front of him - this after being promised an express bus to Trang that we paid a premium for! Anyway, this lady saw our confusion, asked where we wanted to go, and went so far as to call the hotel on her cell phone to get accurate directions and then flag down a tuk tuk for us to make sure we didn't get wet or lost. So cute. And my parents were chased down the street in their quest for finding a coffee shop by someone trying to lead them in the right direction.
We only stayed one day, and then booked a boat out to this lovely island, where we've been living it up. The first day was just a getting settled day. The next day we rented kayaks and explored our side of the island while jumping in to snorkle periodically. We sit on the east side of the island, so that night we walked through the jungle of the interior (it's not a very big island - about 5km in diameter) to the 4th resort which is very much isolated (the only way is on this trail through the jungle) where we thought we'd get some sunset views. Not quite far enough west, but a nice walk through the woods. The only downfall is that once you crest the first hill away from our beach, the wind stops and the mosquitos swarm. Within 5 minutes before I had a chance to put on the Deet, I had about 10 bites!
Yesterday, we went on a snorkle trip where we stopped at 4 different islands and a beach for lunch. The snorkeling is fantastic. Lots of very diverse coral, fish, I saw a sea snake, and the coolest clams. The one downfall is that all the boats stop at the same spots to snorkle and they feed some of the fish. This creates very aggressive fish. The only ones that seem to care are these small gold and black ones, but it's kind of creepy because as soon as a boat and the people hit the water, there they are. Following you around. Sometimes they even peck at you! I got "pecked" the first time while we were snorkeling from the kayaks, and Keith loves to tell everyone how those little fish scared me right out of the water (after I got bit, you see, I climbed back into the kayak for a 'break'). The highlight of yesterday was the Emerald Cave. I want dad to write the description of it because I'm no good at describing things like this. It was surreal. You swim about 90 meters through a cave and emerge in a mini paradise. Perfect sand beach, crazy tropical plants with leaves as big as a small person, and sheer cliffs all around. It felt like we were standing in a movie set. Dad says it formed from a giant sinkhole. We hadn't brought our cameras so no pics, but dad took a picture of a picture on the wall.
And that brings us to today. Finally a day to recover. We're doing nothing but hanging around in the shade (we all got a bit burnt yesterday), swimming, catching up on internet, and eating. Life is rough.
Just tried to get some pictures up, but the USB on this computer doesn't work. Internet is very limited here - in fact I am surprised they have it at all (we're using the computer from one of the fancier resorts....). Our next stop is Ko Lanta, a more developed island, so we'll try to get some pics up there. I'm sure that's exactly what you all want to see - tropical beaches, tanned faces, etc., while you are freezing through the cold NW winter.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Pictures from Singapore
Not too much new to report. We spent today exploring Little India and the Arab area. We were hoping to go into a mosque today, but of course it's Friday, the holy day, where Muslims spend most of their time in prayer at the mosque and they don't look favorably on tourists coming in inappropriately dressed, leering and gawking. I guess I can understand that. So we just walked around, tried to find the "wet market" in Little India where there were supposed to be wheelbarrows full of goat heads being pushed around, but alas, we couldn't find it.
My parents seem to be enjoying themselves, and while my dad isn't particularly fond of the big cities, he is having no trouble sampling the cuisine. Singapore has a population of about 4 million people. When I mentioned off-handedly that Kuala Lumpur (where we were going to spend one day) had a population of 22 million, dad balked. OK, so we'll skip it. We were only going there for a break in the travel anyway. Even I feel daunted by the task of trying to navigate and manage the logistics of such a large place. So tonight, we'll ride on a luxury sleeper train to KL, then push on to the tea plantation/mountainous area of the Cameron Highlands in inland Malaysia.
Here are my folks at the airport. To their credit, they weren't prepared or posing for this picture. Keith and I actually thought they looked great for the monstrosity of a journey they undertook!
First thing we did in Singapore, was spend most of the day at the botanical gardens. It was so beautiful.
Within the garden was an area only for orchids. Amazing. Penny - we thought of you often as we walked around here! You will have to make sure to look at all of mom's pictures when she gets back.
Some cool fanning ferns (I don't think that's the latin name for this plant...)
Finally, this is how we probably look 80% of the time. Either waiting to cross a busy street, figuring out where we are and which way to go, deciding who wants to do what and when, or as the case was in this photo, planning the next meal. This is on the edge of Little India.
Next entry....from Malaysia!
My parents seem to be enjoying themselves, and while my dad isn't particularly fond of the big cities, he is having no trouble sampling the cuisine. Singapore has a population of about 4 million people. When I mentioned off-handedly that Kuala Lumpur (where we were going to spend one day) had a population of 22 million, dad balked. OK, so we'll skip it. We were only going there for a break in the travel anyway. Even I feel daunted by the task of trying to navigate and manage the logistics of such a large place. So tonight, we'll ride on a luxury sleeper train to KL, then push on to the tea plantation/mountainous area of the Cameron Highlands in inland Malaysia.
Here are my folks at the airport. To their credit, they weren't prepared or posing for this picture. Keith and I actually thought they looked great for the monstrosity of a journey they undertook!
First thing we did in Singapore, was spend most of the day at the botanical gardens. It was so beautiful.
Within the garden was an area only for orchids. Amazing. Penny - we thought of you often as we walked around here! You will have to make sure to look at all of mom's pictures when she gets back.
Some cool fanning ferns (I don't think that's the latin name for this plant...)
Finally, this is how we probably look 80% of the time. Either waiting to cross a busy street, figuring out where we are and which way to go, deciding who wants to do what and when, or as the case was in this photo, planning the next meal. This is on the edge of Little India.
Next entry....from Malaysia!
Singapore!
We are exploring Singapore after a truly grueling journey. We spent 24 hours in airports and in the air. It was great to see Emily and Keith through the glass panels on the other side of Customs. That was close to 2 am.
Today we explored beautiful Singapore Botanical Gardens and an exquisite Orchid Garden within. Tropical, lush foliage, lakes and plants everywhere.
We are exploring the city near our hotel, the famous Raffles Hotel and up 74 stories to a bar on top of the Swisshotel, the Stamford, the tallest hotel in the world. No drinks as the Singapore Sling cost $31 up there in the sky. We just ate some great mango Chinese desserts after an earlier dinner at a street vendor.
Tomorrow we're on our way to see Little India and then head to Kuala Lumpur on an overnight train in our deluxe sleeping cars. Ah, the good travel life. Tired. Need more sleep.
That was my mom obviously. How fun to have these two here! I wanted to get some pictures up of them at the airport especially (looking their best), but this computer is being weird.
My two cents on Singapore is that it is a pretty neat city. Very clean, organized and a killer subway system!
Today we explored beautiful Singapore Botanical Gardens and an exquisite Orchid Garden within. Tropical, lush foliage, lakes and plants everywhere.
We are exploring the city near our hotel, the famous Raffles Hotel and up 74 stories to a bar on top of the Swisshotel, the Stamford, the tallest hotel in the world. No drinks as the Singapore Sling cost $31 up there in the sky. We just ate some great mango Chinese desserts after an earlier dinner at a street vendor.
Tomorrow we're on our way to see Little India and then head to Kuala Lumpur on an overnight train in our deluxe sleeping cars. Ah, the good travel life. Tired. Need more sleep.
That was my mom obviously. How fun to have these two here! I wanted to get some pictures up of them at the airport especially (looking their best), but this computer is being weird.
My two cents on Singapore is that it is a pretty neat city. Very clean, organized and a killer subway system!
Monday, January 02, 2006
Rainy New Year in Yogyakarta
Well, haven't we been neglecting this blog...geesh, a lot to catch you up on I suppose.
First, here are some pictures from Tretes. Remember the attraction we were at the waterfalls? Here is one of the many pictures taken:
And a look inside the local market. This is about how all the markets look throughout Indonesia, varying only in size.
We've spent the last week here in Yogya, now I just have to try and remember how we spent our time. We spent the first two days walking around the city center - most of which comprises the street called Maliboro - a long 1.5 km stretch of shopping stalls, malls, and street vendors. And the infamous becak drivers (the guys who push you in a carriage attached to their bike). They line the street solid, and every single one of them asks you if you would like a ride. We are trying so hard not to be mean to them, after all they are only trying to make a living, but after 7 days of it, it gets very hard.
The days we've hung around the city, we've alternated walking with biking and visited the various shopping specialty areas including silver production, batik production and pottery. We did buy some stuff (no pottery though) and cannot wait to get to Singapore to mail stuff off and lighten up our packs.
One of the main attractions around Yogya is the tremendous temples of Borobudur and Prambanan. We took them both in in one day, and while everyone talks more about Borobudur, we were actually more impressed with Prambanan. Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. And it is indeed huge. We couldn't get it all in one picture. It is in a lovely setting as well, at the base of some mountains, surrounded by lush green forests. Very intricate carvings etched into the stone and many, many buddha (unfortunately with most their heads chopped off and stolen) sitting very peaceful-like gazing off into the horizon. We touched one of the buddha in a stupa's foot, so now we should be blessed with lots of good luck.
Here's a view of Borobudur from afar:
Borobudur from the top, looking through the stupas out to the foggy forest below:
Then we went about an hour east and walked around Prambanan which is a huge Hindu complex. I think this was more impressive to us because there were so many temples in the area. Instead of one gargantuan one, there were about 20-30 smaller, yet still huge, temples. The Prambanan temples each have four sets of stairs that take you into the middle of it where there is some sort of statue or place of offering. Very nice.
Entryway into one of the smaller Prambanan complexes:
A look at the main Prambanan complex:
Then it was New Years. We originally had planned to escape to another small mountain side town. But after hearing about and seeing the preparations for the street party planned here, we decided to stay. Plus we didn't want to be traveling on the holiday, dealing with full hotels, etc. We were of course conscious of the terrorist threats, but we felt reasonably safe as the street party is geared for locals, not tourists, and we weren't planning to go to any heavily "Westernized" places (of which there really aren't a lot here).
The street party could have been really cool if the weather had cooperated. The city shut down the main street (Maliboro) to traffic, set up 5-6 stages, and had music all night and fireworks at midnight. Except it rained the entire night. We headed out at about 8:00 and walked up and down the street a couple times, stopping at each stage for a while and snacking from the vendors. The highlight of the night was at the end of the street where the most famous pop band in Indonesia was playing. The crowd there was HUGE (and young). The band was quite good, even though we couldn't understand the lyrics. We neglected to dance at any of the stages, although we were tempted at the reggae music, but it was raining hard, and we would have created more of a spectacle than we were up for. We got pretty much soaking wet, and by 10:00 headed to a restaurant for some more food - nothing else to do, why not keep eating?? Then we went back to the hotel for a while to dry off and poked our heads out one more time in hopes of catching some fireworks, but we missed them (they fired them off too early!), then to bed. I know, we need to not be such party animals.
And of course nothing happened in terms of terrorism, although the police were out in full force. Through of the gated entryways, Keith was stopped by one of the police holding an M16 because he was carrying the camera under his coat, and the policeman noticed the suspicious bulge. Good on him for checking, we say (a little Australian lingo there). But then there were the other three policemen I saw standing along the sidewalk, staring at the stage and practically dancing to the music....hmmmm. What they may have lacked in constant attentiveness, they made up for in sheer numbers of them out there that night.
The next day, we finally braved the traffic, and rented a motorscooter and took a daytrip up to the mountain town of Kaliurang which was our original overnight destination for New Years. Kaliurang, sits at the base of Mt Merapi, the most active volcano on Java. In recent years, a visit to the mountain would be rewarded with views of lava flowing. But the lava is not hot anymore, so we didn't get to see that. Or Mt Merapi for that matter. It was covered in clouds. It had a nice national park there though, that we were able to explore for a couple hours and get some good walking in. Lots of locals there again, as it was a holiday, but we were not nearly as interesting to this crowd.
Keith did stupendously with the driving as well. It was a bit scary (more for me I think than for Keith - something about not having any control) for the first half hour, but eventually I was able to relax, and by the way home, Keith was saying, "I like driving in Indonesia! Everyone pays such close attention to what they are doing!". Well, they have to you see, because everyone is weaving in and out and passing willy nilly. You might say, wow, renting a motorscooter would be too dangerous, why not get a car? Well, when 3/4 of the population is on motorscooters, you actually feel safer being on one as well - safety in numbers, you know? We only got one dirty look the whole day, and didn't get lost. Well done, Keith! (I take no credit for either success....all I did was yell in his ear, watch out for that lady, bike, car, motorcycle, bus and STAY LEFT!!). Good fun.
Some more pictures, then I'm going to sign off.
Here's a look at that Maliboro street and those pesky becaks. Not sure where all the drivers have gone in this picture. Usually they are perched in their sits either snoozing or yelling at us.
And finally, a look at the lobby of our lovely hotel called Setia Kawan (I looked it up today and it means Loyal Companians). Notice the artwork behind Keith. This is the table where we spend many hours reading our books and playing cards.
We are leaving Indonesia tomorrow. We fly out to Jakarta early in the AM, then fly from Jakarta to Singapore. We'll be there for a couple days, round up my folks, and then off to Malaysia!
We hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years! Love to all!
First, here are some pictures from Tretes. Remember the attraction we were at the waterfalls? Here is one of the many pictures taken:
And a look inside the local market. This is about how all the markets look throughout Indonesia, varying only in size.
We've spent the last week here in Yogya, now I just have to try and remember how we spent our time. We spent the first two days walking around the city center - most of which comprises the street called Maliboro - a long 1.5 km stretch of shopping stalls, malls, and street vendors. And the infamous becak drivers (the guys who push you in a carriage attached to their bike). They line the street solid, and every single one of them asks you if you would like a ride. We are trying so hard not to be mean to them, after all they are only trying to make a living, but after 7 days of it, it gets very hard.
The days we've hung around the city, we've alternated walking with biking and visited the various shopping specialty areas including silver production, batik production and pottery. We did buy some stuff (no pottery though) and cannot wait to get to Singapore to mail stuff off and lighten up our packs.
One of the main attractions around Yogya is the tremendous temples of Borobudur and Prambanan. We took them both in in one day, and while everyone talks more about Borobudur, we were actually more impressed with Prambanan. Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. And it is indeed huge. We couldn't get it all in one picture. It is in a lovely setting as well, at the base of some mountains, surrounded by lush green forests. Very intricate carvings etched into the stone and many, many buddha (unfortunately with most their heads chopped off and stolen) sitting very peaceful-like gazing off into the horizon. We touched one of the buddha in a stupa's foot, so now we should be blessed with lots of good luck.
Here's a view of Borobudur from afar:
Borobudur from the top, looking through the stupas out to the foggy forest below:
Then we went about an hour east and walked around Prambanan which is a huge Hindu complex. I think this was more impressive to us because there were so many temples in the area. Instead of one gargantuan one, there were about 20-30 smaller, yet still huge, temples. The Prambanan temples each have four sets of stairs that take you into the middle of it where there is some sort of statue or place of offering. Very nice.
Entryway into one of the smaller Prambanan complexes:
A look at the main Prambanan complex:
Then it was New Years. We originally had planned to escape to another small mountain side town. But after hearing about and seeing the preparations for the street party planned here, we decided to stay. Plus we didn't want to be traveling on the holiday, dealing with full hotels, etc. We were of course conscious of the terrorist threats, but we felt reasonably safe as the street party is geared for locals, not tourists, and we weren't planning to go to any heavily "Westernized" places (of which there really aren't a lot here).
The street party could have been really cool if the weather had cooperated. The city shut down the main street (Maliboro) to traffic, set up 5-6 stages, and had music all night and fireworks at midnight. Except it rained the entire night. We headed out at about 8:00 and walked up and down the street a couple times, stopping at each stage for a while and snacking from the vendors. The highlight of the night was at the end of the street where the most famous pop band in Indonesia was playing. The crowd there was HUGE (and young). The band was quite good, even though we couldn't understand the lyrics. We neglected to dance at any of the stages, although we were tempted at the reggae music, but it was raining hard, and we would have created more of a spectacle than we were up for. We got pretty much soaking wet, and by 10:00 headed to a restaurant for some more food - nothing else to do, why not keep eating?? Then we went back to the hotel for a while to dry off and poked our heads out one more time in hopes of catching some fireworks, but we missed them (they fired them off too early!), then to bed. I know, we need to not be such party animals.
And of course nothing happened in terms of terrorism, although the police were out in full force. Through of the gated entryways, Keith was stopped by one of the police holding an M16 because he was carrying the camera under his coat, and the policeman noticed the suspicious bulge. Good on him for checking, we say (a little Australian lingo there). But then there were the other three policemen I saw standing along the sidewalk, staring at the stage and practically dancing to the music....hmmmm. What they may have lacked in constant attentiveness, they made up for in sheer numbers of them out there that night.
The next day, we finally braved the traffic, and rented a motorscooter and took a daytrip up to the mountain town of Kaliurang which was our original overnight destination for New Years. Kaliurang, sits at the base of Mt Merapi, the most active volcano on Java. In recent years, a visit to the mountain would be rewarded with views of lava flowing. But the lava is not hot anymore, so we didn't get to see that. Or Mt Merapi for that matter. It was covered in clouds. It had a nice national park there though, that we were able to explore for a couple hours and get some good walking in. Lots of locals there again, as it was a holiday, but we were not nearly as interesting to this crowd.
Keith did stupendously with the driving as well. It was a bit scary (more for me I think than for Keith - something about not having any control) for the first half hour, but eventually I was able to relax, and by the way home, Keith was saying, "I like driving in Indonesia! Everyone pays such close attention to what they are doing!". Well, they have to you see, because everyone is weaving in and out and passing willy nilly. You might say, wow, renting a motorscooter would be too dangerous, why not get a car? Well, when 3/4 of the population is on motorscooters, you actually feel safer being on one as well - safety in numbers, you know? We only got one dirty look the whole day, and didn't get lost. Well done, Keith! (I take no credit for either success....all I did was yell in his ear, watch out for that lady, bike, car, motorcycle, bus and STAY LEFT!!). Good fun.
Some more pictures, then I'm going to sign off.
Here's a look at that Maliboro street and those pesky becaks. Not sure where all the drivers have gone in this picture. Usually they are perched in their sits either snoozing or yelling at us.
And finally, a look at the lobby of our lovely hotel called Setia Kawan (I looked it up today and it means Loyal Companians). Notice the artwork behind Keith. This is the table where we spend many hours reading our books and playing cards.
We are leaving Indonesia tomorrow. We fly out to Jakarta early in the AM, then fly from Jakarta to Singapore. We'll be there for a couple days, round up my folks, and then off to Malaysia!
We hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years! Love to all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)