How to survive Jakarta

Oh Jakarta. Hours spent stuck in traffic, extreme wealth juxtaposed against extreme poverty. The Big Durian. Some people love it, some people hate it- I think I’m between the two.  Flying out of Jakarta at night makes you realise how big the city actually is, well more like cities as they have all blended into one big mess of officially 9 million people (but realistically there are millions more- 28 million people live in Greater Jakarta) and millions of cars and motorbikes.

I had to go to Jakarta for a meeting but was lucky that my friend Kelly whose lovely parents live in Jakarta was going to be in town so a quick trip for a meeting turned into a long weekend of adventures. Flying out of Jogja I was excited to see a brand new plane waiting on the tarmac for me. Until I went inside and saw the classic tired, let’s fit as many seats in as possible interior. To make matters worse and to shatter my confidence in Indonesian airlines further, along with the emergency instructions card in the seat pocket was a card with how to pray for our safety in each of the 6 official religions of Indonesia. The fun really started when I got to Jakarta and had to find a taxi. There is only one real taxi company that is considered safe so after waving away many touts and finding a taxi I faced a two and a half hour drive to Kelly’s house in South Jakarta. The distance is probably about 40 kilometres and the constant honking of cars and barely moving gets somewhat frustrating after the first hour. The traffic is considered the worst in Asia and without great public transportation (like the MRT in Singapore or Skytrain in Bangkok) the only way to get around is to brave the roads.

You definitely notice the extreme difference between rich and poor driving from the airport to South Jakarta. From the slums on the outskirt of town and the over polluted canals to the modern sky scrapers which jut out from different parts of the skyline and the huge mansions. Beggars approach the highly polished private SUVs (pretty much a necessity in Jakarta) and run down buses and angkots clog the roads. It’s really interesting to sit back in the taxi (with air conditioning thank god) and watch it all.

As it was Australia Day we had a barbeque for dinner before heading out for a few quiet drinks at a few of the pubs. We were introduced to two stereotypes of South Jakarta- the sleazy old white man and the young rich Indonesian. While highly entertaining for us to talk to these people we definitely made use of the we have to meet a friend/our driver is outside bail out excuses. The night ended just shy of 3am at Kemang maccas (almost a tradition for us) and a sleep in the next day was quite nice.

While there are touristy sites to see in Jakarta we had very little desire to see any of them. I did get to drive past Monas (Monumen Nasional) as monument built by Sukarno and basically a flame on a giant concrete pillar, on my way to my meeting which as Kelly described, it was the most boring tourist attraction ever. The 10 minutes in front of it stuck in traffic was more than enough. It was really interesting to head into the CBD and see the expensive hotels, wide roads and huge office complexes. Friday we spent most of the day with me “preparing for my meeting” aka we ordered pizza and sat around in pyjamas watching the Chaser.

Friday night we faced the complicated decision of where to eat eventually settling on Hacienda, a reasonably famous Mexican restaurant. We ate far too much delicious Mexican food and had some fantastic frozen margaritas before heading home in a food coma. Perhaps the funniest thing to happen that night was just after we sat down someone we studied with in Salatiga two years ago sat at the table next to ours. While we knew she was working as a journalist in Jakarta the fact she came to the same restaurant on the same night was crazy so it was good to catch up!

Originally we had planned to hit a few of the clubs around town on the weekend however the previous weekend a drug related car crash linked to one of the notoriously dodgy clubs in Jakarta had killed 9 people so word was there were going to be drug raids. These raids can turn violent and realistically just ruin a night out so no clubbing (which wasn’t that disappointing in the end). On Saturday we decided that we would go have a massage then headed to two different malls. The first to buy dvds to watch that night rather than going out and then to PIM which is massive (although not the biggest) to have lunch and do some shopping. They had an ice skating rink set up and segway rides but we just ate some delicious Japanese for lunch before shopping for winter clothing in Zara which had a sale on. It does seem strange to shop for winter clothes on a 30 degree day in the tropics.

That night we had another delicious barbeque of pork ribs and prawns and watched the new Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Inbetweeners movie (very lol) and War Horse (not that great- the horse was good).

The next morning we went to brunch. This is something that everyone should experience in Jakarta. We went to the Ritz-Carlton where there is a massive room with every type of food you could dream of and free flow champagne. We ate steadily for over 3 hours with quite the mix from roast duck, design your own noodle dish, sushi, giant pretzels, an assortment of cheeses, chocolate fountain, ice cream and cakes. All while waiters buzzed around making sure your drinks were always full. Not a bad way to spend a day and we all had a lot of laughs. One thing that you really noticed here was the heavy security. Less than 3 years ago the Ritz was target of a terrorist attack which killed a number of westerners so getting in meant the car getting searched, explosive sniffer dogs and metal detectors. We weren’t even able to take a photo in front of the lobby because of the security measures which are entirely understandable but make you realise that security is taken very seriously in this town.

After brunch it was time to say goodbye to Kelly and the family and Jakarta and head back to the airport. The airport was quite frankly awful with it impossible to get food (or water!) after security and my flight delayed for over an hour with no explanation. I think in the future I’ll shell out the extra money for a better airline.

So that was my epic Jakarta weekend! While it did involve a lot of time stuck in traffic the fun we had definitely made up for it (and being stuck in traffic isn’t that bad). 3 days of chilling out, eating western food and doing next to nothing is definitely what we needed before heading back to work and uni. While a lot of people  hate Jakarta I’ve never failed to have a good time so big thanks to Kelly and her family for an awesome weekend.

Courts xx

I forgot to take photos again (camera was too big to lug around, didn’t feel like taking photos of malls etc)

Jakarta from above! A bit of urban sprawl!

Back to where it all began- Salatiga

It has been 2 years and 22 days since I came to Indonesia for the first time as a 19 year old who still wasn’t entirely sure why she was studying this language or if she would even like this country. Now after around 14 weeks spent in Indonesia over the last 2 years and 22 days with 11 weeks of those spent in Salatiga, it was only natural for me to return to my Indonesian home town from Jogja for a weekend to see old friends and people who have become like family to me. It started on Saturday with a trip I had done a number of times. Train to Solo, taxi/becak to the bus terminal then the Solo-Semarang bus to Salatiga. This was a particularly awful journey as Chinese New Year (Imlek) meant there was a public holiday on Monday and everyone was heading back to their home towns to celebrate. The train from Jogja to Solo is called the Prameks or Prambanan Express. This in itself is incredibly deceptive as it doesn’t go to Prambanan and there is nothing Express about it. Imlek resulted in the train being packed with people to the point where the doors wouldn’t close and feeling like a sardine for an hour and 20 minutes. I noticed the sign in the carriage said it was built for 70 passengers. I feel it would be a safer guess to say 200+ were in it on Saturday. Following that the transition to the bus was easy and the bus trip while slow due to heaps of traffic wasn’t completely bad as I got a seat while several people had to stand.

Arriving in Salatiga I was super excited as we drove through the town to the point of bouncing up and down on my seat. I then met with one of my friends from my first trip as I had arranged to stay at her place. After having dinner we headed to Frame. This is a new coffee shop in Salatiga which you can read more about here on another friend’s blog (I’d explain it myself but she does a brilliant job). Basically you feel like you are outside and the coffee is amazing. On the second night we went there I tried all different types of coffee from Aceh to Flores and they really knew their stuff. A real top quality cafe for an incredibly good price. Plus it was about 20 metres from my old house in Salatiga so it’s probably best for my bank balance that it opened after I left town last year. While we were at Frame I walked up the street to go to a small shop and ran into my host dad and it felt like I was coming home from university for the day and chatting to him was like I had never left. We arranged that I would stay at the house for my second night which I’ll get to later. My time in Salatiga involved a lot of eating and a lot of meeting old friends. We had a reunion of a bunch of us from the first PIBBI program I went to, scarily only 4 of us were still in Salatiga with most of the Indonesian teachers and staff having moved to bigger cities and most Australian students graduating/finished their Indonesian majors. I also ate far too much durian which resulted in me feeling rather ill and not being able to ate dinner preferring to spend a few hours in a food coma on the couch. We spent a lot of time just driving around town and up to Kopeng. Seeing Merbabu brought back fond memories- I’ll always love that mountain and never get sick of seeing it. Not a lot has changed in Salatiga but I definitely noticed small things like new statues and new buildings.

Going back to my home stay was really nice. Everyone remembered me and it was like I never left with me spending the night watching Nat Geo Adventure (Long Way Down and Banged Up Abroad) on the couch with my host dad and chatting about the other people who had come and gone in the past. Seeing the rest of the family was brilliant with new additions and new houses to visit as well as the important visit to Happy Chicken to eat the amazing fried chicken. I was surprised to hear my bike was still at the house and still in the broken state that I left it in (well more like broken state that I bought it in- fixing bikes is harder than it looks) and it was very nice to go to sleep in my old bed room there.

Unfortunately though as is often the case my trip to Salatiga was short with it ending as quickly as it started. There was definitely a sizable lump in my throat as I got a spontaneous tour of town in the travel as we picked people up and the sunglasses went on to hide any potential for rouge tears. I am so so glad I got to see all the people that I did and will really miss them all. I love Salatiga and although I also really love living in Jogja, I think Salatiga will always be home in Indonesia for me as it’s somewhere that I know my way around and know people. It was a real struggle to leave as I have no idea when I will be back there. Perhaps it will be years before I make it back as the more I travel the more I realise that I have left to see in this great big world of ours. I have no doubt that one day I will be back but I’m sure people will have moved on and things in Salatiga will have changed a lot. Salatiga will however always be the place where I learnt to love Indonesia and where the passion that has shaped the last 3 years of my life began and I am so grateful to have experienced everything I have.

So to all my wonderful friends in that beautiful town a huge terima kasih and as we always say Sampai bertemu lagi.

Courts xx

Living la vida Jogja!

So week 2 of the internship has come and gone rather quickly. Life in Jogja is fairly easy and work is rather interesting plus my Indonesian is becoming so much better from all the translating I’ve been doing here. Because we had the Annual Meeting this week which I didn’t attend and rather hung out in Jogja after going to Jepara, not much exciting has been happening work wise (unless you want to know about regional disaster risk reduction programs in Indonesia- very interesting stuff!)

On the other hand outside of work I’ve managed to fit a fair bit into this past week. Generally we spend most nights hanging out at the house, chatting in English and Indonesian and sometimes having a bit of a jam on the guitar as well as watching some hilarious tv. It has also rained a lot. A few days ago it poured for hours and Thursday morning it rained which was unusual but meant there was an amazing view of Merapi in the afternoon. The rain is great as it gives you about 2 hours of reasonably cool relief from the sweltering heat afterwards. A few days without rain and the humidity is enough to send you mad or at least walk around the office and house yelling PANAS! (hot)

Wednesday night I caught up with a friend from back in Australia who is studying in Jogja for 6 months and some of her Australian friends studying here. We went to a very nice restaurant at the mall sitting out on a balcony (Funnily enough it’s called The Balcony) and ate some delicious food (duck!) as well as some cocktails which were far too strong. It was very expensive by Indonesian standards (150 000 Rp or about $16) but it was nice to catch up and I had a wander around the mall afterwards as they don’t close until 9-10pm generally.

A few posts ago I was complaining about how expensive Jogja was- turns out I was completely wrong as we live in the student area meaning pretty good prices. For example a few days ago 4 of us went to a kaki lima (food stall which basically consists of just a cart) and had some delicious mie ayam (chicken noodles) and es jeruk (cold orange drink) and it cost us 27 000 Rp or $3 for all 4 of us. Most meals I’ve had here when we’ve gone out have cost about $1-$1.50 tops and most have been incredibly delicious. Water costs about 40c for a 1 litre bottle and beer is also cheap but seeing a large Islamic university is up the road there is very little of that around. Even catching a taxi from the mall to my house is only about 9000 Rp or $1 but normally I just walk.

I’ve also been eating a lot of rice. Indonesian food 3 times a day sounds hard to get used to but is actually quite nice. I’ve also learnt that you can do amazing things to a packet of mi goreng with a few extra ingredients. Barely drinking any coffee here (although I’m having one as I write this) as sweetened tea is the drink of choice and it is incredibly addictive. Never imagined I would go from drinking black tea and coffee to overly sweet tea and milky, sweet coffee. Jogjakartans sure like their sweet food. So back to my week, Thursday night I had arranged to go to the Ramayana ballet at Prambanan with one of my friends from the UNY group that came to Australia as he was performing in it.  It turned out a fair few of them were performing so it was great to catch up with them. We had a look around the grounds first and took some photos of Prambanan before I met some people from the office to watch the show. It was incredible! The one in Canberra was good but this was mind blowing. The music, costumes, dancing and acrobatics were amazing. For those unfamiliar with the story it is based around Rama and his wife Sita who is kidnapped by the evil king Rahwana. Rama then launches a rescue mission with the help of Laksmana and the white monkey Hanuman. In the end he wins back his wife and I presume they live happily ever after. The plot is of course much more complicated (they call it an Epic for a reason) but it was a fantastic show. Also Hanuman’s monkey soldiers were played by kids probably only 10-12 years old and they were amazingly good and super cute.

Afterwards we rode home (Prambanan is maybe 20 minutes from Jogja) and were cruising along on the motorbike until suddenly da duh da duh da duh – tire puncture. Queue a good 20+ minutes of sitting on the side of the road while someone fixed the tire making what was already a late night even later. All good fun though and its amazing that you can find someone to fix your tire on the side of the road at 10:30 at night. That’s about it for now. Exciting news is I have an amazing interview lined up in Jakarta next week so I have booked flights and will also get to spend 3 nights with my friend Kelly which if the last Jakarta trip we did is anything to go off will be a lot of fun. Booking flights was a struggle trying to pick an airline. As someone in the office said “They’re all just as good as one another just go the cheapest” so I ended up paying only $73 for return flights on an airline with a reasonably good international reputation (although I just read an article saying several pilots have been arrested for crystal meth possession). Also heading up to Salatiga this weekend and looking forward to catching up with everyone up there. It’s a public holiday on Monday for Imlek (Chinese New Year) so long weekend!

Courts xx

 

Technorati Tags: indonesia,yogyakarta,ramayana,culture

Jepara and Pati- Exploring the North Coast

Because everyone in the office is off at the annual meeting for the first few days of this week, myself, Nick (American engineer who works with the organisation) and his dad headed up to the North Coast to Pati and Jepara to have a look at some projects up there.

The trip started with a very long drive which was supposed to leave Jogja at 9pm but left at 10:30pm meaning we didn’t get to Pati until 3:30am and could hear the call to prayer and roosters as we were going to bed. While it was dark we still saw a lot of evidence of some of the awful floods that have been affecting the region as well as sprawling rice fields. Also despite the winding mountain roads and darkness our driver texted the whole way to Pati- very different road rules here. We woke up the next breakfast and had a huge breakfast (Indonesian style- I can’t remember the last time I had a meal without rice) before heading off to the Peace Place. This is a centre for promoting Trauma Healing and Alternative to Violence programs and is a beautiful building built outside town in the traditional Javanese style. After hanging out at the building site and having lunch with the construction workers (including various types of offal) we walked back through the rice fields to the house we were staying at talking to lots of people along the way and seeing various different building sites where they are reusing old materials for new projects. After that we hung out at the house and visited the hospital (our friend had a family member there) and had a terrifying ride back to the house on the back of a motorbike with a 13 year old driving. He was a good driver but it was very unbalanced.

Next morning we woke up early and head some snacks before heading to church at 7am. I’m not particularly religious generally only going to churches for weddings and the like but it was very interesting although I tended to zone out when trying to translate the sermon (very long the service was an hour and a half). Singing the hymns in Indonesian was very fun and we had to get up and introduce ourselves to the congregation in Indonesian. Afterwards Nick let me drive the motorbike back home which was a struggle seeing I’d never used a manual bike before but started to get the hang of it.  Then following another breakfast we went back to the Peace Place where there was around 15 kids ranging from 8-14 years for an English class. We played a lot of games in English and had a lot of fun before having a game of soccer inside. Teaching was definitely a lot of hard work so a lot of respect to all the teachers out there.

We then got on a bus to Jepara which was packed. We stood for a fair bit until I got a seat up near the driver and made a lot of jokes in Indonesian with him. They tried to rip us off with the price of tickets but soon realised they couldn’t trick us so we spent the hour long bus ride on the awful bus joking around with everyone. We were picked up by our friend’s friend and his son (who was the cutest kid ever) before going up to the church where we stayed overnight with the minister’s family. Jepara is famous for it’s woodwork and the place we were staying was full of workshops of people making furniture by hand all hours even when we walked around at at 9pm on the Sunday night. The work was of a really high quality and is frequently exported abroad.

The next morning we got up early and visited the TK (school for 4-5 year olds) across the road from our accommodation and another school for 2-3 year olds. So much cuteness but a lot of confusion as to what the bule were doing there. It was then time we actually did some work and went to the wood workshop and started to design and make some figurines for a developmental play program using blocks that Nick is working on. The guys at the workshop were able to make our designs so quickly despite my awful drawings. It was really amazing to work with these master wood workers in their workplace and it was an experience that very few visitors to Jepara would get.

Then it was time to head back to Jogja and on the way to the travel office (a travel is a small minibus between towns) we did a bit of shopping although I couldn’t buy anything seeing none of the wood was finished and then went and checked out the beach before the drive back to Jogja. The drive was pretty awful taking almost 7 hours including a confusing stop where we changed cars and being stuck in rush hour traffic on the road to Semarang. It was a great trip and an opportunity for us to really see everyday life with people in these towns. The hospitality of the Javanese was overwhelming with people we had never met (although connected to the projects we were working on) letting us stay with them, feeding us and showing us around their towns. A nice break from Jogja although coming “home” here was also a fantastic feeling and there is still a lot more exploring to be done. Probably head up to Salatiga this weekend and going to Jakarta in 2 weeks!

Courts xx

Jogja Week 1- Quick Update

So it’s been a week since I finished the tour and came to Indonesia so it’s probably time for a quick update on where I’m at. (Can’t believe I left Vietnam a week ago) I’m heading away for a few days so need to go sort some things out so will write a proper update later.

The first week at the internship started off slow but has definitely become more interesting the more I get to know people and the more I learn about the organisation. Next week is the annual staff meeting so I’m going to Jepara and Pati with an American guy who works here and his dad to see some of the projects up there. There’s always a bit of translation I can do which is good and it will be interesting to see a new part of Java.

I also have a house! I’m living with the family of one of the girls from the office and have a huge room and ensuite with a big family and a naughty dog called Popo. It’s been pretty relaxed so far and having people around the same age has been fun as we have gone out for dinner a few times and the most I’ve paid is $1.30!

Apart from that not much has happened. Discovered we are in walking distance of AmPlaz (was looking for a taxi there and inadvertently walked all the way there) and I’m quite enjoying eating Indonesian food constantly. It’s pretty hot here not surprisingly and I’m slowly getting used to living under the flight path for the airport. The planes approach right over the office and it is LOUD! Starting to organise some honours interviews and will hopefully catch up with some friends around town soon and head up to Salatiga next weekend.

That’s about it for now- miss you all and hope things are going well wherever you might be :) I’ll write about the trip and put up some photos when I get back to the office.

Courts xx

Technorati Tags: yogyakarta,internship,jepara,pati

Adjusting back into Indonesian Life

I’ve been back in Indonesia, Jogja specifically, for almost 2 days now and finding I’m slowly settling into the laid back lifestyle that I got used to my previous times living over here. One thing I have definitely noticed is Jogja is so so much more expensive than Salatiga (and super expensive compared to Cambodia) but that has a lot to do with me staying in a tourist area so I’m sure things will settle down when I move out to the suburbs.

Another thing that has been difficult to adjust to is being alone for the first time in 10 days. It’s very strange to eat by yourself and make all of your own decisions after being with a big group of people for so long. That said it is also quite nice to sit in a cafe and read a book alone. (although I miss all of you guys and hope you are having a wonderful time in Vietnam!) Due to this new found independence and the 10 days of madness catching up to me I have been taking it very easy.

Yesterday after arriving I got a becak (pedicab) into Jl Malioboro to do some shopping. First however I got a haircut and an amazing cream bath which I paid more than usual for (went to a nice salon) and my hair still feels lovely. A cream bath is basically a hair treatment and a really head massage which turns into a back, shoulder and arms massage. It’s actually bliss and I will be having a few more for sure. After that I went to the supermarket and tried to brave the streets to do some shopping for a batik shirt. I failed. Jl Malioboro is full of stalls and noise and people making it revoltingly hot and generally not a very enjoyable place to be. Plus being quite large by Asian standards it is pretty hard to find clothes. As you who know me already know I’m an awful person to shop with and when I’ve had enough I’m done and need to leave and that’s what happened yesterday.

Had Indian for dinner at Via Via which was lovely before coming back and loading some photos up to facebook. It’s raining a fair bit with it raining yesterday and today for a number of hours. I have an outdoor bathroom at the place I’m staying for now so while the rain doesn’t come directly in it is still very wet in there. I’m staying at a lovely guesthouse on Jl Pramwirotaman which has made me feel quite at home and helped organise laundry and a taxi to work tomorrow for me. I’ve spent a lot of time here mostly just lying around and reading and enjoying a bit of free time. I’m really glad that I stayed here rather than Sosrowijyan as it’s much quieter- although still noisy in an Indonesian way with motorbikes and animals and the mosques as opposed to a drunken bule way. Sometimes I wish the mosques would synchronise the call to prayer better. I really like listening to it but having the 5 mosques around start in a staggered order is a little annoying.

This morning I went on an organised tour (withdrawals) which was a bike ride into the countryside. As I’ve seen most of the main sites in Jogja there wasn’t much to do so it seemed like good exercise to go for a ride. We rode for about 3.5 hours occasionally stopping to see how things like Bakpia (traditional green bean snack yum!), Tempe (fermented soy- a bit like tofu but a weird consistency), Krupuk (Indonesian style prawn crackers) were made and also had a go at helping to plant a rice field. Standing in knee deep mud for an extended period of time made my life at uni seem pretty easy but it was rather therapeutic. After some traditional snacks we headed back and I came to the hotel and lay around for a few hours.

I then went to Amplaz which is the huge mall in town and had a look around. I needed to buy another polo shirt for work which I succeeded in and also got some moisturiser and the like. Carrefour is a massive supermarket and I only managed to see half of it. Afterwards I went back to the hotel planning to get a massage but it started pouring which resulted in more lying around until it settled down a bit at 7pm so I could go get some dinner. Ayam Goreng (fried chicken) for dinner which is my favourite Indonesian food. It’s not like KFC fried chicken but rather the whole quarter is deep fried with no real batter. It came with tempeh which I still can’t stand despite knowing how it’s made.

Well that’s a brief update. I’m really excited to start my internship tomorrow so before then I need to repack and attempt to get a reasonable nights sleep!

Courts xx

Technorati Tags: indonesia,yogyakarta,lazy

The end of my G Adventure

Well here I am sitting at Ho Chi Minh Airport waiting to fly to KL and feeling a little bit emotional about leaving the fantastic people I met behind as I go on to my next adventure in Indonesia.

The last few days were pretty busy. We crossed the border to Chau Doc in Vietnam and spent the afternoon napping in the hotel before taking a motorbike ride up Tam Som mountain and sitting in hammocks with beers watching the sunset. Afterwards we had dinner in a floating restaurant on the Mekong before an early night watching some trashy TV. Chau Doc was a city which was nice but nothing incredible as it is mostly a transit town for tourists heading to the Delta and HCMC from Cambodia. The next morning we left early again (at 8am) for what was supposed to be a 8 hour drive to HCMC. Luckily our bus driver thought he was a Formula 1 driver and we made it in 5. It was a really interesting drive through the Mekong Delta (well it was when we weren’t asleep) and we really got a feel of life along the Mekong. We also crossed the Mekong on possibly the most dangerous ferry I have seen where we sat on the roof and there was no safety rails at all.

Arriving in Ho Chi Minh City we set off on a walking tour. Some of us girls walked for a little bit before spotting a coffee shop and spending an hour sipping iced coffee in the shade pretending we weren’t in a hot Asian city. After this I took us for the rest of the walk (it’s only been 8 months since I was last there) and we saw the Reunification Palace and did a bit of retail therapy buying some incredibly touristy tshirts in Ben Thanh Markets.

We met the “newbies” who were carrying on the tour that night before heading to the welcome/farewell dinner at a Mexican restaurant which was surprisingly good although the cocktail prices were a bit of a shock after Cambodia. There was a lot of reminiscing of things we had been through together on the trip before we headed off for the Rex Hotel for more cocktails on the rooftop bar and hitting a few of the bars in what ended up being a rather late night.

My last day of the tour consisted of a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels and War Remnants Museum. Although I’d been there before the plan was to spend as much time with the group as possible and we had an amazing lunch at Pho 2000 (where Bill Clinton eats when he is in town) and trying to all pack our stuff with 5 of us girls in 1 room and a lot of sad goodbyes.

It was very sad saying goodbye to the friends I had met. I got to travel through 3 amazing countries with 15 incredible people from across the globe. From Australia, America, Austria, England and Narnia (Guernsey) I had a fantastic time and the people on the trip really made the trip what it was.

So that’s it! The Cambodian Adventure is over and I’m now back in what is kind of my second home Indonesia. I stayed in possibly the worst hotel in the world in KL and having checked into the new place it is rather nice. Time to go out and probably just go to the mall and get a hair cut. Will have to suss out somewhere I haven’t been (which will be difficult) for tomorrow.

Courts xx

Technorati Tags: vietnam,indonesia,cambodia,g adventures,tour,thailand

Cambodia- A reflection

After crossing the border over into Vietnam today and deciding to have an early night in Chau Doc following last night’s 3 hours of sleep I thought it best to write a quick reflection on Cambodia.

I have a habit of falling in love with Southeast Asian countries. I’ve already fallen victim to Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and of course my second home Indonesia and Cambodia can be added to that list. While my time there was short, I found it to be a rollercoaster ride of contrasts and emotions. From incredible Angkor Wat to the tragedy of Phnom Penh and the chilled out vibe of Sihanoukville, the country had it all. We drove across the entire country in only a week. By bus, van, tuk-tuk and boat we made it and while it was a really tough slog we all pulled through in one piece.

One thing that really got to me however was the poverty. I’m no stranger to poverty in these countries but it was very evident in Cambodia. This combined with other issues like the landmines really causes a feeling of helplessness and how can we help them? Hearing stories about the hardship of peoples’ lives and particularly stories of life under the Khmer Rouge are incredible. Cambodians truly are sharing and willing to share stories and even just have you join in what they are doing. Hearing about people like Aki Ra and Chun Mey the S-21 survivor is inspiring.

The other thing that has to be mentioned is of course the genocide. I think a lot of us had moments where we struggled seeing this up close. The scale of it is hard to grasp and the idea of 3 million people out of a  tiny nation being systematically wiped out without any intervention makes the situation even more difficult to comprehend (without delving into geopolitics and the like) it’s mind blowing to see it in a way which is so raw and so personal.

To pick a favourite place seems unfair but I’d be inclined to say Siem Reap. I’ve dreamt of seeing Angkor Wat for such a long time and Siem Reap offered that and so so much more. Would I go back to Cambodia? Yes. Without a doubt. I’d like to spend a few weeks there to really explore and see more of the country but when I’ll get the opportunity to go back? Who knows. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Also this was my first time trying to travel in a tour group and I have to say it has been a blast. Sure the time is rushed but it’s so simple and we have fit in so much sometimes having 16+ hour days. I’ve met great people from Australia and a number of other countries and I’m feeling a bit sad about having to say goodbye to them in less than 48 hours when I leave the country. Also our group leader was amazing and super helpful making sure this tour was really great.  I’ve already picked the next tour that I’m going to do so hopefully will be travelling with G again very soon.

That’s it for Cambodia. A wonderful country which didn’t fail to impress and offered more than I could ever imagine.

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Crazy times in Sihanoukville

After a crazy few days it was time to relax so off to Sihanoukville we went. The town is located on the beach and was recently named one of the best beaches in the world. I’d be inclined to disagree as the beach was pretty much your stereotypical beach town but still a lot of fun. It kind of felt like how people talk about Bali 30 years ago. Very under developed and a massive party vibe. So after a 5 hour bus ride from PP we headed down to the beach to have lunch and a look around. You are constantly harassed by kids selling everything under the sun but mostly selling woven bracelets. They are real smart salespeople and sweet talkers but it is sad to see them exploited like this. They also all took a liking to how white my skin is which I found entertaining.

We headed back to our hotel and had drinks in the pool and a number of “challenges” of who could hold their breath longest before venturing out for dinner. There are barbeque places EVERYWHERE and they are amazing. On the first night I had some incredible coca cola pork ribs and on the second juicy fresh tiger prawns. All of this would set you back maybe $5 for dinner and Happy Hour was every hour with us not paying more than $2.50 for a cocktail while we were there and one night buying beers for FIFTY CENTS. That’s cheaper than the water! We tried to have a quiet night the first night so I called it quits and came back and watched the Chelsea match on ESPN.

The second day we headed out to Ream National Park not knowing what to expect. We jumped in a long boat through mangroves for an hour and a half singing My Heart Will Go On and other classic songs and having an early morning beer on the insistence of our guide before arriving at a small fishing village. We were told it was an easy 30 minute walk to the beach and we could do it in flip flops. It wasn’t. The timing was right but it was 30 minutes of hard slog through thick jungle with all of us wishing we had hiking boots. The reward however was a nice clean beach to ourselves at the other side where we swam in the warm water and chilled out on the sand for a few hours. Absolute bliss. We then began our trek back. We had asked the guide if there was any dangerous animals in the water and he said no only on the land near the path. We then asked about snakes and he said heaps of snakes Too Poisonous Die. We later found a flyer and found out the place was crawling with several types of Cobras and Russel’s Vipers and we were wearing flip flops! I had a close encounter of my own when we were walking along talking about snakes and I luckily looked as I put my foot down to see a metre long thin green snake of some variety. Both me and the person behind me screamed and I took off up the track at a rate of knots towards a clearing to tell the guide who was amazed I had seen one. This definitely got the adrenalin pumping. We also saw monkeys and a couple of gnarly looking spiders.

After a delicious lunch and us feeding a number of the mangy dogs our leftovers trying to teach them to sit we headed back up river on the longboats. A few of us went to the beach to watch the sunset at a bar where the waiter was keen to have joke around with us with amazing service (there were no seats next to the beach so they moved a table right onto the shoreline for us- we almost had wet feet) and then did a bit of last minute shopping before meeting the group for drinks and dinner (my delicious tiger prawns) and heading out. We went to a few different bars and ended up at a cool club with lots of RNB and Hip Hop (although no dubstep as promised on the flyer) where we danced for hours before heading back at 2:30am where the Austrians on our tour decided we should have a sneaky but incredibly refreshing late night swim in our pool. All in all a fun night but not a particularly smart move with an early morning bumpy bus ride which is not very good for sleeping.

Two things I found interesting in Sihanoukville were- All the bars and hotels had westerners working there. Apparently it’s common for backpackers to hang around and work for a few months which sounds alright and secondly, more a Cambodia as a whole thing is they use US dollars. It’s strange to have American currency on you and they do also have local currency which you can use but due to political unrest it’s easier to use a currency not prone to fluctuation.

That’s it for now. I’m on the bus to the Vietnamese border as we speak so will soon be eating Pho and exploring the Mekong!

Courts xx

Technorati Tags: cambodia,sihanoukville,beach,relax,poverty

New Years in Phnom Penh

We left Siem Reap in the afternoon to head for the capital which meant a 6 hour bus ride on a public bus. The bus was generally uncomfortable and I struggled to get much sleep but we had a good chat and listened to some music. We also stopped in a town for a bathroom break which generally was a bit ugly and made us feel uneasy. When we got back on the bus our group leader told us it was the birthplace of Pol Pot which made us dislike the town further and needless to say we were happy to leave. We arrived in Phnom Penh (or PP) at 7pm on New Years Eve and after checking in we headed out for dinner and tried to find something to do for the countdown.

While not the biggest New Years Eve I have had, we walked up to near the Victory Monument where all the locals were and there were bands and a big countdown and a huge fireworks display. We were pretty much the only westerners there. It was a good night and we slowly walked back to the riverfront yelling Happy New Year at people before a few of us girls checked out a club for a drink and headed home at a respectable 2am.

Next morning we got to sleep in before going on a walk around town with our leader. We went to the Victory Monument and past the Grand Palace and also did a bit of shopping at the Central Market. We were running out of time for lunch but ended up at this back alley local place where they completely messed up our order but lunch was good!

We went to our hotel where we got on the bus which would take us to Tuol Sleng (S-21) and Choeung Ek- The Killing Fields. There is nothing that can compare you for these places. The genocide statistics are absolutely horrific with 3 million out of a population of 8 million killed over the course of 4 years for reasons that are really difficult to understand. The places you see make you feel sick, angry and incredibly sad and I think most of us cried at one stage or another.

S-21 was a prison used during the regime and out of 20 000+ people imprisoned there only 7 survived. You go into the rooms which are exactly as they are when the Vietnamese liberated it. In one of the rooms you can even still see dried blood on the ceiling from where the prisoner was killed with an iron bar. The things the Khmer Rouge did here were sickening and our guide was incredibly knowledgeable having survived the regime himself and telling us stories about being in a labour camp at only 6 years old and losing his parents and many of his siblings. One thing which really stood out at S-21 was where we got to meet one of the 7 survivors. It was really moving and he talked to us (through a translator) and showed us the scars of where he was tortured. He’s 80 now but comes back to the prison every day to share his experience with visitors so we can understand what it was truly like. Meeting him was a real honour.

We then followed a path which would have been quite similar to those imprisoned at S-21 to the Killing Fields. I remember learning about the Cambodian genocide in high school but still didn’t know what to expect. We went through the entrance and the first thing you see is a huge stupa (Buddhist temple) filled with the bones of the remains. What is even more shocking though is walking around the area you are constantly treading on and seeing bone fragments and clothing scraps of the victims. This is because every time it rains the remains come to the surface and the site has not been completely excavated. They haven’t finished the excavation as after already exhuming at least 7000 bodies they feel that that is enough. Records indicate that there are probably over 20 000 bodies at the site and there were hundreds of these places in Cambodia. After hearing all the stories of torture, rape and murder we sat under a tree to reflect. There are a lot of questions you ask yourself most of which can’t really be answered. The whole place has a really strange uneasy feel about it which isn’t pleasant so I was quite happy to get on the bus and leave but I’m glad I went.

That night to lighten the mood a bit, the guide from the Killing Fields told us about a Cambodian kickboxing fight on that night which a few of us went to check out. It was incredibly cool. We saw 3 fights of the 6 fight card and the boxers were amazing athletes. It was very similar to Muay Thai with knees and elbows and also take downs allowed. The crowd was electric and we were the only foreigners there and were promptly offered ring side seats (which we refused but took up the offer of seats a few rows back from the front). In the first fight we thought the guy was dead because he got hit so hard for the KO. The second fight was 2 girls and they went hard really laying in some strong clean hits and had the crowd on their feet yelling. The last fight the guy I was going for lost on points despite his opponent having blood pouring down his face for the last two rounds. Yes it’s brutal and some people don’t like it but it truly is an art. There is a strong spiritual aspect with boxers performing a dance before they fight and a lot of respect between fighters and a traditional band was playing the whole time through the fights. Following this we went out to dinner before finally having an early night as we had an early start the next day to go to Sihanoukville.

Courts xx

n.b there is a huge lack of photos from Phnom Penh sorry. I couldn’t bring myself to take photos of the Killing Fields and the S-21 one is one of 2 that I took as a memory. Then I forgot to take my camera to the boxing. Sorry

Angkor Whaaaaat?

After a late night in Bangkok we had to be up early to leave by 7am in an attempt to make the Cambodian border before the hoardes of tourists. The bus trip there was incredibly uninspiring with a few, what seemed like close calls with oncoming traffic. Reaching the border it was quite evident that my theory about border towns being incredibly depressing seemed to ring true here. I’ve never heard good things about the Poipet border and while it wasn’t as bad as I expected it was a lot of standing in line in the hot midday sun until we were finally in Cambodia and free to go. Poipet on the Cambodian side featured a number of huge casinos catering for Thais and not much else. From here we got into a very comfortable bus and tore our way down a decent road to Siem Reap arriving at 4pm after 9 hours of driving and waiting around.

Siem Reap is a lovely town and very tourist orientated thanks to Angkor Wat. After a quick stroll around town we were picked up by tuk-tuk (a cross between a motorbike and a ute) to go to the New Hope Foundation. We spent a good half hour driving through the slums with children chasing after us to say hello until we arrived at the organisation’s old school and were greeted by a really nice young Cambodian guy to show us around the women’s refuge. The kids there were incredible. They were the poorest of the poor but so happy and wanting to play or hug us or use our cameras so it was a great afternoon followed by a 5 course Cambodian dinner at their restaurant and new school (we also had a look around their medical clinic). We were surprised to learn our guide was only 20 and had been at the organisation completing his high school diploma for a few years after he was sent by his parents at 13 to the capital to work as a cement worker earning on $15 USD a month. After dinner we headed back into town to explore the night markets. I bought a really interesting abstract painting and we all squirmed and laughed through a fish spa before heading home because the next day we had to get up at 430am!

After the early start we gathered in the lobby and were happy when the same young guy and his friends turned up to guide us to Angkor Wat. Driving in the pitch black in the tuk-tuks we didn’t really know what to expect but we bought our tickets (which they put your photo on) and followed the masses towards the viewing area where a Cambodian man helped us find the perfect spot to shoot photos from. The sun came up and the view was spectacular. The temple reflected on the pond below and it was truly an amazing site. After countless photos including a few fun poses we went and explored Angkor Wat before heading back for breakfast and then back out again to see some of the other temples.

We first went to Bayon with all of its stone faces of Buddha looking in all directions and had a few tough climbs to score some good photos. Unfortunately I don’t remember most of the other names of the temples at Angkor Thom but the next one was huge and we had to climb some terrifying steep staircases to make it to the top. My favourite temple however was Ta Prohm or the Tomb Raider temple thanks to the film being set there. It was proper ruins with trees growing all over it and lots of corners to be explored. It was here we encountered so very loud, rude Australian tourists which made us a little annoyed. Following lunch we went to another temple which is when temple fatigue set in. It was 3pm and we were over temples so the whole group found a nice spot in the shade inside the temple and hung out there. It seems a bit surreal that you are actually allowed to do this inside a 900 year old temple but it was quite relaxing.

One thing that is kind of entertaining while terribly sad in Cambodia is the kids selling things. They come up and say Where you from? and after you respond they list a whole heap of facts about the place you named. We tried to throw them off by naming more obscure countries but generally speaking they were hard to trick. So we now are “friends” with a lot of Cambodian kids.

Back to the temples we climbed a higher than expected hill to watch the sunset before heading back down and playing hacky sack with our guide and drivers. Then it was back into town for a shower before hitting Pub Street. Pub Street basically describes itself. We had dinner there and had a massage before trying a few bars. It was a very fun night with favourites being Temple Bar and Angkor What? where we got to write on the walls. We also managed to score a few free t-shirts which they gave out with any purchase of a bucket (about $8). We also had a hens party from Australia and the UK next to us so we were helping the bride to be out with her dares and having a fun time all round.

The next morning was another early start (630am) after not very many hours sleep as we had arranged for one of the drivers to take us out to the landmine museum. I was so glad we did this as although it sounds corny it really was inspiring. It was set up by a man called Aki Ra who was originally a child soldier laying mines for the Khmer Rouge and then the Vietnamese Army. He has now spent the past couple of decades defusing mines at first just using a knife and stick until the UN made him go get proper training. He and his wife (who sadly passed away recently) have defused tens of thousands of mines and UXO.

The figures truly are scary. In the Second Indochina War the US alone flew 60 000 bombing raids with each bomber able to carry 100 bombs which were taller than me (there were some on display at the museum) this doesn’t include the mines from the Khmer Rouge regime or the Cambodia-Vietnam conflict so the number of munitions out there is quite scary. The museum was interesting as we got to touch and see the mines up close and also on site there was an orphanage for kids injured or orphaned by mines although we weren’t allowed to go near it as no tourists were allowed. We spent a bit of money at the gift shop and left a donation as all the purchases went to the amazing work that Aki Ra and his group are doing before heading back to Siem Reap to leave for Phnom Penh.

Courts xx

More information about Aki Ra’s organisation can be found here- http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/

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