From Java to Bali, Indonesa

Together with a bunch of Levian/Portugieses, the four of us (me, Sofia, Kartum and Nicole) where heading for Mt Bromo, an active volcano. All three of them are speaking French, frenlish when I'm around, which usually ends up with Nicole or Sofia translating for me. Then it's always subject including either relationships, babies or 30-year krises  (since they're all in about that age), and I might be a bit to young to understand parts of It. They would love to meet my brothers though!  We have good fun together anyway and after a full day driving, including card games, stories, jokes and laughter we arrived to Lawang in the evening, just next to Mt Bromo. 

Next morning we woke up at 3am, probably my earliest morning in many years, to hike to to top of Mt Bromo for sunrise. Nothing about this tour trip turned out to be as I expected. I  wasn't really prepared for the cold, high up in the mountains, but I turned out to be fine.  The jeep came to pick us up at 03.30 to drive us to the first 'mountain' where we got the view over Mt Brono on a hight about 2400 metres over sea. The 'mountain' turned out to be a viewpoint restaurant, and the 'hike' a 15 minutes walk along the road. The sunrise view was  still amazing, even if you did have to share it with hundreds of people who all was fighting over the best viewpoint spots. The crowd was just as big as if the president where expected, just another way to use nature as a way to earn money on tourism. But yeah, the view was still breathtaking, beautiful. We went down the jeep who drove us to the end of Mt Bromo where we now got the opportunity to a actual hike to the top, where you could se right down into the volcano. We had to walk through ashes, sand and stairs to get to the top. The view wasn't as impressive as the last one, but the feeling meant so much more. 

We said goodbye to Nicole, who was suppose to catch a flight from Jakarta in a few days, and continued our travels to Bali, to leave Java behind us. We arrived to Kuta in the middle of the middle of the night, but managed to find a hostel who kindly let us stay for the night. The following day we headed straight to the beach where we spend all day. The girls went to bed quite early while I was meeting up with some Couchsurfers. I saw on the website that they where having drinks just a few block's from mine, so I decided to join them.  Couch surfing is more about meeting people than finding a place to stay. To learn from each other and sharing worldwide experiences. Half an hour later I saw myself hanging out with Swizz, US, holland, Norway (which meant I had to use my Swedish for the first time in weeks), Germany, UK and a few locals. Crouch surfers in generally are really relaxed, easygoing and welcoming in every way. I loved every moment I got to spend with them, chatting the night away .. 

 

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

I've been telling you my trip to Jakarta didn't start very well, neither did my travel to Yogyakarta. I arrived to the little city in the middle of Java about 5am after a 8hours train ride in business class. I got 2 French girls I met in Jakarta as company, Sofia and Kathun. I used my last Rubiah to buy a bottle of water and went to the ATM to get some more. I tried every each of ATM's nearby but none of them seemed to be willing to give me any money. They french girls felt really sorry for me, probably more than I did, and tried to help in every possible way. We walked down town to try to find a hostel, which wasn't too easy at 5-6 in the morning. As soon as western union was open I went over there to ask for some help. They felt sorry for me too while they tried to explain that Indonesian bank don't accept visas. I could walk down to this one and only special bank office where it hopefully might work. It was quite a bit to walk, but after all, I was in a good mood and didn't mind a little walk around anyway. I walked in to several bank office's along the way before I finally find the right one who, luckily enough, gave me my money. I always knew I would work it out, some way or another. I was never that worried, really even if it was a quite interesting morning.

Sofia and Kathun was happy to share a room with me, to get the price down. After a shower we went to the art centre where we could see and be told how to produce this fantastic paintings made of wax and color. How to see the difference of handmade and fake ones. It was interesting and really good, hard work. I kind of regret not buying one but I just didn't want to carry it when I'll be gone for so long. And I'm on a budget as well. We took a walk down to Karton temple, where we met Italian/German Nicole who was happy to join us. The temple was not that special, really, so we moved on to the water palace which was more interesting. Even if it was more like a temple, with a pool in it. We tried to walk down to the bird market but ended up taking I pushpush (quite alike a tuk-tuk but smaller). We stayed at the market a few minutes before we left again. Nothing to do there but watching animals in cages. Just not my thing. Since we just had a few hours uncomfortable sleep on a uncomfortable train we had an early night and fell asleep like at 7pm. 

After a really good 13hours sleep, the four of us went to the temple of Borobudur. We rented a private car to take us there and back. The temple were actually really good. I'm trying to forget being on the temples of Angkor cause my expectations are really high since. But I wasn't disappointed this time, even if it was a little bit smaller than my imaginations. It was still beautiful with a great mountain view. 

That evening we all sat down for hours with our lonely planets, iPads, laptops and notebooks to really seriously sharing all of our travel experiences. As Nicole is heading to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam I gave her all usable information I possibly could. And she shares her australian experiences with me since she just spent a year there and told us everything we need to know about Bali, Gilli and Lombok which is where we're heading next. 

Jakarta, Indonesien

My impression of Indonesia so far haven't been too good. Starting off with me almost missing my flight from Kuala Lumpur when I got really lost at the airport. Running around like a fool having no idea what i was doing finally made me find the right bag drop about 5 minutes before they closed. After a two hour flight I reached the airport of Jakarta finding out that i was suppose to have a visa and a outgoing ticked with me to enter the country, which the lonely planet never told me. Finally sorting that out I managed to get even more lost, jumping on the wrong shuffle bus. In my imagination I was sure this was the one taking me to the city, but apparently this was the one running between all the different terminals, which took me a good 45 minutes to realize. I did found the right one after all and about an hour later I saw myself standing in the city centre of Jakarta. I was sure I could find my way by walking from there to the budget hostel backpackers area I read about in my magic book, but after getting even more lost I ended up taking a motocab (seriously, it wasn't even that expensive from the beginning, after all my trouble this morning I should of realized). I found out that most of the places where full booked or crazy expensive, which made me end up staying in the worst place ever. I litterly just got one bed and a fan. Like a prisoner's room. As soon as I was all checked in I went for a little wonder around before ending  up at the free wifi bar across the street, being to tired and to hungry to do anything of matters. An Australian guy invited me to his table with an Indonesian guy, where we had a long chat about Java's and Australia's special highlights. They gave me some good tips to carrying during my way of travels. 

The next day I checked out as soon as I woke up, obviously (I did have a shower first even if it didn't make me feel much cleaner). Thereafter I took a local train to Kota 'the old city of Jakarta' to book a train to Yogyakarta the same night. I've heard, or read, that Kota is the historical and cultural part of Jakarta, which I thought might be interesting. I saw one good museum thing in the old square before I had enough. Traffic got way to crazy with cars, motorbikes and busses everywhere, even on the walking's area. No way to cross the road without getting pulled over and with a noise that made you think you where in the middle of a world war. To much for me to handle which made me take the first taxi back to the main square and the national monument 'monas'. This 132 m-towering had been dubbed 'Soekarnos last erection', and if you got some fantasy I guess you can make it look like an giant penis ... The little park called 'freedom square', surrounding the monument really lives up to it's name by the harmony and peacefulness. At least I thought so before  I got hunted down by locals trying to sell me stuff, Which made me leave. I went pass the presidential palace, and a mosque as well before heading back to my street. 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

A 6 hour bus drive took me, Tim and Terry to the Capitol of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. We stay'd around china town and spent the evening on the central market. The next day we planned to go all in for a big sightseeing day in the big city, as we all got only one day here. We walked along the river where they got more of amazing street art. We went past the big KL mosque as we catched a train to the main station. After getting the guys train ticket to Singapore booked, we were off to the big KL Menera Tower. Was a bit of an disappointment thought, we litterly just took the elevator up, had a walk around, took some pictures and then head back down. The wether wasn't very good which didn't make it a very good view either. Should probably have gone there by dark instead. On our way to the twin tower it started to rain really bad with massive thunder, which made us hide in a bar nearby for a few hours before it calmed down. When we would be able to walk down the street without swimming, and we claimed our second beer, we decided to hit the road again. Which took us to twin tower. Two huge identical towers. It's not possible to go up in this one thought so we were happy with the pictures from the ground. We waited for the sun to go down so we could see it when it's all lightened up. Which looked so much better than during daytime. That night Tim and Terry where off to catch a train to Singapore while I had another walk around in the central market, and getting ready for leaving the country tomorrow. Malaysia's been a bit different to what I'm use to, with a little more relaxed people. No body who's screaming at you, hunting you down to make you buy sunglasses or go with their, and no one else's taxi - like they do in Thailand. Instead they got good local transport with trains and busses that takes you anywhere around town, for less than 5 kr. And if you do want a taxi you have to fight for it!  It's a shame I didn't get more time here, but I do really want to spend it all in Indonesia this trip. I'll get back for Malaysia's east cost some other time. 

Penang, Malaysia

From one country to another, one island to another. Penang is a big Island on north Malaysia's west cost. It got bridges to the mainland which make it feel more like a city than an island. A full day of bus travels Took me to Georgetown, famous for it's Impressive collection of historic buildings representing the cultural heritage of Penang's various ethnicities. I checked in to a hostel with one of the cleanest dormroom I've ever been to, which I shared together with a welsh girl from the bus. After a good night sleep we went down town to get her a hair straightener before going sightseeing. They got really characteristic architecture, with a lot of famous buildings such as city hall, town hall, fort Cornwallis, queen Victoria memorial clock tower, mahamariamman temple and kaptain keling mosque just to mention a few. They also have amazing creative street art in every corner which I love to have a good look at.  After hours of walking around Georgetown our painful feet took us back home where I met English Tim and Terry in the bar. Or trouble T as they called themselves. I joined in for a few beers together with a German guy before we called the night. 

I went by myself to the Penang Hill the next day. A big mountain in the middle of Penang and about a 45 minute busride from Georgetown.I took a funicular train lift thing to the top of the mountain about 900 m above the sea level. I reached the top where they had like a tiny little villages with guest houses, flower garden, museum, temple and restaurants. It was a little bit too cloudy to really enjoy the view though even if you still could see almost the entire Island. 

I returned to the hostel where I met my English friends in the bar. Later on we got company by an Australian girl, one swiz girl, the German guy, my welsh friend, two Irish guys and one English girl. A good group of people who of us went out together laughing, drinking and sharing stories 

Koh Samui, Thailand

For my first time I went over to the biggest east side island, koh Samui, to meet up with Eric and Isabella. I head off to the famous touristarea Chaweng beach were I later on met my friends. 

We spend the next day driving around this entire island on our hired scooters. We went to this spectacular waterfall, up in the mountains where we had to go off road through the jungle on the top of a jeep. Turned out that it wasn't much of a waterfall after all since it was to dry and barely any water. The trip there and back was good fun thought and it was still beautiful up there.  

After a full day of motor biking we returned to our hostel before having a 'big night out' since it was Friday and all. Beers and buckets, dancing, relaxing until early morning did make us stay in bed the entire next day. With our hangover, good thai food, air-con and lots of bottles of water we stayd in watching how I met your mother in our hotel room. Well, It was raining anyway ..

The next day we moved from Chaweng to Lamaibeach. A little bit more quiet and not as much tourism. Ended up in the middle of the monsoon rain on our way there, which was pretty much like standing in a shower. As soon as it was over and we all were checked in, we took our scooters to drive up to a viewpoint nearby.  My bad luck made me got stuck in the middle of the mountain on our way to the top, when I ran out of gas and had to walk the last part. It was worth it though with this amazing breathtaking view where you could see almost the entire island, just while the sun  was setting down. We could buy some gas on the top, thanks good, and we were ready to head back home. 

As it was a Sunday night they had a big market going on on the streets. So we headed straight back out to explore that one. After some good street food and cheep drinks me and Isabella left Eric at a massage while we continued our shopping ourselves. And our combination of beer and shopping usually make us buy stupid things but we actually did okay this time. Got away with a few heliumballoons .. 

Our last day together we went for zip-lining, where you go by zip lines between the trees through the jungle. We all got a little bit disappointed that it was a quite short distance, otherwise we had good fun.  

We had to go back to Chaweng to return my motorbike,  so we stayed there for swimming and a good dinner on this beautiful beach before return back to ours.

We spend the night together on the beach. just the three of us, some good music, beer and a lightful sky. Left some fire balloons too before we called the night and I had to say goodbye to Isabella and Eric as it was about time for me to head down to Malaysia. 

Back in Bankok, Thailand

4 months back home finally got me back traveling.This time with Australia as my main goal after about a month in asia.  So Yesterday morning I put my feet back on Bankok's dirty ground for what become to be my 6th time this year. And definitely the most rainy one.

I reached for the overcrowded skyline to get myself from the airport to the train station where I was about to book a ticket down south to meet up with Isabella and Eric. Unfortunate they only had trains going during the night, so I had about 8 hours to kill in the big city. I left my bag at the station, planning to go for a big one-day Bankok adventure. Because of the time difference I didn't got much more than an hour of sleep on the flight, so soon enough my tiredness took over which make me end up at one of the bars of khao San road instead. But with Free wifi, cheap beer and an amazing Asian meal so it wasn't   to bad. Went for a massage too before I head for the train, where I passed out as soon as I've reach the trainseat. 

When I woke up I didn't knew where I was. the guy right next to me started to speak Swedish to me which made me all confused. Apparently it says Sweden all over my face, but it took me a good while to realize that I'm in Thailand. The swedish guy gave me some beer and we chatted for a while before I went back to sleep in my seat who, just like magic, turned into a small sized bunk bed.