CSI: Bangkok

So maybe Bangkok has a bit too much (disturbing) character. On my way to the canal ferry this morning I came across a dead body in the water. Yes, that's right, a dead human being. He (?) was probably murdered given the grotesque situation the body was in. Thankfully I wasn't the first to discover the scene (imagine explaining that to Thai authorities!). About 30 Thai people were lining the sides of the canal, though, oddly, there were no cops on the scene at that time.

Bye Bye Bali

Kuta Beach

After extensive research over the past 7 weeks I have come to the conclusion that I am not a beach person. Two days in Kuta beach was quite enough for me thanks. I'm quite excited to be back in Bangkok a city with colour, character, good food, and even better fruit all just out my front door!

Though most people disparage Bali because of the number of tourists; I'm not convinced that if you factor them out I would like it any more. I think given the choice between a cold Canadian lake (like Overneath) and Bali I would go to the lake every time. For my next leg in SEA I guess I'll be sticking to the highlands!

Are You Married?

YES. Will answer "yes!" from now on. Have tried open, honest, friendly route. Does not work. Always backfires. Have had two consecutive afternoons hijacked by uninteresting boys. Understand cultural differences of speaking to boys from Muslim family may lead to awkward situations. Does not explain second afternoon in which was dealing with western boy. Gaah! Would much rather have read infinitely more appealing book than commit to tedious chit chat. Have put on fake wedding ring and am developing back story. Currently debating between engaged and married.

A Wicked Coincidence

The craziest thing happened on my way to supper my first night in Kuta Beach. I was walking down the main drag when who should I bump into but S&J my travel buddies from Java! I'd said goodbye to them in Ubud a few days earlier believing them to be in Flores already as had been the plan. Due to difficult flight arrangements they had had to stay in Kuta for a couple extra nights. After chatting for a few minutes we discovered we had all booked into the same guesthouse! Not only that, we were on the same floor and neighbors too! So all in all that was pretty great. We had a final tea party that night with a delicious sweet cake. Mmm mmm :)

K-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-kecak!

I went to a spectacular "Kecak" performance (a fire and trance spectacle) last night in Ubud. Despite being targeted entirely at tourists (the performers started speaking in English at one point "transport!?" joked one) I had a terrific time going to the show with J+R (from Korea). The stars of the show were the 100+ men all chanting in unison. They formed a circle around dancers who were, supposedly, playing out the story of the Ramayana (the Ramayana seems to be the story told in every performance in Indonesia). The female dancers were quite disconcerting with their eyes practically popping out of their heads and their oddly extended fingers. They gave the distinct impression that they were staring at you. But the guys were great and looked to be having a blast, as were we!

Kecak performance

postscript

I had a big backlog of blogging to do due to the distinct lack of internet access in Java. Scroll down to "Mmm Java" if you want to read these posts in order.

The Gods Are in Town

We arrived on Bali at Gilimanuk in the northwest. LP assured us there were “frequent” buses to Denpassar (capital) in the south. It turns out frequent refers to buses between 3(!?) am and 6 pm. We arrived at 7 pm. We putted around what we believed was the bus station for 2 hours waiting for a bus that might be leaving at 9 or maybe 11 or maybe it already left at 6 or maybe there are buses at “another” bus station or maybe we should just stay in Gilimanuk! So we did. We arrived in Denpassar the next day and transferred immediately to Ubud.

Our first night in Ubud introduced us to a peculiar brand of people. They are westerners who have moved here to Bali to "work." They fill the bill perfectly of pseudo-hippie, spiritual junkie, yoga practitioner etc... But what struck me as odd was that though I had a whole conversation with a couple different people I really have no idea what kind of work they are doing. Everyone I met was extremely light on details but alluded mysteriously to some form of "project"they might be working on out in the middle of a rice paddy. I think there is a distinct possibility they've enjoyed a few too many special local herbs.

The Gods are in town today. It’s a three day Hindu festival that’s as popular as Christmas but celebrated twice as often. At least, that’s what I understood from, Madi, the woman who runs my guesthouse. People have spent the past two days preparing food and offerings to give to the gods today. Today the streets are full of people jetting about on scooters dressed in their best white shirts and coloured sarongs on their way to temple the women with a plate of food and offerings in her lap. Everything is closed but there’s a lot of activity in the streets and it feels a little like xmas. Beautifully decorated bamboo poles have been set up by every family in front of their homes in a way that feels decidedly like the equivalent of an xmas tree.

Offerings to the gods. You can find a small offering house like this at every home on Bali.

Road to Bali

Bromo was our last stop in Java before heading to Bali. It was very difficult this time to convince the driver of our minibus from Bromo that we wanted the bus station and not their own tour company. We managed in the end though I think they told us about 4 times that where we were (the HQ of their tour company) was the bus station. More fun followed at the real bus station where we were charged an entrance fee. We think it is part of an effort to clean up Java’s sketchiest bus station. We found a local bus traveling to Banyuwangi where the ferry leaves to Bali. The trip was 5 hours the first 3 of which I spent in mild discomfort really needing to use a toilet. To my great relief we made a quick pit stop at a bus station somewhere. Perhaps it was a little too quick as I was just coming out of the bathroom when the guy who works the door on the bus came running up telling me the bus was leaving. And indeed the bus had pulled out and was stopped in the middle of the road waiting for yours truly to come back from the toilet.

Unloading the water truck to unblock the main artery of East Java.

We were delayed again, for a little while longer than a pee break, when we caught up to an accident between two trucks at the bend in the road. Somehow a water truck got stuck up on another truck in a way I simply don’t understand how it could have happened. I thought we were going to be there for hours but in less than one we were rolling again. I was looking out the open window at my seat passing loads of other delayed trucks and buses waiting to go the other direction and every single time somebody saw my foreign face they would follow me until I was out of sight. I'm writing from Bali now and any one of the streets in Ubud would fit in very well in the Glebe. It sure is different from Java!

Mount Bromo

From Solo we found our way to Probolinggo by train at an unbeatable price. Though the journey took 9 hours it was really quite enjoyable for the first 4 hours. There was a steady breeze coming into our car and a constant stream of vendors offering us everything from fried tofu with chili to interesting pancake balls that were still piping hot. The last 5 hours were a little more tedious as the train took longer and longer stops at stations and the food became less frequent.

Probolinggo was our “jumping off point” (LP's favorite phrase) for Gunung (Mount) Bromo a climbable volcano. We arrived at night in very cool temperatures. For the second time on my trip I was very happy that I’ve lugged some long pants and a sweatshirt around the steamy heat of Thailand, Malaysia and now Indonesia. It was actually so cold the first night I kept on all my clothes and heaped two blankets onto my bed. Nevertheless I was pretty excited by the prospect of sleeping next to a volcano!

Brilliant Mount Bromo smoking in the center.

I stepped out my door the first morning and I had a brilliant panorama of Bromo and another peak set in a huge sand caldera. We were all super tired from the train the day before and took the day to relax, read and eat. It was just as well because the day was very cloudy. I think we struck gold when we happened across a little warung (traditional restaurant) down in the village. The woman who runs it is definitely the best cook in Java if not all of Indonesia. Tahu Telor may be one of her personal creations and it is my new favorite food. It’s a tofu and egg pancake (not sweet), on top of rice, topped with a freshly made peanut sauce. It was perfection for 5.000 Rp. Eating there as well was a man, Sheen, with his BMW motorbike parked outside. He drove from Nice, France to Malaysia last year and is on the second leg of his trip to Australia via Borneo, Java and Bali. We spent a great afternoon drinking tea and listening to horror stories from the road in Kalimatan and corrupt Indonesian immigration officers while the rain pounded down outside. Here's the link to his blog.

We lucked out completely when our second day, climbing day, dawned clear and blue. We were already pretty far up the mountain so there was not very far to climb to the top of Bromo. It took less than an hour to cross the sand sea that is at the base of the peak. The view was spectacular. The entire landscape was so unique we took hundreds of photos each. We spent 7 hours total roaming around the rim of the volcano, watching the white sulfer cloud billow out of the hole in Bromo, and then we hiked back and around to another peak along a skinny little trail that finally led us back down to the sand sea. It was definitely a superior way to spend a day.

At the summit of Bromo.

Solo

From the tourist hub of Bb we traveled an hour north to Solo by local train. Solo has no tourists. And the reason for this is probably there’s not much to see in Solo though it is a cultural center. The highlight of the three days there was a beautiful performance, Vayan Urang (people theater), with gamelan music and dancers.

The only other person staying at our guesthouse was an… interesting character from Australia. The first night we met him he was quite drunk with a new local friend who was supposedly going to find this Australian man, of about 75, an Indonesian wife. His new friend from Solo turned out to be an interesting piece of work as well, we found out later, while he pontificated to us during one very hot and lazy afternoon the virtues of Islam especially how it is the one true religion, and my personal favorite moment was when he compared women to rice fields.

Becak (aka cyclo) ride in Solo.

Borobudur

The most touristy attraction we visited was Borobudur (Bb) a massive, I think Lonely Planet is calling it the biggest, Buddhist temple in the world. It was built like a pyramidal layer cake of black stone. We spent our first afternoon in town walking around the perimeter of the grounds in hopes of finding a secondary entrance in order to avoid the outrageous entrance fee for tourists. Despite our best efforts it was unavoidable entering through the super deluxe/VIP/air con special entrance for tourists. The entrance fee for international people was $10 US (126.000 Rp). The entrance fee for locals was 15.000 Rp ($1.50 US). To put this in perspective my bed for the night was 20.000 Rp ($2), my supper 4.000 Rp ($0.40) and the 1 hour bus trip 10.000 Rp ($1). Once I got over the shock of spending 70.000 Rp in one place (I conned my way into getting the student discount with my driver’s license) I joined hoards of Indonesian school children on a field trip to Bb. It seemed for the school kids I was a better attraction than the temple, many of them stopping me for a “picture miss!”
An unfortunate Buddha statue on Borobodur.

Mmm Java

I really, really liked Java. The food was fantastic and cheap. The local people were friendly, and some places totally unique. I’m traveling with a Swedish/Maltese duo. We’ve crossed all of East Java to Bali on public buses and an economy train. Probably the best transport deal I’ve had in my life was the 9 hour train between Solo and Probolinggo (500 km ish) for 25.000 Rp = $2.50.

Delicious "warung" street food in Jogja.

Jogja

I made the executive decision, as the solo member of my traveling entourage, to fly directly to Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta and affectionately known as Jogja which quite frankly makes me smile every time I say it) skipping Jakarta and the 8 hour train journey through rice fields to get here.

At the airport I successfully leeched onto another couple traveling in the same direction as me. It's been quite interesting explaining to everybody we meet that we're from Canada, Sweden and Malta individually.

Rooftops of Jogja.

Jogja is the seat to the only sultan in Indonesia... or so I've read. It's primary tourist attraction is said sultan seat aka The Kraton. We have tried four times to get into this building. Each and every time our mission has been thwarted. Either by overly friendly locals diverting us to batik gallery scams (they come with free tea so as long as you don't buy anything it's a good time), or overly friendly locals telling us it's not open yet/it's actually closed/ it's open special tonight only etc etc etc. We actually never made a fifth and final attempt deciding it was probably a sign and for the best that we not actually visit The Kraton.

good times and t-storms

If Disney was to make a city (and yes I realize there's already a D. World and Land neither of which I've actually visited) I believe it would bare a striking ressemblance to Kuala Lumpur. Possibly I've been in Asia too long but, to me, KL felt extremely orderly, safe, friendly and uber colourful. The buildings were all quite attractive and there were many a palm lined street. Even the Petronas Towers were very attractive and I usually find skyscrapers quite ugly.

The Petronas Towers.
I guess Disney would have made a more pedestrian friendly city than KL actually is. The core of the city is actually quite condensed so it was easy to cover distances on foot. That is until your side walk disappeares and you find yourself negotiating the flower beds in the middle of a traffic circle.

I had a really good time in KL. The hostel worked out, there was a nice courtyard with shelter from the crazy afternoon thunderstorms, good people and a nice vibe.

What's that smell?

Just for the record, the durian does smell. Actually, it reaks. I've been facinated by the concept of the durian since I first heard about it during the KL Commonwealth Games. Turns out that was more than a decade ago. That made me feel really old. But I vividly remember a special report done on CBC about the curious case of the fowel smelling fruit and the Malaysian devotion to it.

The infamous durian fruit.

My first introduction to its smell was on my way to hostel no. 2. I was feeling quite tired, carrying my pack, and a little bit lost. (I was looking for a KFC. According to my directions I needed to turn right there. Somehow I'd managed to walked passed the biggest KFC in Malaysia). Anyway, walking down the street minding my own business and suddenly I'm surrounded by this overwhelming, weird, and generally unpleasant, durian smell. Can't say I got out my stash of ringits to buy one right then and there. They are actually very large. I'm keeping my eye out, for more durian stalls and another sucker tourist to go halvsies with...