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Selamat Malam! (Good evening in Bahasa)
Okay, so I deserve some stick. No photos, no blogs and one helluva backlog on updates. Well, you're in luck. The net cafes here are dead cheap and the speed is sufficient. They even play heavy metal and rock to get me in the mood ;) One problem - no air con! I will be coming here over the next few days though as this one is 24/7, baby - woooo!!!!
When writing my last blog, I was in Changi airport, Singapore. After a 2 hour flight in excruciating pain from ear popping, I arrived in Jakarta on Saturday evening. I met up with my new tour group of six - Rob & Fiona (from my old group), and a Dutch couple and a 22 year old girl from Chester. Our tour leader is a native Indonesian - perfect since we're in Indonesia for two weeks - and after one night in Jakarta, we set off the next day for (*Googles to check spelling*) Pangandaran. It was a 10 hour journey comprising of bus, minivan and train transport. Being the tour guide's home city, we had a great time. The accommodation was great, the food was good and the people were fantastic. We got the chance to meet all of our tour guide's friends. They were great people and it was really cool to interact with the locals. It was especially touching to meet people whose lives had been affected by the tsunami of July 2006 that hit Pangandaran and took over 500 lives. Before coming here, I only knew of the Boxing day 2004 Tsunami. Click here to find out about the tsunamia of 2006 - one in Pangandaran and another that hit Yogyakarta (where I am now) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5189786.stm
Coming here and meeting the people who've recounted how many family members they've lost and what their lives used to be like, it really is shocking. Even my tour guide lost six of his friends. Everyone here is just doing their best to move on and wake up each day. Their courage is truly something to be admired.
I just arrived a few hours ago in Yogyakarta on the island of Java (Indonesia) from Pangandaran on the same island.
[Continued 1507 GMT+6 19/04/2007]
Apoogies - meant to finish yesterday's update after dinner, but we ended up hitting a couple of bars and having a few drinks here in Yogyakarta (commonly known as Jogja). The night came to an end at 0300 and I was way too tired to come back to the cafe. Anyway, I'm here now and have some time to kill before heading off to see a Ballet performance of the Javanese story of Rama and Sinta in Prambanan temple. I'm really looking forward!! I spent the morning touring the city with Rob and the Dutch couple by Becak (a guy on a bicycle pushing a cart with two wheels). We saw the Sultan of Yogyokarta's palace (where his family still reside) and then went to a Batik painting shop, a water palace with surprisingly little water and a Batik clothing store. Lots of fun but it was very hot AND the sun was out. We came back and it has really started pouring down heavily (that's the weather around here, Singapore & Malaysia - morning sun, afternoon rain, evening could be either).
Right, to continue from where I left off. Pangandaran was cool. We went to a bar on the first night and had a bit to drink. Rob got wasted whilst we enjoyed the musical talents of a drunk Indonesian going by the name of 'Andrew Marley' on the sandy beach by a fire at night. It was a cool experience. We were with a group of Indonesians (tour guide's friends) and a couple of other tourists as we sat around and sang along to Andrew's version of 'No woman, no cry' and 'Three little birds'. He actually claimed to be a descendant of Bob Marley, funnily enough. Later that night (when it started pouring), we went inside and drank by a table in the bar. A couple of hours later and Andrew had fallen from his chair infront of me to be at my feet I.E. he was gone. We couldn't stop laughing hard. He slept on a table later. We got back to our hotel when we were given a lift by an Indonesian friend of our tour guide and Rob puked out of the window. I was fine (well, someone has to be!) and hit the sack after making sure Rob was okay.
Next day and we had a minivan tour to around town and visiting a few stalls of local producers of different food and materials. It was enlightening to see how different people earn their living and wake up to their lives every day. Exactly what I came out for - realising there's a world of difference outside of London! We also spent the afternoon on the beach and walked around near a load of monkeys. At one point, I was sitting on the beach to the left of Anna (from tour group) and looked to her right. There was a big male monkey. I said, 'oooh Monkey!'. She looked to her right, thinking she would see a distant monkey. It was right next to her. She screamed extremely loud and stood. The monkey defensively showed its teeth and scowled. It then took her bottle of coke (they like sweet things) and unscrewed the cap. An Indonesian then cme over and chased the fella away. I stayed seated laughing at the ordeal. Hilarious, though Anna was shocked. Later that night, we played some pool and I lost my final game after potting the black. Afterwards, I went to the net cafe but didn't update my blog as it was rather pricey internet.
Spent the next day going to Green Canyon, a white sand beach, and then a bamboo bridge (by which time it had started to pour). Still had a good time though. Swam in the hotel pool in the late afternoon/evening and saw the stars in the clear night sky (as well as hundreds of bats seeminly flying towards a mosque during prayers). For the late evenng, I went to the same bar I went to the first night and said a few goodbyes and even had a chat with a German bloke who knew the town before the tsunami.
The next day we were off to Jogja, but you know all about that now anyway from above. This may be kinda confusing, but I've been trying to deal with the backlog, so it's understandable not everything is in order. Hope you get the picture. Basically, the journey has been - Bangkok (Thailand), Khao Sok, Krabi, Penang (Malaysia), Cameron Highlands, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Singapore, Jakarta (Java, Indonesia), Pangandaran and now Yogyakarta.
Looking back at that list, I've written about everything I've done in all those cities apart from Singapore and Jakarta. So, if you don't remember what I did somewhere in that list, it's blogged! Check the old blogs! As for Singapore and Jakarta, here it goes...
After a bit of a long journey from Melaka by two minivans, we got to border control and had to do all the immigration stuff. My passport is slowly filling up with stamps! :D
On the other side (and after a bag check in which my pen-knife was pulled out before I assured the guards I only had one), we were immediately face-to-face with a sign in Singapore saying, 'DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS'. Needless to say, they're pretty serious about drugs over here. However, Singapore is on another level when it comes to penalties. They have fines for looooooooooads of stuff. Dancing in the street, public displays of affection, J-Walking, dropping chewing gum or cigarettes, etc - the list goes on. The people there even make fun of it. They have T-shirt stalls with tees saying, 'Singapore is a fine city' and below that are pictures of the different fines they have! Seriously though, chewing gum isn't even sold in the city. Speaking to a taxi driver, he told me that it costs so much to remove it from the streets, they just banned it.
As for the city, it really is just that. A city. It reminded me a helluva lot of London. They even had a congestion charge which the taxi driver told me London took from Singapore! Prices are very expensive, it's full of tall buildings and posh shops. The streets are packed with commuters and tourists dotted about. Overall, not my favourite place. I just found it very confusing, busy and not very tourist friendly. On the bright side, I did manage to get my round-the-world tickets re-issued for $60 Singaporean. That was required because they also got wet when I fell into multiple rivers in Khao Sok. Okay, so yes. I foolishly brought everything important with me on that crazy trek. I wet my camera (which I thnk I'm just gonna have to replace), my mp3 player (I've lost all hope), my vaccinnation certificate I need to prove for Yellow Fever in South America, and my tickets. In my defence, it was my first trek and I didn't know there'd be so many rivers....or at least that I'd fall into so many :P In the end, it's all good anyway. My tickets were replaced and my vaccinnation certificate is clear enough, I can get photos of stuff I've missed off my mates on the tour and can always get a new camera for the rest, plus - I'm still alive!
Anyway, I got that sorted in Singapore and then wanted to go try and fix my camera and mp3. On my way out of the Qantas offices and confused by the bustling city around me, I got a mobile call from Qantas saying they made a mistake and needed me to return. They fixed it and I was out within 30 mins, but now I couldn't fix my electronic devices as all places had shut (it was 1800 local time). It was a shame we arrived so late in Singapore, really. I was briefly angry but shrugged it off and returned to my hotel to meet with my group for a final meal together and then karaoke! We went to eat down a busy street in town and I had a nice meal (as far as I can remember) and a couple of beers. We then went to the internationally renowned Raffles hotel in Singapore to celebrate the end of a great tour in posh style. We each had a Singapore Sling cocktail and sat by a water fountain and live music band playing lounge music (as they do in posh places). The night sky was clear enough to see the stars and the temperature was cool. After a Sling each, we were off to Karaoke! I started by doing a duet of 'Another day in paradise' with Rob. I then solo'd 'I wanna know what love is' by Foreigner - I'm an 80s lad, me ;)
We all joined in for 'Take me home, country roads' and later ended on Lipps Inc's 'Funky town' at 3am. The next morning, Rob and I decided to browse the local market, which made Singapore seem a little better. Plus, we even saw a Hindu temple with a Mosque opposite. I can't emphasise enough how harmonious the vibe is over in such a country and Malaysia and Indonesia. I just stare in awe at the beauty of both stuctures, and people just walk around in peace and with respect of others, regardless of race or religion. It's all good =D After a bit of market browsing, Rob, Fiona and I were to say our goodbyes to the group as we continued our trips onto another tour from Jakarta to Bali. It was sad as we all went our separate ways. John was to stay in Singapore some more before flying to Bahrein (doing Africa before South America). Paul and Alan were going home to England in a few days. Vic was going to pick up another tour group after completing her first tour as a group leader. It was all going to change. We had a fantastic time though and times I'll never forget with the group. We exchanged E-Mail addresses before Rob, Fiona and I jumped into a taxi to Changi airport. We were flying to Jakarta to start the Jakarta to Bali tour.
I arrived in Jakarta last Saturday afternoon and I couldn't hear anything anybody more than one foot away from me said. My ears were completely blocked from the flight of only two hours. The Qatar airlines flight was otherwise alright. Had a meal at 1500 for some reason (though it was nice) and the plane busy with a large group of Pakistanis doing some sort of organised tour led by a few British people. I didn't have a clue what was going on!
Arriving in Jakarta and after waiting ages in a long queue for immigration, I was then told I needed a departure card. I quickly got one, filled it in and then had to wait again for ages. Now I was peed off - I knew I had to meet with my group and check-in to my hotel. Only, I didn't know what time the group were meeting. I needed to rush. When I finally got through to my baggage, I faced a crowd full of Indonesians offering me a taxi. I asked a police guard of his opinion for the safest and most reputable taxi service and then proceeded to book a taxi. As I got towards the taxi, Rob and Fiona met me. They were on the same plane a bit earlier and had surprisingly had the patience to wait for me. 'Surprisingly' only because I took aaaaaaaaages (with the whole immigration malarchy). Anyway, we got in a taxi and got to our hotel. We later met up wit the group and had dinner and a couple of drinks at the hotel. The next morning, we were out of Jakarta to Panagdaran.
That's it! I'm up to date! Woooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! So happy =D Now to update my journal =(
I hope I can keep this up. If not, I'll do what I did more recently as it's quicker I.E. update you with the present whilst later recapping over the gap. Hope you're all happy now...well, apart from the lack of pictures. There are some more to upload from my camera and my mobile (so thankful I brought that for camera and music). I'll also get some photos from my tour mates of the bits I couldn't snap.
Off to ballet now and then dinner. Will probably pick up something to eat first though as I didn't have lunch! Until next time, may the Force be with you.
Darryl
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