Smelling you clothes before you put them on to see if they're clean
Forgetting what it feels like to wear shoes other than flip-flops
Learning new words like schooner and ting-tong
Been woken up by people in your dorm having very loud sex
No longer caring about wearing socks more than once
Using your scarf as a blanket, pillow, sarong and towel
Taking overnight transport just to save on accommodation costs
Having to use a shower over a toilet
Stealing toilet roll from every cafe you visit
Choosing where to eat based on whether the place has wifi or not
Never knowing what day of the week it is
Going places your never planned to go
Overcoming fears
Randomly choosing things off the menu and hoping for the best
Drinking more alcohol that you have in your life
Always never knowing your way around
Nothing ever tasting like it does back home
Being able to drive a scooter without a licence
paying to spend a night in a room no better than a shed
Impromptu karaoke nights lasting till the early morning
Drinking alcohol but the bucket, just not just the glass
Learning to like beer because its cheap
Nursing a hangover while lying on the beach
Doing activities you'd never do back home like trekking and climbing
Seeing more temples/mosques/churches than you'd ever dreamed of
Getting up at 5am, just to see the sunrise
Truly appreciating clean clothes
Haggling over 10p
Fearing for your life while the locals laugh at your when on a boat in a storm
Being offered drugs while you walk down the street
Bribing police officers
Meeting people from all over the world
Being a million miles from home and still managing to bump into someone you know!
Seeing the most beautiful sunsets of your life
Making friends for life
Hearing stories that put your life into prospective
Having near death experiences
Having some nights you will never forget
Having some nights you'd rather forget!
Being dropped of a bus in the middle of nowhere and having the faith you'll be picked up again by the next one
Sometimes making really bad decisions
Being spontaneous
Looking out for the friends you make knowing they'd do the same for you
Being overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers
Learning things about yourself you never knew
Pushing yourself to do things you didn't think you could do
Having one song that reminds you of the good times
Being upstaged my a ten year old when they call a huge spider little
Laughing until you cry
Not being able to sit at the back of a bus because its reserved for monks
Missing the people you love the most everyday.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Friday, 11 November 2011
The mining town of Isa
Twenty-eight hours bus ride away, I was hoping Mount Isa was going to be worth it! Far into the Australian outback, far away from anything; I travelled through deserts and endless nothingness within an ocassional stop in some middle of nowhere town.
When I got on the bus I couldn't believe my ears when the driver explained for what felt like ten minutes about the dangers of leaving your feet in the aisle and how your trip could be ruined if you were caused an injury in this way. They really are thorough about things out here!
While on the bus I spoke to one women who was enquiring about whether a seat was taken to which I replied "I think a man is sitting there." Little did I know that that even the simplist of sentences was going to be hard for someone to understand out here.
"What a mam?"
"No a man"
"A nun?"
"No a man, a male!"
"Ohhh a maaaaan!"
Jesus, this is going to be fun.
Thank god, it was only one silly women on a bus that my accent made hard work for or this could have been a hard couple of months!
Mount Isa is a funny old place. Bigger than the places I stopped at en route (thank god!) but as lively as a bush in the outback. NOTHING happens here.
Its so quite, people do puzzles at the hostel... for fun!
On the plus though it is one of the best places to save money, as there's literally nothing to spend your wages on! There's one cinema, but the hostel has so many films there's not even any reason to go!
I found work at a bar/restaurant in one of the hotels in the town. Suprisingly it actually gets really quite busy and I do enjoy it a lot.
The only thing about this place is that it feels, in the words of Dylan Moran describing Oz, like "its located three-quarter of a mile from the surface of the sun, with people audibly crackling as they walk down the street!" I couldn't have put it better myself! This place is hot, with a capital H!... and the storms at night, I've never seen storms like it in my life! Amazing to watch, but so so loud! One lightening rod cracked only three streets away the other night and I heard it clearer than any lightening i've heard in my life... popping and cracking as it bolted toward the ground.
As dull as it sounds, i'm actually quite enjoying the quite life, at least for the time being... its some much needed time out, and i'm sure i'll be heading on to some crazy times once again once I leave this place!
When I got on the bus I couldn't believe my ears when the driver explained for what felt like ten minutes about the dangers of leaving your feet in the aisle and how your trip could be ruined if you were caused an injury in this way. They really are thorough about things out here!
While on the bus I spoke to one women who was enquiring about whether a seat was taken to which I replied "I think a man is sitting there." Little did I know that that even the simplist of sentences was going to be hard for someone to understand out here.
"What a mam?"
"No a man"
"A nun?"
"No a man, a male!"
"Ohhh a maaaaan!"
Jesus, this is going to be fun.
Thank god, it was only one silly women on a bus that my accent made hard work for or this could have been a hard couple of months!
Mount Isa is a funny old place. Bigger than the places I stopped at en route (thank god!) but as lively as a bush in the outback. NOTHING happens here.
Its so quite, people do puzzles at the hostel... for fun!
On the plus though it is one of the best places to save money, as there's literally nothing to spend your wages on! There's one cinema, but the hostel has so many films there's not even any reason to go!
I found work at a bar/restaurant in one of the hotels in the town. Suprisingly it actually gets really quite busy and I do enjoy it a lot.
The only thing about this place is that it feels, in the words of Dylan Moran describing Oz, like "its located three-quarter of a mile from the surface of the sun, with people audibly crackling as they walk down the street!" I couldn't have put it better myself! This place is hot, with a capital H!... and the storms at night, I've never seen storms like it in my life! Amazing to watch, but so so loud! One lightening rod cracked only three streets away the other night and I heard it clearer than any lightening i've heard in my life... popping and cracking as it bolted toward the ground.
As dull as it sounds, i'm actually quite enjoying the quite life, at least for the time being... its some much needed time out, and i'm sure i'll be heading on to some crazy times once again once I leave this place!
The start of my adventures 'Down Under'!
A sad goodbye and two flights later I arrived on Saturday October 15th in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
I changed flights in Darwin, in the north west of Australia and while waiting for my connection I saw a newspaper with the headline "Armed boy, 13, caught towing a donkey"... and I though 'What the hell kind of country is this!'
Australia was a huge dose of the reality that I'd been missing out on for the past few months.
Things were almost 'normal' again. Ok, many of these 'normal' things were still so different to life back in England, but I felt like I'd just returned back to civilistation after being in some alternate reality where stress didn't (well almost didn't!) exist. And this reality hit hard when I realised how goddam expensive Oz is! If i'd arrived from England it would have been not so bad, but after Bali where I paid 20p for a bottle of water, I almost fainted at the thought of paying two quid!
No wonder the wages are so good, you need good wages to keep you off the streets. I was gonna have to get me a job, and fast!
In the hostel I made friend with an English boy from my dorm called Raj, and soon enough we spent everyday together for the next week and a half we were in Brisbane. When I met him I knew there was something strangley familiar about him but I couldn't put my finger on it and then it clicked... he unmistakeably we identical in everything but sex to my friend Emily! We definetely clicked and it was gresat to have another good friend :)
Brisbane is a nice city and I spent my days wandering around the galleries and museums, as well as looking for jobs of course.
Me and Raj had also made friends with a group of French people: Sebastien, Kevin, Euan and Mayol and were helping Sebastien and Kevin with their English everyday. This friendship also worked the other way and helped me little with my french!
One of the most entertaining things so far about Australia though has been defintely been the language! Never in my life before have I heard the phases "Fuck me dead!" or "Fuck me Tracy!"... but more on this later.
Another thing I've noticed about Australia is that EVERYTHING tastes different. Whatever I try to make, It doesn't matter if it comes from a tin or I make it from scatch, it just doesn't taste right!..somethig else I have to get used to!
I was struggling to find a job in Brisbane having a lack of experience behind a bar, so I opened up to the idea of working anywhere that I could find work. Within a week and a half I left the city and headed far out into the outback of Queensland to the mining town of Mount Isa and what a strange place this turned out to be.
I changed flights in Darwin, in the north west of Australia and while waiting for my connection I saw a newspaper with the headline "Armed boy, 13, caught towing a donkey"... and I though 'What the hell kind of country is this!'
Australia was a huge dose of the reality that I'd been missing out on for the past few months.
Things were almost 'normal' again. Ok, many of these 'normal' things were still so different to life back in England, but I felt like I'd just returned back to civilistation after being in some alternate reality where stress didn't (well almost didn't!) exist. And this reality hit hard when I realised how goddam expensive Oz is! If i'd arrived from England it would have been not so bad, but after Bali where I paid 20p for a bottle of water, I almost fainted at the thought of paying two quid!
No wonder the wages are so good, you need good wages to keep you off the streets. I was gonna have to get me a job, and fast!
In the hostel I made friend with an English boy from my dorm called Raj, and soon enough we spent everyday together for the next week and a half we were in Brisbane. When I met him I knew there was something strangley familiar about him but I couldn't put my finger on it and then it clicked... he unmistakeably we identical in everything but sex to my friend Emily! We definetely clicked and it was gresat to have another good friend :)
Brisbane is a nice city and I spent my days wandering around the galleries and museums, as well as looking for jobs of course.
Me and Raj had also made friends with a group of French people: Sebastien, Kevin, Euan and Mayol and were helping Sebastien and Kevin with their English everyday. This friendship also worked the other way and helped me little with my french!
One of the most entertaining things so far about Australia though has been defintely been the language! Never in my life before have I heard the phases "Fuck me dead!" or "Fuck me Tracy!"... but more on this later.
Another thing I've noticed about Australia is that EVERYTHING tastes different. Whatever I try to make, It doesn't matter if it comes from a tin or I make it from scatch, it just doesn't taste right!..somethig else I have to get used to!
I was struggling to find a job in Brisbane having a lack of experience behind a bar, so I opened up to the idea of working anywhere that I could find work. Within a week and a half I left the city and headed far out into the outback of Queensland to the mining town of Mount Isa and what a strange place this turned out to be.
So where next, Australia?!
Faced with the reality that not too far in the distant future I would have to go home, back to cold and wintery England, where I have no house or job, I figured why the rush?!
However with the main opposing factor being the lack of cash- there seemed one prety good answer to that: Australia!
Me and Merel had discussed the possibilty of going to Oz and the more we talked about it the more I liked the sound of it. Eventually I knew I had to make a decision and so I decided yes!
I was so far round the world already... why not just go that little bit further, and who knew when I've had the opportunity to go again. I thought I might as well go while I have no comitments back home whatsoever. I just made perfect sense, so I went fo it!
I applied for my visa online and had it confirmed with the same day and booked my flight to Brisbane and I was all set!
The thought of going to Oz was so exciting. Not only was I going somewhere new once again, but this was a place I never dreamed I actually get to.
I planned to stay for a few months maybe, make some money and head back to Asia. However I was well aware that all plans are subject to change, although I didn't quite anticipate how much they were going to change!
Within a week of arriving I'd been in touch with STA travel about changing my flight date, but apparently a ticket I was told was valid for twelve months was actually only valid for six. So now I had two options: go home or buy a new flight. This decision was the easiest I think I've ever made. Now I have the freedom to stay in Oz for as long as I want so why not stay he for the length of my visa and actually see some of Oz!
So as much as I miss all my friends and family, I guess I'll be seeing you all next October!
Suprisingly enough my mum's response was "I knew this would happen!" haha, and my dad is fully supportive of my decision too which is the best outcome I could have hoped for!
Let's hope I've made the right choice, but i'm already pretty sure I'm going to ave one hell of a year!
However with the main opposing factor being the lack of cash- there seemed one prety good answer to that: Australia!
Me and Merel had discussed the possibilty of going to Oz and the more we talked about it the more I liked the sound of it. Eventually I knew I had to make a decision and so I decided yes!
I was so far round the world already... why not just go that little bit further, and who knew when I've had the opportunity to go again. I thought I might as well go while I have no comitments back home whatsoever. I just made perfect sense, so I went fo it!
I applied for my visa online and had it confirmed with the same day and booked my flight to Brisbane and I was all set!
The thought of going to Oz was so exciting. Not only was I going somewhere new once again, but this was a place I never dreamed I actually get to.
I planned to stay for a few months maybe, make some money and head back to Asia. However I was well aware that all plans are subject to change, although I didn't quite anticipate how much they were going to change!
Within a week of arriving I'd been in touch with STA travel about changing my flight date, but apparently a ticket I was told was valid for twelve months was actually only valid for six. So now I had two options: go home or buy a new flight. This decision was the easiest I think I've ever made. Now I have the freedom to stay in Oz for as long as I want so why not stay he for the length of my visa and actually see some of Oz!
So as much as I miss all my friends and family, I guess I'll be seeing you all next October!
Suprisingly enough my mum's response was "I knew this would happen!" haha, and my dad is fully supportive of my decision too which is the best outcome I could have hoped for!
Let's hope I've made the right choice, but i'm already pretty sure I'm going to ave one hell of a year!
"Bali Holiday"
Life continues in much the same way so much so its really hard to distinguish one day from another. The concept of days and dates has gotten as difficult as ever. Days are spent at the beach with whoever is hanging out there that day and evenings at the night market with the occasional night spent in the one and only Apache!
Apache can only be described as a shrine to Bob Marley. A regaee club tucked behind the clubs on the main street- Legian- in Kuta, its where all our friends go every time they go out. Keching, one of the guys that sometimes comes to the beach, is the singer of the band who play there most nights. He has a wonderful singing voice which really adds to the comforting feel of Apache. The club is decorated with large picture of Bob, and of course is decorated in yellow, green and red! I will forever have fond memories of this place and the many good nights I spent in there.
Any night in Apache is definetly not complete without the local spirit of choice though: Arak. More vile than straight vodka, Arak is thankfully diluted mostly in a concotion in what is known as Jungle Juice, which everyone passes around with a shot glass- continuing with the sharing culture of indonesia.
To mix things up a bit I decided to take one of the guys, Gangan, up on his offer to take me to one of the temples at Uluwatu, which has also become the name which the whole area in the south of Bali has become known. About 45 minutes drive on a scooter and we arrive at the Uluwatu temple. In my experince temples have always been serene places to visit, a nice place to gather your thoughts and admire the beautiful architechture and learn something about the religion. However this was a place where you have to make sure you tie everything down and be on guard- this was a place with very mischeivious monkies! Literally two minutes after I walked into the temple ground I had a angry looked beast of a monkey charge towards me going straight for my feet! While I tried to kick him away and hold on to my flip flop I was hitting him with my other one!... there was no way I was going to loose my shoes to this thing! After sucessfully battling with the monkey (and hitting one for the first time in my life.. and with a flip flop!) me and Gangan wandered around the temple and admired the views of the bays below which were breath-taking.
The water was such a clear torquise, swirled in patterns with the crashing waves looking as if it had been tie-dyed.
Unfortunetly after the calming views of the tides, even though I tried my bst to afford the hairy robbers, one flew out of nowhere landing on my head and grabbed my sunglasses straight off my face and continuted to mock me by sitting on a wall wearing them until he got bored and snapped them in half. They were in pretty bad condition anyways, I guess he just saved me a job throwing them away!
After the temple and my attack of the apes, we headed to a couple of different beaches, one I dont know the name of but is concealed within a cave and another called Padang Padang where we grabbed some freshly cooked cooked and sat on the sand and ate before we headed back to Kuta via Gangan's cousins house.
Sometime when travelling a place can easily just pass by as another place you've been, another thing to tick off you 'seen there, done that' list but its an amazing feeling when you visit somewhere that really stands out to you and brings a kind of happiness and contentment you can really feel within, and for me Bali has done this. Even more so when I visited the small town of Ubud.
Ubud, made internationally famous by the book and film 'Eat. Pray. Love,' is a gorgeous rich green leafy town renown for its strong cultural and arty influence. Everywhere you go in Ubud there are budding artists selling there paintings- most showing enormous talent. Its a great pleasure to be able to walk along the streets and peer in the shops just to look at their work. Its a beautiful place and I can easily understand why some people choose to come here to live, even if it isn't the most lively happening place.
The second time I visited Ubud with Wawan, I went to the Antonio Blanco museum, a man that is known as 'The Bali Dali.' And this fits him perfectly. Orginally an Italian man, Blanco lives in the town of Ubud and this beautiful gallery stands within a garden, home to allsorts of strange and wonderful birds, houses his many many works of art. As with many artists a lot of his work focuses on the female form but also he has painted many weird and wonderful paintings aswell.
(Ubud also is famous for it's 'monkey forest'.. which lends its name t the famous 'Monkey Forest Road'... but after the events at Uluwatu,I decided to stayt clear of the monkeys as I'd rather hold on to my specs and flip flops!)
Before long it was time for my friend Merel to head back to Holland and leave Bali. The night before she left we headed to a lovely little bar situated on the beach lit up with laterns and softly glowing globes used as tables. The setting was beautiful but a bar on the beach can have it draw backs
"Oh the tides coming in!... Oh no no its really coming in!!!"... and the tide can become a problem washing the chairs away into the sea! Luckily we managed to grab our things before we were washed away too and ran further away from the tide! Within a few days Phillip also left (only to return again less than two weeks later mind you!)
Before i knew it a month has gone by and its time to leave, but I couldn't leave this place without doing the one thing that Bali is world renown for, and that is surfing!
Unfortunetely I have the worst fear of water and tides which is quite a disadvantage in surfing!!!... so at first I was terrified, and poor Rachman had his work cut out! Through his percivierence he got me into the water and into the waves. Within the hour I was standing on the board and caugh my first surf successfully! He is a wonderful teacher and I owe him a lot, not only did he get me in the water (finally!) he helped me overcome my fear and even managed to teach me a thing or two! Now not only do I want to return to amazing Bali, but I really want to surf again :)
Just before I was to leave there was one last thing that I was to experience properly for the first time, and that was an earthquake. On the Thursday morning at around 11:20am there was a quake just southwest of Bali which was felt in Kuta which measured between 6 and 6.8 on the scale (sources vary) but to me it felt like the world was about to fall down. At the time I was with Wawan in my room, and I'm so glad he was with me, otherwise I wouldn't have known what to do. Thankfully it didn't cause much damage, but it certainly scared the hell out of me (not that I let on to him!) and I can surely say thats an experience I rather not have again!
I was sure gonna miss this place, and the closer it got to me leaving the more I realised how much I loved it.
I would like to thank Rachman, Adan,Sonny, August, Mama, Wawan, Gangan, Okky, Dee, Sunny, Gungun, Bohno, Keching, Gil, Natale, Sarah, Edwin, Ahmed, Johnny X2 and of course Philipp and Merel (and anyone I've missed!) for really making Bali feel like a home from home. The month I spent there and all the good times (in and out of Apache!) will forever be in my memories :)... and I shall definetely being returning, in the not so distant future!
Apache can only be described as a shrine to Bob Marley. A regaee club tucked behind the clubs on the main street- Legian- in Kuta, its where all our friends go every time they go out. Keching, one of the guys that sometimes comes to the beach, is the singer of the band who play there most nights. He has a wonderful singing voice which really adds to the comforting feel of Apache. The club is decorated with large picture of Bob, and of course is decorated in yellow, green and red! I will forever have fond memories of this place and the many good nights I spent in there.
Any night in Apache is definetly not complete without the local spirit of choice though: Arak. More vile than straight vodka, Arak is thankfully diluted mostly in a concotion in what is known as Jungle Juice, which everyone passes around with a shot glass- continuing with the sharing culture of indonesia.
To mix things up a bit I decided to take one of the guys, Gangan, up on his offer to take me to one of the temples at Uluwatu, which has also become the name which the whole area in the south of Bali has become known. About 45 minutes drive on a scooter and we arrive at the Uluwatu temple. In my experince temples have always been serene places to visit, a nice place to gather your thoughts and admire the beautiful architechture and learn something about the religion. However this was a place where you have to make sure you tie everything down and be on guard- this was a place with very mischeivious monkies! Literally two minutes after I walked into the temple ground I had a angry looked beast of a monkey charge towards me going straight for my feet! While I tried to kick him away and hold on to my flip flop I was hitting him with my other one!... there was no way I was going to loose my shoes to this thing! After sucessfully battling with the monkey (and hitting one for the first time in my life.. and with a flip flop!) me and Gangan wandered around the temple and admired the views of the bays below which were breath-taking.
The water was such a clear torquise, swirled in patterns with the crashing waves looking as if it had been tie-dyed.
Unfortunetly after the calming views of the tides, even though I tried my bst to afford the hairy robbers, one flew out of nowhere landing on my head and grabbed my sunglasses straight off my face and continuted to mock me by sitting on a wall wearing them until he got bored and snapped them in half. They were in pretty bad condition anyways, I guess he just saved me a job throwing them away!
After the temple and my attack of the apes, we headed to a couple of different beaches, one I dont know the name of but is concealed within a cave and another called Padang Padang where we grabbed some freshly cooked cooked and sat on the sand and ate before we headed back to Kuta via Gangan's cousins house.
Sometime when travelling a place can easily just pass by as another place you've been, another thing to tick off you 'seen there, done that' list but its an amazing feeling when you visit somewhere that really stands out to you and brings a kind of happiness and contentment you can really feel within, and for me Bali has done this. Even more so when I visited the small town of Ubud.
Ubud, made internationally famous by the book and film 'Eat. Pray. Love,' is a gorgeous rich green leafy town renown for its strong cultural and arty influence. Everywhere you go in Ubud there are budding artists selling there paintings- most showing enormous talent. Its a great pleasure to be able to walk along the streets and peer in the shops just to look at their work. Its a beautiful place and I can easily understand why some people choose to come here to live, even if it isn't the most lively happening place.
The second time I visited Ubud with Wawan, I went to the Antonio Blanco museum, a man that is known as 'The Bali Dali.' And this fits him perfectly. Orginally an Italian man, Blanco lives in the town of Ubud and this beautiful gallery stands within a garden, home to allsorts of strange and wonderful birds, houses his many many works of art. As with many artists a lot of his work focuses on the female form but also he has painted many weird and wonderful paintings aswell.
(Ubud also is famous for it's 'monkey forest'.. which lends its name t the famous 'Monkey Forest Road'... but after the events at Uluwatu,I decided to stayt clear of the monkeys as I'd rather hold on to my specs and flip flops!)
Before long it was time for my friend Merel to head back to Holland and leave Bali. The night before she left we headed to a lovely little bar situated on the beach lit up with laterns and softly glowing globes used as tables. The setting was beautiful but a bar on the beach can have it draw backs
"Oh the tides coming in!... Oh no no its really coming in!!!"... and the tide can become a problem washing the chairs away into the sea! Luckily we managed to grab our things before we were washed away too and ran further away from the tide! Within a few days Phillip also left (only to return again less than two weeks later mind you!)
Before i knew it a month has gone by and its time to leave, but I couldn't leave this place without doing the one thing that Bali is world renown for, and that is surfing!
Unfortunetely I have the worst fear of water and tides which is quite a disadvantage in surfing!!!... so at first I was terrified, and poor Rachman had his work cut out! Through his percivierence he got me into the water and into the waves. Within the hour I was standing on the board and caugh my first surf successfully! He is a wonderful teacher and I owe him a lot, not only did he get me in the water (finally!) he helped me overcome my fear and even managed to teach me a thing or two! Now not only do I want to return to amazing Bali, but I really want to surf again :)
Just before I was to leave there was one last thing that I was to experience properly for the first time, and that was an earthquake. On the Thursday morning at around 11:20am there was a quake just southwest of Bali which was felt in Kuta which measured between 6 and 6.8 on the scale (sources vary) but to me it felt like the world was about to fall down. At the time I was with Wawan in my room, and I'm so glad he was with me, otherwise I wouldn't have known what to do. Thankfully it didn't cause much damage, but it certainly scared the hell out of me (not that I let on to him!) and I can surely say thats an experience I rather not have again!
I was sure gonna miss this place, and the closer it got to me leaving the more I realised how much I loved it.
I would like to thank Rachman, Adan,Sonny, August, Mama, Wawan, Gangan, Okky, Dee, Sunny, Gungun, Bohno, Keching, Gil, Natale, Sarah, Edwin, Ahmed, Johnny X2 and of course Philipp and Merel (and anyone I've missed!) for really making Bali feel like a home from home. The month I spent there and all the good times (in and out of Apache!) will forever be in my memories :)... and I shall definetely being returning, in the not so distant future!
Friday, 21 October 2011
Bali, a home from home
Flying to Bali I can barely hold my excitement. I feel like a kid on christmas eve who can't sleep as they don't want to miss a slight glimpse of Santa Clause.
When I arrive I get my visa, collect my rucksack from the belt and head to get a taxi to Kuta beach.
The taxi drops me in Kuta central and although its pretty late now I decide that I'm so pumped up with excitement I'll try find Merel's hostel. So with a little help from some locals who point me in the right direction I see if I can find it. Unfortunately I can't so succumb and get a scooter taxi driver to take me and I eventually get a room in the hostel next door around 1am.
I finally drift off about 2am when I am able to get over the excitement of being in Bali and seeing my friend soon and get some sleep.
Sunday morning and I change rooms from hostel number 1 to number 2 next door where Merel's staying and get the complimentary breakfast. As far as free breakfasts go, I think this is actually the best I've had. Pineapple pancake, fruit, juice and tea is always a nice way to start the day.
After running a few errands and chatting to my first Ketut of the island I head to the beach. (Ketut means first so every first child, boy or girl, is called Ketut. And the same with second, third etc.)
Kuta beach is blissfully heaven. The waves crash on the shore, surfers are entwined with the water balancing on the waves, and there's perfect sparkling sand. Sunbathers and surfers, chilling and chatting on the beach with the occasional vendor selling their wares- even if some are a little obscure to say the least.
Ok, so I've heard of vendors selling ice-cream and fruit, and perhaps even paintings- that kind of stuff even gets sold on Fistral beach in Newquay... But an archery set? Really?!... Do people actually think 'oh I was sunbathing, but you know come to think of it you read my mind! That's exactly what I need!' Hmmm maybe not. I sure hope selling bows and arrows on the beach isn't this guys day job, or I worry for his livelihood!
(Later I spoke to a girl- who had asked what exactly do I need that for, to what he replied, killing chickens?...and she was like I don't kill any chickens in Coventry!)
Kuta instantly feels like a home from home. Life is so easy here and before I even know it a week slips by without me even blinking an eyelid.
I spend my days between hanging out at the beach and riding my bike around Kuta and the local area.
Merel and Phillipp (who also came to Bali!) made friends with lots of locals so as soon as I arrive I have an instant group of friends. Rachman has a surf stall on the beach so everyday under the big tree all his friends come and go, so whenever you go down to the beach there will be at least five people there to sit with. Okky ( who no joke looks like the Indonesian answer to Jack Sparrow!) plays his guitar, quietly singing away to himself while others chilling out join in every now and again.
Every night me and Merel head to the night market on our bicycles and get dinner from a group of different stalls where whatever you want is available for around £1.
Everyday fruit shakes too- any fruit you want made fresh for around 40p...
The only bad thing about this place is what's happening to my English! Spending so much time with people who speak English as a foreign language is ruining my own pronunciation of English. Everyone has their own pronunciation and it sounds so broken and its rubbing off and I too sound like English is not my first language! Its like "You want?" "I make picture" "yes, it good!" Even when I meet and speak to another English girl we both find ourselves slipping into this mash of English. Its the worst travelling bug to catch!
Except catching Finglish (foreign english) life is good. If your not relaxed on Bali then there's something wrong with you- happiness here is infectious. With every ridiculous laugh you hear and the smiles you see, everyone greeting each other happily and enjoying life. I would challenge the most bitter cynical person to spend a while here to try and not walk away with a smile and a new positive outlook on life.
When I arrive I get my visa, collect my rucksack from the belt and head to get a taxi to Kuta beach.
The taxi drops me in Kuta central and although its pretty late now I decide that I'm so pumped up with excitement I'll try find Merel's hostel. So with a little help from some locals who point me in the right direction I see if I can find it. Unfortunately I can't so succumb and get a scooter taxi driver to take me and I eventually get a room in the hostel next door around 1am.
I finally drift off about 2am when I am able to get over the excitement of being in Bali and seeing my friend soon and get some sleep.
Sunday morning and I change rooms from hostel number 1 to number 2 next door where Merel's staying and get the complimentary breakfast. As far as free breakfasts go, I think this is actually the best I've had. Pineapple pancake, fruit, juice and tea is always a nice way to start the day.
After running a few errands and chatting to my first Ketut of the island I head to the beach. (Ketut means first so every first child, boy or girl, is called Ketut. And the same with second, third etc.)
Kuta beach is blissfully heaven. The waves crash on the shore, surfers are entwined with the water balancing on the waves, and there's perfect sparkling sand. Sunbathers and surfers, chilling and chatting on the beach with the occasional vendor selling their wares- even if some are a little obscure to say the least.
Ok, so I've heard of vendors selling ice-cream and fruit, and perhaps even paintings- that kind of stuff even gets sold on Fistral beach in Newquay... But an archery set? Really?!... Do people actually think 'oh I was sunbathing, but you know come to think of it you read my mind! That's exactly what I need!' Hmmm maybe not. I sure hope selling bows and arrows on the beach isn't this guys day job, or I worry for his livelihood!
(Later I spoke to a girl- who had asked what exactly do I need that for, to what he replied, killing chickens?...and she was like I don't kill any chickens in Coventry!)
Kuta instantly feels like a home from home. Life is so easy here and before I even know it a week slips by without me even blinking an eyelid.
I spend my days between hanging out at the beach and riding my bike around Kuta and the local area.
Merel and Phillipp (who also came to Bali!) made friends with lots of locals so as soon as I arrive I have an instant group of friends. Rachman has a surf stall on the beach so everyday under the big tree all his friends come and go, so whenever you go down to the beach there will be at least five people there to sit with. Okky ( who no joke looks like the Indonesian answer to Jack Sparrow!) plays his guitar, quietly singing away to himself while others chilling out join in every now and again.
Every night me and Merel head to the night market on our bicycles and get dinner from a group of different stalls where whatever you want is available for around £1.
Everyday fruit shakes too- any fruit you want made fresh for around 40p...
The only bad thing about this place is what's happening to my English! Spending so much time with people who speak English as a foreign language is ruining my own pronunciation of English. Everyone has their own pronunciation and it sounds so broken and its rubbing off and I too sound like English is not my first language! Its like "You want?" "I make picture" "yes, it good!" Even when I meet and speak to another English girl we both find ourselves slipping into this mash of English. Its the worst travelling bug to catch!
Except catching Finglish (foreign english) life is good. If your not relaxed on Bali then there's something wrong with you- happiness here is infectious. With every ridiculous laugh you hear and the smiles you see, everyone greeting each other happily and enjoying life. I would challenge the most bitter cynical person to spend a while here to try and not walk away with a smile and a new positive outlook on life.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
A taste of Malaysia
I arrive in KL around half five in the evening. The largest backpacker area is in China Town so I get the sky train to Pensar Seni (Central Market) and set out to look for a hostel that's recommended in the LP. I'm on the right street but end up heading the wrong direction but luckily I bump into an Aussie and Kiwi couple and they're staying at the place where I want to go.
They are flying out that evening to Paris and are using KL as a lay over also but are really unimpressed with the city calling it boring. As ever I hate to jump to conclusions about a place as soon as I hear someone else's opinion, but in this case I would have to agree.
I won't go as far as assuming anything about Malaysia as a whole as I'm in no position to comment but KL is really rather boring. There's no atmosphere and elegance about the place, it just feels like a bit of a hollow shell of a city. I completely believe that it can be the people you meet that make a place so perhaps I didn't meet the right people but that was my experience.
Everyone I did meet seemed tired of it, unimpressed or was waiting to move on.
The mosques were uninventive, the streets crowded, markets typical. I was really making an effort to find things I liked about this city but it wasn't being made easy.
With three days till I flew to Bali, I decided to take things easy. Start my days lazy reading for a few hours and then taking a wander till I was tired. Came back to rest then go out again for some dinner.
On the first day I wander around the market and find a small art gallery where I meet * (his name escapes me so I'll call him *). * is a young malaysian guy who wishes to be anywhere else than malaysia. Not shy, he soon tells me his life story, starting with the problems he's faced living in KL. Having studied in America and Europe his spoken English is unlike others Malayans. His grammar is correct and this has caused him segregation from the local people he knows. All his life he has been bullied for not being Malaysian and wishes to life abroad in Paris or London. A student of fashion, he yearns to work in photography but instead is stuck with his dreams unrealised in a country where he feels he does not fit. Wherever you go in the world there will always be prejudices about the most stupid things. Its such a shame however when its so bad that people no longer want to call their own country home.
On the second day I decided to try and find the national museum but in the maze that is it wasn't as easy as I anticipated. Hoping to find information on Malaysian culture I was greeted instead firstly by a frightening looking giant snake at the entrance then the history of how the world began and a really scary moving display of cavemen that just shouldn't be allowed.
On the third day I took decided to check out the Batu Caves just north of KL city. I finally got there by local bus after a 45 minute journey.
The caves themselves were impressive great big gloomy gothic looking structures with threatening dangling spikes hanging down above you.
Monkeys ran around squabbling among themselves sounding like abu from aladdin getting into a scrap with the carpet, taking no notice of the visitors wandering around them taking their pictures.
I stood observing them for a while realising just how intelligent these creatures were while I watched one pick up a bottle, unscrew the lid and drink the water inside.
Leaving KL that evening reflecting on my visit I was glad that I'd been but even more excited to be leaving for the Indonesian gem that is Bali.
I do have one regret though- I made friends with a middle-aged french man that I shared a dorm with and spoke to many times in passing, but I never knew his name, and I guess I never will.
They are flying out that evening to Paris and are using KL as a lay over also but are really unimpressed with the city calling it boring. As ever I hate to jump to conclusions about a place as soon as I hear someone else's opinion, but in this case I would have to agree.
I won't go as far as assuming anything about Malaysia as a whole as I'm in no position to comment but KL is really rather boring. There's no atmosphere and elegance about the place, it just feels like a bit of a hollow shell of a city. I completely believe that it can be the people you meet that make a place so perhaps I didn't meet the right people but that was my experience.
Everyone I did meet seemed tired of it, unimpressed or was waiting to move on.
The mosques were uninventive, the streets crowded, markets typical. I was really making an effort to find things I liked about this city but it wasn't being made easy.
With three days till I flew to Bali, I decided to take things easy. Start my days lazy reading for a few hours and then taking a wander till I was tired. Came back to rest then go out again for some dinner.
On the first day I wander around the market and find a small art gallery where I meet * (his name escapes me so I'll call him *). * is a young malaysian guy who wishes to be anywhere else than malaysia. Not shy, he soon tells me his life story, starting with the problems he's faced living in KL. Having studied in America and Europe his spoken English is unlike others Malayans. His grammar is correct and this has caused him segregation from the local people he knows. All his life he has been bullied for not being Malaysian and wishes to life abroad in Paris or London. A student of fashion, he yearns to work in photography but instead is stuck with his dreams unrealised in a country where he feels he does not fit. Wherever you go in the world there will always be prejudices about the most stupid things. Its such a shame however when its so bad that people no longer want to call their own country home.
On the second day I decided to try and find the national museum but in the maze that is it wasn't as easy as I anticipated. Hoping to find information on Malaysian culture I was greeted instead firstly by a frightening looking giant snake at the entrance then the history of how the world began and a really scary moving display of cavemen that just shouldn't be allowed.
On the third day I took decided to check out the Batu Caves just north of KL city. I finally got there by local bus after a 45 minute journey.
The caves themselves were impressive great big gloomy gothic looking structures with threatening dangling spikes hanging down above you.
Monkeys ran around squabbling among themselves sounding like abu from aladdin getting into a scrap with the carpet, taking no notice of the visitors wandering around them taking their pictures.
I stood observing them for a while realising just how intelligent these creatures were while I watched one pick up a bottle, unscrew the lid and drink the water inside.
Leaving KL that evening reflecting on my visit I was glad that I'd been but even more excited to be leaving for the Indonesian gem that is Bali.
I do have one regret though- I made friends with a middle-aged french man that I shared a dorm with and spoke to many times in passing, but I never knew his name, and I guess I never will.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)