Indonesian Paradise

We arrived on the 25th of February from KL on Asia's budget airline, Air Asia. We stayed one night in Seminyak, near the major party town of Kuta. We stayed in a lovely little place called Losmen Inada. It had charm but we wanted to head up to the north of Bali and away from the party antics of south Bali so we headed out. We stayed in Ubud for one night. I came down with my usual fever and weakness that night so we didn't get to see much of Ubud. We left the next morning to Lovina. The bus made its way through the rainy mountains and over to the North coast. We passed a huge lake and possibly a crater. Indonesia has a number of active volcanoes, one of which is on the island of Bali. At the bus stop, which is the hotel of the bus company we arrived to about 10 touts waiting for the bus to try to convince each of the 7 passengers to stay at their place. We enjoyed our yummy and free but basic rice lunch and boarded the bus to get closer to the hotel/hostel that sounded the nicest in our book. We weren't quite close enough! So after a nice little trek in what felt like 30c weather we arrived at a place that lacked a charm about it. Although I was sad to see the hotel quality room with a massive view of the beach from the bed go, it was too much money for a place that the room was the only nice thing about it. We decided the next best option was the place that was furthest from us at that point. So we hopped in a bemo, a local bus/taxi notorious for ripping off tourists. We did get ripped off, we later learned, and he managed to swipe an extra note from us when returning our change. C'est la vie. An expression I have been using a lot lately. We entered Kubu Lalang, the hotel, and decided that at the same price as the last place, the charm of the location and the staff was so much better, we took it. Every day for seven days we thought, should we leave yet? and each day we thought not yet. We did end up going to the hot springs and we looked for a waterfall, but must have missed the sign. The very relaxed place with great staff gave us a chance to get caught up on my reading. Outside the bungalow were daybeds that were perfect for whiling away the day and reading. I read Shantaram which is 900 pages in 5 days. Shantaram is a great book about an Australian escaped convict and eight years in Bombay. It is incredibly well written and gives an insight into a kind of India I will never see. I highly recommend it.

Then we took the same bus back to Kuta near the airport. That is the town that the bombs went off in 2002 and 2005. There is nightlife and beach. We were more interested in the latter. We went to the beach three days in a row. We would sleep in and maybe do an errand or two in the morning, like get post cards or a desperate search for hair bobbles (which was surprisingly difficult) then have lunch and head to the beach for the afternoon. There is so much accommodation in Kuta that the prices are pretty reasonable. The nice hotels with pools and aircon are about eighteen pounds a night. We couldn't afford them, but we did find a little place with our own bathroom and air con for 9 pounds a night. A little more than we have been spending but everything else was cheap enough so we splurged a little. The air con was bliss and felt so luxurious.

Walking at new heights in Taman Negara and KL

Last I wrote we were off to do the canopy walkway in the Taman Negara in central peninsular Malaysia. We made the little trek there (which seemed minuscule after our grueling hike two days before it, and yet I was still sweating through every bit of my clothing) and waited a little while to go up. The canopy walkway is accessible via 20 minute canoe boat or 1 hour trek. I would say about half of the people there had made the trek and the other half took the boat. The boat costs a bit of money and the trek is free. Once you purchase your tickets you have to wait your turn. It is a first come first serve process. We arrived at about 1pm and were lucky to not have to wait more than 20 minutes. Then you climb up some more steps and onto the walkway. The walkway is 45 metres above the ground (and Alex who is afraid of heights was convinced it was at least 50) and 510 metres long, spread over 9 walkways with junctions at trees. The canopy as they call it is literally a rope mesh with steel wire securing it to the tree. You then walk over what is essentially a metal ladder laid over the ropes and wooden boards to guard against wearing them too thin. Each walkway is only supposed to have 4 people on it and some of the tree platforms specify a max number of people. And they swayed regardless of how few were on the platform. I'm not that afraid of heights but I was a little perturbed. I got a few photos of Alex and I will try to upload them. I would go first on the walkway and then when I reached the platform I would turn and take a photo of Alex. I went first because there was a group of about 10 school kids, maybe 14 years old, ahead of us. And like most kids that age they were fearless and prepared to play/scare the girls in the group, who in turn would shriek and then laugh. I have to admit I was not nearly as amused as their friends. We survived and I think Alex is glad he did it.

The next morning we got up very early to take the local bus to Jeruntut where we switched to an air con bus to KL. It was incredibly easy and cheap and we arrived in KL around noon. We had heard from Lindsey and Catie (our hiking friends) that they were staying in Chinatown. We headed there to find some accommodation and stopped in a few places to check them out. We saw a couple of places that were lacking charm and when we arrived at the one Lindsay and Catie were at it had so much more charm than most and a ceiling fan that makes the world of difference. As I am signing in Alex asks the desk guy about Lindsay, at first he didn't know who we were talking about, then when we found Catie's name in the book, he then recalled them and said they had checked out. Spooked by the guidebook saying Chinatown has a prevalence of bed-bugs and Catie's propensity for finding them, Alex and I looked at each other and made the excuse that we should go to the Internet place to double check where they are. We headed back to one of the other places we had seen at checked in. The rooms were very basic and we shared the bathroom, but it was cheap and reasonably clean. As we learned later, the reason they left the hostel they had told us about was not because of bedbugs. The bed turned out to be the noisiest bed they had ever come across and actually managed to keep them awake. They did take a video and showed it to us of Lindsay sitting then standing and repeating this over and over again. It could have been a comedy skit. I hope they post the video. They have some great photos and are much better at posting them. Their blog is www.beyondbagot.wordpress.com and they have a link to all of their photos. As it turned out, some of their friends had gotten together to give Lindsay a birthday gift of money to stay in a proper hotel for a few nights. So after their night of no sleep due to noisy furniture it was a very welcome and appreciated present.

We saw some of the sights the next day. We went past the national mosque or masjid, went into Merdeka square (with an unbelievably large flagpole), and we tried to get into one of the museums near Merdeka square, but it had been moved entirely to one of the other museums we had walked so close to! Oh well. It was too hot and we were tired so we decided to do it the next day. We walked back to our area via the central market or pasar seni (Bahasa Malaysia is relatively easy to learn the written words). Alex shocked me when he wanted to do some shopping and we wandered around for at least 2 hours looking for clothes and presents. I asked Alex a couple of times: "Who are you? and what have you done with my boyfriend?" At home when he worked all week at a job he wasn't crazy about he would come home and his time was so precious that shopping just didn't make it in there. Being away and having more time to do enjoyable things he was happy to shop and even initiated it (I've learned over the years not to initiate shopping as Alex is never up for it).

That evening we went home showered (we usually need two showers a day in this heat) and decided to go over the road to a bar that had free wifi to check our emails. We hadn't heard from Lindsay and Catie and where they had gone so we thought we should check in. When we got down there they were at the bar. It is called Reggae Bar and it is known among backpackers as it has a long happy hour and it's in the budget guidebooks. So it wasn't THAT big a coincidence, but it was still surprising and serendipitous. We stayed there to have a couple more beers then headed to the Chinese hawker centre nearby for dinner. We called it an early night as it was Lindsay's birthday the next day and we knew we would have more time to chill the next evening. We made a plan to meet at their hotel the next evening at 8pm. They were going back to the Thai embassy the next day after a failed attempt because they didn't have all the necessary things to get their visa.

We meant to get up early and head to the Petronas towers very early to get a good entry time but after a little drinking the night before we could only get up and out by 10am. We walked to the metro and almost got on the wrong train, then had to run to catch the right one. We didn't get on the set of doors right in front of us as they were full so we went to the next one. You might think this is a lot of info, but there is a reason. At the next stop some people filed out so I moved closer to the back and as I turned around I saw Lindsay. Of all the trains and all the cars and all the doors we managed to get onto the exact same one. They were heading to the embassy and us to Petronas towers. Amazing. We had a chat for a few stops then got off one stop before them.

The Petronas Towers are free to enter but they give you tickets with time slots in order to stagger the crowds. At first I thought: It's lovely that they don't charge, it gives you a nice feeling. I think this is especially true when you are traveling on a budget and are aware of every ringgit you spend. We had a few hours to kill so we checked out how the rich spend their time. The mall that is part of that complex is huge! Of course, I understood the reason behind the decision to make it free much better once we sat down to watch the video before going up. There is a 10 minute (essentially promo) video that they show before you can go up. The best kind of propaganda. Check out who Petronas are here. Eventually we got up to the 41st floor to the bridge between the two towers. Some good photos because it's cool to see cities from up high. I'm pretty sure that will never get old. Then back to Chinatown to change and head out for dinner.

Lindsay's bday started with some cocktails in their hotel room, then dinner at the hawker centre and drinks and a shisha at the Reggae Bar. It was a really nice night. We got on with them so nicely that since we have left them that night we just refer to them as the guys. We have said to each other, I wonder where the guys are? or I wonder if the guys got their visa? It is the first time that Alex and I have made friends with a couple that neither of us knew beforehand.

The next day we flew to Bali. The second time we managed to get good and drunk the night before we had to travel. Well done us. It is absolutely no fun to travel, especially with 15kgs or 33 lbs on your back, in the sweltering heat and blaring sun when you are hungover.