Back in Sydney

I have just retuned to Singapore after a short visit to my old home town Sydney. About 12 months have passed since the last time I placed my feet in the Emerald City, and since I had to enter Australia in order to initialize my permanent residence visa I thought it was a good opportunity to fly down and catch up some old friends. Unfortunately, I only had three days paid time off left, so I had to combine it with a public holiday in Singapore, but it so happened that Friday this week was Hari Raya Haji. Hence, I flew down on Monday night and arrived in Sydney on Tuesday morning.

The Sydney Opera House

When I arrived in Sydney the weather was rather chilly, at least compared to the 32 degrees I am used to every day. However, my friends told me that it had been up to 40 degrees just a couple of days earlier, and during the few days I was there the temperatures increased again and reached around 35. It still didn’t feel very hot though, because the humidity is nothing like in Southeast Asia, so despite the heat it is possible to breathe. But I had already forgotten how quickly the weather can change in Sydney, and for someone who is used to the same temperatures pretty much every single day all year around (like in Singapore) it was quite surprising.

It was very nice to see my friends again. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to meet everyone, but I managed to complete the most important task, i.e. get my permanent residency visa stamped in my passport. So now I can come and go as I please for the next 5 years. I was originally planning to move back to Sydney some time before the end of this year, but the situation has changed slightly, and currently I have no plans moving back in the near future. However, nothing is set in stone, and I might be back before anyone knows it.

Over the last three years I have been in Sydney in November and taken photos of the fireworks at the Sydney Opera House after the Australian Idol finale. This time I arrived two days late, so I missed out on the fireworks, but I still had a very nice time. It is fun to take photos of fireworks, and I know there is a new opportunity coming up soon here in Singapore at New Years Eve.

Now I am back in hot and humid Singapore, and it is actually good to be home even though the weekend has been a bit reduced due to loads of urgent work. It is nice to not live in a bag all the time, and it is in fact very true what they say; “There is no place like home…”

What I love about Indonesia

I am back in Jakarta for the forth week in a row, and as usual I am quite enjoying it here. I am always very busy when I am in Jakarta, but despite heavy work load I seem to relax more here than back home in Singapore. I am not quite sure why I always feel less stressed here, but my guess is that the lovely people make me lower my shoulders and take time to breathe between the battles.

Jakarta

Unfortunately, Jakarta has been the target for several terrorist attacks lately, and because of that the security in pretty intensive. Every time you enter an office building or a hotel the security guards will search your bags and scan you for weapons and bombs, and the procedures can feel a bit over the top sometimes. But one of the great things about Jakarta is that the security guards are always extremely friendly and they will smile and remember you name. Knowing how many people they are checking every day I actually think it is quite impressive that they remember me. I suppose that being a white female I will kind of stick out a bit since there are not that many of us here, and it will make it easier for them to remember me, but still I am quite surprised every time they remember my name.

Indonesia is in many ways a magic country. They have all kinds of nature here, such as mountains, beaches, beautiful islands, jungle, desert and so on. I am planning to explore the country a little more in 2010, especially Sumatra where I haven’t been yet. I also realize that almost everyone I know in this region has been to Bali, so I guess it is time to take a trip there too some time soon.

I would love to write more about what I love about Indonesia, but it is getting late and I have a busy day tomorrow on customer site. So instead I will simply refer to the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ehHCXuxes8

If you still don’t see what is so great about Indonesia I suggest that you come over and take a look yourself.

Exploring Java

It is Tuesday evening, and I have been in Jakarta for the last eight days. I have been here so many times before, but never had any time to look around, so this weekend I decided to explore Jakarta and the surrounding areas for once. There are a few sightseeing options that you can book with the tour guides, and the one I was most interested in was the trip to the highlands and the country side.

Orchids in Bogor Botanical Garden

So early Saturday morning I was picked up at the hotel by my guide. We started the trip by driving out to Bogor, which is commonly referred to as Rainy City because it is surrounded by mountains and hence, the clouds tend to drop water in that particular area. In Bogor they have a very nice botanical garden with both local and imported species of plants, and we walked through the park and had a look at all the lovely orchids growing there. I quite enjoy visiting botanical gardens, because in addition to beautiful surroundings they tend to have a range of insect and bird species. I have never been particularly interested in plants, but I am fascinated by all kinds of animals.

After the botanical garden we went up to the highlands to visit Taman Safari Park. Frankly, I didn’t have too high expectations – after all, I live in Singapore which has one of the best zoos in the world – but the park was in fact a very positive surprise. It was organized as a typical safari where you drive through the area and watch the wild animals roaming around free. It was a rather interesting experience to roll down the window of the car and look into the eyes of a huge tiger without any fences or protection other than the car. Of course, nothing beats the real thing, and I can only imagine how amazing a safari in Africa would be, but Taman Safari Park was definitely a good substitute. The only advice I would give is that Saturday is not the best day to visit the park. It is very crowded on the weekend, so if possible visitors should aim at one of the weekdays instead.

Tiger in Taman Safari Park

After the safari we went to the baby zoo, where we could interact more closely with youngster of different species. In the baby zoo I had the opportunity to play with a lion cub and meet a young orangutan that was very friendly. Generally, I love all animals, but the baby ones are simply irresistible, and especially the fluffy furry ones.

Our last stop was at the Puncak mountain resort where we grabbed a bit to eat while overlooking the valley covered in tea plantations. The resort is located on an altitude of about 1700 meters, and it was surprisingly cool outside. I actually had to put on a jacket while we were eating since the windows were open and a cool breeze continuously streamed through the premises. It was nice to feel the fresh mountain air for a little while before we headed back to the contaminated air in Jakarta.

The next day I had originally planned to go out to Pulau Seribu, or the Thousand Islands in the Java Sea north of Jakarta. The islands are popular destinations for bathing and snorkeling, and there are a few nice resorts where you can relax and enjoy the good life on the weekend. Unfortunately, the boats to the islands will not leave unless there are a minimum number of participants, and the tour agency was unable to gather enough people for the trip to happen. Instead, I decided to go on a city heritage tour in the old parts of Jakarta, also called Batavia.

The market

Our first destination was the Dharma Bhakti temple in the old Chinatown (or Glodok). This is Jakarta’s oldest temple, and it was built in the mid-17th century. On Saturday morning the temple was already packed with people lighting candles and burning incense, and it was so filled with smoke that my eyes were running and I could hardly breathe. By the gate outside a bunch of beggars were queuing up and hoping to get a few coins from the tourists or devout Buddhists visiting the temple.

We continued the trip by walking through the old market area. The market basically consists of a network of narrow streets where people are selling food, clothes, jewelry and electrical articles amongst other things. You can find a variety of exotic fruits and vegetables in these markets, and the fish and seafood they sell is fresh from the ocean. In addition, several places you can buy live turtles, and one of the merchants was trying to convince me to buy one. I tried to explain to him that I will not be able to take it with me on the plane back to Singapore, but then he showed me a small box I could keep the animal in while smuggling it across the border. However, I am not a big supporter of illegal animal import, so I politely declined.

Sunda Kelapa Harbor

The next stop was the Fatahillah Museum, originally built by the Dutch in 1710 as the Jakarta City Hall. The museum is a popular destination for students in Jakarta, and sometimes they come to interview tourists as a school assignment in order to learn English. I was actually approached by a few young people who asked me if I had time for a discussion. At first I didn’t understand what they meant, but my guide informed me that they would like to interview me for a school project, and since I wasn’t in a hurry I said yes. So while a girl was asking me questions on stuttering English carefully read from a piece of paper, a boy was filming us with a small compact camera. One of the questions was what I thought about Jakarta, and my reply was that it is a very chaotic city but the people are lovely.

We ended the trip with a short visit to the old harbor, Sunda Kelapa, which is located in the head of Batavia at the mouth of the Ciliwung River. Frankly, it wasn’t really much to see there, except a number of large sail boats loading their cargo, but it is interesting to note that Sunda Kelapa – which has been in use for centuries – today is one of the world’s last remaining commercial sailing fleet.

The conclusion is that it was a great weekend and absolutely worth staying in Jakarta for. The next time I will probably try to get further out of the city and maybe visit the more remote areas.

By the way, photos can be found in my Gallery.

On the road… Again…

After a week in Manila I am now back in Jakarta, and this time I am staying for a couple of weeks. I finally managed to organize my multiple-entry business visa so that I don’t have to fill up my passport with visas on arrival, and now I can enter the country as I please for the next 12 months. I have been here a few times before, but I have actually never had the opportunity to do any sightseeing before, so I figured that this time will be different.

I haven’t quite decided what to do on the weekend yet, and I have been thinking about flying out to Bali or one of the other remote but there are in fact a few things to see both in Jakarta and the surrounding areas. Pulau Seribu, or the Thousand Islands, is a group of small islands located only a few kilometers north of Jakarta, and tour agencies can organize both day trips and overnight stays.

Inside the city of Jakarta there are several interesting heritage sights, such as Chinatown, Sunda Kelapa Harbour (the old harbor of Jakarta) and traditional markets. In addition, there are a few interesting museums and a miniature park with small versions of traditional Indonesian buildings. A little further outside the city there is also a botanical garden and a safari park that I am interested in.

Well, so much to see and so little time. At least I am not going to be bored this weekend.

Holiday in Laos

I was actually planning to write about my holiday in Thailand and Laos last week, but several circumstances, a bad sinus infection amongst them, slowed me down a little bit and time just flew away.

Pha That Luang in Vientiane

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last blog, I met my Norwegian friend Edward in Bangkok on Friday October 02, and we spent one day just wandering around in Bangkok before we took the overnight train north to the border of Laos. The 12-hour train ride was quite interesting. We tried to buy first class tickets, but they were already sold out, so we had to put up with second class, which basically meant an open carriage where the seats could be turned into beds with some short curtains for privacy. The standard was a little lower than we anticipated, but we found it rather funny when we were ordered to bed by an angry looking conductor whose job was to turn all the seats into beds before he could go to sleep himself. He started to convert the carriage to a dormitory already at 9 pm, but since we didn’t feel like going to bed that early we asked him if he could come back later. He gave us a look that could kill, so we realized that the guy was not in the mood for an argument.

I think Edward slept pretty well, but I had a really long night trying to relax in the short bed. I am sure they fit a normal sized Asian person, but for a Norwegian they were simply too short, and I had problems relaxing since we were not able to lock up any of our luggage. I ended up trying to sleep while holding on to my wallet, laptop and camera (my most important items), and hoping that nobody would be rude enough to snatch it while I was asleep.

Sunset at Mekong River

We arrived in Nong Khai around 8 am Sunday morning, and from there we had to catch a tuk-tuk to the Lao border. Getting a visa on arrival and crossing the border was surprisingly easy, and it was still morning while we entered our hotel in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Since it was too early to check in, we just dropped off our stuff and found a nice place for breakfast before we jumped into a tuk-tuk for a city tour. Vientiane is in fact a very nice city, not too unlike Siem Reap in Cambodia, and the people were lovely. There was a dragon boat race going on at the Mekong River that day, and the market was full of people partying or selling food and other articles. We got some nice sunset shots of the Mekong River, and we afterwards we went to bed early since it had been a long day.

The next morning we went out to the bus station and jumped on a so-called air-conditioned VIP bus to Luang Prabang, which is a cultural center of Laos, the country’s former capital, and also a UNESCO World Heritage site. The bus ride was supposed to take 8 hours, but it ended up taking 10, and what they called air-condition was just some air ventilators that were not able to cool down the crowded bus. The best part of the trip was definitely the view, because we traveled across some really impressive mountains. About half way we stopped on a lunch place located in the mountains, and the air was surprisingly cool and fresh. If the roof hatches in the bus wasn’t nailed down we could actually have been pretty comfortable in there, but for some strange reason they had decided to lock us up without fresh air. Well, we made it to Luang Prabang after 10 hours, and I we were extremely happy to get off the bus in the end. Originally we had planned to take the same trip back to Bangkok, but we both agreed that we make too much money to put up with that shit more than once, so once we had internet access we booked the flights back to Bangkok for the end of the week.

The mountains in Laos

We both loved Luang Prabang. The hotel was great, the people were nice and the nature was stunning. The first day, Tuesday, we decided to have a look around the city and have a chat with some travel agencies to see what they could offer of guided tours. On Wednesday we ended up hiring a personal guide and going on an elephant jungle ride, and after the ride, we had a chance to go swimming with these huge animals. We also visited the famous Pak Ou caves, which is a magnificent group of caves only accessible by boat, and known for their impressive Lao style Buddha sculptures assembled over the centuries by local people and pilgrims.

The next day we went on a half day trip to the Kuang Si Waterfall, approximately 30 kilometers outside of Luang Prabang. This time we joined a bunch of other tourists, and we ended up spending time with a guy from Israel, an Australian and a couple from England. The lower part of the clear waterfall was flowing into beautiful turquoise colored pools, surrounded by lush green plants, and it looked like a little oasis. The upper part of the fall was steeper and not suitable for swimming. There was a track leading up to the top of the fall, and we climbed all the way up to try to get a good view, but we discovered that we couldn’t get to the edge of the fall because of the heavy vegetation, and neither could we get over to the other side without wading in mud, so we just went down the same way we came up. Not really worth the hassle of climbing up, but of course we didn’t know that when we started.

Edward and I spent quite some on one of the nice restaurants in the city. We found this comfortable little spot on the main street where we could overlook the “city life” and enjoy free internet access. The place had a sign saying that “Thieves will be thrown in the Mekong River”, which we found very amusing. The food was good, with lots of vegetarian options, and – more importantly – the smoothies were awesome! Yes, we ended up spending both time and money on that place.

Swimming with elephants

We flew back to Bangkok on Friday, and we had to kill Friday night and all of Saturday in the Thai capital. I was starting to get sick with a very bad cold, sinusitis, tonsillitis and an annoying cough, so we didn’t run around too much, but spent some time in a couple of the huge malls. Bangkok is huge on shopping, but frankly I get more than enough of that in Singapore, so I think Edward was enjoying it more than I was.

We flew back to Singapore on Sunday, and on Monday morning I was supposed to fly to Kuala Lumpur to work there for a few days. Edward had planned to come with me since it was no point for him to stay in Singapore without me, but because I was getting really sick I was in no condition to fly so I had to cancel the trip. I also lost my voice completely, so I wouldn’t be able to do much work anyway. I guess wasn’t much of a company the next few days, but we managed to visit the zoo at some point. On Friday morning Edward flew back to Norway, and all of a sudden I was alone again. The weekend was quite lonely, and I was desperately trying to fill the void, but I guess all good things have to come to an end, and at least I had two nice weeks with good company. Maaan, I miss having friends around me!

This week I am on the road as usual. Five days in Manila. I have heard there is a new typhoon on its way, and I am wondering if I will make it home before the weekend.