Melbourne; Border Security, massive storms and barefeet festivallife with The Prodigy!
07-03-2010 MELBOURNE; Future Music Festival!!!
And today is gonna be a good day! Started with rain and then the hot sun and blue sky came. Heading for the Future Music Festival with Wendy, her colleague, people from the hostel and of cource a bottle of sparkling rose :-) Traintrip to Flemmington Racecourse tok a few minutes. There we are, the party. Like in Holland I have this tradition to drink a bottle of champagne with friends in front of the entrance of the festival, so I did with the wine. Guess what? The police came and told me to sip one more time and throw it away. So I tried to sip the whole bottle and they didn't like that, the police wanted to fine me and I had to throw away the bottle. Ozzies just don't like me, cause the other ones had bags full of drinks with them.
After showing our 145 dollar ticket (WTF?!) finally a good party. Good house and techno, loosing the other persons many times. The barsystem is diffrent then back home. Queing in lines, maximum of 2 drinks and ofcourse fuckin expensive! So champagne was the best option today. After Eric Morillo the rain started... and was followed by a massive rainstorm. Get your raincoat and then...they shut down the festival. Due to heavy rain and worse weather conditions. People start throwing stuff and screamed for David Guetta. After a whil he came, what an atmosphere! Getting crazy and the rainstorm didn't matter. And closing the festival; THE PRODIGY!!! Get in front of the stage and get your flipflops off. Like last year a completely wicked performance with a lot of wild monsters in the pitt. Cuts in my feet, elboys in your face, who cares...this is how to party :-)
Yes, great and wet day. Lost everybody and the way (took the wrong tram) but still amazing.
06-03-2010 MELBOURNE, cyclone, floods, flying trashbins and crazy landlords
What started as a sunny clear day... Exploring the city was much better today. Taking a look at the Moora Festival. Wendy asked me to come to St. Kilda Beach. Slowly as I was I arrived somewhere in the afternoon at St. Kilda. THey have so many nice cakeshops here! Just 5 minutes on the beach and the blue sky turned black, very strong wind, thunderstorms and more. It was freezing all of a sudden. We escaped to the bar nearby. Then the hailing and massive raining started. Hail like iced pingpongballs. There was a wedding going on, the Barbie looking girls didn't look that happy. Public transport was down for a long time, streets were flooded, some roofparts came down in several trainstations. The news told there was a mini cyclone that hit the city of Melbourne today! And more to come tomorrow with the Future Music Festival, and we just bought tickets for 145 dollars each!
Wendy introduced me to her Dutch room mate that took my place; Roos. We had dinner at Lentals, a voluntary vegetarian restaurant in St. Kilda. Great food and pay what you want...so you can eat for 1 dollar if you want.
We went back to the appartment and this landlord Phil was even weirder then we expected. He asked me who I was and walked on the sytreet again. He knew I was the guy that was planning to stay there first. Then he came back home, asked me how long I was in Melbourne, walked to the toilet and walked in the living again. With his head turned red and pissed. 'I'm going outside for half an hour and when I come back, YOU WILL BE GONE!' That's what he was screaming... I wanted to laugh. This guy is crazy, only taking nice young girls in his house, reading pornmagazines and making stupid jokes. We stayed at Wendy's boss apartment later that night, very nice place, tastefull donuts and so much better.
The public transport started again and I went back to the hostel. On my way from the tramstop to the hostel some drunks guys started following me and got agressive. They started throwing trashbins at me. What the fuck is wrong with Melbourne nowadays?!
05-03-2010 MELBOURNE; Arriving and Border Security
My feeling told me arriving at the airport was not gonna be easy this time. I was right :-) The stamp from Immigrations was quick, but after I was picked out to answer some questions, the officer wrote some lettres on my Arrival Card. Just before Baggage Claim I was interveiwed again, the officer didn't trust me because I spend only 2 days in Thailand and I was travelling alone. I had to go to a another place for a complete baggage check, not only scanning, but searching everything and turning it inside out. A 3rd interview with a lot of questions. I had to give them some people contact details in case of checking my story. And everything all in front of the camera's of 'BORDER SECURTY' (They were filming today). At least they appologized when I seemed to be a honest person. Welcome in Australia!
Skybus to the city and started to find a cheap hostel was not possible. Contacted Endy and my room in the appartment was already given to somebody else. They couldn't reach me for a long time:-( Melbourne is rainy and expensive, I miss Asia already. Finally I was in a secret hostel that's not officially open. Just to keep the drunk people and party people out. Boys are not really accepted. It's new, quiet and clean, but still 25 bucks for a dorm.
My Dutch friend Wendy introduced me to some of here colleagues, funny people. Wendy and me went out with Nick, first 2 places were very boring; only Rock n Roll music and nobody was dancing. We went to another place that was more fun. Better music and later on a live band that played some modern rock covers. Good atmosphere in the beginning, only Ozzies inside. I lost the other 2 and some Ozzie girls tried to seduce me and triedto steel our drinks, that was not gonna happen! Slutty kisses don't work with me :-) They night was not that long, but damn, people here are too drunk! Or am I getting too old for this? :-)
Goodbye good Asian life
04-03-2010 BANGKOK - MELBOURNE, Hard to say goodbye
Last day in lovely Thailand. Walking from Rambrutti to Chinatown. Weird market with lot of local people around illegal childporn dvd's, weapons, knives everything. Taking a boat back to pier no. 13 (Kao San Road) for free. Seeing dead floating dogs in the river. Again BKK was stinking hot. Spend our last money on take-away market food and eat it in the mini-van, I'm gonna miss this.
4 hours before departure on the airport, checking in as the first. Eating pizza's and spray some parfume testers to kill the sweaty smells. I had to say goodbye to Karien, her flight was leaving on hour earlier than mine. This was a really hard goodbye. What do you expect, becoming so close and really good frriens, experiencing very good and some hard times. It was unforgettable. If I see her again after her adventure in Indnesia? We don't know...
In the low-cost Jetsar flight I dind't expect anything. Because my ticket also said 'No Meal'. But strangely enough there was a code behind my name and I received everything, without paying for it! Several meals, blankets, travelpillows and much more. The boring other people in the plane looked strange at me, why does a dirty smelly backpacker get that? Yeah, I had a good, quiet, relaxing 9,5 hour flight.
03-03-2010 BANGKOK; Arrival with the sleepertrain
Long sleepless night after the conversations of last night. The guy below was still looking drunk. Peanutbutter and breadbreakfast like everyday last week. The train arrived in Bangkok with a delay of 1,5 hour at 12:00. The tuktukdrivers were ghetting crazy, 300 Bath for a ride to Th. Rambrutti! AFter some discussions and telling them we were here many times we jumbed on bus 53, just behind the trainstation. This one takes you to Kaosan Road for FREE! Finding a descent and aircon guesthouse was difficult. But Karien managed to find just the perfect place! What a team :-)
Spending so much money on cheap clothing and other stuff. This will not be possible in the next months. A long heavy day. A hostel staffmember kicked my out of his place because I just asked for something. He made me angry after his behaviour. Streetfood took ages, but the cocktails and sheesha tasted good. To lazy deep in the night. More Pad Thai Chicken to calm down. The last wonderfull night in Thailand...
02-03-2010 CAMERON HIGHLANDS - BUTTERWORTH - HADYAI - BANGKOK
Same busdriver as two days ago. Bye bye strawberries and tea. After 5 hours arrived in Butterworth, dissapointment all over when they told us the train to Bangkok was full today. When we got back at the busterminal the minivans were full too. The next big bus to Hadyai was delayed. Shit...
The busride to Hadyai was longer then expected, many (3) checks at Immigrations. Thailand was different. No more English or people that understand it. Temples and chaos everywhere. Hdyai was burning, and the tuktuksdriver became vey agressive since last time. 2 persons pulling my arm and didn't want to stop. We ignored them and managed to book a sleeper train, the most luxury class. It seemed to be the same train that left from Butterworth! So it was not full...all the hassle for nothing. I left Karien alone for a few minutes and boys started bothering her again.
The trantrip...a drunken loud and sick guy on the bed below Karien and words from Karien that made me very unhappy.Yes, travelling and different plans...for some people that's too difficult...
01-03-2010 CAMERON HIGHLANDS; Climbing the highest point
09:00 started, local bus was not working. They tried more busses, all were broken down. They got us out of the bus and put other people in it. Another guy hit the battery a few times with a big pieve of iron, flames came out of the bus , but the engine was working. They left and we stood there, receiving back our money. Taxidrivers were argueing and didn't want to take us. We had some delay to get to the start of Track 1. In good weather we climbed the highest mountain in the Cameron Highland, Gunung Brinchang (>2000 metres). Not as spectecular as Mt. Kinabalu but still worth a steep and mozzy climb. Karien hit her head very hard, I felt down from some slippery mozzy twigs and lost all our water. Karien found a watch that was lost by some people we met further on the track, they exchanged there bottle of water for their watch, perfect :-)
The top of the mountain was full with communication towers and fog. And there was also a road down, people driving with a minivan to the top to make a picture there...lazy people. On our way down on the otherside a lot of nice flore in the mozzy forrest. I even spotted something that nobody told us about; White Gibbon! Butterflies are just relaxing on your chest and head if you keep still.
The teafields were amazing when the sun came through. Running in the green fiels was fun. The way down took already 17km, time to start hitchhiking again. The nice Jemen people dropped us at the first town, we had delicious expensive food at Strawberry Moments...I love these sweet strawberries! We took another lift with somebody else, hitchhiking is so easy in Malaysia. There are way more tracks in the Highlands, but we were out of time after 7 hours of walking and climbing. All the other things here (strwaberryfarms, beefarms, cactusfarms, rosefarms or whatever you wanna see) are very commercial. Don't expect something special, it's all about earning money.
Viewing the sunset from a different place this time, on top of a big contruction building. Dinner was experiencing a lot of patience. Karien finished her meal for ages and the crew forget my dish over and over again. After more then an hour it was there. No nightmarket today.
28-02-2010 GEORGETOWN - CAMERON HIGHLANDS
We are going with a steep old swiss train and a coable car up to the top of Penang Hill, at least this was the plan. After crossing the town of Air Hitam it seemd that the Railway was closed since last week for construction work. The hill will be closed for 1 year! So there was only one thing left to see around here; Kek Lok Si Temple (the largest temple in Malaysia). Just against on of the hill sides there is this huge Burmuse/Chinise/Thai styled temple. After Chinese Newyear so still very busy. The entrance is free, you only have to pay for the steep train to reach the last part of the tower; the immense statue. We were back a little earlier so Karien went shopping and I visited the town by daylight this time.
The busride to Cameron Highlands took crossing the 13km long bridge to the mainland. Entering the area around Ipoh looked more like Halong Bay (without the sea) with allthese mysterious rocks out of the ground. Arrived at Tanah Rata just after sunset. Finding a quiet nice geusthouse with very thin walls. And it was raining on the road, very hard. So temperatures are better here. The Dutch Karaoke bar was closed, so we spend some time on the food market.
27-02-2010 PULAU LANGKAWI - PULAU PENANG; New Years party!
Honest as we are, we payed for our last guesthouse. It was possible to just walk away. SPending some time on the beach of Cenang, the weather was cloudy today. A lot of parasailers, 1 smashed very hard on the beach. On our way to the jetty pier we were in the middle of the bicycle race of THE IRON MAN (Cycling, running, swimming). The boattrip to Penang took around 3 hours and we arrived in the middle of Goergetown. With all the skyscrapers it looks like a big modern city. There are also a lot of old buildings and temples, what makes it a World Heritage Site. Seeing it by night is much better then during the day for a lot of building, because some look shit by daylight.
Most guesthouses were full. We found one of the cheapest in Malaysia. Just 26 Ringgit for a matrass on the floor, mosquitos and geckos everywhere, but still with aircon. And the name of the street; Lovelane, how romantic...
And what do you think, it was the closing of Chinese Newyear so finally a big party! Asian people everywhere, doing wishes and other games. The town was filled with the smell of incentives. Fireworks on many places, dancing dragons, some big stages with performances and good food. The performances later that night were funny, crappy housetunes with samples and melody's we heard 15 years ago. But if you haven't heard good housemusic for a long time, then your legs want to jump :-)
A lot of walking, so time for some drinks at the Reggae Bar. First we went to a barstreet with expensive bars and clubs. We walked into the club calles Slippery Senorita's (what a name haha). And they experienced a power blackout. So everybody walked around with candels and mobile phones to find their way. The cocktail and the terraces outside were like lemonade. I was in a partymood!
26-02-2010 PULAU LANGKAWI; The end of the resortlife
Our last unlimeted food at the resort buffet, shit. We enjoyed it. Plans for today; crocodilefarm, handycrafts and mangcrove cruise. The last one was worth a visit. We hired a boat for 300 Ringgit and cruised over the river through the mangrove forrests. Amazing. Views were spectacular. And we started feeding the eagles, the huge beautifull creatures came from everywhere. AFter a while we stopped at a fishfarm with Tuna, Barracudas, Reefsharks and a lot more. I put my hand in the mouth of a stingray and cuttles with a weird looking crab. The spittingfish were fun too. Karien was freaking out when the fish eat the bread off her finger, I just laughed and laughed. The trip took around 2 hours so for me a good oppurtunity to get some extra tan on front of the boat. Cruising in some caves and again Karien freaked out in the Batcave, whahahaa. So much fun today. Going back on the Andaman Sea. This is defenately a MUST-DO when you're on Pulau Langkawi!
When we got back at the resort we were surprised by a big group of those cute balck monkeys with the white 'glasses'. So cute, but it was freaking out day for Karien...there was a monkey between her legs that scared the shit out of her. That's why she hit my head, thanks Karien ;-) We dropped her parents at the airport and said goodbye to all the other groupmembers. We started searching for a guesthouse at Cenang, very hard and everything full. We arranged a place that was just finished with building. Shopping on the streets and walking on the beach at night. I wanted a last good partynight. The two cool beachbars are Little Lylia (with live bands and reggae music) and Babylon. Both with good cocktails and a lot of backpackers. LKarien was not feeling good so we went home...
26-02-2010 PULAU LANGKAWI; The end of the resortlife
Our last unlimeted food at the resort buffet, shit. We enjoyed it. Plans for today; crocodilefarm, handycrafts and mangcrove cruise. The last one was worth a visit. We hired a boat for 300 Ringgit and cruised over the river through the mangrove forrests. Amazing. Views were spectacular. And we started feeding the eagles, the huge beautifull creatures came from everywhere. AFter a while we stopped at a fishfarm with Tuna, Barracudas, Reefsharks and a lot more. I put my hand in the mouth of a stingray and cuttles with a weird looking crab. The spittingfish were fun too. Karien was freaking out when the fish eat the bread off her finger, I just laughed and laughed. The trip took around 2 hours so for me a good oppurtunity to get some extra tan on front of the boat. Cruising in some caves and again Karien freaked out in the Batcave, whahahaa. So much fun today. Going back on the Andaman Sea. This is defenately a MUST-DO when you're on Pulau Langkawi!
When we got back at the resort we were surprised by a big group of those cute balck monkeys with the white 'glasses'. So cute, but it was freaking out day for Karien...there was a monkey between her legs that scared the shit out of her. That's why she hit my head, thanks Karien ;-) We dropped her parents at the airport and said goodbye to all the other groupmembers. We started searching for a guesthouse at Cenang, very hard and everything full. We arranged a place that was just finished with building. Shopping on the streets and walking on the beach at night. I wanted a last good partynight. The two cool beachbars are Little Lylia (with live bands and reggae music) and Babylon. Both with good cocktails and a lot of backpackers. LKarien was not feeling good so we went home...
25-02-2010 LANGKAWI, cablecar and beachtime
Weather is looking good today, almost clearblue. Went to Oriental Village, very touristic with many (souvenir) shops. Bargaini g is not possible here. You can also ride around with a Segway. We took the cablecar up to the highest point of the island (just 751 metres whahaha). Good views and some walks to other platforms. Walking over a canopybridge on top of the mountain. We only saw one of the 7 waterfalls in the distance. All the other ones were dry at the moment. Down in the village I was with women, so that means more shopping. We grabbed a ball from one of the shops and strted to play football, the people were not that happy about it :-)
We spent our whole morning here. The afternoon was for the beach and tanning. I was climbing rocks and crossing the sea to a virgin island. Drinking some rum and enjoying relaxing life here. Dinner at a Chicken restaurant near the resort; cheap and lovely. You only had top wait a little while :-)
24-02-2010 LANGKAWI; bicycletrip and Cenang Beach
Todays there's a bicycletrip with the resort people. Just relaxing, we were the youngest of the group :-) Sweating like crazy in this heat. Visiting some plantages, farms and other sights. Opening and eating fresh coconuts, vistiting local homes and I wanted to look in there fridge. Some people shower outside and life can be very basic. Children at the school were a little bit too enthousiastic and screamed to us just to say hello. The end of the trip was for tasting all local special dished and snack, I couldn't stop eating.
On our way back we stopped at the small luxury harbour. The shops and restaurants here are dead. The yachts are huge and expensive, but what are they doing here? There is nothing around this harbour. Walking back on the beach with a few beers.
The group was cool, with some people from my hometown Rotterdam. We went shopping in the town of Cenang and there I met Kent and Flemming again from Denmark. I lost the rest of the group. Before we had dinner at a cheap Chinese place, unlucky as I am I had bad chicken. Stomachproblems! Stopping at many places to go to the toilet was not fun.
The dream goes on...
After some days of luxury resortlife in Pulau Langkawi it's time for dirty backpacking again! :-)
The trip goes on for a while. Most 'problems' are solved. And I'm used to all the health issues. Last week in Malaysia andnext week crazy life in Melbourne (Australia) starts!Partying and working...so last days of serious holiday...
Pictures will follow in 2 weeks.
First weeks of MALAYSIA and wonderfull BORNEO, became 30 in BRUNEI !
23-02-2010 BINTULU - PULAU LANKAWI, life is easy
Exploring the markets and steaming hot city of Bintulu. Nice coconut Roti's and many sorts of fresh fruit to get rid off the stomach problems. Yesterday I saved a bird, today some birds attacked me, flying towards me and picking me on the head...why?! There are a lot of illegal private taxidrivers, after some negotiation we got a ride to the airport for just 22 Ringgit. First flight to Kuala Lumpur, I got a complete interview at Immigrations because they didn't trust my visit. 3 hours at Luala Lumpur ended up in eating, eating and more eating.
The flight to Pulau Langkawi was a little bit delayed, we arrived at Langkawi around 22:15. Surprise! Karien's parents waited at the airport and took us to their Resort at Langkawi. Those are really nice people. And they arranged some accomodation for us, perfect! AFter meeting some other groupmembers it was time for a good sleep on a normal bed this time :-)
22-02-2010 BRUNEI - MIRI - NIAH CAVES - BINTULU
08:00 New Express bus all for ourselves. This was good for bordercrossing, we spend just a few minutes at Immigration. The bsu left at 08:00 in the morning and took 2,5 hours. They don't drop you off in Miri Town Centre, we had to take a local bus. They send us to the wrong place, so again another local bus. Miri is a big city. After some time we arrived at the long distance busterminal, just in time for the bus to Niah that left at 12:30. Some weird guy they had to throw out of the bus. More sleeping, after 1,5 hour we arrived at the Niah junction. Here you have to discuss with the locals for hiring a private car to the Niah Caves National Park 15km away from here, it cost us 20 Ringgit (one way). ASt 15:00 at the Park Headquarters, it closes at 17:00 but you can come back from the caves after that time. The boardwalk through the jungle was 4km. The Great Cave was fucking huge! This is really different then all the others in South East Asia. A lot of birds and bats in the caves, and a lot of shit :-) And you will need a headlamp/torch because its really dark. At another tunnelcave we put our lamps out and this was cool; all the birds and bats flying around you and seeing absolutely nothing. The Painted Caves are a little bit further, but the paintings are almost gone. You can see some archeological sites and skeletons. There were some signs for dangers...well I found out why. I walked behind the lines and at some point I felt first on my bump and my head hit one of the rocks. The camera felt also on the rocks. Luckely no real damage :-) And watch out at the boardwalks to the Painted Caves, the are old, rotten and broken at many places. If you walk at the sides and if you're a little heavy, youy will defenitely fall down!
Getting back at 18:30. The local guy told us before that there would be enough cars to bring us back to the junction...NOT! The staffmembers told us that there would be no people anymore to bring us back 15km. But keep being positive :-) I found some Archeological students and started to chat with them, asking them to bring us somewhere. They did, just for free. Hitchhiking is easy! :-) Having serious stomachproblems again and just in time for the 2 hour Expressbus to Bintulu.
In Bintule everything is dead after 18:00. Almost everything closed and no local transport. So we were forced to take a Teksi for 20 Ringgit. The Bakun Inn Hotel was chill, and the Ban Kee Cafee had the best food in whole South East Asia! Damn, this was soooooo nice (Chicken Dry Chili, Rice and Spinach with Egg), so cheap!
21-02-2010 KOTA KINABALU - PULAU LABUAN - MUARA (BRUNEI) Happy Birthday!
04:30 in Kota Kinabalu, no sleep at the last nightbus. Loud music in the local bus. I'm getting old, I felt out off the bus...auw! So I'm 30 now, celebarting in with nuggets at KFC at 05:00 in the morning. Balloons, happy birthday hats and free Cokes. Rhis was the start of a very funny day... EVrerybody shouted 'Happy Birthday' all day long. We took 2 feriies (1 to Pulau Labaun and 1 to Muuara Port). The orange colored balloons on my backpack folowed us everywhere, even Immigrations left it on the bag and laughed about it. In Brunei alcohol is prohibited, so we got some Bacardi at the jetty pier for just 7 euro's. And some delicious Belgian chocolates.
The karaoke on the ferrie was horrible, dvd's of the earkilling Germans Modern Talking (they are still alive?!). We missed the bus at Port Muara so we had to get a car among the road, tai was very expensive. We found one local that took us 30km to BSB (the capitol of Brunei) for 10 dollars.
BSB was like a gohscity, Sunday and so quiet. Nobody on the streets. You can walk around this city in 1 hour. Only the mosque is kind of nice to see. And there we discoved that it's not accepted in Brunei when male and female are close together...they shouted at us, and our glittering Happy Birthday hats were not making them happy too. Such a rich country and still a lot of poorness when you see the people living at the water village.
We took a more luxury hotel this time, it's my birthday :-) and got drunk on the Bacardi whit the moviechannels. In the city was not much to do, only unlimited satay at the food stables. AFter this I got sick again for 2 days...
My 30th birthday ended with fireworks everywhere in the city. Just like NEw Years Eve in Holland. Everybody is shooting fireworks on the streets. I Still don't know why...
20-02-2010 KINABATANGAN RIVER CRUISE
Breakfast at The Fat Cat bakery was interesting, some staff members were having a big bitchfight. A lot of screaming and fighting inside whaha. Buying the Happy Birthday decorations for the big day tomorrow, becoming 30 years old! 12:30 pickup with a local guys' personal car. The ride took around 2 hours. Arriving in the ghosttown of Sukau. THey shops had no more drinks and ice creams, but they had a internetshop to book our last minute tickets to Langkawi, yes! Because I couldn't book tickets online, I'm having new creditcard problems UNBELIEVABLE !
The 2,5 hour rivercruise is nothing more then with 8 people in a small open boat through the jungle. The Sunset River Cruise showed us many Hornbills, Macaque monkeys, Kingfisher birds, some other tropical birds, the monkeys with the strange big nose and a nice sunset. Yes, this was much better then our rainforrest dicovery yesterday. The included dinner was not enough, if you have at least for Dutchies in your group... You will need more food. So the people behind us only had plain rice. They were also out of softdrinks, what a tourcompany whaha.
SOmebody should give us a lift to a junction 1 hour away from this town and there we should jump on a bus. We were sure that the bus would arrive at 23:00. They kept on telling us that the times had changed and we should be there at 21:00. So no more time to jump on the nightcruise. And guess what? We waited there for 2 hours in complete darkness in the middle of nowhere for the bus, that arrived at? 23:00 :-) Sitting at the back off the bus was jumpy, and so many people vomintting in the bus, jagh!
19-02-2010 SEPILOK, Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre
TIme to sleep for a while, mini bas to Sepilok for the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. Well, nobody told us this was closed from 11:00 till 14:00. Altough the people in Malaysia are very helpfull and friendly with everything. We walked to the Rainforrest Discovery Park, just 1,5km away. This was not that interesting. Birdwatching during mid day sucks, some smal birds and 4 Hornbills flying away. Some salamanders and watersnakes and that's it. The most 'exciting' thing was swinging in the canopy bridge over the water... Walking back was burning hot, but a big luxury 4WD stopped and asked us to go with them. They seemed okay so we took a ride to the rehabilitation centre. Watching a presentation about the urgent matters of extinction of the Orang Utans. Tickets for foreigners are 6 times more expensive then for Malaysians! We saw at least 6 of these so humanlike creatures (they are 96,4% human). The feedingtime was more picturetime. One of the Orang Utans was very curious and tried to get on the platform for the visitors, the park rangers scared her away everytime.
After a long local busride back (traffic jam) just more time to relax. Tastefull Cheesy Chicken Mayonnaise RIce dish from the street. We tried to get some cocktails at the rooftop of the NAK Hotel for a nice sunsetview. They were out of Mojito's! During the evening there is nothing much to do in Sandakan, early bedtime.
18-02-2010 PULAU MANTANANI, diving for Dugongs
Why not? STill feeling the musclepain of the big mountainclimb from the last days and we go diving/snorkling. AFter a long busride we arrived at the jettypier near Kota Bedul. Small speadboat for 20 people. It was windy and that's why the ocean was rough. The trip took almost 2 hours, jumping over big waves and shaking around. The scubatanks were lifting up sometimes and some petroltanks cracked and were leaking. Okay, 30 minutes of this is acceptable but not this. After a while we were wet till the bone and so happy to see the island in the distance.
Karien went on another boat for snorklers. There were only Chinese and Japanese people on this trip. The first dive at The Police Gate was nt that bad; many stingrays, huge batfish, anemonefish, tuna and more. But the visebillity sucked, just 5 metres. The BBQ was not a real BBQ and because of all the delays not much time on and around the islands/beaches. The second dive was shit. I had problems the first dive with some air leaking out of my tank. Now on e of the Japanese had the same, but serious trouble. We spend a lot of time solving this under water. The visibillity was ess then 3 metres and the only thing we saw were some nudibranches. SOme other divers got out of air quickly and the picture taking Japanese diver was not looking and constantly swimming against me.
The trip back was fast. We told the boatdriver to speed and he did. Wind from behing this time, jumping over the waves. Some time the waves were so high, they went over the boat and everybody got wet, cool! We loved it, it was just like a 1 hour rollercoaster ride.
We asked the shuttle to get our backpacks at the hotel and drop us at the busterminal in KK, there we got a local bus to the big busterminal outside KK for our bus to Sandakan. 19:00just in time. Everyting unprepared but easy. Not sick anymore and in the evening we filled ourselves with cakes, sweet sandwiches and cokes. Ariving at 01.00 in the night around Sandakan. Didn't knew where we were, so took a Teksi to the KFC (the hotel told us that they were next to KFC). But they didn't told us there was another KFC :-) After some walking around we found the cheap place that we reservated. TIme for relaxing!
17-02-2010 MOUNT KINABALU; day 2
We forgot our mobilephones and had no alarmclocks, so the neighbours woke us up at 01:30 in the night. 02:00 supper breakfast; eat eat eat and drink a lot of hot tea. At almost 03:00 we started the last 2,7km of the climb to the top, in complete darkness. It was a cool thing to see, this long line of people with headlamps walking on the mountain (around 130 climbers plus guides). We started as one of the last and arrived with the first 15 people at the highest top. The walk was amazing and not that hard. It hasn't rained last night so the rocks weren't slippery at all. I'm feeling more energy, but while sitting on the top I felt very sick again. Luckely it was freezing up there so that feeling was overtaking the sickness sometimes. Wearing 2 shirts, a vest and a rain/windjacket was not enough. And bring some gloves! We were there to fast so we had to wait and hour in the cold for the sunrise. This was again spectaculair, maybe a little too overcrowded with all those picturetaking climbers. We decided to get back fast. Scenery on the way back was soooo nice. This is one of the best activities of my trip! We enjoyed the cheap sweet pancakes to get some extra energy. I was dancing down the mountain at some points, but our guide told us after a while to use the rope because it was getting to steep and dangerous.
Just a short nap of 20 minutes and breakfast again, good. Walking down the last 6km was not that easy. It was hot and sunny the first few kilometres (clothes out again). And after a while we felt our knees and legs. The legs were already shaking after the first descent. After a few kilomtres we were in the clouds/mist again and the track was getting slippery. The people that were climbing up today didn't look really happy. And you see these guys walking up with drinks, cans and food to the resthouse, unbeleivable. At least 35kg there are carrying up everytime.
It took us 3,5 hours to get down the last 6km, not what we expected. The lunch was good, pasta, chocolatemuffins, curries atc. Arranging a minivan with some ather climbers, this trip took a little bit longer then the taxiride.
Yes, I'm finally feeling better. Now it's time for a 4 personmeal at Pizzahut :-) Maybe this was too enthousiastic for 2 persons... And everything went wrong with our order, who cares after this unforgettable climb.
16-02-2010 MOUNT KINABALU, dauy 1 start of the big climb
I told Karien before the minibussed leave at 07:00 but she heard 07:30. And 07:30 was not right. TAking the minibus of 08:00 was not good so what should we do? It seems that you can also jump into a 7 person Teksi (taxi) for just 16 RInggit (same price as the bus) and it brings you to the mountain headquarters in 1 hour instead of 3. We did, with a local family. And afters seeing the plastic bags again, oh yes! Vomitting children in the back of the taxi. Seeing the mountain from a distance was impressive, do we reaaly have to climb all the way to the top? This thing is huge!
At the headquarters we arranged our permits, lunchpackages and guide. BRing your own water, becaue the charge you 3 times more here. Add we think we're gonna loose our guide, this little mountaingoat (as I called him) was just half our size.
The first few kilometres were ok, hot and sweaty. I was only wearing shoes and pants after the first kilometre. We were walking in the clouds and only one time we saw the sun for a few seconds. The paths are wlkable. SOmetimes wooden steps and most of the time rocks. I was feelings very sick and at some point I was out of energy. Nobody to motivate me, so I did it myself. After 4km I lost Karien and the guide out of sight. Only on character I made it to the resthouse at 6km, reunited with the guide and Karien again. In spite of my bad sick condition, I made it with the first group of people that arrived at the basecamp. Fall asleep for a few hours. It was raining hard outside. When we woke up and walked outside there was this most incredible sunset ever! These cloudformations are amazing, and we were kilometres above it. Sooooo beautifull.
The good thing was, I was feeling hungry and there was all-you-can-eat. That's good about this trip, verytime you eat it is all-you-can-eat. I spoke with some other people and it seems that I'm already known as The Hot Stripping Climber (because I sweat so much and climb the mountain half naked). Oh, and be shure to be well prepared for a cold evening. They had powerproblems at the moment, so no heater in the resthouse. We went to bed at 20:00 with alot of clothes and blankets. We had to get up at 02:00 this night!
15-02-2010 KOTA KINABALU, National Park - Manukan Island
Changing hotel. Arranging tours and tickets took some time. The mountainclimbtrip is offered by several hotels and company's around 830 to 1500 Ringgit, we found the official shop and got it for 566 Ringgit (still a lot of money). Again to Little Italy, we loved the food there. Speedboat to Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, Pulau Manukan , not in time for 3 island trip because it was so busy with Chinese Newyear. The island was crowded and when you buy the ticket at the jettycounter, don't think you're done with paying. You have to pay taxes, and more fees everytime. Snorkling around Manukan Island (sand and coral) was fun, lot's of tropical fish and stingrays. On the island you can see small lizards while you're enjoying the sun. Waiting for 1 hour for speedboat back. The sunrise is not that spectecular as they say.
Almost all shops closed because of Chinese Newyear, no activities, not really much to see/do in town. The only thing that reminds me of partying are all the cars with loud booming hardstyle music... damn, I miss these party's in Holland. Try to eat food on market, but not a good feeling yet, I'm feeling sicker again just before the big climb. And walking around in blood on the foodmarket was not the best idea with this feeling :-)
14-02-2010 JOHOR BAHRU - KOTA KINABALU, Chinese Newyear
Airportshuttle very early, feeling not too good. Some questions on the airport from Immigrations, because I didn't receive a Departure Card. But this was not a big problem. The flight to Kota Kinabalu took about 2,5 hours. Everything easy going, waited for the cheap City Transfer for just 1 Ringgit. Walked a long way in Kota Kinabalu (few kilometres) in the hot burning sun. Well, nothing arranged in advance with Chinese Newyear is not the smartest thing :-) But we found a place after a while, just in time cause I almost collapsed.
After some resting time for Little Italy. I'm finally feeling a little bit hungry so this tasty place with Italian pasta was perfect. Good meal.
CHinese Newyear today, again no huge parties or activities. A lot of people on the streets but that's it. Sometimes they shoot a big rocket in the air, but the big fireworks? SO we spend some time walking around town and tried to fall asleep with the live music downstairs. Oh yeah, even people in Idols sing better then these false singing cats :-)
13-02-2010 PULAU TIOMAN - MERSING - JOHOR BAHRU; unprepared travel
Ferry was more then one hour too late. We had to pay becuase we lost our bag with tickets... well, at the end of the day I found the tickets somewhere uhm. Stupid Vincent, I know... :-) Arranging the bus to Johor Bahru was fast. But no possibility to book airlinetickets online anymore for today, shit. Calling Air Asia didn't work, busy all the time. So just hope for the best.
Arriving at Larkin Busterminal (Johor Bahru) after a fast driving busride, damn these people think it's a Rally for buscoaches. Local bus to the airport, long trip and crowded hot bus. funny when you feel sicker and sicker. The tickets at the airport were all of a sudden much more expensive then a few hours ago. So decided to take the earliest flight the next day. Back to Johor City. The Airport shuttles go for double prices.
And what they say about accomodation in JB is true; dirty, smelly, hot and you may hope that you find something descent. Well, we stayed in cheap Hotel Hawai; temperatures like in Hawai, holes in the matrass, smelly, leaking everywhere, horny cats screaming all the time etc. At least they had an elevator.
Expected some activities because of Chinese Newyear. Nope. So we went to the Cineplex today. Just 10 Ringgit! And the cinema's are better then in Holland. And guess what, my bankproblems are finally solved, almost kissed the ATM when I received the money...
12-02-2010 PULAU TILOMAN, tropical white beaches, turtles, scharks and snorkling burka's
Reservation 1 day before, no way...arrange something spkntanuous like our Coral Island snorklingday. Started with 3 people and in half an our a full small speedboat. The adrenaline rushed trough my vanes with this cool speedboat adventure, rough sea, high waves and flying over these waves was wicked! Try to get a grip somewhere on the boat, but sometimes you almost fall out of the boat...no wonder why they gave us the life jacket.
The snorkling around Coral Island was beautifull; parrotfish, moonfish, barracuda's and a lot of standard fish (but many). The highluight was ofcourse the turtle. Second stop was Long Beach (on the small virgin island), beaches where you dream about. White sand, palmtrees, amazing rockformations and good views on the area around the island. Sana told me something about sounds from the bushes, well this was the lizard that walked around.
3rd stop on the other side of the island, with rough sea. The 2 girls from the group from Jemen surprised me, they even snorkel and swim with the complete Burka! Weird appeareance but respect :-) They became seasick so we had to turn back. But snorkling in the deeper waters is the best for spotting Reef Sharks, I saw 1 and was so enthousiastic. We dropped the 4 from Jemen at the jettypier and hopped on to the next island/area; Monkey Bay. Known for it's turtles and sharks, but didn't see them here.
Nice last day on Pulau Tioman, enjoying the tasteful Roti's.
11-02-2010 SALANG BEACH, TIOMAN, relax and do n othing all day
THis feels good, not coming out of bed and not a sweaty dirty room this time. More dissapointing was the view on the beach when I took a look on our terrace. It was low tide almost all day, so rocks and no chance for a normal entry in the water. So where are all the white sandy beaches where everybody's talking about? On the other side of the jetty pier there is a beach whit white sand (when the sun shines) and a nice refreshing swim. This is what we did, sunbading and swimming all day long.
Hong Kong Noodles, try this deep fried stuff, it's fantastic!
One small problem today, we forgot one of the bags with food and all our tickets (Marinepark, returntickets) yesterday on the boat. The boat was not coming today and the booking agency didn't want to help us.
10-02-2010 MERSING - TIOMAN ISLAND, unexpected waste of time
We were so happy, taking the nightbus from Kuala Lumpur to arrive in the early morning at Mersing (around 04:00). And then they tell us that because of the monsoon season there is only one ferry to TIoman Island today, at 15:00! So we bought some ferry tickets and received some mats to sleap on from the booking company. First tried to sleep on the floor in the shopping mall like all the others. But this was too hot and there were too many mosquitos. SO sleeping on the parkinglot, whahaa! Never done that before... But finally we found a good place to sleep, on the beach, we woke up with the sunset around 08:00. Cheap noodles, walking on the beach, playing Yatzee for a long time, walk around the dead town, get some food for on the ferry. And at 15:00 thinking we copuld get on the boat...not! A delay of 2 hours, for what?
At 19:00 after a bumpy speedboattrip we were there; Salang Beach at Tioman Island. Sunset when we arrived, found a cheap place at Ella's place at the North end of the beach, with a bungalow on the beach. Good life... with dinner in the sand
09-02-2010 KUALA LUMPUR - MERSING, hot hot hot!
7:30 alarmclock, shit. Just to the Twin Towers again to get in line for the free bridgewalk tickets. ANd we were not the only one... 1 hour and hundreds of people in front of us. I won the bet, so free fruitshakes for me today :-) The bridgewalk was not as spectecular as the KL Tower yesterday, with a crappy 3D movie at the start. Later that day we tried to find out the bussystem in KL, this was not easy. So walking to this huge park with lakes...sooooo boring! Nothing to do there and nobody there. Just got some bustickets after a quick decisision to go to Tioman Island tomorrow. And what I will remember from this day? It was sooo hot, never felt so hot before. And the guesthouse organised that som backpackers could play in a movie today and payed 200 Ringgit for it...but I was not white enough whahahaa. Movienight in our cozy guesthouse to kill the time.
ANd then it started, massive thunderstorm with tropical rain. ANd we had to walk a while to the busstation. Well, Karien looked like a weird animal with her red raincover over herself and her backpacks. I was just soaking wet.
08-02-2010 KUALA LUMPUR, Explore the city
Woke up late, there are no windows in our room so it stays very dark. Jumped on the metro (KLR) and wanted to climb the Twin Towers (Petronas Towers). This is closed oin monday... So shopping in the huge shoppingmall. Litres of these delicious Pink Passion Juice shakes (Passion fruit). Relaxing in the parlk of The Golden Triangle, climbing in trees and finding our way to the KL Tower. This was not that easy, we didn't knew you have to enter this Forrest area first to get to the KL Tower. But after a few steps through the party and entertainment district of Kuala Lumpur we found the entrance. You can't get to the observation deck without buying a complete package of activities. We choose Package A; observation deck was nice and I was reunited with my good old favorite hometown Rotterdam, the Euromast was in the KL Tower. The Formula 1 simulator was broken! Damn... Then we had this funny horseride, but the told us we were too heavy whahahaaa. The Animalforrest was not really interesting.
On our walk (yeah, Kuyala Lumpur is not that big, you can walk) back we had some time to relax on the grass of Medena Square. Visiting all the main attractions/buildings in this town. At the end of this day we were so tired. Falling asleep quite early ater some chats with more Dutch people in Chinatown.
07-02-2010 HCMC - KUALA LUMPUR, Goodbye Vietnam, hello Maylasia, hello sweet girlfriend!
Too much pain from inflammations, so soft breakfast. Jumped with all my bags on a Xe Om (scooter) and let's go to the international airport. Just when I was sitting on this dodgy scooter I recognised it, out of all 16 million scooters in Saigon I was sitting on the same one as last week! So my last small money of Vietnamese Dong I spent to this guy.
On the airport everything was easy. No waiting, checking in, just 20 kg and you don't have to pay Departure Tax anymore whenyou leave Vietnam. Immigration was 1 minute work. And the roads in Saigon were surprisingly empty at 07:30. So it took 20 minutes to get to the airport. When there is busy traffic you will need at least 30 minutes with a Xe Om (and a lot more with a taxi). Exchanging Vietnamse Dong for Maylasian Ringgit was not possible with th banks in Saigon and on the airport. Only US Dollars, but the exchange rate when you buy US Dollars is bad. Around 19.600 Dong for 1 US Dollar at the moment.
Arriving at Kuala Lumpur was easy too. I arrived first out of the plane, so filled in the wrong immigrationform, but the officer told me it was okay. In just 2 minutes I had my stamp and it didn't cost anything. So grab my backpack and just 30 minutes after landing I was reunited with Karien again. After a long hug it was time for something else I haven't seen for a long time; McDonalds! Oreo McFlurries yummie. The bustransfer is more then 70km for just 8 Ringgit. Finding a cheap hotel; Le Village is our place. Filled with couches and a real relaxing backpacker atmoshphere. The rooms were small and hot, shared dirty bathrooms and a stairway full with shoes. Weird but chilly place just a few minutes from Chinatown and the other main atractions.
Ending the day at The Reggea Bar, a perfect place for cocktails, spicy nuggets and meeting other backpackers.
Last week in VIETNAM
06-02-2010 TAN AN - HO CHI MINH CITY, Goodbye Honda, goodbye Mekong Delta
Morning at the huge Dong Tham Snake Farm at My Tho. Many snakes (mostly Cobras and Pythons), this place is also used for studing snakepoison medicines and recovering after bites. Expected to play with some huge snakes and ride some orcupines but no, this was not possible today. The cages with the thick heavy (around 60kg) snakes were also filled with some other living company; big white ducks.
Since 2009 there is now the biggest bridge of Mekong over the river Tieu. This time no stunts Toan told me, and he didn't let me walk anymore :-)
Heading to Ben Tre we swent to this Government owned touristic island of the Coconut Monk/Religion. The island is called Con Phung Island and is reached by a small boat. Nowadays they show you how they earn money with products from coconuts. The place is pretty boring, but the famous coconut candy's are delicious when they are still fresh from the oven (hot and soft). Oh and there is something else that is funny... there is a mudpool with crocodiles, Toan and me found some fishing-rods and peaces of raw meat...Yes, time for crocodile fishing! Let these creatures jump! And they did, wicked! On the way back Toan told me it's normally not allowed to do this by ourselves (without paying).
The Vien Minh Pagoda in Ben Tre was a more interesting one and is one of the most beatiful ones in the region of the Mekong.
On our way back on the national highway to HCMC we enjoyed all the different things they carry on motorbikes. Arriving in HCMC at 17:00 was chaos again, on the motorbike it was even more fun. Strangly enough I had to show Toan the way in Saigon, because he was lost AGAIN! Where is this guys sense of direction!?
Our last night ended in District 1, with lot's of beers, food, fried spring rolls, talking with everybody, laughing at old men and Vietnamse prostitutes and finding the cheapest hotel for me. The 12 days (in total) on the motorbike were fantastic. Such a different experience of exploring a country and no regrets at all! Much better then the terrible horrorbusses and lotery sellers :-)
05-02-2010 CAO LANH - TAN AN, stinking hot day and do I look like an freaking alien?
Yes, started the day with a real good feeling, everything is gonna be allright, don't worry...
With this motto Toan also started. He was overtaking this truck, but didn't see thatv there was a smaller truck just in front of it. There was no space between the two trucks and from the opposite direction there was a huge bus coming toward us. No more time to break and only one option...full ga and hope we make it. It happened so fast, I hit the front truck and his mirror and one the other side the bus was just inches aways from the left side of the motorbike. Swueezing our legs together and wishing to get to the tiny little space we had between the truck and the bus. Lucky us...
Toan and me hit the road again, visit some special pagoda along the river, we drove through the countryside and it seems like they have never seen foreigners before here. Everybody is looking today like I am an alien. Veryone is following us where we walk and some people want to touch me...what the fuck. We drove further on through the Dong Thap area, looking at the different architecture of the houses in this area.
Mr Skinny (Taons nickname) had this wonderfull idea to visit the Tram Chim National Park by motorbike mid day in the stinking hot sun. Well everybody can understand that all the birds are hioding for the hot sun mid day and that hiring a boat is gonna be so expensive with just 2 stupid guys... So we decided to skip the park, looked nice but not worth a try at this moment of the day. SOme places in this area were definately too hot to be in. The Go Thap Archeological Site was not worth a visit, some same same pagoda's and the ancient stuff was covered by tent and not allowed to visit.
Yes, today was a day to fall asleep at the back of the Honda...you might think? Well, for the second time today there was this escape from the accident. We were driving on this bad dirtroad heading for a wooden bridge. There were some kids on the bridge and they didn't move aside after using the horn. So we had to avoid them and we started drifting with our motorbike. Trying to control it and keep up straigh with our legs, but it was difficult with this speed. We hit the right side of the bridge, rebounded and hit the left side of the bridge. Luckely we didn't fell of the bridge and made it to the end without falling...
04-02-2010 CAN THO - CAO LANH, floating markets, slowboats, warzones and trouble!
05:30 Twan's alarmclock, shit. Jump in a small slowboat on the river (better take a small one, because they can take you to more places then the biggir toerist boats, around 10 USD for 4 hours). We had an awesome sunrise on the river between all those boats of the floating market. Most of them sell all sorts of fruit and vegetables. THe chaos on the river looked like riding bumpercars, but then boats. And oh no, even on the river they are selling lotery tickets!
We had a small boat so we could visit a noodle factory. Here you see how they make ricepapercake out of rice and noodles out of ricepapercake. Further on the quiet streem covered by watercoconut trees we stopped at onbe of the fruitfarms. Here we enjoyed lovely fruitbreakfast and I tried a lot of new things. I had a good time with these 70 year old farmers, funny guys.
We got back to the city by making a circle around the city with our boat. Just looking at all the metalplate houses on wooden poles in the river.
More markets today, this time the market of Vinh Long. What a variety of food! Frogs, rats, all sorts of fish, many sorts of rice, ricepapers, ducks, pigs, snakes, turtles, chickens and much much more. Most of them still alive and some are slaughtered on site.
Left Vinh Long and drove after over the seconds biggest bridge in the Mekong Delta. Well drove... Toan asked me to walk to shoot some pics. I was thinking about a cool snapshot hanging under this high bridge...so I started climbing over the fence. Some locals stopped on the road and runned to me, thinking I wanted to kill myself with suicide whahaaa. They were so scared, so no cool snapshot...
More things today, visiting the Xeo Quit Site, warzone like Cu Chi Tunnels, but in the jungle. You get a sort small slowboattrip through the jungle in the small clay creeks. After that you walk around the area, watch some bomb areas, there is a minefield (still full with landmines) and there are some tunnes left to crawl in. But most shelters are flooded unfortunately.
Today is stinking hot! So getting a tan on the back of the Honda without wearing a shirt. What a good day! But...
Dental problems again and they are getting worse. In spite of all the things I do, brushing teeth many times a day, flossing, using anti-sceptic Listerine, using Rodogyl against infections. So eating is not easy, only noodles and bananas are an option right now. And a lot of bad news in my email; unexpected high costs, insurrances that don't want to pay, TunaFish ticketcompany that all of a sudden had some different terms of conditions for changing ticket dates for my worldticket, many serious bankingproblems (most of the mistakes made by the bank), and more... Seriously thinking about the options of going on with this trip. And even tough all this bad shit happens, I'm still smiling. Not giving up, many phonecalls, faxes and emails. Keep thinking positive!
03-02-2010 PHU QUOC - RACH GIA - CAN THO, The beginning of the Mekong Delta-trip
There you are, sitting and waiting for the bus. They tried to put as much people (and animals) inside. And then all the bags and other stuff. Way too overloaded we made it to Dung Vong. Jumped on the speedboat Superdong 1. 2,5 hours in front of this big musicscreen of again Vietnamese folk music. And behind me annoying little kids that were screaming and kicking agains my chair. But no worries, I had my favorite cookies.
Arriving in Rach Gia is like being honey for the bees, and the bees are the motorbikedrivers...damn, these guys here really don't know when to stop. But my friend Twan was there and I jumped on the motorbike to escape Rach Gia. On the road again, no more busses, no more music, just peace. Mekong Delta roads are very busy, the vilages consist out of metal plate houses, many bridges, all sorts of boats and more. When we turned of the main road I stopped the motorbike. Why do I always see new animals? Well this was a strange scene; pink colored ducks, hundreds of them! The people here painted the ducks pink to recognize that these are their ducks. Further on the small roads more normal birds.
Stopped at several villages for food, arrived at Can Tho (the main city of the Mekong Delta) just after 16:00. Explored the city for as this was possible. Twan told me it was a good idea to jump on the nightly rivercruise for dinner. Ok I said, and shit, more Folkmnusic, this time live! Must say it was a little different and the food was good. But they had strange dishes (shown with pictures) like Snakehead, Porkbrains in soup, some stuff from sharks and more. Yagh!
02-02-2010 PHU QUOC, Rossi on the island
So happy with my CarePlus mosquito net (you really need it here on Phu Qouc) and my earplugs. Cheap hotel means suffering :-)
Jumped on my fast motorbike again and go! Around this huge island in one day. Well, I'm happy with my Bin Laden scarf, dirtroads almost everywhere. The motorbike was yellow before I started and red when I turned back. The beaches are quiet. After a while it's so easy to race on the dirtroads, sorry for everyone behind me... eat dust! At some point something scared the shit out of me, I was at a place where I was not allowed to be. This agressive dog runned to me while riding on my motorbike, he jumped and his teeth hit the back of my motorbike, well you eat dust stupid animal! Driving from Cua Can and Ganh Dau to Bai Thom, is a ride through the National Park of Phu Quoc. When you turn of your motor you cabn here the sounds of the virgin jungle. On the northeast part of the island you can see Cambodia very close. Spend sopme time on shallow waters, the water was like 35 degrees.
Visited the 2 harbortowns Ham Ninh and Dong Vong on the eastcoast and drove further south the Sao Beach and Khem Beach for a break and swim. THe waterfalls were not an option because it's not the right season. So back to Duong Dong for dinner and swim.
PHU QUOC, diving with Rainbow Divers
01-02-2010 PHU QUOC, diving
Diving day, 08:00 leaving for a 1,5 hour boattrip to the North part of the island. Dived at Turtle Island, no turtles and not that many things tyo see in the coral. Pretty dissapointing. Second dive was at Nail Cad, on a site that was new for the divemasters. Well, after some amazing coralsites, with alleys and lot's of fish we saw schools of Barracuda's. The little current took us on a drift the some sandy parts of the sea. We didn't expect anything to see. But the divemaster got lost and couldn't find the right way back... This time we were lucky this happened, damn what an amazing dive! A huge aggressive Cuttlefish, started flashing when he saw us and changed colors alll the time (this is a relative of the Octopus). Some aggressive black NEmafish that startyed to bite and all of a sudden I saw something they haven't seen here before; Black Seahorses...SO COOL! Also different sorts of crab and way more cool stuff. At 13:30 we were back and this was already enough for today.
To find a resanoble motorbike for a good [price was a little bit difficult. All the companies try to ri you off voor 100.000 - 150.000 Dong per day, and here means a day 8 hours. Well, just make friends with a local girl from the diveshop, and she will arrange a fast Honda from here family. Ow I like this :-) So I drove to the south over the dirtroads along the westcoast. In An Thoi there were no tourists, perfect! Enjoyed local life and good food. Tried to catch some fish and had fun with the fishermen.
The 28km back was hard, when it gets dark, there are flies and mosquito's. Driving with 80km/hour with an open helmet is not fun...
SAIGON - PHU QUOC, Why not? let's change plans again
Arrived at 05:30 with the bus in District 1, walked around, had the most disgusting Vietnamese noodlesoup (Pho Bo Kho, Vietnamse style), I almost puked...jagh! And some Vietnamese prostitus kept folowing me whahaa. It was hard to find a company that organised biketours through the Mekong, the ones on the internet were way to expensive! And no Easyriders on the street here in Saigon. Hmm, what should I do? Called my local friend and asked him to visit me in a few days near Phu Quoc. I just booked an airplane ticket for this morning, and because I was last minute it was very cheap! The motorbike to the Domestic Airport was almost falling apart, but who cares for 50.000 Dong. This is the way I like to travel, spontaneous and never know what will happen in a few hours. And for the next few days? Diving and relaxing on the sunny beaches of Vietnams biggest island. In the airplane I met the guy from the diveshop, he tried to arrange cheap accomodation, but I found better places. Making friends in the airport was a good idea, free taxi and discount for diving.
Phu Quoc changed in the last few years, became touristic and prices doubled/tripled since 2007. So when your travelling with a old LP guide, it's useless. Thanks Karien for borrowing your LP ;-)
Spent the whole day with walking and swimming on Long Beach, visiting Duong Dong and drinking with some retired Dutch people.
MUI NE, beautifull kitesurfers paradise
Jumped on the early bus and 5 hours later in Mui Ne. No regrets, this is a damn nice beach. And heaven for hundreds of kitesurfers. Jumped in for a swim, spend some time with a group of American girls that where in Nha Trang last night and rented a motorbike for myself this time. Full speed and to the sanddunes, the other main attrection in Mui Ne (just sand, nothing more). Instead of with the stupid slideboards sliding of the dunes, I was riding with my motorbike in the sand, the tourists and locals didn't believe what they saw whahaha! Tonight I'm leaving again, spend another night in the bus.
Not much to do, so let's take the motorbike and drive in the dark to the surrounding villages...this was a funny experience. Only locals that were surprised to see a backpacker on their streets at night. When I walked into a bar it was even more fun, it seems like everybody lost his mind completely here on strong home-made alcohol and drugs. It was getting too weird, even for me. Without a map or knowing where I was I tried to find my way back, hard not to hit some stumbling and drunken locals on the road. Maybe I was driving a liitle bit too fast for this traffic, 100 km/hour is not the standard speed :-) Waiting for the nightbus took ages, so time for a long chat with friends on the internet and some cocktails to kill the time.