New Zealand
Coromandel Hot water beaches -
We arrived around 5 a clock at the hot water beaches at the Coromandel coast which was slightly to late cause the tide was not on our side. First what is the hot water beach? The hot water beach is a volcanic beach with dark sand and at certain spots hot water is under the sand. So what you have to do is dig a hole or build your own sandy bathtub to enjoy a nice hot bath ;-)
Manuel and Fabian were extremely enthusiastic. They jumped into their swimming shorts and run off for the beach. Cuss, Frederico and me followed. The correct spot at the beach was easy to find as you could see already quite a few people lying in their homemade bathtubs. The tide was a problem cause the seawater started mixing with the hot water, which made it cold again... so we could enjoy the hot water only for around 15 minutes. Hmm pitty, but still very nice experience.
This night the boys were sooo up for a drink with „the locals“ so they persuaded us that we need to go to the next village and to hit the local bar. I wasn t convinced as I have explained, NZ is not too densely populated and they don t have bars everywhere, like in Europe. Wherever you go, every small village has a least one bar... not so. When we arrived in the so called „town“ we saw 3 houses!!!! Boy, did I laugh!! So back to the hot water beach, I nice glass of wine and off to bed.
The next day after we had hit the beach again we moved on to cove cathedral. Basically it is another beach with a huge rock with a hole in the middle. But you can t imagine, how beautiful these beaches were and how clear the water was! We had a nice walk around and made most of the sun!!! From this amazing beach we moved on to Tauranga, to Mt. Manganui. There you had simply an amazing view with a walk of 30 minutes. At the top Manuel met an Argentinian girl who worked in New Zealand as a Kiwi picker/packer. She invited us over for the night. Before we went there we found a BBQ place. LOVELY... first BBQ in New Zealand. Of course this is a men-thing, so the boys prepared the meat and the girls the salad ;-)
After that we grabbed two bottles of wine and went to the house of the Argentinian girl. It turned out to be Spanish evening which was fine for all of us except of course Fabian, as he doesn t speak Spanish. Well he made the most of it and declared it to be a very intensive Spanish lesson for him :-) We were too lazy to repark the caravan, so we slept next to a highspeed road at a parking space... nobody complained!!!
The next day we moved on to Rotorua, the capital of volcanic action ;-). It all sounded incredible, hot springs wherever you go. In the middel of the city in a part thermal action. Thermal to us sounded = spa = relaxing in a natural pool! But no!!!! These termal springs are to hot to swim in! The whole town is basically full of hot boiling water containing a lot of sulphor. Those of you who paid attention in chemistry remember that sulphor smells terrible... basically like a fart! So as the whole town was full of sulphor and thermal springs, the whole town smells like a big fart!!!!! Maybe interesting to visit but definitely not worth living in!!!!
But the views were really nice. As you maybe know New Zealand is the scenery were Lord of the Ring was made. Especially in Rotorua you felt like you were right in the middle of Mordor!!! Scary and steemy with disgusting smell!
Traveling in a campervan can be very nice but it is not easy either. It is especially demanding from a social point of view. We urgently needed some company ... the next place we were going to was Lake Taupo... we really had to go out there. For now we just went to a bar, which was almost empty again. New Zealand is just not a great place to party I guess, especially in the winter season.
So enough for today.
Kisses from Rotorua, the smelly place
Astrid
Montag, 30. Mai 2011
New Zealand Auckland - Coromandel Bay
ew Zealand
Auckland – Coromandel bay
On the 16th of May Fabian and me went to the Airport in Sydney to fly to Auckland (New Zealand). There we would meet Manuel (Fabian's brother), Chuss (my Spanish friend that I met in Laos) and Frederico (an Italien guy that Chuss had met in Thailand). So we were a quite merry party!
We had decided to rent a campervan and to cruise around New Zealand. It is quite cheap as you combine transportation and and accommodation. Moreover New Zealand is the kind of country where you need at least a car, cause otherwise you miss out on a lot!
After we met in the Airport we went to a hostel and started while having a couple of bottles of wine making a plan for the next 2 weeks. Moreover we selected the caravan that we would rent. It turned out to be really affordable cause a caravan for 5 people (actually for six) for 2 weeks would cost everybody 180 euros! Nice!!!! I like bargains. Usually it is not soo cheap to rent one in New Zealand but right now it is not exactly high season as the winter is about to start and it is supposed to be quite cold.
We spent another day in Auckland walking around, visiting the harbour and checking out Devonport. Devonport is an island right across from Auckland. Well nice but nothing special, just a bit of walking around, enjoying nice views and excellent coffee :-)
On May the 18th we picked up our campervan! The boys were very nervous about the fact what brand it would be, cause they really wanted a VW!!!! So while I was busy with the rental procedure they kept on interrupting inquiring about the brand !!!!! But they had to be patient! :-)
Fortunately we got a VW, so everything was good and everybody was satisfied. Officially 3 people are allowed to drive, so we signed up the boys. I don t feel very confident driving on the otherside of the road AND a vehicle that is much bigger and heavier than an average car. Neither is Chuss very keen on driving especially after our little accident in Indonesia. Therefore we were quite happy to pass on the responsibility of driving to the boys.
New Zealand consists of two main islands, the northern and the southern island and together they are about the size of Great Britain. Soooo BIG but New Zealand has only 4 million inhabitants. Now you can imagin how densily populated it is..... NOT at all! It is VERY VERY quite with a lot of nature. As it is soo big and we had only 2 weeks time and we didn t want to spend all they long in the caravan, we decided just to visit the northern island. Yes I know, everybody who has been to NZ, will now tell me that the southern island is soooo nice and it is such a pity..... Yes it is a pity BUT we simply had a lack of time!
First we made our way up to Bay of Islands. There you have the opportunity to go dolphin watching and sometimes you can also swim with them. I was sooo in for that !!! :-)
After a wonderful breakfast at the beach I checked out the offers for dolphin watching. Eventually Chuss, Fabian and me went to see some. Swimming with dolphins is only possible if they have no babies... NZ law. WHY? because dolphin babies have to eat every 3!!! minutes and if they have human buddies to play with, they get so excited that they forget to eat and that is harmful to them! Okay anyway it was cold and windy so I didn t really feel the urge to go swimming in the sea.
Yes we saw dolphins and they had a baby... so no swimming. Lovely creatures but difficult to take pictures of them. Moreover we saw sea lions hanging out on an island and a few tiny penguins. So a very successful afternoon.!!!!
After we came back we moved on to the ninety mile beach. This beach is really 90 miles long and at certain spots you can dig into the sand to find clams which you can eat immediately. So of course we had to see that.
@wild camping in NZ is also illegal so we had again the same problem like in Australia. Find a safe spot somewhere, where the police won t find you. Hmmm but this time with a huge campervan! Fortunately it is not high season, so the police actually doesn t care to much. The boys found some pretty random spots, but we never got woken up by the police or received a fine....!!!!
So after we spent the night close to the ninety mile beach we had breakfast at the ninety mile beach (there was absolutely nobody except us!!). Afterwards we started digging for clams.. but no luck!!!! well.....
From there on we went back to Auckland passing by our rental company cause our heating didn t work. At their agency they explained that the heating works only if we are plugged to electricity. Hmmm therefore we would have to stay at a campsite.... No way, far to expensive!!!! Ahh and well in NZ it is not sooo easy to find a shower, as you can t shower at the beach, or you can but it is just too cold, so I grabbed the opportunity and took a shower at the rental company (the offer free shower incl towel!!!).
Next we went to Coromandel Bay. We went along the coast as this is supposed to be a very nice scenery. And BOY it was!!! black beaches, blue sea and the sunset. What more can you ask for. Nobody expected such beautiful beaches in New Zealand even though we were wearing hats and jackets at the beach ;-)
Kisses from New Zealand
Astrid
Auckland – Coromandel bay
On the 16th of May Fabian and me went to the Airport in Sydney to fly to Auckland (New Zealand). There we would meet Manuel (Fabian's brother), Chuss (my Spanish friend that I met in Laos) and Frederico (an Italien guy that Chuss had met in Thailand). So we were a quite merry party!
We had decided to rent a campervan and to cruise around New Zealand. It is quite cheap as you combine transportation and and accommodation. Moreover New Zealand is the kind of country where you need at least a car, cause otherwise you miss out on a lot!
After we met in the Airport we went to a hostel and started while having a couple of bottles of wine making a plan for the next 2 weeks. Moreover we selected the caravan that we would rent. It turned out to be really affordable cause a caravan for 5 people (actually for six) for 2 weeks would cost everybody 180 euros! Nice!!!! I like bargains. Usually it is not soo cheap to rent one in New Zealand but right now it is not exactly high season as the winter is about to start and it is supposed to be quite cold.
We spent another day in Auckland walking around, visiting the harbour and checking out Devonport. Devonport is an island right across from Auckland. Well nice but nothing special, just a bit of walking around, enjoying nice views and excellent coffee :-)
On May the 18th we picked up our campervan! The boys were very nervous about the fact what brand it would be, cause they really wanted a VW!!!! So while I was busy with the rental procedure they kept on interrupting inquiring about the brand !!!!! But they had to be patient! :-)
Fortunately we got a VW, so everything was good and everybody was satisfied. Officially 3 people are allowed to drive, so we signed up the boys. I don t feel very confident driving on the otherside of the road AND a vehicle that is much bigger and heavier than an average car. Neither is Chuss very keen on driving especially after our little accident in Indonesia. Therefore we were quite happy to pass on the responsibility of driving to the boys.
New Zealand consists of two main islands, the northern and the southern island and together they are about the size of Great Britain. Soooo BIG but New Zealand has only 4 million inhabitants. Now you can imagin how densily populated it is..... NOT at all! It is VERY VERY quite with a lot of nature. As it is soo big and we had only 2 weeks time and we didn t want to spend all they long in the caravan, we decided just to visit the northern island. Yes I know, everybody who has been to NZ, will now tell me that the southern island is soooo nice and it is such a pity..... Yes it is a pity BUT we simply had a lack of time!
First we made our way up to Bay of Islands. There you have the opportunity to go dolphin watching and sometimes you can also swim with them. I was sooo in for that !!! :-)
After a wonderful breakfast at the beach I checked out the offers for dolphin watching. Eventually Chuss, Fabian and me went to see some. Swimming with dolphins is only possible if they have no babies... NZ law. WHY? because dolphin babies have to eat every 3!!! minutes and if they have human buddies to play with, they get so excited that they forget to eat and that is harmful to them! Okay anyway it was cold and windy so I didn t really feel the urge to go swimming in the sea.
Yes we saw dolphins and they had a baby... so no swimming. Lovely creatures but difficult to take pictures of them. Moreover we saw sea lions hanging out on an island and a few tiny penguins. So a very successful afternoon.!!!!
After we came back we moved on to the ninety mile beach. This beach is really 90 miles long and at certain spots you can dig into the sand to find clams which you can eat immediately. So of course we had to see that.
@wild camping in NZ is also illegal so we had again the same problem like in Australia. Find a safe spot somewhere, where the police won t find you. Hmmm but this time with a huge campervan! Fortunately it is not high season, so the police actually doesn t care to much. The boys found some pretty random spots, but we never got woken up by the police or received a fine....!!!!
So after we spent the night close to the ninety mile beach we had breakfast at the ninety mile beach (there was absolutely nobody except us!!). Afterwards we started digging for clams.. but no luck!!!! well.....
From there on we went back to Auckland passing by our rental company cause our heating didn t work. At their agency they explained that the heating works only if we are plugged to electricity. Hmmm therefore we would have to stay at a campsite.... No way, far to expensive!!!! Ahh and well in NZ it is not sooo easy to find a shower, as you can t shower at the beach, or you can but it is just too cold, so I grabbed the opportunity and took a shower at the rental company (the offer free shower incl towel!!!).
Next we went to Coromandel Bay. We went along the coast as this is supposed to be a very nice scenery. And BOY it was!!! black beaches, blue sea and the sunset. What more can you ask for. Nobody expected such beautiful beaches in New Zealand even though we were wearing hats and jackets at the beach ;-)
Kisses from New Zealand
Astrid
Great Barrier Reef
Cairns – Diving at the Great Barrier Reef
One goal of this trip to get my open water diving license and of course it would have been already possible to obtain it in Indonesia or Thailand but somehow something always came in between like a volcano or another excursion. So this time I would definitely go for it!
Okay we planned to spend 7 days in Cairns, 5 days diving and 2 days hanging out at the local lagoon (cause you can t swim in the sea due to the jelly fish). We had gotten a nice hostel with pool and a sort of „patio“ (social backyard) for quite a reasonable price. Fabian and Tim wanted to go diving as well but somehow it always takes ages until they decide when how and with which company... and they tend to postpone the decision.... „manana manana!!“ But as we were only staying 7 days and the course takes 5, i figured that there was no time to be lost. So I simply asked the reception guy which company he would recommend... ProDive! Okay excellent, as there was anyway not much price difference I went for ProDive. As the course on Saturday was already full, I started already on Friday.
They picked me up in the morning to take me to their diving center where I would have theory classes and some pool practice. The theory and pool practice takes 2 days and then we would spend another 3 days out in the reef, sleeping on the boat! EXCITING!!!!
Okay maybe 2 days of pool practice and theory is a little bit too much cause in other dive schools around the world they do they whole course in 3 days. Anyway it is the Great Barrier Reef and God knows how long it is going to be there from now on (pollution, Chinese tankers crashing into it, global warming etc...). To be honest the pool practice and the classes are quite boring and nothing special. At the end I had to pass an exam... haha!!!! If you don t pass this one, then you have a serious mental problem and you didn t pay attention at all!
Fabian and Tim had also finally decided to go for diving. Tim selected though another company and Fabian would join me for his diving experience in the Great Barrier Reef. He is already an advanced diver, so he doesn t need a course or an instructor. So for him it was of course cheaper, especially as he got a special offer :-)
Before we actually went to go diving in the reef, the diving school took us to a dive shop. Surprise!!!!! the dive shop belongs to the school or the other way round. For days they kept on telling us how important it is to have your own gear and that it is absolutely worth it! Of course we would also get a VERY special price, which is such a bargain that one would be stupid not to buy your own gear. WELL... the set of fins, snorkel, mask and shoes (for the fins) would have cost ONLY around 400 ADS! SUCH a bargain! I simply cut of the discussion about whether I would buy something or not with the sentence: „sorry I am broke“. Issue solved!!!
Okay Great Barrier Reef experience: Just wonderful! 3 days on a boat doing the following: diving, food, diving food, diving food, sleeping! on the second day we also squeezed in a night dive. so 4 times per day diving! That s a hell of a lot of diving! Once you are in the water everything is just very calm and relaxed. Wonderful colourful corals, fish swarms passing by, turtles moving calmly through the water and once in a while a few bubbles from fellow divers. Really nice and relaxing! The only pain are the diving preparations! Put on your cold and wet stinger suit, maybe put on your wetsuit as well (in case you feel cold in the water), put on your gear, clean your mask, check out from the boat (the have a list, to make sure nobody is left in the water) and finally get into the water. To you that might not really sound like an effort BUT the stinger suit is such a bastard to put on, it takes for ever, meanwhile there is a quite chilly bries, your are fighting with the bloody stinger suit until you are finally in but your diving instructor walks over to inform you that you have put it on the wrong way, so again getting out and in (another 15 minutes). Meanwhile freezing your ass off (excuse my language).
Anyway the first 2 days we could not really explore the reef as we still had to do some diving practice and exercises. But finally on the second day after the second dive we were „certified divers“!!!! Hurray = my buddy Inga (from Holland) and me could go on our first dive alone! I was sooo hoping to see Brian, a giant turtle that hangs around at that area.... but no luck!!!
This night we went for a night dive.... Uh thats slightly scary, cause first of all everything is damn dark and secondly before we got into the water we could see already a few sharks circling our boat. Wooaaa SHARKS nice!!!!!!! they are so calm and when you see them in the water (if you can) you instantly relax and stop everything to admire them! Amazingly beautiful creatures. And for those of you who start to freak out cause they have seen recently some documentary where a great white attacked somebody and was seen with an arm in his mouth.... these sharks weren t great whites and they don t attack human beings!!!!
The next day i participated in the adventure diver course, which enables you to dive up to 30 metres. Okay maybe not absolutely necessary, but what the hell...
So of course we had to do a deep dive (30 metres) and for those of you who are not too familiar with diving: the deeper you dive the more nitrogen you ll have in your blood. Sometimes that leads to a small overdoses, which makes you feel a little bit as if you were drunk. Everything is very funny, and you start making silly things. Which is in general if you dive in a group of 6 people no problem, cause it will happen to maybe one of them and the others can take care. But let us assume that you dive down to 60 meters only with your dive-buddy, and both get „narced“, that might be dangerous, as the situation could get out of control. Divers have been reported to believe that they can breath under water, cause they got „narced“.... I think you get the point!!!
Anyway we went down and guess what I got slightly narced. Okay nothing to worry, I just thought it to be hilarious that a fish ate a tomato that my dive instructor had brought. Good experience!!!
The last dive that we did was a foto dive. So I had the opportunity to take some underwater fotos. It is REALLY difficult. You have all this nice scenery BUT you have to come very close to take a good fotos. PROBLEM: if you try to come close to a fish, it will disappear. So I kept chasing various colourful fish in the Great Barrier Reef. My diving instructor got almost crazy with me, as I got lost several times! AAAHHHH, but you know... I saw Nemo and of course I had to have a foto of him ;-)
Anyway, it was a really nice trip but of course everything has an end. We celebrated the nice trip with a couple of ciders in a local bar in Cairns!
Kisses from the Great Barrier Reef
Astrid
One goal of this trip to get my open water diving license and of course it would have been already possible to obtain it in Indonesia or Thailand but somehow something always came in between like a volcano or another excursion. So this time I would definitely go for it!
Okay we planned to spend 7 days in Cairns, 5 days diving and 2 days hanging out at the local lagoon (cause you can t swim in the sea due to the jelly fish). We had gotten a nice hostel with pool and a sort of „patio“ (social backyard) for quite a reasonable price. Fabian and Tim wanted to go diving as well but somehow it always takes ages until they decide when how and with which company... and they tend to postpone the decision.... „manana manana!!“ But as we were only staying 7 days and the course takes 5, i figured that there was no time to be lost. So I simply asked the reception guy which company he would recommend... ProDive! Okay excellent, as there was anyway not much price difference I went for ProDive. As the course on Saturday was already full, I started already on Friday.
They picked me up in the morning to take me to their diving center where I would have theory classes and some pool practice. The theory and pool practice takes 2 days and then we would spend another 3 days out in the reef, sleeping on the boat! EXCITING!!!!
Okay maybe 2 days of pool practice and theory is a little bit too much cause in other dive schools around the world they do they whole course in 3 days. Anyway it is the Great Barrier Reef and God knows how long it is going to be there from now on (pollution, Chinese tankers crashing into it, global warming etc...). To be honest the pool practice and the classes are quite boring and nothing special. At the end I had to pass an exam... haha!!!! If you don t pass this one, then you have a serious mental problem and you didn t pay attention at all!
Fabian and Tim had also finally decided to go for diving. Tim selected though another company and Fabian would join me for his diving experience in the Great Barrier Reef. He is already an advanced diver, so he doesn t need a course or an instructor. So for him it was of course cheaper, especially as he got a special offer :-)
Before we actually went to go diving in the reef, the diving school took us to a dive shop. Surprise!!!!! the dive shop belongs to the school or the other way round. For days they kept on telling us how important it is to have your own gear and that it is absolutely worth it! Of course we would also get a VERY special price, which is such a bargain that one would be stupid not to buy your own gear. WELL... the set of fins, snorkel, mask and shoes (for the fins) would have cost ONLY around 400 ADS! SUCH a bargain! I simply cut of the discussion about whether I would buy something or not with the sentence: „sorry I am broke“. Issue solved!!!
Okay Great Barrier Reef experience: Just wonderful! 3 days on a boat doing the following: diving, food, diving food, diving food, sleeping! on the second day we also squeezed in a night dive. so 4 times per day diving! That s a hell of a lot of diving! Once you are in the water everything is just very calm and relaxed. Wonderful colourful corals, fish swarms passing by, turtles moving calmly through the water and once in a while a few bubbles from fellow divers. Really nice and relaxing! The only pain are the diving preparations! Put on your cold and wet stinger suit, maybe put on your wetsuit as well (in case you feel cold in the water), put on your gear, clean your mask, check out from the boat (the have a list, to make sure nobody is left in the water) and finally get into the water. To you that might not really sound like an effort BUT the stinger suit is such a bastard to put on, it takes for ever, meanwhile there is a quite chilly bries, your are fighting with the bloody stinger suit until you are finally in but your diving instructor walks over to inform you that you have put it on the wrong way, so again getting out and in (another 15 minutes). Meanwhile freezing your ass off (excuse my language).
Anyway the first 2 days we could not really explore the reef as we still had to do some diving practice and exercises. But finally on the second day after the second dive we were „certified divers“!!!! Hurray = my buddy Inga (from Holland) and me could go on our first dive alone! I was sooo hoping to see Brian, a giant turtle that hangs around at that area.... but no luck!!!
This night we went for a night dive.... Uh thats slightly scary, cause first of all everything is damn dark and secondly before we got into the water we could see already a few sharks circling our boat. Wooaaa SHARKS nice!!!!!!! they are so calm and when you see them in the water (if you can) you instantly relax and stop everything to admire them! Amazingly beautiful creatures. And for those of you who start to freak out cause they have seen recently some documentary where a great white attacked somebody and was seen with an arm in his mouth.... these sharks weren t great whites and they don t attack human beings!!!!
The next day i participated in the adventure diver course, which enables you to dive up to 30 metres. Okay maybe not absolutely necessary, but what the hell...
So of course we had to do a deep dive (30 metres) and for those of you who are not too familiar with diving: the deeper you dive the more nitrogen you ll have in your blood. Sometimes that leads to a small overdoses, which makes you feel a little bit as if you were drunk. Everything is very funny, and you start making silly things. Which is in general if you dive in a group of 6 people no problem, cause it will happen to maybe one of them and the others can take care. But let us assume that you dive down to 60 meters only with your dive-buddy, and both get „narced“, that might be dangerous, as the situation could get out of control. Divers have been reported to believe that they can breath under water, cause they got „narced“.... I think you get the point!!!
Anyway we went down and guess what I got slightly narced. Okay nothing to worry, I just thought it to be hilarious that a fish ate a tomato that my dive instructor had brought. Good experience!!!
The last dive that we did was a foto dive. So I had the opportunity to take some underwater fotos. It is REALLY difficult. You have all this nice scenery BUT you have to come very close to take a good fotos. PROBLEM: if you try to come close to a fish, it will disappear. So I kept chasing various colourful fish in the Great Barrier Reef. My diving instructor got almost crazy with me, as I got lost several times! AAAHHHH, but you know... I saw Nemo and of course I had to have a foto of him ;-)
Anyway, it was a really nice trip but of course everything has an end. We celebrated the nice trip with a couple of ciders in a local bar in Cairns!
Kisses from the Great Barrier Reef
Astrid
Roadtrip to Cairns
Road Trip and Cairns
After the Whitsunday Islands we had to hit the road hard... we had still some km to cover until Cairns, where we would return the van. We decided though to make a stop in Mission Beach which is famous for its tropical forest that reach right into the town. When we arrived there, the town seemed to be dead. We had difficulties finding a coffee place!!!!!
Eventually we found one and the guy working there explained that the floods had damaged most of the restaurants and shops around and they were still fighting with the insurance company. Therefore most of all business were still closed. What a pity .... and slightly boring for us! We wanted to have another BBQ at the beach, as we had already bought a lot of meat. So we were in need of a public BBQ place, which are usually abundant in Australia on the beach... but also all the BBQ places were destroyed by the floods and had not been rebuilt again!!! SUCKS.... so eventually we checked into a campsite, to be able to cook and also take a shower! LUXURY!! Nice nice!
The next day we started visiting the forest and the waterfalls around. After all the waterfalls that I have seen so far on this trip, they are not sooo spectecular anymore but.. they were still nice. Uhh I forgot to mention the incredible beaches in Mission Beach. Empty beaches... for miles... palm trees... white sand and again no people. It would be paradise if you could acutally swim in the sea, but as it is still jelly fish season, you can t. It is such a pity, these Australians have just marvollous beaches but they can only swim in the sea during winter. Jelly fish are not like in Europe, they hurt but its nothing serious, here a „mate“ told us, that recently 2 kids died from jelly fish. They are really nasty bastards here and you really don t wanna get in touch with them. You will even find all along every beach vinegar, to be able to offer first aid, just in case.
After 3 different waterfalls, we decided to sleep somewhere a little bit before Cairns. Fabian and me were defensively not willing to pay a cent for the last night, our German friends though were slightly worried. Anyway we just drove into a field were we wanted to stay overnight. Just in the middle of the field there turned out to be the farmers house, but maybe he would let us stay there anyway. So I went to his house to ask, but I could not really find the main door and I am definitely not entering his house via the terrace. Fabian was following me but suddenly the farmer let his dog out for a piss and the dog spotted us immediatly. Slowly (I as though terrible scared) Fabian and me went backwards to the van. Okay no luck so far.
Okay maybe the field was not the best idea. Therefore we went into Cairns were we first had dinner at the beach next to the Lagoon. Scrambled eggs with ham (we had to finish all our remaining food from the van). Afterwards we started again the search for a place to sleep and we found a perfect place. Just in the middle of the city but hidden between two trees. This night it was very humid and hot, so the inside of the van felt like a sauna. Tonight is was Tim's turn to sleep at the front seat but he could not really manage so eventually he went outside to sleep on a bench :-)
The next morning we enjoyed our last breakfast outside of the van. It was a lovely but quite intensive time in the van. If 4 people spend all their time very close together... it takes a lot of effort not to get too much on each others nerves. For those circumstances, we managed I guess quite well. We checked in into one of the hostels along the beach and the boys returned the van.
Kisses from Cairns
After the Whitsunday Islands we had to hit the road hard... we had still some km to cover until Cairns, where we would return the van. We decided though to make a stop in Mission Beach which is famous for its tropical forest that reach right into the town. When we arrived there, the town seemed to be dead. We had difficulties finding a coffee place!!!!!
Eventually we found one and the guy working there explained that the floods had damaged most of the restaurants and shops around and they were still fighting with the insurance company. Therefore most of all business were still closed. What a pity .... and slightly boring for us! We wanted to have another BBQ at the beach, as we had already bought a lot of meat. So we were in need of a public BBQ place, which are usually abundant in Australia on the beach... but also all the BBQ places were destroyed by the floods and had not been rebuilt again!!! SUCKS.... so eventually we checked into a campsite, to be able to cook and also take a shower! LUXURY!! Nice nice!
The next day we started visiting the forest and the waterfalls around. After all the waterfalls that I have seen so far on this trip, they are not sooo spectecular anymore but.. they were still nice. Uhh I forgot to mention the incredible beaches in Mission Beach. Empty beaches... for miles... palm trees... white sand and again no people. It would be paradise if you could acutally swim in the sea, but as it is still jelly fish season, you can t. It is such a pity, these Australians have just marvollous beaches but they can only swim in the sea during winter. Jelly fish are not like in Europe, they hurt but its nothing serious, here a „mate“ told us, that recently 2 kids died from jelly fish. They are really nasty bastards here and you really don t wanna get in touch with them. You will even find all along every beach vinegar, to be able to offer first aid, just in case.
After 3 different waterfalls, we decided to sleep somewhere a little bit before Cairns. Fabian and me were defensively not willing to pay a cent for the last night, our German friends though were slightly worried. Anyway we just drove into a field were we wanted to stay overnight. Just in the middle of the field there turned out to be the farmers house, but maybe he would let us stay there anyway. So I went to his house to ask, but I could not really find the main door and I am definitely not entering his house via the terrace. Fabian was following me but suddenly the farmer let his dog out for a piss and the dog spotted us immediatly. Slowly (I as though terrible scared) Fabian and me went backwards to the van. Okay no luck so far.
Okay maybe the field was not the best idea. Therefore we went into Cairns were we first had dinner at the beach next to the Lagoon. Scrambled eggs with ham (we had to finish all our remaining food from the van). Afterwards we started again the search for a place to sleep and we found a perfect place. Just in the middle of the city but hidden between two trees. This night it was very humid and hot, so the inside of the van felt like a sauna. Tonight is was Tim's turn to sleep at the front seat but he could not really manage so eventually he went outside to sleep on a bench :-)
The next morning we enjoyed our last breakfast outside of the van. It was a lovely but quite intensive time in the van. If 4 people spend all their time very close together... it takes a lot of effort not to get too much on each others nerves. For those circumstances, we managed I guess quite well. We checked in into one of the hostels along the beach and the boys returned the van.
Kisses from Cairns
Whitesunday Cruise
Sailing Trip Whitesunday
I think all of you know that I really enjoyed my trip in Asia but there are certain things that I don t miss at all like: If you ask for help at the reception, it is usually a simple question like, where can i maybe buy a charger for my computer. The person behind the reception will smile sweetly at you and tell you „I don t know“. Whenever they don t understand or are not a hundred percent sure they will tell you... „I don t know“ but meanwhile smiling so sweetly that you can t even be angry. Okay to be honest I am quite surprised by myself cause in those 3 months I developed a patients, that I never thought I could have... smiling even sweeter at them... encouraging them to think once again.
You don t have those issues in Australia. The people are super confident and basically the are a service nation like most European countries. Moreover I am very happy not to hear any „Chinglish“ anymore. I very much enjoy to be in a country where menus are not continuously misspelled and where you can be sure that you are able to talk to anybody in case there is a problem. Traveling if you speak the local language, is just sooo much easier.
Anyway I wanted to tell you about the Whitsunday sailing trip. Whitsunday is the area that Mr. Cook arrived at when he discovered Australia. As he thought it was a Sunday and the sand is extremely white, he named it Whitsunday ... again not to creative I have to say. So we were on a sailing boat with 22 other guys mostly from Germany. I don t know why but these Germans are everywhere and especially in Australia. There are not too many European tourists in Austrialia, mainly I guess because it is simply very far. Not too many OTHER than Germans.
After we had all selected a bed we started sailing. We were very lucky with the weather as it was sunny and nice cause the days before it had been raining and foggy. Even though it was sunny due to the wind it was rather chilly but of course I could not put on my jacket cause otherwise I would not get tanned...
After 2 hours of sailing we arrived at a bay of Haven Island where we went for snorkeling. We all had to put on stinger-suits cause even though it is not high season for jellyfish anymore, there are still some in the water. I got my first impression of the Great Barrier Reef and its fish and corals. Uhhh very promising, I am soooo going to finally get my diving licence here.
From the snorkel spot we moved on to a calmer bay were we spent the night. All of us were crazy hungry so we were delighted by the vast amount of food they presented us with. The rest of the night we spent talking and drinking on deck. Some of us wanted to sleep on deck but I wasn t conviced, no matress, no serious blankets and a quite chilly night.... I will sleep inside.
The next day after we had breakfast we started sailing to Whitsunday islands. The beach there was simply amazing. I have never seen any sand that has been whiter than this one and the water was soo clear that you could see sharks swimming around the island. Unfortunately the wheather suddenly changed and it started raining.
After lunch we started sailing back. As on the first day I had been a bit seasick, I decided to take a few pills as a precaution. Hmmm maybe I should have taken just one, cause I sort of underestimated their impact. I got sooo tired that I passed out for an hour on the boat. On the other side that might have been a good thing cause during that time, Fabian was navigating the sailing boat... :-)
Around 5 we arrived back in Airlie Beach. Michael and Tim wanted to stay for the „after sailing“drink in a local bar with all the participants. So we had some time to kill. I went back to the hostel to ask them whether I could use their shower once again. Well after 2 days without shower just salt water and no prospect of any fresh water shower soon, that should be very nice. And I was lucky. They were generous enough to allow me to use it... even without paying.
Finally we went out for a couple of drinks (Fabian was not drinking cause he was taking Antibiotics and he would be the driver for that evening). As we arrived at the bar, the bouncer seriously asked me for my ID!!!!! For those who don t know, I am 25!!!! Yeaahh baby, After a couple of drinks, we (fabian and me) finally convinced Michael and Tim that we had to leave. So we went back to the hostel where we parked our van before the sailing trip and went to the next rest place next to the highway. Unfortunately after we had gotten already sort of comfortable (I was sleeping on the front seat, so not soo comfortable) the police arrived and informed us, that we are aloud to have a rest here but not to stay overnight. So again we had to hit the road and find another place. Finally we were lucky 40 km further and nobody woke us up this night.
I think all of you know that I really enjoyed my trip in Asia but there are certain things that I don t miss at all like: If you ask for help at the reception, it is usually a simple question like, where can i maybe buy a charger for my computer. The person behind the reception will smile sweetly at you and tell you „I don t know“. Whenever they don t understand or are not a hundred percent sure they will tell you... „I don t know“ but meanwhile smiling so sweetly that you can t even be angry. Okay to be honest I am quite surprised by myself cause in those 3 months I developed a patients, that I never thought I could have... smiling even sweeter at them... encouraging them to think once again.
You don t have those issues in Australia. The people are super confident and basically the are a service nation like most European countries. Moreover I am very happy not to hear any „Chinglish“ anymore. I very much enjoy to be in a country where menus are not continuously misspelled and where you can be sure that you are able to talk to anybody in case there is a problem. Traveling if you speak the local language, is just sooo much easier.
Anyway I wanted to tell you about the Whitsunday sailing trip. Whitsunday is the area that Mr. Cook arrived at when he discovered Australia. As he thought it was a Sunday and the sand is extremely white, he named it Whitsunday ... again not to creative I have to say. So we were on a sailing boat with 22 other guys mostly from Germany. I don t know why but these Germans are everywhere and especially in Australia. There are not too many European tourists in Austrialia, mainly I guess because it is simply very far. Not too many OTHER than Germans.
After we had all selected a bed we started sailing. We were very lucky with the weather as it was sunny and nice cause the days before it had been raining and foggy. Even though it was sunny due to the wind it was rather chilly but of course I could not put on my jacket cause otherwise I would not get tanned...
After 2 hours of sailing we arrived at a bay of Haven Island where we went for snorkeling. We all had to put on stinger-suits cause even though it is not high season for jellyfish anymore, there are still some in the water. I got my first impression of the Great Barrier Reef and its fish and corals. Uhhh very promising, I am soooo going to finally get my diving licence here.
From the snorkel spot we moved on to a calmer bay were we spent the night. All of us were crazy hungry so we were delighted by the vast amount of food they presented us with. The rest of the night we spent talking and drinking on deck. Some of us wanted to sleep on deck but I wasn t conviced, no matress, no serious blankets and a quite chilly night.... I will sleep inside.
The next day after we had breakfast we started sailing to Whitsunday islands. The beach there was simply amazing. I have never seen any sand that has been whiter than this one and the water was soo clear that you could see sharks swimming around the island. Unfortunately the wheather suddenly changed and it started raining.
After lunch we started sailing back. As on the first day I had been a bit seasick, I decided to take a few pills as a precaution. Hmmm maybe I should have taken just one, cause I sort of underestimated their impact. I got sooo tired that I passed out for an hour on the boat. On the other side that might have been a good thing cause during that time, Fabian was navigating the sailing boat... :-)
Around 5 we arrived back in Airlie Beach. Michael and Tim wanted to stay for the „after sailing“drink in a local bar with all the participants. So we had some time to kill. I went back to the hostel to ask them whether I could use their shower once again. Well after 2 days without shower just salt water and no prospect of any fresh water shower soon, that should be very nice. And I was lucky. They were generous enough to allow me to use it... even without paying.
Finally we went out for a couple of drinks (Fabian was not drinking cause he was taking Antibiotics and he would be the driver for that evening). As we arrived at the bar, the bouncer seriously asked me for my ID!!!!! For those who don t know, I am 25!!!! Yeaahh baby, After a couple of drinks, we (fabian and me) finally convinced Michael and Tim that we had to leave. So we went back to the hostel where we parked our van before the sailing trip and went to the next rest place next to the highway. Unfortunately after we had gotten already sort of comfortable (I was sleeping on the front seat, so not soo comfortable) the police arrived and informed us, that we are aloud to have a rest here but not to stay overnight. So again we had to hit the road and find another place. Finally we were lucky 40 km further and nobody woke us up this night.
Freitag, 29. April 2011
Australia Brisbane - Airlie Beach
Australia
A new continent NIIICCEE. The flight was actually very short (8h) cause I was able to sleep on the plane which I usually can t. This time though I had two seats and so i missed out on all the nice movies. After my arrival I went to buy an Australien SIM card, to be able to call Fabian, then I booked a busticket from the airport in Brisbane to Hervey Bay where I would meet Fabian.
Eventhough I slept on the plane I was still quite tired, so i slept most of the time during the busride. Everything just worked out very fine. As you know I had prolonged my stay in Lombok, but Fabian hadn t, so he had been in Australia for already 10 days. During these days he managed to recruit two German guys who rented together with him a van to drive up to Cairns. The had rented a so called „wicked van“. Those vans are in comparison rather low costs and they look totally like a van out of the 70s, full of slogans and painting. Inside there are 3 mattresses and some cooking equipment. To be honest there is hardly enough space for 3 people but definitely not enough for four. Therefore we started taking turns who had to sleep on the front seats.
In Australia it is forbidden to sleep in your car which is a little bit stupid, cause if you are tired you better sleep in your car than continue to drive. I guess this kind of backpackers like us, just got annoying and thats why the introduced that law. So officially we cannot sleep somewhere in our van, but we simply don t care and the police knows that. So once in a while the police might bang your door in the very moring to wake you up, and make you go away. They do that cause asking to pay a fine usually ends up that the backpackers prefer to spend a day in jail than to pay 200 ASD, which the police tries to avoid.
Therefore every night we try to find a nice parking space which is not too obvious where we spend the night. The only disadvantage of wild camping is the lack of toilet and shower. Okay toilet is easily solved, as nature is abundant and there are always showers at the beach. As we are driving up the coast, we just stop once in a while at a beach for a swim and a shower.
On my second day we went to Bundaberg where we visited a rum distillery. Very interesting to see how they make rum and of course the tour included rum tasting... even better! My favourite one is the 10 year old mixed with cream,.. tastes basically like Bali's...
After that we continued until 1770 and spend the night there. Yes 1770 is the name of the place. Obviously in 1770 Sr. Cook arrived precisely at this point and decided to start a town here, called 1770. Not too creative I would say.
Already at the distillery and again in 1770 we met Bill. Bill recently retired and decided that he would like to see Australia. He has never traveled much in Australia before (even though he is Australian)... so slowly he is making his way through Australia in a van like ours (little less hippie though). We had some interesting discussions... and I have to admit I like the way you spend your time Bill :-)
After half a day on the beach in 1770 we continued to Malborough where we simply spent the night on aparking space next to the highway. He had to keep driving as we hardly had gotten forward (in terms of distance) so far. Next day was just driving and driving until Airlie Beach. This place is famous for its great whitesunday cruises and great beaches. This is precicely what we want to do here. Unfortunately it turned out that Fabi had gotten ill. So he spent most of the time in the back of the van sleeping, trying to get better as soon as possible. This evening we treated ourselves with a stay on a camp site!!! Hot shower and a camp kitchen + electricity!!!! Nice!! We charged everything that could be charged. Moreover we found ourselves a good deal for the cruise, that included a night in a hostel!!! YYEAAHHH more luxury!!!!
The way of travelling in Australia is just much more budget than in Asia but still it is very nice!!! Next blog will be about the cruise.
Kisses from Airlie Beach
Astrid
A new continent NIIICCEE. The flight was actually very short (8h) cause I was able to sleep on the plane which I usually can t. This time though I had two seats and so i missed out on all the nice movies. After my arrival I went to buy an Australien SIM card, to be able to call Fabian, then I booked a busticket from the airport in Brisbane to Hervey Bay where I would meet Fabian.
Eventhough I slept on the plane I was still quite tired, so i slept most of the time during the busride. Everything just worked out very fine. As you know I had prolonged my stay in Lombok, but Fabian hadn t, so he had been in Australia for already 10 days. During these days he managed to recruit two German guys who rented together with him a van to drive up to Cairns. The had rented a so called „wicked van“. Those vans are in comparison rather low costs and they look totally like a van out of the 70s, full of slogans and painting. Inside there are 3 mattresses and some cooking equipment. To be honest there is hardly enough space for 3 people but definitely not enough for four. Therefore we started taking turns who had to sleep on the front seats.
In Australia it is forbidden to sleep in your car which is a little bit stupid, cause if you are tired you better sleep in your car than continue to drive. I guess this kind of backpackers like us, just got annoying and thats why the introduced that law. So officially we cannot sleep somewhere in our van, but we simply don t care and the police knows that. So once in a while the police might bang your door in the very moring to wake you up, and make you go away. They do that cause asking to pay a fine usually ends up that the backpackers prefer to spend a day in jail than to pay 200 ASD, which the police tries to avoid.
Therefore every night we try to find a nice parking space which is not too obvious where we spend the night. The only disadvantage of wild camping is the lack of toilet and shower. Okay toilet is easily solved, as nature is abundant and there are always showers at the beach. As we are driving up the coast, we just stop once in a while at a beach for a swim and a shower.
On my second day we went to Bundaberg where we visited a rum distillery. Very interesting to see how they make rum and of course the tour included rum tasting... even better! My favourite one is the 10 year old mixed with cream,.. tastes basically like Bali's...
After that we continued until 1770 and spend the night there. Yes 1770 is the name of the place. Obviously in 1770 Sr. Cook arrived precisely at this point and decided to start a town here, called 1770. Not too creative I would say.
Already at the distillery and again in 1770 we met Bill. Bill recently retired and decided that he would like to see Australia. He has never traveled much in Australia before (even though he is Australian)... so slowly he is making his way through Australia in a van like ours (little less hippie though). We had some interesting discussions... and I have to admit I like the way you spend your time Bill :-)
After half a day on the beach in 1770 we continued to Malborough where we simply spent the night on aparking space next to the highway. He had to keep driving as we hardly had gotten forward (in terms of distance) so far. Next day was just driving and driving until Airlie Beach. This place is famous for its great whitesunday cruises and great beaches. This is precicely what we want to do here. Unfortunately it turned out that Fabi had gotten ill. So he spent most of the time in the back of the van sleeping, trying to get better as soon as possible. This evening we treated ourselves with a stay on a camp site!!! Hot shower and a camp kitchen + electricity!!!! Nice!! We charged everything that could be charged. Moreover we found ourselves a good deal for the cruise, that included a night in a hostel!!! YYEAAHHH more luxury!!!!
The way of travelling in Australia is just much more budget than in Asia but still it is very nice!!! Next blog will be about the cruise.
Kisses from Airlie Beach
Astrid
Final days in Asia
Bali- Jakarta – Singapore
Hello after a long time, well I am already in Australia but I still owe you the final days of Asia. I spent exactly 100 days in Asia. Not that I had actually planned to do so but... well i guess it is better not to have any plans and just decide on the spot... and this is precicely what I did. As I have told you already I had changed my ticket to be able to stay 10 days more in Indonesia. Acutally Chuss and me were planning to stay in Lombok and to do a tour but ... well.. I met Janish, (the girl I was hiking on the volcano with) and she invited us to visit her in Bali.
So after our dream days in Kuta Lombok, we went to Mataram and took a plane from there to Denpasar (Bali). This flight takes only 20 minutes, costs 18 Euros and is cheaper than the boat. Janisha was still with her boyfriend in Singapore but we could anyway go to her house as her maid was taking care of the house. When we arrive there, we were seriously impressed!!! The house is just amazingly beautiful, very open with a very nice terrasse and pool. This is were we would spend the next 4 days! GREAT! Australia won t be to luxurious anyway, so this is a very nice treat before leaving for camping ;-)
Janisha, Greg (Janisha's boyfriend), Chuss and me had a very nice time at the beach, hanging around on their terrasse or going out for dinner. I have to mention that they have been the most incredible hosts EVER!!!!! Seriously, it has been almost too much,! It was such a pleasure to stay with you at your house, thanks again VERY much for everything!
Well i guess some of my dedicated readers may remember that I wasn t impressed by the beaches in Bali. Well.. my opinion has quite changed. Obviously the last time we were there, all the rubbish was brought by the current due to the bad weather... as we were lucky with the weather, also the beaches were very nice, and I did my best to get tanned! (mediocra success, but for me.. pretty good)
After our nice days at Janisha's and Greg's house Chuss went back to Bangkok and me to Jakarta to meet my dear Indonesian friends I studied in Rotterdam with. Obviously heritability seems to be a major strength of Indonesians, cause also them treated me like a queen. I just went to Jakarta for one day, so my time was pretty limited. They picked me up from the airport and took me out for some real Indonesian food with their families (delicious by the way!!!). Afterward we drove around the city to get an idea of Jakarta until a very bad thunderstorm started. The next day I could see the old port of Jakarta which is still in use by wooden ships supplying small islands.
Afterwards more food, this time seafood! It was just great and even better I could eat with my hands. This used to be my dream when I was a child (but well in Europe we don t consider that to be good table manners). In Indonesia this is perfectly fine and so I went for it and I have to say after all those years of European table manners it is a little be strange but I grew into it and I started to really like it :-) After our lunch I had to leave already for the airport to catch my flight to Singapore, my final stop in Asia.
Singapore..... It has been mentioned EVERY often in my MEL classes as THE shipping hub, famous for its efficient stacking due to a substantial lack of space :-) The city itself is not too bad either. Beaches, ships, shopping and nice people... what else could a girl ask for? Okay maybe my visit was a bit short for some serious judgment BUT i have to say I liked it. There are some fancy places. I had to go to Simli-Square (the center for electronics) to buy another charger for my computer! YES... I KNOW... again, but that shitty (sorry but it is the truth in that case) Chinese crap didn t last too long. Suddenly it just decided to stop working! Damn it... but at least it happend somewhere were I could find replacement! After my exhausting shopping, I went to the beach to enjoy the sea and the view of vessels queuing :-)
I had only 1,5 days in Singapore as my flight to Australia left on the 25th of April at 00.10! New continent... how exciting and this time the flight was much more pleasant!! I had two seats, so I was actually able to sleep, which was a pitty as they had sooo many good movies to watch!!!
Kisses from already Australia
Astrid
PS: the internet cafe computer just told me that i don t have the permission to upload fotos! damn it ... so again, will upload when i can
Hello after a long time, well I am already in Australia but I still owe you the final days of Asia. I spent exactly 100 days in Asia. Not that I had actually planned to do so but... well i guess it is better not to have any plans and just decide on the spot... and this is precicely what I did. As I have told you already I had changed my ticket to be able to stay 10 days more in Indonesia. Acutally Chuss and me were planning to stay in Lombok and to do a tour but ... well.. I met Janish, (the girl I was hiking on the volcano with) and she invited us to visit her in Bali.
So after our dream days in Kuta Lombok, we went to Mataram and took a plane from there to Denpasar (Bali). This flight takes only 20 minutes, costs 18 Euros and is cheaper than the boat. Janisha was still with her boyfriend in Singapore but we could anyway go to her house as her maid was taking care of the house. When we arrive there, we were seriously impressed!!! The house is just amazingly beautiful, very open with a very nice terrasse and pool. This is were we would spend the next 4 days! GREAT! Australia won t be to luxurious anyway, so this is a very nice treat before leaving for camping ;-)
Well i guess some of my dedicated readers may remember that I wasn t impressed by the beaches in Bali. Well.. my opinion has quite changed. Obviously the last time we were there, all the rubbish was brought by the current due to the bad weather... as we were lucky with the weather, also the beaches were very nice, and I did my best to get tanned! (mediocra success, but for me.. pretty good)
After our nice days at Janisha's and Greg's house Chuss went back to Bangkok and me to Jakarta to meet my dear Indonesian friends I studied in Rotterdam with. Obviously heritability seems to be a major strength of Indonesians, cause also them treated me like a queen. I just went to Jakarta for one day, so my time was pretty limited. They picked me up from the airport and took me out for some real Indonesian food with their families (delicious by the way!!!). Afterward we drove around the city to get an idea of Jakarta until a very bad thunderstorm started. The next day I could see the old port of Jakarta which is still in use by wooden ships supplying small islands.
Afterwards more food, this time seafood! It was just great and even better I could eat with my hands. This used to be my dream when I was a child (but well in Europe we don t consider that to be good table manners). In Indonesia this is perfectly fine and so I went for it and I have to say after all those years of European table manners it is a little be strange but I grew into it and I started to really like it :-) After our lunch I had to leave already for the airport to catch my flight to Singapore, my final stop in Asia.
Singapore..... It has been mentioned EVERY often in my MEL classes as THE shipping hub, famous for its efficient stacking due to a substantial lack of space :-) The city itself is not too bad either. Beaches, ships, shopping and nice people... what else could a girl ask for? Okay maybe my visit was a bit short for some serious judgment BUT i have to say I liked it. There are some fancy places. I had to go to Simli-Square (the center for electronics) to buy another charger for my computer! YES... I KNOW... again, but that shitty (sorry but it is the truth in that case) Chinese crap didn t last too long. Suddenly it just decided to stop working! Damn it... but at least it happend somewhere were I could find replacement! After my exhausting shopping, I went to the beach to enjoy the sea and the view of vessels queuing :-)
I had only 1,5 days in Singapore as my flight to Australia left on the 25th of April at 00.10! New continent... how exciting and this time the flight was much more pleasant!! I had two seats, so I was actually able to sleep, which was a pitty as they had sooo many good movies to watch!!!
Kisses from already Australia
Astrid
PS: the internet cafe computer just told me that i don t have the permission to upload fotos! damn it ... so again, will upload when i can
Mittwoch, 20. April 2011
Lombok II - Indonesia
After my quite exhausting trip to the vulcan, I had actually planned to do s scooter trip to Kuta together with Chuss but when I arrived back in Sengiggi, that night, there was no way I would be driving for two days. My knee had a quite bad inflammation and my feet were sore. So Chuss and me decided to rest for a day in Sengiggi.
WE spent the night again in the same hostel, were the owner and his family are amazingly friendly but the issue with the bathroom (no floor which led to two mice in our bed) made us change the hostel for the second night. After that we went for lunch and enjoyed a rather quite evening. The night before when we went our for dinner (my trekking partner) and all the trekking guides, they had told us, that there would be traditional stick-fighting today. We were of course interested and went to see traditional Lombok stick fighting. It turned out to be quite brutal!! Firstly volunteers were hitting each other as badly as they could for four rounds, then a referee would decided who would be the winner. After the amateurs the professional stick fighters had a go but here there are no rounds. They fight until sombebody is bleeding from their had. Once in a while people throw money into the ring, to encourage the fighters to fight harder. The people around seemed to really enjoy it.. more and more people came (local people) and were cheering for their fighter.
After 2 hours of brutal fighting, Chuss and me decided that we had seen enough bruises and blood and left for a massage.
This was actually my first massage in southeast Asia. Even though you can find cheap massage offers on every corner, so I hadn t enjoyed one.
For me the massage was all relaxing and very nice for my knee and feet. Chuss had a rather awkward experience when the massage lady indicated that a so called "happy ending massage" could be an option as well. .... She did not go for it :-)
That day we had spent around 1,5 hours in a so called travel agency, discussing various opportunities: going to Comodor and Flores (tour), changing Chuss s ticket to Spain or to Bangkok, renting a scooter, etc.... Well originally we really wanted to go to Comodor and Flores to see the Dinosors, but the boat trip takes 4 days and 5 nights and does not take you back. Therefore you need to take a flight back from Flores to Bali which intotal adds up to the costs. Furthermore we were a little bit suspicios about the boat we were supposed to go on with and to sleep on.... cause due to a second engine (which according to the travel agent stabilizes the boat HAHAHAHA) we would not be getting sea sick.... and probably the wheather is going to be fine... we should not worry. WELL, I have heard that story before I climbed the volcano (don t worry it is going to be fine) and therefore we decided that it is a little bit too risky and too expensive. (by the way good decidsion cause a cyclone is supposed to hit flores soon!!! I would like to see how effective the second engine is then!!)
Anyway we wanted to rent a scooter to drive to Kuta Lombok, but unfortunately the moment we wanted to leave, it started to pour. We waited a while but the situation didn t get better, so we switched to a car. It is a little bit more demanding as Indonesia is driving on the other side of the road (other than Austria and Spain) and therefore the stiring wheel is also on the other side and and shift with your left hand. But so far we managed quite well... until we came into a very croweded village were left and right of the car scooters were passing..... Chuss didn t pay attention to the left edge of the road for a second and BUUUUUMMMMMMM we hit another parking car. Okay I wasn t exactly relaxed for a second.... screaming but when i figured that nobody was hurt, I calmed down and tried to calm Chuss a bit cause she looked terrified.
The people around us were extremely helpful. Nobody was shouting or angry ... but their first sentence was: "Don t call the police" .... well I wasn t ready to call anybody right now... so I took my time, checked the damage on both cars and started thinking.
A guy explained to us that we would have more issues with the police cause we would have to bribe them, instead we should call the rental guy... which I did. I expected anger and shouting ..but nothing... very calm. He came, checked the damaged and arranged for the car to be taken to a mechanic. He would also drive us "home" after he had finished his prayer. We got in the car with all our stuff and he suggested that he could also drive us to Kuta, which we gladly accepted. Suddenly he pulled by a gas station ... pray again... Chuss and me patently waiting in the car. THEN we went to pick up his motor bike from a private house, obviously these were friends of him, so he went inside to have a cup of tea with them... Chuss and me waiting. After that we went to his house, because he was too tired to drive us to Kuta (10 km more) so his so called "brother" took over. Actually suddenly we were stuck with 3 middle aged guys who didn t really speak english but the loved football and Real Madrid, therefore Chuss had do have one word conversations about the great football nation Spain.
Finally we arrived in Kuta and checked into a Hotel. The room was soo big that you could have played tennis in it but appart from two beds there was nothing inside. I used the space to dry my clothes.
After this day we took it very easy. We rented a scooter and went to the beach. THE BEACH!!! We were alone on a super white, glittering beach, with skyblue water holding in one hand a freshly cut pineapple. Life can be soooooo good
Kuta is an amazing place, very quiete with a few Homestays and Warungs (little traditional Indonesian restaurants), wonderful beaches and a surfers paradise. Unfortunately that might change soon, as they have built closely an international airport ... when this airport opens, all the peace might be gone very fast. Therefore if you have time, go to Lombok Kuta and enjoy this paradise... it might not last for long.
After two days in Kuta we went to Mataram (the capital of Lombok) were we took a 20 minute flight to Bali. The girl I ve been trekking with (Janisha) had invited Chuss and me to visit her in Bali. We gladly accepted and went to Bali
Kisses from the paradise Kuta Lombok
astrid
WE spent the night again in the same hostel, were the owner and his family are amazingly friendly but the issue with the bathroom (no floor which led to two mice in our bed) made us change the hostel for the second night. After that we went for lunch and enjoyed a rather quite evening. The night before when we went our for dinner (my trekking partner) and all the trekking guides, they had told us, that there would be traditional stick-fighting today. We were of course interested and went to see traditional Lombok stick fighting. It turned out to be quite brutal!! Firstly volunteers were hitting each other as badly as they could for four rounds, then a referee would decided who would be the winner. After the amateurs the professional stick fighters had a go but here there are no rounds. They fight until sombebody is bleeding from their had. Once in a while people throw money into the ring, to encourage the fighters to fight harder. The people around seemed to really enjoy it.. more and more people came (local people) and were cheering for their fighter.
After 2 hours of brutal fighting, Chuss and me decided that we had seen enough bruises and blood and left for a massage.
This was actually my first massage in southeast Asia. Even though you can find cheap massage offers on every corner, so I hadn t enjoyed one.
For me the massage was all relaxing and very nice for my knee and feet. Chuss had a rather awkward experience when the massage lady indicated that a so called "happy ending massage" could be an option as well. .... She did not go for it :-)
That day we had spent around 1,5 hours in a so called travel agency, discussing various opportunities: going to Comodor and Flores (tour), changing Chuss s ticket to Spain or to Bangkok, renting a scooter, etc.... Well originally we really wanted to go to Comodor and Flores to see the Dinosors, but the boat trip takes 4 days and 5 nights and does not take you back. Therefore you need to take a flight back from Flores to Bali which intotal adds up to the costs. Furthermore we were a little bit suspicios about the boat we were supposed to go on with and to sleep on.... cause due to a second engine (which according to the travel agent stabilizes the boat HAHAHAHA) we would not be getting sea sick.... and probably the wheather is going to be fine... we should not worry. WELL, I have heard that story before I climbed the volcano (don t worry it is going to be fine) and therefore we decided that it is a little bit too risky and too expensive. (by the way good decidsion cause a cyclone is supposed to hit flores soon!!! I would like to see how effective the second engine is then!!)
Anyway we wanted to rent a scooter to drive to Kuta Lombok, but unfortunately the moment we wanted to leave, it started to pour. We waited a while but the situation didn t get better, so we switched to a car. It is a little bit more demanding as Indonesia is driving on the other side of the road (other than Austria and Spain) and therefore the stiring wheel is also on the other side and and shift with your left hand. But so far we managed quite well... until we came into a very croweded village were left and right of the car scooters were passing..... Chuss didn t pay attention to the left edge of the road for a second and BUUUUUMMMMMMM we hit another parking car. Okay I wasn t exactly relaxed for a second.... screaming but when i figured that nobody was hurt, I calmed down and tried to calm Chuss a bit cause she looked terrified.
The people around us were extremely helpful. Nobody was shouting or angry ... but their first sentence was: "Don t call the police" .... well I wasn t ready to call anybody right now... so I took my time, checked the damage on both cars and started thinking.
A guy explained to us that we would have more issues with the police cause we would have to bribe them, instead we should call the rental guy... which I did. I expected anger and shouting ..but nothing... very calm. He came, checked the damaged and arranged for the car to be taken to a mechanic. He would also drive us "home" after he had finished his prayer. We got in the car with all our stuff and he suggested that he could also drive us to Kuta, which we gladly accepted. Suddenly he pulled by a gas station ... pray again... Chuss and me patently waiting in the car. THEN we went to pick up his motor bike from a private house, obviously these were friends of him, so he went inside to have a cup of tea with them... Chuss and me waiting. After that we went to his house, because he was too tired to drive us to Kuta (10 km more) so his so called "brother" took over. Actually suddenly we were stuck with 3 middle aged guys who didn t really speak english but the loved football and Real Madrid, therefore Chuss had do have one word conversations about the great football nation Spain.
Finally we arrived in Kuta and checked into a Hotel. The room was soo big that you could have played tennis in it but appart from two beds there was nothing inside. I used the space to dry my clothes.
After this day we took it very easy. We rented a scooter and went to the beach. THE BEACH!!! We were alone on a super white, glittering beach, with skyblue water holding in one hand a freshly cut pineapple. Life can be soooooo good
Kuta is an amazing place, very quiete with a few Homestays and Warungs (little traditional Indonesian restaurants), wonderful beaches and a surfers paradise. Unfortunately that might change soon, as they have built closely an international airport ... when this airport opens, all the peace might be gone very fast. Therefore if you have time, go to Lombok Kuta and enjoy this paradise... it might not last for long.
After two days in Kuta we went to Mataram (the capital of Lombok) were we took a 20 minute flight to Bali. The girl I ve been trekking with (Janisha) had invited Chuss and me to visit her in Bali. We gladly accepted and went to Bali
Kisses from the paradise Kuta Lombok
astrid
Donnerstag, 14. April 2011
Lombok - Indonesia
Hello from Lombok,
I would love to add the pictures from Gili and also for this entry but it is quite hard to find an internet connection that is potent enough to upload my fotos!!! I will do so, as soon as I find one.
After our beach holidays in Gili Islands (at the biggest of the Gili islands) Chuss and me moved on to Lombok, anothere island quite close to the Gili islands but far bigger. When we arrived we had our first encounter with the local so callled "transport mafia" ... the code phrase here is: stay cool, be patient and bargain like hell...mercy is for victims! We had decided to start our trip in a village called Sengiggi... recommended by the famous lonely planet.
We found a quite cheap hostel which seemed to be very nice as for 5 Euros per person we got a double room (clean), breakfast (banana pancake), free internet and free transportation (as the center was a 15 minutes on foot). Just one drawback... remember the bathroom in Gili had no ceiling, well this bathroom had basically no floor. The soil was covered with rocks, which gave hostage to all kind of insects and animals. Fair enough, otherwise to good to be true.
Chuss and me rented a scooter and explored a little bit the south of the island. While I was driving, Chuss was responsible for greeting and waving at locals, as every time we passed somebody, there were friendly shouting "Hellooooo, how are yooouuuuuuuuu". Did I mention that right now in Indonesia it is still the rainy season? That means that at least twice per day, its starts pouring like hell. We were not yet totally accustomed so, when suddenly the weather god emptied a bucket over us, we kept on driving. Obviously what you should do is: find shelter... this is what all the locals do. Well eventually we got it.. and joined a couple of girls in their shelter.
When it started raining for the second time, we were already prepared and took shelter next to a small kiosk. Even though the owner didn t speak English he was highly motivated talking to us. Slowly his whole family joined, 3 ladies and their kids.... ahh i forgot to mention... here men are allowed to have more than one wife (max 4). He wanted us to hold the babies, but every time we just attempted to touch the kids, they started panicking and cried for 10 minutes :-)
Eventually we could continue and we went to Sokotong (small village in the south), there we enjoyed a very nice rice with chicken in a local "warung" = I wouldn t call it restaurant... but a rather basic place, usually family-run offering food. As the weather didn t get better we decided to go back home, cause I had to be in good shape, as the next day I would start my trekking tour to the summit of a volcano.
Pick up time: 5 am!!!!!!! Even though Chuss would not do the hike, she would still go to the village, where I will end my trek, to visit the waterfalls there. Therefore she had to get up at 4.30 as well. We arrived at the starting point where we had breakfast (banana panacake and pineapple). I never had so many pancakes in my life like in Indonesia... I guess the Indonesians think this is what Europeans eat for breakfast and so this is what they serve (cause they eat rice!!). Anyway after the breakfast an Indonesian girl (Janisha), me, the guide and 2 porters started our trip. The first day we had to hike for 7 hours. The path was extremely steep and very difficult, to make it even more demanding it OF COURSE started to rain, so the soil was very wet ans slippery.
If you think your job is hard, pls let me advice you, probably nothing in comparison to the job of the porter. I almost "died of exhaustion" climbing up that day but the porters were wearing flip-flops and carried around 50 kilos each. Not in a backpack like me, but in two wooden baskets connected by bamboo! I guess you imagine these guys to be of a similar structure like Rocky, but rather the contrary. Two tiny guys (around 1,6 m) with approximately 55 kilograms! Even more fascinating was the speed the climbed the mountain!!! The over took us and basically ran up the mountain!!!!
In the last hour of that day I was really exhausted but I kept going, as there was anyway no way back and complaining would make the situation easier...Eventually we arrived at the rim and OF COURSE it was raining. Two French guys and me found shelter were we waited for the rain to stop. Meanwhile our porters and the guide established our tent... service like for a princes. Cause they also prepared immediately some tea and dinner, so that we would get warm again. I basically fell into bed (sleeping bag) after that, which was good, cause I had to get up at 2:45 am to hike up to the summit.
After a cup of coffee equipped with a torch we started walking up to the summit. The way was very steep, slippery and we didn t have enough light = dangerous venture. I soon lost the other Indonesian girl, as she was very slow, and I was determined to be at the summit for sunrise. I disappointed myself by not making it for sunrise. It turned out to be the hardest hike of my life, as the last bit was a sort of steep lava-sand beach. So every time you made a step, we slid back half of it again. On the way I met the two French from the day before again... they were as exhausted as I was. We celebrated our victory (climbing the summit) with chocolate an energy drinks! AND it was sooooo worth it. The view on the crater, the panorama and just everything was GREAT!!! I have hardly seen something soo beautiful.
On the way down I met the Indonesian girl and our guide, she was totally exhausted and freezing, cause SURPRISE at 3700 m it is cold. So I volunteered to lend her my jacket as I was anyway on the way down to the rim.
When I arrived at the rim, one of the porters had already prepared breakfast for me... I was really glad, cause I was basically starving. Usually we were supposed to leave now to go down to a lake with hot springs, but we had to rest a bit, cause the Indonesian girl almost collapsed.
The way down to the hot springs was a real pain. I really do not like going down, especially when it is raining (ahh yes it started to rain again) and it was again really slippery. So once you slip you might actually die!! Very comforting perspective!
I was walking with the porter, as Janisha was far behind with the guide and so I arrived first at the hot springs. After a cup of tea I went directly with all my clothes on into the hot springs and stayed there 2,5 hours!!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOO NICE!
Unfortunately I could not take a photo of the hot springs, but they are amazing. They are located next to a waterfall, which is surrounded by green mountains! No people, just me and the waterfall!
Actually we were supposed to walk up to the other rim the same day, but Janisha couldn t so we stayed (I was quite exhausted as well... but maybe I could have made it). Therefore the next day we had to get up early again to walk up to the second rim. 3,5 climbing! My backpack was even heavier because all my clothes were wet and therefore heavier! When we arrived at the rim, I received a sms from Fabian saying: "Hey astrid, pls send me a message when you are back home, I heard all trek in lombok have been closed as the weather is soo bad".... that doesn t make you feel extremely safe when you are at the top of a mountain. Well... anyway we started walking down and of course by then it started to rain again. We had to walk 6 hours downwards and obviously this is quite a challenge for one's knees. After 4 hours, my right knee decided that it was too much and started to be a real pain (literally).
When we FINALLY arrived in Sanaru at the car.... I was sooo happy to be alive and in more less good health!!!! It was a great trip but VERY exhausting and very hard. So if you ever decided to do that hike, brace yourself. BE in GOOD shape, have a very nice rain jacket and VERY good shoes!
Kisses from the volcano
Astrid
I would love to add the pictures from Gili and also for this entry but it is quite hard to find an internet connection that is potent enough to upload my fotos!!! I will do so, as soon as I find one.
After our beach holidays in Gili Islands (at the biggest of the Gili islands) Chuss and me moved on to Lombok, anothere island quite close to the Gili islands but far bigger. When we arrived we had our first encounter with the local so callled "transport mafia" ... the code phrase here is: stay cool, be patient and bargain like hell...mercy is for victims! We had decided to start our trip in a village called Sengiggi... recommended by the famous lonely planet.
We found a quite cheap hostel which seemed to be very nice as for 5 Euros per person we got a double room (clean), breakfast (banana pancake), free internet and free transportation (as the center was a 15 minutes on foot). Just one drawback... remember the bathroom in Gili had no ceiling, well this bathroom had basically no floor. The soil was covered with rocks, which gave hostage to all kind of insects and animals. Fair enough, otherwise to good to be true.
Chuss and me rented a scooter and explored a little bit the south of the island. While I was driving, Chuss was responsible for greeting and waving at locals, as every time we passed somebody, there were friendly shouting "Hellooooo, how are yooouuuuuuuuu". Did I mention that right now in Indonesia it is still the rainy season? That means that at least twice per day, its starts pouring like hell. We were not yet totally accustomed so, when suddenly the weather god emptied a bucket over us, we kept on driving. Obviously what you should do is: find shelter... this is what all the locals do. Well eventually we got it.. and joined a couple of girls in their shelter.
When it started raining for the second time, we were already prepared and took shelter next to a small kiosk. Even though the owner didn t speak English he was highly motivated talking to us. Slowly his whole family joined, 3 ladies and their kids.... ahh i forgot to mention... here men are allowed to have more than one wife (max 4). He wanted us to hold the babies, but every time we just attempted to touch the kids, they started panicking and cried for 10 minutes :-)
Eventually we could continue and we went to Sokotong (small village in the south), there we enjoyed a very nice rice with chicken in a local "warung" = I wouldn t call it restaurant... but a rather basic place, usually family-run offering food. As the weather didn t get better we decided to go back home, cause I had to be in good shape, as the next day I would start my trekking tour to the summit of a volcano.
Pick up time: 5 am!!!!!!! Even though Chuss would not do the hike, she would still go to the village, where I will end my trek, to visit the waterfalls there. Therefore she had to get up at 4.30 as well. We arrived at the starting point where we had breakfast (banana panacake and pineapple). I never had so many pancakes in my life like in Indonesia... I guess the Indonesians think this is what Europeans eat for breakfast and so this is what they serve (cause they eat rice!!). Anyway after the breakfast an Indonesian girl (Janisha), me, the guide and 2 porters started our trip. The first day we had to hike for 7 hours. The path was extremely steep and very difficult, to make it even more demanding it OF COURSE started to rain, so the soil was very wet ans slippery.
If you think your job is hard, pls let me advice you, probably nothing in comparison to the job of the porter. I almost "died of exhaustion" climbing up that day but the porters were wearing flip-flops and carried around 50 kilos each. Not in a backpack like me, but in two wooden baskets connected by bamboo! I guess you imagine these guys to be of a similar structure like Rocky, but rather the contrary. Two tiny guys (around 1,6 m) with approximately 55 kilograms! Even more fascinating was the speed the climbed the mountain!!! The over took us and basically ran up the mountain!!!!
In the last hour of that day I was really exhausted but I kept going, as there was anyway no way back and complaining would make the situation easier...Eventually we arrived at the rim and OF COURSE it was raining. Two French guys and me found shelter were we waited for the rain to stop. Meanwhile our porters and the guide established our tent... service like for a princes. Cause they also prepared immediately some tea and dinner, so that we would get warm again. I basically fell into bed (sleeping bag) after that, which was good, cause I had to get up at 2:45 am to hike up to the summit.
After a cup of coffee equipped with a torch we started walking up to the summit. The way was very steep, slippery and we didn t have enough light = dangerous venture. I soon lost the other Indonesian girl, as she was very slow, and I was determined to be at the summit for sunrise. I disappointed myself by not making it for sunrise. It turned out to be the hardest hike of my life, as the last bit was a sort of steep lava-sand beach. So every time you made a step, we slid back half of it again. On the way I met the two French from the day before again... they were as exhausted as I was. We celebrated our victory (climbing the summit) with chocolate an energy drinks! AND it was sooooo worth it. The view on the crater, the panorama and just everything was GREAT!!! I have hardly seen something soo beautiful.
On the way down I met the Indonesian girl and our guide, she was totally exhausted and freezing, cause SURPRISE at 3700 m it is cold. So I volunteered to lend her my jacket as I was anyway on the way down to the rim.
When I arrived at the rim, one of the porters had already prepared breakfast for me... I was really glad, cause I was basically starving. Usually we were supposed to leave now to go down to a lake with hot springs, but we had to rest a bit, cause the Indonesian girl almost collapsed.
The way down to the hot springs was a real pain. I really do not like going down, especially when it is raining (ahh yes it started to rain again) and it was again really slippery. So once you slip you might actually die!! Very comforting perspective!
I was walking with the porter, as Janisha was far behind with the guide and so I arrived first at the hot springs. After a cup of tea I went directly with all my clothes on into the hot springs and stayed there 2,5 hours!!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOO NICE!
Unfortunately I could not take a photo of the hot springs, but they are amazing. They are located next to a waterfall, which is surrounded by green mountains! No people, just me and the waterfall!
Actually we were supposed to walk up to the other rim the same day, but Janisha couldn t so we stayed (I was quite exhausted as well... but maybe I could have made it). Therefore the next day we had to get up early again to walk up to the second rim. 3,5 climbing! My backpack was even heavier because all my clothes were wet and therefore heavier! When we arrived at the rim, I received a sms from Fabian saying: "Hey astrid, pls send me a message when you are back home, I heard all trek in lombok have been closed as the weather is soo bad".... that doesn t make you feel extremely safe when you are at the top of a mountain. Well... anyway we started walking down and of course by then it started to rain again. We had to walk 6 hours downwards and obviously this is quite a challenge for one's knees. After 4 hours, my right knee decided that it was too much and started to be a real pain (literally).
When we FINALLY arrived in Sanaru at the car.... I was sooo happy to be alive and in more less good health!!!! It was a great trip but VERY exhausting and very hard. So if you ever decided to do that hike, brace yourself. BE in GOOD shape, have a very nice rain jacket and VERY good shoes!
Kisses from the volcano
Astrid
Freitag, 8. April 2011
Bali - Gili Islands
Greetings from Bali!!!!!!
I arrived on the first of April in Bali- Denpasar. Fortunately Fabi arrived more less at the same time so we could take a taxi together and look for a place to stay overnight. As Fabians brother has told us that Seminyak is much nicer than kuta, so we went to Seminyak as it is supposed to be a little bit more quiet. Ahhhh not really the case though!!!! Crazy traffic, one shop after the other followed by a restaurants! I don t know how to explain it but basically the vibe was not the right one! In the evening Mike (friend from Greece) arrived. He had just short term decided that he would join for a short holiday in Bali. While Fabian and me were waiting we went to the beach and it turned out to be the most disgusting beach I ve seen so far!! Full of rubbish!!! Far away from what I had in mind when I was thinking of Bali! As it was Fabians and my reunion, we decided to have a beer on the beach. In the bar there we met Wendy, a girl from California travelli9ng by herself. As we were thinking of hiring a Jeep, she decided that she would come with us! Meanwhile Mike had arrived and all four of us went out, first night out in Bali.... not too spectacular!!!
Next Fabian and Mike went to hire a big car to go to Ubud. For those of you who have read „eat pray love“, yes this is the place where she starts her trip in Indonesia. It is famous for its culture. In general Indonesia is a Muslim country but Bali is determined by Hindus and their traditions.
With our car we went to see a temple on the way to Ubud... which was full of monkeys. Even though we were not allowed to enter the temple, the view from the top to the bay was amazing.
Just to treat ourselves we decided to check into a nice hotel, and there are plenty in Ubud. Unfortunately the weather wasn t to good for 2 days so we didn t do much apart from picking Chuss up from the airport, food and a walk. From Ubud we went to the nearby vulcano, which we intended to climb. Shortly before the top the weather turned bad again and as we didn t want to be in the news als those kids who went missing cause they were stupid enough to continue walking eventhough they didn t know the exact way, we decided to go back. never the less it was an amazing hike, which i personally really enjoyed.
From Ubud we went back to Seminyak as our bus + boat would leave from there to Gili islands. when we arrived finally there, it turned out to be just paradise!!! incredible beautiful!! white beaches, not too many people, small nice bungalows and totally clear sea with a lot of sea live.
After we found accommodation, we went directly to the beach and stayed there until midnight! Fabian found an Austrian restaurant and therefore the international gang had to go for Austrian food, but i have to admit... it was actually quite nice for a change. the next couple of days we spend just swimming, snorkeling, playing volleyball, eating, drinking and building sand volcanoes on the beach!!! Please check the photos and envy me:
Tomorrow Chuss and me are leaving for Lombok,... another island where I intend to climb a 3000 m high slightly active volcano... i am sure that will be great.
Fabian is staying a little longer as he we do his advanced diving license and Wendy is sick... so no clue yet.
kisses from paradise
astrid
I arrived on the first of April in Bali- Denpasar. Fortunately Fabi arrived more less at the same time so we could take a taxi together and look for a place to stay overnight. As Fabians brother has told us that Seminyak is much nicer than kuta, so we went to Seminyak as it is supposed to be a little bit more quiet. Ahhhh not really the case though!!!! Crazy traffic, one shop after the other followed by a restaurants! I don t know how to explain it but basically the vibe was not the right one! In the evening Mike (friend from Greece) arrived. He had just short term decided that he would join for a short holiday in Bali. While Fabian and me were waiting we went to the beach and it turned out to be the most disgusting beach I ve seen so far!! Full of rubbish!!! Far away from what I had in mind when I was thinking of Bali! As it was Fabians and my reunion, we decided to have a beer on the beach. In the bar there we met Wendy, a girl from California travelli9ng by herself. As we were thinking of hiring a Jeep, she decided that she would come with us! Meanwhile Mike had arrived and all four of us went out, first night out in Bali.... not too spectacular!!!
Next Fabian and Mike went to hire a big car to go to Ubud. For those of you who have read „eat pray love“, yes this is the place where she starts her trip in Indonesia. It is famous for its culture. In general Indonesia is a Muslim country but Bali is determined by Hindus and their traditions.
With our car we went to see a temple on the way to Ubud... which was full of monkeys. Even though we were not allowed to enter the temple, the view from the top to the bay was amazing.
Just to treat ourselves we decided to check into a nice hotel, and there are plenty in Ubud. Unfortunately the weather wasn t to good for 2 days so we didn t do much apart from picking Chuss up from the airport, food and a walk. From Ubud we went to the nearby vulcano, which we intended to climb. Shortly before the top the weather turned bad again and as we didn t want to be in the news als those kids who went missing cause they were stupid enough to continue walking eventhough they didn t know the exact way, we decided to go back. never the less it was an amazing hike, which i personally really enjoyed.
From Ubud we went back to Seminyak as our bus + boat would leave from there to Gili islands. when we arrived finally there, it turned out to be just paradise!!! incredible beautiful!! white beaches, not too many people, small nice bungalows and totally clear sea with a lot of sea live.
After we found accommodation, we went directly to the beach and stayed there until midnight! Fabian found an Austrian restaurant and therefore the international gang had to go for Austrian food, but i have to admit... it was actually quite nice for a change. the next couple of days we spend just swimming, snorkeling, playing volleyball, eating, drinking and building sand volcanoes on the beach!!! Please check the photos and envy me:
Tomorrow Chuss and me are leaving for Lombok,... another island where I intend to climb a 3000 m high slightly active volcano... i am sure that will be great.
Fabian is staying a little longer as he we do his advanced diving license and Wendy is sick... so no clue yet.
kisses from paradise
astrid
Donnerstag, 7. April 2011
Bangkok - Kho Samed - Bangkok
Okayyyy.... here I am after a long time again! After my twenty hour busride in Bangkok, the only thing I really wanted was a room with shower!!! I arrived in Bangkok at 5 in the morning, totally dizzy and sleepy and the first thing I saw when I got off the bus are 10 taxi and tuktuk drivers who offer you a ride for a „cheap cheap“ price which is actually a massive rip off. Therefore eventhough you are tired and sooooo not in the mood for bargaining I teamed up with two Germans and started to argue about the price... eventually we found a taxi driver who was willing to take us for a reasonable amount of money.
It was actually very nice to be back in civilization, called Bangkok. After more than 2 weeks in Laos where they have a curfew at 11:30 = all bars, pubs and clubs close or at least turn of the music, it was kind of a shock to be back in Khao San Road, where people never sleep! OF COURSE I had to go out and as it happens I met some very nice people from Argentina, Mexico, France and the Dominican Republic. As I was anyway trying to figure out where to go next and they invited me to join them in Kho Samed I just went for it!!
Kho Samed is the „Beach of Bangkok“ as it is only 3 hours from Bangkok... many Thai people go there as well for a weekend getaway. I was actually looking forward to some very nice beach time... BUT the weather was rather bad... cloudy and sometimes rain... anyway, that didn t stop us from having a good time even though it didn t include much beach time. I would though not recommend Kho Samed to anyone because the beaches are not that great, it is very expensive there and everybody is trying to rip you off constantly!!!
Once in a while I talked to Fabian who was by then in Kho Samui ... which was hit by a zyclone!!! So he actually all his time either in the hotel or at the airport trying to leave the island :-). Well... not funny but... what can you do.
During that time Thailand was experiencing an earthquake in the north of Thailand (quite a strong one) and there were rumors that there is going to be another one in Bangkok.... which made me a little nervous as I would have to go eventually back to Bangkok as my flight would left from there but if the earthquake would have happened while I was still in Kho Samed (it is an island) there could have been issues with a tsunami.... soooo what to do except praying?
Well I decided to go back to Bangkok...At least íf a catastrophe is going to hit, it might be easier to leave from Bangkok than from an island. On my way back I met Anthony a dive instructor from France. As we were both on a tight budget and he seemed like a nice guy we decided to share a room. We met another french couple that evening and we had a very nice night out again in Khao San Road. His flight to France left the next day early in the moring, so I barly noticed when he left in the morning.
Chuss (Spanish girl that I met in Laos) and me had arranged for the day to meet as she was in Bangkok aswell. As she had a double room I moved in which her and while I was packing my stuff I recognized that my camera was gone!!!!! NOOOOO DAMN it!!! I was sure that I didn t loose it and I had it the night before... soooo it seemed as Anthony had taken it. He is such a nice person, I really could not imagin that he had taken it on purpose... so I sent him a message inquiring about my camera... and it turned out that he had taken it by accident because we have the same case and it was dark and early in the morning... but still I was in a shitty situation as my camera was in France!! Thats also the reason why there are no pictures in this blog entry... cause my fotos are in France :-) !!!!
It is pretty hard to send anything to my by post as I change places all the time and I don t have an address to send it to where I could pick it up, therefore I decided to just buy a new one. Everything happens for a reason and obviously the universe wanted me to have an even better camera!!! Chuss and me spent a whole day in an 6 store electronic mall in Bangkok looking for cameras, checking prices and bargaining!!! But eventually I found an excellent model and so far I am very happy with it!!!!
On the first of April my plane left at 6.15 in the morning for Bali. Chuss had decided to join me but should would leave a day later. Leaving at 6 in the morning meant that I had to get up at 3 in the morning to go to the airport!! For the trip in Bali we were already a group of 4 people: Fabian, Chuss, me and Mike (a friend from Greece whom I know from Rotterdam). Seems like a very nice group!!
Greetings from Bangkok
Astrid
It was actually very nice to be back in civilization, called Bangkok. After more than 2 weeks in Laos where they have a curfew at 11:30 = all bars, pubs and clubs close or at least turn of the music, it was kind of a shock to be back in Khao San Road, where people never sleep! OF COURSE I had to go out and as it happens I met some very nice people from Argentina, Mexico, France and the Dominican Republic. As I was anyway trying to figure out where to go next and they invited me to join them in Kho Samed I just went for it!!
Kho Samed is the „Beach of Bangkok“ as it is only 3 hours from Bangkok... many Thai people go there as well for a weekend getaway. I was actually looking forward to some very nice beach time... BUT the weather was rather bad... cloudy and sometimes rain... anyway, that didn t stop us from having a good time even though it didn t include much beach time. I would though not recommend Kho Samed to anyone because the beaches are not that great, it is very expensive there and everybody is trying to rip you off constantly!!!
Once in a while I talked to Fabian who was by then in Kho Samui ... which was hit by a zyclone!!! So he actually all his time either in the hotel or at the airport trying to leave the island :-). Well... not funny but... what can you do.
During that time Thailand was experiencing an earthquake in the north of Thailand (quite a strong one) and there were rumors that there is going to be another one in Bangkok.... which made me a little nervous as I would have to go eventually back to Bangkok as my flight would left from there but if the earthquake would have happened while I was still in Kho Samed (it is an island) there could have been issues with a tsunami.... soooo what to do except praying?
Well I decided to go back to Bangkok...At least íf a catastrophe is going to hit, it might be easier to leave from Bangkok than from an island. On my way back I met Anthony a dive instructor from France. As we were both on a tight budget and he seemed like a nice guy we decided to share a room. We met another french couple that evening and we had a very nice night out again in Khao San Road. His flight to France left the next day early in the moring, so I barly noticed when he left in the morning.
Chuss (Spanish girl that I met in Laos) and me had arranged for the day to meet as she was in Bangkok aswell. As she had a double room I moved in which her and while I was packing my stuff I recognized that my camera was gone!!!!! NOOOOO DAMN it!!! I was sure that I didn t loose it and I had it the night before... soooo it seemed as Anthony had taken it. He is such a nice person, I really could not imagin that he had taken it on purpose... so I sent him a message inquiring about my camera... and it turned out that he had taken it by accident because we have the same case and it was dark and early in the morning... but still I was in a shitty situation as my camera was in France!! Thats also the reason why there are no pictures in this blog entry... cause my fotos are in France :-) !!!!
It is pretty hard to send anything to my by post as I change places all the time and I don t have an address to send it to where I could pick it up, therefore I decided to just buy a new one. Everything happens for a reason and obviously the universe wanted me to have an even better camera!!! Chuss and me spent a whole day in an 6 store electronic mall in Bangkok looking for cameras, checking prices and bargaining!!! But eventually I found an excellent model and so far I am very happy with it!!!!
On the first of April my plane left at 6.15 in the morning for Bali. Chuss had decided to join me but should would leave a day later. Leaving at 6 in the morning meant that I had to get up at 3 in the morning to go to the airport!! For the trip in Bali we were already a group of 4 people: Fabian, Chuss, me and Mike (a friend from Greece whom I know from Rotterdam). Seems like a very nice group!!
Greetings from Bangkok
Astrid
Montag, 21. März 2011
4000 islands in Laos
After the great loop Manuel left for Thailand and I took a day of rest in my fabulous room in Tha Khaek. The next day Chuss (Maria-Jesus) and me teamed up and went to Pakse in the south of Laos. As a French guy at the bus station had already told us... Pakse... hmmm well there is not much to do there either. Again a little outside there are the great plains but we decided to go straight to 4000 islands. One might ask himself now (those who know geography a bit) „well, island in laos... there is no sea“! Precisely, yes there is no see... yes it is a landlocked country BUT the great Mekong river flows through Lao and in the south of Laos you ll find many tiny islands in the Mekong river... the so called 4000 island area.
I expected that to be a backpackers highlight and therefore crowded with people BUT no. When we arrived there we took a little boat to get to „our“ island. Okay we went for the less-touristee island but anyway it is super quite and the locals are happy to see you. Every now and then kids cross your way and greet you with a load SABAIDEE wildly waving at you. In these apart from the friendly people the island is a paradise itself! Palm trees, little bungalows and nice food. Chuss and me rented a small bungalow for 60.000 KIP =6 Euro = 3 Euro per person per night!!! AND this is supposed to be the more expensive island!!!
On our first day after the arrival I simply passed out on my bed for a 3 hour nap. The next day we went to explore the sights of the island by bicycle. They are cheap and very easy to find on the island. Apart from a few scooters I haven t seen any motorized vehicles here... no cars or tractors...(I think now you can imagine the kind of peace on the island)
First again some waterfalls... they were the wildest that i ve seen so far in Laos cause usually in the dry season they have little water and are sightly boring but these had strong currents and consequently exhibited some action. After a small coffee in the shade we went to see the sweet water dolphines of the Mekong. At a small beach some fishermen offer their services... to cut down the costs we teamed up with an Irish and and Israelian guy. The boatride itself was already amazing.
Suddenly we stopped somewhere in the middle of the Mekong close to a few rocks where we were supposed to watch out for dolphines. As it was crazy hot I went for a swim first (like our fishman, he acutally took is daily shower in the Mekong) and then I tried to see dolphines. Well I saw something in the far distance which could have been a dolphine.... the Irish guy had binoculares and he confirmed my assumption. Anyway the trip is more about the nice landscape and boattrip but not sooo much about the dolphines....
On the way back we were sweating like crazy as we were cycling in the sun. After a small rest in our guest house we got on our bikes again and went to the other island Don Det. Usually if foreigners want to cross the bridge they have to pay but the control person had already gone into his weekend. The other island seemed to be a bit more touristee in general but still quite laid back as it was not high season. We finished the evening off with some nice food and the company of a French and a Belgian girl.
The next day we had again rented bicycles to surround our island. We felt a little bit like Julia Roberts cycling through the forest in Indonesia in the book „eat pray love“. BEAUTIFUL but again on our way back, crazy hot. When we arrived at our guest house we just passed out for a while in our hammock and took a cold shower afterwards. Ahh not that we have the choice between hot and cold, cause the cheap rooms do not include hot water. Anyway we were well advised to go for the room with cold water as there would have been anyway no use for warm water.
In the afternoon we went for a drink and some fruit salad with our new neighbors, an Aussie, a Finish guy and a Swiss guy. This evening is Chuss and my last evening traveling together as she will leave to Cambodia and I will take a 20 h bus (juhhhuu) to Bangkok. Therefore we intend to treat ourselves with some delicious food!
Kisses from Don Khon (4000 Islands) in Laos
Astrid
I expected that to be a backpackers highlight and therefore crowded with people BUT no. When we arrived there we took a little boat to get to „our“ island. Okay we went for the less-touristee island but anyway it is super quite and the locals are happy to see you. Every now and then kids cross your way and greet you with a load SABAIDEE wildly waving at you. In these apart from the friendly people the island is a paradise itself! Palm trees, little bungalows and nice food. Chuss and me rented a small bungalow for 60.000 KIP =6 Euro = 3 Euro per person per night!!! AND this is supposed to be the more expensive island!!!
On our first day after the arrival I simply passed out on my bed for a 3 hour nap. The next day we went to explore the sights of the island by bicycle. They are cheap and very easy to find on the island. Apart from a few scooters I haven t seen any motorized vehicles here... no cars or tractors...(I think now you can imagine the kind of peace on the island)
First again some waterfalls... they were the wildest that i ve seen so far in Laos cause usually in the dry season they have little water and are sightly boring but these had strong currents and consequently exhibited some action. After a small coffee in the shade we went to see the sweet water dolphines of the Mekong. At a small beach some fishermen offer their services... to cut down the costs we teamed up with an Irish and and Israelian guy. The boatride itself was already amazing.
Suddenly we stopped somewhere in the middle of the Mekong close to a few rocks where we were supposed to watch out for dolphines. As it was crazy hot I went for a swim first (like our fishman, he acutally took is daily shower in the Mekong) and then I tried to see dolphines. Well I saw something in the far distance which could have been a dolphine.... the Irish guy had binoculares and he confirmed my assumption. Anyway the trip is more about the nice landscape and boattrip but not sooo much about the dolphines....
On the way back we were sweating like crazy as we were cycling in the sun. After a small rest in our guest house we got on our bikes again and went to the other island Don Det. Usually if foreigners want to cross the bridge they have to pay but the control person had already gone into his weekend. The other island seemed to be a bit more touristee in general but still quite laid back as it was not high season. We finished the evening off with some nice food and the company of a French and a Belgian girl.
The next day we had again rented bicycles to surround our island. We felt a little bit like Julia Roberts cycling through the forest in Indonesia in the book „eat pray love“. BEAUTIFUL but again on our way back, crazy hot. When we arrived at our guest house we just passed out for a while in our hammock and took a cold shower afterwards. Ahh not that we have the choice between hot and cold, cause the cheap rooms do not include hot water. Anyway we were well advised to go for the room with cold water as there would have been anyway no use for warm water.
In the afternoon we went for a drink and some fruit salad with our new neighbors, an Aussie, a Finish guy and a Swiss guy. This evening is Chuss and my last evening traveling together as she will leave to Cambodia and I will take a 20 h bus (juhhhuu) to Bangkok. Therefore we intend to treat ourselves with some delicious food!
Kisses from Don Khon (4000 Islands) in Laos
Astrid
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