Forza Italia in Thailand

The trip in southeast Asia continues. We left Malaysia accompanied by fellow travellers Steven and Kim from Belgium (http://stevenenkim.blogspot.com/) and literally walked into Thailand. Travelling here is a mix between the struggle to find transport, the hassle to negotiate the price (you can bet we fight for every Baht!) and the adventure to explain the final destination. Luckily it's not always that difficult. We travelled quite a lot through Singapore, Malaysia and now Thailand by train. Not only are the air-conditioned wagons extremely comfortable, it supplies us some great panoramas and it is a great opportunity to meet people. (We remark that walking through the train is not advised as the doors are a swinging-open invitation to fall out).

Travelling by train: as beautiful as it is

This time we met three crazy Italian beauties, who were 'as a coincidence' travelling in the same direction. We decided to bundle our forces and share as many túk-túks as possible. We checked out their physical capacities (don't get us wrong) by taking them to the Tiger Temple neer Krabi, where they had to step up more than 1300 steps under burning sun rays. They succeeded the test and so we invited them to join us to the Ko Phi Phi island.

Traditional pose (?)

Now, Ko Phi Phi is something different. Let's say it's an island where palmtrees were waving on steep rocks, where coral-blue waves were flirting with blissful white beaches and where a guy named Leonardo Di Caprio came to smoke some big pot in the movie "The Beach". The latter automatically transformed the island in a mekka for tourists, so things changed. Palmtrees are waving next to plastic bags, coral-blue waves are filled up with empty bottles and tourists are flirting during huge parties on the beaches.

 LTR: Fran, Tiger, PIMP and Vermicelli

 The Leo effect

However, Forza Italia-Belgium booked a boat and we drifted around the nearby islands, looking for footprints of Leo. As Simona (aka miss Vermicelli), Laura (aka miss Tiger) and Fran (aka miss Heart) were responsible for some bikini action on the front of the boat, we snorkled around and gifted ourselves with another layer of tan.  [no pictures available]

Officially we didn't party, we didn't sweat and we didn't even learn new Italian bad words.
Up to you to believe us or not. Ciao!

Malaysia - even hotter than it sounds

Unfortunately the heat and humidity are not more forgiving in Malaysia than they are in Singapore. Upon arrival by aircon'd train in Kuala Lumpur however, we were kindly welcomed by Uncle Nathan and Auntie Maureen and their family. They took mercy on our souls and hosted us for a while, showing us around and letting us cool down in their pool. We were pleasantly surprised when Uncle Nathan took us to a Belgian beer bar where he showed us that also Malaysians know how to appreciate a great beer. In the meantime Auntie Maureen dared us to add diverse spices to some of the delicious meals. While Dimitri made some worthy and respectable attempts, Auntie was not ready to declare us full Malaysians just yet.

We visited some of the impressive mosques and Hindu temples and wandered through the busy market streets. One of the highlights were the amazing views from the top of the Petronas towers, the highest twin towers in the world. We had a great time, but eventually it was time to move on and we said our goodbyes to Uncle and Auntie, thanking them for the wonderful stay we had.

We made our way to Melaka, a Unesco heritage site - it soon became clear why. It boasts a rich history of colonialism and has one of the most peaceful riverbanks we have seen.

Some might consider it foolish to attempt a trek through a jungle in this strangling heat and humidity but that's exactly what we did at our next stop, the Taman Negara, or National Park of Malaysia. It's filled with deadly animals such as green vipers, panthers, tigers and... Germans. We met Michael and Linuz, two hilarious and adventurous fellows who soon became travel companions. Somewhat disorganized, they made our bus and boat wait while they overslept and realized they still needed an ATM...

Nobody keeps track of time in the jungle however and we were soon hiking through the treacherous environment, carrying along a massive amount of water. We came out of the jungle exhausted, with our clothes soaking in sweat. Despite the horrible stench, the hostel let us back in and we celebrated our trip with some well earned Tiger beers.

The Germans joined us east to the tropical Perhentian Islands, one of the most chilled out places we have been so far. Gorgeous backdrops with palm trees next to mesmerizing beaches. Dimitri dived around a shipwreck while the rest was out snorkeling and soon we had forgotten all about the harsh jungle conditions. We enjoyed milk shakes during all times of the day and invented questionable dance moves at night. Removed from all the problems of the world, but still connected to the results of the Olympics, life was mercifully easy...

From Jakarta to Singapore

The adventures in Indonesia made us anxious to travel to its capital, Jakarta. Although spat out by many for being a grey dusty megapolis, it was interesting to absorb life observing an ants nest of almost 9 million Indonesians. And, frankly, it was a cheap pit-stop on the air-road to our next destination, but shhtt!

Try to imagine; túk-túks and up-market SUV's surrounded by thousands of loud motorcycles, intersections with up to 40 lanes and - if they were present - sidewalks with deadly pits. Pour a sauce of a 30+ degrees temperature and a layer of exhaust-fog over the city and you get our first impressions of Jakarta.

But we didn't give up: Dimitri decided to check out the new TransJakarta bus system. His verdict? The system is great: the clean, air-conditioned busses speed over exclusive bus lanes while a conductor ensures that maximum passenger numbers are not exceeded and Dimitri is not (intentionally?) sitting in the woman's coupé (true story).

Graham confirmed his euro-hero status during a soccer game with locals. He was enthused enough to play on barefeet like them and was motivated enough to ignore the big blood blister forming on the sole of his foot. The locals were charmed however and we suspect that out of sympathy they let Graham score on purpose.

Although we only stayed two days we got a lot out of it. We took a badly negotiated túk-túk and discovered traffic, traffic jams and slums, went up the 'nasional monumen' for a glimpse over the city, checked out the activities at the docks in a rowing boat and played chess with the locals. We stumbled on a local flee market and impressed sales man with our bargaining skills in Indonesian. And, last but not least, we ran into the cheapest Mc Donalds ever - 3 euros for a whole menu... Actually, by then, we decided to love Jakarta!

We waved Indonesia goodbye and embraced beautiful Singapore. The ultra-clean automatic spaceship metro was just the beginning. Rich, multicultural, high-tech yet colorful, filled up with different religions and a great example how to organise traffic in the city. You just have to love it and so we did.

A lunch in a food market in Chinatown wrapped up our schedule as we both were called on-stage and had to perform some tricky dance-moves for a crowd of enthusiastic Singaporean Chinese. Next moment we were picked up by expat Monté, who dragged us in the decadent night life.

Nature lovers as we are, we were longing for some green again and so we headed to the Singapore zoo. But action lovers as we are, we were longing for some adrenaline so we headed to the rollercoasters of Universal Studios. But explorers as we are, the show must go on, and we left Singapore for our next destination: Kuala Lumpur.

100m: New World Record!

The past months compiled...

Boat rides from hell

South Lombok, a piece of paradise

Even though we were delighted so far about our stay in magnificent Bali, we escaped towards closeby and less touristic Lombok. We rented scooters and speeded down to the Southern bay. That turned out to be a great decision: we ended up in paradise. Our own bungalow on the beach, in a truely magnificent setting with ample snorkling opportunities closeby, what more could you want? Graham relaxed and played football with the local youth (ed: soccer for the Americans). They were all wearing European jerseys and it took surprisingly little effort for Graham to convince them that he himself was a famous European football player. Meanwhile Dimitri scootered around exploring the island, discovering extra-ordinary beaches and a gold mine, meeting locals and even crashing a wedding. One thing is for sure, we have never encountered so many friendly people as in Indonesia so far!

beautiful people - wedding ceremony, Lombok

Next up was the Gili Island Trawangan. Going the adventerous route, we took a public motorboat with forty passengers or so. After a few minutes, Dimitri pointed out that two people were smoking some cigarettes next to the fuel tanks which were clearly not airtight. We devised an exit plan and sat tight the rest of the way. The island turned out a lot more touristy than Lombok but we loved it there as well. The days were laid-back and we explored the island and nearby corals in the clear blue water, chilled on the beach while reading, chatting to the locals, drinking cocktails and playing chess.

The nights were... - well suffice it to say that we don't remember everything that happened at night. We met and hung out with some great co-travelers on this island, a few among many: Niki and Lou, English ladies who go crazy at very specific songs; Gilles, a Belgian DJ who was pronounced by Dimitri as the ultimate wingman and Jess, a funny English girl who dared to join the Belgian crew for a few days.

We heading back to Bali on the "fastboat". Nobody anticipated any problems but after about an hour on the water the boat was no longer sailing but flying. It violently crashed down as we jumped over enormous wave after wave. The passengers within were soon petrified and screams became less and less subdued as someone mentioned the word 'tsunami'. A look on the face of the crew pretty much told us that this was not exactly normal.

The boat rocked from side to side and waves surpassed the top of the boat. A quick count soon learned that half of the people (no exaggeration) were vomiting and two lay passed out on a bench. Vomit bags were passed around but they soon ran out. A nauseating smell permeated the large passenger cabin, frightened grown-ups started putting on life vests and retreated into what we imagine to be silent prayer.

some people just didn't care

As we have spent many days afloat during our trip developing our sealegs, we were hardly impressed of course and we observed the spectacle with a mix of horror, sympathy and amusement. We decided not to let it get to our hearts and enjoyed our last two days in Bali on some amazing beaches with some amazing company.

...more than "some" amazing company: (ltr: Graham, Jess, Gilles, Dimitri)

Balintensity

Most people believe we are having a relaxed life. It couldn't be less true. Days are stuffed with activities, nights are used to either socialize or travel further, our bodies are pushed to the limits. You just can't imagine. A brief week overview.

The diving cruise on the Great Barrier Reef was extremely intense. We did more than 10 dives/snorkels in three days (among which 2 night dives) and we hardly slept for more than 6 hours a night. The day after, we took two taxis and two planes, and we found ourselves in Ubud, on the Bali island of Indonesia. We walked around the village and we stumbled upon a few remarkable highlights. Ever seen a Holy Park with hidden temples in an 'Indiana Jones'-like jungle, invaded by hundreds of monkeys?

Monkeys everywhere! 

A few kilometers out of town, we got into a small alley with, compared to any other street in Bali, statistically way too many scooters, suggesting some kind of event. Under a sail, protecting a cheering crowd against the strong sun, we saw impressive cock fights. A local made us believe those fights became a tradition as they found this way more entertaining than just another ritual offer for their Gods.

A few kilometers out of town 

Cock fight 

That evening we went for a more peaceful ceremony in a temple, with traditional music and dance. We did some planning the next morning. We marked some highlights on the map and we headed out on two scooters for an amazing voyage through stunning green rice fields, black scattering beaches and ever greeting people in the small villages. Since we didn't want to be considered as mainstream tourists, we learned a few Indonesian catchy words. Eventually this helped us in the bargaining processes, resulting in (even more) cheap accommodation, food and... a traditional 'sarong', which we need every time to enter a temple.

Temple ceremony with traditional dancers 

That evening, we decided to triple the adventure level of the trip, and we decided to go for a hike on the highest mountain of the island, Mount Gunung Agung. We slept for 3 hours to be awakened at 11PM. We were pretty scared when, around midnight, a 4x4 arrived at the starting point of the trip, a temple bathing in moonlight. Not because these people were going to harm us, but because they started praying for our safety during the 6h climb and 6h descent! Blessed by the Gods, we hiked (or better: climbed) up to 3050 meters. The climb was extreme, but it was worth it, because we enjoyed an amazing sunrise high above the clouds, drifting around the mountain. It was one of the best experiences we had until now.

Sunset... a warm reward after a cold night trek 

After that adventure, we grabbed our scooters again and headed for the rest of Bali's beauty. Once introduced to us as a "touristy" place, we now consider Bali as one of the most surprising places. "Impossibly green rice terraces, enchanting Hindu temple ceremonies, mesmerizing dance performances and truly charming people." Lonely planet couldn't be more precise.